Juvenile to be charged with rape, murder

Gangrape Juvenile Justice Board to begin witness examination next week.The Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday ordered framing of charges against a 17-year-old boy, one of the six accused in the December 16 gangrape of a 23-year-old woman who later died in a Singapore hospital.

He will be tried for the offences of gangrape, murder, kidnapping, unnatural offences, attempt to murder, dacoity, destruction of evidence and conspiracy. Since he is a juvenile, separate proceedings are being carried out before the board. But he faces the same charges as the other adult accused in the case.

The board, presided by Principal Magistrate Geetanjali Goel, ordered ‘framing of notice’ — the form in which charges are framed against a juvenile in conflict with law. Examination of witnesses in the case will begin on March 6.

The male friend of the gangrape victim and all witnesses who have been named in the chargesheet will be examined by the board. The trial of the adult accused is currently underway in a Saket fast-track court but the media has been restrained from reporting the proceedings.

Framing of notice has also been ordered in a case of robbery against the juvenile. According to police, the six gangrape accused had robbed a carpenter before assaulting the woman on a moving bus. She died thirteen days after the assault.

Last month, the board accepted the plea of the accused that he was a minor. Citing the date of birth as mentioned in his school records, the board ruled that he was 17 years, six months and 11 days old at the time of the offence.

The records taken from his school in an Uttar Pradesh village mentioned his date of birth as June 4, 1995. Police had earlier pressed for an ossification test to establish his age. But age documents submitted by school officials were accepted by the board, thereby ruling out any age-determination test.The angry family of the victim said if the police didn’t appeal against the ruling, they would approach a lawyer.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/juvenile-to-be-charged-with-rape-murder/1081435/0

‘Drunk’ men assault colony residents, cop

A brother-sister duo and a Delhi Police constable were assaulted by four men in New Ashok Nagar, East Delhi, on Tuesday morning. Eyewitnesses said the men were drunk and got into a fight with the brother for no reason.

Neeraj Kumar, a resident of Sonepat, was arrested from the spot. Police are looking for the others.In his statement to police, the brother said he was driving in to his colony when four men signalled him to stop the car. When he slowed down, the men banged their fist on the bonnet of the car and asked him to come out.

“As I came out of the car to ask them what was wrong, the accused punched my face. Before I could react, three of them held my hands and one of them started to punch me. When my sister came out of the car to rescue me, they slapped her too,” he told police.

After the duo cried for help, people gathered and overpowered the men. “The moment the crowd came, me and my sister sat in the car and left,” the complaint said. In the meantime, the beat constable, Mohit, reached the spot. Eyewitnesses told police that Kumar also got into a scuffle with a passerby. The beat constable, who tried to intervene, was also beaten up by the accused.

One of the men, an eyewitness told police, picked a board lying on the roadside and smashed it on the head of the constable.Lekhraj, who was present on the spot, said: “The accused entered into a scuffle without any reason. They were all heavily drunk.”

A case for attacking government employee on duty and damaging public property was registered against the men. Kumar has been sent to 14-day judicial custody, police said.

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-drunk–men-assault-colony-residents-cop/1073284/0

Narendra Modi protest: Students allege molestation

A day after police used lathis and water cannons to disperse students protesting against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University, several woman students complained they were molested and verbally abused by students who tried to stop them from protesting.

Police have received several complaints of harassment and molestation and are looking into the allegations. Students claimed they were molested by “miscreants” and that police personnel at the spot did nothing to stop them. They said policemen looked on while rival groups hurled abuses at them.

Reached for comments, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sindhu Pillai said: “We have received complaints and are looking into it. I was there at the spot with other senior officers. No one reported to me or other senior officials about any such incident. The press was also there right at the spot. We are conducting an inquiry into the complaints.”

Meanwhile, a case of rioting has also been registered against unidentified persons at the Maurice Nagar police station. The FIR states that around 3 pm on Wednesday, more than 100 people marched towards SRCC, protesting against Modi’s visit. It is alleged that students, who had been asked to conduct a peaceful protest, turned violent, broke a barricade and marched towards Gate No. 3 of SRCC.

“Those people used force to break the first barricade. The wooden sticks of placards were used to beat up police officials. A warning was given to protesters and they were asked to withdraw but they continued to be violent. The students managed to march towards the second barricade and water cannon was opened for 30 seconds,” the FIR states.

The students, on the other hand, demanded suspension of the Maurice Nagar SHO. A group also staged a demonstration outside the police headquarters on Thursday to protest against the alleged “high-handed” attitude of the police.

According to the protesters, the police instead of protecting those detained, dragged them through a crowd of ABVP activists.

Kopal Pokal, a member of the SFI who was outside the SRCC on Wednesday, said: “I don’t think policemen have learnt how to deal with protesters. They need to be gender sensitized. They dragged us from the barricades and took us through a crowd of ABVP members who hurled abuses at us, called us ‘besharam aurat’ and ‘deshdrohi’. Even the police personnel were laughing and jeering at us.”

The police told eight protesters whom they had detained to leave once Modi left the campus. But they marched to the police station and demanded that their complaints be registered. “We demanded that the police identify those who were abusing us and those police personnel who led us to the mob. Several TV cameras captured it. Why don’t they use that as evidence,” Piyush Raj, a member of AISA, said.

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/narendra-modi-protest-students-allege-molestation/1071240/0

Too many cops for VIP security, use some to keep city safe: SC

Pointing out that even the Chief Minister feels that the national capital is not safe for women, the Supreme Court on Thursday observed that police personnel guarding the VIPs should be deployed for better purposes, including making the city safer for women.

“Yes, they can be deployed for several better purposes… Delhi Chief Minister has said the city is not safe for women. We are not concerned with individuals, but there are several persons who have been given security apparently without any reason or real threat. There are also people who are being prosecuted and are given security cover,” a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and H L Gokhale said.

Earlier, submissions by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Indira Jai Singh and senior advocate Harish Salve had highlighted that while thousands of crore of rupees and large number of policemen were deployed in VIP security, their strength could instead be used to make the city safer.

“More than 8,000 policemen are deployed in VIP security in Delhi alone. Even if 4,000 of them are taken off and asked to do rampant checking of vehicles plying on the roads with other policing tasks, the incident that recently occurred (December 16 gangrape) would not have happened,” Salve said.

Court then sought to know from ASG Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for the Centre, about the different classes of people who were being provided security cover. Luthra had earlier adduced records containing the names of people given security but the court sought a detailed affidavit, classifying the VIPs in distinct groups.

“Do you see any justification to provide security to such a large number of people? We don’t want to take the name publicly but there are some people in your list who are even facing criminal cases. What is the requirement of giving security to people who are holding positions and not Constitutional ones? You have put all the judges of this court and High Court in this category. What is the purpose?” the Bench asked.

Luthra said he would file a better affidavit.

Adjourning the matter for February 14, the bench asked all states, which had failed to filed affidavits on the number of security personnel deployed for VIP security and the cost borne by them, to do so by Monday. It said in case they fail, their home secretaries will have to personally appear before the court.

Govt affidavit on VIP security cover

8,049 policemen deployed for VIP security

Of these, 844 are for security of Rashtrapati Bhavan

460 VIPs in the national capital

Cost of security cover is Rs 341 crore

Of this, Rs 38.48 crore spent for Rashtrapati Bhavan

63,985 personnel deployed for maintaining law and order

3,448 personnel for crime prevention and investigation

5,847 personnel for traffic management

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/too-many-cops-for-vip-security-use-some-to-keep-city-safe-sc/1071199/0