Advocate sent to jail in Karnataka for making wild allegations against judicial system
Bengaluru, Feb 8: The High Court of Karnataka has sentenced an advocate to prison for one week for "making wild allegations against the judicial system and the Judicial Officers in particular".
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi recently ordered that advocate K S Anil be taken into custody and again presented before it on February 10.
Anil, who is facing a criminal contempt of court proceedings in the HC had filed a memo-cum-written submission in which he had urged that his case be transferred to another bench as he had filed a complaint against the sitting judges.
Quoting the advocate's submission, the HC in its order said, "The statement made by the accused in paragraph 6 making allegations against the Judges of this Court clearly shows that the accused is having no regards to the judicial system. The accused being a practicing advocate and consistent behavior of the accused on the earlier occasions and today making wild allegations against the judicial system and the Judicial Officers in particular indicates that he is trying to demean the institution and is lowering the image of the judicial system in public eye."
The Court said it is left with no other option except to pass an order for taking the accused into judicial custody for committing contempt of Court, it said.
The original criminal contempt case against Anil was filed in 2019. He had been issued a bailable warrant which he had received on October 14, 2019. He accepted another notice in May 2020. Another suo-moto contempt petition was initiated against him.
The court noted that when police authorities made an attempt to serve him the bailable warrant, he refused to respond. The police filed a detailed report to the court about this.
The HC only quoted a paragraph in which Anil claimed he was ill and wants both the Chief Justice and other judges to recuse themselves from his case and all his cases before another common bench.
Anil had alleged that "All this attitude of KAR HC judges itself proves the severe abuse of Contempt act/law that in lack of transparency, to keep judicial corruption alive and live-streaming is not done fully."
The HC in its order said, "We need not refer to other statements made in the memo at this stage as they are in the form of allegations against the Judges of this Court."
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
