Page 236 - Law Crime
SC seeks ECI, Centre's response over plea seeking decriminalisation of complaints regarding EVM malfunction
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Election Commission of India (ECI) and Centre (Union of India) in connection with a plea seeking to decriminalise complaint on malfunctioning of VVPAT/EVM.A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Deepak Gupta sought a response from the Centre and the poll body over a petition filed by Mumbai based advocate Sunil Ahya.Ahya through his plea sought direction to the Centre to set aside Rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 except for the procedure prescribed for purpose of creating a statistical record of the complaints.According to the present situation, jail term and fine is guaranteed if the complaint is found false.Ahya, in his petition, stated that at present, if an elector complains / reports about any discrepancy between EVM and VVPAT, he may face the consequence of a jail term up to six months if it turns to be false, so it should be decriminalised.Section 49 MA of Code Of .
Palghar: Cash seized; BVA activists booked for manhandling MLC
As many as 67 Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) activists were booked for allegedly manhandling a Shiv Sena MLC when cash was seized from a car outside the poll campaign office of the party's candidate in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said. Vasai-Virar mayor Rupesh Jadhav of the BVA, which is an ally of the Congress, was among those booked in connection with the manhandling incident, a police official said. The incident took place just hours before polling began in the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency as part of the fourth and last phase of voting in 17 seats of the state. Following a complaint by BVA activists that voters were being lured, the Election Commission's flying squad searched a car parked outside Sena's Palghar seat nominee Rajendra Gavit in Tulinj area in the early hours of Monday and seized Rs 64,500 from it, the official said. During enquiry, the police found Shiv Sena MLC Ravindra Phatak and his supporters at Gavit's poll campaign office. They had gone ...
Suspected UAE spy commits suicide in Istanbul prison
One of the two men, suspected of spying for the United Arab Emirates, committed suicide in an Istanbul prison on Monday, according to Turkey's state-run media agency.The two suspects were arrested earlier this month on charges of "political and military espionage" and "international espionage."According to reports, they had arrived in Istanbul shortly after the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. However, it is not known if they were connected to the Khashoggi murder case.
Centre seeks time to file fresh affidavit in Rafale review petition case
The Centre on Monday sought more time to file a fresh affidavit in the Rafale review petition case and requested the Supreme Court to defer the hearing which was fixed for April 30 to allow it to file the affidavit.A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi didnot pass any order on adjournment, however, allowed the Centre's counsel to circulate a letter requesting adjournment among all parties involved in the case.In the 10 April order, a three-judge bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi was unanimous that the review petitions should be heard in their own merit into the Rafale fighter jet deal.In March, the government had asked for the review pleas to be dismissed, claiming they were based on "secret files" accessed from the Defence Ministry.The plea filed by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan sought the recall and review of December 2018 judgment giving clean chit to the central government in the Defence deal.
Delhi HC rejects plea to bar media from publishing allegations against CJI
The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking to bar the media from publishing allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.While dismissing the petition, a Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup Jairam Bambani said the petitioner can approach the Supreme Court instead.Petition BR Harish Babu sought restriction on the media from further telecast or publishing the allegations till the conclusion of the enquiry."Mere a false allegation affidavit, filed in Hon'ble Supreme Court on 19th April 2019 by the dismissed employee of the office of the CJI which is a notarized document cannot be built as a pillar to put allegations on the Chief justice of India," the petitioner submitted.The petitioner, an authorized signatory of 'Anti-Corruption Council of India' trust, sought strong action against social media giants like WhatsApp and Google for their alleged involvement in circulating and re-casting the defamatory content against the ...
HC rejects plea seeking gag order on CJI matter
The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking to restrain the media from reporting the sexual harassment allegation against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
Suspected California synagogue shooter booked on murder charges
Poway's Chabad Synagogue's suspected shooter was booked on charges of murder, according to a statement released by San Diego Sheriff William Gore on Sunday (local time).The 19-year-old suspect, identified as John T. Earnest, was booked on one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of attempted murder in the first degree, as per the statement."There is no indication at this point in the investigation that Earnest was part of an organized group. We believe he acted alone and without outside support in carrying out the attack. We are continuing to explore every investigative avenue to bring out all the facts in the case," the statement highlighted.At least one woman was killed and several others suffered injuries when a man opened fire at the synagogue on the last day of Passover on April 27. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus has described the shooting as a possible hate crime which occurred on one of the holiest Jewish celebrations of the year.It was reported that the suspect had ...
Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking restrictions on media from publishing allegations against CJI
The Delhi High Court Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking to restrain the media from publishing allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by a former Supreme Court employee. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon dismissed the plea filed by an NGO and said the top court is already seized of the matter and no interference was needed. "Go to the Supreme Court," said the bench to NGO Anti Corruption Council of India, which had said publication of allegations against the CJI directly hit the Indian judicial system. The petition had sought immediate restriction on the media from further telecasting or publishing the allegations till conclusion of the three-judge panel's inquiry. The allegations levelled by the former woman employee of the Supreme Court are being inquired into by a three-judge panel of the apex court which held its first proceeding on Friday last. Besides electronic and print media, the plea had also sought directions for ...
EC gets notice challenging jail term for questioning EVMs
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Election Commission on a plea challenging the legal provision mandating six months jail for questioning the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Corruption claims, mailbox send Hawaii power couple to trial
He was Honolulu's Rolex-wearing police chief, an avid surfer who chatted with beat cops in Pidgin, Hawaii's creole language. She was his deputy city prosecutor wife, who drove a Maserati and led an elite unit targeting career criminals while showering lunches on colleagues, friends and even the workers renovating her home. For years, Louis and Katherine Kealoha were the city's law enforcement power couple, enjoying widespread respect as Native Hawaiian role models who hailed from humble, blue-collar roots and rose to the top thanks to decades of hard work. They lived in a swanky house near an exclusive country club in the city's Kahala neighborhood, sometimes called Honolulu's Beverly Hills. Then the white mailbox perched on a pedestal in front of their house disappeared, triggering a drawn out disintegration of the couple's reputation amid a twisted tale of allegations involving fraud, illegal drugs and an attempt to frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle for stealing the mailbox. Federal ..
Judge rules graft charges to stand against Malaysia's Najib
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak has failed in his bid to have seven corruption charges against him dismissed as his trial enters its third week. At the start of his trial April 3, Najib challenged the criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering charges against him on grounds they lacked clarity and impeded the preparation of his defense. Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali ruled Monday the charges would stand. He said Najib hadn't been prejudiced as his lawyers had extensively cross-examined 21 witnesses that testified so far. The trial is the first of several against Najib, who faces 42 graft charges in one of the country's biggest criminal proceedings.
Multiday sentencing starting in Chicago terrorism case
A multiday sentencing hearing focused on whether undercover FBI agents egged on a teenager to participate in a terrorist plot knowing he was mentally ill begins Monday in Chicago. Agents arrested the now-25-year-old Adel Daoud in a 2012 sting after he tried to detonate what he believed was a real bomb outside a crowded Chicago bar. The hearing will proceed like a mini-trial. An undercover agent is among those who will testify. Daoud, of Hillside, Illinois, was temporarily deemed mentally unfit in 2016 after declaring Illuminati and "reptilian overlords" were after him. He entered a no-contest plea in November. The defense wants Daoud freed as soon as a mental health program can be tailored for him. Prosecutors want a 40-year prison term, saying Daoud "needed no convincing to kill.
Hong Kong: Protesters demand change in newly-drafted China extradition plan
Thousands of people took to streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against the newly proposed extradition rules by their government that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.Protestors feared that the newly framed extradition plan would further dissolve the rights and legal protections, which were guaranteed under the city's handover from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, Al Jazeera reported.The police told the agency that nearly 22,800 people marched peacefully for more than three hours through the shopping and business districts of Causeway Bay and Wanchai, with thousands staying on into the evening outside the Legislative Council and government headquarters.Sunday's protests marked one of the largest street protests in the city in several years. Most of the protestors also carried yellow umbrellas that recalled Hong Kong's massive 2014 pro-democracy protests, in which four leading activists were sentenced to up to 16 months in .
Case against AAP leader Gopal Rai for 'violating' poll code
A case has been registered against Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Transport minister Gopal Rai on Sunday for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct.The case was registered at Connaught Place Police Station under section 28(1)P/110 of Delhi Police Act on a complaint received from flying squad of Election Commission Executive Magistrate Mukul Joshi.Gopal Rai is accused of violating Model Code of Conduct by distributing pamphlets without clearance from Election Commission.
Judge and civil rights icon Damon J Keith dies at age 96
Judge Damon J Keith, a grandson of slaves and figure in the civil rights movement who as a federal judge was sued by President Richard Nixon over a ruling against warrantless wiretaps, died Sunday. He was 96. Keith died in Detroit, the city where the prominent lawyer was appointed in 1967 to the US District Court, according to the Swanson Funeral Home. Keith served more than 50 years in the federal courts, and before his death still heard cases about four times a year at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. A revered figure in Detroit for years, Keith captured the nation's attention with the wiretapping case against Nixon and Attorney General John Mitchell in 1971. Keith said they couldn't engage in the warrantless wiretapping of three people suspected of conspiring to destroy government property. The decision was affirmed by the appellate court, and the Nixon administration appealed and sued Keith personally. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where the ..
Man held with live cartridges at IGI airport
CISF screener on Saturday detected two live rounds of 7.65 mm calibre from the hand baggage of a Mumbai-bound passenger at the Indira Gandhi International airport.The passenger was identified as Mohd Hashim Qureshi, who was supposed to travel to Mumbai by an IndiGo flight. He was stopped at the Pre-Embarkation Security Checks (PESC) on the airport's Terminal 1D of the airport.On inquiry, Qureshi could not produce any valid document. He along with seized live rounds was handed over to the Delhi Police for further legal action.
Case filed against Delhi Minister for poll code breach
A case was filed against Delhi Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai for violating the Model Code of Conduct by distributing pamphlets without permission from the election authorities, a police officer said on Sunday.
BJP candidate attacked in West Bengal
The BJP on Sunday alleged that its candidate Joy Bandyopadhyay was attacked by motorbike borne goons of the Trinamool Congress in Howrah district and five workers of the saffron party were injured. BJP workers later put up a road blockade in front of Bagnan police station to protest the attack by the TMC, a charge denied by the ruling party of West Bengal. The incident took place at Bainan under Bagnan police station limits when Bandyopadhyay, the BJP nominee for Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency, was on the way to campaign at Sabsit in rural Howrah. Bandyopadhyay alleged that a group of men armed with sharp weapons came in five motorbikes and intercepted his car. While they are moving towards my car, my security guards brandished their firearms and they fled. My vehicle passed that spot but they attacked the party workers who were behind me, he claimed. They assaulted five BJP activists and two of them were hospitalised, he said. The saffron party has lodged a complaint in
30 per cent candidates contesting Assembly Elections in Odisha have criminal background: ADR report
Thirty per cent of the candidates contesting Assembly Elections in Odisha have criminal backgrounds as per the affidavit filed by them, a report published by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Odisha Election Watch on Sunday claimed.The report published is an analysis of self sworn affidavits of 1121 out of 1137 candidates, who are contesting Assembly polls.As per the report, out of the 1121 candidates, 332 (30 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.Around 257 (23 per cent) candidates have declared serious criminal cases against them which include cases of rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women, etc.Six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly seats of Odisha will go to polls on Monday. The results will be announced on May 23.
NIA conducts searches in Kerala as part of probe into ISIS Kasaragod module case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at the houses of three suspects in the 2016 ISIS Kasaragod module case.Two searches were carried out in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad.NIA is questioning all the three suspects who allegedly have links with some accused in the 2016 case who left India to join terrorist organisation ISIS/Daish..