No streetlights in 30% of Delhi's dark spots as civic bodies pass the buck

During daylight hours in Delhi, there's a clamour for women safety, by nightfall, around 2,000 spots in the national capital go under the cover of darkness. Last year, poles for streetlights were erected in these spots but are yet to have bulbs fixed on to them, rendering them useless. That is because various civic agencies haven't been able to sort out jurisdiction issues, according to a report in The Times of India.

In 2016, Safety Pin, an NGO, identified 7,428 dangerous dark spots across Delhi. Since the municipal corporations didn't have the wherewithal to handle these, the Delhi government began an initiative in July that year to install LED streetlights on their behalf. Both the north and east corporations issued no-objection certificates for the work, the report said.

"We were to just install the lights and hand them over to the corporations. The work was to take three to four months," the report quoted a PWD official as saying.

Bareilly woman accuses BJP MLA from Badaun of raping her for two years

A woman from Bareilly has accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Badaun Kushagra Sagar of allegedly Raping her.

The victim claimed that Sagar raped her for two-year on the pretext of marrying her.

"My mother used to work in his house and I used to accompany her there. The BJP MLA promised to marry me and raped for two years. Now when he has become an MLA he has refused to marry me," the victim said.

The woman has filed a complaint with the police and has threatened to commit suicide if justice is not served to her.

"Will commit suicide if I do not get justice, I have been receiving threats as well and have become a subject of ridicule in society," she said.

Meanwhile, the police said the case has been registered in the matter and they have begun the investigation.

270 days after Bihar liquor ban, major crimes up 13%

During a recent visit to Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his Bihar Alcohol Ban policy in Bihar. He said: “I greet Nitish Kumar from the core of my heart for launching a campaign against liquor. But, this work (prohibition) would not be a grand success only by efforts of Nitish Kumar or one party. All the political parties, social organisations and citizens have to participate in it to make it a ‘jan-jan ka andolan‘ (people’s movement).”

In April 2016, Kumar announced a ban on the sale and consumption of country liquor in the state. The ban was one of Kumar’s key poll promises made to women voters–who rallied behind him strongly, as this Mint report indicates–during the 2015 assembly elections.

Thirty days after the ban, Kumar claimed that the crime was down 27% , according to his analysis of crime data from April 2016 and April 2015.

Nine months–or 270 days–into the ban, an IndiaSpend analysis of Bihar Police crime data, reveals that cognizable crime–which the police can investigate without a magistrate’s order–rose 13% between April and October 2016, from 14,279 in April to 16,153 in October.(Read More)