The Rape Report: Cases From Across the Country

Thane, Maharashtra

A 40-year-old man from powerloom town of Bhiwandi here was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment by a local court today for abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl in 2010.

Thane Additional Sessions Judge U B Shukla awarded the sentence to Arif Ahmed Memon. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000.

The girl, a fifth grade student, and the accused were residents of the same locality.

Chikmagalur, Karnataka

Five police personnel, including two women attached to Aldur police station in this district, were today placed under suspension following allegations by a woman that three policemen raped her while she was in their custody, police said.

Western Range IGP Pratap Reddy told reporters here that sub-inspector K R Shivakumar, constables Gururaj, K B Mahesh, woman constable Krithika and woman assistant sub-inspector Nandita Shetty have been suspended pending probe on the complaint filed by the victim.

The victim alleged that the three policemen sexually assaulted her on February 18 in Bangalore when they took her into custody in connection with a gold chain theft case.

The two women police personnel were present when the victim was taken into custody.

The woman and the policemen have been subjected to medical examination and the report is awaited, Reddy said.

Faridabad, Haryana

A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped twice by her neighbour’s son at SGM Nagar area here.

“Rohit, son of Rita Sachdeva, raped twice the girl during the last eight-month period as the victim was staying with Sachdeva’s family with her mother’s consent,” police said today.

Earlier, Sachdeva had requested the victims’ mother to give the girl in her care.

The victim’s mother has a dispute with her husband and a case of divorce is pending in court, police said, adding, her mother had given consent to Sachdeva to take care of the girl.

About eight-month ago, the victim’s mother had gone to her village and returned three days back to meet her daughter when the girl narrated the incident.

The victim was sent for medical test and rape has been confirmed, police said.

Police have arrested Rohit after registering a case of rape.

Jhargram, West Bengal

A tribal girl was allegedly raped by a youth at Jhargram town, police said today.

Superintendent of Police of Jhargram Bharati Ghosh said the girl, a class X student was returning home from private tuition at around 9 pm last night when a youth forcibly took her to a field at Bachur doba area and allegedly raped her.

The girl narrated the incident to her family.

The girl’s mother lodged a rape complaint at the Jhargram police station, the SP said.

A medical test of the girl was conducted, the SP said adding investigations were on.

Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh

A 23-year-old girl who was subjected to eve teasing by a neighbour committed suicide by hanging herself at her home, police said today.

The incident took place at Chopda Mohalla yesterday when the victim was alone at her home, they said.

Her neighbour, one Manoj Kushwaha, allegedly used to tease her and upset with it, she hung herself from the ceiling fan in the room yesterday when she was alone, they said quoting girl’s mother Hemlata Sharma.

Hemlata was living with her only daughter as her husband and son had died earlier, police said.

A case has been registered against Manoj, who is absconding, they said, adding that efforts were on to nab him.

VHP Leader Praveen Togadia booked for hate speech in Maharashtra

Amid mounting pressure from the Centre, the Maharashtra police Thursday booked Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia for allegedly hate speech at Nanded district in Maharashtra, official reports said.

According to report, the Maharashtra police came into action after the direction came from State government.

A First Information Report has been lodged against VHP leader who allegedly spitting venom against a particular community.

Earlier, Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh Thursday has said that Maharashtra Government must take action against Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) President Praveen Togadia if his speech is inflammatory because everybody is equal in the eyes of law.

“Well, as you know law and order is a state subject. All state governments have free choice to take action and are bound to take action if anybody raises inflammatory speeches. And I am sure the state government will take the appropriate action in any case because everybody is equal in the eyes of law,” he said.

To a poser on the VHP upping the ante with the BJP, Singh said: “I think all mainstream political parties should stay away from these kinds of statements and all of them should come on board and do away with these kinds of statements. Politics is most serious thing. Everybody seems to be talking about development, but we hear these fringe players all the tensions being focused on them.”

“Well, we can’t blame the BJP. Whenever elections come, their only issue remains the Ram Mandir. And so, it’s not something new that we are seeing that is happening. Whenever the elections are due, the BJP comes back to its old ideology of building the Ram temple,” he added.

According to reports, Togadia allegedly attacked Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) politician Akbaruddin Owaisi and members of a particular community at a public meeting at Bhokar town in Nanded district.

Owaisi was arrested on charges of making a hate speech in Andhra Pradesh’s Adilabad district last month.

Demanding swift and stringent action against Togadia over his hate speech against members of a particular community, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had earlier on Wednesday said no religious fundamentalists should be allowed to play with communal accord in the country.

–With ANI Inputs–

 

Pranab rejects another mercy plea

President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected the mercy petition of death-row convict Saibanna Ningappa Natikar, currently lodged in the Central Prison at Hindalga, Belgaum, Karnataka. This is his second rejection after assuming office as the President. He signed the order on January 4.

The first rejection was that of Kasab, the convict in the 26/11 Mumbai terror case hanged on

November 21.

Saibanna had submitted his mercy petition following the confirmation of his death sentence by the Supreme Court’s two-Judge Bench on April 21, 2005. Saibanna was a life convict for the murder of his first wife. While on parole in September 1994, suspecting the fidelity of his second wife, he killed her and his daughter, and attempted to commit suicide.

‘Judgment of error’

Fourteen former Judges had recently appealed to Mr. Mukherjee to commute Saibanna’s death sentence to life imprisonment, in view of Supreme Court’s admission in 2009 in another case that the Court’s confirmation of his death sentence in 2005 was per incuriam (judgment delivered out of error or ignorance).

In Santosh Kumar Bariyar v. State of Maharashtra (2009), the Supreme Court held that the Court’s confirmation of death sentence in Saibanna’s case fell foul of two binding judgments of the Supreme Court, namely, Mithu Singh v. State of Punjab (1983) and Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980).

In Mithu Singh, the Supreme Court’s five-Judge Constitution Bench struck down Section 303 of Indian Penal Code, prescribing mandatory death sentence (prescribed under Section 303 of Indian Penal Code) for convicts found guilty of committing murder while serving life sentence.

In Bachan Singh, another Constitution Bench had held that death sentence is constitutional if it is prescribed as an alternative for the offence of murder and if the normal sentence prescribed by law for murder is imprisonment for life.

In Saibanna, the Supreme Court was doubtful whether a person already undergoing imprisonment for life could be visited with another term of imprisonment for life to run consecutively with the previous one. Instead of resolving this doubt, the Court confirmed his death sentence. In Bariyar, the Court admitted that the Bench in Saibanna effectively made death punishment mandatory for the category of offenders serving life sentence.

The Karnataka High Court which first heard Saibanna’s appeal against the death sentence gave a split verdict. His appeal was then referred to the third Judge, who confirmed his death sentence.

The Supreme Court, while confirming Saibanna’s death sentence, had relied on Machhi Singh v. State of Punjab, which was on November 20 last year considered per incuriam by a two-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court in Sangeet v. State of Haryana.

The Hindu

Facebook arrests: Sena calls for bandh as two cops are suspended, magistrate shifted

The Shiv Sena has called for a bandh in Palghar town tomorrow after two police officers, including the police chief of Thane (rural), were today suspended for the arrest of two young women over a Facebook post criticising the shutdown for Bal Thackeray‘s funeral, while the judicial magistrate who remanded them in custody was shunted out.

Superintendent of police Ravindra Sengaonkar and senior police inspector Shrikant Pingle have been suspended and a departmental inquiry ordered against them, Maharashtra home minister RR Patil told reporters.

He promised that the departmental inquiry would be completed in the shortest possible time.

Patil said additional SP Sangram Nishandar has been “warned in writing and reprimanded” for dereliction of duty.

“Wrong sections were applied against the girls. There was no need to take hasty action [against the girls],” Patil said, adding that senior officers will probe what charges can be dropped.

Earlier, the Bombay high court transferred judicial magistrate RG Bagade who first remanded Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan in custody and later granted them bail for a surety of Rs15,000 each.

The two young women were arrested on November 19 after the former posted a Facebook status lamenting the November 18 shutdown and the latter “liked” it.

Though Dhada had not named Thackeray, a local Sena activist complained against the women and police arrested the duo on November 19, sparking an outrage. A hospital owned by Dhada’s uncle was also vandalised despite her apology for having hurt the sentiments of Thackeray’s followers.

The arrest had set off a debate with some legal experts maintaining that instead of remanding and then enlarging the girls on bail, Bagade should have discharged them from the case as they had been booked wrongly.

Bagade’s transfer order issued yesterday by the registrar of the Bombay high court said, “JMFC at Palghar RG Bagade is hereby transferred in the same position to Jalgaon with immediate effect.”

Patil said SP Sengaonkar was placed under suspension for disobeying his superiors, who had advised against arresting the girls. Inspector Pingle invited action for charging them under wrong sections and preparing faulty records, he said.

source : PTI

Narendra Modi calls for a mass movement against gutka in Gujarat

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to the people of the state to launch a mass movement against gutka.

“This is the time to rise to the occasion together and create a mass movement to remove gutka from our lives and save our youth from the menace of cancer,” Modi wrote on his blog, while reminding people about the new legislation banning gutka in the state from September 11.

“Come 11th September 2012, there will be a comprehensive ban on gutka consumption across the state. It is our determination to create a society where no woman is widowed due to hazards of gutka eating in the family. We want to see a day when no child loses a parent or no mother prematurely loses a son due to gutka consumption,” Modi said.

Drawing attention of the people towards the dangers of gutka, he said, “The menace of gutka is much more serious than what you would like to believe it would be. You will be shocked to know that gutka is even more expensive than almonds. But those who consume it never realise this and move towards a path of self-destruction, from which, there is no return.”

The chief minister has also appealed to people to use social networking media as a tool to spread awareness about the gutka menace.

“Social media users may like to take up the cause on that platform by posting & spreading messages. This is how together we can take small steps that will make a big difference,” he added.

Gutka has been banned in other states including Maharashtra.

 

 

 

25 of 53 Cities Doubtful to Allow Foreign Retailers

As many states including UP and Tamil Nadu raise the red flag against Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, its speculated that nearly half of 53 cities may bang door on global chains.  Going by the 2011 data on Census of India website, 25 out of 46 cities with around 10 lakh population, are doubtful to allow like of Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco to open stores.  However, the government in a statement said 53 cities will benefit from the new policy.

Mayawati, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal CM, Mamta Banerjee, Bihar’s CM Nitish Kumar, all stood up against the latest FDI liberalization move from the UPA. Gujrat’s CM Narendra Modi, is happy and welcomed the opening up.

Congress ruled states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana will welcome foreign retailers, but in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal has supported the move.

Anand Sharma, Commerce and Industry Minister, said, states like Punjab, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are supporting UPA’s reform move.

Cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Vadodara will put up the closed sign as the retail trade is state’s subject and in order to open the stores, it requires clearances from municipal bodies, registration under the Shops & Establishments Act and the Sales Department apart from support from the district administration.

Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore will have to the face the impact of Jayalalitha’s opposition to multi-brand retails. She said in a statement, “The purported intention of the government of India seems to be to bring more foreign investment into the country to improve market efficiency and bring down double-digit inflation prevailing in the country, mainly due to the series of policy blunders made by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. Does our nation lack such resources or the technology to deal with such problems? The central government should realize that constraints on farm products, on the supply side, which is one of the contributory factors to food inflation, cannot be addressed through the FDI route, but only by squarely addressing the infrastructural constraints through appropriate policy support.”

Uttar Pradesh is likely to face the biggest impact as it has seven listed cities like Meerut, Ghaziabad, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi and the state has already made it clear that it will stay out of bounds. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have four states each. Despite the huge prospective that middle class India offers to international chains dealing with decreasing demand in their home markets, the global giants are still going to stay interested. Maharashtra will emerge out as the most attractive destination given the fact that it is a middle class dominated area with cities like Mumbai and Pune. The foreign retailers are likely to open up their stores in 8 towns and cities. The government feels, sooner or later, the states would recognize the huge opportunity that the modern retail format offers with foreign participation.

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South India, the Best Place for Children to Live In

South India is found to be the best place for children to live in as 4 of the 5 best performing states in India‘s first national child rights index, are from Southern region of the country. The Child Rights Index (CRI) published by NGO HAQ placed Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh among the top five best performing states in India with Maharashtra being only state from the west.

                                                                                             

Karnataka is ranked the best state for children to live in for its least number of cases of crime against children, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

The detailed study finds that economic growth does not necessarily ensure child rights performance as it’s shown in the case of Kerala which ranks first in the national child rights but stands 9th in its GDP status while Maharashtra, which ranks first amongst the states in GDP, is ranked third in child rights. Moreover, the state is also ranked among the worst 5 states in sex ratio and second worst cohort at rank 20 in child marriage which clearly points out a severe lack of attention to children. Uttar Pradesh with the second highest GDP in the country, ranks18th in child rights and ranks 27th in provision of health care. Jharkhand is the only state whose economic status matches its child rights rank – both at 17.

                                                                                                

Not so surprisingly, all the worst performing states are the north-eastern states – Sikkim, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Sadly, of the five states that fall in the not so well performing category, three are once again north-eastern states. They are performing badly in almost all indicators. This is a clear indication that despite the promised attention to North-East and separate budget allocations, they have among the lowest GDP ranks, and children’s status in those states needs urgent attention.

The study suggests that there is an ethnic composition to the poor state of child rights and health as it’s shown that a significant proportion of the population of the states performing badly in education are tribals – Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh, are essentially tribal states with tribals constituting 26.3 percent and 64.2 percent of the population respectively.

And when it comes to health of children, the five worst performing states are Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, where tribals account for a significant portion of population in many of these states.

However, the states ranked as top in overall index have many things to be worried about as Kerala, despite its high literacy, was ranked last in gender equality in prevention of child marriages and 12th in its overall rank, as well as ranks high in the percentage of girls that are married (47.04 percent).

                                                                                   

Maharashtra, although ranked third in child rights, has pathetically failed to address falling sex ratio and child marriage. As a matter of fact, all the five best performing states, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are not performing well in early childhood care and controlling child marriage. Kerala and Goa, the two best performing states in health, is found to be performing quite poorly in provision of health infrastructure. On the other hand, Himachal Pradesh, which is one of the five best states in healthcare, is ranked in the last five in HIV/AIDS intervention.

When it comes to education, Delhi put up a poor show. Although the stae is doing well in making education available to its children, it does not have enough teachers and hence ranks as one of the lowest in the pupil teacher ratio of 1:100.

The north-eastern states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are ranked in the top five in provision for early childhood care; however, lag behind in their attention to preschool education for the 3-6 year old children.

While states such as Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Delhi plus the Union Territories of Chandigarh, and Puducherry have achieved 100 percent level of registration of births, Bihar and Jharkhand are still below the 50 percent mark.

Wonderful Cave Temples Of India

Ellora Cave Temple, Maharashtra

Ellora is an archaeological site, about 30 km from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. Well-known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site. Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 “caves” structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills are Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut Jain and Hindu temples and viharas built between the 5th and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist caves, 17 Hindu and 5 Jain caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.

Patal Bhuvaneshwar, Uttarkhand

Patal Bhuvaneshwar, one of the most fascinating places of the Kumaon region. It is a limestone cave temple 14 km from Gangolihat in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. It is located in the village Bhubneshwar. Legend and folklore have it that this underground cave enshrines Lord Shiva and thirty three crore Gods. The cave is 160 m long and 90 feet deep from the point of entrance. Limestone rock formations have created various spectacular stalactite and stalagmite figures of various hues and forms. This cave has a narrow tunnel-like opening which leads to a number of caves. The cave is electrically illuminated. There is a folklore that the Pandava brothers passed their time here during banishment. It was built due to the flow of water. It cut the rocks in such a fascinating way that it looks like that any artist had made those entire statues within the cave & on its wall.

The Elephanta Caves, Maharashtra

Elephanta Caves are a network of sculpted caves located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, meaning “city of caves” in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres to the east of the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra. The island, located on an arm of the Arabian Sea, consists of two groups of cave. The first is a large group of five Hindu caves, the second, a smaller group of two Buddhist caves. The Hindu caves contain rock cut stone sculptures, representing the Shaiva tradition dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Amarnath Cave Temple, Jammu and Kashmir

Amarnath Cave Temple is located in Jammu and Kashmir on Mount Amarnath. The Amarnath caves are one of the most famous Hindu shrines. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The main cave houses an ice stalagmite resembling the Shiva Linga, which waxes during May to August and gradually wanes thereafter. This lingam is said to grow and shrink with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival. According to Hindu mythology, this is the cave where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort Parvati. There are also two other ice formations representing Parvati and Ganesha.

The Badami cave temples, Karnataka

Badami is a series of temples located at Badami, a town in the Bagalkot District of North Karnataka. Badami was the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled the state from 6th to 8th centuries AD. It lies at the mouth of a ravine with rocky hills on either side of a town tank. They are considered an example of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya Architecture. The town is known for its ancient cave temples carved out of the sandstone hills above.

Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh

The Bhimbetka rock shelters are located in Raisen District in Madhya Pradesh. They come under the archeological World Heritage Site. The Bhimbetka shelters exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India. Many archeological reports have pointed that these shelters were inhabited by man 100,000 years ago. Some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are approximately 30,000 years old. The name Bhimbetka is associated with Bhima, a hero in the epic Mahabharat renowned for his immense strength. Bhimbetka means “sitting place of Bhima”.

Varaha Cave Temple, Tamil Nadu

Varaha Cave Temple is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century. It is a rock-cut cave temple located at Mamallapuram, a village south of Chennai. It is a fine testimonial of ancient Vishwakarma Sthapathis. The temple is a part of a group of monuments at Mahabalipuram, and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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India’s 10 Hottest FDI Destinations; Maharashtra tops

FDI in different states of India have increased steadily since the early 1990s when the Indian economy was opened up to foreign investments. Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are among the leading states that have attracted maximum FDI.

1. Maharashtra:

Foreign Direct Investment in Maharashtra covers Mumbai, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu. The total FDI Inflows in Maharashtra economy from April 2000 to January 2011 was estimated to be around 199.322 crore which is approximately $44,592 million. The percentage of Mumbai out of the total inflows is 35 percent. Maharashtra received the lion’s share of the foreign direct investment inflows into India.

2. New Delhi:

Delhi economy has been estimated to be around 111,937 crore which roughly comes up to $24,700 million from April 2000 to January 2011. The investments covers Delhi, parts of UP and Haryana. New Delhi forms 19 percent out of the total inflows.

3. Karnataka:

Foreign Direct Investment in Karnataka from April 2000 to January 2011 has accounted for 36,139 crore which is approximately $8,114 million. Karnataka forms 6 percent of the total inflows. Sectors that attracted high levels of FDI include services, telecom, metallurgical industries, power, computer hardware and software, and construction activities.

4. Gujarat:

Foreign Direct Investments in Gujarat from April 2000 to January 2011 was estimated to be around 30,969 crore which is around $6,996 million. Gujarat ranks fourth in terms of FDI Inflows in India. Major investments are made in the former capital and the largest city in Gujarat, Ahmadabad. Gujarat forms 5 percent of the total inflows.

5. Tamil Nadu:

Foreign Direct investments in Tamil Nadu are done in Chennai and Pondicherry. The total investments made from April 2000  to January 2011 are estimated to be around 29,914 crore which comes to around $6,645 million. Tamil Nadu forms 5 percent of the total inflows.

6. Andhra Pradesh:

Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in Andhra Pradesh has been estimated to be around 25,605 crore which is approximately $5,749 million calculated from April 2000 and January 2011. Andhra Pradesh ranks fifth as a recipient of FDI Inflows in India. Andhra Pradesh forms 5 percent of the total inflows. Major investments made in Hyderabad. The highest FDI of $2.92 came from Mauritius, followed by Singapore ($1.08 billion), U.S. ($636 million), Japan ($515 million) and the Netherlands ($481 million) in April-August 2010-11.

7. West Bengal:

The Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in West Bengal also cover the territories Sikkim, Andman&Nicobar Islands. It is estimated that about 6, 339 crore which is about $1,481 million. West Bengal forms 5 percent of the total inflows.

8. Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh:

Foreign Direct investments in these states are about 4,223 crore from April 2000 to January 2011 which is around $922 million. They form 1 percent of the total inflows.

9. Goa:

Foreign Direct investments in Goa is estimated to be about 3,316 crore from April 2000 to January 2011. It is around $723 million. Goa forms 1 percent of the total inflows.

10.Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh:

Foreign Direct investments in these states are estimated to be 2.961 crore from April 2000 to January 2011 which is around $643 million. They form 0.5 percent of the total inflows.

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