The survivors, aged 13 and 16 at the time, endured years of abuse that came to light after one came forward as an adult
The Bombay High Court on Monday said the trial in the last year's Badlapur school sexual assault case should be fast-tracked and conducted expeditiously as the victim girls are very young. In August last year, a male attendant sexually assaulted the two girls - aged four and five - inside the toilet of their school located in Badlapur area of Maharashtra's Thane district. He was arrested and later killed in a shootout with police when he was being taken from jail for questioning. The Special Investigation (SIT), set up by the Maharashtra government to conduct a probe into the case, has filed its chargesheet. The chargesheet was filed against the attendant, the school's headmaster and two members of its management for "failing to report" the sexual assault, as required under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The high court took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the incident after it came to light that the local Badlapur police had not take
Seven more people were arrested on Saturday for allegedly raping a Dalit girl, who is an athlete, at various locations when she was a minor, taking the total number of those apprehended so far to 13, police said here as the case sparked outrage. The girl, who is now 18 years old, has alleged in her complaint that she was sexually abused by 62 individuals since the age of 13. The police said that they received evidence indicating that the girl was exploited by her sports trainers, fellow athletes and classmates. Calling for immediate arrest of all the accused, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought a detailed action-taken report from authorities within three days and emphasised on a fair and time-bound investigation to deliver justice. The Kerala Women's Commission (KWC) has registered a case on its own and its chairperson P Sathi Devi has directed the Pathanamthitta Superintendent of Police to immediately submit a report in this regard, the Commission said in a ...
Grooming gangs scandal: The ruling Labour Party criticised the Conservatives for attempting to derail the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury's finding in a civil case that Donald Trump sexually abused a columnist in an upscale department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a written opinion upholding the USD 5 million award that the Manhattan jury granted to E. Jean Carroll for defamation and sexual abuse. The longtime magazine columnist had testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they playfully entered the store's dressing room. Trump skipped the trial after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened. But he briefly testified at a followup trial earlier this year that resulted in an USD 83.3 million award. The second trial resulted from comments then-President Trump made in 2019 after Carroll first made the accusations publicly in a memoir.
Jay-Z to Justin Bieber: Silence on the arrest of US rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs has sparked outrage on social media as allegations of sexual assault, trafficking, and abuse surface
A report by the US National Institutes of Health in 2022 revealed that up to 95 per cent of nurses in Pakistan had faced workplace violence at least once during their careers
While Donald Trump campaigns for the presidency, his lawyers are fighting to overturn a verdict finding him liable for sexual abuse and slander. Three judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled to hear arguments Friday in Trump's appeal of a jury's finding that he sexually assaulted the writer E. Jean Carroll. She says the Republican attacked her in a department store dressing room in 1996. That jury awarded Carroll $5 million. For several days, preparations have been underway in a stately federal courthouse in lower Manhattan for Trump to attend the arguments in person. Trump's lawyers say the jury's verdict should be tossed because evidence was allowed at trial that should have been excluded and other evidence was excluded that should have been permitted. Trump, who has denied attacking Carroll, did not attend the 2023 trial and has expressed regret he was not there. The court is unlikely to issue a ruling before November's presidential election. The civil ca
The Hema Committee report exposes the Malayalam film industry's dark side and has revived the #MeToo movement, calling for urgent reform and accountability
Separate cases have been registered in Kerala against popular Malayalam actors Jayasoorya and Maniyanpilla Raju following an allegation raised by a female actor that they had sexually assaulted her, police said on Thursday. A senior police official from Ernakulam said an FIR under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Fort Kochi police station against Raju. The Cantonment police in Thiruvananthapuram confirmed that a case under the same section was registered against Jayasoorya. Multiple FIRs have been registered against many high profile Malayalam film personalities following allegations of sexual harassment against various directors and actors in the wake of revelations in the Justice K Hema Committee report. The complainant, who has appeared in a handful of movies, levelled sexual abuse allegations against prominent actors M Mukesh, who is also an MLA, Jayasurya and Maniyanpilla Raju, as well as small-time actor Idavela Babu who held a prominent role in the
What was the MeToo movement and how has the Hema Committee report, delayed by five years, reignited the fight against sexual harassment in the film industry
Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday demanded the clearance and implementation of the Shakti bill with provisions for the death penalty for atrocities against children and women, referring to the Badlapur school incident. Both the House of Maharashtra legislature had passed the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Special Court & Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020, three years ago when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was in power. Addressing a press conference, Deshmukh said, When I was the home minister, I had formed a 21-member committee of legislators from all parties to draft the Shakti bill on the lines of an act in Andhra Pradesh. The bill was approved by the cabinet headed by Uddhav Thackeray and passed in the state legislature. It is pending before the Central government for approval. The NCP (SP) leader said the committee had drafted the Shakti bill after consultations with all ...
The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday. The alleged crime by a male attendant created a volatile situation in the town of Thane district on Tuesday, with protesting parents and locals crippling rail services and clashing with police. Shah stressed the urgency of the matter, saying that the alleged sexual abuse of the two kindergarten students is a clear case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act. After learning about the incident, the state child rights panel chief said, she contacted the Thane District Child Protection Unit about the parents' concerns. They (child protection unit) took them to the police to file the complaint. When I asked the school management about the case, they tried to cover it up. I even asked them wh
A local court on Wednesday extended till August 26 the police custody of the man arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two girls at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane district. The accused, who was employed as an attendant at the school where the incident took place last week, was produced before a magistrate at Kalyan in the district this morning amid tight police security. The court ordered the extension of his police custody till August 26, following which he was taken away by the police in a van, a senior official said. The police had arrested the accused on August 17. As per the complaint, he abused two kindergarten girls in the toilet of the school, the police have said. A massive protest broke out on Tuesday after parents of the school children and local citizens blocked railway tracks at Badlapur station and ransacked a local school building to protest against the incident and to demand strict punishment for the accused. Following the protest, the ...
In the wake of a massive protest at Badlapur in Maharashtra's Thane district over the alleged sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls, internet services in the town were suspended while most schools remained shut on Wednesday, officials said. At least 17 city police personnel and around eight railway cops were injured in the incidents of stone-pelting at the railway station and other parts of Badlapur during the protest on Tuesday and the investigators have arrested 72 persons in connection with the violence, they said. According to officials, additional police force has been deployed in the town to maintain law and order, and the situation in the town is limping back to normalcy. Entire Badlapur town virtually came to a standstill on Tuesday after thousands of protesters blocked railway tracks at the station and stormed a local school building after the alleged sexual abuse of two girls by the school sweeper in the washroom last week. The protesters hurled stones at police ...
Protests at Badlapur railway station in Thane district against the alleged sexual abuse of two girl students of a kindergarten continued even after six hours on Tuesday as the crowd, including several women, refused to heed pleas of the state government to allow the passage of trains. State cabinet minister Girish Mahajan tried to pacify the protesters in the afternoon who responded with slogans like "justice" for the victim girls and capital punishment for the arrested accused. Mahajan's appeal to vacate the train tracks was met with the chanting of "hang, hang" by demonstrators. Mahajan, a close aide of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, said police officials who allegedly failed to address the complaints of the parents of the victim girls have been suspended. "The state government has expressed deep concern regarding the (sexual abuse) incident. The accused person will face the most severe punishment," Mahajan said. He said common citizens are suffering because of the rail roko prote
The woman, who was seated next to Dinesh Kumar Saraogi, a senior executive at Jindal Steel Group, alleged that he behaved inappropriately
Employees of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the US repeatedly sexually abused and harassed children in their care for at least eight years, the Justice Department has said, alleging a shocking litany of offences that took place as the company amassed billions of dollars in government contracts. Southwest Key Programmes Inc employees, including supervisors, raped, touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier, the Justice Department said in a lawsuit filed this week. At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020. It was not immediately clear Thursday how many children are currently in Southwest Key's vast network of shelters across three states, which have room for more than 6,300 children. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to emailed questions about whether it had recommended to federal officials that they remove children from the ..
A court here on Saturday remanded former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of rape and sexual abuse of several women, to judicial custody till July 8. He was produced before the 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court judge after his four-day Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody ended today. On Monday, Prajwal Revanna was remanded to judicial custody till July 8. But, he was later sent to SIT custody till June 29 by the Magistrate court judge, after the police sought a body warrant through the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP). Four separate cases have been registered against the 33-year-old grandson of the former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, all of which are being investigated by the SIT. Prajwal had failed in his bid to retain the Hassan constituency in the recently concluded LS polls. The cases of sexual abuse came to light after pen-drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead o
JD(S) MLA and former Karnataka Minister H D Revanna on Sunday termed the allegations against his son and MLC Suraj Revanna of sexually abusing a male party worker as a "conspiracy" and said he has faith in God and the judiciary. Not wanting to react to anything, he said when time comes he will tell everything. Suraj Revanna -- the brother of former MP Prajwal Revanna who is facing allegations of sexually abusing several women -- was arrested in Hassan earlier in the day on charges of "unnatural offences" against him, police sources said. He was booked on Saturday for allegedly sexually abusing a party worker a few days ago and under different sections of the IPC, including "unnatural offences." "I won't react to anything. Let the (CID) do it (investigation). Who said don't (investigate)? I won't say anything on this. I have respect for the judiciary. I know what's happening in the state," Revanna said. While speaking to reporters here, he said, "I won't react to anything. I have