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Split Wide Open
Divorce is in and alimony is the new label to flaunt! You could blame the economically independent woman, major changes in lifestyle and the social value system, but if you go by the number of divorce cases pending in Pune’s family court, the city has a new trend. The court receives an average of ten divorce cases a day. The number of cases are so high that the family court is buckling under the pressure of having to resolve all of them. The number of divorce cases and other marriage disputes are increasing and the present staff of ten marriage counsellors and four judges on the panel cannot tackle the heap of cases coming in. The State goverment officially admitted this in the Legislative Council on Thursday. Their statements made the government promise to take appropriate steps to resolve the issue. The issue was raised by Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Mohan Joshi and Nilam Gorhe. It is easy to understand, after going through the pending cases in the Pune family court, why the supreme Court (SC) recently said that there was an urgent need of an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act in order to speedily dispose of family disputes. There are 5,516 cases pending in the Pune family court alone which has jurisdiction only within the PMC limits. Vacant posts This information was provided by Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, the Law and Justice Minister of Maharashtra in the legislative council. Replying to a question by member Mohan Joshi and Neelam Gorhe, Vikhe-Patil said, “The court is being run in a rented space since 1988.” A new court building “The court has a panel of five judges. One post in the panel is vacant at present. The court had 5,516 cases pending as on June 10 while there is a stipulation of one judge per 2,000 cases. In fact, there were two vacant posts of judges in the court, out of which one was filled this June,” Jadhav said. “The court is being run in a rented space since 1988. A new building will be built for the court, which is estimated to cost about Rs 10,13,00,000. A provision of Rs eight crore has been made in the current budget and the new building will be completed within a year,” he promised Mohan Joshi told Pune Mirror, “Since the family court is a place of hope for many women, the state is socially obligated to give them respite on time. However, the picture in Pune’s family court is very different. A large number of women flock to the court premises, but the court cannot give them basic amenities like adequate sitting arrangements or toilets. Therefore, we raised the issue in the house. The minister has promised to take appropriate steps to fill the vacant posts as well as speed up the ongoing work of family court building and providing adequate infrastructure to the people as early as possible.” Divorce cases filed till June 30: 1050 Cases sanctioned (mutual consent): 377 Cases court gets each day: 10 No of judges on the panel: 4 Pending cases |
Sex storm rocks MIT
The MIT College of Management is currently in the throes of a murky sexual harassment case. A 22-year-old former student counsellor alleges that she was first sexually harassed by a lecturer and when she complained to the college authorities, she was fired. She also says that the police have not acted on her complaint. A FIR is yet to be filed because the police claim that the victim has not given them evidence for her sexual harassment claim. The alleged accused, one Arindam Ghosh, a lecturer and project head from the college, however, denies the charges. “I had no role in the institution’s decision of firing her. She is implicating me just to get her job back,” Ghosh said. MIT’s Executive Director Dr Mangesh Karad said, “After receiving the student counsellor’s complaint, we enquired into the matter. After the inquiry, we handed over Ghosh to the police. We have fired both Ghosh and the student counsellor. Ghosh alleges that she had an affair with a management student who accessed and misused certain data from her computer. She was terminated for that.” Inspector in-charge of Kothrud PS, Chandrakanth Ghodke, said, “The victim has complained to us but we are not in a position yet to build a case. She is still in shock and has not given us evidence that she was sexually harassed. We enquired with Ghosh and he feigns innocence.” Victim’s version Ghosh first befriended me and began guiding me about career opportunities. Then I got a job with MIT and he claimed he had got me recruited.” She added, “While Ghosh was my direct superior, he would often comment about my manners and dressing style, which I would ignore. He proposed marriage to me, but I turned him down as he was 10 years older than me. In February this year, he asked me to travel with him to Goa for an official tour. But he kept me holed up in a hotel room for three days, which I had to share with him. He continued to make advances, but backed out when I pleaded him to leave me alone.” She said, “After returning to Pune, he again went out on a tour, promising to talk to my parents about our marriage when he returns. However, when he returned on March 6, he refused to marry me. Then he began sending me obscene and romantic sms. On March 8, he promised me a surprise gift and showed my pictures with him taken during our Goa tour to some students and faculty. He told them that we planned to marry soon. And on the same day, he informed me that I had been fired.” |
After receiving the student counsellor’s complaint, weWoman and lover arrested for her husband’s murder
By PTI
| New Delhi: A 37-year-old woman went to a police station to file a missing report about her husband but landed in police net for allegedly murdering him with her 23-year-old lover.
Manju Joshi, her lover Lekhraj and a Deepak Sharma (27) were arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of her husband Dinesh Kumar Joshi, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Chhaya Sharma. “Manju was annoyed with her husband as he was a habitual drunkard and used to beat her and other family members. His habit ruined the family. He had sold his flat and other household articles,” Sharma said. Meanwhile, she became close to her landlord’s son Lekhraj who helped her financially. On June 16, Manju left her husband in a drunken condition with Lekhraj, who along with his friend Deepak took him to a vacant plot in Rohini Sector 23 and allegedly murdered him with blades and smashed his face with a stone. During investigations, official said, it came to light that Dinesh and Lekhraj had a fight in the first week of May due to the youth’s relationship with his wife. After this, Dinesh started living with his sisters. On June 15, Dinesh and his wife visited his sister’s house and returned home the next day. Four days later, Manju called Dinesh’s sister and told her that he had left them at Sector-5, Rohini on June 16 and hadn’t turned up since. “Seema told her to wait for sometime as Dinesh used to often leave home without informing anyone in the family for several days. When he did not come return July 12, they went to Vijay Vihar police station to lodge a missing persons’ report. There they saw a photo on a notice board and identified it as being Dinesh,” Sharma said. It also came to light that Manju was initially not interested in lodging the report. “Her children were questioned and they revealed that their father was last seen with Lekhraj. The woman and Lekhraj were questioned and they confessed to the crime,” Sharma said. |
Mum held for sex with son
Michigan: A 36-year-old Michigan woman was sentenced to a minimum of nine years and a maximum of 30 years in jail for having sex with her 14-year-old son. The Detroit Free Press said Aimee Louise Sword, 36, from Waterford Township, gave the boy up for adoption when he was a two days old. She received an update from his adoptive family, including a photo, each year. But when she failed to receive a new photo after the boy turned 14 in 2008, she tracked him down on FAcebook, the Oakland County Circuit Court heard. “When she saw this boy, something touched off in her — it wasn’t a mother-son relationship, it was a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship,” her lawyer Mitchell Ribitwer said. “She is searching for a reason why this happened. She can’t understand it. She will get counselling.” Pleading guilty to a count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, the mother of six apologised for her abuse of trust. “I want to apologise to the court, my children and my sister,” she told the court. I am remorseful for everything that occurred. … I don’t understand it.” Sword was originally charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, but pleaded guilty to having sex with the boy once. Investigators told the court they believed the pair had sex once in a hotel and also at friends’ homes in Waterford. “It’s a very tragic case, and I’m concerned for the welfare of this young boy and what it may have done to his psyche and his future,” Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said. “It’s the first time I’ve really seen something like that between a mother-son, but many times between a father-daughter,” the judge said. |
Victims to get protection officers within two months
A report published in the Pune Mirror on June 8, 2009 which said the State government had committed to the Bombay High Court that it would appoint full time protection officers to implement the Domestic Violence Act of 2005 within two months, prompted city lawyer Rajendra Anbhule to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the regard. On June 26, the High Court had ordered the State government to form a high-level committee to handle this issue. On Thursday, July 15, 2010, the State government filed its compliance report before the High Court bench of Chief Justice Mohit S Shah and justice S C Dharmadhikari saying that the cabinet has taken a decision to form the committee in its meeting on May 26. The State Government also submitted a copy of a Government Resolution dated June 8, 2010 pertaining to the formation of the high power committee headed by the secretary of the Women and Child Welfare department. Other committee members include the commissioner, deputy secretary, deputy commiserate of Woman and Child Welfare department and representatives of the Law and Judiciary department, Home department, State Woman Commission, State Headquarters, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Karve Institute of Social Science and Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work. The State government sought three months time to appoint full time protection officers to implement the Act. It informed the court that advertisements for recruitment of protection officers have been released but examinations and interviews of candidates are yet to be conducted. However, the High Court instructed the State Government to complete the task in two months and disposed of the petition. Anbhule says, “I have been struggling for this cause for the last 11 months and the court has upheld my demand. However, complete outsourcing of the tasks of protection officers may prove against the interest of women. Providing security to women is the core function of only the state and it may not have effective control on the protection officers if their tasks are outsourced. While appointing protection officers, care should be taken to ensure that they are sensible, sensitive and firm enough to do justice to their duty.” Appointment of full time protection officers is crucial for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act because of the nature of the powers vested in them and their duties. As per the law, the protection officer should preferably be a woman with a post graduate degree in social work. Protection officer’s role Facilitating an aggrieved woman’s access to the court and assisting the court in discharging its functions Service providers engaged in providing services, to women are to be registered under the Act 12. By registering under this law, they attain the status of public officers The State is to notify medical facilities and shelter homes which cannot refuse services to aggrieved women Police are bound to provide information on this law to women approaching them with complaints of domestic violence. This is in addition to their duties to register complaints under criminal law The court may also order the police to assist POs in discharging their functions. POs are responsible for facilitating an aggrieved woman’s access to legal aid services |
Women suffer more stress at work
BANGALORE: While women at work deliver the same results as men, across occupations, women experience “unreasonable” stress than men do, says a global survey. Payment parity, equal opportunities, career growth, fair performance assessment etc are some of the key concerns that kept working women under unreasonable stress.
Some 29,338 men and women were surveyed from India, China, Brazil, Russia, America, Britain, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
In a survey conducted by Kenexa Research Institute, an HR advisory firm based in the US, 56% of the women surveyed said their stress level was reasonable, while 26% felt they were under unreasonable stress. Across roles, more women experienced unreasonable amount of stress than men did. While doing front-line supervisory jobs, women experienced 10% more stress than their male counterparts who carried out the same kind of functions. In service and production jobs, women felt 8% additional stress while at middle and upper manager level, the stress levels were up by 6% for them, compared to men.
Factors including work-life balance, doing exciting work, having a respectful manager, being paid fairly, having a clear career path etc had a direct impact on the work stress among women, said the study.
Looking at the difference between genders, results show that women work stress is more related to managerial support and equal opportunity, whereas men’s stress drivers focus more on product quality and trust in senior leadership.
“This research may partially explain why there are fewer women in the management roles. The media and academia have substantiated the existence of the glass ceiling. Women fight the commonly held perception that they may lack the motivation to climb the corporate ladder, and our data indicate that fewer women feel that achieving career goals are likely while maintaining a balance between personal and professional lives. All these factors increase stress levels for women workers. Again, women are more open to report their stress conditions, compared to men,” said Brenda Kowske, research consultant, Kenexa Research Institute.
Rs 14,000 crore in next 5 years for trial court infrastructure: Moily
NEW DELHI: For the long neglected 16,000 trial courts operating in abysmal conditions and ill-equipped to tackle the 2.80 crore pendency, law minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday announced a Rs 14,000 crore package to be rolled out over the next five years.
“The money will be utilised to provide additional infrastructure and inject vitality to the existing ones, focus on training judicial officers and public prosecutors and introduce scientific case management concept for speedy disposal of cases. It will also be used to create much needed space for judges and advocates,” Moily told TOI.
This appears in line with the efforts of Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, who had recently submitted a report on infrastructure needs of the judiciary to the prime minister and constituted a special Bench to take up the status of subordinate judiciary in each state and goad the states to improve it.
Of the Rs 14,000 crore that would be needed over the next five years, Rs 5,000 crore has already been provided in the earlier sanctions. “We have prepared the necessary proposals for the additional Rs 9,000 crore that will be needed to give the subordinate judiciary the facilities needed to tackle the pendency menace. It will soon be placed before Union Cabinet for approval,” the law minister said.
Moily’s initiative appears to be in sync with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s promise a year ago in the conference of Chief Justices that for every step taken by the judiciary, the government was ready to take two.
The law minister said of the estimated requirement, Rs 1,000 crore would be spent on setting up e-courts to decongest the lower judiciary from massive files which get bulkier during pendency. “Rs 300 crore would be spent on revamping state judicial academies to improve training of judges and another Rs 150 crore would be spent to train public prosecutors to improve their efficiency in courts,” he said.
However, what appeared radical was the proposal to introduce court managers post for every district. “They will bring in scientific management of dockets by bracketing together identical cases and introduce efficiency in disposal of disputes,” Moily said, adding the government had earmarked Rs 300 crore for this purpose.
Poor litigants will be provided better legal aid and the government will spend an additional Rs 200 crore, apart from the budgeted amount, to improve the services given to them. Not the least, the mediators, who will play an important role in settling disputes amicably between parties, will be given advanced training with a budget of Rs 150 crore.
“The government is also contemplating amending the Court Fees Act as litigants pay between Re 1 and Rs 10 for filing a petition in various courts,” the minister said.
Help! My husband is spoiling me: A strange break-up
| Adivorce petition filed by a 24-year-old management graduate-turned model against her 48-year-old husband took on bizarre proportions literally, when she accused him of forcing her to go for silicon implants and then getting them removed. // // // Apparently, he was not happy with the results. Pooja Sidhu has sought a compensation of Rs 10 crore from Manpreet Singh Sidhu, who she married on January 2, 2009, on this and other grounds with the Hulimavu Police and 5TH Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. Her series of allegations including harassment, bigamy and cheating against her husband. The model also seems to be unhappy with being forced to live the good life. “He forced me to use his Audi Q5 car and gave Rs 2.5 lakh pocket money every month. He insisted that I spend this entire money and be on par with socialites. He also gave me an AMEX credit card and insisted that I use it mindlessly. He wanted to spoil me,” she went on in her complaint. The managing director and CEO of a software firm in the city has retaliated with a police case against her stating that she has ran away with one of her boy friends Dheeraj Kaushik, a ex-security chief working with a high-profile ashram. Pooja and Manpreet met and fell in love while doing a vipassana course at an ashram in 2009. As they were not supposed to talk, they exchanged notes and registered their marriage with the state government. However, Pooja’s happiness was shortlived. As soon as they started talking, she discovered that Manpreet ahd a teenaged daughter from his previous marriage and was 47 years old and not 32 as he had claimed to be in his notes. As tension simmered between the two, things came to a head when during one of his office trips, a woman ansered Manpreet’s phone for him. “When I confronted him, he turned abusive and assualted me. This was the begining and end of our relationship,” said Pooja in her complaint. Reacting to her allegations, Manpreet told Bangalore Mirror “She has planned the conspiracy with Dheeraj Kaushik. I never intended to go for a separation. She and Dheeraj wanted to rob me, so they are resorting to defamation. Yes I got her silicon breast implants. She wanted it too a and I paid for it. She is a model who lacked confidence and she wanted to boost it by going for the implants. She had sagging skin, so she decided to get it removed. Her allegation that I forced her to go through it is absolutely false.’’ Meanwhile, Bangalore Police who are investigating the case said “Investigations are on and we will keep the court informed about it,’’ DCP (South East) BNS Reddy said. |
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