Courts should act as Lord Krishna to protect the safety of women: Karnataka High Court
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has observed that courts should act as Lord Krishna to protect Dharma in order to ensure safety of women.
Courts cannot act as a mute spectator to allow injustice being done to the women for generations to generations, a division bench of Justice B Veerappa and Justice E S Indiresh said while dismissing an appeal filed by a rape convict accused of raping a 69-year-old woman in 2013.
"Now time warrants that the court should act as guardians and protect dharma in order to protect the safety of women, as contemplated under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and deal with the violators including rapists sternly and severely with iron hands. Courts should act as Lord Sri Krishna of Mahabharata to protect dharma," the bench noted in its order on September 8, while referring to two verses in the Bhagavad Gita.
The bench was hearing an appeal by the convict challenging the order passed by a district court of Dakshina Kannada dated November 14, 2014.
The petitioner, who was a 24-year-old labourer at the time of perpetrating the offence, was found guilty of raping a 69-year-old woman, whom he used to call 'grandmother', at knife-point and robbing cash and valuables over Rs 55,000.
Counsel for the convict had sought setting aside the district court order by contending that the evidence did not corroborate his involvement in the crime.
However, the division bench upheld the lower court order sentencing him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and dismissed the appeal.
The bench noted that even after the lapse of 74 years of independence, women still are not safe in the hands of the violators of law.
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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.
