|
|
|
|
|
HC notice to Centre on juvenile law
NHRC for changes in juvenile justice law; child panel resists
SC rejects Sahara’s plea for review of order |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Highlighting river pollution at Maha Kumbh
Army officer alleges rape; Gujarat cop arrested
Three children die in freak grenade blast
Akbaruddin Owaisi
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas concludes
|
|
HC notice to Centre on juvenile law
A Bench comprising Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice VK Jain directed the Ministries of Law and Parliamentary Affairs to file their response by February 14, the next date of hearing. Counsel for the petitioner, advocate Shweta Kapoor, said the leniency shown under the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, had resulted in a spurt in serious crimes committed by those in the 16-18 year age group. There was a 34 per cent rise in rape cases involving juveniles in just one year, from 2010 to 2011, the PIL said. The rise was 188 per cent over a decade. The need for striking down the provision had also been highlighted by the recent gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in Delhi in which one of the offenders was not being tried along with his accomplices as he was below 18 years of age, just by a few months. These days, the minds of juveniles in the 16-18 age group “are quite well developed on account of exposure to all sorts of literature available on the Internet, media, films, mobile, Google and Facebook and as such they do not deserve any special protection,” the PIL contended. Even in the United States and England, there was a distinction between the juveniles involved in petty crimes and heinous crimes like murder and rape and leniency was shown only to children involved in minor offences, it was contended. Further, even the Juvenile Justice Act had contradictory provisions. Under Section 15, juveniles involved in crimes should be sent to juvenile homes, not jails. But under Section 16, such persons should not be kept in juvenile homes after attaining the age of 18 if their rehabilitation period (maximum of three years) was not over. After attaining the age of 18, convicted juveniles should be treated like any other criminals involved in heinous crimes, the petitioner said. According to the petition, the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act violated several fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution - right to equality (Articles 14 to 18), right to freedom (Articles 19 to 22), right against exploitation (Articles 23 and 24) and right to constitutional remedies (Article 32).
Hyderabad: Amidst nationwide outrage over the Delhi gang rape tragedy, the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy has favoured "killing a potential rapist" in self-defence. "A woman can kill a person if he tries to rape or assault her," the DGP said while interacting with the women employees of the IT industry here. "When there is a threat that you are going to get raped and killed, you can kill the offender. We will be lenient with you in such cases," Reddy said at a meeting organised by the police at Madhapur as part of an initiative to sensitise the people about the rights of women. — TNS
Why top cops not suspended: court
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the police and asked the reason for not suspending the Commissioner of Police (CP) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in connection with the December-16 gang-rape case. — IANS
Court endorses in-camera trial
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday upheld an order for holding in-camera proceedings in the case relating to the recent gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in Delhi. District Judge RK Gauba rejected a petition filed by some lawyers challenging Metropolitan Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal's order making the trial out of bounds for media and all others who had nothing to do with the case. — TNS
|
|
NHRC for changes in juvenile justice law; child panel resists
New Delhi, January 9 While the National Human Rights Commission today backed the Ministry of Women and Child Development in calling for a review of the law to provide punishment commensurate with the brutality of crime committed by a juvenile, the apex child rights body - the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) - thought otherwise. Justifying the current law, NCPCR member Neena Nayak argued against a review, saying the juvenile involved in the Delhi gang rape was acting under a mentor. She cited past vulnerability of the said delinquent to defend the current law and added the child dropped out of school at the age of 13 years and had no access to care and was vulnerable. “We condemn the child’s act, but he was under the influence of a role model Ram Singh. He was acting under a mentor and was part of the mob. He was trying to do what the mob was doing. Had this child been 11-year-old, would you have argued for reducing the juvenile age to 10 years?” Nayak said at a high-level consultation the NHRC organised today on violence against women. Nayak also defended the quantum of punishment under the juvenile law saying, “The child dropped out of school at the age of 13 years and had no care or protection. He is a product of total deprivation. For a few cases of rape, you cannot change the whole law,” she said. India was bound by the UN Convention on Rights of the Child that defined everyone aged 18 and under as children, she added. The NHRC and medical experts argued against Nayak. NHRC member Justice BC Patel (retd) said, “We should not go by the UN, we should go by the ground reality of our country. There had been 188 per cent rise in crimes by juveniles in the past few years. The punishment must depend on the nature of the offence committed by the juvenile.” Psychiatrist Jitender Nagpal told TNS that child’s vulnerability could not be allowed to become a licence for rape and murder.
POINT, COUNTERPOINT
We condemn the child's act, but he was under the influence of role model Ram Singh. He was acting under a mentor and was part of a mob. He was trying to do what the mob was doing. Had this child been 11-year-old, would you have argued for reducing the juvenile age to 10 years?
|
|
|
SC rejects Sahara’s plea for review of order
New Delhi, January 9 A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar also dismissed the company’s plea that its review petition be heard in the open court, not in the judges’ chamber. The SC said it had “meticulously examined” all the records given to it and found no merit in entertaining the review petition which as a result “stands dismissed.
|
|
|
Highlighting river pollution at Maha Kumbh
New Delhi, January 9 The plan is to use the occasion of Maha Kumbh, the biggest religious congregation on earth which begins in Allahabad on the occasion of Makar Sakranti next week, to help people differentiate between well wishers of rivers and their enemies and spread awareness about India’s gasping lifelines. “We are trying to lift Kumbh from being just another occasion to take a holy dip on auspicious occasions and achieve moksh as it has become in modern times,” is what India’s “Waterman” Rajendra Singh, whose organisation Tarun Bharat Sangh is holding this unique endevour at the Maha Kumbh in Allahabad along with institutions like the Ganga Jal Biradari and the Gyan Pratishthan hopes. He says that the aim of the first Ganga Sansad on the spot is to impress upon people the real meaning of Kumbh-amanthan to separate amrit (Ganga) from vish (sewage, industrial and agricultural waste). “Kumbh used to be an occasion to help us differentiate between ills and goodness in our lives. It was not merely an occasion to have a ‘snan’ (bath) on some auspicious days as it has now become now. It was the time when raja (policy makers), sadhus (religious leaders and sects like akharas) and praja (common people) would engage in amanthan (dialogue) and arrive at right decisions to separate vish from amrit in our lives”. In this case, the attempt will be to separate all those who exploit rivers from those who protect it to try and make the sacred Ganga, and all other rivers, free from the ills plaguing them and make them free-flowing and nirmal (clean) again, he said. The Ganga Sansad will therefore see the participation of sadhus, environmentalists, policy makers, engineers and scientists.
|
|
|
Army officer alleges rape; Gujarat cop arrested
Ahmedabad, January 9 The woman officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel came to Ahmedabad and called on city Police Commissioner SK Saikia to complain against Inspector Farooq Qureshi, who is security in charge at the Gujarat High Court. The police officer was arrested from his Gandhinagar residence after the registration of complaint. The woman officer had earlier also levelled a similar complaint against the police officer, but had later withdrawn it. Qureshi had also lodged a counter-complaint against the woman officer for allegedly blackmailing him. The complaint is still under the police investigation. The woman officer, a divorcee and mother of two, come in contact with a married Army field officer during her recent posting in the Medical Corps in Bhuj. When the wife of the field officer came to know about their relationship, she hurled abuses at the woman officer, who in turn insulted the field officer in the presence of others. The depressed field officer committed suicide. His family filed a case against the woman officer on the charge of abetment to suicide. The Army officer filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court to quash the complaint and that was when she came in close contact with Qureshi. The police officer helped her both with money and time to come out of the problem following which their relationship grew. The woman officer complained that in addition to some hotels in Ahmedabad where they stayed together, she was also “taken around” to different hotels and guest houses in various cities and hill stations by the police officer and abused her sexually between November 1 and December 6. Qureshi, however, claimed that on many occasions, the woman officer herself sent him air tickets to fly to Dehradun to stay with her. The woman officer claimed she accepted his advances only after the police officer promised to marry her. On December 11, the woman officer wrote a letter to the city police commissioner alleging rape by Qureshi. However, on December 29, when the police approached her for investigation into her complaints, she submitted a letter in writing withdrawing her complaint and desired the chapter be treated as closed. However, on December 27, Qureshi lodged a complaint with the Ahmedabad police that the woman officer was blackmailing him and demanding Rs 25 lakh or to face the charge of rape. He also submitted mobile phone record of the calls made by the woman officer allegedly for blackmailing him.
|
|
|
Three children die in freak grenade blast Guwahati, January 9 Investigations revealed that the victims’ father, Munchi
Kurmi, who is deaf and dumb, had brought home a grenade that he had found in a field. The grenade exploded when the children were playing with it today. A senior home department official said Kurmi was grazing cattle in a field near the village yesterday when he found a Chinese hand grenade which he took for a toy and brought it home. One of the children playing with the hand grenade apparently removed the pin leading to the explosion. The dead included Rinki Kurmi (10), Sandhya Kurmi and Rupesh
Kurmi, both four years old.
|
|
|
Owaisi sent to jail for 14 days
Hyderabad, January 9 Owaisi, who is the MIM floor leader in the state Assembly, was arrested here yesterday amidst high drama and taken to Nirmal in Adilabad district, about 200 km from here, in connection with a case registered against him for making inflammatory speech, targeting the Hindu community. The three-time MLA from the city spent the night at Nirmal police station, facing police interrogation. He was produced before the Nirmal Munsif Magistrate K Agesh Kumar early today who remanded him to judicial custody and directed the police to lodge him at the district jail in Adilabad. The MIM is likely to file a petition in the local court, requesting that their leader be shifted to a jail in Hyderabad in view of better medical facilities. The 42-year-old legislator was arrested a day after his return to the city from London where he reportedly underwent treatment for intestinal injuries sustained in an attack by his rivals over a land dispute here in April 2011. Following court directions, three separate cases have been booked against Owaisi, who is the younger brother of the MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, under IPC Sections 121 (waging or attempting to wage war against the Government of India) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs). The video of his speech, delivered in Nirmal on December 24, has gone viral on social networking sites, recording more than 80,000 views on YouTube. It shows him making provocative remarks against Hindus in crass language. Meanwhile, there was lukewarm response to the bandh call given by MIM in Adilabad and Nizamabad districts today. The police imposed prohibitory orders in Nirmal town and stepped up security to prevent any untoward incident. In Nirmal, the police resorted to cane charge to disperse MIM activists who pelted stones and damaged the media vans parked near the court premises.
Bandh call
The bandh call given by MIM in Adilabad and Nizamabad districts drew lukewarm response on Wednesday. The police imposed prohibitory orders in Nirmal town and stepped up security to prevent any untoward incident.
|
|
|
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas concludes Prabhjot Singh/TNS
Kochi, January 9 "I wish to see the Indian diaspora as a stronger partner not only in India's economic growth but also in building the country's knowledge society while continuing to engage culturally and emotionally besides serving as effective ambassadors," he said. Referring to swelling remittances, the President said that these were testimony to the fact that the overseas Indian community found it emotionally and financially fulfilling to invest back home in the wake of the country's strong economic fundamentals. India, he said, had set up a friendly regime to enable overseas Indians to remit money home under various banking schemes. The President recalled that during his tenure as Finance Minister, he had opened the Indian capital market for qualified foreign investors, the scope of which was subsequently widened. The yield of Indian equity markets is among the highest in the world. The President said that for the last six years, India had seen an 8 per cent growth but due to global factors, the rate had slumped to 6.5 per cent last year and further to 5.4 per cent in the first half of 2012. Since the Indian economy had exhibited its ability to weather external shocks, it would soon be able soon to bring back the economic growth to 8 to 9 per cent. Earlier, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs V Ravi highlighted the measures taken for the welfare of the overseas community in general and that in the Gulf in particular.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the Centre seeking its response to a PIL for striking down legal provisions that virtually let off rapists and murderers if they were below the age of 18 years.
