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SC notice to Jindal law school students over sexual abuse

Published

9 years ago

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to three students of Jindal Global Law School in Haryana who are accused of perpetrating sexual abuses on a junior BBA/MBA course student.

The notice will be served on the three students — Hardik Sikri, Vikas Garg and Karan Chhabra — through jail superintendent in Sonipat as they are in judicial custody.

The victim girl has sought transfer of investigation into the allegations of “rape, criminal intimidation, unnatural sex and other offences” from Haryana Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

While issuing notice to the law students, the apex court vacation bench of Justice A.K.Sikri and JUstice Uday Umesh Lalit observed: “What will happen… the accused are going to be lawyers.”

Directing the next hearing on the petition of the victim girl on May 29, the court gave Additional Solicitor General — the government law officer — Pinki Anand time to seek instructions from the CBI on the plea seeking the transfer of investigation from Haryana Police to it (CBI).

The court issued notice to the Haryana government and the CBI on May 25.

The victim, a second-year student of the five-year integrated BBA/MBA course in Jindal Global University in Sonipat district, has alleged that she suffered sexual abuse by Hardik Sikri, Vikas Garg and Karan Chhabra. They are two years senior to her.

Senior counsel Indira Jaising, who appeared for the victim girl on May 25, told the court that apart from being a crime against a person, it was also a cyber crime and the local police had no knowledge of offences involving information technology.

The court was told that the local police did not check the victim girl’s mobile which has sensitive information and even failed to take into custody the electronic devices, including mobile phones and laptops, on which explicit information and other details were stored.

The victim has told the court that the state police discouraged her from putting on record all the wrongs that were done to her by the accused, including during a visit to Chandigarh where she was forced to perform sexual acts.

She complained of the “extremely shoddy, unprofessional and biased manner in which the present investigation was being conducted by the state police”.

“Police authorities had deliberately avoided recording extremely relevant and crucial information only to make the task easier for them, thereby compromising with the investigation in its totality,” she said in her petition.

Pointing to the various pressures, including political, being brought on her parents to withdraw the case, the girl in her petition said that after her parents made inquiries about “on whose instance such requests (withdrawal of complaint) were being made, (they) have come to reliably learn that a member of parliament is behind all of this”.

“The interference of politicians in thwarting a free, fair, proper, unbiased and transparent investigation becomes evident when the transfer of the SHO who had registered the FIR on April 11, on the very next day, is looked at from a proper perspective,” the petition has said.

The victim has also sought direction to the CBI to take into “safe custody, the mobile phones/computer etc. of the petitioner as well as those of the university authorities which contain material evidence, until the final disposal of the present writ petition”.

The petitioner has sought direction to the Haryana government and police to refrain from taking any “coercive steps to procure the custody” of such mobile phones/computers.

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Entertainment

Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

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2 years ago

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June 25, 2022

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PureWin Online Betting

The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index

Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.

The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports

Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.

All for the Tourists

The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.

“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.

To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.

Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market

With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.

Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.

Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.

Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting

Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.

Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.

The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.

If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.

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