Editorial : When a Judge Himself Commits Crime, When a police himself robs, Murders …

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.

 

SP nabbed by Karnataka Lokayukta

 

 

Daijiworld Media Network – Kolar (SP)

Kolar, Nov 28 2009 : Kolar district superintendent of police, K P Puttaswamy, was to proceed for a 40-day special training scheduled to be held in Hyderabad, on Saturday November 28. He was caught by the Lokayukta police, while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a subordinate worker a day before.

Based on a complaint filed by a constable from the town police station here, a Lokayukta team led by superintendent of police (SP), Madhukar Shetty and others caught the SP red-handed. The team which raided the house of the SP recovered Rs 1.65 lac in cash.

As per the information provided by the Lokayukta team, P P Prakash, who is an ex-serviceman, working as a constable in the town police station here, had become ill and gone on leave. After rejoining the duties, he failed to provide details and certificates. After the departmental inquiry was conducted against him for this lapse, the constable apologized. However, instead of showing lenience, the department conducted another inquiry against him.

At that time, Prakash is said to have approached the superintendent of police, who reportedly demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 to show lenience in the case. Even after he paid it, Prakash was handed the punishment of compulsory retirement from service. When Prakash approached the SP in this connection, the latter reportedly demanded an additional Rs 10,000 from him for favouring him. Frustrated, Prakash directly went to the office of the Lokayukta in Bangalore and complained about this harassment.

At around 12.30 pm on Friday, the constable entered the office of the SP with Rs 10,000 in his hand and placed a packet of Rs 100 notes on the SP’s table. At the time the SP touched cash, a burqa-clad lady constable of the Lokayukta suddenly entered the room, resisting attempts by the guard to stop her. As she signalled other Lokayukta officials, they rushed into the room and caught the SP off guard. The Lokayukta succeeded in maintaining so much secrecy, that long after the SP was caught, many in the office were unaware of the incident. Even the additional superintendent of police, Phanindra Singh, was informed about the incident later.

It is said that the SP initially did not cooperate, but later, apologized for his action. Simultaneously, the Lokayukta personnel raided the SP’s house. 46 year-old Puttaswamy, who was promoted from the KSP cadre to the IPS grade in 1997, had taken over as the superintendent of police of the district in the year 2008. He happens to be the second IPS officer in the state to have been nabbed by the Lokayukta.



SP ARRESTED ON GRAFT CHARGE BY Karnataka lokayukta

 

March 14 2008 

Srikantappa

BANGALORE: The Lokayukta police on Thursday arrested a Superintendent of Police for allegedly accepting bribe from a businessman in Chamarajanagar.

Additional Director-General of Police (Lokayukta) R.K. Datta told presspersons here that Lokayukta officers arrested Chamarajanagar District Superintendent of Police Srikantappa for allegedly accepting Rs. 50,000 from S.M. Farooq for closing a case registered against him and allowing him to continue with sand mining. Srikantappa’s associate, Subbanna, who allegedly acted as the middleman, has also been arrested.

Mr. Datta said there were several complaints of harassment and demands for bribe against Srikantappa. One such complaint was filed by Mr. Farooq. “As the complaint was against a senior officer, we took every precaution,” Mr. Datta said. A team, led by Deputy Inspector General of Police (Lokayukta) K.S.R. Charan Reddy, was sent from Bangalore to Chamarajanagar on Wednesday. The Lokayukta police went to Srikantappa’s house and surveyed the exit points. On Thursday, Mr. Farooq sent the money through his manager Akbar, who went to Srikantappa’s house with Subbanna, who allegedly struck the deal between the businessman and Srikantappa. Subbanna took the money to the Superintendent of Police while Akbar waited in another room. When Subbanna and Akbar came out of the house, the Lokayukta police team entered the house and frisked Srikantappa. “He had hidden the cash between his shirt and vest. He has been booked for demanding and accepting bribe,” Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde said. The cash has been seized. Mr. Farooq got embroiled in the affair as he was being harassed for bribes by a forester at a check-post to allow transportation of sand. Mr. Farooq then filed a complaint with the Chamarajanagar (East) police. The forester also filed a complaint against Mr. Farooq accusing him of obstructing him while carrying out his official duty. The investigating officer did not find any substance in the forester’s complaint and wanted to close the case. However, Srikantappa sent a message to the investigating officer, through a sub-inspector, asking him not to close the case until further orders from him, the Lokayuta said.

Srikantappa approached the businessman through Subbanna seeking Rs. 25,000 to get the case closed and an additional Rs. 25,000 to let Mr. Farooq continue with his business. Subsequently, the businessman filed a complaint with the Lokayukta, Mr. Hegde said.

 

 More Corrupt the Police are, More unsafe are our People

- By K B GANAPATHY

It is sickening. It is nauseating. It is vulgar. It is dirty. It is a sin and above all, it is a crime beyond any ameliorating circumstances. The punishment for this crime should be a real deterrent and must not take more than a month to award. I am talking about the crime committed by the Kolar SP, K. P. Puttaswamy, IPS, who was caught red - handed while taking a bribe of Rs.10, 000 from a civil Police Constable P.P. Prakash by the Bangalore Lokayukta Police on November 27.

When the crime was committed in Kolar, how is it that the Bangalore Lokayukta took action? This is not a million dollar question. This is a million dollar shame on the honesty and integrity of our Police force itself (honourable exceptions are honourably exempted here).

I understand the reason is that the Lokayukta Police officers in Kolar are too compassionate and considerate in nabbing criminals and corrupt persons in their own turf (department). Earlier, three attempts were made to catch this cornucopia of a corrupt person called Puttaswamy, but he was alerted in time. Thus the local Lokayukta failed in its mission.


Kolar SP Puttaswamy

Constable Prakash, the victim of Puttaswamy’s greed, avarice and craving for money knew this very well. It was for this reason, he had to approach the Bangalore Lokayukta (Phone: [phone]). Naturally this time, the Lokayukta operation was a complete success.


Complainant Mr. P. P. Prakash

Think of the depth of demand from Puttaswamy and you will know how fathomless it is. I am reminded of a Tamil film Anniyan. The Constable Prakash had already given Rs.25, 000 as bribe (which in fact is also an offence). But the greedy SP, Puttaswamy, in order to make a killing out of this Constable seeking permission for voluntary retirement from service under VRS, recommended his dismissal. This made the Constable nervous as he would lose his pension and other benefits. P. P. Prakash, the Constable, now aged 47, hailing from South Kodagu, near Ponnampet (Pullangada family) served in the Indian Army Signals for seven years and then joined the Police Department in Kolar and has served for 20 years.

Of late, he was not keeping good health and hence took “medical permission” for 13 months leave — sick leave. It appears he was supposed to submit a Doctor’s certificate from time to time during this period. He did not do so as it is not compulsory, and rarely insisted upon, he says.

However, in this case the Kolar SP K. P. Puttaswamy ordered a Departmental Enquiry (DE) against him. Realising that this enquiry would take at least 5 to 6 months to complete and as he was in a hurry to take VRS he decided to apologise for the inadvertent lapse. Subsequent to the apology submitted by him to the DE Officer, the Dy. SP, the DE was closed and the report sent to the Superintendent of Police, K.P. Puttaswamy.

See how greed for money tears away the human face of a human being. The Superintendent of Police, Puttaswamy, returning the file to the Enquiry Officer, the Dy. SP, asked him to re -examine the Departmental Enquiry.