Sex and CD Scandal: Sid Harth
Sid Harth
TNN 24 November 2009, 12:51am IST
CHENNAI: The Kancheepuram police have approached the Madras high
court, seeking custody of a temple priest whose alleged sexual
activities in the temple's sanctum sanctorum have shocked the state.
S Devanathan, the middle-aged priest who also reportedly filmed the
acts, surrendered before a magistrate on November 16 and was remanded
in judicial custody. On November 18, the judicial magistrate-1 at
Kancheepuram granted just two days of police custody against the
police plea for seven days. The present petition has been filed by the
Sivakanchi police inspector, seeking custody of at least five more
days.
P Kumaresan, state public prosecutor, said no useful investigation
could be completed in two days and that the police wanted to ascertain
whether any crime had been committed by the priest. "He had total
dominion over the temple, where the offence was committed," he told
justice CT Selvam, before whom the matter came up for hearing on
Monday.
The judge admitted the police petition and posted the matter to
Wednesday for further hearing. Notice would be served on Devanathan,
who is at present lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison here.
According to the Sivakanchi police, Devanathan indulged in sexual acts
with several women inside the temple, shocking devotees and others.
Along with the regular offence of criminal intimidation, he has now
been slapped with an offence punishable under Section 295(A) (defiling
of place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class)
of the Indian Penal Code.
Devanathan, who went underground immediately after a Tamil biweekly
broke the story and the police registered a case, surrendered before
the judicial magistrate-1 in Kancheepuram on November 16.
...and I am Sid Harth
Sid Harth
TNN 15 February 2005, 09:39pm IST
AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad city crime branch arrested a priest of the
Vadtal sect of Swaminarayan from Junagadh, along with three others, in
the sex CD scam that rocked the sect recently.
Among those arrested is Junagadh Swaminarayan temple's Swami Bhakti
Swarup who was reportedly caught having sex with a woman in a CD which
got exposed in the media.
The crime branch said it possessed three VCDs containing similar
incidents taped at a Swaminarayan temple in Junagadh, a flat in
Rakhial, Ahmedabad, and another flat in Surat. The videos were being
used by two factions trying to gain supremacy over the Vadtal sect.
Bhakti Swarup, along with Mansukh Patel alias Mansukh Bhagat of Nikol
Road, Bhanu Nagji Patel Saijpur and Thakarsinh Patel of Naroda, were
arrested and booked under 120B (conspiracy), 292, 294, 295 and 420
(cheating) of IPC, Information Technology Act 2000 and Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act.
Additional CP (crime) DG Vanzara said, "Mansukh, Bhanu and Thakarsinh
are touts who used to trap gullible married women for these sadhus.
The 'godmen' used to fool the women with promises of blessing them
with children and material goods. We have got three VCDs of three
different acts.We hope to arrest the other sadhus too," said Vanzara.
Sid Harth
IANS 22 August 2009, 07:18pm IST
HYDERABAD: Police in Andhra Pradesh's temple town of Tirupati on
Saturday booked a case of theft and cheating against the chief priest
of a temple under the control of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD)
for having mortgaged its jewellery to a private lender to raise money
for personal use.
The police also arrested a private lender who gave the priest Rs.1
million for pledging the jewellery and recovered seven gold items
weighing over one kilogram. A police officer said they were trying to
trace three other gold items which the priest got released from the
pawn broker by paying Rs.300,000.
Police booked a case of theft, cheating, criminal breach of trust
against Venkatramana Deekshithulu, the head priest of the TTD-run Sri
Kodandarama Swamy temple. Sagar Lal, the private lender, was also
booked for receiving stolen property.
The incident came to light on Friday evening, sending shock waves in
the TTD and temple circles. The priest's act was exposed when
officials of TTD, which runs the affairs of world's richest Lord
Venkateshwara temple, were conducting an inventory of the ornaments in
all the TTD temples as directed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
The priest, who was custodian of the temple jewellery, also made an
abortive bid to commit suicide by swallowing sleeping pills. He
confessed his crime saying he did it due to poverty. He was later
taken into custody by the police.
Police made some progress in the case on Saturday by recovering seven
of the 10 gold items and arresting the private lender. The recovered
items weigh 1.305 kg.
TTD's chief vigilance office Krishna Rao visited the temple and said
they had launched investigations into the incident. The vigilance
officials also questioned other employees of the temple. He told
reporters that special officers were being appointed to conduct
inventories at all TTD temples.
The High Court had on Thursday directed the TTD to conduct an
inventory of the ornaments in all the TTD temples and submit a
detailed report within two months.
The order came on a petition alleging that the jewellery estimated to
be worth over Rs.50,000 crore was being misappropriated and there was
no accountability.
There are at least a dozen temples and sub-shrines which come under
TTD. The biggest and most famous is Lord Venkateshwara temple atop
Tirumala Hills, which is visited by about 100,000 people every day.
Meanwhile, leader of opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu has demanded a
thorough probe into the property of all the temples in the state.
"When the property of God is not safe under this government, who will
protect the people and their property," he asked.
Sid Harth
TNN 16 September 2009, 02:50am IST
HYDERABAD/TIRUPATI: Here's some sweet news. The famed Tirupati laddu
-- the most sought-after prasadam for lakhs of pilgrims who throng
Tirumala -- too joins the ranks of Darjeeling tea, Madhubani
paintings and Goa feni after it was granted the Geographical
Indication (GI) patent rights. This bars others from naming or
marketing the sweetmeat preparation under the same name.
Temple sources said the Tirupati laddu got the patent rights under the
Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act on
Tuesday. The TTD, which manages the Lord Venkateswara temple in
Tirumala, had applied for GI with Chennai-based Geographical
Indication Registry in March last year to avoid its blackmarketing by
hawkers and middlemen.
"The laddu is now protected under law and nobody can copy it,'' G L
Verma, assistant registrar of trademarks and GI, said. Under GI, the
right to market a product is tied to a definite geographical territory
and the manufactured goods should be produced or processed or prepared
in that territory. P H Kurian, controller-general of patents designs
and trademarks, also confirmed granting of GI status to the Tirupati
laddu.
The Tirupati laddu is the popular name for Srivari laddu, which is
offered as prasadam to the devotees after they worship the Lord. "The
laddus are not produced anywhere in the world and are very unique in
terms of quality, reputation and other characteristics which go into
its making,'' a TTD official said.
"The laddu prasadam came into being in the early 1920s, though some
temple priests claim that it existed even before the 17th century,'' a
former official said. One 175 gm laddu costs Rs 25 now.
Around 1.5 lakh laddus are made daily and the annual revenue from
sales is a whopping Rs 2 crore. Potu (kitchen) workers said 5,000 kg
of besan flour, over 10,000 kg sugar, 1,000 kg cashewnuts, 350 kg
cardamom, about 500 kg ghee, 500 kg sugar candy and 750 kg of raisins
go into the preparation of laddus everyday.
Primarily there are two types of laddus -- small and big. A small
laddu weighs 175 grams whereas the big one weighs 700 grams. The big
one comes with a Rs 1,000 kalyanam puja.
Popular items that have been granted GI tag world over include
champagne and tequilla. The procedure helps in preventing others from
surreptitiously exploiting a brand name that has evolved over a period
of time. Sources said the GI status also provides legal protection and
facilitates for action in case of infringement.
Sid Harth
Minister offers Rs42cr crown at Tirupati temple
TNN 12 June 2009, 01:30am IST
TIRUPATI: Karnataka tourism minister and Bellary mine baron Gali
Janardhan Reddy will probably be better known for something else: with
an offering of a diamond-studded crown worth Rs 42 crore, he became
the biggest donor to Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati since the
Vijayanagara kings 400 years ago.
The 20-kg stunner was a ``thanksgiving'' gesture, the minister said.
Sources added that 32kg of `aparanji (pure)' gold went into its
making, besides 70,000 diamonds weighing 4,000 carats. The 2.5-ft
crown has a huge 890-carat emerald from Africa engraved in the centre
which alone costs around Rs 10 crore.
The crown will be placed the Lord's idol during Abhishekam seva on
Friday morning. It was earlier kept in the Vaibhavotsava Mandapam in
Tirumala and special pujas were performed. After a ritual called
Sahasra Deepalankara seva, it was taken around on a procession along
with the deity, Lord Malayappa Swamy. Around 7pm, the crown was taken
inside the sanctum sanctorum.
Keertilal Jewellers of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu took nine months to
fashion the crown.
There are no records of more expensive donations to the temple and
Gali's donation is considered as the costliest gift offered to the
Lord after the Vijayanagara kings in the 16th century. The
Vijayanagara kings ruled from Hampi not far from modern day Bellary.
With this offering, the total number of crowns placed with the Lord
has gone up to seven. This precious crown has been added to the jewel
treasury of Lord which holds over 11 tonnes of gold ornaments and
vessels.
``I am in this position only with the blessings of Lord Venkateswara.
This is only a small offering to the Lord. I believe in Madhava seva
(service to the Lord),'' said Gali, who owns several iron ore mines.
The minister said his Brahmani Steels, once it starts operation, would
employ 25,000 people. ``This I consider as manava seva (service to
mankind),'' he said. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy's son
Jagan has a large stake in Brahmani Steel that is coming up in the
Andhra chief minister's home district.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 6 December 2009, 02:39am IST
PANAJI: Goa police have submitted a report on three constables, who
sexually abused a commercial sex worker inside a police van and
allegedly shot a video of her with their cellphones and circulated it
among colleagues.
The inquiry into the incident, which occurred 10 months ago, was
completed on November 4 by Calangute police inspector Nolasco Raposo.
The findings were handed over to SP (North) Bosco George on Friday,
superintendent of police Atmaram Deshpande said, but declined to
divulge details. The policemen have been found guilty.
However, ‘‘they have not been charged with rape but only
indiscipline,’’ a senior police officer said. According to police
sources, the trio, including a head constable, accosted the victim,
allegedly a commercial sex worker, standing by a roadside near
Calangute beach and threatened her with arrest if she failed to
fulfill their demands.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Goa-cops-rape-sex-worker-film-act-/articleshow/5306418.cms
bademiyansubhanallah
Govt to extend more security cover to Sabarimala
Pathanamthitta, Thursday 3 December 2009: The Kerala Government is set
to extend more security cover to Sabarimala even after the annual
pilgrimage season, when the Lord Ayyappa Temple remains closed, as
well as during the five-day rituals in every Malayalam month,
according to Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
Mr Balakrishnan was on a visit to Sabarimala on Thursday to review the
security arrangements at the pilgrim centre in the backdrop of the
anniversary of Babri Mosque demolition in Uttar Pradesh 17 years ago.
The Minister said government would explore the possibility of
deploying Kerala Armed Police personnel at Sabarimala during the off-
season period. The Director General of Police, Jacob Punnose, would
submit a detailed report in this regard to the government soon so that
the new system could be in force as soon as the temple closes after
the ongoing Mandalam-Makarailakku pilgrim season in mid-January
itself, he added.
Mr Balakrishnan said that as many as 1400 police personnel have been
presently deployed at Sabarimala and their number would be increased
gradually with the increase in the flow of pilgrims to the holy
hillock. He said as many as 4500 cops would be deployed for crowd
management at Sabarimala during the Makaravilakku festival in January.
The Minister said a total of 18 close circuit televisions (CCTV) have
already been installed at different points at Sabarimala Sannidhanam
as part of security arrangements at the holy hillock. He said more
CCTVs would be installed at various other strategic points, including
the Appam-Aravana plant, soon.
Mr Balakrishnan said one company each of National Disaster Response
Force and Rapid Action Force attached to CRPF have already been
deployed at Sabarimala and more Central forces could be deployed as
and when necessary.
The Home Minister said steps would be taken to establish an
intelligence sharing mechanism on Sabarimala at the State Police
Headquarters in Thiruvanathapuram soon. He said the proposed system
was aimed at properly co-ordinating the informations and inputs
received from various Central as well as State intelligence agencies
that include Intelligence Bureau, RAW, CBI, etc.
The Minister said co-ordination and liaison between various
departments at Sabarimala should be ensured in the larger interests of
fine tuning the functioning of the official machinery which was
essential for the smooth conduct of the annual pilgrim season.
Heads of various departments on duty at Sabarimala would convene a
review meeting on a daily basis, he added. After visiting the police
barracks and police mess, the Minister said the basic facility
provided for the police force at Sabarimala was satisfactory and the
TDB as well as Police department would jointly take steps to provide
more cooking vessels to the police mess.
Mr Balakrishnan also stressed the need for the service of more
volunteers at Sabarimala. He said the government and TDB would seek co-
operation of Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom in this regard. The
Home Minister, accompanied by Devaswom Minister, Ramachandran
Kadannappally, Addittional Chief Secretary, K.Jayakumar who is also
the TDB Chief Commissioner and Director General of Police, Jacob
Punnose, convened two separate meetings of police officials and heads
of various Government departments and TDB at the Devaswom
Administrative Complex at the Sannidhanam on Thursday.
Additional DGP, P.Chandrashekharan, Inspector General of Police,
A.Hemachandran, District Superintendent of Police, K.K.Chellappan and
Devaswom Executive Officer, V.S.Jayakumar, were among those who
attended the meeting.
http://www.asianetindia.com/news/govt-extend-security-cover-sabarimala_107052.html
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Sunday , Dec 06, 2009 at 1436 hrs
Ahmedabad:
A complaint has been filed against Asaram Bapu and two others for
allegedly attempting to murder a former follower of the religious guru
here, police said.
The FIR has been lodged following an attack on Raju Chandak, who was
shot at by two unknown persons in Ramnagar locality of Sabarmati late
last night, they said.
According to the police, based on the statement of Chandak,
recuperating in a private hospital here, Asaram has been made the
prime accused on whose alleged instance the two men fired at him while
he was returning home on a motorcycle.
8 Comments
Asaram
By: Manish Desai | Monday , 7 Dec '09 4:36:17 AM
Some of us are like previous email want to believe that this is for
discredit Hindu religion. I am Hindu and a brahmin. Having seen and
heard first hand about this so called Asarambapu, let me assure you
that he has nothing to do with teachings of Hindu religion. His ashram
has encroached on poor peoples land. There are two documented murder
investigation going on about murders of two young boy on asharam
property implicating so called bapu. Please don't bring religion into
this. This is a crook and needs to be called crook.
Is the Hindu Religion embodied in asaram?
By: AH | Monday , 7 Dec '09 3:13:02 AM
Asarams, Maulvis, Shankaracharyas, etc etc come and go and behave like
humans, because they ARE humans. Nambiar ji- Do you sincerely think
that a way of life as expansive and resilient as the Hindu religion,
trivial enough to be embodied in an individual? do we really want to
relate Asaram with the Hindu religion, does he even qualify?
Attempt to murder case filed against Ashram...
By: Ashok | Monday , 7 Dec '09 2:48:26 AM
I endorse the views expressed by Hary Nambiar. Indian Express comes
acorss more like Pakistan Express or Islamic Express or Psuedosecular
Express than a balanced Indian newspapre. Any person is free to file a
complaint against a religious person or organisation for any malafied
intentions but that does not prove any crime. Shankaracharya is case
in ponit. His arrest made headlines in psuedosecular newspapers and
leftist-Islam-loving TV channels but his release was a very hushed up
affair. Papers like Indian Express are likely to burn their fingers
again.
mr
By: ashenvi | Monday , 7 Dec '09 1:37:09 AM
I agree with Mambiar. TOI is not reporting but giving judgement. TOI
is a Playboy news paper.
rahul
By: rahul | Monday , 7 Dec '09 0:23:18 AM
this is christian gameplan this guy raju chandak as his name was is
himself a broker of news coverages as with the recent events. recently
plotting mischievous actions on ashram itself having being caught red
handed in a sting operation. he retorted to another media campaign I
am deeply troubled seeing this kind of news published without proof on
this newspaper.
bapu Asaram
By: vijailugani | Sunday , 6 Dec '09 20:55:14 PM
so called asrarms ,madarsas,and orphanhouses run by churches should be
strictly controled by govt agencies otherwise they will become the
centre of immoarlity and terrorism as it happened in pakistan.
This is an allegation only. Your report sounds that the accused is
guilty
By: Hary Nambiar | Sunday , 6 Dec '09 17:57:04 PM
A complaint has been made by a victim that a couple of unknown persons
have shot at him. The victim has accused a certain individual. This
may be a case like that happened in Tamil Nadu where one of the
Sankaracharya was arrested for a similar complaint. It was not proved.
There are many people and organizations working to discredit Hindu
religion. Does this newspaper want to be one of them? The wording of
your caption leads to that conclusion.
fail to understand
By: gurpreet | Sunday , 6 Dec '09 23:12:31 PM
well it just says case filed ? where does it say guilty?just go to any
jail in the country 90% of jailed persons come from poor backgrounds,
in our country if you are rich and famous you can not be touched so
dont worry about the baba he will not go to jail , doesnt matter he is
guilty or not. relax
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/attempt-to-murder-case-filed-against-asaram-bapu/550589/
bademiyansubhanallah
Express News Service
Posted: Monday , Dec 07, 2009 at 0409 hrs
Ahmedabad:
The religious leader has also been booked under the Arms Act.
A case of attempt to murder was registered against spiritual guru
Asaram Bapu on Sunday by one of his former followers.
The 68-year-old religious guru faces two serious charges under the
Indian Penal Code (IPC) — attempt to murder and hatching criminal
conspiracy. He has also been booked under provisions of the Arms Act.
An FIR lodged in the Sabarmati police station here on Sunday morning
frames Asaram and two unidentified persons under IPC Sections 307
(attempt to murder), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and 114 (abetting
the offence). The trio has also been booked under Section 25 (1) of
the Arms Act.
Raju Chandrak, a resident of Mahaveer Apartment at Ramnagar in
Sabarmati, lodged the FIR following an attack on him late on
Saturday.
Chandrak (47), a former follower of Asaram Bapu, was shot at by two
unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants. The incident occurred near
the Railway marriage hall in the Sabarmati area around 10 pm, when
Chandrak was passing through the area on his motorcycle.
“The accused, who were trailing Chandrak, overtook his bike near a
lonely stretch and the pillion rider opened fire at him. Chandrak was
hit twice on his back and once on his right shoulder,” said Sabarmati
Inspector M B Joshi.
Chandrak was rushed to a private nursing home in Memnagar and was
immediately operated upon. “Chandrak is recuperating, but according to
the doctors, he is still in a critical stage,” Joshi added. In his
statement to the Sabarmati police in the wee hours on Sunday, Chandrak
held Asaram Bapu responsible for the attack.
According to Chandrak, the attack was a fallout of a statement he had
made against Asaram Bapu while deposing before the D K Trivedi
Commission, which is probing into the mysterious deaths of two Asaram
Ashram-run gurukul boys. Joshi said: “Based on his statement, we have
booked Asaram Bapu and two unidentified persons on charges of attempt
to murder, hatching conspiracy and under the provisions of the Arms
Act.”
He, however, added: “All these charges are allegations by Chandrak.
Investigations are underway and
the actual reason behind the incident as well as the names of the
accused can be ascertained only after proper investigation.”
Comments (4) |
Defending My Guruji and Ashram
By: manikantan nair | 07-Dec-2009
..and Other intellectuals of society to come and check themselves what
is happening. Let the Sanity prevails upon all, let everybody see the
truth, listen to the truth, and speak only the TRUTH. I thank everbody
who reads my comments and supports it, and those who don't support,
leT GOD give them sattbuddhi ( pure mind) to discriminate between
truth and untruth. Thank You, Hariom!!
Defending My Guruji and Ashram
By: manikantan nair | 07-Dec-2009
..Many CMs and Former CMs of North and Western India, Many Hotshots of
Various Political Parties across the line, so many Big Bureaucrats who
regularly visited our Guruji's Satsang discourses are silent, not even
one of them have come out in support of Guruji. Its seems that's why
they are politicians, they need blessing, moral support in time of
need, only to forgotten during such situations. It does not matter, we
disciples of Guruji who are more than crores across country and
outside India will do whatever to bring such BASTARDS to the book.
Those who Lived in ashram and seen Guruji very Closely are the only
persons who understand how dirty malicious allegations have been
posted in FIR. LET ME CLEARLY TELL OTHER READERS THAT THEY SHOULD
SUPPORT WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS NOT. TO SUPPORT TRUTH IS JUST AND TO
STOP WHO ARE INTO EVIL IS WHAT EVERYBODY EXPECTED TO DO. Media and
their readers should understand by the mere fact that Guruji and
Ashram have themselves invited Press, Lawyers.
patil
By: madhavrao bajirao patil | 07-Dec-2009
Gujrat politicians are engaged to malign to Shree ASARAM bapu beacuase
they are jealious against asaram Infact asaram is belonging sindhi
community & not tolerating gujarati community to accept sindhi man as
saint.gujarati community bringing pressura on modi to malign Shree
asaram.high earning, & publicity of Shree asaram causing jealiousness
among gujarati community In past gujarati tried to malign Shree
narayan shastri athawale also.
a web of lies and conspiracy
By: sunanda pandit | 07-Dec-2009
The above story is another addition in false allegations against
asaramji bapu.For last few months some politicians and industrialist
in Gujrat have started hate campaign against beloved guru of nation.If
you look at all the charity work done by ashram including rural
development,running child charities,cow charities its
unbelieveable.whatever donations,or profits ashram earn by selling
books,dvds and other stuff,they put it all back in welfare of people.
no wonder bapuji is so popular and now have enemies who are jealous of
him. Its a shame media is only showing one side of story without doing
proper investigation.In so called modren and superpower India,a holy
soul has been harrassed and no one raises voice.When will we wake up
and stop being puppets to politicians.I hope Express editor publishes
it and also investigate other side of story and bring truth to the
world.
bademiyansubhanallah
Express News Service
Posted: Friday , Jul 03, 2009 at 0010 hrs
Ahmedabad:
Based on the lie detector test of three sadhaks of the Asaram Ashram,
the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Gandhinagar has concluded that
black magic is being performed inside the ashram and that the three
are aware about the same.
This revelation was made by CID (Crime) officials in their affidavit
submitted before the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday.
CID official H B Rajput made this submission in his affidavit-in-reply
to a petition by the fathers of two children who were found dead on
the riverbed of Sabarmati in July last year. The bodies were recovered
two days after they went missing from the ashram-run Gurukul under
mysterious circumstances. Some of the organs were missing from the
bodies.
Explaining the investigations done by the CID, Rajput has made
reference to the ‘black magic’ part and the lie detector test of
Minketan Patra, Vikas Khemka and Uday Sanghani.
“The FSL, after conducting the test on the trio, submitted its report,
interalia, concluding that all the three persons knew about the black
magic performed in the ashram. They were also aware about the
activities carried out at the ashram, but they were concealing the
same,” said Rajput in the affidavit.
It may be noted here that the petitioners have demanded investigation
in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation, as they feel there
is lacuna in the investigation carried out by the state agency, CID.
Comments (2) |
Black Magic or Incorrect Conclusion
By: Nishant | 06-Jul-2009
Conviction in a court of law cannot happen on the basis of lie
detector tests - there has to be thorough evidence provided to prove
guilt - frankly all CID is doing by trying to release these findings
is buy more time to actually find who is responsible - just catch the
real culprits instead of blaming an institution - which is the easy
way out
Wake up gujaratis....
By: kranti | 03-Jul-2009
Gujarat is a land of TANTRIK BAVAS and FAKE GURUS.I hope gujaratis
will wake up and take some strong actions.It is about time govt of
Hindutava samrat modi do something before it is too late.
bademiyansubhanallah
Parimal Dabhi
Posted: Thursday , Jan 22, 2009 at 0119 hrs
Ahmedabad:
Cries conspiracy against ‘sadhu-sants’ in his statement given to CID
Crime in the case of mysterious death of two minor boys
In a significant development, CID Crime officials have recorded the
statement of Asaram Bapu in the case of mysterious deaths of two minor
boys of the Gurukul run by Asaram Ashram.
Asaram Bapu has, in his statement, denied allegations levelled against
him and his ashram following the death of the two children. He has
also called the allegations part of a conspiracy to tarnish the image
of ‘sadhu-sants’ of India.
According to CID Crime officials, Asaram’s statement was recorded on
January 16 when he was in the city to hold a religious camp organised
by his ashram in Motera village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Inspector H B Rajput of CID Crime, who is investigating the case,
said, “The incident was related to the Asaram Ashram and Asaram Bapu
is its authority. So, we went to record his statement in the ashram on
January 16 when he was there to attend the religious shibir organised
by the ashram.”
According to Rajput, they questioned Asaram for about two-and-a-half
hours during which he denied all charges levelled against him and the
ashram.
“He said he was in Nagpur when the two boys went missing. When one of
his followers, Bharat, informed him about the incident, he had
instructed his men in Ahmedabad ashram to look for the boys,” said
Rajput.
“He has also denied the allegations that exorcism is performed in the
ashram,” Rajput added.
When asked about Asaram’s views on the attack on media and other
people residing near his ashram on July 18 last year, Rajput said,
“Those incidents do not come under our jurisdiction and so we asked
him questions related only to the issue of the death of two boys,
which is being investigated by CID Crime.”
“We will verify the statement with the facts of the case and necessary
steps will be taken,” he added.
The CID Crime officials had asked Asaram to record his statement on
January 15, but, he showed his willingness to do so on January 16. So,
Rajput went to Asaram Ashram in Motera to record his statement, which
runs into four pages, said sources.
Two minor boys – Dipesh and Abhishek – had gone missing from the
Gurukul in July last year. The boys’ mutilated bodies were recovered
from the Sabarmati riverbed near the ashram one day after their
disappearance. The mysterious deaths of the two children had led to a
public outcry with the parents of the two children calling it an act
of sorcery.
Following the public agitation against the investigation carried out
by the local police in the case, the investigation was handed over to
the CID Crime. A commission has also been appointed under the
chairmanship of a retired high court judge to look into the
circumstances in which the two boys were found dead and the subsequent
police investigation.
Comments (3) |
Asaram Bapu
By: Mahender Chawla | 28-Jan-2009
Asaram is a child molester , criminal,fake n fraud. He can purchase
police also. ASARAM AND HIS SON BOTH ARE TANTRIK (BLACKMAGICIAN). WE
HAVE SOLID EVIDENCE IF ANY BODY WANT TO SEE COME TO US. ASARAM N HIS
SON NARAYAN PRACTICED TANTRA VIDYA IN ASHRAM
Whats wrong
By: Naveen | 22-Jan-2009
CID officials have found nothing against ashram yet, and they will not
bcoz Ashram is not involved in murder, but the deaths were natural.
Congress conspiracy
By: govi | 22-Jan-2009
The Congress is definitely involved to malign the Sant. They are
treading on our toes. We need to rebel people as our freedom is at
stake. What kind of government is this. Each time we get to see some
tamasha against our people. Be responsible citizens and do what it
takes to secure your country vote them out asap.I am sure Antulay/
Ahmed/Amar Singh/Sonia and her son are definitely involved.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/asaram-denies-allegations-against-him-ashram/413788/0
bademiyansubhanallah
Express News Service
Posted: Thursday , Jan 08, 2009 at 0023 hrs
Ahmedabad:
For the first time in six months, Praful Vaghela and Shantilal Vaghela
— fathers of the two children who were found dead on the Sabarmati
riverbed in July last year — appeared before the Justice D K Trivedi
Commission on January 5.
Surprisingly, the Vaghela brothers deposed before the commission only
after it sent them summons.
The commission is investigating into the mysterious deaths of the two
children. The minor boys, Dipesh and Abhishek, were studying at the
Asaram Ashram-run Gurukul.
They went missing on July 3 and their mutilated bodies were found two
days later.
According to sources in the commission, both Praful and Shantilal have
submitted separate affidavits of nearly nine pages each.
They have explained in the affidavits the circumstances in which the
bodies were recovered from the riverbed and the subsequent police
action or inaction.
Sources further said the two have also submitted a separate document
explaining as to why they suspect that their sons could be victims of
black magic.
The Vaghelas were summoned by the commission after they did not
appear
before it on their own, sources said.
Following which, Shantilal appeared before the probe panel and sought
time to submit the affidavit.
The commission was formed by the state government on July 21, 2008. It
is supposed to submit its report by April 20.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ashram-boys-death-fathers-depose-before-probe-panel/408014/
bademiyansubhanallah
Syed Khalique Ahmed
Posted: Thursday , Jan 08, 2009 at 0022 hrs
Ahmedabad:
Ashram possesses over 65,000 sq m of agricultural land, says
surveyors
The state government is all set to initiate action to recover the
agricultural land allegedly grabbed by the Asaram Bapu Ashram at
Motera village, in the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
A survey of the land belonging to the Ashram conducted jointly by land-
record officials of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts found that the
Ashram was occupying surplus land, which it did not own.
According to officials in the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, over
65,000 square metres of agricultural land was found to have been
grabbed by the Ashram. “An action to recover the land will be
initiated under Section 61 of the Land Revenue Code,” a Collectorate
official said.
Deputy Collector Harshad Vora confirmed that the surveyors had found
that the Ashram possessed extra land. “It is agricultural land. We
will issue notices to the Ashram authorities, asking them to prove
their ownership claim,” said Vora.
“In case they fail to prove their claim with concrete evidence, we
will take steps to take back the land,” said Vora.
The state government had initiated suo motu action in the matter
following a controversy arising of the mysterious death of two minor
boys of the Ashram-run Gurukul in July 2008.
The boys were reported to have gone missing after having dinner on
July 3.
On July 5, their disfigured bodies were found lying on the Sabarmati
riverbed behind the Ashram building. The incident had stunned the
citizens and an agitation against the Ashram authorities rocked the
city for several days.
As many villagers had been accusing the Ashram authorities of grabbing
their land, they too joined the agitation.
While the state government ordered a probe into the matter by the CID
(crime), a suo motu action was also initiated to ascertain if the
Ashram had grabbed the land as alleged by the villagers.
Comments (1) |
Asaram Bapu
By: Mahender Chawla | 28-Jan-2009 Reply | Forward
Asaram is a land grabber . There are so many land grabbing case
against asaram in GUJRAT,MP,delhi,rajasthan etc.......
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-to-act-against-asaram-ashram-to-recover-grabbed-land/408011/0
bademiyansubhanallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Panaji, December 08, 2009
First Published: 16:01 IST(8/12/2009)
Last Updated: 16:03 IST(8/12/2009)
Three policemen who allegedly forced a sex worker to perform oral sex
in a police control room (PCR) van could go scot-free as, according to
a senior official, no criminal action is possible unless the victim is
traced.
Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande said no criminal complaint
would be registered against head constable Santosh Naik for allegedly
having oral sex while two other police constables filmed the act. Naik
has been suspended.
"A complaint would be filed only if the woman comes forward and
deposes before the enquiry. It could be consensual sex. Otherwise they
will be only dealt with departmentally," Deshpande told IANS.
Police claim the sex worker cannot be traced.
Deshpande said forceful oral sex did not amount to rape and only
attracts the charge of molestation.
The statement has sparked outrage among women's groups.
"We have written to the director general of police to file a first
information report (FIR) against three policemen. A mere departmental
enquiry will simply not do. Police are not taking crimes against women
seriously," Auda Viegas, convenor of a leading women's rights group
Bailancho Manch, told IANS.
It was in February that Naik and two other constables driving a PCR
van pulled up next to a sex worker near Calangute beach, pulled her
into their official vehicle and allegedly threatened her with arrest
if she did not perform oral sex.
The sex act with the head constable was then filmed by one of the
constables on a mobile phone camera. The MMS was circulated among the
constabulary before the higher-ups in the police got wind of it and
started an enquiry.
bademiyansubhanallah
Press Trust Of India
Panaji, December 08, 2009
First Published: 17:34 IST(8/12/2009)
Last Updated: 17:45 IST(8/12/2009)
A local court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to John Fernandes,
the main accused in the Russian girl rape case, but ordered him to
surrender the car and other materials required for investigation in
the case.
South Goa District and Sessions Judge U V Bakre ordered the bail,
asking the police to release the accused on a bail amount of Rs 30,000
in case of his arrest.
John (34), a local politician accused of raping a 25-year-old Russian
girl, had moved the court for anticipatory bail. The girl had claimed
that John raped her by spiking her drink at Colva beach on the night
of December 1.
The court also directed the accused to handover clothes worn by him at
the time of the alleged incident, along with the undergarments of the
victim, which were apparently left behind in the car on the fateful
night.
John, who has been evading arrest since the incident, had contested
the previous Assembly elections, narrowly losing to state Tourism
Minister Francisco Pacheco.
Meanwhile, the victim in a letter to the Russian consulate in Mumbai
has complained that the police was not co-operating with her. She
alleged that police had even asked her to tone down her rape complaint
to mere molestation.
bademiyansubhanallah
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, December 08, 2009
First Published: 18:52 IST(8/12/2009)
Last Updated: 18:55 IST(8/12/2009)
A Delhi court on Tuesday convicted one person in the sensational
Dhaula Kaun rape case of 2005 where a Delhi University student was
abducted by four men and raped in a moving car.
Additional Sessions Judge N.K. Gupta convicted Ajit Singh Katiyar for
rape and kidnapping. He was the only person arrested in the case.
The court will pronounce quantum of punishment on Dec 10.
Sid Harth
DNA Tuesday, December 8, 2009 10:10 IST
Ahmedabad: Will Asaram Bapu be arrested in the case in which a former
sadhak was fired at by two assailants on Saturday night?This is the
question doing rounds after the case of Raju Chandak being shot at
came to light. Chandak was allegedly facing threats from aides of
Asaram prior to the incident.
It should be noted that though few sadhaks were arrested and the
ashram itself came under cloud after the mysterious death of two boys
of the gurukul, Asaram himself was not touched by the Gujarat police.
Asaram Bapu has been accused by Chandak of being the brain behind the
firing incident that happened in the Sabarmati area.
The FIR lodged by Chandak names Asaram and two others for attempt to
murder. As per the rules, police are required to immediately act
against a person if he is named in an FIR and faces charges as serious
as attempt to murder. DNA sought legal opinions on the matter.
"As per the orders of various high courts and the Supreme Court, the
police should immediately take action against any person who is named
in a police complaint. In the present case, Chandak has clearly named
Asaram and it is reason enough for the police to take action against
him," said lawyer Rajesh Modi, of sessions court.
However, another lawyer said that the police should nab the main
accused first and then look for the conspirator. "The police should
first trace the main accused who fired at Chandak and then take action
against Asaram Bapu. It is a general principle of law that police
should nab the main accused and if he or she names a conspirator, then
the police can take against the conspirator," said PA Jadeja, lawyer
of Gujarat high court.
Another city lawyer expressed views similar to Jadeja's. "Until and
unless the accused are identified and arrested, the police cannot
approach a person who is alleged to have been involved in an offence.
This is the case even if the person has been named by the victim. The
police should first identify the assailant," said Hashim Qureshi,
lawyer of Gujarat high court.
"In the present case, if the police think it is the prima facie case
they can arrest Bapu," opined RK Shah, a HC lawyer.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_will-asaram-bapu-be-arrested-for-attack-on-ex-sadhak_1321356
chhotemianinshallah
Prakash Kamat
PANAJI: The police will on Thursday move the Goa Bench of the Bombay
High Court against the grant of anticipatory bail to John Fernandes
who has been accused in the December 1 case of rape of a Russian
tourist.
Superintendent of Police Atmaram Deshpande said security was given to
the 25-year-old victim, who on Wednesday publicly expressed anguish at
the grant of anticipatory bail by a local court in Margao in south
Goa, and also complained of harassment.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/10/stories/2009121055280100.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Sex workers are not criminals. At least, not by virtue of sex work
alone. The suggestion of the Supreme Court that prostitution be
legalized may not have focused particularly on this truth, but
legalization would make it official. The court has, in effect,
suggested what sex workers’ groups in various parts of the country
have been demanding for years now. In principle, sex work can be
regarded as any other kind of work; it is upto the individual whether
he or she wishes to sell their body or their musical talent in order
to make a living. The question becomes complicated, at least partly,
because intimate sexual contact with the body is loaded with cultural
and social significance, and is posited, ideologically, as shameful
trade pitted against the ‘sacred’ institution of marriage.
Any approach to the legalization of sex work has to be freed of this
baggage. But around the core issue of legalization, the questions are
various and nuanced. One is the issue of decriminalization. Soliciting
and procuring are both criminal activities in India at present, and
the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act is supposed to be implemented
against these as well as against child prostitution and forced
prostitution. In practice, however, PITA becomes an instrument of
blackmail against the sex worker; it is she who pays, in cash and
kind, not only the police and local musclemen, but also procurers and
brothel-owners and a whole network of underworld figures who appear on
her limited horizon. This is apart from the violence and insecurity to
which she is routinely subject. Her client is never penalized. In some
countries in which prostitution is legal, paying for sex is
punishable. The details of the way legalization of sex work are worked
out, therefore, reflect that particular society’s moral thinking in
interesting ways. But legalizing the profession may at least free sex
workers from ceaseless harassment.
There is another argument for legalization. Bringing hidden activity
out into the light is the surest way of ridding it of the aura of
crime and illegality. It would close down routes of illegal income
from sex workers, and grant them the freedom to be the determining
agents of their own lives. Besides, it would have a hugely positive
impact on the identification and treatment of AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases. At the same time, legalizing sex work — should
India decide to do so — would need careful study of the systems and
experiences of countries in which sex work is legal. Because of the
unique status of the body in human culture and the burdensome
associations of the sex act — from love, procreation, delight and
worship to exploitation, coercion, violence, transgression and
betrayal — there is no one perfect route that legalization can follow.
India would need to evolve laws in such a way as to protect the newly
lawful sex worker from the grasp of big criminal organizations, and to
ensure that it does not become a favoured destination of human
traffickers and sex tourists.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091212/jsp/opinion/story_11851832.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
Mallika Sarabhai
Sunday, December 13, 2009 8:59 IST
Last night I was in a televised debate about the recent Supreme Court
recommendation to the governmentabout legalizing the sex trade.
Contrary to most people's understanding the sex trade is not banned in
India. Trafficking is, as is soliciting. Red light areas, though they
flourish, are illegal and sex workers are exploited not only by their
brothel owners and pimps but also by the police. There are believed to
be one crore sex workers in the country, about 30% of them trafficked
minors. India has increasingly become a transit and depository area
for world wide trafficking.
The issue in question is whether legalizing the profession will help
protect the human rights of the workers or will it be an open
invitation to more trafficking. The question has many sub texts and it
is easy, as happened in the debate last night, to fall back on the age
old 'hamari sanskriti' nonsense - everything from the WEST is about
giving licence to women to strip and throw dust in the eyes of pure
Sita and Savitri. And to the rhetorical (and absurd) red
herringquestion which invariably follows, "Do you want to make your
daughter and sisters into prostitutes?'
Here are the arguments that were against legalization:
1. It will be an invitation to trafficking women especially minors
2. It will be an open acknowledgement of license to normal women to
undress in public and flaunt their bodies (this from a man who quoted
Sita as the true Indian woman)
3. It will be seen as though we permit the exploitation of women's
bodies
One of the proponents of this line wished the trade to be
decriminalized but not legalized i.e to get the police out of the
picture and another body to be set up for social disfunction such as
this and drug peddling and domestic issues.
The arguments for the legalization were:
1.Today sex workers are always frightened - of being caught, harassed,
beaten, used. If they had legal status this would change
2.Giving them legal status is like giving them all the insurances that
a service industry worker gets - medical benefits, child protection, a
modicum of respect and a life without fear of being discovered and
punished. As is often the case the programme becamea shouting match
with people bringing in all sorts of extra agenda. And the real
discussion got side tracked. Why is it that we are incapable of calm
discussion or cogent argument?
My points are the following. We live in a highly gender biased
society, biased against women and their bodies. We also live in a
society witha high incidence of violence against women, where marital
rape is common and accepted as part of the duties of being a wife.
Even to murder a daughter if she errs sexually or romantically is
gaining increasing community and caste authorization. Yes in an ideal
world men wouldn't need to fulfil their urges by buying sex and women
wouldn't be reduced to bodies.
But we are far from this world. Given that men do need sex to be
bought, and given that many women are forced, by penury, hunger,
circumstances or threats, to make a living from their bodies, the only
thing they have, isn't it better to protect them and give them the
benefits that their jobs require and demand? As to the argument that
legalizing the sex trade would lead to more trafficking , I would like
to point out the results of banning or prohibiting things - this just
increase demand. Look at the sale of liquor in Gujarat.
Of course mass scale education is the need of the day - to change
attitudes, stigmas and what not. But this would be a wise and timely
step for the government to take.
And while we are at it, why not stigmatize the"good" men who go to use
their services instead?
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/column_sex-trade-don-t-forget-ban-leads-to-more-demand_1323114
Sid Harth
Gurcharan Das Saturday December 12, 2009, 12:49 AM
The conviction this week of Ajeet Singh Katiyar in Delhi in the
notorious Dhaula Kuan gang rape case of a university student from
Mizoram is good news. More important than the conviction is the 71-
page judgement of the court, which admonished the defence for
maligning the victim and maintained that the private life of the
victim is irrelevant. "A lady who has lost her virginity is not
unreliable," said the judge, whose verdict was primarily based on the
victim's consistent testimony.
We seem to have come a long way from the 1979 case of 16-year-old
Mathura, who was raped by two policemen within a police compound, when
the court acquitted the policemen on the grounds that Mathura had
eloped with her boyfriend and "was habituated to sexual intercourse".
This case ultimately went to the Supreme Court, which sadly upheld the
verdict. It became a landmark case, which went on to energise the
women's movement in India.
There were echoes in this week's judgement of another historic case -
that of Hanuffa Khatoon, who was gang raped in 1998 at the Howrah
station by railway employees. In that case, the Supreme Court, in an
unprecedented judgement, held rape to be a violation of the
fundamental right to live with human dignity. The court said: "Rape is
a crime not only against the person of a woman, it is crime against
the entire society...Rape is therefore the most hated crime."
It is to literature that one turns to understand the human moral
condition. The Mahabharata offers an amazing moment of insight about
women's status. After Yudhishthira loses everything in a game of dice
to Shakuni, queen Draupadi is dragged by Dushasana into the assembly
of nobles to humiliate her. She cries out, "This foul man, disgrace of
the Kauravas, is molesting me, and i cannot bear it." She reveals a
right-wing conspiracy to steal her husband's kingdom in a rigged game
of dice and looks to the elders in the assembly at Hastinapur for
justice. But they fail her. Most disappointing is selfless Bhishma,
who says "A woman and a slave are the property of others." In the end,
as every Indian child knows, only her never-ending saree protects
Draupadi from being disrobed.
The attempted public disrobing of Draupadi is consistent with the
moral paradigm of patriarchy. Karna's revolting remarks show that
patriarchal culture divides women into angels and whores. Draupadi has
become a 'whore' in Kaurava eyes after their 'defeat' of the Pandavas.
Their big-chested masculinity does not allow them to think that this
unhappy person could have been 'me'. Their wish to humiliate her is
also related to the disgust that many men feel towards the sexual act.
All cultures contain the seeds of violence when it comes to female
sexuality. Tolstoy's famous novella, The Kreutzer Sonata, grew out of
the Russian writer's own relationship with his wife, and it describes
the events that lead to her murder. The husband has violent and
humiliating sex with her, and he feels miserable each time he rapes
her. Since she is merely an object of bestial desire, he decides that
he must kill her to put an end to his misery. Only after her death
does she become 'human' in his eyes.
It is tempting to believe in the cynical French saying that the more
something changes the more it remains the same. In two areas, however,
there has been dramatic advance in human equality. One is the almost
complete elimination of slavery in the world and the other is the
recent rise in the status of women, even in urban India. Indian law
has done its bit in addressing the issues of property, dowry and
domestic violence (and some claim that it may even have gone too far).
But the real change has come with the dramatic rise in women's
education and job opportunities in a rapidly growing economy. Two-
thirds of India's women still live in villages, of course, and they
have a long way to go but India is rapidly urbanising and they too
will soon feel the change.
Comments(8)
Sharda Bhargav - The Confiscated Soul says:
December 12,2009 at 04:42 AM IST
Sir, time to assure the women that their diginity will be protected at
all costs.
The criminals who violate the dignity of women, will not be spared and
awarded exemplary punishment.
The attitude of men, who induldge in disrespect to women, needs
change. If any such incident happens, society must view it seriouly
and help the law enforcing authorities to bring the culprit to
justice. Sometimes people show indifference and don't react if women
are troubled in front of them. This trend should not be allowed.
The responsibilty of protecting women's dignity is that of all of us.
Agree (6)
Disagree (0)
Recommend (1)
Satbir Singh Bedi says:
December 12,2009 at 01:42 PM IST
Draupdi's case is a symbol of women's protest at male dominance. If
men could have so many wives then she showed that women too could have
so many husbands. She keeps her hair undone till she washes them with
the blood of Dushashan who tried to make her naked. She had really
upheld the women's right to live with dignity. This was our culture in
the era of Lord Krishna who helped Draupdi with his supernatural
powers but we lost this culture when we were subjugated by the Muslim
invaders who were very backward in so far as women's rights were
concerned. Then the Purdah (Veil) system came into being and the right
of the women to get educated was withdrawn. Now, once again, we are
faced with Taliban in our Indo-Pak sub-continent who do not want to
see educated women and want to end women's rights. Regarding rape, the
male who commits rape on a female, should be castrated so that he may
suffer for the rest of his life. This may seem harsh but it would
protect the women from getting raped.
Agree (6)
Disagree (0)
Recommend (2)
Raunak says:
December 12,2009 at 06:33 PM IST
I think the only way to make the world a safer place for women to live
in is to teach men to respect women and treat them with dignity right
from childhood.
Agree (3)
Disagree (0)
Recommend (2)
sheeba says:
December 12,2009 at 07:13 PM IST
a great insight into the psyche of a man.
Agree (1)
Arunkumar says:
December 12,2009 at 09:58 PM IST
isn't it sex education what is needed... when boys [as well as girls]
grow up starved of knowledge of sex, its retardation of growth as a
good human being. this is one of the reason people are attracted to
pornography, both good n bad.
respect can't be gained/created thru rules. lets help the new
generations...
Prem Nizar Hameed says:
December 12,2009 at 11:43 PM IST
Good article. The Mahabharata gives many lessons to learn. Lessons
mean something we want to learn to practise. For slavery, the system
may be abolished, but, I think, mentatlity still exists some part of
the world. And ceertain parts in India too.
JC Joshi says:
December 13,2009 at 07:14 AM IST
Who would not want the world to be fit for oneself for comfortable
life as long as one finds oneself on earth? And therefore, on the
whole, for every single being, including women the creator of human
life at the first place, the origin, or the ‘root’?
Due to various apparent factors, however, We The People generally tend
to tackle - at any given point in time - some particular aspect of
human life at random and not in an integrated manner…
Life, in the form of plants in its natural environment, ie, the forest
where there exists a grand variety of forms - with the obvious
struggle for existence - provides the best example, or image, of human
system too on the common entity called earth. And it is well known in
the ‘present’ that earth ‘naturally’
exists for over 4 billion years irrespective of the vagaries of
nature, through heat or cold, happiness or unhappiness among its
inhabitants, etc. at certain particular region or location on the
globe…
Maybe thus, at any given point in time, one could learn from plant
life (that although similarly born from different ‘seedsâ
€™, unlike humans are attached through their roots to the common
support and provider, the earth) in general where there too,
similarly, exists hierarchy. That is, at any given duration of time
some particular life forms only are basically cultured for many
particular end uses, which all the particular persons together are
interested in for economical exploitation by innumerable â
€˜experts’ who are literates (and only modest among them know
that they don’t know everything yet); or illiterates, ie,
‘farmers’ who traditionally are engaged in the field
of agriculture through many generations…
Ziauddin Shafi says:
December 13,2009 at 12:16 PM IST
It was Prophet Muhammed's vision to create such an atmosphere of
complete safety and security wherein it should be possible for a lone
woman to travel on camel back from Yemen in the south all the way to
Makkah in the north of Arabian Peninsula. Alas - such a vision of
providing complete safety and security for women is yet to come true
anywhere in the world!
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/men-and-ideas/entry/wanted-a-world-fit-for
bademiyansubhanallah
Abhay Vaidya
Monday, December 14, 2009 1:38 IST
My Experiments With Sex could well have been the title of the other
bestseller by Mahatma Gandhi.
Throughout his life and right into his old age, Gandhi tried to
comprehend the power of sexual urges and shared his thoughts through
his writings. Becoming increasingly spiritual as he progressed in
life, he decided to become celibate after 36. As is well documented by
Ved Mehta in Mahatma Gandhi And His Apostles and other books by Nirmal
Kumar Bose, Erik H Erikson, and by Larry Collins and Dominique
Lapierre in Freedom At Midnight, Gandhi put himself to the test by
taking naked women to bed.
With rare courage, he confessed in his autobiography that during his
sixteenth year, his mind was overwhelmingly preoccupied with sex,
driving him repeatedly to the bedroom to his pregnant wife as his
father lay dying in an adjoining room. He never forgave himself for
missing the moment when his father died, all because of his "carnal
desire even at the critical hour of my father's death, which demanded
wakeful service".
Gandhi discussed his thoughts on sex somewhat candidly in spite of the
highly conservative and reactionary environment of his times. He
viewed himself as "a lustful though faithful husband" and as he said
in his autobiography, "It took me long to get free from the shackles
of lust, and I had to pass through many ordeals before I could
overcome it."
The world has passed through multiple sexual revolutions since and
India is just beginning to open up on this front. Sexual freedom is
increasingly becoming a reality, especially for urban Indian men and
women, and there is ample opportunity for experimentation, be it real
or virtual.
As our society embraces new attitudes on sex, making it challenging
particularly for the youth, thefact remains that howsoever outdated
and irrelevant Gandhi's thoughts may seem today, his focal point on
managing one's sexual urges continues to be relevant. All the more for
people in the public glare, who have high stakes in carefully
cultivated images which are often just facades.
Tiger Woods is but the latest in the long string of notables from any
and every country whose image has been shattered by the revelation of
his sexual escapades. It was Bill Clinton before him who made headline
news on the same subject. Both Clinton and Woods projected the image
of ideal family men but confessed that they had erred in weak moments.
Our present ethic on fidelity in marriage can be traced to the
traditions of the Catholic Church and 18th century America which
"condemned sex outside marriage and exalted family solidarity". As it
stands, marriage has emerged as more than a practical institution; it
is a bond of trust among couples that weakens, if not breaks, with the
discovery of infidelity.
The matter of suppressing sexual urges has been central to practically
all religions, although virtually all religious orders have failed in
trying to keep their priests and pundits celibate, as is evidenced
from scandal upon scandal.
It may be argued that Hinduism, which gave the world the manual of
sex, the Kama Sutra, has been tolerant of this primal urge, advocating
the middle path and "the withdrawal of the senses in a weak moment"
just as "a tortoise pulls itself under its shell in times of danger".
The American philosopher Will Durant described sex as "our strongest
instinct and greatest problem" after hunger. He strongly disapproved
of the gross stimulation provided to this instinct by modern
civilisation through advertisement and other means and looked upon
marriage as a solution "to take our minds off sex, and become adult".
It may be forcefully argued that the traditional emphasis on
suppressing the sexual urge has, on the contrary, fuelled the sex
industry and, as a consequence, the trafficking of children who die
young or end up as unwillingprostitutes. Legalising prostitution is
one way of coming out of our denial and this thought was expressed
recently by the Supreme Court.
Way back on August 28, 1968, Osho (then known as Acharya Rajneesh)
bravely and brilliantly delivered his 'Sambhog se samadhi ki
ore' (From sex towards superconsciousness) lectures at the Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan and at Gowalia Tank in what was then Bombay. Beginning
with the question, what is the meaning of love, he lambasted religious
doctrines for their destructive approach to sex, holding them
responsible for man's biggest obsession.
Echoing the thoughts of Sigmund Freud, Rajneesh described the sex
drive as the fundamental energy in man and demanded that society must
demystify sex for its children; accept and embrace this mysterious
force as a friend. Rather perceptively, he had said, "The more you
embrace sex in its true spirit, the greater will be your freedom from
it; the more you deny it, the greater will be your destruction."
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/main-article_taming-the-sexual-tiger_1323404
chhotemianinshallah
Dhananjay Mahapatra
14 December 2009, 03:55am IST
Immediately after becoming a Republic, one of the first things India
did in 1950 was to put its signature on the International Convention
for the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of
Prostitution.
Enactment of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, followed
ratification of the convention. After more than half-a-century of
enforcement of the penal law, the Supreme Court last week virtually
damned the effectiveness of the legislation. The suggestion to
legalise prostitution from the apex court appeared rather out of
place. For the Bench, as quoted by PTI, said, “When you say it is the
world’s oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by
laws, why don’t you legalise it?”
The question was followed by suo motu enumeration of benefits of
legalising prostitution. It went like this: “You can then monitor the
trade, rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved.”
No doubt the plight of prostitutes is pitiable. But here are some
damning statistics:
There are about 3 million prostitutes in India of which 40% are
children. So, the child prostitute population is close to 1.2
million.
At least 100 million people are involved in human trafficking in India
and 90% of human trafficking is intra-country.
While CBI is the source of statistics on population of child
prostitutes, it was then home secretary Madhukar Gupta, who six months
ago, had revealed the data on human trafficking. Now, will it be still
prudent to harbour thoughts of legalising 1.2 million child
prostitutes, who have been deprived of their basic fundamental right —
that of childhood — even if one discounts their right to education,
life and their entitlement to love and affection?
Here is a constitution Bench judgment in Olga Tellis vs Bombay
Municipal Corporation [1985 SCC (3) 545] where the Supreme Court had
said, “Under the Constitution, no person can claim the right to
livelihood by the pursuit of an opprobrious occupation or a nefarious
trade or business, like gambling or living on the gains of
prostitution.”
Like in the case of prostitution, the law — Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1988 — has miserably failed to curb corruption, which has merrily
spread to almost all spheres of life. Its telling effects on the
nation was lucidly illustrated by the Supreme Court in its judgment in
the case K C Sareen vs CBI, Chandigarh [2001 (6) SCC 584].
Corruption has not shown any declining trend, despite the 20-year-old
stringent law. Should the government legalise corruption and fix the
amount of commission or bribe that each public servant be entitled to
take?
Last but not the least, there are over three crore cases pending in
the courts — from Supreme Court to trial courts — despite the judges
stretching themselves while fighting against the heavy odds of scanty
infrastructure. Average life of a litigation is around 15 years,
according to the recent vision document of the government on judicial
reforms. Should we legalise the life span of a case or fight it by
strengthening the judiciary, prosecution and the investigating
agencies?
bademiyansubhanallah
Breaking News:
Will Aashiana rape victim get justice now?
Ashish Tripathi, TNN 13 December 2009, 06:30am IST
LUCKNOW: Zahira was just 13 years old when on May 2, 2005, she was
abducted, tortured and brutally gangraped by six spoiled brats.
Physical injuries healed with time but mental trauma persisted. It
took four years of counselling to help her come out of depression.
Now, 17-year-old Zahira, daughter of a rag picker, has also learnt to
read and write. She loves reading story books but avoids newspapers as
any news item on rape reminds her about the ghastly act of which she
too was a victim. But last month her eyes caught hold of a headline
which revived hope of getting justice from the court against the
influential accused.
Of the six accused in the case, two were convicted by the lower court
in 2007 but they challenged the verdict in the High Court. Trial
against one is going on in a lower court and two others in juvenile
court. However, the trail of the prime accused has not started as yet
because of a dispute over his age.
He is a kin of mafia-turned-politician Aruna Shankar Shukla ‘Anna’ and
had got himself declared as minor on the basis of a high school
certificate. This, however, was challenged in the court by Zahira’s
father. But the case is dragging on for past three years testing the
nerves of victim and her family.
Zahira has been forced to live at a secret place arranged by social
activists because of life threat. The news item on an order passed by
the Allahabad High Court recently in Shambhu Gupta versus state of UP
has come as a ray of hope for Zahira. In his order, Justice Rakesh
Tiwari accepted scientific method of age assessment.
He said that date of birth recorded in high school certificate can be
considered authentic for the purpose of service matters but it cannot
be justified in every case as parents, often, give a different date of
birth than actual.
He said that courts being system of regulation of lawful conduct of
the society should prefer creative and constructive interpretation of
law rather than delivering decisions which may or tend to destroy
natural and basic fabric of society.
In Shambhu Gupta’s case, his in-laws had taken away his wife on
grounds that she was a minor on the basis of a high school
certificate, though the couple had got married with mutual consent.
Gupta filed a petition in the high court along with a medical
examination report which said that the girl was between 18 to 21 years
of age. The judge accepted the scientific assessment of age. A similar
order was delivered in Vikram Singh versus state of UP in 2007. Now
these two high court orders can help Zahira because the accused has
claimed himself to be minor on the basis of high school certificate.
The orders can be cited against the accused in the age-dispute case
pending in the lower court.
At present, Zahira’s advocate JK Gupta has challenged the minor status
of the prime accused on grounds that he manipulated age while taking
admission in Herald Inter College (HIC) from where he did his high
school.
For admission in HIC, the accused had submitted a transfer certificate
(TC) allegedly issued by Chhaya Public School from where he claimed to
have completed class 8. But police inquiry revealed that the enrolment
number in accused’s TC was allotted to a student named Fatima, which
meant that accused had allegedly submitted a fake TC with manipulated
age.
This was also used by the police to defend itself in the court when
the accused challenged the police decision of slapping the Gangster
Act on him in 2007.
Sid Harth
15 Dec 2009, 1725 hrs IST
The MPs' remarks on rape evokes protests in Rajya Sabha. The
Parliament is outraged over the MP's statement on the Goa Rape case.
Congress MP from Goa Shantaram Naik blamed media for highlighting an
alleged rape case in the state.
Evoking strong protests from women members in the Rajya Sabha,
Shantaram Naik said if a woman moves with strangers in the late hours,
the case should be treated differently.
Raising the issue of a recent incident where a Russian woman was
allegedly raped, Naik said the electronic media was blowing the case
out of proportion.
He said while rape is the most heinous crime, "...an alleged rape of a
lady who moves with strangers for days together even beyond middle of
the night is to be treated on different footings."
Naik's comments evoked strong protests by Opposition members
particularly Brinda Karat (CPI-M), Najma Heptulla, Maya Singh (BJP)and
Jaya Bachchan (SP). They sought intervention of the Deputy Chairman K
Rahman Khan saying Naik should not be allowed to speak the language
which, they said, was derogatory to women.
Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) was on his feet stating Naik was
"justifying" rape.
Khan asked the Goa MP to submit his Zero Hour text for examination and
said the member was going beyond the subject he wanted to raise.
Blaming the electronic media, Naik said, "If we go by electronic media
coverage of recent times..., it appears that nothing happens except
incidents of rape."
http://www.timesnow.tv/Rajya-Sabha-MPs-sexist-shocker/articleshow/4334319.cms
Sid Harth
15 Dec 2009, 1651 hrs IST
The anticipatory bail granted by a local Goa court to John Fernandes,
a politician accused of raping a Russian girl, has been cancelled by
the High Court.
Crime branch, which is investigating the case, moved a petition before
the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court pleading to cancel the anticipatory
bail of the accused.
Goa police spokesman Atmaram Deshpande earlier told reporters that the
Crime Branch has sought custodial interrogation of the accused, which
is crucial to investigate the case.
"The custodial interrogation is something much different. The ambience
makes the difference," Deshpande said adding the accused is right now
being questioned without being taken into custody.
Earlier, South Goa district and sessions court on December 8 had
granted anticipatory bail to Fernandes on the condition that he should
be released on a bail bond of Rs 30,000, if arrested in this case.
He was also asked to surrender the vehicle, allegedly used in the rape
and his clothes which he had worn on the night of December 1, when the
alleged incident took place.
Deshpande said the accused has surrendered the car and clothes and the
formalities to attach them are currently being undertaken by the Crime
Branch.
25-year-old Russian girl victim has alleged she was raped by Fernandes
by spiking her drink when she was dining with another Russian woman in
a shack at Colva beach.
http://www.timesnow.tv/Anticipatory-bail-of-John-Fernandes-cancelled/articleshow/4334307.cms
Sid Harth
10 Dec 2009, 0930 hrs IST
The Crime Branch has begun interrogating politician John Fernandes for
the first time on Thursday (December 10). Earlier on Thursday, the Goa
police made a u-turn on their stand on the accused politician and had
opposed the anticipatory bail granted to him.
Police say they plan to challenge the anticipatory bail granted to the
politician and rape accused – this, a day after the Goa Crime Branch
Officials arrested Fernandes. The Goa Crime Branch's appeal against
bail in the Division bench of the Bombay High Court in Goa will be
accompanied by the victim's medical test results, her statement, the
registered FIR and the sessions court order.
Goa’s Crime Branch now says they are giving this case top priority.
The victim, a Russian girl who was allegedly raped by Fernandes on
December 1, had earlier accused the police of shielding the accused
and threatening to cancel her visa if she did not ‘tone down’ her
charges, and this was reported in the media. She had also threatened
to withdraw the case unless the Russian Consulate stepped in. The Goa
police had then offered to provide protection. The rape victim spoke
to TIMES NOW and expressed her satisfaction at the police providing
her with security cover.
Melroy Alva, the rape victim's friend said that with the new-found
support of the police, the victim could now hope to stay on and fight
for justice. “It was good motivation for me to know that police are
bothered about her security. We feel safe now,” he said.
The chief minister of Goa state had yesterday criticised the rape
victim for the ambiguity in her claims saying she had first claimed
attempt to rape and later changed her charge to rape.
“As this incident came to light I had held a meeting with the home
minister and the Director General of Police (DGP). It was brought to
our notice by the DGP that first when she came to the police station
to complain she had brought a written complaint in which she said an
effort was made to molest her. She did not say she was raped.
Subsequently she came saying rape or attempt to rape. Police without
wasting any time decided, since a foreign national was concerned the
DG asked the Crime Branch to handle the case. Crime branch immediately
registered the case,” said Digambar Kamat.
http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4333879.cms
Sid Harth
9 Dec 2009, 1834 hrs IST
The Russian girl allegedly raped in Goa by John Fernandes on Wednesday
(December 9) said she will stay back and fight her case. According to
her, she feels secure wih the security being provided to her by the
police wants to start working as soon as possible and stay on till the
case reaches its logical end.
The Goa police, earlier today agreed to provide her with security and
her case too, now has been shifted to a Highwer Court. The Goa Police
said it would provide armed security to Russian rape victim and
personal Security Officer (PSO) to her Goan friend following an attack
on them outside a court.
The 25-year-old girl, allegedly raped by high profile south Goa
politician John Fernandes, would be provided an armed lady constable
who will accompany her round the clock, a top police official said.
Similarly, a PSO will accompany her friend Milroy Antao, who has been
supporting her throughout the case.
Yesterday some persons, allegedly related to John tried to assault the
duo outside district and sessions court in Margao. "We were saved
because the car windows were halfway up," the victim said.
John was given anticipatory bail by local court on condition that he
will surrender the car in which the girl was allegedly raped and the
clothes which he wore during the offence.
Earlier the girl in a letter to Russian consulate office in Mumbai had
said after the attack she went to the Crime Branch to lodge a
complaint, however, "I was asked to go to Colva police station and
there also they told me to go to Margao police station."
http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4333831.cms
Sid Harth
9 Dec 2009, 1246 hrs IST
The Goa police on Wednesday (December 9) said that they would provide
armed 24-hours security to the Russian rape victim. This comes after
the victim said she feared for her life and would withdraw the case
against Fernandes, unless the Russian Consulate provided her with
security. The victim was reportedly threatened outside the court in
Goa by John Fernandes' relatives. The Goa police is also considering
moving the High court.
Speaking exclusively to TIMES NOW , the victim said she feared for her
life and may withdraw the case against Fernandes, unless the Russian
Consulate provided her with security. The girl has written to the
Russian consulate claiming that she fears for her life and has lost
hopes of getting justice. "Justice is important for me but what's more
important is my life," she said.
The girl, working as a representative for a starred resort in Panaji,
has alleged that police seems to have no intention of collecting the
evidence in the case. "They have not even questioned John while I was
called to Crime Branch office five times after lodging the complaint,"
she said.
The Russian, who is inclined to withdraw her complaint of rape, has
said that "by attending the court proceeding, I understand that
without evidence prosecutor will let the accused go scot free."
The Russian girl also claimed that a group of people linked to the
accused tried to assault her outside a court on Tuesday (December 8)
evening. The 25-year-old girl apparently was returning after the
district and sessions court granted anticipatory bail to John
Fernandes. "I was sitting in the car along with my friend when a mob
encircled us and tried to attack. Thankfully, car windows were pulled
halfway up and they could not reach us," the girl said.
http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4333790.cms
bademiyansubhanallah
IANS First Published : 16 Dec 2009 01:34:41 PM IST
PANAJI: John Fernandes, accused of raping a Russian woman in Goa, has
gone missing after his anticipatory bail was cancelled by the high
court Tuesday, police said Wednesday.
Fernandes, who allegedly raped the 25-year-old woman in the wee hours
of Dec 2, had been granted anticipatory bail by a local court earlier.
Speaking to reporters, police spokesperson Atmaram Deshpande said that
efforts were being made to trace him.
"Naturally it's a guilty mind. All steps required to catch fugitives
will be done in this case now," he said.
Incidentally, the state police are on record saying that they did not
make any efforts to trace Fernandes during the time he was granted
anticipatory bail.
"We did not make any attempt to trace him. We want him in custody. We
do not want to have a chat with him," Deshpande had said last week,
when asked whether police were on the look out for Fernandes.
The Goa police have been criticised for initially harassing the victim
into not registering the offence. The victim has also alleged that the
police were supporting the accused Fernandes, a local politician,
instead of her.
"No police officer visited me. I was made to travel 70 km every day to
the crime branch for days on end at an hour's notice on the pretext of
one statement or another," she said, adding that the police were mute
spectators to the supporters of the accused assaulting and threatening
her outside court premises.
On Tuesday, the Panaji bench of the Bombay High court, while
cancelling Fernandes' anticipatory bail had observed that the injuries
on victim's vital parts like thighs and knees indicated that were was
no possibility of any consent for the sexual act.
Justice U.D. Salvi had also said that the intoxication of the victim
was a part of the accused's design to sexually assault her. He further
instructed the police to recover the undergarments worn by the accused
left in the car after the rape.
Following the allegations of corruption and mishandling of the rape
investigations, the Russian consulate was forced to write to the state
government seeking a thorough probe into the incident.
chhotemianinshallah
Panaji, Dec 16
The Goa state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday
demanded a public apology from the state's lone Rajya Sabha member
Shantaram Naik for his controversial comments on rape.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Govind Parvatkar
said the Congress MP had defamed Goa's credential as a safe state.
“He should publicly apologise for his statement,” Parvatkar said.
The spokesperson added that Naik's statement implied that the state
home department had failed in maintaining the law and order
situation.
“It is the duty of the state police to ensure the safety of every
individual in the state, foreigner or not,” he said.
“When men can go around freely and safely during odd hours and during
the night, how can anyone discourage women from staying out at night?
What the Rajya Sabha MP said was ridiculous,” Parvatkar said, adding
that such statements would further affect the flow of foreign tourists
into Goa.
Naik, a former president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC),
attracted the ire of women members in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday when he
said that a rape case should be treated differently if the victim is
known to be moving with strangers beyond the middle of the night.
Naik was speaking in reference to the rape of a 25-year-old Russian on
Dec 2 allegedly by a local Goan politician, John Fernandes.
"An alleged rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days together,
even beyond middle of the night, is to be treated on a different
footing," Naik said.
His remarks antagonised women members of the Rajya Sabha who sought
the intervention of Deputy Speaker K. Rahman Khan. Naik should not be
allowed to speak the language which was derogatory to women, they
demanded.
Last updated on Dec 16th, 2009 at 16:06 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a100747.html
bademiyansubhanallah
Agencies
Posted: Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 at 1517 hrs
Panaji:
Expressing its concern over the victimisation of its citizens in Goa,
Russia on Wednesday said it is "astonished" at the way the state
police is handling the investigation of the rape case of a Russian
citizen. In a letter to Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, the
Consulate of Russian Federation in Mumbai said, "We would like to
express astonishment over the process of investigation in the case of
rape of a Russian citizen by Indian national John Fernandes."
"Even many days after the incident, the accused was not subjected to
medical examination...The vehicle used by John to commit the offence
was also not examined. The clothes he was wearing on the day of
offence were not preserved...During this time, all possibility to
gather evidence was destroyed," the letter signed by Consul General
Alexander Mantytsky said.
The Consulate also noted that the victim was threatened that she would
face the same fate as of Elena Sukhanova, another Russian who was
found mysteriously dead on the railway tracks in the coastal state
recently.
"Because of poor security situation in Goa, foreign tourists might
become victims of crime. We would inform our citizens not to remain
outside (the hotel) after 10 pm, if you suppose that it would assist
in their security," the letter said in an apparent reaction to
yesterday's remark by Congress MP Shantaram Naik that some rape
victims invite trouble on themselves by socialising with "strangers"
even during late hours.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/russia-astonished-over-rape-investigation-process/554894/
bademiyansubhanallah
(Source: IANS)
Published: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 at 13:51 IST
New Delhi: There was no need to paint an "alarming picture" on the
safety of women tourists in India, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said
in the Lok Sabha Tuesday.
As per statistics, five million tourists had visited India in 2007-08,
Chidambaram said while answering a question during Question Hour. "We
should not exaggerate or paint an alarming picture," he said in
response to a query from Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Prada.
He said the tourism ministry had already issued an advisory to the
state governments on the issue of safety of tourists. The advisory
includes advice for deployment of more police, as well as a separate
tourist police.
"I hope that they take this advisory very seriously," he said.
bademiyansubhanallah
Naik, MP
Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 19:31
Panaji: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded a “public
apology” from Shantaram Naik, Member of the Rajya Sabha, for his
comments on the floor of the House on the case relating to the alleged
rape of a Russian woman in Goa.
Shantaram Naik had remarked in the Rajya Sabha on December 15, 2009,
that the rape of a woman “who moves with strangers for days together
even beyond midnight” has to be “treated differently.”
Naik’s words had had triggered strong protests in the Rajya Sabha.
Women members of parliament objected immediately accusing him of
blaming the victim, and his remarks were expunged. However, Shantaram
Naik was hardly apologetic in the face of the protests.
The Russian woman, aged 25, was allegedly raped by John Fernandes, a
local politician, in the wee hours of December 2, 2009.
Govind Parvatkar, spokesman of the Goa unit of the BJP, told a news
conference in Panaji that remarks of the kind made by Shantaram Naik,
which are “irresponsible and baseless,” have harmed the credentials of
Goa as a safe state and hence he sought a public apology from Naik.
Parvatkar alleged that Shantaram Naik, through his speech in the Rajya
Sabha on the alleged rape of the Russian girl, had “projected an image
of an unsafe Goa.”
He remarked that while men are free to go around safely at odd hours,
it is “not wise” to discourage women from going outdoors at night. It
is the state police, Parvatkar added, who should ensure the safety of
each and every individual.
The BJP called the news conference in Panaji on the sidelines of the
current session of the Goa State Legislative Assembly. The Goa
Assembly has already made a reference to the controversial remarks
which Shantaram Naik made in the Rajya Sabha.
Manohar Parrikar, Leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly, sought a
discussion in the House on the issues related to law and order in Goa.
Politicians in Goa, including Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and
Minister for Public Works Churchill Alemao, too, blamed victims of
rape for having travelled late in the night and cited that as the main
reason for rapes being committed.
Meanwhile, the Russian consul-general said, in a letter to Digambar
Kamat, Chief Minister of Goa, that ill-treatment of Russian citizens
in Goa has given rise to a great deal of apprehension in Russia.
In the letter dated December 14, 2009, Alexander Mantytsky, consul-
general of the Russian consulate in Mumbai, said “crimes against
women” in Goa are on the rise and added that the Russian mission is
willing to tell Russian citizens “not to go out after 10 p.m. in Goa.”
In his letter to the Chief Minister of Goa, Alexander Mantytsky went
on to say that the incidents where Russian citizens have been victims
of crime in Goa have caused a great deal of public concern back home.
Mantytsky blamed the “poor security situation” in Goa for the
increasing incidence of crimes against foreign tourists.
The Russian consul-general reminded the Chief Minister of Goa in his
letter that the number of Russian tourists visiting Goa is steadily
increasing, even as there is an increase in crimes against women.
Alexander Mantytsky expressed “astonishment” over the investigation
into the case of rape, adding that, even several days after the
incident, the accused John Fernandes had not been subjected to medical
examination to determine the injuries found on his body. Neither was
the vehicle used by the accused to commit the crime examined, nor were
the clothes he wore on the day of the alleged rape preserved for
chemical analysis – all these resulting in possible destruction of
evidence.
Goa, India’s most famous tourist destination, has been in the news in
the past few years due to increased media reporting of rising crime.
Several of Goa’s politicians were also accused of being involved in
illegal activies and crime. The spotlight was firmly on the law and
order and safety of women in the state, after the infamous Scarlett
Keeling murder.
Despite its image as a hippie haven, Goa is at its heart a
conservative society which dislikes the tourist culture and
accompanying cultural changes. Traditional Goan society have frowned
upon what they consider the ‘loose’ lifestyle of foreign women – and
the attitude of politicians and police often reflect this mentality
when they deal with crime against foreigners, especially women. Like
many conservative societies which want to reap the benefits of a
tourist economy but would like to keep its own children insulated from
the impact of a tourist-friendly culture, Goa too is confused about
how to tackle the rising crime. Its own instincts make it blame the
victim – “she was asking for it” – while knowing full well that such
an attitude is detrimental to tourism
bademiyansubhanallah
Friday, October 30, 2009, 8:18
Life in Delhi turns a daily nightmare for women from North-East
New Delhi: The capital city of India has become a daily nightmare for
women from the North-East of the country who are here to study or for
work.
A close study of reports shows that the community of about 100,000
people from the north-eastern states is under threat – virtually any
day, any time – of assault, molestation, or murder.
As many as 16 severe cases of molestation, rape and other forms of
extreme cruelty perpetuated in Delhi against people from the North-
East have been recorded so far in 2009. And, 4 of these incidents took
place in the last two weeks.
The worst cases of recent atrocities against people from the North-
East staying in Delhi include the murder by Pushpam Kumar Sinha, 34,
of a young girl from Manipur; molestation of a girl from Arunachal by
school boys; molestation of a girl from Nagaland; and assault on a
couple from Nagaland.
On October 24, 2009, Pushpam Sinha, 34, a PhD scholar working at the
India Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, assaulted and strangled to
death Ramchanphy Hongray, the 19-year-old girl who is his neighbour,
in her home in south Delhi. The man then burnt the girl’s face in
order to mislead the police.
At Sarojini Nagar in Delhi, on October 12, a girl from the North-East
was dragged into a van. However, the presence of mind of the victim,
who is an employee of a 5-star hotel, saved her life. After the girl
raised a hue and cry, passersby caught hold of one of the assailants
and beat him up.
On October 17, a couple from Nagaland was assaulted by some young men,
who were allegedly drunk, at Safdarjung Enclave.
The same day, a 5-year-old girl from the North-East was allegedly
molested by her tuition teacher.
Earlier, in April 2009, a girl aged 6, was raped and murdered by her
neighbour. The girl’s body was later fished out from a water tank
nearby.
These terrifying incidents have prompted YS Dadwal, Delhi Police
Commissioner, to call for a ‘zero-tolerance policy’ towards any crime
committed against women from the North-East. He has ordered that
crimes committed against people from the North-East be given top
priority, and asked 3 Deputy Commissioners from east, south and north
Delhi to act as nodal officers for the safety of women.
However, many members of the North-East community complain that the
police have been slow to act.
According to Madhu Chandra, spokesman for the North-East Support
Centre and Helpline, a help centre for the youth from the north-
eastern states living in Delhi and the National Capital region (NCR),
there have been several cases of atrocities, but police are doing
little about them and demanded that the Delhi government act sternly
to check these incidents.
About 4,000 students from the North-East take admission to various
courses in Delhi University (DU) each year, and for them, every day in
Delhi is like a nightmare, Madhu Chandra says.
A survey conducted by the North-East Support Centre and Helpline has
revealed that 86% (or about 86,000) people hailing from the north-
eastern states and living in Delhi face some sort of discrimination or
the other “on a daily basis.”
The North-East Support Centre alleges that nearly half the number of
women sexually harassed in Delhi and neighbourhood is from the North-
East. He says that the Northeast Support Centre and Helpline is
“flooded with complaints related to sexual harassment.”
Most members of the north-eastern community are not happy with the
police. Kamakshi Sinha, who hails from Assam and doing her
undergraduate course in Delhi University, says that that the police
circular is “just a piece of paper.” She complains that people in
Delhi call them ‘Chinky’ and such other derogatory names, and the
policemen ridicule them when they go to the police station to lodge a
complaint.
Another female student of Delhi University says that most girls from
the North-East are even scared of approaching the police. “Police do
not respond to our pleas, and we are treated like outcasts,” she
laments.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, MP and Congress general secretary, has said
he will totally cooperate with the North-East Students Union in its
efforts to curb the increasing menace of crime against both men and
women the north-eastern states.
Rahul Gandhi gave this assurance to a team of members of the North-
East Students Union which met him to seek his support and intervention
in the matter.
http://www.dancewithshadows.com/politics/crime-against-women-from-north-east-in-delhi-rises/
bademiyansubhanallah
PTIT hursday, December 17, 2009 15:25 IST
Panaji: Goa chief minister, Digamber Kamat, today sought a detailed
report from director general of police (DGP) on Russian rape case,
allegedly involving a high profile politician.
"I have asked DGP BS Bassi to furnish a detailed report on the
investigation in this case," Kamat told reporters on the sidelines of
ongoing state legislative assembly session at Porvorim. The chief
minister said that he will forward the detailed report to Russian
consulate.
The consul general of Russian Federation in Mumbai Alexander V
Mantytsky on Wednesday had expressed severe resentment over the
investigation of this case through a diplomatic communication
addressed to the chief minister.
Goa government evoked criticism after the initial bungling by state
police in investigating the case. The rape case had snowballed into a
national debate after Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Shantaram Naik
said that such cases should be treated differently. Kamat said that
the tourists, holidaying in the state, should adhere to certain code
of conduct while venturing out in the night.
"There is no restrain on tourists moving out in the night but they
should follow certain code and responsibilities," he said without
elaborating on it.
A 25-year-old Russian girl was allegedly raped by John Fernandes, a
south Goa-based politician, who is right now missing after High Court
set aside his anticipatory bail granted by the lower court.
chhotemianinshallah
Hartman de Souza
December 17, 2009
First Published: 20:42 IST(17/12/2009)
Last Updated: 20:43 IST(17/12/2009)
The feeble prevarication of Goa’s MP, Shantaram Naik, following his
ridiculous comment in Parliament, is symptomatic of a deeper malaise.
To those who have known this once-beautiful state from the ’60s and
have seen it being systematically destroyed by politicians, Goa itself
has been raped, and not just once, not just by one man, and not just
last month.
In Goa, in the village bars one gets the pulse of everyday life. Goa’s
MLAs, unfortunately, only communicate with their constituencies
through their henchmen, cronies and contractors. There is not a single
bar in the whole of Goa where you will not hear just who among Goa’s
elected representatives has made money, how much and with what scam.
In the bars, they’ll tell you that once in Goa even though the
politicians were always corrupt, at least they gave fifty per cent
back to the government; these days they just eat it all.
All in all, cynicism is afoot in Goan society. One meets too many
people between 18 and 30 in Goa who, perhaps in sheer disgust, have
turned their back on the electoral process. The closer you look, the
more you realise those in their ’40s have only been schooled in the
business of making money; that those in public office first get back
the money they spent in getting elected, then start raking it in for
the next five generations. Those who complain are those in their ’50s
and older, a strange mix of nostalgia and anger.
Goa is being raped by three men at the same time. One is tourism, a
child gone wild, incapable of comprehending excess and refusing to
forego the lack of regulation and restriction; two is the mining
industry, an old stubborn man on pills, harping on the short-term
excessive profit for company and shareholders, pretending not to see
the desertification left for stakeholders. The third, the one
engineering the rape, is young, brash, and strong as a bull. He goads
the other two. His name is waste.
Along the coast, moving inland, garbage dumps proliferate in village
after village. Margao has a garbage dump that will soon be a tourist
site. As urban India walks along the coast covering field after field
with concrete, cutting hill after hill and disrupting traditional
water patterns, creating swamps that mix with sewage, in the
hinterland, they are eating into the hills to get at the ore. When
both sides meet, tourism from the east, mining from the west, not even
God knows what will be in the middle.
Hartman de Souza is a theatre veteran based in Pune
http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/editorials/Lost-in-transition/Article1-487739.aspx
chhotemianinshallah
December 18th, 2009 SindhToday
Panaji, Dec 18 (IANS) The mysterious death of a Russian woman and the
alleged rape of another rocked Goa this year. The accidental arrest of
a serial killer and a cyclone that killed several fishermen also made
news. Ten landmark events of 2009 from the state:
1. On May 8, 18-year-old Russian tourist Elena Sukhonova’s mangled
body was found along the railway tracks, about 25 km from Panaji. The
death was shrouded in mystery and a long-drawn controversy, with
railway officials ridiculing the police theory that the girl could
have fallen off a train.
2. Drama unfolded after a 25-year-old Russian’s alleged rape Dec 1 by
local politician John Fernandes. Police’s reluctance to register an
offence rocked Goa through December. The rape triggered a political
storm forcing the Russian consulate to write to the chief minister to
investigate the matter thoroughly.
3. Hindu right-wing terror raised its ugly head with police arresting
four members of the Sanatan Sanstha (SS), a ’spiritual’ organisation,
for carrying out the Diwali-eve blast in Margao, a major south Goa
town. Two SS members died in the blast when the explosives they were
ferrying accidentally blew up.
4. Cyclone Phyan may have barely skimmed the Goan coastline, but it
left behind a trail of sorrow amongst scores of families of fishermen
who died on board fishing trawlers that were out at sea. Nearly 45
fishermen have reportedly died after their vessels were caught in the
deadly squall.
5. The sleepy temple town of Ponda woke up to the exploits of Goa’s
most notorious serial killer Mahanand Naik. After his accidental
arrest earlier this year, Naik confessed to murdering 16 women over a
decade, using a dupatta to strangle them nearly every time and
disposing of their bodies in remote areas.
6. Manohar Parrikar, a former Goa chief minister and Bharatiya Janata
Party leader, created a storm by likening party leader L.K. Advani to
rancid pickle. Parrikar’s remark, first reported by IANS, triggered an
avalanche of news stories and editorials, and debated in the local
media for weeks.
7. Two cabinet ministers were chargesheeted this year for assault and
threatening. They are Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco (tourism) and
Vishwajeet Rane (health) respectively. Education Minister Atanasio
Monserrate has already been chargesheeted in an extortion case.
8. Illegal mining was in spotlight this year, with the chief
minister’s office coming under the scanner. Official figures say 91 of
the state’s 100 operational mining leases are functioning illegally.
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who holds the mining portfolio, has
been found wanting vis-a-vis action against the illegal mining
menace.
9. The National Institute of Oceanography has warned that nearly 10
percent of Goa’s 105-km coastline is under the threat of beach
erosion. The report has rung the alarm bells in the state, which
thrives on money earned from coastal tourism. Not just beaches, even
the governor’s house located on a picturesque seaward hillock near
Panaji is under the threat of erosion, the report states.
10. A tiger was poached in the Sattari wildlife sanctuary in north
Goa. The forest department, after initially denying the incident,
arrested three people in connection with the killing. The tiger was
caught in a wire snare and then shot twice. The incident came to light
after photos of the slain animal taken by the poachers landed on a
local journalist’s lap.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabh...@ians.in)
[LM1]
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/83078.htm
Sid Harth
Thursday, December 17, 2009 0:35 IST
The fact that a Member of Parliament can make a statement as
irresponsible as "rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days
together and even beyond middle of the night is to be treated on a
different footing" shows that in spite of all the advances that women
in India have made, patriarchal attitudes are hard to change.
The MP in question is Shantaram Naik of the Congress discussing during
Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha the spate of rape cases in Goa.
Readers may recall the sensational case of the young girl Scarlet
Keeling, who was also murdered and the more recent case of a Russian
woman who alleged rape by a Goa politician. These, together with cases
of strong-arming by the Russian mafia as well as several drug busts,
have not helped Goa's image as a friendly tourist destination and it
is perhaps possible to understand how that might bother the MP.
However, the tenor and implication of his remark cannot be excused.
Our courts have recognised marital rape -- where the question of
hanging about with strangers beyond midnight or "conduct unbecoming"
hardly applies --as being unacceptable. The woman's right to say 'no'
is no longer negotiable and while there are many grey areas in the
relations between the sexes, rape is not one of them.
But more than the politics of rape, this is about prevailing attitudes
to women. It is not unfair, surely, to expect a Rajya Sabha MP to have
a better idea of the Constitution of India and the equal rights given
to women in it. Nor is it unfair to expect that he be aware of the
prevailing laws of the land. To blame the victim for a heinous crime
is not just insensitive; it borders on the criminal.
Rightly, the MP faced the wrath of his fellows in the Rajya Sabha and
he was admonished by the deputy chairperson for speaking derogatorily
of women. His remarks were expunged from the records but it is
necessary for us to comment upon them and to remember them. Because
Naik's sentiments are repeated every time there is a case of
molestation where the victim does not match some popular perception of
what a victim should be like.
This debate will continue because, sadly, Naik represents a section of
society which is unashamed about its reprehensible and reactionary
ideas about women and life. He must face the opprobrium he deserves;
but we need to keep educating the society to which he belongs.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_medieval-outlook_1324523
chhotemianinshallah
Best actor in a murderous role goes to
By: Vinod Kumar Menon Date: 2009-12-18 Place: Mumbai
... Jitin Dedhia for crying so convincingly just after his wife's
funeral. Cops say he gave Rs 1 lakh supari to have her killed
On the morning of October 27, Jitin Dedhia (41) and his wife Beena
(39) were on a morning walk, when she was mugged and killed by chain
snatchers.
Dedhia painted the picture of the perfect husband grief-stricken,
barely coherent and unable to come to terms with the tragedy.
Yesterday, Dedhia in a verbal statement to the police said he had
engineered the murder because he was in love with another woman, Rupal
Chheda.
This then is how, Dedhia allegedly plotted to kill his wife, according
to the police.
The police were in a fix because the suspect's sketches made on the
basis of his description did not resemble any of the chain snatchers
on police record.
Yet, the police detained over 450 chain snatchers from across the city
for an identification parade, but Dedhia refused to identify a single
person.
Then, 16 days ago, the crime branch unit 2, probing the case learnt
from their sources that Dedhia had a less than amicable relationship
with his wife.
The police began investigating the reasons behind the problems between
the couple and soon learned Dedhia had an extramarital affair with his
sister-in-law Rupal Chheda (33) and after intensive interrogation,
Dedhia confessed to his involvement in the murder.
Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Rakesh Maria said, "We wanted to
gather strong evidence against Jatin before nailing him down and our
informers led us to the hired assailants Mohammed Nasim Khan and
Hasruddin Malik, who were arrested from Moradabad [in UP] and Antop
Hill respectively."
HEART-BREAKING: Beena Dedhia was killed while she and her husband
Jitin were on a morning walk
They confessed to killing Beena on Dedhia's behalf for Rs 1 lakh. They
seized the knife used to kill Beena, the getaway bike and Beena's
mobile phone.
In fact, Dedhia hadn't mentioned that the phone was missing in his
complaint. Dedhia, Rupal and Rajnikant Wagh (a newspaper vendor and
his friend) were arrested for conspiring to kill Beena yesterday.
Interestingly, Dedhia had earlier told the assailants that he wanted
to get rid of a woman who was troubling him and his family. It was
only much later, that the killers realised the woman, in fact, was his
wife.
Preliminary inquires have revealed that Rupal, a BA graduate was
unhappy with her financially weak husband Paresh.
She used to take tuitions, make chocolates and do bridal mehendi to
support her family. A year-and-a-half ago, she fell in love with
Dedhia, who asked Beena for a divorce to marry Rupal.
When Beena refused, the lovers allegedly hatched the plot to kill her.
All five will be produced before the Esplanade court today.
Rakesh Maria said that, Dedhia had got desperate and wanted to kill
Beena at home, but the plan could not be executed as her ageing
parents were at home.
Jitin introduced Rupal to the killers three times in an effort to
convince her that the plan had to be executed soon.
October 4
The day the murder was planned at Darbar restauant, Lalbaug
Inputs by J Dey
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/dec/181209-Beena-Dedhia-Jitin-Dedhia-wife-muderer.htm
chhotemianinshallah
By: ANI Date: 2009-12-14 Place: New Delhi
Casual sex does not cause emotional or psychological damage in young
people, says a new study.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that young adults
engaging in casual sexual encounters do not appear to be at increased
risk for harmful psychological outcomes as compared to sexually active
young adults in more committed relationships.
While this study focused on the psychological impact, researchers
warned that the physical risks of casual sex should not be overlooked.
Study author Marla E. Eisenberg and colleagues used data from Project
Eating Among Teens (EAT), an ongoing study that assessed a diverse
sample of 1,311 sexually active young adults.
From 2003-2004, 574 males and 737 females in Minnesota with a mean age
of 20.5 were surveyed regarding sexual behaviours and emotional well-
being.
Of the sexually active respondents, 55 percent reported that their
last sexual partner was an exclusive dating partner followed by 25
percent whose most recent partner was a fiancée, spouse, or life
partner.
Much lower percentages reported that their last sexual partner was a
close but not exclusive partner (12 percent) or a casual acquaintance
(8 percent). Over twice as many males as females reported that their
last partner was casual.
Although there has been speculation in public discourse that sexual
encounters outside a committed romantic relationship may be
emotionally damaging for young people, this study found no differences
in the psychological well being of young adults who had a casual
sexual partner verses a more committed partner.
"While the findings from this study show that young adults engaging in
casual sexual encounters do not appear to be at increased risk for
harmful psychological outcomes compared to those in more committed
relationships, this should not minimize the legitimate threats to
physical well-being associated with casual sexual relationships, and
the need for such messages in sexuality education programs and other
interventions with young adults," Eisenberg said.
bademiyansubhanallah
18 December 2009, 12:00am IST
The furore over the CBI's Shopian report in the Valley indicates the
level of distrust against the Indian state among many Kashmiris. The
CBI has concluded that the two women who were allegedly raped and
murdered by security personnel had died of drowning. The central
agency has booked 13 people, including six doctors, for fabricating
evidence and misleading people. Four local police officers arrested on
charges of destruction of evidence have also been cleared by the
agency. Large sections of the Valley population, including political
parties like the PDP, have refused to accept the CBI's findings.
Clearly, there has been bungling in the investigation at various
stages and the blame must be shared by all those involved including
the state government. So many procedural lapses should not have
happened in such a sensitive case. It also seems that immense public
pressure was mounted on the investigation team, including the doctors,
to produce a report that reflected the conclusions reached by the
local populace. People in Shopian had, even before the investigations,
concluded that security forces were responsible for the deaths.
Besides the circumstances in which the women died, previous instances
of rape and murder involving security personnel influenced many people
to believe the plausibility of such a thesis even before a detailed
investigation was ordered. That state agencies including the CBI don't
have an exemplary record of conducting impartial investigations only
help to bolster the suspicion that security personnel are being
protected.
Incidents of terrorism have come down in the Valley and people have
voted in large numbers in assembly and general elections. But the
sense of alienation that exists between the local population and the
government is far from bridged. Periodic elections and a qualitative
improvement in governance may help to improve the situation, but a
process of constant engagement and dialogue will be necessary to win
over influential sections of Kashmiri opinion.
Quick-fix solutions to Kashmir are also inhibited by the fact that a
crucial player in Kashmir's narrative of discontent is Islamabad.
Pakistani politicians see Kashmir as a useful stick to lean on in
difficult times, and these are difficult times in Pakistan. It's not
surprising that President Asif Zardari referred to Pakistan's core
interests, which is an euphemism for India and particularly Kashmir,
in his letter to US president Barack Obama ahead of the Supreme Court
of Pakistan seeking to restore criminal cases pending against him. The
chaotic state of affairs in Pakistan makes it difficult for New Delhi
to explore out-of-the-box solutions to resolve the Kashmir issue now.
Sid Harth
Hetal Vyas / DNA
Sunday, December 20, 2009 2:28 IST
Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the Bombay
high court seeking death sentence for the three accused in the Bilkis
Bano gangrape and murder case of Gujarat. The accused, Jaswant Nai,
Govind Nai and Shailesh Bhatt were awarded life imprisonment by a
special CBI court in Mumbai on January, 18, 2008.
The CBI has also sought enhancement in punishment granted to police
officers in this case. The CBI has challenged the verdict in the HC
saying the crime of the accused, especially these three was more
severe and they deserve capital punishment.
The division bench of Justice JN Patel and Justice Amjad Sayed on
Saturday admitted the appeal and posted it for hearing in February,
2010. Head constable Somabhai Gori was sentenced to only RI for three
years for fudging the FIR report lodged by Bilkis. CBI has sought
enhancement in punishment for him too.
All the 12 convicts have approached the HC challenging their sentence.
Their appeals were admitted by HC in October this year.
The Bilkis Bano case was registered in March, 2002. Bilkis, who was
six months pregnant then, witnessed 14 members of her family murdered.
She was then gangraped, but survived. Initially the trial of this case
had began in Ahmedabad in 2002. However, the Supreme Court transferred
the case to Mumbai.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_cbi-seeks-death-sentence-in-bilkis-bano-rape-case_1325490
Sid Harth
TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
21 December 2009, 04:23pm IST
CHANDIGARH: Former Haryana Director General of Police S P S Rathore
was on Monday held guilty of molesting a teenaged girl 19 years back
by a court here which sentenced him to six months rigorous
imprisonment.
CBI' special magistrate J S Sidhu also imposed a fine of Rs 1000 on
the accused who will have to further undergo one month of RI in case
of default. ( Watch Video )
14-year-old Ruchika, a tennis player, was molested by Rathore, the
then Inspector General of Police in Haryana and President of Haryana
Lawn Tennis Association, on August 12, 1990. She committed suicide in
1993.
At the time of pronouncement of verdict, Rathore and his advocate wife
Abha Rathore were present in the court room.
Madhu Parkash, mother of Ruchika's friend, had approached the Punjab
and Haryana High court in 1997, seeking a probe into the incident
after a police report had stated that prima facie there was a case
against Rathore.
Later, the investigation into the case was handed over to the CBI in
1998 and the trial was held in a Patiala court.
The case was transferred to the CBI special magistrate here by the
Punjab and Haryana high court which had issued directions for holding
day-to-day hearing and completion of trial within a month.
"I am elated that Rathore has been awarded six months of RI, but at
the same time I am saddened that it took so long for the court to
decide on the matter. Had the verdict against Rathore been pronounced
earlier, I think Ruchika would not have committed suicide," Madhu told
reporters outside the court.
Madhu's husband Anand Parkash, a retired Haryana government employee,
said, "I think the quantum of punishment is less."
"Rathore was instrumental in getting the case delayed for such a long
period," he said, adding that "I will continue the fight against those
police officials and bureaucrats who helped Rathore during the trial
to get the case covered up."
"These people are criminals and I think an example should be set up so
that nobody can ever dare to think of outraging the modesty of woman,"
he added.
Sid Harth
Supriya Bhardwaj, TNN 18 December 2009, 05:56am IST
CHANDIGARH: ‘‘I’m here to get justice for my sister!’’ Those words
sealed a gritty 14-year-old’s fight to send her two-year-old baby
sister’s alleged violator behind bars.
The teenager was the sole key witness to be present before an open
court on Thursday for getting her statement recorded in a case
relating to the infant’s alleged rape. ‘‘A resident of Mauli Jagran,
the witness’s statement was significant because the entire case rests
upon her shoulders,’’ said public prosecutor Manu Kakkar, while
explaining how circumstantial evidence would play a huge role in the
matter, with its foundation being the elder sister’s testimony.
Before the start of proceedings, when the judge asked the witness if
she knew why she was there, the teenager did not mince her words.
There is no prosecutrix in this case because the victim was just 22
months when the incident occurred. An FIR was registered on March 17,
2009 against 20-year-old Joginder, a mechanic, on the complaint of the
victim’s mother.
Identifying Joginder in the court, the 14-year-old witness claimed she
was at home with her sister when he came and took away her sister on
pretext of playing with her. She added when he dropped the baby back,
the toddler was inconsolable. To her shock, the victim’s mother
realized that the baby was bleeding.
Aiming to wind up the case quickly, the prosecution got six witnesses
examined, with the statement of the doctor who examined the baby left
to be recorded. Charges were framed against Joginder on December 1.
The court of additional district and sessions judge has fixed January
9 as the next date of hearing.
Sid Harth
Watch Video
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/5362999.cms
Sid Harth
Watch Video
Sid Harth
Watch Video
Sid Harth
Watch Video
Sid Harth
Watch Video
Sid Harth
Watch Video
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/MBA-student-gangraped-in-Noida/videoshow/3941810.cms
Sid Harth
Watch Video
bademiyansubhanallah
PTI 21 December 2009, 04:03pm IST
AHMEDABAD: Religious guru Asaram Bapu, who is facing charges of
attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy after one of his followers
lodged a complaint, would be interrogated if the need arises, Gujarat
Director General of Police S S Khandwawala said today.
Police had filed a criminal case against the 'guru' after a follower
Raju Chandak filed an FIR against Bapu and two others alleging that
two unidentified persons in Ramnagar locality of Sabarmati had on
December 5 fired at him.
He accused Bapu of masterminding the attack and claimed to be targeted
since he had testified against the "guru" before the Trivedi
Commission, probing the mysterious death of two ashram boys, Dipesh
and Abhishek Vagh, in July last year.
"Investigation against Asaram is going on under the Criminal Procedure
Code (CrPC). The law entitles police to interrogate the person against
whom the complaint is filed," Khandwawala said in reply to a query.
He said if need arises, Asaram Bapu could be questioned "anywhere".
Asaram Bapu had approached the Gujarat High Court with a plea to quash
the FIR against him, which the court had rejected. He has now
approached the Supreme Court against the HC order.
bademiyansubhanallah
IANS 19 December 2009, 07:04pm IST
GANDHINAGAR: A visitor from Kolkata has gone missing from spiritual
guru Asaram Bapu's ashram in Ahmedabad, his family has told the
police.
According to a complaint lodged with the Sabarmati police, Krishna
Prasad Sahu, 53, disappeared last month after the other six family
members retired for the night at the ashram at Motera.
The family had since returned to Kolkata but came back to file a
complaint after Sahu remained untraced.
bademiyansubhanallah
PTI Monday, December 21, 2009 11:38 IST
Malappuram (Ker): Former Kerala PCC general secretary RajmohanUnnithan
has been arrested on the grounds of indulging in immoral activities,
police said here today.
Unnithan was taken into custody along with a woman last night from a
house at Manjeri in the district after local people surrounded it
following a tip-off,police said. The Congress leader would be produced
in court later in the day, the sources added.
bademiyansubhanallah
23 Dec 2009, 0254 hrs IST, ET Bureau
Three incidents this month have exposed the socio-political and
juridical grey areas that allow crimes against women to be either
condoned or denied requisite justice. First, the Supreme Court (SC)
commuted the death sentence of two brothers in an inter-caste marriage
‘honour killing’ to 25 years imprisonment.
Then, a Rajya Sabha MP from Goa did nothing short of shifting the
blame for rape onto the victim by suggesting that rape charges against
women who ‘move around’ with men after midnight should be ‘treated
differently’. And on Monday, an incredible 19 years after molesting a
minor, former DGP of Haryana S P S Rathore was handed a sentence of a
mere six months.
Read together, that is enough to ridicule all the tall claims made on
behalf of our polity. It is clear that despite the presence of
pertinent laws, crimes against women are rife in the country, and
precisely because much of these are rooted in patriarchal social
conceptions, there is even greater need for the full force of a
remedial legal process to be brought to bear against the perpetrators
of such crimes.
In that context, it is perhaps the SC’s commuting of the sentence that
is most disturbing. Indeed, the SC actually accepted the warped logic
of caste considerations as a ‘relevant social issue’ while dealing
with a case which, in essence, involves planned murder. And by doing
so, it ended up reinforcing the same regressive social practices which
go against every law in the land.
It is those same conceptions, or rather lack thereof, of gender
equality, female freedom and ‘morality’ that allowed the Goa minister
to suggest what he did. Changing such mores may be a long-term social
process, but that can only be aided by a comprehensive, even zealous,
application of the law when such patriarchal ‘moral principles’
translate, inevitably, into forms of violence against women.
Virtually condoning an honour killing is one aspect of the failure on
that front, and allowing a molester in a position of authority, like
the former DGP, to abuse his position to delay even this half-baked
justice is another. A society can often be better encapsulated by its
failings.
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Dec 23, 2009 at 1605 hrs IST
BJP idea: Formalise Advani, Sonia statusMunde named deputy leader of
BJP in LSBJP should explain why it fielded Chavan...
Allahabad Slamming the BJP government in Gujarat for the recent action
against Asaram Bapu, the VHP said on Wednesday that it was an insult
to Hindu sentiments and asked the party leadership to intervene and
ensure the release of all the arrested followers of the Godman and
withdrawal of cases against them.
"The deplorable action against Asaram Bapu has caused grave insult to
the sentiments of millions of Hindus across the country. This is yet
another instance of the conspiratorial proselytisation drive by the
Church, which has been facing difficulties due to Bapu’s work among
tribals", VHP President Ashok Singhal told reporters at his residence
in Allahabad.
Singhal said as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi "appears to be
bogged down by the weight of false litigations relating to Godhra
riots and its aftermath and it becomes the duty of the BJP high
command to help him rein in the state DGP Shabbir Husain who appears
to be working as per the diktats of the Church."
The comments from the Sangh Parivar leader assumes significance given
the pro-active involvement of the RSS in BJP’s affairs of late which
is perceived to have led to the latest change of guard in the party.
A criminal case under Section 307 IPC and 25 of the Arms Act was
registered against Asaram Bapu and two others earlier this month for
allegedly attempting to murder Raju Chandak, who had testified against
the religious guru before the D K Trivedi Commission probing the
mysterious death of two boys at his ashram.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/VHP-attacks-BJP-govt-in-Gujarat-on-Asaram-Bapu-issue/558284/
chhotemianinshallah
Manveer Saini, TNN 24 December 2009, 12:30am IST
CHANDIGARH: It wasn't just Ruchika Girhotra and her family who were
hounded by former DGP SPS Rathore and his henchmen in Haryana police.
Even Rathore's immediate superior -- DGP R R Singh -- was not spared
as he probed the molestation charges against the then IG.
Speaking to TOI, Singh minced no words recalling the sequence of
events related to "threats and pressure mounted by Rathore" on him.
Singh was the first officer to probe the charges against Rathore, and
he retired in 1992 after submitting his report to the Haryana
government, saying Rathore had "planned the molestation".
"While I conducted the probe, he (SPS Rathore) garnered the support of
all residents of Rajiv Colony (a slum) in Panchkula and people of his
community in Naraingarh, Ambala district. They staged dharnas outside
my office and home. I mentioned everything in my report to the Haryana
government as well as to the Union ministry of home affairs," said ex-
DGP Singh. Singh said he was among those who perceived a threat from
Rathore and chose to retain his security cover even after retirement.
"Truth has prevailed and Rathore is now a convict. It was a case of
pre-planned molestation. He deliberately sent Aradhana out of his
office and molested Ruchika," Singh said. "This is what I said in my
report to the ministry, to the CBI, and in the CBI court."
Singh, however, regretted that the charge of abetment to suicide was
dropped. "It's unfortunate that Rathore was not booked or tried for
abetting Ruchika's suicide. What's much more outrageous is the twisted
grin on his face even after being convicted by a court. Even being
sentenced to one day's imprisonment tells on the face of a person," he
said.
chhotemianinshallah
Supriya Bhardwaj, TNN 23 December 2009, 12:34am IST
CHANDIGARH: Although 19 years have gone by, the traumatic memory of
her best friend, Ruchika Girhotra, being molested by then Haryana IG
SPS Rathore, rushes back every time Aradhana holds a tennis racquet in
her hand. The 32-year-old has never had the nerve to play the game she
loved after Ruchika killed herself, harassed by the police and
frustrated by judicial delay.
"Ruchika wanted to be a tennis player. Even at that tender age, her
ground strokes were brilliant. Today, I am sure her soul will find
some satisfaction in her tormentor, SPS Rathore, being convicted,"
said Aradhana, who flew in from Australia to hear the final verdict of
the long battle she has waged along with her parents. "I don't want
any other girl to go through the same sorrow. The fight isn't over yet
and we'll pursue the case until Rathore gets harsher punishment," she
added.
After the molestation, which took place in the office of the Haryana
Lawn Tennis Association in August 1990, Rathore, later promoted to
DGP, pulled rank and made life a nightmare for Ruchika and her family,
said Aradhana. A traumatized Ruchika, who was thrown out of school,
killed herself after false cases, including car theft, were framed
against her 16-year-old brother. "The Girhotras were persecuted for
standing up to the top cop," Aradhana said.
Their persecution began after the Girhotras, along with Ruchika and
her parents, Anand and Madhu Prakash, went to then Haryana home
secretary with a memorandum. This was the first official complaint for
an inquiry into the molestation. The same day, Ruchika went to the
tennis court around 5pm to find a notice declaring her suspension
(with effect from August 13, 1990) on the notice board.
That was just the beginning. "Her father (who worked in a bank) could
no longer work, her brother was implicated on trumped up charges and
beaten up. And the schools refused to admit her. For a girl who dreamt
of representing the country at international tennis events, the trauma
was too much to live with," said Aradhana.
What drove Ruchika to suicide, said Aradhana, was the police landing
at their doorstep in 1993 and parading her brother outside the house.
"Ruchika was told that her father would meet with the same fate if she
did not take her complaint back," she said. "She always blamed herself
for their depleting financial condition and for landing her father and
brother in trouble. The atmosphere at her house was always tense. And
she was always weeping."
Aradhana did not meet Ruchika for a few days in December 1993 as she
was appearing for exams. That was when she heard Ruchika had consumed
poison. "What she got was not what she deserved. Her life was cut
short for no fault of hers," said Aradhana, her eyes welling up with
tears.
chhotemianinshallah
press meet in Chandigarh. PTI Photo Photograph (1)
Ex-CM accused of backing Rathore in Ruchika molestation case
STAFF WRITER 13:36 HRS IST
Chandigarh, Dec 24 (PTI) Father of Ruchika Girihotra, who was molested
by former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore in 1990 and later committed
suicide, today accused former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala of
providing wholehearted support to the convict during his tenure.
"We have been moving here and there for the last 19 years. He
(Rathore) has been following us and harassing us. He was the DGP. Whom
to complain? The chief minister was backing him wholeheartedly. (Om
Prakash) Chautala was the chief minister," S C Girihotra told
reporters.
He also accused former chief minister Bhajan Lal of not doing much in
the case to bring the perpetrator to book.
"When Bhajan Lal was the chief minister, he did not do much," he
claimed.
Rathore, who molested 14-year-old budding tennis player Ruchika in
1990, was sentenced to six-month imprisonment, 19 years after the
incident.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/438674_Ex-CM-accused-of-backing-Rathore-in-Ruchika-molestation-case
Sid Harth
16 December 2009, 12:00am IST
The Vagina Monologues started as a play and went on to become a
colossal V-Day movement that campaigns for better rights for women
across the world. Eve Ensler , its playwright and original lead
performer, was in India recently and spoke to S Shobhana :
How has The Vagina Monologues brought changes in your life and
transformed you over the years?
I think when I started doing Vagina Monologues, the violence that had
happened in my own life was like a shadow determining my own
existence. But then, as I started performing and then leading a global
movement, that shadow began to lift. I don't feel like a victim
anymore...
How has The Vagina Monologues itself evolved over the years?
The play itself hasn't really changed, except that every culture
adapts it to make it relevant to itself, whether by changing names or
changing what the vagina is called, and this is different in different
places, whether India or the Philippines.
What are the different forms that violence can take and how does V-Day
address them?
V-Day is a movement to end violence against women and girls in all
forms, ranging from acid burning to female genital mutilation to rape
to domestic battery to incest to sex trafficking. One out of every
three women will be beaten or raped in her lifetime and that's true of
every single country. It is the hugest epidemic on the planet. You
can't end violence against women and girls without looking at poverty,
without looking at racism, without looking at the environment. All of
this and everything else is connected. V-Day has grown very rapidly in
the last 11 years and we are now in 130 countries. It's because of the
urgency of the situation and because so many women are violated
everywhere.
What is Insecure At Last, your most recent book, about?
It is about insecurity everywhere. I feel this even about being in
India right now. We have been searched and our bags have been searched
everywhere. I believe the whole world is like that now. Insecure At
Last was an attempt to look at, first of all, the fact that total
security is ridiculous, it's impossible. The book was my way of saying
'Come on into the world of insecurity'. That's where we all really
live. What if we drive not so much towards security and, instead, turn
our attention towards love, compassion, towards feeding everybody, and
towards care?
Every year a new monologue is added. What was the most recent one?
Last year, we added a monologue called Baptised about Congo. The worst
situation in the world for women today is in Congo. Between two and
five hundred thousand women have been raped in the last 12 years in an
economic war. Six million people have died in Congo in the last 12
years and no one seems to know about it. It's really shocking.
Women's Feature Service.
chhotemianinshallah
Sukhbir Siwach, TNN 25 December 2009, 03:27am IST
CHANDIGARH: Despite brave efforts of a few to get justice for Ruchika,
many in Haryana government appear to have tried their best to save S P
S Rathore, now convicted in the molestation case. Despite
recommendations for filing an FIR against Rathore, it took nine years
for the cop to be booked.
Then DGP R R Singh, who conducted an inquiry on September 3, 1990, had
suggested that a case be registered against Rathore under appropriate
IPC sections on the basis of Ruchika's statement. He had conducted the
probe on the orders of CM Hukum Singh and handed over the report to
the government and home secretary J K Duggal.
But apparently, the accused was so influential that despite Singh's
recommendations, no action was taken to register a case, alleged
sources close to the victim. The CBI investigation report revealed
that Panchkula residents, mostly parents of tennis players, had
gathered at the residence of Anand Prakash, father of Ruchika's friend
Aradhana, and decided that some strong action be taken by way of
taking up the matter with the higher authorities.
They could neither contact CM Hukum Singh nor home minister Sampat
Singh, but met then home secretary J K Duggal, who, on August 17,
1990, discussed the matter with Sampat Singh and asked DGP RR Singh to
investigate it. Instead of an FIR, the government preferred
departmental action, issuing a chargesheet against the accused on May
28, 1991.
Interestingly, then legal remembrancer (who gives opinion to the
government on legal issues) R K Nehru in his opinion in 1992 suggested
that state government was not competent to issue the chargesheet,
adding it would be quite legal and proper to get the FIR registered.
Then, the CM's office had referred the case to chief secretary for
advice. But nothing happened finally, said sources.
Said Sampat Singh, the then home minister: "We did not try to save
anybody and as a home minister, I tried my best to perform my duties
honestly. Moreover, action against a class-1 officer is taken by the
chief minister." Trying to wash his hands of the case, former CM Om
Prakash Chautala said: "It was the Bhajan Lal-led government that
promoted Rathore." But Haryana Janhit Congress leader and Bhajan Lal's
son, Kuldeep Bishnoi shifted the blame back to Chautala. "If the
government led by Bhajan Lal had promoted Rathore, then why did
Chautala not take action against the DGP," he said.
chhotemianinshallah
Shimona Kanwar, TNN 25 December 2009, 03:23am IST
CHANDIGARH: Ruchika Girhotra's alma mater — Sacred Heart — appears to
have plotted her expulsion from the school. It now transpires that the
school didn't accept Ruchika's fee and later expelled her on the
flimsy grounds that that she didn't pay it.
A senior Sacred Heart teacher said it was rare for the school to expel
on the grounds cited in Ruchika's case. "It's uncommon that our school
had expelled students on the basis of non-payment of the fees. Either,
a month's notice is given or fine is imposed. In extreme situations,
the students aren't allowed to take the exams," said the teacher.
A family friend Adhunika Seedhar echoes the teacher, saying Ruchika
was expelled contrary to the school's norms. "The school didn't even
issue a notice to Ruchika and straightaway acted against her," said
Seedhar.
Sacred Heart's admission brochure buttresses the teacher's point. It
says, at the most, a student wouldn't be allowed to take exams as a
penalty for the non-payment of the fee. Thought the 1990 brochure
contents are unknown, her expulsion certainly flouts the norms of the
school's present policy.
Chandigarh home secretary Ram Niwas said the authorities would
investigate the circumstances that led to Ruchika's expulsion. "We
would act against the school if Ruchika's relatives complain," he
said. "It must have been tormenting for a child who was up against
influential people," he added.
Students at Ruchika's alma mater have begun rallying around the
campaign for her justice. They have started blogging to support the
cause. "Blogging is the best and quickest way of gathering support,"
said a Sacred Heart student. "I'm keen to trace Ruchika's batchmates
and hear her story."
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, December 25, 2009
First Published: 15:00 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 15:06 IST(25/12/2009)
With the Ruchika molestation case causing an uproar, Union Law
Minister M Veerappa Moily today said the Government has decided to
"fast track" cases relating to women, including those involving rape,
molestation and dowry.
"At the National Consultation on Judicial Reforms held recently, the
Government and the Judiciary have decided to prioritise and classify
cases related to women, children and the disabled...classification is
an important component of the programme," Moily said.
He said classification and prioritisation would ensure that such cases
are "fast tracked" in courts.
He said a "blueprint" on legal reforms approved by the Union Cabinet
has mentioned classification of cases for early disposal.
"Otherwise also, cases pending for 15 years or more will be reduced to
3 years and that will be achievable from here within 3 years. All
cases pending in courts after January 1, 2010 will be treated as
arrears," the Minister said adding, a policy could be announced in a
fortnight.
To a question on the delay in delivery of justice in the Ruchika
molestation case, Moily termed it as "atrocious"
"Ruchika's case is atrocious and delay is unpardonable," he said.
chhotemianinshallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Chandigarh, December 24, 2009
First Published: 20:04 IST(24/12/2009)
Last Updated: 20:07 IST(24/12/2009)
Riot police in battle gear surrounded the house of former Haryana
director general of police S.P.S. Rathore at Chandigarh Thursday
evening as people holding candles and placards reached the gate of his
house to demand harsher punishment to the official for molesting a
teenager in 1990.
The marchers gathered outside his residence gate in Panchkula, a town
in Haryana about 10 km from here, shouting slogans like "Justice for
Ruchika", eyewitnesses said.
Rathore has been sentenced to six months in jail and a fine of Rs.
1,000 for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra. She committed
suicide three years later, allegedly due to the harassment of her and
her family by the official after she filed a complaint about the
molestation.
Rathore was immediately granted bail by the court on Monday.
Led by the family members of Anand Prakash, the complainant and family
friend of Ruchika, a few hundred people of various age groups gathered
under a single umbrella to raise their voice against Rathore.
"This is our way to express support for Ruchika's family. We want
justice in this case to set an example for others. We do not want
other innocent girls to fall prey before unscrupulous officials like
Rathore," said 19-year-old Akanksha Sethi, an engineering student at
the candlelight march.
chhotemianinshallah
ABUSE OF POWER :What Ruchika said about her molester
NDTV Correspondent, Wednesday December 23, 2009, New Delhi
A top cop molesting a 14-year-old girl, the trauma driving her to
commit suicide and the cop getting away with just 6 months in prison,
and on top of that getting bail immediately, this verdict has shamed
the nation. (Read and Watch: Senior cop molested teen who killed
herself)Ruchika Girhotra's story has led to public outcry. NDTV now
has a copy of the affidavit signed by Ruchika, in which she clearly
says she was shocked and nervous with the behaviour of Mr Rathore, the
former DGP of Haryana. (Watch: Ruchika's story on The Buck Stops Here)
She was traumatised, confused and clueless about what to do after the
incident and how she and her friend Aradhana were afraid of Mr Rathore
because of his position. (Watch: Justice for Ruchika: Friends seek
public support Read: Her best friend's crusade for justice I Watch:
NDTV speaks to Aradhana)The CBI says Rathore could not be charged for
abetment to suicide, as it would have been extremely difficult to
prove in court. (Watch: How did such a police officer get promoted:
Ambika Soni)In that statement to R R Singh, the then director General
of Police Haryana, Ruchika writes: "When we reached the office, Mr
Rathore was alone, standing outside. On seeing us he came into the
office and also asked us to come inside. I requested him that he may
listen outside the office but he kept on insisting and perforce we had
to go inside.""As soon as Reemu (Aradhana) left the place, Rathore
caught hold of my hand. I tried to get rid of Mr. Rathore by pushing
him away. I was shocked and became nervous with the behaviour of Mr.
Rathore." (Read: Age and lengthy trial helped Rathore) 'I tried to
narrate the incidence as to how Mr. Rathore tried to molest me, but I
broke down." (Watch: Verdict is a national shame: Arun Jaitley) "She
(Aradhana) had also seen when Mr. Rathore was misbehaving with me. I
was so nervous and afraid that I asked Reemu (Aradhana) as to what we
should do now? Shall I inform my father about this incidence?
Ultimately we decided Mr Rathore is IG Police and we were afraid of
him as he may involve or harass us or our parents. Therefore we
decided not to inform our parents or anybody else about this
incidence".(Forum: Is six months enough for such a crime? Read surfer
comments)
Posted by Naxal Watch at 8:33 PM
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2009/12/abuse-of-power-what-ruchika-said-about.html
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust Of India
Panaji, December 25, 2009
First Published: 17:42 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 17:43 IST(25/12/2009)
Two young Russian women have alleged that a taxi driver attempted to
rape them at Anjuna beach here while they were returning from a
Christmas party.
Both girls in their complaint lodged at Anjuna police station said
they had to jump out of the taxi to escape from
his clutches and hide in the woods for almost five hours waiting for
the dawn.
Olga Tyurina (29) and Irina Babayan (25) were returning from a
discotheque at Saligao in North Goa after attending
Christmas party.
Both the girls, who know little English, have told police that an
unidentified taxi driver, whom they had hired to drop them back to
their hotel at Baga, took them to Anjuna beach.
The taxi driver who initially had agreed for Rs 300 took them by
another road pretending to avoid police picketing at
2:20 am. He stopped at Anjuna beach and demanded Rs 1,000 instead,
they said.
When we protested, he tried to grab us. We were horrified and jumped
out of the taxi and took shelter in the woods
nearby, they said.
The girls said they were in the jungle for almost five hours and left
from there only in the morning. The police
complaint was lodged this morning at 7.
bala srinivasan6:36 am
in fairness to the taxi driver hopefully the police will make sure
that these clever russian girls didn't trick him from paying the
premium he might have demanded to take these girls at that odd hour
back to their place after their "PARTY".the fact that the he initially
charged the fair market fare speaks for his defence.
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 20:23 HRS IST
New Delhi, Dec 25 (PTI) Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh today said
the verdict in the Ruchika molestation case has come out as a "mockery
of justice" as after 19 years the guilty had been given an "ordinary
sentence".
"In this case, even death sentence is mild. An example should be set
through this case by giving the strictest sentence....After waiting
for 19 years, an ordinary sentence and ordinary fine has been imposed
on the culprit. It is a mockery of justice," Singh told reporters
here.
People in high places should get a message that they cannot get away
by committing such crimes, he said.
Former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore was on Monday sentenced to six months
of rigorous imprisonment for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika, a budding
tennis player, in 1990 when he was an IGP. The girl committed suicide
three years later.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/440709_Ruchika-case-a-mockery-of-justice--says-Amar
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 20:4 HRS IST
New Delhi, Dec 25 (PTI) Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was
moved to tears when he heard the tragic tale of Ruchika Girihotra's
molestation while he was still in office, ex Union minister Shanta
Kumar said today.
Kumar, who was the Food Minister in the NDA government at the Centre,
said Vajpayee came to know about Ruchika's sad story in 2000 when he
read a letter written by him to the then Haryana Chief Minister Om
Prakash Chautala asking him to take stern action against former DGP S
P S Rathore in the case.
"After hearing the episode from me tears rolled down Vajpayee's face",
the veteran BJP leader from Himachal Pradesh said.
Vajpayee also strongly approved of Kumar's letter to Chautala
recommending stringent action against former Haryana police chief in
the case.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/440692_Atal-brought-to-tears-to-hear-Ruchika-s-tale---Shanta
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 19:6 HRS IST
Hyderabad, Dec 25 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari landed in a
fresh controversy today after a local TV channel telecast explicit
clippings purportedly of the veteran Congress leader with some women,
a footage rejected by Raj Bhavan as fabricated and a "tissue of lies."
The development amid the crisis in the state over the Telangana
statehood issue triggered demands that the 86-year-old Governor resign
or be dismissed and also protests by women activists outside the Raj
Bhavan where security was beefed up after the private Telugu channel
aired the footage.
In a quick damage control, the Raj Bhavan approached the AP High
Court, filed a PIL against the channel--"ABN Andhra Jyothy"--and got
an order to restrain it from further airing the footage which was
allegedly taken inside Raj Bhavan during the night.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/440614_Tiwari-lands-in-a-controversy-over-TV-footage
Sid Harth
Molestation case was never brought to my notice, says Chautala
Aarti Dhar/J. Venkatesan
The Hindu Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala addressing
a press conference in New Delhi on Friday
The former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, on Friday
denied that he shielded the former Director-General of Police, S.P.S.
Rathore, who was sentenced to six-month rigorous imprisonment for
molesting a 14-year-old girl in 1990. She committed suicide in 1993.
Mr. Chautala sought to put the blame on his Congress successors,
Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal, accusing them of promoting Mr. Rathore as
DGP and dropping the charges against him. Mr Bhajan Lal now heads the
Haryana Vikas Party.
Addressing journalists here, Mr. Chautala said that when he came to
power in 1993, Mr. Rathore was placed under suspension soon after the
CBI filed a charge sheet against him. He denied that he had received
any complaint from the victim’s family.
The victim’s father accused Mr. Chautala of shielding Mr. Rathore and
delaying registration of the case against him. The then DGP, R.R.
Singh, and the former Home Secretary, J.K. Duggal, have also spoken
about “political pressure” being brought on them to bury the case.
Mr. Chautala said that when the molestation took place on August 12,
1990, Master Hukam Singh of the erstwhile Lok Dal was Chief Minister,
and he asked Mr. R.R. Singh, to investigate the matter. An entry (DD)
was made against Mr. Rathore on August 18. On March 13 next, Master
Hukam Singh gave his consent for a departmental enquiry and the filing
of a charge sheet against Mr. Rathore.
Mr. Chautala said he was Chief Minister between March 22, 1991 and
April 6, 1991, but the matter was never brought to his notice. After
the Governor’s rule ended in Haryana, the Congress, led by Mr. Bhajan
Lal, formed the government on July 23, 1991, and he was at the helm
till May 9, 1996. During this period, atrocities were committed on the
victim’s family: 11 false cases were slapped on the girl’s brother,
and he was kept in illegal detention for two months. The charges
framed against Mr. Rathore were quietly dropped in April 1994, and he
was promoted Additional DGP. In May 1996, Mr Bansi Lal became Chief
Minister and he promoted Mr. Rathore DGP, though he had been placed
under suspension in connection with the grant of parole to an accused.
But he was reinstated in March 1999.
But the Congress accused Mr. Chautala of trying to politicise the
case. Terming his statement “most unfortunate,” party spokesman Manish
Tewari said he reacted to the national outrage in the most
“insensitive and callous manner.”
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article70654.ece
chhotemianinshallah
G Arun Kumar, TNN 25 December 2009, 06:13pm IST
HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh high court issued an
injunction on Friday, prohibiting a private TV channel from showing
explicit One of the images shown on Andhra Jyothi's ABN channel
clippings purportedly of the 86-year-old state governor, N D Tiwari,
in bed with three young women. ( Watch Video )
Tiwari denied media reports alleging his involvement in a sex scandal
and termed them "malicious".
The court order came in response to a PIL, which was filed even as the
images hit the TV screens on Christmas morning, leaving the citizens
shell-shocked. By the time the court order reached the Telugu channel,
the images had been on air for about an hour.
The images showed an old man, purportedly Tiwari, wearing no trousers
and a shirt pulled up to the neck. All three women are naked, one at
his legs and the others on his upper half. One of the women is said to
be seven months pregnant, another just 18 years old.
Tiwari is a veteran Congress politician, who has been a Union minister
under several Prime Ministers and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh
and Uttarakhand. He figured in a scandal in 2008, when Rohit, the
grandson of a former Union minister from Haryana, moved the Delhi high
court, alleging that Tiwari was his father. In his reply to the court
notice, Tiwari described Rohit’s mother, Ujjwala Sharma, as an
“unchaste woman” and accused Rohit of acting at her behest.
"She as an unchaste woman had defendant 1 (Tiwari) as her paramour
even during the subsistence of her marriage..." Tiwari’s reply had
said.
Raj Bhavan, however, issued a denial of the reports. The counsel for
the Raj Bhavan Ravishanker Jandhyala said, "There is absolutely no
truth in the alleged news story which is nothing but sensation
mongering."
"The alleged news story is nothing but a 'tissue of lies' and is
denied," he said, adding there is no question of his resignation. "We
will definitely file a defamation case. Already I have issued a notice
in the afternoon (to the channel)," he added.
While the images, allegedly of Tiwari with three women in bed, shown
on the Telugu channel, appear to tell all, the allegations of Radhika,
a woman from Uttarakhand, are even more damning. Radhika claims to
have sent these young women to the Raj Bhavan on Tiwari's request
through a Raj Bhavan official. She says the octogeneranian's appetite
for women is insatiable: he would ask for women in the middle of the
night and also seek after-lunch sessions.
Women's rights activists, lawyers and politicians have reacted
strongly to the sordid episode. Calling the governor a sexual deviant
and a man who has brought shame to the office, women activists said
the first citizen of Andhra Pradesh should be brought to heel
immediately.
Radhika's role in the events remains hazy as she claims that Tiwari
had said he would provide jobs to these young women, but used them for
sexual favours instead. Radhika says that Tiwari, through an official,
had promised her a mining licence in Kadapa. When he did not, she
chose to expose him by leaking the video clips and photos.
Early on Friday morning, the governor's officer on special duty wrote
a letter to the high court Chief Justice Ramesh Dave, drawing his
attention in to a report in Friday's edition of the Telugu daily
Andhra Jyothi. The report was a teaser to Tiwari's "sexcapades" to be
shown on the newspaper's TV channel, ABN. Treating the letter as a
public interest litigation (writ petition SR No. 149805/2009), a
division bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Nagarjuna
Reddy was urgently constituted to hear the matter.
Counsel for the governor, Jandhyala Ravishankar, pleaded with the
bench to restrain the channel from showing the "highly objectionable"
images. Responding to the plea, the bench passed an injunction around
11am to the ABN management to stop showing the visuals, which were
"denigrating the gubernatorial office and causing immense damage to
the highest office". Once the Jubilee Hills police handed over the
court order to the channel, the airing of the visuals was immediately
stopped.
With the news spreading like wildfire, there were spontaneous protests
from women's activists who laid siege to the Raj Bhavan. Several
members of women's organizations staged demonstrations. An effigy of
Tiwari was burned in front of the Raj Bhavan. Later, police bundled
the protesting women into a van and took them away.
V Sandhya, leader of the Progressive Organization of Women, said
Tiwari should be dismissed immediately. "We have a woman President and
another managing the biggest party in the country and we will petition
them to take stern action against the man."
"These indecent acts inside the portals of the Raj Bhavan should be an
eye-opener for all politicians," she said. She urged women activists
to condemn the "sleazy acts" of the first citizen of the state and
undertake protests in towns and mandals of the state.
AIDWA leader Jyothi said the system was so flawed that if police
officers or government officials were found guilty of some charges,
they are suspended first and an inquiry was is ordered. "Why can't the
same rule be applied in the case of a constitutional head like the
governor who has besmirched the highest office with his cheap act?"
she said.
Reacting sharply, PRP leader Shobharani said it was shameful for a man
holding such a high position. "Even to react to the incident is
shocking for all of us as the girls shown in the visuals could be
younger than Tiwari's granddaughters," she said.
Meanwhile, women activists took to the streets in Chittoor, Nellore,
Khammam, Adilabad and other towns protesting against the governor's
"rasa leelas" inside the Raj Bhavan. An official of the newspaper
group said they would run the entire story in their Saturday's edition
without publishing the sleazy photographs. "We are requesting the
court to vacate the stay," he added.
chhotemianinshallah
Watch Video
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/5377945.cms
chhotemianinshallah
Watch Video
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 26 December 2009, 01:05am IST
NEW DELHI: The raging controversy that has engulfed Andhra Pradesh
governor N D Tiwari may lead to his being removed from the
constitutional post.
The octogenarian former Uttarakhand CM hit the news in an unexpected
manner when a local channel aired candid camera shots, purportedly of
him enjoying a romp in the Raj Bhavan. The 'expose' came even as the
state remains embroiled in agitations over the demand for a separate
state of Telangana.
There was shock and dismay in Congress circles in Delhi. Congress
leader from Andhra Pradesh and CWC member Keshava Rao expressed
disgust at the scandal and sought Tiwari's resignation as governor.
There could be more demands for Tiwari's ouster as other partymen take
a cue from the senior AICC functionary.
Taking care to preface his comments with "if the pictures are true",
Rao said, "I am shocked at these unseeable pictures of our respectable
governor. I myself feel ashamed at such shameful incidents. I hope
they are not genuine. But if they are, then any responsible person in
such a post would quit before he is asked to."
While serious enough, the scandal complicates the situation for
Congress owing to its timing. The allegation that Tiwari was having
sex romps in Raj Bhawan comes even as life in the state has come to a
standstill owing to paralysis in governance over the Telangana
agitation. Political circles here have been abuzz that the Hyderabad
Raj Bhawan could do with a person more engaged with governance issues
than Tiwari has been.
It is not clear whether Tiwari has offered any explanations, but he
has been no stranger to controversy. The gubernatorial stint was
supposed to be a retirement benefit, but the headlines seem to follow
NDT wherever he goes.
The veteran leader, who has the unique distinction of having been CM
of two states -- UP and its breakaway Uttarakhand -- has held senior
positions at the Centre and in Congress organisation. He set off an
avalanche of rumours in the mid-90s by disappearing for two days when
he was supposed to be leading a rebellion within Congress against then
prime minister P V Narasimha Rao. He is also embroiled in a legal duel
with a young man, Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be the governor's son
and has moved judiciary to force NDT to undergo a paternity test.
The news set tongues wagging and Congress was cautious in its comments
on the latest controversy. AICC spokesman Manish Tiwari said, "The
matter is sub-judice and it is not appropriate to comment on it. More
so, till the veracity of the material in question is established, it
would be wrong for anyone to pass a judgment one way or other."
But sources said Tiwari's continuation in Raj Bhawan has become
untenable in the wake of the scandal. There have been talks of moving
Tiwari out of Hyderabad for other reasons, though. Since YS
Rajasekhara Reddy died in an air crash and when Congress was thrown
into uncertainty by Jagan Mohan Reddy's campaign for the top job, it
was felt the state needed an active governor to deal with any
uncertainty. The situation had barely stabilised before the Telangana
stir heated up things again.
There is a clear concern that Raj Bhawan needs a younger occupant. It
is felt if the Telangana situation worsens, the Centre would have to
explore the option of central rule. It would bring the reins of power
in the hands of the governor. The veteran politician is not seen as
the man for the administrator's job, though he may not be ready to
lead a retiring life.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tiwari-may-be-on-way-out/articleshow/5379239.cms
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 26 December 2009, 02:44am IST
HYDERABAD: T-trouble took a back seat in Andhra Pradesh with another
form of T-trouble grabbing centre stage. Telangana mania was drowned
out on One of the images shown on Andhra Jyothi's ABN channel.
Christmas Day as a full-fledged sex scandal involving Raj Bhavan was
aired by the ABN Andhra Jyothi, a Telugu TV channel.
It played visuals of an old man purported to be the former Union
finance minister and current Andhra Pradesh governor, N D Tiwari, in
bed with two young women. While the man was without his pajamas, the
two women were without a shred of clothing.
Although the telecast was stopped after some time with officials of
the governor's office obtaining a restraint order from a division
bench of the High Court, the damage had already been done.
Women's groups swung into action and protested outside the Raj Bhavan,
even as leading lights of the city demanded the immediate sacking of
the 86-year-old Narain Datt Tiwari.
The Governor's office issued a statement that the tapes displayed were
"fabricated and untruthful", but the public outcry did not die down
with an effigy of Tiwari being burnt outside the Raj Bhavan.
Tiwari was in the news recently after a 29-year-old boy Rohit Shekhar
-- grandson of a former union minister Sher Singh -- petitioned the
Delhi High Court that he was the "natural son" of Tiwari and sought a
paternity test to prove his claim. The High Court, however, did not
agree to the test and said the suit was not "maintainable".
Tiwari's lawyers had argued that the case had been time barred because
the petitioner should have moved court when he turned 18.
"We have a woman President and and another managing the biggest party
in the country. We will petition them to take stern action against
this man," said V Sandhya of the Progressive Organisation of Women.
Tiwari has been holding high public offices since the mid-'70s as
chief minister of UP, Union minister of commerce and finance and chief
minister of Uttaranchal.
An angry office bearer of the All India Democratic Women's Association
Jyothi said that if a government officer is involved in such scandals
he is suspended. "But such action is not taken against a person who
holds such a high constitutionalposition and has bismirched the
highest office with this cheap act," she added.
TDP's Chandrababu Naidu -- on the backfoot for the last few days
because of the Telangana agitation -- was quick to seize the
opportunity to demand Tiwari's ouster but the state government, thrown
into a tizzy, preferred to keep quiet. " I cannot comment on the
matter until it is clear that the TV grab is not doctored," said AP's
information minister Geetha Reddy. "The government has not discussed
the issue. As home minister, I cannot comment on it as the governor is
our constitutional head," said home minister Sabita Indra Reddy.
But managing director of ABN Andhra Jyothi Vemuri Radhakrishna when
told about allegations that the tapes were doctored, told TOI: "
Neither the news story nor the tapes are fabricated. Neither is it for
sensation mongering." He added: "Offices like that of the Governor are
exemplary and it's sickening to see a person holding such a high
office behave in such a manner... I am prepared to face any
conseqences. We are trying to get the court stay vacated."
Late in the evening Tiwari's office gave out another statement
asserting that he would continue to discharge his constitutional
duties "without fear or favour". Pointing out that he "was in the
evening of life," the statement said that today being Christmas, the
Governor wished "amity, foregiveness and true brotherhood" to prevail
amongst people.
chhotemianinshallah
IANS 25 December 2009, 08:01pm IST
HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu on
Friday demanded the resignation of Andhra Pradesh Governor N.D. Tiwari
over an alleged sex scandal involving him. ( Watch Video )
Naidu said Tiwari should resign or the central government should sack
him for bringing shame to the "sacred office of the governor". The
former chief minister also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) inquiry into the scandal as some MPs were also allegedly
involved.
Naidu's demand at a news conference came after a private Telugu news
channel showed explicit footage purportedly of 86-year-old Tiwari in
bed with three young women.
"Everybody is feeling ashamed after seeing this on television. This is
a big sex scandal and it shows the falling values and ethics in public
life," said Naidu, the leader of opposition in the state assembly.
"Offices like Raj Bhavan are the temples of democracy and it is very
unfortunate that such things are happening there," Naidu said.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 26 December 2009, 12:33am IST
NEW DELHI: The CBI is "sifting and collating" evidence and information
on the Ruchika Girhotra case to see whether the charge of abetment to
suicide against former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore can be re-examined in
case the agency is asked for an opinion.
The possibility of CBI being asked for its views arises if the courts
are moved. In any case, CBI is going to seek enhancement of the six-
month term handed out to Rathore when the former cop, as anticipated,
appeals his sentence. "CBI will see what can be done in the case,"
said well-placed sources.
Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda told TOI that the state
government would offer its full cooperation. "My sympathies are with
the Girhotra family," he said. The Haryana government would be
prepared to assist in any probe that was ordered by the Centre or the
courts.
The disgraced former cop, who has been convicted for molesting 14-year-
old Ruchika Girhotra, will also be stripped of his Police Medal for
bringing "the force (police) into disrepute". The home ministry will
initiate the process next week by serving a show-cause notice to him
asking why his police medal should not be forfeited and pension
benefits reduced after his conviction.
Rathore, a 1965-batch IPS officer who retired in 2002, was awarded the
Police Medal for Meritorious Service on August 15, 1985. "It is a fit
case of stripping him of his police medal as he, after being convicted
in the case, violated the medal rules and acceptance agreement which
the recipient has to sign before receiving the award," said an
official. He said the rules were applicable to both serving and
retired officers.
The rule clearly states that the Police Medal for Meritorious Service
and President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service are "liable to
be forfeited when the holder is guilty of disloyalty, cowardice in
action or such conduct as in the opinion of the President brings the
force into disrepute".
The official said that the home ministry would first look into the
details of the judgment and other relevant papers submitted to it by
CBI. It would also write to the Haryana government for details of the
recommendation papers concerning Rathore's case for medal. A formal
note would then be sent to the President for a final decision, he
added.
Rathore was promoted as the DGP by the Om Prakash Chautala government
in 2000. The same government had earlier in 1999 recommended his name
to the home ministry for a President's Police Medal For Distinguished
Service. The recommendation in 1999 was made despite the Ruchika
molestation case pending against him.
The state's recommendation was, however, rejected by the Centre when
the Intelligence Bureau informed the home ministry that Rathore was an
accused in the molestation case.
Sources in the home ministry said that it would also be probed how
Rathore's recommendation was initially cleared and who were behind the
attempted cover-up. A detailed report from the Haryana government
would also be sought for this, they added.
Asked about the possibility of the molestation case being re-opened,
Union law minister M Veerappa Moily said: "I don't know whether there
is a possibility." A news agency quoted him as saying that he had
discussed the case with the CBI and the solicitor-general. "All
serious steps possible will be done," he was quoted as saying.
Taking a cue from the delay in the Ruchika case which remained pending
for 19 years, Moily said the government had decided to "fast track"
cases relating to women, including those involving rape, molestation
and dowry harassment.
"At the National Consultation on Judicial Reforms held recently, the
government and the judiciary decided to prioritize and classify cases
related to women, children and the disabled...classification is an
important component of the programme," Moily told the news agency.
To a question on the delay in delivery of justice in the Ruchika case,
Moily termed it as "atrocious". "Ruchika's case is atrocious and delay
is unpardonable," Moily was quoted as saying.
chhotemianinshallah
Ajay Sura, TNN 26 December 2009, 03:44am IST
CHANDIGARH: Convicted former top cop S P S Rathore used to personally
supervise interrogation of Ashu, brother of Ruchika, during his
detention under false cases. It was Ashu's statement before the
division bench of Punjab and Haryana high court in December 2001 that
the matter came up through a suo motu notice. The instances of
harassment and humiliation faced by Ruchika's family, which led her to
commit suicide, were narrated by Ashu before the HC.
Ashu alleged in the court that Rathore had gone to the extent of
doctoring the report mentioning the cause of Ruchika's death. Using
his strong influence in the police, he projected that the cause of her
death was consumption of slimming pills. However, the doctors' report
clearly said she had died after consuming a chloro-compound, used for
insecticides.
Even in the inquest and postmortem report, the name of Ruchika was
changed to Ruby and the name of her father from S C Girhotra to
Subhash Chander Khatri, Ashu alleged.Alleging preparation of false
documents by Rathore after the death of Ruchika, Ashu informed the
court that Rathore pressured his father to abide by whatever he said,
else his son (Ashu) as well as his entire family would also meet the
same fate.
Ashu's case had reached before the HC following suo motu cognizance
taken by justice Mehtab Singh Gill on December 12, 2000. The then
chief justice had referred the matter before a division bench
comprising justice N K Sodhi and justice N K Sood.
While deposing before the division bench, Ashu had stated that he had
to undergo inhuman treatment at the instance of Rathore because he
wanted to use him as a tool so that criminal cases against the cop
could be withdrawn.
It was the first statement of Ashu since the family was forced to
leave Panchkula by Rathore following the molestation charges. At the
time of making the statement, Ashu was living with his family in
Sector-2, New Shimla.
Spelling out the reason for leaving their Panchkula residence, Ashu
informed HC that the family was so scared because of Rathore that none
of them wanted to live where Rathore could even reach them.
The HC then referred the inquiry to sessions judge Patiala. However
the order was immediately challenged before the Supreme Court by
Rathore, where he got a stay.
Victimisation
From September 6, 1992 to August 30, 1993, the state police registered
six FIRs against Ashu. Most cases related to car theft along with
other co-accused. However he was discharged by the trial court in all
the cases.
chhotemianinshallah
Bharat Yagnik, TNN 26 December 2009, 12:09am IST
AHMEDABAD: The man who tried to defame a professor of zoology in
Gujarat University by accusing him of rape, has been traced. Gujarat
University (GU) V-C Parimal Trivedi said that the culprit has been
identified as 29-year-old Nimit Joshi. "He is married and settled in
Canada as a pharmacologist. The girl is likely to send us a picture
which we will forward to police for investigation," Trivedi told TOI.
On Saturday, ACP (crime branch) Usha Rada met Trivedi for further
investigation. City crime branch got hot on Joshi's trail after he
sent some 50 emails to various people in the name of a PhD student
saying her guide had raped her. It now emerges that the man had been
chasing this girl since college and sent these e-mails to create
roadblocks in her studies and personal life.
Joshi reportedly had sent these emails from Canada. Immediately after
reports emerged, the girl is learnt to have called authorities and
complained that they are false and handiwork of the boy.
Sources said the PhD student and the man became good friends at an
institute running course on International English Language Testing
System (IELTS) training. The two even contemplated marriage but things
soured between them when the girl came to know that Joshi was married.
The boy did not take being spurned by the girl kindly and continued
stalking her.
He used to hang around her college and hostel and was even thrown out
of the hostel by the rector. The accused was reported to have also
written mails earlier to heads of science departments to urge the girl
to marry him saying his life would be destroyed if she did not accept
his marriage proposal. The authorities believe that they will be able
to catch up with Joshi soon once his identity is established more
clearly after getting his pictures from the US.
chhotemianinshallah
Jug Suraiya Friday December 25, 2009, 01:23 PM
If you were to drink and drive on New Year’s eve – or on any other
day, for that matter – (not that you’re silly enough to drink and
drive, of course) and were stopped by a cop, you’d likely face a stiff
fine up to Rs 5,000 and a possible night in jail. Compare this with
the case of Haryana DGP, SPS Rathore, who in 1990 sexually molested a
14-year-old girl, Ruchika, who three years after the incident
committed suicide as a direct result of the psychological trauma she
had suffered. Her family was persecuted by members of the Haryana
police; her brother had 11 false cases made against him, and the
family eventually had to leave the state. Almost 20 years later, the
perpetrator of this crime gets a jail sentence of six months and a
1,000 rupee fine. He leaves the court smiling, saying he will appeal.
The reason given for this gross travesty of justice is that the 150-
year-old law relating to sexual molestation, short of rape, of a minor
prescribes a maximum sentence of only two years, as against 10 years
for rape. This antiquated law – which takes no account of that most
repugnant of crimes, that of child molestation – is in the process of
being reviewed.
In the meantime, will Rathore walk virtually free?
A number of other questions arise. Why did it take almost 20 years for
the sentence to be awarded? Why did the Haryana high court strike down
that part of the charge against Rathore which made him culpable for
his victim’s suicide, and which would have invited a far stiffer
sentence for him? Why did the judge impose a sentence of only six
months, when even the flawed law as it stands allows for a maximum
sentence of two years?
Has there been—or will there be – any inquiry into allegations made by
the victim’s family of prolonged police harassment, amounting to
criminal misconduct?
An uproar has been created in the media and in Parliament by the
Ruchika case. But like so many other cause celebres will this too
prove to be a nine-day-horror, soon wiped out from public memory by a
more topical scandal, a more recent and more gory crime?
Once again, Ruchika’s tragic case exposes the glaring anomalies and
shortcomings of our outdated, overburdened and severely flawed legal
system. Even when the perpetrator is belatedly brought to book – as
Rathore has been, almost two decades after he committed his criminal
act – the punishment rarely fits the crime. The rich or the powerful –
like Rathore with his top cop connections – get off lightly; common
citizens bear the full brunt of a legal system seemingly skewed
against their favour.
There has been much talk of a judicial review, of making our judiciary
more accessible to public scrutiny. The Ruchika case is a challenge. A
challenge for all those concerned about the deep-seated malaise in our
system of jurisprudence, which not only allows but promotes repeated
miscarriages of justice, to seek not only a more fitting punishment
for Rathore but also to raise fundamental questions regarding the many
weaknesses and perversities in the laws of our land. And, indeed, in
many members of our judiciary, which presides over and interprets
those laws. Judges have been asked to declare their assets. And the
definition of the assets they declare might be expanded to include
their IQs. Otherwise, the public at large – shocked by cases like that
of Ruchika – might perforce deem the law to be not only an ass but a
criminally culpable one at that.
In the meanwhile, don’t drink and drive on New Year’s eve, or any
other time (not that you would; you’re far too sensible and law-
abiding for that) or you may face the full force and fury of the law.
Unlike DGP Rathore, who seems to be above, or beyond, it.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/ruchika-is-below-the-law
chhotemianinshallah
26 Dec 2009, 0626 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: As the Ruchika Girhotra issue kicks up a political storm,
law minister Veerappa Moily on Friday said the case has been
“mistreated” and needs to be “revisited”.
His comments come even as former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash
Chautala, who was accused by Ruchika’s father of shielding Rathore,
passed the blame on to the erstwhile Congress government in the state.
Congress, on its part, said Mr Chautala was converting the issue into
a political football.
The government, which had so far refrained from commenting on the case
which has opened a pandora’s box on the justice system stirring a
public outrage, finally broke its silence. “The case of this nature
has been mistreated and whoever is responsible needs to be
appropriately dealt with. And a case of this nature needs to be
revisited,” Mr Moily told reporters.
The law minister said he had consulted the Solicitor General on the
matter. “I have discussed it with the solicitor general of India and
have asked him what could be done after this sentence. I told him to
discuss the case with the CBI director also,” Mr Moily said.
Describing the delay of 19 years by the judiciary as “atrocious and
unpardonable”, he said laws in terms of punishment also should be
revisited. Cases relating to atrocities against women, senior citizens
and disabled citizens will be fast-tracked, the law minister said. Mr
Moily’s ambitious project for judicial reforms includes reducing the
average span of litigation to three years. He said the new policy may
be announced in a fortnight.
Meanwhile, defending himself, Mr Chautala said his government took
immediate action against Rathore when a complaint was lodged against
him 19 years ago. “He was made DGP during Bhajan Lal’s term. He was
never promoted during my tenure. He was not given any special
provisions. The moment the CBI report came before us, we suspended
him. And this was the maximum we could do as the matter was subjudice.
If I had acted further, it would have been considered contempt of
court. The high court and the Supreme Court had also granted him
relief, so why should I have interfered in the court’s judgments,” Mr
Chautala said, a day after Ruchika’s father blamed the former chief
minister and the entire state establishment for the harassment that
drove his daughter to kill herself.
Mr Chautala said he did not recommend Rathore’s name for the
President’s medal and that it was done as part of a “routine work” by
the officers. Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said Chautala “is
trying to convert the case into a political football. He should be
ashamed of himself.” Describing his statement as “most unfortunate”,
Mr Tewari said he was being “insensitive and callous” about the
case.
chhotemianinshallah
Pratik Kanjilal
December 25, 2009
First Published: 22:07 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 22:11 IST(25/12/2009)
In 2009, India went into a core upgrade. It looked the same but was
fundamentally changed. The year brought good cheer for people who are
convinced of India’s manifest destiny. In the climate talks in
Copenhagen, we quickly jettisoned the G77 and aligned with the
interests of the big powers. It was crassly done, like marrying above
your station and then pretending that your natal family does not
exist. But, on the other hand, there’s no stopping progress. One of
the two nations of India has actually become First World. When your
weekly grocery bill is bigger than your monthly internet bill, that’s
progress. When poky flats cost what bungalows used to, that’s very
First World. Enjoy, as the microwave said when it was done.
But hang on. The picture of two Indias divided by the poverty line has
served us well, but it looks distorted now. Middle India used to rise
in revolt and topple governments on the issue of inflation. It’s
eerily quiet now, though the price of potatoes has risen by 150 per
cent. But even the poor are silent about food prices, though they are
hit hardest because food is about all they buy. The election in
Jharkhand, where the poor predominate, was expected to be a referendum
on inflation, but it turned out to be an irrelevant issue.
So what’s going on? Has the urban middle class prospered so much that
it can absorb a sharp blow to the pocket? It seems unlikely. Has the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme improved rural fortunes so
much that a 17 per cent inflation rate is small change? Maybe in some
areas, but I hear of places in the Chhotanagpur region where people
don’t get to eat dal for weeks at a time. So, is this reluctance to
take to the streets a symptom of Orientalist fatalism? Have we lost
our voice?
Not at all. Some of us have become quite voluble on other issues like
impunity, which we once accepted with fatalistic Oriental grace. When
S.P.S. Rathore walked triumphantly out of court this week with the
minimum sentence for multiple serious offences — and instant bail to
boot — the smirk on his face set off an explosion like a bomb in a
pressure cooker. Within hours, ‘Justice for Jessica’ had been adapted
to ‘Justice for Ruchika’. The candle-light march, once disparaged as a
namby-pamby hobby, was back on the street and powerful people who had
helped Rathore were on the run.
In the Jessica Lall case, civil society had demonstrated the power of
public opinion without political backing, and it is now a serious
force in the polity. In recent months, it has forced the home ministry
to stop asking for gunship support for Operation Green Hunt and start
pretending that the operation was never conceived. Earlier, the Sri
Ram Sene’s assault on women who drink was similarly checkmated by the
pink chaddi campaign.
Insistence on justice and respect for the individual — these are First
World traits too. It’s a small beginning restricted to the middle
class. To some extent, it offsets the collateral damage our grocers
are inflicting on us. But I’m still wondering why no one is protesting
about prices. Maybe we’ll find out why in 2010. Meanwhile, have a
great New Year.
Pratik Kanjilal is publisher of The Little Magazine.
The views expressed by the author are personal.
Dipankar SenguptaDec 25
A Salute from a 59 years old father of a 24 years old daughter. I can
feel the pain of Subhash and I can see your fighting spirit once
again.
Yes, it is not just a molestation case. It is much much bigger than
that and probably it is as big as any crime against whole human race
with magnitude similar to recent incidents of Bosnia, Rwanda, Somali
to old incidents of Stalin and Himler. All these cases one thing was
in common i.e. a powerful uniformed man with gun and gang can remain
above law.
Here apart from molestation one can see in bolds, a) abetting death,
b) Misusing Govt machinaries to create more nacked crimes to hide the
intial and lastly c) NO HUMAN COMPASSION under the uniform.
But the most painful situation is that how such thing can happen in
modern INDIA again and again? And we call India as a biggest
democratic country!!!
Wake-up intelligent and honest people like Manmohan Sing, PC
Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi against such
demons.
chhotemianinshallah
Barkha Dutt
December 25, 2009
First Published: 22:00 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 22:04 IST(25/12/2009)
You probably wouldn’t notice Subhash Chander Girhotra in a crowded
room. Not until you look at his face. His deep-set eyes have become a
place where tragedy and outrage met to become fellow travellers on a
19-year journey of courage. Loneliness, fear and hope have ravaged the
part of his face that once knew how to smile. When he talks, his voice
alternates between a soft-spoken helplessness and a sudden aggression,
as if he is reminding himself that no matter what, he has to keep
going, has to keep fighting.
Subhash is Ruchika’s father. When I met him this week, he kept
returning to a single thought. “That man’s smile; it has to go,” he
said, “Why is he smiling?” And then, he said, his voice dropping,
“When I saw that smile, I wept, and wept.”
We should all be weeping. If a police officer can molest a 14-year-old
child, rise up the ranks to become Director-General of Police (DGP),
harass her family with criminal intimidation, drive her to suicide,
and then walk out of court with a creepy swagger and a creepier smile
plastered across his smug face, we should all weep. S.P.S. Rathore has
no business being out on bail. And the fact that he smiles, while
Ruchika’s father collapses in tears of helplessness, is our collective
failure as a country.
Ruchika and her friend Aradhana were tennis buffs. The teenage girls
had just seen a Steffi Graf-Monica Seles face-off on TV and were
itching to ape the serves and volleys. Rathore, then an Inspector-
General of police (IG), and also the head of the Haryana Lawn Tennis
Federation, summoned Ruchika into his office, and then began groping
and pawing her. Aradhana walked into the room just in time for Ruchika
to disentangle herself.
Ruchika, 14 at the time, turned to Aradhana’s mother for support — her
own mother was no longer alive. Aradhana’s family helped Ruchika and
her father take on the might of the IG. An internal police inquiry
found Rathore guilty within two weeks of the incident. But no FIR was
ever registered against Rathore. Haryana’s former Home secretary J.K.
Duggal now says that though the inquiry was specific in its conclusion
of guilt, “political pressure” prevented an FIR from being lodged. In
other words, he never got the permission from the then Chief Minister
Om Prakash Chautala to proceed against Rathore.
In a pathetic game of political finger-pointing, Chautala now says it
was Bhajan Lal’s government that promoted Rathore to the post of DGP.
But he doesn’t explain why the FIR was not allowed to be filed. Nor
does he give a cogent explanation for how a child-molester was
recommended for a President’s Medal by his government.
Ruchika’s father has a bone-chilling question. If the FIR had been
registered on time, would Ruchika still have been alive today? Instead
a child — we forget, don’t we, that she was just a child — watched her
world crumble. Rathore’s daughter was in the same school as her; so
soon she was thrown out of swish Sacred Heart Convent. Her brother
Ashu was slapped with half a dozen fabricated cases of car thefts.
Goons were deployed to trail Ruchika and Aradhana’s families. Men
would stand outside their homes and pelt stones at them.
All this while, Rathore kept rising up the ranks of the police force.
Finally, when her brother was arrested, Ruchika could not take it any
longer. She drank poison and killed herself. Her father explains that
she thought she had placed her family in all this trouble. In other
words, the victim embraced the guilt the perpetrator should have.
The verdict — that has come 19 years too late — is a joke. The judge
talks about factoring in the “length of the trial and the age of the
convict” while explaining his six-month sentence. Did he forget
Ruchika’s age? It’s bewildering why the judge did not even deliver the
two-year sentence that is the maximum punishment for molestation.
But the fact is that Rathore’s crime goes way beyond molestation. He
drove a child to death and harassed a family with criminal
intimidation. Why were these charges not part of the case built
against him? What stops the present Congress government in Haryana
from filing an appeal against the case? If they can’t do that, let
them start with stripping Rathore of his pensions and medals and
government benefits. Why can’t the high court make a suo-moto
intervention and hand over the case to an amicus curae? And while the
probe is on, they need to go beyond Rathore and must include everyone
— bureaucrats and politicians — who facilitated the horrendous cover-
up. Rathore smiles today because they made it possible.
Otherwise in this country — where women getting pawed and mauled — is
almost treated as a rites of passage, our bizarre level of tolerance
for sexual abuse will continue as is. Bottom-pinchers get to be great
cops, without anyone blinking an eye. Instead, I would argue, when
custodians of the law subvert the legal system, they should get double
the punishment.
When I saw Rathore strutting out of court smiling last week, I felt
sick in my stomach. More so, when I saw his wife by his side, wearing
the same expression of smugness. Their daughter must be Ruchika’s age.
Would they be smiling, if she had been molested by a sick, old,
powerful man?
Subhash Girhotra is right. That smile has to go. And we have to make
it happen.
Barkha Dutt is Group Editor, English News, NDTV
The views expressed by the author are personal.
KAMAl2:05 am
Rathore has a daughter.Can she relate herself to hapless Ruchika and
teach a lesson to his father.OR she is also helpless in front of a
DGP.Only she can teach her arrogant and inhuman father a lesson or two
in humanity.
AVCD1:36 am
--
1. Isn't there any provision in law to give death sentence to Rathore
and confiscate all his property.
2. Someone should issue fatwa against Rathore.
Bc Dhir12:49 am
THE DEVILS SMILE MUST VANISH
Sunil D12:35 am
lets come forward and raise a strong voice in every forum to eliminate
such crimes..it can only be possible by taking fast and stern action
against all of those from rathore to government officials... judge..
every people who was involved in terrorising girhotras..
Though we can not bring ruchika back but we can stop these type of
events occuring further may be to sm1 among us... LETS UNITE...
Dr.Radhika.KDec 25
sick man.........tht smile of his has said it all...tht even aft 19
long yrs of killing d innocent girl n torturing d family he hasnt had
enough n he doesnt even hav d slightest remorse......god save d world
esp women frm such perverts...........
Arun NairDec 25
The creepy smile on his face sums up the state of justice in our
country. If he can get away with his heinous crimes and also get
elevated in the process, it sets the precedent for more such
incidents. There is only one thing that can set it right - the
collective consciousness of our country and the collective force of
its people; No political power can escape this wrath.
subhash guptaDec 25
I am proud of you Barkha. People like you will make it happen
feroz khanDec 25
above words are equal to the anger not an indian or an activist has
its the view of humanbeings,the political barbarians and the idiotic
judgements wil further more shield such bastarda am sure.please don
tel any more the court is supreme and india is so democratic. i can
assure u tere r much number rtuchitas living witus becoz tey never had
any likes of aradhans. long line indian judiciary.
NikhilDec 25
Hated that smile on Rathore's face..felt like he is enjoying it
all...sick ! its known to one and all that it is hand in glove thing
when it comes to Police/politician nexus and the worst is that we
allow these people to effect our life on a daily basis....lost all
hope in the system where it takes 19 years for justice and where the
guilty smiles as if he has won a lottery...sickkk
dr saurabhDec 25
this judgement sums up wat every indian knows the gr88 cop-neta nexus
prevalent in the country.but one thing to ponder ,media was strong in
early nineties and even in 99 when after 9yrs the case was lodged and
acc. to somer reports question was asked in the haryana assembly so
why didnt the media pick up the case then ?? media must scrutinise
this point also .it is only when rathore has RETIRED and may be lost
his value to netas this issue has come up after the judgement has been
given.it must been quite a big issue in 99 also .where was media
then ??where are so called investigative reporters covering
haryana ..call them and ask questions??were they also part of his
nexus then??
Ravindar BajajDec 25
I appreciate the media crusade to get justice for Ruchika. But the
broader question is what about the 19 years delayed justice. I really
feel proud about her friend who made it a point to get justice.
I wish there is an organization of civil society who take up these
cases immediately as they happen and where the powerful people are
involved.The only HOPE in the present era is media who highlights
these cases and has guts to take on these people head on
santheepDec 25
it was because of effort of people like barkha nanda went to jail what
happened in the end he walked away due to his so called good conduct
and grandfather ill health ,would a poor person can do that,same think
will happen in rathore case people like barkha will fight and thsis
person will walk away like nanda
Anurag DhawanDec 25
I feel ashamed to be an Indian. A teenage girl aspires to be a
sportsman is sexually abused by father of her classmate, when she
complains she is victimized, her family tortured, the sports body as
well her school expels her, her character is assassinated. And the man
who does all this is a powerful cop who sits in the lap of third grade
politicians of the state in which khap panchayats are so powerful that
they don't allow marriages and affairs within same gotra. Our
judiciary is influenced by lawyers like Mrs. Rathore, Jethmalanis and
all. We have got free press and great journalists like Barkha Dutt,
Rajdeep Sardesai, Pronoy Roy and all, but not a single article in the
last 15 years. Do we deserve the system?
BasantDec 25
I really hope that our free and activist media stands up to the
challenge and channels the public outrage to make sure that the
perverted creep gets punished. Carry on, Barkha.
Alex MathewDec 25
The smile has to go. To think of it, he doesn't have the guilt.Is he a
human? What is happening to India? It is time the govt changed the law
system. Instead of leaving it to the judge, the law should be in hands
of the public. Then all these crooked men will think twice to even
touch a gal. A time will come when the public will say enough is
enough and stand up against these crooked politicians. Just wait and
see
Mahak SDec 25
We need to be more angry! Being from Haryana, I know what Chautala has
been upto! The pathetic part is, even in these elections they won
decent no. of seats! Why do we do this.. Soren, chautala, Koda..!!
Please don't let this concern Die! Fight till "WE" get justice!
Anish AwasthiDec 25
almost everyone can see that a wrong has been committed, but the
supreme court could not see, it went to the extent of reversing an
order by the punjab and haryana" high court directing the district
judge to conduct an enquiry to ascertain the truth of averments made
by ashu girhotra, respondent no. 5 in his affidavit dated 3rd
december, 2001"
see the full verdict at
https://secure.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=896f658d5f6675bcaaa3
Rommel SharmaDec 25
Barkha, its a shock and shame that a sick person like Rathore is let
free by the court after such a heinous crime he committed against a
monir.
The nation is with Ruchika to call for justice. The punishment to
Rathore should be so severe that no one would ever dare to do such an
act again!
The common man wants to help get justice - just direct us on how do we
unite on this!
ishwar patiDec 25
It would be interesting to know what Rathore's wife and daughter have
to say in defending him. Apart from all the agencies and people you
have quoted who connived in bloating the monster that is Rathore, his
wife should be the principal accomplice in his crime. How could a
woman and a mother herself 'encourage' him to molest minor girls like
her own daughter, if not actively then in gloating over his 'deed'?
What a shameful reflection of her womanhood and motherhood!
Anish AwasthiDec 25
the smile wont go by itself, we will have to wipe it off his face,
unfortunately with a supreme court judgement favouring him, it wont be
possible under the ambit of the law
RajbeerDec 25
The first thing Govt must do is to prevent him from leaving the
country.
RavinderDec 25
My question is what kind of bribe and in what form this Individual
might have been giving to his political masters who rewarded him not
only immunity but also promotion and recommendation for president's
medal ? I am outraged.This beast would have been chained 19 years back
and would have been left to rotten. Enough is enough . This Judge's
reasoning is also questionable
h c bhatiaDec 25
the incident and the subsequent developments are shame and demands a
critical and urgent review of the process and the extent. Rathore is
of a worst kind of a black sheep.
Gargi HotaDec 25
all ppl involved. the cbi personals who handled the case.the
politicians who protected them the school wich expled her .the court
ppl who delayed the jugment for 19 years.each of them is resposible
for abbetment.each of them has played a part in driving ruchika to
death.and each of them should face the nations wrath.
AmitDec 25
Barkha, there are people like Ram Juth-batanii who are responsible for
such callous attitude in our society. I saw him speaking on your show
only and he says nobody has a right to utter a single word once court
has given its verdict. Thats contempt of "honourable" court. I dont
see any reason why people should not stop trusting our legal system.
Atleast till now there was Judiciary on which a layman could depend on
for justice, but not anymore. Media will have to do little bit more to
stop producing more Jesicas, Priyadarshinis, Ruchika, Kataras and dont
know how many much more unreported cases.
parijat shuklaDec 25
things should change, and sooner should they change.
Anil GoswamiDec 25
JINHEIN NAAZ HAI HIND PER WO KAHAAN HAI..... WE R A GUTLESS
RACE ..lets weep bkoz nothing is going 2
change...jasika,pridarshni,nitishkatara...TV TRP's ..we will forget as
always happened in the past.
WitanDec 25
Dear Madam Barkha , Whatever opinion you want to express about the
shocking affair has been obscured by the dust-bunnies of your stilted
verbosity. for instance, the first paragraph of your essay could be
removed and you could have come straight to the point. It would have
been appropriate if you had done some genuine investigative reporting,
and had thrown light, for example, on how "Rathore kept rising up the
ranks of the police force". He did not climb up on his own, but was
"elevated". Actually, similar things are happening in almost all
organizations of the State, including research institutions. The fact
of the matter is that anyone in India who has the support of dirty
politicians can get away with murder -- and worse. No doubt Rathore's
is an extreme case, but it DIRECTLY affected only a few individuals,
not the entire nation. Fraud committed by persons holding high public
offices harms the entire nation, and there are instances where such
persons have been receiving "promotions" and even life-long sinecures
even after having been thoroughly exposed. And, in a parallel with
Rathore, they have all tormented the persons (including
whistleblowers) that have dared to protest.
Smita MishraDec 25
Its high time that people like us keep our eyes closed towards thing
happening around us, and believe that some one will take charge of
it.....lets wake up and understand our responsibility else tomorrow it
might be our daughter's turn
OnlookerDec 25
Barkha you are spot on. Just a comment: Is there any person there to
remove Rathore smile? Answer is big NO. So what we are taking about?.
Ruchica is no more, herfamily suffered and Rathore lived 20 years of
happiness. Would there be justice ever, guess what it may take another
20 years. By then Rothore might have lived his life full of grins. Why
JUDGES ARE IGNORANT? WHY WE WAKE UP AFTER 20 YEARS? WHY PEOPLE LIKE
RATHORE HAVE GRIN On? WHY COMMON MAN IS ROBED of HIS RIGHTS? WHAT
DEMOCRACY or HYPOCARCY WE STAND fOR?
It is sad but truth is justice is always denied to common man.
Modern India may have advanced tech and rich enough but is crippled by
same diseases it had before.
Need a changeDec 25
Very true Barkha. I was expecting a colunm from your side on this , I
alsow expressed my views on another news in Hindustan times that you
should be the one to take over this story and bring justice to a girl
who lost her innocence and then her life , just because a power
paedophile wanted to have his nasty adventures on her. Well his father
has been going through hell for last 20 years. In my view he should
have shot Rather and would have got 14 years in jail and that would
have been better. In our judicial system , the law is blind and so one
should take law in their own hands now.
PankajDec 25
This SMILE has to go away otherwise a billion people of India must
weep.
Dipankar SenguptaDec 25
Barkha, a Salute from a 59 years old father of a 24 years old
daughter. I can feel the pain of Subhash and I can see your fighting
spirit once again.
Yes, it is not just a molestation case. It is much much bigger than
that and probably it is as big as any crime against whole human race
with magnitude similar to recent incidents of Bosnia, Rwanda, Somali
to old incidents of Stalin and Himler. All these cases one thing was
in common i.e. a powerful uniformed man with gun and gang can remain
above law.
But the most painful situation is that how such thing can happen in
modern INDIA again and again? And we call India as a biggest
democratic country?
Once again thank you Barkha for your courage.
Hats off to you.
shabnamDec 25
I think the media should be more aggressive,when his family sees him
on TV everyday,maybe they'll be ashamed enough to drive him to
suicide!! was he a citizen if islamic country,he would have is head
chopped off! pretty barbaric,but so was his crime.
AALAM SINGHDec 25
yes I MUST BE SNATCHED WITH SAME RUTHLESSNESS.
ramakrishnaDec 25
To all Punjab/HAryana residents :
MIGRATE to a CIVILIZED country as soon as you can
That this can happen is the last straw
Migrate even to PAKISTAN, at least there, the taliban will cut the
bastards balls
ramakrishnaDec 25
where was the Press the last 19 years ?
At least now Keep this issue in the front burner till the bastards is
wiped out, not just his smile
Interview his wife, his kids, give them coverage:
Let them know that whild they had it easy, Ruchikas family was going
thru hell and she DIED
from his harssament
Keep THIS ISSUE ALIVE!!
sanjay duhanDec 25
i think its time for the heads to roll now. it should give message to
people that law can catch up with them even after 19 years. Those
people who helped rathore in his tirade against the family should be
brought to book now, That SI who slapped 6 cases should be brought to
book, the principal of the school who threw ruchika out of school
should be asked questions.chautala should be asked why rathore was
recommended for president medal when a case was going on against
rathore.hats off to the politicians of my india mahaan--look what n d
tiwari is doing in rajbhawan with 3 young girls.
uma kantDec 25
Rathore is just tip of iceberg.He alone could not have caused the
damage to the child.He had a system (politicians,beurocrats,policemen)
to intimidate andfrustrate the victim and her family.
Politicians, beurocrats policemen and journalists CAN investigate and
FIND out who were helping Rathore and how and whydid they help
him .These efforts will stop many more RATHORS from harming the
society
The system has nabbed one RATHORE ,the system should use energy to
find remaining RATHORS.Entire energy be not used in removing smile
from ONE RATHORE
When the defectivearea is large hammering on one place will not
suffice.The blow should be on a larger area.
SakthiDec 25
The smile should definitely go... Make a movement out of this and Get
the new law enacted in Parliament that 1) protects young minor girls/
boys of sexual molestation 2) Special courts to be set up 3) Cases
completed in a time bound manner 4)Double the punishment in case it is
committed by Police, Bureaucrats etc. And finally make this law named
after Ruchika and her friend (she is a Bharat Ratna).
Now,Do the nominated Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,
Sushma Swaraj, Advani et al. have anything to do on this? Are they
joining this people's movement to make a new law?
Dr S GuptaDec 25
HE should be stoned to death and Chuatala should go to Jail
viraat harshDec 25
rathore is smiling on the judicial system of our country... mocking us
all in the face.. THE SMILE SHOULD GO...
kuldeepDec 25
Go for it Barkha. Make it happen. This gizzard should be locked up for
life.
RajeshDec 25
Politicians are corrupt, bureaucrats are corrupt, police are corrupt,
judiciary is a joke and we call India a Democracy. That in itself is a
joke. Democracy is supposed to promote dignity and pride but all it
has done is allowed Rathores to flourish. There are countless of these
animals roaming around shielded by the very people who are supposed to
protect. The time has come when people of India have to rise and take
matters in their own hands. Don't wait for
the so called custodians of the people and law to come to your aid.
What a SHAME.
And by the way when will New Delhi make a comment on this. Maybe it
doesn't affect them as Ruchika was not their child.
SwarnabhDec 25
This is exactly the kind of journalism we need. The current situation
in our society calls for something very drastic, the hopelessness of
our law and order system makes one wish for spontaneous vigilantism.
Jayant K Yadav,SwedenDec 25
That smile will only go if he himself is raped by other prisoners
while serving.
Gurpreet SinghDec 25
Barkha, you are doing an excellent job with highlighting the issue.
"That smile has to go" and the only thing that can make it possible is
the people power backed with the media. Lets show the "power" of our
democracy that can bring guilty under the rightful hammer of the law.
Hoping that justice prevails in this case!!! (Though, I do know its
somewhat difficult in India. A pen is rarely mightier than the sword.)
Abhishek Dec 25
In this sorry state of affairs shall we balme the government or our
justice system which has become mockery in it self....i wonder why is
it that it fails all the time with the rich and powerful....is
'equality before the law' just an illusion, a mockery of every citizen
of this country??? when will justice reach the common man??? As for
Rathore or any other molestor and rapists alike any sentence set by he
law is too meager...he should be hanged to death to serve as an
example for other of their breed. Only then will the SMILE go.
Subeer VermaDec 25
Very sensitive and incisive.
The problem is that the politician/bureaucrat/police nexus is so
deeply entrenched in our system of governance that it requires a top-
down cleansing which is going to be arduous.
Subhash Girhotra's courage and perseverance is exemplary - he will get
justice.
Together we can ...
Rajen KaushalDec 25
Firstly, compliments to Media for raking up such issues and we hope
court will take sue moto like in Jessica Lal case to punish the Ravans
in present society. All the Chief Ministers who did not give
permission to prosecute the blurred DGP and even promoted him should
be brought to the law and given some punishment. After all any
Chautala or Bhajan Lal should not be above the law. Also suggest Media
set up some money collection fund for such cases and support the
families in fighting the legal battle.
All the sympathy to Mr. Girhotra for the loss he has suffered and
thanks to Prakash family for standing and supporting the battle
against the mighty and proved no one is above law.
Mr. Rathore being a senior Govt. Servant should confess him misdeeds
and repent by taking adequate punishment. CBI should also be
questioned for not labelling abettment to suicide charge in the case.
Wajda TabassumDec 25
Barkha u are right how in india we are fine with these horrific
event...it is not new we know that..it has to stop...
Raman JudgeDec 25
Yes that smile has to go from both faces. In fact Mrs Rathore is more
at fault. She not only supported a criminal, lived with herbut also
fought her case. She is a disgrace on womenhood.
vipin tyagiDec 25
If common man in India keeps on getting justice the same way as
Ruchika did, then I am afraid to say that Maoist ideology (revenge
with bullet) currently restricted to 4 states in India will spread all
across India in no time. My blood is boiling with anger so much that I
myself feel like gunning down Rathore and all the bastards who helped
him. Also I have a stern warning for Hooda govt in Haryana that If you
do not implement POLICE REFORMS urgently to prevent these cases from
happening again, then you will also rot in hell.
vipin tyagiDec 25
If common man in India keeps on getting justice the same way as
Ruchika did, then I am afraid to say that Maoist ideology (revenge
with bullet) currently restricted to 4 states in India will spread all
across India in no time. My blood is boiling with anger so much that I
myself feel like gunning down Rathore and all the bastards who helped
him. Also I have a stern warning for Hooda govt in Haryana that If you
do not implement POLICE REFORMS urgently to prevent these cases from
happening again, then you will also rot in hell.
Shafique Ahmad, KuwaitDec 25
I agreed With writter. That smile has to go. We all Indian have to
make sure that he should get appropriate and exemplary punishmesnt and
others who try to save him. Pls i have humble request media must keep
the matter alive till it's rightfull conclusion.
Sanjay UvachDec 25
Former DGP Rathore convicted of molesting a teenager, was smiling ear
to ear, on coming out of the court. We need to wipe the smile off his
face. Register your dis-satisfaction with the verdict by commenting at
http://bit.ly/7xWJ05
Fateh BajwaDec 25
Please don't let this matter die down.........the media must use all
it's resources and continue to keep the matter alive till the case
reaches it's rightful conclusion..........appropriate and exemplary
punishment for Rathore........just seeing this criminal on TV gives me
the creeps.
Fateh BajwaDec 25
Please don't this matter die down.........the media must use all it's
resources and continue to keep the matter alive till the case reaches
it's rightful conclusion..........appropriate and exemplary punishment
for Rathore........just seeing this criminal on TV gives me the
creeps.
alok singhDec 25
Don"t let any of those go free,it is media who has to take lead when
government, judiciary and executive fails.
ArjunDec 25
I think in Ruchika Case we need to act also on those who helped the
culprit manipulate the system:
1) The Tennis Association that dismissed her
2) The School that expelled her
3) The Police Officers who filed false cases against Ruchika's Brother
of Car Theft & illegally detained him for 2 Months
4) The concerned officers who harrased Aradhan's father by Transfering
him
5) The Politicians who helped him( the Culprit) move up inspite of his
crime
6) AND all those who raised questions about the character of a 14 year
old child (SHAME ON THEM
jaiDec 25
I hope one day we indian realise that how coward we have become that
we can't satnd up for justice,
R HDec 25
Forget about fighting against terrorism! We need to fight against such
criminals because for a girl child or even for a woman this this
nothing but "TERROR" ! How can one escape so easily !
VishunjDec 25
Will it ever happen? I used to wonder if our movies exaggerate these
things but, for several years now I have believed that they actually
understate the reality. Coz reality is even more horrid and horrifying
than shown in the movies as there is no justice in the end in
reality!!
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, December 26, 2009
First Published: 15:01 IST(26/12/2009)
Last Updated: 15:10 IST(26/12/2009)
The Centre has sought a detailed report from Andhra Pradesh Government
in the wake of a sting operation purportedly showing state Governor ND
Tiwari in a compromising position with three women.
Home Ministry sources said that Sate Chief Secretary Ramakant Reddy
had been asked to send a detailed report about the allegations made
against the Governor.
The sources said the Ministry would be taking a view only after the
report was submitted.
After the sting operation was telecast yesterday by the ABN Andhra
Jyothi channel, the Raj Bhavan approached the Andhra Pradesh High
Court and got a restraint order on the channel from airing the
footage. The Raj Bhavan termed the clipping as fabricated and a
"tissue of lies."
chhotemianinshallah
KV Ramana / DNA
Saturday, December 26, 2009 2:01 IST
Hyderabad: A Telugu news channel on Friday aired the video footage of
an elderly man in a sexual encounter with three women, throwing Andhra
Pradesh into a tizzy. The channel, which had advertised extensively
about the video earlier, claimed that the person in the CD was
governor ND Tiwari, 86.
Soon after the video was aired, women's groups protested in front of
the governor's residence on Friday. While the People's Organisation
for Women (POW) demanded his ouster, Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu
Naidu sought an immediate inquiry into the event and also demanded the
governor's recall.
The footage aired by the channel ABN Andhra Jyoti showed an elderly
man, in bed with three middle-aged women, all without clothes. The man
in the visuals, however, had a cloth covering the upper half of the
body up to the neck.
A pre-show publicity ad of the channel, which is part of a media house
that also owns a newspaper, said that it would be disclosing "lustful
activities in Raj Bhavan". It went on to describe the person as "a
freedom fighter..., a senior Congress man, a person wearing a shining
Gandhi cap..., and whose speeches present the age-old value system"
before declaring him to be none other than the governor.
After reading this, the viewers were glued to the channel. The
governor's office approached the courts to restrain the channel from
showing the visuals.
By the time the court intervened and issued injunction orders, the
visuals had been aired for nearly one hour. Shell-shocked with the
narration and the visuals, viewers were disappointed when the channel
pulled out the visuals.
The channel management, too, was trying to approach the court for a
vacation of the injunction orders. With the courts remaining closed
due to Christmas, the channel staff apparently tried to approach the
chief justice at his residence. Till late on Friday, the channel was
waiting for a vacation of the orders.
According to sources, a woman named Radhika approached the channel
with the CDs.
While Radhika alleged that she had been providing women to Raj Bhavan
for the last one month, she said it was done only after they were
provided jobs and she a mining lease.
"She approached us through a common contact. We decided to air the
visuals after talking to Radhika," a senior functionary of the channel
told DNA.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_86-yr-old-andhra-governor-targeted-in-sleaze-cds_1327605
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 25, 2009 22:30 IST
New Delhi: Congress today downplayed the alleged sex scandal involving
Andhra Pradesh governor ND Tiwari, saying since the matter is sub
judice, and it would be inappropriate for the party to comment on the
issue.
"Since the matter is sub judice, it would be inappropriate to comment.
The veracity of the material should be independently verified,"
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told PTI.
On whether the Governor's post should be above such controversies,
Tewari said, the material could even be morphed.
A video footage allegedly showing ND Tiwari with some women was
telecast today in a local TV channel in the state. The governor has
himself rubbished the tapes and a case has been filed in the high
court.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 25, 2009 22:11 IST
Chandigarh: With former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore getting off with a
lighter sentence in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, the clamour
to charge him with abetment of suicide charge has grown louder.
In fact, an attempt was made in this regard and an application for
addition of offence under Section 306 of Indian Penal Code (IPC)
(abetment to suicide) along with offence under Section 354
(molestation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the
modesty of woman) of IPC was moved by the applicant Madhu Prakash on
October 8, 2001.
Madhu Parkash's daughter Anuradha was an eyewitness to the incident.
This application was allowed by the court on October 23, 2001, and the
court started the proceedings, but a criminal revision petition was
filed by Rathore in the Punjab and Haryana high court which accepted
the revision in 2002.
Thereafter, accused was served the notice of accusation under Section
354 (molestation) of IPC on March 17, 2003 to which he pleaded not
guilty and claimed regular trial which commenced about 13 years after
the molestation of Ruchika, who committed suicide in 1993.
Before that Madhu Parkash had to move various courts to get an FIR
registered with the Haryana police which also came about nine years
after the incident.
The FIR was registered after over nine years on the basis of a
memorandum dated August 16, 1990 submitted by SC Girhotra, father of
Ruchika and others, addressed to the financial commissioner and
secretary, home in which the incident of molestation of the tennis
player was detailed.
Later, a complaint was submitted to the then home secretary of Haryana
JK Duggal.
Duggal after discussing the matter with the then state home minister
on August 20, 1990 asked the DGP RR Singh to probe the matter.
Local special district magistrate SK Joshi at the direction of Duggal
also visited the spot "to hear the grievances of the parents and the
member players" on August 16, 1990.
After conducting the enquiry into the incident DGP RR Singh concluded
that whatever Ruchika "had stated about her molestation by Rathore was
based on true facts and that he was of the considered opinion that a
cognisable offence was made out".
Singh, therefore, had recommended registration of case under
appropriate sections of Indian Penal Code and had forwarded his
enquiry report dated September 3, 1990 to the home secretary.
Ruchika committed suicide by consuming poison on December 28, 1993 and
died the following day.
Later, since the family had expressed lack of faith in the
investigation of the Haryana police, the case was handed over to the
CBI which established that Rathore, IPS as president of Haryana Lawn
Tennis Association, molested Ruchika on August 12, 1990 knowing that
his act was likely to outrage the modesty of Ruchika.
Rathore thus committed the offence punishable under Section 354 IPC
(molestation), therefore, he be summoned and tried according to law,
the CBI said. The regular trial first commenced at Ambala, then it
moved to Patiala in Punjab and finally to Chandigarh where it
concluded this week.
chhotemianinshallah
DNA Correspondent
Saturday, December 26, 2009 2:15 IST
Mumbai: Two gruesome murders took place in Thane city on Thursday
night. In one case, a seven-year-old girl was raped and brutally
murdered at Lokmanya Nagar pada number 4, while in another incident, a
25-year-old youth was killed with a sharp weapon at Kasarvadavli along
Ghodbunder road.
Ritika Yadav (name changed), a resident of pada number 4 and a student
of Std II, was playing with her friends on Thursday evening near the
foothills at Lokmanya Nagar.
"Chandrashekhar Gupta, who live in the same locality, lured Yadav with
chocolates to a secluded part of the hill and raped her," said Ashok
Deshbhratar, deputy commissioner of police (Zone 1), Thane.
Gupta, who panicked after seeing Yadav bleed profusely, decided to
kill her to prevent her from reporting the incident to her parents. He
stoned her to death and abandoned the body at the site. Yadav's
parents filed a missing complaint on Thursday evening. At around 8 am
on Friday morning, the residents came across the girl's body.
The police learnt from the locals that Gupta was the last to meet
Yadav. While interrogating him, the police found bloodstains on his
shirt. He was arrested immediately thereafter, and further
investigations are on. Gupta had married last year, but was staying
alone since his wife was at her maternal home to deliver a child.
In the other incident, a 25-year-old man, Ashrul Shaikh, was found
brutally murdered with a knife near a construction site at
Kasarvadavli along Ghodbunder road on Friday morning. "The body had
deep cuts along the neck. The knife used to kill the youth was found
near the body," informed Deshbhratar.
The accused had wrapped the knife in a Bengali newspaper dated
December 22. The newspaper is published only in Kolkata. It is now
suspected that the accused must have left Kolkata on December 22,
reached Mumbai on December 23 or 24, after which he must have killed
the youth. The police have found no sign of robbery, and hence suspect
the murder must have taken place due to an internal dispute.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_7-year-old-raped-and-murdered-in-thane_1327582
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 25, 2009 23:06 IST
Raigarh: A man has been arrested for allegedly sacrificing a 7-year-
old girl for want of a child here, police said today.
The accused Tejram Manjhi, 30, allegedly kidnapped the victim Santoshi
from the Adivasi-dominated Chirramuda village during a local festival
here yesterday, and strangulated her in a nearby forest,
superintendent of police, Raigarh, Rahul Sharma said.
He later offered the body of the girl to the local deity. Learning of
the incident, the villagers handed him to the police, he said.
Later, Tejram told police that he was advised by a villager, who
practised black magic, that he would be blessed with a child if he
sacrificed a girl.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh expressed regret over the
incident, and said the guilty should be severely punished.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_man-sacrifices-girl-for-a-child-in-chhattisgarh_1327576
chhotemianinshallah
Saturday, December 26, 2009 3:58 IST
For the most part, people have faith in the Indian judiciary for being
fair, even if the process is interminably slow. But cases like this
one which grips national attention and severely shake that faith. Many
will have forgotten the original incident which took place in 1990 --
a 14-year-old girl, Ruchika Girhotra, a rising tennis player accuses a
senior Haryana police officer of molesting her in his office. The girl
and her family are harassed to the point that she kills herself in
1993. The officer, Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore, rises to become a
director general of police. Now, 19 years later, Rathore is sentenced
to six months by a CBI court.
The case has every element to disgust civil society -- a young girl, a
hapless family, a powerful policeman backed by powerful politicians
and a corrupt system. The rage which we see now is similar to that
which grew around the Jessica Lal case -- why is justice so difficult
for the common man when the perpetrator is close to power centres?
What happened to equality before the law and justice for all? Do we
lose faith in the system completely or is there an answer?
In Ruchika's case, the matter reached as far as it did because the
girl's best friend never gave up. All the threats of the police force,
the attempts to scuttle and hush up the case, the fears felt by the
family were channelled into getting a result. The six-month sentence
is a slap in the face for all that effort, but a movement is now on to
re-open the case.
The extent of the corruption of the system ought not to be a shock any
more -- but in some sense it is heartening that we are still outraged.
We know that people are innocent until proven guilty, but when a
person accused of a crime attempts to harass his accusers and subvert
the system then he commits greater sins that what he was originally
accused of. It is obviously naïve to expect a police officer to uphold
the law but the manner in which the law was ignored in this case shows
the Haryana police and government in extremely poor light.
Like the Jessica Lal case, Ruchika's untimely death and her family's
trauma have become one more lodestone by which the average Indian
citizen -- the aam aadmi -- can judge the system. The onus is now on
the police force, the government and the judiciary to prove that
justice can and will be done in India, that the victim is not always
punished twice and that the powerful cannot get away with murder by
using their connections. The picture of Rathore laughing as he left
the courtroom has cut deep into the public consciousness. The powerful
have to accept that this is no laughing matter.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_fight-for-justice_1327629
Sid Harth
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, December 26, 2009
First Published: 19:52 IST(26/12/2009)
Last Updated: 19:53 IST(26/12/2009)
Sex scandals are not new to Indian politics. Veteran Congress
politician Narayan Dutt Tiwari, who resigned on Saturday as the Andhra
Pradesh governor after a sex tape purportedly showed him with three
women, is a new entry in a list of such sleaze that has littered the
political landscape.
Barely a week back, a general secretary of the Congress party in
Kerala, Rajmohan Unnithan, 57, was granted bail after he was held on
charges of immoral trafficking for being found in the company of a
woman under suspicious circumstances.
Sleaze raised its ugly head during the April-May Lok Sabha elections,
when film star-turned-politician Jaya Prada alleged that rival leader
Azam Khan was distributing nude pictures of her, to ensure her defeat
in the polls.
She alleged Khan "distributed, doctored and morphed" pictures and
posters of her that appeared as though she had posed in the nude.
The Kashmir Valley was rocked in May 2006 after police unearthed a
scam allegedly involving high profile politicians and bureaucrats. The
case drags on in a court. The bitter memories of the scam returned
this summer afresh after allegations that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
figured in the list of the accused, forcing him to resign.
However, he withdrew his resignation after the Central Bureau of
Investigation said his name had not cropped up.
Scams have also hit the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In
December 2005, a sting operation forced the party's general secretary
and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) insider Sanjay Joshi to quit his
party after a video CD allegedly showed him romping with an
unidentified woman.
Amarmani Tripathi, a politician and erstwhile cabinet minister in
Uttar Pradesh, was arrested in September 2003 in connection with the
murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla, with whom he allegedly had an
affair, and who was brutally murdered.
After investigations revealed that she was carrying a foetus that
matched the DNA of Tripathi, the Supreme Court rejected his bail plea,
and he is currently in jail.
Former Utarakhand revenue minister Harak Singh Rawat had to resign in
2003 amid allegations of his links with an unwed mother. Opposition
members had raised the issue of his alleged affair with the Assamese
woman who later gave birth to a child.
In 2001, news portal Tehelka in its "Operation West End", sought to
expose corruption underlying India's defence contracts. Transcript of
video footage showed a treasurer of the Samata Party offering to
arrange call girls to undercover journalists.
Even some army officers came under the scanner when they were filmed
demanding sex with prostitutes from Tehelka journalists in return for
defence contracts.
In October 1997, one of the prominent leaders in Kerala, P.K.
Kunjalikutty was accused of being a kingpin of what came to be
notoriously known as the "ice-cream parlour scandal".
An ice-cream parlour in Kozhikode was allegedly used as a front for a
sex trade and lured girls into it. The sexual exploitation of minors
also came up. Kunjalikutty was the state's former minister from the
Muslim League. Some comrades of the Communist Party of India-Marxist
were also named.
In 1978, then defence minister Jagjivan Ram's son Suresh was shown
with a woman in a photograph that was published in monthly magazine
Surya. Now BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, was
then the editor of the magazine.
The scandal involving the minister's son rocked the nation and put an
end to Jagjivan Ram's political career, who before that had been a
strong contender for the prime minister's post.
Sid Harth
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, December 26, 2009
First Published: 16:54 IST(26/12/2009)
Last Updated: 20:23 IST(26/12/2009)
ND Tiwari on Saturday resigned as Andhra Pradesh Governor in the wake
of a raging controversy after a sting operation purportedly showed him
in a compromising position with three women.
86-year-old Tiwari, a former chief minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh
and Uttarakhand, sent his resignation to President Pratibha Patil on
"health grounds", said a press communique from the Raj Bhavan.
The resignation came a day after Telugu television channel 'ABN Andhra
Jyothi' aired a footage captured in a sting operation of an elderly
man with three women in Raj Bhavan in a compromising position, which
the channel said was of Tiwari.
The Raj Bhavan denied it and promptly approached the High Court on
Friday and got a restraint order on the channel from telecasting the
footage.
The sting operation evoked a string of demands from political parties,
like TDP, CPM, CPI and BJP, that he be sacked. Women's organisations
also staged demonstrations deploring the Governor's behaviour and
demanded that he step down immediately.
The Congress welcomed the resignation saying Tiwari has taken the
appropriate decision. Party sources said the Governor of some
neighbouring state could be given additional charge of Andhra Pradesh
for some time.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 23 December 2009, 11:19pm IST
HUBLI: Two girls, rescued by the police from a human trafficking ring
recently, have disappeared from a rescue home near here on
Wednesday.
According to the police, the girls from West Bengal and two local
girls were missing from the rescue home of NGO Mahila Sanrakshana
Kendra in Gabbur in the outskirts of the city. In their complaint,
Kendra authorities said that when the attendants entered the rooms in
the morning, they found the door was ajar and the girls missing.
Hubli police had recently rescued the girls and arrested two persons
in connection with the case. The police had no idea whether the girls
had run away or whether they were kidnapped. A special team has been
formed to trace them, the police added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubli/Rescued-girls-escape/articleshow/5371065.cms
chhotemianinshallah
IANS 26 December 2009, 04:02pm IST
PANAJI: The taxi driver who attempted to rape two Russian women in Goa
on Christmas night had also hit one of the women with a baseball bat
to prevent their escape, according to their written complaint to the
police.
The Anjuna police have registered a case of outraging modesty not
amounting to molestation, rather than a case of attempted rape.
In their written complaint to the police which IANS has access to, the
two women also said that they went about pounding the doors of nearby
homes in Anjuna for help in the early hours Christmas day, but no one
came to help them.
"When the driver threatened us, we immediately got down from the car
and started running. He removed a baseball bat from the car and hit me
on my right leg but we still managed to run and escape them," one of
the women has said in her complaint, adding that they tried to seek
refuge from nearby homes in Anjuna, to no avail.
"Nobody came out from their house and we heard some sounds from inside
asking us to go away. We then started running through the field to the
other houses for help. We lay down under the tree and therefore the
driver could not find us. But they continued the search, so we waited
for sunrise," the victim said, adding that the driver Pramod Shirodkar
was later joined by two other accomplices who were helping him track
them down.
Shirodkar was arrested early Saturday morning, but has been charged
with outraging the modesty of a woman, rather than attempt to rape as
the women complained of.
Legal representative of the Russian consulate Vikram Varma has said
that the statements of the victims would be sent to the Russian
consulate officials.
Shirodkar had allegedly tried to rape the two Russian women who
attended a Christmas party at a popular night club in Goa in the early
hours of Friday. After agreeing to drop them to their hotel for Rs.300
at about 2.30 a.m, he instead took them to Anjuna beach, where he and
an accomplice tried to rape them, the police said.
This is not the first instance when Goa police officials have tried to
play down complaints affecting women tourists.
It comes less than a month after officials watered down a rape
complaint filed by another Russian woman against a local politician of
'attempted rape'. The case was transferred to the crime branch after
it triggered a media frenzy.
chhotemianinshallah
OUR BUREAU
Security personnel deployed at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on
Saturday. (PTI)
Hyderabad/New Delhi, Dec. 26: Andhra Pradesh governor Narain Datt
Tiwari resigned today on health grounds, a day after a Telugu news
channel aired a report alleging a sex scandal at the Raj Bhavan.
This is the first time anyone holding such high office has resigned in
this country over an alleged sex scandal.
The Congress, which he had joined in 1963, said in Delhi: “Keeping in
view the high standards in public life, he has resigned. We welcome
his decision.”
Although the governor’s office cited health reasons for the decision,
it was clear the party was not buying it. Raj Bhavan sources too said
Tiwari, 86, could not have continued in his post given the serious
nature of the allegations.
The scandal erupted after Telugu television channel ABN Andhra Jyothi
yesterday aired what it claimed were photographs taken in a sting
operation.
It also telecast a purported phone conversation with a woman who said
she had helped send women from Delhi and other places to work at
Hyderabad’s Raj Bhavan.
The governor’s office had acted swiftly to get a high court gag on the
report titled Raj Bhawanlo Rasa Leela.
A source in the state home minister’s office said: “We have got the
photos examined in the forensic laboratory to test whether they were
doctored or morphed.”
After receiving the findings of the lab examination, chief secretary
Ramakanth Reddy sent a report to Delhi on the request of the Union
home ministry, sources said.
The channel had shown a few still photographs, the contents of which
The Telegraph is not disclosing because the matter is in court.
Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said in Delhi: “I think he
(Tiwari) does not want to hold an office till it is proved whether it
(the report) is true or false.”
State Congress leaders whispered that they found the episode too
embarrassing to speak on. Congress Working Committee member K. Keshava
Rao led the demand for Tiwari’s scalp.
Not known to take quick decisions, the Congress high command acted
swiftly to extract his resignation.
Despite insisting that the party had no role in deciding the fate of a
governor and that it was for the government to respond, Dwivedi
suggested before the resignation that it was coming.
“Have patience. There is a process to be followed. Those who are
authorised by the Constitution to deal with such matters are doing
their job.”
Dwivedi went to the extent of disowning Tiwari completely. “Anybody
who holds a constitutional post ceases to be a member of a political
party. Tiwariji hence was not a Congress member.”
Sources said the top leadership was rattled by the images, shown for
about half an hour till the gag order took hold, at a time a massive
propaganda about the party’s rich legacy was being planned. The party
is to unveil a nationwide campaign on December 28, its foundation day,
as it enters its 125th year.
A senior leader admitted that a sex scandal was the worst possible
embarrassment for the party on the eve of the foundation day
programme.
The court’s gag order could not squelch public outrage. Women’s forums
staged demonstrations in front of the Raj Bhavan for the second day
today.
Holding placards and raising slogans against the governor, activists
of various groups tried to march towards the Raj Bhavan but were
prevented. Protesters were arrested as they squatted on the busy
Khairatabad crossroads. Although Tiwari was already engulfed in a
scandal over claims that he had sired a son from an illegitimate
affair, he is no ordinary Congressman.
He thrice held the post of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, became
the first chief minister of Uttarakhand and occupied senior positions
in Delhi.
When the Congress broke during the P.V. Narasimha Rao regime in 1995,
purportedly with the blessings of Sonia Gandhi, the splinter party
(Tiwari Congress) was named after him.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091227/jsp/frontpage/story_11913237.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
OUR BUREAU
SPS Rathore
Dec. 26: The Indian National Lok Dal is correct when it says its
leader Om Prakash Chautala never promoted molester cop S.P.S. Rathore
to director-general of police.
What it has left unsaid is that Chautala had promoted Rathore from DGP-
OSD (police reforms) to state DGP or police chief on October 10, 1999,
three months after becoming chief minister for the third time.
Haryana police has several DGPs, and Rathore had been promoted to the
rank from that of inspector-general in 1994 — when Chautala was out of
power, as emphasised by his party recently.
Yet police sources and an archival search have confirmed that
Rathore’s promotion to police chief, from the relatively insignificant
post in charge of reforms, did come during Chautala’s tenure.
Chautala’s party also claims that Rathore was removed from his post
after the CBI charge-sheeted him on November 16, 2000, over the August
1990 molestation of 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra who later committed
suicide.
But government sources said the administration had neither removed nor
suspended Rathore but merely sent him on leave on December 5 —after
all of 19 days had passed since the chargesheet was filed.
It could not be confirmed whether or when Rathore, who is now 68,
resumed office as police chief before retiring from the service in
2002.
No police officer is willing to go on record on Rathore, and the
force’s official website doesn’t carry his profile although it has the
bio-data of all past DGPs barring two others. No one was willing to
explain why, or to reveal whether the bio-data were removed after
Rathore’s recent conviction and six-month sentence.
That Rathore — accused of harassing the Girhotra family following the
molestation complaint — was in charge of police reforms is ironical.
No one could say what sort of reforms he had proposed and whether the
force had adopted any of them.
Everyone in Rathore’s immediate family is a lawyer. His wife Abha is a
senior advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court and both their
children are advocates — the son in Mumbai and the daughter in Delhi.
Rathore’s daughter and Ruchika studied in the same class --- section A
of Class X — in Chandigarh’s Sacred Heart School.
Ruchika’s friend Aradhana Prakash, the sole eyewitness to the
molestation, has demanded punishment for the school for expelling
Ruchika — ostensibly for unpaid fees — at a time the Girhotras were
being harassed by the police.
Media reports, however, have quoted state education secretary Ram
Nivas as saying the Girhotras must lodge a complaint first. The family
could not be contacted.
Hooda assurance
CPM Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat today met Haryana chief minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Delhi and extracted a promise to re- open the
case.
“The CM has promised to reopen the case and include Indian Penal Code
sections that relate to abetment of suicide,” she said.
But Karat, who was accompanied by Aradhana’s parents and rights
activists, said Hooda had been non-committal on two of her demands.
One, a probe to unmask the politicians and officials who had shielded
Rathore during the tenures of various Haryana governments. Two,
dismissal of the police and government officials who had harassed
Ruchika’s family.
Hooda later told the media: “I think the case should be revisited. My
sympathies are with Ruchika’s family. I have asked my DGP to provide
security to her family. The Union law minister has said the case will
be re-examined.”
Notice to Rathore
The Union home ministry has slapped a show-cause notice on Rathore
asking why his police medal should not be taken away and pension
reduced for bringing the service into disrepute.
Rathore was awarded the medal for meritorious service on August 15,
1985, but was never considered for the President’s Police Medal.
“The matter will be placed before an awards committee on January 4.
(Its) recommendation will go to the President,” Union home secretary
G.K. Pillai said in New Delhi, according to PTI.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091227/jsp/nation/story_11913019.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Panaji, Dec. 26 (PTI): Two Russian girls who escaped an alleged rape
attempt by a taxi driver on Anjuna beach have said they knocked on
doors seeking help from local residents as the accused chased them,
but were turned away.
Olga Tyurina, 29, and Irina Babayan, 25, said in their complaint that
the taxi driver tried to rape them at an isolated spot on Anjuna, the
beach where British teenager Scarlett Keeling was found dead last year
after suspected rape.
The Russian girls said they ran towards a cluster of houses. “When the
driver threatened us, we immediately got down from the car and started
running. He took out a baseball bat from the car and hit my right leg,
but we still managed to run,” Olga said in her statement to Anjuna
police.
“We ran towards some houses and knocked on the door of one of them and
requested the occupants to call the police. However, nobody came out
from the house and we heard someone from inside asking us to go away.
We then started running through a field to the other houses for help,”
Olga said.
The complaint said Pramod Shirodkar, the driver who was arrested
today, was following them and he was joined by two motorcycle-borne
persons, possibly his accomplices.
“We lay under a tree and therefore the driver could not find us. They
went on searching as we waited for sunrise,” the complaint said. The
incident happened early on December 25.
Goa police have arrested Shirodkar on the charge of eve-teasing and
threatening the Russians.
The police caught Shirodkar after tracking down his address from the
taxi number provided by the girls.
The driver has been booked under sections 509, 323 and 506 of the IPC
for eve-teasing, causing hurt and threatening, the police said,
without giving details about the two motorcycle-borne persons.
“We are still investigating,” said a police officer. “How can we
divulge everything?”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091227/jsp/nation/story_11913150.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Saturday, December 26, 2009 20:49 IST
Jalna: A brother-in-law today set afire his minor sister-in-law as she
refused to satisfy his sexual desire, police sources said.
The incident occurred at Nutan Vashat area here today. According to
the police sources, the accused, Asim Shaikh Fakir, a resident of
Goregaon in Mumbai, came to his father-in law's house.
After living for a few days, he developed lust towards the 13-year-old
sister-in-law. When members of the family went out of the home, the
accused made sexual advance towards the minor girl. When she refused,
he allegedly poured kerosene on her body and set afire.
She sustained 50% burns and is admitted in the district civil
hospital. Police have arrested Shaikh.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_man-sets-afire-minor-girl-for-refusing-sex-in-jalna_1327823
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Saturday, December 26, 2009 20:42 IST
Amritsar: A police sub-inspector, formerly deployed in Punjab chief
minister's security, has been booked for allegedly raping a woman on
gun point, forcefully aborting her pregnancy and marrying her,
projecting himself as a bachelor.
The police official was booked at the intervention of the state DGP
after he was approached by the victim with a request that criminal
proceedings be initiated against him.
The woman alleged in her FIR that sub-inspector Mangal Singh, who was
part of the CM's security at the time of committing the crime, raped
her time and again on gun point, making her pregnant.
The accused aborted her pregnancy assuring her that he would marry her
and described himself as a bachelor.
When the marriage was solemnised, his previous marriage came to
light.
The sub-inspector, who was removed from CM's security about two months
back when the victim first drew the DGP's attention to her case, will
soon be arrested as a police party has been dispatched to nab him, SHO
police station D-division Puneet Singh said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_cop-booked-for-raping-woman-in-amritsar_1327817