Plot allotment row casts shadow on new 42nd CJI

A two-decade-old controversy over housing society plot allotments to some of the most prominent members of the Indian judiciary has become relevant once again as Supreme Court judge HL Dattu assumed the most powerful judicial office in the country on Sunday.

New Chief Justice of India Justice Dattu, and two of his Supreme Court colleagues – TS Thakur and V Gopala Gowda – are among the judges who accepted the plots in defiance of a 1995 ruling by the Karnataka high court that judges were ineligible to participate in the land scheme.

The issue of the allotments has surfaced repeatedly since 1994 when the first judges purchased the plots from the society meant for court employees.

Justice HL Dattu takes oath as the new Chief Justice of India on Sunday. (Photo Courtesy: Doordarshan)

Recently another top Judge, KL Manjunath, has seen his planned elevation to Chief Justice the Punjab and Haryana high court complicated by his participation in the allotment row, which has been cited in press reports as among the factors motivating a possible impeachment bid against him.

The state government originally acquired the land for the project from farmers in 1991 and sold it to the Karnataka State Judicial Department Employees House Building Cooperative Society (KSJDEHBCS) at a huge subsidy so that it could fulfill the ‘public purpose’ of housing court employees who could not afford alternative accommodation.

However, soon after the colony was formed near the Bangalore airport, judges too started enrolling as members and accepting the steeply discounted plots.

Sale deeds with HT show that Justice Dattu was first allotted a 2,400 sq. ft. plot by the society for Rs. 61,598 at Rs. 15 per sq. ft. on June 30, 1997.

He was allotted another 4,000 sq. ft. plot on October 26, 2002, for Rs. 1,02,666 at Rs. 25 per sq. Land in the surrounding areas was selling for no less than Rs. 1,500 a sq. ft. at the time.

A society official, who helped HT in this investigation, claimed that Justice Dattu surrendered the first plot in February 2003 after other members objected to the double allotment.

On June 21, 2010, he gifted the other plot to his grandson Mihir Adithya who was three years old at the time.

According to local realtors who spoke to HT, a minimum of Rs. 8,000 per sq. ft. is now the going rate in the area. At those prices, the plot justice Dattu acquired for just over a lakh in 2002 and subsequently gifted to his grandson is worth more than Rs. 3 crore today.

Documents obtained by HT indicate that the judicial employees’ society irregularly allotted plots to at least another 73 judges between 1994 and 2006.

See: List of 73 judges

The society by-laws define a member as “an employee of the judicial department in Karnataka [who] has put in a minimum continuous or intermittent service of five years in Karnataka.” But judges, as affirmed by repeated Supreme Court rulings, are not employees of the department.

The matter of judges benefitting from this subsidised project meant for court employees was taken to the Karnataka high court through a writ and resulted in a ruling that the allotment to judges was an “irregularity”.

A division bench of the high court ruled on October 12, 1995: “A reading of Clause-7 of the bye-laws, in our view, by no stretch of imagination can include the judges of High Court or Supreme Court (sitting, transferred, retired)."

In an exclusive to HT, Justice (retd) MF Saldanha, who was part of the division bench, spoke about the ethical and legal questions arising out of the allotment.

Watch: Justice (retd) Saldanha's interview to HT  

But the allotment to judges did not stop. Judges Dattu, Thakur and Gowda purchased the plots from 1996 onwards, after this ruling was passed. Nearly 50 judges accepted plots from the society after the high court ruling.

A joint legislature committee of the Karnataka assembly submitted a report in 2007 and added: “It is most unfortunate that the KSJDEHBCS, which should have been a model to other house building cooperative societies, has itself become the leading law- breaker without the least fear or care for the law, propriety of public interest. It has indulged in acts of favour, cronyism and capricious indifference to law at its will. Obviously, High Court judges and powerful persons as its members and beneficiaries will ensure immunity to all its illegal acts.”

Although the committee’s report was put in cold storage, the issue came alive again with the appointment of former Supreme Court judge Shivraj V Patil as Karnataka Lokayukta in 2011. A media expose of the plots received by him from the judicial employees’ society forced him to resign as the state’s anti-corruption ombudsman just over a month after he took charge.

The Lokayukta’s post remained vacant for 17 months after Justice Patil’s resignation as the then BJP government struggled to find a judge who had not benefited from the scheme. Every time the government announced a candidate, the media would expose his allotment. Matters came to a head when the then governor HR Bhardwaj refused to approve the appointment of a former judge following media reports about his plot.

The present Lokayukta, Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, also a plot allottee, was appointed in an atmosphere vitiated by protests from sections of the opposition and hostile reports in the media.

The ethical question that laid siege to the Karnataka Lokayukta’s office for 17 months, however, did not prevent the mobility of judges through the collegium system of judicial appointments. Many went on to preside over various high courts in the country as well as the Supreme Court of India.

Indeed, justice Dattu and Justice Thakur are today ranked second and third in terms of seniority in the apex court’s panel of 26 judges. They are also members of the collegium that vets and appoints judges to the higher judiciary.

HT met justice Dattu at his farmhouse and had a tele-conversation with Justice Gopala Gowda on September 12 to seek a response. Both judges declined to comment but said that a letter written to the society president by former Chief Justice of India, MN Venkatachalaiah, who is also an allotee, clarified everything.

Society president K Sippe Gowda told HT, “Justice Gowda called me a few minutes ago and asked me to give you that letter. But I have lost it. I don’t know where it is.” Asked how he could lose such an important document, he said, “I didn’t think it was that important.”

Justice Thakur did not respond to repeated requests for comment sent through his staff.

Today, the two colonies formed by the society are bustling centres of real estate trading with some of the biggest builders in the city hawking luxury apartments costing in excess of Rs. 2 crore.

Despite a condition in each sale deeds requiring owners to construct a house within two years of receiving a plot those allotted to judges Dattu, Thakur and Gowda remain vacant.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/controversy-over-plot-allotment-casts-shadow-on-new-cji-dattu/article1-1269346.aspx

Modi modern-day Nero: SC

NEW DELHI: Calling the Gujarat government modern-day Neros looking elsewhere when innocent children and helpless women were burning, the Supreme Court on Monday issued an unprecedented order quashing the acquittal of all 21 accused in the infamous Best Bakery case and directed its retrial in a Maharashtra court.
Monday's SC order may affect BJP's poll prospects in Gujarat
Allowing appeals filed by key witness Zahira Sheikh and the Gujarat government, a Bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat gave this landmark order. It's the first time an order for retrial and reinvestigation has been passed even though both the trial court and the high court acquitted the accused.

When Gujarat was engulfed with communal riots in the aftermath of the burning of Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002, a mob set fire to Best Bakery at Vadodara on March 1, resulting in the death of 14 people. Zahira, an eye-witness to the incident, lost her family in the incident.

Lambasting the Gujarat government for its laxity in bringing the guilty to book, the apex court said, "The modern day Neros were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and helpless women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be protected."

The court, while directing the Gujarat government to appoint a new public prosecutor, directed the Director General of Police to oversee further probe and ordered the trial be conducted on a day-to-day basis.
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The Bench directed the governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra to give adequate protection to witnesses and victims "so that they can depose freely without any apprehension of threat or coercion from any person".

The court again set a precedent by asking the Gujarat government to consult victims and witnesses before appointing a public prosecutor.

"Though witnesses or victims do not have any choice in the normal course to have a say in the matter of appointment of a public prosecutor, in view of the unusual factors noticed in this case, to accord such liberties to the complainants party would be appropriate," Justice Pasayat said.

Holding that free and fair trial of the case was still not possible in Gujarat, the Bench said: "Keeping in view the peculiar circumstances of the case and the ample evidence on record, glaringly demonstrating subversion of justice delivery system with no congenial and conducive atmosphere still prevailing, we direct that retrial shall be done by a court under the jurisdiction of Bombay High Court."

The court also criticised the Gujarat high court for making "irresponsible" remarks against activists, including Teesta Setalvad, and even against the National Human Rights Commission.

Expunging the "irresponsible" remarks passed by the high court, Justice Pasayat said, "The high court appears to have miserably failed to maintain required judicial balance and sobriety in making unwarranted references to personalities and their legitimate move before competent courts -- the highest court of the nation, despite knowing fully well that it could not deal with such aspects or matters."

Taking the entire chronology of events right from the date of incident to the judgement of the trial court and that of the high court, the apex court said, "If one cursorily glances through the records of the case, one gets a feeling that the justice delivery system was being taken for a ride and literally allowed to be abused, misused and mutilated by subterfuge.

"The investigation appears to be perfunctory and anything but impartial without any definite object of finding out the truth and bringing to book those who were responsible for the crime," it said.

In a stinging criticism of the public prosecutor, the court said he acted more as a "defence counsel" and added "the trial court in turn appeared to be a silent spectator, mute to the manipulations and preferred to be indifferent to sacrilege being committed to justice."

The court felt there was no seriousness on the part of the state government to pursue its appeal before the high court challenging the acquittal of all 21 accused.

"This is clearly indicated by the fact that the first memorandum of appeal filed was an apology for the grounds. A second amendment was done, that too after this court expressed its unhappiness over the perfunctory manner in which the appeal was presented and challenge made," it said.

Justice Pasayat said all these sadly reflected on the quality of determination exhibited by the state and the nature of seriousness shown to pursue the appeal.

"Criminal trials should not be reduced to be the mock trial or shadow boxing or fixed trials," he said and added: "Judicial criminal administration system must be kept clean and beyond the reach of whimsical political wills or agendas and properly insulated from discriminatory standards or yardsticks of the type prohibited by the mandate of the Constitution."

The court refused to be drawn into the plea to stop media from writing about the case on the ground that they were holding trial through their articles.

"This is sensitive and complex issue, which we do not think it proper to deal in detail in these appeals. The same may be left open for an appropriate case where the media is duly and effectively represented," Justice Pasayat said.                     

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Modi-modern-day-Nero-SC/articleshow/612448.cms?curpg=2

Independence of Indian Judiciary is at stake...

National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 has been passed by both the houses of the parliament. This bill is a serious threat to our country, recently we have seen the Gopal Subramaniam case where govt marked its protest for his appointment appointment as SC judge because he represented cases against Modi & Co ultimately he withdrew his name from the post. Contrary to that govt. recommended U.Lalit for elevation as SC judge, U.Lalit represented cases of Modi & Co. and he is the favourite of govt. The bill was under pipeline since UPA was in power now BJP lead NDA govt has cleared it from both the houses.

Govt (whether its BJP, Congress or any party of Tom, Dick harry) wants to make the Constitutional courts a caged parrot like CBI which will approve every evil act of govt. Its high time mark your protest against the bill and make people aware of the evil design of govt. Today we have seen the governments dancing to the tune of corporates and approving each and every act of corporates. Above all the politicians need to tame the judiciary, because due to the the electoral reform brought by it will spoil the career and ill aspiration of many corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. To protect the interests of common man we need an independent and strong judiciary. The corruption in judiciary is not so lethal as this steps of government which will make the judiciary a puppet just like our Hon'ble President who has no option but to speak the govt.

The Act and the constitutional amendment attacks the independence of judiciary and the basic structure theory laid down in landmark case Keshavnand bharti...I am very happy to hear the news that legendary Sr. Advocate Fali Nariman has announced that he is going to challenge the Act and the constitutional amendment in Supreme Court and I am highly optimistic that the Act & the constitutional amendment will be struck down by the Supreme Court and will be declared null & void. We are going to witness a landmark case after Keshavnand.

by: Md Shadab Ansari

Sania Mirza and the story of Muslim discrimination

July 28, 2014 13:24 IST

The reality is that even successful Muslims are made to suffer because of their faith, and the opposition to Sania Mirza is part of the same story of discrimination, says Kashif-ul-Huda.

It all started with a simple tweet on July 21. Sania Mirza, excited about her appointment as brand ambassador of the newly-formed state of Telangana, wanted to share the good news with her 1.89 million Twitter followers. But as there was no official announcement yet, all she could say was that a big and exciting news was coming out tomorrow.

The speculation started right away, so five minutes later she followed it up with this tweet: 'Find it amazing that when a woman says 'sharing a good news', how many ppl just assume that it's bout having a kid!! Nobody is pregnant.. relax.'

But Sania Mirza is not just a woman, so her discrimination is not confined to her gender. She is a Muslim woman, and that too married to a Pakistani. The announcement the next day, that she had been appointed brand ambassador for Telangana, was bound to bring her more trouble even though no one is more qualified than her to be in that position.

When she was still playing singles, Sania was the highest ranking Indian tennis player among both genders. Even today, she is the highest ranked Indian doubles player (#5 WTA ranking), Leander Paes is ranked at 13 and Rohan Bopanna is at 20 on the ATP doubles ranking. Not just Indian women, even Indian men do not come close to her achievements on the tennis court. There cannot be a better person to put Telangana on the world map.

But it was never about her qualification, or even her marriage. Her marrying a Pakistani is just icing on the cake for those opposing her appointment, the main reason for opposing her is nothing but communalism where everyone is reduced to just their religious identity.

There is no denying the fact that Islamophobia has grown at an alarming rate in India. With ease of access to byte-size world news, all in-depth reporting has got reduced to the headline that gets tweeted and Facebook likes and shares on images that reinforce stereotypes.

The Indian media has also taken a lead from its US counterpart and its reporting after 9/11 where any bad news about Muslims gets exaggerated and extended coverage. This was bound to have its repercussions; reports of discrimination against Muslims have grown at the same rate.

Discrimination against Muslims in education, employment, housing, and government services has become a routine affair. Discrimination is an important factor behind why Muslims lag behind in socio-economic indicators.

For example, if religion-based discrimination is removed from the 1950 Presidential Order, then Muslim Dalits can avail of the same benefits of reservations that Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist Dalits get. This unconstitutional order discriminates against Muslims and Christians and 64 years later, while Hindu Dalits have benefited from reservations in education and employment, Muslims as a community lag behind the Dalits.

This discrimination has become so institutionalised that it affects Muslims from the lowest rung of the economic ladder as well as Muslim celebrities with a huge fan following. Most of this discrimination goes unspoken and unreported barring a few news items like Muslim celebrities not getting housing or that they are being opposed or criticised more harshly for their statements and their actions more minutely scrutinised.

Start any discussion about discrimination against Muslims in India and someone is bound to rattle off names of successful Muslims from different professions -- A P J Abdul Kalam, Azim Premji, the Khans of Bollywood, Sania Mirza, etc. As if the success of a few Muslims is enough to show that there is no religion-based discrimination in India.

The reality is that even successful Muslims are made to suffer because of their faith. The opposition to Sania Mirza is part of the same story of discrimination.

'I am an Indian who will remain an Indian until the end of my life.'

'I strongly condemn any attempts by any person, whosoever, to brand me an outsider.'

These two tweets by Sania Mirza show that she represents a change in the Muslim youth where there is no confusion about their national identity. Hundreds of years ago Mirza's ancestors may have come from foreign lands (Mirza suggests Uzbek or Turkish origin) and made India their home; now their descendant travels the world for her conquests on the tennis court and shuttles between Dubai and Hyderabad, but there is no doubt in her mind that it is India that is her home.

Photograph: PTI Photo

Kashif-ul-Huda is the editor of the Web site TwoCircles.net and tweets at @kaaashif.

Source: http://m.rediff.com/news/column/sania-mirza-and-the-story-of-muslim-discrimination/20140728.htm

HC orders forced retirement of munsif.

PATNA: Patna high court on Tuesday ordered forced retirement of a judicial officer, Shambhu Verma, at a full court meeting presided by Chief Justice Rekha M Doshit here. Verma was a munsif at the Bhojpur district court and alleged to have taken a bribe of Rs 5 lakh through his peon Kavita Devi.

One Sunil Kumar had complained against Verma, alleging while he was hearing his election petition, he had favoured the opposite party by taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh. Following the complaint, an inspecting judge conducted an inquiry into the matter and submitted its report which confirmed the allegation to the standing committee of the high court.

In a meeting of the standing committee held on February 25 this year, the committee recommended forced retirement of the officer. The full court comprising all the judges of the high court led by Chief Justice confirmed the committee's recommendation on Tuesday. The matter will now go to the state government for its final approval.
There were about 12 allegations against Verma of different natures. As per sources, Verma was to retire on January 31 in 2019. He is a 1986-batch judicial officer.

During the current year, this is the fourth case of stern action by the high court against a judicial officer. Earlier this year, Ajay Srivastava of Jehanabad was forcibly retired. Then three judicial officers were sacked for involvement in a sex scandal, and only a few days ago the SDJM of Sherghati in Gaya district, Ram Sajan was suspended for seeking sexual favours.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/HC-orders-forced-retirement-of-munsif/articleshow/31436065.cms

Bihar Cabinet Approves Dismissal of Three Judges.

A full court meeting of the Patna High Court chaired by Chief Justice Rekha M Doshit, held Saturday, has recommended to the Bihar government that a sub-judge, an ad hoc district and sessions judge and a principal judge be dismissed for engaging in “undesirable activities” last year.

The three judicial officers had allegedly crossed over to Biratnagar in Nepal after the 2013 Republic Day function and were “found with some women during a police raid” at a hotel.

A full-court meeting decision is final in matters of dismissal. The state government is likely to issue dismissal orders for the three officers of the Bihar Judicial Services this week. The three are Komal Ram (then judicial magistrate at Araria and now sub-judge at Nawada court), Jitendra Nath Singh (then additional district and sessions judge at Ara and at present ad hoc district and sessions judge at Ara) and Hari Niwas Gupta (then principal judge at family court, Samastipur, and at present principal judge, family court, at Muzaffarpur).

Though their detention had not been recorded, a Nepali newspaper had carried a report on the alleged incident on January 29, 2013, leading to an internal inquiry by the Patna High Court.

A seven-member standing committee meeting — headed by the chief justice — unanimously recommended the dismissal of the three, on February 5.

Singh said his family was “in a state of shock”. “Though I have not got official communication about the HC full committee recommendation to dismiss me and two others from service, I have heard about it. What can one say when I was not given a chance to tell my side of the story? In my 24-year service, no one could raise a finger on my integrity of character and now my image is sullied in one stroke.”

Singh added that while he had little option but to respect the high court’s decision, he would explore his legal options soon.

Ram maintained his version that he had been in Purnea on the said dates. Gupta was unavailable for comment.

Ram, Singh and Gupta are alleged to have left for Biratnagar after the function at their respective offices on January 26, 2013. They are said to have checked into Metro Guest House and Hotel, near the bus stand of the town.

As per the report carried by Nepali newspaper Udghosh, a Biratnagar police team led by inspector Pradip Singh had conducted raids at the hotel and found the three judges in objectionable position. However, according to the paper, when the police team learnt that the three persons in question were officers of the Bihar Judicial Services, they had been allowed to leave without their detention being recorded.

Earlier, following prima facie findings, Ram, Singh and Gupta had been demoted by the state government.

Investigation by Purnea district judge Sanjay Kumar had traced the location of their mobile phones to near Forbesganj (Araria) along the Indo-Nepal border on 26-27 January, 2013. While Ram claimed that he had been with his family in Purnea on 26-27 January, 2013, the two other judges had said they were present in Nepal on these days.

The Bihar Police said they had also found that the mobile numbers of the judges had been in silent mode between January 26, 2.30 pm, and 11 am, January 27. After 11 am, their mobile phones were seen as operational in India.

Source:http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Bihar-Cabinet-Approves-Dismissal-of-Three-Judges/2014/02/12/article2051278.ece

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/patna-hc-seeks-dismissal-of-3-judges-for-undesirable-activities/

Suspended Judge Arrested for involvement in the Court Clerk Recruitment Scam

Suspended district and sessions judge, Ajay Kumar Sharda was arrested in Ajmer last week, for his alleged involvement in the scam over recruitment of lower division clerks in courts. The arrest was made by the Anti Corruption Bureau in Rajasthan.

On April 23 last year, the ACB arrested an advocate of nearby Kekeri town, Hemraj Kanawat, court clerk Rajesh Sharma, Nasirabad court’s nazir Hitesh Sharma and a clerk in a subordinate court and a middleman, Abdul Razzak. Another accused, advocate Bhagwan Singh Chouhan evaded the arrest and is still absconding. Six others, arrested this Friday and were sent to judicial custody for ten days. Several paces in Ajmer and Nagpur districts were raided by the ACB’s Ajmer team. All these six accused are alleged to have either paid bribes to get a job for themselves or tried to influence selection.

The judge’s name had come up due to his allegiance with the main accused in the case, lawyer Hemraj Kanawat. The duo reportedly had regular telephonic conversations and home visits. The bureau seized huge amount of cash from Kanawat and lawyer Bhagwan Singh Chauhan’s residences as well as seized laptops and chits quoting names and roll numbers of candidates from their possession. According to the HT report, Sharda’s link with the main accused is yet to be established.

The ACB which arrested the judge was headed by Additional SP Hardayal Singh. He was arrested from Subhash Nagar Locality in Rajsmand and after a medical checkup, was taken to Ajmer.

He was then produced in the Court of a Special Designated Judge, who sent him to a 15-day judicial custody. A designated court, on May 20, had rejected the charge sheet filed in the case on the grounds of the agency’s ineffectiveness in arresting all the accused. This triggered the series of arrests that followed.

The scam came to light in April last year when Sharda was posted as the District and Sessions judge in Ajmer. The scam had been exposed by the ACB, in which the court clerks were being recruited by the use of money power, decisions being influenced by the money paid by the candidates. Soon after he was removed and placed in the awaiting rearrangement for further order. However, he was later suspended.

The scam came to the fore after the examination for court clerks were conducted and the results were supposed to be announced. Some candidates who had appeared in exams had alleged corruption in the recruitment process.

Houses of two employees of a lower court in Ajmer were raided, along with houses of two advocates, in April last year when cash worth over Rs 17-lakh was recovered. Sharda’s name cropped up during investigation.

They have been charged under sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13(2) and 13(2) D of the Prevention of Corruption Act along with 109 and 120B of IPC.

Source:http://www.livelaw.in/suspended-judge-arrested-involvement-court-clerk-recruitment-scam/

Akshardham attack: POTA court acquits remaining 2 accused

Shaukatullah Ghori (left) and Majid Patel in Ahmedabad on Friday. (Express Photo: Javed Raja)

A special Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) court on Friday acquitted the remaining two accused in the Akshardham temple terror attack case, three weeks after the Supreme Court let off six accused for want of evidence. The two accused were in the jail for the past five years since their arrest.

Special POTA court Judge Geeta Gopi ordered acquittal of Mohammad Umarji alias Majid Patel and Hafiz Kasuri alias Shaukatullah Ghori, who were arrested by Ahmedabad’s Detection of Crime Branch in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Ghori was serving as a muezzin in a mosque in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who was accused for raising funds and attended meeting in Riyadh and Hyderabad where the alleged conspiracy was hatched for the attack. Ghori is the bother of Farhatullah, an alleged hardcore militant and wanted in other terror related cases including Akshardham.

Umarji, a resident of Bharuch, was chargesheeted for providing funds to the accused conspirators which he allegedly received through hawala racket. Umarji’s brother-in-law, Asif V Patel, said outside the court that the whole case led to a disaster in Umarji’s family. “Relationship broke as people in the community suspected him as a terrorist. The damage has been done. The five years lost in the jail would not come back. However, we don’t have complaints against the police,” Patel said.

A Supreme Court bench on May 16 had acquitted six accused, who had been convicted by the sessions court and the Gujarat High Court in 2010.

SC refused to rely on the evidence produced by the prosecution. During the hearing, the prosecution had referred to the SC judgment and said that it had refused to rely on Bhavnagari’s statement and rejected the conspiracy charge against the accused. On September 24, 2002, terror attack on Askshardham temple in Gandhinagar claimed more than 30 lives.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/akshardham-attack-pota-court-acquits-remaining-2-accused/

Homecoming after 11 years for these Akshardham attack “Terrorists”

Eleven years ago to the day on Tuesday, Sulaiman Bhai Ajmeri’s wife pleaded with the Gujarat Police that her husband was an innocent mechanic and not a terrorist involved in the attack on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat.

Each time during the 11 years Mr. Sulaiman remembered his wife’s desperate attempts to prove his innocence, he broke down. But on Tuesday, he looked calm and composed after the Supreme Court ordered that all the six convicted by the lower court, including Sulaiman, be freed.

Two fidayeens sprayed bullets from their Ak-56 rifles and used hand grenades to kill 33 persons and injured another 86 before at Akshardham Temple before being killed by NSG commandos on September 25, 2002. The six members of minority community were charge-sheeted. A trial court had awarded death sentence to three of them, life imprisonment to two and 10-year imprisonment to remaining man.

While acquitting the accused, the Apex Court pulled up the Gujarat Police for framing “innocent” people in the case and accused the then Gujarat Home Minister of non-application of mind” in granting sanction to prosecute the six under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

Mr. Sulaiman got the news of his acquittal on the day the Modi wave was sweeping the country.

“My family was ostracized by society. Only a few gathered the courage to support me for they knew the real Sulaiman — a poor mechanic who worked with his father to make ends meet,” he said on Tuesday, during an interaction with the media here while describing about his ordeal as a “dreaded terrorist”.

Sulaiman said the only hope for “terrorists” like him and his five co-accused was the judiciary, while explaining how the Apex court ordered that the Gujarat police had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt and their confessional statements were invalid to prove their involvement in the terror strike.

Mufti Abdul Qayum, whose death sentence by the trial court in Gujarat was quashed by the Apex court last week, recounted how he was forced to sign the confessional statement prepared by the police under coercion.

“Torture and coercion”

“The police tortured and forced me to write the letters. They claimed the letters were found from the pockets of the fidayeen killed during the attack. But the Supreme Court noticed that the letters were clean, not torn, or soiled/stained with blood or soil — which was highly unnatural and improbable as the terrorists’ bodies were covered with blood and mud, and their clothes had multiple tears and holes due to the bullets,” Mr. Qayyum recounted.

Mr. Qayyum and the others of what they call “victims of State terror” will move to the Supreme Court for compensation for the precious 11 years of their lives that were “wasted in most inhumane manner”.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Mulana Syed Arshad Madani, the organisation that helped the six of them, told The Hindu: “The media play a negative role by dubbing arrests of the Muslims as big breakthroughs in terror cases. And when acquittal happens, no one covers it. No one is bothered that they have been acquitted after 11 years.”

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/homecoming-after-11-years-for-these-akshardham-attack-terrorists/article6032120.ece

Hindu Vahini’s involvement case thrown in SIMI’s basket to further the ban.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Hyderabad: Security agencies have once again landed in awkward moment with their consistent maneuver to maintain ban over Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Andhra Pradesh police while deposing before a UAPA tribunal turned a Hindu Vahini attached communal violence instigation case into a SIMI proscribing justification.

On 8th April 2012 communal clashes had erupted in Madanapet and Kurmaguda areas of Hyderabad after cow legs were found hanging on Hanuman temple gate. A SIT formed to investigate the case arrested five men belonging to the right wing militant group Hindu Vahini, who according to the police desecrated the temple to create communal clashes and to gain from polarization.

Since getting banned in Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in 2001, SIMI alleged to be an Islamist fundamentalist group by the Ministry of Home Affairs faced seven ban extensions on Government notifications. According to the provision of UAPA the ban has to be proved by a sitting High Court judge. Every tribunal except in 2008 upheld the ban on SIMI.

The new tribunal headed by Delhi High Court Judge Suresh Kait is formed after fresh notification from Government was issued extending ban on SIMI. The tribunal began its hearing from March this year and already completed proceedings in Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The tribunal proceedings were held at Ranga Reddy district collectorate office in Hyderabad on May 21st and 22nd. In the first day of proceeding Madhusudan Reddy DIG Counter Intelligence cell deposed before the tribunal.

Mr. Reddy in his affidavit gave reference to Darsgah Jihadt o Shahadat, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Shair-e-Islam, Thereek-e-Galba-e-Islam, Wahdat-e-Islami and Al Ummah and their activities supporting ban on SIMI.

When defense counsel Advocate Ashok Agarwal pointed out that none of those organizations mentioned in affidavit are banned by any authority, DIG Counter Intelligence showed lack of knowledge. Later when official list of banned organizations were summoned by the judge it was found that none of the mentioned organization was banned in Andhra Pradesh. But Mr. Madhusudan Reddy testified before the tribunal that all those organizations mentioned are involved in anti-national activities and are inter-related and have links with SIMI which police have information from intelligence ‘secret reports’.

On the first day of the proceedings police presented cases from 2007 which were already been discussed in previous 2010 and 2012 tribunals.

On the second day of the hearing police tried to present the latest case to weight their argument that SIMI is still involved in unlawful activities while operating clandestinely. Inspector Koteshwara Rao of Madanapet police station deposed before the tribunal on Kurmaguda communal violence of 2012 of Cr.No 66 to 83/2012 and Cr.No. 126,128,132 and 133/ 2012 which were described in police affidavit as SIMI cases.

Local police which investigated the case before it was handed over to SIT did arrest three Muslim youths for allegedly participating in stone pelting during communal clashes. Those youngsters were described as SIMI members and whole incident was given a color of SIMI orchestrated plan.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal during his cross examination with Inspector Koteshwara Rao questioned whether any of those accused who are presented as SIMI members were charged with UAPA on which Inspector replied in negative.

During cross examination Mr. Rao was made to describe the events which led to violence in which he conceded that violence were conspire by Hindu right wing members by desecrating temple, he also accepted that charge-sheet has been filed against those Hindu youths involved in this case.

He also accepted that both communities indulged in stone pelting after communal clashes broke out. In spite of accepting the chronology of the events which pointed out towards the hand of Hindu Vahini in the violence police maintained its stand that three accused Muslim youths in this case has relations with SIMI and claim to have basis to connect those accused with the banned organization. Inspector Rao testified that information and antecedents of those accused were collected from the earlier police records.

Defense counsel Mr. Ashok Agarwal commenting on police stand told TCN, “Name of SIMI is interpolated to further the ban. Four cases were registered in 2012 pertaining to stone pelting, it was clear that it was communal tension and violence for which cases were registered and persons from both sides were charged. Those three Muslims were stated to be members of SIMI, even if we assume that it was correct it is not the basis of continuing the ban on SIMI, the Government has to show the activity about which they are reporting was done by SIMI or its members were part of conscious activity on behalf of organization.”

Source:http://twocircles.net/2014may29/hindu_vahini%E2%80%99s_involvement_case_thrown_simi%E2%80%99s_basket_further_ban.html#.U4n2qnKSx5u

अक्षरधाम: 'मेरा नाम सुरेश, रमेश या ... होता तो ये नहीं होता'

अंकुर जैन

अहमदाबाद से, बीबीसी हिंदी डॉटकॉम के लिए

 गुरुवार, 29 मई, 2014 को 12:09 IST तक के समाचार

मुमताज़ बानो अब कभी नहीं मुस्कराती हैं. घरवालों ने उनको पिछले 11 सालों में कभी हँसते हुए नहीं देखा और उन्हें मुमताज़ का एक ही भाव समझ आता है. वो रो रही हैं ये बात घरवालों को उनके आंसू से ही पता लगती है क्योंकि उन्हें लकवा मार गया है.

अहमदाबाद के दरियापुर इलाक़े में कभी वह अपने बड़े बेटे सलीम शेख की प्रशंसा करते नहीं थकती थीं. आख़िर उसने सऊदी अरब जाकर दर्ज़ी का काम करके पैसा कमाया और अपनी दो बहनों की शादी करवाई, अहमदाबाद में मकान ख़रीदा, अपने बच्चे ज़ैद को इंग्लिश स्कूल में डाला और फिर वह हर महीने घर पैसा भी भेजते थे.

संबंधित समाचार

• 'देश के क़ानून के भरोसे रहा जेल में ज़िंदा'
• 'एक ही समुदाय के लोग क्यों पकड़े जाते हैं?'
• कश्मीर में 'मोदी सरकार को लेकर आशंकाएं'

इससे जुड़ी ख़बरें

टॉपिक

• भारत

लेकिन उस दिन, क़रीब 11 साल पहले, मुमताज़ ने बेटे के लिए खीर बनाई थी. सलीम छुटियां ख़त्म कर सऊदी अरब वापस जाने की तैयारियां कर रहे थे. तभी घर के दरवाज़े पर दस्तक हुई और सलीम को कोई बुलाने आया.

क्लिक करें('देश के क़ानून के भरोसे रहा जेल में ज़िंदा')

लेकिन सलीम जब गए तो वापस लगभग 11 सालों बाद लौटे. वो 17 मई को घर वापस लौटे हैं.

इतने दिनों में बहुत कुछ बदल चुका है. अब घर फिर से किराये का है, ज़ैद अब उर्दू स्कूल में जाता है. मुमताज़ नहीं जानती कि यह सब उनके साथ क्यों हुआ, लेकिन सलीम कहते हैं कि शायद इस देश में मुसलमान होकर जन्म लेना कभी-कभी गुनाह हो जाता है.

प्रताड़ना

वो कहते हैं, "मेरा नाम अगर सुरेश, रमेश या महेश होता तो मेरे साथ यह कभी होता?" सलीम को अक्षरधाम मंदिर हमले मामले में गुजरात पुलिस ने पकड़ा था और उन्हें लश्कर-ए-तैयबा और जैशे मोहम्मद का सदस्य बताया गया था.

24 सितंबर, 2002 को दो हमलावरों ने अक्षरधाम मंदिर के भीतर एके-56 राइफ़ल से गोलियां बरसाकर 30 से अधिक लोगों की हत्या कर दी थी और क़रीब 80 को घायल कर दिया था. इस मामले में आठ लोगों को गिरफ़्तार किया गया था, जिनमें से छह को आरोप मुक्त कर दिया गया है जबकि दो पर अभी मुकदमा चल रहा है.

सलीम शेख क्लिक करेंसऊदी अरब के रियाद शहर में एक शोरूम में दर्ज़ी का काम किया करते थे. उन्होंने कहा, "पुलिस ने मुझे 29 दिन अवैध तरीक़े से हिरासत में रखा और इस दौरान इतना पीटा कि आज भी मेरे पाँव कांपते हैं. जैसे कोई धूप में चलकर आया हो उस तरह की जलन होती है. अहमदाबाद क्राइम ब्रांच में 400-500 डंडे एक साथ मेरे पाँव के तलवे पर मरते थे. उस वक़्त मेरी पाँव की इन उंगली फ्रैक्चर भी हो गयी."

सलीम को इस मामले में पोटा कोर्ट ने आजीवन कारवास की सज़ा सुनाई थी जिससे गुजरात उच्च न्यायालय ने बरक़रार रखा.

उन्होंने कहा, "मेरे कूल्हे पर आज भी 11 साल पुरानी मार के निशान मौजूद है. वह मंज़र याद आता है तो दिल दहल जाता है कि वापसी में भी हमारे साथ ऐसा न हो."

'कौन से केस में जेल जाएगा'

सलीम ने कहा, "मुझे क्राइम ब्रांच ले जाने के बाद पुलिस ने मेरे बारे से पूछा कि मैं सऊदी अरब में क्या करता हूँ और मेरे दोस्त कौन है? मुझे कहा गया की यह जाँच मेरे पासपोर्ट की कोई ख़राबी की वजह से है. पर फिर मुझे मारना शुरू किया. मुझे कोई इल्म ही नहीं था कि वे मुझे क्यों मार रहे हैं."

"यह सब इसलिए कि मैं मुसलमान हूँ. कुछ लोग हमारी कौम में ख़राब होंगे और कुछ लोग किसी और कौम में. मैं तो ख़ुद टेररिज़्म के ख़िलाफ़ हूँ और इस देश पर उतना ही गर्व करता हूँ जितना कोई और. मैं मानता हूँ कि भारत देश का ही क़ानून ऐसा है कि देर से सही आपको इंसाफ ज़रूर मिलता है. हाँ पर मैंने इसकी बड़ी क़ीमत चुकाई है."

सलीम शेख

वो आगे बताते हैं, "फिर एक सीनियर अफ़सर ने मुझे बुलाया और पूछा सलीम कौन से केस में जेल जाएगा, हरेन पंड्या, अक्षरधाम या 2002 दंगे. मुझे तो इन तीन के बारे में कुछ ज़्यादा पता भी नहीं था. मैं 1990 से सऊदी में था और जब घर आता तब बस इनके बारे कभी बात होती. मेरे पास मार खाने की बिलकुल ताक़त नहीं बची थी और मैं जैसा वह कहते वैसा करता था."

उन्होंने कहा, "मैंने तो बाक़ी अभियुक्तों को भी पहली बार जेल में देखा."

सलीम पर आरोप लगा था कि वह सऊदी में भारतीय मुसलमानों को इकट्ठा करके उन्हें 2002 क्लिक करेंगोधरा दंगे और अन्य भारत विरोधी वीडियो दिखाते थे और फिर उनसे पैसा लेकर भारत में आंतकवादी गतिविधियों के तहत अक्षरधाम हमले को फाइनेंस करते थे.

'पुलिस की मनगढंत स्टोरी'

वो कहते हैं, "मैं पुलिस की मनगढंत स्टोरी में फिट बैठ रहा था. सऊदी में रहने वाला था और अहमदाबाद पैसे भेजा करता था. मैंने 2002 दंगों के बाद एक रिलीफ कैंप में अनाज और पानी की मदद करने के लिए 13,000 रूपए ज़कात के तौर पर दिए थे. बस उसी से शायद में पुलिस की नज़र में आया. वर्ना मैंने जो कभी सिग्नल तोड़ने का भी गुनाह नहीं किया तो फिर इतने सारे लोगों को मारने का आरोप. पिछले 11 साल इस कलंक के साथ मैंने हर पल दिल पर पत्थर रखकर बिताए."

अपने परिवार की तकलीफ़ों के बारे में सलीम कहते हैं, "हमारा मकान बिक गया, छोटे भाई को परिवार चलाने के लिए अपनी पढ़ाई छोड़नी पड़ी, मेरे बच्चे अंग्रेजी स्कूल से उर्दू स्कूल में आ गए. अब क्लिक करेंगुजरात में उर्दू का कोई उपयोग नहीं. मेरी बेटी जो उस वक़्त चार महीने की थी आज छठी कक्षा में है और मुझसे अभी थोड़ा डरती है और अब अम्मी बिस्तर पर है."

वो बताते हैं, "यह सब इसलिए कि मैं मुसलमान हूँ. कुछ लोग हमारी कौम में ख़राब होंगे और कुछ लोग किसी और कौम में. मैं तो ख़ुद टेररिज़्म के ख़िलाफ़ हूँ और इस देश पर उतना ही गर्व करता हूँ जितना कोई और. मैं मानता हूँ कि भारत देश का ही क़ानून ऐसा है कि देर से सही आपको इंसाफ़ ज़रूर मिलता है. हाँ पर मैंने इसकी बड़ी क़ीमत चुकाई है."

सलीम के छोटे भाई इरफ़ान कहते हैं, "भाई को हिरासत में लेने के कुछ ही महीनों के बाद माँ को हार्ट अटैक आया और उन्हें लकवा मार गया. फिर वह जब भी भाई की तस्वीर देखती या अख़बार में उसके नाम के साथ आंतकवादी शब्द देखती तो पूरे दिन रोती रहती. उसने कई दिनों तक तो खाना छोड़ दिया था और रोजे रखती थीं."

इरफ़ान उस वक़्त 18 साल के थे.

'कोई है जो हमें आगे नहीं आने दे रहा'

जेल से निकलने के बाद सलीम इन दिनों अपने लिए एक दुकान ढूंढ रहे हैं. उन्होंने कहा, "मेरे पास वक़्त बहुत कम है कि मैं अपनी बिखरी हुई ज़िंदगी भी समेट सकूं. अहमदाबाद में अब एक छोटी सी दुकान किराये पर लेकर वापस सिलाई का काम शुरू करूँगा. दुनिया बहुत आगे बढ़ गई है. मैं और मेरे बच्चे बहुत पीछे रह गए."

सलीम अब अहमदाबाद के जूहापुरा इलाक़े में रहते हैं.

वो कहते हैं, "भारत को अब बदलना चाहिए. मैंने एक मुसलमान परिवार में जन्म अपनी पसंद से नहीं लिया था. तो फिर भेदभाव क्यों. अब हमें भी मुख्यधारा में शामिल करना चाहिए. भारत आगे बढ़े उसकी ख़ुशी हमें भी उतनी ही होती है. पर कोई है जो हमें नज़र नहीं आ रहा और वह हमें पीछे रखना चाहता है."

सलीम कहते हैं, "जैसे मेरे पिछले साल गए, ऐसे और किसी के न जाए. हमें जेल में शाम को छह बजे कोठरी में बंद कर दिया जाता था इसलिए मैंने आकाश में तारे पिछले 11 साल से नहीं देखे थे. अब खुले आकाश के नीचे दिल की धड़कन फिर सुनाई दे रही है और मैं आंतकवादी नहीं हूँ इस बात का सुकून है वरना इतनी मार और जेल की कोठरी के भीतर खुद पर से यकीन उठ गया था."

सलीम के वकील खालिद शेख कहते हैं, "सलीम को 29 दिन तक ग़ैरक़ानूनी हिरासत में रखा था और उनके शरीर पर आज भी मार के निशान मौजूद हैं. उसे मारकर और धमकाकर उसका कबूलनामा लिया गया था और यह बात सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने मानी."

(बीबीसी हिंदी का एंड्रॉयड मोबाइल ऐप डाउनलोड करने के लिए क्लिक करेंयहां क्लिक करें. आप ख़बरें पढ़ने और अपनी राय देने के लिए हमारे क्लिक करेंफ़ेसबुकपन्ने पर भी आ सकते हैं और क्लिक करेंट्विटर पर फ़ॉलो भी कर सकते हैं.)

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/india/2014/05/140529_akshardham_accused_series2_salim_sheikh_vs.shtml?ocid=socialflow_facebook

Row over clinical trial as 254 Indian women die.

The three-cluster randomized controlled trials looked for a cheap screening treatment for cervical cancer for introduction into the public health programme

NEW DELHI: The death of 254 Indian women from modest backgrounds in the course of a 15-year US-funded clinical trial has triggered a raging debate about its ethicality. The trial was for a cervical cancer screening method and the women who died were part of a control group kept without screening to study death rates in unscreened populations. 

It is a well established fact that any kind of cervical screening reduces the incidence of the cancer. Yet, almost 140,000 women in the control arm of the trial were not screened. After a complaint made to it, the United States Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) determined that the women were not given adequate information to give informed consent. 

Those arguing that the trial was unethical also say it violated the international ethical guidelines on medical research, the Helsinki Declaration's guidelines, which clearly state that "the benefits, risks, burdens and effectiveness of a new intervention must be tested against those of the best current proven intervention". 

Even Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines stipulate that a placebo can be used only if the disease is self-limiting or when no proven preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic method exists. 

"Clearly these trials violated both international and national guidelines," said Sandhya Srinivasan of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME), who in her editorial on the subject in April last year pointed out that "these studies would not have been permitted in the country of the funding organizations (US National Cancer Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)." 

An article in the latest issue of the IJME by Dr Eric Suba, a San Francisco-based pathologist, who had filed a complaint in the US in May 2011 against the trial, has demanded compensation for the families of the women who died and immediate screening and treatment, where necessary, of the women in the unscreened group. 

The three-cluster randomized controlled trials looked for a cheap screening treatment for cervical cancer for introduction into the public health programme. The screening treatments being examined were Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) screening, Pap smear — which is the standard of care in the west — and HPV screening. 

The trials were conducted among Indian women of the lowest socioeconomic status in Mumbai slums, villages in Osmanabad in Maharashtra and in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. These studies compared the cervical cancer death rate among 224,929 women who were offered the different types of cervical screening to that among 138,624 women who were offered no screening at all. 

In the IJME article, Dr Suba asked what purpose was to be served by keeping 140,000 women without screening when the effectiveness of cervical screening is well accepted. "...people should not be used to demonstrate exactly how much death results from lack of medical care," stated Dr Suba.

 

Trial researchers claimed that having unscreened control groups is ethically justified in India because no-screening is considered "standard care". So all that the unscreened women got were health education information on cervical cancer, the importance of screening and where it was available. 

Since at the time of the trial there were no doubts about the benefits of cervical screening, the creation and maintenance of unscreened control groups in the US-funded studies in India required inadequate informed consent, pointed out Dr Suba's article, something that the OHRP also had determined. 

If, at any time during the past 15 years, the women in the unscreened control groups had been told the simple truth that cervical screening would lower their risk of death from cancer, they would have left the control groups and sought screening on their own, thereby nullifying a scientifically defective experimental design, Dr Suba argued. The OHRP determined that it was thus difficult to presume that the BMGF-funded studies are not compromised by the inadequate informed consent, wrote Dr Suba.