Explore Business Standard
About one in every 12 children around the world were subjected to online sexual abuse in the past year, according to a study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and China Agricultural University reviewed 123 studies conducted between 2010 and 2023, and found that one in eight children globally are affected by image-based sexual abuse on the internet. Roughly the same number were found to be subjected to 'online solicitation' -- being persuaded into sexual activity or exposure. "One in 12 children globally have been subjected to at least one form of online sexual exploitation or abuse in the past year," the authors wrote. However, in regions, including South Asia, where current evidence is either limited or non-existent, the team called for more research. "East Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, and South Asia are lacking prevalence data; these regions constitute a large percentage of the global populat
The mother of Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted for the rape and murder of the medic of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, on Sunday said if her son is guilty then he should get the punishment he deserves, even if it means hanging. She said she will "cry alone" but will accept his punishment as destiny. Initially reticent to speak to the media after the Sealdah court convicted Sanjay on January 18, Malati Roy the mother of Sanjay told reporters on Sunday morning that being a woman, and a mother of three daughters, "I can feel the anguish and pain of the mother of the woman medic who is like my daughter." "If the court decides to hang him to death, I don't have any objection as his crime has been proved in the eye of the law, I will cry alone but accept it as a quirk of fate, something willed by destiny," the 70-year-old-woman said standing on the doorstep of her shanty on Shambhunath Pandit Street, about 5 km away from the commotion and buzz at Sealdah Court the other day. Asked if
Welcoming the conviction of prime accused Sanjay Roy by a trial court here in the RG Kar Medical College rape-murder case, the mother of the deceased woman doctor on Saturday said they were still waiting for the other criminals to be arrested and punished. "That Sanjay is guilty was proved through biological evidence. And that he stood silent during the trials in the court also proved his hand in torturing and killing my daughter. But he was not alone, there are others who haven't been arrested yet. So, justice hasn't been delivered," the victim's mother told PTI soon after the court convicted Roy. She said she and her husband would continue their fight for justice till the last day of their lives. "The case is not complete. It will only be completed after the others who were involved in killing our daughter are punished. We will wait for that day... Till that day, we will not be able to sleep. That is the only thing we want now," she said. The Sealdah court pronounced accused Roy
Judgement in the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year will be delivered on January 18 by the designated judge of Sealdah court here. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was handed over the probe into the case from the Kolkata Police by the Calcutta High Court, prayed for awarding of death sentence to Sanjay Roy, who was charged with the gruesome crime. Hearing in the trial was concluded on Thursday, following which the additional district and sessions judge of Sealdah court said that the judgement will be delivered on January 18. Maintaining that other persons were also involved in the crime, the parents of the victim postgraduate trainee said that they expect that they will also be arrested and tried before the court. The victim's body was found in the seminar room of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. Roy was arrested by the Kolkata Police the next day. The in-camera trial in the rape and mur
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Hathras on Thursday to meet the family of a Dalit woman who had died allegedly after gangrape in September 2020, Congress members said. Police stepped up deployment of personnel in and around Bool Garhi village in Chandpa area of Hathras in light to the expected visit of the opposition leader. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai in Lucknow confirmed that Rahul Gandhi would be visiting the family in Bool Garhi, Hathras. In Hathras, local Congress leader Chandragupt Vikramaditya said, "Rahul ji and Priyanka ji are the leaders who are in touch with aggrieved people across the country. Rahul ji has been in touch with this family also." Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said Rahul Gandhi "is confused" and "not aware of the status of the case". Referring to the ostensible reason for Gandhi's visit, Pathak said, "The CBI has already conducted an inquiry into this case and in BJP rule no culprit is
Women and men demonstrated together Saturday in Paris and other French cities in support of Gisle Plicot and against sexual violence highlighted by the harrowing trial of her ex-husband and dozens of other men being prosecuted for rapes while she was deliberately drugged and knocked unconscious. The demonstrations outside Paris' criminal court, in the southeastern city of Lyon and elsewhere underscored how Plicot's courage in speaking out about her ordeal is inspiring people in France and beyond, even as they've been horrified by the scale and brutality of the abuse she suffered over the course of a decade. Since the September 2 beginning of the extraordinary trial, during which Plicot has faced 51 of her alleged rapists, she has been praised for her composure and decision to keep the hearings public after the court initially suggested that they be held behind closed doors. She has decided to make this an emblematic trial, said Elsa Labouret, one of the Paris demonstrators and a ..
If sexual acts by a man with his own wife is made punishable as "rape", it may severely impact the conjugal relationship and lead to serious disturbances in the institution of marriage, the Centre has told the Supreme Court. Opposing the criminalisation of marital rape, which is sought by many petitioners before the apex court, the Centre has filed its preliminary counter affidavit in the top court. The apex court is seized of petitions raising the vexed legal question of whether a husband should enjoy immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex. Under the exception clause of Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), now repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being minor, is not rape. Even under the new law, Exception 2 to Section 63 (rape) says that "sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not bein
An FIR has been registered against a Wing Commander following complaints of rape by a woman flying officer, officials said here on Tuesday. Both the IAF officers are currently stationed in Srinagar. After the complaint, the FIR under "relevant sections of the law" was filed at Budgam police station in central Kashmir on Saturday, a senior police officer said. The IAF said it is cooperating with the police. "We are aware of the case. The Air Force Station in Srinagar was approached by the local Budgam police station on the subject. We are fully cooperating towards this case," a senior IAF official said.
A woman who says she was drugged by her now ex-husband so that she could be raped by other men while she was unconscious is expected to testify Thursday before a panel of French judges on her decade-long ordeal. Her former spouse, Dominique Plicot, now 71, and 50 other men are standing trial on charges of rape and face up to 20 years in prison. The trial started on Monday in the southern city of Avignon and is expected to run until December. Gisle Plicot and her husband of 50 years were living in their family home in a small town in Provence with their three children. But in late 2020, her world collapsed. A security agent caught her husband taking photos of women's crotches in a supermarket, leading investigators to search Dominique Plicot's phone and computer, where they found thousands of photographs and videos of men appearing to rape his then-wife, Gisle, in their home while she appears to be unconscious. The Associated Press doesn't generally identify victims of sexual abuse
Amid continued protests by medics following the R G Kar rape-murder incident, Indian Medical Association president Dr R V Asokan on Wednesday urged all doctors to resume work, leaving the job of delivering justice to the Supreme Court. In a statement, he said the rape and murder of the trainee postgraduate woman doctor at the West Bengal government-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital has moved the nation's conscience. "The anger and frustration of the entire nation is over the fact that she happened to be a budding doctor as well as that she was the only girl child of lower-middle-class parents. The entire nation has adopted her as their daughter," the IMA chief said. Referring to the protests by doctors across the country, Dr Asokan said the medical fraternity was "justifiably on the boil". Resident doctors hit the road with anger and deep sorrow, he said adding the IMA had also called for withdrawal of medical services barring emergency care for 24 hours. Subsequently, the
Demanding justice for the deceased woman medic of R G Kar Hospital, thousands of people, including doctors and paramedics of private facilities, formed a 13-km human chain along an arterial city road on Tuesday, an unprecedented event in the city's history in recent years. Participants of the human chain standing on the median divider of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass between Ultadanga and Patuli - linking the northern and southern parts of the city. Since the protestors did not obstruct crossings during their one-hour stay on the road from 5 pm, this mode of agitation did not affect vehicular traffic movement along the busy road as hundreds of vehicles plied uninterrupted, a police officer said. The participants waved the tricolour and held placards which read 'For how long we have to wait for justice', 'Hang the rapists' and 'Justice for our sister'. People from all walks of life, office goers and commuters, besides people from neighbourhood pockets along the route, took part in th