For 5-yr sentence, Pak man served 10

May 19, 2010, Wednesday, Harish V Nair, Hindustan Times

The staggering pendency of cases is a testimony to the slow pace of Indian judiciary. In Delhi too, out of the 11,400 prisoners lodged in Tihar Jail, 80 per cent are undertrials. A number of them have already served more than three-fourth of the sentence already and some of them their entire jail term. But their appeals or bail applications are yet to be heard.

One such case of a victim of inordinate delay in completion of trial came to the fore in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.

He is a Pakistani prisoner who had already spent 10 years in jail against his sentence of 5 years. He was pleading for his release.

Shahbaz finally got relief when Justice Sanjiv Khanna ordered Tihar jail authorities to immediately release and take steps for his deportation.

Shahbaz, from Sialkot in Pakistan, had been languishing in the jail ever since he was arrested under the Explosives Act in Hauz Khas in February 2000. Nine years later on March 2, 2009, a trial court sentenced him to five years' imprisonment.

Lodged in jail no. 4 of Tihar, he now works in the langar section of the prison and is in charge of serving food to co-prisoners.

He was not being released as he could not pay Rs 22,500 fine imposed along with the five-year sentence. For defaulting, he was to undergo an extra 21 months in prison. The High Court waived the fine, paving way for his freedom.

Legal aid lawyer Shimla Tomar, who appeared for Shahbaz, told the court, “Basic right to life and even the foundation of Indian justice system can be questioned through this example.”

http://www.hindustantimes.com/tabloid-news/newdelhi/For-5-yr-sentence-Pak-man-served-10/Article1-545494.aspx

Two Tihar Jail warders suspended

May 18, 2010, Tuesday, Staff Reporter, The Hindu

For involvement in death of inmate

NEW DELHI: The Tihar Central Jail authorities here on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that the Head Warder and the Warder allegedly involved in the beating of an inmate along with two convicts leading to his death had been suspended.

In a status report submitted to a Division Bench comprising Justice Madan B. Lokur and Mukta Gupta the, jail authorities said the two inmates had been shifted to a “high risk” prison. It further said that about two 200 CCTV cameras would be installed in the jail premises to prevent recurrence of the incident.

At the last hearing, the inquest report on the death of a Tihar jail inmate said the Head Warder and the Warder of the ward concerned along with the two inmates were involved in beating up the victim. The report said the inmate, Sundar, was beaten with a “blunt object”. The report prepared by a metropolitan magistrate after talking to the inmates of the ward further said the victim died of a heart attack and it was not a natural death.

Sundar had died in a quarrel between him and two other inmates in the jail complex in February this year.

The Court has converted a letter written to the Union Law Minister, Veerappa Moily, by a brother of the victim regarding the incident into a petition. The brother of the victim had written the letter to the Minister when the jail authorities took no action on his complaint about the death of his brother in the quarrel. The Minister had sent the letter to Justice Lokur, the Acting Chief Justice. The Hari Nagar police in West Delhi are investigating the murder charge against the four accused.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051861120400.htm

On Day 1, new CJI hears 39 cases in 39 minutes

May 13, 2010, Thursday, Satya Prakash, Hindustan Times

New Delhi: Actions speak louder than words. This seems to be the mantra for Justice SH Kapadia, who took over as the 38th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday.

On his first day in office, Justice Kapadia heard 39 cases in almost as many minutes, much to the surprise of some of his family members who turned up in the visitors’ gallery of the court no. 1 to watch the proceedings.

“I don’t give interviews,” he had told journalists on Tuesday at a function organised to bid farewell to his predecessor Justice KG Balakrishnan.

On Wednesday, he did away with the practice of oral mentioning of urgent cases before lunch. “No oral mentioning. You have to come through the mentioning department,” Justice Kapadia said, much to the disappointment of several senior lawyers waiting to mention their cases. Now, such urgent matters have to be filed a day before to be considered for listing the next day.

Rewriting the rules of the game, he issued a stern warning against those filing frivolous public interest litigations (PILs). “Huge cost will be imposed for filing frivolous PILs,” the new CJI said.

Earlier, Justice Kapadia was administered the oath of office by President Pratibha Patil at a brief function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan attended by Vice-President, Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson and a host of legal luminaries.

Hailing from a poor family, Justice Kapadia replaces Justice Balakrishnan who retired on Tuesday. Born on September 29, 1947, he is the first CJI born in post independence era. An erudite man with a keen interest in Economics, Public Finance, Theoretical Physics and Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, he would remain at the helm of the judiciary till September 29, 2012.

After the swearing in ceremony, the new CJI reached the court at 11 am, where he was greeted by Attorney General GE Vahanvati, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium and several senior advocates.

“I want a pro-active Bar and not a reactive Bar,” the new CJI said accepting their wishes.
Justice Kapadia, who started his career as a class IV employee and possesses integrity as “the only asset”, assumes the office at a time when the judiciary is plagued by scandals, lack of transparency and huge backlog of cases.

Justice Kapadia was part of the constitution bench that in January 2007 declared that laws placed under the protective umbrella of the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution were open to judicial review.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/On-Day-1-new-CJI-hears-39-cases-in-39-minutes/Article1-542863.aspx

14 yrs later, 3 get death for killing 21 Dalits in Bihar

May 13, 2010, Thursaday, HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

A local court on Wednesday sentenced to death three persons and gave life terms to 20 for killing 21 Dalits in Bhojpur in July 1996.

The judge convicted 23 accused and acquitted 30 men due to lack of evidence May 5, a court official said.

The Ranveer Sena, an outlawed private army of upper-caste landlords, had engineered the carnage. About 70 Sena supporters had attacked the Dalits around 2 pm. Those killed were mainly children and women in the age group of three months to 80 years, according to police records.

First Additional District and Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Srivastava said the attack took place because of a dispute between the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the Sena.

The CPI (M-L) has a large Dalit support base.

With the present case concluding, the court will now take up the issue of Ranveer Sena chief Barmeshwar Mukhia, against whom litigation is going on separately. His name has not been attached to the main case because he was initially shown to be an absconder.

The massacre took place on July 11, 1996 in the Sahar block of Bhojpur district, 80 km west of Patna.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/bihar/3-get-death-for-killing-21-Dalits-in-Bihar/Article1-542857.aspx

S-I suspended over cremation incident

May 07, 2010, Friday, Staff Reporter, The Hindu

NEW DELHI: A Sub-Inspector has been suspended and two Station House Officers served show-cause notices to explain why they failed to establish the identity of the 21-year-old man whose body was found on the rail tracks at Madhu Vihar here on April 26. The body was cremated as unclaimed by the police on Tuesday. Sub-Inspector Maha Singh of the Madhu Vihar police station had been entrusted with the task of identifying the deceased, whose father had lodged a missing complaint with the Jagatpuri police on April 26 evening.

“Primarily it was his responsibility and therefore, he has been suspended and a departmental enquiry initiated,” said a police officer. The Station House Officers of Madhu Vihar and Jagatpuri have also been served notices seeking an explanation for the alleged lapse in supervision.

Unclaimed
Despite the fact that Nagendra's father had lodged a missing complaint and that his body was found the same day, the police were unable to identify him and his body was finally cremated as unclaimed.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050764460300.htm

SHO, three subordinates suspended

May 07, 2010, Friday, Staff Reporter, The Hindu

NEW DELHI: The Station House Officer of Gandhi Nagar and three of his subordinates were suspended on Thursday, after a gambling den being run in their area was busted a day ago. In all, 44 people have been arrested on charges of gambling. The police on Wednesday received a call alleging that a gambling den was being run at Gandhi Nagar. The area ACP, Romil Baania, pursued the lead and sent some policemen to make discrete enquiries to corroborate the information, which turned out to be genuine. The Gandhi Nagar police were kept out of the operation.

When the case was brought to the notice of senior police officers, the area SHO, Narendra Singh Minhas, Division Officer Jile Singh and beat constables, Chaman and Karmvir, were suspended and departmental inquiries initiated against them.

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050764470300.htm

U.P. ordered to pay 3 lakh for death of undertrial

April 28, 2010, Wednesday, J. Balaji, The Hindu

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission has ordered a relief of Rs.3 lakh to the family of Suresh Jaiswal, an undertrial prisoner in Mirzapur District Jail in Uttar Pradesh who died for want of proper medical treatment on May 13, 2007.

The UP Government has been directed to send compliance report along with proof of payment and the action taken report against the “negligent” medical officers of the jail and the district hospitals who treated the inmate.

The Commission rejected the State Government's contention that there was no medical negligence on the part of the jail doctors and hence the grant of monetary relief was not justified.

Suresh was lodged in jail on August 2, 2004, and died in Shiv Prasad Gupta Hospital, Varanasi, following reference by the Mirzapur District Hospital.

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/28/stories/2010042853540400.htm

3 get 5-year RI for Kandhamal violence

May 01, 2010, Saturday, The Hindu

PHULBANI (ORISSA): A fast track court here on Friday sentenced three persons to five-year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on each of them for their involvement in violence in Kandhamal district.

Additional Sessions Judge S.K. Das convicted Iswar Dondia of the charge of unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons, and torching of houses belonging to the minority community at Raikela.

In another case, the court convicted Kamdev Pradhan and Balaji Pradhan of the same charges.

Five acquitted

They committed the crime at Midabali in the Burdinazu gram panchayat. However, five persons were acquitted. Two fast track courts conducting cases relating to the riots has so far convicted 105 persons and acquitted 445, sources said.

http://www.taaza.com/source/274970-get-year-ri-for-kandhamal-violence.html