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Big Blow To Gujarat Govt: SC Quashes Remission Of 11 Convicts In Bilkis Bano Case; Rapists To Return To Jail

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In what seems to be a big blow to the Gujarat government, Supreme Court quashed the govt’s decision of remission for 11 convicts that was granted by the Gujarat government and released. The verdict will imply that all 11 individuals convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering 14 of her family members during the 2002 communal riots, will have to return to jail.

Supreme Court held that the judgment of May 13, 2022 (which directed the Gujarat government to consider remission of convict) was obtained by “playing fraud” on the court and by suppressing material facts. The convicts had not approached the court with clean hands, said the Supreme Court.

‘Gujarat was not competent to pass the remission orders’

Supreme Court held that the State, where an offender is tried and sentenced, is competent to decide the remission plea of convicts. Supreme Court holds that the State of Gujarat was not competent to pass the remission orders of the convicts but the Maharashtra government was.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.

Here’s a sequence of events in Bilkis Bano case

2002: During the post-Godhra riots, Bano was allegedly gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. She was five months pregnant when rioters attacked her family in Vadodara. The trial of the case was shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigated the case.

2008: A special court in Mumbai sentenced the 11 accused to life imprisonment.

2017: This decision was upheld by a division bench of the Bombay high court in 2017.

2022: All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released. Supreme Court had asked whether convicts have a fundamental right to seek remission.

2023: While reserving the judgment, the top court had directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit by October 2023 the original records related to the remission of sentence of the 11 convicts.

Crime

RG Kar financial irregularities case: Trial court slaps show-cause notice on CBI

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Kolkata, Jan 30: A trial court has slapped a show-cause on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for procedural lapses in passing on information to the court about the West Bengal government’s nod for framing charges and trial process against former R.G. Kar principal Sandip Ghosh in the case related to financial irregularities in the institution.

On January 28, the CBI informed Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Tirthankar Ghosh about the clearance from the state government to start the charge-framing and trial process.

Now, the trial court has taken objection as to why the CBI has not informed the same court about the development.

It is learnt that the judge of the trial court has directed the Central agency to give a written explanation for why the same court was informed about it.

The CBI officials investigating the case received the no-objection certificate from the state government on the evening of January 27 and informed the Calcutta High Court about it the next day. On that day, CBI also submitted a report to the Calcutta High Court on the progress in the R.G. Kar financial irregularities case.

A single-judge bench of the Calcutta Court directed officials to complete the framing of charges and begin the trial process within a week.

Besides CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also conducting a parallel probe into the case.

While CBI started its investigation following an order by the Calcutta High Court, the ED made a suo motu entry to investigate the money laundering angle after filing an enforcement case information report (ECIR).

Altogether five persons, including Sandip Ghosh, his assistant-cum- bodyguard Afsar Ali, private contractors Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra and a junior doctor Ashish Pandey, have been named by CBI and all are in judicial custody.

The main charges in the case include manipulation in the tendering process of R.G. Kar, getting infrastructure-related work done by private contractors bypassing the state Public Works Department against the hefty commission, smuggling of bio-medical wastes from the hospital outside and finally selling organs of the unidentified bodies sent to R. G. Kar morgue for post-mortem in the open market at premium prices.

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Crime

Mumbai: Worli Police Arrest 40-Year-Old Woman Within 12 Hours For Kidnapping 5-Year-Old Girl In Prem Nagar

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Mumbai: A 5-year-old girl was kidnapped while playing outside her house in Prem Nagar, Worli, between 11 AM and 12 PM on Tuesday.

The Worli Police acted swiftly upon receiving the information and launched an intensive search operation, successfully arresting the accused within 12 hours. The arrested woman has been identified as Deepali Bablu Das (40).

She is currently in police custody, and authorities are investigating whether she has been involved in similar child abduction cases in the past or if she is connected to a larger kidnapping network.

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Crime

Delhi Police seize ‘Punjab sarkar’ car with cash, liquor; Mann govt says ‘fake’

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New Delhi, Jan 30: Delhi Police have filed a case after a vehicle labelled “Punjab government” was intercepted with cash, liquor and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) pamphlets, an official said. The Punjab government, however, said the car had a fake registration plate and was different from the registered model.

The car was found on Wednesday and a large amount of cash and liquor was seized, police said.

The car had a “Punjab government” sticker, said the officials, adding that AAP pamphlets were also found in the car.

Delhi Police said the vehicle was found parked outside Punjab Bhawan on Copernicus Marg in the national capital. When searched, the cops said they found cash amounting to Rs 8 lakh, liquor bottles with Punjab stamps, and AAP pamphlets inside the car.

As per the model code of conduct in force in Delhi ahead of the Assembly elections, people are barred from carrying more than Rs 50,000 in cash.

A case has been registered at the Tilak Marg police station.

The Punjab government soon issued a denial after the news came out. The government said in a statement that as per the official record, the car was registered in the name of Major Anubhav Shivpuri, who was posted at the Army Dental College, Pathankot, three years ago. He is a permanent resident of Khadki in Maharashtra, it said.

“It has come to the knowledge of the Department of Transport (Govt of Punjab), that a vehicle carrying registration number PB35AE1342 has been apprehended in Delhi carrying illegal liquor and some unaccounted cash. It has been alleged in the media reports that the vehicle has a sticker of Punjab Govt on it,” the statement read.

The Punjab government said the registered vehicle model on the registration number PB35AE1342 was the Ford Eco Sport of make year 2018 but the actual vehicle apprehended by the police belongs to the Hyundai Creta series. “This confirms that the vehicle’s number plate is forged and fake. High-Security Registration Plate(HSRP) is mandatory for all vehicles and the registration plate visible in the video is an ordinary one, without the features of HSRP, hence easy to forge. Also, we have searched our records and found that no such vehicle is owned or hired by Govt of Punjab. The apprehended vehicle does not belong to Govt of Punjab at all.”

The AAP also released a statement, saying the car seizure was a “planted stunt and utterly bogus”.

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