Ishrat Jahan case: CBI told it needs Centre’s sanction to prosecute Intelligence Bureau officers

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February 9, 2014

The Attorney General of India GE Vahanvati has told the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI that the agency needs the sanction of the government before it prosecutes serving and retired Intelligence Bureau officers charged in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

The CBI in their supplementary chargesheet filed on Thursday accused former Gujarat IB chief Rajinder Kumar with murder and three serving officers – P Mittal, MK Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede – with conspiracy and illegal confinement in the 2004 killings.

Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college student, was killed by Gujarat police along with three men in June, 2004 in a fake encounter on the allegation that they were on their way to kill state Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

But nowhere does the 200-page CBI chargesheet mention a motive for the alleged involvement of these officers, a fact that is expected to exacerbate friction between the Intelligence Bureau and the CBI.

The IB had vehemently objected to Mr. Kumar’s interrogation by the CBI in the case last year, arguing that it would affect the morale down its ranks and also that it would set a dangerous precedent because its members often work undercover and have sources that would dry up if its officers were entangled in police cases. The home ministry had backed the IB.

In its first chargesheet in July last year, the CBI accused seven senior policemen of murdering Ishrat and the others “in cold blood”. Amid the tension with the IB, it did not name Mr Kumar, who was then serving. He retired about a month later.

Bank unions to go on two-day strike from Monday

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2014

Operations at public sector banks are likely to be impacted as employee unions have decided to go on a two-day nation-wide strike from Monday to press for wage revision. During the conciliation meeting held on February 6 before the Chief Labour Commissioner, the IBA did not come up with any improvement in the wage offer of 10 per cent hike in the pay package, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener M V Murali told. As conciliation proceedings remained inconclusive, he said, UFBU has decided to go on two day nation-wide from February 10. Banks including country’s largest lender State Bank of India have informed customers in advance about the likely inconvenience they could face due to the strike. Private sector players such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are expected to function normally. All India State Bank Officers’ Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation, being part of UFBU will also participate in the strike, SBI said in a statement. General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Workers, Ashwini Rana said as the offer made by bank management is not in line with the rising inflation, the unions are compelled to protest. Staff of public sector banks had gone on a day’s strike nationwide on December 18, after the discussions with IBA on wage revision had failed on December 14. The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since November 2012. UFBU is an umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officers unions. There are 27 public sector banks in the country with employees strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.

Electing Narendra Modi means encouraging capitalism and communalism in the country: Prakash Karat

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2014

Senior Left leader Prakash Karat today hit out at Narendra Modi, saying electing the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in the forthcoming general elections “would mean encouraging capitalism and communalism in the country.”

Addressing a Left Front rally in Kolkata, the CPM General Secretary said, “When the elections will be held, then Modi and BJP will come to know where they stand in Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka.”

Mr. Modi is considered communally polarizing by the opposition for his alleged failure in preventing the communal violence in 2002 in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.

The Left Front rally today was held at the sprawling Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, the third political rally in the last 10 days. The ruling Trinamool Congress’ Mamata Banerjee held a rally at the venue on January 30 followed by Narendra Modi’s on February 5.

In his speech, Mr. Karat also accused Ms. Banerjee of hobnobbing with the BJP. “Modi at his rally welcomed Mamata. First she was with BJP, then with Congress and now again it’s her turn to tie up with BJP,” the 66-year-old leader said.

“Non-Congress, non-BJP parties need to get together and fight polls as Third Front,” Mr. Karat said.

Though a coalition of some regional parties and the Left has been formed to take on the Congress and the BJP in Parliament, a formal Third Front that fights the general elections together is yet to be announced.

“Modi at a rally spoke against the Third Front. He is still in first grade and we, who are part of the Third Front, are a grade above him,” Mr. Karat said.

Student circulates morphed obscene video on social media; demands Rs. 5 Lakh from victim

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Afternoon Voice

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February 9, 2014

Social media has become a tool for threatening, defaming and blackmailing people. In a recent incident, a female student of a private engineering college uploaded a morphed obscene video and blackmailed her classmate for money.
The accused demanded Rs. 5 Lakh from the victim’s family.
Reports state that the accused first uploaded an obscene video of a girl who resembled the victim.
She along with her husband, they even sent the video on Whatsapp to friends.

Mumbai police ill-equipped to crack cyber crimes

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Prakash Jha

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February 9, 2014

There has been a surge in crime rates in Mumbai but a question which arises here is why the police have failed to crub crimes in the metropolis? If crimes rates are rising then what could be the scenario in the year 2020 whether it will continue to rise? Five years back, India had witnessed the gruesome 26/11 terror attacks which had created panic everywhere. After this incident questions were raised about how secure citizens are in India as politicians had made tall claims about making the city safe. Even after five years most of the promises made continue to remain on paper. This raised questions about the reliability of Mumbai police and why effective steps were not taken to beef up the security of the city.

By the year 2020, the population will increase further and crimes rates too will be higher. Criminals will become more techno-savvy as more developments will take in the place of information technology. The Mumbai police are already two steps behind to detect cyber crime and resolve it. The reason behind this is that they lack IT knowledge which is becoming a major roadblock in solving cyber crimes. If the police fails to check crime rates then it will only increase in the future and the Mumbai police is ill-equipped to control crime rates.

Cyber-crime is a new phenomenon. With rising use of internet and growth in banking sector, new forms of crimes will emerge. Police will have to undergo training for tackling such crimes. Cyber offences, like terrorism and underworld, came into existence in the ’90s, spurring the need for a dedicated cyber crime cell. Policemen will have to be trained in information technology and the emerging technologies. Only one cyber crime police station exists in the city at Bandra Kurla Complex.

While conducting research on cyber crime cases I found that in each police station a cyber team is formed to detect and solve the cyber crime cases. It is really shocking that the cyber police team themselves are ill-equipped to crack the cases. Surprisingly, many cops are unaware about how to operate computers then how they will solve cases pertaining to cyber crimes.

The Cyber police station is also facing shortage of manpower thereby resulting in piling up of several cases which remain unresolved. I am afraid that in future cyber crimes will increase but how will police nab the culprits as they are not prepared to tackle such type of crimes. More police officials will have to be recruited and they will have to undergo training to curb cyber crimes. If these steps are taken then criminals will rethink before committing crimes.

Reduce the number of cars on road

By

Mahendra Singh

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February 9, 2014

Take steps to bring down the number of cars plying on Mumbai roads. I have laid emphasis on this issue many times in the past and finally I am happy that the learned High Court has issue directive on it. Our governments are not sensitive to public needs and welfare. The bigger newspapers will not come forward to support such issues because they feel shy of being called “not smart or not savvy”. They will not use bicycles because these are considered downmarket.

The air quality of Mumbai is degrading and I hope that the honourable High Court asks the state government to ensure that prominent newspapers publish the air quality data on the upper side of the front page. I have already mentioned about this through my previous columns. The quality of air that we breathe is important for our health and kids. Correct and timely actions are not taken by the government due to political wrangling which results in policy paralysis. Someone has rightly said that if you were aware that Satyapal Singh is resigning, why you did fail to take corrective steps? How can you ignore such a simple aspect?

The government has taken a decision in a haste to announce the construction of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue. Shivaji was very fit, agile and alert and you must emulate those qualities first. Even if you want to remember him, you can build a wind turbine for electricity generation off shore and name it after him. You can install his statue in the vicinity and ensure that these structures are built predominantly by Indians (may be you can seek technical assistance from foreign experts). The aspect is applicable to Sardar Patel’s statue.

It should be remembered that Patel spoke less and worked more where as these days Modi is talking too much and not implementing what he says. He is saying, I will build this, I will provide this but he is not saying that I will make you work hard like the enterprising Gujaratis and later it will be possible for you to enjoy all goodies. Even though Modi has a vision but he is not clarifying that people will need to work for getting the desired results. He knows that people will run away saying, “Are woh to kaam karne ko bolta hai”. “Chalo doosri party ke paas chalte hain.”

BAG Films writes to Maharashtra government seeking to return land

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Afternoon Voice

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February 7, 2014

BAG Films Educational Society, of which Union Minister Rajiv Shukla was the secretary, has asked the Maharashtra government to take back the land allotted to it after a controversy erupted over securing prime plots worth crores of rupees for a pittance. “BAG Films last week wrote to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan reiterating their willingness to surrender the land and seeking to speed up the process. Accordingly, the CM has directed Additional Chief Secretary (revenue) to expedite the process,” a senior Mantralaya official said. Shukla, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, had recently said he had written to the Chief Minister last month that the land allotted to the society co-founded by him be taken back as no activity could be started because of encroachment. “Actually, the land which was allotted was fully encroached by slums and, despite all efforts over the last five years; it has still got several slum clusters. So the society is not able to take actual possession of the land to start any activity or construction,” he had said. The plots in Andheri, one reserved for a civic primary school and another for a playground, were given to the society in 2008 apparently at 1976 rates. According to reports, a plot measuring 2,821 sq m worth Rs. 100 crore reserved for school was allotted for a paltry Rs. 98,735, while another 3,534 sq m plot reserved for a playground was leased for 15 years for just Rs. 6,309, on the recommendation of the then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Claiming that no irregularity had been committed as hundreds of educational societies were allotted land under the same provision, Shukla had told, “There is no question of any commercial value as the whole idea was to build a primary school there.” BJP leader Kirit Somaiya alleged that though Shukla did write to the Chief Minister his letter technically had no value as he had not completed necessary formalities for the revenue department to initiate the process of taking back the land.

Lady constable arrested for accepting bribes from hawkers

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Afternoon Voice

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February 7, 2014

A lady police constable who allegedly demanded and accepted a monthly bribe from women hawkers was arrested by the Thane unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) late Thursday evening, an official release said.

According to superintendent of police (ACB) Sandeep Karnik of the Thane unit, Government Railway Police (GRP) lady constable Vidyulata P Baramatikar, attached to its Thane unit, used to demand a bribe from female hawkers operating in and around the Thane railway station and on suburban local trains, the release said.

Allegedly, she used to extort a sum of Rs. 100 per month from each of the women hawkers who sold cutlery articles on local trains.

She hiked her bribe amount to Rs. 250 per month from each hawker and if they failed to pay her the bribe, she used to allegedly file false cases against them, the release said.

Women hawkers were also allegedly threatened of dire consequences by the lady constable that if she registered an offence against them and they would have to be produced in court, they would have to pay a fine of Rs. 1200.

However, women hawkers lodged a complaint with the Thane unit of the ACB, which laid a trap at the Diva railway station at last evening and arrested the lady police constable while accepting a bribe amount of Rs. 250 from three hawkers each and Rs 300 from another hawker, totalled at Rs. 1050.

The Thane unit of the ACB lauded the initiative taken by women hawkers to lodge a complaint against the police constable who had extorted them, the release said.

A group of women hawkers who took the lead in lodging the complaint with the ACB were also honoured at the ACB headquarters here and appreciation letters were given to each one of them, the ACB release said.

BJP finalising 2nd list of candidates for Lok Sabha poll

By

Afternoon Voice

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February 7, 2014

BJP in Maharashtra began the process of finalising its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

Even though no names were finalised, party sources said senior leader Kirit Somaiya and Yuva Morcha leader Poonam Mahajan were in the running for Mumbai North East, while Gopal Shetty and Hemendra Mehta for Mumbai North parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Eknath Khadse, his counterpart in the council Vinod Tawde, senior leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar, Pandurang Phundkar, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar and Atul Bhatkalkar were prominent among those present at the meeting, which was chaired by state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis.

The 15 seats are Pune, Baramati, Mumbai North, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Latur, Wardha, Nanded, Ahmednagar, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Solapur, Sangli, Dhule and Nandurbar.

A team of observers comprising Tawde, Khadse and Mungantiwar had toured the 15 constituencies in the last few days, interviewed aspiring candidates, discussed political situation in the constituencies and party strategy.

Tawde told that party leaders will meet again next week to take a final decision on the list of candidates to be forwarded to the central parliamentary board. Raju Shetty’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana and Mahadev Jamkar’s Rashtriya Samaj Party, both new allies of BJP, are staking claim for the Maadha Lok Sabha seat.

Jamkar had contested the 2009 poll against Sharad Pawar. The party has already finalised its list of candidates for 10 seats, including Gopinath Munde for Beed and Nitin Gadkari for Nagpur.

HC refuses to interfere in police order against Owaisi

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Afternoon Voice

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February 7, 2014

The Bombay High Court upheld a police order barring Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi from speaking on ‘Hindu Muslim harmony’ at a function in Thane, saying it could not interfere with administrative order.
A division bench of Justices N H Patil and V L Achiliya rejected a petition filed by Abdul Rauf Khan, member of ‘My Mumbra Foundation’ which is organising the programme on February 8, asking the court to direct police to allow Owaisi to address the event.

“That is the job of the administration. Even they (police) cannot say for sure that there will be a situation. You never know when a peaceful mob can go violent. All these issues are the administration’s lookout. We cannot interfere,” Justice Patil said.

According to the petition, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Owaisi is among several speakers invited. Thane police refused to grant permission to the NGO to hold the function, fearing law and order problem.

“Yesterday, Owaisi was informed that an order under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been passed against him, banning his entry in Thane jurisdiction. Such an order is a curb on his fundamental rights of speech and expression,” the petition said.

Advocate General Darius Khambata, representing the government, argued that police were willing to grant permission to the function if the NGO agrees to remove Owaisi’s name from the speakers’ list.
The High Court said it was not in the position to judge whether the programme will cause a law and order problem.

The court also noted that Owaisi can challenge the order passed by the police banning his entry in a separate petition. “Why are you as an NGO deviating from your original cause and fighting for one person? The NGO can still hold the function,” the court said.

The bench, while dismissing the petition, added that the NGO can submit a fresh application to the police seeking permission to hold the function after dropping Owaisi.