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Crime

Gag on POSH cases: After 6 months, Bombay HC says it’s ‘case specific’

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Nearly six months after a complete ‘gag’ order to media reporting and uploading of judgements on cases pertaining to the Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (POSH) Act, 2013, the Bombay High Court has clarified that it was ‘case specific’ and not applicable to all matters under the (POSH) act.

Justice G.S. Patel, who had passed the earlier order of September 24, 2021, acknowledged that “it remained to be specifically noted in that order that “the directions had to be confined” to that particular case and could not have any wider or larger applicability.

Justice Patil further noted that any such rules of general applicability would have to be approved by the full court, and a single judge hearing a particular matter within his rostered assignment has “no authority or jurisdiction to issue any rules binding the entire court”.

“It is only the full court or the Chief Justice which or who can do that. Very possibly, such rules might even have been required to be notified in the official gazette. None of this was in contemplation at any time on September 24, 2021,” Justice Patil added.

The clarifications came on Thursday while disposing an intervention application filed by the Forum Against Oppression of Women under the impressions that the guidelines were general in nature.

FAOW senior advocate Indira Jaisingh contended that these guidelines were not only against the letter and spirit of the POSH Act, but also contrary to the very concept of open courts, which are an essential aspect of judicial determinations globally, and now it was being cited by men in other cases.

In the previous order (IANS – Sept 27, 2021), Justice Patel had said all such matters shall be heard either “in camera” or in the judge’s chambers, orders cannot be passed in open court, or uploaded on the high court’s official website, and the media has been prohibited from reporting the proceedings or the verdicts without the court’s permission.

Virtually making POSH cases at par with the existing guidelines in rape cases, the order warned that violation of the same or publishing the concerned party’s names or other details, even if in the public domain, would be treated as contempt of court.

He observed that since there are no set guidelines for such matters, his initial order would set a working protocol for the future orders, hearings, case file management, and would be revised or modified, as needed.

The ‘minimum guidelines’ issued dealt with the format of filing orders in POSH cases, the filing protocols, grant of access by the registry, hearings, directions to the certified copy department, public access, breach, etc.

“Both sides and all parties and advocates, as also witnesses, are forbidden from disclosing the contents of any order, judgment, or filing to the media or publishing any such material in any mode or fashion by any means, including social media, without specific leave of the court,” the court said on the media disclosure part.

Justice Patel added that it was imperative to protect the identities of the parties from disclosure, even accidental disclosure in such proceedings, in the interests of both sides, and the endeavour would be to “anonymise the identities of the parties”.

The orders came in a hearing of a POSH case involving a major blue-chip company and its woman staffer — who was represented by advocate Abha Singh.

The other highlights were: Parties’ names shall be replaced with “A v B”, etc., the order will mention them as only ‘Plaintiff, Defendant No. 1, etc.’, no reference to any ‘personally identifiable information (PII) like email, mobile or phone numbers, addresses, etc,’ and ‘no witness names and addresses’ shall be mentioned.

All orders/judgements would be delivered in private, not in open court but only in the judge’s chambers or in camera, with online or hybrid facility not allowed, in the presence of the litigants and lawyers and others including most of the court staff to leave the court.

“Orders can’t be published without court’s direction, and if any order is to be released into public domain, it will require a specific order of the court. This will be on the condition that only the fully anonymised version of the order of judgement is let into the public domain for publication,” said Justice Patel in the earlier order.

It forbade both sides, all parties and advocates and witnesses from disclosing the contents of any order, judgment, or filing to the media or publishing any such material in any mode or fashion by any means, including social media, without specific leave of the court, as per the guidelines.

There are strict restrictions barring anyone other than the Advocate-on-Record to inspect or copy any filings/orders, the entire record will be kept sealed and not handed over to anybody without the court’s order, witness depositions would be strictly not uploaded under any circumstances, and so on.

Crime

Siya Goyal’s family asked to halt business after FDA raid

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Pune, July 16: In mounting trouble for the family of Siya Goyal, who is accused of allegedly murdering her fiancée Ketan Agarwal, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sealed a Pune shop owned by her father Praveen Goyal, following an inspection.

The family-owned business deals in spices and dry fruits.

Speaking to reporters, Praveen Goyal said, “On Tuesday, July 14, at around 11:30 a.m., officials from the Food and Drug Administration visited my shop. They collected four samples — two samples of ‘haldi’ (turmeric) powder, one of soya chunks, and one of a product called ‘Gavran Til’ (sesame). These are all products that are widely sold in the market, and I have complete purchase bills for them.”

“They have taken the samples and will carry out whatever action is required. The only issue they pointed out was that…I had previously operated from a rented shop, and we have a valid licence for the period 2025 to 2030. However, about six to seven months ago, when I shifted to my own shop, the shop number (Gala No. 348) was inadvertently not updated in the licence,” he mentioned.

Praveen Goyal added: “We have already applied for the correction, and it should be completed within the next 8–10 days. Until then, they have asked me to keep the shop closed, and I am complying with those instructions. Apart from this, there is no other issue.”

Ketan Agarwal was allegedly murdered by his fiancée Siya Goyal and her purported lover Chetan Chaudhary at Lohagad fort near Pune last month.

On Monday, Ketan’s mother Rakhi Agarwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking speedy justice for her son.

In an email sent to the Prime Minister, Rakhi Agarwal expressed the immense grief her family has endured since Ketan’s murder and underlined that she is not asking for any special favour.

“With folded hands, I humbly request you to kindly ensure that my son’s case receives the attention it deserves and that justice is delivered without unnecessary delay. Please do not let Ketan become just another case file. He was someone’s son, someone’s grandson, someone’s brother, but to me, he was my entire world,” she appealed.

Earlier, the victim’s father, Vishal Agarwal, had written to President Droupadi Murmu seeking a fast-tracked investigation.

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Crime

19-year-old gangraped in moving car in UP’s Lalitpur

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Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh), July 16: In a shocking incident of betrayal and sexual assault reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur district, a 19-year-old woman was abducted by a man who she was allegedly in a relationship for the last four years and gangraped by him and his friends in a moving car, police said on Thursday.

Speaking on the case, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kalu Singh said: “The victim had been in a relationship with the accused, Badal Raja, for the past four years and preliminary investigation suggests she had accompanied him voluntarily.”

According to officials, the victim’s mother lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that her daughter was forcibly taken away in a car by a local resident, Badal Raja, along with two of his associates.

The complainant stated that the distraught victim managed to call her sister during the horrific incident and sought help from her family.

Following the call, her family launched a desperate search for her and found her in a distressed condition near the railway station and took her to the police station.

Based on the complaint, the police registered an FIR and formed a special team to investigate the case.

During the course of investigation, police arrested two of the accused. A third unidentified accused was later apprehended during a police encounter, in which he sustained a bullet injury to his leg. He is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Investigators said to have recovered a .315 bore country-made pistol, one empty cartridge, one live cartridge, a mobile phone, a bottle of liquor, and a car from the accused during the encounter.

The police said the accused will be produced before the court based on the available evidence.

Further investigation in the case is underway.

In yet another crime against girls and women in UP, a seven-year-old girl was found dead in the basement of an under-construction mall in Ghaziabad’s Raj Nagar Extension.

She had been befriended by one of the accused, who often played with her and her brothers and gave them chocolates, chips and toffees to gain their trust.

The child’s body was recovered during the early hours of Saturday from the basement of the building. A post-mortem examination confirmed that she was raped before her death and died due to a head injury. Police have registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the family.

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Crime

CBI arrests Bank of Baroda branch manager, credit officer in bribery case

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Lucknow, July 15: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the Branch Manager and Credit Officer of Bank of Baroda’s Koireepur branch in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a loan beneficiary, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The arrested officials have been identified as Swarnim Srivastava, Branch Manager, and Pushpak Chaudhary, Credit Officer, both posted at the Bank of Baroda’s Koireepur branch.

According to the CBI, a case was registered on July 13 based on a complaint alleging that the accused officials had sought an undue advantage for the release of funds under a government-backed loan scheme.

The complainant had been sanctioned a Rs 5 lakh loan under the Chief Minister Yuva Udyami Yojana at the Koireepur branch. While the term loan component had already been disbursed, the overdraft facility sanctioned as part of the loan package was yet to be released.

The agency alleged that the Branch Manager and Credit Officer demanded a bribe of Rs 45,000 from the complainant in exchange for facilitating the disbursement of the overdraft component of the sanctioned loan.

Following verification of the complaint, the CBI laid a trap on July 14. During the operation, the agency caught the Credit Officer allegedly accepting Rs 35,000 from the complainant. The CBI claimed the money was accepted in conspiracy with and at the behest of the Branch Manager.

Subsequently, both officials were taken into custody and arrested by the agency.

The accused were produced before the competent court in Lucknow. Further investigation into the case is underway, the CBI said.

Earlier in the first week of this month, the CBI had arrested the Project Director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Shillong, and two private persons for demanding a bribe of Rs 12 lakh from the complainant to process his outstanding bill to the tune of Rs 13.38 crore.

The accused public servant had instructed the complainant to give part of the bribe amount to the tune of Rs 4 lakh, in advance.

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