Nanny human trafficking case - B.C. man sentenced to 18 months for forcing caregiver to work 16-hour days

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man convicted of human trafficking for forcing the family nanny to work long hours for little or no pay, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Franco Orr was convicted in June on charges he brought 40-year-old Leticia Sarmiento into Canada from Hong Kong on false pretences, paying her $500 a month to take care of his three children.

In handing down sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Judge Richard Goepel said the Crown didn’t prove that Sarmiento was subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment, but did prove that the man profited by paying low wages.

Orr’s wife, Oi Long Nicole Huen, was acquitted on all charges.

Orr’s lawyer, Nicholas Preovolos, says they will appeal the conviction and they hope to have a bail hearing by the end of the week seeking Orr’s releasing.

Sarmiento worked for 22 months before calling 911 to ask for help.

विदेश न ले जाने पर पति नामजद

बरनाला - वादे के मुताबिक शादी के बाद अपनी पत्नी को विदेश न ले जाना एक पति के लिए भारी पड़ गया। वादाखिलाफी से आहत पत्नी ने अपने पति के खिलाफ दहेज प्रताड़ना व जान से मारने की धमकी देने का केस दर्ज करवा दिया। शहर के वार्ड नंबर 12 के निवासी परमानंद की बेटी रीतू शर्मा पत्नी ने बताया कि सेखा गांव निवासी मनदीप सिंह बोपाराय ने शादी के पहले उसे शादी के बाद कनाडा ले जाने का वादा किया था। मगर वह शादी के बाद वह दहेज लाने के लिए उसे प्रताड़ित करता रहा तथा शिकायत करने पर जान से मारने की धमकी देता रहा। आखिर वह उसे छोड़ कर खुद कनाडा चला गया। बात करने पर उसने दहेज में लिया समान वापस लौटाने व अपने पास ले जाने से साफ इंकार कर दिया। पूरे मामले की शिकायत पुलिस को दी गई। डीएसपी हरपाल सिंह ने कहा कि आरोपी के खिलाफ थाना सिटी बरनाला में केस दर्ज करके जांच एएसआइ बलविंदर सिंह को सौंप दी है।

Indian-origin man held guilty of rape in New Zealand

WELLINGTON: A court in New Zealand Friday held an Indian-origin man guilty of kidnapping two young women and raping them.

Pravin Fia Hari Prasad Kumar faced retrial in the Auckland High Court on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual assault of two young women in 2008, Fairfax media reported.

The court was told that Kumar's first victim was a prostitute who initially agreed to have sex with him in exchange for money Sep 27, 2008.

The woman had asked Kumar to pay up first and wear condom but he didn't agree.He drove her to a remote location in Wiri, South Auckland, and raped her.

Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock told the court that Kumar approached the second victim on the side of a road Oct 8, 2008, and offered her a lift home.

But Kumar took the woman to a liquor store, bought alcohol and then drove her to a remote location near Auckland airport and raped her in the back of the car.

He will be sentenced in December.While on bail for the 2008 rapes, Kumar did not attend his first trial.He also escaped electronic monitoring and the court convicted him in his absence.

A court of appeal later quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.

Actor Sanjay Dutt seeks parole extension

Sunday, Oct 13, 2013

PUNE: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, currently out of jail on parole for a fortnight, has sought an extension of parole on medical grounds, official sources said Sunday. His parole period ends Monday. The application is under consideration and a decision is likely to be taken shortly, the sources said.

Dutt, 53, was granted parole from the Yerawada Central Jail Oct 1 to get medical treatment for certain unspecified illnesses.
His parole period ends Monday and he has sought another fortnight's extension. The application is under consideration and a decision is likely to be taken shortly, the sources said.
A parole is a conditional release of a prisoner for a limited period for a specific purpose and is strictly governed under Indian jail laws.
"It does not imply commutation of the sentence or amnesty and is purely decided as per individual cases at the discretion of the concerned authorities," criminal lawyer J.P. Mishra told IANS.
Dutt is serving a 42-month sentence for his role in the March 1993 Mumbai serial bombings of March 1993.
He was convicted by a Special TADA Court for illegal possession of a pistol and an AK-47 rifle.
In March, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction under the Arms Act and reduced his sentence from six years, awarded by a lower court, to five years.
He has already served one-and-a-half years behind bars during trial. He returned to Mumbai's Arthur Road Central Jail May 16 to serve the remaining 42 months in prison.
Later, on security grounds, he was shifted to Yerawada Central Jail here.

If granted, he is likely to extend his stay at home by 14 days.   

Father accused of injecting son with drugs as divorce finalized

A Redmond, WA, father has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly injecting his four-year-old son with heroin the day his divorce was to be final.

Eric Emil Lehtinen's soon-to-be-ex wife found him and his son unconscious in his home on Tuesday, SeattlePI.com reported.

The website references court documents saying the boy had a syringe, apparently filled with drugs, on his chest. Both were taken to hospital.

Lehtinen, 37, is now in jail and his son remains in Seattle Children's Hospital recovering from an overdose, the website reported.

The boy had several puncture wounds, including needle sticks, and his blood contained heroin, ketamine, morphine, codeine and other drugs, the website reported.

Lehtinen reportedly has a history of drug use and his ex wanted drug testing to be part of the custody agreement. He was trying to delay finalizing the divorce.

Sarpanch’s death: SC rejects Haryana MLA’s bail plea

New Delhi/Chandigarh, September 19
The Supreme Court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Haryana’s former Transport Minister Om Prakash Jain and directed him to surrender before the CBI court by September 23 in a case involving the death of a sarpanch.

Jain along with MLA Zile Ram Sharma is accused of abetting suicide of Karam Singh, sarpanch of Kambopura village in Karnal, on June 7, 2011. The order was passed by a three-member Bench headed by Justice HL Dattu. Jain had moved the apex court seeking protection against arrest by the CBI. Karam Singh was found dead a day after he lodged a complaint against Jain and Sharma for allegedly duping him of Rs 13 lakh on the promise of securing jobs.

A week later, the police recovered the body of Chamel Singh, a key witness in the case, under mysterious circumstances near the Karnal police station.

On August 13, the CBI court in Panchkula issued summons to Jain and Sharma directing them to appear in court on August 29. The CBI has already filed a charge-sheet in the case and sought permission to conduct a polygraph test on the two. The CBI had raided their premises at Panipat, Karnal, Chandigarh and Panchkula before seeking to question them. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had handed over the case to the CBI on the plea of Karam Singh’s son Rajinder Singh.

The two MLAs have contended that their arrest was not required in the case as the CBI had already filed the charge-sheet. The orders come less than a week after the high court asked the two MLAs to appear before the Panchkula special CBI court, while dismissing their anticipatory bail petitions.

The two had moved the high court against the rejection of their anticipatory bail plea and issuance of non-bailable warrants by the CBI special court.

Challenging the order, Sharma’s counsel had contended that the accused had been cooperating with the investigating agency.

In its charge-sheet filed on August 8, the CBI had maintained it was a case of suicide and accused Jain, Sharma and Jain’s personal assistant of abetting suicide. The three were charged by the agency under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC. Jain was one of the seven Independent MLAs who aided the Congress in forming the government in Haryana in 2009. 

CJI defends collegium system for appointing judges to SC, HCs

New Delhi, September 14
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam on Saturday defended the collegium system of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary, but said it is the prerogative of the Centre to bring in a Bill to change it.
"Now, as the CJI, I am not going into the contents of the Bill and how it was passed, as it is the prerogative of the government and it is for the people to accept it or not. It is too early for me to say anything on the Judicial Appointment Commission or Committee," Justice Sathasivan said while inaugurating a seminar on rule of law.
His remarks came after Bar Association of India president Anil Divan raised questions on the way the Centre brought the Bill "without" taking members of the judicial fraternity into confidence and "rushed" it through the Rajya Sabha. He said they did not receive a response from the Law Minister to a letter by the country’s top jurists (dated April 17) seeking a draft copy of the Bill.
The CJI said the government and its agencies have a say in the present collegium system and their views were also taken into consideration for the appointment of judges. He said no name is finalised until it gets clearance from the Law Minister, the Prime Minister and the President and in the whole mechanism, inputs from the Intelligence bureau, respective high courts and eminent people such as sons of the soil, are taken into consideration. He said judicial function is universally recognised as distinct and separate in the system of government and is the "very heart" of the republic and the "bulwark" of democracy.
He said judicial accountability is fostered through the process of selection, discipline and removal found in the Constitution.
Stressing the need for an independent judiciary, he said, without it, there is a little hope for the rule of law.
"The need for judicial independence is for the people," he said.

What he said: No name is finalised until it gets clearance from the Law Minister, the Prime Minister and the President and in the whole mechanism, inputs from the Intelligence bureau, respective high courts and eminent people such as sons of the soil, are taken into consideration
Although both judicial independence and judicial accountability are vital for maintaining the rule of law, they are sometimes projected as conflicting phenomenon. Judicial accountability has become an indispensable counterbalance to judicial independence.
P Sathasivam, chief justice of india