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
July 23,2020

Ayodhya, Jul 23: All 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case should be invited to the "bhumi pujan" ceremony for the construction of the Ram temple here and honoured, a Hindutva outfit leader has said.

Hindu Dharma Sena president Santosh Dubey is one of the main accused in the case.

Dubey also insisted that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust must also invite all the four Shankaracharyas to the ceremony planned on August 5.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to attend the event.

"The office bearers of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra must ensure that along with all 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, the families of the kar sevaks who gave their lives in the Ram Temple movement must also be invited to the 'bhumi pujan' ceremony and must be honoured there," Dubey told PTI.

The top court verdict in favour of the Ram temple at the site would not have been possible had the Babri mosque not been demolished, he said.

"If the Trust does not invite the kar sevaks, it will a display of ego and arrogance. Without inviting the kar sevaks who have been accused in Babri mosque demolition and the families of the slain kar sevaks, the 'bhumi pujan' will remain incomplete," Dubey added.

A special CBI court in Lucknow is recording the statements of the 32 Babri demolition accused under section 313 of the CrPC, which enables them to plead their innocence, if they so want.

The court is conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31 as directed by the Supreme Court.

The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992 by 'kar sevaks' who claimed that an ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site. Former deputy prime minister L K Advani and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi were leading the Ram temple movement at that time.

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News Network
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: The Delhi government has asked district magistrates to release 2,446 Tablighi Jamaat members from quarantine centres and ensure that they do not stay in any other place except their homes.

The district magistrates will explore the possibility of sending those Tablighi members, who belong to other states, in buses to their designated places in accordance with social distancing norms and other protocols, DDMA Special CEO K S Meena said in a letter to deputy commissioners (administration).

As man as 567 foreign attendees of the congregation held in Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March, will be handed over to the police, Meena said.

"They (foreign Jamaat attendees) will be handed over to police in connection with several violations like visa violation," a government official said on Saturday.

Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain had recently ordered the release of Tablighi members who have completed their required quarantine period in centres and tested negative for COVID-19.

"Out of such people belonging to Delhi, who could be released as per prescribed guidelines should be issued passes to travel from the quarantine centres.

"Under no circumstances, the aforesaid persons should be allowed to stay in any other places including mosques," Meena said in the letter.

In respect of those Tablighi members belonging to other states, it should be ensured by the nodal officer and the area ACP that such people reach their place of residence, he also said.

"The DC should also inform the respective resident commissioner of their states in respect of each and every movement of such persons from Delhi," the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) Special CEO said.

Thousands of Tablighi Jamaat members had been taken out of its Markaz (centre) in Nizamuddin, where they had gathered for a religious congregation, and quarantined as the area became a major hotspot after a number of members tested positive for coronavirus.

On March 31, the Delhi Police's Crime Branch had lodged an FIR against seven people, including Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, on a complaint by Station House Officer, Nizamuddin, for holding the congregation.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: The total confirmed coronavirus cases in India rose to 979, including 48 foreigners, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.
There are 867 active cases of the disease as of Sunday, out of the total confirmed cases, while 87 persons have also been cured and discharged or migrated.
The number of deaths due to the infection rose to 25.
Maharashtra and Kerala, with 186 and 182 cases, have two of the highest number of positive cases in the country, with Maharashtra also recording six deaths due to the disease.
The Central government has taken many stringent measures to prevent the further spread of the disease with a 21-day nationwide lockdown being imposed.
The disease which originated from Wuhan, China has so far close to 6 lakh reported cases from around the world with more than 25 thousand deaths being reported due to it, as per World Health Organisation on March 28. 

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