Start-up CEO held for killing minor son says she and her husband are estranged: Goa police
Panaji(PTI): The chief executive officer of a start-up company, who has been arrested in Karnataka for allegedly killing her four-year-old son in Goa, has told the police that she and her husband were estranged and "divorce proceedings" were on between them, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The official also said that the motive behind the murder is yet to be known as the accused woman has not been interrogated so far as she is being brought to Goa from the neighbouring state.
Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old CEO of a start-up company Mindful AI Lab, allegedly killed her minor son in Goa and then travelled with the body to neighbouring Karnataka. The Goa police arrested her from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Sunday night.
Talking to reporters, Superintendent of Police (North) Nidhin Valsan said, "A team of Goa police, which is investigating the case, is currently in Chitradurga district in Karnataka. The accused has been formally placed under arrest and is being brought to Goa. She will be here by this afternoon."
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The accused has been booked by the Calangute police under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence), and also under the Goa Children's Act, he said.
The SP said that the motive behind the murder would be established only after her interrogation.
"What she has told us till now is that she and her husband were estranged and that they are currently undergoing divorce proceedings," he said. The accused woman hails from West Bengal and has been living in Bengaluru, while her husband is from Kerala, the official said.
Her estranged husband is currently in Jakarta (Indonesia) and he has been informed about the incident, Valsan said. According to him, the accused woman had stuffed the child's body in her "luggage".
"The exact cause of his death would be established only after a post-mortem is conducted," he said.
The police earlier said that Seth had checked into a rented service apartment at Candolim in North Goa on January 6 along with her son. After staying there for two days, she informed the apartment staff that she wanted to go to Bengaluru for some work and asked them to arrange for a taxi.
Accordingly a vehicle was arranged on January 8 in which she left early in the morning. Later, when the apartment staff went to clean the room in which she stayed, they found blood stains on a towel. After that, the management of the apartment immediately informed the police.
The staff also informed that the woman's four-year-old son was not seen with her when she left the apartment and she was also carrying an unusually heavy bag. The police in Chitradurga (Karnataka) later checked the woman's bag in which they found the body of the child.
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We are completely immune, says SC; flags half-baked running commentary on pending cases
New Delhi (PTI): Observing that half-baked truth and ill-informed running commentary on sub-judice cases affect public perception, the Supreme Court on Friday asserted that it is "completely immune" from reporting of cases for the sake of publicity or narrative building.
The observations were made by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi during the hearing of a case concerning the repatriation of certain individuals deported to Bangladesh, when Solicitor General Tushar Mehta took strong exception to a news article published in an English daily on the issue.
"There is a concurrent and simultaneous narrative-building exercise going on. I am sure it does not affect your lordships. There are certain tabloids which are normally known and used for narrative building exercises. Unfortunately, today, to my amazement and shock, I read a front page story in a reputable and dependable newspaper like..., it must have escaped the editorial attention," the law officer said.
During the proceedings, the court was informed that Sunali Khatun, a pregnant woman, and her eight-year old son have come back to India and currently, she is getting medical attention at her father's residence in Birbhum in West Bengal.
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The bench fixed January 6 to hear the Centre's appeal against a Calcutta High Court judgement that directed the repatriation of certain individuals deported to Bangladesh on the alleged ground that the due process was not followed.
During the proceedings, the solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, raised the issue of the news report.
Terming the reportage as "tabloid-like", the top law officer said, "I do not want to escalate ... but attempts are made to build a particular kind of narrative" in a bid to influence the outcome.
The law officer said he was sure that the bench is not influenced by any such reports, but it does cast doubt about the intention to build a particular kind of narrative.
"My faith was shaken," Mehta said.
"We are completely immune from publicity and pseudo-publicity stunts. Narratives should not affect the lives of individuals," Justice Bagchi said, adding that the judges hardly get time to see newspapers.
Referring to the names of leading English newspapers, the top law officers said they cannot be reduced to "the level of these tabloids, where you plant stories. It is for the newspaper to decide".
Advising the law officer to "just ignore them", the CJI, however, said, "Ideally, ill-informed running commentary on sub-judice matters should not be made."
"The problem is half-baked distorted facts and ill-informed facts are being reported," he said.
"Reporting that a matter is coming up (for hearing) is fine. But if you thrust your opinion, then that is an issue. The issue is with half-baked truth and ill-informed opinion which affects public perception," the CJI added.
The CJI assured the law officer saying, "we do not accept pleadings which are outside."
"Once the judgment is passed, any constructive criticism is always most welcome," the CJI added.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, referred to the media's role in recent times in countries like the UK and the US, and said immigration issues are part of a "global discourse" and comments and public discourses are held on social media and other platforms.
"People write opinions in the US and England on immigration. As long as you don't attribute motive, it is not sacrilege," Sibal said.
At the outset, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde brought to the court's attention the plight of another deportee, Sweety Bibi, who remains stuck with her husband and two children.
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Hegde offered to provide documents proving their Indian citizenship. He urged the solicitor general to take up the other case on humanitarian grounds, saying, "that side of the border is very difficult for Indians."
The law officer assured Hegde that he will look into the issue and the verification may take sometime.
The court said once documents are verified, modalities for their return could be considered in a time-bound manner.
The case involves families who had been working as daily wagers in Delhi's Rohini area for two decades.
They were detained by police on June 18 on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and deported on June 27.
The Calcutta High Court, in its impugned order, had observed that the deportation violated the Union Home Ministry’s own protocols, which require an inquiry by the state government before deportation.
The high court had noted that the "overenthusiasm" in deporting the detainees disturbed the "judicial climate".
Sibal reiterated this point during the hearing and said, "The Union does no inquiry for 30 days before deporting them."
