Public Servants unpunished
S.O.S e - Clarion Of Dalit - Weekly Newspaper On Web
Working For The Rights & Survival Of The Oppressed
Editor: NAGARAJA.M.R… VOL.9 issue.35…… .02/09/2015
When a Judge Himself Commits Crime , When a POLICE Himself robs , Murders ….
In the rape case of Ms.Nirbhaya committed last year in New Delhi , all the accussed were from lower middle class background. So , the whole society , media , police raised voiced against them and the guilty were rightly prosecuted.
But take the recent case of Supreme Court Judges accussed of sexual offences Mr. A . S. GANGULY , Mr. SWATHANTER KUMAR or DGP SPS Rathore involved in Ruchika case or some some Ministers , MLAs , MPs, the media , society , police & Prosecuting judges are biased towards the accussed. Because the accussed are rich & mighty , belong to ruling elite class.
Are not the laws & it’s enforcements fair , equitable , just and same for one & all ?
The public servants & the government must be role models in law abiding acts , for others to emulate & follow. if a student makes a mistake it is excusable & can be corrected by the teacher. if the teacher himself makes a mistake , all his students will do the same mistake. if a thief steals , he can be caught , legally punished & reformed . if a police himself commits crime , many thieves go scot-free under his patronage. even if a police , public servant commits a crime , he can be legally prosecuted & justice can be sought by the aggrieved.
just think , if a judge himself that too apex court of the land itself commits crime - violations of RTI Act , constitutional rights & human rights of public and obstructs the public from performing their constitutional fundamental duties , what happens ?
it gives a booster dose to the rich & mighty , those in power , criminals in public service to commit more crimes. that is exactly what is happening in india. the educated public must raise to the occasion & peacefully , democratically must oppose this criminalization of judiciary , public service. then alone , we can build a RAM RAJYA OF MAHATMA GANDHI'S DREAM.
I have shown in the following attachment how justice is bought , purchased , manipulated in INDIA with actual cases. Just see the recent examples of supreme court judges involved in sexual assault case & ROOST Resort Mysore Sex scandal involving judges , if any ordinary fellow had committed the same crimes he would have been hauled over the coal fire. Just take another recent example of Prisoner Movie actor sanjay dutt , TADA provisions were diluted by the judge to favour him and now he is getting parole week after week while the ordinary convicts never get a single parole throught their sentence. What Brilliant Judges , what brilliant police sirji.
Editorial : Hang Rapist Judges to Lamp Posts - JUDGES & SEXUAL CRIMES
At the outset , we express our whole hearted respects to the honest few public servants
in public service including judiciary & Police. However, the corrupt in public service don’t deserve
respect as individuals – as they are parasites in our legal system. Still we respect the
chairs they occupy but not the corrupt individuals.
All the following articles / issues , past cases of sexual assaults on women by judges (hushed up ?) , whole articles published in the weblinks mentioned
below forms part of this appeal. The term “JUDGE” mentioned throught includes all public
servants discharging judicial functions right from taluk magistrates , quasi-judicial
officers to Chief Justice of India.
Indian Legal / Judicial System is manipulated at various stages & is for sale. It is a SHAME.
The persons who raise their voice seeking justice are silenced in many ways. The
criminal nexus has already attempted to silence me in many ways . If anything untoward
happens to me or to my family members , my dependents , Honourable Chief Justice of
India together with jurisdictional police officer will be responsible for it.
Hereby, we do once again offer our conditional services to the honourable supreme court
of India & other government authorities, in apprehending criminals including corrupt
judges & police. Herewith , we once again appeal to the honourable supreme court of
India , to consider this as a PIL Appeal in public interest.
Consider the cases of sexual assault by JUDGES , POLICE on women . The JUDGES
have legal immunity with respect to their official duties, official actions but not their
individual actions amounting to CRIMES.
The public servants & the government must be role models in law abiding acts , for others
to emulate & follow. if a student makes a mistake it is excusable & can be corrected by
the teacher. if the teacher himself makes a mistake , all his students will do the same
mistake. if a thief steals , he can be caught , legally punished & reformed . if a police
himself commits crime , many thieves go scot- free under his patronage. even if a police ,
public servant commits a crime , he can be legally prosecuted & justice can be sought by
the aggrieved. just think , if a judge himself that too of apex court of the land itself
commits crime - violations of RTI Act , constitutional rights & human rights of public and
obstructs the public from performing their constitutional fundamental duties , what
happens ? it gives a booster dose to the rich & mighty , those in power , criminals in
public service to committ more crimes. that is exactly what is happenning in india. the
educated public must raise to the occassion & peacefully , democratically must oppose
this criminalisation of judiciary , public service. then alone , we can build a RAM RAJYA OF MAHATMA GANDHI'S DREAM.
Hereby , we request the honourable court to reopen all hushed up old cases of sexual assault involving judges and to punish the guilty judges.
Panel names former India Supreme Court judge Ganguly in sex harassment allegation
Shocked, shattered by allegations: former Supreme Court judge Ganguly
New Delhi: A three-member panel that probed the charge of sexual harassment of a young lawyer by a Supreme Court judge has submitted its report, identifying the judge as A K Ganguly, court sources said on Friday.
The report was submitted on Thursday after the committee of three judges met six times. This is the first time an alleged perpetrator has been named.
The report, submitted to Chief Justice P Sathasivam, also carries the statements of the victim, who interned in the Supreme Court, and that of the now-retired Justice Ganguly, the sources said.
The graduate of Kolkata-based National University of Judicial Sciences (NUJS) had alleged sexual harassment by Ganguly while interning for him in December 2012.
The committee, which held six sittings on November 13, 19, 21, 26, and 27, submitted its report to Chief Justice Sathasivam on November 28.
The victim appeared before the committee on November 19 and was expected to appear again on November 21 but chose to stay away.
She first mentioned the incident in a blog for Journal of Indian Law and Society on November 6 and later told the same in an interview with Legally India website.
The victim, who is working with Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and Environment, said she heard that there were three other girls besides her who were sexually harassed by the same judge.
She also claimed to have knowledge of four more girls who were allegedly harassed by other judges in their chambers.
Denying any sexual harassment, Ganguly on Friday said he was “shocked and shattered” by the charges against him.
“I am denying everything. I have told the committee that all the allegations levelled by the intern are wrong. I don’t know how such allegations have been levelled against me,” he said.
“I am a victim of situations,” he told television channels.
“I am not ashamed of anything,” he said in reply to a question regarding the alleged episode which came out in public after the victim spoke about it in the legal portal earlier this month.
He said the charges against him were totally wrong. The girl had not raised any sexual harassment issue with him, he said, adding that he had not done any physical harm to her.
The former judge said the intern worked with him though she was not officially allocated to him. She came in the place of another intern who had gone abroad after marriage. “I never put up a poster. She came on her own.”
He said the girl had come to his house on a number of occasions in connection with work.
sexual harassment: Intern moves SC for inquiry against Justice Swatanter Kumar
New Delhi: A former law intern, who has made sexual harassment allegations against Justice Swatanter Kumar, today moved the Supreme Court seeking inquiry against the retired judge.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, before whom the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing, agreed to take up the case on January 15.
The intern, in the petition, challenged the apex court's December 5, 2013 full court resolution in which it was decided that no complaint against its retired judges will be entertained.
The petitioner also submitted that a proper forum be constituted to conduct inquiry in such cases and her complaint be also looked into by the apex court like it was done in the case of sexual harassment allegations against Justice (retd) A K Ganguly.
The intern has made Justice Kumar, Secretary General of the Supreme Court and Union of India parties in the case.
She submitted that Justice Kumar was a sitting judge at the time of the alleged incident and the apex court must look into the complaint as per Vishaka guidelines.
Justice Kumar, who is currently heading the National Green Tribunal, has described the allegations as "incredulous and false" and "some kind of conspiracy".
IB confirms Mysore Roost Resort sex scandal
The Intelligence Bureau has provided the Centre with a detailed account of the escapade
involving three Karnataka High Court judges on November 3 in a resort on the outskirts of
Mysore, highly placed sources told The Times of India on Friday.
According to a senior official, “Most of the information sought has not only confirmed the veracity
of the incident but the government has crosschecked it with another police agency. Both the
reports match.”
The incident was widely reported in the media. What has surprised the Centre is the “dogged
refusal” of the Karnataka police to confirm the incident. “Mysore Police Commissioner C.
Chandrasekhar first denied that the incident ever took place. Only when a public notice was
issued through the high court registrar seeking information on the Mysore scandal, did the facts
come out in the open. Public protest helped a lot,” says the source.
What transpired at the resort, says the source, “cannot be expected from anyone in civil society,
leave alone persons sworn to upholding the law”. According to him, “The IB report consists of
unmentionable facts and also makes it amply clear that the Mysore incident is not the first time
such things have happened. Can anyone expect upholders of the law to pick a fight with people
who complained to the police when caught in a compromising position?”
In a related development, Karnataka High Court Chief Justice N.K. Jain has written to Chief
Justice of India Justice G.B. Pattanaik asking that three judges be transferred. Jain has proposed
that Justice N.S. Veerabhadraiah be transferred to the Patna High Court, Justice
Chandrasekharaiah to Jammu & Kashmir and Justice V. Gopala Gowda to the Gauhati High
Court.
While Jain is understood not to have given any reasons, highly placed sources say the proposal
for transfers is linked to the Mysore incident.
However, the source says that now the government is worried about the appropriate “remedial
measures”. In such cases, transferring a judge to a remote high court doesn’t always work. He
says, “Bar associations and the people of northeastern states were up in arms when some
judges of the Punjab and Haryana high courts were transferred there. We expect similar protests
if the CJI accepts Justice Jain’s proposal to transfer the three judges of the Karnataka High
Court.”
The Bar Council of India on Friday, while expressing its anguish at the Karnataka incident, called
for “follow-up action”.
“Unless prompt and appropriate action is taken, it will erode the faith of public in the only
institution considered to be the bastion of our fighting faith in democracy,” it said in a statement.
The BCI has “lamented” inaction in this case by “the higher judiciary and the government”.
Read more: IB confirms Mysore sex scandal – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/IB-confirms-Mysore-sexscandal/articleshow/29801662.cms#ixzz1B7PtvFdU ,
Nothing but the truth
By Indira Jaising
A midst the rising din of the demand for death penalty for rapists comes the news that three judges of the Karnataka High Court have been involved in what has come to be described as a 'sex scandal' on the outskirts of Mysore at a place called Roost Resorts.
Our attention is now directed to those who dispense justice rather than those who knock at the doors of justice. In both cases, we are talking about the use and abuse of women — those who are victims of sexual abuse, and those who are used as sexual objects, willingly or unwillingly.
After the reports in local newspapers that three high court judges were found with women at a resort, there was the usual crop of denials. Although the Mysore police were called in to settle a brawl, on being told that the persons in question were judges they said that they heard no evil and saw no evil.
And everyone thought the matter ended there.
Attempts to get the names of the judges or of the women in question drew a blank. The bar association also drew a blank as most people said, "Don't quote me… but…"
On November 30, the Bangalore edition of The Times of India published a front-page story giving the names and photographs of the three judges and confirming that the Intelligence Bureau had done an investigation and come to the conclusion that the incident had indeed occurred. There were still no details of the incident, though it was stated that the report has been given to the chief justice of India.
There were reports on the same day that the Karnataka High Court chief justice had sought the transfer of the three judges to Patna, Jammu and Kashmir and Guwahati. Apparently, the chief justice has agreed to this request and the transfer orders have been issued.
Then came the news that the chief justice of India has set up a committee of inquiry under the 'in-house' procedure consisting of the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the chief justice of the Madras High Court and the chief justice of the Patna High Court.
There were still no details in the press about the actual incident and the entire episode continued to be referred to as a 'sex scandal'.
What is interesting about these reports is not what they reveal, but what they conceal. It is a conspiracy of silence. If the information is now available to the chief justice of India, why is it not being made public? Do we, the public, not have the right to information? Ironically, the morning newspapers brought the news that the Freedom of Information Act has been passed. What are the legitimate limits of the right to freedom of information and the requirement of keeping information a secret? This episode would make an interesting case study.
What exactly is at stake here? There is much that should concern the nation about the incident. This is not a case about the private morality of the judges, be that as it may, but about the abuse of office that they hold. What has not been made known is that the three women in question are women lawyers practising in their courts.
What is at stake here is the pollution of the stream of justice at its very source. There must be countless cases in which these women appeared before these very judges day in and day out of their routine practice. Can one honestly say that in such a situation justice is being done "without fear or favour"? Judges swear on oath of allegiance to "bear true faith" to the Constitution and do justice "without fear or favour". How well have these judges honoured this oath?
What is at stake here is the cynical use of women as sexual commodities. The usual justifications have already begun making the rounds. If the women have not complained, what objection can anyone else have, it is asked. What is lost sight of is the fact that the judges are in a position of dominance vis-à-vis the women, in a position to do favours that pertain to their office.
What is at stake here is the cynical use of public office, the seat of justice, for personal petty gain. It is irrelevant whether the women consented or not. The usual blame game will now begin — blaming the victim rather than the perpetrator; the usual loose talk about the character of the woman in question; the usual attempt to cover up by diverting attention from the actual incident to the motives of those who brought the incident to light.
What is at stake here is the perception of women as sexual commodities by those who are responsible for sitting in judgment over cases brought for and on behalf of women.
The issues at stake here concern one half of Indians. With what faith can Indian women approach the courts demanding the right to equality, the right to be free from sexual harassment or rape and the right to live with dignity, if the persecution of judges who sit in judgment over them is non-negotiable?
In the circumstances, the suggested solution is worse than the offence — to transfer them to Patna, Guwahati and Jammu and Kashmir. Why these particular cities? Are they not an integral part of the country, or are they mere islands within the country that are considered 'punishment postings' where people are sent a la 'crossing Kala Pani' of the old days? To the credit of the Guwahati Bar Association, it protested against the proposed transfer.
The only decent thing to do is for the chief justice of India to disclose full details of the incident so that rumour-mongering comes to an end. This would be in the best interest of the judiciary itself.
As things stand, the rumours are making the rounds that there were more than three judges involved, that the women were professional call girls, many of which are baseless. We, the people, have the right to know. The conspiracy of silence must be broken.
The judges in question must neither be assigned any judicial functions pending an inquiry nor be transferred to sit in judgment over others. Two of the judges are stated to be additional judges. They must not be confirmed. If there is prima facie evidence against the one remaining judge, the chief justice must recommend his impeachment.
It is time for all concerned bar associations, bar councils and other male-dominated bodies of legal professionals to act and ensure that there is no cover-up. There is little point in showing sympathy to women in judgments and in seminar rooms, or in recommending the death penalty for rape if we cannot deal with the men who dispense justice.
There are contempt of court petitions pending in the Karnataka High Court against some of the publications for disclosing details of the incident. Civil society and women's organisations must demand that justice is now done when it comes to the judges themselves.
The law of contempt can offer no solution to the crisis of credibility in the judiciary that this incident has thrown up. One positive aspect of the incident is that it is only after the chief justice of the high court issued a public notice inviting information that he received 20 representations, which led to the discovery of the truth.
Let the truth now be made public.
Judge accused of molesting 2 rape survivors in UP
A sitting judicial magistrate sexually assaulted them
UP: Two rape victims claim that a sitting judicial magistrate sexually assaulted them. The girls
alleged that when they went to the magistrate’s chamber to give their statement, he allegedly
made them strip and molested them.
One of the girls is a minor and the police have filed a complaint. The girls also claimed that the
judge threatened them to not speak of the incident to anyone.
Lawyers and the general public in Gonda launched a protest against the judge.
JUDGE SENDING OBSCENE SMS TO WOMEN
Lucknow Taking cognisance of the allegation against a civil Judge (junior division) of
Budaun court that he sent obscene SMSes to a woman lecturer, the Registrar General of
Allahabad High Court today sought a report from the district judge into the matter.
The civil judge of Gunnor sub-division court of Budaun — Pramod Kumar Gangwar— was
accused of sending obscene SMSes from his cellphone to a woman lecturer of Classic
College of Law, Bareilly. A lecturer of the same college, Vivek Gupta, was named in the FIR
lodged by the victim while Gangwar’s name surfaced in the primary investigation.
Registrar General Dinesh Gupta said, “The district judge of Budaun has been asked to
send a detailed report into the allegations. Appropriate action would be taken on the basis
of the report.”
District Judge Suresh Kumar Srivastava said, “I have asked the Bareilly district police to
send a report about the matter. The report on the basis of the police inquiry would be sent
to the Allahabad High Court Registrar General.”
“I am not aware about the matter, as the Bareilly police did not intimate me before initiating
the probe against the civil judge. They should have informed me when they had received
any such complaint,” the judge added.
Meanwhile, Bareilly CO II Raj Kumar, who is investigating the case, today recorded the
statement of the victim. “I have collected the call details of the cellphone used for sending
the SMSes, but I have yet to get the address of the person who is subscriber of the SIM
card,” he said.
“The probe is on to verify if the accused in the case were present on the location recorded
in the call details when the SMSes were sent. The details of the findings of the
investigation would be sent to the Budaun district court to seek the direction,” the CO
added.
Asked if the investigation was earlier conducted into the matter, Raj Kumar said, “The SP
(Crime) had initiated probe into the matter, but I am not aware if the investigation had
reached to any conclusion.”
The woman lecturer had lodged an FIR at the Mahila police station on Thursday alleging
she had received obscene SMSes on her cellphone involving her colleague Vivek Gupta.
The preliminary inquiry into the case by the police yesterday had found that the mobile
phone used in the crime belongs to the civil judge.
Lokayukta: DC demanded sex from widow
In the midst of a national outrage over former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore molesting a teenager,
the Karnataka Lokayukta on Saturday made a startling revelation that the state government was
shielding a top bureaucrat who had demanded sexual favours from a young widow.
Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde disclosed that the official concerned, who was the deputy
commissioner of one of the districts when he demanded sex from the widow in return for
discharging his duties as public servant, has since been promoted to a senior position.
Justice Hegde, in the course of an interaction with journalists at the Deccan Herald office
Saturday afternoon, said the unnamed widow had dared the deputy commissioner and
approached the Lokayukta’s office with a complaint against the officer.
On examination of the complaint, the Lokayukta had found sufficient grounds to recommend to
the state government the suspension and prosecution of the DC concerned. The
recommendation was subsequently considered by the concerned department head as well as
the chief secretary and both endorsed it.
But, according to Justice Hegde, no action was initiated against the DC as the same official who
had endorsed the recommendation subsequently found no basis for initiating departmental action
against him. Instead, the official cleared the DC’s name for promotion in the super-scale.
Presently, the official holds a senior position in the government.
The widow, in her late 20s, had approached the DC with a representation to sort out some
problems. But she was shocked when the DC demanded sex.
Justice Hegde did not identify the official in question or the complainant. Nor did he offer to name
the district where the official was serving as deputy commissioner. But the incident has
happened sometime in the course of last three years as Justice Hegde took over as the
Lokayukta in mid-2006.
3-year jail term for ‘dirty’ judge
Family court judge Ramrao Gangaram Bhise attempted to get sexual favours from a housewife in
1997
Family court judge Ramrao Gangaram Bhise’s attempts to extract sexual favours, in addition to a
bribe, from a housewife, Alka Gaikwad — who had sought an increase in her monthly
maintenance allowance from her estranged husband, in 1997 — proved costly to him.
Pronouncing him guilty on both counts, the special court hearing anti-corruption bureau (ACB)
matters sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment and a collective fine of Rs55, 000,
on Monday.
According to the FIR in the case registered against Bhise by the ACB, Suryakant Gaikwad had
filed for divorce from his wife, Alka, before the Bandra family court. Alka, a housewife, in turn,
filed a petition seeking mutual cohabitation with her husband. The then family court judge, Meera
Khadakkar, directed the husband to pay her an interim maintenance allowance of Rs750 per
month.
Subsequently, in January 1997, Alka filed another application before the same family court (now
presided over by Bhise) seeking to increase the monthly maintenance amount to Rs3,500. “On
October 27, 1997, Bhise issued an interim order, increasing the maintenance allowance to
Rs2,000 to be paid by Suryakan to his estranged wife till the disposal of the case. Immediately
after issuing the order, Bhise asked Alka to meet him and gave her his residential telephone
number, asking her to call him when the court hours ended. He told her that he would ask her
husband to pay her a lump sum of Rs2 lakh in addition to the monthly maintenance, provided she
called him up,” the FIR states.
When she called up the judge at 7 pm the same day, Bhise told her that she would have to pay
him a sum of Rs2,000 in addition to granting his sexual favours if she wanted an order in her
favour. He also directed her to meet him at the Haji Ali bus stop with the bribe amount the
following evening.
“Alka approached the ACB, which sought permission from the Chief Justice of the Bombay High
Court before laying a trap on the first class judicial magistrate (Bhise). The HC while granting the
permission designated a court official to bear witness to the events leading to the trap. Alka,
under video camera surveillance of ACB sleuths, along with the court official and other women
witnesses met Bhise at 8.30 pm at the Haji Ali bus stop. Bhise took hold of Alka’s wrist and when
she protested, repeated his demands,” the FIR states.
Alka was then taken to a nearby hotel, Sharda, where the judge accepted the bribe amount. But
before he could do anything else, ACB sleuths swooped in and arrested him.
Rajasthan judge is indicted for seeking sexual favours
Chief Justice of India G B Pattanaik retires tonight and he doesn’t have much to write home about
on the unprecedented drive he launched to enforce judicial accountability.
After the PPSC scam fiasco, reported in The Indian Express today, comes the case of the
Rajasthan judge who has been indicted in a sex scandal and yet has escaped action—pending
another inquiry.
On December 14, a three-judge committee set up by Pattanaik confirmed the ‘‘involvement’’ of
Justice Arun Madan of the Rajasthan High Court in a proposition to a woman doctor to have sex
with him in exchange for a judicial favour.
The committee, headed by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice B K
Roy, submitted its report to Pattanaik, indicting Madan on a complaint made from Jodhpur by the
woman concerned, Sunita Malviya.
But Pattanaik has not announced any action against Madan. When contacted by The Indian
Express, Pattanaik confirmed that the committee had indicted Madan and his ‘‘bad reputation’’ in
seeking sexual favours in return for judicial ones.
However, Pattanaik said that no action was being taken since the committee had also mentioned
allegations of corruption against Madan. And so he had ordered a further inquiry by the same
committee into the corruption charges.
When asked what he did with the indictment of Madan in the sex scandal, Pattanaik said, ‘‘That
is on hold because I could not have taken piecemeal action against him….I am praying to God
that the final report will give some tangible material to take action.’’
Highly placed sources told The Indian Express that when the committee recorded statements last
week in Jodhpur of about 30 persons over four days, it also came to know of several allegations
of corruption against Madan and another judge of the same high court. The committee put these
on record as well.
Pattanaik said that when he summoned Madan to New Delhi last week, he did not raise the sex
scandal issue and instead limited himself to saying that he was ordering a further inquiry into
corruption allegations.
In effect, Pattanaik has now passed the Rajasthan buck to his successor Justice V N Khare.
The gist of Malviya’s complaint is that Madan made a sexual proposition to her in October
through a deputy registrar of the high court, Govind Kalwani, who said that the judge would help
her, in turn, get out of a criminal case booked against her.
With this, Pattanaik’s much-touted in-house judicial accountability seems to have hit a wall. The
first committee’s report into the PPSC scam exonerated one judge despite evidence and let two
others off with a mere slap on the wrist. The third committee is now busy probing the involvement
of judges in the Mysore sex scam.
Ten reasons why criminals in khaki get away
Siddharth Varadarajan
Behind every man like S.P.S. Rathore who abuses his authority stand the generals and
footsoldiers who help and support him. We need to take them all down.
S.P.S. Rathore, the criminal former top cop of Haryana, may appear alone today but we must
never forget that he was able to get away with the sexual molestation of a young child and the
illegal harassment of her family for 19 years because he had hundreds of men who supported
him in his effort to evade justice.
The fact that these men – fellow police officers, bureaucrats, politicians, lawyers, judges, school
administrators – were willing to bend the system to accommodate a man accused of molesting a
minor speaks volumes for the moral impoverishment of our establishment and country. Decent
societies shun those involved in sexual offences against children. Even criminals jailed for
`ordinary' crimes like murder treat those serving time for molesting children as beyond the pale.
But in India, men like Rathore have their uses for their masters, so the system circles its wagons
and protects them.
The CBI's appeal may lead to the enhancement of Rathore's sentence and perhaps even the
slapping of abetment to suicide charges, since his young victim killed herself to put an end to the
criminal intimidation her family was being subjected to by Rathore and his men. But the systemic
rot which the case has exposed will not be remedied unless sustained public pressure is put on
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, two men who have
it in their power to push for simple remedies in the way the Indian law enforcement and justice
delivery system works.
First, abolish the need for official, i.e. political sanction to prosecute bureaucrats, policemen and
security forces personnel when they are accused of committing crimes. The original intent behind
this built-in stay-out-of-jail card was to protect state functionaries from acts done in the course of
discharging their duties in good faith. Somewhere along the line, this has come to mean
protecting our custodians of law and order when they murder innocent civilians (eg. the infamous
Panchalthan case in Kashmir where the trial of army men indicted by the CBI for murdering five
villagers in 2000 still cannot take place because the Central government will not grant
permission), or assault or molest women and children. No civilised, democratic society grants
such impunity. It is disgusting to see former officials and bureaucrats from Haryana saying how
they had wanted Rathore prosecuted but were prevented from doing so because of pressure.
Such officials should either be made formally to testify in a criminal case against the politicians
who so pressured them or they should themselves be hauled up for perverting the course of
justice.
Second, stop talking about how making the police and army answerable to the law will somehow
demoralise their morale. Does anybody care about the morale of ordinary citizens any more? Or
the morale of upright police and army officers, who do not think it is right for their colleagues to be
able to get away with criminal acts?
Third, bring an end to the cosy relationship between the police and politicians. Rathore was
protected by four chief ministers of Haryana. He served them and they served him by ensuring
his unfettered rise. It is absurd that the Indian Police is still governed by a colonial-era Act dating
back to 1861. A number of commissions have made recommendations for reforming the police
over the years; but no government or political party wants to give up its ability to use and misuse
the police for their own benefit
Fourth, ensure that police officers who abuse their authority and engage in mala fide
prosecutions are dismissed from service and sentenced to jail for a long period of time. Mr.
Chidambaram should use the considerable resources at his command to find out who were the
policemen involved in filing 11 bogus cases against the teenaged brother of the young girl
Rathore molested. He should then make sure criminal proceedings are initiated against all of
them. The message must go out to every policeman in the country: If you abuse the law at the
behest of a superior, you will suffer legal consequences.
Fifth, ensure that criminal charges against law enforcement personnel are fast-tracked as a
matter of routine so that a powerful defendant is not able to use his position to delay proceedings
the way Rathore did for years on end. The destruction or disappearance of material evidence in
such cases must be treated as a grave offence with strict criminal liability imposed on the
individual responsible for breaking the chain of custody.
Sixth, empower the National Human Rights Commission with teeth so that police departments
and state governments cannot brush aside their orders as happened in the Rathore case. This
would also require appointing to the NHRC women and men who have a proven record of
defending human rights in their professional life, something that is done today only in the breach.
The attitude of the Manmohan Singh government to this commission and others like the National
Commission for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Minorities is shocking. Vacancies
are not filled for months on end.
Seventh, ensure the early enactment of pending legislation broadening the ambit of sexual
crimes, including sexual crimes against children. Between rape, defined as forced penetrative
sex, and the vague, Victorian-era crime of `outraging the modesty of a woman', the Indian Penal
Code recognises no other form of sexual violence. As a result, all forms of sexual molestation
and assault short of rape attract fairly lenient punishment, of the kind Rathore got. In his case, the
judge did not even hand down the maximum sentence, citing concerns for the criminal's age.
Sadly, he did not take into account the age of the victim and neither does the IPC, which fails to
distinguish between `outraging the modesty' of an adult woman and a young child.
A draft law changing these provisions and bringing India into line with the rest of the modern
world has been pending with the NCW and Law Ministry for years. Perhaps the government may
now be shamed into pushing it through Parliament at the earliest.
Eighth, take steps to introduce a system of protection of witnesses and complainants. The fate
that the family of Rathore's young victim had to endure is testament to the fact that people who
seek justice in India do so at their own peril.
Ninth, ensure that robust interrogation techniques like narco-analysis, which are routinely used
against other alleged criminals, are also employed against police officers accused of crimes.
Tenth, the media and the higher judiciary must also turn the light inward and ask themselves
whether they were also derelict in their duty. The Rathore case did not attract the kind of constant
media attention it deserved, nor do other cases involving serving police officers accused of
crimes against women, workers, peasants and minorities. As for the upper courts, their record is
too patchy to inspire confidence. It was, after all, the high court which chose to disregard the
CBI's request for including abetment to suicide charges.
Keywords: Siddharth Varadarajan, S.P.S. Rathore, criminals, khaki, former DGP of
Haryana, custodians, sexual violence, NHRC
Porbandar judge accused of dowry harassment
A complaint has been filed against District and Sessions judge of Porbandar for allegedly
harassing his daughter-in-law for dowry, police said here on Sunday.
Darshana Dave, a native of Amreli, has filed a complaint against her husband Kinnar, father-inlaw
and district judge Arvind Dave, mother-in-law Pratibha and brother-in-law Prashant, the
police added.
Darshana married Kinnar two years ago. Her complaint says that she was harassed from the
beginning, and was even beaten up by the husband and in-laws, who were demanding Rs 10
lakh as dowry.
She has also alleged that she was thrown out of the house a few months back, and her husband
is now seeking divorce, the police said.
Amreli Superintendent of Police H R Muliyana confirmed to have received the complaint against
the judge and others. He said that action will be taken after verifying the complaint.
This is the second complaint related to dowry harassment filed against a judge in the state in the
recent past.
Earlier, a woman had filed a complaint against additional sessions judge of Jetpur after her
daughter and the judge's wife committed suicide.
Gurgaon judge to also face dowry harassment charge
Gurgaon's Chief Judicial Magistrate Ravneet Garg, booked for the murder of his wife, will also
face dowry harassment charge, police here said Monday.
Police have issued notices to the CJM's father K.K. Garg and mother Rachna Garg, who have
also been named in the dowry harassment case.
The CJM's father reached here Monday morning from Haryana's Panchkula town and contacted
police, who wanted to question him.
"We had called CJM's parents...K.K. Garg was questioned by special investigation team (SIT),"
Gurgaon Police Commissioner Alok Mittal said.
Mittal said on the basis of written complaint filed by the parents of the CJM's wife Geetanjali,
penal sections of dowry harassment and extra-marital affair were included in the FIR lodged
against the CJM Saturday.
Geetanjali, 24, bore three bullet wounds - on her chin, chest and stomach - but no bullets were
found in her body that was recovered here Thursday. The CJM's licensed firearm was found near
the body, police said.
Mittal said two bullets were seized from the scene of crime and would be sent for ballistic
examination Monday, a day after ballistic experts examined the crime spot.
"The SIT Sunday questioned two women relatives of Ravneet Garg for hours at his government
allotted house here in the Officers Colony," said Mittal.
"We have asked CJM to produce supporting evidences to prove his statement," he said.
The CJM allegedly said that his driver and domestic help may throw some light on his wife's
death.
Judge Garg's in-laws alleged that two cars were provided to the accused on his and his family's
demand. Rs.2 lakh were also delivered to him at the time of the admission of his daughters in
school in May.
Geetanjali's brother Pradeep Aggarwal Saturday lodged a first information report against Garg
and his parents, accusing them of murder.
"Ravneet and Geetanjali got married in November 2007. Everything was fine for a few years but
the attitude of Ravneet and his parents towards Geetanjali started changing after she delivered
two baby girls (now aged around four and a half and three years)," Aggarwal said in his
complaint.
He demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into his sister's murder.
Time to judge the judge
Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju’s allegation of corruption against a former additional judge of the Madras High Court and the manner in which he was protected by members of the higher judiciary as well as Tamil Nadu’s political leadership of the time is a matter of great concern with implication with regard to the independence of Indian judiciary. Justice Katju’s allegations, which come nearly 10 years too late, point an accusing finger at the Manmohan Singh government (then UPA-I) which buckled under the Tamil Nadu party’s blackmail tactics.
These serious allegations raise a doubt about the autonomy of the judges who are trusted upon to carry out their public duties and functions independent of dishonest or ideological considerations. But Justice Katju’s allegations advocate that India’s higher judiciary is in a state of deterioration. They bring into attention the vital necessity on the part of the government to pledge moves to quickly pass two important bills – the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill of 2013 and the Judges Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010.
As of now the Supreme Court of India’s collegium system, which appoints judges to the nation’s constitutional courts, has its genesis in, and continued basis resting on, three of its own judgments which are collectively known as the Three Judges Cases. Over the course of the three cases, the court evolved the principle of judicial independence to mean that no other branch of the state – including the legislature and the executive – would have any say in the appointment of judges. The court then created the collegium system, which has been in use since the judgment in the Second Judges Case was issued in 1993. There is no mention of the collegium either in the original or in successive amendments.
The government through the Constitution(120th Amendment) bill, 2013, that amends articles 124(2) and 217(1) of the Constitution of India, 1950 and establishes the Judicial Appointment Commission, on whose recommendation the President would appoint judges to the higher judiciary. The critical aspect about the new setup that the government through the amendment seeks to achieve is the composition of the Judicial Appointment Commission, the responsibility of which the amendment bill lays on the hands of Parliament to regulate by way of Acts, rules, regulations etc., passed through the regular legislative process. It establishes a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to make recommendations to the President on appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary. It empowers Parliament to pass a law providing for the composition, functions and procedures of the JAC.
The Judges Standard And Accountability Bill 2010 lay down judicial standards and provide for accountability of judges, and, establish credible and expedient mechanism for investigating into individual complaints for misbehaviour or incapacity of a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court and to regulate the procedure for such investigation; and for the presentation of an address by Parliament to the President in relation to proceeding for removal of a Judge and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
All these measures will increase accountability of Judges of the High courts and the Supreme Court thereby further strengthening the independence of the judiciary. The proposed Bill would strengthen the institution of judiciary in India by making it more accountable thereby increasing the confidence of the public in the institution It has been 67 years since India’s Independence. The three pillars of democracy the judiciary, parliament and executive are well defined under the Constitution of India and so is the separation of power of each institution. Unlike the West there is very little debate in public domain the way the Judiciary functions in our country.
The journalist, politicians, common man and even lawyers desist from open discussions regarding the appointment, transfer, alleged misconduct of some of the judges inside or outside the court room or for that matter very little is debated in public discussion even on national television about particular judgment which appears detrimental in national interest because of the fear of contempt of court.
Has the democracy matured in India? The recent poll indicators suggest that for the first time in last couple of decades the people of our country especially the youth rose above the caste politics and voted for vision, hope and aspiration for building a vibrant and strong nation which could truly be the world’s largest democracy.
India has come of age and so has the time arrived for a National debate regarding the transparency in the judicial system.
It is not the time to go into the merits of the allegation leveled by Justice Katju, or why it took him ten years to voice the matter, whether UPA or NDA led-government were responsible, what is more important is are there certain deficiencies in the present system and how we can improve upon them to instill the confidence of the people in the judicial system. Some legal experts even suggest that the manner in which the proceedings of parliament are shown live on television, the court proceedings of the high court and the apex court must be broadcasted live in order to demonstrate that ‘Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done’.
Indian police 'gang-rape woman after she fails to pay bribe'
Woman says she was attacked at a police station in Uttar Pradesh after going there to seek her husband's release
An Indian woman has said she was gang-raped by four officers at a police station, the latest in a string of sex attacks in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The woman said she was attacked when she went to the station overnight on Monday in the Hamirpur district to seek her husband's release.
"At 11.30pm when there was no one in the room the sub-inspector took me to his room and raped me inside the police station," the woman told CNN-IBN.
She filed a complaint with a senior officer on Wednesday over the attack, which allegedly occurred when she refused to pay a bribe to secure the release of her husband. Virendra Kumar Shekhar, a police official from Hamirpur, said: "The procedure will be followed. The victim has filed a complaint and the guilty will be arrested soon."
Sub-inspector Balbir Singh said a criminal case had been lodged against four officers from the station.
The case is the latest in a string of rapes and murders in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, where the chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, is under growing political pressure over his handling of law and order.
Last month, two girls, aged 12 and 14, were gang-raped and lynched in their village. They were attacked after going into a field to relieve themselves at night because they did not have a lavatory at home.
Their families refused to cut the bodies down from the tree for hours in protest, saying police had failed to take action against the attackers because the girls were from a low caste.
The prime minister, Narendra Modi, , in his first comments on the issue since the hanging of the girls sparked public outrage, on Wednesday urged all politicians to work together to protect women. Modi warned politicians against "politicising rape", saying they were "playing with the dignity of women" in his first speech to parliament since sweeping to power at last month's election.
India brought in tougher laws last year against sexual offenders after the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012, but they have failed to stem the tide of violence against women.
Also on Wednesday, a 45-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh. Her family said she had been raped and murdered. A police officer said five men were being questioned over the incident, which occurred several kilometres from her home in Bahraich district. "They [her husband and son] have alleged that the woman, before being strung up from the tree, was raped and murdered by these men," the district superintendent Happy Guptan told AFP.
Rethinking Rule Of Law In The Times Of Rape Bid On A Judge
By Samar
An attempt to rape a judge, that too in Judges’ Compound in Aligarh which remains under twenty four hour vigil of the Provincial Armed Constabulary speaks volumes about the status of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. Who will be safe on the streets when even a judge is not spared by the rapists? No one, in fact is, as evidenced by the recent spate of incidents of sexual violence against women from marginalised and dispossessed backgrounds. The gruesome gang rape and murder of two minors in Badaun, the most ghastly of them, has caused a national outrage just a few days before this incident. The brazen attack on the mother of a rape survivor in order to force her to withdraw the complaint against the accused, currently in jail, in nearby Etah was another glaring example of total collapse of rule of law in Uttar Pradesh.
Sadly, the state has never been known for maintaining even law and order, forget enforcing rule of law. It has rather had the dubious distinction of being the proverbial Bad Lands, the countryside run by might and not by rulebooks. With both political and bureaucratic leadership oscillating between the denial to dodging mode, the recent cases of sexual assaults have merely reinforced the image. Think of a Chief Minister saying that rapes were common and a Google search would return many “Badaun like incidents’. Think of his father, a former chief minister and current parliamentarian, terming rape as minor mistake. The Director General of Police of the state, however, took the crown by justifying the incidents of rape as ‘normal’ in a state of the size and population of Uttar Pradesh.
There were others, largely in the secular liberal intelligentsia of the country, who saw a political conspiracy hatched by the Hindu right behind defaming the state. They came up, rightly, with the data from the National Crime Records Bureau that shows Madhya Pradesh as the rape capital of India and raised questions over the undue scrutiny of Uttar Pradesh. The intelligentsia, unfortunately, seems to have got it wrong once again, first time being its silence on the cases where victims came from dispossessed and marginalised communities. The lack of outrage over sexual violence against women from Dalit, tribal, minorities and other such communities until the cases are really gory, as Badaun was, has led to a section of people losing faith in them, it would do better not to lose all.
The question, however, is if the failure of a state in providing security to its women can be used as an excuse to defend the total collapse of rule of law in another? Should not a single case of rape be horrifying enough for the state to wake up and fix the system? Can a state really take refuge in competitive statistics and shirk from its responsibility of maintaining law and order, at least? This is exactly where that the government of Uttar Pradesh has failed and failed absolutely. That’s not bizarre if one sees the number of criminals in it right from its ranks and files to the ministry. After all, the state has a dubious distinction of seeking the withdrawal of rape charges against a minister in ‘public interest’.
It is in this context that the rape attempt on a sitting judge must be seen as a wakeup call for both the citizenry and the state. No people can live in perpetual fear of violence against women and state's inaction will merely increase both vigilantism and control of the mobility of women in the name of safety, a dangerous thing for a democracy. Parrying away the questions over the state of governance in Uttar Pradesh is not going to serve any purpose, only bringing the criminals to justice will. The state government must ensure speedy and impartial justice to the victims and their families to restore their faith in the system.
Alleging Sexual Harassment By High Court Judge, a Junior Judge Quits
NEW DELHI: A woman additional judge in Gwalior has resigned alleging sexual harassment by a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The judge asked her to "dance to an item song" and influenced her transfer to a remote location, she has alleged in a complaint to the President, the Chief Justice of India and the Union Law Minister.
Chief Justice of India RM Lodha told NDTV on Monday morning, "I haven't received the complaint officially... once I get it I will go through the complaint. Normally we ask for a report on the complaint from the Chief Justice of the High Court. In this case, I will seek a report from the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court and take action accordingly. I will do my best for the institution."
The additional judge resigned on July 15 and wrote to the CJI and others on August 1, Friday evening. "If this is how a mother, sister and wife can be treated, who is herself no less than a judicial officer duty-bound to protect society and law, what constitutional goals are we serving?" said the woman, who ironically headed a Vishaka committee against sexual harassment.
She has alleged that the High Court judge constantly pestered her and once sent her a message through an official to "perform dance on an item song" at a function at his home. She said she excused herself saying it was her daughter's birthday.
She also alleged that when she spurned the judge's "various advances and malicious aspirations", he targeted her professionally. "The administrative judge, along with district judge and district judge (inspection), possibly made a false, frivolous, baseless and malicious reporting to the chief justice of MP and got me transferred on July 8, in the mid-academic session of my daughters to a remote place Sidhi by overruling the transfer policy of MP HC," she has complained.
She said her appeal for an eight-month extension to allow her daughter's academic year to finish was rejected and has alleged that the judge threatened to "spoil my career completely," when she pleaded against the transfer.
"I was left with no option but to resign, so, I resigned on July 15 in compelling, humiliating and disgraceful circumstances to save my dignity, womanhood, self-esteem and career of my daughter," she has written.
Former SC judge Markandey Katju alleges corruption in judiciary
New Delhi: Press Council of India Chairman and former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju has made shocking allegations of corruption in the judiciary. Katju has alleged that a District Judge in Tamil Nadu was elevated to an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court despite charges of corruption against him.
Katju has alleged that the tainted judge had been directly appointed as a District Judge in Tamil Nadu and during his career as the district judge, there were as many as eight adverse entries against him recorded by various portfolio judges of the Madras High Court.
Katju has alleged that one acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, by a single stroke of his pen, deleted all those adverse entries and consequently he became an Additional Judge of the High Court. He has said that the corrupt judge had solid support of a very important political leader of Tamil Nadu.
Katju has said that former CJI RC Lahoti made a compromise by allowing the corrupt judge to continue despite the adverse Intelligence Bureau report against him. Justice Lahoti has denied the claims saying, "Everything is a matter of record. Whatever I have done or not done is all on record with reasons. I have never done anything wrong in my life."
This was when the UPA was in power with the DMK, its ally, in power in Tamil Nadu. "This is a glaring example of political interference in the appointment of judges," Katju said.
Katju has also alleges that the former Chief Justices of India allowed the tainted judge to continue despite complaints against him.
Katju has said that as a judge was elevated to the High Court while being a District Judge, he had granted bail to that political leader.
Speaking to CNN-IBN, Katju said, "I got information when I was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court about the corruption of this judge. I wanted the Chief Justice to do an IB inquiry. I got a call from the CJI that the chargers were correct. After this two-year term as Additional Judge, he should not have got extension."
When asked why he has come up with the allegations now, Katju said, "Better late than never. It is not important if I have disclosed this now. What is important is that the information is correct."
Reacting to the allegations, former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan told CNN-IBN, "We can say so many things in hindsight without naming the judge and the political party. His (the judge in question) appointment was challenged and please read Justice Pasayat's judgement. If a judge faces charges of being close to the government, he has to be transferred out."
Women Inmates Allege Forced Sex in Jail
BENGALURU: Some wardens force women convicts to have sex with male convicts, according to a letter written from inside the Bangalore Central Prison. Signed by a group of women inmates, the letter alleges the wardens charge the men between Rs 300 and Rs 500 for the ‘service’.
A judge who found two letters in a grievances box — detailing the goings-on at the Parappana Agrahara prison — has forwarded them to the Karnataka High Court for action. The letters, copies of which have been accessed by Express, are addressed to the Chief Justice of Karnataka, and seek his intervention to end the rampant exploitation of women convicts. One of the letters lists the names of wardens and officials who send convicts to male prisoners, and extort bribes.
The women are allegedly fleeced for everything: they pay Rs 200 to Rs 300 just to meet relatives, even though the visits are legitimate.
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Editor: NAGARAJA.M.R… VOL.9 issue.35…… .02/09/2015
When a Judge Himself Commits Crime , When a POLICE Himself robs , Murders ….
In the rape case of Ms.Nirbhaya committed last year in New Delhi , all the accussed were from lower middle class background. So , the whole society , media , police raised voiced against them and the guilty were rightly prosecuted.
But take the recent case of Supreme Court Judges accussed of sexual offences Mr. A . S. GANGULY , Mr. SWATHANTER KUMAR or DGP SPS Rathore involved in Ruchika case or some some Ministers , MLAs , MPs, the media , society , police & Prosecuting judges are biased towards the accussed. Because the accussed are rich & mighty , belong to ruling elite class.
Are not the laws & it’s enforcements fair , equitable , just and same for one & all ?
The public servants & the government must be role models in law abiding acts , for others to emulate & follow. if a student makes a mistake it is excusable & can be corrected by the teacher. if the teacher himself makes a mistake , all his students will do the same mistake. if a thief steals , he can be caught , legally punished & reformed . if a police himself commits crime , many thieves go scot-free under his patronage. even if a police , public servant commits a crime , he can be legally prosecuted & justice can be sought by the aggrieved.
just think , if a judge himself that too apex court of the land itself commits crime - violations of RTI Act , constitutional rights & human rights of public and obstructs the public from performing their constitutional fundamental duties , what happens ?
it gives a booster dose to the rich & mighty , those in power , criminals in public service to commit more crimes. that is exactly what is happening in india. the educated public must raise to the occasion & peacefully , democratically must oppose this criminalization of judiciary , public service. then alone , we can build a RAM RAJYA OF MAHATMA GANDHI'S DREAM.
I have shown in the following attachment how justice is bought , purchased , manipulated in INDIA with actual cases. Just see the recent examples of supreme court judges involved in sexual assault case & ROOST Resort Mysore Sex scandal involving judges , if any ordinary fellow had committed the same crimes he would have been hauled over the coal fire. Just take another recent example of Prisoner Movie actor sanjay dutt , TADA provisions were diluted by the judge to favour him and now he is getting parole week after week while the ordinary convicts never get a single parole throught their sentence. What Brilliant Judges , what brilliant police sirji.
Editorial : Hang Rapist Judges to Lamp Posts - JUDGES & SEXUAL CRIMES
At the outset , we express our whole hearted respects to the honest few public servants
in public service including judiciary & Police. However, the corrupt in public service don’t deserve
respect as individuals – as they are parasites in our legal system. Still we respect the
chairs they occupy but not the corrupt individuals.
All the following articles / issues , past cases of sexual assaults on women by judges (hushed up ?) , whole articles published in the weblinks mentioned
below forms part of this appeal. The term “JUDGE” mentioned throught includes all public
servants discharging judicial functions right from taluk magistrates , quasi-judicial
officers to Chief Justice of India.
Indian Legal / Judicial System is manipulated at various stages & is for sale. It is a SHAME.
The persons who raise their voice seeking justice are silenced in many ways. The
criminal nexus has already attempted to silence me in many ways . If anything untoward
happens to me or to my family members , my dependents , Honourable Chief Justice of
India together with jurisdictional police officer will be responsible for it.
Hereby, we do once again offer our conditional services to the honourable supreme court
of India & other government authorities, in apprehending criminals including corrupt
judges & police. Herewith , we once again appeal to the honourable supreme court of
India , to consider this as a PIL Appeal in public interest.
Consider the cases of sexual assault by JUDGES , POLICE on women . The JUDGES
have legal immunity with respect to their official duties, official actions but not their
individual actions amounting to CRIMES.
The public servants & the government must be role models in law abiding acts , for others
to emulate & follow. if a student makes a mistake it is excusable & can be corrected by
the teacher. if the teacher himself makes a mistake , all his students will do the same
mistake. if a thief steals , he can be caught , legally punished & reformed . if a police
himself commits crime , many thieves go scot- free under his patronage. even if a police ,
public servant commits a crime , he can be legally prosecuted & justice can be sought by
the aggrieved. just think , if a judge himself that too of apex court of the land itself
commits crime - violations of RTI Act , constitutional rights & human rights of public and
obstructs the public from performing their constitutional fundamental duties , what
happens ? it gives a booster dose to the rich & mighty , those in power , criminals in
public service to committ more crimes. that is exactly what is happenning in india. the
educated public must raise to the occassion & peacefully , democratically must oppose
this criminalisation of judiciary , public service. then alone , we can build a RAM RAJYA OF MAHATMA GANDHI'S DREAM.
Hereby , we request the honourable court to reopen all hushed up old cases of sexual assault involving judges and to punish the guilty judges.
Panel names former India Supreme Court judge Ganguly in sex harassment allegation
Shocked, shattered by allegations: former Supreme Court judge Ganguly
New Delhi: A three-member panel that probed the charge of sexual harassment of a young lawyer by a Supreme Court judge has submitted its report, identifying the judge as A K Ganguly, court sources said on Friday.
The report was submitted on Thursday after the committee of three judges met six times. This is the first time an alleged perpetrator has been named.
The report, submitted to Chief Justice P Sathasivam, also carries the statements of the victim, who interned in the Supreme Court, and that of the now-retired Justice Ganguly, the sources said.
The graduate of Kolkata-based National University of Judicial Sciences (NUJS) had alleged sexual harassment by Ganguly while interning for him in December 2012.
The committee, which held six sittings on November 13, 19, 21, 26, and 27, submitted its report to Chief Justice Sathasivam on November 28.
The victim appeared before the committee on November 19 and was expected to appear again on November 21 but chose to stay away.
She first mentioned the incident in a blog for Journal of Indian Law and Society on November 6 and later told the same in an interview with Legally India website.
The victim, who is working with Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and Environment, said she heard that there were three other girls besides her who were sexually harassed by the same judge.
She also claimed to have knowledge of four more girls who were allegedly harassed by other judges in their chambers.
Denying any sexual harassment, Ganguly on Friday said he was “shocked and shattered” by the charges against him.
“I am denying everything. I have told the committee that all the allegations levelled by the intern are wrong. I don’t know how such allegations have been levelled against me,” he said.
“I am a victim of situations,” he told television channels.
“I am not ashamed of anything,” he said in reply to a question regarding the alleged episode which came out in public after the victim spoke about it in the legal portal earlier this month.
He said the charges against him were totally wrong. The girl had not raised any sexual harassment issue with him, he said, adding that he had not done any physical harm to her.
The former judge said the intern worked with him though she was not officially allocated to him. She came in the place of another intern who had gone abroad after marriage. “I never put up a poster. She came on her own.”
He said the girl had come to his house on a number of occasions in connection with work.
sexual harassment: Intern moves SC for inquiry against Justice Swatanter Kumar
New Delhi: A former law intern, who has made sexual harassment allegations against Justice Swatanter Kumar, today moved the Supreme Court seeking inquiry against the retired judge.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, before whom the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing, agreed to take up the case on January 15.
The intern, in the petition, challenged the apex court's December 5, 2013 full court resolution in which it was decided that no complaint against its retired judges will be entertained.
The petitioner also submitted that a proper forum be constituted to conduct inquiry in such cases and her complaint be also looked into by the apex court like it was done in the case of sexual harassment allegations against Justice (retd) A K Ganguly.
The intern has made Justice Kumar, Secretary General of the Supreme Court and Union of India parties in the case.
She submitted that Justice Kumar was a sitting judge at the time of the alleged incident and the apex court must look into the complaint as per Vishaka guidelines.
Justice Kumar, who is currently heading the National Green Tribunal, has described the allegations as "incredulous and false" and "some kind of conspiracy".
IB confirms Mysore Roost Resort sex scandal
The Intelligence Bureau has provided the Centre with a detailed account of the escapade
involving three Karnataka High Court judges on November 3 in a resort on the outskirts of
Mysore, highly placed sources told The Times of India on Friday.
According to a senior official, “Most of the information sought has not only confirmed the veracity
of the incident but the government has crosschecked it with another police agency. Both the
reports match.”
The incident was widely reported in the media. What has surprised the Centre is the “dogged
refusal” of the Karnataka police to confirm the incident. “Mysore Police Commissioner C.
Chandrasekhar first denied that the incident ever took place. Only when a public notice was
issued through the high court registrar seeking information on the Mysore scandal, did the facts
come out in the open. Public protest helped a lot,” says the source.
What transpired at the resort, says the source, “cannot be expected from anyone in civil society,
leave alone persons sworn to upholding the law”. According to him, “The IB report consists of
unmentionable facts and also makes it amply clear that the Mysore incident is not the first time
such things have happened. Can anyone expect upholders of the law to pick a fight with people
who complained to the police when caught in a compromising position?”
In a related development, Karnataka High Court Chief Justice N.K. Jain has written to Chief
Justice of India Justice G.B. Pattanaik asking that three judges be transferred. Jain has proposed
that Justice N.S. Veerabhadraiah be transferred to the Patna High Court, Justice
Chandrasekharaiah to Jammu & Kashmir and Justice V. Gopala Gowda to the Gauhati High
Court.
While Jain is understood not to have given any reasons, highly placed sources say the proposal
for transfers is linked to the Mysore incident.
However, the source says that now the government is worried about the appropriate “remedial
measures”. In such cases, transferring a judge to a remote high court doesn’t always work. He
says, “Bar associations and the people of northeastern states were up in arms when some
judges of the Punjab and Haryana high courts were transferred there. We expect similar protests
if the CJI accepts Justice Jain’s proposal to transfer the three judges of the Karnataka High
Court.”
The Bar Council of India on Friday, while expressing its anguish at the Karnataka incident, called
for “follow-up action”.
“Unless prompt and appropriate action is taken, it will erode the faith of public in the only
institution considered to be the bastion of our fighting faith in democracy,” it said in a statement.
The BCI has “lamented” inaction in this case by “the higher judiciary and the government”.
Read more: IB confirms Mysore sex scandal – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/IB-confirms-Mysore-sexscandal/articleshow/29801662.cms#ixzz1B7PtvFdU ,
Nothing but the truth
By Indira Jaising
A midst the rising din of the demand for death penalty for rapists comes the news that three judges of the Karnataka High Court have been involved in what has come to be described as a 'sex scandal' on the outskirts of Mysore at a place called Roost Resorts.
Our attention is now directed to those who dispense justice rather than those who knock at the doors of justice. In both cases, we are talking about the use and abuse of women — those who are victims of sexual abuse, and those who are used as sexual objects, willingly or unwillingly.
After the reports in local newspapers that three high court judges were found with women at a resort, there was the usual crop of denials. Although the Mysore police were called in to settle a brawl, on being told that the persons in question were judges they said that they heard no evil and saw no evil.
And everyone thought the matter ended there.
Attempts to get the names of the judges or of the women in question drew a blank. The bar association also drew a blank as most people said, "Don't quote me… but…"
On November 30, the Bangalore edition of The Times of India published a front-page story giving the names and photographs of the three judges and confirming that the Intelligence Bureau had done an investigation and come to the conclusion that the incident had indeed occurred. There were still no details of the incident, though it was stated that the report has been given to the chief justice of India.
There were reports on the same day that the Karnataka High Court chief justice had sought the transfer of the three judges to Patna, Jammu and Kashmir and Guwahati. Apparently, the chief justice has agreed to this request and the transfer orders have been issued.
Then came the news that the chief justice of India has set up a committee of inquiry under the 'in-house' procedure consisting of the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the chief justice of the Madras High Court and the chief justice of the Patna High Court.
There were still no details in the press about the actual incident and the entire episode continued to be referred to as a 'sex scandal'.
What is interesting about these reports is not what they reveal, but what they conceal. It is a conspiracy of silence. If the information is now available to the chief justice of India, why is it not being made public? Do we, the public, not have the right to information? Ironically, the morning newspapers brought the news that the Freedom of Information Act has been passed. What are the legitimate limits of the right to freedom of information and the requirement of keeping information a secret? This episode would make an interesting case study.
What exactly is at stake here? There is much that should concern the nation about the incident. This is not a case about the private morality of the judges, be that as it may, but about the abuse of office that they hold. What has not been made known is that the three women in question are women lawyers practising in their courts.
What is at stake here is the pollution of the stream of justice at its very source. There must be countless cases in which these women appeared before these very judges day in and day out of their routine practice. Can one honestly say that in such a situation justice is being done "without fear or favour"? Judges swear on oath of allegiance to "bear true faith" to the Constitution and do justice "without fear or favour". How well have these judges honoured this oath?
What is at stake here is the cynical use of women as sexual commodities. The usual justifications have already begun making the rounds. If the women have not complained, what objection can anyone else have, it is asked. What is lost sight of is the fact that the judges are in a position of dominance vis-à-vis the women, in a position to do favours that pertain to their office.
What is at stake here is the cynical use of public office, the seat of justice, for personal petty gain. It is irrelevant whether the women consented or not. The usual blame game will now begin — blaming the victim rather than the perpetrator; the usual loose talk about the character of the woman in question; the usual attempt to cover up by diverting attention from the actual incident to the motives of those who brought the incident to light.
What is at stake here is the perception of women as sexual commodities by those who are responsible for sitting in judgment over cases brought for and on behalf of women.
The issues at stake here concern one half of Indians. With what faith can Indian women approach the courts demanding the right to equality, the right to be free from sexual harassment or rape and the right to live with dignity, if the persecution of judges who sit in judgment over them is non-negotiable?
In the circumstances, the suggested solution is worse than the offence — to transfer them to Patna, Guwahati and Jammu and Kashmir. Why these particular cities? Are they not an integral part of the country, or are they mere islands within the country that are considered 'punishment postings' where people are sent a la 'crossing Kala Pani' of the old days? To the credit of the Guwahati Bar Association, it protested against the proposed transfer.
The only decent thing to do is for the chief justice of India to disclose full details of the incident so that rumour-mongering comes to an end. This would be in the best interest of the judiciary itself.
As things stand, the rumours are making the rounds that there were more than three judges involved, that the women were professional call girls, many of which are baseless. We, the people, have the right to know. The conspiracy of silence must be broken.
The judges in question must neither be assigned any judicial functions pending an inquiry nor be transferred to sit in judgment over others. Two of the judges are stated to be additional judges. They must not be confirmed. If there is prima facie evidence against the one remaining judge, the chief justice must recommend his impeachment.
It is time for all concerned bar associations, bar councils and other male-dominated bodies of legal professionals to act and ensure that there is no cover-up. There is little point in showing sympathy to women in judgments and in seminar rooms, or in recommending the death penalty for rape if we cannot deal with the men who dispense justice.
There are contempt of court petitions pending in the Karnataka High Court against some of the publications for disclosing details of the incident. Civil society and women's organisations must demand that justice is now done when it comes to the judges themselves.
The law of contempt can offer no solution to the crisis of credibility in the judiciary that this incident has thrown up. One positive aspect of the incident is that it is only after the chief justice of the high court issued a public notice inviting information that he received 20 representations, which led to the discovery of the truth.
Let the truth now be made public.
Judge accused of molesting 2 rape survivors in UP
A sitting judicial magistrate sexually assaulted them
UP: Two rape victims claim that a sitting judicial magistrate sexually assaulted them. The girls
alleged that when they went to the magistrate’s chamber to give their statement, he allegedly
made them strip and molested them.
One of the girls is a minor and the police have filed a complaint. The girls also claimed that the
judge threatened them to not speak of the incident to anyone.
Lawyers and the general public in Gonda launched a protest against the judge.
JUDGE SENDING OBSCENE SMS TO WOMEN
Lucknow Taking cognisance of the allegation against a civil Judge (junior division) of
Budaun court that he sent obscene SMSes to a woman lecturer, the Registrar General of
Allahabad High Court today sought a report from the district judge into the matter.
The civil judge of Gunnor sub-division court of Budaun — Pramod Kumar Gangwar— was
accused of sending obscene SMSes from his cellphone to a woman lecturer of Classic
College of Law, Bareilly. A lecturer of the same college, Vivek Gupta, was named in the FIR
lodged by the victim while Gangwar’s name surfaced in the primary investigation.
Registrar General Dinesh Gupta said, “The district judge of Budaun has been asked to
send a detailed report into the allegations. Appropriate action would be taken on the basis
of the report.”
District Judge Suresh Kumar Srivastava said, “I have asked the Bareilly district police to
send a report about the matter. The report on the basis of the police inquiry would be sent
to the Allahabad High Court Registrar General.”
“I am not aware about the matter, as the Bareilly police did not intimate me before initiating
the probe against the civil judge. They should have informed me when they had received
any such complaint,” the judge added.
Meanwhile, Bareilly CO II Raj Kumar, who is investigating the case, today recorded the
statement of the victim. “I have collected the call details of the cellphone used for sending
the SMSes, but I have yet to get the address of the person who is subscriber of the SIM
card,” he said.
“The probe is on to verify if the accused in the case were present on the location recorded
in the call details when the SMSes were sent. The details of the findings of the
investigation would be sent to the Budaun district court to seek the direction,” the CO
added.
Asked if the investigation was earlier conducted into the matter, Raj Kumar said, “The SP
(Crime) had initiated probe into the matter, but I am not aware if the investigation had
reached to any conclusion.”
The woman lecturer had lodged an FIR at the Mahila police station on Thursday alleging
she had received obscene SMSes on her cellphone involving her colleague Vivek Gupta.
The preliminary inquiry into the case by the police yesterday had found that the mobile
phone used in the crime belongs to the civil judge.
Lokayukta: DC demanded sex from widow
In the midst of a national outrage over former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore molesting a teenager,
the Karnataka Lokayukta on Saturday made a startling revelation that the state government was
shielding a top bureaucrat who had demanded sexual favours from a young widow.
Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde disclosed that the official concerned, who was the deputy
commissioner of one of the districts when he demanded sex from the widow in return for
discharging his duties as public servant, has since been promoted to a senior position.
Justice Hegde, in the course of an interaction with journalists at the Deccan Herald office
Saturday afternoon, said the unnamed widow had dared the deputy commissioner and
approached the Lokayukta’s office with a complaint against the officer.
On examination of the complaint, the Lokayukta had found sufficient grounds to recommend to
the state government the suspension and prosecution of the DC concerned. The
recommendation was subsequently considered by the concerned department head as well as
the chief secretary and both endorsed it.
But, according to Justice Hegde, no action was initiated against the DC as the same official who
had endorsed the recommendation subsequently found no basis for initiating departmental action
against him. Instead, the official cleared the DC’s name for promotion in the super-scale.
Presently, the official holds a senior position in the government.
The widow, in her late 20s, had approached the DC with a representation to sort out some
problems. But she was shocked when the DC demanded sex.
Justice Hegde did not identify the official in question or the complainant. Nor did he offer to name
the district where the official was serving as deputy commissioner. But the incident has
happened sometime in the course of last three years as Justice Hegde took over as the
Lokayukta in mid-2006.
3-year jail term for ‘dirty’ judge
Family court judge Ramrao Gangaram Bhise attempted to get sexual favours from a housewife in
1997
Family court judge Ramrao Gangaram Bhise’s attempts to extract sexual favours, in addition to a
bribe, from a housewife, Alka Gaikwad — who had sought an increase in her monthly
maintenance allowance from her estranged husband, in 1997 — proved costly to him.
Pronouncing him guilty on both counts, the special court hearing anti-corruption bureau (ACB)
matters sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment and a collective fine of Rs55, 000,
on Monday.
According to the FIR in the case registered against Bhise by the ACB, Suryakant Gaikwad had
filed for divorce from his wife, Alka, before the Bandra family court. Alka, a housewife, in turn,
filed a petition seeking mutual cohabitation with her husband. The then family court judge, Meera
Khadakkar, directed the husband to pay her an interim maintenance allowance of Rs750 per
month.
Subsequently, in January 1997, Alka filed another application before the same family court (now
presided over by Bhise) seeking to increase the monthly maintenance amount to Rs3,500. “On
October 27, 1997, Bhise issued an interim order, increasing the maintenance allowance to
Rs2,000 to be paid by Suryakan to his estranged wife till the disposal of the case. Immediately
after issuing the order, Bhise asked Alka to meet him and gave her his residential telephone
number, asking her to call him when the court hours ended. He told her that he would ask her
husband to pay her a lump sum of Rs2 lakh in addition to the monthly maintenance, provided she
called him up,” the FIR states.
When she called up the judge at 7 pm the same day, Bhise told her that she would have to pay
him a sum of Rs2,000 in addition to granting his sexual favours if she wanted an order in her
favour. He also directed her to meet him at the Haji Ali bus stop with the bribe amount the
following evening.
“Alka approached the ACB, which sought permission from the Chief Justice of the Bombay High
Court before laying a trap on the first class judicial magistrate (Bhise). The HC while granting the
permission designated a court official to bear witness to the events leading to the trap. Alka,
under video camera surveillance of ACB sleuths, along with the court official and other women
witnesses met Bhise at 8.30 pm at the Haji Ali bus stop. Bhise took hold of Alka’s wrist and when
she protested, repeated his demands,” the FIR states.
Alka was then taken to a nearby hotel, Sharda, where the judge accepted the bribe amount. But
before he could do anything else, ACB sleuths swooped in and arrested him.
Rajasthan judge is indicted for seeking sexual favours
Chief Justice of India G B Pattanaik retires tonight and he doesn’t have much to write home about
on the unprecedented drive he launched to enforce judicial accountability.
After the PPSC scam fiasco, reported in The Indian Express today, comes the case of the
Rajasthan judge who has been indicted in a sex scandal and yet has escaped action—pending
another inquiry.
On December 14, a three-judge committee set up by Pattanaik confirmed the ‘‘involvement’’ of
Justice Arun Madan of the Rajasthan High Court in a proposition to a woman doctor to have sex
with him in exchange for a judicial favour.
The committee, headed by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice B K
Roy, submitted its report to Pattanaik, indicting Madan on a complaint made from Jodhpur by the
woman concerned, Sunita Malviya.
But Pattanaik has not announced any action against Madan. When contacted by The Indian
Express, Pattanaik confirmed that the committee had indicted Madan and his ‘‘bad reputation’’ in
seeking sexual favours in return for judicial ones.
However, Pattanaik said that no action was being taken since the committee had also mentioned
allegations of corruption against Madan. And so he had ordered a further inquiry by the same
committee into the corruption charges.
When asked what he did with the indictment of Madan in the sex scandal, Pattanaik said, ‘‘That
is on hold because I could not have taken piecemeal action against him….I am praying to God
that the final report will give some tangible material to take action.’’
Highly placed sources told The Indian Express that when the committee recorded statements last
week in Jodhpur of about 30 persons over four days, it also came to know of several allegations
of corruption against Madan and another judge of the same high court. The committee put these
on record as well.
Pattanaik said that when he summoned Madan to New Delhi last week, he did not raise the sex
scandal issue and instead limited himself to saying that he was ordering a further inquiry into
corruption allegations.
In effect, Pattanaik has now passed the Rajasthan buck to his successor Justice V N Khare.
The gist of Malviya’s complaint is that Madan made a sexual proposition to her in October
through a deputy registrar of the high court, Govind Kalwani, who said that the judge would help
her, in turn, get out of a criminal case booked against her.
With this, Pattanaik’s much-touted in-house judicial accountability seems to have hit a wall. The
first committee’s report into the PPSC scam exonerated one judge despite evidence and let two
others off with a mere slap on the wrist. The third committee is now busy probing the involvement
of judges in the Mysore sex scam.
Ten reasons why criminals in khaki get away
Siddharth Varadarajan
Behind every man like S.P.S. Rathore who abuses his authority stand the generals and
footsoldiers who help and support him. We need to take them all down.
S.P.S. Rathore, the criminal former top cop of Haryana, may appear alone today but we must
never forget that he was able to get away with the sexual molestation of a young child and the
illegal harassment of her family for 19 years because he had hundreds of men who supported
him in his effort to evade justice.
The fact that these men – fellow police officers, bureaucrats, politicians, lawyers, judges, school
administrators – were willing to bend the system to accommodate a man accused of molesting a
minor speaks volumes for the moral impoverishment of our establishment and country. Decent
societies shun those involved in sexual offences against children. Even criminals jailed for
`ordinary' crimes like murder treat those serving time for molesting children as beyond the pale.
But in India, men like Rathore have their uses for their masters, so the system circles its wagons
and protects them.
The CBI's appeal may lead to the enhancement of Rathore's sentence and perhaps even the
slapping of abetment to suicide charges, since his young victim killed herself to put an end to the
criminal intimidation her family was being subjected to by Rathore and his men. But the systemic
rot which the case has exposed will not be remedied unless sustained public pressure is put on
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, two men who have
it in their power to push for simple remedies in the way the Indian law enforcement and justice
delivery system works.
First, abolish the need for official, i.e. political sanction to prosecute bureaucrats, policemen and
security forces personnel when they are accused of committing crimes. The original intent behind
this built-in stay-out-of-jail card was to protect state functionaries from acts done in the course of
discharging their duties in good faith. Somewhere along the line, this has come to mean
protecting our custodians of law and order when they murder innocent civilians (eg. the infamous
Panchalthan case in Kashmir where the trial of army men indicted by the CBI for murdering five
villagers in 2000 still cannot take place because the Central government will not grant
permission), or assault or molest women and children. No civilised, democratic society grants
such impunity. It is disgusting to see former officials and bureaucrats from Haryana saying how
they had wanted Rathore prosecuted but were prevented from doing so because of pressure.
Such officials should either be made formally to testify in a criminal case against the politicians
who so pressured them or they should themselves be hauled up for perverting the course of
justice.
Second, stop talking about how making the police and army answerable to the law will somehow
demoralise their morale. Does anybody care about the morale of ordinary citizens any more? Or
the morale of upright police and army officers, who do not think it is right for their colleagues to be
able to get away with criminal acts?
Third, bring an end to the cosy relationship between the police and politicians. Rathore was
protected by four chief ministers of Haryana. He served them and they served him by ensuring
his unfettered rise. It is absurd that the Indian Police is still governed by a colonial-era Act dating
back to 1861. A number of commissions have made recommendations for reforming the police
over the years; but no government or political party wants to give up its ability to use and misuse
the police for their own benefit
Fourth, ensure that police officers who abuse their authority and engage in mala fide
prosecutions are dismissed from service and sentenced to jail for a long period of time. Mr.
Chidambaram should use the considerable resources at his command to find out who were the
policemen involved in filing 11 bogus cases against the teenaged brother of the young girl
Rathore molested. He should then make sure criminal proceedings are initiated against all of
them. The message must go out to every policeman in the country: If you abuse the law at the
behest of a superior, you will suffer legal consequences.
Fifth, ensure that criminal charges against law enforcement personnel are fast-tracked as a
matter of routine so that a powerful defendant is not able to use his position to delay proceedings
the way Rathore did for years on end. The destruction or disappearance of material evidence in
such cases must be treated as a grave offence with strict criminal liability imposed on the
individual responsible for breaking the chain of custody.
Sixth, empower the National Human Rights Commission with teeth so that police departments
and state governments cannot brush aside their orders as happened in the Rathore case. This
would also require appointing to the NHRC women and men who have a proven record of
defending human rights in their professional life, something that is done today only in the breach.
The attitude of the Manmohan Singh government to this commission and others like the National
Commission for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Minorities is shocking. Vacancies
are not filled for months on end.
Seventh, ensure the early enactment of pending legislation broadening the ambit of sexual
crimes, including sexual crimes against children. Between rape, defined as forced penetrative
sex, and the vague, Victorian-era crime of `outraging the modesty of a woman', the Indian Penal
Code recognises no other form of sexual violence. As a result, all forms of sexual molestation
and assault short of rape attract fairly lenient punishment, of the kind Rathore got. In his case, the
judge did not even hand down the maximum sentence, citing concerns for the criminal's age.
Sadly, he did not take into account the age of the victim and neither does the IPC, which fails to
distinguish between `outraging the modesty' of an adult woman and a young child.
A draft law changing these provisions and bringing India into line with the rest of the modern
world has been pending with the NCW and Law Ministry for years. Perhaps the government may
now be shamed into pushing it through Parliament at the earliest.
Eighth, take steps to introduce a system of protection of witnesses and complainants. The fate
that the family of Rathore's young victim had to endure is testament to the fact that people who
seek justice in India do so at their own peril.
Ninth, ensure that robust interrogation techniques like narco-analysis, which are routinely used
against other alleged criminals, are also employed against police officers accused of crimes.
Tenth, the media and the higher judiciary must also turn the light inward and ask themselves
whether they were also derelict in their duty. The Rathore case did not attract the kind of constant
media attention it deserved, nor do other cases involving serving police officers accused of
crimes against women, workers, peasants and minorities. As for the upper courts, their record is
too patchy to inspire confidence. It was, after all, the high court which chose to disregard the
CBI's request for including abetment to suicide charges.
Keywords: Siddharth Varadarajan, S.P.S. Rathore, criminals, khaki, former DGP of
Haryana, custodians, sexual violence, NHRC
Porbandar judge accused of dowry harassment
A complaint has been filed against District and Sessions judge of Porbandar for allegedly
harassing his daughter-in-law for dowry, police said here on Sunday.
Darshana Dave, a native of Amreli, has filed a complaint against her husband Kinnar, father-inlaw
and district judge Arvind Dave, mother-in-law Pratibha and brother-in-law Prashant, the
police added.
Darshana married Kinnar two years ago. Her complaint says that she was harassed from the
beginning, and was even beaten up by the husband and in-laws, who were demanding Rs 10
lakh as dowry.
She has also alleged that she was thrown out of the house a few months back, and her husband
is now seeking divorce, the police said.
Amreli Superintendent of Police H R Muliyana confirmed to have received the complaint against
the judge and others. He said that action will be taken after verifying the complaint.
This is the second complaint related to dowry harassment filed against a judge in the state in the
recent past.
Earlier, a woman had filed a complaint against additional sessions judge of Jetpur after her
daughter and the judge's wife committed suicide.
Gurgaon judge to also face dowry harassment charge
Gurgaon's Chief Judicial Magistrate Ravneet Garg, booked for the murder of his wife, will also
face dowry harassment charge, police here said Monday.
Police have issued notices to the CJM's father K.K. Garg and mother Rachna Garg, who have
also been named in the dowry harassment case.
The CJM's father reached here Monday morning from Haryana's Panchkula town and contacted
police, who wanted to question him.
"We had called CJM's parents...K.K. Garg was questioned by special investigation team (SIT),"
Gurgaon Police Commissioner Alok Mittal said.
Mittal said on the basis of written complaint filed by the parents of the CJM's wife Geetanjali,
penal sections of dowry harassment and extra-marital affair were included in the FIR lodged
against the CJM Saturday.
Geetanjali, 24, bore three bullet wounds - on her chin, chest and stomach - but no bullets were
found in her body that was recovered here Thursday. The CJM's licensed firearm was found near
the body, police said.
Mittal said two bullets were seized from the scene of crime and would be sent for ballistic
examination Monday, a day after ballistic experts examined the crime spot.
"The SIT Sunday questioned two women relatives of Ravneet Garg for hours at his government
allotted house here in the Officers Colony," said Mittal.
"We have asked CJM to produce supporting evidences to prove his statement," he said.
The CJM allegedly said that his driver and domestic help may throw some light on his wife's
death.
Judge Garg's in-laws alleged that two cars were provided to the accused on his and his family's
demand. Rs.2 lakh were also delivered to him at the time of the admission of his daughters in
school in May.
Geetanjali's brother Pradeep Aggarwal Saturday lodged a first information report against Garg
and his parents, accusing them of murder.
"Ravneet and Geetanjali got married in November 2007. Everything was fine for a few years but
the attitude of Ravneet and his parents towards Geetanjali started changing after she delivered
two baby girls (now aged around four and a half and three years)," Aggarwal said in his
complaint.
He demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into his sister's murder.
Time to judge the judge
Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju’s allegation of corruption against a former additional judge of the Madras High Court and the manner in which he was protected by members of the higher judiciary as well as Tamil Nadu’s political leadership of the time is a matter of great concern with implication with regard to the independence of Indian judiciary. Justice Katju’s allegations, which come nearly 10 years too late, point an accusing finger at the Manmohan Singh government (then UPA-I) which buckled under the Tamil Nadu party’s blackmail tactics.
These serious allegations raise a doubt about the autonomy of the judges who are trusted upon to carry out their public duties and functions independent of dishonest or ideological considerations. But Justice Katju’s allegations advocate that India’s higher judiciary is in a state of deterioration. They bring into attention the vital necessity on the part of the government to pledge moves to quickly pass two important bills – the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill of 2013 and the Judges Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010.
As of now the Supreme Court of India’s collegium system, which appoints judges to the nation’s constitutional courts, has its genesis in, and continued basis resting on, three of its own judgments which are collectively known as the Three Judges Cases. Over the course of the three cases, the court evolved the principle of judicial independence to mean that no other branch of the state – including the legislature and the executive – would have any say in the appointment of judges. The court then created the collegium system, which has been in use since the judgment in the Second Judges Case was issued in 1993. There is no mention of the collegium either in the original or in successive amendments.
The government through the Constitution(120th Amendment) bill, 2013, that amends articles 124(2) and 217(1) of the Constitution of India, 1950 and establishes the Judicial Appointment Commission, on whose recommendation the President would appoint judges to the higher judiciary. The critical aspect about the new setup that the government through the amendment seeks to achieve is the composition of the Judicial Appointment Commission, the responsibility of which the amendment bill lays on the hands of Parliament to regulate by way of Acts, rules, regulations etc., passed through the regular legislative process. It establishes a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to make recommendations to the President on appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary. It empowers Parliament to pass a law providing for the composition, functions and procedures of the JAC.
The Judges Standard And Accountability Bill 2010 lay down judicial standards and provide for accountability of judges, and, establish credible and expedient mechanism for investigating into individual complaints for misbehaviour or incapacity of a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court and to regulate the procedure for such investigation; and for the presentation of an address by Parliament to the President in relation to proceeding for removal of a Judge and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
All these measures will increase accountability of Judges of the High courts and the Supreme Court thereby further strengthening the independence of the judiciary. The proposed Bill would strengthen the institution of judiciary in India by making it more accountable thereby increasing the confidence of the public in the institution It has been 67 years since India’s Independence. The three pillars of democracy the judiciary, parliament and executive are well defined under the Constitution of India and so is the separation of power of each institution. Unlike the West there is very little debate in public domain the way the Judiciary functions in our country.
The journalist, politicians, common man and even lawyers desist from open discussions regarding the appointment, transfer, alleged misconduct of some of the judges inside or outside the court room or for that matter very little is debated in public discussion even on national television about particular judgment which appears detrimental in national interest because of the fear of contempt of court.
Has the democracy matured in India? The recent poll indicators suggest that for the first time in last couple of decades the people of our country especially the youth rose above the caste politics and voted for vision, hope and aspiration for building a vibrant and strong nation which could truly be the world’s largest democracy.
India has come of age and so has the time arrived for a National debate regarding the transparency in the judicial system.
It is not the time to go into the merits of the allegation leveled by Justice Katju, or why it took him ten years to voice the matter, whether UPA or NDA led-government were responsible, what is more important is are there certain deficiencies in the present system and how we can improve upon them to instill the confidence of the people in the judicial system. Some legal experts even suggest that the manner in which the proceedings of parliament are shown live on television, the court proceedings of the high court and the apex court must be broadcasted live in order to demonstrate that ‘Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done’.
Indian police 'gang-rape woman after she fails to pay bribe'
Woman says she was attacked at a police station in Uttar Pradesh after going there to seek her husband's release
An Indian woman has said she was gang-raped by four officers at a police station, the latest in a string of sex attacks in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The woman said she was attacked when she went to the station overnight on Monday in the Hamirpur district to seek her husband's release.
"At 11.30pm when there was no one in the room the sub-inspector took me to his room and raped me inside the police station," the woman told CNN-IBN.
She filed a complaint with a senior officer on Wednesday over the attack, which allegedly occurred when she refused to pay a bribe to secure the release of her husband. Virendra Kumar Shekhar, a police official from Hamirpur, said: "The procedure will be followed. The victim has filed a complaint and the guilty will be arrested soon."
Sub-inspector Balbir Singh said a criminal case had been lodged against four officers from the station.
The case is the latest in a string of rapes and murders in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, where the chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, is under growing political pressure over his handling of law and order.
Last month, two girls, aged 12 and 14, were gang-raped and lynched in their village. They were attacked after going into a field to relieve themselves at night because they did not have a lavatory at home.
Their families refused to cut the bodies down from the tree for hours in protest, saying police had failed to take action against the attackers because the girls were from a low caste.
The prime minister, Narendra Modi, , in his first comments on the issue since the hanging of the girls sparked public outrage, on Wednesday urged all politicians to work together to protect women. Modi warned politicians against "politicising rape", saying they were "playing with the dignity of women" in his first speech to parliament since sweeping to power at last month's election.
India brought in tougher laws last year against sexual offenders after the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012, but they have failed to stem the tide of violence against women.
Also on Wednesday, a 45-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh. Her family said she had been raped and murdered. A police officer said five men were being questioned over the incident, which occurred several kilometres from her home in Bahraich district. "They [her husband and son] have alleged that the woman, before being strung up from the tree, was raped and murdered by these men," the district superintendent Happy Guptan told AFP.
Rethinking Rule Of Law In The Times Of Rape Bid On A Judge
By Samar
An attempt to rape a judge, that too in Judges’ Compound in Aligarh which remains under twenty four hour vigil of the Provincial Armed Constabulary speaks volumes about the status of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India. Who will be safe on the streets when even a judge is not spared by the rapists? No one, in fact is, as evidenced by the recent spate of incidents of sexual violence against women from marginalised and dispossessed backgrounds. The gruesome gang rape and murder of two minors in Badaun, the most ghastly of them, has caused a national outrage just a few days before this incident. The brazen attack on the mother of a rape survivor in order to force her to withdraw the complaint against the accused, currently in jail, in nearby Etah was another glaring example of total collapse of rule of law in Uttar Pradesh.
Sadly, the state has never been known for maintaining even law and order, forget enforcing rule of law. It has rather had the dubious distinction of being the proverbial Bad Lands, the countryside run by might and not by rulebooks. With both political and bureaucratic leadership oscillating between the denial to dodging mode, the recent cases of sexual assaults have merely reinforced the image. Think of a Chief Minister saying that rapes were common and a Google search would return many “Badaun like incidents’. Think of his father, a former chief minister and current parliamentarian, terming rape as minor mistake. The Director General of Police of the state, however, took the crown by justifying the incidents of rape as ‘normal’ in a state of the size and population of Uttar Pradesh.
There were others, largely in the secular liberal intelligentsia of the country, who saw a political conspiracy hatched by the Hindu right behind defaming the state. They came up, rightly, with the data from the National Crime Records Bureau that shows Madhya Pradesh as the rape capital of India and raised questions over the undue scrutiny of Uttar Pradesh. The intelligentsia, unfortunately, seems to have got it wrong once again, first time being its silence on the cases where victims came from dispossessed and marginalised communities. The lack of outrage over sexual violence against women from Dalit, tribal, minorities and other such communities until the cases are really gory, as Badaun was, has led to a section of people losing faith in them, it would do better not to lose all.
The question, however, is if the failure of a state in providing security to its women can be used as an excuse to defend the total collapse of rule of law in another? Should not a single case of rape be horrifying enough for the state to wake up and fix the system? Can a state really take refuge in competitive statistics and shirk from its responsibility of maintaining law and order, at least? This is exactly where that the government of Uttar Pradesh has failed and failed absolutely. That’s not bizarre if one sees the number of criminals in it right from its ranks and files to the ministry. After all, the state has a dubious distinction of seeking the withdrawal of rape charges against a minister in ‘public interest’.
It is in this context that the rape attempt on a sitting judge must be seen as a wakeup call for both the citizenry and the state. No people can live in perpetual fear of violence against women and state's inaction will merely increase both vigilantism and control of the mobility of women in the name of safety, a dangerous thing for a democracy. Parrying away the questions over the state of governance in Uttar Pradesh is not going to serve any purpose, only bringing the criminals to justice will. The state government must ensure speedy and impartial justice to the victims and their families to restore their faith in the system.
Alleging Sexual Harassment By High Court Judge, a Junior Judge Quits
NEW DELHI: A woman additional judge in Gwalior has resigned alleging sexual harassment by a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The judge asked her to "dance to an item song" and influenced her transfer to a remote location, she has alleged in a complaint to the President, the Chief Justice of India and the Union Law Minister.
Chief Justice of India RM Lodha told NDTV on Monday morning, "I haven't received the complaint officially... once I get it I will go through the complaint. Normally we ask for a report on the complaint from the Chief Justice of the High Court. In this case, I will seek a report from the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court and take action accordingly. I will do my best for the institution."
The additional judge resigned on July 15 and wrote to the CJI and others on August 1, Friday evening. "If this is how a mother, sister and wife can be treated, who is herself no less than a judicial officer duty-bound to protect society and law, what constitutional goals are we serving?" said the woman, who ironically headed a Vishaka committee against sexual harassment.
She has alleged that the High Court judge constantly pestered her and once sent her a message through an official to "perform dance on an item song" at a function at his home. She said she excused herself saying it was her daughter's birthday.
She also alleged that when she spurned the judge's "various advances and malicious aspirations", he targeted her professionally. "The administrative judge, along with district judge and district judge (inspection), possibly made a false, frivolous, baseless and malicious reporting to the chief justice of MP and got me transferred on July 8, in the mid-academic session of my daughters to a remote place Sidhi by overruling the transfer policy of MP HC," she has complained.
She said her appeal for an eight-month extension to allow her daughter's academic year to finish was rejected and has alleged that the judge threatened to "spoil my career completely," when she pleaded against the transfer.
"I was left with no option but to resign, so, I resigned on July 15 in compelling, humiliating and disgraceful circumstances to save my dignity, womanhood, self-esteem and career of my daughter," she has written.
Former SC judge Markandey Katju alleges corruption in judiciary
New Delhi: Press Council of India Chairman and former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju has made shocking allegations of corruption in the judiciary. Katju has alleged that a District Judge in Tamil Nadu was elevated to an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court despite charges of corruption against him.
Katju has alleged that the tainted judge had been directly appointed as a District Judge in Tamil Nadu and during his career as the district judge, there were as many as eight adverse entries against him recorded by various portfolio judges of the Madras High Court.
Katju has alleged that one acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, by a single stroke of his pen, deleted all those adverse entries and consequently he became an Additional Judge of the High Court. He has said that the corrupt judge had solid support of a very important political leader of Tamil Nadu.
Katju has said that former CJI RC Lahoti made a compromise by allowing the corrupt judge to continue despite the adverse Intelligence Bureau report against him. Justice Lahoti has denied the claims saying, "Everything is a matter of record. Whatever I have done or not done is all on record with reasons. I have never done anything wrong in my life."
This was when the UPA was in power with the DMK, its ally, in power in Tamil Nadu. "This is a glaring example of political interference in the appointment of judges," Katju said.
Katju has also alleges that the former Chief Justices of India allowed the tainted judge to continue despite complaints against him.
Katju has said that as a judge was elevated to the High Court while being a District Judge, he had granted bail to that political leader.
Speaking to CNN-IBN, Katju said, "I got information when I was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court about the corruption of this judge. I wanted the Chief Justice to do an IB inquiry. I got a call from the CJI that the chargers were correct. After this two-year term as Additional Judge, he should not have got extension."
When asked why he has come up with the allegations now, Katju said, "Better late than never. It is not important if I have disclosed this now. What is important is that the information is correct."
Reacting to the allegations, former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan told CNN-IBN, "We can say so many things in hindsight without naming the judge and the political party. His (the judge in question) appointment was challenged and please read Justice Pasayat's judgement. If a judge faces charges of being close to the government, he has to be transferred out."
Women Inmates Allege Forced Sex in Jail
BENGALURU: Some wardens force women convicts to have sex with male convicts, according to a letter written from inside the Bangalore Central Prison. Signed by a group of women inmates, the letter alleges the wardens charge the men between Rs 300 and Rs 500 for the ‘service’.
A judge who found two letters in a grievances box — detailing the goings-on at the Parappana Agrahara prison — has forwarded them to the Karnataka High Court for action. The letters, copies of which have been accessed by Express, are addressed to the Chief Justice of Karnataka, and seek his intervention to end the rampant exploitation of women convicts. One of the letters lists the names of wardens and officials who send convicts to male prisoners, and extort bribes.
The women are allegedly fleeced for everything: they pay Rs 200 to Rs 300 just to meet relatives, even though the visits are legitimate.
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