Kerala HC denies anticipatory bail to 2 church priests

Agencies
July 4, 2018

Kochi, Jul 4: The Kerala High Court today declined to grant two church priests any interim protection from arrest over sexual assault charges and adjourned the hearing on their anticipatory bail pleas till Monday.

Sony Varghese, 42, and Job Mathew, 40, of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, moved the anticipatory bail pleas in the high court apprehending arrest in the case.

Adjourning the case to Monday, Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan declined their pleas not to arrest them till further hearing of the case.

The court also directed police to produce the complaint of sexual harassment of the woman filed by her husband and other documents related to the case.

Varghese and Mathew moved the high court a day after the Crime Branch wing of Kerala Police slapped rape charges against four of the five Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church priests, including them, in the case.

The priests, in separate, but identical pleas, rejected the woman's allegations that they had sexually assaulted her.

They alleged that the crime was registered against them "solely at the instance of the political pressure exerted by certain vested interests to derive political mileage".

Both claimed that even if the charges by the alleged victim in their entirety were assumed to be correct, without them admitting, the same does not make out an offence under Section 376 of IPC.

They contended that the entire allegation revealed that sexual intercourse, if any, was fully consensual.

Meanwhile, Crime Branch Inspector General S Sreejith, who is heading the probe, visited the headquarters of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Kottayam and discussed case-related matters with its supreme head, Baselios Marthoma Paulose II.

Sreejith said the head priest told him to take all legal steps correctly in the case.

He also offered all help to police in the probe.

The crime branch had yesterday registered an FIR and slapped rape charges against the priests after recording the woman's statement.

Last month, the man from Pathanamthitta district accused the five priests of using his wife's secret confession to blackmail and sexually abuse her.

The incident came to light after an audio clip containing the man's purported conversation with a church official alleging sexual abuse of his wife by the priests was widely circulated on social media.

The investigation team had recorded the statement of the victim's husband earlier.

The man had reportedly handed over copies of evidence against the priests to the crime branch team.

A Crime Branch probe was ordered into the case last week by state police chief Loknath Behara.

Veteran CPI(M) leader and chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission V S Achuthanandan and the National Commission for Women had written to Behara, demanding a probe into the charges.

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Agencies
May 28,2020

Mumbai, May 28: Twenty four doctors and three others staying in a south Mumbai hotel were rescued after a major fire broke out in the five-storey building, officials said on Thursday.

The BMC has arranged temporary accommodation for emergency and essential service staffers, including doctors and nurses, in various hotels and lodges in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This hotel is one such facility.

The fire broke out at Hotel Fortune near Metro Cinema late Wednesday night and was brought under control after nearly three hours early Thursday, fire brigade officials said.

“The fire spread from the first to the third floor of the hotel, a fire brigade official told PTI. It was a level-2 fire and eight fire engines were rushed to the spot, he added.

The fire was confined to the electric wiring and cables in the electrical duct, false ceiling in the lobby and the common passages on the first, second and third floors of the hotel, he said.

The 24 rescued were resident doctors at a local hospital who were provided temporary accommodation in the hotel, while the three others were guests of the hotel, he said.

The fire broke out at 11 am and wasbrought under control at 1.40 am, the official said. Cooling operation is underway at the hotel, he added.

Five doctors were rescued using fire brigade ladders and breathing apparatus sets, the official said.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, the fire brigade official said.

On April 21, a major fire broke out in a lodging room of Hotel Ripon near Mumbai Central, which was being used as a quarantine facility by the civic body.

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Agencies
March 3,2020

Panipat, Mar 3: A 22-year-old man was charred to death after he came in contact with a live electricity wire while posing for a TikTok video near the Matlaudha railway station here, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday evening when Vikas, a resident of Dharamgarh village, climbed a pole over which the wire was passing and posed for the video, police said.

His three friends were standing below when the accident took place.

Vikas came in contact with the wire carrying 25,000 volts current and was burnt, police said.

Police have sent the body for a post-mortem and started investigation into the matter.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Mar 12: Three women were arrested for allegedly administrating fake coronavirus vaccines to villagers in Maharashtra's Jalna district, police said on Thursday.

The police on Wednesday arrested Beed residents Radha Ramnath Saamse, Seema Krishna Andhale and Sangeeta Rajendra Avhad, who allegedly posed as doctors and healthcare workers, an official said.

The trio met villagers of Pipalgoan in Ambad tehsil, informed them about a vaccine that could protect them from coronavirus and administered it to gullible locals, he said.

Some villagers informed Dr Mahadev Munde, a medical officer at a rural health centre, about this, after which a complaint was lodged, the official said.

Fake vaccines and bottles, which were seized from the accused, have been sent to the state health department, he said, adding that a case of cheating has been registered against the trio.

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