Category Archives: Dehradun

Dehradun

Uttarakhand Guv, CM greets people on Independence Day

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IEP CHANDIGARH AUGUST 15, 2022

The Uttarakhand governor lieutenant general (retd) Gurmit Singh and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami greeted the citizens on the occasion of Independence Day. In his message on the eve of the occasion, the governor appealed to the people of Uttarakhand to make a resolve to work together for the progress of the State and nation while using innovation and efficiency for better health, education and new opportunities for employment.

Remembering freedom fighters and gallantry award winners, Singh said that those who had made the supreme sacrifice for the freedom and security of the nation will never be forgotten. “On the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the enthusiasm among all Indians for nation building, character building and security of the nation is evident across the country which is unique in itself,” he said.

The governor further said that especially during the Covid-19 pandemic the nation had set an example of self-reliant India in front of the global community. He appreciated the progress of Uttarakhand on the developmental path despite the difficult geographical terrain and other challenges.

He also referred to the works being undertaken by the State government for development in various spheres. In his message, chief minister Dhami greeted the citizens on the 75th anniversary of independence. Paying tributes to freedom fighters and martyrs he said that it was due to their sacrifices that the nation is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav today. He also paid homage to the martyrs and activists of the Statehood movement. The CM recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has special affection for Uttarakhand. In the past eight years, the Central government has approved various projects worth more than Rs 1.50 lakh crore. He said, “The Kedarnath reconstruction project is the best example of PM Modi’s vision, leadership and resolve. Work is also underway on the Badrinath master plan while work on the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project is also progressing at a swift pace.

The Government of India has also granted its approval for survey work for the TanakpurBageshwar rail line and Doiwala to Gangotri-Yamunotri rail line. Considerable work has been done on the Char Dham all weather road project to enhance road connectivity. Construction of the DelhiDehradun elevated road will shorten the travel time between Delhi and Dehradun to two hours.” Dhami further said that the Dehradun airport is being developed to international standards while a greenfield airport is being developed in Udham Singh Nagar. Regarding the Jal Jeevan Mission, he said that more than seven lakh families in rural areas had been provided tap water connections. Further, the Rs 1,600 crore Uttarakhand urban water supply project will facilitate drinking water supply in 38 smaller towns in the State. Dhami also referred to other important infrastructural projects in the State and the benefit these will provide to the people of the State. For implementation of the National Education Policy -2020, Bal Vatikas have been started in 4,457 co-located Anganwadi centres.

To encourage online education, a central studio has been set up in Dehradun while smart classes have been established in 500 schools of 13 districts. “In the past years Uttarakhand has performed well in various spheres. We are among the leading States considering various social-economic indicators. In the sustainable development goals index we have risen from the 10th position in 2018 to fourth position at present,” he said

Dehradun

Misuse of the Dowry Prohibition Ac

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IEP DEHRADUN AUGUST 11, 2022

DOWRY PROHIBHITION ACT 1961

Dowry refers to the money and property given by the bride’s family to the groom’s family on the occasion of their marriage. The Dowry Prohibition act was passed on May 1stin the year 1961which made the receiving and giving of dowry illegal in India. It is applicable to every individual irrespective of their caste and religion. Violation of the act is punishable with imprisonment not less than 6 months but which can be extended for life depending on the nature of the crime. An additional fine of rupees 10,000 is also charged. In the year 1983the law was amended to add section 304B and 498A of the Indian penal code in its framework to make it easier for a wife/bride to file a complaint and seek redressal.Sec304B deals with the laws related to the death of a woman within 7 years of marriage. While sec 498B is related to cruelty (mental and physical) subjected upon a woman.

Dowry was and still is the bone of contention for the death of various women in India and the act was passed to ensure the safety of women from being subjected to various offences like cruelty , torture etc which are mainly committed  due to a dispute on dowry. The act has been amended various times but still the violence related to it is prevalent and now there is another challenge on the rise that is the misuse of dowry act by the women for egocentric purposes.

CAUSES FOR THE MISUSE OF THE DOWRY ACT

There are various causes for the misuse of the act but first and foremost, it is because the laws are stringent in nature. It is a non bailable and non compoundable offence making it onerous for the accused and his family to get bail. Due to such strict framework of this act the women have started misusing it to a great extent for malicious and other purposes. Further, the laws are clearly victim biased; the universally followed doctrine of innocent until proven guilty is reversed in the case of the dowry act .Here the accused is considered to be guilty until proven innocent. The major reason for the misuse is to attain monetary benefit from the spouse and his family such as properties, huge amounts of cash , etc. In India out of 4,66,079 cases that were pending in the beginning of the year 2013 ,only 7,528 were convicted while 38,165 were acquitted and 8,218 were withdrawn. Every year 90,000 -1,00,000 dowry cases are filed and a huge proportion of them turns out to be false which makes the law one of the most abused laws in the country. In the year 2011 a trial court termed the misuse of the act as legal terrorism.

CASES RELATED TO THE MISUSE OF THE DOWRY ACT

The Nisha Sharma dowry case was a landmark anti dowry lawsuit and it showcased how the various laws under the dowry prohibition act can be misused. It started in the year 2003 and continued till 2012.Nisha accused her fiancé  Munish Dalal of demanding dowry and the case was covered by Indian as well as International media. In the year 2012 the court acquitted all the accused. It was found that and all the allegations against the accused were false and Nisha misused the law to avoid getting married to her fiancé. Another lawsuit Ansh Kumar Vs The State Of Bihar was a landmark judgement where the court stated that sec 498A was a deadly weapon in the hands of the disgruntled wives and led to the conviction of innocent people without any evidence which was due to the non – bailable framework of the law.

IMPACT OF THE FALSE ALLEGATIONS ON THE VICTIM

The men and their family have to bear with various consequences as a result of the injustice done to them. A complaint by the wife/ bride grants the right to the police to arrest the accused without a warrant. They are then tortured and harassed by the police which further  leads to mental trauma and humiliation.Majority of the times the accused and his family commit suicide because of the social stigma . To add on, the respondent suffers huge financial losses and false conviction also negatively affects their career and reputation. A huge financial and mental strain is developed on the accused and their families.

CONCLUSION

In the previous judgements the Supreme court has stated that the provisions of the dowry act needs to be re- examined. While in the past years every case that resulted in a conviction, five other cases resulted in an acquittal and one case was withdrawn with the result being that only one out of seven cases resulted in a conviction. Hence the government should work on possible ways to safeguard the rights of both men and women and conduct a preliminary inquiry before making arrests to curb the misuse of the act. It was passed to act as a shield for the women but instead is being used as a weapon by them. (The writer is Riya Bhatia, student of THE Montessari School, Uttarakhand)

Chandigarh, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Haryana, Haryana, Punjab

Sextortion cases on the rise in country

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INDIA E POST CHANDIGARH JULY 05, 2022

Beware of that super friendly woman you meet on Istagram or Facebook or What’s app. She could be a member of a gang targeting people into explicit sexual situations and then demanding money not to expose them on public platforms.

One of the victims on the condition of anonymity said that he got a call from unverified numbers and callers posing as Sub-inspector in Delhi Police, asking him to shatter the issue by paying money otherwise compromising pictures or videos will be put on social media platforms.

As per the statistics, sextortion, or extortion using sexual methods, tops the charts in the cybercrime cell of Chandigarh region. In all such cases, stories have emerged of individuals being “lured into recording themselves performing sexual acts” before being blackmailed. The cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of Chandigarh Police has advised the people to be careful about video calls from unknown numbers. Sources in the CCIC Chandigarh Police said that the number of sextortion (extortion cases using nude pictures) are increasing. There have been a number of incidents and the victims’ list is increasing. But due to shame or social stigma, the victims often do not report the crimes to police, they added.

When contacted, Mohali based cyber expert said that people who often get connected with strangers through social media or even gaming apps are targets of these crimes. It begins with offers of friendship but soon leads to sharing of compromising pictures or videos that are used for blackmail. The victims of such crimes belong to all age groups. Victims of such crimes are unwilling to come forward and report them to the police for fear of embarrassment or disrepute it might bring. However, the best and surest way of bringing such cases under control is to report them to the authorities, he added.

He further said, “The modus operandi of the gangs is to create fake accounts posing as girls on social media platforms and lure men, most of whom were rich with high-profile backgrounds. While posing as girls on social media, the accused took the victims into confidence and insist on starting obscene video chats, which they would then record. Then they blackmail the victims with the recorded videos and extort money from them. The person behind the profile is actually a criminal whose main motive is to extort money from the victim. These fake profiles are deliberately made to look very attractive so that people fall prey to this scam easily, he added.

Constable Rajnish, who posted at Panchkula cybercrime cell, said that the cases of cheating people into indulging in virtual sex and recording them to extort money from them have seen a spike during the last one year. Over dozen such cases have been reported in Panchkula district. “We have detected a few such cases and found the culprits to be from Rajasthan and the northern belt. Recently, Panchkula police Station, Sector 20 have arrested the person, native of Alwar, Rajasthan involved in sextortion. “We have urged people to report any cybercrime cases at the earliest in order to ease the detection process. Victim can register compliant at local police station or through on toll free number 1930 or website cybercrime.gov.in,” he added.