German tourist raped, 2 arrested

Jaipur (PTI): A German tourist was allegedly raped by an autorickshaw driver and his accomplice on the outskirts of Jodhpur city on Wednesday.

Shankast Lal, the driver, and Rakesh had also taken away the victim’s mobile phone and cash. The duo was held on Thursday, additional superintendent of police Hemant Sharma said.

The 47-year-old woman from Frankfurt, who is a Lufthansa Airlines employee, arrived in Jodhpur on Wednesday. She had boarded the autorickshaw to go out for dinner. The men took her to a deserted place in Kharda village, 17 km from the city, under the Dangiawas police station, Sharma said.

Villagers came to the woman’s rescue on hearing her cries. She was allegedly raped between 9 pm and 10 pm. However, the case was registered at the Shashtri Nagar police station around 1 am, Sharma added.

Doctors at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital confirmed the rape after examining the woman and the accused, Jodhpur superintendent of police Ravi Prakash Meharda said.

SC disinherits father killer

New Delhi: A son convicted for murdering his father loses claim to his paternal property along with his wife and children, reports our legal correspondent.

The ruling, handed down by a Supreme Court division bench, came on a petition filed by the wife of a person who had murdered his father.

Dismissing the wife’s claim of legal right to inherit her father-in-law’s property, the bench said the murderer son is “totally disinherited” and, therefore, his wife and children would also lose the right to the property.

“Once the son is totally disinherited, then his whole stock stands disinherited, that is wife or son,” Justices Ashok Bhan and A.K. Mathur said in a 23-page judgment.

R. Singaperumal, the only son of Ramaswamy Konar, had murdered his father and incurred the disqualification clause in the Hindu succession act that says a person who “commits murder or abets” the killing stands “disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered”.

According to Section 27 of the act, if any person is “disqualified from inheriting any property it shall devolve as if such person had died before the intestate”, that is before having made a will.

Ramaswamy Konar’s daughter-in-law Vellikannu, the judges said, was also not entitled to inherit his estate. “When a son cannot succeed, then the wife, who succeeds to the property through the husband, cannot also lay a claim to the property of her father-in-law.”

Man held in porn racket

Shimla: A 55-year-old businessman was arrested for luring needy girls, with job offers, and filming them in porn CDs, reports our correspondent.

Vijay Sood was arrested after a victim lodged a complaint. Police had earlier seized a CD containing pornographic clips of Sood with a woman who used to be a salesgirl in his shop. Sood said he had shot “blue films” of himself and eight women for private viewing. He also revealed the names of a few others who were exploiting women in the same way, the police said.

Weapons bill

New Delhi: External affairs minister K. Natwar Singh has said that India will not be a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies and will ensure that these do not fall into wrong hands. The minister’s assurance came in the Lok Sabha, which approved the weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems (prohibition of unlawful activities) bill, 2005. The bill provides legislative basis to the country’s commitment to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Tips for cops

New Delhi: The National Commission for Women has summoned Delhi police commissioner K.K. Paul to inquire on the measures being initiated to prevent crimes against women in the city following the gangrape of a Shillong girl, reports our correspondent. The panel said there should be a desk to deal with crimes against women in all police stations. Delhi police has released sketches of three men allegedly involved in the gangrape. They claimed to be close to nabbing a fourth suspect. “We are conducting raids in and around the city and may arrest him soon,” the deputy commissioner of police.

Rape & murder

Surat (PTI): A seven-year-old girl was raped and murdered in the city’s Varachcha area. The Class II student from Uttar Pradesh was in the city to spend her vacations. The girl, who was sleeping on a handcart outside the house, was abducted when her relatives were not around. Her body, with multiple stab wounds, was found in a lonely spot.

The Jammu and Kashmir government will develop 119 model villages, one for each block in the state, where farmers will be trained in modern farming practices.