Unnao rape: SC orders Rs 25L compensation to survivor

Agencies

August 1, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 1: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the transfer of all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a court in Uttar Pradesh to a court in the national capital.

The apex court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide Rs 25 lakh to the rape survivor as interim compensation.

Besides, it directed the CBI to complete within seven days the investigation of the fifth case relating to the last Sunday's accident in which the woman and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts killed.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi made it clear that the agency can only seek an extension of an additional seven days time for probe in the accident case and that too in exceptional circumstances.

The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, directed that the trial in the main case relating to the rape of the survivor will have to be completed within 45 days from its commencement.

The top court said that the name of the presiding judge for the trial of the cases will be decided after an in-chamber consultation.

The apex court said it was passing an exparte order without the representation of the accused persons to ensure expeditious investigation and trial in the cases keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.

The bench said it will not entertain any plea seeking to vacate or alter the order passed today.

The apex court directed that the survivor, her mother and other members of the family will be provided security by the CRPF and an officer of the level of commandant will file a compliance report forthwith.

The court also took note of the oral instructions received by the CBI from the doctors of the King George Medical College Hospital that both the survivor and her lawyer are in a condition to be airlifted to AIIMS, New Delhi.

It will, however, pass the order in this regard after receiving instruction from their family members.

The court will hear the case again on Friday during which it will also hear a plea moved on behalf of Mahesh Singh, the survivor's uncle who has been lodged in a jail in Rae Bareilly, to be shifted to a jail in the capital.

Singh's wife was also in the ill-fated car and had died in the accident.

He participated in her cremation on Wednesday after the Allahabad High Court granted him parole for a day.

CBI, which has taken over the investigation into Sunday's road accident, booked 10 people for murder, including BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is already in jail, charged with the rape of the Unnao woman when she was a minor in 2017.

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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