Page 1280 - Law Crime
SC asks states to consider plea bargaining to reduce pendency of cases
In an endeavour to reduce pendency of cases, the Supreme Court on Monday urged the State governments to consider plea bargaining.The Apex Court's three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud made the statement while hearing a 98-page petition filed by retired Army officer, Anil Kabotra which sought a direction from the Law Ministry to take effective steps to reduce pendency of cases from 15 years to three years and to take appropriate measures to implement the National Litigation Policy.The petition also seeks a direction to the Secretary General to plan the annual calendar in a way that the courts function at least 225 days per year and six hours per day till the pendency of cases is reduced to three years.Kabotra, in his petition also sought that advocates shall not be appointed as the judge in the same High Court where they have practiced or where any of their blood relative is practicing as a counsel.Getting ...
Amendments to prohibition law passed in Bihar Assembly
The Bihar Assembly passed a bill today to amend some of the stringent provisions of the prohibition law in order to prevent its misuse and make the quantum of punishment proportionate to the nature of offence. The Opposition, which was seeking the declaration of Bihar as "drought-hit" since morning, continued to press their demand in the post-lunch session and staged a walkout, while the House took up the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for consideration. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed surprise over the opposition walkout as all the parties had given a unanimous support when prohibition was introduced in the state and participated in a massive human chain formed last year against the liquor menace. Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Tejashwi Yadav later told reporters that no amount of law-making on prohibition would have any meaning unless the government was able to give a guarantee that liquor would not be available in the state. The fact was that .
Govt constitutes 2 high-level committees to suggest measures to deal with mob violence, lynching
Two high-level committees have been constituted by the central government to suggest ways and legal framework to effectively deal with incidents of mob violence and lynching, the Home Ministry said today. One of the committees is being headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the other by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba. The move came a week after the Supreme Court asked the central government to enact a law to deal with incidents of lynching and take action on mob violence. The government respects the recent directions of the Supreme Court on the issue of mob violence and has issued an advisory to state governments urging them to take effective measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching, and take stringent action as per the law, a Home Ministry spokesperson said. In order to formulate appropriate measures to address the situation, the government has set up a high-level committee chaired by Union Home Secretary Gauba to deliberate upon the matter and make ...
PIL seeks CBI probe into illegal constructions
Two days after the collapse of a scaffolding that left two workers dead here, a public interest litigation was today filed in the Madras High Court, alleging rampant illegal constructions in the locality and seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter. Social activist Traffic Ramaswamy, in his PIL petition, referred to the collapse of the scaffolding at an under-construction building near Perungudi in the city on Saturday, that left around 32 labourers injured. Two of them succumbed to their injuries. Earlier, Ramaswamy made an urgent mention about the matter before a bench, comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and Krishnan Ramasamy, which said it would hear it tomorrow if he filed a petition. Shortly thereafter, he filed the petition, claiming that most of the buildings in the area, along the city's information technology corridor, were unapproved and such illegal constructions continued due to alleged nexus between officials and local politicians. The ...
Par passes bill on damages for breach of contract
Parliament today passed a bill proposing to grant a party the right to seek damages from the other side in case of a breach of a business contract and to reduce discretion of courts in such matters. The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which was passed in the Lok Sabha in March, was cleared in the Upper House by a voice vote this afternoon. The bill aims to tweak a 54-year-old law that deals with specific fulfilment of a contract, as part of the government's ease of doing business policy. Responding to queries by some members, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Today the world has changed, India has changed. When the bill was enacted, refusal of injuction was the norm. Even if a contractor runs away, you could not do anything. You could take only damage." Now, such a stringent provision of law is creating problem for the Centre, the state governments and private parties, he said, adding "it was not in sync with modern needs." The bill aims at the exact ...
Five of family killed in Himachal fire
Five members of a family, including three women, were killed when their house near Mandi town in Himachal Pradesh was gutted in a fire on Monday, police said.
Two more arrested in Gauri Lankesh murder case
The Special Investigation Team probing journalist Gauri Lankesh murder case said today it has arrested two more suspects. The two--Amit Raghavendra Baddi and Ganesh Miski-- both residents of Hubballi, were arrested yesterday, special investigating officer M N Anucheth told PTI. He said they were produced before a metropolitan court, which remanded them in SIT custody till August 6 for further investigation. Anucheth did not disclose their role in the crime. However, some police sources said Baddi and Miski had helped in recceing the area before Lankesh was shot dead on September 5 last year. Baddi was said to be a goldsmith by profession, while Miski was into incense stick manufacturing business. Nine suuspects have been arrested in the case so far. Lankesh was shot dead right in front of her Rajarajeshwari Nagar residence in Bengaluru. Besides Baddi and Miski, the SIT has arrested K T Naveen Kumar, Amol Kale, Amit Degwekar, Parashuram Waghmare, Sujith Kumar, Manohar Edave
GoM & officers' panel set up for steps to tackle lynching
The government today set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) under Home Minister Rajnath Singh and a panel headed by the Home Secretary to deal with the growing number of lynching incidents. The move came days after the Supreme Court asked the government to enact a law to deal with such incidents, terming them as "horrendous acts of mobocracy". In an impromptu intervention at the end of the day's sitting, Home Minister Singh told the Lok Sabha that the panel will give its report in 15 days. The panel headed by Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba will suggest measures and legal framework to effectively deal with incidents of mob violence and lynching. The panel will submit its recommendations to the GoM, which will submit them to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Friday, a 28-year-old man was beaten to death on suspicion of cow smuggling at Alwar in Rajasthan.
Give unique ID to 123 water bodies in Haryana: NGT
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Haryana government to restore 123 water bodies in Gurugram and Faridabad districts and assign each one of them a unique identification number within three months. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said immediate steps should be taken to protect all water bodies in Haryana as they are the main source to recharge the groundwater. "The chief executive officer of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority may also identify other water bodies and try to retrieve them. On such retrieval, the water bodies may also be given unique identification number and restoration measures may be adopted," the bench comprising justices Jawad Rahim and R S Rathore said. The green panel said it would be open for any member of the public to give suggestions to the Haryana government and the CEO of GMDA on measures to restore the water bodies. The order came after the lawyer appearing for petitioner Lt Col (retired) Sarvadaman Singh ...
3 arrested over acid attack on British boy
The UK police have arrested three men in connection with a suspected acid attack on a three-year-old boy in the city of Worcester.
Police to probe delay in taking Rakbar to hospital
The Rajasthan Police on Monday formed a high-level team to probe why policemen took three hours to reach a hospital only four kilometres away with a badly injured man accused of smuggling cows.
SC extends stay on proceedings on defamation complaint of Jay Shah against portal, scribes
The Supreme Court today extended till August 8 the stay on a Gujarat trial court's proceedings on the criminal defamation complaint filed by Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah, against news portal 'The Wire' and its scribes for allegedly writing a defamatory article. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra posted the appeals of the portal and its journalists, including Rohini Singh who had authored the news story, for final hearing on August 8 against a High Court order that had refused to quash the defamation complaint. "The stay on the (trial court) proceedings to continue till August 8," said the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud. At the outset, senior advocate Raju Ramchandran, appearing for the portal, said the complaint could not be settled amicably outside the court as suggested by the bench earlier and now the appeals required to be heard. Senior advocate N K Kaul, appearing for Jay Shah, alleged that the news portal was "acting as a .
HC to hear tmrw Chidambaram's anticipatory bail plea in ED's case related to INX Media
The Delhi High Court today said it would tomorrow hear a plea by former Union minister P Chidambaram, seeking anticipatory bail in the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) money-laundering case related to INX Media. The matter was listed before Justice A K Pathak, but as the judge did not hold the court in the post-lunch session today, the plea will now be heard tomorrow. The petition, filed through advocates Pramod Kumar Dubey and Arshdeep Singh, said although no summons have ever been served to the former Union finance minister by the ED in this case, he has an apprehension of arrest in view of the summons issued to him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the scheduled offence. It said that the ED has also opposed his anticipatory bail plea in another case relating to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in relation to the Aircel-Maxis case and "it cannot be ruled out that the ED may also summon him and/or illegally arrest him even ...
Sheena Bora murder case: Mikhail testifies in special CBI court
Sheena Bora's brother, Mikhail Bora on Monday testified in a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court against his mother Indrani Mukerjea in the Sheena Bora murder case.Mikhail, in his testimony, narrated a chain of events which led to the death of Sheena Bora.Mukerjea is currently facing trial for allegedly killing her daughter Sheena Bora. Bora was Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship.24-year-old Sheena was abducted and killed on April 24, 2012, allegedly over a financial dispute, and her body was disposed of in a forest in adjoining Raigad district. Bora was Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship.Indrani and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna were arrested in August 2015 along with her former driver Shyamvar Rai, while Indrani's present husband Peter Mukerjea was nabbed in November the same year.
Dispose Khaleda's bail plea in Comilla arson case by Jul 26: HC
Bangladesh's High Court today directed a lower court to hear and dispose of a bail petition filed by former prime minister and opposition BNP chief Khaleda Zia by July 26 in an arson case in which she is named as an accused, according to a media report. Eight people were killed and 20 others were injured when unknown assailants hurled a petrol bomb at the bus in Comilla's Chouddagram upazila on February 2, 2015, during anti-government agitation. The court bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman passed the order following a petition filed by the 72-year-old three-time former premier seeking bail in the case. Khaleda's lawyers filed a bail petition with the High Court. "The High Court ordered them to settle the bail petition by Thursday, the order will be reviewed by the High Court next Sunday," said Zainul Abedin. The arson case lodged under the Special Tribunal Act in 2015. Two separate cases - one for murder, the other under the Explosives Act - were filed over
Two held for attempting to misbehave with minor girls
Two persons have been arrested in separate cases of allegedly "attempting to misbehave" with minor girls, police said today. They have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act-2012 (POCSO), a city police release said. In the first case, 40-year-old Ravindran was arrested for "attempting to misbehave" with a seven-year-old girl at Besant Nagar here yesterday when she was playing. He was arrested after the victim's mother lodged a complaint, it said. The release said 20 year-old Govindkumar, hailing from Jharkhand, was arrested for "attempting to misbehave" with a 11-year-old girl at Kodungaiyur.
Alwar lynching: We don't doubt police, says kin of deceased
At a time when the Alwar police is facing flaks for not timely attending the lynching victim, the kin of the deceased on Monday said they don't doubt the police."We do not doubt the police at all. We want justice and severe punishment should be given to those who killed him (Akbar)," Ilyas Khan, brother of Alwar lynching case victim Rakbar told ANI.28-year-old Rakbar Khan was allegedly beaten to death by an agitated mob on suspicions of cow smuggling in Alwar district in the intervening night of July 20-21.According to media reports, the Alwar police took three hours to get the victim to a hospital which was only six km away.The police also allegedly on the way to hospital stopped to drop the cows to a shelter.Meanwhile, Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) OP Galhotra has ordered a team of senior police officials to investigate the case.The DGP has also asked senior police officials to submit a report in the connection.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today said that it will hear a
Flight attendant death case: HC grants interim protection from arrest to husband's parents
The Delhi High Court today granted interim protection from arrest to parents of the husband of a woman flight attendant, who had allegedly committed suicide in the national capital earlier this month. Justice Mukta Gupta also issued notice to the Delhi Police on a plea of the husband's parents seeking anticipatory bail and sought a status report in the matter. The court listed the matter for further hearing on August 2, while granting interim protection to Sushma Singhvi and R S Singhvi, parents of Mayank Singhvi, who is in judicial custody in the death case of his wife Anissia Batra (39) till the next date of hearing. A trial court had on July 20 refused to grant protection from arrest to Mayank's parents after the counsel for the woman's parents has submitted that the allegations against them were serious. Anissia, who was working with a German airline, had allegedly jumped from the terrace of her house in Panchsheel Park in South Delhi on July 13 and Mayank had taken her to a ...
Self-styled 'godman' forces men into unnatural sex, arrested
A self-proclaimed godman was arrested in Maharashtra for allegedly making his male followers engage in unnatural sexual acts with each other, police said today. Asif Noori (38) was arrested from a neighbouring district and brought here last night, Parbhani Superintendent of Police Dilip Zalake said. "We received a complaint on Friday from a few citizens after video and audio clips of him allegedly forcing male followers into unnatural sex were circulated on social media," he said. Unsuspecting victims from different parts of the state used to seek Noori's help in solving their personal problems. However, the self-styled godman made them indulge in unnatural sex with each other for vicarious pleasure, said Ashok Ghorband, Senior Inspector of Kotwali here. Noori was staying in a madrasa at Darga Road here in the Marathwada region of the state. As the madrasa was allegedly used for the act, an offence under IPC section 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult ..
Houston police release sketch of suspect in doctor's killing
Authorities in Houston have released a composite sketch of the man suspected of fatally shooting a cardiologist who once treated former President George H.W. Bush. Dr. Mark Hausknecht was shot to death while riding his bicycle to work Friday morning at Texas Medical Center. Police have said the shooter rode past Hausknecht, then turned around and opened fire. The suspect sketch released over the weekend depicts a man wearing glasses and a cap. Police have also released surveillance photos, taken from a distance, that appear to show the bicyclists crossing paths. Authorities are investigating whether the killing was targeted or random. Hausknecht treated Bush in February 2000 for an irregular heartbeat after the ex-president complained about lightheadedness while visiting Florida.