Bakery owner arrested for 'no Muslim staff' tagline

New Delhi, Jan 18: Two men accused of kidnapping and brutally raping a five-year-old girl in Delhi in 2013 have been held guilty by a court in the national capital today. The POCSO court, which will announce the quantum of punishment on January 30, said, "In our society the minor girls are worshipped as goddess on certain occasions but in the present case the victim child had experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality."

"The crime against the victim was committed in a most grotesque and revolting manner and the collective conscience of the community was shaken," the court added while holding the accused - Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar - guilty.

The assault which took place just four months after Nirbhaya's brutal rape had grabbed headlines with its shocking details. The girl, who was named Gudiya by sections of the media, went missing and the police told her parents to look for her themselves. She was found two days later, tied in the basement of the east Delhi house she lived in with traces of candles and bottles inside her private parts.

The convicts had fled after raping Gudiya and shoving a candle and bottle inside her private parts, leaving her at Manoj Shah's room, after believing the five-year-old to be dead. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013.

Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar were arrested by Delhi police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar respectively in 2013. The charge sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11. But, it took more than five years to complete the recording of the statement of 57 prosecution witnesses in the POCSO court.

"Though the trial should have been completed in two years, we are happy we got justice," said the father of the girl.

One of the convicts, Manoj Shah, allegedly assaulted some reporters while being taken out of the courtroom.

New Delhi, Apr 14: A 35-year-old man has been booked by the police for refusing to eat food at a quarantine centre on the ground that it had been cooked by a Dalit.

Reports said Siraj Ahmad, a native of Bhujouli Khurd village under Khadda police station in Kushinagar district, had returned from Delhi on March 29, and was staying at the quarantine centre at the village primary school along with other four people.

On Friday, village head, Lilawati Devi, in absence of the cook, prepared food in the quarantine centre for all the five people but Siraj refused to eat it.

Police, after conducting investigation, registered a FIR against him under the SC/ST Act on Monday.

The village head had lodged a written complaint with the police on Friday and also informed sub-divisional magistrate Desh Deepak Singh and block development officer Ramakant.

SHO Khadda police station, R.K. Yadav said that a case against Siraj was registered under the SC/ST Act.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, Vijay Dubey, the local BJP MLA, went to the house of village head and asked her to serve him food cooked by her.

"Untouchability is a social evil that cannot be tolerated at any cost," he said.

Bareilly, May 31: The Bareilly couple who had made headlines in July last year when they eloped and apprehended a threat to their life from the girl's father who is a BJP MLA in UP, is back in the news.

Ajitesh, now son-in-law of BJP MLA Rajesh Mishra, and his friend were arrested on Saturday for allegedly thrashing a youth and snatching his cell phone after a minor road mishap in Prem Nagar area of Bareilly district.

Ajitesh is married to Sakshi, daughter of the MLA and the couple had eloped last year and got married.

According to police, the youth was on his way home after buying medicines for his friend's father when his bike hit Ajitesh's SUV. Ajitesh and his friend thrashed the youth and snatched his cell phone.

Police said Ajitesh and his friend Vaibhav Gangwar were booked under IPC section 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and other relevant sections.

Both have been sent to jail.

The complainant Deepanshu Maheshwari said, "When I overtook Ajitesh's car, he chased and waylaid me in the middle of the road. Thereafter, he and his friend thrashed me and snatched my phone. SHO Balbir Singh and his team rescued me."

The SHO told reporters, "We checked CCTV footage and spoke to witnesses only to find that Ajitesh and his friend had thrashed the youth. A case was registered under relevant sections and both were sent to jail after being produced before a magistrate on Saturday. The youth has been admitted to a hospital and his condition is stable."

The BJP MLA, incidentally, had snapped all his ties with his daughter Sakshi after she eloped and married Ajitesh.