Page 2194 - Law Crime
HC concern over states lacking tools against social media
The Calcutta High Court today said it was "alarming" that the states did not have the tools to ensure compliance if Facebook or any other social media platform refused to provide information in connection with a criminal case. Justice Debangshu Basak directed the Centre and the West Bengal government to file affidavits with regard to a criminal case over an alleged posting of objectionable materials on the social media and asked them to deal with the issues raised by the court in this connection. He was hearing a petition on the state police's failure to proceed with a case under the Information Technology Act regarding the alleged posting of objectionable materials related to a woman on Facebook and the police filing a closure report, after failing to proceed with the investigation owing to a lack of evidence. Special Public Prosecutor for the state Bivas Chatterjee submitted before the court that the Siliguri police, with whom the complaint was registered, had given ..
Liquor vend salesman stabbed to death in Yamunanagar
Three unidentified men allegedly stabbed to death a 64-year-old liquor vendor and looted the shop after an argument turned ugly in Haryana's Yamunanagar, police said. The incident occurred last night when three persons, arrived on a bike at the liquor shop and picked up a fight with the elderly man. They then thrashed and stabbed him to death. The deceased was a resident of Vaksi Maholla of Vishnu Nagar here. The contractor of the shop also alleged the assailants stole some cash from the shop, a police official said.
Man held for rape of minor girl in Jajpur district
The police have arrested a man on charges of raping an 11-year-old girl at Bitana village under Binjharpur police station limits in Odisha's Jajpur district. The accused, arrested last night, is from the same village, police said. In his complaint filed with the Binjharpur police, the victim's father said the girl was raped at the man's shop at Bitana market when she had gone there to buy chocolates with her 9-year-old younger sister. The minor girl had gone to the local market to make photocopies of her father's documents with her younger sister on Sunday afternoon. After it was over, the two sisters went to the shop to buy chocolates, police said. "The accused took the two girls into a room in the pretext of giving them best quality chocolates and tried to molest them. The younger sister managed to come out of the room by biting the accused. The accused took advantage of it and raped the 11-year-old girl," said A.K Mohanty, Inspector-in-Charge of Binjharpur police ...
HC rejects ISIS operative's bail prayer
The Calcutta High Court today rejected the bail prayer of suspected ISIS operative Musa, who had allegedly planned to attack Mother House here and other places in West Bengal. Musa alias Md Mosiuddin had allegedly attacked a jail warden on December 4 inside the correctional home where he is lodged on judicial remand. The suspected ISIS operative was arrested in July, 2016, by the state CID when he was travelling to Birbhum district in West Bengal. Firearms and sharp weapons were allegedly seized from his possession. The investigation was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which took custody of Musa and submitted the chargesheet before the designated special court here in December last. The suspected terrorist had filed a bail application before the special court in May this year, which was rejected in June. He then moved the high court against the special court order and also prayed for bail. Opposing the bail prayer, NIA counsel Sanjay Bardhan
HC asks Chautala to bring ailing wife's med records for parole
The Delhi High Court today asked INLD chief O P Chautala, serving a ten-year jail term in a teachers recruitment scam case, to substantiate his claim of seeking two-month parole to look after his ailing wife by producing her recent medical records. Justice Mukta Gupta asked the counsel for Chautala to place on record the medical details of the politician's wife including diagnosis of her ailment and the treatment which she is said to be availing at a private hospital at Sirsa. Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog and advocate Amit Sahni, appearing for former Haryana Chief Minister Chautala, said that the convict's wife Sneh Lata is critically ill and is hospitalised at Sirsa in Haryana. The counsel submitted that the woman is in the intensive care unit (ICU) in the hospital. The court listed the matter for further hearing on December 21. The 82-year-old politician has said that he wanted to spend time with his wife "in her last days". The plea has said the leader was last ...
Court refuses bail to Chhagan Bhujbal, nephew Sameer Bhujbal
In a major setback to former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a local court today rejected his bail application in connection with cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court also rejected the bail application of his nephew and former Lok Sabha member Sameer Bhujbal. "Both the bail applications are rejected," said special PMLA judge M S Azmi. The order copy will be available later, he said. The court had rejected the former public works minister's bail plea, filed on medical grounds, earlier too. Last month, the Supreme Court struck down a stringent condition for securing bail for a person accused of money laundering, saying it was "manifestly arbitrary". Section 45(1) of the PMLA which imposes conditions such as hearing the prosecutor before the bail is granted, was "unreasonable", the top court had said. Bail applications of Bhujbals were pending at that time. After the SC ruling, the court here heard the arguments afresh. Special ...
Notices to Centre, CAG on PIL over GST compensation act
The Bombay High Court today issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra government and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on a petition challenging the constitutional validity of laws facilitating various kinds of cess under the Goods and Services Tax regime. A bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and Rajesh Ketkar was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a law teacher, challenging the validity of the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, and 15 other laws related to the compensation cess. As per petitioner Ashrita Kotha, the compensation act was introduced to levy additional cess on certain goods such as luxury cars, coal and schemes such as the Swachh Bharat to make good the losses to states in the first five years. However, the Union government's own rules mandate that a cess can be levied only for a specific purpose and its proceeds cannot be shared with the states. At the time of the passage of the GST Act, the ...
HC dismisses petitions filed by two Malegaon blast accused
The Bombay High Court today dismissed petitions filed by Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit and Sameer Kulkarni, accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, challenging the sanction for prosecution granted by the Maharashtra government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The petitions said that under the UAPA, the state law and judiciary department, the sanctioning authority, has to seek a report from an appropriate authority. "In this case, the sanction was given in January 2009 but the authority was appointed only in October 2010. Hence the sanction order stands vitiated," Purohit's lawyer Shrikant Shivade had argued. NIA counsel Sandesh Patil, however, questioned the maintainability of the petitions. Purohit and Kulkarni had raised these contentions in the trial court in discharge pleas, and that court has reserved its order till December 21, Patil pointed out. "The issue of sanction was raised by Purohit when his bail plea was being argued in the high court. In ..
ED fails to ensure Mallya's presence, tells court about steps
The Enforcement Directorate today told a Delhi court that despite its efforts, it could not ensure presence of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya before it to face trial for allegedly evading summons in a FERA violation case. The agency informed Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Shehrawat about steps it had taken, including sending summons to Mallya's office and residences and publishing notices in various newspapers about the notice seeking appearance in the matter. The court has now posted the matter for December 22 when the ED may press for declaring Mallya a proclaimed offender (PO) since the court had already given him the last opportunity to appear today in the case. The court had on November 8 initiated the process to declare Mallya a PO after ED's Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta informed it that the open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued earlier against the businessman has been returned as unexecuted and the agency has no other option but to ...
Nearly 4 kg gold worth about Rs 1 crore seized by Customs
Nearly four kg of gold worth about Rs one crore and kept concealed was seized today by customs personnel from two passengers who arrived at the international airport here from Muscat and Jeddah, an official said. In the first incident, the officials seized 3.19 kg of gold worth Rs 84 lakh from Al Ameen, who arrived from Muscat, Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar said. The gold kept concealed in the form of wires inside a battery charger was seized following a detailed screening of his baggage on suspicion, he told PTI. The passenger, detained for questioning, was suspected to be a carrier of illegal gold from the Middle East countries, he said. In the other seizure, the customs intelligence team recovered 15 gold pieces, totally weighing 659 grams, concealed in an air pump from the passenger who arrived from Jeddah. The gold was valued at Rs 17.3 lakh, the official said. Besides, in separate cases yesterday, the customs sleuths seized about one kg of gold worth over Rs 26 .
Two held with sharp-edged weapons in Jammu
Two men were arrested today for allegedly carrying sharp-edged weapons in the R S Pura border belt of Jammu district, an official said. Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted the two men, who were moving in a suspicious manner, he added. Two sharp-edged weapons were seized from their possession, following which they were arrested, the official said. The two men -- Mukesh Kumar and Love Kishore alias Lovely -- were residents of R S Pura tehsil, he said, adding that a case was registered.
C'garh: Four of family found dead in their house
Four members of a family, including two minor children, were found dead at their house in Chhattisgarh's Durg district today, police said. "While Ashok Prajapati (30) was found hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen of his house, bodies of his wife Gayeshwari (27), son Sagar (2) and daughter Ragini (5) were found in a room early this morning," Station House Officer, Chhawani police station, Rajesh Sahu told PTI. Prajapati's house is located in Sangram Chowk locality of Bhilai, around 40 kms from the state capital, under Chhawani police station. According to reports, the bodies were first spotted by neighbours of the Prajapatis who didn't get response after knocking their door in the morning. The bodies have been sent for postmortem, the officer said. He said the bodies of the woman and the children didn't bear any injury marks. "It appears they (the woman and the children) were strangulated to death," the SHO said, adding that the exact cause of their death will be ...
'Turkey court orders conditional release of German reporter'
A Turkish court today ordered the release under judicial control of a German journalist and translator charged with membership of a banned radical leftist group, her lawyers said. The judge ruled that 33-year-old Mesale Tolu, who was initially detained in late April, would be released along with other five remaining detainees in the case, the Law Office of the Oppressed, which is representing her, announced on Twitter. The ruling came after a prosecutor in her trial at the start of today's hearing had requested that Tolu and the five others be set free. Tolu is charged with membership of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) which is banned in Turkey as a terror group. She was ordered to be released under judicial control, which means she should walk free from prison later in the day after completing the formalities but remains charged and on trial. Tolu will have to report to the authorities every week and cannot leave the country. "We welcome this with joy and ..
UPCOCA will be the remedy for crime: UP CM
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said the proposed UPCOCA bill would help check crime and sought cooperation from the Opposition parties for its passage. Speaking on an adjournment notice on law and order in the Legislative Assembly, the chief minister said the bill, likely to be tabled soon, would be a remedy for crime in the state. "We are bringing the UPCOCA bill...if you want the mafias to be finished...we expect you to cooperate (to pass it)," he said. The Uttar Pradesh government recently approved a draft of a UPCOCA bill which was on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to combat land mafia, mining mafia and organised crime. Reiterating that there would be no laxity on the issue of security, corruption and law and order, he said crime in the state was at its lowest and the people's mandate in the country was its example. He referred to the recent National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report and lashed out at the state
Independent witnesses are rare commodity: Court
Independent witnesses are a rare commodity as no one wants to join a probe, fearing the inconvenience they will suffer in attending the hearings, a Delhi court has observed. The court's observation came while quashing an order, acquitting a couple found possessing illicit liquor in 2014. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain directed the magisterial court, which had acquitted the couple on October 17 this year, to hear the matter afresh by allowing the prosecution to examine all the vital witnesses. The sessions court also noted that the trial court had acquitted the couple of the offences under the Delhi Excise Act as no independent witness was examined during the trial. "It is not the case that no effort was made to join the public persons at the time of the raid. The possibility and availability of a public witness for joining the investigation is a fanciful myth like the meeting of the sky at the horizon. The near you go, the far it becomes and the ultimate meeting ..
25-year-old killed as truck hits bike in Noida
A 25-year-old man was killed when a speeding truck hit his bike near Sector 76, Noida, an official said today. The incident took place yesterday, he said, adding the victim had been identified as Yuvraj Rai, a resident of Jhansi. The victim, who worked in a factory, was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to the injuries, the official said. The deceased's brother, Inderjit Rai, had registered an FIR at the Sector 49 police station, Noida, against the absconding truck driver, he said, adding that the body was sent for post-mortem.
Man leaves Audi car, takes ambulance to go home
In a bizarre case, a man who arrived at a city hospital in his high-end car, left it there and drove home in an ambulance. Police suspect that he might have mistook the ambulance for his Audi under the influence of alcohol. Narrating the strange sequence of events, the police said a businessman, who is in his thirties, visited the hospital in Thousand Lights area early yesterday to drop his friend who had sustained some injuries. After leaving him, he drove back in a Maruti Omni ambulance. The driver of the ambulance had left the keys in the vehicle, the police said. The businessman realised his mistake only after reaching home in suburban Palavakkam, about 15 km away when members of his family questioned him about his car, they said. The man immediately asked his driver to take the ambulance back. Meanwhile, hospital personnel found that an ambulance was missing and alerted the police. A local patrol team arrived at the hospital and more or less at the same time the ...
HC dismisses plea for martyr status to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev
The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition seeking that freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru be given the status of martyr, saying it cannot issue such a direction. "The plea is dismissed. We cannot issue such a direction," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said. The petitioner failed to reply to the court's query on whether there is any law under which the court has the power to issue any such direction. The plea filed by advocate Birender Sangwan sought grant of 'shaheed' (martyr) status to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who were hanged by the Britishers in 1931. "The grant of shaheed status is very much essential for a martyr and it is the legal right of a martyr to have such a status declared to them, thus it is an expression of gratitude towards them," the plea said. Bhagat Singh and Rajguru had in 1928 fatally shot a British junior police officer, John Saunders at Lahore in present day Pakistan, mistaking ..
Court upholds man's conviction for misusing Pepsi's name to
A Delhi court has refused to set aside the conviction of a man for manufacturing and selling spurious soft drinks using brand names like Pepsi and Limca in 2001. District and Sessions Judge Asha Menon, however, modified the one-year jail term awarded to the man by a magisterial court and modified it to 14 days, the period he had spent behind bars since the onset of a trial in 2001. The order came on the appeal filed by convict Sant Ram against the conviction and sentence order of a metropolitan magistrate given on November 19, 2015, holding him guilty of applying false trademarks under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act. "Theanalysisoftheevidencebythetrial courtiswell reasonedandcallsfornointerferencebythis court. "Bysellingspuriousliquidasiftheywere manufactured byPepsi,LimcaandCampa,thusholdingoutto thepublicthat the materialinthebottleswere qualitatively thatofthe company'swhose bottles were being used, the accused committed the offence punishable under the Trade ...
Woman's body with throat slit found; husband missing
A partly clad body of a 35-year-old woman was found in Noorpur town here, police said today. "Shabana, a mother of three, was found dead last evening with her throat slit," Satendra Kumar, SHO, Noorpur said. Her husband, Atiq Ahmad, is missing, he said. The couple, married for 15 years, has three sons. Their youngest son spotted the body. His brothers had gone to a relative's place and were not present in the house, police said. The body has been sent for postmortem, Kumar said, adding efforts are on to trace the victim's husband.