Two Judges suspended in Madhya Pradesh

PTI , Jabalpur, Sun, May 8, 2011

Two Judges in Madhya Pradesh, one of them facing criminal charges, have been suspended, a top High Court official said today.

Special Judge of Sidhi O P Sunariya and Additional District Judge of Raheli in Sagar district S S Parmar have been suspended with immediate effect, MP High Court''s Principal Registrar (Inspection and Vigilance) K D Khan told PTI.

Sunariya was suspended for awarding only three-month jail term to an accused in a rape case instead of the minimum punishment of seven years in prison, he said.

Parmar has been suspended as he is one of the 32 accused named in a chargesheet filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police in Jhansi district court in a criminal case, he said.

The high court took the decision to suspend the duo at a meeting held recently. The suspension order has been served on them.

A departmental enquiry (DE) would soon be initiated against Sunariya, while there was no need to hold a probe against Parmar as, according to service rules, it is mandatory to suspend a staffer whose name figures in a chargesheet in a criminal case, officials said.

Sunariya has been shifted to Rewa district court and Parmar to Gwalior district court during the suspension period, they added.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/two-judges-suspended-madhya-pradesh-104800057.html

Jharkhand MLA jailed for kidnapping and murder

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Ranchi, May 25, 2011

Sawna Lakra (70), a Jharkhand-based Congress legislator was on Tuesday sent to jail after he surrendered before a local court in connection with the alleged honour killing (murder) of a student, Avinash Tiwari, 21.
 
Lakra, who was absconding in the case, reached on the court premises in a Bolero jeep and surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate at 8am. The court, after rejecting his bail plea, took him in judicial custody for 14 days. He was forwarded to Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hotwar, Ranchi.

Lakra is accused of abducting Tiwari, who allegedly had an affair with one of his grand daughters, and later killing him in cold blood. Jharkhand police is also working on to ascertain reports that the youngster from Garhwa, around 210 km northwest of Ranchi, instead had an illicit affair with the MLA’s married daughter.

Tiwari was abducted on April 24 and his body was found on April 27 in a drain at Karra, around 20 km west of Ranchi. The victim’s father Sanjay Tiwari lodged a case with Namkum police station on Ranchi outskirts against the MLA on May 3. With police failing to arrest him, a Ranchi court declared him an absconder, asking him to surrender by June 16.

“We want him to be hanged,” said the victim’s father from Garhwa hearing about Lakra’s surrender. Senior police superintendent Pravin Kumar said they have enough evidences to prove Lakra’s conviction in the court.

Senior counsel, BM Tripathy, representing Lakra, said, “My client is absolutely innocent and unaware of the boy’s murder. It is up to the prosecution to prove the charges.”

Police had earlier recorded Lakra’s bodyguard, Janak Mahato’s statement, who surrendered a week back. He revealed to police that the legislator ordered one of his aides to kill Tiwari at his farmhouse. He said he saw the killing and got the body packed in a gunny bag before they disposed if off in his official car.

Tripathy said the statements given by the MLA’s bodyguard might have been obtained under police pressure. “The incriminating evidences collected by the police have to be corroborated in the court of law to prove Lakra guilty,” he said.
 
Although Lakra declined to talk to media, his wife, Sita Lakra claimed that her husband was innocent and that he was being victimized.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Jharkhand-MLA-jailed-for-kidnapping-and-murder/Article1-701630.aspx

BSP legislator Anand Sen gets life sentence for Dalit's murder

18 May 2011, Man Mohan Rai, ET Bureau

LUCKNOW: In yet another instance of ignominy to the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh , Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Anand Sen and two of his associates have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Faizabad court for the murder of a 24-year-old pregnant Dalit.

He is the second ruling party MLA to be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment this month. On May 6, BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari was found guilty of murdering PWD engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta, for refusing to pay money for Mayawati's birthday celebrations, and was given life sentence by an additional sessions judge.

The Milkipur MLA Anand Sen, who was a minister in the Mayawati government, was charged with plotting the murder of law student Shashi Prasad in October 2007. The victim's father, who is also a BSP worker, had accused Anand Sen of kidnapping and murdering his daughter. After killing the woman, who was pregnant, her body was dumped into the Gomti river, from where her wrist watch was recovered later.

The ruling party welcomed the court order and said the verdict had been possible due to effective steps taken by the state government.

"We welcome the court's decision to award life sentence to former minister Anand Sen and two others. Sen was immediately sacked from his ministerial post as soon as his name cropped up in the murder case", a party release issued here said.

Contrary to other political parties, BSP was the only party, which immediately took action against those found involved in criminal activities, it said. "In earlier governments in the state, the criminals were shielded but it was not done in the BSP regime", it added.

With two of its MLAs sentenced to life imprisonment for murder within a fortnight, the BSP government's image has taken a beating. With elections to the state barely a year away, the Mayawati government is trying hard to manage the crisis.

The BSP government had come to power promising better law and order. With its own leaders thrown behind bars, BSP has been pushed to the wall by opposition parties, who have highlighted the cases.

In January, BSP MLA Purushottam Diwedi was arrested by the police for raping a minor in Banda. The case is still on. Half a dozen elected leaders of BSP have gone behind bars since the party came to power in 2007.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/bsp-legislator-anand-sen-gets-life-sentence-for-dalits-murder/articleshow/8407121.cms

Four Uttarakhand cops sent to Tihar Jail

Express News Service, Fri, Apr 29, 2011, New Delhi

A Tis Hazari court on Thursday sent four Uttarakhand policemen, allegedly involved in the July 2009 fake encounter killing of a youth near Dehradun, to judicial custody in Tihar Jail till May 9.

The accused are Inspector Santosh Kumar Jaiswal and sub-inspectors Gopal Dutt Bhatt, Niraj Yadav and Chandra Mohan Singh Rawat.

Special Judge V K Maheshwari also issued fresh non-bailable warrants against three other police officials — Rajesh Bisht, Nitin Chauhan and Ajit Singh — after they failed to appear in the court despite non-bailable warrants being issued against them.

Eleven other accused persons against whom the court had issued notices on the last date of hearing were also present in the court on Thursday. The court has posted the matter for arguments on May 9.

Ranbir Singh, a 22-year-old MBA student, was allegedly gunned down by the Uttarakhand Police on July 3, 2009. A resident of Meerut, Singh had gone to Dehradun in search of a job when police shot him dead on July 2, 2009, after accusing him of robbery. The case was transferred from Dehradun to Delhi last month.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/four-uttarakhand-cops-sent-to-tihar-jail/783213/

City plans first open prison, identifies land in West Delhi

Chinki Sinha,  Fri, Apr 29, 2011, New Delhi

Delhi’s first open prison is slated to come up in Baprola on the western outskirts of the city. Land for this purpose has been earmarked and the acquisition process is on, prison officials said.

Around 10 acres of land has been identified and the correctional facility is being planned to house a select group of convicts.

“We have constraints. A few states have open jails and we are studying the models. We have requested the Delhi government for land. The Director General of Prisons intends to bring more reforms at Tihar keeping in view the conduct of the inmates and the contemporary moves for reformation, correction and rehabilitation. We intend to go for semi-open jail first that will be attached to the Tihar complex,” DIG R N Singh told Newsline.

Open prisons are a reward for good conduct inside prison, a transition phase where an inmate prepares to live and work in society after he has completed his sentence, a place where he can sample freedom before he is freed.

While open prisons are fully independent in functioning, semi-open prisons are located in prisons. Such reforms are intended for convicts in the prison and not undertrials.

“It is the need of the hour and a move towards reforms in prison. It is giving the inmates a bit more freedom to become part of the society, be equipped to join the society later,” Singh said. “Rajasthan is doing very well with open prisons.”

Prisoners not serving time for heinous crimes will be put into the open prison, which will not have high walls.

A few months ago, around 350 inmates at Tihar had written to the Delhi government requesting an open prison system so they could have greater freedom. They had cited 27 other prisons across the country that have adopted the open prison model like in Rajasthan, where inside the Sanganer facility, 160 residents live with their families in a housing facility that consists of two rooms, a kitchen and a bath area. The inmates in this complex can leave the premises after 6 am but have to be back by 7 pm. They are allowed to work within a 8-10 km radius of the prison complex.

While Tihar officials have not yet figured out which inmates will be eligible, in order to make the project risk-free, inmates who are serving sentences under the MCOCA and TADA won’t be eligible for open prison.

“Right now, we are going in for open prison and semi-open prison and not open colonies where prisoners can live with their families,” Singh said. “A city like Delhi has some limitations and we have to work within those.”

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/city-plans-first-open-prison-identifies-land-in-west-delhi/783201/0

On the run for 4 years, former UP MLA arrested for murder

Lucknow, May 1, 2011 (PTI)

Former Samajwadi Party MLA Mohammad Ashraf, an alleged acussed in BSP legislator Raju Pal''s murder case, was arrested by Uttar Pradesh''s Special Task Force from Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Ashraf, who has been on the run for four years and was wanted in connection with nine cases, was arrested last night, Special Director General of Police Brij Lal told reporters here today.

Ashraf, who is the brother of former MP Atiq Ahmad, carries a reward of Rs 1 lakh.

"During interrogation, Ashraf accepted his involvement in BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case," he said.

Brij Lal said that the former MLA is being brought to Allahabad where he would be produced before a court.

"During interrogation Ashraf alias Khalid Azeem revealed that there were several licenced fire-arms in the name of family members, including Ateeq''s wife," he said.

The SDG said that Ashraf told them that while on run, he stayed in an apartment purchased by Ateeq in Okhla area in Delhi.

"He also used to visit his relatives in Aligarh and Merrut, besides visiting one Mustaqeem in Kurla area in Mumbai," he added.

"Ashraf was being financially helped by his two sisters in Merrut and Aligarh and Ateeq himself," he said.

Ashraf has 34 cases, including those of murder and violation of the Gangster Act, pending against him.

Raju Pal was shot dead in January 2005 in Allahabad.

http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/fullstory-on-the-run-for-4-years-former-up-mla-arrested-for-murder-18751287-e0400048a9d553039a0563b9a888bb92e4598e67-rhp.html

One undertrial has been in Tihar for more than 10 yrs

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, May 06, 2011

Tihar has an undertrial, Pradeep Singh, who has been lodged there for more than 10 years as his case is sub judice. The longest serving convict in the jail is a man, Rajender Singh, who has been in jail for over 21 years. Convicted in robbery and murder cases, he is serving a life term. And former telecom minister A Raja, who is lodged in Tihar's sub jail 1 as an undertrial, enjoys no extra facilities.

These were some of the facts disclosed by Tihar jail administration in response to queries submitted under the Right To Information (RTI) Act by Subhash Chander Aggarwal, a resident of Chandni Chowk.
 

According to the jail's reply to the RTI query, till December 31, 2010, there were 8,087 undertrials at the jail. The rest of the prison's population comprised of 2,751 convicts.
 

Asked by Aggarwal about any "extra facilities" enjoyed Raja, the jail administration said: "No extra facility has been provided to prisoner A Raja. However, the facility of watching TV programmes have (sic) been provided to all prisoners including A Raja."
 

Raja was chargesheeted in the 2G Spectrum scam by the Central Bureau of Investigation. In the reply, the administration clarified that "no person (prisoner) was designated as VIP".
 

Asked by Aggarwal about the type of work allotted to Raja, the jail administration clarified that under-trials, including Raja, are not assigned any work.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/One-undertrial-has-been-in-Tihar-for-more-than-10-yrs/Article1-694012.aspx

Justice takes 50 RTIs, 2 yrs

Rhythma Kaul , Hindustan Times, New Delhi, May 03, 2011

Fifty Right to Information (RTI) applications over two years is what helped R P Manchanda (59) to fast-track the investigation to prove that medical negligence killed his 30-year-old daughter. Medical negligence cases routinely take about five years to be resolved. Manchanda's daughter Nitika had a baby on May 3, 2009 at Max Hospital, Pitampura.

 
She died two days later within hours of complaining of a severe backache. The cause of death was put down as ‘acute circulatory failure’.
 

In June 2010, Delhi Medical Council (DMC) declared that there had been no medical negligence. So Manchanda appealed to Medical Council of India (MCI) on August 4 last year.   
 

The retired State Bank of India official filed 20 RTI applications in DMC and MCI to track the case’s progress.
 

He filed another 20 in Directorate of Health Services to know about the departments concerned from which he can gather relevant information, and another 10 in Delhi Police and hospitals to get the post-mortem report.
 

“I must have filed some five RTI applications just to get the post-mortem report. The MCI’s acknowledgement came through RTI. And it was through RTI only that I got to know that the MCI had ruled in my favour,” said Manchanda.
 

The MCI reply dated April 16, 2011 (a copy of which is with HT) holds immediate treating doctors at the hospital guilty of negligence in patient care.
 

The quantum of punishment will be decided in the meeting scheduled for May 10.
 

“In the past, even cases from 2003 had been hanging, but now we have standardised the procedure,” said Dr S K Sarin, chairman, governing body, MCI.  
 

In response, Max claimed to not having received any intimation from the MCI about this decision.
“The decision on the said appeal can only be given after hearing both the parties on May 10, 2011. We don't consider it appropriate to comment till the appeal is heard by the MCI,” Max authorities said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Justice-takes-50-RTIs-2-yrs/Article1-693037.aspx

CP shootout: SC upholds life sentence

HT Correspondents, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, May 02, 2011

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the life conviction of 10 Delhi Police officials including an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the 1997 CP shootout case. Two businessmen had been killed by errant policemen in a fake encounter. A bench of Justice H S Bedi and Justice C K Prasad dismissed the appeal filed by the 10 policemen, including former ACP S S Rathi, challenging the Delhi High Court verdict that sentenced them all to life imprisonment. The high court had upheld the trial court order pronouncing the accused guilty of the offence.

The high court had on September 18, 2009 upheld the conviction and life sentence of the policemen for killing two Haryana-based businessmen on account of mistaken identity in Connaught Place. It had concurred with the trial court's judgement that had held them guilty of murder on October 24, 2007.

On the afternoon of March 31, 1997, a Delhi Police Crime Branch team led by encounter specialist Rathi had fired indiscriminately on a car on the suspicion that the businessmen were wanted Uttar Pradesh-based gangsters.

However, the team ended up gunning down innocent businessmen Pradeep Goyal and Jagjeet Singh. The team had intercepted the businessmen's car in CP's outer circle and opened fire on it, mistaking one of them as the wanted gangster, Yaseen.

In his appeal, Rathi had that it was not a case of murder committed as per a pre-planned conspiracy. It was a chance occurrence, owing to several coincidences which made the police team arrive at a wrong conclusion, his appeal had said.

The other nine convicts are Inspector Anil Kumar, Sub-Inspector Ashok Rana, Head Constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh and Mahavir Singh and Constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Kothari Ram.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/CP-shootout-SC-upholds-life-sentence/Article1-692522.aspx

Police apologise for his six years in jail, but make him run to clear name

Utkarsh Anand, New Delhi, Sat, Apr 16, 2011

When Prempal looks back, all he remembers are the days he spent in court and prison. The 56-year-old skilled labourer can readily compute the 2,349 days — six years, five months and nine days — that he spent behind bars since 1991, after the police started foisting false criminal cases on him.

By 2007, he was “falsely implicated” in as many as 18 cases, including child rape, attempted murder and 13 thefts. According to Prempal, in a couple of cases, police simply picked up household articles from his house such as his television and music player, and then arrested him for “stealing” them.

When he did manage to procure bail, Prempal busied himself in getting his son and daughter married. He secured loans, sold his ancestral land and requested relatives to provide household necessities to his daughter on the promise that he would pay them once his name was cleared.

The first breather he got was in 2004, when Justice (retired) S N Dhingra, then a sessions judge, acquitted him in the rape case and noted that Prempal, being a poor person, had failed to move the wheels of justice in his favour. Stating that “criminal characters” in the police had framed him and his sons in false cases, the judge said the people responsible for converting him into a “living corpse” should get “exemplary punishment”. He also recommended that Prempal be adequately compensated.

Later, in 2005, the Sangam Vihar police arrested Prempal again on charges of firing at policemen. However, after Justice Dhingra intervened, the police had no option but to release on bail. Two years passed before another attempt-to-murder case was slapped on him in 2007.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/police-apologise-for-his-six-years-in-jail/776999/

HC orders release of boy who spent 4 times his jail term

Harish V Nair, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, April 19, 2011

Detecting shocking violation of law, the Delhi high court on Tuesday directed the Tihar jail authorities to free a Bangladeshi youth languishing there for almost 12 years, when as per law the maximum he could be sentenced to was three years. From a bone-tissue test done at Aiims following his plea that he was underaged when the robbery-cum-murder he was convicted of was committed on May 7, 1999, the court found that the boy was indeed a juvenile. He was in jail ever since his arrest in August 1999.

As per the Juvenile Justice Act, maximum a juvenile — a person up to 17 years old — can be imprisoned is three years for any crime, including murder.

The trial court had sentenced him to life imprisonment presuming that he was above 18, and an adult. Suhas, a migrant, had no one to help him. He had no family members in Delhi. It was a lawyer Ajay Verma whom the Delhi high court appointed as a legal aid, fighting the case for free, who defended him.

"There are several cases in Tihar jail of those who committed crimes as children languish for more than their maximum term. Many of them have suicidal tendencies. As per rules after three years, they are to be subjected to reformative process," said Verma.

Recently in another case the high court ordered Delhi government to pay a compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs to a juvenile jailed for eight years in similar circumstances.

Said a bench headed by justice B D Ahmed ordering the release: “The medical board was of the considered opinion that the bone age of the convict was 25 years to 28 years. This means that on the date of the incident the appellant was between 14 and 17 years old.”

http://www.hindustantimes.com/HC-orders-release-of-boy-who-spent-4-times-his-jail-term/Article1-687288.aspx

MLA fined Rs 10,000 for not replying to filmmaker’s petitions

Express News Service, Delhi High Court, New Delhi, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra,Tue, Mar 29, 2011

The Delhi High Court on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on a city MLA for not replying to a petition filed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, director of Hindi film Delhi-6, who had sought the quashing of an FIR lodged against him for allegedly depicting the Valmiki community in poor light in his film.

Justice Ajit Bharihoke directed Sultanpuri MLA Jai Kishan to deposit the fine with the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee after he sought four more weeks to file his reply.

Mehra, also the film’s co-producer, and UTV Motion Pictures (Mauritius) Ltd, had filed the petition seeking quashing of the FIR lodged by the MLA at the Mandir Marg police station for allegedly depicting a girl from the Valmiki community in a “derogatory” manner in the film, which starred Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor in lead roles. The FIR was lodged on March 7, 2009 under various provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the the Protection of Civil Rights Act.

“The film insulted the community by depicting the role of a sweeper girl who was shown belonging to the community and some scenes had shown the said character in derogatory light,” the FIR had stated.

Responding to the allegations, the counsel for Mehra said, “The registration of the FIR and consequent investigation carried out by the local police on the complaint was a gross abuse of the law because of the fact that approval was granted to the film by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mla-fined-rs-10-000-for-not-replying-to-film/768619/