Oct 31, 2012: East Bengal footballer held for rape

Somdatta Basu, TNN | Oct 31, 2012, 06.23AM IST

KOLKATA: A footballer of the East Bengal Club and his cook were arrested late on Tuesday night for allegedly raping a 14-year-old help at the footballer's apartment in a north Kolkata highrise. 

Jaspreet Singh, a midfielder with East Bengal, one of this club mates and another player from Prayag United live in a rented apartment at the upscale Diamond City North. Their cook, Ravi Singh, allegedly took the girl to the second-floor flat on Monday afternoon to help in cleaning up.

The victim's father lodged a complaint with Dum Dum police alleging the three footballers and the cook raped her. When the girl returned home on Monday evening, she complained of feeling unwell. On Tuesday, she told them of her plight. The victim's neighbors and relatives rushed to the apartment and beat up the four accused. A team from Dum Dum police station arrested Jagjit and Ravi. "The two arrested are being interrogated . We are trying to find out about the whereabouts of the other two players. 

The girl will be called in tomorrow and we may reconstruct the story," said DCP Barrackpore Commissionrate Kalyan Mukherjee. 

East Bengal club sources said they would try to bail out Jaspreet, who was present at Salt Lake Stadium during the I-league match against Pune FC on Monday afternoon. 

"The footballers are required to report to the stadium at least two hours prior to the scheduled time (in this case, 2.30 pm). Hence, he couldn't have been present at his residence at the same time," a club official said. Prayag officials claimed they were aware of the footballer's whereabouts and he will surrender soon. 

Foul play? 

Father of 14-yr-old help accuses East Bengal player Jaspreet Singh, two other footballers and their cook of raping the girl 
Rape allegedly took place in footballers' flat at Diamond City North on Monday afternoon 
Sources at East Bengal club contest claim, say Jaspreet was present at Salt Lake Stadium during I-league match against Pune FC on Monday afternoon 
Link: East Bengal footballer held for rape

Oct 31, 2012: Panchayat member dubbed witch, nose chopped off

PTI | Oct 31, 2012, 04.30PM IST

KHAGARIA: In a shocking incident, a woman panchayat member's nose was chopped off by five persons who dubbed her as a witch and beat her up in Bihar's Khagaria district. 

The woman, a member of Kenjari panchayat, was beaten up yesterday on suspicion of practising witchcraft, by five persons, including one who blamed her for the recent death of his son and her nose was chopped off, SHO Beldar police station Mukesh Kumar Jha said. 

The woman was admitted to a hospital at Beldar, he said. On the basis of statement of the victim, a FIR was registered against five persons, Jha said.
Link: Panchayat member dubbed witch, nose chopped off

Oct 30, 2012: Woman dubbed witch, burnt alive by distant relatives

PTI | Oct 30, 2012, 09.54PM IST

AURANGABAD (Bihar): A 50-year-old woman was allegedly burnt alive by her distant relatives, who claimed she was practicing witchcraft in Mae village here, police said today.

According to complaint lodged by the woman's son, some relatives branded her a witch and burnt her alive after pouring kerosene on her on October 27, they said. 

The woman succumbed the next day at a hospital in Gaya, they said. 

On the basis of statement of the victim's son, an FIR was registered against four persons, they said. 
Link: Woman dubbed witch, burnt alive by distant relatives

Oct 30, 2012: MLA booked for assaulting rape victim

TNN | Oct 30, 2012, 06.33AM IST

ROHTAK: Two days after Bhiwani police booked INLD MLA from Loharu constituency Dharampal Obra and his wife Sheela Devi for threatening and beating up a physically-challenged dalit rape victim and her husband, the family of the victim alleged that they were feeling intimidated and insecure in the village and their three minor children had stopped going to school out of fear.

The 32-year-old victim has accused Obra and his wife of beating up and threatening her and her husband when they went to complain against the MLA's nephew who had been allegedly sexually-exploiting the woman for months.

Bhiwani police has started investigation into the complaint after registering a case on October 27 under sections 323 (causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 292 (obscenity), and sections of the SC/ST Act against Obra and his wife.

The police also registered a rape case against Obra's nephew Rajender the same day on October 27 following directions from the IGP, Hisar range. The victim's family comprising three children and the couple has been provided round the clock police protection at their house in the village following the registration of the case.

Talking to TOI over phone, the rape victim's husband said their three children including two girls who were studying in class 8th, 6th and 2nd in the government school in the village had not gone to school after the October 20 when the MLA and his wife threatened them to "get their children picked" if they dared to report rape incident to the police. "We are still in a state of shock and fear.

We had approached the MLA in hope of justice but I was beaten up by him while my wife was thrashed by his wife. How can we send our kidsto school now," he said.

"The complainant's medical examination has been conducted at the civil hospital. Since the matter is about one year old, the samples have been sent to the forensic lab at Madhuban in Karnal for further analysis to establish the rape charges".
Link: MLA booked for assaulting rape victim

Oct 30, 2012: Woman's uncle arrested for forcing her into prostitution

PTI | Oct 30, 2012, 08.35PM IST

JAJPUR: The uncle of a woman was among four persons arrested today from a village in Odisha for allegedly forcing her into prostitution in Uttar Pradesh, police said. 

The 25-year-old woman of Kharamangi village in Jajpur district of Odisha was married to Prakash Kabir Das of Chausath village in Uttar Pradesh on October 03, 2012. Her uncle Gopal Khuntia and one Bhagabat Sahu negotiated the marriage. 

Soon after the marriage, Prakash took the bride to his native village in UP along with the two negotiators. He then allegedly forced her into prostitution before selling her to one Suraj Pal for Rs 10,000 in the presence of her uncle and another relative. 

Suraj also allegedly forced her into prostitution. 

In her bid to escape from the situation, the woman told Suraj that a LIC policy in her name had matured and the amount was estimated over Rs 50,000. 

To collect the policy bond from her parental house, both came to the village on Monday. 

After reaching the village, the woman narrated her plight to her parents and angry locals locked up Suraj and his friend in a room. 

They also caught Bhagabat Sahu, Gopal Khuntia and Raju Sahu who assisted Suraj in the crime. Later, the four persons were handed over to police. 

"We have arrested the four persons in this case," said Deepak Kumar Superintendent of Police of Jajpur. 

However, police was yet to arrest the woman's husband. A team of police would proceed to UP soon to arrest others involved in the crime, the SP said. 

The accused were remanded in judicial custody by a local court.
Link: Woman's uncle arrested for forcing her into prostitution

Oct 29, 2012: Man held for rape of minor

Nitasha Natu, TNN | Oct 29, 2012, 10.33PM IST

MUMBAI: A 40-year-old man was arrested by the Samta Nagar police on Thursday for raping a minor who resides next door to him at Kandivali East. The 11-year-old victim underwent an examination at the Nagpada police hospital.

According to the police, the victim's parents are labourers. They had left home for work on Thursday. Around noon, the accused, Raja Shaikh, summoned the victim to his house, on the pretext of offering her some goodies. When the unsuspecting victim agreed and went over, Shaikh raped her. He later fled from the housing colony.

When her parents returned home, the girl narrated what had happened. Her parents then approached the Samta Nagar police and lodged a complaint. A police team was dispatched to look for Shaikh and found him at Kurla station. He was taken into custody and sent for a medical examination.

Shaikh was booked under section 376 of IPC on charges of rape and produced before a metropolitan court at Borivali. The girl has been sent to a childrens' shelter.
Link: Man held for rape of minor

Oct 29, 2012: Khap panchayats of Haryana demand changes in Hindu marriage Act

Deepender Deswal, TNN | Oct 29, 2012, 01.50AM IST

ROHTAK: The notorious khap panchayats of Haryana on Sunday demanded a legal ban on same-gotra and same-village marriages, saying such a measure could solve the problem of rising crime against women. 

Leaders of 30 khap panchayats who met in Rohtak passed a resolution calling for an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to bring the ban on such marriages into effect. 

The leaders vowed to take up this demand at the highest level and said they would visit Delhi next month for submitting their representations to the President, Prime Minister and the Union law minister. 

The meeting, held at the Chhotu Ram Dharamshala, was hosted by Rohtak's Chorasi khap and presided over by its leader, Hardeep Ahlawat. 

Terming modern culture as "obscene", the leaders said the state's social fabric had been vitiated because people were "blindly following so-called modernization which is the root cause of crime against women and incidents of rape". 

"The minds of the younger generation have been corrupted due to invasion of obscene and vulgar culture. Our youngsters have forgotten the rich values and customs of our society," said Baljit Malik of Gathwala khap. 

Addressing the meeting, Hardeep Ahlawat demanded a change in the law to ban matrimonial ties between couples from same gotras and same villages — traditionally viewed as brothers and sisters. 

"A legal ban on such marriages would also help curb the menace of honour killings and female feticide which has brought a bad name to Haryanvi society," said Om Prakash Dhankar, a khap leader. 

Other leaders argued that there would not be any honour killings or female foeticide if same-gotra marriages were banned. "People kill their daughters out of the fear that one day they might elope with men of the same gotra," said Dhankar. 

"A delegation of khap panchayat would visit Delhi on November 5 with copies of our memorandum to be handed over to India's top leaders. We would also call on the national commission for women the same day and asked it to raise the demand," he added. 

The khap leaders distanced themselves from a recent statement of a khap mahapanchayat spokesman who had sought lowering of the marriageable age of girls from 18 to 16 years to avoid rapes. The leaders said such statements had been spoiling the image of khap panchayats. 

"We strongly differ with such people. We have decided to launch social awareness campaign against extravagant marriages, dowry etc in society," he said. 

The khap panchayats have also urged the Haryana government to ban wedding ceremonies at night which they said lead to road accidents. Khap leaders said most people get drunk while attending marriages at night and then drive, resulting in road accidents.
Link: Khap panchayats of Haryana demand changes in Hindu marriage Act

Oct 29, 2012: Woman commits suicide over poorly cooked chow

TNN | Oct 29, 2012, 01.49AM IST

JAIPUR: Depressed by her husband's scolding over poorly cooked chow, a 24-year-old woman committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan at her residence at Bhatto Ki Gali area in the city. 

The incident took place on Saturday night when Souman Bishwas (29) who is into polishing rough gemstones asked his wife Tuma Bishwas (24) to cook some chow for the dinner, police said. "The dish according to the husband was overcooked. Later, the husband reprimanded her for serving him a poorly cooked dish and went out of home to have something from the food stall," a senior officer at the Manak Chowk police station said on Sunday. Souman also took along their six-year-old daughter Tarmista to the food stall. When the duo returned at 10.30 pm they were shocked to find the house locked from inside. 

"When it did not open for almost half-an-hour Souman broke the door lock and was stunned to see his wife hanging from a ceiling fan," said a police officer. Soon after, a team of senior police officers and FSL experts reached the spot and rushed the woman to the SMS hospital where she was declared brought dead. 

Police said prima facie it is a suicide case which resulted from a fit of anger. "No suicide note was recovered from the spot. People living in the neighborhood also said Souman and his wife were a happily married couple and not into any kind of family feud," a senior officer said. 
Link: Woman commits suicide over poorly cooked chow

Oct 29, 2012: Bihar man arrested for murder of two women

TNN | Oct 29, 2012, 03.51AM IST

CHENNAI: Guduvancherry police have detained a 30-year-old man from Bihar for the rape and murder of two women in suburban Thailavaram village in Kancheepuram district last month. 

On September 22, police recovered the body of woman that was decomposing. Police, who later identified her as Mari of Madambakkam, said there was evidence of a struggle and strangulation marks on her neck. 

People from Thailavaram informed police that they had found the body of another woman on October 14. Police identified her as V Sakuntala, 55, a flower vendor and the wife of Vedapuri, a security guard with a private company. A post mortem report confirmed that she had been physically assaulted before being strangled. 

A special police team interrogated construction workers in the area. When they saw that Sikandar, a construction worker from Patna, was behaving shiftily, they interrogated him. 

"He was moving suspiciously around Thailavaram village," an investigating officer said. "Sikandar told us that he worked for a firm in Koyambedu before going to Guduvancherry to take up a construction job." 

The officer said Sikander was a drug addict and drunkard and had failed to find a job recently. "He spent his time loitering around Thailavaram village," he said. "He would misbehave with women he came across when he was drunk at night." 

Police suspect that he could also have been involved in robbing gold chains because he has no source of income. Investigators believe that he killed the women when they resisted his attempts to rape them. 

"Both women had strangulation marks on the neck," the officer said. "Sikander tried to assault a 30-year-old woman from Thailavaram a couple of weeks ago. She was returning home after purchasing kerosene when he grabbed hold of her. But the woman managed to escape from him." 

The woman identified Sikandar as the man who attempted to assault her, investigators said. They suspect that he could have attempted to attack other women too. 

"Since the woman refused to lodge a complaint, we grilled Sikandar," the officer said. "We have taken his fingerprints and will check if they match those of known offenders."
Link: Bihar man arrested for murder of two women

Oct 29, 2012: 5-year-old abducted, raped, killed in Noida

TNN | Oct 29, 2012, 02.36AM IST

NOIDA: A five-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped, raped and murdered by a neighbour on Saturday in Noida. Police said the girl had gone missing on October 24 from Sultanpur.

"The accused, Amit, a driver, took the girl to a Dussehra fair after which she went missing. On Friday, a labourer found the girl lying in a field near Sultanpur and Nagla village. She was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her dead," said a police officer. Family members allege that the girl was molested and raped.

Link: 5-year-old abducted, raped, killed in Noida

Oct 28, 2012: A village rape shatters a family, and India's traditional silence

Jim Yardley, The New York Times | Updated: October 28, 2012 11:30 IST

Dabra: One after the other, the men raped her. They had dragged the girl into a darkened stone shelter at the edge of the fields, eight men, maybe more, reeking of pesticide and cheap whiskey. They assaulted her for nearly three hours. She was 16 years old.

When it was over, the men threatened to kill her if she told anyone, and for days the girl said nothing. Speaking out would have been difficult, anyway, given the hierarchy of caste. She was poor and a Dalit, the low-caste group once known as untouchables, while most of the attackers were from a higher caste that dominated land and power in the village.

It might have ended there, if not for the videos: Her assailants had taken cellphone videos as trophies, and the images began circulating among village men until one was shown to the victim's father, his family said. Distraught, the father committed suicide on Sept. 18 by drinking pesticide. Infuriated, Dalits demanded justice in the rape case.
"We thought, 'We lost my husband, we lost our honour,"' said the mother of the rape victim. "What is the point of remaining silent now?"

As in many countries, silence often follows rape in India, especially in villages, where a rape victim is usually regarded as a shamed woman, unfit for marriage. But an outcry over a string of recent rapes, including this one, in the northern state of Haryana, has shattered that silence, focusing national attention on India's rising number of sexual assaults while also exposing the conservative, male-dominated power structure in Haryana, where rape victims are often treated with callous disregard.

In a rapidly changing country, rape cases have increased at an alarming rate, roughly 25 per cent in six years. To some degree, this reflects a rise in reporting by victims. But India's changing gender dynamic is also a significant factor, as more females are attending school, entering the work force or choosing their own spouses - trends that some men regard as a threat.

India's news media regularly carry horrific accounts of gang rapes, attacks once rarely seen. Sometimes, gangs of young men stumble upon a young couple - in some cases the couple is meeting furtively in a conservative society - and then rape the woman. Analysts also point to demographic trends: India has a glut of young males, some unemployed, abusing alcohol or drugs and unnerved by the new visibility of women in society.

"This visibility is seen as a threat and a challenge," said Ranjana Kumari, who runs the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi.

In Haryana, the initial response to the rape after it was disclosed ranged from denial to denouncing the media to blaming the victim. A spokesman for the governing Congress Party was quoted as saying that 90 per cent of rape cases begin as consensual sex. Women's groups were outraged after a village leader pointed to teenage girls' sexual desire as the reason for the rapes.

"I think that girls should be married at the age of 16, so that they have their husbands for their sexual needs, and they don't need to go elsewhere," the village leader, Sube Singh, told IBN Live, a news channel. "This way rapes will not occur."

The most vulnerable women are poor Dalits, the lowest tier of the social structure. Of 19 recent rape cases in Haryana, at least six victims were Dalits. One Dalit teenager in Haryana committed suicide, setting herself afire, after being gang-raped. Another Dalit girl, 15, who was mentally handicapped, was raped in Rohtak, according to Indian news media accounts, the same district where a 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a neighbour.

"If you are a poor woman who is raped, you cannot even imagine a life where there will be justice," Kalpana Sharma, a columnist, wrote recently in The Hindu, a national English-language newspaper. "If you are a poor woman and a Dalit, then the chances of justice are even slimmer."

Haryana is one of India's most entrenched bastions of feudal patriarchy. The social preference for sons has contributed to a problem of some couples aborting female foetuses, leaving Haryana with the most skewed gender ratio in India, 861 females for every 1,000 males. Politically, the upper Jat caste largely controls a state-wide network of unelected, all-male councils known as khap panchayats, which dominate many rural regions of the state.

Elected leaders are reluctant to confront the khaps, given their ability to turn out voters, and often endorse their conservative social agenda, in which women are subservient to men. Khaps have sought to ban women from wearing blue jeans or using cellphones. One khap member, Jitender Chhatar, blamed fast food for the rise in rape cases, arguing that it caused hormonal imbalances and sexual urges in young women. Singh, who suggested lowering the legal marriage age, is also a khap leader.

"They are working the blame-the-victim theory," said Jagmati Sangwan, president of the Haryana chapter of the All-India Democratic Women's Association. "They are diverting attention from the crime and the criminals, and the root causes."

Yet public anger is clearly bubbling up. Small protests have been staged across the state, including one this month in the town of Meham, where about 100 men and women picketed the district police headquarters over the rape of a 17-year-old girl. They waved signs demanding "Arrest Rapists!" and "Justice for Women" and chanted "Down with Haryana Police!"

Here in Dabra, about 100 miles from the Pakistan border, villagers say there is no khap panchayat but rather an elected village council where the leadership position, known as sarpanch, is reserved for a woman under nationwide affirmative action policies. Yet the male-dominated ethos prevails. The current sarpanch is the wife of a local Jat leader, who put her forward to circumvent the restriction. During an interview with the husband, the official sarpanch sat silently in the doorway, her face covered by a gauzy scarf. "No, no," she answered when asked to comment, as she pointed to her husband. "He's the sarpanch. What's the point in talking to me?"

The gang-rape of the 16-year-old girl occurred on Sept. 9 but remained a secret in the village until her father's suicide. Dalits formed a committee to demand justice, and roughly 400 people demonstrated outside the district police headquarters, as well as at the hospital where the father's body was being kept.

"We told them that unless you catch the suspects, we would not take the body," said a woman named Maya Devi. "We do not have land. We do not have money. What we have is honour. If your honour is gone, you have nothing."

Since then, the police have arrested eight men - seven of them Jats - who have confessed to the attack. There are discrepancies; the victim says she was abducted outside the village, while the suspects say they attacked her after catching her having a tryst with a married man.

"She was raped against her will," said B. Satheesh Balan, the district superintendent of police. "There is no doubt."

Balan said villagers told the police that other local girls had also been gang-raped at the same stone shelter, though no evidence was available. Often, a girl's family will hide a rape rather than be stigmatized in the village. Even sympathizers of the teenage victim doubt she can assimilate back into Dabra.

"It will be difficult on her," Devi said. "Now she is branded."

In an interview at her grandparents' home outside the village, the victim said she believed other suspects remained at large, leaving her at risk. (Female police officers have been posted at the house round-the-clock.)

The victim has actively pushed the police and joined in the protests, despite the warnings by her attackers.

"They threatened me and said they would kill my family if I told anyone," she said.

Many Dalit girls drop out of school, but the victim was finishing high school. Even in the aftermath of the rape, she took her first-term exams in economics, history and Sanskrit. But she no longer wants to return to the village school and is uncertain about her future.

"Earlier, I had lots of dreams," she said. "Now I'm not sure I'll be able to fulfill them. My father wanted me to become a doctor. Now I don't think I'll be able to do it."

Link: A village rape shatters a family, and India's traditional silence

Oct 28, 2012: Minor girl murdered, body dumped in bin

IANS | Oct 28, 2012, 05.44PM IST

NEW DELHI: A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped and then bludgeoned to death by her neighbour who dumped her blood-soaked body in a garbage bin in Pul Prahladpur area of southeast Delhi on Saturday night. 

The victim's body was discovered when her brother and other residents of the area followed a trail of blood from her house to the garbage dump. Police have arrested the neighbour, Gopal, who is understood to have confessed to the horrific crime. 

Gopal, a construction worker, told the cops he had raped the girl when she was alone in her house and knocked her out with a rolling pin when she threatened to inform her brother. He then dragged her to the garbage bin, killed her with a stone and hid the body in the refuse, additional commissioner of police (south-east) Ajay Chaudhry said. 

The cops are waiting for the autopsy report to confirm if the girl was sexually assaulted. The victim, who belongs to Katihar district in Bihar, had come to Delhi for treatment around 45 days ago and was staying with her brother in the slums of the Railway colony. 

Accused had rape case against him in Bihar 

A senior cop said that Gopal, a father of three, and girl's family were from the same village in Bihar. The girl's brother, too, was a construction worker. Both Gopal and the victim's brother lived alone in the capital before the girl came to stay with the latter, Chaudhry said. 

On Saturday morning, the duo had left for work around 7am. The accused came back at 5pm while the girl's brother returned around 7pm and found his sister missing. "When I entered the room, I saw blood everywhere. I got scared and began to look for my sister. There were blood stains on the ground which led outside. I came out and raised an alarm," the victim's brother said in his complaint. 

Trailing the blood spots, the brother found a piece of cloth lying near the garbage area. He and other residents began to look through the garbage and found the girl lying in a pool of blood. She was rushed to a hospital by police but was declared "brought dead". 

The cops have registered a case of murder. Initial questioning of the area residents revealed that Gopal, who was seen in the evening, had gone missing. It also came to light that Gopal had been charged with rape and molestation in Bihar. Chaudhry said after the accused became the prime suspect, a team led by Ambedkar Nagar ACP Dharmveer Joshi was formed. Cops were deployed at railway stations and bus stands while other teams began to look for Gopal at his friends' and neighbours' places. 

Gopal was arrested from the Tughlakabad railway station in the early hours of Sunday while trying to board a train to Bihar, a police officer said. 

He told the cops that he had tried to rape the girl earlier but did not succeed. On Saturday evening, he had alcohol with his friend and went to the girl's house on the pretext of watching TV. He allegedly molested her while watching TV and when she resisted, he raped her. The girl began to cry and threatened to reveal the matter to her brother after which Gopal picked up a rolling pin and hit her on her head. 

The accused also said that he smashed her head against the wall after which he dragged her to the garbage dump and hid the body. He collected his luggage and wanted to flee to Bihar.
Link: Minor girl murdered, body dumped in bin

Oct 28, 2012: Class XI girl repeatedly raped in Haryana

PTI | Oct 28, 2012, 07.03PM IST

AMBALA: Yet another case of rape surfaced in Ambala district of Haryana today with a class XI student alleging that she was sexually assaulted on several occasions by two youths. 

A case was registered against Amit and Balwinder for sexually exploiting the class XI student of government school located near Naraingarh for the last few months, police said. 

The matter came to light when the minor complained to her mother about severe pain in her abdomen, they said, adding, her medical examination was conducted at Ambala City Civil hospital. 

The girl told the police she did not dare to disclose the matter to her parents because the youths had been threatening her of dire consequences if she revealed the matter to anyone. 

This is the second such incident reported from Ambala district after a class VI student had alleged a few days ago that she got pregnant after being repeatedly raped by a married youth. 

Haryana has been witnessing a series of crime against women in the past few months, following which the administration has faced criticism.
Link: Class XI girl repeatedly raped in Haryana

Oct 28, 2012: Couple held for obscenity in public place

TNN | Oct 28, 2012, 01.20AM IST

PUNE: A couple was arrested by the Kothrud police on Friday night for allegedly indulging inobscene acts inside a car at Bhusari colony in Kothrud.

Police said they received a complaint from people living nearby on Friday night. Accordingly, a police team reached the spot and sought an explanation from the couple. Initially, the man and the woman, around 40 years old, said they were married. When the police asked them to furnish their identity cards, they argued and told the police "not to interfere in their personal matter". The man claimed he is a prominent businessman.

Later, police brought the couple to the police station for questioning. Investigations revealed that the two were not married, but they knew each other well. A case has been registered against the two under sections of the Indian Penal Code. A magisterial court on Saturday released them on bail.
Link: Couple held for obscenity in public place

Oct 28, 2012: Juice vendor arrested for obscene act

Sanjay Yadav, TNN | Oct 28, 2012, 02.07AM IST

GURGAON: A juice vendor, who allegedly made obscene gestures and sexually harassed a woman coming out of her workplace at IFFCO Chowk, has been arrested by DLF Phase II police. On Saturday police produced him in a city court, which sent in judicial custody. 

According to police, the incident took place at IFFCO Chowk around 9pm on Friday. Ritika, a resident of Rangpuri, Delhi and a software engineer working with a software company in Delhi, was on the main road going towards the Mall Mile when Bullat Chauhan made an obscene gesture. When Ritika objected to it, Chauhan allegedly threatened to kill her. 

She then informed policemen who were standing near a PCR van after which DLF Phase II police station SHO, Inspector Jagdish Prasad, reached the spot. Police arrested Chauhan and lodged an FIR against him under 294/506 after receiving the complaint from the victim. 

"We have arrested the accused, identified as a Delhi based juice vendor, Bullat Chauhan, a native of Gopal Ganj, Bihar. He was in a drunken state and had come to Gurgaon with some of of his friends. A duty magistrate's court sent him in 14 days' judicial custody," Prasad said.
Link: Juice vendor arrested for obscene act

Oct 28, 2012: Man absconding after the murder of his wife, found in a well

TNN | Oct 28, 2012, 12.36AM IST

INDORE: The man who allegedly murdered his wife in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday found in a well here on Saturday.

Chandan Nagar police in-charge Shivpal Singh Kushwaha said that Sunil Rathore was found in the well at 4.30 pm around when local people noticed a body. He said that his body has been swelled. It means, he jumped in the well after killing his wife, he said adding that police were searching him here and there.

In the evening, people informed police about a body in the well. When police brought it out, he was identified as Sunil. He was the resident of Sahyog Nagar. Police sent his body to district hospital for post-mortem.

Sunil was absconding after killing his wife Sheetal Rathore over a petty dispute.

He was a history-sheeter. He was jailed once for killing one Rishi and released hardly fifteen days back. Police again sent him back under propitiatory orders, said Kushwaha adding that he was again released on Thursday evening only by the effort of his wife
Link: Man absconding after the murder of his wife, found in a well

Oct 27, 2012: Man held for raping daughter

TNN | Oct 27, 2012, 11.15PM IST

RAJKOT: A 35-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping his 13-year-old daughter repeatedly over the last three months. The accused Ayyub Notiya of Bajana village of Patdi taluka of Surendranagar district was arrested on Saturday. following a complaint from Nurjahan Motiya, the mother of the victim.

The complainant has alleged that Ayyub had raped her 13-year-old daughter on various occasions.

The child told her mother about being sexually abused just a few days back. This led Nurjahan, the victim's mother, to lodge a complaint with the police on Friday night.

Sources said the victim was sent to a government hospital in Dhrangadhra town for a medical examination. The accused works as a casual labourer in the village.
Link: Man held for raping daughter

Oct 27, 2012: Armed with phone clip of tryst, youth coerced & raped woman

Nitasha Natu, TNN | Oct 27, 2012, 03.14AM IST

Gorai: After almost three years of a coercive relationship which she had begun of her own free will on the internet but soon got trapped into and was sexually exploited, a polio-afflicted woman has got her 'friend' arrested on charges of rape and cheating. 

Abhijeet Mandhre, 27, a call centre employee, is accused of promising the woman marriage and coaxing her into a physical relationship. He secretly recorded the tryst and used it to blackmail the victim and rape her several times. He has been booked for rape, cheating and criminal intimidation by the Gorai police and remanded in police custody. 

The 30-year-old woman who works with a private firm met Mandhre in an internet chat room in 2009. Soon, they found out they were both from Charkop and exchanged cellphone numbers. A few days later, they decided to meet up. 

"In their first meeting offline, they went to Gorai beach and sat down for a while. As high tide was coming in, Mandhre suggested they should move to a shack, which would be more secure," said senior inspector Manik Bakhre of the Gorai police. 

At the shack, Mandhre tried to get cosy and the woman was surprised to find that he had come prepared with contraceptives. The youth convinced her that he loved her and would marry her. The woman gave in. 

"The victim later recollected having seen Mandhre plant his cellphone vertically on a chair near the bed. When she asked him about the phone, Mandhre told her to ignore it. A week later, while going through his cellphone, the victim found a video of their tryst," added Bakhre. When she confronted Mandhre and asked why he had shot the video without her permission, he brushed aside her protest, saying they were anyway going to spend their lives together. 

The couple met a few more times, during which she found another pornographic clip on Mandhre's phone. She couldn't recognize the people in the clip. 

Soon, the woman realized Mandhre was taking her for a ride as he would never encourage any discussion on their wedding. She stopped meeting him. At this point, Mandhre threatened to circulate the video, said a police official. 

The woman submitted to the blackmail and was taken on Mandhre's bike to various hotels in Gorai, Mira Road- Bhayander and Ghodbunder in Thane, where she was raped. After enduring the ordeal six to seven times, she narrated her plight in a letter to the Charkop police station. After the intervention of the deputy police commissioner, the letter was converted into an FIR and transferred to Gorai on Thursday.
Link: Armed with phone clip of tryst, youth coerced & raped woman

Oct 27, 2012: Priest gets jail for forced sex with wife

TNN | Oct 27, 2012, 06.06AM IST

AMBALA: A local court on Friday sentenced a temple priest to one-year imprisonment for having forced sex with his wife.

The court of additional sessions judge Poonam Suneja passed the orders after holding Shivpuri, a priest of Rambag temple in Ambala Cantt, guilty of the offence.

The police had registered a case under sections 376 A (forced intercourse with wife), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC against the priest on May 11, 2011, at the Ambala Cantt police station on the complaint of Gurdev Kaur.

In her complaint to the police, 36-year-old Kaur had alleged that her husband Shivpuri, 44, not only had forced sex with her but also threatened to kill her.

Police had registered a case after conducting an inquiry and on the basis of the medical report of the woman, which had confirmed "forced sexual intercourse".

Around 14 persons, including the doctor, who had examined Kaur, were presented before the court as witnesses during the trial.

Kaur's advocate Khushi Ram said that in cases of forced intercourse with wife, maximum punishment a court can order is of two years.

"The court sentenced Shivpuri to one year prison as no cruelty or violence was reported by the victim," added Khushi Ram.

On the other hand, Shivpuri has claimed that he was framed by his wife in a false case after he had refused to part with her share of property.

Shivpuri has decided to move the Punjab and Haryana high court against the Ambala courtorders.
Link: Priest gets jail for forced sex with wife

Oct 27, 2012: Girl resists gangrape bid, killed in Tamil Nadu

TNN | Oct 27, 2012, 06.43AM IST

CUDDALORE: A 22-year-old college student was murdered by a five-member gang on Thursday night after she reportedly resisted a rape attempt near Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district in north Tamil Nadu. 

Police said T Suganya, a final year BEd student of a private college in Cuddalore, was returning home with her neighbour S Senthamaraikannan on a two-wheeler , when a five-member gang waylaid them. 

They reportedly attempted to rape Suganya. When she resisted, the gang slit her throat. They overpowered Senthamaraikannan , who tried to save her, and attacked him with sharp weapons. He fled the spot to seek help. Police said he suffered injuries on his neck and limbs.
Link: Girl resists gangrape bid, killed in Tamil Nadu

Oct 26, 2012: Daughter kills father, brother in Ranchi

IANS | Oct 26, 2012, 05.41PM IST

RANCHI: A married woman along with her paramour murdered her father and brother for property on outskirts of Ranchi, police said on Friday. 

The accused, Sacchi Shekhar was arrested on Thursday. 

According to police, Sacchi was living separately from her husband for past five years and had an alleged illicit relation with Awdesh Singh alias Pintoo. 

Sacchi's father, Lal Randheer Nath Sahdeo, 70, had constructed a house for her near his place. Her brother Lal Murari Nath Murari Sahdeo, who had knowledge of her extra-martial relation, was against the property being given to Sacchi. He was also not in favour of Sacchi's illicit affair. 

On Oct 22, Sacchi's father and brother were shot dead in their house situated at Tupudana, around 20 km from here. 

Both Sacchi and Pintoo had planned the murder for property and escape to Mumbai, police said. 

Sachhi tried to dilute the investigation by blaming neighbours for land dispute. Three people named in the FIR were detained. 

Police during investigation found Pintoo hired three people and with help of Sacchi to kill both father and son. 

The changing statements of the woman and mobile call details unveiled the mystery of the murder.
Link: Daughter kills father, brother in Ranchi