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3 cops get jail for sexual harassment of woman, minor niece in neighbourhood

Time of India

12 hours ago

Time of India

3 cops get jail for sexual harassment of woman, minor niece in neighbourhood

New Delhi: Three cops who are alleged to have sexually harassed and used vulgar language against a woman and her minor niece in their neighbourhood in 2013 were handed down prison terms by Delhi High Court on Thursday. "The convicts are none other than the police officials who are responsible for maintaining law and order in society. Furthermore, they were the neighbours of the complainant and the child victim and were fully aware and conscious of their offensive acts towards them. It is not a case where a restorative or rehabilitative approach would be justified while sentencing," Justice Neena Bansal Krishna observed in her order. Convicts Jaidev, his brother Jagmal, and son Suraj Bhan were acquitted by the trial court earlier, but the high court found enough material to set aside the verdict and hold them guilty under provisions of IPC and Pocso Act after it found that they indulged in sexual harassment and public obscenity against the victims in 2013. While Jaidev was sentenced to 2 years in prison, the remaining three will have to serve one year in jail. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi The high court noted that Jaidev's conduct "was persistent, who would regularly stand in the street and strip himself naked on seeing the complainant and her niece. Such an act of the convict, who was in Delhi Police, cannot be forgiven or overlooked. He, being a police official, was duty-bound to abide by the law and to ensure the maintenance of law and order. However, he instead indulged in sexual offences, not only towards the complainant but also a little child of about 6 years of age. " It cannot be overlooked that all the three convicts belong to the same family and they all together on the date of the incident, misconducted themselves and persisted in committing the offence, the court added, highlighting that the victims were also kin of a cop. Deciding their punishment, the court on Thursday stressed that it is a case "where there is no other choice but to adopt the punitive approach, which may also send a signal to society and act as a deterrent for the convicts like them in society." The punishment came for offences under sections 509 and 354A IPC for sexual harassment and using vulgar language, words, gestures, and acts to insult the modesty of the woman, obscene acts done in a public place, and under the Pocso Act vis-a-vis Jaidev. Citing the "consistent testimony of the child about being a victim to such exposure by Jaidev," the court stated that evidence could not have been discarded, overlooked, or disbelieved. "There is overwhelming evidence confirming the alleged obscenity on the part of Jaidev towards the child victim and there was no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the child," it added.

Why were Tablighi Jamaat members given a clean chit?

The Hindu

3 days ago

Politics
The Hindu

Why were Tablighi Jamaat members given a clean chit?

The story so far: The Delhi High Court last week acquitted all 70 Tablighi Jamaat members accused of housing foreign participants of a congregation during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 in violation of lockdown protocol. The court ruling came in the Mohammed Anwar versus State of NCT of Delhi case. What happened in March 2020? The Tablighi Jamaat members, who came in for heavy criticism in media and political circles for attending a jod (religious congregation) in Nizamuddin Markaz (Jamaat's headquarters in New Delhi), were given a clean chit by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna who noted that the said jod was planned before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Incidentally, the jod which began on March 12, 2020 concluded on March 15, a day before the Delhi government capped all religious gatherings above the size of 50 and imposed the Delhi Epidemic Diseases, COVID Regulations-2020. Earlier, on March 13, 2020, the Union Health Ministry had stated that the coronavirus was not a national health emergency as there were only 81 cases in India at that time. It all changed after the imposition of the lockdown on March 24 at midnight. While most Indian participants had dispersed by then, foreign nationals were still at the Jamaat headquarters, awaiting resumption of international flights to their respective destinations. The congregation included participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Kuwait, Ghana and Sri Lanka. However, soon after the imposition of the nationwide lockdown, the Delhi Police had filed FIRs against hundreds of Indian and foreign participants of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation for allegedly violating the lockdown and orders prohibiting the assembly of people. The men were booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act and the Foreigners Act. These FIRS accused Indian nationals of either hosting foreigners in mosques or accommodating them at their homes. They were challenged before the High Court which dismissed them last week, a little over five years after the incident. What did the court state? 'There is nothing on record to show that they had congregated after the promulgation of the Notification under Section 144 Criminal Penal Code. These petitioners were already present in the Markaz. After the imposition of the lockdown, there was no way possible for them to have dispersed; rather their stepping out of the houses would have been a violation of the complete lockdown and also of the potential of spreading of communicable disease of COVID-19,' the court stated. The court also noted that the imposition of Section 144 banning large gatherings was not announced through a gazette notification nor was it properly published. Hence, the Tablighi Jamaat preachers were possibly unaware of such a notification. 'There is no averment to show that any information was actually conveyed to the petitioners,' the court stated. It also observed there was no whisper in the chargesheets that the accused were COVID-positive or had defied the government order by stepping out during the pandemic. Incidentally, eight foreign participants had been acquitted back in August 2020 by the south-east districts court in Saket, New Delhi. Later in December, 36 more foreign participants were acquitted. What was the media's role? A large section of the media had then accused the Tablighi Jamaat volunteers of being the principal reason for the spread of the disease in the country. Terms like Corona Jehad, Islamic Insurrection and Corona Terrorism were loosely bandied about and many fake videos were shared accusing the Tablighi members of spitting on food to spread the disease. The Delhi government, in its daily medical dispatches, used to have a separate column for Tablighi Jamaat COVID cases.

Unauthenticated info from foreign country not evidence: HC

Hindustan Times

24-07-2025

Hindustan Times

Unauthenticated info from foreign country not evidence: HC

The Delhi high court has held that unauthenticated information received from a foreign country regarding an individual's Swiss bank account cannot be treated as evidence and form a valid basis for criminal prosecution for tax evasion under the Income Tax (IT) Act. Unauthenticated info from foreign country not evidence: HC The ruling was delivered by justice Neena Bansal Krishna on Monday, in a plea by Anurag Dalmia to quash the case registered by the IT department for tax evasion. The case was registered in 2016 on the basis of the information received by the French government regarding the existence of a Swiss Bank account in Dalmia's name till 2005. Pursuant to receipt of information and unauthenticated documents received in 2011, the department conducted a raid in his premises in December 2012, but failed to recover anything. It later reopened the assessment proceedings for assessment year (AY) 2006-07, 2007–08 in 2012, and imposed fresh penalties by way of an assessment order (AO). In 2016, it also registered a case under section 276C (wilful evasion of tax, penalty, or interest chargeable), 276D (failure to produce accounts and documents), 277 (false statement in verification) of the Income Tax Act. The department had alleged that he evaded taxes by not disclosing details of his HSBC Bank account in Switzerland in his income tax returns for the assessment years 2006–07 and 2007–08, and by refusing to sign a consent waiver form that would have allowed access to the Swiss account information. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in February, 2018, concluding that there was no basis for revising Dalmia's ITR. In his petition, Dalmia asserted that the Swiss authorities had failed to respond to the department's request of further information from about the Swiss account and mere surmises or conjectures were not enough for pressing criminal charges. He further argued that the assessment order, which formed the basis for the department's initiation of criminal proceedings, had already been quashed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), and this alone should be sufficient grounds for dropping the criminal case. On the contrary, the IT department had asserted that quashing of the AO, was not sufficient to exonerate Dalmia of the criminal charges and the ITAT's order was not binding on the criminal court. It was also asserted that the case was not solely based on the AO but also independent information received from the French government. Rejecting the department's contention, justice Krishna in her 33-page ruling said, 'Merely on some unauthenticated information received from a third Country with no material evidence, is not sufficient to make out a prima facie case and there cannot be a presumption that a person has committed any wrongdoing. Thus, mere surmise and conjectures is not enough to prosecute a person alleging a criminal offence under Section 276D.' She added, 'Respondent has no cogent evidence whatsoever, to establish that the Petitioner has any Swiss Bank accounts and the unauthenticated documents have no evidentiary value, to make out a prima facie case against the Petitioner. It, therefore, has to be concluded that the unauthenticated documents under DTAA cannot be a basis to conclude that there was no complete disclosure of the income by the Petitioner for the relevant Financial Years.' Ultimately, the court quashed the criminal proceedings observing that the department lacked 'cogent, credible and corroborative evidence' to establish the existence of Swiss accounts and the receipt of such information from the French and not Swiss government raised questions on the document's authenticity. The judge further noted that the department had failed to recover incriminating material during the raid and confront Dalmia with the bank details before imposition of penalty. 'There was nothing even remotely to suggest that either the Assessee was having any bank account in Switzerland with HSBC or he was in any way linked with these bank accounts It thus concluded that if no incriminating material has been found during the course of search, no additions can be made in the Assessment year where Assessments had attained finality,' the court maintained.

Delhi HC grants anticipatory bail to NewsClick founder in foreign funding case

Hindustan Times

23-07-2025

Business
Hindustan Times

Delhi HC grants anticipatory bail to NewsClick founder in foreign funding case

The Delhi high court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to NewsClick's founder Prabir Purkayastha in a foreign funding case registered by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha. (File Photo) A bench of justice Neena Bansal Krishna also granted anticipatory bail to Prabir in the money laundering case based on the EOW case. 'Bail granted,' justice Neena Bansal Krishna said while pronouncing the verdict. The court also granted anticipatory bail to the portal's director Pranjal Pandey in the EOW case. A detailed copy of the verdict is awaited. EOW in August 2020, registered a first information report (FIR) against the news portal for allegedly violating FDI norms under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (punishment for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). EOW's case had also formed the basis of Enforcement Directorate (ED) registering FIR against the portal for allegedly overvaluing shares, diverting funds. The high court in July 2021 had granted interim protection from arrest in the cases. In 2023, Delhi police special cell had also registered a case under stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly receiving foreign funds through Chinese firms to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. The special cell in the FIR alleged that the accused had conspired with a group called Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism to sabotage the 2019 general elections. The police also claimed that the money was routed into the portal by Chinese firms Xiaomi and Vivo with the aid of shell companies. In May, last year, the Supreme Court ordered immediate release of Prabir in the UAPA case, saying that his arrest and subsequent remand was invalid.

NewsClick case: Delhi HC grants pre-arrest bail to Prabir Purkayastha

New Indian Express