Friday, September 10, 1999
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Closure of 84 riot case
against Tytler challenged BJP censorship on press statements |
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Modi lashes out at Sonia Gandhi NEW DELHI, Sept 9 — It was yet another day of Mrs Sonia Gandhi bashing at the BJP camp today with the party spokesman, Mr Narendra Modi, questioning her statement on the citizenship issue.
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SC: there cannot be
arbitrary orders Dowry death complaints flood NCW |
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Closure of 84 riot case against Tytler challenged NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (PTI) — The closure by the CBI of a 1984 riot case against former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler was today challenged in the Delhi High Court by Ms Rajwant Kaur, who had filed a complaint with the police naming him as an accused. Ms Rajwant Kaur, whose husband, son and nephew were killed by a mob in a north Delhi colony on November 1, 1984, appeared before a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh and Mr Justice R.S. Sodhi and sought to submit an additional affidavit stating that she had lodged a complaint with the Subzi Mandi police station on November 2, 1984 about the alleged crime. Ms Rajwant’s counsel Bajrang Singh told the court that she had filed a writ petition in the high court after the police failed to take any action on her complaint and was present in the court on August 26, 1997 when it ordered a CBI probe. Mr Bajrang Singh said, the CBI, which registered the FIR following the high court order, on November 14, 1997, ironically had stated that Ms Rajwant gave the agency an affidavit four days prior to registering the case saying she had neither lodged a complaint with the police nor filed a petition in the high court. The CBI’s obtaining the affidavit from her even before starting the investigation was strange. "How could they obtain affidavit from a person before registering an FIR. The bench last week had sought all relevant records from the trial court including the CBI report recommending closure of the case against Tytler and said it would first examine the trial court record. The records were summoned by the Bench after Ms Rajwant’s brother-in-law, Mr Dilbagh Singh, whose son was one of the victims, filed a writ petition claiming that he was neither given opportunity by the trial court nor the CBI to record his statement. Mr Dilbagh Singh in his petition had also said that Ms Rajwant had lodged a complaint on November 2, 1984 with the Subzi Mandi police station about the killings of her husband Darshan Singh, son of Jagjit Singh and his (Dilbagh) son Surinder Pal Singh by a mob allegedly at the "instigation" of Tytler. Mr Dilbagh Singh had claimed that the CBI failed to register separate FIR on the complaint of Ms Rajwant Kaur though Subzi Mandi police station had registered two FIRs No 633/84 and 639/84 in connection with the riots in Kabir Basti. Accusing the CBI of filing its closure report in a "great hurry" during the winter holidays on the pretext of limitation period, he said the agency did not go beyond the fact whether Ms Rajwant Kaur actually lodged a complaint with the police on November 2, 1984 or not. There was no time-bound
direction of the high court while ordering the agency to
probe the case, he said adding that the CBI’s
contention of limitation was therefore unfounded. |
BJP censorship on press
statements NEW DELHI, Sept 9 — An embarrassed central leadership of the BJP today imposed a censorship on the statements circulated by party functionaries and authorised a former journalist, Mr Kanchan Gupta, and the party Vice-President, Mr K Jana Krishnamurthy, to vet the statements before issuing them to the media. The decision came after the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, in a statement issued at the party headquarters yesterday, described the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, as a "CIA agent". The statement, attributed to the national President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Mr Ramashish Rai and signed by its office Secretary, Mr Ganesh Malviya, was distributed to mediapersons at the BJP’s official press conference at 11, Ashoka Road, the party headquarters. Mr Rai reacting to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s election speech at Ujjain, in which she described the Prime Minister, as a "gaddar" (traitor), had said in the statement that "it appears to be the handiwork of hoodlums let loose by the Italian mafia or the CIA who are out to create disturbances for the current elections by guiding Sonia Gandhi to play the dirty tricks". A party spokesman, Mr Arun Shourie, told mediapersons that the central leadership of the BJP had taken strong exception to the purported statement of Mr Rai and the morcha President had last night denied having made any such statement and had made hectic efforts to reach out to the print and electronic media with a disclaimer. Mr Shourie, when told that the statement was circulated by Mr Rai himself at the BJP headquarters yesterday, soon after the regular briefing was over, admitted that it was a "serious lapse". He said the statement was not authorised by any responsible leader of the BJP and it was not cleared at any level. He pointed out that after the statement was brought to the knowledge of the central leadership, it was "killed, and disowned". The BJP condemns the statement and has taken steps to ensure that such faux pas does not occur in the future. It has been decided that
all statements circulated at the BJP headquarters would
have to be passed by the person in charge of the daily
briefing and Mr Kanchan Gupta of the Media Cell who keeps
a tab on all statements issued by the party. Also, the
party Vice-President, Mr K.Jana Krishnamurthy would clear
all statements at his level before circulating it to the
media. |
Citizenship issue NEW DELHI, Sept 9 — It was yet another day of Mrs Sonia Gandhi bashing at the BJP camp today with the party spokesman, Mr Narendra Modi, questioning her statement on the citizenship issue. Reacting to the Congress President statement yesterday that she had become an Indian the moment she entered Indira Gandhi’s house and that the question of her citizenship was just a “technicality”, Mr Modi said this shows her utter disregard for the laws of India and the institutions of the country in general. “In particular, it shows her total disregard for the law which is the most fundamental law in any country that is, the law of citizenship”, he added. Mr Modi pointed out that Ms Sonia Maino married Rajiv Gandhi on February 25, 1968, and under the Indian Citizenship Act, she became eligible to register herself as a citizen of India on February 25, 1973. However, he said Mrs Sonia Gandhi preferred to retain her Italian citizenship and it was only on April 7, 1983, that she applied for Indian citizenship. He said her application for citizenship was also inadequate and it was her proximity to Indira Gandhi that enabled her to get the formalities waived. Mr Modi also said despite her failure to take Indian citizenship, Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s name figured in the electoral list in 1980 and again in 1982. Both the times the name was struck off the electoral rolls after an objection was raised. In 1983 too, Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s name was once again “smuggled” back on to the electoral rolls effective January 1, even before she had applied for her citizenship. “Of course, given Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s scornful view of India’s laws, and her attitude to India’s institutions, these are just technicalities”, Mr Modi said. Mr Modi also alleged
that Mrs Sonia Gandhi was involved in two cases of the
FERA violation in the early seventies, when she was the
Director of Maruti, the company floated by Sanjay Gandhi,
and as Managing Director of Maruti Road Roller and Maruti
Technical Services. As a foreign citizen, Mr Modi said
Mrs Sonia Gandhi was not entitled to draw salaries from
the two companies without the permission of the Reserve
Bank of India. |
Insurgency in N.E. CALCUTTA, Sept 9 — The chief ministers of West Bengal and seven north-eastern states, which have a vast stretch of boundary with Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, have demanded a special fund from the Centre to combat insurgency and flush out terrorists from their hide-outs. The demand, which Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta made to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, was endorsed by Mr Jyoti Basu and other chief ministers of north-eastern states. Mr Mahanta also sent a formal proposal to the Centre, which included a demand for setting up of a special task force for the state which would assist the BSF against infiltration from across the border and prevent criminal activities in the border districts. Mr Basu also sent a similar proposal to the Home Ministry demanding adequate funds to build a separate armed force in the state for properly manning the border. He demanded that the BSF should be withdrawn from the Indo-Bangladesh border and it should be manned by a separate state armed force. Mr Basu’s demand, which has not got a reply so far, was once again sent to Delhi recently following his telephonic talk with the Assam Chief Minister in the wake of a recent spurt in terrorists’ activities in the entire North-East region and in Calcutta, along with several other areas in West Bengal. West Bengal Home Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya told The Tribune that they had reports from intelligence sources that the ISI and several other terrorist outfits had sneaked into the state from across the border to create disturbances during the elections. He said the Centre had already been approached to send additional armed forces to tackle terrorists. Already in the border areas in North 24-Parganas, Malda and West Binajpur in North Bengal, huge stocks of explosives including RDX and firearms, had been seized and over 10 miscreants arrested, who had links with the ISI and ULFA. In Calcutta, two days ago, the police arrested five Bangladeshis from a hide-out who were carrying with them RDX and other explosive materials. Five US-made automatic rifles and other firearms, meant for shipment to New Delhi, were also seized from them in Siliguri town in North Bengal. The police seized a huge stock of explosives and rifles, which were reportedly stocked by ULFA for use during the polls. The recent Gaisal train disaster could be an act of terrorists, it was reported. The West Bengal Government has also received some alarming reports from intelligence sources saying that during the election large number of persons from across the border have been assembling in the border districts in Bangladesh with a stock of firearms and explosives for shipment to West Bengal during the next few days. In the border town of Jessore, on Monday last, the Bangladesh Rifles arrested four Pakistanis with firearms from a hide-out. They confessed during interrogation that they had been hired by the ISI for carrying these firearms to India. They had forged passports with them. Bengal Chief Secretary, Manish Gupta said the government had already alerted all district authorities against the possibility of subversive activities by the ISI and other terrorist groups. He said the state Intelligence Department had also been asked to gear up machinery to prevent terrorist activities in the state. The BSF, he added had already been directed to seal the border to prevent infiltrator from across the border. According to reports
available here yesterday, 20 government officials and
employees at the BDO office at Manughat, Dhalai, in South
Tripura, who were kidnapped on Monday by NLFT terrorists
had not been released. On Wednesday, a 12-hour bandh was
observed by all political parties in Tripura against the
kidnapping. The Congress and the BJP in Tripura have
demanded President’s Rule in the terrorist-infested
state. The ruling CPM has demanded additional forces from
Delhi to combat the terrorists. |
SC: there cannot be arbitrary orders NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (UNI) — “A Judge cannot merely say ‘suit decreed’ or ‘suit dismissed’. The whole process of reasoning has to be set out for deciding the case one way or the other’’, the Supreme Court, in a guiding judgement, has ruled. ‘’In judicial proceedings, there cannot be arbitrary orders,’’ a Bench of the apex court comprising Mr Justice S. Saghir Ahmed and Mr Justice D.P. Mohapatra observed yesterday while setting aside an order of the single Judge of the Delhi High Court in the Balraj Taneja and others vs Sunil Madan and others case, which was also upheld by a Division Bench. Remanding the case back to the Delhi High Court ‘for a fresh decision’, as ‘infirmity in the present judgement is glaring’’, the apex court said a perusal of the high court judgement indicated that the suit had been decreed only because of the failure of the defendants in filing the written statement. ‘’This exhibits the annoyance of the court which is natural as no court would allow the proceedings to be delayed or procrastinated , the supreme court said. ‘’but this should not disturb the judicial composure which unfortunately is apparent in the instant case as the judgement neither sets out the facts of the case nor does it record the process of reasoning by which the court felt that the case of the plaintiff was true and stood proved,’’ the judges emphasised. The order pointed out that judgement as defined in Section 2(9) of the Code of Civil Procedure means the statement given by the Judge stating the grounds for a decree or order. What a judgement should contain is indicated in Order 20, rule 4(2) which says that a judgement “shall contain a concise statement of the case, the points for determination, the decision thereon and the reasons for such decision.’’ The order of the apex court arose out of a dispute between Mr Sunil Madan, the purchaser of the property and Mr Balraj Taneja, the seller over whether a certificate of permission had been obtained from the Income Tax Department for sale of the Greater Kailash property. Initially, a suit was filed in May, 1996 in the Delhi High Court by Mr Madan, the respondent number 1, against Mr Taneja, the appellants and respondent number 2, for specific performance of an agreement for sale in respect of the property. While the defendants maintained that the certificate had already been obtained from the Income Tax Department and sent to him, this was denied by the appellants. Summons were duly served to them and in response of it they put in an appearance before the court in September, 1996, and prayed for eight weeks’ time to file a written statement which was allowed and hearing adjourned for January, 1997. The review application filed by the appellants, including respondent number 2 was dismissed by the high court in May, 1997. After an appeal before
the Division Bench was also dismissed in April 1998, an
appeal was filed in the Supreme Court, which overruled
the Delhi High Court order. |
Dowry death complaints flood
NCW NEW DELHI, Sept 9 — The National Commission for Women is flooded with complaints of dowry deaths. An analysis of dowry deaths reported in the past two months shows that the Commission has been receiving almost one case everyday. Expressing concern at the high incidence of such cases, the Joint Secretary in the Commission, Mrs Leena Mehendale said, “While the maximum number of cases are from Uttar Pradesh, we have complaints from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana also. The figures are very clear. In July, 34 cases of dowry death were brought to our notice and in August, 31 cases were reported”. Mrs Mehendale said that in some cases, the police had not even registered an FIR. She said that apart from galvanising the authorities, the Commission would also try to probe inaction and investigate, if necessary. In August, 21 deaths were reported from UP, followed by five from Bihar, two each from Rajasthan and Haryana and one from Madhya Pradesh. In July, 21 dowry deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh, four from Rajasthan, three from Haryana, two from Delhi and one from Punjab. The NCW Chairperson, Ms Vibha Parthasarthy feels that consumerism has afflicted the society so badly that demand for dowry is becoming more and more barbaric. Senior counsel Ms Shyamala Pappu is of the view that a thorough investigation is very important in cases of dowry deaths. “The conviction rate is very low. For a social evil of this kind, punishment cannot rectify this mischief. Its eradication needs collective consciousness of the people.” Ms Pappu said that under Section 304 B of the IPC, if a woman dies within seven years of marriage due to torture and harassment by husband or in-laws, the case is deemed to be a dowry death. She does not agree that the dowry death and murder should be treated alike. “That would be disastrous because then you need to prove murder. In a case of dowry death where the in-laws are involved, it is difficult to get proof.” Senior advocate and head of the Society for Criminal Justice, Mr K.T.S. Tulsi, is of the view that evidence is required in dowry death cases also. “Onus of proof has been reversed under the amendment made in 1984 and it is for the accused to prove his innocence.” We are preparing a draft
for the Law Commission on the lines of the Domestic
Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act which came into
being in UK in 1976. Under this Act, if a wife, child or
dependant complain of molestation or domestic violence
against the opposite party, the woman can seek an
injunction on the entry of the accused into her
matrimonial home.” |
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| HC Chief Justice sworn in CHENNAI: Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan was on Thursday sworn in as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court by the Tamil Nadu Governor, Mrs M. Fathima Beevi. The Governor administered the oath of office to him at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan here. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Law Minister Aladi Aruna and his other cabinet colleagues and judges of the High Court were present at the function. Mr Karunanidhi and others felicitated the Chief Justice on the occasion. — UNI Vishweshwaraya
award for economist National poster
competition award PWG militants
kill two TDP
supporters’ car set ablaze PWG calls for
poll boycott Five tribals
buried alive |
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