Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will ask NCP minister Dhananjay Munde to step down if any evidence is found linking him to sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh's murder, his cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil has said. A comprehensive probe is being conducted into the murder of Deshmukh, BJP leader Patil told reporters in Sangli on Sunday. Walmik Karad, an associate of minister Munde, has been arrested in an extortion case linked to the sarpanch's killing. Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted, tortured and killed on December 9 for trying to stop an extortion attempt against an energy firm operating a windmill project there. Munde, the NCP MLA from Parli in Beed district, is under attack from some of the ruling alliance colleagues and the opposition over his links with Karad. The Maharashtra government has already seized properties of the accused in sarpanch Deshmukh murder case. Stringent charges have been invoked and the probe is going on, the BJP leader said. The police machinery is actively investigating the case, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been formed for a probe into it, Patil said. Additionally, a committee headed by a retired judge has been constituted to oversee the inquiry, the minister said. Steps are being taken, including invocation of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Walmik Karad and other accused, Patil pointed out. The process of seizing Karad's assets is also underway, he added.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an appeal in the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, who was sentenced to "life imprisonment until death" for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The CBI argued that the crime falls under the "rarest of rare" category deserving capital punishment, while the trial court had ruled otherwise. The West Bengal government has also appealed for the death penalty, but the CBI opposed the state's right to file an appeal, claiming it was the prosecuting agency and therefore had the right to appeal on the grounds of inadequacy of the sentence. The high court will hear the appeals from the CBI, the victim's family, and the convict on January 27.
The West Bengal government has sought permission from the Calcutta High Court to appeal against the Sealdah court order that sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death in the RG Kar hospital doctor's rape and murder case. The state government is seeking the death penalty for Roy, the sole convict in the case, and has expressed dissatisfaction with the Sealdah court's verdict, which did not consider the crime "rarest of the rare." The court also ordered Roy to pay a Rs 50,000 fine and directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
The two policemen entered the courtroom during the hearing of a case involving them, allegedly pointed a gun at additional district and sessions judge of Jhanjharpur Avinash Kumar, and attacked him.
The Supreme Court of India has ordered a status quo on a private well located near the entrance of the Sambhal Jama Masjid, prohibiting any action regarding the well without its permission. The order came in response to a plea by the mosque's management committee, which challenged a lower court order that allowed a survey of the mosque, citing concerns over violence and loss of life during previous surveys. The court also instructed the authorities to file a status report within two weeks.
A trial judge, who has been critical of the "callous and farcical" probe of Delhi police in some riots cases of 2020 and had once observed that failure to conduct a proper investigation will torment "sentinels of democracy," was on Wednesday transferred to another court in the national capital.
The high court observed there was no final adjudication on the subject matter at this stage as the ADJ was yet to hear Bloomberg.
The wife of an army Colonel, who has accused 12 Punjab police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute, has started a sit-in protest along with ex-servicemen outside the Patiala Deputy Commissioner's office to press for a CBI probe. The family is demanding a CBI probe and the transfer of Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh, accusing him of failing to take action on their multiple requests to file an FIR. Despite Patiala Deputy Commissioner (DC) Preeti Yadav assuring them of a fair and transparent probe, the family refused to lift the 'dharna' and said it would continue until their demands were met.
Nagarjuna in a post on 'X' said they had "not done any actions in violation of law" and the demolition was clearly carried out "wrongfully based on misinformation".
Sexual intercourse, including unnatural act, by a man with his adult wife, even without her consent, can not be treated as an offence, the Chhattisgarh high court held while acquitting a Jagdalpur resident who was convicted of rape and other charges.
The fifth accused in the case was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud was hearing a plea of several unsuccessful candidates of the higher judicial services examination held recently in Rajasthan.
The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has recommended the names of four district judges for appointment as judges of the Madras high court.
The Supreme Court of India has formed a National Task Force (NTF) to address the growing concern of student suicides in higher educational institutions. The court took note of the recurring cases and directed Delhi Police to register FIRs on the complaints of families of two students who died by suicide at IIT Delhi in 2023. The NTF, chaired by former apex court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, will prepare a comprehensive report, including the identification of causes leading to suicides, analysis of existing regulations, and recommendations for strengthening protections. The NTF will also have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of higher educational institutions and make further recommendations to ensure a holistic approach to addressing mental health concerns and eliminating suicides.
The Supreme Court of India has directed all high courts, state governments, and union territories to ensure the availability of separate toilet facilities for men, women, persons with disabilities (PwDs), and transgender persons in all court premises and tribunals across the country. The court stressed the importance of public health and the right to privacy, stating that adequate public toilets protect women and transgender persons. The court also expressed concern about the condition of public toilets near toll plazas on national highways and emphasized the need for proper sanitation facilities in court premises for judges, advocates, litigants, and staff members. This decision highlights the importance of access to basic amenities in ensuring a fair and dignified justice system.
The HC said that when the auto-driver and his accomplice knew that Anand was a judge before hitting him, how could the CBI come up with the theory of murder for robbing a mobile phone?
Tension has been brewing in Sambhal since November 19 when the court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid was carried out following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.
The ASI is carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, next to Kashi Vishwanath temple here, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
A special NIA court in Lucknow has sentenced 28 people to life imprisonment for the 2018 killing of a 22-year-old youth in clashes during a 'Tiranga rally' on Republic Day in Kasganj district of Uttar Pradesh. The case drew significant attention as the killing of Chandan Gupta sparked widespread riots in Kasganj for three days. The prosecution demanded the severest punishment while the defence counsel pleaded for leniency. The court awarded life sentences and imposed a fine of Rs 80,000 on each of the convicts. Gupta's family expressed satisfaction at the verdict but vowed to continue its fight for harsher penalties for the main accused and those acquitted.
The court fixed December 11 as the next date of hearing in the matter, Yadav said.
Dismissing the application, additional district judge Dinesh Kumar posted the matter for hearing arguments on the appeal on October 19.
A sessions court in Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Thursday sentenced former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in a 1996 case involving planting of drugs to frame a lawyer.
Justice Pushpa Ganediwala recently acquitted a man accused of groping a 12-year-old girl's breast because he did not make skin-to-skin contact and days earlier, ruled that holding the hands of a five-year-old girl and unzipping the trousers do not amount to "sexual assault" under the POCSO Act.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed a Sambhal trial court to temporarily halt proceedings in the case over the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid and its survey at Chandausi while directing the UP government to maintain peace and harmony in the violence-hit town.
A sessions court in Palanpur town of Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Wednesday convicted former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a drug seizure case dating back to 1996.
Courts should not grant ex-parte injunctions against publication of a news article barring in exceptional cases as it may have severe ramifications for the right to freedom of speech of the author and the public's right to know, the Supreme Court has said.
The Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari) has criticized the Punjab government for issuing arrest warrants against 25 farmers and adding an attempt to murder charge in the FIR related to the 2022 prime minister security breach incident. The union claims the farmers were protesting peacefully and had no knowledge of the prime minister's route. They argue the government is acting under pressure from the central government.
Accusing him of trying to steal a motorcycle, a mob beat up Ansari on June 17 of that year.
He was not comfortable with the bahubali politician's presence in Siwan after his release.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna 'belongs to that school of legal luminaries who give the highest primacy to facts.'
The attack aimed to overthrow the democratically elected American government in order to replace it with a dictatorship fuelled by Nazi ideology, the Department of Justice said.
The case under the Gangsters Act was registered against Ansari at the Karanda police station in 2010 following the murder of Kapildev Singh, a teacher, and an attempt on the life of Meer Hasan, a trader, both in 2009.
The Madras high court on Sunday held a special sitting to hear a plea of the wife of slain Tamil Nadu Bahujan Samaj Party president K Armstrong, seeking to bury his body at the party office in Chennai.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who has been part of several landmark Supreme Court judgements such as scrapping the electoral bonds scheme and upholding abrogation of Article 370, will be sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday.
The CBI's failure to file a chargesheet within the mandated 90 days has resulted in bail being granted to two key suspects in the rape-murder case of an on-duty medic at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata. This comes just days after the West Bengal Police secured capital punishment for a convict in a similar crime against a minor. The delay in justice has sparked outrage, particularly among the victim's family and junior doctors who are demanding accountability.
"Due to personal reasons, the undersigned hereby recuses from hearing the matter. Accordingly, let the present matter be put up before the principal district and sessions judge, southeast district, Saket court, for February 13 at 12 pm with a request to transfer the matter," the judge said in an order passed on Friday.
Aryan Anand had submitted fake and falsified documents to secure admission into Lehigh University, a private research university in Pennsylvania for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The 49-year-old judge was allegedly mowed down by a heavy autorickshaw while he was on morning jog on July 28 morning in Dhanbad.
According to sources in the Dhanbad court, Anand, known to be strict judge, had recently declined bail pleas of some gangsters, and the incident could be a fallout of this decision.
The court emphasised that all parties must comply with Section 16 of the POSH Act, ensuring confidentiality of the identities involved.
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