Grabbing breasts, snapping pyjama string is aggravated sexual assault, not attempt to rape: HC
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Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has ruled that grabbing the breasts of an 11-year-old girl, breaking her pyjama string, and attempting to drag her beneath a culvert constitute aggravated sexual assault but do not amount to rape or an attempt to rape.
The incident took place in 2021 when the accused, Pawan and Akash, allegedly offered a lift to the child before assaulting her. However, they fled when passers-by intervened. Initially, the Kasganj trial court directed that they face charges under s. 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape and s. 18 of the POCSO Act.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra modified the charges, ruling that the accused should be tried under s. 354-B IPC (assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe) along with ss. 9/10 of the POCSO Act (aggravated sexual assault). The court noted that for a charge of attempt to rape, the prosecution must establish that the act had gone beyond mere preparation.
"The allegations hardly constitute an offence of attempt to rape. There is no allegation that the accused tried to commit penetrative sexual assault against the victim," the court stated. It also observed that the victim did not get undressed due to the accused's actions, which was a factor in determining the charges.
The third accused, Ashok, father of Pawan, was summoned under ss. 504 and 506 IPC for allegedly abusing and threatening the complainant when she reported the incident.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
