Ruchika case: Rathore's anticipatory bail plea rejected
Wed, Dec 30 08:22 PM
Panchkula/New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) Apprehending arrest following fresh FIRs against him, a cornered Haryana ex-DGP SPS Rathore today moved a sessions court for anticipatory bail but failed to get any immediate relief, as the Centre explored the options of slapping abetment to suicide charge on him.
Parallely, the Haryana police set up a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an IGP for the two fresh cases registered on the basis of complaints of father and brother of molestation victim Ruchika Girhotra against Rathore and others for allegedly tampering with the post-mortem report and on abetment of suicide charge.
The Centre stepped in with Home Minister P Chidambaram discussing with Ruchika''s family and lawyers in New Delhi the possibility of re-opening the 19-year-old case by adding abetment to suicide charge on Rathore. The 67-year-old former top cop was convicted for molesting the 14-year-old budding tennis player who committed suicide three years after the incident in 1990.
With the noose tightening over Rathore, there was a pronounced change in his demeanour in sharp contrast to the broad grin he sported the day he got away with a lighter sentence of six months imprisonment early this month.
A grim-faced Rathore even had a run-in with the media. He mocked at the media when asked for his comments after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected telling them, "the day you can satisfy me you are a constitutional power on judicial matters, I will speak (to you)".
Abha, the lawyer-wife of Rathore, submitted before District and Sessions Judge S P Singh which heard his anticipatory bail plea that "fabricated, twisted and forged" facts were being presented by Ruchika's family.
The judge also issued a notice to the state for a reply to the anticipatory bail plea on January one..
Mr.Rebates
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Brazilian family wants to bring boy back from US
By TALES AZZONI, Associated Press Writer Tales Azzoni, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 17 mins ago
SAO PAULO – The Brazilian family of a 9-year-old boy returned by court order to his U.S. father said Tuesday it will fight to regain custody.
Lawyers for the relatives of Sean Goldman said they will push forward with a request from his Brazilian grandmother to allow the boy to make his own wishes known in court.
"Sean's early delivery does not end the legal process," the lawyers said in a statement. "The legal process in Brazil is not over."
The grandmother's request was initially denied, but the Supreme Court has not issued a final ruling on that matter. The court does not convene until February.
Last week, a Supreme Court judge ordered Sean returned to his father, David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey.
At a news conference Tuesday in New Jersay, Goldman and his attorney Patricia Apy, said they did not know exactly what sort of claim the Brazilian family would make.
Apy said continued litigation by the Brazilian relatives could affect visitation proceedings in New Jersey.
"Part of what we're going to wait to see is if they're going to exercise good judgment and move forward as normal grandparents," Apy said.
Goldman said his son arrived in New Jersey on Monday and was eager to play outside, even in the cold New Jersey wind. The boy is likely go to public school, though he has not yet been enrolled.
"He hasn't cried, he's just happy," Goldman said. "He just wants to have fun and not have all this pressure on his shoulders."
Just three days before Christmas and following a five-year custody battle, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes lifted a stay on a federal court's ruling ordering Brazilian relatives to hand over the boy. Sean was reunited with his father on Christmas Eve and returned to the United States the same day.
Before delivering Sean to his father, the Brazilian relatives said they would end a legal battle to keep the boy in Brazil. On Tuesday, however, their attorneys said the family was only obeying the judge's order, not stopping its legal fight.
The lawyers said that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, the decision will be relayed to American authorities so the boy can be heard.
Bianchi has always maintained that Sean wanted to stay in Brazil.
Goldman said in an exclusive interview aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show that the boy was happy in the U.S., but hadn't yet called him "Dad."
Sean had lived in Brazil since 2004, when Goldman's ex-wife, Bruna Bianchi, brought him to her native country for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation. She stayed, divorced Goldman and remarried, and Goldman, now 42, began legal efforts to get Sean back.
After Bianchi died last year in childbirth, her Brazilian husband, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, a prominent divorce attorney in Rio de Janeiro, won temporary custody. Despite numerous court findings in favor of Goldman, Lins e Silva was able numerous times to delay relinquishing custody.
Also Tuesday, a professional media group criticized NBC for ferrying the Goldmans back to the United States on a chartered plane.
Calling it an example of "checkbook journalism," the Society of Professional Journalists said the arrangement damages the network's credibility.
NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said the network invited them to ride on a plane that had already been booked to carry its own employees home for the holidays, and "Today's" exclusive interview was booked before the invitation was extended.
An attorney for Goldman said Tuesday that there was never a contract with NBC and that the Goldman camp was loyal to the network because it did a thorough report on his situation a year ago, before the story became major news.
"There was no quid pro quo," Apy said, adding that some other media outlets suggested favors in return for access, and that Goldman turned them down.
She said Goldman accepted the flight in part because of fears that multiple camera crews might be onboard if they flew back to the U.S. on a commercial flight.
___
Associated Press Writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Red Bank, New Jersey.
By TALES AZZONI, Associated Press Writer Tales Azzoni, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 17 mins ago
SAO PAULO – The Brazilian family of a 9-year-old boy returned by court order to his U.S. father said Tuesday it will fight to regain custody.
Lawyers for the relatives of Sean Goldman said they will push forward with a request from his Brazilian grandmother to allow the boy to make his own wishes known in court.
"Sean's early delivery does not end the legal process," the lawyers said in a statement. "The legal process in Brazil is not over."
The grandmother's request was initially denied, but the Supreme Court has not issued a final ruling on that matter. The court does not convene until February.
Last week, a Supreme Court judge ordered Sean returned to his father, David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey.
At a news conference Tuesday in New Jersay, Goldman and his attorney Patricia Apy, said they did not know exactly what sort of claim the Brazilian family would make.
Apy said continued litigation by the Brazilian relatives could affect visitation proceedings in New Jersey.
"Part of what we're going to wait to see is if they're going to exercise good judgment and move forward as normal grandparents," Apy said.
Goldman said his son arrived in New Jersey on Monday and was eager to play outside, even in the cold New Jersey wind. The boy is likely go to public school, though he has not yet been enrolled.
"He hasn't cried, he's just happy," Goldman said. "He just wants to have fun and not have all this pressure on his shoulders."
Just three days before Christmas and following a five-year custody battle, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes lifted a stay on a federal court's ruling ordering Brazilian relatives to hand over the boy. Sean was reunited with his father on Christmas Eve and returned to the United States the same day.
Before delivering Sean to his father, the Brazilian relatives said they would end a legal battle to keep the boy in Brazil. On Tuesday, however, their attorneys said the family was only obeying the judge's order, not stopping its legal fight.
The lawyers said that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, the decision will be relayed to American authorities so the boy can be heard.
Bianchi has always maintained that Sean wanted to stay in Brazil.
Goldman said in an exclusive interview aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show that the boy was happy in the U.S., but hadn't yet called him "Dad."
Sean had lived in Brazil since 2004, when Goldman's ex-wife, Bruna Bianchi, brought him to her native country for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation. She stayed, divorced Goldman and remarried, and Goldman, now 42, began legal efforts to get Sean back.
After Bianchi died last year in childbirth, her Brazilian husband, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, a prominent divorce attorney in Rio de Janeiro, won temporary custody. Despite numerous court findings in favor of Goldman, Lins e Silva was able numerous times to delay relinquishing custody.
Also Tuesday, a professional media group criticized NBC for ferrying the Goldmans back to the United States on a chartered plane.
Calling it an example of "checkbook journalism," the Society of Professional Journalists said the arrangement damages the network's credibility.
NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said the network invited them to ride on a plane that had already been booked to carry its own employees home for the holidays, and "Today's" exclusive interview was booked before the invitation was extended.
An attorney for Goldman said Tuesday that there was never a contract with NBC and that the Goldman camp was loyal to the network because it did a thorough report on his situation a year ago, before the story became major news.
"There was no quid pro quo," Apy said, adding that some other media outlets suggested favors in return for access, and that Goldman turned them down.
She said Goldman accepted the flight in part because of fears that multiple camera crews might be onboard if they flew back to the U.S. on a commercial flight.
___
Associated Press Writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Red Bank, New Jersey.
Brazil custody battle boy yet to call father "Dad"
Mon Dec 28
NEW YORK The 9-year-old boy reunited with his American father after a five-year custody battle in Brazil has yet to call him "Dad" but the father said on Monday he plans to make up for lost time.
Sean Goldman returned to the United States with his father David Goldman on Christmas Eve after the Brazilian family of the boy's deceased mother lost their fight to keep him.
The dispute tested U.S.-Brazilian relations and briefly threatened to interrupt billions of dollars of U.S. trade benefits to Brazil.
The Brazilian family handed the boy over to the U.S. consulate on Thursday upon orders of the Brazilian courts.
"He hasn't really called me anything," David Goldman told television's "Today" show in an interview. "And I think he's struggling with that. I said, 'You can call me Dad.' And he didn't say anything."
"I missed five years, precious years, of my son's life. That's a big scar. But now we're together. And we'll heal. And we'll enjoy and live and love and share and cry and laugh and learn as father and son," he said.
Media chartered a jet to bring the Goldmans to the United States and has had exclusive access to the reunited father and son, who have been staying in Orlando, Florida.
David Goldman had fought since 2004 to bring his son home to New Jersey after his then-wife and Sean's mother, Bruna Bianchi, took the U.S.-born boy to her native Brazil and then divorced Goldman.
Bianchi died last year while giving birth to a daughter, but her second husband and her family sought to keep custody of Sean. Goldman said he would allow Sean's Brazilian grandmother visitation rights.
The handover at the U.S. consulate was chaotic with the startled-looking boy clutching his stepfather and covering his teary face from cameras as the two pushed their way through a mass of reporters.
"I hope he doesn't have lifelong nightmares of that day," Goldman said. "My heart has been breaking, and has been broken over and over, and over and over through this whole terrible ordeal. I'll never understand them. I will never."
Mon Dec 28
NEW YORK The 9-year-old boy reunited with his American father after a five-year custody battle in Brazil has yet to call him "Dad" but the father said on Monday he plans to make up for lost time.
Sean Goldman returned to the United States with his father David Goldman on Christmas Eve after the Brazilian family of the boy's deceased mother lost their fight to keep him.
The dispute tested U.S.-Brazilian relations and briefly threatened to interrupt billions of dollars of U.S. trade benefits to Brazil.
The Brazilian family handed the boy over to the U.S. consulate on Thursday upon orders of the Brazilian courts.
"He hasn't really called me anything," David Goldman told television's "Today" show in an interview. "And I think he's struggling with that. I said, 'You can call me Dad.' And he didn't say anything."
"I missed five years, precious years, of my son's life. That's a big scar. But now we're together. And we'll heal. And we'll enjoy and live and love and share and cry and laugh and learn as father and son," he said.
Media chartered a jet to bring the Goldmans to the United States and has had exclusive access to the reunited father and son, who have been staying in Orlando, Florida.
David Goldman had fought since 2004 to bring his son home to New Jersey after his then-wife and Sean's mother, Bruna Bianchi, took the U.S.-born boy to her native Brazil and then divorced Goldman.
Bianchi died last year while giving birth to a daughter, but her second husband and her family sought to keep custody of Sean. Goldman said he would allow Sean's Brazilian grandmother visitation rights.
The handover at the U.S. consulate was chaotic with the startled-looking boy clutching his stepfather and covering his teary face from cameras as the two pushed their way through a mass of reporters.
"I hope he doesn't have lifelong nightmares of that day," Goldman said. "My heart has been breaking, and has been broken over and over, and over and over through this whole terrible ordeal. I'll never understand them. I will never."
US dad lands in Florida with son after Brazil custody win
Thu Dec 24
MIAMI An American father and his nine-year-old son arrived on US soil Thursday evening after a bitter five-year custody battle that ended in time for the pair to spend Christmas together.
David Goldman and his son Sean arrived in Florida aboard a plane chartered by US television network, which reported their arrival.
Chris Smith, an American lawmaker who helped the father, told AFP in Brazil that the network had bought exclusive access to the Goldmans' story.
In an interview conducted aboard the plane, David Goldman told Media the experience had been extremely emotional.
"My little boy is five feet away, sound asleep, peaceful. We're on our way. My heart is just melting. I love him."
An NBC reporter on the plane said the father and son appeared close, at times laughing and playing puzzles together, though an exhausted Sean also slept for stretches of time.
The boy, who speaks broken English but is more comfortable speaking Portuguese, was handed over to his father in chaotic circumstances at the US consulate in Rio de Janeiro early Thursday.
Smith said the reunion was "very warm, very emotional," but it was preceded by a media scrum as Sean's Brazilian family delivered the boy to his father's custody.
Media reported that David Goldman was "very angry" about the way Sean was brought the consulate.
The child cried and looked shocked as he ran a gauntlet of 60 reporters, photographers and cameramen. The jostling media crowd had to be held back by police to let him pass.
The reunion and US return were made possible by a Brazilian Supreme Court order delivered this week that capped Goldman's long custody struggle against his late ex-wife's Brazilian family, which assumed care of Sean after his mother died in childbirth last year.
"Please accept my most sincere and humblest gratitude" for the outcome, Goldman said in a statement delivered by Smith, adding he was overjoyed at the reunion with "my beautiful son."
"My love for him knows no boundaries," the statement said.
The pair took off three hours after they met for just the third time since being separated in 2004. Their previous visits were in February and June this year.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "thrilled" that father and son were finally together and flying home.
"I offer my warmest wishes for father and son as they celebrate their first holiday season together in five years," Clinton said in a statement.
She had led US government efforts to have Sean returned to Goldman.
The US Congress also added pressure, denouncing what it called the boy's "kidnapping" and holding up passage of a trade measure benefiting Brazil until the handover was secure.
Sean's Brazilian grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, told the Globo news website that the boy "was very sad to go."
"He was very nervous. He had a fever of 38.5 degrees (96.4 degrees Fahrenheit) last night and vomited when we arrived at the consulate. He was really shaken up," she said.
The family's lawyer, Sergio Tostes, told reporters the Brazilian relatives were extremely "upset" by the way the handover was handled by US consular officials.
He also said that Sean's grandmother had been denied a seat on the plane -- which he was told was chartered by the US government -- to accompany him to the United States.
But Smith said Sean's Brazilian family had deliberately paraded him in front of the media instead of accepting arrangements to drive into a discreet consulate entrance to avoid the cameras.
"It was very cruel... a coup de theatre," the US lawmaker said.
A US embassy spokeswoman, Orla Blum, also denied Tostes's charge, saying steps had been taken for a quiet entry into the consulate "so Sean could meet his family, his father, in calm."
Sean was born in the United States in 2000 with dual US-Brazilian nationality to Goldman, a former male model, and Bruna Bianchi, a fashion designer originally from Rio.
In 2004, Bianchi traveled to Brazil with the boy for what she said would be a two-week vacation, but instead stayed there, divorced Goldman and married Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, a prominent lawyer.
She died last year while giving birth to a daughter.
David Goldman told the Media he planned to give Sean's Brazilian grandmother the chance to see her grandson.
"It will take time, but I won't deny" them the right "to know each other," he said.
MIAMI An American father and his nine-year-old son arrived on US soil Thursday evening after a bitter five-year custody battle that ended in time for the pair to spend Christmas together.
David Goldman and his son Sean arrived in Florida aboard a plane chartered by US television network, which reported their arrival.
Chris Smith, an American lawmaker who helped the father, told AFP in Brazil that the network had bought exclusive access to the Goldmans' story.
In an interview conducted aboard the plane, David Goldman told Media the experience had been extremely emotional.
"My little boy is five feet away, sound asleep, peaceful. We're on our way. My heart is just melting. I love him."
An NBC reporter on the plane said the father and son appeared close, at times laughing and playing puzzles together, though an exhausted Sean also slept for stretches of time.
The boy, who speaks broken English but is more comfortable speaking Portuguese, was handed over to his father in chaotic circumstances at the US consulate in Rio de Janeiro early Thursday.
Smith said the reunion was "very warm, very emotional," but it was preceded by a media scrum as Sean's Brazilian family delivered the boy to his father's custody.
Media reported that David Goldman was "very angry" about the way Sean was brought the consulate.
The child cried and looked shocked as he ran a gauntlet of 60 reporters, photographers and cameramen. The jostling media crowd had to be held back by police to let him pass.
The reunion and US return were made possible by a Brazilian Supreme Court order delivered this week that capped Goldman's long custody struggle against his late ex-wife's Brazilian family, which assumed care of Sean after his mother died in childbirth last year.
"Please accept my most sincere and humblest gratitude" for the outcome, Goldman said in a statement delivered by Smith, adding he was overjoyed at the reunion with "my beautiful son."
"My love for him knows no boundaries," the statement said.
The pair took off three hours after they met for just the third time since being separated in 2004. Their previous visits were in February and June this year.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "thrilled" that father and son were finally together and flying home.
"I offer my warmest wishes for father and son as they celebrate their first holiday season together in five years," Clinton said in a statement.
She had led US government efforts to have Sean returned to Goldman.
The US Congress also added pressure, denouncing what it called the boy's "kidnapping" and holding up passage of a trade measure benefiting Brazil until the handover was secure.
Sean's Brazilian grandmother, Silvana Bianchi, told the Globo news website that the boy "was very sad to go."
"He was very nervous. He had a fever of 38.5 degrees (96.4 degrees Fahrenheit) last night and vomited when we arrived at the consulate. He was really shaken up," she said.
The family's lawyer, Sergio Tostes, told reporters the Brazilian relatives were extremely "upset" by the way the handover was handled by US consular officials.
He also said that Sean's grandmother had been denied a seat on the plane -- which he was told was chartered by the US government -- to accompany him to the United States.
But Smith said Sean's Brazilian family had deliberately paraded him in front of the media instead of accepting arrangements to drive into a discreet consulate entrance to avoid the cameras.
"It was very cruel... a coup de theatre," the US lawmaker said.
A US embassy spokeswoman, Orla Blum, also denied Tostes's charge, saying steps had been taken for a quiet entry into the consulate "so Sean could meet his family, his father, in calm."
Sean was born in the United States in 2000 with dual US-Brazilian nationality to Goldman, a former male model, and Bruna Bianchi, a fashion designer originally from Rio.
In 2004, Bianchi traveled to Brazil with the boy for what she said would be a two-week vacation, but instead stayed there, divorced Goldman and married Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, a prominent lawyer.
She died last year while giving birth to a daughter.
David Goldman told the Media he planned to give Sean's Brazilian grandmother the chance to see her grandson.
"It will take time, but I won't deny" them the right "to know each other," he said.
Monday, December 21, 2009
AP Interview: US dad would let relatives visit son
AP Interview: US dad would let relatives visit son
By BRADLEY BROOKS (AP) – 6 hours ago
RIO DE JANEIRO — A New Jersey man who has fought for five years to regain custody of his young son in Brazil would allow the boy's Brazilian family visitation if he wins his case, he told The Associated Press on Sunday.
David Goldman, whose battle to return his 9-year-old boy, Sean, to the U.S. lies in the hands of a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, said he wants to spend the holidays with his son — in the United States.
"It's my hope we'll have ... the holidays and New Year's and a very long, happy, healed life as father and son — at home," Goldman told the AP in an exclusive interview. "My whole family and Sean's whole family have been waiting, agonizing for over five years to be reunited with their grandson, with their cousin, with their nephew, with my son."
Late Sunday, the court said in an online statement that Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes would rule Monday on appeals made by Goldman and Brazil's attorney general seeking to lift a stay on a lower court's order that Sean be handed over to his father.
If Mendes lifts the stay, lawyers in both camps said, the Brazilian family could still appeal to the nation's highest appeals court — but it's questionable whether that court would be willing to review the case if the Supreme Court backs a lower federal court ruling giving Goldman custody.
Goldman has pressed his case in U.S. and Brazilian courts since Sean was taken by his mother in 2004 to her native Brazil, where she then divorced Goldman and remarried. She died last year in childbirth, and the boy has lived with his stepfather since.
The lawyer for the boy's Brazilian family has offered to negotiate a settlement, and the family also invited Goldman to spend Christmas with them.
Goldman did not say whether he would accept the invitation if the case is not resolved this week.
Asked if Sean's Brazilian family would be able to visit the boy, Goldman said yes.
"I will not do to them what they've done to Sean and me," he said.
The case has affected diplomatic ties between Brazil and the U.S., reaching talks between President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A U.S. senator, reacting to the case, blocked the renewal of a $2.75 billion trade deal this week that would lift tariffs on some Brazilian exports.
The U.S. State Department has pressed for the boy to be returned. But a Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Thursday stayed a lower court decision allowing Sean to return to his father.
Goldman — along with Brazil's attorney general — filed appeals Friday asking the Supreme Court to overturn the judge's decision to block Sean's return while the court considers hearing direct testimony from the boy.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian family's lawyer, Sergio Tostes, told the AP he would like to see a negotiated settlement worked out to halt the damage being done to Sean, as well as to U.S.-Brazil relations.
"We're raising the white flag and saying: 'Let's get together, let's talk. We're the adults, we have responsibilities, so let's start to have a constructive conversation,'" Tostes said.
Goldman, however, was in no mood to negotiate.
"This isn't about a shared custody — I'm his dad, I'm his only parent," Goldman said. "This isn't a custody case — it's an abduction case."
That is also how the U.S. and Brazilian governments see it.
Tostes promised a hard battle to the end and threatened that some damaging details — presumably about Goldman — that had yet to be released would become public if needed. He gave no further explanation.
After many disappointments, Goldman said he is taking nothing for granted.
"Until my son and I are on a plane together and those wheels are up, I'll be no less determined and no less hopeful for that day to come," he said.
He said he can't wait to make up for lost time.
"I have five years of love to give him, so he's going to get an extraordinary amount," Goldman said. "With love and patience, we will heal."
AP Television News Producer Flora Charner contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By BRADLEY BROOKS (AP) – 6 hours ago
RIO DE JANEIRO — A New Jersey man who has fought for five years to regain custody of his young son in Brazil would allow the boy's Brazilian family visitation if he wins his case, he told The Associated Press on Sunday.
David Goldman, whose battle to return his 9-year-old boy, Sean, to the U.S. lies in the hands of a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, said he wants to spend the holidays with his son — in the United States.
"It's my hope we'll have ... the holidays and New Year's and a very long, happy, healed life as father and son — at home," Goldman told the AP in an exclusive interview. "My whole family and Sean's whole family have been waiting, agonizing for over five years to be reunited with their grandson, with their cousin, with their nephew, with my son."
Late Sunday, the court said in an online statement that Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes would rule Monday on appeals made by Goldman and Brazil's attorney general seeking to lift a stay on a lower court's order that Sean be handed over to his father.
If Mendes lifts the stay, lawyers in both camps said, the Brazilian family could still appeal to the nation's highest appeals court — but it's questionable whether that court would be willing to review the case if the Supreme Court backs a lower federal court ruling giving Goldman custody.
Goldman has pressed his case in U.S. and Brazilian courts since Sean was taken by his mother in 2004 to her native Brazil, where she then divorced Goldman and remarried. She died last year in childbirth, and the boy has lived with his stepfather since.
The lawyer for the boy's Brazilian family has offered to negotiate a settlement, and the family also invited Goldman to spend Christmas with them.
Goldman did not say whether he would accept the invitation if the case is not resolved this week.
Asked if Sean's Brazilian family would be able to visit the boy, Goldman said yes.
"I will not do to them what they've done to Sean and me," he said.
The case has affected diplomatic ties between Brazil and the U.S., reaching talks between President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A U.S. senator, reacting to the case, blocked the renewal of a $2.75 billion trade deal this week that would lift tariffs on some Brazilian exports.
The U.S. State Department has pressed for the boy to be returned. But a Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Thursday stayed a lower court decision allowing Sean to return to his father.
Goldman — along with Brazil's attorney general — filed appeals Friday asking the Supreme Court to overturn the judge's decision to block Sean's return while the court considers hearing direct testimony from the boy.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian family's lawyer, Sergio Tostes, told the AP he would like to see a negotiated settlement worked out to halt the damage being done to Sean, as well as to U.S.-Brazil relations.
"We're raising the white flag and saying: 'Let's get together, let's talk. We're the adults, we have responsibilities, so let's start to have a constructive conversation,'" Tostes said.
Goldman, however, was in no mood to negotiate.
"This isn't about a shared custody — I'm his dad, I'm his only parent," Goldman said. "This isn't a custody case — it's an abduction case."
That is also how the U.S. and Brazilian governments see it.
Tostes promised a hard battle to the end and threatened that some damaging details — presumably about Goldman — that had yet to be released would become public if needed. He gave no further explanation.
After many disappointments, Goldman said he is taking nothing for granted.
"Until my son and I are on a plane together and those wheels are up, I'll be no less determined and no less hopeful for that day to come," he said.
He said he can't wait to make up for lost time.
"I have five years of love to give him, so he's going to get an extraordinary amount," Goldman said. "With love and patience, we will heal."
AP Television News Producer Flora Charner contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Monday, September 14, 2009
What is IPC-498a ? Why is it misused ?
Passed by Indian Parliament in 1983, Indian Penal Code 498A, is a criminal law (not a civil law) which is defined as follows,
“Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. The offence is Cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable."
How are you at risk and why it is dangerous for the society?
Your wife/daughter-in-law who's demands are not met can make a written false complaint of dowry harassment to a nearby police station. The husband, his old parents and relatives are immediately arrested without sufficient investigation and put behind bars on a non-bailable terms. Even if the complaint is false, you shall be presumed guilty until you prove that you are innocent.
498a can only be invoked by wife/daughter-in-law or her relative. Most cases where Sec 498A is invoked turn out to be false (as repeatedly accepted by High Courts and Supreme Court in India) as they are mere blackmail attempts by the wife (or her close relatives) when faced with a strained marriage. In most cases 498a complaint is followed by the demand of huge amount of money (extortion) to settle the case out of the court. This section is non-bailable(you have to appear in court and get bail from the judge), non-compoundable (complaint can't be withdrawn) and cognizable (register and investigate the complaint, although in practice most of the time arrest happens before investigation). There have been countless instances where, without any investigation, the police has arrested elderly parents, unmarried sisters, pregnant sister-in-laws and even 3 year old children. In these cases unsuspecting family of husband has to go through a lot of mental torture and harassment by the corrupt Indian legal system. A typical case goes on for years (5-7 years is typical) and the conviction rate is about 2% only. Some accused parents, sisters and even husbands have committed suicide after time in jail.
“Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. The offence is Cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable."
How are you at risk and why it is dangerous for the society?
Your wife/daughter-in-law who's demands are not met can make a written false complaint of dowry harassment to a nearby police station. The husband, his old parents and relatives are immediately arrested without sufficient investigation and put behind bars on a non-bailable terms. Even if the complaint is false, you shall be presumed guilty until you prove that you are innocent.
498a can only be invoked by wife/daughter-in-law or her relative. Most cases where Sec 498A is invoked turn out to be false (as repeatedly accepted by High Courts and Supreme Court in India) as they are mere blackmail attempts by the wife (or her close relatives) when faced with a strained marriage. In most cases 498a complaint is followed by the demand of huge amount of money (extortion) to settle the case out of the court. This section is non-bailable(you have to appear in court and get bail from the judge), non-compoundable (complaint can't be withdrawn) and cognizable (register and investigate the complaint, although in practice most of the time arrest happens before investigation). There have been countless instances where, without any investigation, the police has arrested elderly parents, unmarried sisters, pregnant sister-in-laws and even 3 year old children. In these cases unsuspecting family of husband has to go through a lot of mental torture and harassment by the corrupt Indian legal system. A typical case goes on for years (5-7 years is typical) and the conviction rate is about 2% only. Some accused parents, sisters and even husbands have committed suicide after time in jail.
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