Bharat Rakshak

2. Speedy justice is not merely an aspect of the right to life with dignity, but is essential for efficacy of the law and its desired impact, as well as for prevention of its violation.
3. Available personnel of the judiciary and the infrastructure, with a few systemic changes can, atleast, reduce half the burden of arrears in courts contributing to delays in enforcing the law of the land. Judge strength can be increased in phases without diluting their quality. Our suggestion of eminent retired judges being appointed as ad hoc judges will solve this problem.

IndraD wrote:http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/j ... 337040.ece

Juvenile age bar should not be lowered - Justice Verma

Standing firmly against lowering of the age criteria for juveniles accused of heinous crimes including rape, the Justice J.S. Verma Committee report on ‘Amendments to Criminal Law’ has noted that “the Juvenile Justice Act has failed miserably to protect the children in the country. We cannot hold the child responsible for a crime before first providing to him/her the basic rights given to him by the Indian Constitution.’’

Mango people should ensure that Juvenile Md Firoz is released soon and gets employed in the house of justice verma and daughters...

SriKumar wrote:
4. Have searched the report for one comment on delays in cases, slow judicial process etc....could not find it. ......Found something Conclusions # 2 and # 3 address the issue of slow judicial process in very general terms:

2. Speedy justice is not merely an aspect of the right to life with dignity, but is essential for efficacy of the law and its desired impact, as well as for prevention of its violation.
3. Available personnel of the judiciary and the infrastructure, with a few systemic changes can, atleast, reduce half the burden of arrears in courts contributing to delays in enforcing the law of the land. Judge strength can be increased in phases without diluting their quality. Our suggestion of eminent retired judges being appointed as ad hoc judges will solve this problem.

The above suggestion that some 'systemic' changes will halve the court backlog is interesting but very vague. Re-appointing retired judges will 'solve the problem'? If it will, then let's go for it (Now, how many retired judges are there, and how many (lakhs of ) pending cases are there).

This may be due to reasons such as improper investigation, coupled with judicial delays. Some of the statistics regarding delays in disposal of cases are highly disturbing. During the year 2011, only 16 percent of the rape cases pending for trial could be completed and at the end of the year about 79,468 cases were still pending for trial at various courts. It is the same story in respect of other crimes viz. 13% disposal rate in cases of kidnapping and abduction of women and children, 16% in dowry deaths, 10% in cases relating to cruelty by husband and relatives etc. There is huge backlog of cases in various categories. For e.g., 29,669 pending cases in respect of dowry deaths; 3,39,902 cases in cases of cruelty by husband and relatives, 17,468 cases under Dowry Prohibition Act etc. there is an urgent need for a concerted effort to minimise judicial delays through special courts, fast tracking of such cases etc.

The low conviction rate may be yet another reason for the increase in crime against women. The NCRB data for the year 2011 shows a conviction rate of 26.4% for cases of rape, 27.7% for cases of molestation and 45.8% for cases of sexual harassment. Effective and timely investigation leading to conviction in a timely manner may act as a deterrent in such crimes.

Amid the heightened emotions that have surrounded this case a local bar association has stopped its members from representing the men citing the heinous nature of the crime. The three grandstanding lawyers who have rushed in to represent the accused spent weeks taking potshots at each other instead of coordinating a defense. Two lawyers fought for days over which one was representing one of the defendants.

And the case is being heard by a brand new fast track court, set up in the wake of the rape to deal with sexual assaults in the capital, that is under pressure to reach a verdict within weeks. Finally, whatever is said or submitted in court has to stay in the room—a gag order by the judge prevents the media from reporting anything about the case.

‘‘However wicked and depraved society may perceive a person to be, he deserves a fair trial. He deserves a good defense,’’ said Markandey Katju, a retired judge of India’s Supreme Court.

‘‘That some of those charged are the real culprits and some are innocent ... that is a very real possibility,’’ he said, adding that in India the police ‘‘spreads its net wide.’’

The Shiv Sena party, an ally of the main opposition BJP, said it had handed out 21,000 knives with three-inch blades to women in the city and surrounding areas and plans to distribute 100,000.
Mumbai police said they were examining the knives and considering legal action. "This is a symbolic gesture," said Shiv Sena spokesman Rahul Narvekar, adding that a knife shorter than six inches in length does not fit the definition of a weapon. The party also handed out small bags of chili powder - apparently to throw into an attacker's eyes. "It's only to pass a signal to eve-teasers, anti-social elements and perpetrators of crime against women that women are empowered and they can take care of themselves," Narvekar said.

A judge hearing the case of five men accused of the fatal gang-rape of a student on a New Delhi bus barred lawyers from speaking to the press on Thursday on the second day of the trial.

"The court has strictly ordered us to refrain from sharing details about the case," lawyer V.K. Anand told AFP outside the Saket district court in New Delhi, where the suspects made a second appearance on Thursday.

Jhujar wrote:Indian Women Given Kitchen Knives, Chili to Fend Off Rapists

ramana wrote: Shiv Sena is being careful with the 3" knives which would be good for sabzi cutting badly. They could have gone till the legal limit.

SaiK wrote:perhaps aided by spring loaded release mechanism, that can get maximum out of minimum work during emergencies.

I am sure, some private co can be engaged to make india specific stun guns that is useful like a torch light too.

designs to choose from akin: http://www.stungunscheaper.com/~Stun_Gu ... PAodhBYAxw

Now, I am not sure if this is legal. I am might end up buying one or two and make the awareness of such devices in desh.

SaiK wrote:perhaps aided by spring loaded release mechanism, that can get maximum out of minimum work during emergencies.

I am sure, some private co can be engaged to make india specific stun guns that is useful like a torch light too.

designs to choose from akin: http://www.stungunscheaper.com/~Stun_Gu ... PAodhBYAxw

Now, I am not sure if this is legal. I am might end up buying one or two and make the awareness of such devices in desh.

New Delhi, Jan 24: Five men on trial for the fatal gang rape of a student on a New Delhi bus warmed up by burning her clothes after they had left her for dead, a police file reveals.

The file seen by The Times claims the accused then divided up the belongings of the 23-year old and her male friend and tried to destroy evidence by cleaning the bus and hiding their own clothes

An alleged confession by bus driver Ram Singh, 33, recovered from the police's file on the case, states that his brother Mukesh Singh, 28, was given one mobile phone while gym instructor Vinay Sharma, 20, was handed another, along with the male victim's shoes.

Akshay Kumar Singh, 28, took the student's rings, 18-year-old Pawan Gupta took a watch and 1,000 rupees, and a juvenile was said to have taken a bank card and a small amount of cash.

Today's opening arguments by the prosecution lawyers took place within a courtroom closed to the public and media, in a special fast-track court set up just weeks ago to handle sexual assault cases.

Details of the day's proceedings were not available. The courtroom was closed to the public and the media even though defence lawyers had argued that since the victim is dead, the proceedings should be opened.

There was also a gag order on the lawyers to not reveal what happened inside the court.

The police's file on the attack contains details of the operation mounted by Delhi police to catch the attackers and the alleged attempts by the accused to destroy evidence.

The documents reveal how police tracked down the bus on which the attack took place after detectives spotted it on an airport hotel's CCTV, speeding away from where the victim and her male friend were dumped.

Testimonies from two rickshaw drivers allege that the attackers burned the victims' clothes in a bonfire lit close to where the bus was parked.

The police papers say that despite the attackers' efforts to clean the bus, substantial blood stains remained and further DNA evidence was obtained when detectives found bundled clothing worn by the men on the night of the attack, along with clumps of the victim's hair.

The bus driver, Ram Singh, tried fleeing his slum when detectives caught up him but later confessed and gave police five other names, including that of his younger brother, according to the police documents,

His alleged confession includes how the men split the victims' mobile phones, money, jewellery, bank card and even the male victim's Hush Puppies shoes.

Mobile phone records are said to place the attackers on the route taken by the bus during the attack.

An alleged confession by the juvenile suspect states that the men pretended to be fellow passengers to lure the couple onto the bus before the bus doors were locked and each of the men 'took it in turn to do the wrong act.'

An iron rod was used first to beat the male victim and then used on the student to inflict massive internal injures of which she died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

They were both then dumped naked on the side of the road.

The aspiring doctor, 23, secured a First in her fourth and final year medical exams at the Sai Institute in Dehradun shortly before she was raped and murdered, her University has revealed.

She featured in a list of high-achieving students compiled by Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, after she scored 800 out of a possible 1,100 marks.

She scored: 124/200 in Physiotherapy in Orthopaedics; 147/200 in Physiotherapy in neurology; 151/200 in Physiotherapy in Cardiothoracic Conditions; 144/200 in Physiotherapy in General Gedicine; 160/200 in Physiotherapy in Clinical Dissertation; and 74/100 in Research Methodology.

The head of her former institute Harish Arora pledged to hand back the 1,80,000 rupees paid by the girl's family in fees.

This clearly shows that the Executive of this country is fully aware of the bare minimum steps that are required to ensure the safety of women, and has been aware of the same, as will be seen elsewhere in this Report, for several years. Yet, despite numerous recommendations, deliberations, consultations, studies, directions from the judiciary and, most importantly, the protests of civil society, the State continues to fall woefully short of ensuring the safety of women in this country.

The recommendations made in this report, unless urgently implemented, will end the exercise conducted by this Committee in futility.

The men handling the calls were not able to connect to the problems of women. We then hired women rehabilitated by NGOs. Because these women themselves have been victims of sexual violence, they are able to empathise with the women in distress."
One of the callers is a young woman who complains that she is being stalked by some men on a motorcycle on her way home from work.
She sounds afraid and can barely put her words together to register a complaint.
The team member who answers the call tries to calm her down.
"Don't worry, we are with you. Have you noted down the number of the bike they are following you on? Speak up without any fear," she consoles her.
This is a normal day at the special helpline set up by the Delhi government exclusively for women after the brutal gang rape of a young woman shook the capital last December.
It is a small room in a bustling government office, where a team of 12 women work round the clock in shifts and attend to calls.
Every day, they receive 2,500 to 3,000 calls from women who say they are in distress.
They complain of being stalked, receiving lewd text messages on their mobile phones, molestation and domestic violence.
The executives listen to each caller, take down details, counsel her, call up the police and ensure that the complaint is registered.
"After evening the number of calls increases tremendously. It is a stressful job but the satisfaction of helping a woman is immense," says Savita, a senior team member who uses only one name.
"Once we received a call from a woman complaining about a barking dog in her neighbourhood. We told her that we couldn't help her but she insisted that it was our duty to resolve the matter," Ms Savita says.
"After following up on certain calls, we discovered that some women had filed false complaints about their husbands only to harass them. It's a tricky business. No wonder we get calls from men asking for a helpline for them as well!"

Suggestions of the Congress party on changing anti-rape laws were delivered past midnight to Justice J S Verma leading to party chief Sonia Gandhi tendering an apology to him for the odd timing.

Justice Verma also said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram were instrumental in forming the committee which gave far reaching recommendations favouring comprehensive amendments to criminal laws.

"Past mid-night, someone came to my residence, woke me up and wanted to hand over personally (the Congress party's suggestions). But somehow the Congress president came to know of it. She was very gracious and next day she rang me up personally and profusely apologised to my great embarrassment. I had to tell her do not do this," he told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate Programme.

Tejendra Khanna, who heads the national capital's police department, on Friday urged gun-owning residents to put their weapons to "social service" and scare away potential molesters, The Indian Express said on Saturday.

"Gun owners with licences must roam lonely spots like bus stands each night and if they spot someone harassing a woman, they should use their weapon to stop the crime," the federal administrator said in a speech.

31. We notice that the Preamble to the South African
Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair
Discrimination Act, 2000 includes an express
provision28 that “the consolidation of democracy in
our country requires eradication of social and economic
inequalities, especially those that are systemic in nature,
which were generated in our history by colonialism,
apartheid and patriarchy, and which brought pain and
suffering to the great majority of our people…..”

32. We think that the Preamble of our Constitution in
1950 proceeded to project these principles and
proceeded on the basis that economic and social
inequality was meant to be eradicated. The
objective was sufficiently large and was cognizant
of the oppression and discrimination which would
exist in a patriarchal society.

We are of the opinion that on account of the
patriarchal structure of our society, women have
been constantly marginalised and ignored. They
have gone through years and years of struggle.
On the other hand, we must not forget, they have
participated in equal measure in India’s freedom
movement, and the framing of the Constitution.

73. We quote with emphasis the following sentence,
which is crucial for the purpose of the present
debate: “For it led, among other things, to the
unwarranted acceptance of heterosexual teleology and to
the psychoanalytical sanction of the patriarchal
distributions of sexuality and power.” Borrowing
again from Bauer, a primary assumption of
Hirschfeld's doctrine of sexual intermediaries is
that, “there are no men and women, but only
human beings that are to a large extent male or to
a large extent female.”38

41. As E. Andrew suggests:
“Law is naturally conservative; it relies on precedent
and background assumptions and seeks interpretations
consistent with those assumptions. Legal change is,
accordingly, generally incremental. It is just enough
reform to look good to large segment of the public, to
preserve the system from collapse, and to make everyone
feel proud, but not enough reform as to wreak radical
change. Because of that, the nature of legal training is
likely to perpetuate historically dominant cultural tales
that have previously penetrated the law and are a break
on rapid change in the master narrative. Patriarchal
rape tales will not give up the ghost easily.”229

..and more.
report ref:

136 Chakravarti, U. 1993. 'Conceptualising Brahmanical patriarchy in
early India: Gender, caste, class and state', Economic and Political
Weekly, Volume(14): 579-85. See also; Baxi, P., Rai, S. M. and Ali, S. S.
2006. 'Legacies of common law crimes of honour in India and
Pakistan', Third World Quarterly, Volume(7): 1239-53.

ramana wrote:So midnight influencing going on?

hnair wrote:create (confidential) specific reports for police, for trending names or locales, for further inquiries

B'coz hi is a MUSLIM ???
Agree (43)Disagree (3)Recommend (34)

SHAMELESS Juvenile Justice Board !!!
Agree (43)Disagree (0)Recommend (32)

b@satard corrupt judges are main reason of rapes and murders cases .
Agree (31)Disagree (1)Recommend (23)

This is non sense....Look at the gravity of crime and not the age
Agree (38)Disagree (0)Recommend (19)

@All Indians & SC: Please set him free as soon as possible.... Once he will come out of the Jail... We-The People of India will make sure to hang him secretly in his own house... We-The people of India will make sure that THIS JUVENILE shall not breathe even a single day more after his release from JAIL... We-The People of India will at least full fill our 1/6th responsibility towards our sister .
Agree (23)Disagree (2)Recommend

HELPLESS TAXPAYER (Bangalore)
..Great People.. Weak judicial, Administrative & political system.. Wonderful loopholes to protect the corrupt & criminals.Vande Matram..
Agree (27)Disagree (0)Recommend (13)

This is guy who inserted the rod which ripped Nirbhaya's stomach.Now as per Indian law he will be punished with max 3yrs imprisonemnt. May be if his pictures are widely circulated,then when he's free,people can take care of him with Iron Rods..!!
Agree (14)Disagree (0)Recommend (10)

AND HE HAPPENED TO BE THE BIGGEST TORMENTOR OF THAT HAPLESS GIRL....................WA RE JUSTICE......................NOW THIS GOON WILL GO SCOT FREE..........................OTHER FIVE WILL ALSO MANAGE SOMETHING LIKE THEY WERE NOT THERE IN DELHI THAT DAY AND THEY WILL HAVE WITNESSES AVAILABLE FOR A FEW NOTES.......AND AS LAW IS BLIND AND GOES AS PER WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE................WHO KNOWS THESE FIVE BEASTS TOO MANAGE TO GO SCOT FREE"
Agree (17)Disagree (0)Recommend (9)

The board's ruling comes as a major setback to the demand for justice for 23-year-old victim, as the "minor accused" would now escape with maximum three-year observation at the children's remand home, even as he was alleged to be most brutal and active during the crime that took place in a moving bus.

The victim's father took a strong objection to the board's decision. Talking to Headlines Today over the phone from his hometown in Uttar Pradesh, Ballia, he said he would approach any court or authorities to seek justice for his dead daughter.

The girl's father said the board should have at least ordered a bone-ossification test on the accused before considering his certificate age as the final for his trial into the heinous crime case.

The board has thus rejected the Delhi Police's plea seeking the bone-ossification test to determine the exact age of the accused. The police had failed to prosecute him along with five other accused as he had claimed that he was under 18 on the day of crime, December 16, 2012.
The boy had appeared before the board earlier in the day, but was sent back to children's remand home on medical ground.

IndraD wrote:
will some one explain why board didn't order bone ossification test in such a high profile case?

ramana wrote:So Gen VK Singh school certificate is no good but rapist certificate is acceptable.