Friday, December 16, 2011

JUDGEMENTS FOR SALE

S.O.S e - Voice For Justice - e-news weekly
Spreading the light of humanity & freedom

Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.07..Issue.52........24 / 12 / 2011



“There is a higher court than the court of justice and that is the court of conscience It supercedes all other courts. ”
- Mahatma Gandhi



Editorial : NOT all the people behind bars are CRIMINALS & NOT all the Judges & Police are SAINTS

Read the following cases , how corruption is deep rooted in Indian legal system .How judicial orders are manipulated favoring the rich criminals while innocents , commoners suffer injustices. Even the supreme court of india is mum , silent on our repeated offers (conditional offer of help) to legally apprehend criminals , corrupt public servants. Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.

Your’s sincerely ,

Nagaraja.M.R.



Judiciary Should Be In Lokpal Ambit: Prasant Bhusan

By Nava Thakuria



The Lokpal should cover the highest office in governments and also
the judiciary of India, such that the institution can deliver its duty
and responsibility to meet the expectation of huge populace of the
country, argues Prasant Bhusan, an eminent lawyer in Supreme Court of
India. Addressing a gathering of human rights activists in New Delhi,
Mr Bhusan also argues that thousands of false cases are being
registered against rights activist, advocate, journalists, peoples
from minority and tribal communities though out the country to keep
their voices down.

“But in most cases the activists do not get justice from the courts.
And surprisingly we cannot question the judicial system in our
country, because Indian judiciary is accountable to none. A section of
judges even start thinking themselves as Kings of modern time who
indulges in corruption taking advantages of impunities provided by the
present system. So we are insisting that the judiciary should be
brought under the Lokpal,” added Mr Bhusan, who is a member of Anna
Hazare’s core team.

Meanwhile various speakers at the consultation meeting on human rights
in the national capital emphasized for a stronger and affective
national network to pursue the movement for defending legal human
rights. Reposing faith on the judiciary of India, most of the speakers
argue that a systematic attack has been perpetuated by the authority
and the situation is turning bad to worst. They have also insisted
that National Human Rights Commission (of India) should be empowered
to take timely actions to upheld the rights of the citizens of the
country.

Some other speakers, while addressing the consultation meeting, which
was organized by the Human Rights Law Network and the World Sikh
Organization in collaboration with various other organizations at
India Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodi Road on November 19 and 20, 2011,
highlighted the recent attacks on Right To Information activists
through out the country and cautioned that the government is pursuing
for some changes in RTI act (with an aim to dilute the law). The role
of Press Council of India was also discussed and it was urged that the
PCI should be empowered to monitor the activities of a section of
newspapers that manufacture news with distorted facts.

Expressing concern at the deteriorated human rights scenario of the
country, veteran social activist Dr Binayak Sen admits that the Indian
judiciary system has to deliver amidst high expectations of people. “A
tendency has been grown by the authority and governments in our
country to term the human right activists as anti-national. So many of
them are arbitrarily subjected to threat, harassment, jailing and even
killing,” Dr Sen, who was jailed for many months following accusation
of being an anti-national.

Delivering the key-note address Paramjeet Kaur, widow of advocate
Jaswant Singh Khalra-a victim of Punjab police extra-judicial killing-
argued that the movement of Punjab was projected in a biased manner by
the government. Later it was added with a religious twist. The
movement in early Ninety in Punjab has snatched away the live of at
least 25,000 youths. The government initially tried to hide the
information but advocate Khalra disclosed the facts to the media.
Ms Kaur also mentioned the name of KPS Gil, former Punjab police
chief, who masterminded the extra judicial killings. She termed the
super cop as a killer of thousands of Punbai youths in the name of
counter terrorism operations in the State. Shocked in emotion, Ms
Kaur expressed her displeasure that Mr Gill was not punished but
awarded later by the government.

“Human rights activists have come under repeated attacks recently.
Right to Information activists have been killed and many have had
cases filed against them. Journalists have been jailed in criminal
defamation cases, have been attacked, some of them killed, and media
houses have had their offices ransacked. Tribal activists
particularly in conflict areas have been hounded by the police and
many of them are in jail today. The situation has never been so dire.
The need of the hour is to protect and defend human rights activists
in India today,” said Colin Gonsalves of HRLN, which is a collective
of lawyers and social activists dedicated to the use of the legal
system to advance human rights in India and the sub-continent.
Others who spoke in the meeting include Kavita Srivastav, Henry
Tiphagne, Iftikhar Gilani, Teesta Setalvad, Harish Dhawan, Mukul
Sinha, Suhas Chakma, Shoma Choudhury, Shailesh Gandhi, Santosh Koli,
Advocate Phoolka, RS Bains, Navkiran Singh, Arshad Andrabi, GN
Shaheen etc.

Nava Thakuria is a journalist based in Guwahati of northeast India







Tortured, Jailed, Freed!

As many people are being arrested and jailed across India under the Official Secrets Act, THE WEEK unearths official and court records revealing the misuse of the law



By Syed Nazakat



Half past noon on September 14, 2009, a team of Manipur Police Commandos (MPC) burst into Imphal's Tulihal Airport and arrested Jiten Yumnam. Two men grabbed him tightly as a group of heavily-armed commandos covered them in a circle. They held his head down and forced him into a police vehicle. His crime? Yumnam, 32, an environmental and human rights campaigner, had been demanding an inquiry into the killing of two people by MPC on July 23, 2009. What put him in trouble were his emails to international human rights monitors such as Amnesty International. The police charged him with leaking out state secrets to enemy. In custody, he was certain that the authorities were determined to silence him. “I still fail to understand how was I booked under the Official Secrets Act. I had just written an open letter to human rights organisations about a fake encounter in my state,” said Yumnam. “When I came to know that I'm charged with spying, I was devastated.” After a year of court arguments and mass protests, and when the government realised that the case would lead to serious embarrassment, he was released.



Yumnam is one of the many victims of the Official Secrets Act, India's anti-espionage law inherited from British raj. The law makes it a criminal offence to disclose anything the government calls, no matter how insignificant,an official secret. Under the law, any person who reveals such secrets is subject to arrest and, if convicted, to a maximum sentence of fourteen years in prison.

“I was virtually picked up from the street and declared a traitor,” said Yumnam. A day after he was arrested, he said, he was taken to the police headquarters and was thrown blindfolded into an underground cell. “I was given electric shocks in my genitals and a police officer put a pistol on my head and threatened to kill me,” he said.



Jiten's story leads to a raft of cases in which scores of people were arrested in various parts of India under the OSA without charges and without court trails for years. The current crop of accused comes in the form of serving or retired armed forces personnel, technicians, businessman, engineers, journalists, students, farmers, drivers and vegetable vendors. As per the Union home ministry records, 395 people have been booked and lodged in various prisons under the OSA in the past 10 years. Home ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia, however, said the OSA cases are being investigated by the state governments and “the total number of cases registered and the number of convictions secured are not centrally maintained.” The National Crime Records Bureau also has no pan-Indian figures on the people arrested under the Act and the convictions. “We have no records on the OSA cases,” said Alok Kumar Verma, chief statistical officer of NCRB.



THE WEEK has unearthed official and court records that shed light on the misuse of the OSA, and heard the stories of those who were wrongly jailed for years. Havaldar Sabhajit Yadav, one of them, was arrested with Girija Shanker Pandey, a former Navy sailor, in Delhi on May 14, 2000. Yadav was branded an Inter-Services Intelligence operative and accused of passing 'sensitive information' to a Pakistani agent in Kathmandu.



The chargesheet, however, had nothing about the documents he was alleged to have carried and nothing was produced before the court. He was not allowed to speak in court, and if he did the police tortured him. After spending eight years in Tihar jail, Yadav, along with Pandey, was acquitted by Delhi's Tis Hazari court on January 28, 2009. The court slammed the police for failing to prove the charges against him and said even the date and time of the arrest were given wrong. “If the accused persons were not arrested on the date and time as claimed by the prosecution, the alleged recovery from them becomes doubtful,” said the court. Nobody, however, was punished for wrongly jailing them for eight years. In the case of Brig. Ujjal Dasgupta, director (computers), Research and Analysis Wing, who was arrested on July 19, 2006 for allegedly passing on sensitive information to a US embassy employee working undercover for the CIA, the police are yet to frame the charges. After four years in jail, he was released on bail last month.



More recently advocate Ramananda Taorem, 50, a lawyer, was arrested by the Imphal Police under the OSA on September 14, 2009. A year later the government released him and withdrew the cases. A cardiac patient and now suffering from monoparesis (partial loss of movement of a single body part), Taorem had a minor stroke in jail and a major one after the release. He is yet to regain his ability to speak.



An examination of stacks of the OSA files show the border states like J&K, Punjaband Rajasthan are one of the prime targets of the OSA cases. One of the recent one is of 62-year-old Moinuddin Rizvi, a former Uttar Pradesh's public works department official. He along with his son Ghulam Dastigir was arrested in Delhi on May 25, 2007 for espionage.

They were accused of giving maps of military installations to a Pakistani agent. In its chargesheet, the police claimed that they were arrested at Subhash Park in Old Delhi, but Rizvi's wife Munawara Sultan, told THE WEEK that they were arrested at Hotel Romana in Old Delhi. Dastigir, after spending a year in jail, was acquitted by aDelhi court. Rizvi is still in Tihar jail facing trial.



“He [Rizvi] and Dastigir were in Delhi to publish his book Nimazeh Rasool. We don't know why they were arrested,” said Munawara. She said it was perhaps her husband's visit to Pakistan which brought the trouble. The Partition had separated Rizvi's family. While he stayed back in India, his two sisters and a brother migrated to Pakistan. In 2006, said a family member, he visited Karachi to attend the last rites of his brother. According to the police, Rizvi came in touch with the ISI during hisKarachi visit and the Pak agency asked him to work for them. “The arrest memo of the police doesn't have the name of the police station and by which authority the accused were arrested. It does not mention the vehicle numbers which were used by the police in the operation and, worse, the court has found the police guilty of fudging the date of arrest,” said defence counsel R.S. Soni. On July 1, 2010, home ministry official Virender Kumar appeared before the Tis Hazari court and confirmed that the date of arrest was overwritten. “My question is if Rizvi and his son were arrested on May 25, 2007 how come the police got their confession on May 24?” asked Soni.



Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajan Bhagat, who is Delhi Police spokesperson, refused to give details of the specific case but said there was no question of planting evidence against anybody. “We work on investigation and specific information. We produce suspects in the court,” he said. “The verdict is in the hands of court.”



The OSA is in practice in India since 1921 but its use had been limited till the terrorist attack on Parliament in 2001. After that the Act became, according to a former intelligence official, an abomination. What was intended for a discrete set of suspects was started being used against people on mere suspicion. The monetary awards and promotions for such arrests added to the rampant misuse. Seven OSA cases were registered in a year after the Parliament attack, including the one against Delhi-based journalist Iftikar Geelani, who was jailed for almost a year.



The arrests and trials in the OSA cases follow a strikingly similar pattern. The accused are brought to court in heavy security cover. In court, all proceedings are held in camera. The evidences are kept in files marked 'secret', and are never disclosed to the designated party. “In dozens of cases the police have used hand-drawn sketches of Army cantonments as evidence against the accused. The language of chargesheets and confessional statements often read similar as if they were written by the same person,” said Supreme Court lawyer Balwant Singh Bilowria, who has handled many OSA cases. Bilowria mentions the sketches of theMeerut cantonment, which have been used in different cases against different people in different parts of the country. On May 27, yet another person, Chand Kumar Prasad, a 24-year-old aircraft mechanic in the Navy's Aircraft Maintenance Unit in Mumbai, was arrested for allegedly carrying a bunch of 'secret' documents that included photographs of Meerut. He is now in Tihar Jail.



With more and more people booked under the OSA, calls are mounting for an explanation why no official is prosecuted for the misuse of the Act. Among those calling for a review of the Act is former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. In the 1990s two of his friends, space scientists S. Nambi Narayanan and D. Sasikumaran, were wrongly booked under the OSA for being part of a spy ring. Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, as head of the Administrative Reforms Commission, has recommended that the OSA should be repealed and safeguards to protect the security of state should be incorporated in the National Security Act. The home ministry, however, does not agree with the recommendations. An inter-ministerial group is studying the report.



The most disturbing part of the OSA, said Delhi-based journalist Preeti Singh (name changed), is that any person can be detained under it if it is proven that he had been in touch with a foreigner. Herself a victim of the Act, Preeti still does not know why she was arrested and detained for more than three years. “My only crime was that I was a journalist who was writing on Nepal. I used to frequent the Nepal embassy [in Delhi] and perhaps that is the reason I came under the scanner of intelligence agencies and was dubbed a spy,” she said. The Delhi High Court acquitted her of all charges but the prosecution has gone in appeal to the Supreme Court.



In Preeti's case the High Court said that the prosecution had relied mainly on the statement of one witness and that chief metropolitan magistrate had convicted her without assessing whether the documents that the police claimed to have recovered from her were likely to affect the security and integrity of India. She had denied that any document was recovered from her. “I'm estranged from my husband for the past 20 years. After my arrest there was no one to take care of my children. They were left with no option but to fetch food from temple,” she said.



Preeti's story shows how at times the OSA curbs freedom of press. Even in civil and financial affairs, the Act restricts coverage of important issues. A scoop landed former Financial Express reporter Santanu Saikia in trouble. He got a Union cabinet note on divestment of public sector enterprises a day before the cabinet meeting. The newspaper published the story the next day. Three years after a CBI internal probe to find out how the document was leaked, Saikia was booked under the OSA. After ten years of legal fight, a Delhi court acquitted him on February 26, 2009. The court said, 'the publication of the disinvestment document was unlikely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India and that the publication of a document merely labelled 'secret' shall not render a journalist liable under the OSA'. “It was the biggest mental torture to appear before the court every month for ten years,” said Saikia. “It all happened just for a genuine story.”



The competing needs for secrecy and the public's right to know have long posed a dilemma for the governments. Though at times the government has allowed intelligence officers to write books on their work and the agencies including one by former Additional Secretary of RAW B Raman that accuses Rajiv Gandhi of covering up the Bofors probe, often it goes after those who speak about the secret world. Former secretary of the R&AW, Major General (retd) V.K. Singh's book,India's External intelligence―Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing, exposed corruption and a series of abuses in the agency. Three months after the book was published, Singh's house was raided and he was booked under the OSA. “There are senior intelligence officials who have written on the R&AW and the IB. In their books they have given even operations' details. They were never touched,” said Singh. “I became victim of personal vendetta.” The irony is that while Singh is facing trial, his book is available in India.



Clearly it is not always the sensitive issues of national security that make the authorities angry. Social activist Medha Patkar was arrested for saying that theGujarat government was quietly raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam, which would endanger the homes and livelihood of people living in the surrounding villages. She was immediately booked under the OSA for leaking 'state secrets' to the public. The government, however, succumbed to public pressure and released her.



“We launched a campaign against the Sardar Sarovar dam in 1988. The Gujaratgovernment notified the dam site as prohibited area under the OSA. It was a draconian order. We did a unique protest against the Act. We chose 14 people, symbolising the maximum number of years of punishment under the OSA, and marched towards the prohibited dam site,” said Patkar. “The OSA is a colonial law that protects the government from the public.”



It took Dr B.K Subbarao, a retired captain of the Navy, five years of legal fight to prove that the 'top-secret document' of India's nuclear submarine found in his suitcase was in fact his own PhD thesis at the IIT-Bombay. The other document, he said, which the police had claimed to have recovered from him, was available in the library. He was jailed for 20 months on charges of espionage.



The Mumbai High Court acquitted him of all charges, and the verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court. “It is not that every scrap of paper or every document relating to those authorities is to be classified, and even if a classification is put down, such classification may not hold for all time and that it is basic duty of the prosecution to point out how the disclosure of these documents would be a threat to the security of the country,” said the court.



Subbarao has spent the past two decades campaigning for those who were wrongly arrested and jailed. “So many innocent people have been wrongly arrested and jailed under this act. Yet not a single government official or policeman has been punished for ruining somebody's life,” he said.



For Yumnam, who is married and has a two-year-old daughter, life has begun afresh after his release from jail. Yet the dark memories of the torture cell and espionage charges haunt him. “I'm still traumatised. Every time I see a cop I shiver with fear,” he said. “It is not easy to be called a foreign agent, a traitor, and then have a normal life.”





Opposition targets Chidambaram over withdrawal of FIRs



New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) Opposition today targeted Home Minister P Chidambaram over a media report on the withdrawal of three FIRs against a Delhi-based hotelier, accusing him of misusing his official position to help a former client. "It is a clear case of conflict of interest. A case of cheating and forgery was sought to be withdrawn against a hotelier at the behest of Home Minister P Chidambaram. Chidambaram has earlier appeared for the hotelier in cheating and fraud cases," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters outside Parliament. Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were disrupted by the BJP over the media report alleging Chidambaram, who was a lawyer, helped his former client. Asking the Prime Minister to explain his stand on the issue, Prasad said, "It is a copybook of conflict of interest. This is a misuse of position and we want not only the Home Minister but the Prime Minister also to explain...." "There are documentary evidence to prove that Home Minister has acted on behest of his former client to seek quashing of proceedings and FIR against him," the spokesperson alleged Supporting BJP's demand, CPI leader D Raja said, "These allegations appear to be very credible. It makes Home Minister's position untenable. Because he is not reacting to the allegations. He is keeping quite, dead silence. I do not why. "If Home Minister continues to be in the thick cloud of allegations, it is a problem for the government. Home Minister should explain why he is quite. The Prime Minister should also explain his stand." The Home Ministry today said Chidambaram did not have any role in the withdrawal of three FIRs against S P Gupta, who runs M/s Sunair Hotels Pvt Ltd and was accused of cheating and forgery.





Chidambaram case: Delhi LG revokes Home Ministry's decision



New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna on Thursday revoked the withdrawal of prosecution against hotelier SP Gupta, the owner of the five-star Metropolitan Hotel and Sunair Hotels company.

The case against Gupta was reportedly dropped on the directions from the Home Ministry. There was a conflict of interest in the dropping of the case as Home Minister P Chidambaram had earlier appeared as counsel for the hotelier.

However, Home Secretary RK Singh said that Chidambaram had no role in the Hotel Metropolitan controversy. RK Singh told CNN-IBN that Chidambaram was unable to recall whether the hotelier was his client or not because of time gap.

"The Home minister, number one, specifically wrote on the file, that only the opinion of the law ministry and petition will be conveyed, number one. Number two, it is being said that that fellow was a client. Now, in govt I've had to interact with advocates, senior advocates, and I don't think that if you ask a senior advocate whether he represented somebody at some point of time 10 years or 20 years back he will actually remember," said Singh.

Since 1999, the owners of five star Metropolitan Hotel, SP Gupta and his company Sunair Hotels, have been involved in a series of bitter legal disputes with VLS Finance Ltd, a company which claims to have funded the project. P Chidambaram, then an opposition MP, represented Sunair Hotels in the High Court for one the disputes.

Even as the civil suits were being heard in courts, VLS Finance filed three FIRs in various Delhi Police stations against the owners of Metropolitan Hotel for defrauding them.

Things took an interesting turn when Chidambaram became the Home Minister after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Documents available with CNN-IBN show that the Home Ministry started actively working on representations sent by Sunair, asking for withdrawal of the criminal cases. Several letters were then sent by the ministry to Delhi Police asking for clarifications and status reports so that a decision on withdrawing cases against Sunair Hotels could be taken.

The ministry even wrote to the Delhi police commissioner asking for the status of investigation for appraising the Union Home Minister.

When Network 18 sent a questionnaire to Chidambaram to clarify his position and explain the apparent conflict of interest, a reply was sent by Home Ministry Joint Secretary M Gopal Reddy.

"The Home Minister is unable to recall at this distance of time whether he appeared in a case concerning M/s Sunair Hotels Pvt Ltd at any time between 1999 and 2003. When the file was submitted to the Home Minister, he noted on 4/5/2011 that MHA should not give any directions and MHA may only convey the advice of the Ministry of Law," said the reply.

However, in March, the Law Ministry had already given its opinion in a letter.

The ministry had written, "We are of the opinion that it is not appropriate to interfere in the investigation. However, if the representation of M/s Sunair Hotels Ltd falls under the ingredients of the said section, i.e.321 of CrPC, then the Ministry of Home Affairs may take suitable steps."

With the Law Ministry tossing the ball back in the Home Ministry's court, essentially suggesting it is for the Home Ministry to decide whether law in this case allows for withdrawal of the cases, a direction was promptly issued in the last week of November. It ordered the withdrawal of three FIRs, including one alleging misuse of the name of Sonia Gandhi and forging letters of several MPs, against businessman S P Gupta.

Delhi Police had already filed a chargesheet before a Delhi court on January 17, 2006 in FIR number 148 saying that S P Gupta and his associates had forged letterheads of MPs including Sonia Gandhi to lodge complaints against VLS Finance.

While the ministry in its response admits they have been writing to the Delhi government and the Law Ministry on the issue, they stressed, "The draft of the letter sent to Law Ministry was not put up to the Joint Secretary or the Home Secretary or the Home Minister. And that the Home Minister had seen this file only once i.e. on May 4, 2011 and the file had not been submitted to him for orders at any point of time before or after that date."

The letters written by the Home Ministry after P Chidambaram became the Home Minister clearly raises questions of a possible conflict of interest. Specially as there are reasons to argue and debate whether the Home Ministry went out of its way to pursue the withdrawal of criminal cases against a person, who was once the Union Home Minister's client.









Doctors Aiding Police to inflict 3rd degree Torture on detainees

By Stephen Lendman

In April 2009, a confidential February 2007 ICRC torture report was publicly released. Titled, "ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen 'High Value Detainees' in CIA Custody," it detailed harsh and abusive treatment from their time of arrest, detention, transfer, and incarceration at Guantanamo where ICRC professionals interviewed them.

Besides detailed information on torture and abusive treatment, they obtained damning, consistent detainee accounts of medical personnel involvement, including:

-- their monitoring of and direct participation in torture procedures;

-- instructing interrogators to continue, adjust, or stop certain ones;

-- informing detainees that medical treatment depended on their cooperation;

-- performing medical checks before and after each transfer; and

-- treating the effects of torture as well as ailments and injuries during incarceration.

Condoning or participating in torture grievously breaches medical ethics and the 1975 World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Tokyo "Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment." It states:

-- in all cases at all times, "physician(s) shall not countenance, condone or participate in" torture or any other form of abuse;

-- they "shall not use nor allow to be used (their) medical knowledge or skills, or health information" to aid interrogation in any way;

-- they "shall not be present during any procedure during which torture or any other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is used or threatened;"

-- they "must have complete clinical independence" in treating persons for whom they're medically responsible; and

-- WMA encourages the international community and fellow physicians to support medical professionals who face "threats or reprisals resulting from a refusal to condone" all forms of torture and abuse.

Protocol I of the 1949 Geneva Conventions states:

"Persons engaged in medical activities shall neither be compelled to perform acts or to carry out work contrary to, nor be compelled to refrain from acts required by, the rules of medical ethics or other rules designed for the benefit of the wounded and sick, or this Protocol."

On July 7, 2005 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Gregg Bloche and Jonathan Marks published an article titled, "Doctors and Interrogators at Guantanamo Bay" in which they cited evidence that "Health information (was) routinely available to behavioral science consultants and others" engaged in interrogations, in violation of strict medical ethics.

In early 2003, detainee medical records were readily available, and since late 2002, psychiatrists and psychologists were involved in crafting extreme stress techniques "combined with behavior-shaping rewards to extract actionable intelligence from resistant captives."

"Wholesale disregard for clinical confidentiality" seriously breaches medical ethics "since it makes every caregiver into an accessory to intelligence gathering." It also "puts prisoners at greater risk for serious abuse."

In July 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) published a report titled, "Report on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" that included evidence of medical personnel involvement in torture.

Detainee Othman Abdulraheem Mohammad was told that medical treatment would depend on his cooperation. Lakhdar Boumediene said every time he requested care he was told to ask permission from his interrogators. They "controlled his access, (and it) was granted or denied based on the interrogator's assessment of his level of cooperation."

Bosnian prisoner medical records confirmed that medical staff were present during their interrogations "and authorized (them) to proceed."

Medical personnel monitored Mohammed al Qahtani's interrogation during nearly two months of "severe sleep deprivation and physical stress." At one point, they rushed him to the base hospital when his heart rate dropped dangerously low. After stabilization, they returned him the next day for more interrogation.

Other prisoners described doctors performing unnecessary and abusive procedures, including forced amputations, after which they were denied proper treatment.

Psychiatrists and psychologists designed "extreme interrogation techniques as part of the Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT)." In late 2002, it was tasked "to torment detainees in interrogations...."

International and US Laws Prohibiting Torture

Numerous international and US laws unequivocally ban torture under all conditions at all times with no allowed exceptions ever, for any reasons, including in times of war.

The Third Geneva Convention covers war prisoners and detainees. It prohibits torture and protects their right to be treated humanely against "violence to life and person (and) humiliating and degrading treatment" as well as to judicial fairness and proper medical treatment. The Fourth Geneva Convention affords the same rights to civilians in times of war.

The federal anti-torture statute (18 USC, 2340A) prohibits its use outside the US and defines it as "an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering....upon another person within his custody or physical control."

The 1991 Torture Victims Protection Act authorizes civil suits in America against individuals, acting in an official capacity for a foreign state, who committed torture and/or extrajudicial killing.

The 1984 UN Convention Against Torture bans all forms of torture, cruel and degrading treatment in all circumstances at all times with no exceptions ever allowed.

The US Constitution's Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

The US Army's Field Manual 27-10 states that military or civilian persons may be punished for committing war crimes (that include abusive interrogations) under international law. Army Field Manual 34-52 outlines interrogation procedures and specifically prohibits force, mental torture, threats, and inhumane treatment.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) bans cruelty, oppression, actions intended to degrade or humiliate, and physical, menacing, and threatening assaults. Army Regulation (AR) 190-8 protects detainees from violence, assaults, and insults, and directs that they be treated humanely with respect.

The 1996 US War Crimes Act prohibits grave Geneva Convention breaches, including (as stipulated under Common Article III) "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture (as well as) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."

Other binding international laws also prohibit torture, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1992 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with no exceptions or justifications allowed, such as orders by field commanders, Pentagon officials, or the President of the United States.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)

Founded in 1986, PHR "mobilizes health professionals to advance health, dignity, and justice and promotes the right to health for all." It also "investigates human rights abuses and works to stop them" in conflict zones, US prisons, and offshore detention facilities where torture is routinely practiced.

In 2005, it published a report titled, "Break Them Down: Systematic Use of Psychological Torture by US Forces," which it called the first comprehensive examination of "the use of psychological torture by US personnel in the so-called 'war on terror,' " including sensory deprivation, prolonged isolation, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, using fierce dogs to instill fear, cultural and sexual humiliation, mock executions, and threatened violence against loved ones.

It called the effects devastating and longer-lasting than physical torture, and said psychological abuse is morally reprehensible and illegal under international and US law.

In August 2009, PHR published a new report titled, "Aiding Torture: Health Professionals' Ethics and Human Rights Violations Revealed in the May 2004 CIA Inspector General's Report," including ethical misconduct not previously known. It revealed the role of health professionals involved "at every stage in the development, implementation and legitimization of this torture program."

It explained that doctors and psychologists actively participated in abusive interrogations and contributed to the physical and mental suffering of detainees. It called their actions "an unconscionable affront to the profession of medicine," made worse by experimenting on inmates, then "aggregat(ing) data on (their) reaction to interrogation methods."

PHR's Steven Reisner said "They were experimenting and keeping records of the results," a war crime under Geneva and the Nuremberg Code that requires "voluntary consent" of human subjects and prohibits experiments:

-- that inflict "unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury;"

-- if there's "an a priori reason to believe death or disabling injury will occur;" and

-- from being implemented if there's reason to believe they'll cause "injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject."

PHR's report detailed the psychological and medical effects:

-- forced shaving inflicts psychological harm "by means of humiliation, both personal and religious;"

-- hooding disorients and causes acute anxiety depression, depersonalization, and abnormal behavior;

-- dietary manipulation inflicts discomfort and psychological stress;

-- prolonged diapering causes physical and psychological stress and harm;

-- walling inflicts physical injuries as well as psychological stress, rage, and helplessness;

-- confinement in a box in extreme stress positions causes extreme physical and psychological pain and trauma; and

-- other abuses, including waterboarding that simulates drowning and the feeling of helplessness to prevent it.

Involvement of Medical Professionals

They help develop, implement, provide cover for, and justify torture and abusive practices. They're actively involved in designing harmful interrogation techniques in clear violation of the law and medical ethics. They're "complicit in selecting and then rationalizing (methods) whose safety and efficacy in eliciting accurate information have no valid basis in science." Their actions constitute "a practice that approaches unlawful experimentation."

CIA guidelines require health professionals, including a doctor and psychologist, to be present during enhanced interrogations, "thereby placing (them) in the untenable position of calibrating harm rather than serving as protectors and healers as" their ethical code demands.

They also participate in initial physical and psychological assessments, then monitor all subsequent interrogations. They know their actions are harmful, unethical, and illegal, yet they serve willingly.

PHR believes they should be investigated on charges of "alleged criminal conduct." Those proved guilty should be prosecuted, lose their license, professional society memberships, and any standing in the medical community henceforth.





14,231 Persons Died In police And Judicial Custody
In India From 2001 To 2010

By Suhas Chakma



The Asian Centre for Human Rights has the pleasure to share its latest
report, "Torture in India 2011" covering the incidents of torture in
India. It is available at:
http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/torture2011.pdf

"Torture in India" series have been instrumental for bringing national and
international spotlight on torture in India. However, due to the lack of
financial resources, "Torture in India 2011" is only available online,
thereby restricting our outreach to key target groups, not the least,
India's Members of Parliament who had earlier raised specific questions in
the parliament citing the report of the ACHR.

"Torture in India 2011" states that a total of 14,231 persons i.e. more
than four persons per day died in police and judicial custody in India
from 2001 to 2010. This includes 1,504 deaths in police custody and 12,727
deaths in judicial custody from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010 as per the cases
submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

A large majority of these deaths are a direct consequence of torture in
custody. These deaths reflect only a fraction of the problem with torture
and custodial deaths in India as not all the cases of deaths in police and
prison custody are reported to the NHRC. Further, the NHRC does not have
jurisdiction over the armed forces and the NHRC also does not record
statistics of torture not resulting into death.

The failure of the Ministry of Home Affairs to introduce the Prevention
of Torture Bill drafted by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee headed by Shri
Ashwani Kumar, the current Minister of State for Planning, in December
2010 in the parliament session beginning on 22 November 2011 demonstrates
India's lack of political will to stamp out torture.

"India is yet to realize the cost of not having anti-torture law in
compliance with UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) that led to
rejection extradition of Kim Davy, the prime accused in the Purulia arms
drop case by the Danish High Court in June 2011; the direction of a
British Court in July 2011 to depute a human rights expert to visit the
prisons in Gujarat to examine the prison conditions before it grants
extradition of Mohammad Hanif Umerji Patel, alias Tiger Hanif, the alleged
mastermind of the 1993 bomb blast in Surat; and cancellation of the
extradition of Abul Salem by the Portuguese High Court in September 2011
on the ground that he was tortured in custody following extradition. That
torture is non-derogable even in war and a crime against humanity is yet
to be recognized by India." - stated Asian Centre for Human Rights in its
press release.

TORTURE AND DEATHS IN POLICE CUSTODY: MAHARASHTRA TOPS THE CHART

During 2001-2010, Maharashtra recorded the highest number of deaths in
police custody with 250 deaths; followed by Uttar Pradesh (174); Gujarat
(134); Andhra Pradesh (109); West Bengal (98); Tamil Nadu (95); Assam
(84); Karnataka (67); Punjab (57); Madhya Pradesh (55); Haryana (45);
Bihar (44); Kerala (42); Jharkhand (41); Rajasthan (38); Orissa (34);
Delhi (30); Chhattisgarh (24); Uttarakhand (20); Meghalaya (17); Arunachal
Pradesh (10); Tripura (8); Jammu and Kashmir (6); Himachal Pradesh (5);
Goa; Chandigarh and Pondicherry (3 each); Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland (2
each); and Sikkim and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1 each).

"About 99.99% of deaths in police custody can be ascribed to torture and
occur within 48 hours of the victims being taken into custody. Though
Maharashtra has a total population of 112 million in comparison to 199
million in Uttar Pradesh according to 2011 census, the fact that 76 more
persons were killed in police custody in Maharashtra shows that torture is
more rampant in police custody in Maharashtra than Uttar Pradesh." -
further asserted Mr Chakma.

Citing the case of Mohd Umar alias Badkau
( http://www.nhrc.nic.in/display.asp?fno=10570/24/9/2010-AD ), accused of
kidnapping and rape, who allegedly committed inside Haldi Police Station
in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh by hanging himself with a towel
inside the lock-up on 21 March 2010, Asian Centre for Human Rights stated
that the post mortem report found eight contusions on various parts and
ligature mark around the neck and indicated that the cause of death was
due to asphyxia as a result of ante mortem hanging. The magisterial
enquiry report opined that deceased died due to police torture and held
In-charge of the Police Station, Brij Kishore Yadav, Head Moherar Sanjay
Verma, Lock up Sentry, Constable Ishwardin Shukla and Co-prisoner Vijay
Shankar Pandey jointly responsible for this death. The Investigating
Officer of case S.K. Surya (Sub Inspector) and Constable Dev Baksh Singh
were also found responsible or tampering with the documents.

TORTURE AND DEATHS IN JUDICIAL CUSTODY: UTTAR PRADESH TOPS THE CHART

During 2001-2010, 12,727 deaths in judicial custody took place. Uttar
Pradesh recorded the highest number of deaths in judicial custody with
2171 deaths, followed by Bihar (1512); Maharashtra (1176); Andhra Pradesh
(1037); Tamil Nadu (744); Punjab (739); West Bengal (601); Jharkhand
(541); Madhya Pradesh (520); Karnataka (496); Rajasthan (491); Gujarat
(458); Haryana (431); Orissa (416); Kerala (402); Chhattisgarh (351);
Delhi (224); Assam (165); Uttarakhand (91); Himachal Pradesh (29); Tripura
(26); Meghalaya (24); Chandigarh (23); Goa (18); Arunachal Pradesh (9);
Pondicherry (8); Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland (6 each); Mizoram (4);
Sikkim and Andaman and Nicober Island (3 each); and Manipur and Dadra and
Nagar Haveli (1 each).

A large of number of these deaths are a result of torture, denial of
medical facilities and sub-human conditions in Indian jails.

CUSTODIAL DEATHS IN CONFLICT SITUATIONS NOT COLLECTED:

ACHR stated that the number of deaths in police custody recorded from
conflict afflicted states like Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur do not
reflect the gravity of the situation. The NHRC registered only six deaths
in police custody in Jammu and Kashmir from 2001-02 to 2010-11, while only
two cases of deaths in police custody were recorded from Manipur during
the same period. This is despite the fact that on 31 March 2011 Jammu and
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a written reply before the
Legislative Council stated that 341 persons had died in police custody in
the state since 1990.

CUSTODIAL RAPE OF WOMEN:

ACHR stated that custodial rape remains one of the worst forms of torture
perpetrated on women by law enforcement personnel and a number of
custodial rape of women takes place at regular intervals. The NHRC
recorded 39 cases of rape from judicial and police custody from 2006 to 28
February 2010.

Citing the case of Maloti Kalandi
( http://www.nhrc.nic.in/display.asp?fno=169/3/0/2010-PCR ), wife of Badal
Kalandi who along with
children were rescued from being trafficked, were handed over to the
Tamulpur police station, Baksa district of Assam for safe custody. Instead
of providing safety, Sub-Inspector Sahidur Rahman summoned the victim to
his official quarter and raped her. The accused has since been suspended
and is being tried before the Courts. The NHRC awarded interim
compensation of Rs 100,000/- to the victim.



READ FULL ARTICLE ALONG WITH ISSUES AT WEBLINKS , YOU WILL KNOW HOW JUDGEMENT , COURT DECISIONS ARE FIXED BY CRIMINAL NEXUS FROM CASE REGISTERING STAGE TO JUDGEMENT STAGE IN INDIA.



Karnataka Lokayukta Arrest Dy SP M Narayan on Corruption Charges


M Narayan was the deputy superintendent of Kushalnagar when the Mysore Lokayukta police arrested him on September 18 for bribe-taking in a criminal case. The cops swooped down on an upscale hotel and caught a uniformed Narayan red-handed.

The complainant, Mohan, a resident of K R Vanam, accused the officer of demanding a bribe to drop his mother-in-law Padmavathi’s name from a chargesheet in a cheating case. Padmavathi, one of the trustees of Karunya Charitable Trust in Kushalnagar, Kodagu district, is an accused in a cheating case registered at Kushalnagar police station.

At first, Narayan had promised to drop Padmavathi’s name in return for Rs 4 lakh, which he received in two instalments.

However, he later made a fresh demand for Rs 50,000 but finally settled for Rs 25,000. It was during this time that the cops caught Narayan and sent him to judicial custody. The tainted cop came out on bail in the first week of October and is now ready to take on his new role at the District Crime Records Bureau in Chamarajanagar.


More Corrupt the Police are, More unsafe are our People

- By K B GANAPATHY

It is sickening. It is nauseating. It is vulgar. It is dirty. It is a sin and above all, it is a crime beyond any ameliorating circumstances. The punishment for this crime should be a real deterrent and must not take more than a month to award. I am talking about the crime committed by the Kolar SP, K. P. Puttaswamy, IPS, who was caught red - handed while taking a bribe of Rs.10, 000 from a civil Police Constable P.P. Prakash by the Bangalore Lokayukta Police on November 27.

When the crime was committed in Kolar, how is it that the Bangalore Lokayukta took action? This is not a million dollar question. This is a million dollar shame on the honesty and integrity of our Police force itself (honourable exceptions are honourably exempted here).

I understand the reason is that the Lokayukta Police officers in Kolar are too compassionate and considerate in nabbing criminals and corrupt persons in their own turf (department). Earlier, three attempts were made to catch this cornucopia of a corrupt person called Puttaswamy, but he was alerted in time. Thus the local Lokayukta failed in its mission.


Kolar SP Puttaswamy

Constable Prakash, the victim of Puttaswamy’s greed, avarice and craving for money knew this very well. It was for this reason, he had to approach the Bangalore Lokayukta (Phone: 9845000022). Naturally this time, the Lokayukta operation was a complete success.


Complainant Mr. P. P. Prakash

Think of the depth of demand from Puttaswamy and you will know how fathomless it is. I am reminded of a Tamil film Anniyan. The Constable Prakash had already given Rs.25, 000 as bribe (which in fact is also an offence). But the greedy SP, Puttaswamy, in order to make a killing out of this Constable seeking permission for voluntary retirement from service under VRS, recommended his dismissal. This made the Constable nervous as he would lose his pension and other benefits. P. P. Prakash, the Constable, now aged 47, hailing from South Kodagu, near Ponnampet (Pullangada family) served in the Indian Army Signals for seven years and then joined the Police Department in Kolar and has served for 20 years.

Of late, he was not keeping good health and hence took “medical permission” for 13 months leave — sick leave. It appears he was supposed to submit a Doctor’s certificate from time to time during this period. He did not do so as it is not compulsory, and rarely insisted upon, he says.

However, in this case the Kolar SP K. P. Puttaswamy ordered a Departmental Enquiry (DE) against him. Realising that this enquiry would take at least 5 to 6 months to complete and as he was in a hurry to take VRS he decided to apologise for the inadvertent lapse. Subsequent to the apology submitted by him to the DE Officer, the Dy. SP, the DE was closed and the report sent to the Superintendent of Police, K.P. Puttaswamy.

See how greed for money tears away the human face of a human being. The Superintendent of Police, Puttaswamy, returning the file to the Enquiry Officer, the Dy. SP, asked him to re -examine the Departmental Enquiry.

Constable Prakash says that normally if one admits his fault, in cases such as this, no re - examination of DE is necessary.

However, Constable Prakash thought there was no use pursuing the path of law to get his VRS from an Officer like K. P. Puttaswamy and decided to talk to him. And he did. It was here he agreed to pay the demanded amount of Rs. 25,000 to this corrupt SP for two favours: (1) To withdraw the Departmental Enquiry after a warning and pardon. (2) To grant permission for the VRS.

After making this payment of Rs. 25,000, the Constable Prakash was happily waiting at his native place for VRS permission. However, after two months, to his utter shock he received a notice about his ‘Compulsory Retirement’ which tantamounted to dismissal from service.

He rushed to Kolar and met the Superintendent of Police, K.P. Puttaswamy, on 24th November when he was told: “Okay, I will see. (Aayitu Noduva)”

On further pleadings from the Constable, Puttaswamy wrote on a piece of paper just, “10,000” and spoke with his head and eyes pushing the paper towards the Constable to see the figure.

Since the Constable found the new demand too much for him to bear, he decided to retaliate. He knew there was no use complaining to the Kolar Lokayukta which could not trap this corrupt SP three times earlier on others' complaints. So Constable P. P. Prakash straight away went to Bangalore and met Roop Kumar Datta, the ADGP, a wonderful person who is known to attend to complaints promptly in confidence without any delay.

He knew, speed is the secret of success not only in love and war but also in Lokayukta operations. He immediately called another smart officer, Superintendent of Police (SP) Madhukar Shetty and lo and behold the operation was successful.

Prakash, the Constable, says that the Kolar SP had his moles in his office keeping an eye on the Lokayukta complainants and officers who may be around. In case of suspicion, information was passed on to him and the SP will not see such visitors.

Hence, this time the Bangalore Lokayukta got smart. Waiting at the SP's door to see him was a burqaclad lady Constable and a Police Sub - Inspector disguised as a Muslim with full makeup, wearing a beard hired from a clothier to dramas.

One more person was also there with bandages, dhoti and chappals who would see the SP only after his "Doddavaru" (elder) came there. Thus there was absolutely no room for suspicion for the Policemen on duty at the SP’s door. Since Prakash was already known, he was allowed in.

During the course of conversation, the Superintendent of Police K. P. Puttaswamy, alert and smart, told his supplicant Prakash “Naale Banni” [Come tomorrow] three times. Then Prakash gave the cover with the money inside, as pre - arranged by the Lokayukta. Puttaswamy instinctively stretched his hand to receive it but quickly withdrew, lifted a file, placed it on the table and asked Prakash to keep the cover below the file. The latter obliged. However, while handling the file Puttaswamy unknowingly touched the cover to push it properly under the file.

“I will call the GSA and get the file and ask him to do the needful”, said the SP who did not forget to speak aloud “Beda” (Don’t want) all the while taking care not to touch the cover or money. But to his bad luck he had already touched the cover, though unknowingly, rather accidentally.

Well, when Prakash came out, the Lokayukta walked in. Rest is “breaking news” in TV channels and headlines in newspapers.

And indeed the complainant P. P. Prakash did teach his corrupt boss a lesson which the people of our State think will be a lesson for the likes of K. P. Puttaswamy, IPS, in office. But no. Earlier, another Superintendent of Police, B. Srikantappa of Chamarajanagar too was trapped by the Lokayukta while receiving a bribe of Rs. 50,000 from a sand transporter against whom a charge sheet was filed.The sand transporter wanted Srikantappa to help him by filing a “B” report to the Court (“B” report is one where Police investigate the case and then file a report to the court saying there is no substance in the complaint or there is no prima facie case as such). The case will then be closed.

Interestingly, the same K. P. Puttaswamy was the Additional SP in Chamarajanagar at that time, when his boss B. Srikantappa was caught in the snare set by the Lokayukta. Yet, K. P. Puttaswamy, now SP at Kolar, did not learn any lesson from the past experience of his boss. Therefore, no matter how many Police officers the Lokayukta catches, it would be business as usual for these government officers including those of the IAS, IFS and IPS class.

It is said habits die hard. These two officers are from the Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) who rose to the rank of IPS after years of service in the lower rank. It is universally known corruption at the lower level in the Police force happens on a daily basis and therefore even after the elevation to the IPS, the habit must have continued, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, as if it is a natural part of the job. Habits indeed never die.

At another level, it is not as if those who enter service directly from IPS are not corrupt. If only a honest and aggressive investigation is made into the wealth amassed and properties acquired by these officers (including the benami angle), one will find a can of sinister worms crawling all over the place. While a Police Constable may collect on a daily basis a few hundred rupees and on occasions a few thousands, these IPS officers (exceptions apart) make a killing in one deal and like the Python which after swallowing an animal lies languidly for months, these officers strut around with an aura of honesty, till the next victim comes by.

Be that as it may, the point to ponder is whether the government’s recruitment policy, specially in departments like Police, Excise and Revenue, needs to be changed to ensure the kinds of B. Srikantappa and K. P. Puttaswamy are not recruited at all or promoted. In case they are recruited they must be dismissed from service if caught red-handed and found guilty, rather than merely suspending them, only to be reinstated later or let them off with minor punishment.

Just as in cases of rape or murder, the law relating to bail in cases of corruption too needs to be changed. The present law relating to bail for these offences seem to be very liberal and lax. When a person is sent to Judicial Custody, he is in jail only for a few hours. Soon he is shifted to a hospital under legal rigmarole and manipulation. Well, why not call it 'hospital custody' instead of “Judicial custody”?

Politicians, higher officials and the rich should be discouraged by the law courts from getting this "hospital custody". Consider this: a politician is arrested for some misdemeanour or offence. He is found in the pink of health at the time of his arrest. But suddenly when he is produced before the court, he feigns illness of severe nature like chest - pain, high blood pressure or even unbearable back ache. Next, we see him being taken to a super - specialty hospital ward in the name of judicial custody instead of being treated in the prison. The same has happened in the case of K. P. Puttaswamy too.

Indian Express dated 1st December, 2009 reported: "While in Kolar jail, he (K. P. Puttaswamy) reportedly complained of chest pain and was taken to hospital. Puttaswamy was later shifted to Jalappa Hospital at midnight and admitted in the VIP ward." A mockery of law and justice. A show of solidarity by the jail authorities and the doctors!

Considering the all - pervasive corruption in the Police Department, I have a lingering suspicion that most of the missing cases, murder cases, robbery cases, rape cases etc. are not detected at all, simply for the reason of corruption. Filing false complaints or threatening to file false complaint is another ploy employed by the Police. As a journalist, a number of people have come to me to get the complaint registered or if registered to get the case investigated. A couple of years back, the body of a small time planter in Kodagu was found hanging on a tree in the premises of the Race Club and despite the complaint, nothing happened. The persons named as suspects by the victim’s mother (a widow) and relatives were not even taken into custody for interrogation.

The victim’s relatives told me that the culprits had visited the jurisdictional Police Station in the city a couple of times. You can make your own inference.

The senior officers in the Police Department must review periodically all the undetected cases and put pressure on the Station House Officers to solve the cases and for this purpose periodically guide them. However, if the top officers themselves are of the Chamarajanagar SP B. Srikantappa’s kind or the Kolar SP K. P. Puttaswamy's kind, God only should help the complainant. I am not aware if there is a psychological test for the candidates who appear for public service examinations — like the IPS, IAS, KAS — to find out the propensity of a person for making money by means fair or foul. I may sound harsh and it may even be illegal, but how about brain mapping under narcoanalysis test to find out the “mind” of the candidate? This day may not be far - off, if corruption continues unabated at this level.

Indira Gandhi was indeed right when she acknowledged corruption as a “Universal Phenomenon”, almost justifying it. No wonder she was also in a way responsible for the present run of corrupt officers in all our government departments and Constitutional institutions. We had always thought at least our Army and Judiciary are well insulated from corruption. Newspapers rarely carried any item relating to corruption in the Army and Judiciary. But today we have Army scams and Judicial corruption almost daily being written in newspapers and shown on TV. Lack of trust in the leadership in all areas of governance is worrying every citizen today. The situation indeed is grim. If a citizen cannot trust a Police Officer, Army General, Chief Justice of the higher court, where shall he go for his security and justice?

Are we as a country lost in the limbo of a democratic anarchy?

Tailpiece:
Lokayukta SP arrests Kolar SP on corruption charges. A wag asks: Is it a case of “set a thief to catch a thief?!”



Is The Honourable Supreme Court Of India & National Human Rights Commission DEAF , DUMB & BLIND TO SUFFERINGS OF PEOPLE

Match Fixing in Cricket , IPL , Police , Judiciary & Government in India

Match Fixing in Indian Judiciary ? Questions CJI is Afraid to Answer & Crimes CJI is covering-up



After 64 years of india's independence the lives of commoners is far worse than under britishers. The benefits of independence has reached only few , thus creating islands of few ultra rich people surrounded by vast sea of utterly poor. The rich people in nexus with those in power , are getting favourable laws enacted to suit their ends. Those in power are shamelessly enjoying 5-star luxuries all at tax payer's expense , while more then 50 million are starving to death.



The criminalization of politics , executive & judiciary is almost complete. The corruption has spread it's tentacles far & wide , there is corruption from womb to tomb ,from maternity hospital to grave yard. The injustices meated out , the atrocities perpetrated by by public servants are worse than britishers.



Ideally in a democracy, the legal recourse of grievance redressal / justice , when a commoner suffers injustice he can appeal to respective government official or police for justice , still if doesn't get justice he can appeal to court of law , further the aggrieved can get the appropriate law enacted through his M.P / M.L.A. The sad part in India is no public servant is neither aware of the value of our hard won independence or the working of democracy.



When all the legal recourses to justice fail to respond , to provide justice to the aggrieved , when corrupt judges-police-politician-public servants act as a criminal nexus & block justice delivery, the commoner has only 2 options , either to suffer in silence or to take law into his own hands & get justice on his own.



Take for instance Bombay riots case several VVIPs – cabinet ministers , police were found to be guilty of torture , murders of innocents by justice sri Krishna enquiry commission. The government is sitting over enquiry commission report. The court is not taking suo-motto action in public interests a result , the guilty ministers & police who are fit cases for death sentences are roaming free & commiting more crimes , anti-national activities.



In some cases , involving the rich &mighty ,higher police officials , the cover-up begins right from start ie FIR Registration. Police conduct name sake enquiry , investigation, suppress evidences , witnesses , destroy some of them , the prosecution takes a favourable stand putting up weak arguments. Naturally, the guilty official , minister is acquitted by court for lack of evidences. So, the guilty who should have been rightfully put behind bars , hanged goes scot-free , to commit more crimes , more anti-national activities.



In such cases , if the suffering public give the legal punishment to the guilty , which should have been given by the court but failed. Are not such acts of public, to uphold law & dignity , national security right & patriotic ? if any body terms it as crime , that means guilty VVIPs , police , public servants should be left unpunished allowing them to commit more crimes , anti-national activities. Is that right from national security angle ? is it equality before law & equitable justice ?



Do remember that our freedom fighters ,martyrs ,sri.kudiram bose ,subhash Chandra bose , bhagath singh , veer savarkar others who took violent path of independence struggle & killed inhuman british officers, police & judges have contributed valuably ,immensely to our freedom struggle. One of the main causes of origin of naxalism ,separatist movements is the rampant corruption & unaccountability of public servants in India.



In this back drop , in India anarchy is not far away. The days of suffering public ,killing their tormentors corrupt police , corrupt judges , corrupt tax officials ,etc is not far away. No police security , no SPG cover can protect those corrupt , as police & SPG personnel work for pay , perks and will be on the wrong side of law – protecting criminals. The suffering public fighting for their survival , on the right side of natural justice , protecting the nation.



If the authorities term this act as illegal , crime then are the acts of corrupt public servants legal ? is the cover-up of such corrupt acts by police , vigilance officials & some judges by mis quoting /misinterpreting , misusing law is right , legal ? the GOI has created , funded , supported , given training , arms & ammunition to various terrorist outfits like LTTE , MUKTHI BAHINI ,MQM in foreign countries , resulting in destruction , mass murders of innocents there . In india itself in assam , Kashmir , the GOI has created counter terrorist outfits to reduce the reach of terrorist groups. The bihar , jharkhand , chattisgarh state governments have created armed gangs SALWA JUDUM to counter naxal outfits , are all these acts of government right , legal ? the days of dogs death for corrupt is quite nearby. it is high time , to the corrupt to reform , repent themselves.



In our own experience, e-voice didn't get justice from authorities in many cases of injustices brought before it , most shameful fact even supreme court of India failed to register PILs , even shameful supreme court of India even failed to give information as per RTI Act , utterly shameful supreme court of India failed to protect the fundamental rights of editor of e-voice & obstructed him from performing his fundamental duties. Still, e-voice believes in peace , democratic practices. E-voice firmly believes that violence should not be practiced by anybody – neither state nor public.



Hereby, e-voice urges the corrupt public servants to mend their ways , to uphold law & dignity of democratic institutions. Atrocities , violence , corruption breeds more violence , invites dog's death. Peace ,truth , honesty is the harbinger of prosperous democratic nation.



In the courts of law , every statement to be valid must be supported by evidences. That too, the statements of public servants / government officials & their reports in government records are considered as sacrosanct , the ultimate gospel truth by courts of law. The corruption has spread it's tentacles far & wide in the public service. The bribe booty is shared by lower to higher officials. If an official is complained against , his higher official conducts a formal investigation & reports in the record that lower official is not guilty.



The vigilance authorities / Karnataka lokayukta has recently raided on police , tax officials & seized illegal wealth amounting to crores of rupees. Take the recent case where in senior IPS officer , superintendent of police chamarajanagar , mr.srikantappa was arrested by Karnataka lokayukta. The victims spoke to media that he used to threaten them with false cases. In this way , how many victims / innocents were arrested & tortured by his arrest warrants ? how many innocents suffered in false cases ? how many rich criminals got scot free , by srikantappa's filing of B reports leading to closure of cases ? In the past how many suffered by srikantappa's actions ? has the court subjected to review all the previous actions of srikantappa throught his corrupt career ? if not , why ?



The courts of law has taken the official reports , records of mr.srikantappa as gospel truth & indirectly aided rich criminals & harmed innocents. It is the same case with respect to reports of all government officials – police , labour , tax , etc. the rich criminals buy out government officials & make them write favourable report about themselves. Whereas the poor , innocents suffer from adverse reports & injustices. The courts of law takes the government records at it's face value & meat out injustices to the poor , innocents while aiding the rich criminals.



When a commoner requests for information as per RTI Act , the government officials either give incomplete information , false information or decline to give information under one pretext or the other. The officials are damn sure that the truthful information will be detrimental to themselves & will be taken as evidence against themselves in the courts of law. So information , truth is not given.

Even information commissions are failing here. Thereby, the public are denied to seek justice in the courts of law , by lack of evidences. The courts of law before accepting the records of government officials , must subject it to a "test of truth". When a government report is contested against , a fact finding team comprising members of public , complainant , respondent & the court , must check it out at the ground level. Orelse when a complainant says that the report of a government official – police , labour , tax , etc as false that government official must be subjected to lie detector test , narco- analysis, ertc by court of law. The questionnaire ie the questions to be asked during the scientific test are to be prepared with feedback from both complainant & respondent's side. In that way , impartially truth can be found out. After all , the objective of courts of law is "Quest for Truth", not just giving out judgements based on reports of corrupt officials.



Nowadays , we are even seeing reports of corruption among the judiciary itself. If a complaint against a judge is made out that a level ground is not provided to put up one's case in the court or cross examination of one party is not allowed or lie detector test / narco analysis of one party is not allowed ( in turn taking the lies of that party as truth ), the judge making a varied interpretation of law, the judge not safe guarding the health & life of the complainant in the custody of police leading to 3rd degree torture of complainant by police , etc, in all such cases the supreme court of India must change the presiding judge of such cases , the cases must be thoroughly reviewed & the guilty judge must be subjected to narco- analysis , lie detector test , etc & legally prosecuted. In this back drop , accountability of police & judges to the public ie citizens of India – kings of democracy , is a must. After all , the kings of democracy / citizens of India / taxpayers are the paymasters of all public servants.



We at e – voice of human rights of watch have utmost respect for the judiciary & all government institutions. It is the corrupt few in those institutions who are themselves bringing disgrace to the august institutions they occupy , by their corrupt deeds. The saving grace is that still honest few are left in public service & it is an appeal to them , to legally prosecute their corrupt colleagues.



In India , the private enterprises are the wealth creators of our economy. However , some private enterprises are violating labour laws , tax laws , human rights & fundamental rights of people. In turn harming the public , looting the tax dues. This is creating black money causing various social evils in the society. These huge private enterprises take loans from public sector banks ie take public's money as loans , collect money from public in the form of shares , debentures , sell their product to the public. Still , they are not covered by RTI Act, they don't give truthful information to the public nor allow public inspection of their sites , why ? they buy out concerned government officials & gets them to write favourable report about themselves. There are wide differences between the ground reality & these government reports. If the aggrieved person , victim of injustices meated out by these private enterprises , tries to legally seek justice, these criminal private enterprises buy out police , concerned officials & fixes up the victim in false cases. The police in total disregard to law violates the human rights & fundamental rights of the victim in custody , subjects the victim to 3rd degree torture in custody. The presiding judge of the case doesn't safe guard the rights , health , life of victims in custody. The judge doesn't check out the truthfulness of government reports & passes on judgement making varied interpretation of just remember the case of "local citizens vs coca cola company" in plachimada , kerala.



Is it not right & just in such cases , to subject the presiding judge , police , concerned government officialds & most importantly key officials of that criminal private enterprise to lie detector , narco- analysis tests , to know the truth ? is it not right to conduct the inspection of alleged site , review of all company's records , by a team comprising of members from public , court , complainant & respondent ?



Some of these criminal enterprises threaten to finish off the poor victims . as these company's have money power they can buy out rowdies , police & capable of doing anything. In such cases , if anything untoward happens to the victim or his family , are not the officials of such criminal enterprise liable to pay compensation to the victims's family or survivors ?



In India , do we truly have democracy & freedom ? is this corrupt India – what our freedom fighters dreamt of & fought for ?



please refer details at following web pages :

http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/judgements-for-sale ,
http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/court-judgements-fixed ,
http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/3rd-degree-torture-by-indian-police ,
http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/court-judgements-for-a-price


Public prosecutor caught on the wrong side of law


In a decision termed “rarest of rare” by a city court, a trial court judge found a public prosector on the wrong side of the law.

Indicting the prosecutor for deliberately botching up examination of witnesses in a case of abduction for ransom, Additional Sessions Judge Pratap S Malik has passed strictures against the state’s counsel and sent the copy of his order to the prosecution branch for necessary action.

The judge held that there was a deliberate attempt by the prosecutor to create situations favourable for the three accused, found guilty of abducting one Sanjay Khan for ransom in 2004. Khan had later committed suicide to escape further assault and the court, finding ample evidence on record, had awarded life imprisonment to the trio on Saturday.

The prosecutor had refrained from putting important questions to police officials and other witnesses that could help the prosecution nail the accused in a more convincing manner, the court observed.


Prosecutor caught in ACB trap

PTI | 01:04 AM,Apr 08,2011

Thane, Apr 7 (PTI) An assistant Public Prosecutor attached to the Kalyan court was trapped by Thane unit of Anti Corruption Bureau while allegedly accepting bribe in the court premises this evening. ACB officials said that one Tuna Bharati, a resident of Malad, had filed case of dowry harassment against husband and in-laws of his late sister, Bhavana. Assistant Public Prosecutor, Chayya Bhadkamkar allegedly demanded Rs 20,000 and accepted the first instalment of Rs 3,500, for arguing the case effectively, ACB said. She was trapped today while taking the balance amount, it said.









DEALS IN COURTS & POLICE STATIONS READ :

http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/satyameva-jayate ,

http://e-clarionofdalit.blogspot.com/2011/01/satyameva-jayate.html ,







DEALS IN COURTS & POLICE STATIONS READ :

http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/satyameva-jayate ,

http://e-clarionofdalit.blogspot.com/2011/01/satyameva-jayate.html ,



JUDGES IN PROVIDENT FUND SCAM ?



NEW DELHI: Faced with accusations having the potential to unhinge the traditional public perception of the judiciary's clean image, the SC on Monday decided to examine the possible mode of probe into the Rs 23 crore illegal PF withdrawal scam allegedly involving 23 judges, including some from the HCs and one from the apex court. The difficult question on the mode of probe was posed by a petitioner, who is the chairman of Advocates Welfare Trust and Bar Association of Ghaziabad — the place where the scam took place — even as CJI K G Balakrishnan had shown faith in the integrity of the judges by asking the UP police, which is probing the scam, to send questionnaires to the judges, whose names allegedly figured in the scam. Unwilling to have the judges interrogated by the police at first go, SC had written to the UP police that if the response of those judges to the questionnaire did not satisfy the probe team, then it could send request for personal interrogation. The request for interrogation in person would be considered on merit, the SC had told the police in a communication. Appearing for the Bar, senior advocate Fali S Nariman flanked by senior advocates Anil Divan and M N Krishnamani expressed concern over the scandal and also pointed out the possible dent in the image of the judiciay if an SHO was seen interrogating a judge. Bench comprising CJI Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal appeared undecided about the constitution of a committee as suggested by Nariman, it decided to seek the assistance of solicitor general G E Vahanvati to chart out a possible course to deal with the situation.



To keep the proceedings off the media glare, the bench decided to take up the matter in chamber on July 14, when Vahanvati and other senior advocates would make good their assistance to look for a way out of the problematic situation. The petition said one Ashutosh Asthana, the Central Nazir in the judgeship of Ghaziabad, had allegedly confessed before a magistrate about his role in the PF scam and had allegedly mentioned the names of 23 judges who were beneficiaries of the ill-gotten money.



SOS Appeal to SUPREME COURT of INDIA
http://e-clarionofdalit.blogspot.com/2010/08/s-o-s-appeal-to-supreme-...
DEALS IN COURTS & POLICE STATIONS READ :
http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/satyameva-jayate ,
http://e-clarionofdalit.blogspot.com/2011/01/satyameva-jayate.html ,
ACCUSED Chief Justice of India
http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/accused-chief-justice-of...
,
http://e-clarionofdalit.blogspot.com/2011/02/accused-chief-justice-of...



PROTECTION OF WITNESSES IN CRIMINAL CASES

· JESSICA LAL MURDER CASE & GUJARATH RIOTS





In the 7 year old jessica lal murder case , all the accussed –

children of rich & mighty have gone scot free , for lack of both

prosecution & witnesses. The culprits have forced the witnesses to

remain silent through the use of muscle & money power. The

investigating police official, from the beginning has done roughshod

work & also have played a role in silencing witnesses. I.O MORE RICHER

NOW? PROMOTIONS? The presiding judge of the court has overlooked many

omissions & commissions by the prosecution and in a hurry closed the

case , acquitting all the accussed. Reward for judge – promotion as

high court judge. In this way, the police-prosecutor-judge were

together ganged up against the victim from the beginning. Also, the

witnesses were afraid of brute muscle power of rowdies & rowdies in

khaki uniform.

Now, take the gujarath riots case. In the first place riot took place

under the active patronage of gujarath state government machinery.

Naturally the police , prosecutors & judges in gujarath were against

the riot victims & closed one case after another, acquitting the

guilty. However the apex court got transferred riot cases out of

gujarath , under public pressure. However, even the apex court failed

to instill confidence , in the prime witness of best bakery case , the

apex court failed to positively reassure the witness of her safety &

livlihood. As a result , out of fear she became hostile- went on

changing her statements.

In this manner, numerous low profile cases involving commonman are

buried , witnesses silenced by the corrupt nexus of police-prosecutor-

judge. They don't even draw media attention as they are low profile.

Drastic reforms of criminal justice system in india is needed.

Punishing the hostile witness is not the solution. Accountability of

investigating officers , police , prosecutors & judges is needed.how

come some police officials , public prosecutors & judges are leading

luxurious lifestyles, beyond the scope of their legal income?

Recently in the media there was mention of a C.D of alleged

conversation between samajvadi party M.P mr.amar singh & U.P chief

minister , about influencing a high court judge & fixing a case. This

is the way our judiciary functions in india. Rewards for corrupt

judges – out of turn promotions, post retirement postings , postings

to kith & kin , land allotments , etc.

Accountability of judiciary & investigating agencies is the need of

the day. Let us start with polygraph tests for I.O , POLICE , PUBLIC

PROSECUTOR & JUDGE of jessica lal murder case.



Reproduced from The Times Of India August 16, 2007 page10

We do frame people, says NCB official

Sub-Inspector Tell HC How They Plant Drugs On Innocents

Abhinav Garg / TNN

New Delhi:It's been suspected by many, but confirmation of the police falsely implicating people by planting drugs on them has now come from the policeman himself who has been accused of planting drugs on two innocent people.

Sub-Inspector Ranbir Singh of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) admitted at the Delhi High Court that testing kits for checking banned drugs wereoften defective. What's more officers often replaced the recovered substance with lethal drugs in order to implicate them. A shocked court has summoned the NCB director to explain the charge.

Ranbir is himself tainted of this grave abuse of authority. There is an FIR against him for falsely implicating rwo persons under the harsh Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances act. He claimed to have recovered 100gm heroin from them which later turned out to be harmless paracetomal powder.

The officer is now seeking to get the FIR quashed and in his defence has claimed that he was not the only one who framed people, several other officers did the same.

The Judge has also summoned the Kamala Market Narcotics Cell in-charge from whose area Singh allegedly picked up the two persons.

The Director and the Cell in-charge will have to explain before the court as to how these two innocents were booked and thrown into jail when two forensic reports clearly stated that the substance in question was paracetomol.

The case in which Singh is involved took place in March last year. Gyanender and Santosh were arrested by him for alleged possesion of heroin. The substance was sent for testing to two CFCL labs-one in Rohini and the other in Chandigarh- and both labs reported back that the powder was'nt heroin but just parecetomal.

After this came to light, the additional sessions judge hearing the case acquited the two men and recommended that an FIR be lodged against Singh as the two undertrials had to languish in jail because of the wanton abuse of authority.

The high court, while hearing a petition filed by Singh seeking quashing of FIR against him found it intriguing that even when the investigating team is equipped with "field testing kit" to test the contraband, they had mistaken paracetomal powder for heroin. Upon which Singh revealed that kits were often defective and that officers also changed the actual recovered substance with banned contraband.


BHOPAL GAS VERDICT FIXED - Shame Shame to Supreme Court of India & Supreme Court of USA

Now it is a known fact that Bhopal Gas Leak Case Verdict was FIXED years before , MATCH FIXED by then MP Government Chief Minister , Indian Prime Minister and most shame fully Chief Justice of India.
Now The Final Verdict is out in Bhopal Gas Tragedy . This kind of Injustice can only happen in banana republics , where rich crooks are protected by authorities & courts. SHAME SHAME to supreme court of India , supreme court of USA & Government of USA , for practicing double standards in enforcement of law & justice.

Double standards of supreme court of India
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/is-the-supreme-court-of-india-deaf-dumb-blind

PIL Appeal & Show Cause Notice to Supreme Court of India
http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/pil-appeal-show-cause-notice-to-supreme-court-of-india

In India, Favorable treatment is given by police & courts of law for rich crooks where as poor innocents are harassed , tortured by the very same police & judges . In india Some MP , MLAs even take money for asking questions in parliament / legislature , Favourable laws are enacted to legalize crimes of rich crooks for example : Illegal land encroachments by rich crooks. The same MPs , MLAs are not aware about problems of poor public , they don’t even open their mouth for asking questions on welfare of poor , let alone enact laws for welfare of poor. No government law , no decisions of judges , no orders of public servants are sacrosanct . Hereby , e-voice urges the supreme court of india ,
1. To legally prosecute the jurisdictional police who changed the charge sheet , who let out Main criminalAnderson illegally without orders from the court.
2. To legally prosecute the SSP , DC of the district , Then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh & Then Prime Minister of GOI , who fully aided the main accussed , criminal Anderson to escape , to jump law.
3. To legally prosecute Indian Public Servants , who were responsible for withdrawing the case from US Courts of Justice.
4. To legally prosecute Then Chief Justice of India Justice Ahmadi & His bench colleagues , who diluted the case by changing the clause under which Anderson & others were charged.

The Public servants – Mps , MLAs , Judges , IAS / IPS officers , Police take thousands of rupees monthly salary , cars , bungalows , 5-star hotel stay together with 5-star meal complete with alchoholic drinks , 5-star health care at premium hospitals , business class air travel , foreign tours , etc all at tax payer’s expense. After enjoying to the hilt at taxpayer’s expense , these same public servants don’t serve the public , they serve the rich crooks , anti nationals in their greed for more money.

All the while the same poor tax payer suffers without justice . In India more than 50 Crore people are barely surviving on a single piece meal .Let the corrupt public servants eat their 5-star meals by the side of the graves of Bhopal Gas Victims. Atleast this will open the eyes of honest few in public service – police , judiciary & parliament , it is a fond hope. This is an appeal to those honest few in judiciary , police & parliament to catch hold of their corrupt colleagues.



COURT JUDGEMENT FIXING IN COURTS OF LAW / POLICE STATIONS / GOVERNMENT OFFICES - SATYAMEVA JAYATE ?

Triumph of Injustice in India



In India legislations , Parliamentary Acts , policy decisions are fixed (example : telecom policy fixing by neera radia & others) , the court judgement are fixed , arrest warrant by courts are fixed (example : CJI. Ahmadi changing the charge against Bhopal gas co & a judge issuing arrest warrants against then president of India kalam & then CJI) , Police fixing cases , torturing innocents , closing cases by B reports , changing track of investigations , governments servants giving false reports & records , etc. In this back drop , commonman won’t get justice in India . Instead if he raises his voice for justice , he is persecuted by the nexus of CRIMINALS – POLICE – JUDGES – PUBLIC SERVANTS.

Even the supreme court of India , is not accepting our offer of service to legally book the criminals nor is it registering our PIL nor the Karnataka police are registering our complaint against public servants.



Our Supreme Court Judges , police & Public Servants , preach virtues in courts of law & other forums , but they don’t practice it themselves.

SATYAMEVA JAYATE ?

Read & Answer :

http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/chief-justice-of-india-answer ,

http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/cover-up-rajiv-gandhi-assassination ,

http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/wake-up-indian-judiciary



JAI HIND. VANDE MATARAM.

Your’s sincerely ,
Nagaraj.M.R.





CROSS-EXAMINATION of Chief Justice of India - Half of Former Chief Justices of India are Corrupt

Visit : http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/answer-my-lord

Judicial Layout Site Allotment – BRIBE TO JUDGES ?

Is the allotment of residential plots to Judges @ yelahanka Judicial Layout , a mode of paying bribe to judges by the biggest litigant government itself & the corrupt public servants in the government. So that the government can pass illegal laws like “Regularization of Illegal Buildings” , “ Illegal Appointments to Medical colleges in Hassan , Mysore” ,etc & ministers , IAS officers can indulge in illegal unconstitutional acts , but the courts will not take any appropriate action suo motto or based on any petition. IT IS MUTUAL HELP , NEXUS OF TWO CRIMINALS – JUDICIARY & GOVERNMENT. Ofcourse , there are honest few exceptions in judiciary & government. We Respect those honest few.

Information input forms part of process of one’s expression. One’s expression in any forms – written , oral , etc becomes information input to the opposite person , in turn he expresses his reply. Information & Expression are inseparable parts & form lifeline of a democracy. That is the reason , Right to Expression is the basic fundamental right as well as human right of every Indian citizen. When a person’s right to expression is violated , his other rights to equality , justice , etc also are violated. Suppression of Information amounts to curbing of Expression.

In a democracy , people have a right to know how the public servants are functioning. However till date public servants are hiding behind the veil of Officials Secrets Act (which is of british vintage created by british to suppress native indians). By this cover-up public servants are hiding their own corruption , crimes , mismanagement , failures , etc. even RTI Act is not being followed intoto by public servants. However the recent delhi high court ruling affirming that CJI is under RTI purview & bound to answer RTI request , is noteworthy.

Our previous RTI request to CJI , union home secretary of GOI, President of India , DG & IGP of GOK and others were not honored. The information I sought were answers to the following questions mentioned in the below mentioned websites . the questions concerned the past , present continuing injustices meted out to millions of Indian citizens , due to wrong / illegal work practices of Indian judges , police & public servants . The information we sought would expose the traitors , anti-nationals , criminals in public service. The information we are seeking are no defense secrets , no national secrets. The truthful information exposes the anti-nationals , traitors in the public service & strengthens our national security , national unity & integrity.

Hereby , I do request the honorable supreme court of India to consider this as a PIL for : “writ of Mandamus” and to issue instructions to the concerned public servants in the following cases to perform their duties & to answer the questions at following web page : http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/deals-in-courts




IB confirms Mysore sex scandal



The Intelligence Bureau has provided the Centre with a detailed account of the escapade involving three Karnataka High Court judges on November 3 in a resort on the outskirts of Mysore, highly placed sources told The Times of India on Friday.
According to a senior official, "Most of the information sought has not only confirmed the veracity of the incident but the government has crosschecked it with another police agency. Both the reports match."
The incident was widely reported in the media. What has surprised the Centre is the "dogged refusal" of the Karnataka police to confirm the incident. "Mysore Police Commissioner C. Chandrasekhar first denied that the incident ever took place. Only when a public notice was issued through the high court registrar seeking information on the Mysore scandal, did the facts come out in the open. Public protest helped a lot," says the source.
What transpired at the resort, says the source, "cannot be expected from anyone in civil society, leave alone persons sworn to upholding the law". According to him, "The IB report consists of unmentionable facts and also makes it amply clear that the Mysore incident is not the first time such things have happened. Can anyone expect upholders of the law to pick a fight with people who complained to the police when caught in a compromising position?"
In a related development, Karnataka High Court Chief Justice N.K. Jain has written to Chief Justice of India Justice G.B. Pattanaik asking that three judges be transferred. Jain has proposed that Justice N.S. Veerabhadraiah be transferred to the Patna High Court, Justice Chandrasekharaiah to Jammu & Kashmir and Justice V. Gopala Gowda to the Gauhati High Court.
While Jain is understood not to have given any reasons, highly placed sources say the proposal for transfers is linked to the Mysore incident.
However, the source says that now the government is worried about the appropriate "remedial measures". In such cases, transferring a judge to a remote high court doesn't always work. He says, "Bar associations and the people of northeastern states were up in arms when some judges of the Punjab and Haryana high courts were transferred there. We expect similar protests if the CJI accepts Justice Jain's proposal to transfer the three judges of the Karnataka High Court."
The Bar Council of India on Friday, while expressing its anguish at the Karnataka incident, called for "follow-up action".
"Unless prompt and appropriate action is taken, it will erode the faith of public in the only institution considered to be the bastion of our fighting faith in democracy," it said in a statement. The BCI has "lamented" inaction in this case by "the higher judiciary and the government".


Read more: IB confirms Mysore sex scandal - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/IB-confirms-Mysore-sex-scandal/articleshow/29801662.cms#ixzz1B7PtvFdU




CJ suspends copycat judges, wants report



Watch : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWb_GUB_TZE

Hyderabad/Warangal, Aug. 25: The Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice, Mr Nisar Ahmad Kakru, on Wednesday suspended five subordinate judges for allegedly indulging in copying during the LLM exams held at Kakatiya University in Warangal district on Tuesday.

Mr Ajitsimha Rao, senior civil judge, Mr Vijayender Reddy, second additional district judge of Ranga Reddy district, Mr M. Kistappa, senior civil judge of Anantapur, Mr Srinivasa Chary, senior civil judge of Baptla and Mr Hanumantha Rao, additional junior civil judge of Warangal were caught red-handed while copying in the first year exams.

The Chief Justice reviewed the situation after obtaining the preliminary report from the university authorities and issued orders suspending them from the service. He also asked the university to send a detailed report on the exam malpractice by the judges.

Meanwhile, the Warangal District Bar Association (WDBA) has demanded registration of cases under the AP Public Examination (Prevention of Malpractices & Unfair Means) Act, 1997, against the errant judges. “It was unbecoming of the judges to indulge in mass copying,” said Mr Ch Sambasiva Raju, vice-president, WDBA. The WDBA office bearers also demanded suspension of Mr Razak Uzama, II Sub-Judge, Warangal and his wife Ms Prema Rajeshwara, secretary, district legal services authority, Warangal, both of who appeared in the LLM exam. Reportedly, it was Mr Razak who encouraged the mass copying. However, he and his wife were spared. Meanwhile, Dr Talapalli Manohar, additional controller of examination, SDLCE, clarified that the flying squad had actually debarred only three judges — Mr M. Kistappa, Mr Vijayender Reddy and Mr Ajitsimha Rao. Sources said the other two judges, Mr Hanumantha Rao and Mr Srinivasa Chary were caught based on visual evidence.




Magistrate issues arrest warrant against Indian president after cash bribe.



An Indian magistrate who allegedly accepted a bribe to issue arrest warrants against India's president and senior legal figures has been trapped in a sting operation by a journalist, a report said.

The journalist videotaped magistrate Meghani Nagar, who practices in Ahmedabad, commercial capital of Gujarat state, accepting a bribe of 40,000 rupees (851 dollars) to issue the arrest warrants, the Times of India newspaper said Thursday.

Among those cited in the warrants for criminal breach of trust and for cheating and dishonesty are Indian President Abdul Kalam and Chief Justice V.N. Khare, a senior judge and a well-known …





Indian president arrest warrant probe



India's Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into how an arrest warrant was issued against the country's president and its top judges.



A shocked Chief Justice VN Khare asked India's top police body, the Central Bureau of Investigation, to report its findings in a week.

President Abdul Kalam, two Supreme Court judges - including Chief Justice Khare himself - and the president of India's bar association were issued with the warrants after a case of fraud was filed against them.

An Indian television journalist has told the court he secretly filmed a magistrate accepting 40,000 rupees ($883) to issue the warrants.

The magistrate apparently had not realised who they were, newspaper reports said on Thursday. He has now been suspended from his duties.

Court request

Journalist Vijay Shekhar has handed over to the court videotapes of the incident, which took place in the state of Gujarat.



The court has issued notices to the magistrate and the lawyers who filed the case, asking them for their version of the events, the Press Trust of India reports.

"What is happening in Gujarat? By giving 40,000 rupees you can get a judicial order," Chief Justice Khare is reported as saying.

"If this is the state of affairs only God knows what will happen to the country," he added.

Mr Shekhar said he carried out the sting operation to expose corruption in India's judiciary.

In 2001 India was hit by an arms scandal after a website secretly filmed senior military and defence officials apparently accepting cash from journalists posing as arms dealers.



Lokayukta: DC demanded sex from widow



In the midst of a national outrage over former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore molesting a teenager, the Karnataka Lokayukta on Saturday made a startling revelation that the state government was shielding a top bureaucrat who had demanded sexual favours from a young widow.

Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde during an interaction at the Deccan Herald office on Saturday. DH photoLokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde disclosed that the official concerned, who was the deputy commissioner of one of the districts when he demanded sex from the widow in return for discharging his duties as public servant, has since been promoted to a senior position.

Justice Hegde, in the course of an interaction with journalists at the Deccan Herald office Saturday afternoon, said the unnamed widow had dared the deputy commissioner and approached the Lokayukta’s office with a complaint against the officer.

On examination of the complaint, the Lokayukta had found sufficient grounds to recommend to the state government the suspension and prosecution of the DC concerned. The recommendation was subsequently considered by the concerned department head as well as the chief secretary and both endorsed it.

But, according to Justice Hegde, no action was initiated against the DC as the same official who had endorsed the recommendation subsequently found no basis for initiating departmental action against him. Instead, the official cleared the DC’s name for promotion in the super-scale. Presently, the official holds a senior position in the government.

The widow, in her late 20s, had approached the DC with a representation to sort out some problems. But she was shocked when the DC demanded sex.

Justice Hegde did not identify the official in question or the complainant. Nor did he offer to name the district where the official was serving as deputy commissioner. But the incident has happened sometime in the course of last three years as Justice Hegde took over as the Lokayukta in mid-2006.



3-year jail term for ‘dirty’ judge



Family court judge Ramrao Gangaram Bhise attempted to get sexual favours from a housewife in 1997

Family court judge Ramrao Gangaram Bhise’s attempts to extract sexual favours, in addition to a bribe, from a housewife, Alka Gaikwad — who had sought an increase in her monthly maintenance allowance from her estranged husband, in 1997 — proved costly to him. Pronouncing him guilty on both counts, the special court hearing anti-corruption bureau (ACB) matters sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment and a collective fine of Rs55, 000, on Monday.

According to the FIR in the case registered against Bhise by the ACB, Suryakant Gaikwad had filed for divorce from his wife, Alka, before the Bandra family court. Alka, a housewife, in turn, filed a petition seeking mutual cohabitation with her husband. The then family court judge, Meera Khadakkar, directed the husband to pay her an interim maintenance allowance of Rs750 per month.

Subsequently, in January 1997, Alka filed another application before the same family court (now presided over by Bhise) seeking to increase the monthly maintenance amount to Rs3,500. “On October 27, 1997, Bhise issued an interim order, increasing the maintenance allowance to Rs2,000 to be paid by Suryakan to his estranged wife till the disposal of the case. Immediately after issuing the order, Bhise asked Alka to meet him and gave her his residential telephone number, asking her to call him when the court hours ended. He told her that he would ask her husband to pay her a lump sum of Rs2 lakh in addition to the monthly maintenance, provided she called him up,” the FIR states.

When she called up the judge at 7 pm the same day, Bhise told her that she would have to pay him a sum of Rs2,000 in addition to granting his sexual favours if she wanted an order in her favour. He also directed her to meet him at the Haji Ali bus stop with the bribe amount the following evening.

“Alka approached the ACB, which sought permission from the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court before laying a trap on the first class judicial magistrate (Bhise). The HC while granting the permission designated a court official to bear witness to the events leading to the trap. Alka, under video camera surveillance of ACB sleuths, along with the court official and other women witnesses met Bhise at 8.30 pm at the Haji Ali bus stop. Bhise took hold of Alka’s wrist and when she protested, repeated his demands,” the FIR states.

Alka was then taken to a nearby hotel, Sharda, where the judge accepted the bribe amount. But before he could do anything else, ACB sleuths swooped in and arrested him.




Rajasthan judge is indicted for seeking sexual favours





Chief Justice of India G B Pattanaik retires tonight and he doesn’t have much to write home about on the unprecedented drive he launched to enforce judicial accountability.

After the PPSC scam fiasco, reported in The Indian Express today, comes the case of the Rajasthan judge who has been indicted in a sex scandal and yet has escaped action—pending another inquiry.

On December 14, a three-judge committee set up by Pattanaik confirmed the ‘‘involvement’’ of Justice Arun Madan of the Rajasthan High Court in a proposition to a woman doctor to have sex with him in exchange for a judicial favour.

The committee, headed by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice B K Roy, submitted its report to Pattanaik, indicting Madan on a complaint made from Jodhpur by the woman concerned, Sunita Malviya.

But Pattanaik has not announced any action against Madan. When contacted by The Indian Express, Pattanaik confirmed that the committee had indicted Madan and his ‘‘bad reputation’’ in seeking sexual favours in return for judicial ones.

However, Pattanaik said that no action was being taken since the committee had also mentioned allegations of corruption against Madan. And so he had ordered a further inquiry by the same committee into the corruption charges.

When asked what he did with the indictment of Madan in the sex scandal, Pattanaik said, ‘‘That is on hold because I could not have taken piecemeal action against him....I am praying to God that the final report will give some tangible material to take action.’’

Highly placed sources told The Indian Express that when the committee recorded statements last week in Jodhpur of about 30 persons over four days, it also came to know of several allegations of corruption against Madan and another judge of the same high court. The committee put these on record as well.

Pattanaik said that when he summoned Madan to New Delhi last week, he did not raise the sex scandal issue and instead limited himself to saying that he was ordering a further inquiry into corruption allegations.

In effect, Pattanaik has now passed the Rajasthan buck to his successor Justice V N Khare.

The gist of Malviya’s complaint is that Madan made a sexual proposition to her in October through a deputy registrar of the high court, Govind Kalwani, who said that the judge would help her, in turn, get out of a criminal case booked against her.

With this, Pattanaik’s much-touted in-house judicial accountability seems to have hit a wall. The first committee’s report into the PPSC scam exonerated one judge despite evidence and let two others off with a mere slap on the wrist. The third committee is now busy probing the involvement of judges in the Mysore sex scam.


Wapedia - Wiki: Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of ...

1 Dec 2010 ... (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu & Kash- mir. ... This is because of the still existing biases of thecourt judges. ... had his chambers "purified" with water from the 'ganga jal' because a ...
wapedia.mobi/.../Scheduled_Caste_and_Scheduled_Tribe_(Prevention_of_Atrocities)_Act,_1989 - Cached - Similar

http://www.scribd.com/doc/33423338/Hidden-Apartheid-Caste-Discrimination-against-India%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9CUntouchables




Corruption in Judiciary

The sheer number of cases pending in the Indian judicial system (26 million at last count) says it all.





One of the most frequently used words in India, corruption signifies a range of things. In 2005, Transparency International and Delhi based Centre for Media Studies, a research firm, undertook the India Corruption Study. The survey covered 14,405 respondents over 20 states and included interviews with service providers and users (of these services). The results, published the same year said Indians pay out around Rs. 21,068 crore as bribes while availing one of 11 public services. While some of the results of the survey were published, many of the details were not. The study, however, remains the most recent and the most comprehensive report on corruption in India. Apart from calculating the extent of corruption, in Rs. crore, it explains the mechanics of it.

Over the week, Mint will present details of the CMS study. On Monday we featured India’s public distribution system. On Tuesday, we did the education system. Today, we look at the judicial system. Reader’s are welcome to send in their feedback to feedback@livemint.com.

Corruption in judiciary

Corruption in education system

Corruption in Public Distribution System

Courting Corruption

The sheer number of cases pending in the Indian judicial system (26 million at last count) says it all. Given that, and the number of judges across various states (per lakh of population), the system is rife with delays and inefficiencies -- ideal conditions for middlemen to step in. In the year preceding the survey, 59% of respondents paid bribes to lawyers, 5% to judges, and 30% to court officials.

1. Inaccesibility

The judicial system is highly dilatory, expensive, and beyond the reach of the common man. Ordinary citizens find it hard to seek redress, as litigation is expensive and extra money is often required to oil the wheels of the system

2. Misuse of power

There are instances of Metropolitan Magistrates issuing bailable arrest warrants against individuals of whose identitites he has no idea, in return for an inducement.

Some time back, a Metropolitan Magistrate in Ahmedabad issued bailable arrest warrants against the President of India in return for an inducement of Rs. 40,000.

In some cases, judges offer a favour in exchange for personal gain or favours. In Rajasthan, some time back, there were reports of a judge who offered judicial favour in exchange for sexual favours from a litigant. Some of these instances have been reported by the media, but no action has resulted.

Today, under existing rules, any person making any allegation of corruption or other things against a sitting judge can be charged and punished for contempt of court. This is a deterrent against more such instances coming to light.

3. A difficult impeachment process

The Supreme Court of India has ruled that no first information report (FIR) can be registered against a judge, nor, a criminal investigation initiated without prior approval of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Once appointed, a judge of the High Court or Supreme Court cannot be sacked except by a complicated impeachment process, done by members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the two houses of Indian parliament. Their immunity is reinforced by the fact that the procedure isn’t just cumbersome but also susceptible to political influence. In the 1990s, when the Congress was in power, a motion seeking to impeach Justice V Ramaswami could not be passed by parliament as Congress members of parliament abstained from voting. There have been no other attempts at impeachment in India.

4. Slow and inefficient

Many cases drag on for years. SAn oft cited excuse is the lack of staff, but the judicial process itself is unnecessarily complicated and inefficient, making cases drag on for a long time. Bribes are sometimes ought to davance the judgement or bend it. At last count, some 26 million cases were pending in Indian courts.

Why People Pay Bribes

1. Favourable judgement

Recent media reports have shown that it is possible to secure a favourable judegement in a lower court by bribing the judiciary, although the situation radically improves when it comes to the higher courts.

2. Speeding up judgement

There is a huge backlog of cases in Indian courts which results in delayed judgements. It is quite common for a case to drag on for years. People often have to pay bribes to speed up the process.

3. Other activities

A llot of non case related work also falls under the purview of the judiciary. This includes the issual of affidavits, registrations, etc. People often pay bribes to get this work done by a middleman.

4. Obtaining bail

The judge has a lot of discretion in issuing bail; the guidelines governing this are fairly basic. It is possible to secure bail by influencing the judge in some cases.

5. Manipulating witnesses

As some recent high-profile cases have shown, witnesses are manipulated through money or force into giving favourable testimony.

Suggested Solutions

1. Use of technology

* A review of how court records are handled and the introduction of modern tracking methods can eliminate much of petty corruption existing in lower courts

* Websites and CDs can explain basic law to laymen

* Court files can be computerized

* Video recordings of cout procedings should be maintained

2. Reduce the gap

* Provide alternative methods of dispute redressal to lighten burden on courts

* Increase number of judicial officers and number of fast track courts

* Create a vigilance cell for redressal of public grievances

3. Making the judiciary accountable

* Judges must be subject to judicial review

* Judges must follow a code of conduct

* Bar associations must act against corrupt members

* A public body must keep an eye on the judicial system

* An Indian judicial service must be created

* The proposed National Judicial Commission should have powers to fire judges

* Judges should declare their assets and those of their family

Corruption in judiciary

Corruption in education system

Corruption in Public Distribution System


Anamolies in the arrest procedure

-- By Anil Nauriya

A recent case of a Gujarat magistrate who issued arrest warrants against the President of India, the Chief Justice of India, a Supreme Court judge and a former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has evoked interest in the media. There has been public concern essentially over the circumstances in which this order was procured and about how the names of the dignitaries concerned were disguised by not mentioning their designations and by seemingly spelling the names in full rather than as they are usually written. The complainant — there is a doubt whether the person in whose name the complaint was filed is real or virtual — simply approached a magistrate and made an apparently fictitious claim of having been cheated or defrauded.

The criminal justice process reached the arrest warrant stage without anyone taking the precaution of finding out whether there was an iota of truth in the complaint. Why did this happen in this particular case? How could such a thing happen under criminal procedure? The Supreme Court is seized with the first question and it is not desirable to comment on it. But the second question can and should be discussed.

A vital point to note about the “ordinary” criminal procedure (as distinguished from so-called special laws like the earlier Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act) is that it is not in fact ordinary. As in the case of the existing Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, applicable in India, criminal procedure in post-colonial societies is modelled on or is an outgrowth of colonial procedure. Many provisions have been mechanically continued.

There are several problem areas in criminal procedure relating to case registration, police powers of arrest in respect of certain offences considered graver than others, magisterial powers to direct investigation and, in given situations, issue warrants of arrest, and, finally, in the investigation itself. These aspects of criminal procedure lend themselves to considerable abuse by the police and the subordinate judiciary.

The Code enables a complaint to be made to a magistrate under Section 190 and certain other provisions in case the police do not register an FIR on their own or after a complaint is made to them. On being so approached, magistrates have a variety of options, superimposed on, and sometimes even apart from the usual classification of offences on the basis of seriousness. But broadly during the pre-trial stage there are two magisterial approaches that may, with some risk of simplification, be called the Red and Green Channels. The first is to insist on some elaborate evidence or material being brought on record by the complainant before setting the law in motion. The second is to simply take the complaint on record, ask the complainant a question or two, and initiate the process by directing the police to investigate and, if necessary, issuing summons or warrants as the case may be. Complaints about cognisable (that is, cases in which the police may arrest without warrant) and non-bailable offences often tend to go through the Green Channel.

The difference in the two approaches is ironical and paradoxical. Thus if a parent finds that a minor daughter has been to enticed into a child marriage, and the police have failed to take action against those who organised it, the complaint would generally have to travel through the Red Channel. A child marriage is not necessarily treated as void in personal law, but those who organise it are liable to some minor punishments. A complainant under Section 190 of the Code read with the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 would have to produce what is known as “pre-summoning” evidence before the magistrate. Long dates might be fixed by the magistrate. Unless other steps are taken, the minor girl might even have produced a child and come of age by the time summons are actually issued to the accused persons.
The Green Channel operates differently. These cases include but are not limited to matters where the police are empowered to make arrests on their own. In a given case, the police may register an FIR and, if empowered, effect arrests on their own initiative.

On the other hand, they may choose not to do so because of political or other pressure. They may also drag their feet for the reason that they are aware of the false and vexatious nature of the complaint. The complainant must then approach the magistrate concerned. At this stage there are few strong safeguards to sieve out fabricated complaints. In fact, if the complaint is fabricated it stands a better chance of receiving Green Channel treatment if it alleges the commission of a serious offence, usually referred to as “cognisable” and “non-bailable.” Odd though it may sometimes seem, in such matters elaborate preliminary evidence is not insisted upon as much as it is in the case of lesser offences.

The magistrates are quicker in such cases to direct police investigation and, as the Gujarat magistrate’s case shows, even go further and issue arrest warrants; the initial burden placed upon the complainant by the magistrate is much lighter in such cases. Even a mere order for investigation means, under some judicial decisions, that the police must now necessarily register an FIR. The registration of an FIR implies, in most such cases, arrest of the persons complained against. Since colonial days, the police have often treated as dead letters provisions like Section 41 of the Code which require “credible information” and “reasonable suspicion” before the police may arrest a person without warrant. Similarly, during investigation the police have traditionally taken little notice of the stipulation in Section 157 of the Code that an arrest is to be made when it is “necessary”; there is little appreciation of the fact that the test of “necessity” is a condition precedent to arrest.

The upshot is that under the existing Code of Criminal Procedure it is easier to obtain, with magisterial aid, arrest of persons in a false case concerning serious-looking offences than to obtain, in a genuine case, even a summons to the wrong-doer in what the law treats as less serious offences. The law offers a Green Channel for the first category and a Red Channel for the second category. There are no “remedies” to this particular malice; much depends upon the human material in the police and in the subordinate judiciary. But three important safeguards may be suggested. First, if it is not a capital case involving murder or rape or a case where there is a chance that the person against whom the charges are made would flee the country, there is no reason why a prior inquiry cannot be made before the criminal process is permitted to reach the stage of arrests or warrants for arrest. Second, if the complaint is not for a capital offence an affidavit ought to be required at an early stage from the complainant affirming the truth of the averments made by him. In the case of capital offences, which may involve greater urgency, such an affidavit may follow later.

Recently the Civil Procedure was amended to require the plaintiff’s affidavit in civil suits. There is greater reason for such affidavits to be required in respect of criminal complaints. The penal law does provide for punishment for filing false complaints. But the suggested affidavit requirement could help discourage false complaints at the threshold. Third, further safeguards are required in cases of cross complaints that is complaints made by more than one side against one another about the same incident or group of incidents. Such situations, often generated by business or political rivalries, are a common source of mischief. Sometimes the police, having registered the initial FIR, do not register the counter complaint, knowing or believing it to be false. At other times the reverse happens. These moves are accompanied with a complex interplay of the political, business and legal process, with unpredictable and ever-changing results. The complaint made by one side could even be suppressed. A cross complaint may be activated. Much depends on who was contacted by whom e.g. Politicians in New Delhi instructing Commissioners of Police, Fascist outfits functioning under a sham civil rights signboard in Ahmedabad. All participate in determining the outcome of a process in which criminal procedure is reduced to naught.
It should be mandatory for a complaining party to disclose, in its own complaint before a magistrate, any prior complaints pending against it that may be connected with the same incident or party. A similar responsibility of disclosure must rest upon the police so that such cross complaints may, where appropriate and necessary, be taken up together in the criminal process. The criminal justice process must insist, to the extent this is attainable, upon truth at each stage rather than truth deferred in a bid to achieve interim and collateral objects.

Finally, closer attention is required at the drafting stage.

When the present Code was being drafted and the then Attorney-General appeared to give his evidence before the Joint Committee on the Draft Bill in October 1971 the following exchange occurred:
Chairman: Mr. Attorney General, you must have been very busy...
Witness: I have not gone into the matter in detail; I had no time.

Chairman: Have you gone through the Questionnaire?
Witness: I have read this Press Communiqué.

Chairman: And the Bill?
Witness: No.
(Joint Committee on the Code of Criminal Procedure Bill, 1970, Evidence, Volume II, p. 178).


Former SC judge wants ex-CJI probed for corruption



In the wake of allegations that former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan’s relatives have amassed property worth crores, a long-retired Supreme Court judge on Monday demanded that the Centre initiate a probe against him.

With reports appearing in the local media, former Supreme Court judge (retd) Justice V R Krishna Iyer on Monday led calls for a thorough inquiry into the allegations a day after a local TV news channel made the stunning expose.

“I myself feel sad that I was a judge. I used to say that an era had begun when K G Balakrishnan became the first Dalit chief justice. Now, I don’t feel that way,’’ said the former Supreme Court judge.

He pointed out that there were allegations against Balakrishnan’s daughter, son-in-law and even mother-in-law. “A commission comprising chief justices should probe the assets and bank balances of all of Balakrishnan’s relatives,’’ he said in Kochi.

A leading jurist and former Supreme Court judge, Justice Iyer urged Parliament and the Prime Minister to appoint a high-powered commission to inquire into the issue. “The President must require politely Balakrishnan to resign,” Justice Iyer said of Justice Balakrishnan who is the National Human Rights Commission Chairman.

As reported, Justice Balakrishnan’s son-in-law P V Sreenijin, who is a member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, had contested the 2006 Assembly election from the Narakkal reserved constituency in Ernakulam district.

At that time, while filing his nomination papers, Sreenijin had declared he possessed no landed property and that his wife had only gold worth Rs 4.38 lakh and a little over Rs 1 lakh in cash.

Three years later, Sreenijin and his wife K B Sony, both lawyers, declared Rs 35 lakh while filing their income tax returns. However, according to reports now, the couple, who have not declared any sources of income other than their legal profession, own property worth crores and are constructing a river-front resort in Thrissur.

Several of these properties are worth many times more than the amounts for which they have been registered. The CPM’s youth wing, the DYFI, has claimed that whatever information had come out was only the tip of the ice-berg.

“We have more evidence to prove that the former CJI’s relatives have property in Dubai, Bangalore and Tamil Nadu. The needle of suspicion naturally points to Justice Balakrishnan himself,’’ said DYFI state president and MP M B Rajesh.

Sreenijin has refused to answer questions from mediapersons saying he will react later. Justice Balakrishnan was also recently embroiled in a controversy over a letter written by a Madras High Court judge to him complaining against former Telecom minister A Raja having tried to influence him over phone.

For the record, Delhi-based journalist M Furquan in June this year petitioned Vice-President Hamid Ansari for a CBI investigation against Balakrishnan and his family “for finding out how much financial assets they have (allegedly) accumulated since he took over as the CJI’’.

Ansari had passed on the complaint to the Union Home Ministry which in turn handed it over to the CBI. The complaint is reported to be with the CBI Kochi unit now.



YOU TOO, YOUR HONOUR?

The retired judge picked to probe the Karnataka land scams has a ‘tsunami of scandals’ in his past, reports IMRAN KHAN



SOME THINGS just seem to get worse. Under pressure to quit for alleged corruption in land allotment, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa finally constituted a one-man commission to probe alleged land scams since 1995. Yeddyurappa chose retired Karnataka High Court judge, Justice B Padmaraj. The opposition, which was gunning for the chief minister, appeared satisfied and stopped its campaign.

But, Justice Padmaraj, it appears, has something in his past that ought to have disqualified him from heading the probe. In 2007, a Joint Legislature Committee (JLC) indicted Justice Padmaraj and 84 other HC and Supreme Court judges for owning plots in the Karnataka State Judicial Department Employees House Building Co-operative Society. According to the JLC, the society had created ‘an all India record for being the mother of all illegalities’ and was formed by ‘unleashing a tsunami of scandals’.

Constituted in June 2006, the JLC was headed by AT Ramaswamy and had 14 MLAs and six MLCs. It was entrusted with the objective of investigating land encroachments in Bengaluru. The AT Ramaswamy report found that the society had violated the Karnataka Land Reforms Act by acquiring 36 acres of private agricultural land in Bengaluru North Taluk without prior permission of the government.

A Joint Legislature Committee indicted Justice Padmaraj and 84 other judges in a 2007 land scam

The Land Reforms Act stipulates that any such acquired land shall be forfeited after a summary inquiry by the assistant commissioner concerned. The JLC also found that the residential layout did not seek approval from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) — the planning authority under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act. Further, the report notes that “the House Building Co-operative Society then submitted its layout to the City Municipal Council, Yelahanka, which is not the planning authority for the society land.

The JLC also found that the layout violated norms for the allocation of civic amenities and parks. Town planning norms mandate 25 percent for civic amenities, while the original layout plan envisage only 5 percent. The JLC also questioned the appropriateness of both sitting and retired judges being allotted sites. It wrote: “The society has allotted sites to persons who are ineligible for allotment of sites as judicial employees. Most noteworthy of such ineligible persons are the HC judges, many of whom have been allotted sites.”

Shocked at the extent of corruption perpetuated by the judiciary, the JLC noted: “The society, which should have been a model to others, has become the leading lawbreaker without fear or care of law, property or public interest.” This is a strong indictment. So how did Yeddy pick Padmaraj?




Ex-CJI's wealth under scanner





KOCHI: There is no respite for Justice K G Balakrishnan, former CJI and present NHRC Chairman, from controversies.

Close on the heels of the A Raja episode, he has landed in trouble with allegations erupting over his assets. A CBI inquiry into the amassment of wealth by him is now on the cards. The CBI is awaiting a formal nod from the Registrar-General of the Supreme Court, which is a legal requirement, to launch a probe into his mysterious assets.

CBI sources have confirmed the receipt of a complaint against Balakrishnan by a Delhi-based journalist.

The journalist, in his complaint filed before the Vice-President’s office, alleged that the former CJI had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The Vice- President’s office forwarded the complaint to the Union Home Ministry which in turn forwarded it to the CBI.

“We have received the complaint but no investigation has been launched. It will be launched only after getting an official nod. The Supreme Court Registrar-General is the competent authority to give sanction for the probe,” said sources in the Kerala unit of the CBI.

But, it is reliably learnt that a quick verification of assets of Justice Balakrishnan’s daughter K B Sony and her husband P V Sreenijin indicated that everything was not hunky-dory. Sreenijin, a KPCC member, has allegedly amassed wealth to the tune of several crores in the past four years.

Sreenijin, who had declared only assets worth Rs 25,000 in the affidavit filed in the 2006 Assembly polls (he was the Congress candidate from Njarackal,) now owns several prime properties, including a riverside plot of 2.5 acres at Annamanada in Thrissur.

He and his wife Sony have also acquired a flat in the city, a plum office space near the High Court and 25 cents of land at Elamakkara (in the suburbs of Kochi) where the construction of a bungalow is in progress. Both Sreenijin and Sony are practising advocates and don’t have any other known sources of income.

The state unit of the DYFI has also called for a detailed inquiry into the allegations and demanded the resignation of Justice Balakrishnan as NHRC chief.

The fresh controversy will land Justice Balakrishnan in a precarious position as he has already been under a cloud following Supreme Court Judge H L Gokhale’s revelation regarding former Telecom Minister A Raja’s bid to influence a Chennai High Court judge.





2G scam: How Raja allegedly robbed India



The latest revelations on the 2G scam suggest a careful confluence between the Telecom Ministry, when it was headed by A Raja, and a series of big business houses.

"85 of the 122 licenses were issued to companies which suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information and submitted fictitious documents to DoT and thus used fraudulent means of getting licenses and thereby access to spectrum" -this is one of the more biting conclusions of the report prepared by the government's auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). (Read: Report Highlights) | (Watch: CAG explains 2G report) | ( Read: Full text of report)

The report - which was leaked to the media last week and forced Raja's resignation - was tabled in Parliament today. It is unflinching in its indictment of Raja, blaming him for violating guidelines, indulging in favouritism and costing the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crores by giving away 2G spectrumn in 2008 at bargain basement prices to inexperienced new players. (Read: What is the 2G spectrum scam?) | (Who is A Raja?)

The CAG report says Raja ignored the suggestions of the Law Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and even the Prime Minister. "The PM had stressed on the need for a fair and transparent allocation of spectrum..... Brushing aside the advice, the Department of Telecom (DoT) in 2008 proceeded to issue licenses for 2G spectrum at 2001 prices, flouting all rules and procedures." (Report Highlights) | (Read: CAG must ensure fair reports, says PM | Full text)


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/2g-scam-how-raja-allegedly-robbed-india-66769?cp



Companies that benefited from Raja's twisted rules include Reliance Telecom (owned by Anil Ambani), which was allocated spectrum ahead of the others. The Department of Telecom, the report says, "did not follow its own practise of first-come first-served in letter and spirit."

The report also states that Swan Telecom was given undue advantage, and that it served effectively as a front for Reliance. The charges in the CAG report are that Swan should not have been considered for a license because Reliance Communications held 10.71% stake in Swan - and according to the rules, a telecom operator cannot own more than 10% stake in another telecom company operating in the same service area . Reliance Telcom issued a statement this evening that declares it did not have any shareholding in Swan when the license was granted (the CAG report's allegation is that Reliance owned stake when Swan applied for the license).

Swan's application should have been rejected initially by DoT, says the report.

The CAG report says that nine companies got more spectrum than stated in their contracts. They include Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, Reliance, and Aircel.

CAG indicts Unitech Wireless

Another big beneficiary of the 2G spectrum allocation was Unitech Wireless, which had no experience in the telecommunication sector.

After Unitech got the license for a throwaway price of Rs. 1,661 crore, it sold 60 per cent stake to Telenor Asia for a whopping Rs.6,200 crore.

In its report, CAG indicts Unitech saying the high value paid by Telenor was for the 2G spectrum, and not for other inputs as claimed by Unitech. It also says that such huge equity infusion, which should have accrued to the public exchequer, went as a favour to the new licensees for enriching their business.

Speaking to NDTV, the telecom giant Telenor said that its investment in Unitech Wireless conformed to all regulations. (Watch)

The political crisis continues

The stand-off between the government and the Opposition over 2G scam continues. The Opposition wants a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the 2G scam. The government has said there is no question of agreeing to this. (2G scam: Opposition chants 'we want JPC'; No, says Government)

Parliament has not functioned at all this winter session - the Opposition says it won't let the House get to work till a JPC is announced. (Watch: Let the law take its course, says A Raja)

There were loud and angry scenes in Parliament once again today - the Lok Sabha has been adjourned till Thursday, since tomorrow is a national holiday for Eid.

A lunch meeting with Opposition leaders called by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to try and end the deadlock, has ended without a breakthrough. Mukherjee, who also met senior BJP leader LK Advani at the latter's Parliament office earlier, emerged from the lunch meeting to say, "We are for discussion. No solution has been found yet. They want a JPC." (Read: No breakthrough at Pranab's lunch meet)



Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/2g-scam-how-raja-allegedly-robbed-india-66769?cp


Five-star jails of India



In a raid on Meerut Jail led by the DIG of Agra Jail to recover and seize cell phones and other unauthorised and prohibited items, there was a fight between the jail police and inmates of the high-security prison. It left six police officials and four inmates injured.

The raiding DIG said, "It could not have happened without the connivance of jail officials. We had special instructions from the home department as Meerut Jail is known for its lawlessness. But we were shocked when a thou-sand-strong mob attacked us with sticks and stones. We were trapped and could only escape after we charged towards the gate."

The prisoners snatched away all the mobile phones and contra-band recovered during the check that was ordered at the instance of the State Government. The DIG has accused the superintendent of Meerut Jail of "inciting the jail inmates to attack us so that we could not find prohibited articles in the jail".

On the other hand, the jail superintendent has accused the DIG of demanding illegal gratification. Some staff has been suspended. The other form of corruption reported from the Meerut Jail included unauthorised sale of items at exorbitant prices. Cigarettes were being sold for Rs 20 per stick. It cost Rs 500 for a meal of choice. A local call could be made for Rs 20, an STD call cost Rs 100. The Meerut Jail, built to house 700 inmates, now has 1,850 prisoners.

A former Uttar Pradesh Minister, serving his sentence in Lucknow Jail for the murder of his mistress Madhumita Shukla, freely hosted a wedding anniversary bash for a co-accused in the murder case inside the jail premises. A sitting Minister when asked replied, "No one is born a criminal and the Samajwadi Party believes in transformation of criminals. You can't stop anyone from celebrating an occasion concerning him, his family or near and dear ones - within the premises of the jail. As per my knowledge, there was no violation of the jail manual."

In 2004, three accused involved in the assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh escaped scandalously from the Burail Jail in Chandigarh. Inspection of the jail showed that the high profile prisoners were not only leading a luxurious life, but they had also enclosed their cells in a way that their activities inside could not be kept under vigil. Once the cell was turned into a virtual fortress, the prisoners dug a tunnel to escape.

The escape of terrorists involved in one of the most high-profile assassinations could not have materialised simply through a nexus between corrupt jail staffers and the prisoners. Vast sums of money as well as a pattern of internal and external intimidation was necessary to create the conditions for the eventual breakout and a significant network of support was essential to make sure that the fugitives could evade the police system once they were out.

The escape of Phoolan Devi's killers from high security Tihar Jail and other similar escapes of prisoners highlight the ineptitude and complicity of jail staff. Tihar Jail is actually a complex of seven prisons, having a capacity of 4,000 prisoners. But actually there are more than 12,000 prisoners lodged there. Regrettably, there is no fixed rule as to how many prisoners can be lodged in a particular jail.

The following is the existing jail system. There are two categories of jails - district jails normally built for 400 prisoners each and central jails for 750 each. The jail staff members are not from the police and have their own distinct hierarchy. There are different categories of under-trial prisoners depending upon their education and social status. Courts have directed jails to do away with the colonial, vintage classification of under-trial prisoners into Class I, II and III, based on their socio-economic status, but Government continues to stick to the old practice.

Selected prisoners are used for the internal management of jails - to make up for manpower shortage - as well as administrative work. The convict- supervisors become a link between the prisoners and jail officials. They are given an incentive for their work. Any wrong placement or selection can lead to the escape of prisoners or other crimes going unchecked inside the jails.

The Indira Gandhi Government had set up a high-powered panel in 1980 to propose prison reforms. The apparent cause was Mrs Gandhi's first-hand experience of the conditions in Tihar where she was lodged in 1978. Mrs Gandhi appointed the Justice AN Mulla Committee to review the national jail system even though jail is a State Government subject.

The Mulla Committee, 1983, recommended that the Constitution be amended to shift the subject of prisons from the State List to the Concurrent List. That never happened. The Centre at present has no say in the matter of jails except when they are in Union Territories where, again, jails are far from being models. The result is that jails continue to be governed by an outdated law enacted by the British in 1894. The position is that the jail conditions vary greatly from one State to another or even from prison to prison. There is no national policy on prisons.

A sensible recommendation of the Mulla Committee was to classify prisons into special security, maximum, medium and minimum security prisons. Such a classification can serve as a safeguard against jailbreaks and jail riots.

Much before sting operations became a norm with the media, a hard-hitting report had shown that in the Tihar Jail, officials mixed with notorious inmates like Charles Sobraj who ran an extensive drug and liquor racket with impunity. This led to a secret visit of the then Home Minister Giani Zail Singh to Tihar Jail. He was stunned to see a drunken prisoner offering him a bottle of liquor. A mortified Government finally suspended two jail officials.

Criminalisation of politics has produced a strange phenomenon. Criminals have contested elections from behind the bars and some of them have won. Given such topsy-turvy world of politics, prison officials are often either unmindful of the crimes being committed regularly inside the prisons, or sometimes they are the ones to provide prisoners with mobile phones, drugs and food. These jail staffers also organise kavi sammelans and mushairas and help prisoners run extortion rackets and criminal gangs from inside the jails. A prison for some prisoners has become a home away from home.

The next issue is that of under-trials. According to the statistics compiled by the Custodial Justice Cell of the National Human Rights Commission, 225,817 of 304,893 or 74.06 per cent of the total prison population in the country comprises those awaiting trial. The total jail capacity in India is 232,412 prisoners, which makes the total prison population 31 per cent higher than capacity, clearly emphasising the urgent need for a speedier justice mechanism.

Only when politicians go to jail do they talk about reforming the jail system. They forget the issue the moment they are out. We must be clear as to what kind of confinement or jail system we want. The time to make a beginning is now before things get worse. There must be a Central law to be followed as a model by all States.

No restrictions at Arthur Road jail, gangsters take leave at will



Pune: A highly confidential inquiry report by the Maharashtra prison department has revealed that several key undertrials, including Mohammad Dossa, underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and DK Rao (the right-hand man of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan), among others, freely availed of "leave" out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai over the last three years.



The jail authorities neither reported the leave granted to these high-profile undertrials to senior prison authorities, nor did they raise objections to the leave applications in court.

A senior prison officer told DNA that the inquiry report has been sent to the state home department for action as it has exposed corrupt practices at the jail.

Ironically, officials of the state prison department have none other than 26/11 accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir aka Kasab to thank for the revelation of this nexus between the prison authorities and the undertrials.

Sources told DNA that when the undertrials, including Rao and Gawli, were shifted to Taloja in Navi Mumbai, they started demanding similar treatment at the new jail premises. They were shifted to Taloja so that maximum protection could be provided to Kasab, who was to be lodged at the Arthur Road jail.

"The undertrials continued to demand leave at Taloja as they had at Arthur Road," said an official, adding that the authorities at Taloja then reported the matter to senior prison authorities in Pune and Mumbai.

Former superintendent of Arthur Road jail Swati Sathe, who is currently posted in Nashik, said she was unaware of any inquiry.

It was during Sathe's tenure that the "influential undertrials" availed of leave.
The inquiry revealed that leave extended from a few hours to even a couple of days.
It also found that this practice had been going on at the jail for nearly three years.

The authorities did not deny leave to around 45 gangsters, most of whom are booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999. One undertrial gangster was found to have "gone on leave" on 35 occasions, the report said.

The Maharashtra Prisons Manual has no provision to grant leave to undertrials, as is allowed in the case of convicts lodged in jails. It is customary for an undertrial to obtain permission from a court in order to avail leave.

The inquiry revealed that none of the 45 undertrials sent their applications via the jail officials. They were directly sent to court.

Significantly, the authorities at Arthur Road jail failed to appeal against this.

The jail authorities also failed to report the leave taken by the under-trials to the state government, which generally alerts the police machinery to keep a close watch on the activities of the suspects.

State prisons chief, inspector-general of police Uddhav Kamble confirmed to DNA the commissioning of the inquiry, but refused to elaborate. A senior official of the prison department confirmed the developments as well.

Another senior jail official explained that leave is only granted to an under-trial by the court for emergency situations, like the demise or serious health condition of the next-of-kin, besides attending the marriage of his/her children.

Leave can also be availed for emergency medical treatment at the private hospitals, but only under the supervision of the jail authorities. However the under-trials went on leave to attend marriages and death of distant relatives, other minor health issues of family members and even their companions.

Kamble sought a detailed record from the deputy inspector general of police (prisons), Mumbai, of all the leave awarded by the courts. The DIG, Mumbai conducted an inquiry and found the involvement of Arthur Road Jail officials. Another inquiry was commissioned to verify the findings of the DIG's report.

In Pune, 22 inmates have been missing from the Yerawada Central Prison after they were granted parole or furlough in the past 30 years.

Mumbai-based gangster Vijay Thopte who was accused in the murder of union leader Datta Samant and Arun Gawli gang member Eknath Arjun Mohite of Bhosari are among those missing from the Yerawada jail. While Thopte has been missing after he was granted parole a year ago, Mohite, who has several cases registered against him with the Pune city and rural police units, has been missing for more than a year now.



Might Not Have Recommended Parole For Manu: Pilot



Disapproving the grant of parole to Jessica Lall murder convict Manu Sharma, who also happens to be the son of an influential Haryana Congress leader, Congress leader Sachin Pilot has said that he might not have recommended parole to the lifer had he been the chief minister of Delhi.

"I personally believe that perhaps more diligence should have been made before issuing these orders. The fact that he has already gone back (to jail) does not make a difference now," Pilot said while participating in a TV programme.

Asked whether it was a mistake for the Delhi government to have recommended parole for Sharma, Pilot said, "Well I am not Delhi chief minister. From whatever I know of the case, if I was the chief minister I would probably not have given the parole".

Sharma was granted parole after chief minister Sheila Dikshit recommended it. Sharma, who had applied for the parole on the ground of performing religious rites for his grandmother (who died in 2008), attending to his ailing -- later modified to 'ageing' -- mother, and business matters, in Chandigarh.

Significantly, the Delhi Police has gone on record to say that it had opposed the grant of parole. It has been reported that the Delhi government has so far received 132 parole applications this year out of which as many as 88 are still pending, 33 were rejected and 11 applicants were granted parole.

Dikshit had so far been under fire for justifying her decision, saying that it was within the "legal purview" only from the opposition BJP and legal luminaries, who had so far been protesting that it was a blatant case of partisanship. Not only was Manu Sharma granted parole on flimsy grounds, and his parole extended by another month on the recommendation by Dikshit, he clearly violated the parole conditions as well.

Opposition BJP points out that Manu Sharma's father Venod Sharma, who is an influential Congress leader in Haryana, played a major role in ensuring that the Congress government in Haryana could be sworn. He is believed to have been instrumental in getting the support of not only the seven independents but also the defectors from Haryana Janhit Congress which now only has Kuldeep Bishnoi left because as many as five of his MLAs joined Congress on Monday.

Sachin Pilot is the first Congress leader who has gone on record to even mildly express disagreement over the issue.

Nobody would have known

What is even more significant is that the news of Jessica Lal murder convict -- who is serving a life sentence for having shot dead the Delhi model on April 29, 1999 at the Tamarind Court Bar -- being out on parole came to public notice only because he was yet again involved in a brawl in a nightclub.

Observers point out that the brawl on the night of November 6 at F bar in New Delhi's Ashoka hotel that Manu Sharma and Sahil Dhingra got involved with Pranay Dadwal and his female friend may even have gone unreported or been hushed up had Delhi police commissioner's own son not been involved in the case.

The argument turned ugly and Pranay Dadwal informed his father, who happens to be none other than Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal.

It was because of this that a jeepload of cops landed up at the bar.

By then Manu Sharma and his friends had left F bar and moved to the exclusive LAP bar in the adjacent Samrat hotel, which is owned by Mumbai film actor and model Arjun Rampal.

By the time the police reached LAP, Manu had escaped. The police picked up Dhingra, and it was only on going through the CCTV video coverage that it could be confirmed that the person accompanying Dhingra was none other than the high profile Manu Sharma who, most people assumed, should have been in jail.

It was only then that it came to light that he had not only been granted parole, it had even been extended, while he had been out there partying at various nightclubs and bars, not only in Chandigarh, where he was supposed to be for the period of his parole, but also in Delhi.

Observers also point out how thee is nothing new in the subversion of justice in Manu Sharma's case, as the powers that be had almost ensured his acquittal in the Jessica Lal murder case, which got re-opened because of an unprecedented media and public campaign.



Chained In Purgatory

It’s time we extirpated the horrific dehumanisation from our prisons

- R.K.Raghavan , CBI Director







Ashutosh Asthana, the key accused in a fraud involving the judiciary, died a few days ago in a Ghaziabad (UP) prison. The bazaar rumour is that he died of poisoning. Whether he took the poison himself or was tricked into doing so will be known after the inquiry ordered comes to a conclusion. Two other incidents of past weeks were equally shocking. A murder accused sentenced to life hanged himself in Coimbatore jail, and a software engineer locked up after a complaint of dowry harassment against him similarly ended his life. Finally, an Indian student detained in a US prison for sending intimidatory mail to President Bush, has complained of being roughed up by fellow prisoners. Life inside prisons is undoubtedly perilous. This may not be a new phenomenon, but the public now is more aware of what goes on inside prisons. As sensitive human beings, our conscience should lead us into doing something radical to reform our prisons, cure it of its present ills. As someone said, a nation will be judged by the manner in which it treats its prisoners. I would like to recall a national leader incarcerated during the Emergency telling me how soul-crushing detention could be. He was not surprised that many jailed along with him chose to plead for mercy and walked out at the earliest opportunity.

Prisons infuriate me for various reasons. Firstly, there are dubious arrests by the police and the even more galling convictions by courts on false cases, sometimes trumped up by the prosecution, and which end in innocent persons being sent to jail. The notion that many who should be in jails are outside, thanks to political and economic clout, is not wholly baseless. What, then, is the justification of locking up many who are guilty of minor infractions? Secondly, rampant overcrowding of prisons is a matter of disquiet, and of concern worldwide. States in the US keep on building new prisons, although demand quickly outstrips available space. Too many prisoners means abysmal and morally repugnant conditions. Most unjustly, the number of undertrials far exceeds convicted prisoners. Many of the former end up spending time that surpasses the maximum period for which they could be convicted under the law, if found guilty at all.

The corruption that afflicts prison management is of Himalayan proportions. This is first reflected in the quality of food served to inmates, and attributed to malpractices in the award of contracts to suppliers of grocery. When food is inedible, prisoners revolt. Some bribe guards into getting something better from outside. Smuggling in of drugs into prisons is not unusual. Detainees use cell phones freely. All these are for a price, and the rates vary from prison to prison. But these are lesser evils, if one reckons the violence that is routinely perpetrated—both by prison staff and fellow prisoners—on a few hapless prisoners who stand out from the rest for some reason, be it the nature of their crime or their efforts at good behaviour. Abusive prison guards just do not enjoy their work and are clearly frustrated at the stultifying work environment. Some thought has been devoted towards improving their conditions of service. Whatever has been done till now has not exactly improved their morale.

Of course, there are some remarkable individuals in the system who are trying to make a difference and have actually succeeded. The legendary Kiran Bedi made a world of difference to Tihar, one of the most notorious prisons in the world. A commendable focus on literacy and health issues altered the scene. Union home minister P. Chidambaram had a few good words to say about Tihar during his recent visit there.

I had the good fortune to go round the Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad recently. This is a historic jail, built in 1895, where the Mahatma, Lokamanya Tilak and Sardar Patel had all been detained. It is a clean place, although it is also overcrowded (nearly 4,000 inmates in a place meant for half that number). A young IPS officer, Chandrasekhar (an agriculture graduate from Coimbatore), and his equally enthusiastic IGP Keshav Kumar deserve every bit of praise we can shower them with for their devotion and care. Their latest innovation is in the area of telemedicine, with the support of the local Apollo Hospital. It has been a boon for prisoners needing expert medical opinion. Online examination of medical records and consultation with specialists for prisoners have the potential for saving many lives. How many in our political firmament understand that a prisoner’s life is as precious as theirs? As long as it is possible for the criminal justice system to make flagrant mistakes and lock up innocent people, we need to look after our prisoners with the utmost benevolence. Nothing else can act as testimonials of our urbanity and humanity, the two qualities that are in danger of becoming extinct.














My experience in Police custody & Jail




My Story

Complaint to CBI - Misuse of MCOCA

Appreciation letters and Messages


Police Custody

I was arrested on 5th July 2006 in the early morning at 3am from my residence along with 5 more innocent person (My partner & 4 tenants from my slum plot) under dreadedMCOC Act. The crime branch officers came to my residence after mid night at around2.30am and took me to Bandra crime branch office. They interrogate me and asked nothing regarding my underworld connection for next 5 hours. They were only interrogating me and my partner as to how I had purchased a plot at Mulgaon Dongri, Andheri East, Mumbai for so high rate, how many tenants have signed the agreement etc etc. At around 8.30am they told us to sign one paper stating that we all are arrested under the draconian law MCOC Act.



The police officers then took us for medical examination at Bhaba hospital in Bandra and thereafter they took us to the crime branch unit no 8 office and Andheri East to do Panchnama of all our articles. The police officers after doing some more interrogation took us around 3pm to the special MCOCA court and judge Mr Abhay Thipsay who as per law remanded us to police custody for 9 days.



It’s really surprising that our plot/office and home all fall under the jurisdiction of crime branch unit no 10, but none of the officers from unit no 10 knew whom they are going to arrest till 12 midnight (3 hours before our arrest).



We were then taken to Andheri lock up at around 8pm. It had a small 15 X 10 ft roomwere we all were put in. It had no fan, light and only the passage had tube light. It had no pillow, bed sheet and we had to sleep on the floor. Imagine leading a 5 star life through out my life and see the irony.



Next morning the police officers from crime branch unit no 10 started our interrogation. After interrogating us for 2 days they found out we all were not at all guilty and it was a false case, but law is such you have to be in the police custody for 1 month minimum in MCOC Act. The crime branch officers were also surprised as none of us had any single criminal case against us/ no phone tapping was done in spite of the complainant receiving threatening calls from April 2006 to July 2006/ no call was made by any of us from any of our mobile or landline numbers and also no money laundering or any links with underworld was found.



Here I came to know that some officers from crime branch unit no 8 (Senior Inspector Vinayak Sawade & others) and the Investigating Officer (Assistant Commissioner of Police Pramod Rane now retired and is working in Reliance Energy) had taken around 25 lakhs of rupees from our rival Santosh Builder (who claimed to me when I went to meet him in May 2006 at his office that he is the front man of many politicians in Maharashtra) and put us in jail to grab my land. This shows MCOC Act which gives police power to arrest anyone from underworld, terrorists, murderers, cheaters and person having 2 serious cases against them in last 10 years is being misused by some police person for their personal benefit. My case was a simple civil dispute case for which we had filed 2 civil suits against the complainant (one Brijlal Tiwari).



Mr Rane also took around 7 lakhs rupees from all of us so that we are not physically tortured in the police custody from a middlemen who happens to be relative of one of the accused. This can be proved if his Narco test is done on him or us.



I was given instruction from my friend not to sign any confession papers without reading it properly while in police custody. This came in help for me as on the last day of my custody the junior police officers under the instruction of Mr Rane tried to take signature on a paper stating we had 3 kattas (desi revolvers) and some bullets.Since I was good in English I read and told my all colleagues not to sign on the blank paper. We were put under lot of pressure but when we told them that today we will complaint to the judge about it they all got afraid. The police when they find that they are in mistake and have arrested a wrong person in a false case can do any thing to save their job and make the case right.



The police also tried to put pressure on my younger brother to give false statement against me or else he will also be put in MCOCA case. He was very strong hearted and after taking advice from his friend, he told the intelligence officer that he will commit suicide in front of his office after writing a confession letter to his advocate. The officer was so scared that he left my brother unhurt and also did not have any guts to take his statement.



As Mr Rane had taken money from us he did not physically tortured us, but he must havetortured mentally more than 30 relatives/friends of ours to give false statement against us as he was seeing his case was very weak and he will land in trouble afterwards.



During our police custody Sub Inspector Ninan Sawant was terrorizing builders in front of us by telling them on mobile that see we have caught big builder in MCOCA and now we will also arrest you if you do not give us money. The SRA plot owner were forced to give money to Ninan Sawant.



Because of some court order it was good that all prisoner are taken to hospital to domedical check up every 48 hours. The food in Andheri lock up was good as it was privatized and taken over by a good South Indian restaurant.



When I was released on 7th Sept 2006 the court had ordered that I have to report to the Investigating Officer once every week. Now this man Mr Rane started putting pressure on me stating that officers from EOW (economic offence wing of mumbai police) wanted to interrogate me and was demanding more money from me. But I had an friend who was a senior upright officer in EOW and he helped me. He gave me his mobile number and told me that none of his officers are coming to interrogate me and that I can tell this to Mr Rane. This retired officer Rane got so afraid that he stopped calling me to his office.



The police has power to arrest anyone and no court of law have ever punished any policeman in India (except for few high profile cases). The recent example of the false case against a innocent lady named Swati Kachalia of Mumbai who was acquitted in March 2010 after fighting the legal battle with police for 8 years. But the court should pass strictures against the police so that they don't have courage to file false cases and get away with it. As a common man has to suffer for 3 to 5 years in court, spend money on lawyers where as the police get the lawyers free of charges.



You should see the movie Andhaa Kanoon (role of Amitabh Bachchan) to know how the law is blind in India.



Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai

If you want to see hell on earth you should visit Arthur road jail. One barrack in the jail is meant for 70-80 persons but there are more than 300 people crammed in all the barracks at any given time. It’s the dirtiest place in the world.

When you enter arthur road jail first they make you take all your clothes to find out, whether you are carrying any drugs/knife/playing cards or some object able things not allowed in jail. You are given back your clothes and then you are made to sit on the road in pairs of two at least for one hour, till the entry procedure of all the incoming prisoners or under trials (may be 30 to 40) are over – these people come from different police stations and from different courts of Mumbai.

When I was sent to jail custody I was given AFTER barrack (its meant for person who is given 1 or 2 days jail custody for petty cases). After staying in AFTER barrack for 2 days I was transferred to barrack number 8/2 where mostly drug addicts, rag pickers, beggars, drug lords, rapist are lodged. The prisoner who live in the barracks need high endurance levels to put up with the excesses within the prison, including cold gang-wars, extortion, lack of sanitation, unpalatable food and acute lack of space. Arthur Road jail which lodges only under trials, has an official capacity of 820, but more than 3,000 are cramped for space in the jail.

Here if you are known to warden or give him bribe then you are given most comfortable position (which is there in all 4 corners of a barrack). You will get bed sheets, good food, allowed to play cards, have tea, good food etc etc. At night, we have to think twice before going to the toilets. Once we get up, it is almost impossible to get back to your place to sleep. Sanitation is pathetic. The toilets are cleaned only once a day and stink. One can hardly get good sleep. Skin disease is common as inmates hailing from various backgrounds are lodged in the same barrack and those who have skin diseases spread them to others. Bedbugs (known as khatmal in hindi language) are very commonly seen. Just two doctors man the 25-bed single-storied barrack- turned into a hospital. Even if we have 10 different ailments, we are given the same medicine. This has become a joke amongst all prisoners.

Barrack is a long hall. Its width would be like the following: If three 5.7- inch persons lay on the floor length wise there would have four inches gap between one person’s foot and other person’s head. If you move your hand up - your hand will touch on the foot of some one and they would shout at you. If you move your foot down then it will touch on some ones feet, then they will shout at you.

Lights in the hall is never turned off. Person next you and you would move your hand, or turn in your sleep. That means, you lose your sleep. Some people have violent moves in their sleep. But if you make any comment, you will be shouted at.

The day starts with counting of prisoners at 6am when the door opens and jail police start counting the numbers of prisoners and again in the evening at 6pm when the door closes. Then we are given tea at 7am. The condition of the toilets is worst it’s all dirty with no door latch. Then we either take bath in our barrack on 1st floor or go down in open to take bath. Then you can take walk in your own barrack or bribe the policeman (not connected to Mumbai police as they are special jail police having powers inside the jail boundaries only) and can visit other barracks freely.

There is a canteen outside where you get 500 rupees monthly coupons and can buy milk, biscuits, cigarettes, butter, bread etc. Then the lunch is served at 11 am. It consists of watery dal, bland vegetable, some sweets, rice & hard chapattis which no normal person can eat. Here we learnt that the government spends 45 rupees daily on food bill for average prisoner but half of them is eaten by the contractors/suppliers & jail authorities. If you complain you are beaten mercilessly.

The food is served in a aluminum bowls. And most of these bowls did not have proper shape – and was never washed properly for long years. The bowl you get to use might have used by a drunken person who might not have taken bath for months. That person might not have washed it properly also. But you do not have a choice to go and get it washed.

The prisoners who are influential takes butter from canteen, onions etc from jail kitchen, bribing the warden to make the food tasty by re-cooking & frying the jail food inside the barrack after door closes at 6pm. The cooking is done with burning of 1 day old chapatti's (which you get for 50 paisa per chapati in the jail) old newspapers/plastic utensils etc etc. Around 7 to 8pm you will see smoke all over the barrack and its difficult to breathe. You can't complain to the jailer as you will be beaten by the influential prisoners.

A warden is a ruthless criminal serving life term for murder and has to manage 300 prisoners inside the barrack once the door closes from 6pm in the evening to 6amnext morning, even the jail police does not enter the barrack at the time given above. The warden can beat you, push you around, make you sit wherever he want you to sit, can move you around for no reason. No body is there to question him actually.

Once or twice in a week there is a check up by the police officers from other jails as many prisoners manage to smuggle food/knives/mobile etc inside the prison.

There is also an anda barrack where hardened criminals are kept. This barrack has on small hole from where the sunlight comes in and has a small open bathroom. Then there is a budda barrack meant for person above the age of 50 years. This barrack is clean and during my time Pramod Mahajan was there.

In a week you can meet your friends or relative once across the window. Here also you have to pay bribe if you wish to talk to them for more than 10 minutes.

Each month only 500 rupees coupons are allowed per person officially. But if you need more money you have to pay double the amount and can get as much money as you want. Hard drinks are also smuggled inside the jail but at 3 times more price. If you want cash or durgs there are many prisoners in jail who when they go out on their court dates get them in their rectum. Its unbelievable but true. Except for a women everything is available in arthur road jail.

If you want to hire a servant you have to pay 500 rupees per month. The servants are mostly small time robbers or drug peddlers who wash your clothes, press your leg, makes tea and cooks fried food. These servants feel life is better in prison as you get 2 times food, breakfast, tea and some money which is difficult for them to get out side jail.

The prisoners or the under trials as they are known have no work to do unlike prisoners shown in movies. Here you have only to kill time by playing cards or taking walk, doing exercise and wait for the next court date where you get chance to meet your friends and relatives.

In one corner of the barrack is the temple and in the other corner kuran is kept. Mostly all prisoners are religious by nature. When I was in jail there was 11 daysganapti function and it was well organized by the prisoners. All 11 days aarti/devotional songs were played. Even they managed to get ganapati photo/small idol and decoration was done. On the last day all prisoners were taking a small ganesh murthi for visarjan in a small drum out side the barrack.

On the last day of release the police delay your release by 3 to 4 hours and give excuse that some paper work has to be done. But if you give them 2000 rupees which they took from my relatives who were waiting outside the jail they release you in 30 minutes. All this was happening when the lady jailer Ms. Swati Sathe was so strict and non corrupt. Imagine when a corrupt jailor comes what will happens inside?????

Conclusion : if you have money and are highly influential then you can enjoy jail life.

=======------------=========================================================















OTHER LINKS OF JAIL IN INDIA & ARTHUR ROAD JAIL, BYCULLA, MUMBAI, INDIA.

Detainees in Arthur Road Jail: http://www.pucl.org/reports/Maharashtra/arthur_road.htm
The rot in our jail system: http://news.rediff.com/column/2009/jul/01/guest-the-rot-in-our-jail-system.htm
Upgrade prison conditions: http://www.acpp.org/uappeals/uaupdate/2008/up08073004.htm
Prisoner in arthur road jail dies of TB: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/convict-from-arthur-road-jail-dies-of-tuberculosis/404117/
No restriction at arthur road jail: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_no-restrictions-at-arthur-road-jail-gangsters-take-leave-at-will_1268300
one injured in arthur road jail violence: http://www.samaylive.com/news/one-injured-in-arthur-road-jail-violence/69245.html
Arthur Road Jail: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Arthur_Road_Jail
HIV stalks arthur road jail: http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=107268
Jail or criminals adda: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2000/aug/1681.htm
Arthur road jail is like mumbai local trains:http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_arthur-road-jail-is-like-a-local-during-peak-hour_1173406
1660 prisoners in arthur road jail can get bail: http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/4837-1-660-still-arthur-rd-jail-when-they-can-get-bail.html
Prison in India: http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/pris-india.html
Combat Law (The Human Right Magazine): http://www.combatlaw.org/v7i2.php
Indian Prison Reality (article in the hindu newspaper):http://www.hindu.com/op/2004/04/20/stories/2004042000251700.htm
Prison visiting system in India:http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/prisons/prisons_visiting_system_in%20India.pdf
54 years in Assam Jail without trial: http://www.ahrchk.net/ahrc-in-news/mainfile.php/2004ahrcinnews/451/
Hate the crime not criminals (Mahatma Gandhi):http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l174-Prison-Reforms-In-Indian-Prison-System.html
Reforming the prison administration in India:http://www.ipcs.org/article_details.php?articleNo=2697
India more than just prison visit:http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/india-interview-250909
Tihar Jail, Delhi:http://www.indianetzone.com/37/tihar_jail_indian_prisons_complex.htm






CAN JUDGEMENT BE MANIPULATED IN INDIAN COURTS OF JUSTICE ? - WHY NOT PRISON SENTENCE FOR GUILTY SUPREME COURT ADVOCATES ?



New Delhi, August 21 The Delhi High Court imposed a four-month ban on senior advocate R K Anand and colleague I U Khan on Thursday for interfering with judicial proceedings in the high-profile BMW hit-and- run case. A fine of Rs 2,000 was levied as well.

On May 30, 2007, television channel NDTV caught both lawyers in a "sting" operation, conniving with key prosecution witness Suniel Kulkarni to get main accused Sanjeev Nanda off the hook.

A High Court Bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Manmohan Sarin found the two guilty of criminal contempt.

"The entire material leaves a bitter taste in the mouth about the goings-on in the BMW case. There is no manner of doubt whatsoever that there was complicity between Mr Khan and Mr Anand... There can be absolutely no doubt that Mr Khan and Mr Anand were, somehow or the other, more than mixed up in the BMW case," observed the court, which had taken suo motu cognizance of the expose the day after it was aired.

"Mr Anand and Mr Khan are prohibited from appearing in this court (Delhi High Court) or courts subordinate to it for four months from today. However, they are free to discharge their professional duties in terms of consultation, advice, conferences, opinions, etc," said the Bench.

The court desisted from commenting on the conduct of Kulkarni, saying it would not be "proper" to do so. Though the verdict comes solely on basis of the CDs and transcripts of the sting operation, the Bench said, "the unshakeable truth is that Mr Anand is guilty of criminal contempt of court". Contemplating a fit punishment, the Bench wondered how many in the legal fraternity had had been taken by surprise to find Anand indulging in such "sharp practices". "Mr Anand has held many prestigious elective positions in the legal fraternity, including the Bar Council of Delhi. He has also been a Member of the Rajya Sabha," noted the Bench.

The court said it knew Khan for his legal acumen and forensic skills — "perhaps the reason why he was appointed Special Public Prosecutor in the BMW case". High expectations over Khan fell apart when his conduct "betrayed the trust that prosecution reposed in him... what he did was perhaps beyond the realm of contemplation of the prosecuting agency".

Chastising the two for their misconduct, the Bench said: "We are not dealing with a young lawyer who, driven by ambition and desire... transgresses the limits or unwittingly or unknowingly commits criminal contempt. We are dealing with senior advocates, who are expected to conduct themselves as gentlemen and role models for younger members of the Bar."

The court forwarded a recommendation that the two be "stripped of their designations as senior advocates". The High Court Registrar General will put up the court's recommendation before Chief Justice AP Shah within a month.

In response to the verdict, the Delhi Bar Association president, advocate Rajiv Khosla, said about 20,000 lawyers from district courts were going on strike on August 22 in protest.



R K Anand

Began legal career in Delhi's Tis Hazari Court as a civil lawyer in 1967. Appointed government counsel in 1976. In 2000, JMM nominated him to Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. Appointed AICC observer for Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh in February 2003.

High-profile cases:

* In 1980, represented the late Indira Gandhi in a property litigation filed by Maneka Gandhi after Sanjay Gandhi's death

* Narasimha Rao in the JMM bribery and the St Kitts case

* Chandraswami in the FERA violation case

* H K L Bhagat in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

* Former external affairs minister Natwar Singh's son Jagat Singh in the murder/suicide of his wife Natasha Singh

I U Khan

One of the top five criminal lawyers in Capital. He was charging a fee of only Re 1 in the BMW case. Began his career in late 1960s, and came into spotlight in 1980s.

* Defended Sushil Sharma in the tandoor murder case, Subash Gupta in the Personal Point triple murder, former Youth Congress President Romesh Sharma in several cases and Tony Gill in Jessica Lall murdercase

When prosecution & defence lawyer together team up along with corrupt police / public servants and manipulate evidences / records , the court is helpless and will acquit the accussed for lack of evidences eventhough the presiding judge is of impeccable integrity , honesty , he is help less. Add to this , if the presiding judge happens to be corrupt & teams up with the criminal nexus , the result is devastating , the rich criminal will get away & the innocent will suffer punishment in some cases even death sentence. Who will bell these few corrupt among the judiciary , bar , police & public service ? why not prison sentence for two leading advocates on criminal charges of contempt of court , destruction of evidences ? are they above law ? why favouritism by court to the guilty in awarding punishment to guilty two advocates as they happen to be political influential ? will the court let a common man so leniently for the same charges ? In the past cases dealt by these corrupt duo advocates , there are possibilities that the same tactics of manipulation of evidences , prosecution is done to win the cases , to free the rich criminals , why not review of the cases dealt by these corrupt advocates ? The honest few among judiciary , bar , police & public service must uphold our constitution , rule of law & bring to book their corrupt colleagues.



CASH FOR JUDGEMENT



Chandigarh, August 22: Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Nirmal Yadav who has gone on leave after her name is said to have figured in the statements of the main accused in the case involving the delivery of cash at another High Court Judge's house, said today that she was a "victim of a vilification campaign." Speaking to The Indian Express at her Sector 24 residence here today, Justice Yadav said that "some influential persons were trying to shift the focus on her to save the real accused." Justice Yadav denied that former Haryana Additional Advocate General Sanjeev Bansal had talked to her on phone on August 13 when Bansal's clerk "mistakenly" delivered a bag containing Rs 15 lakh to the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, another sitting Judge of the High Court.

"Let any agency prove that I talked to Sanjeev Bansal on phone either on that day or any day in the past one month," Justice Yadav said. "I am ready to face all consequences if this allegation is found true. I have had no dealings with Bansal. I have not received any money from Bansal or any of his associates. I am sure I will get justice." Justice Yadav said she had explained her position to High Court Chief Justice T S Thakur and had "proceeded on leave." She said she would not hear any case until her name is cleared.

Sources close to her said that during her meeting with Justice Thakur yesterday evening, in which some other senior judges were also present, Justice Yadav offered to proceed on leave to "maintain the highest traditions of Indian judiciary." Justice Thakur told The Indian Express that he had not asked Justice Yadav to proceed on leave and that it was her own decision. It is learnt that in her meeting with Justice Thakur, Yadav vehemently denied any role in the entire role. While acknowledging that she and some other members of her family had bought a plot of 11.1 bighas of land (see accompanying story) at village Rihun Pargana near Kumharhatti in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh on August 14, Yadav is learnt to have denied that the money for purchasing the land came from Bansal or Ravinder Singh, the Delhi businessman, who is also named in the case.

"Can't a judge buy legal property? Let the police or any other investigating agency prove that the money for the deal was provided by Bansal or Singh," she is learnt to have told the Chief Justice. But she is learnt to have acknowledged, in her meeting with the Chief Justcie, that she knew Ravinder Singh. She is learnt to have said that she came to know him through some other judges.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources in the High Court confirmed that Chief Justice Thakur is awaiting the return of Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan from Brazil to apprise him of the developments in the case. The Chief Justice is learnt to have asked the administrative committee, comprising senior judges, to monitor the case on a daily basis.

The Rs 15-lakh delivery: Story So Far

•August 13: Parkash Ram, an assistant to Haryana's Additional Advocate General Sanjeev Bansal, delivers a parcel containing Rs 15 lakh at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice Kaur calls the police.

•Rajeev Gupta, Bansal's friend and a property dealer, tells the police that the money reached there by mistake and it was meant for Nirmal Singh, another property dealer. Chandigarh Police decline to hand over the cash. Bansal is questioned

•August 16: A case is registered against Bansal, Parkash Ram and Delhi- based hotelier Ravinder Singh who allegedly organised the money

•Bansal resigns as Addl AG and surrenders on August 19

•August 21: Rajeev Gupta, the property dealer who claimed the money was meant for Nirmal Singh, is arrested. The Inspector General of Police sends a report to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court. The report says that the money was meant for another judge.

•August 22: Justice Nirmal Yadav proceeds on leave



Caught in controversy is Solan plot that judge, 16 others purchased



CHANDIGARH, SOLAN, August 22: On August 14, according to revenue records, a plot measuring 11.1 bighas in Solan was purchased by Justice Nirmal Yadav and others for Rs 5, 52, 500. Details of the transaction, obtained by The Indian Express, show that the land was purchased by her and 16 others from six persons, all residents of village Rihun Pargana, near Kumharhatti in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.

This purchase is said to have figured in the meeting between Justice Yadav and the High Court Chief Justice yesterday. Justice Yadav is said to have told the Chief Justice: "Can't a judge buy legal property? Let the police or any other investigating agency prove that the money for the deal was provided by (Sanjeev) Bansal or Ravinder Singh." The purchasers and sellers obtained permission from the Himachal Pradesh Government under Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy Act. Solan Naib Tehsildar N S Chauhan has confirmed on record that that the deal had been registered as per the details we have. The land was sold by residents of village including Baldev; Narinder Kumar; Surinder Kumar; Rajinder Kumar; Bimla Devi and Amar Singh. The sellers have given a General Power of Attorney to Surinder Kumar (one of the partners among the sellers), who executed a sale agreement in favour of the buyers.

Those named as purchasers (partners) in the land deal include Suruchi, a resident of House no. 3, Sector 14, Gurgaon; Trisha Chaudhary; Ram Niwas; Rajender Yadav; Chiranjeev; Latika; Deepak; Sunita; Vivek; Capt. NT Puri; Devinder Singh; Shakuntla; Kuldip Singh Yadav; Ajay Yadav; Sushank Puri; Mohit (all residents of house no. 1111, Sector 11, Panchkula) and Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Nirmal Yadav.



Three booked in judge bribery case



Haryana Addl Advocate General among booked Chandigarh, August 16: Three persons, including Additional Advocate General of Haryana Sanjeev Bansal, were on Saturday booked for an attempt to bribe a Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge. The other two are Bansal's munshi Parkash, who had carried Rs 15 lakh to the residence of High Court judge Nirmaljit Kaur on Wednesday night, and Ravinder Singh, a Delhi-based businessman who has a hotel in Karol Bagh. The munshi was taken into custody while a police party has been despatched to Delhi to nab Singh. Assistant Superintendent of Police Madhur Verma said the amount was supposed to be handed over to some other public servant but was mistakenly delivered at Kaur's house. An FIR was lodged after Kaur complained to the police. She also reported the matter to the Chief Justice. Police said Singh had allegedly paid Bansal a huge amount to get settled a criminal case pending in the High Court. The case is due to come up for hearing on Wednesday.

Earlier, Singh had claimed the amount was pertaining to a property deal he had struck with a resident of Panchkula. The money was supposed to be delivered to one Nirmal Singh and was mistakenly delivered at the judge's house. Verma, however, said the preliminary investigation had ruled out the possibility of the amount being related to any property deal. "Bansal failed to give a detailed account of the cash. He produced some papers pertaining to some property in Panchkula but that did not carry any weight. Our investigations caught him on the wrong foot and, therefore, we booked him along with two others under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy," he added. Bansal has been handling several high-profile cases. He is one of the dozen-odd Additional Advocate Generals appointed by the Haryana Government about two years ago.



Corrupt judge in Allahabad High Court by Rajeev



If the Judges go corrupt, then it is GOD who will give one justice when one go to heaven or hell. It is a Irony that I filed a complaint against a District and Session Judge who later promoted to High Court of Allahabad. I wish the God will serve HIS justice to Hon'ble Justice Umeshware Pandey, now enjoying at High Court and selling (Mis)Justice at Rs 100000 per page!! Here I am elaborating what had happened. In 1994, two people name Parashram Agarwal and Mohan Lal Agarwal wanted to grab my father's property and in March 1994 they beat him and pulled his legs( just imagine the pain) making him handicapped for life. Then in court those guys were merely sentenced for 6 months in Jail, but they did not went for the jail for single day or hour and appealed to Sessions Court and then the corrupt Judge Umeshwar Pandey took the bribe of Rs 200000 in Criminal Revision number 13/2000 from Parashram Agarwal and Mohan Lal.

It is a shame on Umeshwar Pandey that he cannot see a Handicapped man suffering for last 9 years and even then not given the justice. Umeshwar Pandey has taken this bribe via his Steno name some G. D. Gupta. It is the habit of Parashram and MohanLal to record the conversation while giving bribes on hidden audio recorder and the same cassette can be recovered if the authority try. It is been 8 months since I have informed various authorities by registered letters and phone calls from USA for no action till date.



I have spoken to Mr Jagmohan Paliwal who was posted as Vigilance Officer for no action till date and the recording attached is from Sept 2002. Similarly I have spoken with Mr. K. S. Rakhra who was posted as Registrar General but no action till date, and the recoding shown is from Sept 2002 too. Even CBI has forwarded my letter to Registrar General, but no action is taken on that one too.



I have emaild my plea to few High court Judges too for no response. I just hope GOD is there who will give some justice. But the corrupt Judges should stop imitating as GOD they are devil actually. The only solution can be people make a limit. How much money a person needs. I often think about a story that a saint refused to take the food as he already got the food for today and he do not want to collect for tomorrow. But I don't know why people want to generate money for 7 generations. If a careful analysis and investigation is done Umeshwar Pamdey has Black money worth 3 generations. I guess instead of Lakhs and Carore now corruption should be measured in generations.



Education is important. People need to understand the meaning of freedom truly. IF I say boldly India is still not free. People have mentality that they need to pay to Government officials for work. This mentality has to be removed.



Thanks

Rajeev





HC suspends judge over corruption complaints





AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court has suspended a fast track court judge in Rajpipla after receiving several complaints of corruption and favouritism against her. Rajpipla fast track court Judge DL Desai was suspended on Thursday evening after a primary inquiry held by the court's vigilance department said that the complaints against her had substance. Further inquiry against her will be conducted by the department. Besides the complaint of favouritism in Rajpipla, where she was presently posted, the Desai was also accused of similar charges and issuing certificates without proper verification in Bharuch, where the she was discharging her duty as a principal district judge, the High Court authorities said.



The HC administration seems to be seriously taking the issue of corruption prevailing in Gujarat's judiciary, as Desai's is the fourth suspension in last three months. Earlier in May, a judge in Surat's court, AN Vinjhola was suspended after similar complaints against him. The court administration also found him in possession of property out of proportion considering his known sources of income. Last month, two judges were suspended on charges of corruption. The Ahmedabad city civil Judge NM Thakor and KV Kakkad were also suspended by the HC after holding preliminary inquiry into complaints against them. All the four suspended judges are now facing departmental inquiry.





FOREIGN TOURS OF INDIAN JUDGES AT TAXPAYER'S EXPENSE



New Delhi: CNN-IBN's exclusive report on some judges using official trips to holiday, has sparked off the debate - should judges be above the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act? RTI activists say there is every reason why the RTI Act should apply to the higher judiciary as well. Questions are now being asked in South Block, too, following the expose on Supreme Court judges. Records obtained under the RTI shows judges have been converting work trips to holidays, taking long detours and are accompanied by their wives while traveling abroad.

At present there are no travel guidelines for the judiciary and the Bar Council of India is suggesting a course correction. "I think the judges must pay or should pay the amount to the government," Bar Council of India Chairman SNP Sinha said in Patna on Wednesday.

Under the RTI, CNN-IBN found that for Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan's 11-day trip to Pretoria, South Africa in August 2007 the route was - Delhi, Dubai, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Capetown, Johannesburg, Victoria Falls, where the judge finally didn't go and back to Delhi via Dubai.

Former chief justice YK Sabharwal attended three conferences in 2005 to Edinburgh, Washington and Paris. While the conferences lasted 11 days, Sabharwal was out for 38 days with 21 days converted into a private visit. The travel plan included a detour from Washington to Baltimore, Orlando and Atlanta, before rejoining the conference route in Paris. The First Class air fare for Sabharwal's entire trip was paid by the government. Activists are now renewing the debate on the RTI act applying to judges as well

RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal said: "It only underscores why the RTI needs to be applied to judges and judiciary." Just like Caesar's wife should be above suspicion, RTI activists are demanding that SC judges too should be seen to be accountable.



The need for a Judges Accountability Bill

By Vicky Nanjappa



Off late there is a lot of talk regarding the necessity to have a Judges Accountability Bill. Even when the Lokpal Bill was being debated the inclusion of judges into this bill was strongly opposed by the government despite members of the civil society urging the government to make such an inclusion.
Off late there have been reports galore regarding judges being offered sites or houses under the discretionary quota of the Chief Minister. Recently there was an expose at the Orissa High Court. Prior to this there were reports from Karnataka and also another report which spoke about how the Narendra Modi government had offered prime lands to judges of the High Court.
The big question is whether judges deserve such treatment from the state government considering the fact that the government is the biggest litigant before any court in the country? Is this an illegality or is it corruption?

Justice Santhosh Hegde, former judge of the Supreme Court of India says it is illegal to accept sites under the discretionary quota. Judges ought to know that while accepting such sites they are succumbing to temptation. They have to examine any such offer and find out properly whether it is in accordance with law or not. It is very dangerous to accept such favours since in the days to come it would hold against themselves.

Speaking of a judges accountability bill, well there is one but it has not come out as yet. This has been loitering around for some years now and it is time that something is done about it. In fact while we were discussing the Lokpal bill this was one of the primary contentions during the debate. Either the government had to include it into the Lokpal Bill or make functional the judges accountability bill. However there was a lot of misunderstanding regarding this. All I said was it was not right to leave out the judges when we are fighting corruption. They should include this portion into the Lokpal bill. However once the Judges Accountability Bill is made functional then it could be deleted out of the Lokpal bill. There was no need to keep this in abeyance until that happened. When this issue is being argued and fought for the past 44 years then it is impertive for the government to include it.

Senior Advocate in the Karnataka High Court, Navkesh Batra is of the view that taking sites under the discretionary quota is nothing but corruption. First and foremost Judges are not entitled for a site under this quota. This quota is meant for poor people, outstanding people including judges. It cannot be given as a bul allotment as it amounts to nothing but a sop. When the government is the biggest litigant before any court in India then such a sop does not instill confidence in the public and it would be better if both the government and the judiciary abstains from such an act. Here I would like to quote the incident involving the great Justice R A Jagirdhar of the Bombay High Court. In fact he was the only judge who refused to apply for a site despite a request by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He even went one step further and at a public function when the CM sought to shake his hand he publicly rebuked him by saying, ” Mr CM your cases are pending before the high court. As a high court judge I refuse to shake your hand.”

http://vickynanjapa.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/the-need-for-a-judges-accountability-bill/



LAND SCAM IN TAMILNADU One for my officer, one for my boy...



Land and property are coveted assets. So why are chief ministers allowed to give these away as favours? JEEMON JACOB tracks how Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has been using his quotas

ILLUSTRATION: ANAND NAOREM

IN NOVEMBER, Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa almost lost his job, due to the uproar over preferential allotment of land and property to his sons and close associates. He has since cancelled the allotments, asked his children to move out of his official residence, and retained his seat through some deft political manoeuvring and muscle-flexing. At the height of the campaign against him, as political opponents paraded on apparent moral high ground, TEHELKA published details of plots similarly allotted by previous Karnataka chief ministers, both of the Congress and the JD(S), to relatives, servants, drivers, maids and partymen (LAND SCAM 2.0, 4 December). The purpose was not to make Yeddyurappa’s wrongdoings look less shocking, but to show that the problem was endemic and needed rooting out. The right given to chief ministers to hand out public land to a favoured few — relatives, bureaucrats, judges, police officers and others — smacks of nepotism and arbitrary feudal power structures that should have no place in a modern democracy. (Though there is no immediate proof of this, some of these allotments could also be benamitransactions, in which the ultimate ownership remains with the distributor of the largesse, camouflaged by a stack of fake documents.)

This power — euphemistically called “discretionary quota” — has even been used to favour allegedly corrupt army officers like General Deepak Kapoor (AT EASE WITH GREASE, TEHELKA, 20 November), who was given a large 500 sq yd plot in Haryana by the Hooda government, which then faced the embarrassment of refusing him permission to sell it off before five years had elapsed, as per rules. The plot was given to him by the government as preferential allotment in recognition for his ‘outstanding achievement’.

This week, continuing its campaign against out-of-turn allotments of land and property, TEHELKA has an exposé on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) which commands a large land bank, has a government discretionary quota (GDQ) under which 15 percent of all allotments can be recommended by the CM. Eligibility for allotment under GDQ is as follows: single/deserted women; widows; social workers; physically handicapped persons; defence personnel; ex-servicemen; eminent persons in the field of science, arts, literature, economics, public administration and sports; freedom fighters; government servants with unblemished service records; employees of PSUs, central government undertakings and nationalised banks; PF institutions; journalists; university staff; and employees of local bodies and municipalities.

While some of these categories sound kosher, most of them raise a fundamental question: why should the government have the power to give coveted land to select employees and journalists over others? The only rationale could be proximity — which is an untenable reason for being the beneficiary of political favours, often worth several crores.

Setting this aside, even within the legal ambit of the GDQ, TEHELKA’s investigation shows that many of the allotments in Karunanidhi’s tenure have violated the rule book. Many bureaucrats and their relatives have been given plots or flats under the category of “social worker”. Some of these last did social work when they were in college; many of them claim to be volunteers in such routine activity as helping in blood donation or eye camps. Many have issued certificates to themselves; some have acquired letters from the Lions and Rotary Clubs with vague endorsements. In other violations, the rules say that no one who has any other land or property in Tamil Nadu or any other capital city, in either their own or spouse or minor children’s name, can apply for GDQ allotments. TEHELKA found this is routinely violated.

Many of the allottees issued certificates to themselves, while some got letters from Lions and Rotary Clubs

The other brazen violation lies in the claim of “unblemished” service records as a qualification for allotment. When RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan sought a list of such bureaucrats, Additional Secretary S Solomon Raj said, “As no unblemished government servant certificates are issued, the question of furnishing a list of names does not arise.” The additional secretary also clarified that the home department didn’t have such a list. This is the phantom category under which many public servants like Jaffar Sait, 1986 batch IPS officer, now Inspector General of Police–Intelligence, got large allotments of land in prime locations. Why them more than hundreds of others? That’s a democratic question the chief minister will have to answer.

jee...@gmail.com

Legal Largesse



R Bhanumathi
Serving Judge, Madras High Court

FLAT NOS: MIG 249-250, SHOLINGANALLUR PHASE III, CHENNAI
DATE: 30 MARCH 2008
SIZE: 120 SQ M & 139 SQ M
PRICE: Rs. 27.55 LAKH & Rs. 30.05 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA

VIOLATIONS
The judge was allotted two adjoining plots on the same day (30 March 2008). According to her Disclosure of Assets statement of 2009, the judge already had a house in her name, and another plot in her husband, advocate K Ganesan’s name. The house, in the Uthangarai area of Krishnagiri district, was constructed in 1985 on a plot purchased in 1982. The plot of land is located in Saidapet and was purchased in 1993. She however admits in her declaration that she owns two plots, which she purchased from the TN Housing Board in 2008. But this allocation was made under the General Category. Since judges do not come under any of the quota categories, the government’s way of allotting land to them differs from the rest. Judges are informed about the availability of land. And when they apply for the same, the government facilitates the allotment.



K Raviraja Pandian
Retired Justice, Madras High Court

PLOT NO: B2/5, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2009
SIZE: 3,117 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 68.54 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.2 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
Close relative of DMK supremo Karunanidhi and the Chairman of the School Fee Determination Committee. Little wonder then he was also the recipient of special favours while he was still a serving judge. At the time of the allotment, the judge owned a 50 percent share in an ancestral house at Thiruveezhimizhalai village. The judge had also sold a property he owned at Pazhavatthankattali village near Kumbakonam. The land was purchased in 1991, a house was constructed on it in 1992 and sold in 2009. He had also sold the landed property of his wife in 2009.

V Ambika
Advocate

PLOT NO: A8, KADAPERY, MADHURANTHAGAM
DATE: 16 FEBRUARY 2008
SIZE: 2,285 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 4.54 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 15 LAKH

VIOLATIONS
The advocate owned landed property in more than one location when she was allotted the plot — one vacant house site in Karanai Puducheri village and another in Katrampakkam village, in Kancheepuram district. Her husband, Justice M Satyanarayanan of the Madras High Court, in his Disclosure of Assets, stated that he owns a repurchased MIG flat constructed in 1969 at Indra Nagar in Chennai. Ambika was allotted land under the GDQ.

Bureaucratic Bonanza



Jaffar Sait
IGP-Intelligence

FLAT NOS: 540, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR
DATE: 23 APRIL 2008
SIZE: 4,756 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.26 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 6 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
Allotted under ‘unblemished’ government servant category. On 6 June 2008, the government transferred the ownership of the plot to his daughter Jennifer Jaffar, then a student. Jennifer made two payments of Rs. 46.03 lakh and Rs.1.73 lakh towards cost of the plot. In February 2009, she paid another Rs.60 lakh. After having paid Rs.1.07 crore, the ownership of plot was transferred to her mother Parvin Jaffar. Interestingly, Parvin also made the payment all over again. In October 2009, she paid Rs. 50.64 lakh and then again in November 2009, another Rs. 25 lakh was deposited. A further payment of Rs. 51.5 lakh in the same month was made. Income tax officials feel the Sait family made the double payment to avoid an IT investigation on Jennifer, who would not have been able to show any source of income. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board then returned the original amount paid by Jennifer. Now, Parvin in collaboration with Durga Sankar, son of an IAS officer, has commissioned a builder to construct a multi-storey complex in which 12 flats have already been built. Each flat is expected to fetch an estimated 1 crore. So, by paying Rs. 1.26 crore in 2009, the IGP’s family made a profit of more than Rs. 5.7 crore.

G Prakash
Joint Secretary, Industries

PLOT NO: S6, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 6 MAY 2008
SIZE: 3,829 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 76.58 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 4 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
The former district collector of Tirunelveli issued himself a certificate for unblemished government service.



CK Gariyali
Retired IAS, Secretary to Governor at the time of allotment

FLAT NOS: S4, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 7 MAY 2008
SIZE: 6,023 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.20 CRORE. PAYMENT WAS MADE IN 33 INSTALMENTS FROM 18 JULY 2008 TO 6 MARCH 2009
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 6.8 CRORE (APPROX)

VIOLATIONS
Her husband Dr S Rajakumar has a house in Chennai.

Sumathi Ravichandran
Former Regional Passport Officer, Chennai, and close relative of DMK minister K Anbazhagan

PLOT NO: 1050 HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 28 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 59.15 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 1 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
Her husband Dr S Ravichandran owns a plot. Following an RTI probe, the TNHB issued a show-cause notice and placed the allotment under suspension.

Political Perks



L Ganeshan
Former MP, who left Vaiko to join DMK

FLAT NOS: 1052 HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 27 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 79.86 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA

VIOLATIONS
Ganeshan is a trade union leader with the DMK and is close to Karunanidhi. He owns property in his as well as his wife’s name.

Brinda Nedunchezhiyan
Wife of late Chezhiyan and daughter-in-law of Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam

PLOT NO: HIG B 3/14, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 13 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 9.82 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 45-50 LAKH

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under Social worker category. The tehsildar of Salem issued her a certificate though he is not empowered to. The certificate says she “is a well-known social worker involved in social welfare activities such as president of Poolavari village panchayat, head of parent-teachers association, participating in educational programmes of many schools”.

S Rajalakshmi
Wife of R Sakkarapani, MLA and DMK chief whip

PLOT NO: 1047, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 9 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 79.86 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.5 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
She was allotted the flat under the Social Worker category. The supporting document was a letter from a Rotary Club. The letter from PNK Venkatachalapathy, president of the Rotary Club of Oddachatram, dated 31 March 2008, states that “she is known to me as a social worker who is participating in social service activities of our Rotary Club at blood donation camps, free health checkup camps and other welfare activities. She has also been helping in providing several other basic amenities for the people surrounding the slum area for the past several years. I wish her every success to do more services to needy people in and around the area”.



D Yasodha
Congress MLA, Kancheepuram Congress MLA, Kancheepuram

FLAT NOS: A5, HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 19 DECEMBER 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 59.56 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
A certificate from the Chennai Municipal Councillor stating she has been an active social worker for the past 40 years actively involved in helping the poor in the area.

Poochi Murugan
Member of a DMK trade union

PLOT NO: A 11, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION
DATE: 6 JUNE 2008
SIZE: 2,422 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 58.61 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 2.75 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
Though a member of a DMK trade union, he was allotted land under the Social Worker category. Has three plots in his name and one in his spouse’s name. He has not produced any supporting document about the social work he has done.

Bharati Thennarasu
Widow of Sivagangai politician Thennarasu

FLAT NOS: S7, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTN
DATE: 26 AUGUST 2008
SIZE: 3,879 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 79.13 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.75 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
She was allotted the plot under the Social Worker category. An RTI application revealed that she had not been engaged in any kind of social work that would make her eligible for this category.



P Moorthy
Madurai MLA

FLAT NOS: E2/6, MIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 5 DECEMBER 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 72.5 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 4 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
Allotted under the Social Worker category on a certificate issued by the Lions Club. Owns several plots in his and his wife’s name.

N Soorya
Daughter of Brinda Chezhiyan and grand-daughter of Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam

FLAT NOS: B3/13, HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 3 JUNE 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 8.99 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 45-50 LAKH

VIOLATIONS
Like her mother, the 20-year-old was given a certificate of social work and domicile by the tehsildar of Salem, stating that she “is a wellknown social worker who is involved in many social welfare activities, such as national social service, participating in eye camp, blood donation and giving education to poor students”. The certificate was issued on 27 February 2008, the same day her mother got one. Both got adjoining flats.

Kith and Kin

Deepa
Daughter of Devaraj M, Private Secretary to the Chief Minister

FLAT NOS: 543, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR (PLOT ADJOINING SAIT’S AND SHANKAR’S)
DATE: 23 MAY 2008
SIZE: 4,466 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.08 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA

VIOLATIONS
Allotted plot under the Social Worker category but there’s no evidence to back it. Constructing a three-storey building involving a cost beyond the family’s known sources of income. Her husband owns another property in his name. Her plot is adjacent to the plots of IGP-Intelligence Jaffar Sait and Durga Shankar, son of the CM’s secretary.

Naveenkumar
Son of P Muthuveeran, IAS, who was District Collector, Theni, and close to the Chief Minister

FLAT NOS: 541, HIG, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR
DATE: 27 JULY 2008
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 1.06 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. He works in a software company in Chennai and submitted a salary slip of Rs. 20,000 per month at the time of allotment. Now, he is constructing a fourstorey structure on the plot.

J Naveen Ibrahim
Son of SI Jaffar Ali, IPS (retd)

FLAT NOS: AI HIG MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 31 MARCH 2009
SIZE: NA
PRICE: Rs. 64.95 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.25 CRORE

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. Certificate issued relates to 1983, when he was a student. The college principal says he actively participated in “many social activities conducted by us. He continues to evince interest in social service activities”. Curiously, the EMI of Rs. 74,000 is almost double his monthly salary.

Durga Sankar
Son of Rajamanikkam, IAS, Secretary to Chief Minister

FLAT NOS: 538, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR (PLOT ADJOINING SAIT’S AND SHANKAR’S)
DATE: 28 MARCH 2008
SIZE: 2,450 SQ FT
PRICE: Rs. 1.12 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA

VIOLATIONS
He is a businessman, but allotted the plot under the Social Worker category. He also submitted an affidavit that the plot would be used for residential purposes. But he violated the conditions and developed the property for commercial purposes.

The Others

M Ilamukil
IT Manager, DMK HQ, Chennai

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category on a certificate issued by the Lions Club. The certificate states that he “is participating in social service activities of Lions Club at blood donation camp, free health camps for the past several years”.

Ilanthendral
Ilamukil’s sister

VIOLATIONS
Allotted HIG flat under the Social Worker category on the basis of a certificate issued by a panchayat, which is not valid.

N Kannabiran
Junior attendant at the Supreme Court

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. Kannabiran, a Delhi resident, was issued a salary certificate by the SC registrar for purchasing land in Tamil Nadu. He was allotted on the recommendation of his superior, who has close links with the DMK.

C Ganeshan and C Vinothan
PSOs, CM’s Security

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flats under the ‘unblemished’ government servants category. Documents reveal the Superintendent of Police, Security Branch, Chennai, issued vague conduct certificates after the duo were allotted the flats provisionally.

P Meena
W/O P Pandian, PSO, CM’s Security

VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under the Social Worker category. She produced a letter from MS Velu of the Lions Club, who liberally issued certificates for sons and daughters of bureaucrats to help them avail of prime plots allotted by the TN Housing Board out of the government discretionary quota.

PHOTOS: THE HINDU, JEEMON JACOB

Reactions to Land Scam 3.0

D Yashoda, Congress MLA, Kancheepuram

“I have done a lot of work for Dalits throughout Tamil Nadu, especially in Sriperumbudur and Chennai. I have helped them in getting pattas for their land, recommending their names for loans from banks, distributing cycles to Dalits on the birthdays of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi."

Jaffar Sait, IPS, IG-Intelligence

"Government agencies have already probed the matter. I am being governed by the conduct rules, so I should not talk to you about the issue. It is advisable that you seek a response from the Tamil Nadu government. I would like to add that if any defamation or liability arises out of your article, necessary legal action would be taken."

P Moorthy, Madurai MLA

"I don’t know much about the certificate, I think I got the plot because I’m an MLA. I have done a lot of work in uplifting the people in villages of my constituency. That amounts to social work. I don’t need a social work certificate from the Lions Club but my friends, partners and I took the certificate anyway. "





‘GDQ is a way of making you part of the syndicate’

BY JEEMON JACOB

C Umashanker

PHOTO: JEEMON JACOB

A1990 batch IAS officer, C Umashanker shot to fame during the AIADMK regime when he exposed a scam in the construction of sheds in a cremation ground under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana when he was additional collector in Madurai. His brush with AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s partymen resulted in his transfer out of the district.

Later, when the DMK came to power, he was appointed managing director of the state-run Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu and put in charge of procuring colour television sets for free distribution to the poor in the state, in keeping with an election promise of the DMK. He was transferred with immediate effect after he exposed corporate fraud committed by the joint venture promoter ELNET Technologies Ltd.

Later, he was posted as managing director of the state-run Arasu Cable TV Corporation. In this capacity, he opposed the monopoly of Sumangali Corporation run by Kalanidhi Maran. He also took steps to nationalise Sumangali Cable Vision. By that time, Maran had a patch-up with the Karunanidhi family and Umashanker was transferred with immediate effect.

Later, the anti-corruption and vigilance department registered a case against him for disproportionate assets. The government suspended him for claiming fake caste certificate as a Dalit when he is a practising Christian.

Plots are allotted even without any formal applications. There is no transparency at all

He lodged a complaint with the National Backward Commission against his suspension and got a favourable order from the High Court. At present, he is managing director of Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation.

Umashanker was allotted a plot (under government order 2D 325) on 3 April 2008 at Thiruvanmiyur Extension when he was in charge of the free colour television for the poor programme. For this, he would have had to pay 55.12 lakh. He wrote to the chief minister that he could not afford to pay such a huge amount. Later, his allotment was cancelled without stating any reason.

Umashanker revealed he had an MIG flat in his name when the plot was allotted and he was not aware about the rule of Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) that he can’t claim a plot when he has another flat in his name.

It certainly seems commendable that Umashanker turned down a chance to own a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension, one of the poshest areas of the city. The plot is just 300 metres from the beach.

Though the entire colony has been parcelled out to those close to the ruling establishment, it is the nouveau riche and the industrialists who dream of owning a house in Thiruvanmiyur, where they can rub shoulders with former judges, bureaucrats and political power brokers. If and when the allottees decide to sell their plots, they can demand extremely high prices.

In a frank chat, Umashanker talks about how the government discretionary quota has been misused. Excerpts:

Why are bureaucrats, judges, former judges and politicians given housing plots in posh localities under government discretionary quota?
Who can refuse a good piece of land in Chennai city? It’s a way of rewarding people for good work done. No inquiry has been conducted in this matter so far. Discretionary quota is the prerogative of the government. After RTI came into existence, several activists are taking up the matter in court. Basically, there is no control mechanism or checks and balances. There is little transparency while awarding the GDQ — the plots are allotted without formal applications.

You were also allotted a plot in 2008 under the ‘unblemished government servant’ category. What happened to the allotment?
Yes, I was allotted a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension. Initial payment for the plot was Rs. 25 lakh. I never had that much money. So I requested the government to reduce the price. But there was no response. I did not want a house to compromise my integrity. So I never took possession. Later, in 2009, the government ordered a vigilance inquiry against me and cancelled the allotment. Frankly, I was not aware about the TNHB rules that bars a person having a plot, a flat or a house from claiming another plot.

Do you think the GDQ quota is a way of silencing people, buying them out?
Yes, it is a way of making you a part of the syndicate. Plots or flats are given to those civil servants, judges or relatives of the bureaucrats or politicians for complying with certain requirements. There is no procedure for IAS or IPS officers to get a land or plot or flat in a transparent manner. So everybody uses short cuts.





Advocates want CJI to probe corruption charges against Judge



The Advocates Association of the Madurai High Court Bench has appealed to the Chief Justice of India to probe charges of corruption against Justice C S Karnan as also the latter's complaint that some of his colleagues on the bench practised untouchability against him. A resolution seeking setting up of a body to probe corruption charges levelled by some advocates against him as well as his complaint about untouchability was passed at a meeting of the Madurai Branch of the Madras Advocates Association here last night, a release said. After complaining to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes about being "harassed on caste grounds", Karnan had last week claimed that some former judges had also faced similar ordeal. "Since April 2009 I faced harassment but remained silent to maintain the decorum of the court. I am a self respecting person," he had told reporters. He had said there was no need for him to complain to the Chief Justice of the High Court as the Commission, functioning directly under the President, had been set up to look into problems faced by the SCs and STs.



Minister’s DQ proves judges are more corrupt than civil servant



NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: An investigation by Cobra post and IBN Network has revealed how former and sitting judges of Orissa, police officers and bureaucrats have received flats from the DiscretionaryQuota (DQ) of ministers. As a matter of fact, successive Urban Development Ministers in the Naveen Patnaik government have misused the discretionary housing quota.

According to the revelation, the judges have got the ‘minister quota’ flats out of turn and at cheaper rates.

The IBN Network accessed letters of judges written to the government asking for prime property in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Prime properties were acquired in Cuttack at concession rates, bypassing the Cuttack Development Authority. In fact, Sectors 10, 11 and 13 of Cuttack’s Abhinav Bidanasi project has practically become a judges’ residential colony.

Former Chief Justice G B. Patnaik is a resident of flat 1B/22 in Sector 11 while former Orissa High CourtJudge Radhakrishna Patra has flat 1B/23 in the same sector, given out on lease.

Supreme Court judge Deba Priya Mohapatra, Orissa High Court judges Sanju Panda, Madan Mohan Das, Nityanand Prastuti also own flats in Sector 10 and 11.Papers for the flats were prepared quickly and some judges even got preferred plots.

Most of the allotments took place between 2000 and 2007, under the BJP cadre Urban and Housing Development Minister Sameer De who was State Development Minister from 2000-2004 and then Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo who called the shots from 2004 to 2007.

All that the judges had to do was written to the Minister. The CNN-IBN has a letter written by Justice Madan Mohan Das to the CDA Chairman and to Minister Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo, asking for a B-Category Flat in Sector 10, saying he would ensure a third party transfer of a C-Category Flat already owned by his wife.Justice Das was allotted the flat in just six days.



When asked why the discretionary quota was used to make the allotments, Sameer Dey, former Orissa urban development minister, said, “The Orissa act does not have any such rule. There is 5 per cent and 10 per cent allocation in discretionary quota. Apart from that we don’t have any rule.”

Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, former Orissa urban development minister, said, “The rule is that only those who apply for the project can be allotted land via Discretionary Quota. So if any such person does not apply what can we do?”

CNN-IBN has also found that many of the judges who were allotted land through the discretionary quota already own ancestral property in Cuttack. Yet the ministers were allotted the land they asked for.



Judicial Layout Site Allotment – BRIBE TO JUDGES ?



http://www.vijaykarnatakaepaper.com/svww_zoomart.php?Artname=20110919aB001101004&ileft=177&itop=1252&zoomRatio=134&AN=20110919aB001101004 ,

http://www.vijaykarnatakaepaper.com/svww_zoomart.php?Artname=20110919a_004101002&ileft=233&itop=92&zoomRatio=130&AN=20110919a_004101002 ,

http://www.vijaykarnatakaepaper.com/svww_zoomart.php?Artname=20110919a_004101003&ileft=780&itop=92&zoomRatio=157&AN=20110919a_004101003



CROSS-EXAMINATION of Chief Justice of India - Half of Former Chief Justices of India are Corrupt



Visit : http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/answer-my-lord



Is the allotment of residential plots to Judges @ yelahanka Judicial Layout , a mode of paying bribe to judges by the biggest litigant government itself & the corrupt public servants in the government. So that the government can pass illegal laws like “Regularization of Illegal Buildings” , “ Illegal Appointments to Medical colleges in Hassan , Mysore” ,etc & ministers , IAS officers can indulge in illegal unconstitutional acts , but the courts will not take any appropriate action suo motto or based on any petition. IT IS MUTUAL HELP , NEXUS OF TWO CRIMINALS – JUDICIARY & GOVERNMENT. Ofcourse , there are honest few exceptions in judiciary & government. We Respect those honest few.



Information input forms part of process of one’s expression. One’s expression in any forms – written , oral , etc becomes information input to the opposite person , in turn he expresses his reply. Information & Expression are inseparable parts & form lifeline of a democracy. That is the reason , Right to Expression is the basic fundamental right as well as human right of every Indian citizen. When a person’s right to expression is violated , his other rights to equality , justice , etc also are violated. Suppression of Information amounts to curbing of Expression.



In a democracy , people have a right to know how the public servants are functioning. However till date public servants are hiding behind the veil of Officials Secrets Act (which is of british vintage created by british to suppress native indians). By this cover-up public servants are hiding their own corruption , crimes , mismanagement , failures , etc. even RTI Act is not being followed intoto by public servants. However the recent delhi high court ruling affirming that CJI is under RTI purview & bound to answer RTI request , is noteworthy.



Our previous RTI request to CJI , union home secretary of GOI, President of India , DG & IGP of GOK and others were not honored. The information I sought were answers to the following questions mentioned in the below mentioned websites . the questions concerned the past , present continuing injustices meted out to millions of Indian citizens , due to wrong / illegal work practices of Indian judges , police & public servants . The information we sought would expose the traitors , anti-nationals , criminals in public service. The information we are seeking are no defense secrets , no national secrets. The truthful information exposes the anti-nationals , traitors in the public service & strengthens our national security , national unity & integrity.



Hereby , I do request the honorable supreme court of India to consider this as a PIL for : “writ of Mandamus” and to issue instructions to the concerned public servants in the following cases to perform their duties & to answer the questions.



Hereby , e-voice urges the concerned authorities , to answer the following questionnaire about BMIC project by NICE

http://www.vijaykarnatakaepaper.com/svww_zoomart.php?Artname=20100214a_009101001&ileft=50&itop=56&zoomRatio=130&AN=20100214a_009101001



NICE Corridor Questions to Former CHIEF MINISTER .Mr.Yediyurappa

Read full questionnaire
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/nice-corridor-questions-to-chie\
f-minister



JUDICIAL CORRUPTION
MY LORDS, THERE’S A CASE AGAINST YOU
Former Union law ministers are spearheading a campaign against sitting judges they accuse of being corrupt. What is the higher judiciary doing to clear itself of these grave charges?
Avinash DuttNew Delhi
Under observation: The Supreme Court of India
Photo by K. Satheesh

Senior lawyers have complained to the CJI and the President that Justice Bhalla illegally amassed properties
The campaign by some senior lawyers and former law ministers who have questioned the integrity of sitting high court judges is set to ratchet up the growing confrontation between the legislative and the judicial arms of the government. Former Union law ministers Shanti Bhushan and Ram Jethmalani are leading the battle against what they claim are corrupt practices in the highest echelons of the judiciary.
Bhushan has categorically condemned the rot he feels has set in the judicial system. “The judiciary of this country is not merely unaccountable, but corrupt and brazenly so,” he wrote in a letter to President APJ Abdul Kalam on December 17. Bhushan has demanded that the President initiate impeachment proceedings against Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahbad High Court. On December 14, a Supreme Court (SC) collegium recommended that Justice Bhalla be appointed the Chief Justice of the Kerela HC.
Bhushan and Jethmalani, along with noted lawyers and former justices, including Rajendra Sachar, Indira Jaisingh and Hardev Singh, have formed the Committee on Judicial Accountability (COJA) and presented documents to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), YK Sabharwal, to support their complaint against the sitting judges. COJA complained to the CJI on July 11 that Justice Jagdish Bhalla had amassed several illegal properties in the name of his wife and other close relatives. Justice Vijender Jain, the former senior Judge in the Delhi High Court, who was recently appointed the CJ of Punjab and Haryana HC, is also in COJA’s line of fire.
By questioning the integrity of Justices Bhalla and Jain, Bhushan has thrown open the much larger question of judicial accountability. (See interview) “Leave aside taking any action against corrupt judges like Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice Vijender Jain, the CJI has been actually avoiding even properly investigating charges against them,” says Bhushan. According to documents produced by COJA on 21 July 2003, Renu Bhalla bought a 7,200 sq. metre plot near the Noida-Greater Noida expressway. On 28 March 2005, Uday Shankar, dsp, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida’s official name) submitted a report to the area dm in which he states that the sellers of the plot belong to the “land mafia”. In an enquiry submitted to the dm on 26 June 2005, RK Singh, the area sdm, also described the sellers as belonging to the “land mafia”. According to the two reports, the plots constituted a portion of the gram samaj (joint village property) land, illegally grabbed by the “land mafia”. (All the documents relating to the transaction are in possession of Tehelka)
The SDM’s report says that at the time of the transaction, the plot was worth Rs 7.20 crore in the open market, whereas Renu Bhalla paid Rs 5 lakh for it. The two reports also state that the sellers of the plot have been charged in several criminal cases, and had sold plots to several influential people to curry favour with them. Renu Bhalla is the wife of Justice Jagdish Bhalla.
Bhushan has also drawn attention to the July 2005 draw of lots for allotment of plots in Sector 44 in Greater Noida. When the computerised draw threw up several influential names, a few people approached the Allahabad HC alleging foulplay. In October 2005, the HC decided that the case warranted a fresh draw of lots and ordered a cbi inquiry into the scam. Among those who had been allotted plots in the scrapped list were Aarohi Bhalla and Sheeba Sabharwal. Aarohi Bhalla, who is the son of Justice Bhalla, was allotted plot number f-52, while Sheeba Sabharwal, daughter-in-law of the CJI YK Sabharwal was allotted plot number f-78. In November 2005, the Supreme Court stayed the Allahabad HC judgement, putting the cbi enquiry and the HC’s order to hold a fresh draw of lots on hold.
Admissible in court? Documents furnished by COJA against the justices
Members of COJA have offered to discuss the matter in person with the CJI but they say that they are still waiting to hear from him. Five months after their initial request, they sent another application to the CJI in November. This time they sought his permission to register an FIR against Justice Bhalla, claiming that their initial evidence was enough to register an offence against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“The CJI did not even call us to hear our point,” says Bhushan. “I don’t know why Justice Sabharwal is shielding Justice Bhalla!” Bhushan is equally critical of Justice Vijender Jain.
Justice Jain, who took oath as the new CJ of Punjab and Haryana HC in November, had to endure many delays before he could be appointed to the post. The CJI had to make three efforts to promote Justice Jain. A collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India first recommended Justice Jain’s name for the post in July. However, President APJ Abdul Kalam returned the file, causing a minor embarrassment to the CJI and the Union government. When the collegium reiterated its recommendation through the government in November, the President had to sign the file.
Third time lucky: Chief Justice Vijender Jain

When a collegium headed by the CJI recommended Justice Jain’s name, the President returned the file
Earlier in May, a proposal by the CJI to make Justice Jain CJ of the Maharsahtra HC was stonewalled by a judge in the three-member collegium who questioned Justice Jain’s integrity. The member on the panel cited a complaint made to former CJI RC Lahoti against Justice Jain in January 2005. The CJI revived the proposal a month later, but again a judge on the collegium opposed his appointment. Finally, a fortnight later, in July 2006, the CJI made his third attempt to promote Jain, this time to the Punjab and Haryana HC.
This time around, to address dissenting voices, the CJI also consulted other SC judges who happened to be former chief justices of the Delhi High Court. According to reliable sources, Justice Jain’s former seniors also questioned his integrity. However, on the basis of a majority, the proposal to promote him was forwarded to the Union government for the President’s assent.
A major hurdle in promoting Justice Jain continued on page 8 continued from page 6 was a complaint by one Subhash Agrawal who approached then CJI RC Lahoti in January 2005 with the complaint that Justice Jain had violated the code of conduct for judges. Agrawal claimed that Justice Jain gave a judgement in favour of someone with whom he had “family relations”. He produced a copy of the invitation card of the litigant’s granddaughter’s wedding, held in April 2001. According to the card, the venue of the wedding was the official residence of Justice Jain. (Tehelka has obtained a copy of the wedding card from the Central Information Commission). In November 2004, Justice Jain, hearing an appeal, decided a civil suit in favour of the person who had held his granddaughter’s wedding at his official residence.
When there was no response to his complaint in October 2005, Agrawal approached the SC to find out the status of his complaint under the rti Act. He was told that his complaint was in the relevant HC file. Not satisfied, Agrawal approached the Central Information Commission. On the commission’s insistence, the SC finally told Agrawal that his complaint had not actually been forwarded to the HC, as the SC has “no administrative jurisdiction” over high court judges. Therefore, the complaint was pending before the CJI, YK Sabharwal. The commission asked the CJI to act on the application. The CJI finally settled the complaint, saying he found no merit in it. When Agrawal asked for reasons behind the decision, he drew a blank.
It’s not just Bhushan who feels the need to bring about accountability and transparency in the judiciary. Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav says the issue will be discussed when the Judicial Accountability Bill is tabled in Parliament. “When the government tables the bill, all its aspects will be discussed,” Yadav told Tehelka.
CJI YK Sabharwal could not be reached for his comments. Despite conciliatory notes from him there are all indications that the clamour surrounding judicial misdemeanour and the demand for greater accountability will only increase in the days to come.
Dec 30 , 2006


Related Stories


• My lords, there’s a case against youFormer Union law ministers are spearheading a campaign against sitting judges they accuse of being corrupt. What is the higher judiciary doing to clear itself of these grave charges? Avinash Dutt reports
• Serious charges
• Dubious first
• ‘The Bill for Judicial Accountability is a sham’Former Union Law Minister Shanti Bhushan is angry at the state of the judiciary in India. He talks toAvinash Dutt
• Delhi HC dilutes the RTI ActThe rules framed by the court deter those who seek information about its workings, reports Avinash Dutt
• RTI TangleBy Avinash Dutt


‘Half Of The Last 16 Chief Justices Were Corrupt’
The decision to declare assets is a big victory. Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan tells SHOMA CHAUDHURY what else is rotting in our judiciary
image
In public interest Prashant Bhushan has championed the fight for judicial accountability
Photo: SHAILENDRA PANDEY
It’s great judges have agreed to declare assets. But will it really help? Politicians do it too.
This decision is very welcome, even if it’s only happened under public pressure. It is proof of the power of public opinion. And even though declaring assets is a relatively minor aspect of judicial accountability, it will help. If a judge misdeclares his assets, there’s a chance someone might know he has particular properties he hasn’t declared, and may point it out. One could then examine if these can be explained within their legal income.
The debate around judicial accountability has got really hot. Are there watershed events that triggered this?
Not in my own perception, but I think for the public there were two watershed events – the Chief Justice Sabharwal case (where there was an allegation that Chief Justice YS Sabharwal’s orders to demolish commercial outlets in Delhi directly benefited his sons, who were partners with some mall developers) and the Ghaziabad Provident Fund scam. Both these cases got wide media attention. A 2006 Transparency International report said the judiciary in India is the second most corrupt institution after the police.
You’ve been at the forefront of the judicial accountability campaign. Why?I have been witness to judicial corruption in the courts for a very long time. I know decisions are passed for extraneous considerations, but it’s difficult to get hard evidence of this. There have been highprofile impeachment attempts, for instance, on Justice Ramaswamy, Justice Punchi and Justice Anand. Yet, they all went on to become chief justices. In my view, out of the last 16 to 17 chief justices, half have been corrupt. I can’t prove this, though we had evidence against Punchi, Anand and Sabharwal on the basis of which we sought their impeachment.
What is the root cause of judicial corruption then, and what are your key demands?
Our key demand is an institutional mechanism for entertaining complaints and taking action against the judiciary. Nothing exists today. Everyone realises impeachment is impractical. To move an impeachment motion you need the signatures of 100 MPS, but you can’t get them because many MPs have pending individual or party cases in these judges’ courts. In the impeachment proceeding against Justice Bhalla, the BJP declined to sign because LK Advani had been acquitted by him in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Such political considerations prevail all the time. An in-house procedure was set up in 1999, post a chief justices’ conference in 1997, but that too is activated only selectively. For example, the complaint against Justice Bhalla was that he had purchased land worth Rs 4 crore at Rs 4 lakh — approximately — from land mafia in Noida. This was based on a report from the DM and SSP of Noida. This land mafia had several cases pending in courts subordinate to Justice Bhalla. Another complaint was that in the Reliance Power matter, though his son was the lawyer for Reliance Power, Justice Bhalla constituted a special bench while he was the presiding judge in Lucknow. He sat in the house of one the judges at 11pm at night to hear their case and pass an injunction in their favour. We asked Chief Justice Sabharwal to initiate proceedings against Bhalla, but he refused.
Similarly, Justice Vijender Jain decided the case of a person whose granddaughter had been married out of his own house. He was a close friend but he still heard and decided the case in this person’s favour. The point is, in these cases though very specific complaints were made to the then Chief Justice of India (CJI), he didn’t do anything to activate the in-house procedure. All these judges have gone on to become chief justices. Bhalla is still chief justice of Rajasthan; Virendra Jain became chief justice of Punjab and Haryana.
What’s the answer?The first problem is that there is no independent institution for entertaining complaints and taking action against judges. There has to be a National Judicial Complaints Commission — independent of the government and judiciary. It should have five members and an investigating machinery under them. The second problem lies in the Veeraswamy judgment, which ordered no criminal investigation can be done against a judge without prior written permission of the CJI. That’s what happened in Karnataka. There was a complaint against several judges visiting a motel and misbehaving with women. When the police officer came, the judges threatened him and said no FIR could be filed against them because they were judges. This happened in the Ghaziabad Provident Fund case as well. The investigation is stumped because the CJI hasn’t given permission. We have to get rid of this injunction.
The third problem is the Contempt of Court Act. Today, even if you expose a judge with evidence, you run the risk of contempt. Judges are even seeking to insulate themselves from the RTI. We have to get rid of the Contempt of Court Act – not the whole Act. Disobeying the orders of the court is civil contempt – that should remain. Interfering with the administration of justice is criminal contempt – that too should remain. What needs to be deleted is the clause about scandalising or lowering the dignity of the court, for which Arundhati Roy was sent to jail. Finally, there is the problem of appointments. Earlier, judicial appointments were made by the government, which was bad enough. Now, by a sleight of hand, the Supreme Court has taken the power of appointments to itself. Earlier there were political considerations; now there are nepotistic ones.
Again, what’s the answer to that?
We need an independent Judicial Appointments Commission, which is independent and works full time, and follows some systems and procedures. Eligibility lists should be prepared and comparative merits debated and evaluated. You can’t just pick judges arbitrarily, and let people know about it only after the deed is done.
There is still no independent body to process complaints and action against judges
What are the best practices and conventions elsewhere?
We should at least have Public Confirmation hearings like in the US. In the Senate Judicial Committee, you have hearings where any public citizen can give evidence about the background of a judge that has bearing on their appointment. This is being fiercely resisted here.
Do any counter arguments hold?
None that I can see. The judges say all this will compromise their independence. Unfortunately, they are equating the independence of the judiciary with independence from accountability. Independence of the judiciary was meant to be independence from the political establishment, not from all accountability.
Are there other ways in which judicial corruption manifests itself?There are so many. There is Justice Kapadia who decided on the Niyamgiri mining lease case in Orissa. He said Vedanta can’t be given the lease because it’s been blacklisted by the Norwegian government; but its subsidiary company Sterlite can get the lease because it is a publicly listed company. Justice Kapadia said it’s publicly listed because he had shares in it and yet he passed an order in favour of Sterlite! There is a law against judges hearing cases where there is a conflict of interest, but they just bypass it and you can’t complain because that would be contempt.
WRITER’S EMAIL
shoma@tehelka.com

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 35, Dated September 05, 2009



Burn After Reading
BRIJESH PANDEY and SANJAY DUBEY track the Supreme Court’s lack of urgency in investigating charges of judicial corruption
THE STORY OF A QUIET BURIAL?
Special CBI judge Rama Jain uncovers Rs 7 crore Provident Fund scam during vigilance inquiry
Accused Ashutosh Asthana revealed that he was paying off 36 judges including a sitting Supreme Court judge and 11 High Court judges
Supreme Court directs CBI to investigate, permits interrogation of all involved judges
Several status reports given by the CBI to the apex court
Reports kept secret. Action taken on basis of reports unknown
WHEN SPECIAL CBI judge Rama Jain received an anonymous letter in January 2008, telling her that the provident funds of Class 3 and Class 4 employees of the Ghaziabad court were being siphoned off, she had no idea that she had stumbled onto the biggest judicial scam in the history of independent India.
As she was the designated vigilance officer at the Ghaziabad court, she first conducted an inquiry on her own, which uncovered the involvement of at least three judges and the Central Nazir in the embezzlement of funds. She reported the matter to the Allahabad High Court, which, in turn, ordered a vigilance inquiry. Holding that the report, prima facie, had merit, the court directed her to file an FIR.
Central Nazir Ashutosh Asthana was arrested on the basis of the FIR on April 10, 2008. His interrogation revealed that Asthana was not a solo player. He claimed that he was first introduced to the scam by a district judge himself. What followed was so shocking that even the Ghaziabad police was on the backfoot. Asthana confessed that from the Rs 7 crore embezzled, he had given cash and gifts such as airconditioners, refrigerators, expensive clothes, jewellery and furniture to as many as 36 judges, including about 10 High Court judges and one Supreme Court judge. In a sworn statement before a magistrate, Asthana revealed that this fraud had run from 2001 to 2007 with the active connivance of district judges. Every month, Asthana even paid bribes to various judges, from Rs 25,000 to a whopping Rs 1.5 lakh.
When these excerpts from Asthana’s confession became public, the public image of the judiciary touched a new low. In perhaps the biggest moment of crisis for the Indian judiciary, Asthana, the main accused, has in turn named judges from the Ghaziabad District Court to the Allahabad High Court, right up to the Supreme Court. This was not all.
These revelations stunned the Ghaziabad police. Clearly out of their depth and (justifiably) wary of taking on the powerful judiciary, they requested the Ghaziabad court to hand over the probe to the CBI. In September 2008, the Supreme Court transferred the case to the CBI, but with a rider: Investigate, but give us a sealed report. The PF scam, as it had come to be known, gave the judiciary a wonderful opportunity to redeem itself in the eyes of the people but the case remained shrouded in secrecy. Cynics then said that the whole matter would be given a quiet burial. Eighteen months after the scam became public and four CBI status reports later, the cynics appear to have had the last laugh.
image
This delay and secrecy in such a highprofile scam raises various uncomfortable questions for the Indian Judiciary. Legal luminaries believe that this is symptomatic of a larger malaise which ails the judiciary. Says jurist Ram Jethmalani, “The reputation of a judge is more important than the actual fact of his honesty. In fact, if a judge has a bad reputation, even if it is undeserved, he should not be appointed because then nobody will have confidence in his judgements,” adding, “When the judiciary expedites cases concerning the executive branch or even most prominent cases, why is such urgency not displayed here, when the matter is extremely serious. Why this delay?”
For six years, funds worth Rs 7 crore were embezzled and judges were allegedly bribed
A VALID QUESTION. Asthana named 36 judges (a list of which is with TEHELKA). Other than the fact that a few have retired, virtually nothing is known about the fate of the judges of the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court judge. Whether or not the apex court is planning to initiate or has initiated, criminal charges against any of the judges — sitting or retired — are questions that only the Supreme Court can answer.
And the apex court should answer, argues former Union law minister and senior advocate Shanti Bhushan. “I don’t appreciate this sealed-cover business except in very rare cases when making something public might be detrimental to the public interest — mainly if there is an army secret. Whether it is the judiciary or the executive, all officers are appointed on the behalf of the people. It is on the people’s behalf that the judiciary exercises its powers. How can you keep investigations in the PF scam secret? The people have every right to know what is going on.”
VN Khare, former Chief Justice of India, concurs. “These kind of things should not be allowed to linger. This shakes the confidence of the people in the judiciary. If there is an allegation or misconduct, it must be inquired into immediately and strict action should be taken against the erring judges. Why should the reputation of most judges suffer for no fault of theirs?”
image
When the judiciary expedites cases concerning the executive branch or even most prominent cases, why is such urgency not being displayed in this matter?
RAM JETHMALANI, Jurist
The biggest question which arises from this scam is the lack of will on the part of the judiciary to rein in errant judges. Let alone the judges named by Asthana, what about the fate of the three Ghaziabad District Judges named by vigilance officer of the district court Special CBI Judge Rama Jain herself? Legal luminaries say this hesitancy on the part of judges to act against fellow judges involved in wrongdoing clearly illustrates the prevailing mindset of the judiciary.
“I know of a retired Chief Justice of India who is one of the most honest judges I have ever seen. It’s difficult to imagine a more honest person. However, when a responsible minister made complaints to him against a corrupt High Court Judge, he did not grant permission for an investigation because he felt that as the head of the judicial family, it was his job to protect judges, be they corrupt or not,” says Shanti Bhushan. Ram Jethmalani chips in sarcastically, “This is the reason why judges call each other ‘brother judge.’”
IT IS not only cases like the PF scam which taints the image of the judiciary, but also the extreme reluctance on the part of the judiciary to be open and transparent. Reams and reams of paper have gone towards pious exhortations by the judiciary asking the government to refrain from corruption and work in an efficient manner. But sadly, no judge has held forth at length on the need for the judiciary to refrain from corruption. Even attempts to exercise the Right to Information with respect to the office of the CJI came a cropper as the CJI’s office was always declared out of bounds. It took a historic verdict by the Delhi High Court to declare that the office of the CJI was not immune from accountability and outside the purview of the RTI Act. Senior lawyers and retired chief justices feel that if the judiciary is not transparent or accountable, it only means that they are trying to hide something. Justice Khare feels, “Judges are more accountable than other persons because they hold a very high post. The very existence of the judiciary is based on the faith of the common man in it. If that faith is not there, how can the judiciary function?”
No judge holds forth at length on the need for the judiciary to refrain from corruption
What incenses them is the behaviour of the government with regard to the Judges’ Assets Declaration Bill which the government tried to introduce in 2009. The opposition erupted in protest and forced the government to defer the bill. Jethmalani terms the government’s approach to this bill as a “conspiracy of corruption”. “The government is scared to take on the judiciary. It’s clear that the executive wants to cosy up to the judiciary.” Agrees retired CJI V N Khare, “Why should there be any hesitancy to declare assets at all on the part of judiciary? The whole episode is beyond me.” In a recent development, the Supreme Court has reiterated before the Delhi High Court that the CJI’s office is outside the purview of the RTI Act.
image
Corruption charges are swept under the carpet by the judiciary. But this has given a shield of total immunity to the judges, who think they can get away with anything
SHANTI BHUSHAN, Former law minister
Another assault on the public image of the judiciary is the Dinakaran episode. Currently, judges are appointed to the Supreme Court by the Supreme Court Collegium, a group of judges chaired by the Chief Justice of India. When Chief Justice Dinakaran of the Karnataka High Court was elevated to the Supreme Court, the state Bar and legal luminaries rose up in protest because the Collegium appeared to have dismissed, or, at least, not have considered the serious allegations of corruption against him. According to Senior Advocate Soli Sorabjee, “The Dinakaran episode shows that the Collegium is not working satisfactorily. You must have a national commission for judges which should be made up of judges, eminent jurists and senior government officials. This council should have the power to get independent information and evaluate it.” Shanti Bhushan feels that as judges are extremely busy with hearing cases, there should be a full-time commission whose sole function is to pick judges for the High Court and the Supreme Court and feels that the commission should also have its own bureau of investigation. They should not be dependent on either the local police, who might be afraid to investigate judges, or on an overburdened CBI.
But all this is very hard to achieve. Jurists feel that the judges of the higher courts have converted themselves into a union of sorts and are trying to protect each other. “Their approach is to sweep every allegation under the carpet. Don’t allow the public to know about it. Let the public believe that our judiciary is very honest. But this has been counterproductive. It has given a shield of total immunity to the judges and they think they can get away with anything. This has led to an increase in corruption in the judiciary,” states Shanti Bhushan. Time and again, opportunities have arisen for the judiciary to reinvent itself in a new avatar. And time after time, it has failed. Caesar’s wife, they say, should be above suspicion. Whatever the cost it might take to ensure it.
WRITERS’ EMAIL
brijesh@tehelka.com
sanjay@tehelka.com

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 41, Dated October 17, 2009




‘Half of last 16 chief justices have been corrupt’
By churumuri
Judicial corruption is a bull few in India are willing to attach their names to. There are whispers of this or that sitting judge making piles or cash; of sons, daughters and other near and dear ones acting as “brokers” for cases, deals, etc, but none of those allegations see the light of day.
Not because the media is a willing accomplice but because of the sword of “contempt of court” hanging over us.
For long, truth was not, repeat not, a defence in the case of contempt. Although that is now no longer the case, judicial corruption still isn’t headline news like corruption in other spheres of Indian life. The case of Justice P.D. Dinakaran is one of the rare exceptions and that too only in sections of the media.
In September 2009, the Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, in an interview to Shoma Chaudhury of Tehelkamagazine, said “half of the last 16 chief justices were corrupt”. The comment invited the apex court’s contempt. Now, Bhushan’s father, the noted jurist Shanti Bhushan has joined issue.
In his application before the Supreme Court praying for his impleadment as respondent No.3 in the case of the Amicus Curiae vs Prashant Bhushan, Bhushan senior repeats his son’s charge that eight out of the last 16 CJs were corrupt, even going so far as to deliver the names of the corrupt in a sealed cover.

“In the applicant’s opinion, eight [of the last 16 chief justices] were definitely corrupt, six were definitely honest and about the remaining two, a definite opinion cannot be expressed whether they were honest or corrupt.”

Below is the full text of Shanti Bhushan’s application, published in the public interest.
***

To
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India &
His companion justices of the Supreme Court of India
The humble application of the Petitioners above named.
Most respectfully showeth:

That the applicant is filing the present application for his impleadment as Respondent No. 3 in the aforementioned contempt petition as the applicant is making a categorical statement in the present application that eight of the last sixteen Chief Justices of India were definitely corrupt and also providing the names of those eight definitely corrupt Chief Justices in a sealed cover as an annexure along with the present application.
The applicant is a practicing advocate who was enrolled on 8 July 1948. He has appeared in each and every High Court in the country. He is well acquainted with the manner in which the Indian judiciary has been functioning and how its character has been changing over the years.
That the applicant has been a part of the campaign for judicial accountability since its inception in the year 1990.
That there was a time when it was almost impossible even to think that a judge of a High court or the Supreme Court could be corrupt. Things have changed drastically during the last 2 or 3 decades during which corruption has been growing in the Indian judiciary. So much so that even a sitting Chief Justice of India had to openly admit that 20% of the judges could be corrupt. Very recently in March 2010 a sitting Chief Justice of a high court openly made a statement. The statement of the sitting chief justice was published by the Times of India in its issue of 6th march 2010 with the headlines, “In our judiciary, anybody can be bought, says Gujarat chief justice”. A copy of the news paper report is being annexed hereto as Annexure A.
That the applicant believes that the reported statement may not be correctly reflecting the perception of the Gujarat Chief Justice, since he should be knowing as the applicant does that there are and have always been plenty of totally honest judges, but they are also becoming the victim of this public perception since no institution of governance in the country is taking any effective steps about dealing with corruption in the judiciary.
That India became a republic in 1950, when the people became sovereign. They got the right to constitute their institutions, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, to serve them, who would be accountable to them.
That before 1950, corruption was almost non existent in the High Courts. The federal court had in 1949 got Justice Shiv Prasad Sinha removed from the Allahabad High Court, merely on the finding that he had passed 2 judicial orders on extra judicial considerations.
That it however appears that thereafter the judiciary has adopted the policy of sweeping all allegations of judicial corruption under the carpet in the belief that such allegations might tarnish the image of the judiciary. It does not realize that this policy has played a big role in increasing judicial corruption.
That the Constitution prescribed removal by impeachment as the only way of removing judges who commit misconduct since it was believed at the time of the framing of the Constitution that misconduct by judges of the higher judiciary would be very rare. However those expectations have been belied as is apparent from the surfacing of a series of judicial scandals in the recent past. The case of Justice V. Ramaswami and subsequent attempts to impeach other judges have shown that this is an impractical and difficult process to deal with corrupt judges. The practical effect of this has been to instill a feeling of impunity among judges who feel that they cannot be touched even if they misconduct.
That corruption by judges is a cognizable offence. The Code of Criminal Procedure requires that whenever an FIR is filed with respect to a cognizable offence, it is the statutory duty of the police to investigate the offence. The police has to collect evidence against the accused and charge-sheet him in a competent court. He would then be tried and punished by being sent to jail. The Supreme Court has however by violating this statutory provision in the CrPC given a direction in its Constitution bench judgement in theVeeraswamy case of 1991 that no FIR would be registered against any judge without the permission of the Chief Justice of India. In not a single case has any such permission ever been granted for the registration of an FIR against any judge after that judgement.
That the result of this direction has been that a total immunity has been given to corrupt judges against their prosecution. No wonder that judicial corruption has increased by leaps and bounds.
That an honest judiciary enjoying public confidence is an imperative for the functioning of a democracy, and it is the duty of every right thinking person to strive to achieve this end.
That unless the level of corruption in the judiciary is exposed and brought in the public domain, the institutions of governance cannot be activated to take effective measures to eliminate this evil.
That it is the common perception that whenever such efforts are made by anyone, the judiciary tries to target him by the use of the power of contempt. It is the reputation of the judge which is his shield against any malicious and false allegations against him. He doesn’t need the power of contempt to protect his reputation and credibility.
That the applicant strongly believes that a responsible citizen should be prepared to undergo any amount of suffering in the pursuit of the noble cause of fighting for a clean judiciary.
That there are two statements of Respondent no. 1 (Prashant Bhushan) published in Tehelka by Respondent no. 2 which are alleged to constitute contempt of court. In the 1st statement, Respondent no. 1 has expressed that in his view, out of the last 16 or 17 chief justices of India, half have been corrupt.
The applicant states that in his view too this statement is absolutely correct. At the time of the publication of this report in Tehelka, the last 16 Chief Justices of India were the following: 1. Justice Ranganath Mishra,
2. Justice K.N. Singh,
3. Justice M.H. Kania,
4. Justice L.M. Sharma,
5. Justice M.N. Venkatchalliah,
6. Justice A.M. Ahmadi,
7. Justice J.S. Verma,
8. Justice M.M. Punchhi,
9. Justice A.S. Anand,
10. Justice S.P. Bharucha,
11. Justice B.N. Kripal,
12. Justice G.B. Patnaik,
13. Justice Rajendra Babu,
14. Justice R. C. Lahoti,
15. Justice V.N. Khare,
16. Justice Y.K SabharwalOut of these, in the applicant’s opinion, eight were definitely corrupt, six were definitely honest and about the remaining two, a definite opinion cannot be expressed whether they were honest or corrupt. The signed lists identifying these eight, six and two Chief Justices of India are being enclosed in a sealed cover which is being annexed here to as Annexure B.
That in fact two former chief justices of India had personally told the applicant while they were in office that their immediate predecessor and immediate successor were corrupt judges. The names of these four Chief Justices of India are included in the list of the 8 corrupt Chief Justices of India.
That since the applicant is publicly stating that out of the last sixteen Chief Justices of India, eight of them were definitely corrupt, the applicant also needs to be added as a respondent to this contempt petition so that he is also suitably punished for this contempt. The applicant would consider it a great honour to spend time in jail for making an effort to get for the people of India an honest and clean judiciary.
That the applicant also submits that since the questions arising in this case affects the judiciary as a whole, the petition needs to be decided by the entire court and not merely by three judges handpicked by a Chief Justice.

PRAYERS
In view of the above, it is most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to:

allow the present application and implead the Applicant as a contemnor in the aforementioned contempt petition as Respondent no. 3; and
pass any other or further order/s as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.

(Shanti Bhushan)
applicant-in-person
New Delhi

***
Photograph: courtesy Shailendra Pandey/ Tehelka
***
Full coverage: The strange case of Justice P.D. Dinakaran
CHURUMURI POLL: Is Dalit Dinakaran above the law?
If he is unfit for Supreme Court, how is he fit for Karnataka HC?
If he is unfit for Supreme Court, how is he fit for Karnataka HC—II?
‘Integrity + competence + judicial temperament’
Yella not OK, but Supreme Court silent yaake?
The brazen conduct of Justice Dinakaran
The strange case of Justice Dinakaran (continued)
Audi alteram partem? Hear the other side out?
CHURUMURI POLL: Will Justice Dinakaran be impeached?
Is CJI K.G. Balakrishnan right about P.D. Dinakaran?
CHURUMURI POLL: Is Dinakaran fit for Sikkim HC?
CHURUMURI POLL: P.D. Dinakaran vs D.V. Shylendra Kumar
Is Sikkim HC’s dignity less than that of Karnataka’s?


COURT JUDGEMENT FIXING IN COURTS OF LAW / POLICE STATIONS / GOVERNMENT OFFICES - SATYAMEVA JAYATE ?

Triumph of Injustice in India



In India legislations , Parliamentary Acts , policy decisions are fixed (example : telecom policy fixing by neera radia & others) , the court judgement are fixed , arrest warrant by courts are fixed (example : CJI. Ahmadi changing the charge against Bhopal gas co & a judge issuing arrest warrants against then president of India kalam & then CJI) , Police fixing cases , torturing innocents , closing cases by B reports , changing track of investigations , governments servants giving false reports & records , etc. In this back drop , commonman won’t get justice in India . Instead if he raises his voice for justice , he is persecuted by the nexus of CRIMINALS – POLICE – JUDGES – PUBLIC SERVANTS.

Even the supreme court of India , is not accepting our offer of service to legally book the criminals nor is it registering our PIL nor the Karnataka police are registering our complaint against public servants.



Our Supreme Court Judges , police & Public Servants , preach virtues in courts of law & other forums , but they don’t practice it themselves.

SATYAMEVA JAYATE ?

Read & Answer :

http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/chief-justice-of-india-answer ,

http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/cover-up-rajiv-gandhi-assassination ,

http://sites.google.com/site/eclarionofdalit/wake-up-indian-judiciary



JAI HIND. VANDE MATARAM.

Your’s sincerely ,
Nagaraj.M.R.



The father, the sons-in-law and the unholy properties



JEEMON JACOB & VK SHASHIKUMAR scoop documents to establish property amassed by former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan’s son-in-law, PV Sreenijan, a practising lawyer who recently resigned from the Kerala Congress

PHOTO: SHAILENDRA PANDEY

WHEN KG Balakrishnan was appointed Chief Justice of India in 2007, it was a great moment for a man of humble origins. But VR Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court and national icon, now says, “I used to say that an era had begun when KG Balakrishnan became the first Dalit Chief Justice. Now, I don’t feel that way.”

Post retirement, Balakrishnan became head of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in June last year. Ever since, a rising crescendo of allegations of corruption have been heard, fuelled by the fact that his younger brother KG Bhaskaran and his two daughters and sons-in-law all acquired vast properties during his tenure as Chief Justice.

TEHELKA has accessed documents that show that between 2007 and 2010, son-in-law Puliyanaveettil Vasu Sreenijan purchased property worth Rs. 1.85 crore. The current real estate value of these properties is in excess of Rs. 25 crore.

This is a truly amazing story of wealth creation by a man who, while contesting elections from Kerala’s reserved Njarackkal Assembly constituency as a Congress candidate in 2006, had declared a bank balance of Rs. 25,000 apart from 24 g of gold.
A FAMILY PRACTICE

Sreenijan is married zto Balakrishnan’s elder daughter KB Sony, whom he met in college. He traces his background to a humble and hard-working family: his father was a factory worker in Premier Tyres, Kalamassery, and a Congress party worker. His classmates remember him as an introvert who had a muted, almost latent, ambition to become a powerful politician. From campus politics he moved to the Youth Congress and took active part in its programmes and activities.

Sreenijan became a practising lawyer in the Kerala High Court. When Balakrishnan started his three-year tenure as Chief Justice, Sreenijan started making huge investments in real estate and tourism. This sudden acquisition of wealth is currently being probed by the vigilance department after a probe was ordered by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan.

TEHELKA repeatedly tried to establish contact with Sreenijan for his version via SMS and phone, but all calls went unanswered.

After his marriage with Sony, Sreenijan’s political career also leapfrogged. He was appointed state vice-president of the Youth Congress. Though Congress leaders like MA Kuttappan (also a former minister) challenged Sreenijan’s rise, such protests were short-lived. He lost the 2006 elections but his wife purchased a flat and car parking space in Travancore Residency Towers for Rs. 6 lakh in 2007.

WITHIN A month, Sony again purchased another flat in Mather Square. The cost of the flat mentioned in the title deed is only Rs. 1.49 lakh, but the market price of flats in the vicinity was about Rs. 66 lakh at that time.

Today, Kerala Youth Congress leaders who were angry about Sreenijan’s political rise are gunning for him. “We demand a CBI inquiry to find out how Sreenijan acquired so much property and assets within the last three years,” said M Liju, former Youth Congress state president. On 5 January, Sreenijan tendered his resignation as Youth Congress vice-president.
Legal riches? Sreenijan’s wealth has multiplied since 2007

Legal riches?Sreenijan’s wealth has multiplied since 2007

In November 2008, Sreenijan purchased a river-front property of 277.52 cents in Kadukutti village in Thrissur district where he is now reportedly constructing a resort. According to the title deed, he purchased the land from Mohammed Iqbal Mather for Rs. 14 lakh. Villagers who prefer to remain anonymous say the market price was Rs. 1 lakh per cent. If that is the case he has allegedly shelled out Rs. 2.77 crore. And building the resort could put him back by more than Rs. 10 crore.

In 2009, Sreenijan purchased another property on Deshabhimani Road in Ernakulam for Rs. 30 lakh. Later, a property of 3.5 cents of land was purchased in his mother’s name (Sreemathy Vasu) adjacent to his plot.

But it is not only Sreenijan who became rich during Balakrishnan’s tenure as CJI. The second son-in-law, advocate MJ Benny, too, became wealthier after his marriage to Rani, Balakrishnan’s younger daughter.

Born to a working-class Christian couple in Nettur, Ernakulam, Benny married Rani in 2006. Benny and Rani, both lawyers, fell in love in the court.

Benny’s assets piled up in a manner similar to Sreenijan’s. Between 19 March 2008 and 26 March 2010, he purchased 98.5 cents of land through five title deeds for Rs.81.5 lakh. This is prime land along the National Highway in Marad, Ernakulam district. A cursory comparison of land rates during this period shows that the property was undervalued.

When Benny purchased the property it was around Rs. 4 lakh per cent and at current rates would be Rs. 10 lakh per cent. Yet Benny showed his yearly income as Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 5.5 lakh during the assessment years 2008-09 and 2009-10. Just five land deals made Benny a millionaire in two years.

Rani also embarked on an investment spree, purchasing 10.5 acres in Athirampuzha with her relatives, including Abhilash T Chandran in 2007. Chandran is the son of Thangappan, one of Balakrishnan’s six brothers.

Then there’s KG Bhaskaran, younger brother of the former CJI, who is in the spotlight for possessing property beyond his known sources of income. A senior government pleader practising in the Kerala High Court, Bhaskaran reportedly purchased 50 acres of land in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu. In the light of allegations of having illegally amassed property he was asked to go on leave from 4 January by Kerala’s Advocate General CP Sudhakara Prasad. Bhaskaran, a former member of the CPM, contested Assembly elections as a party candidate from Vaikom in 1977.

Bhaskaran was a regular visitor to the Supreme Court during his elder brother’s tenure as the CJI. He is also reportedly close to Justice Paul Daniel Dinakaran (currently Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court and former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court) against whom serious allegations have been levelled of land grab in Tamil Nadu.

No wonder, the Kerala Vigilance Department is now probing all the assets acquired by Balakrishnan’s family. Especially as the patriarch has not faded into the sunset and is now heading a body tasked with bringing justice to those whose human rights have been violated.





……………………..DECLARATION………………………

Name : ...........................NAGARAJA.M.R.


Address : ...................LIG-2 / 761 , HUDCO FIRST STAGE , OPP
WATER WORKS OFFICE , LAKSHMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL , MYSORE - 570017 INDIA

Professional / Trade Title : S.O.S - e – Voice For Justice

Periodicity : WEEKLY

Circulation : FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION ON WEB

Donations : NOT ACCEPTED. Self financing . Never accepted any donations , subscriptions either for ourselves or on behalf of other organizations / individuals .

Monetary gains : nil , never made any monetary gain by way of advertisements on my websites or web news paper or otherwise.

Owner/editor/printer/publisher : NAGARAJA.M.R.

Nationality : INDIAN

Body Donation : Physical Body of Nagaraja M R , Editor , S.O.S- e – clarion of Dalit & S.O.S-e-Voice for Justice is donated to JSS Medical College , Mysore ( Donation No. 167 dated 22 / 10 / 2003 ) , In case of either Unnatural death or Natural Death at the hands of criminal nexus , my body must be handed over to JSS Medical College , Mysore for the study purposes of medical students.


Eye Donation : Both EYES of Nagaraja M R , Editor , S.O.S- e – clarion of Dalit & S.O.S-e-Voice for Justice are donated to Mysore Eye Bank , Mysore , In case of either Unnatural death or Natural Death at the hands of criminal nexus , my eyes must be handed over to Mysore Eye Bank , Mysore WITHIN 6 Hours for immediate eye transplantation to the needy.


Home page :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naghrw ,
http://groups.google.co.in/group/hrwepaper/ ,
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/ ,
http://evoiceofhumanrightswatch.wordpress.com/ ,http://indiapolicelaw.blogspot.com/ ,
, http://naghrw.tripod.com/evoice/ , http://e-voiceofhumanrightswatch.blogspot.com ,



Contact : naghrw@yahoo.com , nag...@hotmail.com ,



UID Aadhaar No : 5703 5339 3479

Cell : 91 9341820313


I ,NAGARAJA.M.R. hereby do declare that information given above are true to the best of my knowledge & belief. If i am repeatedly called to police station or else where for the sake of investigations , the losses i do incurr as a result like loss of wages , transportation , job , etc must be borne by the government. prevoiusly the police / IB personnel repeatedly called me the complainant (sufferer of injustices) to police station for questioning , but never called the guilty culprits even once to police station for questioning , as the culprits are high & mighty . this type of one sided questioning must not be done by police or investigating agencies . if anything untoward happens to me or to my family members like loss of job , meeting with hit & run accidents , loss of lives , death due to improper medical care , etc , the jurisdictional police together with above mentioned accussed public servants will be responsible for it. Even if criminal nexus levels fake charges , police file fake cases against me or my dependents to silence me , this complaint is & will be effective.

If I or my family members or my dependents are denied our fundamental rights , human rights , denied proper medical care for ourselves , If anything untoward happens to me or to my dependents or to my family members - In such case Chief Justice of India together with the jurisdictional revenue & police officials will be responsible for it , in such case the government of india is liable to pay Rs. one crore as compensation to survivors of my family. if my whole family is eliminated by the criminal nexus ,then that compensation money must be donated to Indian Army Welfare Fund. Afterwards , the money must be recovered by GOI as land arrears from the salary , pension , property , etc of guilty police officials , Judges , public servants & Constitutional fuctionaries.



date : 09/12/2011…………………………..your's sincerely,

place : India…………………………………Nagaraja.M.R.







Edited, printed , published owned by NAGARAJA.M.R. @ #LIG-2 / 761,HUDCO FIRST STAGE ,OPP WATER WORKS , LAXMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL ,MYSORE - 570017INDIA… cell :09341820313

home page : home page : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naghrw , http://groups.google.co.in/group/hrwepaper / , http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice / , http://evoiceofhumanrightswatch.wordpress.com / , http://indiapolicelaw.blogspot.com / , http://naghrw.tripod.com/evoice/ ,

http://e-voiceofhumanrightswatch.blogspot.com ,



Contact : naghrw@yahoo.com , nagarajhrw@hotmail.com





No comments: