Page 440 - Law Crime
KDMC clerk seeks sexual favours from woman, held
An employee of Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) was Thursday arrested for allegedly demanding sexual favours from a woman in lieu of reducing her property tax, the Anti-Corruption Bureua (ACB) said. The accused, Rameshchandra Rajput (48), who works as a clerk in the tax department of the KDMC, was caught by the ACB sleuths at Subhash Maidan in Kalyan, the anti-graft agency said in a statement. Rajput had issued a property attachment notice against the woman for non-payment of property tax. However, he later offered to reduce her property tax and also give more time to her for tax payment by demanding sexual favours from her in return. Thereafter, the woman lodged a complaint against him with the Thane unit of the ACB on Tuesday, said Mahesh Patil, Superintendent of Police, Thane range of ACB. The ACB laid a trap. As per the plan, the woman asked Rajput to come to Subhash Maidan to meet her on Thursday. When he came there, the ACB sleuths caught him, he ...
Rape more serious offence than murder: Maha govt tells HC
Rape is a more serious offence than murder as the victim's ordeal continues even after the incident, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Thursday. Countering the defence's argument in the Shakti Mills gang-rape case, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said while a rape victim "may continue breathing after the offence," it causes a "severe detrimental effect" on her. Advocate Yug Chaudhry, representing three of the five convicts in the case, had contended that section 376 (E) of the IPC, under which his clients were awarded death penalty, does not prescribe a punishment proportional to the crime. As death is the maximum punishment for murder, the same punishment should not have been prescribed for a repeat offence of rape, because rape does not amount to homicide, he had said. Opposing the argument before a bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and Revati Mohite-Dere, Kumbhakoni said, "It is not permissible to weigh in the scales of justice whether murder is a ...
Chopper deal: AgustaWestland tells Delhi HC it will withdraw arbitration proceedings
Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland Thursday told the Delhi High Court it will withdraw arbitration proceedings which were initiated by it following the scrapping of contracts to supply 12 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force. The firm also said it will pursue the remedy available under the law by filing a civil suit in India. Justice Prathiba M Singh was hearing a petition by the central government seeking to restrain AgustaWestland from continuing with the arbitration process initiated by it in the wake of scrapping of the contracts. The Centre has said the arbitration proceedings cannot continue as several criminal cases were pending against the firm and last December British national Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in the deal, was extradited from Dubai and is lodged in Tihar jail. After recording the statement of the counsel for the firm and noting that the Centre has no objection to it, provided its objections are kept open, the high court disposed of the ...
Jailed Chinese rights lawyer disappears after release: activists
A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer went missing after he was scheduled to be released from jail Thursday following a two-year prison sentence for state subversion charges, said rights activists. Jiang Tianyong -- who had taken on many high-profile cases including those of Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetan protesters -- was one of more than 200 lawyers and activists detained since 2015 in a sweep aimed at courtroom critics of Communist authorities. Supporters of Jiang, who travelled to the No.2 Henan prison where Jiang was held, told AFP that police outside the jail said the 47-year-old lawyer was "taken away" but did not specify by who. "Police officers drove away people who went near the entrance of the prison," said Yuan Shanshan, the wife of human rights lawyer Xie Yanyi, who was also targeted in what is now known as the "709" crackdown because arrests started on July 9, 2015. Jiang's sister and father had planned to meet him outside the jail, explained his wife, but both ..
Delhi HC directs Pak woman to leave India within two weeks
The Delhi High Court Thursday directed a Pakistani woman, against whom there are adverse security reports, to leave India within two weeks. Justice Vibhu Bakhru dismissed the plea of the woman seeking quashing of the government's 'leave India notice' and said that under the principles of law she has no right to stay here. The 37-year-old woman had come to India in 2005 after marrying an Indian man. She has been residing in Delhi with her husband and two sons -- aged 11 and 5 years. Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya and Centre's Standing Counsel Anurag Ahluwalia said there are adverse reports against the woman by security agencies and there was nothing illegal in the notice issued to her. The court said it has perused the inputs available with the authorities and it was unable to accept the woman's contention that the government's notice was arbitrary. The court held that the woman has not been able to establish any right to stay here. In terms of the 'leave India notice' ..
SC stays order of evicting forest dwellers
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed its February 13 order, where it directed several states to evict forest dwellers whose claims over traditional forestland have been rejected under law.The Apex Court has asked states to submit details of the process adopted to assess the claims under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The case is due for hearing on July 10.The Bench comprising of Justices Arun Mishra, Navin Sinha and MR Shah also directed the states to submit affidavits detailing the procedure.
SC allows Delhi Police to arrest Amrapali group CMD, 2 directors
The Supreme Court Thursday allowed Delhi Police to arrest Amrapali group CMD Anil Sharma and two directors forthwith in a criminal complaint filed against them. The apex court also directed attachment of personal properties of Sharma and other directors. It said the Economic Offence Wing (EoW) of Delhi Police can also arrest Amrapali directors -- Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar in the case. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit said: "We had never stopped any agency from arresting the directors, who are presently housed at a hotel under the detention of UP police." The court is seized of a batch of petitions filed by home buyers who are seeking possession of around 42,000 flats booked in projects of the Amrapali Group. The three directors including the CMD were in the custody of UP police till now as per the direction of the apex court in the case filed by home buyers. Now Delhi Police has been allowed to arrest and interrogate them in a separate case of cheating lodged with its EoW
2 held with fake currency in Kolkata
The Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police has arrested two persons from the city and recovered fake Indian currency notes with a face value of Rs seven lakh from their possession. The anti-FICN team of the STF arrested the persons from the Hare Street Police Station limits on Wednesday night. All the fake notes were in the denomination of Rs 2,000, a senior police officer told PTI. The arrested duo has been identified as Razzak Sk, a resident of Kumbhira in West Bengal's Malda, and Vikash Kumar Gautam alias Vikash Kumar Lodi of Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, he said. Both were booked under different sections of the IPC, he said.
Pak's Peshawar HC judge ambushed on way to court; critical
A senior judge of Pakistan's Peshawar High Court has been battling for his life after being ambushed on his way to court by some bike-borne gunmen here on Thursday, police said. The assailants opened indiscriminate fire at the vehicle of Justice Muhammad Ayub Marwat in the upscale Hayatabad area when he was going to the court, senior police officer Wasim Riaz said. The judge and his driver, who was also injured in the incident, were rushed to hospital in a critical condition, he said. Lawyers in Peshawar staged a demonstration against the attack and called for a strike. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, police added.
Ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn makes fresh bail request
Lawyers for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn on Thursday filed a fresh bail request for the auto titan who has been detained for more than three months, the Tokyo District Court said. It is the first bail request filed by the 64-year-old since he shook up his legal team as he crafts his defence to three charges of financial misconduct. The former high-flying executive has been in detention since his shock November 19 arrest, and has tried repeatedly without success to secure bail. Reached by AFP, an assistant lawyer for Ghosn's lead attorney declined to explain how the bail request would differ from previous filings. "We can't comment on details, including any differences in approach this time. We plan to explain about details when we hold a news conference next week," he said. Ghosn's previous legal team even deployed a rarely-used article of the Japanese constitution to force the court to explain why the Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian remained in detention. A judge said Ghosn's ...
Court to consider JNU sedition charge-sheet on March 11
A Delhi Court on Thursday said it will begin hearing the sedition case filed against former JNU student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others on March 11.
Chinese rights lawyer disappears on prison release date
The wife of a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer says he has disappeared on the day of his scheduled release from prison. Jin Bianling says her husband Jiang Tianyong's whereabouts Thursday are unknown. She says supporters arrived at his jailhouse in central Henan province only to be told that he had already been picked up and taken away by unknown individuals. Jin told The Associated Press from her home in Los Angeles that Jiang's sister and father have also been missing since Wednesday afternoon, when they were supposed to have been escorted to the prison by state security agents. Jiang defended politically sensitive clients like blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2017 on the vague charge of inciting subversion of state power.
US Supreme Court stays execution of inmate with dementia
The US Supreme Court ordered Wednesday a hearing to determine whether a death row inmate with dementia is competent enough to understand why the state of Alabama wants to execute him. The case involves Vernon Madison, who was convicted of killing a police officer in 1985. The court ruled 5-3 that a psychological evaluation of Madison, who was supposed to have been put to death last year, had not been thorough enough to carry out the sentence without fear of violating a constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. The judges ordered a state court in Alabama to evaluate Madison again. Madison, who is in his 60s, was convicted in 1994, and while in prison suffered strokes in 2015 and 2016 that severely diminished his mental faculties. His lawyers say he is now practically blind, cannot walk on his own and suffers from urinary incontinence. They say he does not remember the crime or his trial. The court has previously ruled that people who cannot understand why they are to be ...
2 Lankan nationals arrested in TN
Two Sri Lankan nationals were arrested near here Thursday on charges of entering the country illegally after alleged 'involvement' in a murder case in Colombo, police said. Acting on intelligence inputs, police nabbed Singha Chirandha and Sapras from VIP Nagar near Ramanathapuram, about 45 km from here. Besides, two local residents -- Riyaz and Mohammed Gayoom -- with whom the Sinhalese men were staying were also arrested, police said. Police said the two had escaped escaped from Sri Lanka after allegedly killing one of their relatives over a property disputeand had come to Rameswaram recently by illegal ferry. Later, they had reached Ramathapuram where they were staying with the locals, who belonged to Sethu Nagar near here, police said adding the Lankan duo was being interrogated.
Man arrested for assault on ASHA worker in Odisha
A man has been arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a community health worker at a village in Jajpur district of Odisha. The accused, who was arrested on Wednesday, has been identified as 32-year-old Sudarshan Pradhan alias Pakua, said Susanta Kumar Das, Inspector-in-charge of Jenapur police station. The accredited social health activist (ASHA) worker had gone to Betamali Sasan village to distribute free sanitary napkins among schoolgirls under the state governments Khusi scheme on Saturday afternoon. Pakua met the community health worker on the village road and asked her to give some free sanitary napkins. When she refused to give him the same as he had no school going girl child at his home, the accused allegedly scolded her in improper language, the police said. When the ASHA worker protested, he allegedly assaulted her on the road, the woman said in her complaint. The accused even threatened to kill her and her son, the police said. Following the incident, the ...
I am not under any pressure : AgustaWestland case accused Rajiv Saxena
A day after moving an application to become an approver in the AgustaWestland case, accused Rajiv Saxena on Thursday told a Delhi court that he is not under any pressure and no assurances were given to him, neither any sought from him.In a statement before a Patiala House court, Saxena said he has "thought long and hard" and that his "exposure" to the case was "very minimal"."(I have) no intention to not cooperate. Logical consequence is to give testimony in the case. (I am under) no pressure. It is on my free will completely and the complete understanding of the case. No assurances were given and none sought," Saxena said on his plea seeking to turn an approver.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that it will respond after Saxena's disclosure statement is recorded in the case.Special Court Judge Arvind Kumar marked the case file to the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate for the recording of Saxena's statement under section 306 of the Criminal Procedure Code.Yesterday, the ..
2 killed after being hit by truck in UP
Two motorcycle-borne persons were killed after being hit by a truck in Manjhanpur area here, police said Thursday. The incident occurred on Wednesday night when Phoolchandra Yadav (45) and Kamlesh (35) were travelling on a bike which was hit by a truck, killing them on the spot, they said. The truck driver has been arrested and the vehicle impounded, police said.
Chopper case: Delhi court directs Saxena to record statement before magistrate on Mar 2
A Delhi court Thursday directed Rajeev Saxena, who had moved a plea to become an approver in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case, to record his statement before a magistrate court. Special judge Arvind Kumar marked Saxena's plea before the court of the CMM on March 2 for recording of his disclosure statement (disclose intentions for becoming an approver), after he told the court that he had no intention not to cooperate and that it was logical at this stage to complete his testimony in a fair way. The judge asked him, "Are you aware that you may not be absolved of punishment by becoming an approver?". To this Saxena replied in the affirmative. "I have thought long and hard and I am confident that my exposure to the case is minimal... I have no intention not to cooperate. At this stage it is logical to complete my testimony in a fair way," he told the court. He further asserted that he decided to be an approver on his own free will and with a complete understanding .
Man booked for molesting woman in Maharashtra
A 22-year-old man has been booked for allegedly molesting a 42-year-old married woman residing in his neighbourhood in Thane district of Maharashtra, police said on Thursday. The incident took place on Sunday when the woman, who knew the accused, was sitting with her friends near a temple in Vitthalwadi area. As the accused passed by them, the woman apparently asked him to give her his water bottle as she was thirsty, an official at Vitthalwadi police station said. However, the accused allegedly pushed the woman and touched her inappropriately. He also threatened her with dire consequences if she complained to police, he said. When the woman's friends tried to nab the accused, he ran away, the official said. The woman alleged that the accused had earlier also molested her in September last year, he said. Based on her complaint, the accused was booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (molestation), 504 (intentional insult with an intent to provoke breach of peace) and .
4 arrested in connection with death of Pak prisoner in Jaipur jail
Four men have been arrested on production warrant for inquiry in connection with the murder of a Pakistani prisoner Shakar Ullah in Jaipur Central jail on February 20.Shakar, who was serving a life term in jail, was allegedly killed by other inmates after a fight over television volume, prison officials had earlier said.Jaipur Additional Commissioner Laxman Gaur had said: "Around four prisoners, including the Pakistani inmate, were watching TV when a brawl broke out among them over volume. As the fight escalated, the three convicts bashed Ullah's head against a stone."According to police, Shakur, who hails from Sialkot district of Pakistan, was arrested in 2011 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In 2017, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.A day after his death, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued a notice to the Government of Rajasthan. It had also asked all states and Union Territories to take precautionary measures in jails where Pakistani ...