SP suspended for Facebook arrests, magistrate shunted

November 27, 2012
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Mumbai, November 27: Nearly a week after two Palghar girls were unnecessarily summoned to the police station and arrested for an innocuous Facebook post, the government is suspending the superintendent of police (Thane rural) Ravindra Sengaonkar. In a separate development, the Bombay high court on Monday transferred Ramchandra Bagade, the first-class judicial magistrate at Palghar who had given the girls bail of Rs 15,000 each.

Government officials said Palghar senior police inspector Shrikant Pingle would also be suspended and additional superintendent of police (Thane rural) Sangram Nishandar would escape with a strong warning. The action against the cops comes after a sustained campaign in TOI against the arrests of Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan, both 21. Sources said this is the biggest action against high-ranking police officers in Maharashtra in the recent past.

Dhada had lamented in a facebook post the November 18 shutdown due to Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's funeral. Shrinivasan had 'liked' the post. Though Dhada didn't name Thackeray, the local Sena chief complained against the girls and the cops arrested the duo on November 19, which kicked off a nationwide furore over the attack on freedom of speech. Moreover, only on November 20 did cops arrest the vandals who caused Rs 20 lakh worth of damage at Shaheen's uncle's hospital on November 18, despite her taking down her post and apologizing that day itself.

The actions of Bagade had been recently questioned by former chief information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who asked why the magistrate hadn't seen the absurdity of the charges against the girls and thrown out the case. Bagade, who had also given bail of Rs 7,500 each to 10 hospital vandals, has been transferred to Jalgaon with immediate effect.

Sengaonkar's suspension comes after the government spent days dithering on taking action against the cops. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and home minister R R Patil had promised action on Thursday, but an inquiry report by special inspector general (Konkan) Sukhwinder Singh was ready only on Friday. It indicted the three cops for not taking action at the appropriate time and called for appropriate administrative action against the police officials who handled the case ineptly. However, Singh's factual report didn't specify the action. Additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan recommended suspending Sengaonkar and Pingle and warning Nishandar.

On Monday, government officials blamed the delay in taking action on the statewide alert that had been issued due to the anniversary of the 26/11 attacks.

Singh's report, which was submitted to the DGP, confirmed that there was absolutely no justification for arresting the two young women under either sections 295A or 505-2 of the IPC and Section 66A of the IT Act. The two girls were first booked under 295-A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and IT Act section 66A (sending a grossly offensive message through a communication device). Later, 295A was dropped and replaced with 505-2 (promoting enmity, hatred or ill will).

After the arrests, DGP Sanjeev Dayal immediately submitted a preliminary report to Rajan saying there appeared to be high-handedness on the part of the police and the arrests appeared unwarranted. Union telecom and IT minister Kapil Sibal and minister of state for communications and IT Milind Deora also condemned the arrests.

Chavan appointed Singh to probe the episode on November 19. All along, both Chavan and home minister R R Patil, while admitting that the Palghar police had exceeded their brief, maintained that once the IG's report was received stern action would be taken against the erring officials. "We have taken the arrests of the two women very seriously. We will take stern action against the erring police officials. We will take such action that they will remember for life," Patil said.

However, till Monday there was no sign of any action being taken. The Union home ministry stepped in on Friday, with a joint secretary in the ministry asking the state home department to immediately submit the inquiry report and details of the action taken against erring police officials.

Singh recommended dropping the charges against the girls. His report was processed by Rajan and submitted to Patil on Saturday. "Amitabh Rajan endorsed the views expressed by Sukhwinder Singh and has recommended stringent action against the police officials indicted in the report," a senior home department bureaucrat said on Monday.

Commenting on the suspension, senior counsel Amit Desai said, "Whilst the suspension is certainly welcome, what would be appreciated is that, before the issue becomes stale in the public's mind, final action is also taken. Since it is only a proper stringent action taken by the state that alone will send a message to other officers not to act in haste in matters of registration of such FIRs or makes such incorrect arrests. Final action should be quick and strong so that the message goes out that police too must face consequences for their hasty and unjustifiable acts.

Related:

Report faults arrest of girls in FB post row

Sibal convenes meeting to discuss Mumbai girls’ arrest

Post row: Shaheen says will not visit FB, 9 held for vandalism

21-year-old girl arrested for Facebook post slamming Bal Thackeray



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News Network
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: A 44-year-old man allegedly killed his daughter and son before ending his life by jumping in front of a Delhi metro train at Haiderpur Badli Mor station on Sunday, police said.

No suicide note has been recovered, but police claimed that the man, Madhur Malani, was depressed since his sandpaper-manufacturing factory was closed some six months ago due to financial crunch leaving him jobless. Madhur's parents had been supporting his family financially since then.

He used to stay with his wife Rupali, daughter Samiksha (14) and six-year-old son Shraiyans at a rented house in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh area, they said.

Rupali was not at home when Madhur strangled their children. He might have also smothered their daughter but the exact cause of death would be ascertained only after the post-mortem reports arrive, a police official said.

After killing his two children, he jumped in front of an approaching train at Haiderpur Badli Mor Metro station following which he was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him 'brought dead', the official said.

Metro services on the Yellow Line were briefly delayed due to the incident.

"Delay in services from Samaypur Badli to GTB Nagar due to a passenger on track at Haiderpur Badli Mor," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tweeted.

After about 15 minutes, it again tweeted that normal services have been restored. The Delhi Metro's Yellow Line connects Samaypur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon.

The suicide was reported to the police around 5.40 pm while the Shalimar Bagh Police station received a call about the killings around 6.50 pm.

On reaching the house, police found bodies of the children lying in beds in two rooms. During enquiry, it was learnt that their father has left the house, a senior police officer said.

While police were trying to trace Madhur, they learnt about a suicide at the metro station. On verifying the details, it surfaced that Madhur committed suicide after killing his children, the officer said.

Rupali told police that she had gone to a nearby market around 3 pm and on returning home she found the bodies of her children while her husband was missing.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered and investigation was underway, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya said.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Jun 10: In a suspected case of honor killing in Telangana, a 20-year old woman was allegedly smothered to death by her parents for being in love with a man from another caste, becoming pregnant and refusing to undergo an abortion, police said on Tuesday.

The parents killed their daughter using a pillow while she was asleep in the early hours of June 7 in their house in Kalukuntla in Jogulamba-Gadwal district and sought to project it as natural death, claiming she died of a heart attack.

However, following specific information and suspicion raised by the village secretary over the death of the woman, a college student, a probe was launched and the couple arrested on charges of murder under Indian Penal Code section 302 after post-mortem, police said.

The parents decided to kill the woman, the youngest of their three daughters, a day after she was found pregnant and refused to undergo an abortion, police said.

The woman had fallen in love with the man while pursuing her degree course in Kurnool district in neighboring Andhra Pradesh and informed her parents about it after she was found pregnant during an examination by a doctor. Her parents feared that their daughter may elope with her lover and brought pressure on her to go for abortion.

Though initially, she agreed, later she declined, following which they killed her and told everyone that their daughter died of heart attack, the police official said. When a police team went to their house and insisted on a post-mortem after noticing some marks on her body indicating a struggle, the parents tried to stop it, saying there was no need.

Later, police shifted the body to a hospital where a post-mortem revealed the woman was "throttled to death". Her parents during interrogation confessed to killing their daughter, the official said, adding they were arrested.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Warangal, May 22: In a shocking incident, bodies of nine migrant workers, including six of a family, were found in a well at Gorrekunta area in the outskirts of Warangal city. Of the nine bodies, four were found on May 21.

"Till now, nine bodies have been found in a well near a gunny bag godown at Gorrekunta area in the outskirts of Warangal city. Of the nine bodies, four were found on May 21 and the rest were found today. As six of the bodies belong to one family, it has led to suspicion," said Dr V Ravinder, Commissioner of Police, Warangal, while speaking to ANI over phone.

"The four bodies that were found yesterday have been identified as Md Maksood (50), his wife Nisha (45), daughter Busra (20) and grandson (3). The five bodies that have been found today have been identified as that of Shabad Alam, son of Maksood, Sohail Alam (Maksood's family member), Shakeel, a family friend of Maksood," he further said.

The bodies have been taken out from the well and sent to MGM Hospital for post mortem.
Minister Errabelli Dayakar, District Collector Harita, Mayor Prakash Rao have visited the spot along with the Warangal Commissioner.

Md Maksood had migrated from West Bengal to Warangal 20 years ago. Since last December, he and his family members have been working in a nearby gunny bag manufacturing unit godown at Gorrekunta. After the lockdown, the family shifted from Warangal and settled down in the factory godown.

According to police, on Thursday noon when the unit owner Santosh came to the godown as part of his daily routine he could not find any of the labourers. Later, he discovered four dead bodies floating in the well.

The Warangal police has registered a case under Section 174 CrPC. They said the exact reason for their deaths will be known only after the investigation.

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