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Tuesday 2 July 2013

Magistrate held for 'rape' gets bail, to join duty

Magistrate held for 'rape' gets bail, to join duty

COIMBATORE: Judicial magistrate S Thangaraj, who was arrested on Saturday on charges of raping a female sub-inspector, got bail from the Tirupur district and principal sessions judge's court on Monday. The bail order was served to the Coimbatore Central Prison and the magistrate was released on Monday evening. "He will take charge on Tuesday at the fast track court in Coonoor," his lawyer, Bhavani B Mohan said.

Thangaraj was arrested from ThattanKuttai near Kumarapalayam in Namakkal district on Saturday and sent to judicial custody after a female sub-inspector lodged a complaint with the Palladam all women police station, alleging that he had a physical relationship with her for more than a year after promising to marry her. The Palladam all women police station registered a case against the magistrate under Sections 376 (rape), 417 (cheating) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Thangaraj filed a bail petition before the Tirupur district and principal sessions judge's court, which came up for hearing on Monday before judge K Ganeshan. Public prosecutor KN Subramaniam argued that police had followed the rules and regulations of the Supreme Court and Madras high court in registering the case and, hence, the accused should not be allowed to enter the Nilgiris and Tirupur districts till the police investigation was completed.

Senior advocate Bhavani B Mohan, appearing on behalf of Thangaraj, argued that the woman SI had lodged a complaint with the Palladam all women police station on June 21 and that the case was registered on June 29. Police arrested the magistrate on Saturday and slapped rape charges on him. The charge does not apply in this case as they were in a relationship with mutual consent. The magistrate was not even told about the grounds of arrest. Mohan termed the incident as an assault on the judiciary and pleaded to the court to release Thangaraj.

Judge Ganeshan granted bail after the arguments concluded. Thangaraj, 31, of Oonjapalayam in Erode district is judicial magistrate at the fast track court at Coonoor in the Nilgiris district. He had allegedly been in a relationship with the woman sub-inspector attached to Palladam police station. However, he married another woman on June 20. 
 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Magistrate-held-for-rape-gets-bail-to-join-duty/articleshow/20867226.cms 

SC strikes gender equality note in grant of divorce

SC strikes gender equality note in grant of divorce


NEW DELHI: Irretrievable breakdown of marriage, coupled with promise of large amount of money as permanent alimony, has been cited by rich and powerful men to seek divorce from their wives when all was not well in the marital relationship.

Striking a gender equality note, the Supreme Court on Monday turned the tables and asked whether it would have granted divorce to a woman from her husband, who on developing some mental disorder had become completely dependent on her, if she promised a huge sum as permanent alimony.

The case related to Darshan Gupta and Radhika Gupta, who married when they were barely out of their teens in 1997. Radhika's first pregnancy was terminated due to medical reasons. The second pregnancy was again a very complicated one and the child had to be delivered through Caesarian section. She remained unconscious for a long time and developed serious mental disorder. The child died eight days after birth.

Though she was treated in reputed hospitals, she allegedly remained mentally ill. The husband claimed separation from her since 2002, breakdown of marriage and offered a large sum of money as permanent alimony to seek termination of marriage.

A bench of Justices P Sathasivam and J S Khehar rejected the husband's plea and wondered whether a similar request by a woman would have been entertained by the apex court for grant of divorce from a husband who developed some mental disorder.

"In the context of doing justice, it was suggested that the appellant (husband) would be ready and willing to pay the respondent (wife) whatever was considered appropriate by the Supreme Court. We are informed that the appellant is financially well to do," the bench said.

"We would, in our endeavour to determine the issue in hand, examine the matter by reversing the roles of the parties. We will examine the matter as if the wife had approached the family court seeking divorce, on the ground that her husband had suffered brain damage leading to cognitive deficiencies. Yet, despite the said deficiencies, his working memory had returned to 'near normal' after treatment. And his mental condition was such that it would not have any effect on his matrimonial obligations," the bench added.

"And the wife's family is agreeable to pay an amount to be determined by this court (just as the husband Darshan Gupta has offered), so as to enable their daughter to break away and find a more suitable match. Should she have been granted freedom from her matrimonial ties, in the given facts, in order to do complete justice to the parties? We would ask ourselves whether the husband would have accepted such a plea, in the facts denoted above," it further said.

"In such a situation, if this court had, in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, granted compensation to the husband, and had dissolved his marriage on the pretext of doing complete justice between the parties, would the same be acceptable to the husband? We have no doubt in our mind that on a reversal of roles, the husband, without any fault of his own, would have never accepted as just the dissolution of his matrimonial ties, even if the couple had been separated for a duration, as is the case in hand," Justice Khehar, while authoring the judgment for the bench, said. 

Techie's death: ‘girlfriend' arrested

Techie's death: ‘girlfriend' arrested 

The Mahadevapura police on Friday arrested a 23-year-old woman in connection with the death of software engineer S. Sreerag (25), whose body was found in his car in AECS Layout, off Whitefield, Tuesday morning.
The police said the arrested woman was Gayathri alias Jennifer, a K.R. Puram resident and a team leader with a telemarketing firm in Indiranagar.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) T.G. Krishna Bhat said she has been charged with impersonation.

Wrong picture

The police suspect that HP employee Sreerag, a native of Kozhikode in Kerala, committed suicide after his marriage proposal was turned down by Gayathri, whom he had met on a social network website in January. She had introduced herself as Jennifer and had emailed her friend's photograph to him, claiming that it was her. A smitten Sreerag started texting and chatting with her without ever seeing her.
When he proposed marriage a few days ago, she turned him down saying she was engaged to a London resident. A dejected Sreerag, police suspect, ended his life. He was found on the rear seat of his car near a park in AECS Layout where he had rented a house. His face was covered with four plastic covers and sealed with several layers of duct tape. A teddy bear, purportedly a gift for Jennifer, was found in the car.

Depressed, young film editor ends life

Depressed, young film editor ends life

MUMBAI: Under pressure to withdraw rape charges against her ex-boyfriend who called off their wedding, a 22-year-old film editor hailing from Delhi allegedly committed suicide at her rented residence at suburban Jogeshwari here, police said on Monday.
According to Oshiwara police, the incident took place last night in 471/Adarsh nagar chawl.
The deceased, Pallavi Jha, was found hanging from the ceiling. During panchnama, the police did not find any suicide note. The body was sent to Cooper hospital for an autopsy, after which a case was registered on Monday afternoon.

Her former boyfriend, against whom she had filed a rape case in Delhi last year, has been booked for abetting her suicide, police said.
During investigation, the police found that Jha had come to Mumbai two years ago to pursue a career in film industry. She had been working as a film editor and had shared her room with another film editor who is also a Delhite.
"Jha, who was also an aspiring model, was in a relationship with one Shailendra Sharma from Delhi for about five years in the past. She was set to marry Sharma but he called off the wedding as her family could not meet his dowry demand. Sharma demanded Rs 35 lakh in cash as dowry," said senior police inspector Naseer Pathan.
"Then Jha had filed a rape case against Sharma at a police station in Delhi last year alleging that he had maintained a sexual relationship with her on the pretext of marrying her. Later, Sharma started threatening her to withdraw the rape charges against him, which had depressed her a lot," the officer said.
Sharma has been booked for abetting her suicide after the victim's mother Vandana's complaint. The accused would be arrested from Delhi soon, Pathan added. 

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-01/mumbai/40306629_1_film-editor-police-inspector-police-station