Cases of outraging modesty of women, cruelty by husbands on rise in Kerala: NCRB
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Crimes against women in Kerala spiked between 2020 and 2022 with a majority of them being cases of outraging modesty and cruelty by husbands or his relatives, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau data.
Crimes against women in Kerala stood at 15,213 in 2022 as compared to 10,139 in 2020.
Of the 15,213 cases, 4,998 were of cruelty by husband or his relatives under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 4,940 were of outraging modesty of women under section 354 of IPC, it said.
There were 2,957 cases of sexual assault of minor girls under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2022, according to the data.
Coupled with 5,269 cases of the previous years, the total instances of crimes against women being probed by the police in 2022 were 20,528 and of these charge sheets were filed in 15,782 and in 6,792 the investigation was pending, the report said.
In courts, 92,929 cases were listed for trial in 2022 and these included 77,147 cases of the previous years, it said.
Of the over 90,000 cases which went for adjudication, 8,397 were disposed of and in 7,768 the trial was completed, the report said.
That left 84,532 cases of crimes against women pending trial in courts indicating a pendency percentage of 91 per cent and a conviction rate of 10.3, according to the data.
Instances of kidnappings also witnessed a rise in the southern state with the number of cases increasing from 307 in 2020 to 403 in 2022.
Of those kidnapped or abducted, 292 were children and of them 224 were girls.
Of the 224 girls abducted in 2022, 209 were between the age group of 12 and 18 years, according to the data.
However, among the adults abducted, 117 were men.
The report also said that 481 people were kidnapped in the state till December 31, 2022 and of them 395 were traced by the end of 2022, indicating a recovery percentage of 82.1 per cent.
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CJI's advice to aspirant: Join the bar, become a lawyer, don't hanker for judicial services post
New Delhi (PTI): She came to the Supreme Court seeking a re-evaluation of her paper in the examination for joining judicial services as a magistrate. What she got instead was a rejection — and a candid confession by the Chief Justice that he too had wanted to join the judicial services in his youth but was advised by a senior judge to become a lawyer instead.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Friday dismissed a plea filed by Prerna Gupta, the judicial services aspirant.
As Gupta pressed her case, the CJI intervened and said, "Let me share my personal story and I hope you will go happily as we cannot allow your petition."
He recounted his time as a final-year law student in 1984 when he wanted to become a judicial officer. As per requirement, he cleared the written test and was set to appear for an interview.
Judicial services is one of the two routes to become a judge after initially joining as a magistrate in lower court and thereafter rising through the ranks to become judge in a high court and possibly the Supreme Court.
The other route is to join the Bar, which means becoming a lawyer, and after building a reputation be picked from the Bar to become a judge at a senior level.
By the time the CJI's exam results came out, he had started practising at the Punjab and Haryana High Court when he was called for the interview.
The senior-most judge on the interview panel happened to be a judge before whom he had recently argued two significant matters.
"One of the matters was Sunita Rani vs Baldev Raj, where he had allowed my appeal in a matrimonial case and set aside the decree of divorce granted by the District Judge on the ground of schizophrenia," he noted.
Before the interview could take place, the judge called the young Surya Kant to his chamber and asked, 'Do you want to become a judicial officer?'
"I said 'yes.' He immediately said, 'Get out from (my) the chamber.'"
The courtroom fell silent as the CJI Justice described his initial heartbreak.
“I came out trembling. All my dreams were shattered. I thought he had snubbed me and that my career was over,” the CJI said.
However, the story took another turn the following day and the judge summoned him again, this time offering a piece of advice that would change the trajectory of his life.
“He said, ‘If you want to become (a judge), you are welcome. But my advice is, don’t become a judicial officer. The Bar is waiting for you,’” Justice Surya Kant recalled.
The CJI said he decided to skip his interview and didn't even tell his parents at first, fearing their disappointment, and instead chose to dedicate himself to his practice as an advocate.
“Now tell me did I make a bad right or bad decision,” the CJI asked and the litigant lawyer left the court with a smile on her face despite her case being dismissed.
Encouraging the petitioner to look toward the future rather than dwelling on the re-evaluation of a single paper, Justice Surya Kant said, "The Bar has much to offer."
