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New Delhi: Delhi Police on Thursday said that it is looking for CCTV footage to confirm allegations that a four-year-old boy raped his classmate of the same age in a Delhi school.

As per an FIR filed by her parents, the girl had complained of pain in her private parts after coming back from school last Friday. The next day, she said that a boy in her class had used his fingers as well as a sharpened pencil to sexually assault her on the premises of Delhi’s Maxfort School in Dwarka.

The boy has been booked for rape after Rockland Hospital confirmed sexual assault and Delhi Police is now looking for video evidence of the incident. “Various aspects are being analysed. We are also looking for CCTV footage or if anything was captured. The medical report of the victim will also be looked into,” Delhi Police’s spokesperson Dependra Pathak said.

Pathak also added that the possibility of school staff’s role would be looked into. This after the parents of the girl had accused the school management of laxity. They have said a school teacher and the school coordinator, on being told about the incident, feigned ignorance and offered no concrete assistance.

The school principal too – reportedly – did not provide any relief, and further refused to divulge details of the accused student.

In a statement to the media, the girl’s mother said that she has asked the school authorities to sack the principal, the teacher concerned and the counsellor, issue a public apology on Facebook and refund her two years’ school fee with interest.

(Agencies)

Ranchi: A woman was allegedly gang raped and murdered along with her husband in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on Friday, police said.

According to police, unidentified people barged into the house of 32-year-old Kirtu Bhuiya, gang raped his wife and later hacked the couple to death. The incident occurred at Lawagara village of Latehar district.

Family members said the couple have three children aged six, eight and 12.

The reason for the murders is not known.

Police said they are investigating the incident and trying to trace the killers. The bodies were sent for post-mortem.

(IANS)

Ahead of Gujarat elections, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday raised the pitch for a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying it will be constructed only at the disputed site and “nothing else” will be built there.

“The Ram temple will be constructed at the site of Ramjanmabhoomi and nothing else will be built. It will be constructed and that too in its original form and with the same stones. It will be built under the leadership of those who led this movement and have been holding its flag for 20-25 years,” he said at a three-day ‘Dharam Sansad’ of the VHP here.

“Time has come close. We have to be very careful and take steps one by one. We don’t have to think about anything else.

“For the welfare of Hindu society and for the universal welfare of the world, let the Ram temple be built at Ramjanbhoomi in Ayodhya. This is my only wish,” Bhagwat said after the head of Pejawar Mutt, Vishweshateertha Swamiji, said that construction of Ram temple would begin within one yera after crossing all hurdles.

This is for the first time that Bhagwat has spoken so vehemently on the Ram temple issue in a public address.

His comments assume significance in the context of renewed mediation attempts by Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to find a solution to the dragging dispute in Ayodhya.

The Shia Central Wakf Board said earlier this week that it was ready to build a mosque in Lucknow so that the temple could be built in Ayodhya, a proposal which was also submitted to the Supreme Court.

Recalling his association with Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackrey, Bhagwat said: “Balasaheb once told me clearly that you cannot build Ram temple by kar sewa only. It needs a tough fight which may take even 20 to 30 years. If you continue with this fight then there is a possibility of construction of Ram temple in 20 to 30 years.

He said ‘swayamsewaks’ often come to him and ask when the temple will come up Ayodhya.

“I do not say anything to them as I am not an astrologer. It started in 1990. What Balasaheb used to say, we have completed 20 years in 2010 and would complete 30 years in 2020. His words would not go in vain,” he said.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists tore down the 16th century Babri Mosque at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, claiming it had been built after destroying an original Ram temple. The VHP then raised a makeshift Ram temple, saying it was where Lord Ram was born.

(IANS)

Kolkata: Tibet does not seek independence from China but wants greater development, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said here Thursday.

China and Tibet enjoyed a close relationship, though there were occasional “fights”, he said at an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

“The past is past. We will have to look into the future,” he said.

He stressed that Tibetans wanted to stay with China.

“We are not seeking independence… We want to stay with China. We want more development,” the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people said.

The Dalai Lama said China must respect Tibetans culture and heritage.

“Tibet has a different culture and a different script… The Chinese people love their own country. We love our own country,” he said.

Holding that no Chinese “understand what had happened in the last few decades”, he said the country had changed over the years.

“With China joining the world, it has changed 40 per cent to 50 per cent of what it was earlier,” he said.

The Dalai Lama also referred to the ecological significance of the Tibetan Plateau and recalled that a Chinese ecologist had said its environmental impact was like that of the South Pole and the North Pole.

“The ecologist called it the Third Pole,” the Buddhist leader said.

The Dalai Lama said, “From Yangtze to Sindhu rivers, major rivers … come from Tibet. Billions of lives are involved. Taking care of the Tibetan Plateau is not only good for Tibet but for billions of people.”

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday summoned the Superintendent of Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bengaluru to appear before it with the fingerprint records of Tamil Nadu’s late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa in connection with affixing of the thumb impression on poll documents, said a lawyer.

The prison official will have to appear before the High Court on December 8, V.Arun, the lawyer for P.Saravanan, the DMK candidate for the Thirupparankundram assembly constituency in the by-election held, if she had taken an Aadhar card, had also asked the Central government to produce the Aadhar card details of Jayalalithaa if any, he said, adding that the fingerprints of Jayalalithaa with the Bengaluru jail and with the Central government if she had taken an Aadhar card would be compared with those in the poll papers.

Saravanan had approached the court to cancel the election of AIADMK’s A.K. Bose from the Thirupparankundram Assembly constituency in the by-election held last year, raising doubts on affixing of the thumb impression by Jayalalithaa, also the AIADMK chief, in his poll documents.

Jayalalithaa was lodged in the Parappana Agrahara prison after she was convicted in a corruption case by the trial court in 2014 but later let out on bail.

In September 2016, she was admitted to Apollo Hospital for illness. In October 2016, she had an inflamed right hand as she had undergone tracheostomy and had to affix her left thumb impression in the poll documents submitted by the AIADMK candidate.

As per the Representation of People Act, a candidate contesting on behalf of a political party has to submit Form B, where their party leader has to authorise the candidate to contest under the party’s election symbol.

The by-polls in Aravakurichi, Thanjavur and Thiruparankundram assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu were slated for November 19, 2016 and the ruling AIADMK candidates had submitted their papers on October 28, 2016 to the Returning Officers.

The thumb impression of Jayalalithaa was attested by a government doctor – P.Balaji, Professor of Minimal Access Surgery, Madras Medical College.

In his comments, Balaji said: “Since the signatory has undergone tracheostomy recently and has an inflamed right hand, she is temporarily unable to affix her signature. Hence she has affixed her left thumb impression on her own in my presence.”

Dr Babu K. Abraham, working in Apollo Hospitals, signed as a witness.

Tracheostomy is a medical procedure whereby a direct airway is created by an incision in the windpipe enabling a person to breathe directly without the use of nose or mouth.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital with fever and dehydration on September 22 and died after over 70 days in December.

(IANS)

Jaipur: The body of a 40-year-old man was found hanging from the outer walls of Nahargarh Fort here on Friday morning, with the message “‘Padmavati’ ka virodh” – in protest against the film “Padmavati”.

The message, written on the stones near the fort wall adjacent to the body, read, “Hum putle nahin jalate….latkate hain” (we don’t burn effigies, we hang them).

“It is early to comment on it as the matter is under investigation. The identity of the man, around 40-years-old, is yet to be ascertained,” Satyendra Singh, DCP Jaipur (North), told IANS.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Padmavati” has been mired in controversies since its shooting started. Activists of the Karni Sena, a Rajput community, besides other groups have been protesting against the movie, claiming the film “distorts” historical facts.

“They are trying to defame queen Padmavati by distorting historical facts. It is not acceptable,” an activist of the Karni Sena said.

Activists of the Karni Sena earlier this month vandalised a theatre in Kota, Rajasthan, over reports that it was showing a trailer of “Padmavati”. A Karni Sena leader threatened actress Deepika Padukone, who plays the lead in the movie, with physical harm.

The release of the movie, earlier scheduled for December 1, has been deferred.

(IANS)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to accord urgent hearing on a plea filed by the father of a Kerala-based woman, who converted to Islam before marrying a Muslim man, that interaction with the woman be conducted in- camera.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said that it will deal with this plea on November 27 itself when the woman would be brought before it for interaction.

The counsel for Ashokan K M, the father of the woman, sought an urgent hearing on his plea saying that it would become infructuous if the earlier order mandating open court interaction is not modified. The apex court had on October 30 directed that the woman be produced before it on November 27 for an interaction in open court.

Asokan referred to the communally sensitive nature of the case and sought in-camera interaction on some grounds including that radical elements could jeopardise the safety and privacy of his daughter and the family.

The top court had on August 16 said it would speak to the woman in-camera before taking a final decision on the matter. It has later modified the order saying “We may further add that this court shall speak to her not in camera but in open court.”

The apex court had earlier observed that the free consent of a major to marriage has to be ascertained amid an assertion by National Investigation Agency (NIA) that an indoctrinated person may be incapable of giving free consent to marriage.

The NIA had referred to “psychological kidnapping” and said that an indoctrinated person may be incapable of giving free consent. It had also alleged that there was a “well-oiled machinery working in Kerala” indulging in indoctrination and radicalisation and 89 such cases have been reported.

The NIA had claimed that this was a case in which the woman was indoctrinated and hence the court could invoke parental authority even if she was a major. The counsel for her father had earlier claimed that Shafin Jahan, the alleged husband of the woman, was a radicalised man and had links with persons who used to recruit for ISIS.

The woman, a Hindu, had converted to Islam and later married Jahan. It was alleged that the woman was recruited by Islamic State’s mission in Syria and Jahan was only a stooge. Jahan had on September 20 approached the apex court seeking recall of its August 16 order directing the NIA to investigate the controversial case of conversion and marriage of a Hindu woman with him.

He had moved the top court after the Kerala High Court had annulled his marriage, saying it was an insult to the independence of women in the country.

(Agencies)