CJI promises to act on complaint by woman judge

August 5, 2014

R M LodhaNew Delhi, Aug 5: Chief Justice of India R M Lodha on Monday promised to look into the complaint of a woman judge, who quit as additional district and sessions judge of Gwalior, levelling sexual harassment charges against a sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The woman judge accused the administrative judge of the HC of demanding sexual favours. She alleged that he wanted her to “dance to an item number” after showing “more than normal interest” in her work.

The accused judge, however, rejected the charges and offered to face death penalty if the allegations were found to be true. Justice Lodha told PTI, “It is a very serious issue. All versions will have to be taken into account. Let me go through it.”

An email making the allegations has been received by the SC registry, and was being dealt with appropriately, sources said. The CJI said he would deal with the issue appropriately when the papers are placed before him as “the matter cannot be left like this”.

In her nine-page representation to the CJI, the woman judge, who herself headed a sexual harassment committee set up under the Vishakha guidelines at the district level, stated that the HC judge had some months ago started showing undue interest in her work and had gradually started making “coloured remarks” about her.

Her complaint narrated an incident in February this year at the marriage ceremony of a judicial officer where the high court judge had allegedly told her, in the presence of her 16-year-old daughter, that her work was excellent but “you are more beautiful than your work”.

In December last year, the wife of a senior judicial officer had telephoned her to tell her that the judge was eager to see her perform a dance to an item song at his marriage anniversary, she said.

As she refused to give in to “malicious aspirations” of the HC judge, she claimed that she was transferred from Gwalior to Sidhi in the middle of her daughter’s academic career.

According to her complaint, she made a representation against her transfer but her plea was not heard.

Thus, she resigned on July 15, “in compelling, humiliating and disgraceful circumstances to save my dignity, womanhood, self-esteem and career of my daughter.” Responding to the woman judge’s allegations, the high court judge wrote to the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court describing the allegations as “totally false” and expressing his willingness to face a probe by the CBI or any other agency.

“If any allegation is proved I am ready even to face death penalty,” the judge said.The accused judge’s letter has been forwarded to the CJI by the Chief Justice of the MP High Court.

In Jabalpur, the Madhya Pradesh High Court described as “distorted version”, reports that the complainant woman judicial officer had sought an appointment with the High Court Chief Justice to apprise him about the factual position and it was declined.

“The lady ex-Judicial Officer, who was posted at Gwalior since August 2011, was transferred in July 2014 to Sidhi on administratve grounds. Her two representations seeking cancellation of the transfer on the ground of her daughter’s education were duly considered and rejected by the Administrative Committee of the High Court. She has not represented about alleged misbehaviour or harassment caused to her by anyone,” it added.

In a related development, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court by advocate M L Sharma, seeking judicial inquiry into allegations of the woman judge and prosecution of the accused judge.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Kanpur, Jan 18: Kanpur has witnessed an Unnao-like incident as the out on bail accused in rape case attack the family members of the victim. The mother of the victim, who later died in the hospital, was brutally attacked by the accused. The accused reportedly attacked the victim's mother and her aunt on January 8.

The actual rape case goes back to 2018 when a group of men abducted a minor girl from her own society. The accused had reportedly raped her and also beaten up her mother.

A video of mother being beaten up reportedly went viral soon after.

The mother of the victim had reportedly filed a complaint against one of the accused for abducting and molesting her daughter two years ago at a tannery falling under jurisdiction of Chakeri police station. The main accused along with five others was booked under section 354 of the IPC (sexual assault of children) and sent to jail. Around two weeks ago, the accused got bail and on January 9 they attacked the deceased and her sister.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Jun 3: Emphasising that airlines are clearly the safest mode of transportation, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta on Tuesday said there is no evidence yet of coronavirus infection getting transmitted among passengers onboard an aeroplane.

His comments against the backdrop of instances of some passengers, who had taken flights after resumption of domestic air services on May 25, testing positive for coronavirus.

"Those people had the virus before they got on to the aeroplane. What is noteworthy is that they have done the tracing after that. There is no evidence of transmission onboard there... that is a very encouraging sign on the safety of airline travel," he said during an earnings call.

According to him, airlines are clearly the safest mode of transportation and there is no evidence yet of contamination on an aircraft.

"You can come in contaminated but so far there is no evidence of passing it on to a fellow passenger," he noted.

Amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, aviation regulator DGCA has asked airlines to ensure that to the extent possible, middle seat in flights should be kept empty.

In this regard, Dutta said the airline would keep the middle seat empty wherever it can and "where we have to fill the middle seat, we will have the extra protective gown".

To a query about possible hedging of fuel prices, he said it would be a dumb idea and that airlines adjust to ups and downs in fuel prices.

"I can't overemphasise what a dumb idea it will be for an airline to hedge fuel prices. I looked at it from different angles and it is not a good idea... we looked at hedging and we talked about it at the board level and we said no," he noted.

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June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said the religious and constitutional rights of minorities are absolutely safe in India and it does not need any certificate from anyone as communal harmony and tolerance are in the DNA of the country and its majority community.

Comments of Rijiju, a Buddhist, came after a top Trump administration official has said that the US is very concerned about what is happening in India in terms of religious freedom.

"India doesn't need certificate on communal harmony and tolerance which is in the DNA of India and the majority community in India," Rijiju, who holds the charge of the Union minister of state for minority affairs besides being the union sports minister, said in a statement.

Rijiju said the social, religious and constitutional rights of minorities are absolutely safe in the country.

"A few politically intolerant people are trying to create an atmosphere of fear and intolerance. As a member of the minority community, I feel India is the best country in the world for the minorities," he said.

Samuel Brownback, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, said on Wednesday that India has been a country area that spawned four major religions itself.

"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," he said.

The trendlines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Brownback said.

His comments came after the release of the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report'.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of the violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

"India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion", the government had said earlier.

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