National News
Rape to include marital rape for purpose of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that all women, including the unmarried, are entitled to safe and legal abortion, and also the meaning of rape must be understood as including marital rape, solely for the purposes of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and any rules and regulations framed thereunder.
And, married women may also form part of the class of survivors of sexual assault or rape, it added.
A bench, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, said it is not inconceivable that married women become pregnant as a result of their husbands having “raped” them and the nature of sexual violence and the contours of consent do not undergo a transformation when one decides to marry.
“The institution of marriage does not influence the answer to the question of whether a woman has consented to sexual relations. If the woman is in an abusive relationship, she may face great difficulty in accessing medical resources or consulting doctors,” it added.
The bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and J.B. Pardiwala, said the state has a positive obligation under Article 21 of the Constitution to protect the right to health, and particularly reproductive health of individuals.
“Married women may also form part of the class of survivors of sexual assault or rapea… A woman may become pregnant as a result of non-consensual sexual intercourse performed upon her by her husband. We would be remiss in not recognising that intimate partner violence is a reality and can take the form of rape,” said Justice Chandrachud, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench.
It added that the misconception that strangers are exclusively or almost exclusively responsible for sex- and gender-based violence is a deeply regrettable one.
The bench said that there is no requirement that an FIR must be registered or the allegation of rape must be proved in a court of law or some other forum before it can be considered true for the purposes of the MTP Act.
Emphasising that the right to dignity encapsulates the right of every individual to be treated as a self-governing entity having intrinsic value, it added that in the context of abortion, the right to dignity entails recognising the competence and authority of every woman to take reproductive decisions, including the decision to terminate the pregnancy.
“The right of every woman to make reproductive choices without undue interference from the state is central to the idea of human dignity. Deprivation of access to reproductive healthcare or emotional and physical wellbeing also injures the dignity of women,” it added.
Justice Chandrachud said if women with unwanted pregnancies are forced to carry their pregnancies to term, the state would be stripping them of the right to determine the immediate and long-term path their lives would take.
“Depriving women of autonomy not only over their bodies but also over their lives would be an affront to their dignity. The right to choose for oneself – be it as significant as choosing the course of one’s life or as mundane as one’s day-to-day activities – forms a part of the right to dignity,” he added, in the 75-page verdict.
The bench said the law should not decide the beneficiaries of a statute based on narrow patriarchal principles about what constitutes “permissible sex”, which create invidious classifications and excludes groups based on their personal circumstances.
“The rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity, and privacy under Article 21 give an unmarried woman the right of choice on whether or not to bear a child, on a similar footing of a married woman, “it added.
The object of Section 3(2)(b) of the MTP Act read with Rule 3B is to provide for abortions between 20 and 24 weeks, rendered unwanted due to a change in the material circumstances of women.
“In view of the object, there is no rationale for excluding unmarried or single women (who face a change in their material circumstances) from the ambit of Rule 3B. A narrow interpretation of Rule 3B, limited only to married women, would render the provision discriminatory towards unmarried women and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution,” said Justice Chandrachud.
The bench said importantly, it is the woman alone who has the right over her body and is the ultimate decisionmaker on the question of whether she wants to undergo an abortion. “In order to avail the benefit of Rule 3B(a), the woman need not necessarily seek recourse to formal legal proceedings to prove the factum of sexual assault, rape or incest,” said the bench.
On July 21, the top court had allowed a 25-year-old to abort her 24-week pregnancy arising out of a consensual relationship. In the judgment, the top court dealt with various aspects of the issue, including forced pregnancy. The woman had moved challenged the Delhi High Court, which refused to entertain her request to terminate her 24-week foetus, under Rule 3B, dealing with categories of women entitled to abortion, of the MTP Rules, 2003.
Entertainment
SC permits Ranveer Allahbadia to resume airing his shows

New Delhi, March 3: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted popular YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia to resume airing his podcast on the condition that he will maintain the “standards of decency and morality”.
Allahbadia and several other YouTubers, including Ashish Chanchlani and Apoorva Mukhija, have been embroiled in the controversy for vulgar and crass comments made during an episode of Samay Raina’s ‘India’s Got Latent’ show.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh relaxed an earlier condition which had prohibited Allahbadia or his associates from airing any show on YouTube or any other audio/video visual mode of communication till further orders.
During the hearing, the Justice Kant-led Bench asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second highest law officer of the Centre, to consider regulating the content in online media.
“We don’t want any regulatory regime which leads to censorship, but it can’t be a free for all,” it said.
The apex court clarified that Allahbadia’s shows should not comment upon the proceedings which are sub-judice.
Earlier, on February 18, the top court had stayed Allahbadia’s arrest subject to the condition that he would join the investigation, as and when summoned by the Investigating Officers.
“The interim protection against arrest is granted further subject to the condition that the petitioner will extend full cooperation to the ongoing investigation,” it had ordered.
The Supreme Court had added that no further FIR would be registered against Allahbadia on the basis of the episode aired on the show ‘India’s Got Latent’, for which two-three FIRs have already been registered.
Amid the controversy, Samay Raina had removed all videos of the show from YouTube, asserting that his intention was only to entertain and make people laugh.
Several complaints seeking legal action have been filed against popular YouTubers Samay Raina, Ranveer Allahabadia, Ashish Chanchlani, and Apoorva Mukhija over allegedly obscene and offensive remarks about parents in the comedy show ‘India’s Got Latent’.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the incident has sparked a broader debate about the limits of comedy and the responsibility of content creators on digital platforms.
Crime
Haryana Cong worker murder case: Arrested man claims he was blackmailed

Chandigarh, March 3: Two days after Youth Congress activist Himani Narwal’s body was found in a suitcase on a highway in Haryana’s Rohtak, the arrested man, Sachin, on Monday confessed that he knew the deceased and accused her of blackmail and extortion.
Haryana Police arrested the accused, a resident of Bahadurgarh, who was in an alleged relationship with Himani.
The suspect confessed to the crime during interrogation, saying they had been in a relationship for some time, a police official said.
During his arrest in Delhi, Sachin was found in possession of Himani Narwal’s mobile phone. The crime hogged the limelight after images of her walking with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra went viral.
The victim’s family, who has been demanding justice, suspected that some party leaders jealous of her swift rise in party ranks were behind the murder.
The woman’s body was found inside a suitcase near a flyover next to the Sampla bus stand in Rohtak on March 1. She had been missing for three days.
According to a preliminary investigation by the police, she was likely assaulted before being strangled to death. The autopsy report conducted in Rohtak’s PGIMS is awaited. She reportedly attended a wedding on February 27 in Rohtak and was supposed to attend a Congress roadshow on February 28. Her cell phone had been switched off since then.
“The government took swift action by arresting the killer within 24 hours,” said state Transport Minister Anil Vij.
Responding to allegations made by Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda regarding her murder, Vij countered by saying, “The government acts with complete promptness and seriousness… Hooda keeps making statements, it’s his habit.”
The victim’s brother, Jatin, said, “One accused has been arrested, and today we will cremate her body. A lot of rumours are being spread in the media… We will get justice.”
The police on Sunday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajneesh Kumar told the media that the victim, who was pursuing an LLB (Bachelor of Law), used to live alone in the state while her family was in Delhi.
The victim’s mother, on Sunday, blamed the elections and the party. “The election and the party took my daughter’s life. Because of this, she made some enemies. They (the accused) could be from the party, or they could be her friends as well…On February 28, she was at home,” the victim’s mother Savita said.
“She was going with Rahul Gandhi and was close to the Hooda family, which is why people were having problems; they were jealous,” she added.
disaster
Telangana tunnel accident: Authorities mull using robots as rescue operation continues on 10th day

Hyderabad, March 3: The rescue operation in the partially collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district entered its 10th day on Monday, with the authorities exploring the possibility of using robots to trace the eight trapped men.
Multiple rescue teams of various agencies of the Centre and state continued desilting and machine-cutting at the locations identified by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) after scanning the accident site through Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).
The rescue teams of the Army, Navy, NDRF, SDRF, Singareni Mines Rescue, Fire Services, HYDRAA, South Central Railway plasma cutters, and Rat Miners continued to face impediments like water seepage.
The rescue workers are unable to remove silt, water and debris from the tunnel due to lack of a functional conveyor belt. Technical teams were busy repairing the belt, and it is expected to become functional by Monday evening, and this is expected to help in speeding up the rescue operation.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday suggested the use of robots in the tunnel in which eight persons have remained trapped since February 22.
The Chief Minister, who visited the tunnel and held a review meeting with agencies involved in the rescue operation, asked officials to examine the possibility of using robots to prevent any further loss of life.
“Eight missing persons have not yet been traced. Experts have not concluded whether they are alive or dead,” he said.
The Chief Minister said it may take another 2-3 days for the rescue workers to come to a conclusion.
Chief Minister Reddy said the agencies involved in the rescue have not been able to come to a conclusion about the location of the machines and human beings, though they have tentatively identified the areas.
He assured that the state government would extend all help to the families of eight persons who had come from other states to work as engineers, machine operators or labourers. Stating that helping them is the responsibility of the government, he stressed the need for all to come together to console the families affected by the accident.
Two workers were injured, and eight others were trapped when a portion of the tunnel roof collapsed on February 22 at the 14th km point.
The trapped persons have been identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahau, all from Jharkhand.
Of the eight, two are engineers, two are operators, and the remaining four are labourers. They were employed by Jaiprakash Associates, the contracting firm for the tunnel project
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