25 years' court data proves RSS chief wrong; 75% of rape convicts from 'Bharat'

January 5, 2013

shame_in_numberNew Delhi, Jan 5: Women's groups have criticised RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's view on rape in "India" and "Bharat" for being regressive. But data shows that not only are Bhagwat's views regressive, they're also plain wrong.

While the National Crime Records Bureau does not split registered cases of sexual assault by rural and urban areas, Mrinal Satish, an associate professor of law at Delhi's National Law University, used court data to find that 75% of rape cases that led to convictions over the last 25 years were from rural India.

For his doctoral dissertation at the Yale Law School in the US, Satish looked at all high court and Supreme Court cases involving rape reported in the Criminal Law Journal (which reports criminal law cases) between 1983 and 2009 in which at least one court (trial court, HC or SC) had convicted the accused. The data thus does not include cases in which the accused was acquitted at all levels. Satish also had to leave out cases that were not for some reason reported in the Journal.

He found that over 80% of these rape cases in high courts and close to 75% of rape cases in the Supreme Court came from rural areas. Close to 75% of gang rape cases in HCs and 63% of gang rape cases in the SC came from rural areas. Over 65% of cases involving the rape of a child (less than 12 years old) came from rural areas. On average, 75% of all rape cases in higher courts that had led to at least one conviction came from rural areas. While the numbers are fairly proportional to India's rural/urban population, they do disprove Bhagwat's statement that rapes do not take place in rural areas.

"Rape as a tool of caste violence is rampant in rural areas," says Kalpana Viswanath of the women's rights group Jagori. "The controlling of women's bodies through institutions like khap panchayats is also a rural phenomenon," says Viswanath.

Moreover, activists hotly dispute Bhagwat's attempt to draw a correlation between "modernity" and rape. For one, custodial rape, which has little correlation with "modernity", is rampant in India. The case that changed the history of rape law in India, the Mathura rape case in which two policemen in north-east Maharashtra raped a tribal girl in a police station, was a case of custodial rape. Rapes of disabled women, patients in hospitals, children and older women - all with little association with "modernity" - are extremely common, Viswanath adds. "Ultimately this is an attempt to take the debate back to making rape the fault of women, rather than focusing attention on where it's needed, on society and institutions," says Viswanath.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that CBSE board results can be declared by August 15. The results of both class 10 and 12 will be declared at an interval of just a few days.

However, the decision to open schools will be taken after August keeping in mind the current COVID-19 situation. At present, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has not set any date for reopening schools.

Nishank said during a discussion "We hope that the results of both 10th and 12th class will be declared by August 15. These include the results of previous exams and the results of examinations in July."

On the issue of reopening of schools, Nishank said "after August the process of opening schools will be started."

A final decision in this regard will be taken only after assessing the prevailing conditions. According to the HRD ministry, after August, new sessions will also start in universities.

Meanwhile, the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi has also written to the HRD ministry on the subject of reopening schools. Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said in the letter, "Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said some time ago that we have to learn to live with coronavirus. So it would be better to open schools with proper safety measures."

Sisodia said that first of all, we have to assure every child that they are important to us. Everyone has equal rights over the physical and intellectual environment of his school. Education cannot progress beyond online classes only. It would be impossible to pursue education only by calling older children to school and keeping younger children at home.

Several private schools have also suggested measures to the HRD ministry to open schools and safety in schools during this period. However, the ministry is not in a hurry to reopen schools at present. According to senior officials of the ministry, at present, preparations are being made to conduct the remaining board exams of class 10 and 12 between July 1 and 15.

After the examinations, the first priority is to declare the results. Only then can the process of reopening school colleges begin.

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News Network
April 5,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, April 5: Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Sunday said that the state's preparations for containment of COVID-19 were satisfactory and added that PCR tests were going on in nine laboratories, in which upwards of eight thousand samples have been tested so far.

"Our strategy for the containment of COVID-19 is satisfactory. We are yielding good results from our strategy for tracing, isolation, testing & treatment. PCR test is going on in 9 laboratories. We have tested more than 8000 samples so far," Shailaja told ANI here.

She further said that the state government wanted to implement Rapid test in Kerala and added that they had ample PPEs and N95 masks.

"We want to implement Rapid Test in Kerala. Yesterday, we got 2000 kits; Right now, we have sufficient PPEs and N95 masks. If the number of COVID19 cases increases in the coming weeks then we will need more equipment," Shailaja said.

Keeping up with the need of the hour, the new administrative block of Kasaragod Medical College will soon be converted into a COVID-19 hospital for providing better treatment facilities to the coronavirus patients.

A team constituting 26 doctors and medical staff of the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram will join the efforts of converting the new administrative block into a COVID-19 Hospital in Kasaragod on Sunday.

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rose to 3,374 in India on Sunday, as per the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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News Network
May 6,2020

Noida, May 6: Not having Aarogya Setu app on smartphone while out in public in Noida or Greater Noida will be considered a violaton of lockdown rules and the person will be punished.

Action will also be taken against people going outdoors without a face mask or spitting in public places, Gautam Buddh Nagar police said, news agency reported.

Aarogya Setu is a mobile application developed by the central government to connect essential health services with the people to fight Covid-19.

The app is aimed at augmenting the initiatives of the Centre, particularly the Department of Health, in proactively reaching out to and informing the users of the app regarding risks, best practices and relevant advisories pertaining to the containment of Covid-19.

"If smartphone users do not have the 'Aarogya Setu' app installed on their mobile phones, then that will be punishable and considered a violation of the lockdown directions," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Ashutosh Dwivedi said.

The district police had on Sunday announced extending the Criminal Procedure Code section 144, which bars assembly of four or more people, till May 17, as the central government extended the nationwide lockdown by another two weeks in a bid to check the spread of the virus.

"Spitting in public places will attract punishment along with a fine. Not wearing a face mask in public places or offices will also be a punishable offence.

During the lockdown period, political, social, religious, sports gatherings as well as protest marches and rallies will remain banned across Noida and Greater Noida, the official said in the order.

"The central government has extended the lockdown till May 17 in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Gautam Buddh Nagar has been identified as 'red zone' and hotspots have been identified here. During this duration, all guidelines of the lockdown are to be followed," he said.

Gautam Buddh Nagar, which falls in the 'Red Zone', has 34 containment zones and has recorded 179 positive cases of coronavirus so far, with 102 of these patients being cured and discharged from hospitals, according to official figures.

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