SC reconfirms death for rapist-killer, doubts over suicide, ‘sell the baby’
The 12 November edition of Note This — our weekly round-up of media reports and opinions on sexual assault
The death penalty has occupied a prominent place in the news over the past week. Supreme Court has “reconfirmed” the death penalty for Coimbatore resident Manoharan, who was convicted in 2010 for killing two young siblings, aged seven and 10. He also raped the 10-year-old girl before murdering her. In Delhi, one of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case has filed a mercy petition to the President of India, which is considered to be the last resort of prisoners who have been awarded capital punishment.
Editor’s pick
Prominent journalist and writer Nisha Susan has a problem with how the Indian media treats sexual violence. In an interview with NewsTracker’s Meghna Anand, she explains why it is important to move beyond “fear-based” coverage of sexual assault and to talk “fearlessly about real issues”.
Across India: news since last Tuesday
In a majority judgment of 2:1, a Supreme Court bench has dismissed the review petition filed by Manoharan, who was convicted nine years ago for abducting and killing two children, and raping one of them. The judgment noted that Manoharan and his accomplice (who died in a police ‘encounter’ in 2010) “abused societal trust” to kidnap, poison, and drown two children “one of whom was brutally raped and sodomised” — crimes that were “so grave as to shock the conscience of this Court and of society”. The court also said that there was “no hard rule” for not awarding death “in cases based on circumstantial evidence”.
Suicide or not?
A former Tihar Jail official, Sunil Gupta, has claimed in his book Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer that the prime accused in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder may not have committed suicide in jail. Gupta has written in the book that the then director-general of Tihar Jail turned down his request to enhance security for the suspects and “made it clear that in this particular case, if they faced the ire of the jail mob, she was fine with that”.
Chinmayanand case
The family of the young woman who has accused former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand of raping her has claimed that they are being “tortured” by the Special Investigative Team (SIT) in a letter to the Chief Justice of India. Last week, the police filed a 4700-page chargesheet and case diary with charges against Chinmayanand (including stalking and criminal intimidation, but not rape) as well as the woman (for extortion and disappearance of evidence).
Rape culture
A panchayat in Bihar has reportedly advised a 15-year-old rape survivor to sell her baby. The young woman, who said she had beensexually assaulted by two different men, had asked for a DNA test to establish paternity.
In Madhya Pradesh, a woman was allegedly gang-raped by four men, including two jail wardens. According to reports, one of the wardens had tricked the woman by claiming that her husband, who was in jail, was sick.
In Chhattisgarh, seven schoolteachers have been arrested for molesting two girls repeatedly. The teachers allegedly told the girls that they would fail them in exams if they tried to complain.
Documenting sexual assault
A new documentary, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, tells the story of Bikram Choudhury, who rose to fame after amassing a celebrity clientele but became a “fugitive from justice” in 2017. In an interview with the Scroll, filmmaker Eva Orner talks about “her interest in Bikram Choudhury and what the documentary says about the Me Too movement”.
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This roundup is curated from the RSS feeds of more than 30 English news publications from across India.
See the full list of rape and sexual violence cases reported this week and earlier on our web tool, NewsTracker Data. Use our search function or select one of our boards (such as #MeToo, #KeralaPriest, or #PoliticsofRape) to read reports on specific cases and/or themes.
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