News Analysis India

Tag: rape

  • Delhi Police to arrest Rajasthan Minister’s son in Jaipur in connection with rape case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police team on Sunday reached Jaipur to nab Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan Minister Mahesh Joshi in connection with a case wherein he is accused by a 23-year-old woman of raping her, officials said.

    “Our team of officers have reached Jaipur in connection with the case to nab Joshi who has been absconding. Our teams are conducting search to locate and trace him,” said a senior police officer.

    This comes days after a 23-year-old woman from Jaipur has alleged that Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan Minister for Public Health Engineering, raped her on multiple occasions over a year, following which the Delhi Police has registered a zero FIR initially.

    Later, the zero FIR was covered into a regular FIR since the allegations of commission of sexual assault committed in Sadar Bazar police station jurisdiction has also been mentioned, investigation was taken up, police had said.

    The case was registered on May 8 at a police station in North District under sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc.

    , with intent to commit an offence), 312 (causing miscarriage), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her mar­riage, etc), 377 (unnatural offences) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.

    In her complaint, the woman alleged that she was raped on several occasions between January 8 last year and April 17 this year.

    The woman had said she developed friendship with Rohit Joshi on Facebook last year and since then they have been in contact.

    The two met in Jaipur first and he allegedly invited her to Sawai Madhopur on January 8, 2021. During their first meeting, she alleged, he spiked her drink and took advantage of it.

    When she woke up the next morning, he showed her naked photographs and videos which worried her, reads the FIR.

    Mentioning about another meeting, she had alleged that Rohit Joshi had also once met her in Delhi and forced himself upon her.

    “Rohit made me stay at a hotel where he got our names registered as husband and wife. He then promised to marry me…but then he got drunk and abused me…He would beat me up and make obscene videos of me. He would threaten to upload them and make them viral…,” the woman alleged.

    She further stated that on August 11, 2021, she found out that she was pregnant with his baby and alleged that he forced her up take a pill but she didn’t, the complainant stated in the FIR. A zero FIR can be registered anywhere in the country.

  • Notice to UP police over woman’s death

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Taking cognisance of a woman found hanging from the wall of a private hospital in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Sunday asked the state police to arrest the accused persons immediately. The family of the deceased has alleged that she was raped and then murdered.

    NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to Uttar Pradesh DGP to file an FIR against the accused persons immediately. The panel has sought the arrest of all the accused and a copy of the postmortem report. “Action taken must be apprised within seven days,” it said.

    The body of a woman, said to be a nurse, was found hanging from the wall of a private hospital, which opened last week, in Unnao on Saturday. Police have named three persons, including the owner of the hospital, as accused. Police, however, said rape was not confirmed during the autopsy. 

  • Third arrest made in Hanskhali rape case

    By PTI

    HANSKHALI: CBI sleuths on Saturday arrested one person from Ranaghat in West Bengal’s Nadia district for his alleged involvement in the case of a minor girl’s rape and subsequent death in Hanskhali area, a senior official of the agency said This is CBI’s first arrest in the case.

    Two other accused in the case, one of them son of a local TMC leader in Nadia, were earlier apprehended by the state police.

    “The suspect held today, a friend of the local leader’s son, had been hiding in Ranaghat near National-Highway 34. We traced him via mobile tower dump technology. We will be questioning him,” the CBI official said when contacted. He had fled Hanskhali with his mother soon after the case came to light, he stated.

    Tower dump technology is used to find information about cellphones active in a particular area.

    A minor girl was allegedly gangraped at the birthday party of the TMC member’s son, the prime suspect in the case, on April 4. She bled to death hours later, according to her parents who lodged a police complaint five days later.

    During the day, the agency questioned the parents and two cousins of the girl. “Their versions have been recorded. We may call them again if there is a need,” the official said.

    A separate team of CBI sleuths, accompanied by personnel of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) , in the morning visited the residences of the three accused to collect evidence.

    The central agency has been directed by the Calcutta High Court to probe the incident.

  • BJP fact finding team meets rape victim’s family, criticises WB government 

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A BJP fact-finding team Friday met the family members of the minor girl in Hanshkhali in Nadia district, who died after being allegedly gang-raped earlier in the month, and slammed the state administration for failing to ensure the safety and security of women in the state.

    The team members spoke to the family members and the locals, party sources said. They will submit their report to BJP national president J P Nadda, who formed the fact-finding committee earlier this week.

    The team comprised of the party’s vice-president Rekha Verma, national president of BJP Mahila Morcha Vanathi Srinivasan, party leader Khushbu Sundar and West Bengal MLA Sreerupa Mitra Choudhury, the sources said.

    “Atrocities against women in West Bengal are beyond words. A minor girl was brutally raped and murdered. This proves the administration has failed to ensure the safety and security of women. This is a shameful incident,” Verma told reporters after meeting the family members.

    Echoing her, Mitra Chowdhury said the team spoke to the mother of the victim and criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for making “irresponsible statements” on it.

    “The chief minister who is herself a woman has been making irresponsible statements instead of ensuring that the victim’s family gets justice. Is this expected from a chief minister? The victim’s mother narrated the family’s ordeal. The kind of threat and intimidation the girl’s family members faced is unimaginable,” she said.

    The 14-year-old girl had died after being allegedly gang raped by the son of a ruling TMC panchayat leader at Hanskhali on April 4. Her family lodged the police complaint on April 10 and claimed that the girl’s body was snatched away and cremated.

    The victim’s family had also alleged they were threatened with dire consequence by the accused’s family.

    Calcutta High Court had handed over the investigation to CBI. Reacting to Verma’s comment, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh dubbed the allegations as “baseless”.

    “The women of the state are safe and secure in West Bengal under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. BJP is quick to send teams to West Bengal but never bothers to send similar teams to Uttar Pradesh, where rape cases were reported from Hathras and Unnao,” he added.

    Ghosh said the fact-finding team intended to malign the state and influence the ongoing CBI probe.

    “This fact-finding committee aims to set guidelines for the central agency on how the probe should be conducted and how to accuse the state government.

    Some incidents have taken place and they are blaming the TMC for it.

    It seems they are yet to digest their defeat in the last West Bengal assembly polls,” he said.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on April 11 publicly expressed doubt over the cause of the minor girl’s death, which her family attributed to gang rape.

    She had claimed that the victim was in a relationship with the prime accused and had wondered whether she was pregnant, a comment which opposition parties strongly criticised.

    Banerjee had also wondered of she died after being slapped by someone.

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  • Probe gets compromised if people in authority are judgmental: Bengal guv on Hanskhali rape case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: In an apparent dig at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her remarks on a minor girl’s alleged rape and subsequent death in Nadia district’s Hanskhali area, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said that the investigation could get compromised if people in authority “indicate judgmental stance”.

    He said that such approaches could “scuttle fair probe”.

    Dhankhar also called upon the state chief secretary and the DGP to brief him on the incident by 4 pm on Wednesday.

    “Criminal Investigation in shameful rape #Hanskhali leading to victim death is tainted & compromised when people in authority & constitutional position indicate judgmental stance,” the governor tweeted, without naming anyone.

    Dhankhar, who has had several run-ins with the TMC government in the state over multiple issues, also said, “This against the law approach scuttles fair & independent probe as police is forced to toe such line (sic).”

    Banerjee had on Monday expressed doubt over the cause of the girl’s death, although her family attributed it to gang rape, and wondered if the demise of the Class 9 student could have been caused after being slapped by someone.

    Maintaining that the victim had an affair with the accused, the son of a TMC leader, Banerjee also wondered if she was pregnant. Two persons, including the TMC leader’s son, have been arrested in the case thus far.

    The governor also called upon the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP) to brief him, by Wednesday evening, on the alleged incidents of attacks on Ram Navami processions in Howrah on Sunday.

  • Wonder if minor died after being slapped, Mamata on Hanskhali ‘gang-rape’

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed doubt about the cause of a minor girl’s death which her family attributed to gang rape, and wondered if the class 9 student of Hanskhali in Nadia district died after a fall after being slapped by someone.

    Asserting that the victim had an affair with the accused, a Trinamool Congress leader’s son who was arrested, Banerjee wondered if she was pregnant.

    The chief minister also asked why the girl’s family members lodged a police complaint five days after her death and cremating the body.

    Opposition parties described Banerjee’s statement as “shocking” and alleged that she seeks to shield the accused as he is the son of a leader of her party.

    West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar sought an urgent report from the state chief secretary on the alleged gang rape and death of the minor girl. The girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped at a birthday party at the house of the accused on April 5.

    She was bleeding profusely when she returned home and died later that night, according to her parents who lodged a police complaint on April 10.

    “The police are yet to understand the cause of the death. I had asked them. Will you call it rape or was she pregnant? Was it (the fallout of) a love affair? Have you enquired about these? This is an unfortunate incident,” Banerjee said while inaugurating the Biswa Banga Mela Prangan here.

    She said that her family members and local people knew about the affair between the girl and the accused. “You (girl’s family) also conducted the last rites of the body. I am talking as a layman. From where will they (police) get the evidence whether she was raped or she was pregnant or there was any other reason such as she was slapped by someone after which she fell ill,” Banerjee said.

    A detailed investigation is being carried out, she said adding that she will ask the state commission for protection of child rights to take up the case. “I do not have any word to sympathise with the family,” Banerjee said.

    Those who are in relationships should be cautious so that people in the guise of being friends cannot harm them, she added.

    The girl died on April 5 and the police got the information on April 10, the TMC supremo said and asked about the cause of the delay.

    Banerjee also alleged that a section of the media is trying to tarnish the image of West Bengal but she would lay down her life to protect her “motherland”.

    She questioned why the Press Club Kolkata, as well as the Press Council of India, are silent when seven journalists were stripped to their underwear in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly writing reports against the BJP government.

    The opposition BJP panned Banerjee for her comment and wondered whether her remarks were aimed at influencing the probe.

    “Shocking statement by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who trivialises the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Nadia’s Hanskhali. She questions the victim and asks if it was a love affair or a case of unplanned pregnancy gone awry! Because the accused is TMC leader’s son,” senior BJP leader and the party’s co-in charge of West Bengal, Amit Malviya, tweeted.

    Echoing him, the Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari said such kind of comments only prove how Banerjee is trying to influence the probe and shield the culprits.

    “When any such incident occurs in BJP-ruled states, she is the first to protest against it. But when similar incidents take place in West Bengal, she tries to shield the culprits. It is shameful that despite being a woman chief minister, she is making such comments. This is the real picture of the lawless situation of Bengal,” he said.

    The CPI(M) and the Congress also slammed Banerjee for her comments.

    Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha and state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that several such incidents happening in West Bengal go unreported.

    “We don’t get to know about them. Now we have come to know about this incident. What has happened is horrific. The ruling party is trying to influence the probe,” he said.

    Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the incident proves there is lawlessness in Bengal.

    The ruling TMC condemned the incident but said it should not be politicised.

    “The police are investigating the matter and have also made an arrest. Let the investigation be over. The opposition should not try to politicise the matter,” TMC spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.

    The girl’s mother had on Sunday told reporters that from the sequence of events and after talking to the people present at the party, “we are sure she was gang-raped by the accused and his friends”.

    She also alleged that a group of people forcibly took the minor’s body for cremation even before her death certificate was issued.

    Meanwhile, a petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Monday seeking a CBI probe into the alleged rape and resultant death of the minor girl. The petitioner’s lawyer said the matter is likely to be mentioned before the court on Tuesday.

  • Dutch woman alleges she was raped on pretext of Ayurvedic body massage in Jaipur hotel

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: A Dutch woman has alleged that she was raped on pretext of giving a Ayurvedic body massage in a hotel near Sindhi camp here, police said on Friday.

    According to the woman’s complaint to the police, the incident occurred on Wednesday.

    A case has been registered under section 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code with the Sindhi camp police station on Thursday evening, police said, adding further investigation was underway.

  • Maharashtra: Shiv Sena leader booked for rape, forced abortion in Pune

    By PTI

    PUNE: An offence has been registered against a local Shiv Sena leader in Maharashtra’s Pune for allegedly raping a 24-year-old woman and forcing her to undergo an abortion, police said on Thursday.

    Based on a complaint lodged by the woman, a case under section 376 (rape) and 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent) of the IPC has been registered against Raghunath Kuchik, the general secretary of the Shiv Sena’s labour wing Bhartiya Kamgar Sena, an official from Shivaji Nagar police station said.

    “Kuchik had befriended the woman on a social media platform. According to the complaint, he allegedly established physical relations with her by promising to marry her,” the official said.

    The complainant was also forced to undergo an abortion when she became pregnant, he said.

    Meanwhile, Kuchik, who is the deputy leader of the Shiv Sena, refuted the allegations terming them as baseless and claimed that he was honey-trapped by the woman.

  • ‘Can’t call him gentleman’: Sule slams Karnataka BJP MLA’s remark as Hijab row reaches Parliament

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: NCP leader Supriya Sule on Wednesday termed as “shameful” a Karnataka BJP MLA’s remarks that rape cases are increasing as some dresses worn by women ‘excite’ men, as she accused the saffron party of moral and thought “policing”.

    Raising the issue while participating in the debate on the general budget 2022-23, Sule said the remarks by M P Renukacharya need to be condemned by the House.

    Amid the ongoing hijab row, the BJP MLA claimed that rape cases are increasing as some dresses worn by women ‘excite’ men, as he tried to make his case for girl students in colleges to either wear uniform or dress that fully cover their body.

    Later realising that his remarks would stir controversy, the political secretary to the chief minister said that he would apologise to women, if his statement has hurt them.

    Raising the issue, Sule said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a very dignified lady and they both both have daughters that they are proud of.

    “There is a gentleman. Can’t call him gentleman. An MLA of BJP from Karnataka has said rapes are increasing because of women’s clothing. If hijab is worn, BJP has a problem, if one wears other clothes, they have a problem. They will do moral policing as well as thought policing,” the Nationalist Congress Party leader said.

    “Because the minister is elected from Karnataka, I would ask her for justice. I hope she would intervene. Whoever that MLA is. This must be condemned, everyone has a wife and children in their houses. We should not tolerate this and unanimously the House must condemn it,” she said.

    “If any man says women get raped because of their clothes, it is shameful, it is condemnable,” Sule said.

    Complimenting the finance minister on the saree she wore while presenting the budget, Sule said “we don’t judge each other on clothing”.

    Meanwhile, amid the ongoing row over wearing hijab by some students in Karnataka, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said there is no objection to the headscarf, but the prevailing dress code in schools and colleges must be followed.

    “If anyone wants to wear a hijab, we have no objection to it, but if they want to go to school and college (wearing hijab) then they will have to follow the dress code prevalent in those institutions,” Vij, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said.

    “And if one does not follow that (the dress code) then they can stay back home, no problem,” he added.

    Protests for and against the hijab had intensified in parts of Karnataka and even turned violent at some places on Tuesday after the state government last week issued an order making uniforms prescribed by it or management of private institutions mandatory for its students in schools and pre-university colleges.

  • Marital rape: Committed to protecting women’s dignity, Centre tells HC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Central government Thursday urged the Delhi High Court to defer the hearing on pleas to criminalise marital rape while maintaining that it was committed to protecting “the liberty, dignity, and rights of every woman who is the fundamental foundation and pillar of a civilised society.”

    The Centre, in an affidavit filed before a bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar, said it will provide a time-bound schedule within which it will carry out an effective consultative process on the issue.

    The court, which is conducting the marathon proceedings on a daily basis, will now hear the matter on Friday.

    The Centre has recently told the high court that it is “re-looking” at its earlier stand on petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape as that was brought on record in the affidavit filed several years ago.

    Earlier in 2017, the Centre had opposed the petitions seeking to criminalise marital rape.

    The bench is hearing a batch of petitions to strike down the exemption from prosecution for the offence of rape granted to husbands under the Indian Penal Code.