Female Criminality in India
along with the deceased accused Sivarasan, Dhanu and Shubha met Haribabu, met at a bus stand and proceeded to the venue of the public meeting on 21st May 1991. Nalini provided cover to Dhanu and Shubha and when Rajiv Gandhi arrived , Dhanu gained access near him and while in close proximity to him, she detonated the explosive device kept concealed in her waist belt, resulting in the blast. The apex court by an unanimous verdict confirmed death sentence against Santhan, Murugan and Arivu. As regards the extreme penalty of death to Nalini was concerned it was confirmed by majority of 2:1 (JJ Wadhwa and Quadri concurred). J Thomas commuted sentence of death to life imprisonment.
State (Delhi Administration) v. Laxman Kumar
The appeals were filed by Delhi administration and other by Indian Federation of Women Lawyers came up before the SC of India against the judgement of Delhi HC acquitting the respondents.Laxman was married to Sudha and were living with Laxman’s brother and their family. Shakuntala, the mother-in law of the deceased used to visit frequently.One day, cries for help were heard from their house. On hearing the cries, neighbours rushed to the flat and found Sudha aflame. The neighbours extinguished the fire and she was taken to the hospital where she died the next day. Sudha made a categorical statement soon after the neighbours gathered near the flat, and while on her way to the hospital, pointed to her mother-in-law, as the killer, stating that she had set her on fire after pouring kerosene on her body. Sudha also indicated Laxman as having actually set her on fire after pouring kerosene.
SC awarded life imprisonment to Shakuntala and Laxman, holding them responsible for killing Sudha by setting her on fire.
Renuka Bai v. State of Maharashtra
The SC on 1 September 2006, in one of its historic judgements, upheld death penalty to two sisters, Renuka and Seema, who had horrified Maharashtra by describing them as a menace to society.
The facts of the case were horrifying. Nine of 13 children in the age group between nine months and two and a half years in Sholapur and Nasik districts of Maharashtra, had been kidnapped from time to time either from school or market during 1990-96 and killed by the accused. The accused, with a perfect accomplice in their mother Anajanabai, and husband Kiran Shinde had made chain and purse snatching as their profession. Anjanabai died before trial and Shinde got pardon on turning approver.
The trial court of Kolhapur found the sisters, guilty of murdering six children and awarded death sentence to them and Bombay HC confirmed their sentence. The appellants were not committing these crimes under any compulsion but they took it very casually and killed all the children, least bothering about their lives or agony of their parents.
Regina v. Kiranjit Ahluwalia
Back in September, 1992 Kiranjit Ahluwalia made news after she was released after serving three and a half years of a mandatory life sentence for murdering her husband, Deepak, whom she had drenched in petrol while he was sleeping and set alight. Her retaliation followed 10 years of systematic abuse, but what caused her to flip on that fateful evening was that he had pressed a hot iron against her, the scars of which she still bears. Kiranjit was released by Appeal Court judges on ground of “diminished responsibility”.
Ice- cream parlour case
The scandal had rocked the State in 1996 with prosecution alleging that one Sreedevi was running a brothel from an ice-cream parlour. It was alleged that the lady used to supply girls to various influential people, including politicians. The complainant K. Ajitha had submitted in her petition that though there were 51 prosecution witnesses in the case, all others except her had turned hostile as the accused were influential and used money and muscle power to coerce them.The trial court had acquitted all the accused without appreciating the facts; and the High Court also upheld the acquittal without bothering to examine as to why such a large number of witnesses turned hostile. The Supreme Court too however, dismissed the case when it came on appeal. The accused in the case included former Mayors of the Kozhikode Corporation T.P. Dasan and O. Rajagopal. Aravindakshan.
Priya Payel v. State of M.P
The present case holds its importance for being the only celebrated case in which the question whether a lady may be prosecuted for gang rape has been taken up. The facts of the present matter were that the prosecutrix