Delhi government issued notice on phasing of old vehicles

New Delhi, Nov 30 The Delhi High Court Friday issued notice to the Delhi government on a public suit seeking phasing out of commercial vehicles more than 15 years old from the capital's roads in compliance with the Supreme Court orders.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sarma fixed Dec 5 for hearing arguments after the petitioner submitted additional documents and government policy.

The petition filed by advocate Sugriv Dubey said the directorate of transport, flouting the Supreme Court directives of 1998, has issued a circular to allow 15-year-old commercial vehicles to ply on the roads as Radio Taxis provided they were fitted with gas (CNG) kits.

The Supreme Court had directed phasing out such commercial vehicles by December 2000. But due to inefficiency of the authorities many vehicles were still plying, said the petition.

"The engines are not efficient, the body and doors are making noise leading to noise pollution in the city," the petition said.

Despite the permissible limit of noise being at 0.45 decibel, the city noise level was 12 to 14 decibel. These vehicles were the main culprits of noise pollution in the city, said Dubey in his petition.

He pleaded that direction should be given to the government for issuance of licenses only to new vehicles. - IANS

Sentencing in Uphaar case Friday

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) A city court will pronounce sentences on the 12 convicts, including real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal, in the Uphaar cinema hall fire tragedy case Friday afternoon.

After hearing the arguments from both sides Thursday, Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal said she would pronounce the sentences at 3 p.m. Friday. The 1997 fire in the south Delhi cinema hall had claimed 59 lives.

Prem Kumar, counsel for Gopal Ansal, continued his arguments over the quantum of sentence as they remained inconclusive Wednesday. He stated that his client was innocent as he was not directly involved in the tragedy.

He also pleaded that a person could be reformed even without putting him behind bars, adding that Gopal and Sushil Ansal have contributed a lot to the country's economy and as civilized citizens should be released on probation.

The Central Bureau of Investigation's counsel Vikas Bawa expressed his wish to argue on the quantum of sentence, but the court refused to hear them. He later submitted a written submission to the court.

For Neelam Krishnamurthy, who lost her two children in the fire, it was like light at the end of a tunnel after leading a legal battle for the past 10 years.

"I am feeling very nervous now. I want the accused to be given the maximum punishment as they have taken 59 innocent lives. I will not be able to sleep tonight and am eagerly waiting for tomorrow's judgement," she said.

The court has convicted theatre owners Sushil and Gopal Ansal under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) -- 304 A (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life) -- and section 14 of Cinematographic Act. Similar charges were imposed on N.D. Tiwari and Shyam Sunder Sharma.

The other convicts are Radhakrishnan Sharma, Nirmal Singh Chopra, Ajit Chaudhary, Manmohan Unniyal, Brij Mohan, Anand Kumar Gera, Vir Singh and Har Swaroop Pawar. They were convicted under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, read with section 36.

Originally, 16 people were named accused in the case, but four of them have died in the last 10 years.

In a strange sideshow, just before the court proceedings could start Thursday, a man came and submitted a written statement claiming that the Uphaar fire tragedy was not caused by human negligence but by the US military force, which used satellite-based laser weapons.

In his application, a copy of which is with IANS, Rajat Bobal stated that it was a well-thought out agenda of "ethnic cleansing of Hindus and destroying India". "The US military has indulged in such acts and caused fires across India in houses, industries and commercial buildings," he told the court.

The court refused to admit the application, stating it should have been submitted earlier.

Supreme Court has more "Chuttis" than working days

New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS) Ever wondered what is common between school-going children and the high priests of judiciary? Saturdays, Sundays and "a lot of fun-days", feel a section of lawyers.

As per the Supreme Court's calendar for 2007, out of the 365 days a year, the Supreme Court has only 176 working days. The remaining 189 days - more than half the year - are holidays.

They include roughly 104 Saturdays and Sundays, nearly two-and-a-half months of summer vacation, a fortnight of winter vacation besides several other offs, ranging from a day to a week. And all this in the backdrop of a huge backlog of cases.

"Even the highest US court, where individual judges do not have to adjudicate more than 150 cases a year, does not have more than three to four months of holidays," said senior advocate K.K. Venugopal.

The Supreme Court is currently on a weeklong Diwali vacation, which began Nov 5. The apex court will reopen Oct 12.

The ongoing apex court vacation has come barely a fortnight after the Dussehra break from Oct 15 to Oct 20. Beginning Dec 17, the Supreme Court will have the usual fortnight-long winter break till Jan 1.

The British legacy of a nearly two-month-long summer vacation - the mother of all vacations of the apex court - continuing year after year since Independence can leave even children bored to death. The apex court had its summer vacation from May 21 to July 8 this year.

Its holiday calendar compares well with the vacations of Delhi schools. For instance, Delhi's Somerville School like most schools in the national capital had a summer vacation from May 15 to July 1, only a day's holiday on Dussehra and a two-day break for Diwali.

As per the provisions of the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958, besides the apex court's holidays and vacations, its individual judges are entitled to their own quota of leaves.

Depending upon the number of years a judge puts in the service, he -- there is no female judge at present in the apex court -- is entitled to certain days of leave on full salary, certain other offs on half salary and some more days off on one quarter salary.

"True, the apex court does have a lot of Sundays and fun-days. But what is worse is the fact that some judges have no qualms in going on foreign jaunts in the middle of hearings of important cases," senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan told IANS.

The long vacations continue in the Supreme Court despite the fact that in recent times, the backlog of cases has registered a rising trend.

Data from the Department of Justice reveals that the total number of cases pending in the apex court had come down to 19,806 in 1998 from a whopping 104,936 in 1991. But it's rising again. In the beginning of 2006, it had risen to around 29,000 and by the end of October 2007, it had gone up to 45,290.

Despite the rising number of pending cases in the Supreme Court, senior lawyer P.P. Rao defended the long vacations saying: "One has to remember that apex court judges have tremendous work pressure.

"Every day a bench of two to three judges hears around 50 matters. The cases listed on Mondays go up to 70 while it's around 40 on Fridays. They also have to read the voluminous files every evening before hearing them the next day," said Rao.

"They also need time to write judgements, which cannot be written in open courts. And they end up doing all this work during holidays or vacations, which they very much deserve."

But Venugopal said: "It's true that Supreme Court judges end up doing a lot of work at home and in their chambers when they are not in the court rooms. Yet, the apex court needs to arrest the rising trend of a backlog in cases and reducing their long vacations may be one way out."


By Rana Ajit

Team India in a legal tangle for 'insulting' tricolour

Lucknow, Oct 23 (IANS) They may have earned the sobriquet of conquerors of Twenty20 cricket. However, the Indian cricket team could be in the dock for allegedly "insulting" the national tricolour.

A petition has been filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Kanpur raising serious objections against the alleged disrespect shown by the team members to the national flag.

While admitting the petition, the court has fixed Oct 25 (Thursday) for the hearing.

Not only Team India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but also vice captain Yuvraj Singh and all other team members have been accused of desecrating the national flag during the team's Twenty20 win against Pakistan in South Africa.

According to the petitioner Rahul Pandey, a local lawyer, "Dhoni and several other players not only wrapped themselves in the tricolour, but also rolled on the ground. This was followed by spraying of champagne that fell on the flag." He views the entire act as an "insult" to the flag.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah, cine star Shah Rukh Khan and commentator Ravi Shastri have been named as "witnesses" in the plaint, as the euphoric revelling took place in their presence.

The petitioner's counsel Vijay Bakshi told IANS over telephone from Kanpur: "We have cited sufficient evidence in the form of television, magazine and newspaper clippings."

He went on to add, "What we found even more shocking was the fact that despite showing disrespect to the national flag, these players were felicitated and showered with gifts and monetary awards, when they actually deserved punishment for their act."

10 Delhi cops held guilty for Connaught Place shootout

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) A Delhi court Tuesday convicted 10 Delhi Police personnel, including an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), for gunning down two businessmen in the capital's business district Connaught Place in 1997 after suspecting them to be dangerous criminals.

While holding the now suspended ACP Satyaveer Singh Rathee and his nine-member team guilty of killing businessmen Pradeep Goel and Jagjeet Singh in broad daylight outside Statesman House, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar fixed Oct 24 for announcing the quantum of sentence.

"You all have been found guilty" of the charges of murder, attempt to murder and destruction of evidence, said the judge, delivering his verdict in the case exactly 10 years, six months and 15 days after that fateful March 31, 1997 when the two men were mistaken for mobster Mohammed Yaseen.

All 10 policemen were taken into custody after the judgment was pronounced.

The court also found Delhi Police's ballistic expert Roop Singh guilty of fabricating evidence and issued notice to him to appear before the court Oct 22.

Roop Singh had earlier been found guilty of fabricating ballistic evidence in the murder of ramp model Jessica Lal in 1999 by the Delhi High Court.

Besides ACP Rathee, the others convicted Tuesday include inspectors Anil Kumar and Ashok Rana and policemen Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh, Mahaveer Singh, Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Khetan Ram.

The trigger-happy police team had opened fire on Goel's car, killing two of its occupants and severely injuring a third one, Tarun Preet Singh, mistaking them for the wanted mobster and his friends.

The team had been tailing the car from the Minto Road underpass, also in the heart of the city, and intercepted it near Statesman House.

ACP Rathee claimed later that he had learnt that the mobster and his associates would be travelling in a blue colour Maruti Esteem car. The car carrying the innocent businessmen fitted that description.

The policemen said they opened fire because those inside the car failed to obey the police command to come out of the car immediately.

The case was later probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which found the police team not merely guilty of killing the two innocent people but also of fabricating evidence to prove their innocence.

They were found to have planted a pistol on the businessmen's bodies to prove their claim that they opened fire in self-defence.

Delhi High Court orders sessions judge back to law school

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Irked over a wrong judgement given by a sessions judge, the Delhi High Court Friday directed him to undergo training for three months at the Delhi Judicial Academy to gain basic knowledge of law and its procedures.

The judge had ordered the arrest of a person whose tenant had been charged with theft of power.

Justice V.B. Gupta of the Delhi High Court said: "Since Mr. R.K. Tewari, Additional Session Judge, does not have even elementary knowledge of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), under these circumstances, it would be appropriate if he undergoes a refresher course at the Delhi Judicial Academy in criminal law and procedure for three months.

"Director, Delhi Judicial Academy, should submit to this court the performance report with regard to this judicial officer," said Justice Gupta's order, which will be given to all subordinate court judges for reference.

Justice Gupta said: "The observations made by the subordinate judge in his order dated Sep 19, 2007, are per se disobedience of the order passed by the high court and amounts to contempt of court."

He said that despite the restraint and pendency of bail on accused Rohit Kumar before the high court, the trial court issued a warrant of arrest under section 82 of the CrPC (meant for absconders) and got him arrested.

"There must be a report before the magistrate that the person against whom he had issued a warrant had absconded or had been concealing himself so that such warrant can be issued. An attachment warrant can be issued only after the issuance of proclamation under Section 82 of the CrPC," the court said.

According to the petition, Rohit Kumar has a house and had rented it out to one Dubey. As the house did not have power connection Dubey was illegally using power through a cable connected to the electric pole.

He was caught and booked for theft of power. However, when the case came up before the court headed by R.K. Tewari, the private power supplier pleaded for proceeding against Rohit Kumar as he was the owner of the house.

He was arrested though he should not have been proceeded against under the Sections 82 and 83 of the CrPC which is for absconders, said Advocate Tanvir Ahmed Mir, appearing for Rohit.

Rohit had challenged in the high court the Sep 19 order of the trial court, and had applied for bail. But despite it the trial ordered his arrest.

Bail for Dera chief till Oct 15

Ambala (Haryana), Oct 4 (IANS) A special CBI court here Thursday extended the bail of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh till Oct 15. He faces two charges of murder and one of rape.

Thousands of followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect assembled here Thursday as their chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh reached a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court to face two charges of murder conspiracy and one of rape.

Tension built up as an estimated 125,000 sect followers laid virtual siege in this Haryana town, about 45 km from Chandigarh, forcing the closure of several schools and colleges. Defying Section 144 that bans the assembly of five or more people at one place, they gathered at the HUDA ground, just one km from the court campus.

The sect chief arrived at the court complex around 10 a.m. in a cavalcade of cars, including Haryana police and private security. He was sitting on the front seat of his bullet-proof Lexus luxury SUV, dressed in his traditional white robes and headgear.

Some of his supporters were able to reach the court premises despite the security arrangement.

The Dera chief is one of the accused in the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the court here in August this year. He has been charged of conspiracy in the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in July 2002 and Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chandra Chhatrapati in November 2001.

The Dera chief has also been accused of raping a "sadhvi" (female follower) inside his sprawling and fortified sect campus near Sirsa town in Haryana.

Life sentence for Dara Singh, three others for killing priest

Bhubaneswar, Sep 22 (IANS) An Orissa court Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment Dara Singh and three others convicted for the murder of a Catholic priest.

They were sentenced by the Mayurbhanj district sessions sessions judge for murdering 35-year-old Catholic priest Father Arul Doss on Sep 1, 1999 at Jamubani.

Dara Singh is already serving life term for burning to death Australian missionary Graham Staines and his sons outside a church at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district on Jan 22, 1999.

Others sentenced in the Doss case include Chema Ho, Raj Kishore Mahant and Jadunath Mahant, who along with Singh are presently in Baripada jail.

Patna High Court does Bihar proud

New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS) This might come as a pleasant surprise. Bihar, which has one of the highest crime rates in India, can boast of a high court with relatively one of the fewest number of pending cases - 97,354. This is in sharp contrast to many other states where the backlog in the high courts runs into hundreds of thousands.

According to latest official statistics from various high courts at the end of March this year, the figure of 97,354 for the Patna High Court compares very favourably with those at the high courts of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.

While the Allahabad High Court tops the list of courts with a high backlog - at 815,602 cases, the Orissa High Court has 224,382 cases.

Three other high courts - in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh - have 209,095, 188,796 and 148,512 cases respectively pending with them.

What's worse, other economically well off states too have a surfeit of cases at their high courts.

For example, the Madras High Court and the Bombay High Court respectively occupy the second and third positions in the list of high courts with a huge build-up of cases awaiting adjudication. The Madras High Court has 418,110 cases pending with it, while the backlog of cases at Bombay High Court stands at 366,495.

The high courts of West Bengal, Punjab and Haryana, and Gujarat had 272,643, 244,875, and 112,045 cases pending with them respectively at the end of March this year.

What's surprising is that the Patna High Court has been able to keep the backlog of cases low despite having a massive vacancy - 32.5 percent - of judges. Against a sanctioned strength of 43 judges, it has just 29 judges.

In contrast, the Allahabad High Court has merely 19 percent judicial vacancy, having 77 judges against a sanctioned strength of 95 judges. Only the Orissa as well as Punjab and Haryana high courts have judicial vacancies higher than that of the Patna High Court.

The Orissa High Court, which tops the list of courts with 36 percent of judicial vacancy, has only 14 judges against a sanctioned strength of 22. The vacancy at the Punjab and Haryana High Court is to the tune of 34 percent (35 judges working against a sanctioned strength of 53).

The vacancy of judges in other high courts is in the range of 20 percent with Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan having 20 percent vacancy each, Gujarat 26 percent, Bombay 17 percent and Madras 10 percent.

Consumer disputes redressal forum to be computerised: Pawar

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) In a move to further streamline their functioning, consumer redressal forums in states would be computerised and networked by the year-end at a cost of Rs.486.4 million, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Friday.

Inaugurating a two-day conference at Vigyan Bhavan marking the 20th Foundation Day of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Pawar said the project was in its final year and was being executed by the National Informatics Centre on a turnkey basis.

He said the government was in the process of strengthening the commission by increasing the number of members to nine from the existing five.

Though the overall performance of the forum has been satisfactory with nearly 88 percent of the 2.8 million cases filed so far disposed off, the minister said there was a need to "change the common man's perception that the consumer fora had slipped onto the path of civil courts, making litigation long drawn out and taking several years to dispose of even cases involving small compensation".

Pawar said it was time to change the common criticism that the orders of the consumer forum are not swift and do not hit the offenders where it hurts them most, and it is not even taken seriously by the offenders.

Though the state commissions and district forum are the responsibility of state governments to ensure that their functioning is not hampered due to lack of infrastructure, the central government has been extending liberal assistance in the form of grants so that there is no resource constraint, he said.

As part of the central government's encouragement to consumer courts in states and districts, the government was spending liberally in providing all requisite infrastructure and has already sanctioned Rs.980 million to 18 states and Rs.474.4 million to 16 state governments as the first tranche of assistance, Pawar said.

Nithari killings: non-bailable warrants against two cops

Ghaziabad, Aug 16 (IANS) A special court here Thursday issued non-bailable warrants against two suspended officials of the Noida police for allegedly taking bribes to botch up the case relating to the Nithari killings in which at least 20 children and young women were raped and murdered.

Dinesh Yadav, then circle officer, and V.P. Singh, then station house officer, face arrests for allegedly accepting bribes from S.K. Sharma, employee of prime accused Moninder Singh Pandher, to conceal and destroy evidence.

Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli had been arrested last year after the recovery of at least 20 human skulls from a drain behind Pandher's Noida bungalow Dec 29.

Hearing the case of 24-year-old Payal, one of the victims, judge Rama Jain of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court found both suspended officials "prima facie accused" for concealing the case diary.

"After hearing the testimony of Payal's father Nand Lal who saw the official accepting bribes, the court finds them prima facie accused in the case and issues non-bailable warrant against them," the judge said.

The court has asked the Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police to produce them on or before Aug 29.

It was Payal's murder that had led to the unravelling of the sex-related butcheries in Nithari village in Noida, adjacent to Delhi.

Andhra Pradesh move to free 1,500 prisoners halted

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government's proposal to release 1,500 prisoners, including the convict husband of a Congress legislator, to mark the 60th anniversary of the country's independence was halted by the Supreme Court Thursday.

A bench of Justices B.N. Agarwal and D.K. Jain also issued notice to the government seeking its reply within four weeks, following a petition by R. Chandrashekhar Reddy, a lawyer from Andhra Pradesh.

The bench questioned the rationale of releasing habitual criminals, convicted on heinous charges.

"At this rate you might as well release the people involved in the Nithari killings and the Mumbai blasts," the bench remarked sarcastically, questioning the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government's rationale for setting free 1,500 of the 6,500 prisoners in the various jails of the state.

Rejecting Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam's argument that the state was finalising the list of the prisoners for release after detailed evaluation of their behaviour and conduct in the jails, the bench shot back: "What about their heinous crimes outside the jail?

"Such habitual offenders are menace to society. We also need to consider the impact of their crime on the society," it said.

It, however, allowed the government to continue preparing the list of prisoners eligible for release after evaluating their conduct.

The prisoners set to be released included ruling Congress legislator Charitha Reddy's husband Gouru Venkat Reddy, convicted on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and jailed for 10 years.

Reddy had been given life sentence by the trial court on charges of murder, but the Andhra Pradesh High Court reduced his jail term after convicting him on the lesser charge of culpable homicide.

Reddy was in 2005 granted pardon by then state governor Sushilkumar Shinde, currently union power minister. Shinde's order granting remission to the legislator's husband, however, had been set aside by the Supreme Court last year.

The state government's move to set free a large number of hardcore and notorious criminals was challenged Tuesday by advocate Reddy who practises at the apex court.

In his petition, the lawyer has contended: "The release of such a huge number of prisoners has become a regular phenomenon in Andhra Pradesh. While releasing such prisoners the government pays scant regard to the sentiments of the victims of these criminals. It neither assesses its impact on the morale of the police force nor on the criminal justice system of the state."

He also challenged the state government's tendency to relax the eligibility criteria to grant remission to the prisoners.

"Earlier the lifers were eligible for remission of their sentences only after serving 14 years of jail term. But since 1995, the government has been consistently relaxing the norm for grant of remission to the prisoners," said Reddy.

"The government has now begun giving remission to lifers up to three years even after the completion of seven years of jail term by them," he said, adding that other prisoners, jailed for less than life term too become eligible for remission of their sentences after completing half of their terms.

The petitioner termed the government's decision to release 1,500 prisoners as irrational, illogical and illegal.

Supreme court slams Allahabad High Court for murder acquittals

New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) The Supreme Court has severely castigated the Allahabad High Court for the "casual way" in which it acquitted three people - one sentenced to death and two to life imprisonment - convicted for double murder by the Hamirpur sessions court in Uttar Pradesh.

The high court had to face the apex court's wrath for the "casual and summary way of disposing the appeals against the sessions court judgement (made by two lifers) and the reference (made to it by the sessions court) for confirmation of the death sentence".

Expressing its rage over the high court's "perfunctory ways" in dealing with the issue, a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and D.K. Jain said Friday: "To say the least, the approach of the high court is clearly unsupportable. This is not the way an appeal or reference for confirmation of death sentence is to be dealt with.

"The high court (while acquitting the convicts) did not even bother to analyse the evidence or to refer to any findings of the trial court (on the basis of which it had convicted the accused)."

The apex court bench made the caustic comment while hearing an appeal from the Uttar Pradesh government challenging the acquittal of two lifers and one condemned prisoner by the high court.

The Hamirpur court sentenced Govind Das to death for the murder of Loknath and Naval Kishore and gave life to two others while acquitting a woman.

While it referred the case to the high court for confirmation of the death sentence, the two lifers also approached the high court challenging their sentence.

The high court acquitted all three on the simple fact that the trial court had acquitted one of the co-accused.

Reminding the high court of the legal position that acquittal of one co-accused cannot be a ground of acquittal of all, the apex court bench directed the high court to adjudicate the two appeals and the trial court's reference afresh.

The apex court also asked the high court to dispose the matter within six months as it had taken "very long" in doing so the first time.

Supreme court to hear Sanjay Dutt's appeal on Friday

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Supreme Court has fixed Friday for hearing Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt's petition seeking bail and challenging his conviction under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case.

The day was decided after senior counsel Fali S. Nariman Wednesday mentioned the matter before a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan that is also hearing the issue of reservations for backward classes centrally-funded educational institutions.

The other members of the bench are Justices Arjit Pasayat, C.K. Thakkar, R.V. Raveendaran and Dalveer Bhandari.

Dutt, who is in a Pune jail, has been sentenced to six years by an anti-terror TADA court that convicted him for being in possession of illegal weapons, which he later destroyed.

The actor has sought interim bail pending a decision on his appeal challenging the verdict of the anti-terror TADA court in Mumbai.

He said he deserved relief from the court as he had earlier been on bail for about 12 years and had never given the investigating agency or the trial court any reason for complaint.

Dutt, who has served 16 months in jail, added that he had exhibited exemplary conduct while he was on bail.

He has also challenged his conviction on grounds that he could not have been convicted on his confessional statement for possessing weapons as he had retracted it later.

Supreme Court Refuses to revoke Stay on OBC QUOTA

Supreme Court says no to OBC quotas

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to revoke the stay on quota laws for other backward classes (OBC) students in centrally funded higher educational institutions.

The law had been suspended on March 29.

The Supreme Court decision has come despite the government offering a compromise formula for the same. Besides being embarrassing for the ruling UPA government, the refusal is especially disillusioning for Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh who had been trying to push the stay.

Refusing to lift the freeze, a five-judge Constitution Bench ruled that the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act 2006 cannot be implemented until the main petitions challenging the validity of the Act is decided.

"We are not going to pass any interim order," the Bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, said.

The Bench said it will hear the main petition to examine the Constitutional validity of the Centre Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006 soon.

7/11 accused to be charged Tuesday

Mumbai, Aug 6 (IANS) A special court will frame charges Tuesday on 13 people accused in the July 11, 2006, serial bombings on the local rail network that killed 186 people and injured hundreds.

The Mumbai Police's crack Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), responsible for the probe into the deadly bombings in rush-hour commuter trains, had arrested the 13 and filed charge sheets earlier last month.

The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court Monday explained to the accused the charges that will be filed under the stringent MCOCA Act and also under section 120 B for criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused will also be charged Tuesday under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) besides several sections of the IPC, Explosive Substances Act, Railway Act, Passport Act and the Prevention of Damage to Property Act.

The accused include some alleged leaders and members of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a computer engineer and a unani medical practitioner.

Besides those arrested, the ATS had in its charge sheet also named 15 other suspects, including 10 Pakistan nationals and the Pakistan-based LeT chief Azam Cheema.

Of the seven suspected bombers, including Pakistan nationals, only four are on trial. One of the suspected Pakistani bombers, identified as "Salem", was the lone unclaimed bombing victim who was killed after the bomb went off at Bandra station.

Cheema along with three other Pakistani nationals are still at large and believed to have sneaked back to Pakistan after the bombings.

Supreme court probes bail to Gujarat police official

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday initiated the process for first-hand scrutiny of a sessions court order giving bail to a Gujarat police official suspected to be involved in the staged killing of Ujjain resident Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife and a family friend.

A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P.K. Balasubramanyam began the process of scrutinising the bail to Gujarat police official Narendra Kumar Amin by admitting a special leave petition filed by the state government as per its directions last Monday.

The bench issued notice to Amin, deputy superintendent of police, who had been granted anticipatory bail by an Ahmedabad sessions court. Amin is presently posted in the Crime Investigation Department of the state's police force.

The bench fixed Friday to hear the petition against bail to Amin.

Last Monday, the bench had asked the Gujarat government to directly file an appeal against the sessions court order giving bail to Amin after Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam had pointed out a series of inconsistencies in the state government probe into the November 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife.

Elaborating on lapses into the probe, Subramaniam, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the case, had pointed out that the Gujarat government was so biased in favour of the erring police officers that it did not even challenge before the Gujarat High Court the anticipatory bail granted to Amin.

Reading the sessions court order, Subramaniam pointed out that the order virtually sounded like a character certificate to Amin, against whom a police head constable had given a statement that he might be involved in the killing of Sheikh's wife Kausar Bi.

At this, the bench had asked counsels, including the Gujarat government counsel K.T.S. Tulsi, if it had the power to directly entertain a petition against the order of a sessions court.

A petition against a sessions court generally goes to the high court, before reaching the Supreme Court.

As the counsel assured the apex court that it had enormous power under the constitution, the bench asked the state government to file a petition directly before it to challenge the sessions court bail order to Amin.

Salman appears in court in poaching case

Jodhpur, Aug 6 (IANS) Bollywood actor Salman Khan appeared in a court here Monday for hearing on his appeal against conviction for poaching of an endangered chinkara gazelle nine years ago.

Salman, who arrived in the city Sunday evening, presented himself before the District and Sessions Judge of Jodhpur for the hearing.

"We almost completed our arguments today and tomorrow (Tuesday) the prosecution will put forward its case," Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat told IANS.

The actor had filed his appeal in April against the judgement of the chief judicial magistrate's court in Jodhpur which had sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.25,000 for the 1998 poaching.

On April 10, the court had found the actor guilty under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Salman had to spend three nights in Jodhpur Central Jail before being granted bail by the district and sessions court.

The case was registered against Salman and five others under the Indian Penal Code, the Wildlife Protection Act and the Indian Arms Act at Mathania Police Station on Oct 11, 1998. Salman allegedly killed the chinkara at Ghoda farmhouse here.

"We have said that the forensic report of the animal does not prove it to be a chinkara and moreover if four people can be freed by the court on lack of evidence, then how can Salman alone be found guilty," Saraswat said.

Salman, who faces four cases in Jodhpur, has also been sentenced to one-year imprisonment in another poaching case in Bhawad. He has filed an appeal against that decision too.

SC dismisses petition against Indo-US nuclear deal

New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday declined to entertain a petition seeking direction to the government to obtain parliamentary approval before implementing the Indo-US civil energy nuclear deal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan dismissed the petition "as withdrawn" saying "these are all parliamentary procedures and that's why we will not interfere".

The bench, which also included Justices Tarun Chatterjee and R.V. Raveendran, refused to intervene in the issue, saying: "The government's treaty making power was beyond judicial review."

Former chief justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court P.S. Mishra, appearing for the petitioner, Bhopal resident Anil Chawla, had pleaded for directions to the government to seek parliamentary ratification of the joint Indo-US statement on the civil nuclear deal.

The apex court, dismissing the petition, also said: "Your main grievance was that it (the Indo-US nuclear agreement) was not approved by parliament. But it may be placed before parliament in due course," observed the chief justice, apparently taking note of the government's proposed plan to table the deal in parliament.

"It's for the constitutional authorities like the prime minister and Lok Sabha speaker to decide," observed the bench, adding, "we cannot ask the parliament to conduct so and so business and pass such and such legislation.

"We are in a democracy and in a democracy, the executive is answerable to parliament," the bench observed.

"You cannot ask the judiciary to direct government to notify the agreement and invite public objections to it," the Chief Justice observed in the bench agreement.

As Mishra sought to raise public concerns over the deal on various counts, the chief justice observed: "We do not say these are minor things. They indeed are serious things, very, very serious things."

The bench however, sought to allay the petitioner's apprehension saying: "There are several scientists to advise the government also."

As Mishra again insisted that the court pass some positive direction on the issue, the bench gave him hints that he may leave the matter pending with the court to be undertaken later.

"You wait till the matter is laid in the parliament," said the chief justice, expressing his disinclination to pass any order at this juncture.

Gauging the bench's unwillingness to interfere, Mishra sought the court's permission to withdraw the matter so that he could approach the court later.

SC threatens action on overstaying MPs

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Cracking the whip on illegal occupation of government accommodation across the country, the Supreme Court Thursday threatened to issue notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on the 30-odd former parliamentarians who were overstaying in such houses in Delhi.

The court also pulled up three state governments for not doing enough to evict bureaucrats and politicians who were illegally occupying government accommodation.

"If you can't take action, we will issue notice to the speaker," a bench of Justice B.N Agarwal and P.P. Naolekar told government counsel Wasim Ahemad Quadri while dealing with the issue of 30-odd former parliamentarians overstaying in government accommodation and the recovery of penal rent from them.

"Central government officials and politicians are not on a different footing from those of state governments," said the bench, which had minutes earlier rapped Andhra Pradesh for its inaction in evicting 60-odd government employees who were overstaying in their official accommodation.

The bench's threat to issue notice to Chatterjee came after it found a government affidavit on the issue "vague" and bereft of details like the action that was being taken to get the houses vacated and to recover penal rent from the occupants.

The bench was especially upset when it noticed that 30 former parliamentarians were illegally occupying government houses in Delhi.

When the bench asked Quadri about the action being taken against the offenders, Quadri sought to shift the focus from the government by saying the houses had been shifted from the central pool to the parliamentary pool.

At this, the bench asked him to approach the relevant committee of parliament for taking remedial measures and threatened to issue notice to the speaker if this did not yield the desired results.

Minutes earlier, while dealing with the issue of unauthorised occupation of government bungalows in Hyderabad and Patna, the bench had ordered the Andhra Pradesh and Bihar governments to immediately suspend 60 and 56 government officers respectively who were overstaying in government bungalows in the two cities.

"Put them behind bars. Let them be IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers. They may be senior IAS officers, judicial officers or MLAs but they do not have immunity from the law. They all are equal," an angry bench remarked while dealing with the case of unauthorised occupancies in Hyderabad.

While dealing with a similar issue in Madhya Pradesh, the bench termed as "peanuts" the recovery of Rs 300,000 against arrears of Rs 50 million. It also asked the state government to file an affidavit detailing what it was doing to recover penal rent from the unauthorised occupants.

Rajasthan court postpones hearing of Mohanty plea

Jaipur, July 24 (IANS) The hearing in a lower court of Orissa's senior police official B.B. Mohanty's plea for converting a non-bailable warrant against him into a bailable one has been postponed to Aug 1.

The lower court was to hear the plea Monday but as the magistrate was on leave, the court has now fixed the hearing in the case to August 1. Over a fortnight ago, Mohanty had submitted an application in a lower court here requesting the conversion of the warrant against him into a bailable one.

Mohanty's application said the Rajasthan police had June 6 submitted an appeal based on false and fabricated facts in the court.

"We filed the application with the court a few days back," P.C. Pradeep Sharma, Mohanty's advocate, told IANS.

Orissa Director General of Police Mohanty is facing charges of helping his son, Biti Hotra Mohanty, escape from jail as he had given a surety for his parole.

Biti, convicted of raping a German tourist in Alwar, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. He had gone on parole in November 2006 but did not return.

Sharma said Mohanty wants to provide his full cooperation to the state police in the inquiry but the investigating official was trying to arrest him by presenting "false and misleading facts".

"After considering the case diary it would become clear to the court that Mohanty's case is not a non-bailable offence," Sharma said.

Mohanty's petition said Section 225 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) clearly states that an offence is non-bailable when a person helps a convict, given life sentence or 10 years imprisonment or death sentence, to escape.

If a convict has been sentenced for less number of years than that, the person helping the accused in escaping does not come under the category of non-bailable offence, the lawyer said.

The court had June 8 issued a bailable warrant against Biti and an arrest warrant against his father and had given police time till July 7 to carry out the orders.

Apollo doctors approach Delhi HC in Rahul Mahajan case

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has been approached by five doctors and six other staff members of Delhi's Apollo hospital Monday asking it to quash charges against them of tampering with evidence and misleading the probe in the Rahul Mahajan drug abuse case.

Justice Reva Khetrapal had earlier stayed the lower court proceedings against the doctors and had asked the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate not to proceed with the case till further orders.

Appearing for the doctors, senior counsel Harish Salve submitted that the subordinate court did not have the jurisdiction to prosecute the doctors on the "false charges" framed by the police.

The police had filed the complaint without proper investigation, argued Salve, seeking quashing of the charge sheet filed in January this year.

Rahul Mahajan, son of late Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan, was admitted to the hospital on June 1 last year following an alleged drug overdose. It was alleged that the doctors had misled the investigators and fabricated the report about his treatment sought by police.

Punjab and Haryana High court directs Punjab to produce Chahal

Chandigarh, July 23 (IANS) The Punjab and Haryana High Court Monday directed the Punjab government and its vigilance wing to produce Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, an aide of former chief minister Amarinder Singh, before it Tuesday to ascertain allegations of torture levelled by him.

Justice Uma Kant Singh gave the directions after Chahal recently alleged that he was being physically tortured and humiliated in custody at the behest of the ruling Akali Dal government.

The controversial media adviser to Amarinder Singh was arrested last month. He has been slapped with several charges including attempt to murder, land grabbing, conspiracy, intimidation, corruption and cheating.

Chahal is presently in judicial custody in a Patiala prison.

Amarinder Singh had visited Chahal in prison last week after his return from London. The former chief minister later said that Chahal had cried before him and told him that he was subjected to electric shocks on private parts and other inmates had been asked to urinate on him.

He also complained that he was not even provided with a bed in his cell where 17 other prisoners had beds.

Supreme Court orders cancellation of Monica's passport

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) Monica Bedi, girlfriend of mobster Abu Salem, can now walk free with the Supreme Court ordering cancellation of her original passport Monday. Monica said the passport had been seized by authorities in Lisbon after her arrest there and could not be surrendered in Hyderabad for her release.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan ordered the Mumbai regional passport office to cancel her passport, bearing number B-0195737 and issued on June 24, 1999.

The bench, which included Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice R.V. Raveendran, ordered Bedi's release on bail on a personal bond of Rs.25,000 with a surety of the same amount.

Bedi had moved the apex court Friday seeking exemption from surrendering her original passport to secure her release from a Hyderabad jail as per an apex court order, which had earlier granted her bail.

As the bench took up Bedi's petition for hearing, Additional Solicitor General Amrinder Saran, doubting her claims that her passport had been seized in Lisbon following her arrest with Abu Salem, contended that her passport was still valid.

At this the bench suggested cancellation of her passport and it was accepted both by the government's law officer as well as Bedi's counsel K.T.S Tulsi.

She was acquitted last week by a Bhopal court in a fake passport case. A Hyderabad court had earlier convicted and sentenced her to five years jail for possession of yet another fake passport. The Andhra Pradesh High Court, however, reduced the sentence to three years.

While reducing her sentence, the high court dismissed her bail plea.

The apex court, to which she appealed against the high court order, granted her bail on condition that she surrender her passport to the judicial magistrate in Hyderabad.

Monday, the apex court ordered her passport cancelled.

Bedi was arrested along with Abu Salem at a Lisbon shopping mall Sep 18, 2002, following an Interpol red corner notice issued at the behest of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

She was brought back to India with Salem Nov 11, 2005.

SC notice to Babloo in murder case

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to underworld don Om Prakash Srivastav alias Babloo Srivastava on a Delhi government plea challenging his acquittal by the Delhi High Court in the murder of businessman Lalit Suneja 15 years ago.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan also issued notice to his accomplice Nitin Gunwant Shah, who had allegedly hired Srivastava to kill Suneja.

A division bench of Justices R.S. Sodhi and P.K. Bhasin of the Delhi High Court had acquitted the two due to lack of evidence, setting aside a trial court verdict that had sentenced them to life for hatching the murder conspiracy.

While acquitting the duo, the high court had ruled, "It appears that the trial court has based its judgement only on an assumption that the appellants (Srivastava and Shah) are guilty of conspiracy to murder the businessman."

"In the totality of the circumstances, we find that there is nothing on the record to show that any of the two appellants had anything to do with the murder of Suneja," it added.

Suneja was allegedly shot dead by Manish Dixit and Virender Pant, the two killers allegedly hired by Babloo, while he was returning to his Shakarpur residence in east Delhi after offering prayers at a nearby temple on Aug 2, 1992.

Dixit and Pant had died during trial.

Babloo, who divides his time among various jails in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and faces trial in several cases, was extradited from Singapore in August 1995.

Kohli extradition - High Court defers hearing to Thursday

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Monday deferred till Thursday the hearing of the review petition of Manindar Pal Singh Kohli, a Briton of Indian origin, facing extradition to the UK for alleged rape and murder of British teenager student Hannah Foster four years ago.

A division bench of Justices Mukul Mudgal and P.K. Bhasin said it would hear the arguments - challenging the decision of the lower court and the high court to extradite Kohli - on July 26.

Kohli is accused of raping and murdering Foster after kidnapping her on March 14, 2003, from a place near her home in Portswood, Southampton, where she had gone on a weekend picnic with her friends.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau had June 8 recommended to the Indian government to extradite Kohli to Britain with the stipulation that he be not hanged if found guilty.

Rejecting Kohli's first appeal, The Delhi High Court had upheld the decision of the magistrate.

Kohli had then appealed to the Supreme Court. Last week, the apex court had observed that if he wanted a review, he should approach a division bench of the high court first.

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Calcutta HC - Dalmiya's suspension from BCCI illegal

Kolkata, July 20 (IANS) Top cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya Friday won a major battle when the Calcutta High Court termed as illegal his suspension by the Indian cricket board and ruled that he could contest any cricket body poll from anywhere in India.

Dalmiya was suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and then forced to resign as the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Dec 16 last year. He had challenged the BCCI in Calcutta High Court and appealed that he be allowed to contest polls.

The appeal was allowed.

Justice Indira Banerjee temporarily stayed Dalmiya's suspension, paving the way for him to contest the CAB elections, hours before the deadline for filing nominations at 4 p.m. Friday.

"Suspension has been stayed for insufficient documents against Dalmiya presented by the BCCI," the judge stated.

BCCI lawyers said they would challenge the order in the Supreme Court.

"I am happy but I won't comment much till I get the court papers," the 67-year-old former International Cricket Council (ICC) chief told IANS soon after the verdict was delivered.

The verdict is likely to impact on CAB elections and its July 28 annual general meeting (AGM).

Incumbent Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Prasun Mukherjee Thursday presented his panel for the forthcoming elections. Dalmiya would inform the media about his decision later in the day.

Dalmiya may have been out of cricket administration since he was expelled from BCCI, but even today he wields plenty of clout within CAB. The CAB's 121-vote electorate comprises a vote each from the 94 Kolkata-based clubs, 18 districts, eight universities and the Office Sports Federation.

Hyderabad Court rejects Monica Bedi's bail

Hyderabad, July 19 (IANS) A court here Thursday rejected the bail plea of Monica Bedi, former Bollywood starlet and companion of mobster Abu Salem, after she failed to produce the original passport documents.

"The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has asked us to clarify with the Supreme Court whether she can be released with an affidavit saying she lost her passport. We will go to the Supreme Court on Friday and once they give us a green signal, we will come back here," Prem Kumar Bedi, her father, said.

Monica said she lost her passport five years ago.

She was absolved by a Bhopal court in a fake passport case as the police had failed to produce adequate witnesses against her. She faces similar charges in Hyderabad too.

Earlier, Prem Kumar Bedi, who arrived here Thursday from Norway to complete formalities for her bail, had urged police to provide her security from jail to the airport.

Prem Kumar said his daughter required security saying she faced threat from 'some people'.

The Supreme Court in May this year had granted bail to Monica in a fake passport case but she could not be released due to a similar case pending against her in Bhopal. However, the order by a Bhopal court acquitting her in the second case cleared the way for her release.

Monica, who was brought here Wednesday night by the New Delhi-Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh Express, was taken straight to the Chanchalguda central jail.

She was convicted Sep 29 last year in a fake passport case here and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, which was later reduced to two years by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. She was away in Bhopal for nine months facing trial in a similar case there.

Monica has already announced her plans to return to films if she is released. When asked about her plans, Prem Kumar said he did not know anything about it. "She has to take a decision to act in films or not," he told reporters.

Prem Kumar, a businessman, was elated on her daughter's acquittal. "The entire family is happy. She is innocent and this is proved by the court verdict," he said.

Three former government employees were also sentenced to three years imprisonment last year along with Bedi for helping her acquire a passport under a fictitious name in 2001 by furnishing a false residential address at Kurnool town in Andhra Pradesh.

Bedi was extradited from Portugal Nov 11, 2005, along with Abu Salem. She was brought to Hyderabad the same day.

Divorces on the rise in India

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) Divorce rates are increasing in India, as per Indian Court figures. And this societal tendency is available not simply among the wealthy in large cities but too among the not the higher class in tiny towns. The Indian capital leads with the highest amount of divorces in the nation, with much than 8,000-9,000 cases every year, followed by Mumbai and Bangalore where the figures have doubled in the previous decade, hovering between 4,000 and 5,000.

Kolkata and Chennai, the bastions of tradition, are also not far behind with a significant rise of 200 percent in such cases, according to data compiled from various state courts and the Crime Records Bureau.

Punjab and Haryana, both agricultural states, have seen an increase of 150 percent. Kerala, with the most literate people and the land of Gulf money, recorded an increase of 350 percent in the last 10 years.

Earlier divorces were limited to the affluent upper class in cities. But in the last decade, more and more middle and lower-middle class couples have been coming out of their shells to escape the pains of a discordant family.

"A study of recent trends showed that such cases are significantly rising in small towns and semi-urban areas. Many young couples, particularly women, have been filing petitions for separation, which was unheard of in the 1970s," said Supreme Court Advocate K.K. Patel.

With the courts in cities and metropolises flooded with squabbling couples, the government has created the Crime Against Women cells and Matrimonial Courts to look into such complaints.

Sunil Mittal, a psychologist, believes that "the nuclear family structure, modern lifestyle and professional tensions may be behind the phenomenal increase in marital discord".

In order to give special attention to and expedite such cases, five matrimonial courts headed by an additional sessions judge have been set up in the capital.

Many states, including Delhi, have set up marriage bureaus where counselling is done to encourage reconciliation.

The judge of a matrimonial court said there used to be one to two cases in the 1960s, 100-200 in 1980s, about 1,000 in 1990s, but now it has increased to about 9,000 cases per annum.

"The growing cases of dowry deaths, bride burning and cruelty towards women are convincing parents that a divorced daughter is not unwelcome in their homes even though earlier a great degree of social stigma was attached to it," said lawyer Namita Roy.

"Dowry harassment apart from incompatibility and adultery are probably the most common reasons stated in petitions filed by the younger generation seeking divorce."

Nowadays many young highly educated working couples go for agreements to separate rather than fight it out for years.

In court, even if there's a petition for separation on mutual consent, the legal separation for a Hindu - also Parsi and Sikh - couple takes about one year, including the six-month mandatory gestation period allowing the duo for reconciliation.

If a petition is moved jointly under Section 13-B (1) of the Hindu Marriage Act and affidavits are filed by both mentioning that they had been living separately without a physical relationship for a year, the court would grant the divorce after six months.

Muslims and Christians, however, come under separate laws with the Muslim man having the upper hand due to the instrument of 'triple talak' as an easy way of divorce and the Christian man allowed to file the adultery of his wife as a valid reason.

- IANS

Government seeks transfer of canal project pleas to Supreme Court

New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) The central government Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of various petitions pending in the Madras High Court against the execution of the ambitious Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) off India's southern coast.

Taking note of the government's transfer petition, a bench of Justices B.N. Agarwal and P.P. Naolekar ordered its listing for hearing Tuesday along with two other petitions against the project pending with the bench.

The bench ordered the listing of the government's petition after Additional Solicitor General R. Mohan apprised it about its filing.

On behalf of the government, the petition was filed by state-run Sethusamudram Corporation Limited that has been entrusted with the task of executing the project.

Sethusamudram envisages a shorter navigational sea route around India's southern peninsula by dredging the peak of Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge between India and Sri Lanka.

India, despite having a peninsular coast of 7,517 km with 12 major ports and 185 medium and minor ports, does not have continuous a navigational sea route around its peninsula through its own territorial waters owing to the existence of the shallow undersea ridge at depth of 1.5 to 3.5 metre, known as Adam's Bridge.

The ships calling at Indian ports on the east coast have to go around Sri Lanka entailing an additional distance of 254 to 424 nautical miles and an additional time of 18 to 30 hours. The project was envisaged 150 years ago, but was cleared by the central government in 2005.

Some Hindus, however, believe Adam's Bridge to Ram Setu, mentioned in epic Ramayana, and believed to be built by Lord Ram's army of monkeys and bears to cross over to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita.

Some environmentalists have also objected to the project.

Janata Party president Subramanyam Swamy and Chennai-based organisation Hindu Munnai's president Rama Gopalan had moved the Madras High Court seeking directions to the government to declare Adam's Bridge as a protected site of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Arguing that they were not against the execution of the project, Swamy and Gopalan through their petitions wanted to know from the government if it was possible that Adam's Bridge could be dredged only across its limited stretch.

On the petitions by them, the high court has issued notices to the ASI and the central government, seeking their replies before July 23, the next date of hearing of the petitions.

Meanwhile, the apex court is to hear here July 17, several other petitions challenging the execution of the prestigious project.

Supreme Court halts Ujjain professor's murder trial

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday halted the murder trial of Ujjain professor H.S. Sabharwal in a Madhya Pradesh court on a petition by his son seeking its transfer to Delhi alleging that it was not being conducted fairly.

A bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice D.K. Jain issued the notice to the Madhya Pradesh government on a petition by the professor's son Himanshu Sabharwal.

After hearing the petitioner's counsel, the bench halted the trial and issued notice to the state government, wondering, "if they had made mockery of the justice".

In his petition, Himanshu expressed the apprehension that he would not get justice in the state as the trial was being conducted to "give a clean chit to the accused persons" who happen to be youth wing leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Professor Sabharwal, a 61-year-old teacher at Ujjain's Government Madhav Inter College, was badly beaten allegedly by a group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leaders during the student union election on Aug 28 last year.

Himanshu told the court that his father succumbed to his injuries right there in the college in front of over 70 policemen, including officers of the rank of assistant superintendent of police and a local magistrate, deployed in the college on poll duty.

He said the police officers turned a blind eye to the incident and even refused to promptly register a case of murder after his father died of the beatings.

Accusing the policemen of carrying out a shoddy probe into the case, Himanshu alleged that the trial was not being conducted fairly in the state.

Despite several of the crucial witnesses retracting from their original statements, he said the Ujjain trial court had refused to declare them hostile, which would have an adverse effect on the trial.

Himanshu's counsel pointed out several other lacunae in the ongoing trial, prompting the court to issue notice to the state government.

Ban on rickshaws challenged before Supreme Court

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday issued notices to the central and Delhi governments among others on a petition challenging a Delhi High Court order banning rickshaws in Chandni Chowk in the old walled city area and other arterial roads.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran issued the notices also to the city police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on a petition by non-governmental organisation, Initiatives for Transportation and Developmental Programmes.

The NGO challenged the high court's Oct 16, 2006, order banning the movement of rickshaws in Chandni Chowk and nearby arterial roads.

Banning the rickshaws, Justice Kailash Gambhir had said in his order: "If the cycle rickshaws are allowed on arterial roads, meant for motorized vehicles, it would not only affect smooth flow of traffic but also create congestion, resulting in long traffic jams and wastage of fuel."

"The rickshaw pullers for their own safety and for the safety of commuters cannot be allowed to ply their cart on arterial roads," Justice Gambhir had said.

The NGO, however, challenged the order, arguing that, "the order portrays a picture as if rickshaws are some sort of menace, which is contrary to the facts".

"Various technical researches show that rickshaws are virtually indispensable for a majority of commuters of Delhi as an efficient, effective and low cost means of transportation for short distances," the NGO said in its petition.

It also pointed out that the Delhi Traffic Police, the statutory authority to control traffic in the capital, had earlier made a proposal to regulate traffic in Chandni Chowk without banning the rickshaws as they had found them indispensable.

The NGO contended that regulating traffic in the city is a technical matter and the high court cannot take a decision on it.

Pointing out the "social impact of banning rickshaws", the NGO said there are over 800,000 rickshaws, employing over a million people, who "would lose their jobs and be driven to penury and destitution".

"Rickshaws pulling is a preferred choice for unskilled people, especially migrants, as it does not require huge investment, the work timings are flexible, is less strenuous than industrial or construction work and is reasonably well-paid," the petitioner argued.

NRI husband loses custody of test tube baby

Kolkata, July 11(IANS) A non-resident Indian (NRI) settled in Pittsburg, US has been restrained by the Calcutta high court from taking custody of his 17-month-old child born through artificial insemination.

Debashish Mukherjee, the NRI, and his wife Adrija are locked in a divorce battle in a Pennsylvania court in the US. The husband had filed several proceedings in the US court, one of which was seeking custody of the child.

On Tuesday, Justice Indira Banerjee of Calcutta high court refused to grant the custody of the child to Debashish and handed him over to Adrija on a petition by her.

"In custody disputes arising out of matrimonial issues, the interest of the child is of paramount importance. This order restrains the husband, Debashish Mukherjee, from taking away the child from the lawful custody of the mother," Justice Banerjee observed.

Debashish had married Adrija on January 15, 2001, and the couple left for the US a month later. It was from then that Debashish started torturing her physically and mentally, Adrija alleged in her petition before the court. She claimed that Debashish even refused to cohabit with her.

She said when she expressed her desire to have a baby, Debashish refused but finally agreed to donate his sperm.

Following artificial insemination, Adrija gave birth to a boy in January 2006. But her husband refused to bear the expenses of the child and did not turn up at his annaprashan (rice eating ceremony of the child) in Kolkata, she said.

When she went back to the US, the torture started again, Adrija alleged.

Adrija was forced to obtain a protection order from a Pennsylvania court and return to India on May 22, 2007.

Once in Kolkata, she tried to get in touch with her in-laws but they allegedly assaulted her and her parents when she went to their home. Finally, she lodged a complaint at the local police station and moved the high court.

After hearing both the parties, the court observed that a case moved in the US was of little relevance as the marriage was solemnised in India under the Hindu Special Marriage Act and restrained Debashish or his family from taking custody of the child till further orders.

- IANS

Chhattisgarh to move court against Jogi's son acquittal

Raipur, July 9 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Chhattisgarh government will appeal in the state high court against the acquittal of Congress leader Ajit Jogi's son in a four-year-old murder case.

According to government sources, the state's law department has decided to move the high court - based in Bilaspur - at the earliest to challenge the May 31 verdict of a lower court in the June 4, 2003, murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state unit treasurer Ramavtar Jaggi.

The district and sessions court judge (atrocities) B.L. Tidke convicted 28 of the 29 people accused in the murder, awarding life imprisonment to 19. Amit Jogi, 30, the son of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, was the lone person acquitted.

Among those convicted were four close aides of the Jogi family and three policemen, including a city superintendent of police who was jailed for five years.

"The law department has told the Advocate General to move the high court against Amit Jogi's acquittal. The government will do its best to ensure that Amit be brought to book and the deceased's family gets justice," a senior government official told IANS Monday.

Satish Jaggi, the slain leader's son, had named Ajit Jogi and his son Amit as prime suspects in a police complaint filed within an hour of the killing at the crowded Maudhapara locality in the heart of the city.

The BJP government, which came to power in December 2003, handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January 2004 following which Amit was arrested in June 2005 in New Delhi.

He spent 10 months in Raipur Central Jail. He was released on bail by the high court and re-arrested on May 2 this year after the Supreme Court set aside his bail.

The CBI filed a charge sheet here at a special court against dozens of people, including Amit, describing him as the "mastermind of the murder plot".

According to sources, the CBI too plans to challenge Amit's acquittal in the high court. The Jaggi family has also said it would approach the high court to ensure that Amit is convicted.

- IANS

Rajasthan court expected to hear Mohanty plea Friday

Jaipur, July 5 (IANS) A lower court here is likely to hear Friday Orissa's senior police official B.B. Mohanty's plea converting a non-bailable warrant against him into a bailable one.

Mohanty's application said that the Rajasthan police had June 6 submitted an appeal based on false and fabricated facts in the court under Section 25 of the Police Act.

"We filed the application with the court a few days back and the court is likely to hear it on Friday," P.C. Pradeep Sharma, Mohanty's advocate, told IANS here Thursday.

Orissa Director General of Police Mohanty is facing charges of helping his son, Biti Hotra Mohanty, escape from jail as he had given surety for his parole. Bitty, convicted of raping a German tourist in Alwar, was sentenced to seven years in jail. He had gone on parole in November 2006 but did not return.

The advocate said Mohanty wants to provide his full cooperation to the state police in the inquiry but the investigating official was trying to arrest him by presenting "false and misleading facts".

"After considering the case diary it would become clear to the court that Mohanty's case is not a non-bailable offence," Sharma said.

Mohanty's petition says that Section 225 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) clearly states that an offence is non-bailable when a person helps a convict, given life sentence or 10 years in jail or death sentence, escape.

If a convict has been sentenced for less number of years than that, the person helping the accused in escaping does not come under the category of non-bailable offence, the lawyer said.

Such cases come under Section 225(B) and are bailable offences, he added.

The court had on June 8 issued a bailable warrant against Biti and arrest warrant against his father and had given police time till July 7 to carry out the orders.

Dabur sues to defend Chyawanprash, Hajmola in Nepal

Kathmandu, July 4 (IANS) Dabur Nepal, a wholly owned subsidiary of FMCG giant Dabur India and Nepal's largest exporter, has gone to court to defend one of its most popular products, Dabur Chyawanprash, and its "digestive tablet" Hajmola.

Chyawanprash, widely used in India and Nepal, is an ayurvedic tonic made of nearly 40 herbs. It is said to improve digestion, bolster the immunity system, aid longevity and fight depression.

Six Indian companies are among the best-known manufacturers of Chyawanprash, of which Dabur Chyawanprash dominates the Nepal market.

Both Dabur Chyawanprash and Dabur Hajmola are certified as ayurvedic medicines by Nepal's Department of Drugs Administration (DDA) and are therefore exempt from paying VAT.

However, last month, Nepal's Department of Taxation informed the company that the two products were not medicines and would therefore have to pay VAT.

Officials at the department told IANS they had not yet reached a decision whether they would ask the Indian company to pay VAT on the two products from a future date or from the time they began to be marketed in Nepal.

However, Dabur Nepal's contention is that it is the DDA that has the authority to determine whether a product is a medicine or not and Dabur Chyawanprash and Hajmola have been licensed by it to be sold as ayurvedic medicines.

Since they are licensed as ayurvedic medicines, Dabur Chyawanprash and Hajmola advertisements - starring Bollywood don Amitabh Bachchan - have to undergo additional trouble and expense, getting the approval of the DDA before being released in Nepal.

Dabur Nepal has now gone to Nepal's Supreme Court, asking for a resolution of the dispute.

If the tax authorities decide to slap VAT on the two brands since their launch in Nepal, it will complicate matters. The two products are sold at a price that doesn't include VAT and there will be no way the company can collect the tax arrears from thousands of former buyers.

At least three other Indian companies are selling their Chyawanprash brands in Nepal now. They are Vaidyanath Chyawanprash, Himani and Zandu.

However, so far, none of the three is known to have been asked to pay VAT on Chyawanprash.

If the apex court asks Dabur Nepal to pay up, it remains to be seen whether the order would be extended to the competitors and in that case, how it would affect the sale of Chyawanprash in Nepal.

While Hajmola is not a serious issue, Dabur Chyawanprash is, being one of the best-selling Dabur products in Nepal.

Dabur Nepal authorities declined to comment on the dispute, saying it was now under court jurisdiction.

Madhya Pradesh to increase security for Judges

Bhopal, July 2 (IANS) The security cover provided to judges in Madhya Pradesh is set to be beefed up following a rise in violent incidents in courts in the recent past.

Recently, a convict attacked a judge soon after he delivered the judgement at Begumganj in Raisen district.

Alarmed over the rise in the number of attacks on judges and violence in court premises across the state, a delegation of judges met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Saturday to voice their concern.

During the meeting, the chief minister assured the judges that their safety was one of the prime concerns of his government.

Chouhan is reported to have directed the Principal Secretary (Home) Satya Prakash to look into the matter, ensure security of the judges and post adequate security personnel in court premises.

Tamil Nadu to set up evening courts

New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Tamil Nadu is all set to establish evening courts Tuesday to tackle the problem of pending lawsuits at the trial court level.

Officials of the Department of Justice said that initially 11 evening courts would be established on experimental basis. The state will set up four evening courts in Chennai, two each in Coimbatore and Tirunelveli and one each in Salem, Madurai and Tirucharapalli. The courts would function from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If the trial proves successful, more evening courts will be set up in consultation with the Madras High Court.

Last November, Gujarat, with around four million pending criminal and civil cases, became the first state in the country to establish evening courts on an experimental basis. The experiment is showing promising results.

With around 62 courts established by it since Nov 15, 2006, Gujarat has been able to dispose of around 62,000 pending cases of petty criminal and civil nature.

Officials said that following Gujarat's example, the Tamil Nadu courts will also be manned by the sitting judicial or metropolitan magistrate on incentive basis and dispose of the petty criminal and civil litigation where the punishment is limited to imposition of fine.

A three-judge committee of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice Dharmarao Elipe, Justice A.C. Arumugaperumal Adityan and Justice M. Jayapual will monitor the functioning of the evening courts.

As per June 2006 figures, the state had a total backlog of 874,938 cases pending at trial court level. In some states, the figure is reaching the five million mark, according to ministry officials.

Uttar Pradesh has a backlog of 4.74 million cases. Maharashtra has a backlog of 3.32 million cases in its lower courts, West Bengal has 1.9 million, Bihar 1.2 million, Karnataka 1.08 million and Rajasthan 1.05 million.

Law ministry officials said they hoped that more states would emulate Gujarat's evening court experiment to curb the rising backlog of cases at the trial court level.

The concept of evening courts was first mooted at the conference of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts in New Delhi last April.

Ex. MLA Gets 10 Years RI for Kidnapping

Gaya, Jun 22 Former legislator Rajendra Yadav was today sentenced to ten years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 by the fast track court here on chage of kidnapping two people in 2005.

Pronouncing the judgement, Fast Track court judge Vinay Kant Jha said in case of non-payment of the fine,the convict would have to serve five more years in prison.

According to the case, Yadav was charged with kidnapping of two people - Lal Bahadur Yadav and Mithilesh Paswan- from Sarina village under Nimchak police station area of the district during the state assembly elections two years ago.

Later,the convict's lawyer said they would soon appeal to the Patna High Court against today's judgement.

Six convicted in 1999 Bengal train accident

Kolkata, June 22 (IANS) A West Bengal court Friday convicted six railway personnel for negligence of duty that led to one of the worst train disasters in the world in August 1999 at Gaisal, killing about 400 people.

The Islampur court of North Dinajpur district in north Bengal convicted the six charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for dereliction of duty leading to the collision of Assam Awadh Express and the Brahmaputra Mail.

They were sentenced for two years and fined Rs.11,500 each by the Islampur court judge A. Bhattacharya.

The six railway employees are Kishangunge (Bihar) assistant station master S.P. Chandra, Kishangunge cabin man Mohammed Jalaluddin, Awadh Assam Express guard Bidyananda Chowdhury, Panjipara (West Bengal) cabinman Dulal Chandra Gupta, Panjipara assistant station master Ramnarayan Singha and Kishangunge pointman Jagdishram.

The train disaster occurred Aug 1, 1999 when the two trains carrying 2,500 people collided at the station of Gaisal, located on the Bihar-Bengal border and about 500 km from Kolkata.

The crash, which occurred at about 1.30 a.m., was so severe that the trains actually exploded on collision, killing at least 400 people.

The Brahmaputra Mail from Dibrugarh in Assam, packed with soldiers and security men heading for border regions, had been transferred onto the same track as the Awadh Assam Express from New Delhi due to a signalling error.

The Brahmaputra Mail crashed headlong into the front of the stationary Awadh Assam Express. The engine of the Awadh Assam Express waPublish Posts flung into the air, and passengers from both trains were hurled into neighbouring buildings and fields by the force of the explosion.

A CBI inquiry was ordered and found the six guilty of negligence.

Indo-Asian News Service

Lawsuit against Dhoni's swimming pool

Ranchi, June 20 (IANS) Indian vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's plans to build a swimming pool in his new home seem to have got into fresh trouble with his neighbours after they filed a public interest suit against its construction on grounds that it would add to the colony's water woes.
Residents of Harmu Housing Colony here filed a PIL in the Jharkhand High Court Tuesday, pleading that the pool's construction be halted. They have also questioned the manner in which the Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA) passed the building plans of the house and the pool.

They had earlier petitioned the RRDA and Jharkhand chief secretary in this regard.

Last week, a team of experts had given a clean chit to the pool in their report submitted to RRDA. It said "there would not be any wastage of water by constructing the swimming pool".

However, the first report submitted by the experts earlier this month had been turned down by the Urban Development Department (UDD), which sought a second report on the technical details.

The PIL also alleges that laws were violated while passing the blueprints of the pool and the adjoining house in the colony.

"The building plans of Dhoni's house was passed in just one day. The RRDA overlooked the technical aspects before clearing it. There is a survey report that Harmu Housing Colony faces a water crisis," said one of the petitioners.

The residents have alleged that the swimming pool will need 400,000 gallons of water which will lead to a water scarcity in the neighbourhood.

The Jharkhand government had gifted the 5,000 square feet plot in Harmu Housing Colony to Dhoni in November 2005.

Dhoni is presently in Britain with the Indian cricket team.

Court issues summons to Ansal brothers

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) A Delhi court Tuesday ordered the city's leading builders Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal to appear before it to explain their alleged attempts to stop a campaign for justice to the victims of the 1997 Uphaar theatre fire tragedy.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau issued summons to the Ansal brothers and their two employees, Praveen Sharma and Deepak Kathpalia, asking them to appear before her July 9.

Lau issued summons to the four on a complaint by Association of Uphar Tragedy Victims president Neelam Krishnamurthy that she was abused and threatened by the two employees on May 10 after a hearing in a case involving "criminal culpability and murderous lapses" of the Ansal brothers leading to the tragedy, in which 59 people were killed and hundreds other injured on June 13, 1997.

Krishnamurty lost her two children in the fire accident.

In her complaint, she said the two employees began taking her photographs on their mobile phones after she emerged out of the court of Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal in the Patiala House court premises, where the trial of the case is underway.

She said in her complaint that as she objected to being photographed by them, they began "abusing her in filthy language" and threatened her with dire consequences for following the trial of the case.

Krishnamurthy also cited in her complaint some past incidents of such harassments by the Ansals.

Court asks Economic Offences Wing to probe human smuggling case

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Upset over the Delhi Police making little headway in probing the role of some parliamentarians in a human smuggling racket, a Delhi court Tuesday ordered the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the police to take over the case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Kamini Lau asked the EOW to take over the case, saying: "The case also involves creation of fictitious business establishments to facilitate huge transaction of money."

"The case needs to be investigated by a specialised investigative agency like Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police," said Lau, ordering that a copy of her order be sent to Delhi Police Commissioner K.K. Paul.

Lau passed the order after Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sanjay Tyagi appeared before her to explain the Delhi Police's alleged inaction in booking the MPs reportedly involved, including Mitrasen Yaday of Bahujan Samaj Party.

The human smuggling racket involving Bharatiya Janata Party MP Babubhai Katara came to light April 18, when he was held while trying to smuggle out a woman and a boy to Toronto on his family's diplomatic passport.

Betel shop owner Sunderlal Yadav, travel agent Santu Mashi and trainer Kiran Dhar who used to educate women how to behave with the MPs while flying abroad posing as their wives or relatives were also arrested.

Lau had summoned a senior police officer Monday after the investigating officer of the case failed to explain why the police had not booked Mitrasen Yadav.

Tyagi sought to assure Lau that "the police was working hard to procure some concrete evidence before laying its hand on the other MPs".

He said, "the police has gathered several documents from various Indian embassies and was examining them to see if some concrete evidence exists against the other MPs."

The explanation by the police prompted Lau to ask, "Or, are you scared (of booking MPs)?" The police denied the suggestion.

While objecting to Kiran Dhar's bail plea Monday, Additional Public Prosecutor Satinder Kaur Baweja had told Lau that accused Rajender Kumar Gumpa, private secretary of suspended BJP MP Katara and Kiran Dhar along with BSP MP Mitrasen Yadav had forged the memorandum of association (MoA) of a company, Frigero Conserva Allana Ltd.

She told the court that the company, during the probe, however, denied that these people had any role in its affairs.

They appeared to have forged the company documents to enhance the personal profiles of the prospective emigrants to facilitate the issuance of visa to them, police said.

It was on this revelation about MP Yaday that Lau asked the investigating officer Monday as to what steps police has taken against the MP. As the investigating officer failed to satisfy the court's query, a senior police officer was summoned by it to explain the situation.