Declining to entertain the plea, the bench further added that it does not allow a child’s DNA test at the drop of the hat and pointed out that if the accused were not to be the father of the child, would it obviate rape?..reports Asian Lite News
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a plea seeking a DNA test of the child of a minor, who was allegedly raped.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna, in its order, said: “We are not inclined to entertain the Special Leave Petition under Article 136 of the Constitution. The Special Leave Petition is accordingly dismissed. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of.”
During the hearing, the bench noted that the identity of the child’s father is immaterial to the case. It added that in the offence under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 376, the identity of the father has no relevance.
Counsel representing the accused contended that his client moved the top court against the Allahabad High Court order dated June 25, 2021, which set aside the sessions court order, allowing the DNA test of the child. The accused, in the plea in the apex court, claimed that it is being alleged that he is the father of the child.
Declining to entertain the plea, the bench further added that it does not allow a child’s DNA test at the drop of the hat and pointed out that if the accused were not to be the father of the child, would it obviate rape?
The top court order came on a plea by the rape accused, who is facing trial in a juvenile court, which also declined to entertain his plea for DNA testing. The accused filed the plea through advocate Robin Khokhar.
It has been alleged that seven months ago from the registration of the case, the accused raped the minor girl in front of his family members. The mother of the victim lodged an FIR at police station Kotwali Dehat in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur against the accused and his family members. During the trial, the accused was declared juvenile and trial is in progress before the juvenile justice board.
The high court had noted determining paternity of the child is irrelevant, as the matter is whether the accused raped the victim or not.
The arrest comes amid renewed scrutiny of sleaze in Westminster following a string of cases involving sexual misconduct…reports Asian Lite News
A Conservative MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.
The man, in his fifties, has been asked to stay away from Parliament during the investigation by Chief Whip Chris Heaton Harris but has not had the whip suspended, meaning he remains a member of the Conservative Party.
The MP, who has not been named but is understood to be a backbencher, has been accused of carrying out sexual offences over a seven-year period.
A spokesperson for the government whips office said: “The Chief Whip has asked that the MP concerned does not attend the Parliamentary Estate while an investigation is ongoing.”
The accusations have been subject to a two-year investigation after first being reported to police in January 2020.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “A man was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault, rape, abuse of position of trust and misconduct in a public office.”
Scotland Yard said the alleged offences took place between 2002 and 2009 in London.
The Conservative Party will not make a decision on whether the suspect will have the whip withdrawn until after the criminal investigation is concluded.
The Prospect union, which represents hundreds of staff working in the Houses of Parliament, said firmer action is needed.
The union’s deputy general secretary, Garry Graham, said: “What will it take for Parliament to finally take its responsibility to its staff and visitors seriously and suspend access to the estate for parliamentarians under investigation for sexual offences? Parliament has the same responsibilities towards its staff as any other workplace.”
Graham added that Imran Ahmad Khan – the former Tory MP for Wakefield who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy last month – had attended Westminster whilst investigations were ongoing despite agreeing to stay away.
The arrest comes amid renewed scrutiny of sleaze in Westminster following a string of cases involving sexual misconduct.
Khan quit the Commons this month following his conviction and David Warburton had the Conservative whip withdrawn in April after allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use emerged.
Tory MP for Tiverton and Honiton Neil Parish stepped down earlier this month after watching porn on his phone in the House of Commons chamber.
Over the past year, about 15 MPs were investigated by Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) watchdog, which examines allegations of bullying and harassment.
Conservative sources declined to identify the individual, citing the need to protect the identity of any complainant.
A spokesperson added: “Until the conclusion of the investigation we will not be commenting further.”
The Constitutionality of the marital rape exception is currently under challenge before the Delhi and Gujarat High Courts…reports Asian Lite News
In a ruling that could help shape the debate on marital rape, the Karnataka High Court Wednesday refused to quash rape charges filed by a wife against her husband, defying the exception in law, and, instead, called on lawmakers to hear the “voices of silence.”
“A man is a man; an act is an act; rape is a rape, be it performed by a man the ‘husband’ on the woman ‘wife’,” a single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna of the Karnataka High Court said. The “age-old…regressive” thought that “husbands are the rulers of their wives, their body, mind and soul should be effaced,” the court said.
While the court did not explicitly strike down the marital rape exception, it forced the married man to face trial for rape charges brought by his wife. The husband had moved the High Court after a trial court took cognisance of the offence under Section 376 (rape).
IPC Section 375 that defines rape carries a crucial exemption: “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape.”
In 2018, a similar case was brought before the Gujarat High Court in which a married man sought quashing of the rape case against him filed by his wife. Although the HC quashed the FIR to remove the rape charges, it gave a lengthy reasoning on the need to criminalise marital rape.
The Constitutionality of the marital rape exception is currently under challenge before the Delhi and Gujarat High Courts.
The “institution of marriage does not confer, cannot confer and in my considered view, should not be construed to confer, any special male privilege or a license for unleashing of a brutal beast. If it is punishable to a man, it should be punishable to a man albeit, the man being a husband,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.
“A brutal act of sexual assault on the wife, against her consent, albeit by the husband, cannot but be termed to be a rape. Such sexual assault by a husband on his wife will have grave consequences on the mental sheet of the wife, it has both psychological and physiological impact on her. Such acts of husbands scar the soul of the wives. It is, therefore, imperative for the lawmakers to now hear the voices of silence,” the court said.
This ruling came in the course of a judgment on a petition filed in 2018 by a 43-year-old man for dropping of charges of rape and sexual assault on a child brought against him by police in Bengaluru on the basis of a complaint filed by his wife in March 2017 after a marriage of 11 years.
Last month, Imran’s comments on sexual violence drew severe backlash after he suggested that avoiding “temptation in society” is the way to prevent sexual violence against women…reports Asian Lite News
After facing a barrage of criticism over his remarks on rape last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has backtracked on his comments stating that he would “never say such a stupid thing” where a victi
m is held responsible for the crime committed against them.
“Anyone who commits rape, solely and solely that person is responsible. So let’s be clear about that. No matter how provocative the woman is or whatever she wears, the person who commits rape is fully responsible. Never is the victim responsible,” said Pakistan PM in an interview with PBS News Hour.
Last month, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s comments on sexual violence drew severe backlash after he suggested that avoiding “temptation in society” is the way to prevent sexual violence against women. He made the comments around two months after a similar controversy.
In an interview with US-based media house PBS, Khan explained his comments were taken out of context. “They were simply talking about Pakistan society where we are having a sharp rise in sex crimes,” he said.
“And I have to say because I know all the interviews I have given. Never would I say such a stupid thing where a person who is raped is somehow responsible. It is always the rapist that is responsible,” said Khan.
On the question, if the importance of Islam in the country hinders his stance for women, Pak PM said, “Absolutely not. Islam gives dignity (and) respect to women.”
His comments come amid a recent outcry over growing incidents of sexual violence in Pakistan. Official statistics in Pakistan have revealed that at least 11 rape incidents are reported in the country every day, with over 22,000 cases reported to the police in the last six years.
Pakistan slipped two spots since last year, now ranking among the four worst countries worldwide for gender equality, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 by the World Economic Forum.
Pak fails to provide safety to children
The body of a six-year-old girl who was raped and murdered was found in Karachi’s Korangi area, officials said on Wednesday.
The child’s body was found from a garbage dump in Korangi’s Zaman Town near her residence after a search of nearly eight hours, Dawn reported. Police carried out raids in different localities and detained around one dozen suspects for questioning.
Landhi SP Shahnawaz Chachar said the minor girl had gone missing from her house in Ghous Pak area of Korangi at around 9 pm on Tuesday.
The parents reported the incident to police at midnight, while her body was found from a garbage heap at around 5am on Wednesday with her neck broken.
“Her autopsy showed that she had been raped, sodomised and then murdered,” said additional police surgeon at the hospital.
There were “multiple injuries to the head and body and private parts”, Dr Syed said, adding that the girl’s clothes had been sealed and her visceral samples had also been collected.
Madarsa child sex abuse rocks Pakistan
Dawn further reported that as many as 2,960 major crimes against children were reported in the four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in 2020.
According to data released by the NGO Sahil, eight children were abused every day in Pakistan in one form or the other, while 51 per cent of the victims were girls and 49 per cent boys.
Out of the reported cases, 985 were of sodomy, 787 rape, 89 pornography and child sexual abuse and 80 were of murder after sexual abuse. Cases of abduction, missing children and child marriages were 834, 345 and 119, respectively.
Earlier a Karachi man was arrested for harassing a woman in Sharah-e-Faisal area while she was travelling in a rickshaw.
As per Geo News, the woman posted a video of her ordeal on Facebook that was widely shared on social media, after which the police had to take action against the culprit.
After posting the videos on Facebook, the woman appealed to the masses to share them as much as possible so that authorities could take action.
These reports come amid the annual report of State of Human Rights in Pakistan released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) for the year 2020 that has set alarm bells ringing over the plight of women in the country. (ANI)
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was last seen on March 3 in the Clapham neighborhood of south London…reports Asian Lite News.
A London metropolitan police officer has pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and rape of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman whose body was found in March, leading to a national reckoning in Britain over violence against women.
Wayne Couzens, 48, made the guilty plea at the Old Bailey, the central criminal court, in London on Tuesday, a clerk from the court told CNN.
Couzens also “accepts responsibility” for killing Everard but has not yet been asked to enter a plea on the charge of murder, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday. He will next appear in court on May 9.
Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, was last seen on March 3 in the Clapham neighborhood of south London.
The police said that human remains had been found as part of their investigation into her disappearance, prompting an outpouring of grief from lawmakers, community leaders and London residents.
Couzens, a police constable whose primary role at the time was uniformed patrol duties of diplomatic premises, was arrested and charged with Everard’s kidnap and murder, reported CNN.
Thousands of people gathered in South London on Saturday for a vigil to pay tribute to Everard despite police warnings that the event would defy coronavirus restrictions.
The crowd chanted “Shame on you!” and “How many more!” In what became a rally against gender violence, some clapped their hands and others held tea lights or signs that read “End Violence Against Women.”
Thousands of women in the UK and around the world came forward after Everard’s death to share their own experiences of intimidation or harassment while walking alone at night, CNN reported. (ANI)
The former editor-in-chief of the Tehelka investigative magazine was accused by a junior colleague of sexually assaulting her at a five star resort in Goa…reports Asian Lite News.
The judgement in the rape case filed against former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal will now be pronounced on May 12, a trial court judge said here on Tuesday.
North Goa District and Sessions Court judge Kshama Joshi announced the adjournment on Tuesday; the day when the Court was originally scheduled to pronounce its final order in the case which was booked against Tejpal in 2013.
“The judge pronounced today that it has been adjourned to the 12th (May),” special public prosecutor Francisco Tavora told reporters here. Tavora said that the Court has not attributed any reason for the delay in pronouncing the judgement.
The former editor-in-chief of the Tehelka investigative magazine was accused by a junior colleague of sexually assaulting her at a five star resort in Goa.
Tejpal has been booked under sections 376 (rape), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) 354A (sexual harassment) and 354B (criminal assault), of the Indian Penal Code.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. (File Photo: IANS)
Blame the dressing for rape! What an excuse! The prime minister should have known that he could not have satisfied everyone. He worsened his problem, and confirmed his own image as a misogynist, when he sought to defend the indefensible by blaming rising incidence of rape on ‘vulgarity’ from outside and on ‘obscenity’ of women dressing and behaving in public …. Dr Sakariya Kareem
Pakistan is again found fighting its demons within – of misogyny that encourages rape of women and children – by pointing fingers at the demons outside, like ‘vulgarity’ purveyed by the Western nations. A non-Western India is also brought in as a convenient alibi for the people to swallow.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, a Western-educated man heading a nation of overwhelmingly conservative Muslims, walked into a dangerous minefield of contrasting views on this vexed subject by addressing a long question-answer telethon.
He should have known that he could not have satisfied everyone. He worsened his problem, and confirmed his own image as a misogynist, when he sought to defend the indefensible by blaming rising incidence of rape on ‘vulgarity’ from outside and on ‘obscenity’ of women dressing and behaving in public.
That opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box. Now, rights groups, the glitterati and the Tweeterati are all trolling him. At the other end of the social spectrum, it is doubtful if he has made the conservatives and the Islamists happy. But his political opponents, most of them who have been misogynists themselves, would be chuckling.
Mr Khan did not touch upon this but the major reason why the crime of rape is so grossly under-reported in Pakistan, with an estimated nine out of 10 cases not even being registered with the police. That hurdle is the tendency of a misogynistic society to blame adult female victims for ‘bringing’ the crime on themselves by their appearance, actions, etc.
For one who spent his young years in the West, with a reputation of having enjoyed the social life, he should have known that whatever he said would open him to criticism. But then, as a politician for nearly three decades, Mr Khan has also been close to and mentored by those, like late Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, who preached religious extremism, violence and terrorism. As opposition leader he had earned the sobriquet of “Taliban Khan.”
Mr Khan would have realised that it is one thing to preach the “rule of Medina”, and quite another to govern a society that, howsoever conservative, is diverse and where women have begun to speak up, even if oppressed, and the media spreads the message, even if suppressed.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), battling admirably on a myriad issues from violence, prison conditions, disappearance of dissenters, attacks on religious minorities and many more, is now compelled to focus on a closely related issue: attacks on women who staged the “Aurat March”, a women’s solidarity movement that occurs annually in many Pakistani cities since 2018 to coincide with the International Women’s Day. The opposition to it was particularly bad this year since the organisers were accused of engaging in saying things – which they clarified they did not – that could attract the dangerous blasphemy law.
“HRCP condemns the use of unethical and inappropriate language against women in the daily Ummat. The newspaper must publish an unconditional apology and refrain from using such language in future,” the commission said.
The HRCP tactically skirted the controversy over the prime minister’s telethon over what he said and/or implied, and chose to focus on Ummat newspaper that used expletives against the marching women and held 14 countries responsible for spreading ‘vulgarity’ that promoted crime against women in Pakistan.
The Ummat list looked like an elaboration of what the prime minister said. Both agreed on one issue: that women attract crime and criminals by dressing ‘inappropriately.’ Both blamed women and Mr Khan, while condemning crime, explained that not every male in the society had ‘self-control’ to resist what he considered ‘vulgarity’ in women venturing out alone, and dressing and behaving in public. He implicitly put the onus largely on women, wanting them to ‘behave’.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) tactically skirted the controversy over the prime minister’s telethon over what he said and/or implied, and chose to focus on Ummat newspaper that used expletives against the marching women and held 14 countries responsible for spreading ‘vulgarity’ that promoted crime against women in Pakistan
Mr Khan did not touch upon this but the major reason why the crime of rape is so grossly under-reported in Pakistan, with an estimated nine out of 10 cases not even being registered with the police. That hurdle is the tendency of a misogynistic society to blame adult female victims for ‘bringing’ the crime on themselves by their appearance, actions, etc.
In a highly publicised case last November of a woman with two minor children stranded on the highway being raped, the then Lahore city police chief had suggested that the motorway rape victim bore some responsibility for her ordeal by being out late at night. He had asked why she was not accompanied by a male family member.
After a spate of such horrific rape cases – another being rape and murder of a six year old Sabina kidnapped from outside her house, President Arif Alvi last December promulgated the Anti-Rape Ordinance 2020. It expanded the definition of rape in terms of what acts constitute this crime and who can be defined as a victim, a much-needed step. The ordinance also stipulates measures to make the offence more prosecutable and act as a deterrent to its commission. These include anti-rape crisis cells; special courts for speedy trials of such cases; the establishment of a countrywide registry of sex offenders; and chemical castration of rapists, which is controversial on several fronts.
Mr Khan admitted that enacting laws alone was not enough and the society had to fight misogyny together. But, Dawn newspaper said in its editorial: “He mentioned several times that we as a society should fight rape and “vulgarity” but he never mentioned educating people on why this is wrong. By blaming vulgarity, he’s removing the onus from the rapist. What he should be saying is we must teach men that rape is wrong regardless of what the victim is wearing or doing.”
Undoubtedly, rape is not exclusive to any single country or society and occurs globally. But as Maria Amir writes in Dawn: “In Pakistan, rape culture is not only systemic, it is reinforced at every level. The idea that men simply cannot be expected to control their baser impulses in the presence of women has been normalised.”
