New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court has lamented the killing of women due to dowry demands even decades after its criminalisation and said the mindset that a woman “endures” sufferings in her matrimonial home emboldens the perpetrators.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma therefore refused bail to a man accused of killing his wife in an inebriated state after her parents did not give in to his demand to sell their land.

The court observed cases of dowry deaths and murders often revealed a “distressing” pattern that due to societal pressure and the fear of social stigma, families often suggest or compel their daughters to adjust and live in their matrimonial homes, where they were subsequently killed or driven to suicide.

Therefore, it said, it was not always advisable to tell victims, who were visibly beaten and battered by their husbands, to continue to “endure suffering in their matrimonial homes as it is the ‘right’ thing to do after marriage”.

“This mindset emboldens, and is exploited by, perpetrators including a husband, who kills his wife, exploiting the situation that the victim wife has nowhere else to go, as her parental family is also advising her to live with him despite the torture and physical abuse. In cases such as the present one, granting bail liberally could encourage such practices and offences,” the court said.

The court’s January 16 verdict said granting bail liberally in such cases could encourage such practices and offences and defeat the very purpose and intent of enactment of the Section 304B (dowry death) of IPC.

“While deciding bail applications in such cases, the constitutional courts bear in mind the intent behind enactment of provisions of law,” the court said, “especially such as Section 304B of IPC.” It observed though the provision was enacted in 1986 and was in existence for about 40 years, courts time and again were “saddened by the cases” reflecting women of this country still being harassed, tortured and killed, merely because they were married to a man in a “family which after the marriage, keeps demanding, as a matter of right due to the matrimonial alliance, money and dowry articles”.

In the present case, the accused allegedly assaulted and murdered his wife by strangulation after about two months of marriage.

The father of the victim alleged ever since the marriage took place, the accused and his family kept demanding dowry and harassed, and abused his daughter.

Justice Sharma rejected the accused’s contention that he had been in jail for over three years and said an order passed by a court of law was also a “message to the society at large”.

The court said the woman’s post-mortem report showed she was killed “brutally”.

The law, the judge said, did not give a right to any person to kill and the fact that the accused was the husband of the victim did not mitigate the seriousness of the offence but multiplied it.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Badvel, Andhra Pradesh:

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly burnt to death by a man, who broke up with her a few months ago and got married, said police on Sunday.

J Vignesh allegedly poured petrol and set the minor girl ablaze on the outskirts of Badvel in Kadapa district.

“Vignesh burnt her around 10 am on Saturday, leading to the minor girl’s hospitalisation at Kadapa RIMS hospital. The girl succumbed to her burns around 3 am on Sunday,” Mydukuru sub-divisional police officer Rajendra Prasad told PTI.

According to police, Vignesh and the minor girl were in a relationship earlier but the former got married to another woman.

“However, the minor girl got in touch with Vignesh six months ago and asked him to marry her. Fed up by her demand, Vignesh resorted to this extreme action,” he said.

Vignesh was booked under various sections, including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

The accused Vignesh is on the run, they added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Lucknow:

BSP president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati expressed concern over “rising” crimes against women across the country and questioned governments’ intentions and policies on women’s safety.

“It is very sad to indulge in narrow politics of allegations and counter-allegations on the increasing incidents of crimes against women across the country including UP, Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, whereas this is the time for serious thinking whether there is a grave flaw in the intentions and policies of governments regarding women’s safety and respect?” the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief said in a post on ‘X’ in Hindi on Sunday.

1. यूपी, बंगाल, ओडिसा, कर्नाटक समेत देश भर में महिलाओं के साथ दिल दहला देने वाली बढ़ती घटनाओं को लेकर आरोप-प्रत्यारोप की संकीर्ण राजनीति करना अति-दुखद, जबकि यह समय गंभीर चिन्तन का है कि महिला सुरक्षा एवं सम्मान को लेकर सरकारों की नीयत व नीति में अत्याधिक खोट तो नहीं? 1/2

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 22, 2024

She said that prima facie the “negligence” of governments and the “involvement” of police in such heinous crimes happening one after the other is making the situation even more serious.

“It is very important for everyone to abandon this negligence and be impartial and serious so that the state and the country can be saved from the disrepute caused by such heinous crimes,” Mayawati said in her series of posts on ‘X’.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

As many as 151 sitting MPs and MLAs have declared cases related to crimes against women in their election affidavits, with West Bengal having the highest number of lawmakers facing such cases, according to a recent report by a poll rights body.

For the report, the Association for Democratic Reforms examined 4,693 out of 4,809 affidavits of sitting MPs and MLAs submitted to the Election Commission of India during elections between 2019 and 2024. The organisation identified 16 MPs and 135 MLAs facing cases related to crimes against women.

West Bengal tops the list with 25 sitting MPs and MLAs facing charges related to crimes against women, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 21 and Odisha with 17, according to the report that comes amid the nationwide protests over the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor in a state-run hospital in Kolkata and sexual assault of two children in Thane.

According to the report, there are 16 sitting MPs and MLAs who have declared cases related to rape under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 376, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and can be extend to life imprisonment. Of these, two are MPs and 14 MLAs.

The charges include repeated offenses against the same victim, further underscoring the gravity of these cases.

Among political parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the highest number of representatives (54 MPs and MLAs) with declared cases related to crimes against women, followed by the Congress with 23 and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with 17, according to the report.

Both BJP and Congress have five sitting lawmakers each facing rape charges.

The ADR has issued strong recommendations in response to these findings. It stressed on the need for political parties to refrain from giving tickets to candidates with criminal backgrounds, especially those with charges of rape and other crimes against women.

The report called for the fast-tracking of court cases against MPs and MLAs, ensuring professional and thorough investigations by police.

The ADR urged voters to avoid electing candidates with such charges.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)