Page 1674 - Law Crime
SC says MPs' public statements on impeachment unfortunate
The Supreme Court on Friday dubbed as "unfortunate" the public statements by politicians on the issue of the impeachment of members of the higher judiciary.
How impeachment process of judges works
The Constitution lays down a rigorous procedure for removal of a judge of the Supreme Court or high court and can be initiated only on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. Article 124 (4) of the Constitution and the provisions of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 and corresponding rules deal exhaustively with the whole procedure. The process for the removal of a Supreme Court judge is mentioned in Article 124(4) of the Constitution. It is termed as impeachment. Article 124(4) says, "A Judge of the Supreme Court shall not be removed from his office except by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour incapacity." For initiating the impeachment process, a motion has to be moved by ...
Thane cops arrest ten persons for dealing in stolen trucks
Police today claimed to have busted a major truck theft racket and said that ten persons, including a woman, had been arrested. Makarand Ranade, Additional Commissioner of Police, Thane today said that these persons would steal trucks and then sell them after registering them afresh on the basis of forged documents. "A total of 34 such trucks and dumpers were registered in this manner at the Regional Transport Offices in Buldhana and Nandurbar. We have managed to seize 20 of these vehicles and efforts to get the rest are underway," Ranade said. An official said that those arrested used to change the engine and chassis numbers of the stolen vehicles and register them at these RTOs. The 20 seized trucks have been valued at Rs 3.25 crore, said police, adding that they were stolen from Aurangabad, Ahmedabad and Thane. Police said that five persons were arrested for stealing the vehicles and identified them as Ahmed Mustakin Khan, Mohammad Ilias Mohammad Munir Khan, ...
Sengar's CBI remand extended till April 27
A local court here extended the CBI remand of BJP MLA Kuldip Singh Sengar, the main accused in the rape of the 18-year-old girl from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, till April 27, an official said today. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) produced Sengar before the special POCSO court judge, Ashutosh Kumar who extended his remand till April 27, special public prosecutor Chandrika Prasad Bajpai said. He was for the first time sent to CBI custody for seven days on April 14 after his arrest. Facing flak over the delay in taking action against the MLA in the nearly year-old rape case, the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government had recommended CBI probe last week.
Illegal telephone exchanges busted in Thane, one arrested
The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra today claimed to have busted two illegal telephone exchanges operating in neighbouring Thane, and arrested a man. Police were looking for two more persons in the case, an ATS official said, adding that the accused's possible links with terrorist organisations too were being probed. As per the preliminary investigation by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), these exchanges caused a loss of about Rs 58 crore to the government, said the official. After getting a tip-off, ATS sleuths and officials of the prosecution branch of the DOT carried out a raid in Azadnagar area of Thane yesterday, he said. They found that a 28-year-old man -- an Arabic teacher hailing from Azamgarh of Uttar Pradesh -- and his younger brother had set up the illegal exchange, he said. The ATS official did not reveal the arrested man's name. The 'exchange' routed international Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) calls to local mobile numbers through .
Was attack on Delhi Chief Secy pre-planned?
The police suspect that the alleged midnight assault on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs in February was pre-planned, said a senior officer privy to the probe. The police have questioned 11 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs and close aides of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, including his private secretary Bibhav Kumar, in connection with the incident. Kumar and an AAP volunteer from Mainpuri, Vivek Yadav, were grilled for five hours today. "They came to the Civil Lines police station for the questioning at 4 pm. Kumar had asked Yadav to call the MLAs for the midnight meeting at the chief minister's residence where the assault had taken place," said the officer. "It appears that the assault was pre-planned," he said. Kumar and Yadav are close to Kejriwal and the police have found that Yadav coordinates with the MLAs on behalf of the chief minister. In his complaint, Prakash had said, "... the assault was premeditated and a conspiracy of all (those) present with the intention to
Man held from Rajasthan in Surat minor's rape-murder case
The Gujarat Police today arrested a man from Ganganagar in neighbouring Rajasthan in connection with the rape-and-murder of a minor girl whose body was found here on April 6, Gujarat Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said. The accused has been identified as Harsh Sahay Gurjar and was held from Ganganagar in Sawai Madhopur district, Jadeja told reporters here. He said that three-four days after the minor's body was found, the police also recovered the body of a woman from the same area, and that there was a "high chance" that the woman might be the victim's mother. It was possible that the accused was behind the killing of both the persons, Jadeja said. He said a vital lead in the investigation of the crime came when the police, scouring CCTV footage of Pandesara area, where the girl's body was found, zeroed in on a black car. The minister said the ownership of the car was traced to a stone contractor at whose place the girl and her mother, originally from Rajasthan, were working. The ..
Cong MLA Jitu Patwari gets bail in 2007 case
The Madhya Pradesh High Court today granted bail to Congress MLA Jitu Patwari, who was in judicial custody in Bhopal for allegedly obstructing a public servant in performing his duties in Indore in 2007. A single bench of Justice C V Sirpurkar granted bail to Patwari, who is also AICC secretary, on a security of Rs 40,000, his counsel Shashank Shekhar told PTI. Patwari told the high court that he had approached the fast track court in Bhopal on April 17 seeking bail, after he came to know that an arrest warrant was issued against him by that court. Patwari, who represents Rau assembly constituency in Indore, told the high court in his petition that he did not know that the case against him had been transferred to Bhopal from Indore. Fast track court judge Suresh Singh had remanded Patwari in judicial custody for 14 days on April 17 after turning down his bail plea. On April 4, the fast track court had issued an arrest warrant against the Congress leader after he failed to turn up to ..
Sunanda Pushkar case: SIT tells SC it prepared draft final report
The Supreme Court on Friday was told by the Delhi Police's special investigation team (SIT) that after "thorough professional and scientific investigations", it has prepared a draft final report into the death of Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Trust case, acquisition of plot, roster issue cited against the CJI
The handling of the contentious case pertaining to a Lucknow-based trust that runs a medical college, the alleged "misuse of authority" as Master of the Roster and a charge relating to acquiring of a piece of land are among the issues cited in a notice of impeachment against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra for "misbehaviour". The seven parties, including the Congress, that moved the impeachment notice against Misra, listed out five counts of "misbehaviour" which include a charge that the CJI brought a piece of land by filing an affidavit later found to be "false" and he returned the plot only in 2012 after he was elevated even though the same was cancelled in 1985. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the notice has cited a "conspiracy to pay illegal gratification" in the Prasad Education Trust case and the denial of permission to proceed against a retired high court judge in the same matter. The former law minister said it is on record that the CBI has .
Fresh plea in SC for review of controversial SC/ST Act verdict
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking recall of its controversial verdict on the SC/ST Act alleging that the judgement was delivered on the basis of a "forged FIR" which was placed on record before it. The fresh plea, moved by the original complainant on whose FIR the case had commenced and finally reached the apex court, has claimed that full text of the FIR which was originally in Marathi language was not made available to the top court "deliberately". In its March 20 verdict, the apex court had allegedly diluted the provisions of the SC/ST Act relating to arrest and certain safeguards were put in place for lodging of FIR under the law. After the verdict, several states were rocked by violence and clashes on April 2 following a 'Bharat Bandh' call given by several SC/ST organisations protesting the top court's order, which had claimed at least eight lives and injured hundreds. The Centre and some states have also sought review of the judgement. The Centre had on ...
Tripura Governor says PM cannot be held accountable for
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy today said while the incidents of rape of minors in Kathua and Unnao were despicable but the Prime Minister cannot be held accountable for such incidents. While strongly criticising the Unnao and Kathua rape incidents, Roy said one should equally condemn the killing of Sikhs in 1984. He said Unnao and Kathua incidents were "Despicable, regrettable and condemnable," but "What the PM has to do with a rape that has taken place in Kathua and a rape that has taken place in Unnao?" Roy was talking on the sidelines of the launch of his book on Shyama Prasad Mookherjee at the Press Club here. "Groups who have joined hands to lay the blame for the rape-murders at the door of the PM are part of a concerted slur and vilification campaign with the elections not very far away," he said. Coming down heavily on the opposition for the Unnao and Kathua incidents in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir respectively, Roy said, "While I condemn rape and ...
Constitutional experts oppose impeachment motion against CJI Misra
The unprecedented move by the Congress-led opposition to impeach Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra "smacked of political overtones" rather than any "misbehavior" and "misuse" of authority and might not succeed in Parliament, constitutional experts felt today. Levelling allegations, leaders of the seven opposition parties met Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and handed over the notice of impeachment bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former MPs, who recently retired. The move that came a day after an apex court bench headed by the CJI rejected the pleas for a probe into special CBI judge B H Loya's death, was termed as "motivated" and "political" by eminent jurists such as Soli Sorabjee, former high court judges S N Dhingra and Ajit Kumar Sinha and senior advocate Vikas Singh. Sorabjee, who was attorney general during the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, made a scathing attack on the opposition's decision to go for ...
Impeachment notice a 'revenge petition', says Jaitley
The BJP today lashed out at the Congress over its move to impeach the Chief Justice of India, dubbing it as an "intimidatory tactic" and revenge petition" to target the Supreme Court after its verdict in the judge B H Loya death case exposed a "conspiracy of falsehood". Accusing the Congress of using impeachment as a political tool after it and six other parties handed over to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu a notice signed by 64 MPs for the impeachment of CJI, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also a noted lawyer, said it is a dangerous event and serious threat to judicial independence. While Jaitley posted his hard-hitting response to the opposition's move in Facebook, BJP fielded its spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, who is also a lawyer, to take on the Congress. Besides the Loya case, Lekhi also made a mention of the Gujarat High Court's order today acquitting Maya Kodnani, a former minister in the BJP-ruled state, of criminal charges in the Naroda Patiya riots case of 2002,
NIA chargesheets Hizbul chief's son for raising funds for terror acts
The NIA today charged Syed Shahid Yusuf, son of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, with indulging in unlawful activities and raising funds for terror operations in a 2011 case. The agency made the allegations in a charge sheet filed before District Judge Poonam A Bamba, who posted it for consideration on May 4. The final report has alleged that Yusuf had hatched a conspiracy to received funds from Pakistan through hawala channels to spread terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The NIA has accused him of committing various offences punishable under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. 42-year-old Yousuf was posted as agricultural assistant in Budgam town of central Kashmir when he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on October 24 last year. He is currently in judicial custody. His bail plea was dismissed by the trial court here on March 7. The NIA charge sheet was filed under sections 13 (punishment for unlawful activities), 17 (punishment for raising funds for ...
Man smothers wife, daughter in hotel room
A 36-year-old man from Hyderabad allegedly killed his wife and eight-year-old daughter by smothering them with a pillow in a hotel room here today. After committing the crime, M Srinivas went to a nearby police station and told them that he had killed his wife and daughter, police said, adding, he has been arrested. He also told them that they arrived here a week ago to end their lives due to financial problems, police said. The bodies have been shifted for post-mortem, they added.
Cong-led oppn launches unprecedented step for impeachment of CJI, BJP condemns as political tool
Seven opposition parties led by the Congress today initiated an unprecedented step to impeach Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, moving a notice accusing him of "misbehaviour" and "misuse" of authority. Levelling five specific allegations, leaders of the seven opposition parties met Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and handed over the notice of impeachment bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former MPs, who recently retired. This is the first time that a notice of impeachment against a sitting CJI has been moved, even though previously there have been three cases of impeachment motions against apex court and high court judges in the last 25 years. The only time the impeachment process reached the final stage was in 1993 in the case of Justice V Ramaswami of the Supreme Court when the final vote failed to get a two-third majority in the Lok Sabha. Ramaswami faced corruption charges. The notice for impeachment comes a day after the ...
PIL on female genital mutilation; SC makes Kerala, Telangana parties
The Supreme Court today ordered Kerala and Telangana to be made parties to a PIL that has challenged the practice of female genital mutilation of minor girls of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said it would accord final hearing to the petition on July 9. It ordered that states like Kerala and Telangana, where Bohra Muslim community reside, should also be made parties to the litigation and issued notice to them as well. The states which are already party in the case are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi, The court had on May 8 agreed to examine the issues raised by Delhi-based lawyer Sunita Tiwari by saying that the practice of female genital mutilation was "extremely important and sensitive". It had issued notices and sought replies from four union ministries, including the Woman and Child Development, besides Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi where Dawoodi Bohras, who are .
Sena worker found dead
A Shiv Sena worker was today found killed by unidentified persons in Bhiwandi tehsil of Thane district, police said. Additional Superintendent of Police Prashant Kadam said that Shailesh Nimse (36) was found dead with his body half-burnt near Ganeshpuri. Nimse was a local Sena leader from Shahpur tehsil, he said, adding that further probe was on.
Man arrested for trying to kidnap minor girl
A man was today arrested for allegedly trying to kidnap a nine-year-old girl near Gopalpura bypass here, police said. The girl had gone to get milk from a dairy near her house where the accused Abhay Singh (30) asked her the address of a school and made her sit on the motorcycle and took her away. Sensing trouble, the girl cried and raised an alarm. She managed to escape and rushed home, the police said. Police examined CCTV footage installed in the area in which the accused was seen taking the girl forcefully away on a motorcycle. Today, a police team spotted a suspect with the same look, they said. On the basis of the registration number of that bike, police traced the suspect and it became clear in interrogation that he was the same person who had abducted the girl yesterday morning, DCP (east) K Rastradeep said. The accused has been arrested under various sections of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.