COURT JUDGEMENTS FIXED

[e-clarion of dalit]

Court Judgements Fixed

S.O.S - e - Clarion Of Dalit - Weekly Newspaper On Web

Working For The Rights & Survival Of The Oppressed



Editor: NAGARAJ.M.R… VOL.05 issue. 04…… 26/01/2011




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A B C D of Denocracy – A Lesson for all people’s representatives

HOW MPs ,MLAs , Ministers - PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVES MUST FUNCTION





In india, indirect democracy is the form of governance. In this
form, people's representatives are bound to raise the questions ,
issues concerning their constituents on their behalf , on the floor of
the house. However the sad part in india even after 58 years of
democracy , is the lobbying is at it's peak. The lobbying is a
gentleman's white collared crook's way of forming favour seeker's
group , creating a corpus to pay lumpsum bribe & influencing decision
making.
The people's representatives are bound to represent their people
first , then their party & party think tanks. India has come to this
sorry state of affairs , widespread corruption , huge black economy &
rampant poverty, all due to inefficient legislations & enforcements.
These think tanks & IAS lobby, consider themselves as most super
brains on earth & gives out suggestions . the present state of affairs
is a barometer of their brilliance. These think tanks & IAS lobby are
the hand maidens of lobbyists / bribers.

Now consider the following example :
Mr.raj gandhi is a member of parliament from mandya constituency in
karnataka state. He is a MBA graduate & member of ruling indian
progressive party. The multinational giant M/S GREY HOUND CORPORATION
wants to enter into paper manufacturing business in india. It's sight
falls on the public sector paper giant mandya national paper mills (
MNPM) in mandya district of karnataka. The MNC effectively lobbies
with the government. The ruling party think tank & the cabinet
advisory group recommends to the government to make strategic
disinvestment in the PSU M/S MNPM. They bring out graph with full
power point presentation stating that it is good for the company as
well as the government. The lobbyists follows it up with media reports
on the positive aspect of strategic disinvestment. A favourable
impression is created in the minds of literate public. The cabinet
committee okays it.

The " strategic dis investment issue " comes before the parliament
for legislation / approval. The ruling party issues a party whip to
it's members to vote in favour of dis investment. However M.P mr.raj
gandhi who is an MBA in his own wisdom also favours the dis
investment. However ,most importantly the constituents – people in
mandya parliamentary constituency through protest marches , mass post
card campaigns lakhs in numbers expresses their disagreement with the
dis investment & urges their MP mr.gandhi to vote against the
disinvestment legislation.

On the D-day in parliament , mr. Raj gandhi as per his party whip &
his own wisdom votes in favour of strategic disinvestment legislation,
much against the wishes of his people , constituents & mis represents
them in parliament. the democracy has failed here. in This way
democracy is being derailed since 62 years in india.

In democracy, party whip , MP or MLA's own wisdom / brilliance,
think tank & IAS lobby recommendations are all secondary , the
constituent's of his constituency , people's wishes aspirations are
of primary importance & supreme. What people need is a honest
representative, who simply delivers the people's aspirations on the
floor of the house back & forth , without superimposing it with his
own ideas & party ideas. For true democracy , the people's
representatives must be true postmans.

Towards this end , the people must be educated about their
democratic rights & responsibilities. This is an appeal to the honest
few in the parliament & state legislatures to weed out their corrupt
colleagues , lobbyists, to uphold the dignity of the house & to
install democracy in it's true form.


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.



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 criminal Anderson 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.



BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY 1984 -Bhopal, India



At the first instance the Government of India failed to ensure that
Union carbide India Limited (U.C.I.L) has installed proper safety
measures and fully implemented it in practice, at it's plant in
Bhopal. The Government of Madhyapradesh through it's labour
department, factory inspectorate & pollution control board failed to
enforce safety practices & environmental protection. In turn, the
U.C.I.L didn't install in full, the safety measures being followed by
it's parent company union carbide corporation (U.C.C) at it's
Various plants in the U.S.A. The U.C.I.L. didn't give community
training to residents of nearby localities, to cope up with
emergencies ie. Industrial accidents. U.C.I.L gave a go - by to safety
practices, as it treated Indian lives as cheap. The government of
Madhya pradesh instead of shifting slum dwellers around U.C.I.L, to
other safe place, gave them legal title deeds just months before the
tragedy in 1984.

Now, refer the following:-

1. After the accident at it's U.C.I.L. plant at Bhopal, India in 1984,
when the U.C.C. Chairman/C.E.O. came over to Bhopal from U.S.A to
visit the accident site, local police arrested him on the charges of
manslaughter. However, the Government of India got him released.

2. In 1985, Government of India enacted "Bhopal claims Act" took- away
the right of appeal of all the Gas tragedy victims & declared itself
as the sole representative of all victims. This said act itself is
violative of victim's fundamental & human rights. The
victims didn't choose Government of India as it's representative under
will, agreement, trust or pleasure.

3. The paradox of this "Bhopal claims Act" is that, Government of
India which is also a party to the crime, tragedy, itself is the
appellant. The appellant (Petitioner),defendant are Government of
India, Prosecution by Government of India & Judged by Government of
India.

4. In 1989, when an appeal about interim compensation to be paid by
the U.C.I.L to all the victims was being heard in the apex court, the
supreme court of India without giving a chance to the victims to make
their point, without consulting them, without making a proper
assessment of damages/losses, gave an arbitrary figure as verdict &
dropped all civil, criminal proceedings against U.C.C.&U.C.I.L

5. In the same year 1989, the Government of India without consulting
the victims of disaster, without making proper assessment of damages/
losses, negotiated a settlement with the U.C.C. and in turn gave full
legal immunity to U.C.C.& U.C.I.L from civil &
Criminal proceedings

6. Even the Government of India didn't present the case of victim's-
gas tragedy victims, properly before the U.S.courts, where the U.C.C
is based. All these premeditated acts only benefited the criminals-
U.C.C&UCIL. Are not the supreme court of India & Government of India,
here to safeguard Indians and to safeguard Justice?

After all these crimes, the Government of India failed to distribute
compensation in time to victims. It has failed even to provide safe
drinking water to the residents near the accident site, It has failed
to provide comprehensive medical care to the victims, till
date . It has even failed to get the accident site cleared off toxic
wastes either by the culprit management or by it self, that too after
20 years. The very presence of these toxic wastes since 20 years is
further contaminating, polluting the environment and taking toll of
more victims.

Particularly in the case of "Bhopal Gas Tragedy" the supreme court of
India & Government of India are deadlier criminals than U.C.I.L&U.C.C.

Just consider a case here, Just a few years back an U.S.based M.N.C
ENRON set-up a power project in Maharashtra, India through it's
subsidiary. When Maharashtra state Electricity Board failed to lift
power from Enron& pay them monthly guaranteed revenue, Enron
threatened to invoke, open the "Eschrew Clause" with the Government
of India & to approach international arbiter U.K. Government of India
has stood as conter-guarantee in this case. Finally the Government
paid, of course subsequently the parent ENRON collapsed due to other
reasons. If in this case if Government of India failed to pay-up as a
counter guarantee & refused to comply with the award of International
arbiter, definitely Government of U.S.A. would have stepped into the
scene to protect it's MNC. Hypothetically, In the same vein if Enron
has caused damages to Indians either through negligence of safe
practices or industrial accidents or bank frauds
amounting over and above it's Capital base & insurance cover, then it
would have been the duty of parent Enron & Government of U.S.A. to
step in & pay-up.

In the same way, the U.C.I.L has caused massive damages to Indians &
refusing to pay commensurate to damages. Dow chemicals which took-
over U.C.C. is also refusing to pay. DOW chemicals which is the new
owner of U.C.C. naturally inherits both profits, credits lent &
liabilities to pay of U.C.C. Still it is refusing to pay. Now it is
the turn of Government of U.S.A. to cough-up the sum.
Nowadays, it has become routine for central & State ministers to go-
on foreign jaunts, to globe -trott inviting F.D.I/ M.N.Cs to India.
They do sign numerous agreements, only favouring MNC. When tragedies
occur or when they cheat Indian banks/ investors, it is Indians who
suffer. The ministers & bureaucrats thinks themselves as wizards and
enters into agreements with MNCs, industrialists in a hush-hush
manner, with vast scope for possible corruption. Is it not the duty of
government to be transparent ?


JUDICIAL CORRUPTION IN INDIA
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
sh...@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
bri...@tehelka.com
san...@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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. That the applicant has been a part of the campaign for
judicial accountability since its inception in the year 1990.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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:

1. allow the present application and implead the Applicant as a
contemnor in the aforementioned contempt petition as Respondent no. 3;
and
2. 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?









Editorial : 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 the court 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 feed...@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).



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.


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 dreaded MCOC Act. The crime branch officers
came to my residence after mid night at around 2.30am 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 room were 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 have tortured 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 do medical 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 6am next 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 days ganapti 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.







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