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French prosecutors asked for the maximum 20-year prison sentence for Dominique Pelicot, who organized the repeated mass rape of his then-wife by knocking her unconscious with drugs and inviting dozens of strangers to abuse her in the family home. Pelicot, 71, has admitted the charges in a trial that attracted worldwide attention and turned into an examination of the pervasiveness of sexual violence in France and beyond. Fifty other men also stand trial for participating in the sex acts. The prosecutors, who will over the next two days say what sentences they seek against the co-accused, rejected the arguments made by many of the men that they did not realize they were raping Gisele Pelicot or had not intended to do it. Gisele Pelicot appeared motionless while the accused abused her in thousands of videos and pictures recorded by her then-husband and shown in court over the past weeks. "The accused are trying to shirk responsibility by saying they thought Gisele Pelicot consented," public prosecutor Laure Chabaud told the court on Monday. "But it's not possible, today, in 2024, to consider that," Chabaud said, adding that video and pictures clearly showed Gisele Pelicot was unconscious and therefore unable to give her consent. As for Dominique Pelicot, "the maximum sentence is 20 years, which is a lot ... but at the same time ... too little in view of the seriousness of the acts that were committed and repeated," Chabaud said. The prosecutors also said they were seeking a 17-year sentence for Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63, who has admitted to working with Dominique Pelicot to drug his own wife, Cilia, and for both men to rape her, after the men met on a now-shuttered website. The verdicts and sentences are expected around December 20. Gisele Pelicot, 71, could have demanded the trial be kept behind closed doors but instead asked for it be held in public, saying she hoped it would help other women speak up and show that victims have nothing to be ashamed of. The trial has triggered protest rallies in support of Gisele Pelicot and spurred soul searching, including a debate on whether to update France's rape law. Unlike in some other European countries, French law makes no mention of a requirement that sex involve consent and requires prosecutors to prove a perpetrator's intent to rape using "violence, coercion, threat or surprise." Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, told reporters it was not a surprise that prosecutors had sought the longest sentence possible. Credit: Voice of America (VOA), Photo Credit Associated Press (AP)
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that on his first day in office he would impose a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, citing concerns over illegal immigration and the trade of illicit drugs. "On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump said the tariffs would remain in place until the two countries ...Read More >
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 27 (ANI): A female student was allegedly gang-raped inside a law college in Kolkata's Kasba on Wednesday evening. The police have arrested all three accused within 24 hours. The three accused, named as Monojit Mishra (31), Zaib Ahmed (19), and Pramit Mukhopadhyay (20), were former students or staff members of the same law college. Also Read | Student Gang-Raped at South Kolkata Law College: Police Arrest 3 Youths for Sexually Assaulting Young Woman Inside Law College. According to the police, the accused named in the FIR will be produced before the A.C.J. ...Read More >
Kolkata: A law student of a south Kolkata college was allegedly gang-raped at the campus security guards' room on Wednesday evening after being offered a key union post.Cops arrested three persons -- college alumnus and ad-hoc staff Manojit Mishra and current students Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed -- after a medical test on the survivor corroborated her complaint. Mishra was thrown out of the college's Trinamool unit in 2021 and graduated in 2022, after which he started practising law. He, however, returned to the college recently as an ad-hoc non-teaching staff member. First-year student Mu ...Read More >
Bengaluru: The Karnataka high court Friday granted interim protection to BJP MLC and opposition whip, SN Ravikumar in relation to a criminal case filed against him for allegedly making inappropriate comments on state chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh.On the same day, a special court for elected representatives in the city granted interim bail to the legislator, directing him to furnish a bond of Rs 1 lakh and provide two surities. Justice SR Krishna Kumar directed the state govt and police to refrain from taking coercive measures against Ravikumar until his petition for quashing the case is hea ...Read More >
A Delhi court has declared UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari a fugitive economic offender following a request from the Enforcement Directorate. Bhandari, accused of money laundering, reportedly fled to the UK in 2016. Despite India's efforts to extradite him, a UK court recently rejected the plea, further complicating the legal proceedings against him.A Delhi court on Saturday declared UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari a fugitive economic offender on an Enforcement Directorate plea, ...Read More >
Washington [US], November 27 (ANI): Former One Direction star Liam Payne's family is taking legal action and it has informed that they could bring private criminal action against anyone who contributed to his death, reported Page Six. Lawyers for Liam Payne's family were in court in Argentina on Tuesday. Page Six has obtained papers indicating that music industry veteran lawyer Richard Bray, operating on behalf of the family, has transferred his legal interests to a local law company in Buenos Aires. This implies that Payne's loved ones will be named plaintiffs in any future criminal cases. ...Read More >
Kolkata: The past week in West Bengal has been nothing short of a political theatre of the absurd, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) descending into public infighting over one of the most sensitive issues, gang rape. What should have been an occasion for empathy, justice, and responsible leadership has instead turned into an embarrassing spectacle, exposing the party's deep-rooted lack of accountability and a shocking disregard for survivors of sexual violence. The trigger for this latest round of controversy was the appalling gang rape of a law student from South Calcutta Law College. Inste ...Read More >
Kolkata: A BJP fact-finding team arrived in Kolkata on Monday and visited the law college where a first-year student was allegedly gang-raped last week. However, they ran into a volley of questions from Trinamool over BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya's comments on the allegations against Kartik Maharaj.On Monday, Malviya hailed Kartik Maharaj as a "revered saint" and claimed the woman who had accused him of rape acted "entirely as instructed by 'Didi's' people, right from the top". "This wasn't about justice. It was a scripted political hit-job -- a disgraceful attack on a Hindu saint and an ins ...Read More >
New Delhi: An underaged teenage survivor of rape seeking to immediately end her unwanted pregnancy of 27 weeks will have to wait until the fetus reaches the gestational period of 34 weeks so that the child can be born, Delhi High Court ordered on Thursday."Don't ask us to be a part of foeticide. Every endeavour must be made by the state to protect life," the bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal told the counsel for the survivor, after AIIMS highlighted that aborting the 16-year-old girl's pregnancy at 27 weeks may harm her reproductive health permanently and amount to fo ...Read More >
New Delhi: Three Indian citizens vanished mysteriously in Tehran. Darkness closed in as hope seemed lost. A ruthless Pakistani gang with potential links to ISI snatched them away, casting a shadow of fear. But relentless Indian diplomats refused to back down. Against all odds, a daring rescue mission ignited. Now, the captives are free, and a chilling game of espionage comes to light. The Punjab-based trio - Amritpal Singh from Hoshiarpur, Jaspal Singh from SBS Nagar and Hushnapreet Singh from Sangrur - had landed in Iran on May 1. Promised a clandestine route to Australia via Dubai and Tehra ...Read More >
Hyderabad: Telangana's former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakar Rao, a key accused in the phone tapping case, returned from the United States on Sunday, June 8. He is likely to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday as per the undertaking given to the Supreme Court. The retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who has been in the United States for 14 months, returned to India as directed recently by the apex court. He recently gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he will return to India soon after receiving emergency travel documents and ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi slammed the ruling BJP over the brutal sexual assault of a nine-year-old in Delhi's Dayalpur, saying that the incident has put Delhi and the whole nation to shame. 'This incident has put Delhi and the whole nation to shame. Today, the BJP will have to answer, if they have a four-engine government in Delhi, then why are our daughters not safe? It is their responsibility... CM Rekha Gupta is seen at a media event almost every day. Now that this incident has happened, she is nowhere to be found.. ...Read More >
Jaipur, June 26: A man was arrested and sent to jail on Thursday for raping two minor daughters for about five years here, a senior police official said. Police filed an FIR after recording statements of the girls and their mother through a hidden camera. The woman had refused to file a case due to fear of society and her husband. The case was registered at Sadar police station and the investigation was handed over to a senior police officer. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Amit Kumar told PTI, "On June 20, the mother reached the hospital with two daughters complaining of stomach ache. B ...Read More >
Thane: A special court in Thane sentenced a 33-year-old man to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl in August 2019. Special judge Ruby U Malvankar noted the "serious and heinous" nature of the crime while balancing punishment with the convict's age for proportionate justice.The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict, Ajaj @ Ejaj Imran Ismail Khan, who was found guilty under sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code. The court order was pronounced recently.During trial, special public prosecutor Adv Varsha R Chandane argued ...Read More >
Srinagar- Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said foreign countries were told clearly during the post-Operation Sindoor diplomatic outreach that in case of a fresh provocation, India would repeat its action. Speaking at a discussion at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Tharoor said Indian delegations which visited foreign countries in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor managed to convey that India acted with restraint and responsibility. "In other places, we actually were able to get some very high-placed people to say not only that they respected and supported India's right of self- ...Read More >
All 17 students present on campus that day are being questioned as police explore possible larger conspiracies. The brutal gang rape of a 24-year-old law student on a Kolkata college campus last week was allegedly premeditated by the prime suspect, Monojit Mishra, who had reportedly "set eyes on her" on the survivor since she enrolled in the course, investigators revealed. According to co-accused Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee, Mishra had decided to "teach her a lesson" after she repeatedly spu ...Read More >
Prayagraj (UP), Jul 11 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has observed that merely expressing support for Pakistan, without referring to any specific incident or mentioning India by name, does not prima facie constitute an offence under section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The said penal provision deals with acts endangering the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India. Also Read | Thane Horror: Man Abducts 16-Year-Old Girl From Kalyan Railway Station, Rapes Her on Akola-Bound Train; Arrested. "Considering the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and after a perusa ...Read More >
Faridabad, Jun 27 (PTI) The investigation into the case of a woman who was buried after her murder in Haryana's Faridabad has revealed that the victim was allegedly raped by her father-in-law before her murder, said police. The mother-in-law of the victim was also allegedly involved in the murder, and she has been arrested, police said, adding that police are now searching for the victim's husband Arun, who is still at large. Also Read | Bodoland Lottery Result Today, June 27, 2025: Assam State Lottery Sambad Friday Lucky Draw Results Declared, Check Winners List With Ticket Numbers. The ma ...Read More >
Kolkata: Monojit Mishra, the main accused in the June 25 law student gang-rape case, before leaving the college after committing the crime had asked a few of his trusted aides to stay back on the campus and keep a watch on Kasba Police Station about a kilometre away through the night. He and co-accused Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed left around the same time as the survivor, who was picked up by her father.Senior officers investigating the case also revealed that Monojit had called up a college official the next morning -- this official has claimed the discussion was "confined to college-rela ...Read More >
A Kolkata court extended police custody for the accused in the Kasba gangrape case. The accused include Monojit Mishra and two students, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee. A security guard, Pinaki Banerjee, also remains in custody. Defence lawyers requested fair investigation and opposed media trial. The court rejected bail for the security guard.The police custody of the three accused in connection with the alleged gangrape of a first-year student at a law college in Kolkata's Kasba area on Tuesda ...Read More >
Kuldeep Singh Sengar is also serving a 10-year jail term in connection with the custodial death of the Unnao rape victim's father. Kuldeep Singh Sengar sought interim bail on the grounds that he was suffering from various ailments The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted a two-week interim bail on medical grounds to expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar who is serving life term for raping a minor in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017. A bench headed by Justice Prathiba M Singh suspended the sent ...Read More >
Kolkata: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the gang rape of a student inside a law college in the city and asked the Kolkata Police to file a detailed report within three days. NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar on Friday wrote to Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma directing him to initiate an immediate and time-bound investigation. She also directed Verma to ensure that the culprits were booked under relevant sections of the BNS and the victim was given full medical, psychological and legal assistance. Rahatkar also urged the Kolkata Police Com ...Read More >
Balasore: A POCSO court here Thursday sentenced a 60-yearold man to life imprisonment for raping a differently-abled girl, a government advocate said. POCSO Court Judge Indira Priyadarshini pronounced the sentence against Padmalochan Kamila, who raped the 13-year-old girl from his locality April 17, 2024, according to Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Panda. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict. In case of failure to pay the fine, the convict will have to serve an additional one-year jail term, he added. The court pronounced the verdict after examining 20 witnesses and ...Read More >
Kolkata, June 28: A political slugfest has erupted in West Bengal after a woman accused Padma Shree awardee monk Kartik Maharaj, who is posted with the Murshidabad unit of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, of allegedly raping her 12 times for six months in 2013. As per the police complaint lodged by the woman, Kartik Maharaj raped her multiple times 12 years ago promising her a job at a local school. The ruling Trinamool Congress is highlighting the issue in a major way and accusing the BJP of being silent on it since the accused monk had been reportedly close to the saffron party. The woman accusin ...Read More >
Pune: City police commissioner Amitesh Kumar on Friday said investigation into the alleged rape of a 22-year-old data scientist by a "delivery agent" in a Kondhwa flat on Wednesday revealed that there was "no forced entry into the woman's flat, no chemical was sprayed to render her unconscious and the selfie on her cellphone was taken with her consent before she herself cropped the image". Kumar told TOI, "We have detained her 27-year-old friend, an IT professional with a software company in Baner, after evidence like his cellphone location showed that he was around the flat at the time of the ...Read More >
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 4 (ANI): Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday came down heavily on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) over its pitch to reconsider the words 'secular and socialist' from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution while saying that it was 'all talk'. He dared and challenged RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and top leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre to remove the words 'secular and socialist' from the Preamble. 'Days before, I heard that some RSS person said that we should remove Secular and Socialist words from ...Read More >
Kolkata, Jul 13 (PTI) The alleged rape case of a woman by a student of the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta inside a hostel on the campus has taken a new turn, with her father claiming that the reported incident did not take place. The accused student was arrested on Saturday on the basis of an FIR lodged by the woman, a police officer had said. Also Read | Kota Srinivasa Rao Dies at 83: Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu Condoles Demise of Veteran Actor, Says 'He Will Forever Stay Etched in Hearts of Telugu Audience'. The alleged incident took place inside the boys' hostel of IIM-C ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], June 6 (ANI): Delhi's Dwarka Court recently acquitted an army colonel and his friend accused of raping an advocate noting the delay in FIR and contradications in the testimony of victim and absence of corroborative forensic or medical evidence to prove the allegations. While acquitting the accused persons, the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Gagandeep Jindal noted the contradictions and inconsistencies in the complainant's testimony. An FIR was lodged at Dwarka 23 Police Station against army officer under Sections 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape) by administering sedative laced ...Read More >
Imphal, June 7 (UNI) Three militants were nabbed in separate incidents during the last 24 hours in Manipur, police said on Saturday. Manipur Police arrested a militant from Moidangpok Awang Leikai from Khumbong Bazar under Imphal West District, they said. Security forces arrested a militant from the Elangkhanpokpi Mayai Leikai area under Kakching district. Security forces apprehended a militant from Wangoo Samushang in Bishnupur district and elected members from Kumbi area. In an operation, one M16 rifle, one bolt-action rifle, three pull-mechanism rifles, three improvised mortars, and fiv ...Read More >
Kolkata, Jul 3 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday said it will consider a prayer for 'in-camera' hearing of a petition by monk Kartik Maharaj, seeking quashing of an FIR against him alleging rape. Swami Pradiptananda, who is popular as Kartik Maharaj and a recipient of the Padma Shri award this year, has denied the allegation made by a woman, who claimed in the police complaint that the incident occurred in 2013. Upon a verbal prayer made by the monk's lawyer, Justice Jay Sengupta started taking up the matter 'in camera'. Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the West Bengal g ...Read More >