2 convicted for raping 5-year-old girl in Delhi in 2013

PTI | Jan 18, 2020, 04.08 PM IST

NEW DELHI: A POCSO court convicted two men on Saturday for raping a five-year-old girl in east Delhi in 2013, saying the case had shaken the collective conscience of the society.

Additional sessions judge Naresh Kumar Malhotra convicted Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar in the case, saying that the child experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality.

Shah and Kumar had raped the girl at Gandhi Nagar area and shoved objects in her private parts on April 15, 2013. They had fled after committing the crime and leaving the girl at Shah's room after believing her to be dead. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013.

"Collective conscience of the society shaken. In our society, minor girls are worshipped as goddess," the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court said. "The child, who was just 5 years old, experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality."

The father of the victim expressed satisfaction on finally getting justice for his daughter.

"Though the trial should have been completed in two years, we are happy we got justice after six years," he said.

The court fixed January 30 for arguments on quantum of sentence.

Shah and Kumar were arrested by Delhi police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar respectively in 2013. The charge sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11.

It took more than five years to complete the recording of the statement of 57 prosecution witnesses in the POCSO court.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

After HC order, Delhi Bar Council takes action against Nirbhaya convict's lawyer, issues notice

PTI | Jan 18, 2020, 07.03 PM IST

After HC order, Delhi Bar Council takes action against Nirbhaya convict's lawyer, issues notice

NEW DELHI: The Bar Council of Delhi on Saturday issued notice to advocate AP Singh, appearing for convict Pawan Kumar Gupta in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, after Delhi high court had last month directed it to take action against the lawyer for filing "forged" documents and not appearing for hearing. The bar body issued notice to Singh for February 28 and sought his reply within two weeks.

The Delhi high court had on December 19 last year dismissed the claim of death row convict Pawan that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in December 2012 and had deprecated the conduct of Singh for filing forged documents and not appearing in the court.

The high court had imposed Rs 25,000 as costs on advocate A P Singh, who filed the petition for Pawan.

"Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, in his order dated December 19 last year, referred the matter to Bar Council of Delhi for taking necessary action against AP Singh, who appeared in the matter on behalf of the petitioner, Pawan Kumar Gupta.

"After perusing the order passed by the court, it is unanimously decided to issue notice to A P Singh, advocate for February 28. He is directed to file his reply within two weeks from the date of receipt of the notice," the bar council said.

The high court had asked the Bar Council of Delhi to take action against Singh for filing forged affidavit in the court regarding the convict Pawan's age and added that without applying his mind or deliberately he filed the documents to delay the process.

Pawan has now moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court's order dismissing his claim of juvenility at the time of offence.

The top court will hear matter on January 20.

On December 19, 2019, Singh had appeared in the court at 10:30 am and mentioned the matter for seeking an adjournment on the pretext of filing some additional documents, without informing the other party.

The judge, through his staff, sent several communications via phone, SMS and e-mail to the advocate to appear before the court as the matter was to be taken up again.

However, Singh did not "bother" to come to the court when the matter was again taken up after 2:30 pm or respond to any of the communications, the judge noted in his order.

While dismissing the plea, the high court had observed it seemed that the convict's advocate was not interested in appearing in the court and it "deprecates such a practice".

Irked over the conduct of Singh, the high court had imposed Rs 25,000 as costs on the the counsel for playing "hide and seek".

A Delhi court had on Friday issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts -- Pawan (25), Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) -- in the case.

President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected the mercy petition of Mukesh. The other three condemned convicts have not yet availed of the constitutional remedy of filing the mercy petitions.

The apex court had on January 14 dismissed the curative petitions of Vinay and Mukesh against their conviction and capital punishment.

The two other convicts -- Akshay and Pawan -- have not yet filed curative petitions in the top court.

A 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 in a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before she was thrown out on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012 at a hospital in Singapore.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

Man gets trampled to death by own bull

TNN | Jan 17, 2020, 04.19 AM IST

Krishnagiri: A 40-year-old man died after his own bull stamped him to death during a ‘bull dance’ event near Anchetty in Krishnagiri district on Thursday.

The deceased farmer has been identified as P Murugan, of Vannathipatty village near Anchetty.

On Thursday, he went with his bull to participate in the bull dance.

It is learnt that his bull suddenly ran amok after hearing the beating of drums.

“The bull started running here and there,” said a police official from Anchetty police station.

“When Murugan attempted to bring the bull under his control, it knocked him down. He sustained injuries on the chest when the bull stamped him,” the official added.

Fellow villagers rushed him to the government hospital in Anchetty for treatment.

Doctors who examined him confirmed he was brought dead.

A case was registered by Anchetty police and further inquiry is on.

Nirbhaya case: Prison rule stands in way of quick hanging

TNN | Jan 18, 2020, 04.34 AM IST

NEW DELHI: A proviso in the revised 2018 Delhi Prison Manual now stands between the timely execution of the four Nirbhaya convicts on February 1 and the possibility of a further delay.
Rule 854 of the manual, which governs the administration of prisoners in Delhi’s jails, says that in case of multiple death-row inmates, the sentence will not be executed until the Supreme Court dismisses the appeals of all convicts.

It adds that if the death sentence has been awarded to more than one person in a case and if only one of them moves a mercy plea, the execution of the others, too, has to be postponed till it is decided.

With three of the convicts — Askhay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma — yet to file a mercy plea, the new deadline fixed by a trial court on Friday runs the risk of being reduced to one of “academic” significance.

The AAP government on Wednesday described in Delhi high court the January 22 execution date as academic, citing Delhi Prison Manual that mandates a 14-day window between the rejection of the mercy plea of a death-row convict and the actual hanging.

Delhi government had also expressed apprehensions that the convicts might try to “frustrate” and “defeat” the judicial process by filing a mercy plea before the President one by one, each earning them a 14-day breather even if it was rejected.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal had taken a dim view of the AAP government stand. “Then your rule is bad, if you cannot take action till all the co-convicts have moved a mercy plea. It seems there has been total non-application of mind (while framing the rules). Every mercy plea is on different grounds, you can’t frustrate the judicial finding that has attained finality.”

The court pulled up Delhi government and the prison authorities for creating a system that was “suffering from cancer” and “capable of being exploited” by death-row convicts who wanted to “strategically” delay their execution.

Apprehensions along the same lines were also expressed by Nirbhaya’s parents. “In this country, justice for women seems to be difficult to get,” said the mother.

Nirbhaya case: Tihar rejigs preparations after new death warrants

TNN | Jan 18, 2020, 04.37 AM IST

NEW DELHI: With Mukesh Singh’s plea for a mercy petition getting dismissed by the President, Tihar authorities have started making fresh preparations for hanging the four Nirbhaya convicts on February 1.Their diet will be fixed again to maintain a standard weight parameter required for executing the death penalty, said jail sources.

Sources added that special attention was being paid to maintaining the health of the four convicts ever since Vinay Sharma fell unconscious inside his cell on Wednesday. Sharma has been behaving restlessly and aggressively, and also refuses to eat the food served to him in his cell. All the four convicts would now be kept on suicide watch through the day, said sources.



Jail officers, however, rubbished the rumour about a suicide attempt by Sharma, that was doing the rounds on social media.

The jail staffers and security guards have been asked to carefully monitor the activities of the four men, especially when they are in the bathroom and during night hours. A new set of ropes from Buxar might also be procured days before the hanging. The ones that were to be used on January 22 have already been softened with ripe bananas and soap, and they could decompose till the next date.

Jail sources said that the prisoners would now be allowed to meet their family members and lawyers twice a week. On Friday, Pawan Gupta was allowed to meet his father.

While the curative petitions of two of the convicts are pending with a court, Gupta has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to review the high court order, which earlier dismissed his plea to declare him a juvenile. Gupta, Sharma and Akshay Thakur can still lodge a mercy petition before the President before February 1. Tihar authorities will again issue a notice to the three prisoners giving them an ultimatum to file the mercy plea.

Jail officials added that the cells in which the four men have been moved now are well lit so that their activities can be monitored even at night. Their health would be monitored regularly and they would only be allowed medicines that are prescribed by the jail doctors.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

Seniority issue among SIs: Madras HC upholds state’s decision

TNN | Jan 18, 2020, 04.15 AM IST

CHENNAI: Concluding over a decade-long legal battle between more than 1,300 sub-inspectors (SI) of 1994-95 batch falling under direct recruitment and in-service cadre, in connection with fixation of service seniority, the Madras high court has upheld the decision of the state to place the seniority of 267 in-service candidates above direct recruits, though both were recruited through the same recruitment drive.

“Government thought it fit that those in-service candidates are already aged when compared to the directly recruited candidates and therefore, if they are given preference in fixation of seniority, they could get promotional prospects before their retirement, otherwise they could not. In such view of the matter, we are of the view that the amendments brought to the Special Rules for Tamil Nadu Special Police Subordinate Service is proper and we do not see any reason to interfere with the same,” a division bench of Justices R Subbiah and C Saravanan said.

The issue pertains to a batch of plea moved by 20 sub-inspectors belonging to 1994-95 batch. On January 1, 1994 the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) issued a notification for selection and appointment of 500 SIs through direct recruitment.

Though departmental candidates were also permitted to apply, most of them became ineligible as the cut-off ages was 30 years. Aggrieved, the in-service candidates moved the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal.

Since the tribunal ruled in favour of the departmental candidates, TNSURB earmarked 20% vacancies in the selection for direct recruitment of SIs. Subsequently, the board decided to recruit 1,100 persons as against the proposed 500 posts.

As all the 1,100 candidates cannot be accommodated altogether for training, the recruitment was made in three phases – 500, 600 and 267 (in-service).

After the first batch of 500 were imparted training and absorbed into service, the remaining 600 and 267 were sent for training together. However, as far as, seniority was concerned, in order to give preference to in-service candidates who were appointed against 20% quota, the state fixed them over and above the remaining 600 direct recruits.

Aggrieved, they have approached the court assailing the decision.

Over 9L visitors so far, publishers laugh all the way to the bank

TNN | Jan 19, 2020, 04.03 AM IST

Chennai: Non-fictions, current affairs, children’s books, environment and ecology are some of the titles seeing a lot of demand at the 43rd Chennai Book Fair. As the fair entered the 10th day on Saturday, many publishers and book sellers said sales have exceeded compared to last year.

The Booksellers and Publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI) said 9lakh to 10lakh people have visited the fair so far.

Sahitya Akademi winning novel “Sool” by Cho Dharman is one of the favourites. “So far, we have sold more than 6,000 copies. We expect the number to cross 10,000 before the end of the fair,” said Sadhiq, a publisher of the book. He said the sale of books at his stall almost doubled compared to the previous year.

“Non-fiction books including history, social issues, and current affairs are moving out fast,” said writer and publisher S Ramakrishnan. He said lack of marketing and space for selling books are a major concern for the publishers. “Top institutions Anna University and IIT Madras do not have a separate book store for students who want to study beyond textbooks. The government should consider opening book shops in all districts on the line of Amma canteens and sell books at subsidized rates,” he suggested.

BAPASI president R S Shanmugam said so far, footfalls at the fair has seen an increase of 30% compared to last year and people’s interest in books has increased in the last few years.

However, Parthi Balu of Vasaka Saalai publishing house said greater footfalls may not translate into sale of books.

Manikandan, one of the publishers of children books, said the sale of children’s literature is brisk.