acquittal

Supreme Court Orders Release of Four Jaipur Blasts Accused Acquitted by High Court

The top court insisted that it will have to hear all the accused before it can stay their acquittal.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to stay the Rajasthan high court’s acquittal of the 2008 Jaipur serial blasts accused, and said the four acquitted accused must be released. “How can the accused be kept in jail after they have been acquitted?” the bench had asked, according to The New Indian Express.

“We are not inclined to pass the order for keeping them in jail even after their acquittal … Even assuming that you [Attorney General] are right, before passing such a drastic order, we have to go through the entire evidence.”

“We have to hear all of [the acquitted]. We will have to apply our mind in the case,” a bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Rajesh Bindal said in response to Attorney General R. Venkataramani, according to a Press Trust of India report.

The bench also ordered the four men to register their presence daily at Jaipur’s Anti-Terrorism Squad police station, the same report said.

On March 29, the Rajasthan high court set aside a lower court’s conviction and death sentence to four men in the case. It also upheld the acquittal of a fifth accused and directed an inquiry into the case’s investigating officers.

The top court bench did, however, agree to stay the high court’s direction to probe the involved officers.

In May 2008, a series of bombs exploded in Jaipur’s crowded old city, killing over 70 and injuring 200 people. The bombs went off on a Tuesday, which is a day when many devotees visit a popular shrine in Jaipur’s old city.

Chhawla Rape-Murder Case: L-G Nod Paves Way for Delhi Govt to File Plea Against Acquittal

The Supreme Court had earlier come down heavily on the investigation, noting that there were ‘glaring lapses’ in it.

New Delhi: Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena has given the green light to the Delhi government to file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging its decision to acquit three convicts in the 2012 Chhawla rape and murder case.

L-G Saxena has also approved of the Delhi government’s decision to engage Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to represent it in the case.

“The LG has approved the filing of a review petition in the Supreme Court against its decision of acquitting the three accused,” an official told PTI.

A 19-year old woman was brutally raped and murdered on February 9, 2012, at Chhawla in Delhi’s Dwarka area. Three men were held and were eventually awarded the death sentence by a trial court. This was upheld by the Delhi high court.

The Supreme Court in its judgment on November 7 , 2022 set aside the trial court and high court orders. A bench of Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justices Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi came down heavily on the investigation.

The bench noted that neither were any test identification parades conducted by the investigating officer during the course of investigation, nor did any of the witnesses identify the accused during their respective depositions before the court.

“[T]he entire case of the prosecution falls flat on the very first circumstance having not been duly proved by any evidence, much less clinching evidence, against the appellants-accused,” the apex court had said.

In addition to pointing out “glaring lapses” in the investigation, the apex court bench also likened the trial court’s role to that of a “passive umpire’s”.

The victim’s father had expressed disappointment over the verdict and earlier in November had expressed the wish of challenging the verdict. “We will appeal against the Supreme Court’s verdict, which has allowed the acquittal of the three accused. We are in the process of finalising it and will file an appeal soon to reconsider the verdict,” he had said.

‘Glaring Lapses in Probe’: SC Acquits 3 Men Sentenced to Death for Brutal Gang-Rape, Murder of Teen

The apex court bench likened the trial court’s role to that of a “passive umpire’s”. The young woman’s father has expressed disappointment with the verdict and said the system was taking advantage of their poverty.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has acquitted three men sentenced to death for the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old in Delhi in 2012 citing ‘glaring lapses’ in investigation, prompting her family to note that the court had let them down after an 11-year-long fight.

In 2014, a trial court had first awarded the death penalty to the three accused, Rahul, Ravi and Vinod, calling the case “rarest of rare”. The three men are accused of abducting, raping and brutally killing the woman in February 2012. Her mutilated body was found three days after she was abducted. The judgment was later upheld by the Delhi high court.

A bench of Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justices Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi set aside the judgment of the high court, LiveLaw has reported.

The bench is understood to have come down heavily on the investigation.

“From the… evidence of the concerned witnesses, it clearly transpires that neither any T.I. (test identification) parade was conducted by the investigating officer during the course of investigation for the identification of the accused, nor any of the witnesses had identified the accused during their respective depositions before the court. Therefore, the very identity of the appellants-accused having not been duly established, the entire case of the prosecution falls flat on the very first circumstance having not been duly proved by any evidence, much less clinching evidence, against the appellants-accused,” the court said, according to Indian Express.

The Express report also has it that in addition to pointing out “glaring lapses” in the investigation, the apex court bench also likened the trial court’s role to that of a “passive umpire’s”.

“Even after 11 years, this is the verdict. We have lost it…We lost the battle…I was living with this hope…I have lost my will to live. I thought my daughter would get justice,” the mother of the deceased told the news agency PTI.

The victim’s father said the apex court has “let them down” and that he felt as if “what was supposed to happen with criminals ultimately happened” to them.

“It has been 11 years since we have been running from pillar to post. The lower court also announced its verdict. We were relieved. From High Court also we were given assurance. But Supreme Court let us down. What was supposed to happen with criminals ultimately happened with us,” he told PTI.

He also alleged that the system was taking advantage of their poverty.

“The law and order system in our country is not for poor people. If this had happened with a rich influential person or a politician, would they also have faced the same fate like us? Overall, it’s like taking advantage of poverty,” he added.

According to the prosecution, the woman worked in Gurugram’s Cyber City area and belonged to Uttarakhand. She was returning from her workplace and was near her home when the three men abducted her in a car. When she didn’t return home, her parents lodged a missing person report, the prosecution said, adding that the woman’s mutilated and decomposed body was found in a village in Haryana’s Rewari.

The police found multiple injuries on the woman’s body. Further investigation and autopsy revealed she was attacked with car tools, glass bottles, metal objects, and other weapons. She was also raped, they said.

Police arrested the three men involved in the crime and said one of the accused allegedly took revenge after the woman turned down his proposal.

(With PTI inputs)

Karnataka Court Acquits Adivasi Father-Son Duo Charged With ‘Terrorism’ for Owning Bhagat Singh’s Book

The court said that there was no evidence to prove that they were either members of a Naxalite group or assisting Naxals in their activities.

New Delhi: In yet another reiteration by the court that possession of literature doesn’t prove any association with a banned organisation, a district court in Karnataka acquitted an Adivasi youth who was arrested in 2012. The case of Vittala Malekudiya is particularly bizarre as the Karnataka police had arrested him, a 23-year-old journalism student, and his father Lingappa Malekudiya on charges of having links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the basis of books seized from Vittala’s hostel room. Both were charged with charges of sedition and terrorism under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The list of allegedly incriminating literature also included a book by Bhagat Singh, apart from “a letter seeking boycott of Parliament polls until his village gets basic amenities, and clippings of newspaper articles”, the Indian Express reported.

Vittala, now 32, is a journalist with a leading Kannada daily, and his 60-year-old father lives in Kuthloor village near the Kudremukh National Park in Dakshina Kannada district.

Observing that the material seized by the police were articles “required for day-to-day livelihood” of the accused persons, the court said that the police has failed to show any Naxal links of the father-son duo. by an anti-Naxal unit of Karnataka Police has been acquitted by a district court — after police failed to show any Naxal links of the duo.

“Possessing books of Bhagat Singh is not barred under law…the reading of such newspapers is not barred under law,” the court said, while quashing the sedition charge against them.

“None of the witnesses have stated that the accused No.6 and 7 have committed the offence of sedition. There is no evidence on record to show that the accused No.6 or 7 by their words or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, brought or attempted to bring in hatred or contempt or excited or attempted to excite disaffection towards the Government,” the court said.

The duo were arrested on March 3, 2012 from their home after the police reportedly got a tip-off from one of its senior officers that the Malekudiyas were assisting five wanted Naxals operative in Kudremukh forests. They were subsequently charged with criminal conspiracy and sedition under the IPC and terrorism under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

More importantly, the five ‘Naxals’ named in the FIR were never arrested.

Speaking to the Indian Express, Vittala said, “I am very happy to be acquitted in this case. We struggled for nine years and fought hard to get this acquittal. We were framed as Naxal extremists but there were no points in the chargesheet to indicate these charges. Our innocence has been proven.”

“We attended every court hearing. Even during Covid, we would stand outside court on some days. It was very hard for us to commute from our village to Mangalore for hearings. We had to be in court before 11 am and there were no buses from near our village,” he said, adding that his counsel Dinesh Hegde Ullepady helped them attend some of the hearings during the pandemic on WhatsApp video calls.

Belonging to the Malekudiya Adivasi community which is mostly dependent on forest produce and subsistence agriculture, Vittala was in the second semester of Mangalore University’s journalism graduate programme. He was kept in prison for almost four months in 2012 before the father-son duo got bail following the police’s failure to file a chargesheet in the case within the 90-day stipulated period. During this period, Vittala had to run between courts to seek special permission to write his exams.

“I was taken in handcuffs to the exam and this created a controversy at the time,” Vittala, who completed the course in 2016, said. He eventually got a job in a Kannada daily newspaper in 2018.

Ullepady, their counsel, said that the police themselves admitted in the court that the seized materials were “household articles”.

“We made a prayer to the district court for an honourable acquittal and not just an acquittal. Honourable acquittals are given when police have filed a false case and the honour of the arrested person has to be restored. The district court has given only an acquittal and we will approach the High Court for an honourable acquittal,” he said.

The third additional district judge for Dakshina Kannada, B.B. Jakati, while acquitting the duo said that the police failed to establish any incriminating evidence against them despite claiming that the three mobile phones seized from them could establish their connection with the Naxals.

“The CDR of these mobiles have not been produced. Even during the course of trial, the prosecution has not shown the incriminating evidence available in original mobiles seized…mere seizure of mobiles from the custody of accused or at their instance would not help the case of the prosecution in any manner,” the court said.

As far as the letter that called for a boycott of elections, the court said that “the student of journalism” wrote such a letter “because the leaders have not fulfilled long standing demands of the tribal people of Kuthloor village”.

“On reading it can be easily stated that such letters contain demands of local people,” Judge Jakati said in his order, adding that the 23 prosecution witnesses could not support the police’s claims.

The court said that there was no evidence to prove that they were either members of a Naxalite group or assisting Naxals in their activities.

2G Scam: Delhi HC Dismisses Pleas Challenging Legality of CBI’s Appeal Against Acquittals

Justice Sethi held that the 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to Section 13(1)(d) would not come to the rescue of the acquitted in this appeal.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday dismissed various pleas challenging the legality of CBI’s appeal against the trial court verdict in the 2G scam case in which former telecom minister A. Raja and others were acquitted and said that it was filed duly by the probe agency.

The high court also held that the amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act would not apply to the offences that had already taken place and rejected several other pleas which raised the issue.

It further said that the CBI was not bound to submit or disclose a copy of the record and it cannot be directed to file approval letters or other related documents relating to the CBI appeal.

Justice Brijesh Sethi, who will demit the office on November 30, 2020, released the appeals from his court and said that subject to the orders of the Chief Justice, they will be listed before another bench on December 1, 2020.

The pleas by various acquitted individuals, including former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetable Pvt Ltd director Rajiv Agarwal and Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar claimed that the CBI’s appeal was not maintainable as there was lack of requisite sanction/approval from the central government.

The court held that the government is not under any obligation to place on record the approval letters for filing an appeal.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for Rajiv Agarwal, had said he was not challenging the actual decision taken by the government but as to whether was arrived at properly.

The high court also dismissed the pleas by Raja, his then private secretary R.K. Chandolia, Behura and Bollywood film producer Karim Morani contending that the CBI’s appeal against their acquittal in the 2G spectrum allocation case has become infructuous with the amendment in the anti-corruption law.

Also read: As All 2G Accused Are Acquitted, What Happened With the Scam That Wasn’t?

It said an amendment in the Act does not apply to the offences that had already taken place.

Justice Sethi held that the 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to Section 13(1)(d) would not come to the rescue of the acquitted in this appeal.

“Amended Act does not apply to offences that have already taken place. There was no intention to obliterate the earlier law. There is no impediment in hearing the appeals. The applications are dismissed, the judge said, while pronouncing separate verdicts on various applications and petitions.

Raja had told the high court that the CBI’s appeal against the acquittals in the 2G case has become infructuous with the coming of the new anti-corruption law.

His counsel had told the court that the graft charges levelled against him and others in the case have been omitted in the new Prevention of Corruption Act of 2018 and therefore, the prosecution in the instant matter cannot go on.

The CBI had contended that the applications were not sustainable as this specific issue had been raised in the replies filed in response to the agency’s appeal.

Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was repealed in 2018 when the law was amended by Parliament.

Section 13(1)(d) of the Act dealt criminal misconduct by a public servant if he obtained for himself or any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means; or by abusing his position as a public servant, or while holding office as a public servant, obtained for any person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage without any public interest.

The high court had in October commenced day-to-day hearing on CBI’s leave to appeal’ against the acquittal of all the individuals and firms.

After finishing submissions in the CBI case, the high court would have taken up the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering case in which all the accused were acquitted by the special court.

Also read: Are Lessons from the 2G Scam Being Unlearned?

However, the acquitted individuals and firms kept filing various applications and petitions in between.

Leave to appeal is formal permission granted by a court to a party to challenge a decision in a higher court.

A special court on December 21, 2017, had acquitted Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in CBI and ED cases related to the scam. It had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, director of Kalaignar TV in the ED case.

On the same day, the trial court had also acquitted Behura, Chandolia, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) – Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair — in the CBI’s 2G case.

Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal were also acquitted in the CBI case.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have challenged in the high court the acquittal of all the individuals and companies in the 2G scam corruption and money laundering cases by the trial court.

The CBI had also filed an appeal challenging the acquittal of Essar Group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate case arising out of the 2G scam probe.