Courts should carefully scrutinize rape victim; evidence, Supreme Court says

Courts should carefully scrutinize rape victims' evidence, Supreme Court says

IANS Jan 5, 2014, 07.19AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that courts must carefully examine the evidence of a rape victim to ascertain its trustworthiness as it alone was sufficient to convict a rape accused and sentence him to life imprisonment.
Holding that the rape victim's evidence is placed on such a high pedestal that it alone was sufficient to arrive at the conviction of an accused, a bench of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice J Chelameswar said: "... it is the duty of the court to scrutinize it carefully, because in a given case on that lone evidence a man can be sentenced to life imprisonment".

 

"The court must, therefore, with its rich experience evaluate such evidence with care and circumspection and only after its conscience is satisfied about its creditworthiness rely upon it" said Justice Desai in a judgment on Friday.

Pointing to weightage that is given to evidence by rape victim, the court said: "In a case involving charge of rape, the evidence of the prosecutrix is most vital. If it is found credible; if it inspires total confidence, it can be relied upon even sans corroboration."

The court concerned may, however, if it is hesitant to place implicit reliance on this, look into other evidence to lend assurance to it short of corroboration required in the case of an accomplice, the judgment said.

"Such weight is given to the prosecutrix's evidence because her evidence is on par with the evidence of an injured witness which seldom fails to inspire confidence," the court said.

The apex court said this while setting aside a judgment of the Punjab and Haryana high court upholding a trial court order convicting Hem Raj for rape of his neighbour in 1999.
Hem Raj was convicted by the additional sessions judge, Faridabad on Aug 3, 2001, on charges of rape and trespassing for committing an offence and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years and two years respectively which were to run concurrently.

Pointing to the conflicting versions in the alleged rape victim's statements including the retraction of the allegation of rape and admission that as neighbours, they knew each other and she even wrote letters to Hem Raj, the apex court said: "It would be extremely dangerous to rely on such evidence ... Our conscience would not permit us to rely on such evidence. It would be hazardous to confirm the conviction on the prosecutrix's sole testimony."

Referring to the evidence produced by the prosecution, the court noted that prosecution failed to examine Dr. Anjali Shah who had medically examined the alleged victim.

Describing it as a "serious lapse" on the part of the prosecution, the court said: "We are aware that lapses on the part of the prosecution should not lead to unmerited acquittals.

"This is, however, subject to the rider that in such a situation the evidence on record must be clinching so that the lapses of the prosecution could be condoned."

 

Pointing out that the medico-legal report does suggest that the hymen of the prosecutrix was torn and forensic report shows that that human semen was detected on her salwar and on the underwear of the accused, the court said: "However, it is difficult to infer from this that the prosecutrix was raped by the appellant."

Setting aside the high court verdict, the apex court said that the victim had herself vacillated on being raped and her evidence is so infirm that it deserves to be rejected.

Courts should carefully scrutinize rape victims' evidence, Supreme Court says

IAF officials prevent Punjab cops from arresting its employee - Times Of India

IAF officials prevent Punjab cops from arresting its employee

Jatinder Kaur Tur, TNN Jan 6, 2014, 02.04PM IST

HYDERABAD: The cops wanted to arrest him but IAF officials said no. In what has turned out to be a showdown between the two agencies, a Punjab police team that landed at Air Force Station, Begumpet, few days ago to arrest a serving employee, his wife and son on dowry harassment and cruelty charges was prevented from doing so by the air force officials.

Monika Sharma, an employee of State Bank of India (SBI), hailing from Patiala, got married to Vishal Sharma on February 1, 2013. A few months later, Monika charged her husband, father-in-law VK Sharma and mother-in-law Usha Sharma with dowry harassment and cruelty and lodged a complaint to this effect with the Patiala police. Based on her complaint, the cops registered an FIR on December 4, 2013 and a warrant for his arrest was issued on December 19.

 

However, when the Punjab Police team arrived in Hyderabad and went to the air force station on December 26 to arrest the three persons, they were prevented from doing so. "We were stopped at the Begumpet Air Force station gate. IAF is a huge organization and we are humble Punjab Police employees. We were told that Air Force rules and laws are different and that we cannot arrest them," said ASI Gurdev Singh, adding that IAF officials did not cooperate in executing the search and arrest orders and on the contrary prevented them from doing the same.

Monika charged that besides VK Sharma, the station commander did not allow the arrest of her mother-in-law Usha Sharma and her husband Vishal, who is employed with a private firm at Hi-tech city. "Officially, Vishal stays elsewhere but has taken refuge in his parents' house inside the IAF station in order to evade arrest," Monika alleged.

The IAF officials instead have given an undertaking to the Punjab police officials that all the three accused will appear before the concerned Patiala court on January 10, 2014. The assurance letter dated December 26, 2013, addressed to Patiala SSP Hardiyal Singh Mann by Group Captain Satish Balachandran, chief administrative officer at Begumpet Air Force Station, said Sharma has been informed and briefed about the pending warrant. "It is hereby assured that he will be granted leave from this office to present himself before the court of Ms Pavleen Singh, Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Patiala on Jan 10, 2014 at 1000 hrs. without fail," it said.

However, both police officials and Monika's family members are up in arms over the air force officials not allowing Punjab police cops to arrest the three accused. When contacted, Patiala SSP H S Mann told TOI that the IAF has no power to interfere in the Code of Criminal Procedure. "Sections in the FIR are for criminal breach of trust, violence and cruelty and for restoration of 'istridhan' but the police team was not allowed to carry out any search," said Monika's brother Anshu Sharma
According to advocate Gopal Krishan Kalanidhi, "Defence employees do enjoy certain privileges in respect of Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Section 45 of Criminal Procedure Code has given partial shelter to Indian armed forces from being arrested and that too in two conditions. 1 )

The officer facing a Bailable or Non Bailable Warrant must have committed such an offence while discharging his duties 2) Prior Sanction is required from State or Central Governments.
In the case on hand, the Air Force Official has been facing a Non Bailable Warrant issued by a judicial magistrate of first class, Patiala for cited offences of 406 and 498-A and these offences have been committed by such husband and in-laws against the complainant and they are not committed in the discharge of official duties. Hence the immunity as provided under section 45 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 is not available to the official facing arrest.

IAF officials prevent Punjab cops from arresting its employee - Times Of India

Salman Khan plans TV show based on social causes - Hindustan Times

After successfully hosting four consecutive seasons of reality show Bigg Boss, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will return to the small screen next year as the host of a new show based on social causes and says it will be different from Satyamev Jayate.

In 2012, his contemporary Aamir Khan launched the 14-episode talk show Satyamev Jayate, which highlighted issues like female foeticide, evils of dowry and malpractices in medicine. 

"We are working on something which is different. It is not along the lines of Satyamev Jayate. We will have a lot more entertainment in it. We will rock next year," Salman said.

The 48-year-old, who has also hosted another reality show Dus Ka Dum, added: "The show that we are doing will change a lot of things. It's a brand new show altogether, which will talk about social causes. I will be the host and this will definitely change a lot (of things)."
Currently, Salman is gearing up for the release of Jai Ho!, an action film set for a Jan 24 release. - See

Salman Khan plans TV show based on social causes - Hindustan Times

Ministries may be asked to seek public view before framing laws

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 07, 2014, 17:49

New Delhi: Apparently taking a leaf out of Aam Aadmi Party's strategy, the government is mulling a proposal to make it mandatory for Union Ministries to elicit public opinion before framing legislations.

To take the proposal forward, the Cabinet Secretariat may convene a meeting of Secretaries of the various ministries and departments before a final call is taken on it.

 "The proposal requires all central ministries to elicit public views on legislations they want to frame. However, no final view has been firmed up so far," a senior government functionary told a news agency here.

 This has been the main strategy of the AAP and it has employed it successfully, which was reflected in its stunning performance in the recent Delhi Assembly polls.

If the proposal is accepted, then instructions of the Cabinet secretariat and Parliamentary procedures relating to drafting of legislations will be amended to make it necessary for ministries to get views of the public before sending the proposal to Cabinet.

 The ministries can seek the views of the common people, institutions and NGOs by either putting a draft bill in public domain or bringing out a concept paper regarding the legislation.

 The respective ministries may also be asked to cite the views accepted in finalising the draft legislation and reasons thereof.

 However, in cases of emergency, the ministries will be free to approach the Cabinet without getting the public opinion.

Recently, the Women and Child Development Ministry and the Sports Ministry had put up draft legislations on their website to get views of the public.

 "The process will not mean a big delay in enacting laws. It will make the process more transparent...When Parliamentary Standing Committees seek public opinion on bills, it is done at a stage where the bill has already been introduced in Parliament. If this proposal is finalised, then public views will be part of the bill," an official explained.

 The Aam Aadmi Party has been advocating the cause of public participation in framing laws.
Ministries may be asked to seek public view before framing laws

Male pilots put flyers at risk to avoid sexual harassment charges - Hindustan Times

Male pilots put flyers at risk to avoid sexual harassment charges

Harinder Baweja , Hindustan Times  New Delhi, January 08, 2014

 

 

The fear of being accused of sexual harassment  is driving male pilots to violate a standard operating procedure (SOP), potentially putting lives in peril.
According to the SOP governing flight safety, the pilot or the co-pilot can leave the cockpit only after a member of cabin crew has been called into the flight deck. This is to ensure that if the person flying the plane suddenly falls sick, there is someone to tend to him or her and get the other pilot back urgently.

 

But, it turns out, many male pilots across domestic airlines have decided to keep air hostesses out of the cockpit, terrified the women will slap charges of groping or other forms of harassment on them.

"As a departure from the SOP, most of us in SpiceJet as well as in other domestic carriers have adopted a practice wherein we don't really allow the female members of the crew to enter the flight deck," a senior pilot told HT.

"The only reason being that should one of them turn around tomorrow and level seriously damaging allegations of groping, we pilots would have a lot of answering to do and may even lose our jobs even if the allegations are unsubstantiated," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Several other pilots said that recent high-profile cases involving a retired judge, Justice AK Ganguly, and journalist Tarun Tejpal, have forced them to look at measures that "protect us, even though they come at the cost of flight safety."

Airlines contacted were quick to deny that any such contravention of SOP was occurring.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said: "As a procedure, the crew does go in when required. No one is afraid nor has there been any case of anything unusual happening. The idea of fear of female cabin crew is preposterous given that we have plenty of female pilots as well."

"There have never been any instances of pilots sharing any fears of asking female crew members to come inside the cockpit when one of the pilots has stepped out. Safety is paramount for IndiGo and there can be absolutely no compromise on safety," said an IndiGo spokesperson. Air India and Jet Airways did not respond.

But one pilot spoke of the need to air his fears:  "I do admit and fully understand that not allowing female colleagues in have consequences from a flight safety issue, but I do deem it important enough to let our fears be known to the public at large.''

Another pilot HT spoke to said, "The new law is playing on our psyche.'' Asked if they were not scared about air hostesses complaining about the SOP being violated, he said, "We pilots are constantly discussing this issue and now believe that it is better that the air hostess complain about not being allowed entry into the cockpit than them complaining about being groped." Another pilot said they only allow cabin crew colleagues they know well and trust but are now guarded about following the SOP as a routine.

Male pilots put flyers at risk to avoid sexual harassment charges - Hindustan Times

TOI:Wake up to the woes of sexually harassed men!

Wake up to the woes of sexually harassed men!

Vinita Chaturvedi, TNN Jun 25, 2013, 12.00AM IST

TOI on the changing tone and tenor of the sexual
harassment in Nagpur

All those feminists, who had been screaming over the male atrocities, were shocked into silence reading the recent reports wherein a 42-year-old married woman Veera Kalra, a manager at a ready-made garments store, was booked for sexually harassing her 25-year-old employee Rahul Khandare. Rahul had recently committed suicide and left a five-page note, blaming Veera for sexually harassing him and being the main cause behind his frustration. And this is not a case in isolation. There are other cases, which have similar undertones. TOI tracks the phenomenon...

 

Case 1: Disha Chauhan (name changed), a 25-year-old girl working for a multinational herbal products company in the city, lured her new male colleague into a sexual relationship. After luring him into the relationship, she started urging him on to help her with getting more business and greater sales numbers, says our source from the police. He obliged and soon the girl proposed marriage to the lad. When he agreed to that as well, she told him to help in increasing her sales incentive from 35% to 50%. The guy invested heavily, bought the products in large numbers and even diverted many of his own clients to her. The girl achieved her target, married her senior and dumped the guy! Totally shocked, the guy initially went into acute depression, adds the source. Later, he finally gathered the courage to file a case at the Ajni Police Station for cheating and sexual harassment.

Case 2: Rachna Bise (name changed), a 21-year-old married woman, charged her maternal uncle with attempt to rape, after she went absconding with a male friend of hers and was found by the cops, whereas the uncle's family has lodged a case of sexual harassment against her.

Male harassment is a reality
A senior cop (requesting anonymity) says: "Cases regarding women's sexual harassment and molestation are reported in large numbers, but sexual harassment of men is also a reality. We get many complaints these days of this nature, but most of the times, the guys refrain from filing the FIR. Hence, the number of cases reported remains very less."

Victims suffer psychologically
It's a myth that sexual exploitation hurts women alone and men remain unscathed, says Investigating Officer R G Rajulwar, who is handling Disha Chauhan case. He adds, "In this particular case, the boy, who was exploited and later dumped by her, became a complete recluse and even contemplated suicide. It was the never ending support of his family and friends that made him come out of his shell. So, it is no longer true that exploitation happens on one particular sex alone."

Butt of myriad jokes
The sad part is that while the psychological trauma faced by the sexually harassed people of both the sexes remains equal, the men who report such cases, have to face public ridicule. "When a girl files a case of sexual harassment, she gets people's sympathy, but when a guy files such a complaint, he becomes the butt of myriad jokes. That is why even when they are being exploited blatantly by certain women, they prefer to bear it in silence, or may take an extreme step like Rahul Khandare, who committed suicide," said another senior cop, on the condition of anonymity.

Wake up to the woes of sexually harassed men!

IBNLIVE:Police be punished on acquittal of accused in criminal cases: SC

Police be punished on acquittal of accused in criminal cases: SC

New Delhi: Every acquittal in a criminal case should be understood as a failure of the justice delivery System and in serving the cause of justice, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said directing the governments to punish investigating officers in such cases.
A bench of justices C K Prasad and J S Khehar expressed concern over the growing number of acquittals due to poor investigation and directed all state governments to put in place a mechanism within six months for proper training of its officers to ensure the accused is punished and at the same time innocent persons are not framed in criminal cases.
"Every acquittal should be understood as a failure of the justice delivery system, in serving the cause of justice. Likewise, every acquittal should ordinarily lead to the inference that an innocent person was wrongfully prosecuted.

Nataraja temple to be managed by priests not TN government: Supreme Court

SC directs the Home Department of every state government, to formulate a procedure for taking action against all erring investigating/prosecuting officials/officers. All such erring officials/officers identified as responsible for failure of a prosecution case on account of sheer negligence or because of culpable lapses must suffer departmental action
"It is, therefore, essential that every state should put in place a procedural mechanism which would ensure that the cause of justice is served, which would simultaneously ensure the safeguarding of interest of those who are innocent," it said.

The bench directed the Home Department of every state to examine all orders of acquittal and to record reasons for the failure of each prosecution case for finding out mistakes committed during investigation and prosecution.

"On the culmination of a criminal case in acquittal, the concerned investigating/prosecuting official(s) responsible for such acquittal must necessarily be identified. A finding need to be recorded in each case whether the lapse was innocent or blameworthy. Each erring officer must suffer the consequences of his lapse, by appropriate departmental action, whenever called for," the bench said.
The apex court directed that all state governments incorporate in its existing training programmes for junior investigation/ prosecution officials course-content drawn from the analysis of such cases.

"We further direct that the above training programme be put in place within 6 months. This would ensure that those persons who handle sensitive matters concerning investigation /prosecution are fully trained to handle the same. Thereupon, if any lapses are committed by them, they would not be able to feign innocence when they are made liable to suffer departmental action for their lapses," the bench said.

SC directs the Home Department of every state government, to formulate a procedure for taking action against all erring investigating/prosecuting officials/officers. All such erring officials/officers identified as responsible for failure of a prosecution case on account of sheer negligence or because of culpable lapses must suffer departmental action.

"The above mechanism formulated would infuse seriousness in the performance of investigating and prosecuting duties, and would ensure that investigation and prosecution are purposeful and decisive. The instant direction shall also be given effect to within 6 months," the bench said.

Source:http://ibnlive.in.com/news/police-be-punished-on-acquittal-of-accused-in-criminal-cases-sc/444015-3.html

TOI:Man kills self, wife booked for abetment

Man kills self, wife booked for abetment

Jan 8, 2014, 03.39AM IST TNN[ Mohammed Akhef ]

AURANGABAD: A 22-year-old woman has been booked by the Waluj police on the charges of abetment of suicide after her husband killed himself on December 29. The woman has been accused of assaulting her husband, after he took objection to her alleged illicit relationship with another man. Following the argument, the husband, a farm labourer by occupation, committed suicide.

The woman, a resident of Ramrai village of Gangapur, has been booked on the complaint lodged by the deceased's father.

Police said that the deceased's father in his complaint to the Waluj police stated that when his son objected to the alleged illicit relationship of his wife with another man, the woman allegedly assaulted her husband.

Failing to convince his wife to end the relationship, the man ended his life by jumping from the top of a public water tank on December 29 and succumbed to the injuries the next day while being treated at the Government Medical College and Hospital.

 

 

TOI:Delhi court pulls up woman for changing stand during rape trial

Delhi court pulls up woman for changing stand during rape trial

PTI Jan 9, 2014, 03.14PM IST

NEW DELHI: A 39-year-old woman has been pulled up by a Delhi court for changing her stand during the trial in a rape case lodged by her against a boy who used to give tutions to her children.
Additional sessions judge Rajender Kumar Shastri reprimanded the woman after she admitted that she had lodged a false case against the boy at the behest of her husband and directed her to file an affidavit regarding her contentions.
          

The judge, while granting interim bail to the accused till January 13, warned the woman that an adverse order could be passed against her if she again changed her version, as she has done in the past, due to which the boy was behind bars for the last three months.
The woman, thereafter, filed an affidavit saying that the FIR against the boy had been lodged under pressure from her husband.

The court sought the affidavit after being informed by the boy's counsel that although the woman had alleged rape in her statement recorded before a magistrate, her stand had changed at the police station where she stated that she had been forced by her husband to file the complaint.

The court was hearing the bail plea filed by the 19-year -old B.Com first-year student who pleaded that he be granted bail and contended that the case against him was false.
He said that he had never entered into any kind of sexual relations with the woman.
However, police opposed his request saying that a similar plea had been filed by him in Delhi High Court, which had been dismissed after the investigating officer sought his custody for recovering the objectionable photographs and jewellery which he had allegedly taken away from the woman's house.
The court partially allowed the boy's plea and asked him to join the investigation.

Delhi court pulls up woman for changing stand during rape trial

TOI: Marathi actor found in Chennai with boyfriend

Marathi actor found in Chennai with boyfriend

'Missing' Marathi actor found in Chennai with boyfriend

S Ahmed Ali, TNN Jan 9, 2014, 05.37AM IST

MUMBAI: Had the Mumbai crime branch not worked swiftly on the call detail report (CDR) of actress Alka Punewar, who ran away with her boyfriend after staging an elaborate kidnapping-cum-murder mystery, the Thane police might have named Alka's husband Sanjay as the prime suspect.
Some officers in the Thane police said there were reasons to doubt Sanjay as there were discrepancies in his statements. Moreover, while some of the relatives told the police that Sanjay, who was Alka's second husband, was after her property and life insurance money, others said he wanted to get rid of her. Also, two weeks before Alka went missing, Sanjay had travelled to Pune through Khopoli via Phalasphe phata; it was in the valley near the same phata that the mangled remains of alka's car was found, leading the police to believe that she had been kidnapped from there.

But all the theories proved wrong with the police tracing Alka to Chennai where she had been holed up with her 24-year-old paramour, Alok Paliwal.

Sanjay clarified: "I went to Pune two weeks ago for job interview. The Thane police, who studied my cellphone movement, thought I had gone to do a recce of the spot. They grilled and cross-examined me but my conscience was clear."

Alka and her boyfriend, who had been in Chennai for the past few days, were brought to the city on Wednesday. The Thane police, after taking down their statements, let them off. "Alka told us that she went away with Paliwal on her own accord and that the two were likely to get married shortly," said ACP Ramesh Bhurewar. "After taking down their statements, we have let the two go."

To confirm it was indeed Alka, the Thane police had made Sanjay speak to her over the phone on Tuesday. "She shouted at me for going to the police and also reminded me that while leaving on December 27, she had told me to marry someone else who could take care of my two sons," Sanjay said. "I don't want to associate myself with her. I will shift from Kopri in Thane to save my sons' reputation."

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-01-09/mumbai/46028804_1_thane-police-sanjay-boyfriend

Woman locks husband for 9 years for widow's pension - Hindustan Times

Woman locks husband for 9 years for widow's pension

Prashant Ranjan , Hindustan Times  Ara, September 28, 2013

A 50-year-old woman, Dhankeshri Devi, allegedly kept her husband in confinement for nine years and declared him dead so that she can avail her widow's pension.

The matter came to light on Thursday after her neighbour informed the police following an altercation with Dhankeshri's son, Sunil Kumar.

A team of police officials reached their house in Deuwar village under Sandesh police station in Bhojpur district of south-central Bihar and rescued 58-year-old Jagat Narayan Singh.
According to station house officer Shyam Deo Singh, who headed the police team, Jagat was found in a disheveled state. "He appeared quite disoriented and kept on saying 'Dumka, Dumka' -  a district in Jharkhand where he was posted as a peon till 2004," the SHO said on Saturday.

Bhojpur superintendent of police Satyaveer Singh had ordered the raid after the neighbour, Asha Devi, raised the matter at his janata darbar, informing everyone of the inhuman treatment meted out to Jagat by his wife and son.

In an FIR lodged at the Sandesh police station, Asha blamed Sunil for keeping his father in captivity. According to the neighbour, 18-year-old Sunil wanted to get his father's job in the department of animal husbandry in Dumka district on compassionate grounds.

The police said Sunil has gone missing after the incident came to light. "We are on the lookout for Sunil, who has been named in the FIR. Dhankeshri, however, has not been named. We will take a call on her as the investigation progresses," the SHO said.

In 2004, Dhankeshri had lodged a complaint at the Sandesh police station, stating that her husband has gone missing.

According to police, she and her son later managed to acquire a death certificate issued in Jagat's name which entitled Dhankeshri to draw her widow's pension. Sunil, however, didn't succeed in landing a job on compassionate grounds as he was a minor at that time.

The Bhojpur SP said it seems that Sunil has a major role to play in the illegal confinement of his father as he wanted to get a government job at Dumka.

"During the course of the investigation, it will become clear how did the mother-son duo managed to procure the forged death certificate. It will also be probed as to why the neighbours keep silent for so long though they knew of Jagat's confinement," the SP added.

Source:Woman locks husband for 9 years for widow's pension - Hindustan Times

10 false cases of rape in Punjab - Hindustan Times

10 false cases of rape in Punjab

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times  Chandigarh, January 03, 2013

The December 16 Delhi rape case has brought about some changes, but not all are positive. The Punjab police have found at least 10 rape cases, of the 63 lodged in December, to be false.

This, however, came to light when, following the Delhi case, stern guidelines were issued to ensure prompt response in gender-related offences.

"Revenge was the main motive in these cases," Jasminder Singh, ADGP said in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

"But this doesn't mean that we are going to take rape complaints lightly," he added.

In Haryana's Kaithal, the SP office received a complaint on Monday by eight girls accusing the management of the private college of 'sexual harassment'.

Upon probe, the complaint was found to be false.
10 false cases of rape in Punjab - Hindustan Times

TOI:Divorce case: Woman pays Rs 50,000 for wasting time

Divorce case: Woman pays Rs 50,000 for ‘wasting time’

Rebecca Samervel, TNN Sep 18, 2013, 02.22AM IST

 

 

• 

(The woman and her husband…)

MUMBAI: A city family court has directed a woman to pay Rs 50,000 after she filed a petition withdrawing the consent terms agreed upon before a judge mediator in her divorce battle. Allowing the woman's plea to withdraw the terms, the judge, however, observed, "Repatriation from mediation settlement casually is nothing but wastage of time, skill and energy of all concerned and, therefore, warrants saddling of exemplary cost."

Lamenting the state of affairs, the judge said, "Mediation settlement must not be resiled casually... unless there is force or coercion. Mediation must not be taken for granted. It is an alternate dispute resolution mode recognized and executable by law."
The woman and her husband have been estranged for a year and have an 11-year-old son. The order copy states that the couple was referred to a mediator with their consent, and had even resolved some of their problems. The terms for divorce by mutual consent were agreed upon after individual and joint mediation sessions were held with the parties.
On July 7, the couple signed the consent forms and the mediator judge informed the referral court. Both parties had dealt with a number of issues, including separate residence, lump sum alimony, permanent custody and access to their son. However, a month-and-a-half after signing the terms, the woman filed a petition in court seeking to withdraw the consent terms. The husband objected to this, saying it had been filed with the intention of forcing him to pay her more.
Going through the consent terms, the judge, citing an instance, observed that the woman had agreed to pay for the repair of the house, if any. "But now, the petitioner (woman) wants to deviate and claim repair charges. This is nothing but stretching the matter in an unfair manner," the judge said. The court further held that if the woman was not allowed to withdraw from the mediation settlement, the couple would have to obtain the divorce by mutual consent, as agreed. "I do not want to force mutual consent divorce upon the petitioner and that is the only reason I am allowing her to withdraw from the consent terms," the court said.
The woman's advocate S H Shyamani has said she will challenge the order before the HC. "She is a working woman and the amount is too high," he said.

Source: Divorce case: Woman pays Rs 50,000 for wasting time

DNA : Government issues standard operating procedures for phone-tapping in India

Government issues standard operating procedures for phone-tapping in India

Friday, Jan 10, 2014, 17:49 IST | Place: Delhi | Agency: PTI

Government has come out with a fresh set of do's and don'ts for telecom companies for lawful interception bringing internet telephony VoIP, SMS and MMS under Indian Telegraph Act.

Government has come out with a fresh set of do's and don'ts for telecom companies for lawful interception bringing internet telephony VoIP, SMS and MMS under Indian Telegraph Act.
Requests with overwriting and cutting and the ones received through telephone or fax should not be accepted under any circumstances, according to the circular on mandatory clauses of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for lawful interception and monitoring issued by Department of Telecommunications on January 2.
A senior company officer, who is an Indian citizen and residing in India, should be appointed National Nodal Officer responsible for overall in-charge, coordination and communication and process monitoring across the country.
"The purpose of this Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is to lay minimum required guidelines for lawful interception and monitoring process across all telecom service providers (TSPs) to ensure systematic and tamper-proof monitoring of target numbers and have uniformity on critical issues of interception and monitoring which should be followed scrupulously," the guidelines said.
The requests for interception and monitoring of voice, Short message Service (SMS), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Value Added Service (VAS) including Multi Message Service (MMS), data and voice in 3G/4G/Long Term Evolution (LTE) including video call or Voice Over Internet protocol (VoIP) call can be made under Indian Telegraph Act.
Besides, requests for interception, monitoring and decryption of information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource or any other device, handheld or otherwise, which can transact data or store data on such device can be made under Information Technology Act.
"The Home Secretary of a state has been empowered (to sanction lawful interception). This has to be with a written order," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters here.
The interception request is approved by Home Secretary for government of India and the Secretary of state Home department in case it pertains to state governments' jurisdiction.
In unavoidable circumstances, an officer of the level of Joint Secretary and above, duly authorised by the Union or the state Home Secretaries can also make such orders for interception.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-government-issues-standard-operating-procedures-for-phone-tapping-in-india-1948730

TheHindu:Documents authenticated, verified and stored, all online - The Hindu

Documents authenticated, verified and stored, all online - The Hindu

Colleges in and around the city are increasingly adopting technology to help their students apply to foreign universities without hassles, by enabling online verification of their certificates.

Loyola College, Queen Mary’s College, Amet University and Sathyabama University among others, have tied up with software companies to help students get their documents authenticated, verified and saved online. This not only protects the documents from virtual and physical damage, but also ensures quick verification by banks and colleges, said officials.

Avira Tharakan, CEO of myeasydocs.com, an IIT-Madras incubated company that provides a global document verification system to students and colleges, said students are choosing ways to authenticate their certificates sitting at home instead of running from door to door. 

“For instance, if a student wants to go abroad for higher education, couriering transcripts to the university and asking them to verify them would take at least two months. Now, when students register online and upload their certificates, an account is created for them and the university rejects or approves the verification of certificates. The link of the approved certificates is sent directly to foreign universities,” he said.

The electronic transcript and online verification exchange service was unveiled by former University Grants Commission chairman, Arun Nigavekar, on Thursday.

An official at Bharathiyar University, which adopted the online verification system last year, said the number of fake mark-sheets being submitted by students to get a seat at their university was on the rise.

“This system will ensure that only verified mark-sheets and certificates get through,” he said.

“Also, many universities in India and abroad insist we send them verified certificates of our students who are receiving scholarships. It is a lot of work storing certificates and going through them when needed. Online storage saves time and trouble,” he added.

The idea of storing documents on the cloud and ensuring they are protected was worked out by a team of postgraduate students of IIT-M, after which it was given to myeasydocs. The attempt was to prevent document fraud in a cost-efficient and organised manner, said Shyam Balachandran, assistant professor at IIT-M who guided the research for this initiative.

Keywords: Loyola College, Queen Mary’s College, Amet University, Sathyabama University, online document verification, online document storage, myeasydocs.com

TheHindu:Documents authenticated, verified and stored, all online - The Hindu

Documents authenticated, verified and stored, all online - The Hindu

Colleges in and around the city are increasingly adopting technology to help their students apply to foreign universities without hassles, by enabling online verification of their certificates.

Loyola College, Queen Mary’s College, Amet University and Sathyabama University among others, have tied up with software companies to help students get their documents authenticated, verified and saved online. This not only protects the documents from virtual and physical damage, but also ensures quick verification by banks and colleges, said officials.

Avira Tharakan, CEO of myeasydocs.com, an IIT-Madras incubated company that provides a global document verification system to students and colleges, said students are choosing ways to authenticate their certificates sitting at home instead of running from door to door. 

“For instance, if a student wants to go abroad for higher education, couriering transcripts to the university and asking them to verify them would take at least two months. Now, when students register online and upload their certificates, an account is created for them and the university rejects or approves the verification of certificates. The link of the approved certificates is sent directly to foreign universities,” he said.

The electronic transcript and online verification exchange service was unveiled by former University Grants Commission chairman, Arun Nigavekar, on Thursday.

An official at Bharathiyar University, which adopted the online verification system last year, said the number of fake mark-sheets being submitted by students to get a seat at their university was on the rise.

“This system will ensure that only verified mark-sheets and certificates get through,” he said.

“Also, many universities in India and abroad insist we send them verified certificates of our students who are receiving scholarships. It is a lot of work storing certificates and going through them when needed. Online storage saves time and trouble,” he added.

The idea of storing documents on the cloud and ensuring they are protected was worked out by a team of postgraduate students of IIT-M, after which it was given to myeasydocs. The attempt was to prevent document fraud in a cost-efficient and organised manner, said Shyam Balachandran, assistant professor at IIT-M who guided the research for this initiative.

Keywords: Loyola College, Queen Mary’s College, Amet University, Sathyabama University, online document verification, online document storage, myeasydocs.com

MumbaiMirror: School teacher who lied for maintenance from estranged hubby faces 3 years in jail

School teacher who lied for maintenance from estranged hubby faces 3 years in jail

By Sunil BaghelSunil Baghel, Mumbai Mirror | Jan 5, 2014, 12.19 AM IST

Fraud and justice cannot dwell together, rules the Bandra Family Court while ordering that a complaint be filed against the woman; the husband was paying her Rs 20,000 per month.

A school teacher from Borivali, who lied under oath to receive maintenance from her estranged husband even as their divorce petition was being heard, now faces up to three years in jail for perjury. 

In a rare order that could have a bearing on hundreds of thousands of cases related to marital disputes, the Bandra Family Court judge Subhash Kafre noted that there was enough evidence against the woman to prosecute her, and directed the court's deputy registrar to file a complaint. 

The court directed the court officials to file a complaint under Indian Penal Code sections 177, 181, 182 and 191 read with 193 for concealing her monthly income even as she sought maintenance from her husband. If convicted, she faces a jail term up to three years, besides a fine. 

The woman, 32, and her husband, 31, got married in 2009. Barely 10 months into the marriage, the man issued a divorce notice, and filed a petition in the family court alleging cruelty. He further alleged that his wife would frequently turn "hysterical" and threatened to commit suicide. 

The woman countered that her husband and mother-in-law would torture her, and were maligning her by resorting to such allegations. 

While the divorce petition was pending in the court, the woman filed an application seeking maintenance in the interim period, claiming that she had no source of livelihood except her father's income. 

In her application filed in April 2011, she said, "I have no source of income and have become a burden on my parents. It is embarrassing and a ridiculous situation, as I am being compelled to depend upon my parents for my daily needs even after marriage." 

The family court granted her application about a year later, and directed her estranged husband to pay Rs 20,000 per month right from the date of filing of the application. 

Two moths later, in May 2012, her husband found out that she was employed at the same school where she worked before marriage, following which he filed an application through his lawyer Usha Tanna, seeking review of the maintenance order passed in the woman's favour. 

The review application said, "The husband managed to get an annually published magazine by the said school from one of the students, wherein photographs of respondent (wife) appear in the list of the pre-primary staff of the school." The application sought the wife to produce the documents related to her employment and her bank statement. 

Refusing to submit the documents, the woman said that she was merely a trainee teacher and it was not apermanent job. But the man persisted and filed an application before the court to issue summons to the principal of the school, and to the concerned bank where she held a 'salary account'. Going through the documents, the court came to the conclusion in May last year that the woman lied about her employment, and reduced the maintenance amount from Rs 20,000 per month to Rs 13,000 per month. 

Using this order as a precedent, the husband then filed another application -- in July last year -- seeking action for perjury. 

While granting the application, Judge Kafre observed: "It is a settled principle of law that he who seeks equity, must do equity. Fraud and justice cannot dwell together. A dishonest person cannot be entertained by the court of law." 

The judge also observed that in matrimonial disputes, the court makes every possible attempt to find a solution. "In such circumstances, it is the responsibility of the party to tell the truth to the court, so that the court can go to the root of the matter to solve the dispute. There should not be a game of hide and seek when justice is sought," the court noted while passing an order against the woman.

 

Source: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/School-teacher-who-lied-for-maintenance-from-estranged-hubby-faces-3-years-in-jail/articleshow/28408150.cms

TOI: Desertion is cruelty, ground for divorce: HC

Desertion is cruelty, ground for divorce: HC

 Shibu ThomasTNN | Jan 11, 2014, 02.41 AM IST

MUMBAI: Deserting one's spouse without a valid reason amounts to cruelty and a ground for divorce, the Bombay high court has ruled. More than 20 after a Nagpur resident, Seema Patil, left her matrimonial home, a division bench of Justice B P Dharmadhikari and Justice A S Chandurkar has upheld the family court's order granting divorce to her husband Pradeep Patil, who remarried in 1998.

"From the evidence on record, it is clear that after being married the parties lived together only for 10 months. They have resided separately since then, now almost for 20 years. We have found that the material on record is sufficient to hold the husband entitled for a decree of divorce on the ground of desertion," said the judges while dismissing Seema's plea challenging the family court's 1998 order granting divorce.

The court said that Seema had not given any justifiable reason to leave her matrimonial home. Efforts by the family court marriage counsellor to get the couple, who have a son, to stay together on a trial basis were rejected by Seema. "Why she could not agree to stay jointly on trial basis or required time till her son attained 18 years of age even to think of returning to her matrimonial house or wanted an unreasonably long time to even consider its pros and cons is not clarified. She appears not interested in cohabitation and also in dissolving the marriage. It is obvious that this is nothing but cruelty as also desertion," said the judges. "Even before the family court or then before this court, she never expressed her design to revive the relationship. She is only opposing every move of her husband without any rhyme or reason. Marriage in question has lost its propriety and there is no point in continuing the relationship," added the court.

Seema married Pradeep in December 1992. Within months, according to Pradeep, there were problems as she did not want to stay in a joint family and they moved to an independent house. In 1993, she went to her parent's house for the birth of her son and never returned. Pradeep, in 1994, moved the court for restitution of marriage, but after reconciliation efforts failed, he filed a divorce application. In 1998, the family court granted divorce, which Seema challenged in the HC. She alleged she was subjected to physical abuse at the matrimonial home and driven out of the house as she could not meet her husband's monetary demands. But the HC said Seema could not prove the ill-treatment claims.

(Names changed to protect the couple's identity)

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Desertion-is-cruelty-ground-for-divorce-HC/articleshow/28655733.cms

DNA: Drinking alcohol is not cruelty to wife, rules court

Drinking alcohol is not cruelty to wife, rules court

Saturday, Jan 11, 2014, 8:40 IST | Agency: DNA

 

Couple first met on a matrimonial site and got married in 2005; wife broke up after six months, accusing him of cruelty.

Mira Road resident Kumar Taranand Zha with wife Reena Sharma after their marriage

Falling in love with a woman on a matrimonial site proved costly for Kumar Taranand Zha, a Mira Road resident, after he was accused of cruelty and put behind bars along with his elderly parents.

However, a  Thane court recently acquitted him, holding that his ‘offence’ — consuming alcohol — did not amount to cruelty against his wife.

Zha, 35, a marketing manager with a crockery exporting firm met Reena Sharma, a resident of Ahmedabad, on a matrimonial site and instantly fell head over heels in love with each other. The couple got married on January 17, 2005. However, six months later, the union broke down with Sharma leaving Zha to live with her parents in Ahmedabad. Sharma had claimed that Kumar — who drinks alcohol— failed to mention it on the site. She also accused him of demanding dowry and assault.

On March 25, 2009, Zha, his parents, brother and brother-in-law were arrested by the Mira Road police under section 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 406 (intentional breach of trust) and 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code. They were remanded in police custody for four days.

But, Zha had a reason to smile when he was acquitted of all charges by Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) UB Kalapagar of the Thane Court. Kalapur dismissed Sharma’s allegations as baseless and false. “The court order clearly states that drinking is not cruelty. I earned Rs25,000 at the time and the ground for demanding dowry was not established. She had alleged that I snatched cash from her purse, but the court said that the money was earned by me. The court also observed that my parents were dragged into the case for no reason, said Zha.

“After I was arrested I could not face my parents, leave alone society. I was taunted and called a wife-beater. Even my friends distanced themselves from me. The court order has given me relief and I can now face the world head on,” said Zha.

“I want to forget this incident like it was a nightmare, but it’s a lesson learned. Thousands of husbands are being trapped for many years in such cases,” he said.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-drinking-alcohol-is-not-cruelty-to-wife-rules-court-1948903

India Today: Chennai women more religious so sexual crimes are lower: Babulal Gaur's new gem

Chennai women more religious so sexual crimes are lower: Babulal Gaur's new gem

Anup Dutta  Bhopal, January 11, 2014 | UPDATED 11:05 IST

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Babulal Gaur was in Chennai recently to know about the functioning of Tamil Nadu Police, and when he returned he had a 'valuable piece of information' to share: Women in south India are comparatively less prone to sexual assault because of their religious nature and their urge to wear full clothes.

"The women in Tamil Nadu wear full clothes and hence the crime rate is lower there as compared to other states," he told mediapersons while inaugurating the Ayodhya Nagar police station in Bhopal on Thursday.

Gaur's controversial remarks suggesting a connection between women's dresses and crimes against them came as he talked about his last week's visit to Chennai where he had held meetings with top police officers, including DGP K. Ramanujam and Chennai police commissioner S. George.

The minister said that when he asked the police officers in Chennai about the low crime rate in their state, they attributed it to the sufficient number of police stations per lakh population and to the religious mindset of women.

Last year, while expressing grief over the Delhi gangrape incident, Gaur had commented that short dresses of women had led to the rise in cases of sexual harassment.

Another BJP leader and the then industry minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, while referring to a molestation incident in Guwahati, had said in 2012 that dressing provocatively was the main reason behind such incidents.

"Women should dress in such a way that they invoke respect in others. However, unfortunately, women are dressing provocatively, which is leading to deviation in society," Vijayvargiya had said.
Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mp-minister-babulal-gaur-links-women-attire-to-crimes/1/335615.html

Firstpost: Tejpal, AK Ganguly and us: The vexing issue of consent

Tejpal, AK Ganguly and us: The vexing issue of consent

by Sandip Roy Jan 11, 2014

 

The other day an aunt was sharing a story about a long ago romance – decades before there were mobile phones and Internet chatrooms. A young man fancied a young woman in his neighbourhood. Unsure how to talk to her, he wrote a note and tossed it onto her balcony when she was standing there. She wrote a note back and tossed it down to him. After a couple of such letter exchanges, they decided to meet. The young woman said “OK, so when are you coming with the marriage proposal?” The young man, taken aback, replied “What marriage? I just sent you two letters.” She replied “And I replied. Doesn’t that mean it’s serious?” Eventually they did get married and the story just became part of amusing family lore.
But the point of the story is that consent - as in permission to proceed – is murky business whether it’s on a balcony in Kolkata or an elevator in Goa.
The stories of rape, molestation and sexual harassment have finally brought the issue of consent to our front pages. Even as A K Ganguly, the former Supreme Court judge resigned from the West Bengal Human Rights Commission dogged by charges of sexual harassment, another intern has leveled similar charges against another judge, Swatanter Kumar. It however does not mean it’s made it any easier to figure it out because consent sounds like it should be a Yes/No binary but it’s really a spectrum of nods, winks, smiles, maybes, maybe nots. Rape comes from the Latin word raptus - to seize, abduct or carry off. That's clearly understandable. But consent is far murkier.
In a fine essay about the minefield of consent for Open Magazine, Devika Bakshi explains just how tricky it can get.
Trouble is, our sexual culture revolves around subterfuge, around guesswork and hint-dropping, liberty-taking and going-along. Consensual sex does happen. But consent is for the most part given and taken tacitly, through ‘signals’ or circumstances that may be interpreted as ‘preamble’, willingness or invitation. Many a slip is possible in such a situation: shyness may be taken as coyness, eye contact as flirtation, physical contact as enticement.

Is flirtation a green light for everything else? AFP

If the editor shares a risque joke via BBN Messenger with a young colleague and she sends a wink icon back, is that consent by emoticon? Is flirtation a green light for everything else? Is one bored night’s sexting necessarily a preamble to the real thing? Can consent once given never be taken back?
The fact is we usually cannot ask the question that is actually on our minds – will you have sex with me? So we read between the lines, often selectively filtering content to only see what we are hoping for. And the seemingly simple edict, No means No fails us miserably because we have been culturally taught that No just means Later. So we just “manufacture consent” writes Bakshi interpreting “certain thresholds of comfort as prelude, certain kinds of conversation as foreplay, certain situations as ‘atmosphere’ because it suits us.” (Read Bakshi's entire essay here.)
This might happen in an elevator in an actual act of physicality. Or it might be more innocuously staged in a hotel room where a former Supreme Court judge tries to ply an intern with wine.
What the Tarun Tejpal scandal exposed was something we prefer not to think about. As Ruchir Joshi points out in an insightful essay for The Telegraph :
In our self-nosing, lefty liberal world, the unspoken assumption is that ‘attacking and raping women is what the other guys do’, the zamindar, the cop, the working-class men driven insane by oppressive factors, the lower middle-class daughter-defilers, the power-crazed politician, executive or tycoon, and, not least, the slimy, religious charlatans. We, of the Left-liberal world, are ‘new’ men, each and every Haridaspal of us.
But Joshi points out while many of us feel sanctimonious because we have never “forced” ourselves on someone, “too many of us, far too unthinkingly participate in a milieu where the kind of thing Tarun Tejpal is accused of is all too common.” The great social outrage over Tejpal and the nonstop furore on television shows was also an almost over-eager protestation of innocence on the part of everyone else as if to separate themselves from him, to deny, writes Bakshi “that what he really is is an ordinary man whose garden-variety disregard for consent caused him to take a grave liberty and respond to an accusation of assault with predictable disbelief and defensiveness.”
This spurt of high profile harassment and molestation cases has led to a lot of paranoia these days. Men will now have to police themselves, it is alleged, because every act of flirtation, every stray compliment will become punishable. "I am scared to talk to a woman these days. I don't even want to keep a woman secretary. Who knows, I might end up in jail because of a complaint. No, I am not blaming the girls, I am blaming society," said Farooq Abdullah.
Abdullah was rightfully lambasted. But it is challenging to try and frame the many confusing shades of human interaction inside a far more restrictive, yes-or-no legal framework.
Consent is not a traffic light clearly demarcated in red, amber and green. Nor is it as some have feared a legal document, a sort of contract that must be signed and notarized by both parties, as they proceed from base 1 to base 2 to base 3. And it is mutual. It’s not a one-way street as Bollywood films frequently depict it – women give, men take. Gay relationships also have to navigate the same terrain with even fewer cultural assigned roles of who gives consent and who takes it.
The key writes Bakshi is to understand that consent does not have to be “arranged lopsidedly around unwillingness”, to treat willingess as an active thing instead of something passive. Consent is not about proceed until stopped.
We are not going to get it right. We are human. But if we learn how to ask “Do you want” rather than think “I assume you want this because you didn’t say otherwise” we’d be a going a long way towards understanding the meaning of consent. But for that we’d also have to learn to treat our desires as something other than shameful.

FreePressJournal:‘ Case dismiss’ report by Tukoganj PS invalid

Indore January 11, 2014 03:58:28 AM |
By OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore

‘ Case dismiss’ report by Tukoganj PS invalid: Court Matter of dowry harassment and other crimes The accused was released on bail in 2013 Accused is son of skin specialist Subhash Jain Indore: In a landmark decision, the Chief Judicial Magistrate ( CJM) has declared the ‘ case dismiss’ report, submitted by Tukoganj police regarding FIR lodged against a man for dowry harassment, as invalid, and directed the police to arrest the accused and produce him in the court on January 30. It is noteworthy that the invalid declared police report was submitted when present Additional SP Abid Khan was CSP at Tukoganj police station and he had prepared the “ dismiss report”. According to advocate Jainarayan Tiwari, Chief Judicial Magistrate held invalid the “ case dismiss” report submitted by Tukoganj police regarding accused Abhishek Jain ( 33), who was accused of dowry harassment and other crimes by his wife Manisha in February 2013. The two were married on November 18, 2012. The accused is son of skin specialist doctor Subhash Jain. It is noteworthy that after the complainant lodged an FIR with police in February 2013, the accused was released on bail in March 2013 by court orders. After investigation into the matter, the Tukoganj police had submitted its report mentioning that the case should be dismissed. But recently, the court has observed that the case cannot be dismissed against the accused and further inquiry into the matter should be carried on. The court observed that after looking at the documents and statements the case cannot be dismissed. The court also directed police to arrest the accused and produce in court on January 30. It is noteworthy that complainant Manisha had accused her husband of being impotent and hiding this information from her. She also claimed that his husband’s family, including his father, mother and sister harassed her and forced her to live with them. The complainant has accused them of attempting to convert her to another religion by force while also trying to kill her in various ways. She has accused that she was kept unconscious by medicines and was harassed for dowry by her husband and his family.The complainant demanded action againt her husband and family members while claiming back her possession ( jewellery) from husband’s family. She also demanded for medical test of her husband.

Source : http://freepressjournal.in/case-dismiss-report-by-tukoganj-ps-invalid-court/

TOI : IAS officer complains against IPS husband

IAS officer complains against IPS husband

TNN | Jan 11, 2014, 04.13 AM IST

KOLKATA: IAS Archana Meena, now commissioner of backward classes welfare department, has brought criminal charges against her husband and IPS Rishikesh Meena, sending ripples in the state bureaucracy. Archana went to Hare Street police station on Thursday night and lodged a complaint saying that her husband and in-laws have been tormenting her for dowry.

Sensing the gravity of the complaint, the Hare Street police sent the complaint to the state home department that instructed the detective department, Lalbazar, to initiate an investigation based on the complaint. The IPS

has been accused under sections 498A, 494, 497, and 307 of Indian Penal Code. Considering the predicament of the four-month old daughter, the IPS officer has also been accused under section 34 of IPC and 23 of Juvenile Justice Act.

"We have taken up the investigation and an FIR has been lodged where the letter sent to us by the home department is treated as the letter of complaint," Joint commissioner of police (crime), Pallab Kanti Ghosh, said.

In her complaint, Archana alleged that her husband, his father and his three sisters not only mentally harassed her but even physically tortured her for dowry. "They didn't even spare her four-month-old daughter," she said in her complaint.

Without going into the details of the complaint, Ghosh said: "The police have initiated a case. We will do whatever is needed under law to find out the truth." The police officer parried questions on whether investigators would take the accused in custody for interrogation. "We are examining the complaint right now, and will decide on our course accordingly," Ghosh said.

This is not the first time that Archana has lodged a complaint against her husband and her in laws. In 2006, when Archana was posted as additional district magistrate of Hooghly she had lodged a similar complaint against her husband and in laws. Meena, who was on leave at the time of the complaint, reached for a settlement later and the complaint was withdrawn.

An IAS of 2002 batch, Archana married Rishikesh when she was the district magistrate of East Midnapore in 2005. Rishikesh was at that time posted as additional superintendent of police of the same district. Archana, however, was transferred to Malda as DM following some administrative problem with the WBCS officers working in the district. She also worked as special secretary, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA)Corporation.

Rishikesh, on the other hand, is an IPS officer of 2004 batch and started his career in East Midnapore district as additional SP and consequently he was posted as ADPO, Hooghly, DC, third battalion and DC, wireless. Rishikesh rose to fame when he was posted as SP of Birbhum for his effective handling of Loba movement in the district. He is now posted as special superintendent (intelligence branch).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/IAS-officer-complains-against-IPS-husband/articleshow/28657550.cms

TOI : Kapil Sharma gets show-cause notice from Maharashtra women commission

Kapil Sharma gets show-cause notice from Maharashtra women commission

Mehul S ThakkarMehul S Thakkar,Mumbai Mirror | Jan 11, 2014, 10.03 AM IST

Kapil Sharma's comedy show has not only earned him guffaws but also accolades. Today he is a name to reckon with in the television industry. But, cracking a joke is no joke, there is a constant risk of offending sensibilities.

And if you are on national television, the danger multiplies. Kapil's apparently harmless banter has not gone down too well with certain women's rights activists. An NGO has filed a complaint with the Maharastra State Commission for Women. And the Commission has issued a show cause notice to the channel and the comedian demanding an explanation within a fortnight.

READ: Kapil Sharma's Comedy Nights in trouble

The episode of Comedy Nights with Kapil aired on January 5, had the host speaking about the dismal condition of Indian roads coupled with government apathy. During the act Kapil mentioned in jest that one advantage of having a pothole-riddled road is that travelling on such a stretch can help a poor, pregnant woman pop out the baby. This irked some NGOs who perceived it as disrespect towards women. They also had issues with the way two characters in the show, Dadi and Pinky, are portrayed.

On January 7, Raj Asrondkar, who heads a social movement called Kaydyane Waga, met up with advocate Sushiben Shah, the chairperson of Maharashtra State Women Commission, and filed a complaint. When contacted, Asrondkar confirmed the news, "The comments on potholes are fine but talking about a pregnant woman in the same context is not funny. Also, Dadi is always shown drunk and Pinky is available to anyone."

Shah insisted that they were not against the show but women should be treated with dignity. "Few woman characters on the show are not portrayed correctly. Are Indian woman really like that? A show case notice has been sent to them and we have given them 15 days to reply."

Colors spokesperson denied receiving any such notice and said: "We have not got the notice yet. Hence, we won't be able to comment on the matter as of now."
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/tv/news-interviews/Kapil-Sharma-gets-show-cause-notice-from-Maharashtra-women-commission/articleshow/28668827.cms

TOI: Another law graduate says Supreme Court ex-judge harassed her

Another law graduate says Supreme Court ex-judge harassed her

TNN | Jan 11, 2014, 01.54 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The higher judiciary has been hit by yet another allegation of sexual harassment, with an intern alleging that she was subjected to unwelcome sexual advances by a Supreme Court judge who was serving at the time of the incident in May 2011, and has since been heading an important tribunal.

In her affidavit, which was sent to Chief Justice P Sathasivam days after a three-judge fact-finding committee gave its report on the sexual harassment charges against Justice A K Ganguly, the former intern alleged that the incidents happened at the judge's official residence in May 2011.

The young law graduate, an alumnus of Kolkata-based National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) like the complainant against Justice Ganguly, claimed that she faced the first uncomfortable encounter just a few days into her internship and when she was asked "to assist in the planning of a conference on environment protection that he was involved in organizing".

"I stepped out of the room before him, and as I walked out of the door, the judge placed his hand on my lower back. I felt quite uncomfortable and disturbed, but I brushed it aside," she said.

During the short internship, the judge also allegedly made an uncomfortable proposition to her - "would I be comfortable travelling with him during the internship and staying in hotel rooms".

Her decision to quit internship was dictated by an incident which allegedly took place on May 28, 2011 when she had gone to the judge to apologize for a mistake she had committed in preparing invites for the conference. "When I apologized and explained myself, the judge told me not to worry, and asked me to come over to his side of the desk. When I did, he put his right arm around me and kissed me on my left shoulder. I was quite taken aback and shocked, and I excused myself and hurriedly left his room. This incident of unwelcome physical contact and sexual advances took place in the late afternoon or early evening. Immediately thereafter, I left the office," she said in her complaint.

She also said that she had informed her teacher at NUJS about her ordeal. The teacher has been named in the affidavit by the law graduate who has also annexed correspondence with NUJS' Recruitment and Placement Committee along with the affidavit to prove that she had indeed interned with the former SC judge in question.

The charges are just as serious as the ones which led Justice Sathasivam to set up an internal inquiry in the case of Justice Ganguly, leading to his resignation as chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission. The chairman of the tribunal may, however, be spared from the prospect of a similar investigation because of the decision of the CJI not to consider complaints against former judges on the ground that they were outside the administrative control of the SC.

The intern said she was filing the complaint affidavit taking courage and cue from the SC's prompt response to media reports based on the earlier law intern's blog post leveling charges against Justice Ganguly.

But there is a vital difference between the two complaints. While the incident pertaining to Justice Ganguly allegedly happened on December 24, 2012, more than 10 months after the judge retired from the SC, the incident pertaining to the other allegedly happened on May 28, 2011, when he was still functioning as an SC judge.

She said her internship with the sitting judge (she mentions the name in the affidavit) was to last from May 16 to June 25, 2011, and that she was very pleased when the judge offered her a clerkship with his office and said that he would facilitate her transfer to another sitting judge after his retirement.

However, the intern decided to quit as she felt that it would be unsafe to continue in the then judge's office and informed her parents about the incident. She called the judge on May 29, 2011 and "made up an excuse and told him that I would not be able to continue my internship because of a family emergency".

Like the earlier intern who had leveled allegations against Justice Ganguly, she said she was then a fourth-year student at NUJS and did not have the courage to confront a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

"I was afraid of potential consequences of a complaint against sitting Supreme Court judge, both in my personal life and legal career... I was not sure if I could withstand the public and legal scrutiny that would inevitably follow," she said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Another-law-graduate-says-Supreme-Court-ex-judge-harassed-her/articleshow/28654777.cms

TOI:Woman claims lawyers should have told her divorce would end her marriage

Woman claims lawyers should have told her divorce would end her marriage

Tomas JivandaTomas Jivanda,The Independent | Jan 11, 2014, 11.27 AM IST

LONDON: A British woman attempted to sue her former lawyers for professional negligence, claiming that, alongside a number of other allegations, they failed to advise that finalizing divorce proceedings would inevitably cause her marriage to end.

The curious case — made against two solicitor firms — had already been rejected by the court, but was revealed in the transcript of a later appeal by the claimant against the dismissal of other aspects of her case.

Jane Mulcahy had argued that the lawyers should have made it clear that a divorce would cause her marriage to be terminated — something which she apparently wanted to avoid.

The lawyers failed to regard her Roman Catholic faith and should have recommended judicial separation — a step down from full divorce — as an alternative course of action, she said.

The allegation was revealed in a subsequent appeal court judgment last month, in which Lord Justice Briggs said: "The most striking of Mrs Mulcahy's many allegations of negligence against her solicitors was that, having regard to her Roman Catholic faith, Mrs Boots had failed to give her the advice which was requisite in view of her firmly held belief in the sanctity of marriage...

"...either in terms of the alternative of judicial separation, or about the impossibility of pursuing divorce proceedings to a clean break settlement, without thereby inevitably bringing about the final termination of her marriage, which she wished to avoid."

The appeal was also dismissed.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Woman-claims-lawyers-should-have-told-her-divorce-would-end-her-marriage/articleshow/28670181.cms?intenttarget=no