WOMEN – 2011 - Indian Social Institute

that the parties have themselves entered into a compromise, we uphold the conviction of the appellant
but we reduce the sentence to the period of imprisonment already undergone.", the bench said. NCW
chairperson Girja Vyas called a meeting to discuss the case within days of the pronouncement of the
judgment and decided to file the review petition through advocate Aparna Bhat after obtaining legal
opinion. NCW's decision to seek review of the judgment is in sync with the Union government's proposal
to widen the definition of rape and make the punishment stringent. The statutory body, which is tasked to
initiate steps to improve the status of women, in its petition said compromise in rape cases was not legal,
but the February 22 judgment appeared to legitimise it. "Statistics maintained by the National Crime
Records Bureau show that there is an extremely low level of conviction in cases of rape. Hence, in rare
cases when there is actual conviction, reduction of sentence would set a wrong precedent encouraging
sessions courts and high courts to acknowledge compromise in cases of rape," NCW said. It said the
compromise was reached in 2007 when the convicts' petition was pending in SC. This meant the accused
were trying to get in touch with the prosecution, which led to criminal intimidation as well as violation of
terms of any bail order they may have got from a court, NCW said. (TOI, 21/03/2011)
50 p.c. quota for women in local bodies: two bills introduced
As promised by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, two bills to make amendments to
legislation on local bodies to grant women 50 per cent reservation in seats were introduced in the
Assembly on Thursday. One bill was introduced to amend the Bombay Village Panchayat Act 1958 and
the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act 1961 to increase the reservation for women
from one third of the total number of seats to one half of the total seats. The government wanted to raise
the total number of seats and offices for women in all three tiers of Panchayat Raj institutions as women
formed 50 per cent of the population. Another bill to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the
Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act 1949, the City of Nagpur Corporation Act, 1948 and the
Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act 1965 was introduced to
raise the reservation for women to 50 per cent. (Hindu, 25/03/2011)
Man arrested for raping daughter in Delhi
A middle-aged man was arrested in the capital for allegedly raping his 13-year-old daughter for the past
three years, police said today. The girl, a resident of Jakhira in north Delhi, claimed that her father would
rape her under the influence of alcohol. A Class VIII student in a government school, the girl said she had
even contemplated running away from the house to escape suffering at the hands of her father. Based on
the girl's statement, her father Tej Bahadur was arrested on Tuesday. A case of rape has been registered
at the Sarai Rohilla police station in this connection. Around 55 rape cases were reported in the capital
this year so far. The city has witnessed a sharp increase in rape and molestation cases last year since
2007. In 2010, the city witnessed 489 rape incidents, including the infamous Dhaula Kuan rape and
Mongolpuri, as against 2009's 459. The figures for 2006 was 609 followed by a drop to 581 next year
while in 2008 it further dipped to 466. Almost similar was the case with molestation cases in the capital in
these years but it showed an increase this year to 585 from last year's 532. While 2008 had 597 cases,
there were 835 incidents in 2007 and 713 in 609. In over 90% of such cases, the accused were known to
victims. (DNA, 24/03/2011)
Man jailed for 7 years jail for raping minor step daughter
A Delhi court has jailed a man for seven years for raping his minor step daughter after administering
sleeping pills to her and making her pregnant, leading to the birth of a premature baby which died three
days later. "The act of the convict is not only a crime but it is a sin towards the society as a whole. The
convict has committed such an offence which cannot be expected from a person in our society,"
Additional Sessions Judge Sudhir Kumar Jain said, while convicting 52-year-old Rohini resident Vishnu
Khandelwal. The court also imposed a fine of Rs9,000 on him, saying he took undue advantage of the
victim who was in his custody and care. "The act of the convict shattered the victim's dignity and violated
her human and basic rights to lead the life coupled with dignity and honour," the court said. As per the
prosecution's case, the victim's father died, after which her mother married Khandelwal and started living
with him as he was having a estranged relation with his first wife. The prosecution said the victim's mother
too died in May, 2007, leaving the victim and her younger sister in the man's custody, while their younger
brother preferred to stay with their maternal uncle. In February 2008, Khandelwal committed rape upon
the victim after administering sleeping pills to her. When he came to know that his 15-year-old step