Corporation’s tactics to retaliate against activist?

The interesting part of news is that the official of Jindal Steel and Power claim that they had given a shop to Agrawal’s son to dissuade him from raising environmental issues.  So they are willing to engage in bribery if it serves their corporate interests?

The threat to kill company official makes it even more incredible?  An activist threatening to kill an official of a large, powerful company?  Makes sense to anyone?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Activist-faces-brunt-of-steel-magnates-fury/articleshow/6096632.cms

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The police complaint has shocked environmentalists. "This is exactly the tactic American Corporations have used to browbeat environmental activists," said Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment. She said this reminded her of SLAPP or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation used by companies in America "to shut up individuals who were raising issues of social and environmental concern".

"Ramesh Agrawal of Jan Chetana is well known to the environmental and human rights fraternity. He has been raising issues related to not just a single corporation but several agencies on a very systematic basis," said Kanchi Kohli of Kalpavriksha Environmental Action Group.

Agrawal has a long series of achievements to his credit. In 2009, a PIL filed by him in Delhi High Court resulted in a major amendment to the rules governing environmental clearance. The court made it mandatory for companies to publish their full environmental clearance order in two local newspapers to enable the affected people to access the order and challenge the clearance if need be.

Ritwick Dutta, well known environmental lawyer, who has represented Agrawal in several public interest cases, asked,
"Why has the company filed an FIR against Agrawal after MoEF acted against them? Why did it not go after him earlier?"

When asked why, Sanjeev Chauhan said, "We discussed the matter within the management. We were waiting for the right time". He added that the company "will definitely prove the allegations in court".
Environmentalists say proving allegations against Agrawal will not disprove allegations against the company.

"The Ministry did not rely on Agrawal's word. Its team did due diligence and found Jindal Power had clearly broken the rules," says Narain.

Indian illegal bail industry could be 4300 – 8600 Cr

NCRB Crime Data for 2008 are published. They have not put the link in the main page (it still shows 2007).

However, this is the direct link for 2008 data.
http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2008/home.htm

All the Tables are in the following file.

http://ncrb.nic.in/cii2008/Statistics2008.pdf

Page 363:
=========
Number of Males and Females arrested in IPC Crimes
==================================================
27,13,971 male 1,68,315 female

Number of Males and Females arrested in SLL Crimes
==================================================
40,96,743 male 1,59,245 female
Total Number of Males and Females arrested in Both Crimes
==================================================

6810714 male 327560 female
Grand Total of all People Arrested: 71,38,274

Now out of these arrests around 60% are unnecessary or unjustified, according to police commission report.

If an arrest is made, the arrested person has to arrange bail to get out of judicial custody.  So if 60% of these arrests are unnecessary or unjustified, the number of such arrests comes to be 42,82,964, i.e. around 43 lakh unjustified arrests.  Assuming a conservative amount of Rs 10,000 – 20,000 needed to pay a lawyer, bribes etc to secure a bail, the total amount ranges from 4,282 Cr to 8565 Cr which lubricates, or better word is flood, this illegal bail industry.

No wonder there is such hue and cry from lawyer groups against all proposed CrPC amendments aimed at stopping unjustified arrests by police, so much so that they have been successful at stopping the notification of Sec 41 in official gazette.

Judges need a course in RTI Act, or maybe fundamental rights!

It was horrifying to read the judgment below, where an accused husband was given bail but with the condition that he will not file RTI regarding her wife or her family members (see bold sentence in judgment below).

http://courtnic.nic.in/dhcorder/dhcqrydisp_O.asp?pn=10933&yr=2010

   IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
  BAIL APPLN. 2102/2009
  RAJESH VERMA .....
  Petitioner
  Through: Mr. Kunal Duggal and Mr. C.M. Verma
versus
  STATE ..... Respondent
  Through: Ms. Fizani Husain, APP.
  ASI Shyamlal Bhardwaj, PS Lajpat Nagar.
  Mr. Ajay Digpal for the complainant.
  CORAM:
   HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW
   O R D E R
   18.01.2010
  Mediation is reported to have failed.
  The petitioner is the accused in the FIR of offences under Sections
  498A/406/34 of the IPC. He is working as a senior scientist with CSIR. According
  to the complainant wife, she is living separately from petitioner since 26th
  November, 2008. FIR was lodged on 4th June, 2009. The petitioner as well as the
  complainant wife had been married earlier. Each of them has a grown up child
  from the earlier marriage.
  The APP contends that no jewellery has been recovered from the
  petitioner. The counsel for the complainant wife contends that the petitioner is
  not paying any maintenance also. The petitioner had on 12th November, 2009
  before this court paid Rs.50,000/- to the complainant wife. It is further
  contended that the petitioner is harassing the complainant wife and her family.
  In the circumstances aforesaid, it is directed that in the event of
  arrest, the petitioner be released on bail on furnishing security bond of
  Rs.10,000/- to the satisfaction of the arresting officer. The following further
  conditions are agreed by the petitioner:-
  a. That the petitioner shall not file any complaint and/or RTI enquiries qua the
  affairs of the complainant wife or any of her family members.
  b. That the petitioner shall continue to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- to the
  complainant wife w.e.f. 1st December, 2009 and till the date of decision on the
  application for interim maintenance in maintenance proceedings stated to have
  been separately instituted. The amounts so paid shall be adjusted in the interim
  maintenance if any to which complainant wife is so found entitled. It is
  clarified that the amount of Rs.10,000/- per month offered by petitioner as a
  condition for bail, shall not influence the court where application of
  complainant wife for maintenance is pending.
  c. The petitioner shall not leave Delhi without the permission of IO and shall
  deposit his passport with the IO.
  Copy of this order be given dasti to the counsel for parties.
  RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW,J
  JANUARY 18, 2010
  pp

Let’s look at it from the following viewpoints:

1. It is a well accepted principle of law that a person accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.  Will the judges curb freedom of RTI if the accused was a powerful person?
2. Further, Right to Information is a fundamental right derived from Article 19 of Indian constitution, and also considered a fundamental right from various international conventions.  World over, fundamental rights cannot be curtailed except under very special situations of national security and the like.
3. Here it seems an accused if fit to be granted bail, but he is not fit enough to exercise his fundamental right of RTI.  He can exercise his right to vote, stand for elections, and so on, but only not be able to exercise RTI!  Under what rule can a judge trample upon fundamental right of a citizen, especially considering that no rationale or reason for the order has been given in judgment.
4. Right to Information grants an Indian citizen to get public information from public authorities.  Such information is already in public domain and no one can be said to be harassed or inconvenienced by disclosure of such public information.  The Right to Information is not right on private information of another person, but on public information which cannot be said to be private property of any person.  Then how can a judge decide that a particular person cannot file for RTI on another person.  The RTI is only on public information.
5. It seems clear that the judge has tried to cut off the source of information this accused man could use to prove himself innocent.  Read this story about how a man was able to prove his innocence using RTI in a very similar situation where he was accused by his wife in a dowry case.

Our hopes are that other judges will read this blog post and understand that their actions and judgments are being watched by citizens.

Lawyers cannot resolve their matters using law!

This is one of the news 2 weeks ago where bar lawyers in Gulbarga protested in a way only lawyers are known to, against formation of a new association of high court lawyers in Gulbarga bench.  No wonder common public is more scared of dealing with lawyers than even courts!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubli/Gulbarga-lawyers-attack-HC-Bench-association-head/articleshow/5532278.cms

GULBARGA: The High Court premises turned into an arena of high drama, as lawyers attacked the president of the newly-formed High Court Advocates' Association, and manhandled him.
Members of the Gulbarga Bar Association appeared to resent the new association, and protested in the High Court Circuit Bench premises. They manhandled the president, S V Deshmukh, and forced him to ban the new association.
A group of 20 advocates of the Gulbarga district court -- attached to the Gulbarga Bar Association -- arrived at the High Court Circuit Bench and started shouting slogans against the existence of the new association. Then, they started pushing Deshmukh around the advocates' hall in the HC premises. Later, they locked him into the hall and forced him to dissolve the new association. When he refused, they began threatening him.
Under force, Deshmukh temporarily suspended the association work, and said so to the media. He said he would discuss the issue with the members, and take a decision. Until then, the association stands suspended.
Speaking to The Times of India, Deshmukh later said he did not understand why the lawyers were against the formation of the Advocates' Association, High Court Circuit Bench, Gulbarga. "We have around 100 members in our association and it is registered on January 25. There are associations at the High Court in Bangalore, the Dharwad High Court Circuit Bench and the district court. I don't know why the Bar members are opposed to it," he said.
Gulbarga Bar Association president Shivaputrappa Barode said the association had planned to form the unit in the high court by appointing a president acceptable to the members. "We will not allow them to form another association in Gulbarga. Within a week, we will form a second unit of our association in the High Court."

If you are innocent - Beware of Police!

It is the fact of how government runs in India, that most of government machinery (because humanity seems to be absent), has no disincentive on making mistakes or gross negligence. Doctors can be sued if they leave a scissor inside patient's stomach, but it seems police can just get away with any kind of 'mistake' they commit. Read below:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/What-IPC-Cops-set-to-arrest-kids-for-killing-bhabhi/articleshow/5389977.cms

SASARAM: Can Class I and LKG kids torture and assault a woman to death? Or, to be more liberal, can children of this age collude with their grown-up kin to execute a killing in their household? Indian Penal Code (IPC)'s Section 82 says: "Nothing is an offence which is done by a child under seven years of age." But either Kaimur police have not read the rule book or they care a damn about it.

In yet another instance of sham police investigations making ridiculous conclusions in criminal cases, Chaniya Khatun, 6, and her sister Soni Khatun, 5, along with six other family members have been held guilty by police of having killed an 18-year-old woman.

With Kaimur superintendent of police P K Srivastava agreeing to the Bhabhua DSP Sanjay Kumar's supervision note and ordering the arrest of the accused, the eight, including the two girls, are likely to be arrested "any moment now". "I have already procured a warrant of arrest against the eight accused," said R K Singh, station house officer of Sonhan police station.

It was the Sonhan PS which lodged an FIR in the case on September 2 this year after the court of Bhabhua chief judicial magistrate (CJM) forwarded a complaint case to it for investigation. In his complaint, filed in the CJM's court on August 18, one Shah Mohammad of Khair village alleged that his 18-year-old daughter Akhtari Begum, who was married to one Md Tajuddin of Pawandi village in Rohtas district, was killed by her husband and in-laws on July 26 for dowry. As it happens in such cases, all the in-laws were named as accused.

On September 24, Bhabhua DSP Kumar along with the investigating officer visited Pawandi and supervised the case. He also interrogated the minor sisters and arrested the girl's father-in-law. His supervision note concluded that the accusation appeared to be true as those named accused had tortured and assaulted Akhtari to death for dowry. Akhtari was the wife of the brother of Chaniya and Soni, who study in a primary school.

Srivastava just okayed the DSP's findings and ordered the arrest of the accused. In case they elude police, their property will be attached, he further ordered.

Ironically, Srivastava on Monday evening told TOI: "Aisi galtiya hote rahti hai (Such mistakes keep happening)" if the children are named accused and witnesses also corroborate the accusation. When told about IPC and asked about police wisdom, he said: "We will do something about it now."

A senior lawyer and member of the Bihar Bar Council described the police action as illegal. "Nor only does it border on incredulity, but it also reveals an insensitive face of the state police," said Akhauri Mangala Charan Srivastav.

No this is not a one-off case of its kind. Earlier this month, this newspaper reported how an SP found the accusation true against all the members of a family in a case of kidnapping that never took place. So, all of them, including an octogenarian, were jailed for months.

In another case, an alleged murderer fooled police into arresting two innocent persons for the crime he had committed.

Taking cognizance of the two cases of "violation of rights of innocent persons by police" the State Human Rights Commission has sought a reply from director-general of police Anand Shankar.

Allahabad High Court needs Rs 500 for RTI application!

Following is the link to Allahabad High Court's Rules for RTI.

http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/india/states/up/allahabad_high_court_rti_rules_2006.pdf

Of relevance to note are the following rules for giving RTI application in Allahabad high court:

3. Every application shall be made for one particular item of information only.

4. Each application shall be accompanied by a cash or draft or pay order of Rs 500/- drawn in favour of the Registrar General, High Court, Allahabad, or the District Judge of the concerned District Court as the case might be.

5. If the application is permitted, the applicant shall be entitled to information only after he makes payment in cash at the rate of Rs 15/- per page of information to be supplied to him.

Comments: Just read the above again -- RTI application allowed for one particular item only, Rs 500 per application, and Rs 15 per page of information.

And to think that RTI stands for "Right to Information". Surely justice is blind...and it thinks that everyone who files an RTI application is a super-rich Indian citizen.

Poor man under State's boots

This is what happens to innocent, honest but poor people in India's justice system. If a poor person falls down even by mistake of another or state, the state keeps him under its boots simply because he is poor.

Wrongly jailed for 10 yrs, man gets Rs 1L

Malegoan resident Bapu Mali was in jail for five years as an undertrial battling rape and murder charges. Even after the trial court acquitted him, Mali spent five more years in prison as he didn't pay the bail amount when his case went into appeal.

"This is a sorry state of affairs," a division bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice A R Joshi said, while upholding the trial court order acquitting Mali. "Not only the prosecuting agency but also the courts are involved (for Mali languishing in jail). This is a reflection on our own system which needs to be corrected."

The court, in its order, also framed guidelines for the trial courts in such cases and said that the sessions judge who didn't comply with the rules will be liable for departmental inquiry and even contempt of court. "A person who is acquitted should not remain in jail even for an (extra) day," said the judges.

The last para is really about accountability of judiciary to the people. What will the judge pay for by this kind of mistake in terms of career prospects? The state pays the 1 lakh compenstation from taxpayer money so the judge does not bother about that. In effect without having accountability of judiciary it has become an 'accomplice' to the corruptions in executive branch of the state. Read here on what the Chief Justice of India has said in an official conference on incompetence (and clear corruption) of some in judiciary.