Death sentence of Theni rape, murder convict upheld

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Madurai:14.03.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence by a trial court of a man who raped and murdered a college student and her male friend near Suruli fallls in Theni in 2011 In March 2018, the principal district and sessions judge, Theni, sentenced Diwakar to death after the offences against him were proved.

The verdict was referred before the division bench of Justices R Subbiah and B Pugalendhi and the bench upheld the trial court’s verdict.

Diwakar, now 30, had committed the crime when attempting to rob the couple after confronting them when they were spending time together near the falls, the prosecution held. He had also chopped off the limbs of the woman after raping her.

The woman’s family had filed a missing complaint initially and five days later, both the bodies were found in the forest area. The Rayappanpatti police eventually arrested the accused and substantial circumstantial evidence proved that he had committed the crime.

Diwakar, before the rape and murder, had threatened another couple the same day in the forest region and the man identified the accused after he came to know that a couple had been murdered.

“The brutality of the attack on the young and helpless girl, after raping her, would show the inhuman act of the accused. We are shocked by the savagery of the offence,” the division bench said, adding that the conduct of the accused showed that he is an extremist and would be a menace to society The bench also noted that the accused had criminal antecedents and he once attacked a policeman with a sharp object when police attempted to arrest him for jumping bail in this case.

Holding that the present case came under the rarest of rare category propounded by the Supreme Court, the division bench upheld the trial court’s order.

Diwakar raped and murdered a college student and her male friend near Suruli fallls in Theni in 2011. He had also chopped off the limbs of the woman after raping her

College students protest in Pollachi, Coimbatore

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore/Chennai:14.03.2019

College students from across Coimbatore district on Wednesday continued protests seeking proper investigation into the Pollachi sex scandal.

About 1,000 students from colleges in Pollachi on Wednesday gathered in front of the Pollachi municipality office and staged a road roko. Police dispersed them from the spot.

At least 100 students of the Coimbatore Arts College gathered in front of the college gate and raised slogans demanding that the accused be given the severest of punishment. “All those who were involved in the incident should be found and given the highest penalty, the death sentence. Only then such incidents won’t happen again,” said a protester.

College students in Chennai also staged protests seeking stringent action against the accused in the case. More than 500 students of MGR University in Maduravoyal staged a protest and tried to block the bypass road. But police prevented them from blocking the road. The students raised slogans against the accused. They also demanded that police initiate action against politicians or their relatives who were trying to protect the accused individuals.

More than 200 students of Pachaiyappas College staged a sit-in on the college premises demanding action against the accused. Holding placards, they raised slogans against the accused and sought stringent punishment.

Panel may hold inquiry

Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women Chairperson Kannagi Packianathan said that the commission is an individual body and it would conduct inquiry with the two sons of assembly deputy speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman if needed.

Pollachi sex abuse case goes to CBI

Agency To Probe Assault Case As Well

Julie.Mariappan & Subburaj.A TNN

Chennai/Coimbatore: 14.03.2019

The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday ordered transfer of the Pollachi sexual harassment case and a related assault case from the Crime Branch CID to the CBI. Governor Banwarilal Purohit has accorded consent to the transfer of case.

An order to this effect was issued by the home department based on the recommendation of DGP T K Rajendran. The case was initially registered by Pollachi East police station and it was subsequently taken over by the CBCID.

In a communication to the state government, the DGP said the two cases were transferred to the Crime Branch-CID on March

12. Since the investigation involves technical issues, including analysis of Facebook data, IP logs/addresses, internet usage logs, communication with Facebook service providers and other internet service providers in various countries and since the nature of the crime is extremely serious demanding some specialised attention, the central agency would be best placed to handle it.

The government has decided to accept the proposal of the DGP and transfer the case to CBI for further probe by issuing a notification under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946, said home secretary Niranjan Mardi in his order.

The case came out in the open after a girl student from a Pollachi college complained to the Pollachi East Police Station on February 24 that she was physically and sexually harassed and robbed of her gold chain worth Rs 20,000 by a group of men inside a car. A case was registered under Sections 354 A (Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354 B (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 392 (Punishment for robbery) of the IPC and Section 66-E of the Information Technology Act and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act against the accused, Sabarirajan, Thirunavukkarasu, Sathish and Vasanthakumar. They have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.

On February 26, brother of the victim filed a complaint at the same police station that he was assaulted by Senthil, Babu, Mani and Vasanthakumar. While Senthil, Babu and Vasanthakumar were arrested the same day and remanded in judicial custody, another accused, Nagaraj, was arrested a day later.

Tasmac bar ransacked

A Tasmac bar owned by A Nagaraj, arrested for assaulting the brother of a Pollachi sex scandal victim, was ransacked by a mob at Suleeswaranpatti near Pollachi on Wednesday. A resident of Suleeswaranpatti said, “Nagaraj has escaped by getting conditional bail in the assault case. But, he was involved in the sex scandal. We have a video of Nagaraj sexually abusing a woman. Police is trying to help Nagaraj. He should be arrested immediately for sexual abuse.” TNN

UP IN ARMS: Goverment arts college students demand action in the Pollachi sex abuse case in Coimbatore on Wednesday

HC issues guidelines for transfer of state govt school teachers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

14.03.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has criticized the state school education department for irregular transfers of teachers on administrative grounds and issued a set of guidelines to be adopted by the department for transfer counselling.

The court made the statement after taking note of a submission by the school education department. Of the 1,181 transfers of government school teachers in 2018 on ‘administrative grounds’, several were on the basis of requests made by teachers indicating schools of their choice, the department had said.

Among the new set of guidelines, the court held that teachers who were not given transfer during the general transfer counselling should not be given transfers on administrative ground during the relevant academic year.

According to the detailed guidelines, the applicant must have worked for a minimum of one year in the present school to be eligible for general transfer. However, no such norms were framed for transfers on administrative ground.

The guidelines are in response to a petition which claimed irregularities in the transfer of teachers and sought a probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) into alleged irregularities in transfer and postings. After perusing the submissions made by the petitioner, K K Ramesh, and that of the state, a division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P D Audikesavalu held that though records show irregular transfers made on administrative ground, there are no material before the court to prove the motive or to substantiate the ground taken by the petitioner that such transfers were made for “other reasons” and hence, a DVAC probe cannot be suggested.

“The annual transfers including the vacancies due to promotion/upgrading of schools must only be on the basis of general counselling,” the bench said. It then directed the department to issue the GO for general counselling sufficiently in advance.

The education secretary has been directed to ensure authenticity of the lists of vacancies and of transfers made pursuant to general counselling and to publish the same on the website without delay, the court said. “In order to fill subsequent vacancies, including those due to voluntary retirement, death, resignation, promotion and upgradation of schools, there should be at least two counselling sessions, preferably one in August and another in September, after the general counselling in June,” the court said. It also held that the clause allowing administrative transfer should not be invoked for transfers to fill vacancies as a result of promotions or upgrading of schools.

To fill subsequent vacancies... there should be at least two counselling sessions, preferably in August and in September, after the general counselling in June

Madurai bench

Fares set to fly high as aircraft grounded after Ethiopian crash

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.03.2019

Domestic airfares are set to go up as SpiceJet grounds its B737 Max 8 planes following a DGCA directive after the Ethiopian air crash. Around 14 flights have been cancelled as the aircraft model is being taken off service by Wednesday.

This means that between SpiceJet and Jet Airways, around 50 flights will not be operating. This will lead to capacity reduction on many routes resulting in hike in air fare in the coming weeks, feel airlines and travel agents. The increase in prices will hit families travelling during summer holidays.

SpiceJet in a statement said: “SpiceJet is rationalizing and optimizing the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimize inconvenience to its passengers. We are evaluating options for augmenting capacity through additional flights and aircraft induction. We are sure our operations will be normal soon.”

Complying with the DGCA directive, SpiceJet has grounded its entire B737 Max fleet, while most of the B737 Max 8 aircraft of Jet Airways are grounded because the airline has to pay the lessors.

Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C) Yatra.com said, “At least 50 planes are out of action or grounded on the domestic front due to multiple reasons. That is a significant reduction in domestic airline capacity. The additional capacity coming in is not likely to cover this in the short term, while demand is going to be robust over the next few months because of the school holidays and surging leisure travel. The shortage of planes and high seat occupancies are expected to push airfares north in the short term.” Dhall said airfares were at least15% higher this year when compared to last year. A comparison of fare for March 14 in 2019 and the previous year, shows prices went up from Rs4,655 to Rs8,762 because of capacity reduction on the Chennai-Delhi route. On Mumbai-Chennai route the fare has increased from ₹5,671 to ₹20,329.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO and cofounder, ixigo, said: “Post the DGCA announcement, 34 international flights to Mumbai and 12 flights bound for Delhi were cancelled. Grounding of additional planes will further impact fares which were already high this season.” He said a majority of affected passengers have been accommodated by SpiceJet on alternate flights. “Additionally, the airline is also offering passengers the option of a refund, change of flight or date or destination (to nearest alternate airport), without any cancellation charges or fare difference.”

‘Form committee to monitor govt docs’ attendance’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.03.2019

The Madras high court has directed the government to constitute a monitoring committee to supervise the attendance and assess the performance of government doctors and maintenance of government medical hospitals across the state.

Justice SM Subramaniam has also directed the government to recover adequate compensation from government doctors who violate terms of service, including the lock-in periods, after completing postgraduation under government quota.

The judge passed the order while dismissing a plea moved by Dr Silamban, a government doctor, who had been absenting from service for the past seven-and-a-halfyears without authorization. The petitioner who joined the service through TNPSC in 1993, later completed his diploma in anaesthesiology as a service candidate with stipend.

“Government doctors are gaining rich experiences at the cost of public money and even through public themselves, who all are attending government hospitals. Poor men are being used as guinea pig for learning. Poor man’s body is dissected and provided for learning. Government resources and life of poor men are at the mercy of government doctors. If no adequate measures are taken to monitor the quality of treatment and performances undertaken, the state is failing in its duty to uphold the right to life ensured to the citizen under the Constitution,” Justice Subramaniam said.

Apart from corrupt practices at government hospitals, it is painful to pen down that doctors themselves are irregular in attending duty, resulting in death of patients, who all are not in a position to afford quality treatment from corporate hospitals, the judge added.

Noting that the situation results in denial of social justice and equal treatment, the court said, economic condition of a citizen cannot be a ground for denial of quality treatment. Thus, the government is duty-bound to ensure cleanliness, availability of doctors, including speciality treatment, paramedical staff, supporting staff, which all are imminent and a constitutional mandate.

Adding that frequent complaints are noticed across the state that government doctors are developing their private practice by neglecting public duty, Justice Subramaniam said, “It is a misconduct both under the service rules as well as MCI regulations. Thus, adequate steps are highly warranted.”

The court asked the government to recover adequate compensation from those who violate service terms

Supreme Court urges BCI to reconsider rule mandating age limit for law courses

Aditya AK March 12 2019  

The Supreme Court today passed an order asking the Bar Council of India (BCI) to reconsider its rule mandating an upper age limit for admission to law courses.

After hearing the matter today, the Bench of Justices SA Bobde and Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed that there is no age to acquire education. Justice Kaul observed that since children from economically weaker sections of society may not have a linear education, they would be disadvantaged by the age limit rule.

The order passed by the Bench urges the BCI to reconsider Clause 28 of the Rules on Standards of Legal Education.

“We consider it appropriate in the interest of justice to permit the Bar Council of India to reconsider the age limit after hearing the various stakeholders, including the petitioner.”

The direction was made in a petition filed in 2016 by two aspiring law students, Rishabh Duggal and Rishabh Arora. They had challenged the BCI’s age limit rule as being unconstitutional and ultra vires various provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961.

In 2008, the BCI had introduced the Rules on Standards of Legal Education framed under the Advocates Act of 1961. Clause 28 in the Schedule III of the Rules sought to impose an age cap for prospective law students. The maximum age limit for joining the Bachelor’s law course was set at twenty years for general category students and twenty-two for SC/ST/OBC students. Similarly, for the post-graduate course, the limit was thirty years for general category and thirty-five for reserved categories.

After a slew of petitions in different high courts challenging Clause 28, the BCI formed a one-man committee of advocate S Prabhakaran to peruse the validity of the provision. The same committee found that the clause fell afoul of Article 14 of the Constitution and recommended its deletion. Subsequently, the BCI passed a notification on September 28, 2013, withdrawing Clause 28.

This matter was then exhumed by B Ashok, an advocate of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. In his writ petition, he prayed that the BCI notification withdrawing Clause 28 be quashed as it was in contravention of the amendment procedure under the Advocates Act. A Division Bench of the High Court allowed the petition.

The BCI then challenged the decision before the Supreme Court of India; however, a Bench of JS Khehar and Rohinton Fali Nariman JJ. upheld the Madras High Court verdict in December 2015. In effect, the clause stood valid.

Subsequently, the High Courts of Bombay and Punjab & Haryana had struck down the rule, citing the legislative incompetence of the BCI to introduce such a rule.

Despite this, the rule still stood. However, as the petition notes, several high courts have allowed petitioners who had crossed the age limit to appear for entrance exams including the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

Attempts have been made in previous editions of CLAT – for instance, the 2017 edition – to impose the age limit prescribed by Clause 28.

In March 2017, while hearing this petition, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of Clause 28.

And now, the Supreme Court has directed the BCI to reconsider the rule.

Advocate Zoheb Hossain appeared for the petitioners.

The matter is listed for the first week of April.