Page 1179 - Law Crime
Need for a corruption commission like NHRC: SC lawyer
There is a need for a dedicated constitutional body, on the lines of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), for quick disposal of corruption cases, senior Supreme Court advocate G Venkatesh Rao said today. He was speaking at a roundtable forum on 'Ending Impunity for Kleptocrats and Accomplices: Do We Need an International Anti-Corruption Court?', held at the India International Centre here. Organised by India International Centre, Integrity Initiatives International and Carnegie Mellon University in Australia, the forum brought together prominent legal thinkers, civil society activities, and journalists. Rao spoke about the need for setting up a Corruption Commission, in India, which must be a public body approachable by the citizens at large and must have a constitutional status like that of National Human Rights Commission, and Election Commission of India, a statement issued by the organisers said. He said freedom of press and protection to activists and media are vital to .
SC to hear PIL against siphoning off of SC/ST scholarships money
The Supreme Court will hear next week a plea against siphoning off of thousands of crores of scholarships money meant for Scheduled Castes and Tribes students in various states.
HC orders CBI probe into Tuticorin police firing
The Madras High Court today transferred to the CBI the probe into the police firing in Tuticorin district during the anti-Sterlite protests that claimed 13 lives and directed the central agency to conclude the investigation within four months. It also quashed an order detaining six members of the 'Makkal Adhikaram,' a Left outfit accused of inciting violence in the district. Six of them were arrested under the National Security Act. Transferring the case from Tamil Nadu CB-CID police, the court ordered the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to set up a special team for investigation which shall be concluded within four months. Among the series of questions raised were how self-loading riffles found their way out of the armoury and came to be used in the firing, how snipers were perched atop vehicles and how persons came to be shot in the face and chest. "These are the questions that cry for an answer," the court said in its order. A division bench of Justices CT ...
Bengal CID files chargesheet in Kolkata carcass meat case
The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday produced a chargesheet against 12 accused persons in the carcass meat racket case, close to four months after their arrest, a senior CID officer said.
Filmmaker Vijay Gutte gets bail in Rs 34 crore GST fraud case
Filmmaker Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, arrested for alleged Goods and Services Tax (GST) fraud of over Rs 34 crore, was granted bail today by a metropolitan magistrate court here, a senior GST department official said. Gutte, director of the upcoming Hindi film "The Accidental Prime Minister", was granted bail by the court after he agreed to pay the default amount in parts till February, the official said. He was arrested by the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI) on August 2 under section 132 (1)(c) of the CGST Act, which pertains to 'wrongful availment' of input tax credit (ITC) using bills and invoices that have been issued without any supply of goods or services. Gutte's firm, VRG Digital Corp Pvt Ltd, allegedly procured 149 fake invoices involving GST of Rs 34.37 crore for animation and manpower services received from another company, Horizon Outsource Solutions Pvt Ltd, the GST department had earlier said. In May this year, the DGGSTI had arrested the ..
Serial offender gets rigorous imprisonment for life for raping minor
A special court here sentenced today a 35-year-old man, a serial offender, to rigorous imprisonment for life for raping a minor girl in 2014. Ayyas Ansari was awarded the sentence by Additional Sessions Judge M A Baraliya of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court. While ordinarily life imprisonment can end after 14 years, Ansari has been sentenced to imprisonment for whole life, said special prosecutor Geeta Sharma. The court had convicted Ansari under the Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offences) and 323 (assault), and relevant sections of the POCSO. Arguments over the sentence went on for about a month after that. The prosecution had sought death penalty for Ansari, saying he was a serial offender who was convicted thrice in cases of rape/sexual assault earlier, and had a total of 11 cases registered against him. Under the amended criminal law, a repeat offence of rape can attract capital punishment. Ansari, according to police, ...
Feel like baby again, says junior-most SC Judge K.M. Joseph
Newly appointed Supreme Court Judge K.M. Joseph on Tuesday said that he "feels like a baby again" since he is the junior-most Judge of the apex court.
5 men, 4 juveniles nabbed in connection with Kanwariya vandalism
Five men and four juveniles have been arrested in 24 hours for allegedly vandalising a car last week in west Delhi's Moti Nagar area after the vehicle brushed past one of their Kanwariya friends, police said today. Yesterday, police arrested Yogesh (19) for allegedly being part of the group that vandalised the car. Earlier, police said that they had arrested nine persons in connection with the incident, but later it was found that four of them were juveniles. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Kumar said the operation to nab the accused lasted till 5 am today. The accused were identified on the basis of the CCTV footages. The police scanned the records of the Kanwar camp located between Moti Nagar and Najafgarh and also contacted the organisers and workers of these camps, he said. Their entry registers were obtained and around 1,000 pilgrims who had stayed at these camps on the day before and after the incident were physically verified, the DCP said. The teams also enquired ...
Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law shifted back to prison from hospital
The son-in-law of jailed former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to prison today after undergoing treatment at the country's top hospital here, according to a media report. Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, the son-in-law of Sharif, was shifted back to the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi from Islamabad's Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the Express Tribune reported. Safdar, 54, was shifted to the prison after his health improved, the report said. Safdar is married to Sharif's daughter and heir-apparent Maryam, who is also in the Adiala Jail along with Sharif. The trio were sentenced by a Pakistani accountability court on corruption charges over the ownership of four luxury flats in London owned by the Sharif family. While Sharif, 68, is serving a 10-year jail term, Safdar was sentenced to one year. Maryam, 44, is serving a jail term of seven years. On August 9, Safdar was taken to the PIMS after his health deteriorated following a liver surgery. Last ..
Explosives seizure: cops probing if accused used code language
Maharashtra police are probing whether the three men arrested in a case related to seizure of explosives and firearms last week used codewords including pseudonyms while allegedly hatching a plot to carry out blasts. Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, who was the leader of the group, used the name 'Pande-ji' when communicating with others, an Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) official has said. The ATS has formed several teams to probe the case, including the communication among the accused, he said. "During the investigation so far, we found that Gondhalekar was the main person among the three accused, and they used to call him 'Pande-ji'," the official said. "We are investigating whether other two also went by some pseudonyms and communicated in code language. Cyber experts will investigate online activities including social media accounts of the arrested men," he said. Gondhalekar, according to the ATS, runs a "graphic designs shop" in Pune's Parvati area. Police had seized a laptop, six .
Litigants can now file cases in SC online through e-filing app
The Supreme Court on Tuesday launched a number of applications including e-filing that will help litigants and lawyers file cases and submit documents online in the apex court, thus doing away with the need for physical presence.
Four teenaged kanwariyas among 9 held for vandalizing car in Delhi
A week after a car was vandalized allegedly by a group of kanwariyas, Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested nine kanwariyas, including four teenagers.
Athlete Jithin Paul cleared of dope charges, suspension overturned
The National Anti Doping Agency's appeals panel today exonerated 400m hurdler Jithin Paul of doping charges, overturning a four-year suspension sentence handed by NADA's disciplinary panel. NADA's Anti Doping Appeals Panel (ADAP), headed by Justice R V Easwar, set aside the Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel's (ADDP) verdict of four-year suspension after the athlete approached the appeals panel. Paul, an India international, is free to compete from tomorrow. Paul was accused of possessing banned substance meldonium in his room at NIS Patiala during a search and seizure operation carried out by Dope Control Officer (DCO) of NADA. Paul's legal team argued that search and seizure can only be conducted by law enforcement agencies such as police, customs etc. "NADA cannot assume powers of law enforcement agencies. Our stand has been vindicated," Paul's advocate Parth Goswami told PTI. A per law, powers of search and seizure cannot be exercised by NADA, which is not a law enforcement ...
SP rank officers designated to prevent lynching incidents in Pb
Acting on the Supreme Court directives, the Punjab government today said it has designated superintendent of police rank officers as nodal officers to take measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching, an official spokesperson said. The spokesperson of the Home Department said that the Supreme Court in its judgment on July 17 this year laid down guidelines for undertaking preventive, remedial and punitive measures in incidents of mob violence and lynching. He said that SP rank officers have been designated in compliance with the guidelines passed by the Supreme Court. The spokesperson said measures have also been taken to identify district, sub-division and villages where instances of mob violence and lynching were reported in the recent past and directions have been issued to all concerned to ensure that officer incharge of the police station of the identified areas remain extra cautious if any such instance comes to their notice. The police was being sensitised to ...
German prosecutors charge IS suspect with planning attack
German federal prosecutors say they've filed charges against a 29-year-old Islamic State suspect accused of planning a vehicular attack in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe. Dasbar W., a German citizen whose last name wasn't released in line with privacy laws, faces charges of membership in a terrorist organisation and planning an act of violence. Prosecutors said today that the man was accused of distributing IS propaganda online starting in 2015 and joining and training with the group in Iraq in 2016. They alleged, upon his return to Germany in July 2017, he embarked on planning his attack, scouting locations and trying to find a job as a delivery driver. They said he was planning an attack on crowds around an outdoor skating rink when arrested shortly before Christmas last year.
Four injured, one seriously, in French knife rampage
An Afghan asylum-seeker was arrested after launching a drunken and frenzied knife attack in the sleepy southwestern French town of Perigueux, injuring four people including one seriously, police said today. The incident began last evening with the 19-year-old man, who was known to have psychological problems according to local authorities, lashing out at cars outside his home. The head of the ambulance service for the area, Jean-Jacques Girard, told the regional Sud-Ouest daily that he was seen "kicking and banging a first vehicle with his feet and fists, then a second" and also "rounding on female motorists". Two paramedics who witnessed the incident tried to calm the man down but after disappearing inside his home he returned with a knife and attacked them, leaving them with injuries to the head and neck. He then turned on two brothers aged 64 and 68 living next door, leaving one with a perforated lung and the other with stab wounds to the back. The man was eventually overpowered by
CS 'assault': Court seeks Delhi Police response on AAP plea
A court here on Tuesday asked Delhi Police to file response on a plea by AAP legislators, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking to restrain the force from leaking information in the case related to the alleged assault of Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February.
Bitcoin investment scam in Guj could be worth Rs 500 cr: CID
Investors in Gujarat may have lost over Rs 500 crore in an alleged fraudulent scheme floated by the promoters of BitConnect, a cryptocurrency platform which shut down earlier this year, police today said. Director General, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Ashish Bhatia said that many of the victims were yet to come forward. "We have received only one complaint of Rs 1.14 crore at present. Many victims told us they want to lodge complaint but they have not come forward. They might be having the fear of Income Tax department (questioning the source of money). So we do not have the exact figure," Bhatia told PTI. "Many from Gujarat, mostly from Surat, had invested in the scheme. If we add up the money extorted by Shailesh Bhatt, the figure may come to over Rs 500 crore," he said. BitConnect promoters had issued a cryptocurrency token, "BCC", and floated a global trading and lending platform for investors in 2016. Cryptocurrencies like 'Bitcoin' are digital currencies
Delhi sealing: SC to hear validity of legislation in February
The Supreme Court today said that issues related to validity of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations, which protect unauthorised constructions from being sealed in the national capital, would be heard in February next year. A bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta told Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, that the matter would be heard next year. Nadkarni and senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the sealing matter, said that the other related issues in the case should be heard by the bench. Kumar told the court that the apex court had earlier transferred to itself the matters related to sealing which were pending in the Delhi High Court. "We had made a mistake," Justice Lokur observed. Nadkarni requested the bench that arguments on validity of the legislation could be heard in February but in the meantime, the court should hear the other issues ...
HC pulls up Maha officials for inaction on Nirav Modi bungalow
Questioning the inaction of local authorities over an alleged illegally constructed bungalow in Alibaug belonging to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, the Bombay High Court today said that it will direct the state government to initiate an inquiry into the issue A bench of justices AS Oka and RI Chagla is likely to pass an order on Thursday directing the inquiry. The bench also questioned how the collector of Raigad district, where Alibaug is situated, had decided to exempt Modi's bungalow from demolition. It was hearing a petition filed by activist Surendra Dhavale seeking that the court direct the authorities to demolish all unauthorised construction "within the low and high tide areas" in a bunch of villages in Alibaug. As per the petition, such construction had been carried out in violation of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority rules and the land laws of the state. There are around 175 such private residences in CRZ areas in villages such as Varsoli, Sasvane, Kolgaon