Page 1157 - Law Crime
Criminal found shot dead in Delhi
A 19-year-old man out on bail in a case registered under the Arms Act was found shot dead here, police said on Tuesday.
Dalit woman accuses man of trying to burn her alive; villagers
One person was today arrested in a village of Nalanda district in Bihar for allegedly setting a dalit woman on fire for trying to resist sexual assault bid. However, Superintendent of Police, Nalanda, Sudhir Kumar Podika said the arrest was made based on the statement given by the woman, who has been admitted to a Patna hospital in a critical condition while investigations were on in view of submissions to the contrary by residents of her village. The matter relates to Puran Bigaha village under Giriyak police station of the district. According to the villagers, the woman - Puniya Devi - reportedly had a fight with her husband Shankar Manjhi last night after which she poured kerosene on herself and lit a fire. Her husband had gone out of home by the time and a neighbour Ranjit Chaudhary rushed inside hearing her screams and doused the flames by covering her body with a blanket, the SP said - quoting the villagers' version. Chaudhary also sustained burned injuries on his .
Prime accused in Uttarkashi rape-murder case arrested: police
The prime accused in the rape and killing of a minor girl in Uttarkashi, which had led to a wave of protests across Uttarakhand, has been arrested, police said today. The main accused Mukesh alias Bunty was picked up yesterday from Dunda Devidhar in the district and he has confessed to the crime, DIG Ajay Rautela told reporters here today. To ward of suspicion, the accused who was known to the victim's family, even participated in protests against the incident, the officer said. A case has been registered against the accused under sections 302 (murder) , 376 (rape) and 363 (kidnapping)of the IPC and the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said. Hailing from Lambgaon in Tehri district, the accused who worked as a mule operator in the victim's village, police said. He disclosed during interrogation that he knew the victim's family who were residents of the same village and would often look for excuses to engage her or her elder sister in a conversation, Rautela ..
Plea in SC challenges restoration of immediate arrest under SC/ST law
The Supreme Court was moved on Tuesday challenging the amendment to the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act restoring the provision mandating immediate arrest in the event of a complaint under the statute.
Informant cannot be investigator in case against him: Tejpal to SC
Tehelka magazine's founder Tarun Tejpal, accused in a case of alleged rape lodged by a former woman colleague, today told the Supreme Court that the police officer who was investigating the case against him was also the informant. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Tejpal, that the apex court had recently ruled that informant and investigator cannot be the same person. The bench said it will go through the verdict delivered on August 16, which said that "justice must not only be done, but must appear to be done also. Any possibility of bias or a predetermined conclusion has to be excluded". It adjourned the matter for further hearing for next week. The verdict delivered by a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had held that "a fair investigation, which is but the very foundation of fair trial, necessarily postulates that the informant and the investigator must not be the same person". On April 9, the apex court had ..
Father, son fight it out in SC on criminalisation of politics
A father and son were on the loggerheads today in the Supreme Court on the issue of disqualification of a lawmaker facing criminal charges, with the former saying the matter fell in the domain of the legislature and the latter insisting that the court should issue directions in this regard to the poll panel. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which is hearing PILs seeking to bar persons facing serious criminal charges from electoral politics, heard the arguments by Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Centre, and his son and senior lawyer Krishnan Venugopal and senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi appearing for the petitioners. Senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal, who is fighting the case against his father, suggested that to deal with the issue of decriminalising politics, either a law may be passed or the court can direct the poll panel to ask political parties not to give tickets to persons with criminal records. He also suggested that the ...
Kidnapped children rescued, 2 women held
Two women who allegedly kidnapped a boy from Secunderabad Railway Station, were arrested and the lad along with two other children abducted earlier were rescued, police said today. Five teams formed to trace the kidnappers nabbed M Yadamma (21) and M Jaya (18) after examining CCTV footage at the station, police said. The women, both daily wage labourers, allegedly kidnapped the four-year-old boy from the waiting hall of the railway station yesterday when his mother went out to get breakfast, Deputy Commissioner of Police B Sumathi said. Investigations are on to find out how the two other children - a six-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl - were abducted from different railway stations a year ago, the police official said.
UK court denies bail to Dawood's key aide
Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's key aide Jabir Moti, a Pakistani national arrested on money laundering charges, was denied bail today by a UK court which also turned down his request to ban the media from the hearing. During today's hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court here, Moti was described as a key official of D-company. Judge Coleman denied the bail and asked Moti to reappear on August 28. Moti's counsel requested the judge to ban the media from the court over safety concerns due to "reports appearing in the Indian media". The judge turned down his request. "We have open justice in this country," the judge said, adding that she may consider allowing Moti to not to have his UK address aired in open court. Moti, who had been arrested by Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit on Friday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit blackmail, import illegal drugs and money laundering in the US, appeared in the docks wearing jeans and T-shirt. He was represented in court by his defence attorney
Goa temple priest accused of molestation surrenders
A former temple priest, who has been booked for molesting two young women in the temple premises, surrendered before a local magistrate on Tuesday after remaining traceless for nearly one month.
Happy that justice is delivered: Father of Mandsaur gangrape victim
The father of the Mandsaur gangrape victim today expressed satisfaction over the special court verdict handing down capital punishment to two men in the case that had caused a huge public outrage. The eight-year-old girl was abducted when she was waiting outside her school by Irfan alias Bhaiyu (20) and Asif (24) on June 26 and was raped by them. They had also tried to kill her by slitting her throat and inflicted injuries on her neck, face, head and private parts, but she survived. Earlier in the day, Mandsaur special court judge Nisha Gupta held them guilty and sentenced them to death under the newly-introduced IPC section 376 DB (punishment for rape of a woman under 12 years of age by one or more persons). Speaking with PTI, the victim's father hoped that the verdict would send a strong message and act as a deterrent. The man, a resident of Mandsaur, is currently staying in Indore, as the victim is undergoing treatment at a city hospital. "My daughter and my family have been under .
Two men get death penalty in Mandsaur gang-rape case
Two months after an eight-year-old girl was raped in Madhya Pradesh's Madsaur, a special court awarded death sentence to two men for the crime today, saying they deserved no leniency. The girl was abducted and later gang-raped on June 26, an incident which had triggered widespread outrage and led to protests for several days with demands for capital punishment for the culprits. In what could possibly be one of the speediest trials in such crimes, Additional District and Sessions Judge Nisha Gupta today convicted Irfan Mewati alias Bhaiyu (20) and Asif Mewati (24) and sentenced them to death, saying the case fell under the "rarest of the rare" category. "The act of the two accused was of cruel and gruesome nature. The duo raped a hapless girl who was anxious to return home after her school was over," the judge was quoted as saying by assistant district prosecution officer Nitesh Krishnan, who spoke to PTI over phone. The court noted that the convicts savagely attacked the minor girl ...
TN woman SP lodges sexual harassment plaint against IG
A woman police superintendent has accused an Inspector General rank officer of sexual harassment and acting on her complaint, authorities have set up an Internal Complaints Committee which would meet on August 23, police said today. Alleging sexual advances by her superior, an officer of the rank of IG, the woman SP has lodged a written complaint to top authorities, police sources said. "The Internal Complaints Committee set up as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 will look into the woman officer's complaint on August 23," a top state police official told PTI. The meeting of the ICC, the first after it was re-constituted on August 17 will look into the plaint and go forward in accordance with the harassment prevention law, the official said. TN DGP T K Rajendran has named ADGPs Seema Aggarwal, Su Arunachalam, and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Thenmozhi and two retired officials as members of the ...
SC directs Centre to file status report on existing vacancies in tribunals
The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to file a status report in two weeks on the existing vacancies and the stage of the selection process for appointment of chairpersons and members of various tribunals. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also clarified that Members of the Armed Forces Tribunal shall hold office until the attainment of the age of 65 years. It said that Chairpersons who have been former judges of the Supreme Court shall hold office until the attainment of the age of 70 years. In the case of the Central Administrative Tribunal, the apex court clarified that the old rules would continue to apply. It also said that a person selected as Member of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal will continue until the age of 62 years while a person holding the post of President shall continue until the age of 65 years. The appointments in various tribunals were stalled due to the pendency of the petitions in ..
Plea in SC challenging amendments in SC/ST atrocity law
A plea was today filed before the Supreme Court seeking to declare the fresh amendments in the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act made by Parliament, as ultra vires. The plea filed by an advocate alleged that both Houses of the Parliament had "arbitrarily" decided to amend the law and restored the previous provisions in such a manner so that an innocent cannot avail the right of anticipatory bail. Parliament on August 9 had passed a bill to overturn the apex court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe law. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha. It had got the nod of the Lok Sabha on August 6. The bill rules out any provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of atrocities against SC/STs, notwithstanding any court order. It provides that no preliminary inquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an ..
SC pulls up WB govt for having only two CWC in 23 districts
The Supreme Court today pulled up the West Bengal government for having only two child welfare committees (CWCs) working in 23 districts with reports suggesting that children were being sold and trafficked in the state. Having only two CWCs operational in 23 districts of West Bengal is "not fair" to the children, the top court said and asked why it had not taken steps to fill up the vacancies in the CWCs. "You have issues of babies being sold in West Bengal. You see how serious this problem is. Babies are being sold there. It is a very, very serious problem. Somebody has to wake up at some point of time," a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur told the counsel appearing for West Bengal. "Reports say that there is trafficking of children in West Bengal. If trafficking is going on, these children need to be looked after," the bench, also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, said. When the counsel for the state said interviews were going on to fill up the vacancies in ...
Nepal's new law restricts press freedom: International journalists' body
Nepals new Criminal Codes Act curtails freedom of expression and restricts press freedom, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said on Tuesday.
15 arrested, 8 cops suspended after woman beaten and paraded naked in Bihar
A day after a woman was thrashed and paraded naked by a mob in Bihar's Bihiya town in Bhojpur district, the state police arrested 15 suspects and suspended eight of their own men, but denied that it was a case of mob lynching.
NCW directs UP DGP to apprise it of acid attack on woman in Ghaziabad
The National Commission for Women has directed the Uttar Pradesh DGP to apprise it of the investigation into an acid attack on a woman in Ghaziabad, an official said. The NCW also expressed concern about the incidents of acid attacks despite the Supreme Court's ban on the unregulated sale of the corrosive substance in 2013. Furthermore, acid attack is recognized as an offence under IPC. The NCW cited a report, according to which a 32-year-old woman suffered severe injuries after acid was thrown on her by two unidentified men on a motorcycle in Ghaziabad on Monday evening. The police said the woman suffered nearly 40 per cent burns on different parts of her body and may be referred to a hospital in Delhi for better treatment. They said the woman is a dietician and was returning home around 4.30 pm on her scooter after dropping her children to a tuition class. The NCW has written to the UP DGP O P Singh for investigation. "The commission has also directed him to update NCW about medical
Hyderabad HC stays all proceedings on contempt plea by 2 Cong MLAs
The Hyderabad High Court today stayed all further proceedings, including the direction for appearing in person by a single judge, in a contempt plea filed by two Congress MLAs over non-restoration of their membership despite the court's order. On August 14, Justice B Siva Sankara Rao, while dealing with a contempt plea filed by expelled Congress lawmakers Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and S A Sampath Kumar, against the Telangana Legislative Assembly secretary and law secretary, had also issued notices to the two officials. The judge also issued notice under Form 1 of the Contempt of Courts Act, directing them to respond as to why they should not be punished for contempt of the court. The judge also directed them to appear before the court on September 17. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan and Justice V Ramasubramanian, today observed that the appeals filed by the secretary, state legislature and the law secretary raised many important ...
Why can't EC link parties' recognition with bar on those with criminal past: SC
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government if it can direct the Election Commission to include in the symbol order a clause that a political party is liable to lose its recognition if it fields candidates with criminal antecedents.