Supreme Court: In a dramatic yet moving prayer made by an advocate from Chhattisgarh, who, just when the bench of R.M. Lodha, CJ and Kurian Joseph and R.F. Nariman, JJ was rising, handed over a bunch of papers and prayed for justice, the Court immediately instituted a suo motu writ petition on 22.09.2014 and appointed Vandana Sehgal as amicus curiae. The woman had alleged that she had been gang-raped by her brother-in-law along with a few others on 29.11.2013 and an FIR had also been lodged to that effect but no action has been taken.
Taking note of the papers submitted before the Court, the bench was of the opinion that a report from the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) in the matter will help this Court in proceeding further. Listing the matter on 10.10.2014, the Court directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate to submit the report as early as possible and positively within a week of the receipt of the copy of the order. The Court also directed the Delhi Legal Service Authority to provide necessary assistance to the woman as she is presently admitted in a Hospital with no one to take care of her. Harassment & Physical Abuse of Ms. ‘M, In re, Suo Moto Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 1/2014, decided on 23.09.2014
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