ANTI-CORRUPTION LAW SERIES

Delhi High Court: victim can directly file appeal without leave, read the judgment The Bench of Justice Sehgal relied upon a Supreme Court judgment in Mallikarjun Kodagali (Dead), represented through Legal Representatives vs. State of Karnataka & Ors. , reported in  2018 (14) SCALE 32. April 01, 2019 (Delhi): Hon’ble High Court of Delhi  recently has  converted a leave petition directly into a proper appeal. The Court opined that a victim need not to file a petition to seek leave for appeal and can directly file the appeal challenging the order of acquittal. In the case in hand, the accused Danish was acquitted of the charges punishable under Section 323/341/506(II)/509 of the Indian Penal Code. Trial was conducted by the Magistrate and normally appeal lies with a Court of Sessions but since all these offences are bailable in nature therefore the appeal was to be filed before the High Court. In terms of Section-378 of CrPC, le...

MUZAFFARPUR SHELTER HOME CASE: COURT FRAMES VARIOUS STRONG CHARGES AGAINST BRAJESH THAKUR & 20 OTHERS On Saturday, a Delhi Court framed various charges, including criminal conspiracy to commit rape and penetrative sexual assault, against all accused persons in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault case. Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha put 21 accused on trial, saying there was prima facie enough evidence against them. Besides rape (376) and criminal conspiracy, the court also framed charges under various sections of the  POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and other charges. All the accused, who appeared before court, pleaded innocence and claimed trial. Brajesh Thakur, alleged mastermind and strongman in the case, was charged with serious charges under the POCSO Act, including Section 6 (aggravated sexual assault). The offence carries a punishment of minimum 10 years and maximum of life imprisonment. All 20 accuse...

Hi How do you steal an entire country? Just ask former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh For more than two decades, Yahya Jammeh ruled over Gambia, a tiny West African country known for tropical beaches and tranquility in a region often rocked by conflict. Jammeh quickly became a dictator after taking power in a 1994 coup d’etat. His administration was implicated in widespread human rights abuses and several waves of brutal crackdowns on dissent. And his bizarre personality drew headlines around the world after he gave himself five titles and claimed to be able to cure AIDS. Throughout his years in power, Jammeh flaunted his wealth. His lavish private estate in his home village was home to exotic animals, a military training camp and scores of luxury vehicles. He was known to drive a stretch Hummer around the country and he travelled in private jets. But most of Jammeh’s financial dealings remained hidden — until now. In a series of stories, OCCRP exposes for the first tim...

CORPORATE INDIA IS STILL STRUGGLING TO BRING WOMEN TO THE TOP, ONLY 3% ARE CEOS OR MDS The percentage of women CEOs/MDs has remained almost stagnant since March 2014 when out of 1,249 CEOs/MDs, 40, or 3.2%, were women Despite all the talk around gender diversity & affirmative action, corporate India has failed to bring more women into leadership positions in recent times. Out of every 100 CEOs & managing directors of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange, only about three are women, & this has been the case since 2014, show data shared with ET by Prime Database. Out of 1,814 chief executives & MDs of NSE-listed companies, only 67, or 3.69% are women as of March 6, 2019, as per latest data from Prime Database. This shows that the percentage of women CEOs/MDs has remained almost stagnant since March 2014 when out of 1,249 CEOs/MDs, 40, or 3.2%, were women. “If the numbers (women CEOs) haven’t changed, it is obvious that despite the stated intent to ...

CJI GOGOI DEALT WITH OVER 700 CASES IN A SINGLE DAY   They have been lying in the Supreme Court registry, gathering dust, for almost nine years. The Chief Justice of India’s lists of cases showed an unusual spike in numbers on Tuesday. A total of over 750 cases were listed before the Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjeev Khanna. Later, in the post-lunch session, the Chief Justice explained the reason for listing so many cases before his Bench. The CJI said the cases numbering from 12 to 751 were all defective. They have been lying in the Supreme Court registry, gathering dust, for almost nine years Neither the litigants involved nor the lawyers who had signed on to represent them have bothered to cure the mistakes in the filing of these petitions. They remain literally abandoned. The CJI just wanted to lay bare how such cases form the bulk of the backlog in the Supreme Court. “They are all d...

Haryana Govt elevates Judge’s wife hearing Kathua rape case to Information Commissioner, ignores IAS & IPS Officers Haryana’s BJP Govt appointed Kamaldeep Bhandari, wife of the judge hearing the Kathua rape case — a politically sensitive issue for the party — to an important statutory post, two days before the model code of conduct kicked in on 10 March. Bhandari was among the three new information commissioners appointed to the Haryana State Information Commission on 8 March. The other two were Lt Gen. K. J. Singh, a retired GOC-in-C Western Command and Jai Singh Bishnoi, a former Congressman who had joined the BJP in Sep 2018. All 3 will serve a term of 5 years. They beat 229 applicants for the post, which included retired and serving IAS officers, in a selection process that lasted nearly a year. While the appointments were virtually done at the last minute, barely beating the model code of conduct, Haryana had advertised for the posts in June 2018 and Aug 2018. ...