Police summon Indian bishop accused of repeatedly raping nun
© AFP/ SHAMMI MEHRA
A bishop accused by a nun of repeatedly raping her over two years has been summoned for questioning by police in India. It comes as several nuns continue to protest outside the High Court to demand justice for the sister.
Amid claims that authorities are failing to take action against the bishop, police have summoned Franco Mulakkal, the head of the Jalandhar diocese in the northern Punjab state, for questioning on September 19.
A 43-year-old nun from the Missionaries of Jesus accused the bishop of raping her up to 13 times for two years from May 2014. Police said they will decide after questioning Mulakkal whether to arrest him in connection with the allegations, which were first made by the nun on June 27.
Mulakkal escaped being charged on August 10 – even though police issued a statement to the High Court apparently confirming the bishop had raped the nun. He was then questioned on August 13 but, police claim they only realized “contradictions” in his statements after that.
“Now we have decided to clear the contradictions in the bishop’s statements,” investigating officer Subhash said.
Mullakal for his part denounced the accusations, saying the nun made the claims in retaliation for him disciplining her.
Meanwhile, five nuns have attracted public support for their protest near the High Court in Kochi, Kerala, against the long delay in taking action against the alleged rapist.
Supporters include a string of local celebreties, such as filmmakers and actors Major Ravi, Aashiq Abu and Shahabas Aman, who met the protesters, as well as Joy Mathew who led a march in solidarity with the sisters in Kozhikode.
The Vatican has refused to comment on the case, but the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) denounced the nuns’ protest, saying it was aimed at tarnishing the Church as an institution.
As her mission accused her of “crucifying an innocent man,” the nun wrote a letter to the Vatican representative in India on September 8.
In a seven-page letter to Giambattista Diquattro, the nun claimed she was being ostracized in her Kuruvilanga convent since making the allegations to the point where she was prevented from attending Mass.
The reason authorities have been unable to arrest the bishop is his “political and economic power,” the letter reads, while adding that the Church’s “silence” is “humiliating” her.
2 men sentenced to death for gang-raping & slitting throat of 8yo girl in India
FILE PHOTO: Police officers escort one of the accused in Mandsaur rape case © Stringer via Reuters
Two men convicted of abducting, sexually assaulting and attempting to kill an eight-year-old girl in Mandsaur district of India have been sentenced to death under the country’s newly toughened anti-rape legislation.
It took less than two months for the Special Investigation Team of the prosecutor to build a case against Irfan Mewati, 20, and Asif Mewati, 24, and to prove without a reasonable doubt that, on June 26, the pair brutally raped and tortured a schoolgirl before attempting to slit her throat.
The 350-page case, based on 92 witness testimonies and over 100 pieces of evidence, including CCTV footage and DNA samples, was enough for Sessions Judge Nisha Gupta in Mandsaur to sentence the duo to death, under the revised Indian Penal Code and under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, which mandates capital punishment for persons committing rape on victims under 12 years of age.
Noting that the accused “do not deserve leniency” in this “rarest of the rare case,” Judge Gupta stressed that “death was only way out to punish” Asif and Irfan.
On June 26, the criminal duo lured an eight-year-old student from outside her school where she was waiting for her father. They took her to a secluded spot and gang-raped her. The rapists then slashed her throat and left her to die.
The child was however saved by locals and regained consciousness in hospital some 18 hours after the assault. The girl suffered severe injuries to her neck, face, head and private parts, and is still recovering in hospital.
“The act of the two accused was of a cruel and gruesome nature,” the judge was quoted as saying by assistant district prosecution officer Nitesh Krishnan. “The accused not only raped her, but they attacked and injured her private parts and other delicate body parts with a knife.”
The rape of an eight-year-old from Mandsaur ignited outrage among locals who carried out protests across Madhya Pradesh state of central India, demanding justice. Tuesday’s verdict was the sixth capital sentence handed down in Madhya Pradesh, which was the first state to enact the death penalty for rapists of minor girls below 12 in December.
Student, Ex-CBSE Topper, Gang-Raped And Dumped Near Bus Stop In Haryana
Haryana gang-rape: The 19-year-old college student was on her way to a coaching centre when she was allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped.
All India | Reported by Sukirti Dwivedi, Edited by Debanish Achom
CBSE = Central Board of Secondary Education
A 19-year-old college student who was rewarded by the President after she topped the CBSE board exam was allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped by a group of men in Haryana on Wednesday.
She was allegedly raped till she fell unconscious, and dumped at a bus stand.
I doubt that they stopped raping her because she fell unconscious!
The second-year student was on her way to a coaching centre near her village when three young men, who came in a car, allegedly kidnapped her and dragged her to a field, where they raped her.
A few other men who were already at the field also took turns to rape her, the police said. The woman says all the men are from her village.
Senior police officer AS Chawla said a medical examination of the woman has been conducted. "We are looking to arrest the three accused... they dropped her back (at the bus shelter) and called her parents to tell them about her location," the police officer said.
Her parents have alleged the police initially refused to take their complaint and file a First Information Report or FIR. They said they had been running from one police station to another, hoping to file a complaint, after the accused threatened them.
"My daughter was rewarded by Modi ji after she topped the CBSE board exams. Modi ji says 'beti padho, beti bacho' (Save girl child, educate a girl child), but how? I want justice for my daughter. Police have taken no action yet," the woman's mother told news agency ANI.
A police officer, however, claimed a "zero FIR" was filed against the accused based on the woman's complaint. A zero FIR is filed in a police station which is not in charge of the area where the crime took place, and can be transferred to the relevant police station.
The police said the zero FIR was converted into a regular FIR this morning after it was successfully transferred to the police station under whose area of watch the crime took place.
Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar said the "guilty will be punished". "Law will take its own course," he said.
I might believe that when I see a lot more enthusiasm from the police.
What a shame such useless pieces of trash can ruin the life of a bright and brilliant young woman.
Indian judge delivers emotional poem while sentencing man to death for raping three-year-old
Twenty-two-year-old attacker given death sentence less than a month after attack
Chris Baynes The Independent
Protesters at a demonstration in April following a string of child rapes in India ( REUTERS )
In an emotional address, Neerja Dadhich said her “heart bleeds” for a three-year-old girl who had been raped by 22-year-old Vinod Kumar.
Kumar was charged by police in Jhunjhunu, a city in the northern Rajasthan state, on 13 August.
He was sentenced to death less than a month after he attacked the girl on 2 August, The Times of India reported.
Ms Dadhich read the poem during a highly unusual court hearing on Friday.
“What a country we have become,
a child who had seen only three springs
could not be saved from subjecting to this injustice,” it read.
“If we do not mend our ways,
that day is not far off [that] even God
may [be] afraid to bless this country with girl children.”
The judge also took aim at people who blamed sex attacks on women’s choice of clothing.
“How do I make a three-year-old child wear a saree?” she asked.
The Indian government introduced the death penalty for child rape earlier this year following uproar over a string of cases.
Five people have been sentenced to death in Rajasthan for sexually assaulting victims aged under 12 since the law was introduced.
Ms Dadhich told the court: “Persons who commit such crimes do not deserve any mercy for reform and death sentence is the apt punishment in such cases.”
God bless you Judge Dadhich!
Indian Cop’s Son Arrested for Brutal Beating,
Alleged Rape
The young man brutally beat the woman while his friend filmed.
Rohit Tomar, a young man from Delhi, has been arrested for allegedly raping and brutally beating a young woman. The attack was filmed in part by the alleged perpetrator's friend using a cell phone and went viral after it was posted to the web.
The alleged attacker is the son of a police officer.
According to the victim's statement, Tomar called her to a call center office that belonged to his friend, Ali Hasan. India Today reports that Tomar had been unemployed and had only recently started working at the office at the time of the incident.
Upon meeting her in the office, Tomar allegedly raped the victim, and after she threatened to file a complaint, proceeded to brutally beat her, including a kick to the abdomen and several knee hits to the back of her head.
Tomar's father is Ashok Tomar, an assistant sub-inspector in the drugs department of the Delhi Police. The police tried to contact Ashok, but the officer's phone has reportedly been switched off.
In the meantime, India's minister of home affairs, Rajnath Singh, reacted to the incident and tweeted that stern action will be taken against the accused.
Tomar has been arrested and charged with criminal intimidation and assault, as well as criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, India Today reports.
And the 'friend'? What about the friend? Has he not been arrested? Surely it is criminal to stand by and watch a rape and beating, let alone filming it?
Third class girl raped in Azaan International school at Tolichowki
THE HANS INDIA
Police filed a case and took investigation. Imediately shifted the minor to Nilofer hospital for check up and emergency treatment.
Meanwhile when the incident came to light through media people started gathering at azaan international school. Family members and the relatives of the victim's family reached the spot and staged protest.
To control the situation police deployed the force and kept 144 section at the school premises. The situation is under control now.
Six Disabled Inmates of MP Shelter Home Accuse Owner of Raping Them for Years
In a written complaint, the victims also alleged that three girls had lost their lives to the sexual assault by the elderly owner.
Vivek Trivedi | News18
Bhopal: Six hearing- and speech-impaired inmates of a shelter home in the state have accused their elderly owner of sexually exploiting them since 2010.
In a written complaint to the department of social justice and empowerment on Friday, the two girls and four boys accused the owner of Sai Viklang Anath Ashram, MP Awasthi, of raping them and their hostel mates.
The victims also alleged that three girl inmates had died due to the physical torture, Shraddha Shukla, a sign language expert accompanying them, said.
“The victims have claimed that despite their complaint to authorities, no action was taken against the owner,” she said, adding that a woman was also involved. The complainants also accused Commissioner Social Justice KG Tiwari of not being sensitive to their complaint.
However, defending himself earlier in the day, Awasthi said: “I am an ailing 70-year-old man, why would I assault anyone sexually?” He said he had no idea of who was “conniving” against him, adding that he had been running the centres since 1991.
According to the complaint, Rani (name changed), who was separated from her family in 2004, found shelter in the organisation. She alleged that since 2010, she was subjected to sexual assault and torture, which continued till 2012. Rani said Awasthi also used to bring her to the Bhopal-based centre and rape her.
Help from one of the donors associated with the organisation freed her from Awasthi’s clutches post 2012 and she was enrolled in another shelter home. However, after completing Class 12, Rani had to return to her previous centre in 2016, after which the torture began again. Finally, she sought help from a person and approached the police and collector to lodge her complaint.
A subsequent probe by the collector found the complaints to be true and shut down the branch but no FIR was lodged against the culprit. The victims alleged that the exploitation continued in the Bairagarh branch of the organisation.
Congress chief spokesperson Shobha Oza, who accompanied the group to TT Nagar police station, told News18 that it was highly objectionable that despite the centre owner being found guilty of sexual assaults in 2017, the department continued to fund such a dubious organisation.
Alleging that three children had lost their lives, Oza accused the state government of sheltering the accused.
City SP Bhupinder Singh told News18 that the statements of the victims were being recorded and the process would be completed post-midnight. “We will send the case diaries to the police station concerned on Saturday,” said the officer.
The official denied having information about the arrest of the accused but sources claimed that Awasthi was detained by Bairagarh police on Friday afternoon after the media highlighted the issue.
The victims also accused the sign language expert summoned by the police of being hand-in-glove with the department and were convinced only after their own interpreter joined the proceedings.
So often I post stories where the police in India are very reluctant to act on child rape cases until the media, or a violent mob, convinces them to. The culture of rape in India has to be rooted out of the police before they can hope to remove it elsewhere.
Bairagarh, Bhopal, India
Odisha girl alleges rape by mother’s paramour,
with Mom's consent
Balasore (Odisha) (PTI) A 17-year-old girl in Odisha’s Balasore district Friday alleged that she was raped multiple times by a 60-year-old man with the consent of her mother.
The girl, in an FIR lodged at the Balasore Sadar Police Station, alleged that she was raped at least five times by her mother’s “paramour”.
The girl said she along with her two brothers and mother live in Kuruda village under Sadar police station. Her mother is employed by a net weaving factory nearby.
The girl has also alleged that the 60-year-old man, a resident of Gopalgaon area in Balasore town, frequently visited her mother. When she objected to their relationship and threatened to make it public, she was raped.
“My mother forced me to have sex with her paramour as I threatened to reveal the matter,” the girl said in the FIR.
On the other hand, her 45-year-old mother in a separate complaint before the police, said that her daughter is suffering from epileptic seizures and had been misled to make such complaints of rape. The girl is undergoing treatment at a local private hospital, she said.
She also said her husband has deserted her and she lives with two sons and a daughter.
The police said they are investigating into the allegations made by both the daughter and the mother.
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