Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Delay in FIR not a ground for rejecting prosecution evidence

Delay in FIR not a ground for rejecting prosecution evidence

PTI | 05:10 PM,Oct 12,2010

New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) Delay in lodging of FIR and discrepancies in eyewitness accounts cannot be a ground for discarding the prosecution's evidence, the Supreme Court has ruled.The apex court said that such discrepancies were bound to occur particularly in rural areas due to the distance between the village and the police station; and memory of a person also fades away with the passage of time.

Ram Naresh shot at and seriously wounded the victim Shiv Vilas on August 11, 1978 due to previous enmity. The sessions court imposed a five-year sentence on the accused by relying on the eyewitness account of Ram Vilas and Lalu. The Allahabad High Court upheld the sentence."We also find no reason to disregard the evidence of Ram Vilas and Lalu (witnesses). Admittedly, Ram Vilas was a brother of Shiv Vilas, the injured and Lalu was a close relative and also a party man."It must also be borne in mind that the incident happened in the year 1978 and the evidence was recorded in 1986.

Some discrepancies are therefore bound to appear in the ocular evidence as memory fades with the passage of time," a Bench of Justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad said in an order.The apex court passed the ruling while dismissing the appeal filed by Naresh challenging his conviction in an attempt to murder case in Uttar Pradesh about 32 years ago.Ram Vilas had lodged the FIR only the next day as the police station was at a distance of nine kilometres.The accused took the plea in the apex court that there was a considerable delay in the registration of FIR and there was certain material differences in the account given by the eyewitness.Rejecting the argument, the apex court said, "We find from a reading of the evidence that there is no substantial delay in the lodging of the FIR.

The incident happened in a village about 9 kms away from the police station late in the evening and it would have been difficult for the complainant living in a rustic and backward area to rush to the police station immediately,"the Bench observed.However, the Bench said that since the incident had occurred 32 years ago, it was reducing the sentence from five years to three years and directed that the accused be taken into custody forthwith to serve his remaining period of the sentence.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/delay-in-fir-not-a-ground-for-rejecting-prosecution-evidence/404691.html

Apex court cautions high courts on use of powers

Apex court cautions high courts on use of powers

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 7:24:14 PM by IANS

New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) The Supreme Court has said that though high courts enjoy vast powers for administration of criminal justice (under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure) but the same was not unbridled and should be exercised cautiously and sparingly.

“It needs little emphasis that although the jurisdiction of the high court under the said provision (Section 482 of Cr.P.C.) is very wide but it is not unbridled,” said an apex court bench of Justice D.K. Jain and Justice H.L. Dattu in a judgment Oct 8.

The provision confers extra ordinary powers on high courts in relation to the administration of criminal justice.

Under the provision, the high court in order to meet the ends of justice can pass any order even in situations where there is no statutory backing for such an order in the Cr.P.C.

The court sounded its caution while setting aside the Bombay High Court order of Oct 9, 2007, by which it had declined to quash criminal complaint against the then chairman of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) by a company, Switchgear Limited. Asoke Basak was heading the board when the complaint was filed.

The company entered into various contracts for the installation of low tension load management system for the MSEB and deposited Rs.five lakh as security.

In the course of the time, some dispute arose between the two and the company withdrew from its deal with the MSEB.

It sought the refund of its security which was declined on the grounds that the same has been adjusted against the dues payable by the company. Against this a criminal complaint was a filed before a magistrate which the Bombay High Court declined to quash.

Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Jain said: “The high court is required to exercise its inherent powers under Section 482 of the code sparingly, carefully and cautiously, ex debito justitiae to do real and substantial justice to prevent the abuse of the process of court.”

“One of the situations when the high court would be justified in invoking its powers is where the allegations in the first information report or the complaint, as the case may be, taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not constitute the offence alleged,” the judgment said.

Referring to an earlier verdict of the apex court, the judgment said that the exercise of the said powers was a “serious matter” for the accused, thus, the high court should not superficially examine the matter under its consideration.

The high court should exercise the inherent powers under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the apex court, the judgment recorded.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/apex-court-cautions-high-courts-on-use-of-powers_100443396.html

Two women arrested for injecting HIV blood into mother

Two women arrested for injecting HIV blood into mother


Hyderabad, Oct 7 – Angry with their mother for refusing to write the property in their names, two women and the husband of one injected her with HIV-contaminated blood in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur town. The three were arrested Thursday.
Durga, 35, Kameshwari, 32, and Kameshwari's husband Sambasiva Rao, 36, have been arrested, police said. They were later produced in a court, which sent them to jail for two weeks.

The trio were after the property of 59-year-old Bharati and allegedly injected her with HIV-infected blood. Bharati complained to police that Durga, her step-daughter from her earlier husband, in connivance with Kameshwari and her husband took her to a hospital where they injected her with the HIV-infected blood.

Kameshwari works as a nurse in a government-run hospital, where she with the help of her husband and sister committed the crime.
Bharati, who was undergoing treatment for fever, grew suspicious when her condition worsened and she underwent blood tests which confirmed that she was injected with contaminated blood.

She alongwith her husband, Rachakonda Ranga Rao, a retired government employee, lodged a complaint with the police.

A case under Domestic Violence Act was booked against her daughters and son-in-law.
The accused were mounting pressure on Bharati to hand over to them her property estimated at Rs.50 lakh and when she refused they hatched a plan to ensure her death.

http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/10/women-arrested-injecting-hiv-blood-mother.html

'Make Laws Against Pre-Natal Sex Selection Stringent'

'Make Laws Against Pre-Natal Sex Selection Stringent'

12 oct 2010

The national commissions for women and human rights today voiced serious concern over the decline in ratio of girls to boys and suggested making laws more stringent to check pre-natal sex selection and female foeticide in the country.
"Sex ratio is declining in the country every year due to female foeticide. We had suggested certain amendments in the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (prohibition of sex selection) Act, 1994, three years ago but nothing has so far been done....The Act should be more stringent," Chairperson of National Commission for Women Girija Vyas said.
She was addressing a conference organised jointly by National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women on 'Pre-natal sex selection in India:Issues, Concerns and Action'.
Vyas underlined that there are many "lacunae" in the Act and the rate of conviction is "very low".
"Under the Act, punishment is very less. There is no provision for police intervention or third party intervention under the Act," she said.
The NCW chief noted that "abortion is allowed in extraordinary situation but there is no such distinction (in practice). Not a single state, even Kerala, is spared (where incidents of female foeticide do not occur)."
Practice of female foeticide is still continuing in many states including several districts of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan. None of the health clinics have been found to be "upto the mark" even in the national capital, she said.
Addressing the conference, NHRC chairperson Justice K G Balakrishnan lamented that there is no law in the country to address the basic regulatory requirements for opening a hospital.
"Unfortunately in India, there are no effective provision for opening a clinic, a health centre, even a hospital. There is no law to address the basic things, fundamental (regulatory) requirements for opening a hospital," he said.
"Clinics should be periodically inspected by authorised officials. There should be some provision that clinic could always be managed by some senior doctors.... These things can bring change to a great extent," Balakrishnan suggested.
He said that laws to curb female foeticide and sex selection practices are not implemented properly.
"PCPDT Act, 1994 has penal provisions. Unfortunately, police are unable to detect such crimes as those cases are always collusive in nature," the former Chief Justice of India said.
Balakrishnan noted that there was need for better implementation of the existing laws and change in the "mindset" of society for checking the declining sex ration in the country or else crime against women, like trafficking, would rise in the country.
Underlining the role of doctors, he suggested that they should be "a little more active and sensitive" towards "this social evil".
Doctors "must" give correct advice to those who approach them for pre-natal diagnostic test and abortion of female foetus, he said.
"But, unfortunately, nature of man to accumulate more wealth creates problems," he added.

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?696956

Truths about marital conflicts

Truths about marital conflicts

Oct 12, 2010

A study at University of Michigan has found that many marriages are probably doomed from the beginning because the partners couldn't get their act together.
While some wanted to resolve the conflict, others ignored it. The study has revealed some insights into some lesser-known truths about marital conflicts:
The husband is more likely to use constructive strategies, trying to confront a problem and resolve it by working through the disagreement, while the wife prefers to yell, or give the silent treatment and make the situation worse.
Over time, the wife is likely to change her behaviour, becoming more constructive in her approach to conflicts, while the husband is more likely to remain unchanged. Since both are willing to work together to resolve the dispute, the marriage has a better chance of succeeding, according to the study.
"You can't just have one person using constructive strategies, trying to find solutions and calmly discussing the problem. You have to have both spouses using that strategy," ABC News quoted Kira Birditt as saying.
29 per cent of the husbands and 21 per cent of the wives claimed they had no conflicts at all during their first year of marriage, which is doubtful since partner must make during the early months of a new marriage, and Birditt believes some spouses may have been less than candid on that question because they were interviewed separately.
"The method changed in the third, seventh and 16th year," she said, and the spouses were interviewed together. "When they are together, it's harder to lie. I can see the wife saying oh no, we did have a conflict, honey."
But perhaps the most surprising find was that greater constructive behaviours among wives predicted greater divorce rates.
"We were totally surprised by that. I'm not sure what's going on there. It might be that wives are more likely to use destructive strategies regularly, so when they use a constructive strategy it might be like the last straw. Maybe they're done with the yelling and screaming, but now they really have a problem," said Birditt.
Birditt, by the way, is in her third year of marriage, and she described herself as "happy." So how does she resolve conflicts in her own marriage?

"I think it depends on the situation," she said. "I guess I use all of them. It just depends on how mad I am."
The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family .

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/Truths-about-marital-conflicts/articleshow/6706762.cms#ixzz128xkTGYz

Live-in Relationship- Indian scenario-Legal psycho social aspect-p7 news kayda kanoon-03oct10

Live-in Relationship- Indian scenario-Legal psycho social aspect-p7 news kayda kanoon-03oct10

 

Part 1/2

 

 

 

Part 2/2

Hazards of FATHERLESSNESS-Single parenting-p7 news on KAYDA KANOON-10oct10

Hazards of FATHERLESSNESS-Single parenting-p7 news on KAYDA KANOON -10oct10

 

Part 1/2

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2/2

 

Retired cop, family for booked abetting daughter-in-law's suicide

Retired cop, family for booked abetting daughter-in-law's suicide

TNN, Oct 11, 2010, 11.22pm IST

RAJKOT: A retired policeman and two of his family members were booked on Monday for abetting the suicide of his daughter-in-law, who ended her life here on Sunday.

Police said victim Manchhaba Jadeja committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her house in Rameshwar Park in Railnagar area. The victim's father in-law Dilubha Jadeja, retired assistant sub-inspector, had informed the city police control room about the incident. The investigation was handed over to Pradyumannagar police station.

Manchhaba's family created a ruckus at the civil hospital when her body was brought for postmortem. Ranjeetsinh Parmar, Manchhaba's brother has alleged in his police complaint against her husband and in-laws that his sister was being physically and mentally tortured for not bringing Rs 50,000 as dowry. This forced her to take the drastic step, he has alleged.

Dilubha, his son Lakhdhirsinh and wife Ansoyaba have been named as accused in the complaint and have been booked on the charge of abetment to suicide, said assistant sub-inspector T J Mishra of Pradyumannagar police station.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Retired-cop-family-for-booked-abetting-daughter-in-laws-suicide/articleshow/6731997.cms#ixzz128VaUfwR

Son of district judge held in dowry harassment

Son of district judge held in dowry harassment

12 oct 2010

HYDERABAD: A software engineer from the city, who was employed in the US, was arrested from the Delhi international airport in a dowry harassment case. The techie was returning to the US when immigration authorities caught him and handed him over to the city police.

The software engineer is the son of Asifabad additional district judge Sambasiva Rao.

Police said  K Ramakrishna was married to Anupama, a resident of Yousufugda in 2006. Anupama’s parents reportedly gave Rs 1.80 lakh cash, gold ornaments and other household articles as dowry during the marriage.

An year after the marriage, Ramakrishna and Anupama left to the US.  Ramakrishna started harassing his wife for additional dowry.  When Anupama become pregnant, Ramakrishna sent her to Hyderabad.  She told her parents about the harassment.

Anupama’s family members met Ramakrishna’s parents, Sambasiva Rao and Saraswati, several times to sort out the matter but their efforts went in vain.

In May this year, Anupama lodged a complaint against her husband and in-laws with the police.

The City police alerted all international police stations about the case and issued a look out circular against him. Recently, Ramakrishna came to Delhi on an official   work and was on his way back to the US from the Delhi airport when immigration officials caught him.

“Ramakrishna was arrested from the Delhi airport and he was sent to judicial remand,’’ CCS women police station inspector S jyothi Lakshmi said.

Meanwhile, the police sought the permission of the High Court to take action against Sambasiva Rao and are awaiting  court’s nod.

 

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/hyderabad/son-of-district-judge-held-in-dowry-harassment/214587.html

NCW to SC: Is it cruelty to threaten divorce?

NCW to SC: Is it cruelty to threaten divorce?

Tue Oct 12 2010,

The National Commission for Women (NCW) wants the Supreme Court to rule on whether a woman can be held liable for cruelty under dowry law if she threatens to “force” her son to take divorce.

“Whether threatening a daughter-in-law that she (the mother-in-law) would force the son to take a divorce not amount to mental cruelty thereby clearly attracting Section 498A (dowry harassment) of the IPC?” the commission has sought a judicial clarification from the apex court.

It has further asked the court to decide if “advising” a daughter-in-law to take divorce by mutual consent and inducing her with a monetary compensation amounts to cruelty as defined under Section 498A.

The top women’s body has sought these clarifications in a curative petition filed before a Bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam against a July 27, 2009 Supreme Court judgment.

“In this judgment, this court has held that (a) kicking a daughter-in-law; (b) constantly threatening her that they (in-laws) would convince their son to take divorce does not amount to cruelty as under Section 498A (dowry harassment) of the IPC,” states the NCW petition filed by advocate Aparna Bhat.

The commission said it had, during the “course of its work”, found dowry harassment and domestic violence “more of a norm than an aberration and the law has to be interpreted in a manner beneficial to women in distress”.

The 2009 judgment of Justices S B Sinha and Cyriac Joseph had quashed dowry harassment charges instituted against Bhaskar Lal Sharma and his wife by their daughter-in-law, Monica, who accused them of physically harming her and threatening her with divorce.

Section 498A says it amounts to ‘cruelty’ if a husband or his relative wilfully subjects a woman to actions that may drive her to commit suicide or cause grave injury to herself. A person is liable to undergo a maximum imprisonment of three years if found guilty.

The petition asks the court whether “constantly interfering in the marriage of a newly married couple by advising a daughter-in-law to give divorce, kick her, and criticise her on a regular basis” match the definition of cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ncw-to-sc-is-it-cruelty-to-threaten-divorce/696020/2

Bombay HC sets aside divorce for wife of dead man

Bombay HC sets aside divorce for wife of dead man

TNN, Oct 12, 2010, 12.05am IST
MUMBAI: Can a divorce be granted to a woman whose husband is dead? The Pune family court certainly thought so and passed just such an order recently. But finding the Pune order nothing short of "preposterous, a bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi of the Bombay high court set it aside on Monday.
A Pune-based woman who was married for almost 20 years through a love match and had two minor teenagers was going through a divorce battle when a freak accident took her husband's life.
The fairly affluent couple, Arun and Aruna Joshi ( name changed), were estranged for five to six years. In 2005 the wife in her mid-40s filed a divorce petition citing mental and physical cruelty as ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act and sought maintenance too. But after efforts at mediation failed, the couple turned their petition into one of mutual consent in February this year.
The family court allowed them to convert the contested divorce case into a joint plea for divorce. The mutual consent petition had its next date of hearing in May 2010. But in April, Arun in his early 50s, who was walking on one of Pune's main roads became a fatal victim of an accident involving a truck and car. Aruna went to the family court and made an application for closing the case as her husband was no more.
Aruna's lawyer Neela Gokhale told the HC that in a mutual consent divorce matter, the couple continues to remain married till the decree is passed. As the husband died while the matter was pending, the wife , Gokhale, said is now a widow. The family court judge R V Deshmukh rejected the wife's request and said that as the couple had agreed to a divorce by mutual consent and had even sought to convert a contested case into a joint plea for divorce, "nothing else remained to be done. So, he could issue a divorce decree even if the husband was dead.
At the first day of its hearing, Justice Marlapalle who had read the appeal papers and appeared shocked at the Pune court's decision of granting divorce, set it aside. The woman can now have her widow status which she prefers over being called a divorcee. The property issues would now follow the succession laws if no will was made.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/HC-sets-aside-divorce-for-wife-of-dead-man/articleshow/6732341.cms#ixzz126TFkUSD