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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Defamation case: Application filed in court for voice sample of Rahul Gandhi
Sultanpur (UP) (PTI): An application for obtaining a voice sample of Rahul Gandhi was filed in an MP-MLA court here on Saturday during a hearing in a defamation case against the Congress leader over his alleged objectionable remarks against then BJP president Amit Shah in 2018.
The plaintiff Vijay Mishra's advocate, Santosh Kumar Pandey, said he filed the application requesting that a voice sample of Gandhi be collected and sent to a forensic science laboratory for comparison with a CD that has already been submitted to the court.
Rahul Gandhi's lawyers registered their objections to this demand. The next hearing in the matter is fixed for April 6, Pandey said.
On February 20, Gandhi, the Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli, had appeared before the court and recorded his statement, claiming the case was filed against him due to political vendetta.
He had also told the court that the audio and video evidence submitted by the complainant was incorrect and said he would present his own evidence.
In December 2023, the court issued a warrant against Gandhi after he failed to appear before it. He later surrendered before the court in February 2024 and was granted bail on two surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each.
The hearing was deferred on Friday due to a holiday on Ram Navami.
Pandey said that during the previous hearing, the complainant's side had filed an application seeking verification of audio and video evidence of the alleged statements made by Gandhi by matching them with his original voice.
The case stems from Gandhi's alleged objectionable remarks against Shah during the 2018 Karnataka election campaign. Following the remarks, Vijay Mishra, a resident of Hanumanganj under Kotwali Dehat police station area in Sultanpur, filed the defamation complaint.
