Topper gangrape: police question people but no arrests yet
Chandigarh, Sep 15 : The Haryana Police on Saturday detained two persons for questioning in the gangrape of a 19-year-old board examination topper in Mahendragarh district.
Special Investigating Team (SIT) chief Nazneen Bhasin told media in Rewari that the rape of the young woman had been confirmed in the medical examination.
However, the three accused in the gang-rape case continued to evade the police, 85 hours after the incident.
The accused include a serving Armyman Pankaj, and two other youth, Manish and Nishu. All belong to Kanina village.
The police said it had detained a local medical practitioner, who was called by the accused youth when the condition of the rape victim deteriorated on Wednesday (September 12) after she had been sexually assaulted.
Police officials said that the medical practitioner gave the victim first aid after he was threatened by the accused.
The police has also detained and is questioning a local farmer, Dayanand. It was the room in the agricultural fields owned by the farmer that the accused allegedly gangraped the victim.
The Haryana Police has drawn flak for not being able to arrest any of the accused even after three days of the incident.
State Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu said on Saturday that the accused would be arrested soon.
"One of the accused, Pankaj Fauji, is with the Army and is supposed to report for duty. We have sent teams to nab him," Sandhu told media.
Pankaj is with an Army unit posted at Kota in neighbouring Rajasthan. He got married last year.
Though the victim initially told the police that she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, her father claimed that she had seen eight to 10 men around her when she regained consciousness following the gangrape on Wednesday near Kanina village, around 350 km from here.
The victim, who has identified her attackers, and her parents had said earlier that the police were not taking action in the matter and were dealing with it casually.
The accused, who belong to the same village as the victim and knew her, allegedly kidnapped the victim from Kanina bus stand while she was on her way for coaching classes.
She said they gave her water to drink which was laced with a sedative. They then took turns raping her in a room adjoining agricultural fields till she fell unconscious.
They later dumped her at a bus stop near the village. One accused, Manish, even called up the victim's father and told him to pick her from the bus stand.
The victim, a second year student in a college, topped the board examination and was felicitated by the government.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
‘Pay worker before sweat dries’: Madras HC invokes prophet’s teaching to settle lawyer’s dues
Madurai: Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad to emphasise principles of fairness in labour jurisprudence, the Madras High Court has directed the Madurai City Municipal Corporation to settle the unpaid legal fees of a former standing counsel. Justice G.R. Swaminathan, in an order passed on Saturday, referred to the prophetic principle, “pay the worker before his sweat dries”, observing that this tenet is a facet of fairness eminently applicable to service and labour law.
The court was hearing a plea filed by P. Thirumalai, who served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for over 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. Thirumalai contended that the civic body had failed to pay outstanding dues amounting to Rs 13.05 lakh for his representation in approximately 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts. The current petition was filed after the Corporation rejected a substantial part of his claim following a previous court direction to consider his representation.
Addressing the practical difficulties faced by the petitioner, who stated he could not afford to engage a clerk to obtain certified copies of the 818 judgments to substantiate his work, Justice Swaminathan devised a pragmatic solution. The court permitted the former counsel to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) with a list of cases. The DLSA has been directed to procure the certified copies within two months, with the costs to be borne by the corporation and later deducted from the petitioner’s final settlement.
While the court acknowledged the Corporation's stance that fee bills must be in order, it ordered the civic body to settle the dues within two months of receiving the records from the DLSA.
However, citing the petitioner’s 18-year delay in challenging the non-payment, the court ruled that the settlement would be made without interest.
Beyond the specific relief granted to the petitioner, the single-judge bench made strong observations regarding the administration of legal fees and public funds. Justice Swaminathan termed the petitioner’s claim a "pittance" compared to the number of his appearances and expressed concern over the disparity in payments within the legal field. He noted that while "scandalously high amounts" are often paid to certain senior counsels and law officers by government and quasi-government bodies, others struggle to receive basic dues. The court observed that good governance requires public funds to be drawn on a measured basis and not distributed capriciously to a favoured few.
The Judge also flagged the "embarrassment" caused by the high number of Additional Advocate Generals (AAGs) in the state, noting that the appointment of nearly a dozen officers leads to work being allotted unnecessarily. He criticized the frequent practice of government counsel seeking adjournments on the pretext that an engaged AAG is appearing elsewhere. Justice Swaminathan expressed hope that such practices would cease in the Madurai Bench and that the Additional Advocate Generals would "turn a new leaf" from 2026.
