Madhya Pradesh HC issues warning to judge for allegedly denying bail to applicant on caste lines
Bhopal: According to a report published in livelaw.in the Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a warning to an Additional Sessions Judge for allegedly showing bias on the line of caste by denying bail to an applicant.
According to the report, the applicant’s case was on a better footing than his co-accused who was granted bail.
Justice Vivek Agarwal took note of the conduct of Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Shukla and issued a warning and placed the copy of the warning in his service book to be more cautious and judicious in his approach in the future.
“Let warning be issued to the concerned Judge Shri Prashant Shukla, First Additional Session Judge, Maihar, District Satna and copy of this order and warning be placed in his service book to be more cautious and judicious in his approach in future so that image of the judiciary can be saved and such allegations of casteism and bias are not allowed to be levied so to tarnish the collective image of the judiciary.” Justice Agarwal said.
The case of the Applicant was that he was co-accused for offences punishable U/S 380, 401, 414, 457, 34 IPC. He submitted that he had moved a bail application before a lower court but the same was rejected. He argued that he was charged with the said offences based on the memorandum given by another co-accused from whom the stolen property was recovered. The Applicant further informed the Court that while the said co-accused was granted bail by the same court purely on caste lines, he was denied the benefit of bail. By not maintaining parity, the Applicant asserted, the lower court exercised its discretion in an arbitrary and illegal manner, the report added.
Considering the submissions of the parties and examining the documents on record, the Court observed that prima facie there was substance in the allegations made by the applicant.
With the aforesaid observations, the Court granted bail to the Applicant, and accordingly, the application was allowed.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
