Gujarat court gives life term to 3 for cow slaughter, cites Manusmriti

Ahmedabad: A Kalol court in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat has sentenced three men to rigorous life imprisonment for cow slaughter, citing the Manumriti and other epics and observing that cows could become extinct if those responsible were not punished in accordance with the law.
The state amended the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 1954, in 2011, imposing a complete ban on cow slaughter and prohibiting the sale, purchase and transportation of beef. The law was tightened in 2017, when Gujarat became the first state in India to make cow slaughter punishable with life imprisonment.
Additional sessions judge, BR Rajput, in his verdict delivered on Monday, said: “If those who have acted with such extreme cruelty by cutting up the cows’ body parts are not punished as prescribed by law, Gau Mata will eventually become extinct from the earth. It is therefore necessary to sentence the accused in accordance with the law.
SC seeks bank liability for digital arrest fraud losses
New Delhi (TIP): The Supreme Court on Thursday, Oct 29, said any mechanism to curb digital arrest frauds must provide for the prosecution of bank officials found to have colluded with fraudsters, and must require financial institutions to compensate victims if a fraud resulted from the bank’s failure.
Digital arrest frauds, in which callers posing as police or central agency officers hold victims on video calls and coerce them into transferring money, drew 21,928 complaints involving more than Rs 647 crore on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal in the first eight months of this year, according to a status report filed in the court by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The RBI’s new compensation rules for electronic banking fraud, which take effect in January, pay victims at most Rs 25,000, and only for losses of up to Rs 50,000.
“The regulatory measures proposed by RBI must mandate for financial institutions to indemnify digital arrest or cyber fraud victims for providing suitable compensation not less than the amount lost by the customer on being found that the fraud has taken place as a result of failure of the financial institution in the commission of the act or incident,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.