Woman judge faces threats for awarding life term to 14; HC steps in

Woman judge faces threats for awarding life term to 14; HC steps in | page 1Bhopal/Jabalpur: Taking a very serious view of constant threats to a woman sessions judge posted at Seoni Malwa town in Narmadapuram district by a section of people for passing an order of conviction, a division bench of MP high court asked the director general of police (DGP) and additional chief secretary (ACS), home, to file an affidavit within three days on steps taken to book the miscreants.The woman judge had awarded life sentence to 14 persons for lynching of three persons on August 2, 2022, on the suspicion of cow smuggling, one of whom had died.On Wednesday, the bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice A K Singh, while hearing a suo motu petition on the security of judges taken up by the court following some incidents of manhandling and threats to judicial officers, raised the issue of constant threats being given to Seoni Malwa additional district & sessions judge Tabassum Khan and said it's a "matter of grave concern that a judicial officer is being threatened by one of the stakeholders for the judicial order she passed"."We are of the opinion that such activities directly hamper judicial independence and fearless working of our judicial officers," the bench said.HC acquits man in Pocso case | page 4Bhopal/Jabalpur: A division bench of MP HC acquitted a person from Singrauli convicted for 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for abduction and rape of a minor.The accused and the survivor had escaped to Banaras, had got married and were living as married couple.

Referring to statement of the girl's father, the judges said that according to him, he had admitted his daughter in LKG in 2014. Normally, it takes 12 years for a student to reach class 10th but in the year 2024, when the incident took place, she is stated to be 16-and-a-half years of age as school records show her date of birth as Dec 21, 2007.Her school teacher, deposing in court, said that she was admitted in the school and no birth certificate or any certificate from the previous school on her age was presented. Girl's mother deposed that she was married 10 years ago and the girl, the eldest among three siblings, was born two years later.The court ruled that it appears to be a case of consensual relationship and ordered man's release from jail.