PALGHAR: An alleged ragging incident at a private medical college hostel in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has led to police action and the suspension of a hostel warden and a teacher, after a female student was reportedly forced to perform namaz, according to news agency PTI. The incident occurred on Sunday night at the institute located in Posheri village of Wada taluka. It triggered tension on campus and drew protests from right-wing groups, following which police were deployed to prevent any disturbance. Police registered an FIR on Monday night. Early findings indicate that the episode may be linked to ragging, an official said. According to the complaint, the victim is a first-year physiotherapy student from Nashik. She alleged that while she was on the fifth floor of the hostel, she was stopped by a girl whose face was covered. The accused allegedly tried to force her to perform Islamic prayers and continued to pressure her even after she refused, leaving her frightened. “The victim informed her family the following morning, who then approached the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) after allegedly receiving no response from the college management,” a police official said. Palghar Superintendent of Police Yatish Deshmukh visited the campus to assess the situation. “We have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act. We are scanning the CCTV footage and recording statements of other students to identify the accused,” SP Deshmukh said, adding that strict action would be taken against those found guilty. Amid public outrage, the college administration suspended a hostel warden and a teacher as part of its immediate action. VHP activists later submitted a written complaint to the police, demanding a high-level probe into the college’s functioning. They claimed that similar incidents had occurred earlier as well. However, a representative of the college management denied these allegations, stating that no such incident had taken place in the past, while assuring full cooperation with the police investigation. Police deployment remains heavy in the area to ensure peace and maintain communal harmony.

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MUMBAI: Vakola police arrested a 25-year-old homemaker who allegedly slashed the private parts of her relative for refusing to marry her, after celebrating the New Year with him on January 1 at her home in Santacruz East. Police said she was on the run with her husband and two sons after the incident. The accused was tracked down to her sister’s home in Ghaziabad and the police compelled her to return to Mumbai and arrested her on Monday.The victim, a 44-year-old autorickshaw driver who is the brother of the accused’s sister-in-law and lives in the same neighbourhood as her in Santacruz East, underwent surgery at Sion Hospital on Jan 1 itself, police said.Police said the victim and the accused were in a relationship for the past seven years, which her husband aware of. “On Dec 19, the accused returned from Bihar. According to the victim, on Dec 24, she threatened the victim as he refused to marry her as he too is married, and then attacked him. On the other hand, the accused claimed she took the extreme step as the victim had been blackmailing her into maintaining physical relations with her,” said a Vakola police officer.Police said the accused remained in custody after she was produced before the court on Tuesday.She was earlier booked for causing hurt or grievous hurt using dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation. After her arrest, BNS Section 109 for attempt to murder was added to the FIR.“The accused’s intention was to kill. After committing the offence, she left home with her two sons aged five and seven, and called her husband to meet her before boarding a train to Ghaziabad. She had narrated the incident to her husband,” said a police officer.Police said the incident took place in the early hours on Jan 1 at the accused’s home in Santacruz. The victim told the police he visited the accused’ after she called him to celebrate the New Year and served him sweets. “Later, she offered him water, got physical with him, and suddenly slashed his private parts. He rushed out and ran to his home and got the help of his friend and his son to reach V N Desai Hospital before being transferred to Sion Hospital,” said an officer.

MUMBAI: Relying on Supreme Court’s observation that the testimony of a person with a disability can’t be considered weak or inferior only because they interact with the world in a different manner, a sessions court recently sentenced a 35-year-old salon worker to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for abduction and rape of a woman with moderate intellectual disability in 2019, marking a rare conviction under Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.Calling the victim a “sterling witness”, judge Surekha A Sinha found the man guilty on multiple counts, including rape under IPC. He was given one year in jail under Section 92(b) of Disabilities Act (assaulting or using force against a person with a disability). The sentences are to run concurrently.Psychiatrists deposed that while the woman was 25 years old physically, her social age was around seven years and two months, with an IQ of 36.According to the prosecution, on April 29, 2019, the survivor’s mother noticed that she had gone missing after the family returned from voting in the Lok Sabha polls. When the woman returned home shortly after, she was in tears and revealed her assault. She said while playing in a nearby lane, the accused caught her hand and forcibly took her to the mezzanine floor of his residence. There, he threatened her with a knife, gagged her with a pillow, and sexually assaulted her. To destroy evidence, she said, the man washed her with soap.During trial, special public prosecutor Geeta Sharma examined 14 witnesses. While forensic reports were inconclusive — a result the prosecution attributed to the accused washing the victim after the assault — medical experts provided critical testimony. Doctors confirmed that the victim had suffered physical trauma consistent with sexual assault.The defence said the case was built on hearsay and cited minor discrepancies in the testimony. The judge rejected these, saying the testimony of a person with a disability must be treated with “utmost sensitivity”. “Minor discrepancies and contradictions are not fatal to the case of prosecution. Courts cannot cling to a fossil formula and insist upon corroboration even if, taken as a whole, the case spoken of by the victim of sex crime strikes the judicial mind as probable.”

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana HC denied bail to Gurmukh Singh — son of former Akal Takht jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode — and Gurmej Singh in a narco-terrorism case related to smuggling of arms, explosives (including tiffin bombs), and narcotics from Pakistan via drones to fund terror activities in Punjab and other parts of India.A division bench of Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Ramesh Kumari said sponsoring terrorism was an “expensive affair” and the charge was of heroin being smuggled into the country, along with arms and ammunition, to fund terror activities.“Facts brought on record by NIA, prima facie, prove the involvement of appellants in terror activities. Trial is in progress. Since they have links with persons across the border, who fund their activities, there are also chances of their absconding from trial,” HC said. It ordered an expeditious trial and directed police and prosecution to complete evidence in a timely manner.NIA’s prime allegations are that the accused were part of a larger conspiracy involving “receipt, concealment, and distribution of arms, explosives, and terror funds intended to revive militancy in Punjab”. The agency alleged multiple consignments were collected between June and Aug 2021, concealed at locations across Punjab that were shared through encrypted messaging platforms. The agency claimed to have recovered grenades, detonators, pistols, cartridges, explosive materials, large sums of cash, multiple passports, and vehicles from Gurmukh.Gurmukh’s counsel argued he was falsely implicated due to his family background and political reasons, and claimed there was no direct recovery from his possession. NIA asserted that evidence clearly pointed to his role in facilitating terror activities.The agency submitted the appellants were allegedly in contact with Lakhbir Singh Rode alias Baba, a declared terrorist and chief of a banned organisation.

NEW DELHI: A 25-year-old man walked into Laxmi Nagar Police Station on Monday and confessed to killing his mother, sister and teenage brother.When police reached his home, they found the bodies of his mother, Kavita (46), and two siblings – Meghna (24), a lab staffer, and Mukul (14), a Class 7 student. As the family was religious, the accused son is suspected of mixing heavy sedatives (dhatura) in prasad laddoos. He then strangled them with a muffler, according to the police. The probe revealed the accused, identified as Yashbir Singh, was under severe financial stress. Singh, who earlier worked as a private driver, was unemployed for the past six months. His father, a truck driver, had started living separately in Haryana around the same time. Singh was also allegedly facing marital discord and had sent his wife to her maternal home a day earlier.Accused laced food with sedatives, strangled family membersDuring questioning, Singh allegedly told police that he took a life insurance policy of around Rs 1.5 crore and attempted suicide 4-5 times in the last 2 months by staging accidents, getting himself bitten by a snake, and even injecting air, but failed each time, police said.He further claimed that he had an argument with his mother a day before the incident. “He stated that on Sunday his mother confronted him and told him that if he intended to end his life, he should first kill all family members and then face the consequences,” police said.The accused said that on Sunday morning he brought intoxicating seeds from the Yamuna Bank area, mixed them with food, and fed them to his family members, who were religious. “As per his version, today morning he went to a Shiv Mandir near Yamuna Bank Metro Station, collected dhatura seeds from a nearby dhatura plant, prepared dhatura laddoos using atta and sugar, and fed them to his family members,” a senior police officer said, adding that after they lost consciousness, he allegedly strangled them.A police source said that he murdered them between 1.30 pm and 2 pm, and after some time he surrendered before the police. Police will wait for autopsy report to confirm the time of deaths.Police stressed these details are solely based on the accused’s confession and are yet to be verified.The family lived on rent on the first floor of a 5-storey house, locals said. The house owner lives on the floors above with his family. Neighbours remember the family, except the accused son, as religious, and said they visited the temple in the lane behind the house daily at least twice.“The last I spoke to the family was on Sunday evening. The younger boy (Mukul) came to light an earthen lamp. He always greeted while passing by, but that is all that is known of the family. They came to the temple regularly every morning around 5 am to offer water and then in the evening to light the lamp. This was their routine since the last 2 years,” said temple priest Ashok, adding that the elder boy, referring to Yashbir, however, only came last year on Janmashtmi.A neighbour, Paras, said the family kept to themselves and remembers that Paras had greeted him on Sunday evening.A crime team and forensic experts inspected the scene, and further investigation is under way to establish the exact sequence of events and the cause of death. An FIR has been registered, and multiple teams were formed to conduct a detailed probe.

Delhi demolition drive: MCD carries out action near Faiz-e-Elahi mosque following HC order; 5 cops injured in stone pelting

NEW DELHI: At least five police personnel were injured on Wednesday after incidents of stone-pelting were reported during an early-morning demolition drive carried out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) at an encroached area near Faiz-e-Elahi Masjid in Turkman Gate, close to Ramlila Maidan.The action, which began around 1am, it was undertaken in compliance with directions of the Delhi high court, according to an official statement from Delhi Police.

Demolition drive at Faiz-e-Ilahi Mosque near Turkman Gate in Delhi on Wednesday. Image Credit: Tarun Rawat/TNN

To ensure law and order during the exercise, Delhi Police put in place elaborate security arrangements. The area was divided into nine zones, each overseen by an additional deputy commissioner of police, with personnel deployed at all sensitive points. Officials said the planning aimed to prevent any disruption and ensure the court-mandated action proceeded smoothly. Ahead of the demolition, police and civic authorities held multiple coordination meetings with members of the Aman Committee and local stakeholders as part of confidence-building measures to maintain peace in the area. Despite these precautions, officials said a brief disturbance occurred when a few individuals allegedly resorted to stone-pelting during the operation. The situation was swiftly brought under control with what police described as “measured and minimal use of force,” preventing any escalation. Joint commissioner of police (central range) Madhur Verma said normalcy was restored quickly. “A few miscreants attempted to create a disturbance by indulging in stone pelting. The situation was promptly controlled through minimal force,” he said. DCP Nidhin Valsan confirmed that four to five police personnel sustained minor injuries during the incident. “The action is still ongoing. MCD is carrying out demolition as per the High Court’s orders on encroached land. Stones were pelted at the police during the night, and minimal force was used to push back the crowd. Overall, the process remained smooth,” he said, adding that CCTV, ground and body-camera footage would be examined to identify those involved and initiate legal action. Around 17 bulldozers were pressed into service to clear the unauthorised structures, officials said. Delhi Police reiterated its commitment to maintaining law and order while implementing judicial directives in a lawful and sensitive manner. Meanwhile, a separate demolition drive was carried out earlier this week in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, where the Municipal Corporation razed an illegal G+3 structure near Mahakal Chowk. Officials said the building had been constructed without mandatory permissions. Ujjain municipal corporation assistant commissioner Deepak Sharma said a notice had been served on the owner, Noor Jahan, wife of Ghulam Mohammad, but construction continued despite the matter being taken to court and no stay being granted. “Since the construction did not stop, action was taken with the support of the police administration to demolish the unauthorised structure,” he said. Police personnel were deployed at the Ujjain site as well, with traffic diversions put in place to ensure smooth movement during the demolition.(With agency inputs)