9 yrs in jail for murder, but ‘victim’ still alive

May 30th, 2010, Sunday, Amita Verma, The Asian Age

Lucknow: Tej Pratap of Mathura district was made to spend nine years in jail for a murder that did not take place.

The police arrested Tej Pratap in 2002, when his father-in-law lodged a complaint claiming that his daughter had been killed by Tej Pratap. Tej Pratap had married Rani, an Aligarh resident, in early 2002 and his wife had gone home for Holi. Rani refused to return to her husband’s home and her father told the police she had been killed by her husband.

The police, without establishing that a murder had occurred, or finding Rani’s body, arrested Tej Pratap and jailed him. Tej Pratap approached the high court in this regard but his bail plea was rejected and he has been languishing in jail ever since. Tej Pratap recently had a heart attack and was granted bail for treatment. During this time, Tej Pratap contacted Rani and opted for divorce after paying her Rs 3 lakhs. Rani’s father had demanded Rs 10 lakhs to settle the divorce proceedings.

When the fact that Rani was alive came to light, the role of the police came in for severe criticism.

The police has now lodged an FIR against Rani and four others.
http://www.asianage.com/india/9-yrs-jail-murder-%E2%80%98victim%E2%80%99-still-alive-412

Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA arrested

May 22, 2010, Saturday, Staff Reporter, The Hindu

In a major embarrassment to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State, party MLA Kamal Patel was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday here. Mr. Patel was arrested for destruction of evidence in connection to a murder case involving his son Sudeep Patel.

A BJP MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Harda constituency, Mr. Patel was arrested late Thursday night following a round of questioning by the CBI officials. His son Sudeep Patel is involved in the murder of one Durgesh Jaat at Congress MLA Rajendra Patel’s farm house.

The alleged murder took place in March 2008, when Mr. Patel was the revenue minister of the State. The case was being investigated by the special crime branch of the CBI at Lucknow on the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court dated 11th November 2008.
“Patel has been arrested under sections 120 (b), 201 and 304 of the IPC and has been taken to Indore to be presented before the CBI magistrate,” Deputy Inspector General of CBI Hemant Priyadarshy told The Hindu over phone.

Mr. Patel, however, told some media persons that he was being falsely implicated.

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/article434915.ece

Designer found with cocaine gets 3 yrs in jail

May 23, 2010, Sunday, Abhinav Garg, Sunday Times of India

CAUGHT IN S DELHI RESTAURANT

New Delhi: An interior designer,who was nabbed carrying cocaine at Olive Bar & Kitchen in the capital in 2005,has been convicted of the crime by a Delhi court.

Special judge,Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court,Sanjiv Jain,has sentenced one Dev Chopra to three years rigorous imprisonment after finding the evidence gathered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to be clinching.

The effect of consumption of cocaine on the society is disastrous,it eats away the life and vigour of a society.Illegal trade of such a nefarious drug would have an adverse impact on the lives of many people, the court observed.

The fact that Chopra had been earlier booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act and Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act strengthened the prosecutions allegation that the convict was also involved in prostitution apart from supplying drugs to affluent customers.

According to the prosecution,NCB officers had received a tip-off that on October 1,2005 Chopra was planning to deliver 20gm of cocaine to a customer at the Olive Bar in Mehrauli.

The raiding party reached the bar and nabbed Chopra red-handed with a packet of the banned drug.

A white polythene bag filled with cocaine was recovered from the spot,the prosecution told the court during arguments while seeking strict punishment for Chopra.

The court found that Chopra was unable to convincingly explain his presence at the scene of the offence even as lab tests confirmed the recovered substance to be cocaine.

Along with three-year-jail term,the court further slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict.

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=7§id=edid=&edlabel=CAP&mydateHid=23-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&articleid=Ar00702&publabel=TOI

Anomalies force Govt to amend rape law

May 23, 2010, Sunday, Abhinav Garg, Sunday Times of India

NEW DELHI: An illiterate, poor father's petition in the Delhi high court has forced the Union government to agree to bring wide-ranging reforms in rape laws that will treat sex with any women less than 18 years of age as rape.

Mahadev, whose daughter was allegedly kidnapped and forcibly married only to become a pregnant underaged teen, had in his petition filed two years ago exposed the conflicting provisions in IPC and Prevention of Child Marriage Act that led to serious anomalies. Over two years, a special bench grappled with Mahadev's arguments made through his lawyer Arvind Jain and repeatedly questioned the central government, demanding to know why there were conflicting provisions in law that in effect encouraged child marriages.

HC had also roped in bodies like the law commission and women's commission to brainstorm and find a solution. All this while Mahadev's pregnant daughter continued to languish in Nari Niketan because her husband was behind bars and the custody couldn't be given to the father.

Left with little room to manoeuvre, the government has decided to amend the IPC and CrPC to remove existing discrepancies that allow different penal yardsticks for 'age of consent (16)', 'marriageable age (18)' and 'exception to cohabit with wife (12-16 years)'.

A draft bill detailing amendments, submitted before a special bench on Friday by the government promises to keep 18 years as the uniform age for marriage and consent, abolishing all exceptions. In other words, sex with a girl less than 18 years will amount to rape and no discount can be given to a male who has a minor wife. Currently marital rape of a minor has lesser punishment.

The draft bill also does away with an exception under section 198 of CrPC that prohibited a court from taking cognizance of a rape complaint by a minor wife if lodged one year after the incident.

In his petition Mahadev has urged HC to strike down the sub-sections of Section 375 and 376 which do not consider rape of a woman by her husband as a crime. He had also challenged Section 6 (C) of Hindu Minority and Guardian Act and Section 198(6) of CrPC stating they were unconstitutional and in violation of his and his daughter's fundamental rights.

The petition also highlighted how under a provision of Section 376, a man raping his wife can be punished for rape.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Anomalies-force-Govt-to-amend-rape-law/articleshow/5963850.cms