Page 1693 - Law Crime
Rajasthan CM orders withdrawal of circular on SC/ST Act
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje today ordered immediate withdrawal of a police circular for the implementation of a Supreme Court order on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, saying it was issued without her knowledge. The March 23 circular issued by Additional Director General of Police (Civil Rights) M L Lathar directed district police chiefs and police commissioners to implement the Supreme Court verdict putting restrictions on the arrest of people under the Act. I came to know that without my knowledge, some of the state government officers issued the circular which created confusion in the state. I have given directions to home minister and police headquarters to immediately issue a letter of clarification, Raje said in a statement tonight. She said that the state government was committed to protecting the rights of people belonging to SC/ST communities. The Supreme Court verdict of March 20 drew widespread protest. Some Dalit groups .
BJP biggest protector of all fraudsters: Congress
The Congress on Tuesday demanded Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje quit their posts, if appearing as a lawyer for someone was a crime.
Khwaja Yunus case: State cancels appointment of public prosecutor
The judge of a fast track court hearing a case of alleged custodial death of 2002 Ghatkopar blast accused Khwaja Yunus today said that the appointment of the special public prosecutor for case has been cancelled by the state government. Additional Session Judge V S Padalkar said appointment of special public prosecutor Dhiraj Mirajkar has been cancelled by the judiciary department. Mirajkar was the third public prosecutor in the 2003 case. Earlier, advocate Yug Chowdhary had resigned from the case without attributing any reason and in 2013, advocate RB Mokashi had resigned as well. Only one witness has been examined in the case so far. Yunus, a software engineer working in Dubai, was picked up from Marathwada's Parbhani in December 2002 in connection with the blasts that took place in suburban Ghatkopar at that time. While police had claimed that Yunus escaped in January 2003 after the vehicle in which he was being taken to Aurangabad met with an accident in Jategaon, a co-accused in .
Asaram verdict to be delivered inside jail on April 25
Apprehending trouble from thousands of followers of Asaram in case of an adverse judgment, the Jodhpur court will pronounce its verdict in a rape case against him inside the premises of the Central Jail here on April 25.
HC quashes notification expelling 2 Telangana Cong MLAs
In a relief to expelled Telangana Congress MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and S A Sampath Kumar, the Hyderabad High Court today quashed the notification issued by the Legislature Secretary expelling them from the State Assembly. Delivering the 158-page judgment in a packed court, Justice B Siva Sankara Rao declared that the two MLAs were entitled to continue as legislators during the remaining term of their membership. The two had last month jointly filed a petition in the high court challenging their expulsion from the assembly. They also sought a direction to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the Legislature Secretary's action in expelling them by a resolution on March 13 and for issuing a gazette notification notifying the vacancies of Nalgonda and Alampur assembly segments. On March 13, Reddy and Kumar were expelled from the Telangana Legislative Assembly, a day after "unruly" incidents during the governor's address to the joint sitting of the legislature. Legislative Council
SC extends interim relief from arrest to Karti Chidambaram
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended, till July 3, the interim protection from arrest to Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, by the ED in the alleged INX Media money laundering case.
Unnao rape: CBI registers fourth case
The CBI has taken over probe in the fourth case related to the alleged kidnapping and gangrape of a minor days after she was raped allegedly by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, officials said today. The case has been registered on the directions of the Allahabad High Court which had strongly criticised the state administration for inaction against the accused in spite of complaints made to the office of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and instructions from it to submit report. The CBI has already registered three cases-- related to alleged rape of the girl by Sengar on June 4, 2017, allegations of arms act against victim's father and alleged rioting in which her father was killed. In the fresh FIR, the agency has named Shubham Singh and Awadesh Tiwari as the accused in the case of alleged kidnapping and gangrape of the Unnao girl. Sections related to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 have also been slapped by the CBI. In its order, the high court had noted that the ...
Guv says guilty will be punished in TN college sex scandal
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit today said strict action would be taken in the episode involving a woman college lecturer, who allegedly lured girl students to provide sexual favours to varsity higher officials and asserted that the guilty would be punished. "The matter is very serious..it should not have happened and the guilty has to be punished," he said. In this connection a one man committee, led by retired bureaucrat R Santhanam had been appointed, he told reporters here at a press conference, his first since assuming office last October. In an obvious reference to opposition parties like DMK questioning his action to appoint the one man panel, Purohit quoted legal provisions and said that as chancellor of the varsity, he was empowered to constitute the committee. The Governor said that "without consulting him," the Madurai Kamaraj varsity had initially constituted an internal committee and it was later revoked in view of the one man panel being named by ...
Refrain from identifying children involved in sexual offences: PCI to media
The Press Council of India (PCI) has asked media to refrain from disclosing the identity of children involved in criminal offences and those harassed in sexual offences. The move comes after the Delhi High Court on Friday issued notices to several media houses for disclosing the identity of an eight-year-old girl who was gangraped and killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. The girl from the nomadic Bakerwal Muslim community had disappeared from near her home in the forests next to Rasana village in Kathua on January 10. A week later, her body was found in the same area. "The PCI chairman has expressed grave concern over the tendency of the media to disclose identity of children involved in criminal offences and harassed in sexual offences," the council said in a release dated April 16. The release, however, was made public today. The PCI said the print media followed up on these reports in violation of internationally accepted norms of journalistic conduct in reporting on ...
CBI books pharma firm directors; officials of Dubai, Patial-based companies in bank fraud
The CBI has registered a case against Surya Pharmaceuticals, its directors and officials of three companies based in Dubai and Patiala for allegedly cheating a consortium of five banks to the tune of Rs 621 crore, officials said today. A case has been registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Surya Pharmaceutical Ltd., its promoters and directors Rajeev Goel and Alka Goel. Pramod Aggarwal, director of Dubai-based Kobian Pvt. Ltd. and proprietor of Nimbus FZE, and Suhail Goel, director of Patiala-based Emsons Organic Ltd. have also been booked. "Searches were conducted today at seven places -- two each in Delhi, Patiala and Chandigarh and one in Panchkula -- at the offices and residences of the accused which led to the recovery of certain documents," the CBI spokesperson said here. It is alleged that the accused defrauded the Punjab and Sindh Bank and four other banks of the consortium to the tune ..
Rise in child rape, abuse a 'national emergency': Satyarthi
Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi today described as a national emergency the alarming and unstoppable rise in rape and abuse of children, and urged political parties to devote one day of Parliament to formulate plans for expeditious delivery of justice to the victims. Stories of child rape and sexual abuse such as that from Kathua, Unnao, Surat and Sasaram will continue to emerge every day in the absence of a responsive and speedy justice delivery system, he said here at the release of a report, titled The Children Cannot Wait', that highlights the situation of pendency of child sexual abuse cases in the country. "Each time a daughter is raped and killed, India's soul is raped and killed. Every day, 55 children are raped in India. The ideals of a progressive and free India will never be realised as long as our children are unsafe, Satyarthi said. I call (on) all the political parties to devote one day in Parliament to formulate a 'National Budgeted Action Plan' for expeditious ...
Minor sisters shot dead in UP's Etawah
Two minor sisters were found shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah on Tuesday morning.The girls - identified as Sandhya (17) and her younger sister Shalu (13), daughters of Ram Kishore Shakya of Kelamau village had gone to attend a marriage function held at a nearby village on Monday.When the villagers were on their way to the fields, they found the bodies of both the sisters. Later, the villagers informed the police after which they to the spot and the bodies have been shifted to the mortuary for post-mortem.The villagers are suspecting that might be both girls were raped.According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashok Kumar Tripathi, "Bullets and slippers have been recovered from the spot where the girls were found murdered. A case has been registered in this regard against unidentified assailants. Their bodies have been sent for post-mortem and investigations have begun."Etawah legislator Sarita Bhadauriya has assured the family of an impartial investigation and said the ...
Unnao rape case: Sengar's brother, associates sent to 4 days CBI custody
A special CBI court sent, to four days police custody, the five arrested accused in the Unnao minor rape case including prime accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar's brother Atul Sengar, officials said.
Law panel nixes plans to restrict definition of 'contempt of court'
The Law Commission today rejected a proposal of the Law Ministry to restrict the definition of "contempt of court", saying that despite amendment to the law, courts can still exercise their power to punish people for contempt as their authority flows from the Constitution and not statutes. The department of justice in the Law Ministry had asked the Commission to examine and consider an amendment to the Contempt of Act 1971, to restrict the definition of contempt to only wilful disobedience of directions or judgement of court. It had sought the removal of another clause -- "criminal contempt" -- which includes "scandalising the court". "...the suggestion to delete the provision relating to criminal contempt' will have no impact on the power of the superior courts (SC and HCs) to punish for contempt (including criminal contempt) in view of their inherent constitutional powers, as these powers are independent of statutory provisions," the Commission said in a report. The power to ...
14-year-old girl allegedly raped by relative in UP found pregnant
A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a distant relative in her native village in Uttar Pradesh and found to be six-weeks pregnant during a medical examination conducted in a hospital here after she complained of pain in the abdomen, police said. Police said the family hailed from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. The girl and her parents, who work as migrant labourers here, had gone to their native place and stayed there for a month when the incident took place, DSP (Central), Chandigarh Police, Krishan Kumar said. The girl was raped by a distant relative, he said. He said after the victim complained of pain in the abdomen, she was taken to a hospital here by her parents where it was found that she was six-weeks pregnant. Hospital authorities informed the police and later a complaint was filed by the father of the minor girl. According to the complaint, the family came to know about the pregnancy when the girl complained of pain in her abdomen on Monday. DSP Kumar said a case was ...
Two sisters shot dead in Etawah village
A 19-year-old girl along with her minor sister was shot dead last night in a farming field at her village near here, the police said today. Etawah's Senior Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Tripathi said the the incident took place in Kailamau village in Basrehar police station area last evening, when the two sisters had gone to the fields to relieve themselves. "When the girls did not return home till late evening, the family members thought they had gone to a neighbour's house to attend a marriage function," the police said. "As the girls did not return even by late night, their family members launched manhunt for them and eventually found their bodies in fields with some bullet shell and a liquor bottle by their bodies," the SSP said. Citing the autopsy findings, Tripathi said, "Prima facie there was no sexual assault on the girls and it seems to be a case of murder with bullet injury marks found on bodies of both the girls." "We have some clues in the case, and are ...
Two MP govt employees suspended for dancing in office
Two employees of Women and Child Development department in Madhya Pradesh were suspended by Dewas district collector for allegedly dancing in the office, along with others, to Bollywood songs while celebrating birthday of two women officials on April 13. According to sources in the department, the employees were celebrating the birthday of district programme officer, Sunita Yadav and city south project officer, Priyanka Jaiswal on last Friday. A senior officer said district collector Ashish Singh placed assistant (grade II) Diwakar Rojaskar and supervisor Sneha Sharma under suspension after the video of the dance went viral on the social media. A group of staffers, including two women and some private contractual employees, were dancing to the beats of "Kajra Re" and other songs in the office, he said. The services of two private employees were also terminated. According to sources, Yadav and Jaiswal left the office after attending the cake cutting ceremony. After they ..
LSD blots, ganja seized in Kolkata, four arrested
The Kolkata unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested four persons including two teenaged girls involved in a drug trafficking racket and seized 56 LSD blots and around three kgs of ganja from them, a senior official said on Tuesday.
J&K guv bats for daily trial of Kathua case
In a meeting with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today voiced support for day-to-day trial of the Kathua rape-and-murder case, an official spokesperson said. Vohra also discussed with Mufti issues relating to the long-pending elections to the urban local bodies and panchayats, the spokesperson said. The governor stressed the importance of ensuring that the prosecution of the Kathua rape-and-murder case proceed on a day-to-day basis and no one must be allowed to disturb law and order under any circumstances, the spokesperson added. The body of an eight-year-old girl, belonging to the Bakarwal nomads, was recovered from a forest on January 17, a week after she went missing while grazing horses. On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the crime branch of the state police which formed a special investigation team (SIT) and arrested eight people in connection with the case. The trial in the case began yesterday.
Mahandi row: Reference handed over to tribunal chairman Khanwilkar
The secretary of the Union Water Resources Ministry, UP Singh, today handed over reference (background papers) of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal to its chairman A M Khanwilkar, an official statement said. Khanwilkar is also a Supreme Court judge. The government had on March 12 issued a notification, constituting the three-member tribunal to adjudicate the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing the river's water, following a January 23 Supreme Court order. "Hon'ble Justice Khanwilkar was briefed by the secretary about the profile of the Mahanadi river, development of water resource projects by various states and the dispute in sharing of its waters. "The justice was also briefed about the legal provisions for adjudication of water disputes," the statement said. It said Singh assured Khanwilkar that the central government is taking all necessary steps for early functioning of the tribunal and sought his guidance on the road-map for resolving the Mahanadi ...