Court acquits two in dowry death case as complainant-cum-witness turns hostile

A local court on Tuesday acquitted two persons charged with abetment to suicide, as the complainant-cum-witness turned hostile.
Pawan, accused in the case was married to Sunita, who died after jumping from the third floor of her house in Sector 15-C on March 25 this year. Pawan allegedly harassed his wife for dowry. Sunita's brother Rajesh, who is the complainant in the case, had alleged that Pawan and his father Nand Kishore harassed his sister for money, following which a case was registered under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of Indian Penal Code against them.
According to the complainant, he got a call on March 25 around 4 pm from the accused and was informed that his sister has been injured and has been taken to PGI. Around 7 pm on the same day his brother got a call that Sunita has jumped from the third floor of her house.
Rajesh, in his initial complaint, had alleged that Pawan and Nand Kishore demanded cash and motorbike. He had also told the police that they spent around Rs 12 to 15 lakh in the marriage which took place in 2000.
According to Rajesh, Sunita, a mother of two children, was not given proper food and was not allowed to meet her children. She was also sent to her parents ancestral home after marriage for some time. He said a local panchayat at her parents home tried to resolve the issue on several occasions.
However, Rajesh later turned hostile and refused to accept that he made any statement before the police regarding the amount of money being spent on the marriage. He also denied that he made any statement about any panchayat being held to resolve the dispute.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/court-acquits-two-in-dowry-death-case-as-complainantcumwitness-turns-hostile/1167505/ 

Man kills wife’s lover in Chennai

CHENNAI: A 33-year-old painter killed his wife's lover when he found them sleeping together in his house at Maduravoyal here in the wee hours of Sunday.
M Sakthivel, a resident of Rajiv Gandhi Nagar in Alapakkam, left home at 8pm on Saturday after an altercation with his wife, Bhuvaneshwari. He returned home at 12.30am on Sunday and knocked on the door. When the door was not opened, he got suspicious and barged into the house and found Bhuvaneshwari sleeping with his neighbour, Satish.

An angry Sakthivel attacked Satish with a knife and killed him in front of Bhuvaneshwari. Sakthivel's three children were sleeping in the adjacent room when the murder happened.
After the murder, Sakthivel went to the Maduravoyal police station and informed the police about it. They arrested and produced him before a magistrate court in the city on Sunday. The court remanded him in judicial custody.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that Bhuvaneshwari had eloped with Satish a year ago. Based on Sakthivel's complaint, the police then registered a woman missing case and traced her. The police reportedly warned her and asked her to stay with her husband. However, she allegedly continued to meet Satish.
Sakthivel married Bhuvaneshwari 10 years ago.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-08/chennai/41873073_1_satish-bhuvaneshwari-wife-s-lover 

Majority of rape and dowry death cases are settled out of court

Though clamour for stringent punishment for those accused of crime against women is getting louder, the fate of such cases is still beyond expectations.
From January to August this year
Of the total 115 cases registered under sections 304-B (dowry death) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) reached in Rohtak court, in 31 cases, the perpetrators of crime were let off in want of evidence, while five could be nailed.
Following the nation's outcry on bone chilling gang rape with a paramedical student in New Delhi, the high court had ordered the district court to speed up pending cases of crime against women in district courts.
As per available data, in January, in three accused of rape (different cases)were acquitted in lack of evidence, while one accused of dowry death was also set free for the same reason. No one was convicted in this month. In February, four rape accused were set free, while one was convicted and one was convicted in dowry death in the same month.
In March, three perpetrators were set free by court here, while no one was convicted in rape and dowry death. In April, three were acquitted in rape and one was acquitted in dowry death, while one each was convicted in rape and dowry death.
In May, the case of rape could not stand legal scrutiny and three were set free, while one was set free in dowry death. Court remained off in June month. In July, five rape accused were released, while two were set free, who were booked by police on dowry death.
The result remained non-impressive in August month, two rape accused were set free, while three dowry death were acquitted in lack of evidence. Sources inside court maintained that majority of the rape and dowry death cases fall flat in court, as a result of out of court settlement.
In such cases, the popular modus operandi is to refuse to identify the accused inside the court, which weakens the cases and accused were let off. In some cases, the accused and victim get ready to withdraw the case on the promise of marriage in presence of panchayat members from both sides.
In one such case (rape) registered on 13/08/2013 by a dalit girl on a Punjabi community boy, the victim later refused act of rape on her.
The court of additional district and session judge Seema Singhal on 13/08/2013 had imposed a fine of Rs.1000 on the victim and a punishment of one day(Till the Court rise).
Currently, 66 rape and Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act and 14 dowry death cases are pending in court.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Haryana/Majority-of-rape-and-dowry-death-cases-are-settled-out-of-court/Article1-1118434.aspx 

रेप के बढ़ते मामलों के लिए मैं जिम्‍मेदार नहीं: पूनम पांडे

अपने बोल्‍ड अंदाज और उससे भी बोल्‍ड टिप्‍पणियों के लिए मशहूर विवादास्‍पद एक्‍ट्रेस और मॉडल पूनम पांडे का कहना है कि रेप के बढ़ते मामलों के लिए मुझे दोषी न ठहराएं. हाल ही में फिल्‍म नशा में जमकर अंग प्रदर्शन करने वाली पूनम इस बात से हैरान और नाराज हैं कि महिलाओं के खिलाफ बढ़ते अपराधों के लिए कुछ लोग उन्‍हें दोषी ठहरा रहे हैं.
पूनम पांडे की तस्‍वीरें, जिन्‍होंने बटोरी सुर्खियां
दरअसल इन दिनों पूनम को हर तरफ से यही सुनने को मिल रहा है कि इंटरनेट और मैगजीनों में उनकी भड़काऊ तस्वीरें महिलाओं के लिए खतरनाक साबित हो रही हैं. पूनम ने कहा कि मुंबई में महिला फोटोजर्नलिस्‍ट के साथ गैंगरेप की घटना के बाद से ही उन्हें बार-बार और लगातार खुद को दोषी मानने पर मजबूर किया जा रहा है.
पूनम ने सवालिया अंदाज में कहा, ‘मेरी तस्वीरें महिलाओं के खिलाफ हो रहे अपराधों के लिए जिम्मेदार हैं, क्या सचमुच यही बात है. दिल्ली गैंगरेप के समय भी मुझ पर इस तरह के आरोप लगाए गए थे. मैं उन सभी लोगों से एक सवाल पूछना चाहती हूं, जो मुझे इन सब के लिए दोषी मान रहे हैं कि क्या मेरे चर्चा में आने से पहले महिलाओं के खिलाफ अपराध नहीं होते थे?’
पूनम पांडे का Hot 'गुड मॉर्निंग'...
पूनम का मानना है कि लोग अपनी कमजोरियां छिपाने के लिए हमेशा कोई बलि का बकरा ढूंढते हैं. उन्होंने कहा, ‘समाज में व्याप्त बुराईयों के लिए आप मुझे दोष क्यों दे रहे हैं. मैं केवल एक लड़की हूं, जो दुनिया में अपने लिए जगह तलाश रही है. जब कानून व्यवस्था नाकाम होती है तो वे लोग किसी और को दोषी बता देते हैं. लेकिन मुझे दोष क्यों दे रहे हैं? मैंने क्या किया है?’
तस्‍वीरों में पूनम पांडे की फिल्‍म 'नशा' के मदहोश करने वाले पोस्‍टर
पूनम पहली बार चर्चा में तब आई थीं जब 2011 में क्रिकेट वर्ल्‍डकप के दौरान उन्होंने ऐलान किया था कि भारतीय टीम ट्रॉफी जीतती है, तो भारत की जीत की खुशी में वह भारतीय खिलाड़ियों के न्‍यूड होंगी.

और भी... http://aajtak.intoday.in/story/dont-blame-me-for-rapes-says-poonam-pandey-1-740278.html

 

http://aajtak.intoday.in/story/dont-blame-me-for-rapes-says-poonam-pandey-1-740278.html 

Suicide note not enough proof of abetment: Bombay HC

This is really shame on India & Indian's, when one lady dies without her suicide note it is confirmed that 498a case & legal process starts but when one Man dies with Suicide note making his in-law & wife responsible still it is not accepted by law & media, Shame! Shame!! Shame!!!

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday observed that a suicide note alone was not enough proof in a case of abetment of suicide and dismissed an appeal against acquittal in one case. In the absence of independent evidence to prove a case of abetment, Justice A H Joshi dismissed the appeal filed by the victim's family.

The judge was hearing an appeal filed by the family of a suicide victim against the acquittal. The appeal, filed last year by one Sunil Bhavsar, challenged a sessions court verdict of acquittal. His lawyer argued that it was a case in which a woman was pushed into committing suicide and that a suicide note she left behind "proved the abetment charge". She was harassed and threatened, the lawyer argued.

The case was from Nashik and the lawyer said a complaint was filed in 2010 with the Nashik police about the harassment and threats she faced that led to her eventual suicide. Hence, the abetment to suicide charge is proved, he argued and the acquittal ought to be overturned.

The state did not file an appeal. The appeal itself was dismissed, by default, by the HC earlier in March 2013 as the lawyer for the appellant had not turned up on a date when it was scheduled for a hearing.

On Tuesday, when the lawyer for the victim's family stressed on the suicide note and threats she allegedly received before the suicide, Justice Joshi said, "This is no mathematical equation, that a suicide note plus threat equals abetment...If harassment is proved, show the proof," the HC said. The judge said, "A threat to kill is not abetment. (Giving) An advice to kill is also not abetment."

In case of a suicide, higher courts have held that in each case the circumstances and evidence is crucial to decide whether there was abetment, which would involve acts by another person to actually instigate the person into committing suicide, the SC has held.

WHAT THE SC HAS HELD

"If it appears to the Court that a victim committing suicide was hypersensitive to ordinary petulance, discord and difference in domestic life quite common to the society to which the victim belonged and such petulance, discord and difference were not expected to induce a similarly circumstanced individual in a given society to commit suicide, the conscience of the Court should not be satisfied for basing a finding that the accused charged of abetting the offence of suicide should be found guilty." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Suicide-note-not-enough-proof-of-abetment-Bombay-HC/articleshow/22108153.cms?intenttarget=no