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

[email protected] (TNN)
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
January 22,2020

Kochi, Jan 22: The Left front government in Kerala on Monday decided to inform the Centre it would not cooperate with the updation of the NPR, saying there were fears among the public about the process and it has the "Constitutional responsibility" to alleviate them and ensure law and order.

A special cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here, decided to inform the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under the Union Home Ministry that it was unable to cooperate with anything with regard to the updation of the NPR.

"The decision was taken as it was the Constitutional responsibility of the government to alleviate the fears of general public and ensure law and order situation in the state," a Chief Minister's Office release said.

However, the state would fully cooperate with the census procedures, it said.

The LDF government, which has been on a warpath against the Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Act, has last month stayed all activities related to updation of NPR, considering 'apprehensions' of public that it would lead to NRC in the wake of the controversial CAA.

"As the NPR is a process that leads to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), there is a sense of fear among the people that its implementation could lead to widespread insecurity", the CMO release said on Monday.

The experience of the state which had already compiled the NRC was an example for this, it added, in apparent reference to Assam.

Kerala had already stopped all procedures regarding the NPR updation, the release said adding there was also a report of the state police that the if the government went ahead with the procedures, it would adversely impact the law and order situation.

The district collectors have also informed the government that the Census procedures would be affected if the updation of the NPR was done along with it, the CMO release said.

The CPI(M)-led LDF government had recently convened a meeting of political parties and socio-religious organisations here on December 29 in the wake of the concerns among people in various stratas of the society, it said.

A special assembly session was convened and a resolution was passed requesting the Centre not to implement the CAA and the government had also approached the apex court against the law, it added.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 4: Ramarchan puja begins at Ram Janmabhoomi site ahead of the foundation laying ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Ramarchan Puja is a prayer to invite all major gods and goddesses ahead of Lord Ram's arrival.

Mahesh Bhagchandka, one of the trustees of Ashok Singhal foundation as Yajman in the puja said, "This is being conducted at the temporary seat of Ramlalla. The pooja will be conducted in four phases."

Speaking about the third and fourth phases, he said: "In the third phase, Dashrath, father of Lord Ram with his wives will be worshipped and then all three brothers of Lord Ram - Laxman, Bharat and Shatrughan with their wives. Lord Hanuman ji will too be worshipped. Whereas in the fourth phase, Lord Ram will be worshipped."
Meanwhile, security has been heightened in Ayodhya ahead of the foundation laying ceremony.

Temples across the city is decorated with lights, diyas and flowers ahead of the grand event. Patna's Mahavir Mandir Trust is preparing over 1.25 lakh 'Raghupati Laddoos' for the occasion. Thes laddoos will be distributed as 'prasad' to devotees.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi temple during his visit to Ayodhya to take stock of the preparations for the 'bhoomi pujan'.
He along with officials also visited 'Ram ki Paudi' to inspect the arrangements ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on August 5. 

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News Network
April 22,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 22: Eleven more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Kerala with totalpositive cases in the State touching 437on Wednesday.

Two house surgeonsof the Kozhikode Medical college are among those who have tested positive for the virus.

The two had travelled outside the state,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters.

Kannur reported seven cases, Kozhikode two, while one case each was reported from the districts of Kottayam and Malappuram.

Only one person tested negative.

The state has 127 active cases and 29,000 people are under observation, including 346 in hospitals.

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