In a case involving sexual assault against two kindergarten girl students at a school in Badlapur, the Bombay HC chastened the police authorities for the delay in registering the FIR and victim statement of one of the girls.  It also pulled up the school authorities for not reporting the case to the police and asked whether the police had registered a case against the school under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. When Advocate General Birendra Saraf told the court that action against the school will be taken now, the court retorted that it should have been done at the earliest and ordered the police to take action against the school authorities, Bar and Bench reported. The bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan also questioned the police for not naming the second child victim in the FIR and sought explanation for the same.

The court made these queries and remarks while hearing the suo moto case [High Court on its own motion v. State of Maharashtra] on August 22, 2024 concerning the lapses in police investigation in the case of sexual abuse of two 4-year-old girls at a school in Thane’s Badlapur.

The bench was reported saying that “These girls have complained but several cases go unreported. It needs huge amount of courage to speak about all this. Definitely the Police hasn’t played its role the way it ought to be. Had the police be sensitised, this wouldn’t have happened.” The court further conveyed its displeasure and said “We are appalled by the fact that the Badlapur Police has taken no efforts to record the statement of the second victim girl with either under Section 161 and 164.”

Notably, the Press Trust of India reported that thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at Badlapur station and stormed the school building on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) after the case came to the limelight. The accused has been identified as a school sweeper and had reportedly assaulted the girls in the school washroom. The police informed the court that they have formed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the case and have arrested the accused Akshay Shinde on August 17, following the complaint reported by the parents of the victim on August 16. The state also told the Court that statements of the girls have been recorded and their medical examination has also been conducted. The bench said that counselling of the girls needs to be undertaken, asked the state to inform in that regard.

Notably, it is alleged that the parents of the victim girls were made to wait for 11 hours at Badlapur police station before the officials took note of taking their complaints. On this issue the bench said that “The first thing in such cases of minors is police must have registered FIR. But they made the family wait for hours. This discourages the public from reporting such incidents.”

Criticising the Maharashtra Police, the High Court said “People shouldn’t lose faith in public. You should know what the motto of the Maharashtra Police is सद्रक्षणाय खलनिग्रहणाय (Sadarakshanaya Khalanigrahanay). It means to protect the good and restrain the wicked. Please be reminded of this…People should not come out on the streets like this for getting an FIR lodged.”

In a separate matter in which a minor girl was raped and who’s four and half month-old foetus was clandestinely aborted by a private hospital in Mumbai, another bench of Bombay HC rebuked the Maharashtra Police for deficiencies in the investigation. Importantly, the hospital had destroyed all the evidence regarding the abortion and had discarded the foetus.

Taking cue from the Badlapur case, the bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Neela Gokhale took a shot at the police and said “Every day, we come across at least four cases of serious crimes against women which aren’t probed properly… This is pathetic… Don’t you have specialised officers or women officers? Why to let only constables and head constables probe the cases. Why isn’t the Police sensitive in such cases?”

Justice Gadkari said, “Unless people protest your department won’t investigate? Is the State of Maharashtra trying to give us a signal that unless people protest it won’t take crimes against women seriously? Every day we are hearing of some or the other rape or a POCSO case”, LiveLaw reported.

The bench also questioned DCP Chowgule-Shringi and asked how come the police was not aware of the fact that a ‘hasty’ abortion carried out on the victim, who happened to be minor at the time of the incident. When the officer told the court that statement of the victim has been recorded by the police under Section 164, the bench replied that “But how will you prove the fact that the accused impregnated the victim? What if the court says the 164 statements are not inspiring confidence? Where does the case go then? Will this not help the accused? Is the police now helping the accused to save him from the clutches of law? How can the hospital destroy such vital piece of evidence?”

It further said “Had we not taken judicial note, this couldn’t have come to light. Shouldn’t we record that all this is being done only to assist the accused in a POCSO case. How can the hospital carry out termination of a 4 and a half months foetus by consent of the minor girl, who lodged Rape case against accused…And worst is how can the hospital not maintain the evidence and go ahead and discard the entire evidence despite our clear orders that whenever the pregnancy of a rape victim is aborted, the tissue needs to be preserved for the purpose of DNA Sampling”.

The court ordered the DCP to file an affidavit detailing the investigation plan of the police and asked what action it proposes to take against the hospital, which destroyed the evidence. Moreover, it also directed the police authorities to verify whether the applicant Tarun Singh obtained the consent for the abortion either fraudulently or by force from the victim and her family.

The bench further expressed its concern over the manner in which investigations are being carried out by the police in cases related to women and children, despite repeated court orders flagging poor investigations in such cases. The judges said that if the state of Maharashtra is unable to pursue proper investigation in these matters, it should make a public declaration that it will not henceforth probe such serious cases.

Related:

Supreme Court stands firm on POCSO cases, overturns high court decision | CJP

Accused under POSCO granted bail on condition of marriage to victim: Allahabad HC | SabrangIndia

1.9 lakh POCSO cases pending in Fast Track Courts: Ministry of Women and Child Development | SabrangIndia

The post Bombay HC chastens Maharashtra Police for shoddy investigation in cases involving sexual assault against minors and women appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On Tuesday, August 20, the entire town of Badlapur, Mahaarshtra was effectively shut down as thousands of demonstrators gathered to express their anger. Protesters blocked railway tracks at the local station and stormed the school building where the alleged sexual abuse had occurred. The accused, a 23-year-old sweeper, reportedly sexually assaulted the young girls in the school’s washroom, sparking deep concern and fury among residents. Notably, the accused, Akshay Shinde, had been appointed on by the school on August 1, 2024 on contractual basis.

This protest in Badlapur comes amid ongoing nationwide demonstrations sparked by the tragic rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9, 2024. (Details can be read here) The young doctor was attacked while on night duty, a crime that has shocked the nation and led to widespread calls for justice. As these protests in Kolkata continue, more cases of sexual violence against women and children, particularly minors, Dalits, and Adivasis, have emerged, intensifying public outrage. (Details can be read here)  The incident in Maharashtra has particularly struck a nerve, as it took place in a school—a place expected to safeguard children’s welfare.

The protest in Badlapur began early in the morning and saw significant participation, including many women. Demonstrators blocked train services between Ambernath and Karjat stations from 10:10 am, demanding swift and severe action against the perpetrator, as well as the introduction of stricter laws in the state to prevent such heinous acts. The protest had already disrupted local services, leading to the diversion of 12 mail express trains and the partial cancellation of 30 local trains. Reports indicated that some protesters resorted to stone-pelting and vandalized the school building where the alleged sexual assault occurred. However, tensions escalated when the Maharashtra police attempted to disperse the crowd around 6 pm, using lathi charges to clear the railway tracks.

In response to the outpouring of people’s anger, the police filed reverse FIRs against the demonstrators, registering complaints against 300 individuals and arresting more than 40 for stone-pelting, disrupting train services, and clashing with police. The arrested individuals are scheduled to appear in court on August 21, 2024.

How did the protest start?

The sexual assault came to light when one of the young victims complained of pain in her private parts. When asked by her parents, she revealed that the accused had inappropriately touched her while she was in the school toilet. Concerned, the parents contacted the family of the girl’s friend, who informed them that their daughter was also fearful of going to school. Both girls were then taken to a local doctor, who confirmed that they had been sexually assaulted.

On Tuesday morning, the parents of the victims staged a silent protest outside the school. At the protest, people were standing with banners demanding for death penalty for the accused. One banner read, “Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana. Nahi pahije amhala tumche 1,500 rupaye. Amhala amchi Bahin, aayi, Mulgi surakshit pahije. Yanchi hami dya. Ya Naradhamala fashichi shiksha jhali pahije. (Chief Minister Ladki Bahin Yojana. We don’t need your Rs 1,500. We want our sisters, mothers and daughters to be safe. Give an assurance of this and that the culprit will be published with death penalty).”

However, between 9:30 am and 10:00 am, a large crowd suddenly joined the protest, escalating the situation due to the insufficient police presence. According to a report from Hindustan Times, MNS leader Sangita Chedvankar, who had been leading the protest, quickly left the scene, while Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Kisan Kathore allegedly remained passive as the situation spiralled out of control. The situation further intensified when the protesters vandalized the school where the alleged assault took place and clashed with police at the nearby railway station.

The eruption of the protests

As per multiple media reports, the protest in Badlapur turned violent as agitators vandalised the school where the alleged sexual assault occurred and pelted stones at the Badlapur railway station. Some protesters broke into the school, damaging property by smashing windows, benches, and doors. Videos of the same had gone viral on social media.

Protesters, including many women, blocked railway tracks, leading to the suspension of local train services between Ambernath and Karjat stations around 10:10 am. The disruption caused by the rail roko protest at Badlapur station led to the diversion of 12 long-distance trains to alternate routes, while authorities arranged buses for stranded commuters. Additionally, 30 suburban trains were partially cancelled, and the Railways sought assistance from state and civic transport bodies to provide extra buses. In response to the escalating situation, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) deployed additional personnel at stations along the Kalyan-Karjat section of Central Railway.

Reports suggest that the situation at the protest site soon started deteriorating, with the protestors pelting stones at the police and refusing to vacating the Railway tracks. Reportedly, at least 17 city police officers and eight railway personnel were injured during the protest, according to The Tribune.

As the situation deteriorated, Thane police officials fired warning shots into the air and used tear gas to disperse the large crowd gathered outside the school in Badlapur. In some areas, there were also reports of a lathi charge by the police on protesters. Authorities have arrested many in connection with the violence.

Action undertaken by Maharashtra police to deal with protests, against protestors:

In response to the protests, the Thane police had deployed heavy forces at the protest sites. Meanwhile, Government Railway Police (GRP) Commissioner Ravindra Shisve had made failed attempts to calm the crowd by assuring them that strict action would be taken against the accused. Despite these assurances, the protesters remained resolute, continuing their blockade of the rail lines, which brought Mumbai’s local train services on the Central Line to a standstill for 10 hours.

In response to the unrest, internet services in Badlapur were shut down, and shops were also ordered to shut down, as provided by PTI.

As tensions rose, the police fired tear gas and resorted to a lathi charge on the crowd gathered outside the school and at the railway station. This action further inflamed the situation, leading the protesters to retaliate with stone-pelting. After 10 hours of disruption, train services resumed late at night, following the dispersal of protesters by the police. GRP Commissioner Ravindra Shisve informed the media that the tracks had been cleared and a report would be sent to railway operations to facilitate the resumption of services.

After the crowds were dispersed by force by the police, DCP Manoj Patil of the Railway Police had stated that the situation had stabilized and that railway operations had returned to normal. However, internet services would remain suspended for a few days to prevent the spread of rumors. DCP Sudhakar Pathare confirmed that internet services would be restored once the situation was reassessed. Most schools in the town were closed on August 21, according to local reports.

Statement by the police officials on FIRs against protestors and internet shutdown:

Referring to the diversion and cancellation of trains due to the protests, the Central Railway’s Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) issued a statement saying that, “So far, approximately 12 mail express trains have been diverted, and the Koyna Express has been rerouted from near Badlapur back to Kalyan, then towards Karjat via Diva and Panvel. About 30 local trains have been partially cancelled between Ambernath and Karjat-Khopoli. The number is expected to increase significantly during peak hours.”

A senior police official in Badlapur reported that “at least 17 city police personnel, including two officers, were injured when an angry mob attacked them with stones during Tuesday’s protest over the sexual abuse of two young girls.”

The official added that three FIRs have been registered against the miscreants for violating prohibitory orders, armed unlawful assembly, assault, and damage to public property, among other charges. The injured police personnel are receiving treatment at various local hospitals.

The official also confirmed that “a total of 40 individuals have been arrested so far in connection with the stone-pelting and other crimes. Efforts are underway to identify additional offenders by examining CCTV footage and video news clips.”

On August 21, DCP Sudhakar Pathare spoke to the media and stated that internet services in the town were suspended following the protest and subsequent violence. He added, “Internet services will be restored after a review of the situation in the town.”

Related:

India’s cry for justice: The brutal Kolkata rape-murder of a young doctor has ignited nationwide protests on the eve of the 78th Independence’s Day

The illusion of the glamourous Malayalam cinema falls apart: Justice Hema Committee report provides insight into systematic harassment and exploitation of women actors

Caste and Indifference: Two separate incidents of rape against minor Dalit girls in UP and Bihar receive no media coverage, protest or outrage

The post Maharashtra: Swift action on protesters, delayed justice for sexual assault against minors, police priorities need to be questioned appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As per a report in the LiveLaw, Judge Santhosh Gajanana Bhat pronounced the said bail order in the evening of May 13 after having heard senior advocate CV Nagesh, appearing for Revanna, and additional special public prosecutors (SPPs) Jayana Kothari and Ashok N Nayak appearing for the special investigation team. While grant of bail, Judge Bhat imposed conditions that require the accused to furnish a bond for Rs 5 lakh, along with two sureties. In addition to this, HD Revanna has been barred from leaving the country, entering KR Nagar in Mysuru district, and interacting with the witnesses. He has also been asked to cooperate with the SIT investigation. 

Brief background:

As per a report of the Indian Express, electronic devices like pen drives and CDs had emerged in the public domain on April 21, ahead of the April 26 Hassan parliament poll, which had suggested that Prajwal Revanna, son of HD Revanna, had allegedly carried out sexual assaults on several women in Hassan and recorded the attacks on his phone camera. It is to be noted that as many as 2,900 files with videos and images of the sexual encounters of the MP were found in the pen drives that were leaked. A helpline had also been set up by the SIT to report incidents of attack by the MP.

The case against HD Revanna:

On May 4, HD Revanna was arrested by the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Karnataka government after a kidnapping case of a woman, believed to be one of the survivors of the sexual violence scandal involving his son, was registered against HD Revanna at KR Nagar police station in Bengaluru. This came after the anticipatory bail plea filed by HD Revanna was rejected in the kidnapping case. The said SIT is probing the alleged sexual abuse case filed against HD Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna. Prajwal Revanna, who is yet to be arrested, has been absconding since April 27. Prajwal Revanna, the incumbent MP, is seeking another term from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency and is an ally of the BJP party.

It is to be noted that HD Revanna had been arrested on the charge that he, along with others, abducted a rape survivor/victim from her KR Nagar home in Mysuru district. The SIT is also probing him for charges of sexual harassment of a domestic help.

Arguments raised during petition hearing:

Arguments raised by the petitioners: On May 9, while the bail petition filed by HD Revanna was being argued, counsel CV Nagesh had alleged that the case against the MLA was not maintainable under the law as there was no mention of evidence against him in the petition filed by the SIT.

“The only argument of the prosecution is that I have not cooperated but they have not found a speck of evidence against me.”

As per the report of Indian Express, the senior counsel had further claimed that “there is neither kidnapping nor abduction” involved in the case. He pointed to the court that the victim was not attacked in the period between April 29 and May 5 when she was reported to have been abducted. The defence counsel had sought a copy of the voluntary statement recorded by the woman before a magistrate on the sexual assault on her. The SIT had told the court that a statement had been recorded.

“There was no allegation of the survivor being forced or trapped. There was no demand. HD Revanna is a politician and there are political reasons behind his arrest. The incident took place on April 29 and the FIR was filed on May 2. There was no kidnap or illegal detention. The survivor was a maid at HD Revanna’s residence and the kidnap charges don’t apply.”

Mr Nagesh had lastly stated that HD Revanna had been arrested unnecessarily as he could have been released after questioning and called back for interrogation whenever needed.

Arguments by the SIT: SPP Jayna Kothari told the special court that the woman, who was allegedly kidnapped on the instructions of H D Revanna, was a victim of sexual assault by Prajwal Revanna. The said woman had worked for six years at the home of the accused and was forcibly taken away on April 29 from her home by the MLA’s associates on the orders of the MLA, the SPP had argued as per a report of Indian Express. She had provided that the victim was later found on May 5 by the SIT at a farm that was 40 km from her residence which belonged to an associate of the Holenarasipura MLA HD Revanna.

Kothari had urged for the rejection of the bail plea by pointing to the court that such leniency in a kidnapping case would send a wrong signal to the victims of sexual harassment by Prajwal. Kothari had said that the offense of kidnapping, dealt under Section 364 A of the Indian Penal Code, alleged against HD Revanna itself prescribes serious punishment of death or life imprisonment. The SPP argued that the case involved the abduction of the woman and holding her under threat to her life as expressed by the woman in her statement to police after her rescue.

Kothari further highlighted that the effort to kidnap was done to obstruct the course of justice and tamper with evidence. Kothari had also emphasised upon HD Revanna’s influence and had alleged that giving bail to him would lead to a “danger of justice being thwarted”.

“The kidnapping is an offence that is in continuation of other crimes.”

“The son has absconded and are we in any doubt that the petitioner will not abscond?”

The grant of bail:

As The Special court in Bengaluru granted bail to leader H D Revanna accused of kidnapping a woman by stating the following:

“Bail Application filed by the the petitioner under Sec.439 of Cr.P.C., in Cr.No.149/2024 registered by the respondent Police station for the offences punishable under Sec.364-A, 365 read with Sec.34 of IPC pending on the file of the learned XLII ACMM Court at Bengaluru is hereby allowed and the petitioner is hereby admitted to bail on executing a personal bond for Rs.5,00,000/- with two sureties to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court.”

As per LiveLaw, the following court has imposed the following conditions on HD Revanna:

1. a) The petitioner shall not threaten and tamper the prosecution witnesses or the complainant and victim.
2. b) The petitioner shall not evade the Investigation and shall appear before the I.O. whenever called by him for the purpose of investigation.
3. c) The petitioner shall furnish his passport to the Court and shall not leave the State Court without obtaining written permission from the Court.
4. d) The petitioner shall not enter upon K.R.Nagar Taluk or the permanent place of residence of the victim directly or indirectly till further orders.
5. e) The petitioner shall appear before the I.O. on every second Sunday of the month and mark his attendance between 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. for a period of 6 months or till the filing of charge sheet, whichever is earlier.
6. f) The petitioner shall not indulge in similar offence. Office is directed to return the CD files to the prosecution

Related:

Jammu & Kashmir HC: Fahad Shah granted bail after spending 21 months in jail

Witness say police misquoted them as Muslim teenager whose home was demolished by authorities released on bail

Unjust detention: Gautam Navlakha’s bail victory highlights insufficient evidence

Sexual harassment, stalking and molestation accused Brij Bhushan granted two day interim bail by Delhi Court

The post JD(S) leader HD Revanna, accused of allegedly kidnapping a survivor of sexual assault by son Prajwal Revanna, granted bail appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The incident took place on May 4, 2023, and involved women being paraded naked, sexually assaulted and gang-raped by a mob in Manipur. The video of this incident surfaced on social media on May 19. 

On July 20, it was reported that the NCW had been sent a complaint on the matter on June 12, but the complainants never received a response or an acknowledgement. As per media reports, the complaint had been filed by two Manipuri women and a Manipur tribal association headquartered abroad. Reportedly, the complainants had spoken to the survivors and then emailed NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.

Notably, after the video of the heinous crime had gone viral and invited outrage from across the country, the NCW had tweeted stating that it is taking suo moto cognizance of the matter and that the DGP Manipur has been asked to promptly take appropriate action.

What did the letter entail?

The letter made an urgent appeal to the NCW to “urgently assess the disproportionate victimization of Kuki-Zomi indigenous tribal women through brutal and inhumane acts of sexual violence, including rape, kidnapping, public lynching, immolation and murder”. 

“Witness accounts reveal the most harrowing and distressing details, including the incrimination of Meitei women vigilantes as enablers and perpetrators of gender-based violence. Victims and survivors allege that Meitei women vigilantes have actively participated in the attacks and assaults on Kuki-Zomi women and children,” the complaint alleged.

“Several Kuki-Zomi women have been forced to flee for their lives during advanced stages of pregnancy or while recuperating from C-section surgeries. Some have given birth in ad hoc refugee camps…” it added.

Newslaundry reported that the complaint alleged that a 15-year-old girl had been kidnapped and a medical examination report “confirmed assault and rape”.

The complaint said these examples underlined the “serious gravity of gender-based violence, appalling levels of women’s’ rights violations, and continued threats to the physical safety and psychological well-being of Kuki-Zomi women”.

Response of the NCW to the reports

Defending the ‘inaction’ of the NCW, Rekha Sharma said that it had approached the Manipur government thrice after receiving the complaint on June 12.

“There were many complaints and that too from people outside India and outside Manipur,” NCW chief Rekha Sharma said. She further said: “Firstly, it had to be clarified whether whatever was written is true. Manipur government must clarify and if it is true then they must work on it. So, accordingly, we wrote to them. We reached out to authorities but no response was received from them but then we took suo moto cognizance when the video (of women being paraded naked) went viral.” 

The joint letter is as follows:

JOINT LETTER TO NCW BY NATIONAL WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS

                                                                                                                                                                                            Date: 22 July 2023

To

Ms. Rekha Sharma,

Chairperson,

National Commission for Women

Dear Ms. Rekha Sharma,

We, the undersigned women’s organizations, are deeply shocked and appalled to learn that a complaint had been made to the NCW on 12 June 2023, regarding the heinous incident in Manipur of three women being publicly stripped and raped by a mob and that the NCW far from responding to the call of distress and taking immediate action, wrote letters to the Manipur government and kept waiting for a response. Hence, the NCW remained entirely inactive for more than a month. It is reported that there are other cases of sexual violence in Manipur. Only a couple of days back when a video clip of the brutal torture became public and there was widespread outrage all over the country, did the NCW wake from its sleep and take ‘suo moto cognizance’ of the crime. 

It is disturbing that no action was taken, except for the filing of a more a mere zero FIR in the incident that had happened on May 4, right after the ethnic violence began on 3 May 2023. This made the police apathy with the victims and collusion with the perpetrators of the crime abundantly clear. 

And the deafening silence of the CM and PM was highly condemnable. You are aware that the incidents of violence against women in the country have been on the rise. Did you not realize that women have become the direct victims of the ongoing ethnic violence in the state? 

We are strongly of the opinion that the NCW has betrayed its mandate and deliberately sought to cover up this incident. At the very least this is evidence of gross negligence on the part of a respected public institution like NCW which has the obligatory duty of protecting women in the country and upholding their rights irrespective of class, caste, religion, language, or ethnic origin. 

Our organizations have given leadership in the struggle to bring into existence a National Commission for Women which would maintain its autonomy and dignity in serving its high purpose and not act as an arm of the ruling party. We have often raised our voices to ensure that NCW does not falter from its lofty objective. NCW has a history of proactive interventions in the myriad issues concerning women. But under your stewardship, we have seen this institution degenerating into partisanship with the ruling dispensation. Your claims of having communicated to the officials in Manipur are too little too late.  Never have we seen the institution so shamefully undermining its own mandate. We feel the NCW – in deliberately ignoring and suppressing this atrocious attack upon two tribal women – has misused its office, besmirched its own position, and betrayed the trust the women’s movement in the country had reposed upon it. As chairperson of NCW, we hold you responsible for this shameful situation and we demand that you should forthwith submit your resignation from the post which you have proved yourself unworthy of.

ALL INDIA DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (AIDWA)–Mariam Dhawale 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDIAN WOMEN (NFIW) – Annie Raja 

ALL INDIA PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (AIPWA) – Meena Tiwari 

ALL INDIA COORDINATION OF POW PMS IJM – G. Jhansi, Poonam Kaushik 

ALL INDIA MAHILA SANSKRITIK SANGHATAN (AIMSS) – Chhabi Mohanty 

ALL INDIA AGRAGAMI MAHILA SAMITI (AIAMS) – Fatima Khatoon 

Related:

Words of anguish resonate all-India, streets protests spill over, raising cries for justice: Manipur

Manipur Violence: Supreme Court warns union and state government to take action, or they will

Manipur Violence: Video showing 2 Kuki women being paraded naked opens the eyes of the government, PM Modi and Irani make first statements

“246 churches burnt in 2 day, somebody strong is playing games in Manipur”: Father Jacob G Palackappilly

Manipur violence: EU Parliament “denounces the nationalistic rhetoric deployed by leading members of the BJP party”

Manipur violence: SC provides interim protection in sedition case against lawyer who accompanied fact-finding team

Manipur Violence: SC bench seeks updated status report from State on rehabilitation, law & order situation

One in Manipur, another in Kashmir: Veterans slam two faces of Indian Army

Manipur is Burning but who cares?

Bishops of India must protest & speak out for peace, against injustices in Manipur & India: Jesuit priest

Denial of internet an assault on fundamental freedoms – a deep dive into Manipur’s incessant internet ban

Manipur women stage protest at Jantar Mantar to end violence in state

The Invisible Split: A report documenting reports of “ethnic cleansing” in Manipur, 2023

120 Churches destroyed, Christians insecure: Manipur

No Compensation Enough for Traumatised Kukis Fleeing Manipu

The post National women’s organisation sends joint letter to the NCW condemning their inaction over sexual violence complaint appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The case sent shock waves down the Indian Catholic Church and its aftermath has left fissures and with it, a deep questioning. Known by some as the Kuravilangad Case, it is more familiarly associated with the nomenclature, ‘(Bishop) Franco Mulakkal rape case’, as the former was accused and charged with the sexual assault of a nun, also the Mother General of the Missionaries of Jesus is a Diocesan Congregation. The Bishop (in question) is the supreme authority and patron of the Congregation and had full hierarchical authority over the Survivor. After a five year saga of uncertainty and trauma for the Survivor who first brought this to the notice to the church superiors in July 2017, a lower court in Kerala, Additional Sessions Judge G Gopakumar, acquitted the accused on January 14, 2022. The appeal now lies in the Kerala high court.

In short, a survivor nun belonging to the Missionary of MJ (Missionaries of Jesus) had accused her superior, Bishop Franco Mulakkal, of sexually assaulting her thirteen times between 2014 and 2016. The uproar caused by the case had led to the Boshop being suspended by the Vatican in September 2018.

What has also emerged from within the Church and Indian Catholic community, since July 11, 2017 when she first brought the series of sexual assaults to notice within her church by writing to Cardinal Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, is a small and tightly knit group of Survivor Supporters, from within the religious and laity that has made bold to look power brokers in the eye and stand by the Survivor.

On September 26, in continuance of this gritty battle from within, the ‘Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace’ held its XVII National Convention at the Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana released a 56-page booklet, The Kuravilangad Case – A Critical Study. With detailed legal analyses and comments by advocates and feminist activists, Flavia Agnes and Rebecca Mammen, and also advocate and editor, LiveLaw, Manu Sebastian, the very publication of this case-study has raised the hackles within sections of the hierarchy.

The booklet has been edited by the rights activist and Jesuit priest, Father Cedric Prakash. Fr Prakash has been canvassing for intersectionality within human rights for decades. He is also recipient of the President of India’s Kabir Puraskar. Mamen-John and Sebastian had spoken, a week after the session court verdict acquitting the Bishop, on January 22, 2022 at a webinar organised by the Forum. 

Dorothy Fernandes PBVM, National Convener of the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace has, among the others associated with this gritty initiative. She raises the question on the why of such a booklet and seminar discussions around this case within the Church are necessary. “The publication of this booklet (which also contains some other important documentation relevant to the case) we sincerely hope, will help clarify many doubts in the minds of the clergy religious and the laity at large. We also hope that women in the Church will try to enter into the trauma of a rape survivor and would have the courage to change their prejudiced lens and see the truth as it really and painfully is. Rape is rape, even if it happened once and it is a violation of the vow of celibacy. If adultery is a sufficient reason to deny sacraments to the laity, why is not defrocking also applied to Priests and Bishops?” Dorothy Fernandes asks in her foreword to the publication.

Rebecca M. John, a criminal lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court, has described the verdict as a travesty. “The verdict (of January 14, 2022) is a travesty, which has put the victim on trial instead of the accused. The verdict overturned the criminal law jurisprudence and completely disregarded the law of the land, said Rebecca Mammen John, noted criminal lawyer at a webinar held on January 22. John also bemoaned that the trial court went about nitpicking and disbelieving the victim “in a way which is impermissible in law.” The evidential value of a rape survivor, she explained, is different from other criminal cases and the court has failed to appreciate it, especially the fact that, as a superior in a diocesan congregation, the accuser was under a fiduciary relationship with the accused.

What does a fiduciary relationship mean?

The Bishop, who was the perpetrator, had full authority over her and the Congregation, and was capable of going to any extent to impose his will; all this paralysed her emotionally.

Advocate Manu Sebastian explains how, “In the evidence law we follow a principle that, even if a witness is saying some things which are not believable or exaggerated, that does not mean that the entire testimony of the witness should be discarded. This is based on common sense

because no person will be able to completely recount what happened a few years ago. There could be some lapses. The courts have the duty to separate the grain from the chaff. The court has to find out the elements of truth from what the witnesses are saying. In this case it is my humble opinion that the court has failed to extract truth from the testimony of the victim and the witnesses and rejected the entire testimony.

“Her character was put on trial. There are several paragraphs in the judgement to explain complaints made by a relative of the victim. The same relative later told the court that she had made a false complaint. But the court believed her. The court is disbelieving three nuns and believing another witness who admitted that she had made a false complaint. This is a contradictory approach by the court.

“The court said that the victim and the bishop had travelled together and attended a certain function and during the function she appeared to be happy and talking friendly to the bishop. From that the court presumes that she was in a friendly relationship with the bishops. There is a fundamental flow in this conclusion because Bishop Franco had no defence of consensual sex; he had not put forward a case of consensual sex. The court is taking up a case of consensual sex by referring to bishop and the survivor travelling together and exchanging some emails.

“The latest such verdict was December 1, 2021, when the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Phool Singh, a Madhya Pradesh man accused of rape, based on the testimonies of the survivor in the absence of a supportive medical certificate or other collaborative evidences.

“The Supreme Court said that in a case of rape, no self-respecting woman would come forward just to make “a humiliating statement against her honor.” It also warns courts not to overlook the “inherent bashfulness of the females and the tendency to conceal outrage of sexual aggression” while dealing with rape cases.

Dateline Complaint of Sexual Assault by Survivor Nun

After summoning much courage, the Survivor first wrote to Cardinal Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala on July 11, 2017.  On January 28, 2018, nearly six months later, she wrote to the Apostolic Nuncio to India. Having received no satisfactory answers to her first plea within her church hierarchy. Having received no satisfactory answers, she then directly wrote on May 14, 2018 directly to the Pope himself and to three Dicastries of the Vatican. What this booklet stresses, addressing every Indian Christian is, that the survivor nun first made every effort to resolve the issue within the Church. Finally, distinctly uncomfortable with her firm stance, it was Bishop Franco who filed false, fabricated cases against her and her family members. It was then that she approached the police.

Well known feminist legal scholar and Mumbai-based women’s right advocate, Flavia Agnes has a section in the booklet authored by her that addresses the issue both within scope of newly amended Indian criminal law jurisprudence and the cannons of the reformed religious texts within the Catholic Church hierarchy. Agnes is also part of ‘Sisters in Solidarity’, a group which has been providing socio-legal support to the survivor.

Paying a tribute to the survivor nun, who, after first raising the issue of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, of sexually assaulting her thirteen times between 2014 and 16, within the church in July 2017, finally filed a police complaint in June 2018. Agnes informs us that the grit and courage of the nun, at great personal cost, including slurs on her reputation, needs note and support.

Nuns are extremely vulnerable within the formal power structures of the church hierarchy and “bound by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, a nun has no exposure as to how to ward of sexual abuse from her superiors, who she revers as the earthly embodiment of Jesus Christ. The mental shackles that she must overcome to acknowledge that what she is being subjected to is the crime of sexual assault, overcome the trauma that her vow of chastity is violated by this act, come to terms with the shame and stigma which will befall her when the abuse is brought to light, and her extreme vulnerability if disciplinary action is taken against her for her transgression, is something which those outside of these structures may not even be able to fathom.”

If the internal structures had been at all open to scrutiny and correction, they had ample time between the month of July 2017 when she addressed them and 2018, when she finally made the police complaint. The church, instead of responding with sensitivity, protecting the dignity of the survivor, seemed more concerned about its reputation, however.

Agnes critiques the internal processes of enquiry within church structures lack transparency. Bound by the provision of Pontifical Secrecy, seldom is there a judgement in the public domain that can be scrutinised to understand the canon law governing such transgressions, the procedure followed, the final outcome and the remedial measures adopted. Hence, there are hardly any lessons to be learnt or best practices laid down for future cases.

A measure of correction has been set in motion on December 6, 2019, when the current Pope Francis removed the archaic provision of Pontifical Secret, to bring in greater transparency while investigating sexual abuse within the church. In February 2022, the Pope Francis faced with myriad such examples of allegations of sexual abuse, gave a clear message to consecrated women to fight for their rights. “I invite them to fight when, in some cases, they are treated unfairly, even within the Church,” he urged, “when they serve so much that they are reduced to servitude —at times, by men of the Church.”

Acquittal does not mean Accused not Guilty

Flavia Agnes in her detailed and erudite analysis, also explains foe any acquittal in a criminal court does not exonerate the accused of committing the crime of sexual assault on a subordinate. It only proves that the prosecution was not able to prove the charge ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ as per the heavy burden imposed on the prosecution in a criminal trial. It nowhere establishes the innocence of the accused person. Further, it does not assure that the accused Bishop did not violate his own vow of celibacy, rendering him unfit to administer the holy sacraments.

She also states that, while it is true that this judgement may have dealt a lethal blow to all cases of clergy abuse by silencing hundreds of victims who might have received inspiration from this case to bring their abusers to task, there are crucial lessons to be learned. There is a crying need to create awareness and sensitivity within both church and state structures to bring justice to victims / survivors of clergy abuse.

Flaws in the January 20222 judgement

Flavia Agnes:

Instead of dealing with the issues mentioned in the FIR, the judgement, bases its conclusions on incidents which are extraneous to the facts of the case, in order to exonerate the bishop of all the allegations levelled against him. It seems to overlook that what is on trial is the crime of sexual abuse/rape by the accused and not the moral character of the victim. The judgement violates the legal mandate that a woman’s past sexual history (whether actual or fabricated) cannot be used by the defence to project the complainant ‘as woman of easy virtue’ and thereby to conclude that she is an ‘untrustworthy witness.

“Another major flaw is that the judgement ignores the amendments to the rape laws, introduced in 2013, after the gruesome rape and murder of a twenty-three-year-old paramedic in Delhi (popularly known as the ‘Nirbhaya case’), which had expanded the narrow definition of rape under $.375 of IPC to include various other forms of sexual assaults – finger penetration, oral and anal sex and forcing the victim to perform various sexual acts, etc. In fact, the term ‘rape’ itself was redefined broadly as sexual assault. So how can the victim be faulted for failing to use this archaic terminology when she confides about the abuse to her supporters or superiors?

“The various references to sexual acts while mentioning the abuse to her companions, church authorities, to the police and doctors, is discarded as ‘the victim did not mention that she was raped by the accused thirteen times’. Hailing from a conservative background, joining the convent at a tender age of fifteen and as a nun under the vow of chastity, it is but natural that she would shy away from using explicit language while disclosing the sexual abuse inflicted upon her. No adverse inference of discrepancy and inconsistency can be drawn from this.

“It is our experience that even in cases of child sexual abuse, the survivor or her mother, seldom ever uses technical / legal language while reporting the crime. Even the police officer recording the crime, while providing an elaborate background, describes the abuse in just one line as the abuser ‘did dirty things (kharab kaam) to her’ or ‘he spoilt her’ read as ‘he violated her’. The judge seems to be oblivious of this ground reality.

“The judgement contains graphic description of all that the victim was subjected to on the very first night on 5 May, 2014 in her court deposition. This is followed by the acts of sexual assault on all the subsequent instances, each of which constitutes sexual offences as per Section 375 of IPC. Even if a single act is proved, the accused would be liable for punishment under S 376 of IPC. (A reading of the judgement borders on pornography. This was totally unwarranted in a judgement which is in the public domain to protect the survivor’s dignity and bodily integrity.)

“The fact that the abuser was within a fiduciary relationship of power and authority over the victim as the patron of her congregation is also overlooked. After an elaborate discussion on this issue, the judgement concedes to the point advanced by the prosecution, regarding the fiduciary relationship between the victim and the abuser. Yet while appreciating the evidence of the survivor there is no reference to this finding. While the judgement hints at ‘consensual sex’ between the abuser and the survivor, whether it constitutes ‘valid consent’ or ‘tainted consent’ within a fiduciary relationship is not examined.

“The judgement fails to appreciate the power dynamics that prevails between them and the vow of obedience she is bound by which makes it impossible for the victim to resist the sexual assault by her superior. When a sexual act is established and the victim states that it is without her consent, there is a legal presumption in her favour, if the fiduciary relationship between the two is proved. The judgement ignores this well-settled legal principle while appreciating the evidence of the survivor.

 “There are several legal precedents where such hyper technical approach has been discarded by courts in India. Even if some part of the evidence is discarded, the remaining part which withstands legal scrutiny is relied upon to secure conviction. But a reading of the judgement indicates that the judicial intent for conviction was lacking and hence the legal doctrine of “grain and chaff” is used as the rationale to secure acquittal. By holding that it was impossible to separate the “grain” from the “chaff”, the court appears to have abdicated its judicial functions.

Proactive approach by the Court lacking

Above all, a pro-active approach of the additional session judge is completely lacking. Agnes points out, how, in an earlier judgement, the Kerala High Court had held that trial courts must take a proactive role at the time of taking evidence and that there should be serious engagement in discovering the truth, rather than remaining as a “mute spectator”.

Flavia Agnes:

“The present case had several unique features, which need a different approach to be adopted. She had to fight several battles before approaching the legal system. For a woman conditioned to a cloistered and submissive existence, coming out in public with these allegations must have been an unbearable ordeal. It ought to have been appreciated that the complainant will face something similar to a “civil death” on expulsion from the congregation. The accused was powerful and influential. He had the backing from strong quarters of the community, whereas the victim and the witnesses supporting her faced extreme social hostilities.

“The inaccuracies and shortcomings in the evidence ought to have been appreciated in the light of the power dynamics and uneven level field in the case.

The effort at canvassing the issue for justice for the Survivor Nun, including the publishing of this booklet, has raised, irrevocably not just the prevalence of sexual abuse within the hierarchy, but the resistance to face the widespread malaise. It is a brave and valiant effort battling women’s rights as human rights from within, using tools that are public and transparent.

More than anything else, it is in an easy to read, user friendly format. The Kuravilangad Case: A Critical Study while unequivocally making its stance clear on the (disappointing) judgement of the lower court in Kerala, seeks to answer commonplace questions used to discredit the Survivor in this case as also any complainant of sexual assault.

While appealing in clear conscious to the thoughtful and committed Indian catholic, the booklet also underlines the universal values of feminism and human rights.

Related:

Rape of a Nun: Bishop Franco Mulakkal Arrested

Kerala nun rape case: Court dismisses Bishop Mulakkal’s discharge plea

Key witness in Kerala nun rape case found dead in Punjab
Kerala Nun Rape Case: Vatican temporarily relieves accused Bishop of his duties
Rape of a Nun: Bishop Franco Mulakkal Arrested 
How the Church needs to change the way it addresses Sexual and Gender-based abuse

The post Sexual Assault & the Indian Church Hierarchy appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The United States has issued a travel advisory for Americans tourists to India, urging them to “exercise increased caution in India due to crime and terrorism.” The advisory further says, “Indian authorities report rape is one of the fastest growing crimes in India. Violent crime, such as sexual assault, has occurred at tourist sites and in other locations.” The advisory issued on October 5 by the US State Department categorically says, “Do not travel alone, particularly if you are a woman.”

The fears about sexual assaults are not unfounded given how just this year, at least two cases of tourists being raped were reported from Rajasthan and Goa. In March this year, Times of India reported that a 31-year-old Dutch woman was raped by a masseur in Jaipur. In another shocking incident in June, NDTV reported that a British woman was raped in front of her partner by a masseur in Goa’s Arambol area.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s Crime in India 2021 report, as many as 150 instances of crimes against foreigners were recorded in 2021. These included 15 cases of sexual offenses committed against women tourists. Overall, out of the 4,28,278 cases of crimes against women, 7.4 percent of the cases or 31,692 were rape cases, while 20.8 percent of the cases or 89,081 were related to assault with intent to outrage modesty. Kidnapping and abduction accounted for 17.6 percent or 75,376 cases.

On the subject of terrorism, the US travel advisory says, “Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and government facilities.” It further advises tourists not to travel to the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (except the eastern Ladakh region and its capital, Leh) “due to terrorism and civil unrest.” Citing a “potential for armed conflict”, it also advises against travelling to within 10 kilometers of the India-Pakistan border.

The advisory is significant in wake of a spate of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, where suspected militants have been targeting Kashmiri Pandits, migrant workers and security personnel. SabrangIndia has reported previously about how on October 5, 2021, Makhan Lal Bindroo, a well-known Kashmiri Pandit businessman who ran two medical stores in Srinagar including one started by his family in 1947, was shot dead by suspected militants. Others killed include Rahul Bhat, who worked at the revenue department in Budgam as a PM Package employee, Rajni Bala and Supinder Kaur, both school teachers. Muslims have also fallen victims to the bullets of terrorists. Kashmir television artist Amreen Bhat was killed in front of her 10-year-old nephew who was also injured in the attack. A migrant worker from Bihar named Mohammed Amrez, was killed in Bandipore.

The advisory also says, “The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in rural areas from eastern Maharashtra and northern Telangana through western West Bengal as U.S. government employees must obtain special authorization to travel to these areas.”

The complete travel advisory may be viewed here.

Also read:

Varanasi: Martial arts teacher allegedly rapes Dalit girl

Lakhimpur Kheri: Postmortem confirms Dalit sisters were raped before murder

The post US advises American tourists to exercise caution due to cases of sexual assault and terrorism in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Muslim women are being increasingly targeted with vile sexual threats, both online and on the ground. The blatantly abusive behaviour is often spearheaded with impunity by right-wing extremists and socio-culturally influential members of the majority community. Therefore, it is time to delve into legal provisions pertaining to such threats that have been becoming increasingly common.

Take for example the words of Bajrang Muni Das, the ‘Mahant’ and ‘Hindutva’ leader from Khairabad, UP. On April 2, 2022, Das openly threatened Muslim women with sexual assault while addressing supporters from his vehicle parked outside a mosque in Sitapur. Das’s audience comprised people who were part of a procession on the occasion of Hindu New Year. Much like many such processions being taken out recently, they made it a point to halt outside a mosque. This is where Das spoke into a microphone connected to loudspeaker and said, “If you tease a single [Hindu] girl, I will abduct your daughters and daughters-in-law from your house, and rape them in public.” The vile rape threat was filmed on video and went viral online shortly thereafter.

Taking cognisance of the offence and seeking arrest of the accused, National Commission for Women (NCW) reportedly stated, “The NCW has come across a Twitter post enclosing video of a priest Bajrang Muni threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women while addressing a gathering in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. It has been reported that police personnel were also present at the location; however, none of them stopped him from making such an outrageous statement against women.”

On April 8, 2022, the Uttar Pradesh police finallyfiled a First Information Report (FIR) against Das, four days after the incident.As reported by The Print, the said Hindutva leader was charged under sections 298 (utterance or gesture in the sight of that person or places with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person), 354 (sexual harassment, making sexually-coloured remarks) and 509 (using word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Muslim women in Hate’s crosshairs

This is not the first time where Muslim women have been targeted. It was Citizens for Peace and Justice (CJP) that, in May 2021, approached Twitter over sexually violent content against Muslim women. We brough to light several instances of unchecked accounts promoting material that was not only pornographic but also glorified sexual violence against Muslim women. The accounts in question shared hundreds of pornographic videos of women in hijab every day, with inflammatory captions presenting Muslim women as objects, meant to be sexuallyexploited. Photoshopped pictures of Hindu men and pregnant women in saffron hijab were also widely shared by these accounts.Twenty-one such abusive accountswere removed after our complaint.

The fact that social media can be toxic to and for all women, regardless of religion, region, political affiliation and even nationality, is indisputable. But in India, Muslim women in particular are subject to an orchestrated right-wing campaign, abused for both their gender and their religion. This is made worse with the tacit complicity of the government of the day that harbours a hate-filled ideology and holds undisputed sway and power.

Although people of all genders can experience violence and abuse online, the abuse experienced by women is often not just sexist or misogynistic in nature, but online threats of violence against women are often sexualized and include specific references to women’s bodies and person. The aim of such verbalised gender violence and abuse is to create a hostile online environment for women with the goal of shaming, intimidating, degrading, belittling or silencing women.

There are even professionally successful and influential Muslim women on Twitter with verified accounts who are subjected to slurs and threats of sexual violence quite frequently. Noted journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who works for The Wire, told Article14 that words like begum and hijabi have been converted into sexualized slurs to attack Muslim women just like jihadi is used to abuse Muslim men.“The word halala is used by IT cell trolls as a coded rape threat. There is a campaign to attempt to incite sexual violence and other crimes against Muslim women but its larger goal is to further isolate Muslim men from society,” she said.

In July 2021, nearly 80 Muslim women were targeted and put up “for sale” on the S**li Deals app, and in January 2022, over 100 Muslim women were targeted using the B**li Bai app. Both B**li and S**li are sexually derogatory words used to target Muslim women. In both cases, there was no real sale of any kind – the purpose was to degrade and humiliate Muslim women by sharing their personal images, and also to harass them by sharing their personal information.

Noor Mahvish, one such young woman targeted by the S**li Deals app shared her experience in a blog on CJP saying, “The Sulli Deal app that was hosted on GitHub listed (as if to auction) the profiles Muslim women with their pictures, as if they were objects. My picture and information were also made public. Along with me, there were 80 other Muslim women who have been listed (sic) on that app. The Women who were targeted are very vocal on social media, they proudly represent their community and are bravely fighting against this fascist regime. The most common thread behind those listed on Sulli Deal is that they are vocal Indian Muslim women.”

Hasiba Amin, a national coordinator for the Congress party with 139,000 Twitter followers, opened her account on 13 May, a day before Eid, to find that she had been “sold” in an online “auction”.She tweeted, “These people are placing bids to own me and this handle claims that I have been sold to someone. He says ‘enjoy brother’.” Amin had filed a complaint with the police regarding this incident. Journalist Sania Ahmad was also targeted by an unknown account, Sullideals101. “This account has been harassing me since the past one year. I had complained but that went in vain,” she told Article 14.

As reported by SabrangIndia, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Dr Fernand de Varennes, has taken note of the vile anti Muslim ‘S**li Deals’ as hate speech. Varennes said such harassment of Muslim women in India must be condemned and the law should act against it “as soon as they occur”. He added that “all Human Rights of minorities need to be fully and equally protected.”

Repercussions of online sexual abuse

The repercussions of such incitement of sexual violence against Muslim women sees its history in the incidents of communal violence and genocidal pogroms that have damaged India’s social fabric for decades. In both the 2002 Gujarat genocidal carnage and the Muzaffarnagar pogrom of 2013 rape and gendered violence was used as a weapon of violence against Muslim women.

Right before the anti-Muslim carnage broke out in Gujarat, we saw mass distribution of hundreds of pamphlets with all sorts of messages spreading hatred against Muslims. One such pamphlet titled Jihadinciting sexual violence against Muslim women was circulated. In the next few months 300 to 500 Muslim women were raped, killed and mass humiliated in full public view. CJP secretary Teesta Setalvad, who was documenting the 2002 Gujarat violence and its aftermath saw this on the ground as she interviewed women in relief camps and they shared theirfirst-hand experiences with the senior journalist and human rights defender.

This sexually driven propaganda achieved two aims: creating a band of men who view women of a particular community as targets for mass sexual violence and in every instance of mass violence, women are attacked to insult and attack the honor of a community.

Details of this hate speech preceding the 2002 genocidal pogrom was documented in Communalism Combat, March-April 2002, chapter entitled Pamphlet Poison. The Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crimes Against Humanity, Gujarat 2002 also documented this thoroughly (Role of the Media), Hate Speech and Hate Writing. On the 20^th anniversary of the Gujarat pogrom, secretary, CJP had documented the lineage of this kind of hate speech in that state since the early 1990s which has now gone national.

At that time, the mode of communication was limited to pamphlets but now the same message is being circulated on a much wider, national level scale which is facilitated by social media platforms like Twitter. Sexist or misogynistic abuse and threats have become rather common online. Suspending a few accounts or deleting some tweets are measures that are merely small dents on these concerted, wide-ranging, politically driven campaigns that are also aimed at misusing and manipulating platforms like Twitter for their illegal acts. India has had a history of targeted communal disturbances even when social media was absent and not a reality, so we can only imagine the kind of consequences such incitement on social media can have now.

The systemic nature of this online Islamophobic, racist, casteist and misogynist abuse indicates that it is produced and circulated by organised groups. Studies such as those conducted by Professor Shakuntala Banaji who teaches at the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics endorse this.More often than not, when it comes to such cases, especially women from marginalized sections, the persons who set things in motion are often found to be pawns of people who have power and clout, both political, social and economic.Her book co-authored by Ramnath Bhat titled Social Media and Hate is an excellent resource for anyone who wishes to learn more about the subject.

CJP’s sister organization, SabrangIndia has documented hate trends on social media systematically, especially how especially abusive #hashtags proliferate the public sphere and are a precursor to physical targeting of minorities.

The ease and speed with which content can proliferate on Twitter means that women’s experiences of violence and abuse on the platform require an urgent and adequate response from the company, which is lacking. Its algorithms fail to detect such content. Unless any user manually reports a particular tweet, it does not get taken down and in most cases even after it is reported, it doesn’t get taken down before it reaches the desired audience. The accounts, mostly anonymous, know that there is hardly any precedent for anyone in India from being prosecuted for misogynistic or hate speech. They are also aware that even if one handle is banned by a platform, it is easy to set up another account using another anonymous handle. The fact that they are able to have such a wide reach despite their content that is violative of twitter’s community guidelines, means they are able to thrive and mushroom into more and more accounts.

The violence and abuse many women experience online has a detrimental effect on their right to express themselves equally, freely and without fear. A December 2021 survey commissioned by Amnesty International also shows that women who are more active on the platform were more likely to report experiencing online abuse, compared to those less active – 40 per cent of women who use the platform more than once a day report experiencing abuse, compared to thirteen per cent who use the platform less than once a week.

Violation of Laws

The Indian Penal Code:

• Section 153: Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot

Whoever malignantly, or wantonly by doing anything which is illegal, gives provocation to any person intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause the offence of rioting to be committed;

Punishment:

If the offence of rioting be committed in consequence of such provocation – be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both; and

If the offence of rioting be not committed, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 153A: Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.

(1) Whoever—

(a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racials, language or regional groups or castes or communities, or

(b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity,

(c) organizes any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the participants in such activity shall use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, or participates in such activity intending to use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, against any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community and such activity for any reason whatsoever causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of such religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community

Punishment:

Imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 153B: Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration.—(1) Whoever, by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise,

(a) makes or publishes any imputation that any class of persons cannot, by reason of their being members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community, bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established or uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, or

(b) asserts, counsels, advises, propagates or publishes that any class of persons shall, by reason of their being members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community, be denied, or deprived of their rights as citizens of India, or

(c) makes or publishes and assertion, counsel, plea or appeal concerning the obligation of any class of persons, by reason of their being members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community, and such assertion, counsel, plea or appeal causes or is likely to cause disharmony or feelings of enmity or hatred or ill-will between such members and other persons.

Punishment:

Imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 292: Sale, etc., of obscene books, etc.—

(1) For the purposes of sub-section (2), a book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure or any other object, shall be deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect, or (where it comprises two or more distinct items) the effect of any one of its items, is, if taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it.

(2] Whoever—

(a) sells, lets to hire, distributes, publicity exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation, or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever, or

(b) imports, exports or conveys any obscene object for any of the purposes aforesaid, or knowing or having reason to believe that such object will be sold, let to hire, distributed or publicly exhibited or in any manner put into circulation, or

(c) takes part in or receives profits from any business in the course of which he knows or has reason to believe that any such obscene objects are, for any of the purposes aforesaid, made, produced, purchased, kept, imported, exported, conveyed, publicly exhibited or in any manner put into circulation, or

(d) advertises or makes known by any means whatsoever that any person is engaged or is ready to engage in any act which is an offence under this section, or that any such obscene object can be procured from or through any person, or

(e) offers or attempts to do any act which is an offence under this section,

Punishment:

On first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.

In the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, and also with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

• Section 293:Sale, etc., of obscene objects to young person.

Whoever sells, lets to hire, distributes, exhibits or circulates to any person under the age of twenty years any such obscene object as is referred to in the last preceding section, or offers or attempts so to do.

Punishment:

On first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.

In the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and also with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

• Section 294: Obscene acts and songs.

Whoever, to the annoyance of others,

(a) does any obscene act in any public place, or

(b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place.

Punishment:

Imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.

• 295A Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”

• 298 Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person

Whoever, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person or makes any gesture in the sight of that persons or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 351: Assault.

Whoever makes any gesture, or any preparation intending or knowing it to be likely that such gesture or preparation will cause any person present to apprehend that he who makes that gesture or preparation is about to use criminal force to that person, is said to commit an assault;

Explanation.—Mere words do not amount to an assault. But the words which a person uses may give to his gestures or preparation such a meaning as may make those gestures or preparations amount to an assault.

• Section 354: Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty.

Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will there by outrage her modesty;

Punishment

Imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.

• Section 354 A: Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment.

(1) Aman committing any of the following acts—

(i) physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures; or

(ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or

(iii) showing pornography against the will of a woman; or

(iv) making sexually coloured remarks, shall be guilty of the offence of sexual harassment.

Punishment:

Any man who commits the offence specified in clause (iv) of sub-section (1) shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 503: Criminal Intimidation.

Whoever threatens another with any injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of any one in whom that person is interested, with intent to cause alarm to that person, or to cause that person to do any act which he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do any act which that person is legally entitled to do, as the means of avoiding the execution of such threat, commits criminal intimidation.

Punishment – Section 506:

Imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

If threat be to cause death or grievous hurt, etc.—and if the threat be to cause death or grievous hurt, or to cause the destruction of any property by fire, or to cause an offence punishable with death or 8 [imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, or to impute unchastity to a woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 504: Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace.

Whoever intentionally insults, and thereby gives provocation to any person, intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the public peace, or to commit any other offence;

Punishment:

Imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 505: Statements conducing to public mischief.

(1) Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report,—

(b) with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility; or

(c) with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community;

Punishment:

Imprisonment which may extend to 6 [three years], or with fine, or with both.

(2) Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.—Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement or report containing rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities;

Punishment:

Imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

• Section 509: Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

Whoever, intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any words, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman;

Punishment

Simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and also with fine.

The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

• Section 2: Definitions

(a) “advertisement” includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper or other document and also includes any visible representation made by means of any light, sound, smoke or gas;

(b) “distribution” includes distribution by way of samples whether free or otherwise;

(c) “indecent representation of women” means the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman, her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating, women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals;

• Section 3: Prohibition of advertisements containing indecent representation of women.

No person shall publish, or cause to be published, or arrange or take part in the publication or exhibition of, any advertisement which contains indecent representation of women in any form.

• Section 4: Prohibition of publication or sending by post of books, pamphlets, etc., containing indecent representation of women.

No person shall produce or cause to be produced, sell, let to hire, distribute, circulate or send by post any book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting, photograph, representation or figure which contains indecent representation of women in any form.

Punishment: Section 6

Any person who contravenes the provisions of section 3 or section 4 shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend two thousand rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment for a term of not less than six months but which may extend to five years and also with a fine not less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to one lakh rupees. 

The Information Technology Act, 2000

• Section 66A: Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.–

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,–

(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or

(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device;

(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages.

Explanation.–For the purposes of this section, terms ―electronic mail‖ and ―electronic mail message‖ means a message or information created or transmitted or received on a computer, computer system, computer resource or communication device including attachments in text, image, audio, video and any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message

Punishment:

Imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.

• Section 67: Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.

Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it.

Punishment:

On first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees.

In the event of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees.

Judicial Precedents

Hate on social media platforms can have catastrophic impacts of communal violence, offline. The Law Commission Report, 2017 stated that “Hate speech has the potential of provoking individuals or society to commit acts of terrorism, genocides, ethnic cleansing etc. Such speech is considered outside the realm of protective discourse. Indisputably, offensive speech has real and devastating effects on people’s lives and risks their health and safety. It is harmful and divisive for communities and hampers social progress. If left unchecked hate speech can severely affect right to life of every individual.”

CJP had uploaded a 2-minute-long video citing the Equality Labs report raising the rising hate speech on Facebook India during 2018. Real threat presented by Facebook to an estimated 300 million Indian caste, religious, gender, and queer minorities both in India and abroad is a ticking tomb of communal violence, caste and hate speech. The video may be viewed here:

In Pravasi Bhalai Sangathan v. Union of India, 2014 11 SCC 477, the Supreme Court has unambiguously stated that hate speech is an effort to marginalise individuals based on their membership to a group, that can have a social impact. Moreover, the Court stated that hate speech lays the groundwork for broad attacks on the vulnerable that can range from discrimination, to ostracism, deportation, violence, and even to genocide.

In the same case, the Supreme Court cited Canada (Human Rights Commission) v. Taylor, (1990) 3 SCR 892, stating, “Three main prescriptions must be followed while interpreting the word “hatred” as is used in legislative provisions prohibiting hate speech. First, courts must apply the hate speech prohibition objectively. The question courts must ask is whether a reasonable person, aware of the context and circumstances, would view the expression as exposing the protected group to hatred. Second, the legislative term “hatred” or “hatred or contempt” must be interpreted as being restricted to those extreme manifestations of the emotion described by the words, “detestation” and “vilification”. This filters out expression which, while repugnant and offensive, does not incite the level of abhorrence, delegitimisation and rejection that risks causing discrimination or other harmful effects. Third, tribunals must focus their analysis on the effect of the expression at issue, namely whether it is likely to expose the targeted person or group to hatred by others. The repugnancy of the ideas being expressed is not sufficient to justify restricting the expression, and whether or not the author of the expression intended to incite hatred or discriminatory treatment is irrelevant. The key is to determine the likely effect of the expression on its audience, keeping in mind the legislative objectives to reduce or eliminate discrimination.”

In the case of Amish Devgan vs Union Of India 2021 1 SCC 1, the Supreme Court quoted Benjamin Franklin, “It remains difficult in law to draw the outmost bounds of freedom of speech and expression, the limit beyond which the right would fall foul and can be subordinated to other democratic values and public law considerations, so as to constitute a criminal offence. The difficulty arises in ascertaining the legitimate countervailing public duty, and in proportionality and reasonableness of the restriction which criminalises written or spoken words. Further, criminalisation of speech is often demarcated and delineated by the past and recent significant events affecting the nation including explanation of their causes. Therefore, constitutional and statutory treatment of ‘hate speech’ depends on the values sought to be promoted, perceived harm involved and the importance of these harms. 57 Consequently, a universal definition of ‘hate speech’ remains difficult, except for one commonality that ‘incitement to violence’ is punishable.”

The court elaborated on the concept of Hate Speech by identifying three elements:

• Content-based: Open use of words and phrases generally considered to be offensive to a particular community and objectively offensive to the society.
• Intent-based:Speaker’s message to intend only to promote hatred, violence or resentment against a particular class or group.
• Harm-based/ impact-based:There is an element of harm to the victim which can be violent or such as loss of self-esteem, economic or social subordination, physical and mental stress, silencing of the victim and effective exclusion from the political arena.

In the same case, the Apex court also cited Andre Sellars from his essay ‘Defining Hate Speech’ where he examined the concept of hate speech in different democratic jurisdictions and formulated common traits in defining ‘hate speech’. He says:

• Hate speech targets a group, or an individual as a member of the group
• One should be able to objectively identify the speech as an insult or threat to the members of the targeted group, including stigmatising the targeted group by ascribing to it qualities widely disregarded as undesirable
• Speech should cause harm, which can be physical harm such as violence or incitement and true threats of violence
• Speech should have no redeeming purpose, which means that ‘the speech primarily carries no meaning other than hatred towards a particular group’

In the case of State of Karnataka and anr vs. Dr Pravinbhai Togadia (2004) 4 SCC 684, the Supreme Court held, “Communal harmony should not be made to suffer and be made dependent upon the will of an individual or a group of individuals whatever be their religion bit of a minority or that of the majority… the valuable and cherished right of freedom of expression and speech may at times have to be subjected to reasonable subordination to social interests needs and necessities to preserve the very core of democratic life preservation of public order and rule of law. At some such grave situation at least the decision as to the need and necessity to take private reactions must be left to the discretion of those entrusted with the duty of maintaining law and order and interposition of courts…”

Here is a list of serial hate offenders who seem to be part of an “orchestrated right wing campaign”.

As a step towards curbing the spread of communal hate and violence, Citizens of Peace and Justice (CJP)decided to file a petition to form Mohalla Committees in all communally sensitive areas and strictly implement Rule of Law against Hate Offenders. We had also filed a joint-petition with other like-minded groups to the police to police to conduct thorough investigation and take action against actual perpetrators in the S**li Deals and B**li Bai cases.

Related:

CJP approaches Twitter over sexually violent content against Muslim women

Masterminds behind ‘S**li Deals’ and ‘B**li Bai’ apps granted bail

Bajrang Muni Das openly threatens Muslim women with sexual assault

Being a Muslim woman in India: A story

Muslim women’s auction: CJP, rights groups and activists write to Mumbai Police Commissioner

The post Orchestrated right-wing campaign targets Muslim women: Can the Law defend them adequately? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

An ex-military man alleged physical and sexual assault at the hands of Puranpur police in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh on May 3, 2021, while en route to his deceased brother-in-law’s house.

Advocate Vasu Kukreja speaking on behalf of the survivor said the man was travelling to Likhimpurkhiri (Lakhimpur kheeri) district to visit his sister for the last rites of her husband when he was stopped by local police. The path was barricaded. According to Circle Office DSP Lallan Singh speaking to Sabrang India, this was done because a nearby area was carrying out counting for Panchayat elections.

The man accompanied by his 82-year-old mother and two sisters, was asked to present papers for his visit, as per a formal complaint lodged by the aggrieved to the UN Human Rights Council and State DGP and Chief General Secretary.

However, the family was taken away by the police to the station, following which the alleged incident occurred. The survivor posted videos presenting injuries to his body on social media. Some of this photo and video evidence is gruesome and gory and hence Sabrang India has withheld publishing this.

Responding to the news, the Kisan Ekta Morcha at Ghazipur that observed the survivor at its dharnas condemned the act and demanded immediate intervention by police officials.

“If Resham Singh will not get justice, we will call for chakka jam (protest),” warned members.

A formal complaint sent by the organisation can be seen below:

Meanwhile the state police suspended Sub-inspector Daroga Ramnaresh after the video became viral. However, DSP Singh said that witnesses have not confirmed beating at the police station as per Singh’s account.

“People were being redirected that day as a crowd had gathered at the counting area. However, this person refused to take the other route. Eventually, heated arguments broke out. We are still looking into the situation to see how the person got his injuries,” he told Sabrang India.

Police claimed that the complainant was rude to the officers working at the barricade and threatened to break it down.

Situation at Uttar Pradesh

The state recorded as many as 31,165 new Covid-19 cases on May 6, as per the health department. An Indian Express report also claimed a record high of 357 deaths in the same time. However, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath maintains that there is no health crisis in the region. Similarly, media coverage of state crematoria was banned by the government.

Earlier, the government warned that people who seek beds for ailing relatives on social media will be booked under the National Security act (NSA). Adityanath instructed the police to levy charges on any person spreading “rumours”.

The survivor claimed he was also threatened with charges under Section 144 and sections of the Epidemics Disease Act.

Related:

Uttar Pradesh O2 crisis: FIR against Lucknow hospital for putting up shortage notice
Uttar Pradesh: CM Adityanath gives special attention to cows, as citizens battle Covid-19
Ground Report: Purvanchal in East UP struggling amidst Covid-19 second wave
UP: Covid crisis claims at least 706 primary teachers and kin owing to election duty!

The post UP: Ex-military man alleges physical and sexual assault by Puranpur police! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While hearing a sexual assault case, the Bombay High Court has opined that there is a need for introspection of all stakeholders dealing with issues of women, particularly minors.

The Court was hearing a bail plea filed by the alleged accused under sections 354 (assault or criminal force), 363 (kidnapping), and 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 8 (sexual assault) and 12 (punishment for sexual harassment) of POCSO Act.

The FIR was registered by the complainant in 2018, who also happened to be a passer-by. He he was stranded at a signal on his bike, when he noticed an auto-rickshaw with black curtains on all sides and could overhear a girl crying. When inquired, the auto-rickshaw driver responded by saying that his vehicle had passengers, however, as the cries of the girl still continued, he pulled out the curtains and noticed that a man (the accused) was forcing himself upon a girl (survivor).

The survivor has submitted that she was 16 years old when the incident took place, however, the court observed that “not a single document is included to establish that the girl is of 16 years, particularly when the case of the Applicant is that she is more than 18 years. The Investigating Officer did not bother to conduct any ossification test.”

She referred to the entire incident in great detail before Justice Bharati Dangre and stated that she knew the auto-rickshaw driver for nearly six months and another person, to whom she referred to as the person who committed the sexual assault on her, was alleged to be the brother of the auto-rickshaw driver. She admitted that she was also given some alcohol to consume.

The accused, on the other hand, said that the girl was into “flesh trade” and everything happened with her consent and that she was in a conscious state.

Court’s observations

The court asked the Additional Public Prosecutor’s about the present status of the survivor and was informed that she continues to stay at platform number 1 of Andheri Railway Station. To this, the court said, “It is surprising, rather shocking to note that a girl, who had met with a sexual assault and ravaged is left on a railway platform in such a manner.”

Justice Dangre further observed, “There are legislations, which mandate the State in consonance with the imperative mandate contained in the Directive Principles of State Policy, to ensure that the youth is not exploited.”

The court sternly remarked that proper care had not been given by the executive branch to help the survivor. “It appears that the Investigating Officer of the present offence is not aware of any of the provisions of the law, which would have ensured the girl to be taken to some rehabilitation home or correction home and particularly, when it is the case of the prosecution that the girl is a minor, the assistance of the Juvenile Justice Board should have been taken, but nothing has been done”, read the order.

The court directed the investigating officer to trace the survivor and take necessary corrective steps. Justice Dangre said, “Further, it is also necessary to subject her to ossification test, if no document is available with her as proof of her age. The medical papers also revealed that the DNA analysis of the foetus, which was aborted, was also done. Learned A.P.P. should also throw some light on the report of the DNA analysis.”

Until there is some clarity on this, the court has directed the applicant/accused to wait.

The order may be read here:

Related:

Need amendment in rape laws: Odisha High Court

Bombay HC warns father of action, if harms adult daughter for eloping

Domestic violence survivor rescued, AIUFWP thanks lawyers and activists

Agra: Couple waylaid, woman gangraped on Holi evening

The post Bombay HC directs corrective measures for sexual assault survivor appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Uttar Pradesh police arrested three men on February 27, 2021 morning for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman on February 24 night in Pilkhuwa area of Hapur district, around 70 km away from Delhi, reported the Hindustan Times.

The accused Ankit Tomar, Akash Tomar and Aakil, who sustained bullet injuries while trying to escape, took a 30-year-old woman, returning from work Ghaziabad in an auto and overpowered her near the Ganga canal that formed the Ghaziabad-Hapur border. The accused admitted to the crime during interrogations and police officials found three country-made pistols and women’s clothing following the encounter.

According to Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sarvesh Mishra, the accused admitted to committing similar crimes a month ago. Accused Ankit was also jailed in 2013 for sexual assault. The men said they targeted working girls and women who returned home late at night. Two of the men sat in the back seat posing as passengers while the third man drove the vehicle.

On Wednesday night, the survivor approached the Masuri police chowki following the incident and from there went to the Masuri police station to lodge her complaint.

“The Masuri police chowki is closer to the spot than the Pilkhuwa police station. The Ghaziabad police shared the information with us in the early hours and we sent the victim for medical examination and registered an FIR against three unidentified men on Thursday morning,” said Mishra.

Later, police identified the auto-rickshaw and the accused after receiving inputs from local informers and examining CCTV footage. While the medical examination showed no external marks of injury or resistance, the ASP said gang-rape survivors are many times unable to offer resistance. Similarly, she was unable to raise an alarm during the incident due to road traffic in the area at the time of assault.

According to The Hindu, Masuri police did not inform senior officials immediately and took time informing Hapur police as well.

“There have been reports. We are looking into possible lapses in responding to a serious case,” said Rural Superintendent of Police Iraj Raja, adding that the survivor also took time to give a coherent response.

As for possible lapse in security in Ghaziabad, Raja said that once a vehicle crosses city limits, it becomes difficult to track it. The distance between Lal Kuan, where the survivor took the auto, and the spot of crime is around 15 kms.

Related:

Unnao: Dalit girls found tied up in fields; 2 dead, 1 critical

19-year-old woman abducted, gangraped in MP, no arrests yet

Patna school principal sentenced to death for raping 11-year-old girl

Uttar Pradesh: Where women live in fear

The post UP: Three men arrested for sexually assaulting a working woman appeared first on SabrangIndia.