BBC News – Pakistan inmate Sanaullah Ranjay dies in India hospital

Thursday, 9 may 2013. A Pakistani prisoner who was attacked by a fellow inmate at a high-security prison in Indian-administered Kashmir has died in hospital, doctors say.

Doctors say Sanaullah Ranjay, who was in a coma, died of multi-organ failure at a hospital in India’s Chandigarh city early on Thursday.

Ranjay suffered injuries in the attack at Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu last week.

He has been in prison for the past 17 years on militancy-related charges.

“His condition was extremely critical. He died early morning,” a doctor at the hospital told the AFP news agency.

Ranjay was attacked by a former Indian army soldier convicted of murder after a row between the two men on 3 May, police said. The former soldier has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody.

The attack on Ranjay happened on the day that an Indian prisoner, who died after being attacked in a Pakistani jail, was cremated in India.

Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death by Pakistan in 1991 for spying, had been attacked with bricks by inmates in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail a week earlier.

On Tuesday, two members of Ranjay’s family – brother-in-law Mohammed Sehzaad and nephew Mohammed Asif – visited him in hospital in India.

On Wednesday, India’s Supreme Court said it was “pained and concerned” at the attack on Ranjay and wondered why adequate steps were not being taken to protect prisoners.

“We are more concerned why such incidents are happening in jails. Lives of inmates are put in danger. It is a serious matter and can’t be accepted,” the court said.

India says the attack is being investigated and the “guilty will be punished”.

A foreign ministry spokesman said an “advisory had been issued to strengthen security for Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails”.

There were 535 Indian prisoners, including 483 fishermen, in Pakistani jails and 272 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails, the spokesman said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-22460865

The Tribune – Supreme Court to hear petition seeking stay on Bhullar’s execution

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, May 7. The Supreme Court today agreed to consider a PIL filed by Navneet Kaur, wife of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, pleading for a stay on his execution, pending the disposal of petitions seeking a review of the April 12, 2013, Supreme Court judgement refusing to show him mercy.

Appearing before a three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice Kurian Joseph, Navneet Kaur’s senior counsel Ram Jethmalani pleaded for an early hearing of the PIL. Jethmalani said Navneet Kaur had filed the PIL, apprehending execution of her husband despite the review petitions filed by her and Bhullar.The Bench questioned the logic behind the petition, pointing out that the Supreme Court had already rejected Bhullar’s review petition on December 17, 2002, and curative petition on March 12, 2003, against the March 22, 2002 judgement upholding the death sentence.

Nevertheless, the Bench said it would consider the plea for a stay. The Supreme Court, in its April 2013 ruling on petitions filed by Bhullar and his wife seeking that Bhullar’s death sentence be commuted to that of life term had said that terrorists had no right to seek mercy citing official delays and other reasons.

The anti-terror court which had held the trial in Delhi had awarded the death sentence on August 25, 2001 “simply on the basis of his alleged confession recorded by a Deputy Commissioner of Police during police remand” as the police had “miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and failed to produce any reliable witnesses,” Navneet Kaur pleaded in her PIL.

The PIL questioned the legality of the May 30, 2011, Presidential order rejecting Bhullar’s mercy plea, pointing out that the file sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2005 and 2011 did not contain the fact that Justice M B Shah, presiding Judge of the SC Bench which had heard his appeal, had given a dissenting verdict, acquitting him for want of proof.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130508/punjab.htm#3

The Tribune – Supreme Court clears release of ‘Sadda Haq

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 26. The Supreme Court today cleared the release of Punjabi movie Sadda Haq (Our Rights) in Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi on the recommendations of a four-member panel of senior advocates that watched it at a special screening in the court complex.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir passed an order asking the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to consider revising the classification of the movie, based on the Khalistani movement in Punjab in the 1980s, from “U” (universal viewing) to “A” (restricted to adults) as recommended by the lawyers’ panel.

The Bench also asked the producers and distributors of the movie not to make use of the controversial promotional song “Baggi” in any manner whatsoever. The producers, who had approached the Supreme Court challenging the ban on the movie in Punjab, Delhi and Chandigarh, agreed to all the conditions. The movie had been banned apprehending law and order problem, but the panel did not agree with this. The apex court also said the CBFC “may” complete its formalities by April 29 as the movie was already running in other parts of the country.

Yesterday, the SC had set up the lawyers’ panel, including senior advocates Fali S Nariman and Rajeev Dhavan, to view it and submit its views. The committee, which also included Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh and senior advocate Rebecca John, was unanimous in its view that no government could ban any movie certified by the CBFC. It also said there was nothing objectionable in the movie.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130427/main6.htm

The Tribune – Row over Sadda Haq; Screening will affect peace: Punjab to SC

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 23. The Punjab Government today filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, maintaining that allowing the screening of ‘Sadda Haq’, a Punjabi movie on militancy, would affect peace and harmony in the state and thereby create a law and order problem.

In the affidavit filed through Additional Advocate General Ajay Bansal, the state government said it had banned the movie on the recommendations of a three-member committee which had seen it. The committee comprised Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, the Principal Secretary (Home and Justice) and the Chief Secretary. Two Shiv Sena activists had also approached a district court in Chandigarh seeking a ban on the movie.

The movie had sought to project the assassins of Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995 as heroes of the militant movement, it was contended. The state government filed the affidavit in response to the April 11 Supreme Court notice on a petition filed by the producers, Vital Media.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir had asked Punjab, Delhi and Chandigarh to specify as to why they had banned the screening of the movie when it had been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130424/punjab.htm#14

The Tribune – Police assault case: Tarn Taran SSP shifted, SHO suspended; Action comes a few days after the state government assured SC of punishing erring policemen

Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, April 14. A few days after the Punjab Government assured the Supreme Court that it would action take against senior policemen in the Tarn Taran assault case, the government today shifted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) KS Dhillon to the Commando Battalion, Bahadurgarh.

Also, Station House Officer (SHO) Sukhbir Singh has been placed under suspension.

Ripjit Singh, SSP Gurdaspur, has now taken over charge as the district police chief.

A senior police official said though he had not read the orders, he had been told that the transfer was made in view of the assault case where a 22-year-old woman was brutally thrashed by several policemen in full public view.

On April 11, senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for Punjab, had told the Supreme Court that the police brutality was “indefensible” and as such he had advised the state government to proceed against several policemen, including the SHO.

The victim said her demand for termination of services of the policemen responsible for misbehaving with her was yet to be met. She also said it was yet to be known who had called such a heavy police force on the spot.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130415/punjab.htm#1

The Tribune – SC verdict on Bhullar death sentence today

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 11. The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment tomorrow on Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s plea for commuting to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to him for the September 10, 1993 bomb attack on the then Youth Congress president MS Bitta.

A Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya will pronounce its verdict, giving its views on the desirability of commuting death sentences on account of the long delays in the rejection of mercy pleas by the Governors or the President on the advice of the respective government.

The verdict as such is likely to become a guiding factor for adjudicating a bunch of petitions by similarly placed convicts, including the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who are seeking commutation of the death penalty handed out to them.

Bhullar, his wife Navneet Kaur and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) have pleaded that he should be spared the gallows as he has virtually undergone life sentence due to the long delay in the rejection of his mercy plea. The Centre, however, has opposed the plea.

Besides the delay, another reason given in the plea was that Bhullar was being treated for some mental ailment.

The 1993 bomb attack in Delhi had killed nine security personnel and left 25 persons, including Bitta, injured. Bhullar is imprisoned at Tihar Jail here.

Three death-row convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case — Santhan, Murugan and Arivu — have also sought commutation of their sentence to life, contending that their cases were similar to that of Bhullar.

On April 6, another SC Bench stayed the execution of eight death-row convicts, including former Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia’s daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjeev.

The eight petitioners have challenged the execution move citing the long delays in the rejection of their mercy pleas.

The other convicts are Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet Singh, Praveen Kumar, Sundar Singh and Jafar Ali.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130412/main4.htm

The Tribune – Tarn Taran assault victim pins hopes on SC for justice

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 6. The Tarn Taran police assault victim and her family have now pinned her hopes on the Supreme Court for getting justice in the case.

Talking to The Tribune, the victim’s father, Kashmir Singh, said the Supreme Court had taken a serious note of the issue and they were optimistic that justice would be finally delivered to them.

He, however, made it clear that if need be, they were ready to hit the streets and wage a battle for justice, for which “they will fight till their last”. He said they were satisfied with the CRPF security cover, which they got following the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

On the other hand, Tarn Taran Deputy Commissioner Balwinder Singh, who conducted the magisterial probe into the incident, declined to share his findings while stating that the matter was sub judice.

The Supreme Court had recently rejected the District Magistrate’s probe report into the incident.

Earlier, two policemen, Head Constable Devinder Kumar and Constable Saraj Singh, were arrested in the case, though they were held only after the Supreme Court pulled up the Punjab Police for not acting tough against the erring officials. The duo was placed under suspension on March 4, the day the incident came to light.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130407/punjab.htm#12

The Tribune – Tarn Taran Assault Case; Police can’t go to media justifying its excesses: SC

R Sedhuraman, Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, April 1. The Supreme Court (SC) today deplored police officers’ tendency to go to the media trying to justify their excesses even before any inquiry is held on such incidents.

“This menace has to be stopped,” a Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and Kurian Joseph remarked while hearing a case relating to Tarn Taran police thrashing a girl in full public view on March 4 and Patna police lathicharging teachers agitating for regularisation of their jobs.

The Bench observed that such excesses by the police and their attempt to justify their action had its roots in the large-scale corruption in their recruitment. It cited the recent recovery of Rs 16 crore from a police officer who sought to justify his corrupt practices contending that his father had paid over Rs 2 crore for getting him the job.

Taking suo motu notice of the Tarn Taran and Patna incidents, the SC has enlarged the scope of the PIL case and sought status reports from all the states on the implementation of the SC guidelines on police reforms. After noticing that most of the states had not filed the status reports, the apex court today passed an order warning them that they would have to face serious consequences for such lapses.

While taking note of the fact that Punjab had not filed its response to the court notice on the Tarn Taran incident, the Bench said it was not satisfied with the report submitted by the Bihar police chief.

Attorney General GE Vahanvati pointed out that the Bihar Director General of Police had stated that no woman teacher was treated in any hospital for the injuries suffered in the police lathicharge, instead of giving a specific response to the SC query — whether any woman was hurt in the excesses?

On the Taran Taran incident, the Bench said it was unfortunate that even 66 years after Independence, hapless women such as the victim in Punjab — a 22-year-old girl — were being brutally thrashed by the police. The girl and her father, an ex-serviceman, were beaten up by two policemen when they sought action against some persons who had allegedly teased her and made vulgar remarks.

The SC asked Punjab and other states to file their affidavits by tomorrow and posted the matter for further hearing on April 4.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130402/punjab.htm#1

Dawn – More than 9000 terrorism-linked deaths in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA since 2008

Islamabad, 27 March 2013. More than 9000 people including military, paramilitary and police officials along with members of government-backed tribal Aman Lashkars have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA during the last five years, Pakistani spy agencies told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The agencies submitted the report to a three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The bench was hearing a petition challenging the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation, 2011.

These regulations allow detention of arrested militants in specially built internment centres in the tribal areas near the Pakistan-Afghan border. Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) KP Ameer Prof Ibrahim had challenged the regulations in the court.

The report also said that recent nexus of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Swat militants with the Afghan government may give rise to increased terrorist incidents on border areas including Mohmand, Bajaur Agencies, Dir, Swat and Chitral.

The report said that a total of 235 suicide attacks, 9,257 rocket attacks and 4,256 bomb explosions have taken place in KP and FATA since 2008.

Among the fatalities, 5,152 were civilians, 1,489 army officials, 675 Frontier Corps, while 1,717 belonged to the police force. In targeted attacks, 243 people belonging to lashkars were killed and 275 were injured, while 995 schools and 35 colleges were also destroyed in the last five years.

The agencies’ report cited 475 major and 135 small raids while 6000 search operations by the security forces in which, it said, 3,051 militants were killed. Militancy in the region was at its peak during 2007 and 2008. However, actions taken by the law enforcement agencies had restrained the militants’ strength, it added.

Moreover, the report predicted more attacks against the state in case the detained militants are released. It will be difficult to contain them in KP and they could start a new wave of violence in cities like Karachi and Lahore, said the report.

The spy agencies claimed in the report that the militants are also being rehabilitated in the mentioned internment centres so that their allegiance with Pakistan and its constitution could be restored.

The court has directed a response from the petitioner’s counsel and adjourned the hearing till Wednesday.

http://dawn.com/2013/03/27/more-than-9000-terrorism-linked-deaths-in-kp-fata-since-2008/

The Tribune – ‘Shattered’ Sanjay Dutt explores legal options

Tribune New Service & Reuters

Mumbai, March 21. After his conviction for possessing illegal arms and ammunition at the time of the Bombay serial blasts in 1993, Sanjay Dutt said he was “shattered and in emotional distress” as he had already suffered for 20 years.

“I am heartbroken because today along with me, my three children, wife and my entire family will undergo punishment,” he said in a statement.

“I know in my heart that I have always been a good human being, respected the system and has always been loyal to my country.”

The actor was reportedly exploring legal options and awaiting a copy of the court order. Throughout the day, he was holed up in his 10th floor flat at Imperial Heights building at Pali Hill in the suburb of Bandra.

His lawyer Satish Maneshinde told reporters that the length of sentence had come as a shock to Dutt who has continued to make films despite the legal action against him. “We will wait for a copy of the Supreme Court judgment and then decide the further course of action. He is a strong man and will fight back,” he said.

“We have been preparing him from the very beginning,” Maneshinde said. The actor would abide by the apex court order and undergo the sentence in letter and spirit, he added. “Three-and-a-half years is not a long period,” Maneshinde added.

Another of Dutt’s counsel, Majeed Memon, told reporters that the actor has suffered major mental trauma following his arrest and imprisonment for possessing an AK-47 assault rifle. “Dutt was foolish, but is neither a traitor nor a terrorist,” Memon told reporters.

The entertainment industry reacted with shock to the news of Dutt’s sentencing with the actor seen by some fans as a victim of his star lineage and own fame.

“Heart Broken: Just heard that Sanjay Dutt has to go to jail for 5 years. I expected mercy! Alas it did not happen,” tweeted filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who helped resurrect Dutt’s career after he was freed on bail in the 1990s.

Dutt, the son of actor and former Congress minister Sunil Dutt and actress Nargis, also has political ambitions. But in 2009, the Supreme Court refused to suspend his conviction so that he could contest the elections on the ticket of the Samajwadi Party.

Dutt has reportedly said that he will complete all his films and not let anyone down. The actor is currently shooting for a new film “Policegiri” and was due to reprise his role in a third “Munnabhai” film later this year.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130322/nation.htm#2