SC grants anticipatory bail to accused in POCSO case

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court has granted anticipatory bail to an accused facing allegations of molestation and misbehaviour of a minor girl under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy took note of the fact that the accused has cooperated with the investigation and the charge sheet in the case is yet to be filed.

Asking the accused to further cooperate with the investigation, the Bench, also comprising Justice SVN Bhatti, said that in the event of arrest, he will be allowed to go on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer.

“As the prosecutrix is a neighbour of the petitioner, the petitioner must maintain physical as well as virtual distance from the prosecutrix and other witnesses in the case,” it added.

Disposing of the accused’s special leave petition, the apex court granted liberty to Rajasthan Police and the informant to move for cancellation of bail, if any violation of this condition is brought to the notice of the trial court.

The accused, represented by criminal lawyer Namit Saxena, moved the apex court seeking pre-arrest bail which was declined by the Rajasthan High Court. The case was registered at Gadhmora police station in Karauli for offences under Sections 354(A) 354(B), 504 of the IPC read with Sections 7 and 8 of the POCSO Act against the petitioner.

According to the FIR, when the complainant had visited the accused’s house to charge her phone, he allegedly molested and misbehaved with her.

Advocate Saxena contended the prosecutrix’s family, motivated by animosity, fabricated a false story and used the prosecutrix to falsely implicate the accused with the intent of putting him in jail.

“The case against the petitioner is completely false and therefore despite investigating for almost two years, nothing has been found against him at all. That there is no evidence on record, nor has any legitimate proof been given by the prosecutrix to substantiate her allegations. That many family members of petitioner’s family were present in the house at the time of the alleged incident, it is highly unlikely that the events occurred as described in the FIR,” said the petition.

–IANS

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Five more maternal deaths in Karnataka

Bengaluru, Dec 11 (IANS) Amid furore over a series of maternal deaths in Karnataka, five more casualties have been reported from Raichur and Chitradurga districts.

The incident of four maternal deaths from Sindhanur Taluk Government Hospital in October has come to light.

The deceased were identified as Chandrakala (26), Renukamma (32), Mousami Mandal (22) and Channamma (25).

In October, among the 300 pregnant women who gave birth, seven turned critical and four died. All victims had undergone cesarean surgery.

On October 21, Channamma gave birth after a C-Section and died after nine days. Mousami Mandal had given birth to a child on October 22 and died the next day. Renukamma had delivered on October 31 and died on the next day. After new mothers became critical, they were shifted to the Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) where they succumbed.

The families of the deceased alleged that the deaths occurred due to medical negligence and sought justice.

The families of the deceased also demanded compensation and threatened that if denied, they would protest with newborn babies in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.

However, Raichur Deputy Commissioner K. Nitish said: “The maternal deaths occurred for different reasons. Whether the deaths occurred due to administration of intravenous fluids will be ascertained within a week. Once the report is submitted in this regard, the government will initiate appropriate measures.”

“In Sindhanur Taluk Hospital, 300 deliveries are conducted every month. In October, four cases of maternal deaths were reported. Maternal deaths due to the administration of IV fluids have come to light in November. However, the IV fluids of that particular batch have been sent for testing. All four deceased were given 0113 batch of the Ringer Lactate intravenous fluid from the West Bengal company and the use of medicines from the company has been stopped,” Nitish stated.

Meanwhile, Roja (24), a resident of Jaganuruhatti near Challakere died on Tuesday at the Chitradurga District Hospital. She had given birth to a male baby on October 30 and returned home after five days of delivery.

Roja had undergone a cesarean and she developed abdomen pain and irritation 40 days later. She had vomited multiple times and was admitted back to the Chitradurga District Hospital where she died.

The family of Roja alleged that she died due to the negligence of doctors and demanded action against doctors.

Meanwhile, the state government is preparing to initiate criminal proceedings against the West Bengal pharmaceutical company which supplied the Ringer Lactate intravenous fluids, which allegedly caused a series of maternal deaths in the state, sources said.

A seven-member team that visited and inspected the West Bengal pharma company was all set to submit a report to the government. The report recommended filing four criminal cases against the company, the sources said.

The report found traces of harmful content in the Ringer Lactate intravenous (I.V) fluids. The pharma company had reported to the court that their IV fluid product was not harmful. After the submission of the pharma company’s report, six cases of maternal deaths were reported in the state.

The Karnataka government recently released official statistics regarding maternal deaths in the state from 2019-20 till now, claiming that the death rates are lower compared to previous years.

According to the data released by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s office on Monday, in 2019-20, a total of 662 maternal deaths were reported out of 8,94,946 live births, resulting in a Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of 74. The MMR is defined as the number of deaths of pregnant mothers per 1 lakh live births.

In subsequent years in 2020-21, 714 maternal deaths (MMR of 84), in 2021-22, 595 maternal deaths (MMR of 68); 2022-23, 527 maternal deaths (MMR of 65); 2023-24, 518 maternal deaths (MMR of 64); 2024-25 (up to November) 348 maternal deaths (MMR of 64) are reported.

–IANS

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World can expect another zoonotic pandemic: Ex-WHO Director

New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) The world can expect another pandemic any day, due to virus spillover from animals, said Mario C.B. Raviglione, former Director of the Global Tuberculosis (TB) Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday.

Speaking exclusively to IANS, Raviglione said that a highly interconnected world is the perfect way for the spread of another pandemic, like COVID-19.

“Everyone is expecting another pandemic. This may happen any day because we live in a very interconnected world,” said Raviglione, Full Professor of Global Health at the University of Milan, Italy.

“Italy was the first country that was hit in the Western world by Covid. And that is obviously linked to the rapid transportation means that we have nowadays. So in an interconnected world, in a global village, apart from some countries, they are trying their best to rebuild barriers. We know that they exist, unfortunately.

The Professor noted that some countries are trying their best to rebuild barriers by means of conflicts, but we all are “interconnected”.

“It is such that, any, particularly respiratory type of disease, viruses, as we have seen, can spread very, very quickly,” he said.

He explained that the majority of newly emerging diseases are viral, and they are emerging mostly from the animal world. That means they are zoonosis, like Covid.

In the recent past, the world has seen COVID-19, Ebola, chikungunya, West Nile fever, the most recent mPox, and H5N1 influenza — all related to the animal kingdom in one way or another.

Despite the emerging threats, the preparedness by countries is extremely low, and this will have several implications, Raviglione lamented.

“You need to invest. And governments are not particularly keen to invest in something for preparation, for preparedness. They like to invest more because it’s more visible. If I have a disease, then I’m going to massively mobilise resources to treat the disease. But it will then be too late to prevent it. So, the issue of preparedness is fundamental,” the expert said.

He suggested preparedness hubs to counter and detect new threats in the early phase, citing the example of the Covid pandemic, where world countries were not prepared, and how vaccine inequality led to the loss of so many lives, particularly in the low-income countries.

“Preparedness implies that you need to have the support of laboratories, the support of pharma and biochemical, or the biochemical sector to rapidly develop the test, not just in Europe or in North America, but also in India, also in other countries,” Raviglione said.

He urged that the BRICS countries should have this kind of mechanism in place in such a way that if there is a need for a vaccine, then certain conditions can be applied regardless of the patent.

(Rachel V Thomas can be contacted at rachel.t@ians.in)

–IANS

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MP’s ‘Jugal Kishore’ temple receives certificate of ‘Eat Right Place of Worship’ by FSSAI 

Bhopal, Dec 21 (IANS) The renowned ‘Jugal Kishore’ temple of Lord Krishna in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna has been certified as the ‘Eat Right Place of Worship’ by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

The FSSAI certification of ‘Eat Right Place of Worship’ will be valid for two years, beginning December 20.

This certification is an initiative of FSSAI aimed at encouraging places of worship to adopt and maintain food safety and hygiene as well as convey food safety messages through such places among the general public.

The certificate also stipulates that the religious places follow proper regulatory compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Rule and Regulations.

Sharing information about the FSSAI’s certificate to ‘Jugal Kishore’ temple, Khajuraho MP V. D. Sharma said on Saturday that this certificate has been provided to ensure the quality, cleanliness and safety of the ‘prasad’ and ‘food items’ of the temple premises.

“As a local MP, I express my gratitude to the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and congratulate the temple administration for this achievement,” Sharma, who is also Madhya Pradesh BJP unit chief, said.

It is believed that the ‘Jugal Kishore’ temple was built by Raja Hindupat Singh, the fourth Bundela King of Panna, during his rule from 1758 to 1778.

According to the reports, the idol of Lord Krishna was brought from Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) through Orchha and placed in the ‘garbha griha’ (sanctum sanctorum) of this temple.

The ornaments and attire of the lord reflect the Bundelkhandi style. The temple has all the architectural features of Bundela temples, including a ‘nat mandapa’ (dance hall), ‘bhog mandapa’ (hall of bhog offering) and a ‘pradakshna’ (circumambulation) path.

Inside, one can find the beautiful idol of Lord Krishna in dark hues and Goddess Radha in white. The temple complex is adorned with large chandeliers and beautiful paintings. In front of the entrance, there is a small temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.

–IANS

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