Judge delivers 77 verdicts in 3 hrs flat

Urvi Mahajani, Hindustan Times

Mumbai, June 22, 2007

Delivering judgments at the rate of one every two minutes and 18 seconds, Bombay High Court Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar pronounced verdicts in 77 cases on Thursday.

This is the first time in the history of the court that a judge has delivered so many verdicts in a day. But disposing of several cases in a day is not new to Justice Kumar — on April 19, he delivered judgments in 30 cases.

Justice Kumar had reserved orders in the 77 cases over the last few weeks, and ruled on them on Thursday between 11 am and 2 pm. He clubbed several petitions that involved similar considerations or raised similar questions of law. The cases comprised 26 writ petitions, 26 first appeals, 5 arbitration applications and 20 cross-objections.

Justice Kumar took charge on March 31, bringing with him a reputation of great efficiency. He has, since then, disposed of over 200 cases, court sources said.

“Chief (as he is popularly known) has delivered judgments even after court hours and has even dictated rulings on weekends,” said one of the sources.

The huge pile-up of cases — over 3.5 lakh at last count in the high court — has been a great worry for Justice Kumar. He had started a drive to clear the backlog and in April had set up nine benches to dispose of the cases.

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Telgi, aide get 7 years’ jail term

Friday June 22 2007 12:21 IST

BANGALORE: The special court trying the fake stamp paper cases sentenced Abdul Kareem Telgi and two doctors from Victoria Hospital to seven years of imprisonment on Thursday, for issuing false medical reports for Telgi in 2003.

The Judge Vishwanath Virupaksha Angadi has imposed a total fine of Rs 25 lakh on Telgi and Rs 14 lakh each on the two doctors Dr Gyanendrappa and Dr Chennakeshava.

The three have been convicted and sentenced under Section 7, 12, 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Criminal Conspiracy and Section 120(b) of the Indian Penal Code.

Under Section 7, all the three accused have been sentenced to five years of imprisonment and imposed Rs 5 lakh fine to Telgi and Rs 3 lakh fine to each doctor.

Under Section 12, all three have been sentenced to five years of imprisonment and imposed Rs 10 lakh fine to Telgi and Rs 5 lakh fine each to both the doctors.

The court has imposed the maximum imprisonment of seven years on all three accused and the sentences will run concurrently.

On failure of paying the fine, all three will be sentenced to another two years of imprisonment. Telgi had requested the judge to grant him a ‘set off’, for the period of time he had served in prison during the trial, which the court denied.

However, the court has granted a ‘set off’ to the two doctors, who served 80 days in prison, during the trial. The two doctors had produced false medical documents for Telgi in 2003, when he was brought for a complete medical check up to Victoria Hospital.

According to the reports, Telgi was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and Telgi needed special care. The two doctors had taken a bribe o f Rs 5 lakh each from Telgi to issue the medical report.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE120070622020008&Page=1&Title=Bangalore&Topic=0&

600 Tihar detainees to be freed

Harish V. Nair, Hindustan Times

New Delhi, June 19, 2007

The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the Tihar Jail authorities to release 600 inmates languishing in preventive detention only because there was nobody to stand surety for them.

The court termed this as a “first small step” aimed at easing overcrowding in the jail, which recently witnessed seven mysterious deaths in quick succession, including that of a warden. The prison is bursting at its seams with 13,712 prisoners against a sanctioned strength of 6,250.

A vacation Bench of the court was acting on the report of a three-member, court-appointed committee which visited the jail. The panel blamed overcrowding and acute water shortage, with only two of the six water connections functional. They also painted a grim picture of the medical and sanitation facilities.

The 600 inmates to be released are those booked under Section 107 (security for keeping the peace) along with 151 (arrest to prevent commission of cognizable offence) of the Criminal Procedure Code. To ensure that those released do not escape, the court directed them to report to the local police station twice a day.

“They have not done any crime. Why do you keep them under detention for so long,” Justice Nandrajog asked. The order assumes importance considering the fact that three of those who died — Harish Kumar, Amit Kumar and Vinod — were under preventive detention in jail number 7.

Tihar Jail Law Officer Sunil Gupta welcomed the order on release of the prisoners under preventive detention as “historic”. Said another senior Tihar official: “It will be good if the immediate release on signing a bond becomes a rule. We have been demanding this for long. This is the only section that gave the police power to pick up people and lodge them in prison even without producing them in court. They have been rampantly misusing this CrPC section to their whims and fancy to extort money.”

The court-appointed committee, which visited the jail comprised Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini, High Court Registrar (vigilance) R.K. Gauba and advocate J.P. Singh. The court ordered the visit taking cognizance of a letter by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau on jail conditions.

harish.nair@hindustantimes.com
http://justsamachar.com/national/600-tihar-detainees-to-be-freed/