Mumbai Police : Cop arrested for woman's suicide in custody

MUMBAI: Sub-inspector Munir Shaikh of the Malwani police station was arrested on Thursday by the crime branch for compelling a woman to commit suicide. He has been remanded in police custody till April 11.
This is Shaikh's second arrest in the case. In December 2010, the Malwani police had arrested him under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 343 (wrongful confinement for three or more days) and 348 (wrongful confinement to extort confession or compel restoration of property) of the IPC. He was later released on bail of Rs 25,000. A few days later, the victim, Kunda Shinde, succumbed to her injuries, following which the police slapped section 306 (abetment of suicide) on Shaikh. Since then, the sub-inspector had been absconding. The case was later handed over to the crime branch.
According to the police, Shaikh had approached the sessions court for anticipatory bail. After it was rejected, he filed a plea in the high court, which, too, did not grant him relief, but told him that he could approach the Supreme Court within 10 days. "On Thursday, he informed the crime branch through an advocate that he wanted to surrender. As soon as he did that, the court sent him to police custody," said a police officer.
The case originated on December 14, 2010, when Rupali Sawant approached the Malwani police station, alleging that Kunda had stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 3 lakh from her house. Shaikh, who was given charge of the matter, called Shinde and her daughter Sonali to the police station and detained them for more than 24 hours.

A police officer said Shaikh should have registered an FIR and should have produced the Shindes before a court. But Shaikh released them only on December 16. But on December 21, he detained her again, along with her husband Chindu. This provoked her into hanging herself with a nylon rope inside her cell.
However, an alert constable freed her from the noose in the nick of time. She was admitted to hospital, where she died on December 31.
"Shaikh detained Shinde and her daughter without registering the arrests or making an entry in the police diary," an officer said. "If he was not confident about the two being behind the theft, he should have let them go after questioning."

Goa Police : Goa State Commission for Women (GSCW) is personally visiting each and every police station

 PANAJI: To check out the strength of women police staff in police stations and the condition of the police lock-ups that house women accused, the Goa State Commission for Women (GSCW) is personally visiting each and every police station in the state. The GSCW will then submit a report to the government with its recommendations.
Confirming this, GSCW chairperson Ezilda Sapeco said, "On Wednesday, we visited Bicholim and Pernem police stations and on Thursday we visited Porvorim, Mapusa, Anjuna and Calangute police stations. We intend to visit all police stations by mid April and submit a report with recommendations to the government by May for necessary action."
GSCW decided to visit all police stations as during the inquiry into the complaint of 29-year-old Geeta Pednekar, alias Sanjiwani Parab, who had complained to GSCW that she was arrested by Bicholim police at night and assaulted by them due to which she suffered injuries and had to be admitted to Goa Medical College and Hospital, it was found that the Bicholim police station didn't have enough women staff and the women's lock-up was in bad shape.

"We wrote to the collector and police inspector, after which the repairs were carried out. But now we want to ensure that every police station has a proper lock-up for women who are accused in a crime, as prisoners also have a right to stay in a decent place. Besides, we want to ensure that the women accused are interrogated by women police officers and for this it is essential that there is at least one woman officer of the rank of PSI and ASI at each police station," said Sapeco.
GSCW commission members said that at most of the police stations they visited they found that though there were women police constables, there was no woman PSI or ASI. This they said is not a good sign. "Women are progressing in every field but police have failed to appoint women PSIs and ASIs," said a GSCW member, who added that they will recommend to the government to recruit more women as PSIs and ASIs.

Jharkhand Police : Maoists kill Reliance executive in Jharkhand, say police

Ranchi : Suspected Maoists shot dead a Reliance Power executive near Hesatu village, 96 km from Chatra town in Jharkhand this afternoon, police said.
Manoj Ojha, a deputy general manager with Reliance Power, had gone to a place called Birbir with company vice-president H Buch, reportedly to inspect land for a proposed power plant. Two men allegedly fired on their vehicles, injuring both. “Ojha tried to escape, but his Bolero overturned. He died on the spot,” Chatra SP Prabhat Kumar said. Buch was learnt to have been flown out from Hazaribagh in a helicopter.
I-G R K Mallick said the Hesatu area is the stronghold of the People’s Liberation Front of India and Tritiya Prastuti Committee, breakaway factions of the CPI (Maoist).
By evening, paramilitary forces led by SP Kumar were “actively deployed” in the area, and highways to Hazaribagh and Chatra had reportedly been sealed. “The search will continue tomorrow,” Mallick said.

Guj Police : CAT stalls Modi govt's action against senior police officer

NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) scrapped Gujarat government's charge-memo to one of its senior most police officers, proposing to hold a departmental inquiry against him for allegedly harassing another IPS officer by registering a criminal case against him under the Official Secret Act.
New Delhi-based CAT's principal bench quashed the state's 'charge-memo' against its Additional Director General of Police Kuldeep Sharma saying "the undeniable impression that can be gathered is that he (Sharma) has fallen out of favour of the state government."
The CAT's bench comprising its chairman Justice VK Bali and member LK Joshi, quashed Gujarat government's charge-sheet against Sharma, a 1976 batch IPS officer, on a petition filed by his counsel I H Sayeed, accusing the state government of harassing him for opaque political reasons.
"From totality of the facts and circumstances of the case," the bench said, it is clear that Sharma "is adversely affected in his service career on all counts, be it his posting against a ex cadre post, downgrading of his Annual Confidential Records or not giving him vigilance clearance for central deputation."
The bench acceded to Sharma's contention that he has been shunted to an insignificant, out-of-cadre post of managing director, Gujarat sheep and wool development, despite "an unblemished service credentials spanned over a period of 33 years."

Mumbai Police : 'It is hard to say if 7-yr-old was raped'

Four minors arrested by the Bandra police on charges of raping a nine-year-old girl had never threatened her into keeping the terrible secret from the authorities, police said. They had instead lured her with the promise of extra food. “There is the possibility that food provided at these places is not enough for the children and hence anything extra is a treat. In her statement, the girl has clearly said that the boys never threatened her,” said a senior police officer from Bandra police station on condition of anonymity.
The police are finding it difficult to believe that boys aged between 10 and 14 could commit such a heinous offence. Another police officer said, “I am not sure the boys even know what rape means.”
The victim is a Class 1 student of the school run by the authorities on the premises of the home for destitute children in Bandra (West).
At least 350 students live at the home run by a leading missionary organisation, the police said.
The accused are students of Class 3, 4 and 5. Soon after their arrest they were sent to juvenile custody at the Dongri children’s home.
The incident reportedly occurred on March 3 when two of the four boys allegedly raped the girl. The next day the other two followed.
However, it was only on Sunday, more than a month later, that the incident came to light. During the interactive counselling session with the authorities of the home, the victim named the four boys and their crime.
The authorities immediately approached the police and lodged a complaint against the four boys. The victim and the accused were sent to Nagpada Police Hospital for a medical examination.
“We expect the medical report to reach us by Friday and only then will we be able to comment on whether the girl was raped or not,” said investigating officer Ramchandra Aher, inspector at Bandra police station.

Orissa Police : state government asked Rourkela SP to proceed on leave

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Thursday asked Rourkela SP Diptesh Patnaik to proceed on leave following the raging controversy over a police inspector allegedly slapping a judicial officer in the Steel City on April 2 night, according to the chief minister's office. Official sources said the government has instructed Sundergarh SP Deepak Kumar to hold additional charge of Rourkela.
Inspector of Uditnagar police station, Rourkela, Sadananda Pujari allegedly slapped Patnaik, leading to the showdown. The case was closed on grounds of insufficient evidence, police sources said.
The government action came in the face of a lawyers-versus-police tussle being witnessed in the state. While the lawyers in different parts of the state have been ceasing work since Monday demanding action against the errant cop and Patnaik's transfer, various police bodies, the Orissa Police Association and the Orissa Police Havildar, Constables and Sepoys Confederation, have threatened to go on strike.

With the tussle apparently turning bitter, policemen, preferring anonymity, have begun circulating information about a criminal case recorded five years ago against judicial magistrate (first class), Rourkela, Arun Patnaik, when he was a student.
Documents circulated by police say Patnaik was one of the five accused in case number 138, dated May 3, 2006, of Saheed Nagar police station, Bhubaneswar.
The quintet was then students of Utkal University Law College and charged under various sections of the IPC. The complaint, Abhinash Barik, also a UULC student, had said the quintet had demanded money, assaulted him and threatened to kill him.

Delhi Police : HC dismisses petition against Amod Kanth's police medal

NEW DELHI: In a major relief to retired IPS officer Amod Kanth, the Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed petitions seeking to cancel the police medal awarded to him for his role in maintaining law and order during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The HC said the decision was taken and ratified by various authorities, including the PMO, and there was limited scope for judicial review of the same. However, the court strongly condemned the anti-Sikh riots and said it is arguable that "the State ought to display sensitivity to the feelings of the victim community and be circumspect in hastening to award gallantry medals to the officials of the law enforcement machinery soon after the events."

"Yet, the scope of judicial review in such matters is limited. It is in the first place confined to examining the transgressions if any in the decision-making process. On this score, there is no scope for interference as far as the present case is concerned," the HC noted.

The HC added that "as regards the merits of the decision itself, it cannot be held that the material placed before the decision-making authority was not relevant to the grant of Police Medals to respondents (Kanth and the then SHO of Paharganj police station S S Manan)."

Amrik Singh Lovely and Trilok Singh had sought a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to withdraw the Police Medal for gallantry conferred on Kanth and Manan by a presidential notification on June 7, 1985.

"The court is satisfied the failure to consider the bail order, the CFSL reports and the fact that the accused belonged to same family did not, by itself, vitiate the decision to award Police Medals," HC observed in response to certain peculiar facts being brought to its attention by the petitioners.

Justice Muralidhar minced no words on the tragedy itself and said, "The role of the state machinery has come under critical scrutiny. It is arguable that in the context of a tragedy of such proportions, the state ought to display sensitivity to the feelings of victim community and be circumspect in hastening to award gallantry medals to the officials of the law enforcement machinery soon after the events." HC said that the 1984 riots in Delhi "have left deep scars in the collective memory of the nation, and especially of the Sikh community. Several Commissions of Inquiry have been constituted over the years to uncover the truth of the tragic events that transpired in the early days of November 1984 in which thousands of innocent persons were killed."

16 persons, including four minor and five women, of the family of Amrik and Trilok Singh were arrested on November 5, 1984, for allegedly opening fire on a mob which led to the killing of two men including an army jawan. It was alleged that police fabricated the story that the family members of petitioners were firing indiscriminately on the police, the army and the public at Paharganj area here.

But HC rejected this argument and pointed that "the context for the decision to award the medals was the courage and gallantry displayed by the policemen. The petitioners' version of the incident does not negate the presence of respondent (Kanth and Manan) or their efforts at controlling the situation," the court said.