Girl (17) commits suicide after her objectionable video clip goes viral in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri
Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) (PTI): A 17-year-old girl committed suicide after her objectionable video clip made by a person of another community went viral on social media, a police official said on Sunday, adding that an SHO has been suspended.
The victim's body was found hanging in her house on November 3, when her mother and sister had gone outside.
Kheri SP Ganesh Prasad Saha told reporters that DSP (Pallia) Aditya Kumar Gautam has been asked to investigate the case and promptly file charge-sheet to ensure punishment to the accused.
SHO of Sampurn Nagar police station Siyaram Verma was suspended on Saturday evening.
Saha said the main accused (a 20-year-old Muslim youth) of the case has been arrested and investigations from all angles would be carried out as per the allegations in the FIR.
The main accused was arrested on Saturday.
Police have registered a case against four persons - the main accused, his two brothers and father - under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 306 (abetment of suicide), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, POCSO Act, IT Act and Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act.
IG Lucknow range Tarun Gaba also visited the spot on Saturday evening and spoke with the victim's family, assuring them of "effective and prompt action" in the case.
Meanwhile, family members of the victim alleged that the accused and his family members were insisting on the minor to perform 'nikaah' (marriage) with the accused.
The deceased's sister alleged the accused was torturing and blackmailing the victim for a long time, which forced her sister to take the extreme step.
On Saturday, when the victim's body reached her village after the post-mortem examination, villagers resorted to massive demonstration putting the body on the road and damaging the properties of the accused's family.
Local police attempted to dissuade the demonstrators from damaging the properties. Kheri District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh along with SP Ganesh Prasad Saha rushed to the spot and held talks with the aggrieved family members and the demonstrating villagers.
The DM and the SP persuaded the demonstrators to call off the agitation and the family performed the last rites of the victim on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the accused's shop allegedly built on the PWD land, was on Sunday bulldozed, the UP Police said in a statement.
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HC questions Delhi govt over failure to regulate sale of old vehicles, refers to Red Fort blast
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court questioned the city government on Wednesday over its failure to regulate the sale and transfer of used vehicles, while pointing out that in a recent bomb blast near the Red Fort, a second-hand car was used, making the issue more significant.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the Delhi government to file a detailed response on the issue of regulating authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
"A car changes four hands but the original owner has not changed. Therefore, what happens? That man (the original owner) goes to the slaughterhouse? What is this? How are you permitting this? You will take a call when two-three more bomb blasts take place?" the bench asked the Delhi government's counsel.
The bomb blast near the iconic Mughal-era monument was carried out using a second-hand car, making the issue even more significant, it said.
The court listed the matter for further hearing in January 2026.
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The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea filed by an organisation, Towards Happy Earth Foundation, highlighting the challenges in the implementation of rules 55A to 55H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, introduced in December 2022 to regulate authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
While the rules were intended to bring accountability to the second-hand vehicle market, the petitioner's counsel argued that they have failed in practice due to regulatory gaps and procedural hurdles.
The plea said there is a major gap in the amended framework, that is, the absence of any statutory mechanism for reporting dealer-to-dealer transfers.
"In reality, most used vehicles pass through multiple dealers before reaching the final buyer, but the rules recognise only the first transfer to the initial authorised dealer.
"As a result, the chain of custody breaks after the first step, defeating the very purpose of accountability," the petition said.
It added that because of these gaps, only a very small percentage of dealers across India have been able to obtain authorised dealer registration and in Delhi, not a single dealer has got it.
Consequently, lakhs of vehicles continue to circulate without any record of who is actually in possession of those, it said.
The plea said only a small fraction of India's estimated 30,000 to 40,000 used-vehicle dealers are registered under the authorised-dealer framework.
The petition also pointed out that the 11-year-old vehicle used in the November 10 bomb blast near the Red Fort was sold several times but was still registered in its original owner's name.
The blast near the Red Fort had claimed 15 lives.
