Kopardi rape and murder case: Three men get death sentence

Agencies
November 29, 2017

Ahmednagar, Nov 29: A sessions court here today awarded the death sentence to three men for the brutal rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Maharashtras Kopardi village in 2016 that triggered protests across the state.

Hailing the verdict, the girls mother said her daughter "got justice in the true sense today".

Additional Special Judge Suvarna Kevale, presiding over the fast track court, awarded the death sentence to Jitendra Babulal Shinde (25), Santosh Gorakh Bhawal (30) and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (23).

The judge had on November 18 convicted the three men on charges of rape, murder and criminal conspiracy.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the verdict would act as a "deterrent" to criminals.

The victim, a Class IX student, was found murdered after being raped on July 13, 2016 at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.

The accused also inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her, police said.

The incident turned out to be the trigger for silent marches (mook morcha) by Marathas across the state as the victim belonged to the community, while the culprits are Dalits.

Marches, joined by a large number of women, were taken out throughout the length and breadth of the state by the Maratha community demanding quick investigation and speedy trial in the case.

It also sent strong political ripples with the opposition Congress and the NCP demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on moral grounds.

Following the protests, the state government appointed noted criminal lawyer Nikam, who has appeared in several high-profile cases including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, as the special public prosecutor in the case.

On October 7 last year, the Ahmednagar Police filed the charge sheet running into over 350 pages before the court in which the trio was charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The victims mother, who was present in the court, thanked the government, police, judiciary and the Maratha community for bringing justice to her daughter.

"I am thankful to the government, police, judiciary and the entire Maratha community for coming together and fighting for my daughter," the girls mother said.

Nikam said he was satisfied with the courts verdict.

"This judgement will be a great deterrent to criminals," he told PTI.

Nikam had earlier told the court that four to five days before the incident, the accused had stopped the girl and tried to molest her. However, when she resisted, two of the accused said that they would see her later.

On the day of the incident, all the accused were moving on their motorcycles and keeping a watch on the girls movements, Nikam had said.

The prosecutor today said he raised 24 points while pleading the case in the court.

The prosecution closed the case from its side by presenting 31 witnesses before the court, he said.

The prosecutor said that the three convicts were also given life imprisonment for charges pertaining to rape and criminal conspiracy and they were also fined Rs 20,000 each.

The convicts were also awarded three years rigorous imprisonment under the charges of molestation.

All these sentences will run concurrently, said Nikam.

He said Bhawal was earlier fined Rs 18,000 for stalling the trial in the court. Since he failed to pay the fine, the court today ordered the district administration to recover it from him

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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
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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Agencies
January 8,2020

Muzaffarpur, Jan 8: There is no evidence of murder of children in Bihar's Muzaffarpur shelter home, the CBI on Wednesday told the Supreme Court.

The probe agency told the apex court that two skeletons were recovered from the home's premises which were later, in forensic investigation, found to be of a woman and a man.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde accepted the status report of the CBI and allowed two officers to be relieved from the investigation team.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the probe agency, said investigation was done on allegations of rape and sexual assault of children and charge sheets have been filed before the courts concerned.

Venugopal said the children, who were alleged to have been murdered, were later traced and found to be alive.

He said the CBI has investigated cases of 17 shelter homes in Bihar and charge sheets have been filed in 13 of them, while in four cases the preliminary inquiry was conducted and later closed as no evidence of any wrongdoing was found.

The probe agency, in its status report filed on Monday, said no incriminating evidence proving commission of any criminal offence could be gathered in four preliminary enquiries and as such no FIR has been registered.

The CBI had also said the Bihar government has been requested to take departmental action and action of cancellation of registration and blacklisting of concerned NGOs by providing them the result of investigation, i.e., the CBI report.

Several girls were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted at a shelter home run by an NGO in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Following the report, a petition was filed in the apex court seeking lodging of an FIR and court-monitored probe by an independent agency into the allegations.

The plea filed by journalist Nivedita Jha through advocate Fauzia Shakil has sought "registration of FIR and independent investigations or court monitored probe into the affairs of these 14 (other) shelter homes in Bihar mentioned in the TISS report".

The apex court had directed the CBI to probe the offences under the Information Technology Act regarding the video recordings of the alleged assault on girls at the shelter home.

It had also directed the agency to investigate the role of "outsiders who were involved and facilitated the sexual assaults on the inmates", after administering them intoxicants and also against those who allegedly indulged in trafficking of girls from the shelter home.

The apex court had earlier directed the CBI to complete its probe into the alleged murder of 11 girls at the shelter home and asked it to file a status report.

The SC had transferred the case from Bihar to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Saket District Court complex in Delhi.

Earlier, the top court had directed the CBI to conduct a probe into allegations of physical and sexual abuse of inmates in 16 other shelter homes in Bihar which were flagged in the TISS report.

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