Shafiq Ur Rahman Khan

A teacher was beaten to death mercilessly after a pornographic movie featuring him with a college student emerged. The teacher, identified as Praloy Bhattacharjee, had been teaching college girls for 10-15 years. Police suspect that he was part of a nation-wide blue film racket and that he lured small-town girls promising them money and sold the movies in other cities, reported Times of India . The porn CD that triggered off the mob justice is believed to have been made about a year ago but made it to the Burdwan market just a couple of days back. On watching the video, the locals identified the girl, a final-year graduation student of a women's college, and all hell broke loose on her family and Bhattacharjee's, the newspaper reported on Thursday, Jul 29. With this incident creating a storm in the town, police jumped to action and nabbed a video parlour owner, Krishna Ghosh and another suspect, Ujjal Saha. The film was allegedly edited and 'mixed' in Ghosh's video ...

Within 24 hours of teenager Saraswati Biswakarma being brought back to her home after being rescued in from New Delhi from her exploiters, other case highlighting the tragic story of a minor girl from Lower Bardang, West Pandam being ‘sold’ in Haryana has come to light. A complaint was lodged by the victim’s father, Chandra Bahadur Bhujel at Singtam police station today claming that his 15 years old daughter, Durgi had been allegedly sold off by one Anita Biswakarma to a person at Jarjar, Haryana. The accused lady is from Temi, South Sikkim . According to the victim’s father, Biswarkarma had taken Durgi to work in New Delhi on January 8 earlier this year promising a monthly salary of Rs. 5000. An advance sum of Rs. 2000 had also been handed over to the family by the lady. Bhujel has alleged in his complaint that Biswakarma had handed over Durgi to her husband Rajendra Jaat at Delhi who then allegedly sold the minor girl to one person at Jharjar in Haryana for Rs. 50,000. ...

New Delhi: Even as the Government contemplates laws to tackle the phenomenon of honour killings, khap panchayats remain defiant. Leaders from across North India came together in New Delhi on Monday to oppose same gotra marriages . The meeting was a show of strength against the Government as nearly 250 khap panchayats from different parts of the country reiterated their demand to amend the Hindu Marriage Act and ensure inter-gotra marriages are made illegal. "Government should not let brothers and sisters marry. We are all part of the same gotra which means the same blood line. We don't advocate killing anyone. But genetic problems arise due to inter-gotra marriage," said khap leader Shamsher Singh. The meeting took place even as the Government set up a nine-member group of Ministers to find a solution to the increasing numbers of honour killings across the country. Khap leaders say they have no role to play in the killings cases but maintain that inter-gotra marriages ...

Hoshiarpur (Punjab): A 20-year-old youth allegedly strangulated her teenaged sister and threw her body in a canal in a suspected case of honour killing in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. During sustained interrogation, Mani Pratap Kaushal confessed he had strangulated his sister Kanchan with an electric wire as he doubted her character, SSP Rakesh Aggarwal told mediapersons in Hoshiarpur today. Mani, a resident of village Kitna, told police he had killed his sister, aged 16, for having an affair which had incensed the family, Aggarwal said. After strangulating her, the youth said he wrapped her body in a bedsheet and threw it in a canal, the SSP said. Earlier, Surinder Singh, the father of the girl, had filed a report with Mahilpur police station that his daughter was missing since June 29. After serving dinner to the family, she had left the house without informing anyone, the father said in the complaint, according to the SSP. A few days later, a body was fished out from a canal in Ka...

“Because a 13 year old child cannot consent to sex as a matter of law…B.W. cannot be prosecuted as a prostitute --SupremeCourt of Texas decision “In the Matter of B.W.”, June 18, 2010 Thirteen-year-old B.W. was arrested for prostitution when she flagged down the car of an undercover officer and offered to engage in oral sex for twenty dollars. She was tried in Family Court, where she admitted that she had “knowingly agreed to engage in sex…for a fee,” and received a sentence of 18-months’ probation. The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment and the Texas Supreme Court agreed to review her case. Although the federal government, under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, classifies sexually exploited children as victims, many states, including Texas, have contradictory laws that permit the prosecution of children for prostitution: One law establishes the age of sexual consent as 16; a different law sets no minimum age for the crime of prostitution, leaving the state prosecuto...

Police continued to interrogate people concerned, particularly the 'lover girl', in connection with the ''honour kiling'' that rocked Bokaro Steel city four days back. Four brothers were arrested on July 17 after the body of a class XI student of Bokaro Public Shool was recovered from a rented house under Sector IV Police Station. The student, Birat Vidya, was allegedly having an affair with their sister Nupur Bauri, who was also the victim's classmate. Superintendent of Police Saket Kumar Singh today told UNI here that the police were investigating ''probabilities'' of Nupur directly or indirectly getting involved in the crime for her ''lover''. It was learnt that Birat was caught deeply engrossed in conversation with Nupur in her house at the night of July 16, just prior to the moment when the crime was committed. The SP said the crime seemed to be ''meticulously'' planned as the brothers - Pintu Kumar, Hari ...

SIWAN: In a suspected case of honour killing, a couple was killed allegedly by the girl's brothers and uncle who were not happy with her decision to marry a boy not belonging to their caste. The assailants, however, spared their one-year-old child, Anshu. The incident took place at Kala Dumra village in Bihar's Siwan district on Sunday night. Police said Jeetendra Pandey (30) of Kala Dumra village was a petty cattle dealer. In connection with his trade, he used to visit Sarsaon village where he fell for Chandrakala Yadav (20) who belonged to a well-off family. Two years ago, Chandrakala eloped with him to Punjab and the duo tied the knot. The girl's family lodged a case of kidnapping against Pandey. The couple was blessed with a son last year after which Pandey appeared in a Siwan court which was hearing the kidnap case against him. Only four days ago, the court acquitted him of the charge as Chandrakala told the judge she had wedded Pandey on her own. On Sunday night, ...

The Indian government should urgently investigate and prosecute those responsible for the recent spurt in reported "honor" killings, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also strengthen laws that protect against kinship, religion-based, and caste-based violence, and take appropriate action against local leaders who endorse or tolerate such crimes, Human Rights Watch said. Murders to protect family or community "honor" have increased in recent months, in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, where unofficial village councils, called khap panchayats, issue edicts condemning couples for marrying outside their caste or religion and condemn marriages within a kinship group (gotra), considered incestuous even though there is no biological connection. To enforce these decrees and break up such relationships, family members have threatened couples, filed false cases of abduction, and killed spouses to protect the family's "honor...

How much longer will the commerce of women go on???? With the thriving technological advancements in Bangalore, the modern glassed towers standing high in Delhi and universities flourishing with graduates across the country, one would think that this would change. However, with modern capitalism, people want material gains such as fashionable houses with beautiful architecture, well furnished homes with the state of the art technology and cars to parade around the streets of India. These are all the signs of presumed ‘successes’ at the cost of moral degeneration. These arguments centre on the premise that, ‘they don’t want female children’ Yes, the inevitable question is why? They don’t want to ‘scoff up’ the dowry – the price for a daughter to be wedded…hence, eliminate the ‘burden’ - sell her as a bride or a sex worker. This is a major problem and a rising challenge in India. The tale of bride trafficking starts in a village called Purnami (This is only one case study of this reality...

Nuh (Haryana):  A handicapped, unkempt husband and lunatic brother-in-law is not what Ratna (40), an orphaned widow from Kolkata, had bargained for when she tied the knot with Arjun Punjabi (60), a widower in Nuh. Nor had she visualised the bitter legal wrangles she is involved in with Arjun’s brothers for his share in ancestral property. She thought by marrying Arjun, she would no more be a liability on her younger brother and get a secure future. Today she has been left to rue her decision. “I’ve no money to pay for my husband’s treatment or my travel to Kolkata. If my parents were alive, I wouldn’t have married him”, she says alleging that Arjun and his relatives cheated her family by saying that Arjun inherited a bungalow, number of shops and prime agricultural land from his father in Nuh. Ratna is not the only Paro (local name for women from Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa who are settled in Mewat) who was tricked into marrying an old widower in the region. There are hund...

These brides were bought for Rs 3,000 Villagers in Haryana Mewat district buy women for a pittance from Assam and other N-E states Nuh (Haryana): In Nagina, a non-descript village in Haryana about 100 kilometres South of Delhi, you do not need a Javed Akhtar to tell you that women in North-east are being traded. Here, you — notwithstanding your age, physical status or financial condition — can actually buy a woman. All you need to have is a few thousand rupees in your pocket, the strength to traverse 500 metres through slushy streets to reach Roddar, a middle-aged man with over half a dozen kids and equal number of hens. There is every possibility that Roddar will jump at your demand, be prepared to lead you to Assam and show you number of girls to choose from. He may even introduce you to local people from whom he bought Assamese girls or his own wife Bano (25) for Rs 3,000. “I can buy him a woman anytime. Come with me to Guwahati. Pay for train tickets, food and girl’s parents. Yo...

Laura Barry investigates why Ireland is experiencing a growth in so-called mail order brides arriving on it's shores. Traveling to Thailand and the Philippines, she meets the women at the heart of the story, their new husbands and the men profiting from these often very unhappy marriages and asks the question, are mail order brides simply trafficked women who are being exploited by legal loopholes in UK law?

Ranchi: Shankracharya of Puri Swami Adhodajanand today alleged that an international bunch of criminals was active in India and was hell-bent upon maligning the purity of Indianreligion. “The same gang is involved into trafficking idols of lords. The Indian government should constitute a task force to salvage the purity of its religious places and to maintain their security,” he said while talking to reporters at Circuit House here. The religious leader was in city today after he initiated repair work at Chhinamastika Mandir in Rajrappa. He is programmed to return to Puri from here. Governor is also hurt over the Rajrappa incident and has assured me about the security of all places of religious significance in the state, he said while adding that the real motive behind the incident was to fuel a public outcry. He thanked all for maintaining peace and said that it was the handiwork of some hooligans who have no caste, no creed and religion. On terrorism and Naxalism he said that d...

India, A Source, Transit Nation And Destination For Child Prostitution And Sex Trade With More Than One Million Child Prostitutes In India Around 1.2 million children are believed to be involved in prostitution in India. According to the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “human trafficking is a major problem” and they believe that 90 percent of human trafficking in India is “intra-country.” According to Mr. Ashwani Kumar, head of the Central Bureau of Investigation said that India has occupied a “unique position” as what he called a source, transit nation and destination of this trade. India’s home secretary Madhukar Gupta remarked that at least 100 million people were involved in human trafficking in India. “The number of trafficked persons is difficult to determine due to the secrecy and clandestine nature of the crime. “However, studies and surveys sponsored by the ministry of women and child development estimate that there are about three million prostitutes in the count...

Villagers near Jahrgram allege of rape, arson and torture by state police personnel during anti-Naxal operations.