Friends,

While it is true that the incidence related to Sri Y S R Reddy is extremely sad
and painful and makes us all shattered but one naturally harming offshoot of
this could be that all the VIPs worth their name (and having some way of doing
it) might start vying with each other to get more and more sophisticated
choppers to keep themselves and (as per them the democracy of this nation) safe.
Thus VIP security, which has presently come to acquire some mindless
connotations and ramifications, will come to have one more dreadful feather
attached to it while the rest of the country will remain quite contented with
whatever is left over.

Amitabh Thakur
Presently at IIM Lucknow
# 94155-34526

Delhi HC brings judiciary under RTI purview

Putting an end to the CIC Vs judiciary tussle, the Delhi High Court has ruled
that judges in India should declare their assets under the RTI Act

Published on 9/2/2009 5:22:35 PM


New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has upheld a Central Information Commission
(CIC) order that judges should declare their assets and the office of the Chief
Justice of India would be the public authority to assess those assets.

In a historical judgement on Wednesday, Justice S Ravindra Bhat said judges are
accountable but they are also subjective to some constraints, reports IANS.

"The dignity of the judges adds value to the democracy," Bhat said. He, however,
added that, "Judges are under public attack and revealing of assets and other
information may increase the reputation of the judges."

The judge also noted that the office of Chief Justice of India is a public
authority and it is well within the purview of the Right to Information (RTI)
Act.

"Chief Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court shall release the
information about the declaration of the assets to the petitioner within four
weeks of time," he said.

The court refused to comment on the recent development of declaration of assets
by judges of various state high courts.

The Delhi High Court had on May 4 this year had reserved its order on an apex
court plea challenging CIC's order that judges declare their assets.

Earlier, Solicitor General GE Vahanvati had contended before Justice Bhat that
disclosure of information on personal assets by judges will affect the
independence of the judicial system.

"If we introduce transparency to an extent which would disturb the working of
the judges, then it would affect the independence of the judicial system,"
Vahanvati had said.

http://www.igovernment.in/site/Delhi-HC-brings-judiciary-under-RTI-purview/Defau\
lt.aspx

My comments on the news item:

Kudos to Justice S Ravindra Bhat for this historic judgment bringing the Chief
Justice of India under the purview of RTI.

This is a victory for democracy in India after 62 years of independence.
Transparency and accountability should be the hallmark of any democracy and
every citizen should be bound by the rule of law.

As rightly stated by the Hon. Judge, "The dignity of the judges adds value to
the democracy. Judges are under public attack and revealing of assets and other
information may increase the reputation of the judges."

Kris Dev
RTI Activist

www.rtination.com - File RTI Applications Online

This 15th August saw the launch of www.rtination.com, the first ever system to
file Right to Information(RTI) Act Applications online. Under the RTI Act 2005
one can ask for any sort of information available with the government, be it the
status of your passport or the amount spent by your MP.

The system has been developed and launched by graduates from IIT Kanpur and IIT
Delhi. Since not all government departments are linked online, until now it was
not possible to file applications online. What the team behind www.rtination.com
promises is to provide services to ensure that the application you file online
gets delivered to any government department across India. RTI Nation is a
social, voluntary initiative.

It is said that it is quicker to file an application on www.rtination.com than
it is to finish a cup of tea.

It was recently endorsed by the Chief Information Commissioner of India, Shri
Wajahat Habibullah

Let's hope that this system will ease the process of getting information and
will promote honesty and transparency in the system.

INFORMATION RECEIVED UNDER RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, ARE JUSTIFY THAT THE THEN SUPREME COURT REGISTRY WAS INSTRUMENTAL TO PROTECT THE VESTED INTERESTS AND CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES OF THE KOLKATA LAND MAFIA.

On 29^th October 2003, I filed Writ Petition (Civil), under Filling Diary No. 22474/2003. After taking more than 7 months and preparation of file Noting for more than 40 pages (which I received under RTI Act) through Memo Letter No. D. No.5610/003/X dated 7^th June 2004, the Assistant Registrar (J), SC, informed me that "The Writ Petition above mentioned filed by you was placed before Ld. Registrar (J-I) on 26.5.2004, when he was pleased to decline the same as it does not disclose any reasonable cause upon which it can be received for listing before the Hon'ble Court under Order XVIII Rule 5 of S.C.R.1966.". Whereas, Certified Copy of the respective File Noting shows lack of such powers of Registrar.

Names of the Respondents in the Writ Petition and brief reasons, to make them as Respondents:-

Group One: comprised the following Respondents: Responsible for not perfoming their duties under Rule of Law, in response to my repeated representatison against infringement of my fundamental rights:-

1. The Union of India, Through, Cabinet Secretary, 2. Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, 3. Revenue Secretary, Ministry of Finance, 4. Secretary, Railway Ministry, 5. Secretary, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and pension, 6. Vigilance Commission of India, 7.  Central Bureau of Investigation, 8.  Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, 9.  State of West Bengal,

Group Two: comprised the following Respondents: Responsible for severe violation of the Rule of Law to support the black mailing activities of Land Mafia;

10.  Department of Urban Development, Government of West Bengal, 11. Department of Cooperation, Government of West Bengal, 12. The Office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Government of West Bengal, 13. West Bengal Cooperative Tribunal, 14. Home (Police) Department, Government of West Bengal, 15.  Director General of Police, Government of West Bengal, 16. The Calcutta Police, Through the Commissioner of Police, 17. Behala Police Station,  Kolkata-700038; 18. New Alipore Police Station, Kolkata-700053; and 19. Kolkata Municipal Corporation,

Group Three: comprised the following Respondent: Responsible protected Professional misconducts of the Respective Advocates, treating them as brethren advocates;  

20. Bar Council of West Bengal,

Group Four: comprised the following Respondent: I wanted to justify that Affidavit initially issued by ECI inviting information from the candidates about criminal cases they are facing, was suggested by me and now under RTI Act, it was justified;

21. Election Commission of India,

Group Five: comprised the following Respondent: I wanted to justify that I suggested a New Model of Civil Procedure Code to ensure delivery of Judgment within two years, at the first Jurisdiction level, without much of appointments of the Judges and creations of the Creations, which was not considered by Bench headed by Justice Ahmadi (then CJI);

22. Law Commission of India,

Group Six: comprised the following Respondents: ditched me as my Counsel. A question arise that how they can honestly performed their Constitutional Duties?;

23.Shri Gopal Subramanium, Senior Lawyer of Supreme Court of India, (Now Solicitor General of India); 24. Shri S. Murlidhar, Advocate, (Now Judge in Delhi High Court);

Group Seven: comprised the following Respondents: Group of Kolkata Land Mafia and his associates and supporters:-

25.Shri Sanjay Kumar Jhunjhunwala, 26. Shri Manik Chand Sethia, 27. Mr. Chuni Lal Mukherjee, 28. Mr. Chittaranjan Ganguly, 29. Mr. Kamlesh Chandra Chatterjee, 30. Mr. Shrawan Kumar Bhatter, 31. Mr. Sukumar Das, 32. Mrs. Ava Rani Dey.

NEXUS BETWEEN JYOTI BASU AND KOLKATA LAND MAFIA:-

Detail Facts were referred in my Writ Petition, and mostly were justified, for which I received requisitioned Information. However, most of the Information, sought from Income Tax Department denied, just because they working culture of Income Tax Department under the Supervision of CBDT, as appears to me, is to protect the huge black money of Big Tax Evaders like Kolkata Land Mafia.

I filed about 1,000 applications under Right to Information Act, 2005, before different Public Authorities including 56 before Supreme Court of India.

As far as information, I have already received under RTI Act, from Central Vigilance Commission, Income Tax Department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and other Public Authorities, my all charges against the Kolkata Land Mafia Sanjay Kumar Jhunjhunwala, and or his associates and or his supporters including Mr. Chuni Lal Mukherjee, Mr. Chittaranjan Ganguly, Mr. Shrawan Kumar Bhatter, Mr. Sukumar Das, Mrs. Ava Rani Dey, are justifiably proved. However, in the year of 1993, for the very reason, that Shri Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, by misusing his powers and abusing his authorities, personally involved and was responsible in various ways for development of the Mafia activities of the aforesaid Kolkata Land Mafia, as such I Sought his Prosecution Permission from President of India. It was now transpired from the respective File Noting, which I received under RTI Act, after 15 years from my aforesaid application, that none else but Shri P. V. Narsimha Rao, the then Prime Minister himself taken a decision that no action be taken at that moment, as recommended by the Ministry, through MOS, since he was a Minority Prime Minister and was not dare to take any risk from Left Parties.

HOW AND WHY LAND MAFIA WAS BORN?

In or about in the year of 1985, Shri Jyoti Basu, through his Chamcha Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Shri Kamal Basu, got assigned the contract of rebuilding of burnt portion of New (Hogg) Market, to Foreign Exchange Racquetears: Radhey Shyam Tulsian, Shankar Shraff, and G. R. Agarwal, although in front name of M/S. Martin Burn Limited, against a meager payment of Rs.1.08 Crore, with a liberty to sell 97,020 Sq. Ft. Shops from the Constructed Commercial Complex at their own premium, as against prevailed premium for the same for much more of Rs.15 Crores in the vicinity. This means about Rs.14 Crores were misappropriated from a Public Property belongs to Kolkata Municipal Corporation. This contract have abetted the Members of Board of Directors of M/s. Martin Burn Limited to treat West Bengal Government and Kolkata Municipal Corporation in their Pocket, as no one public servant was dare to ignore them, since they develop a strong Chain of connections directly to inform and seek illegal help from Shri Jyoti Basu.

Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jhunjhunwala, one of the then Director of M/s. Martin Burn Limited decided to grab my valuable properties. For this very reason he developed friendship with me. Purpose of development of the friendship was to know about me and my helping hands. He understood that I am alone and my child's are still very young. Thus he decided to got killed me to acquire my large size valuable properties. As a result, under a plot hatched by him and his associates, I was stabbed on 18.7.1986, in a day light time, with 44 stabs in my body. But, God saves me. Thereafter, he abetted people (Respondents 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and their further associates) to lodge false claims or litigations, and respective Judicial Officers were embraced, under influence and or help from Shri Jyoti Basu. As a result Justice was denied to me.

With help of Shri Kamal Basu (certainly under direction from Shri Jyoti Basu), Kolkata Municipal Corporation, revoked our sanctioned plans, not once but twice. Firstly, on the alleged grounds, that I am making construction, at the alleged property of One Chittaranjan Ganguly (who was adjudged by a Court of law as Cheat). Writ Petition was filed, in which said Chittaranjan Ganguly was also made Respondent. Hon'ble Calcutta High Court, Set-aside the aforesaid Order of Revocation of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and directed Chittaranjan Ganguly, that if he have any claim upon the property, he can go to a Competent Court, to take Injunction Order against construction, but Kolkata Municipal Corporation have no authority to decide the title over the property. Chittaranjan Ganguly never filed such litigation. Second time, Kolkata Municipal Corporation revoked plans on the created but further flimsy grounds that Property is land locked. Again a Writ Petition was filed in which stricture were passed by Hon'ble Calcutta High Court against Kolkata Municipal Corporation, with a Fine of Rs.500/-, which was never paid.

Before the trick of Kolkata Municipal Corporation could have been failed, Kolkata Land Mafia Sanjay Kumar Jhunjhunwala, and his associates, also abetted my Vendors, to file a Civil Suit against me on the completely false claim with the enlarged size of the Property. MY Vendors have total Property more or less 56 Cottas, but to take injunction Order against me, she clamed the size of the Property as 94 Cottas, and with the help of Jyoti Basu, taken Injunction Order(s) against me from the then Munsif Mr. J. C. Moulick and then Addl. Dist. Judge Mr. A. K. Choudhury. I move a Revision Petition and appointed a Renowned Lawyer of Calcutta High Court Mr. Shakti Nath Mukherjee. Mr.  S. K. Mukherjee, (Who now is a Judge in Calcutta High Court) appeared, as Counsel, on behalf of My Vendors, in serious violation of his Duty as Advocate to know the truth. This fact also raises the question of proprietary of the appointments of Judges, and indicating that appointments are not based on any morality or honesty with the Profession of Advocates. However, Kolkata Land Mafia, through his solicitor Mr. Kishan Bagaria, influence my Solicitor Mr. Gouri Shankar Gupta, through a criminal conspiracy and accordingly before Mr. Shakti Nath Mukherjee, could have been reached to the Court (Hon'ble Judge was ready for the Passover of the matter), Mr. Gouri Shankar Gupta argued the matter in spite of my loud objection, through another Counsel. Although Order of Munsif was set-aside, but Order were lack of appropriate directions, as a result Mr. J. C. Moulick further passed an order, just to help blackmailing activities of Kolkata Land Mafia, totally ignoring the merit of the facts.    

When I not bow down in his legs, even after severe attempt to kill me and all other black mailing activities, the Kolkata Land Mafia hatched another criminal plot to get killed, my younger son. For this object he, taken help from Mr. Shrawan Kumar Bhatter and from his family members and misused Cooperation Directorate, with the help of Senior IAS Officer and Registrar of West Bengal Cooperative Societies, Mrs. Mira Pandey. She even got the Order Sheet forged to help the Kolkata land Mafia. Under the aforesaid Plot to kill my younger son, Kolkata Land Mafia arranged a Rented Flat for A Sardarji as my neighbor, who developed relationship with me, on the plea, that he needs my help from my Telephone, since those days were not the era of Mobile Phones. Purpose was to know about activities of my younger son. He conveyed and provided all such details to Kolkata Land Mafia. As a result, on 21.02.1991, a Truck Accident was staged, with Full Police Protection. In such a Truck Accident, both the legs of my son were severally damaged and my son was able to stand on his own legs only after 22 major operations and after two and half years of treatment in Calcutta Hospital and then in Holly Family Hospital in New Delhi. Here Political Corruption is also acted. Dr. Manash Bhuinya, the then Congress MLA agreed to raise the issue of Nexus between Shri Jyoti Basu and Kolkata Land Mafia, in West Bengal Assembly, on 21.02.1991. He asked me to come in the early 9.00 AM to go with him in assembly building. But when on 21.02.1991, I reached his MLA quarter, his changed attitude surprised me, but within few hours, Staged Truck Accident with Full Police Protection, was got committed by aforesaid Kolkata Land Mafia to kill my son.

Considering all such mafia activities, I started calling Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jhunjhunwala, as Kolkata Land Mafia, in each and every of my representations. He took even help from my long time Counsel Mr. P. K. Ray, Bar-at-law, after influencing him through Mr. Pratap Chatterjee, Bar-at-law the son of Shri Somnath Chatterjee, then CPI(M) M. P., to obtain Injunction Order in Defamation Suit, filed against me, from Calcutta High Court. However, Injunction Order was passed, infringing my fundamental Rights to make complaints before any authority, as such I lodged a formal Complaint against respective Judges of Calcutta High Court, before the President of India and Chief Justice of India, with copy to Solicitor of Land Mafia. They filed a Contempt Petition against me. In the process, I also filed an application under Section 340 of Cr. P. C. against aforesaid Land Mafia, considering his reply to my Objection against Contempt Petition, based on knowingly false statement made by Kolkata Land Mafia. Every time I was compelled to replace my Counsels, considering regular influence, caused upon them, by the Land Mafia, with the help of Shri Jyoti Basu. In spite of this fact, when at the time fixed for hearing of the aforesaid Contempt Petition, one Senior Advocate of Kolkata High Court, was ready to represent my case, and sitting outside the Court Room, along side of me, at that point of time, one Advocate, in my presence, tried to influence him, against me. Initially my Counsel accepted that he will not represent my case. However, once said Advocate, considering his job was success, went from the scene, my Counsel assured me, that he will represent my case. He represented my case successfully and obtained an Order that Contempt Petition filed by Kolkata Land mafia and my application u/S 340 Cr. P. C. will be heard analogously. After the said Order, which caused dangerous situation for the Kolkata Land Mafia, most surprisingly aforesaid matter was started to slip towards below side in the Day to day cause list. Finally, matter was started to come as last matter of the Cause List of the day(s). When my Solicitor approached the Court Officer, Court Officer said that Contempt application is belongs to Mr. Jhunjhunwala, when he is not interested now for the placing the same on the Board of Hearing, what is necessity for me? He also requested my Solicitor to keep quite, since Solicitor of the Kolkata Land Mafia, was insisting him to put the matter, out of the cause list, finally which was happened. However, after the aforesaid developments, criminal elements, started to follow me, and compelled me to flea from Kolkata. The matter of the Contempt Petition was out of the List for about 17 years, till Kolkata Land Mafia, not aware about my activities under RTI Act, from Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation), Kolkata. But immediately after knew about my such activities, he hurriedly withdrawn his Defamation Suit, which automatically made in-fructuous to the aforesaid Contempt Proceedings against me as well as my application u/S 340 Cr. P. C.                                 

Now Enquiry Reports (copy of the same is received under RTI Act) from the Central Vigilance Commission, revealed that Kolkata Land Mafia, still have encroached Railway Land about 5,000 Sq. Ft. which was used in construction of two Multistoried Buildings at Vinoba Bhave Road, Kolkata-38. I have strong objection against CVC's recommendations just made for recovery proceedings of the property, which will takes 20/30 years of time. Whereas, agreement was also executed by Railway Officials, with the Companies of the said Mafia, intentionally and under criminal connivance, hiding the fact, about the aforesaid Railway Land, still under encroachment, with sole object to protect the aforesaid constructions of the aforesaid multistoried buildings at the Railway land. Therefore, instead of working as Corruption Validation Commission, CVC should come forward to recommend that a Criminal Proceeding should be also initiated against Railway Officials who were responsible for execution of the aforesaid illegal agreement, executed under gratification. Such story of encroachment of subsequently execution of such illegal agreement from Railway is a strong evidence of Land Mania of Kolkata Land Mafia.    

Similarly Information Received from the Income Tax Department also revealed that on my repeated Complaints, a raid was conducted on the aforesaid Foreign Exchange Racquetears, describing them as the financiers for the aforesaid project of New (Hogg) Markets. During the raid tentative about Rs.13 Crores were found from them, out of which they disclosed about Rs.9 Cores. I also received a List of 147 Shops from Kolkata Municipal Corporation, from this it was appeared that Shops transferred to companies, Firms and Trusts of the aforesaid alleged financiers of the project, were executed for the consideration between Rs.2,200/- and Rs.3,500/- per sq. ft., whereas in the Enquiry Report, IT Department, falsely claimed that Shops were transferred for the consideration between Rs.800/- and 1,000/- per sq. ft. This disclosure is justifying that Enquiry Report was prepared by IT Department under hand in gloves. For this disclosure, Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation) was Notified under Section 24 of RTI Act. However, if a Financiers, who paid money in advance for a project, get a Shop between Rs.2,200/- and Rs.3,500/- per sq. ft., it means rates for the Shops for common buyers should not be below Rs.5,000/- Per Sq. Ft. at the material time of the sale of the Shops from the aforesaid project. This manipulations itself hide black money of about Rs.40/50 Crores, due to negligence of CBDT to perform its appropriate duty to supervise working of IT Deptt., or kept silent under political influence of Shri Jyoti Basu.      

In the aforesaid Wit Petition I made following,

P  R  A  Y  E  R S:

a)              Jurisdiction and powers of the Supreme Court including the powers of interpretation in respect of Part III of the Constitution of India is clearly and exclusively referred, defined, derived, vested and can be inferred from Clause (1), (2) and (4) of Article 32 of the Constitution of India itself and cannot be imported from Chapter IV Part V of the Constitution or from anywhere else; (This is very important prayer, otherwise Supreme Court started to justifying the mockery of justice as a fair justice, ignoring the scheme, object and purpose of the Founding Fathers in making Article 32 of the Constitution of India as part of III of the Constitution instead of Part V Chapter IV of the Constitution). 

b)              The Rule 5 Under Order XVIII of the Supreme Court Rules 1966 (substituted by G.S.R. 407 (w.e.f. 20-12-1997) (Petitions generally) is void as far as its applicability in respect of the Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution is concerned (This is now vehemently proved from the respective File Noting received from Supreme Court under RTI Act, that aforesaid Rule not empowered the SC Registry to Refuse to Register my aforesaid Writ Petition which I filed at Counter. In fact respective Registrar of the Supreme Court Registry, refused to register my Writ Petition under embracement);

c)              Item No. 65 under Part –V (Suit Relating to Immovable Property) under the Schedule for the Period of Limitations under section 2(j) and 3 of the Limitation Act, 1963 are completely inconsistent to Part III of the Constitution and under Article 13 of the Constitution should be declared as void (Even now my this prayer virtually supported by Judgment dated September 23, 2008, in Civil Appeal No. 1196 of 2007, of the Supreme Court by a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and H S Bedi has requested the Centre to take a fresh look and suitably amend the land laws that recognize "adverse possession" as a means to acquire title over a property by ousting the real owners. This prayer is very much necessary, in my case, because Kolkata Land Mafia, blocked all the path of Justice for me);  

d)              The Petitioner is entitled to move Curative Writ Petitions on the grounds of miscarriage of justice, and / or abuse of judicial proceedings, and / or orders without jurisdictions or under bias in respect of the orders passed in any of the Writ Petition filed by him before Supreme Court, without any Certificate from any Advocate, but with a self-certificate that upon hearing on merit, if such fresh Writ Petition proved as vicious or based on frivolous or contains scandalous matters, or found to be without any basis, Petitioner shall be punished for Contempt of Hon'ble Court for misusing the rights to remedy;

e)              For declaration that the Respondent Nos. 25 to 32 are not entitled to take any advantage from any Order or Judgment which under the laws of the land are not due, but obtained under embracement of respective Judicial Officers, and / or causing interpolations or forgery of the Order Sheets, and / or by adoption of any manipulations or any other criminal acts by criminal means, irrespective of the law of Limitations; 

f)                    For declaration that the Petitioner is entitled to recover damages from the Respondent No. 1 and 9 caused by omissions, or commissions or non-actions against or favours for Respondent Nos. 25 to 32 or their associates, men and agents with reference to respective Memorandums, Representations, Applications, and Complaints filed, submitted, placed before them or any of their respective Ministries or Departments or Officers or sub-ordinates by the Petitioner, including all those referred in the Writ Petition

g)                  Direction upon Respondent No. 6 to supervise and conduct enquiry through Respondent No.7 with reference to charges leveled in the Writ Petition about political clout acquired by the Respondent No. 25 to 32 and their men and agents and associates, and to further enquire that how far they seriously jeopardises the smooth functioning of the administration and the safety of life and property of Petitioner, and how far acquired substantial financial and muscle powers and how far successfully corrupted the Government machinery at all levels and yielded enough influence to make the task of investigating and prosecuting agencies extremely difficult; how far even the members of the judicial system have not been escaped the embrace of the Mafiadom controlled by the Respondent No. 25 to 32 and submit report before Hon'ble Court for appropriate directions;  

h)              Direction upon the Respondent No.1 to ensure safety and security of the Petitioner and his family members and property at the cost of the State from the Respondent Nos. 25 to 32 and their men, agents and associates;

i)                Upon hearing on merit, if Writ Petition proved as vicious or based on frivolous or contains scandalous matters, Petitioner shall be punished for misuse of rights to remedy;

j)                For further or other order or orders as may be necessary for the ends of justice and as may be supplementary to the other orders; and

For temporary injunction order with reference to prayers: e) f) and g).

(Prayers (d) to (j) are very much essential to ensure remedies against severe infringement of my fundamental rights).      

Milap Choraria

Friends,

If there was one order of a Superior officer I feel like jumping over and
complying with immediately, it is the one in which the Gujarat DGP Sri S S
Khandwawala has ordered that even constables should henceforth be addressed only
as officers, in all official communications. As per the Indian Express report he
says- "Constables are actually the junior most officers in the police hierarchy.
They should be given due respect and treated as officers,".
It is my personal view that if only we senior officers in the police hierarchy
could start giving the proper respect to junior officers in the Police
department, it would mark the real begining of a new era. It would not be wrong
to say that I have seen and heard some of the senior officers (including IPS
officers) using such words for these subordinate police officers which many
won't use even for their enemies. And mind you, I am not using any hyperbole. I
have seen Police Constables standing before their SP/ DIG for hours, not ever
once being asked to take a seat or even to have a break.
Despite not being a great believer in God, I thank the higher superior power for
getting me into IPS and not having made me a SI or a Constable. With my kind of
volatile nature, I am sure I could not have continued for more than a few months
in the service.
In such situations, the words of the Gujarat DGP Sri S S Khandwawala come as
being nothing less than sweet music. All I can say is that I find a wonderful
leader and a great human being in Sri Khandwawala and appreciate his measures in
no uncertain words.

Amitabh Thakur
IPS
Currently at IIM Lucknow

Friends,

There is a news item in BBC World news with a rather amusing title- "Kenyan
corruption chief resigns" The words startle you initially and the meaning gets
clear only when you go to the next line- "Kenya's much-criticised
anti-corruption chief has resigned just weeks after he was reappointed by the
president." Aaron Ringera said he was stepping down in the best interests of the
country. Mr Ringera has come under fire from Kenyans for not doing enough to
tackle corruption. Interestingly, this anti-corruption Chief  is Kenya's
best-paid civil servant, earning 2.5m shillings ($34,000; £21,000) a month - a
higher salary than the president.
So do we have a few lessons to learn from here ?

Amitabh Thakur
IPS
Currently at IIM Lucknow
# 94155-34526

Sudhir,

I like the speech however I am not ready to accept that he has compassionate
heart and all... Please I would urge you not to put anything on what Varun
Gandhi said.During election rallies this year he spoke so caustic and
inflamatory aginst muslims in India that it is hard to believe a person born in
recent years and highly educated can have such beliefs.

I strongly believe given that Varun Gandhi got his degree from London he would
not say anything which could cause stir in religious sentinments in India. He
gave thoese speeches in a cold blood to make him quick popular.

Sudhir I would urge you to hear and watch thoese speeches he gave during
election. As far as speech goes you know thoese who read out the speech never
writes them himself.

Regards,
Rahul

--- On Thu, 9/24/09, Sudhir-Architect <ar_sudhirkumar@...> wrote:

> From: Sudhir-Architect <ar_sudhirkumar@...>
> Subject: [bm] Varun Gandhi captivates audience in Houston
> To:
> Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009, 6:05 AM
>
>
>
> Varun Gandhi wows Houston
>
> Sept 20, 2009
>
>
>
> The 2009 annual gala of Houstons Indo American Charity
> Foundation
> (IACF) drew more than 500 of the most prominent
> Houstonians, including
> US Congressman Pete Olson and Indian Consul General Shri.
> Sanjiv
> Arora, who thronged the Inter Continental Hotel to welcome
> a dynamic,
> young politician from India.
>
>
>
> IACF, which supports scholarships and programs in the areas
> of
> education, healthcare, children and families, invited Shri.
> Varun
> Gandhi, because it felt he best represents young and new
> India. It's
> President said, "Seeing a vibrant, articulate speaker
> with an interest
> in doing something for the underprivileged is what the new
> generation
> of Indian Americans will relate to.Their knowledge of India
> is
>
> throughtheir parents' eyes. The chance to hear
> something positive from
> a young person who will be in the forefront of India's
> growth as a
> true democracy is of great interest to the young
> professionals who
> live here."
>
>
>
> 29 year-old Varun Gandhi, the first Indian parliamentarian
> to be
> called to this prestigious annual gala, is a Law &
> Economics graduate
> from the London School of Economics and
> a post graduate in Public
> Policy from the University of London. A prolific and
> precocious reader
> with excellent literary taste, he has authored his own
> volume of
> poetry titled "The Otherness of Self" besides a
> variety of articles on
>
> issues of National Security and External Affairs.
>
>
>
> In his key note address, Varun Gandhi spoke lucidly and
> thoughtfully
> about Indias Place in the New Global Order Charity &
> Social Services
> in the Emerging Economy. His speech was superbly
> articulated,
> extremely profound and deeply moving - proving beyond doubt
> that
> inside this soft-spoken young man, there lie a heart of
> immense
>
> compassion, a boundless intellect and a grassroots
> activist's
>
> dedication to serve India. In his address, Gandhi shared
> his views on
> a young and resurgent India and talked about Indias
> development
> challenges and the importance of economic growth through
> scientific
> development and adoption of intelligent policies. He also
> addressed
> the issues of environmental pollution, prolongued monsoon
> delays that
>
> is crippling the agricultural sector and the rapid melting
> of the
>
> Gangetic glacier that affects drinking water supply for 400
> million
> Indians.
>
>
>
> Repeatedly stressing that India is a country abundant in
> human and
> natural resources, Gandhi maintained that India was not a
> poor country
> but a poorly managed country. He urged the proper use of
> technology,
> adoption of skill based training and efficient utilization
> of the
> worlds greatest workforce and Indias greatest resource viz.
> the 60% of
>
> India population who were under the age of 30, totally 630
> million
> people double the US population. He pointed numerous
> schemes and
> ingenious inventions pioneered by ordinary Indians and NGOs
> that have
> reduced maternal mortality by 50%, addressed the rural
> populations
> needs for eye-care, disaster management, technology and
> eco-friendly
>
> vehicles.
>
>
>
> Gandhis refined appeal - calling for Global Atruism and the
> need for
> NRIs to pitch in and help their motherland - resonated well
> with the
> Indian-American audience who clapped vigorously when he
> reminded them
> that no matter how far they had come, both in terms of
> distance and
>
> knowledge, they were essentially Indians a people who ate
> with their
> hands and spoke from their hearts. And speak from his
> heart, he
> certainly did.
>
>
>
> *****
>
>
>
> Salient points of his 35-minute-speech on 'India's
> Place in the New
> Global Order: Charity and Social Services in the Emerging
> Economy', at
> the Hotel Intercontinental in Houston :
>
>
>
> "India had a great opportunity 60 years ago",
> said Varun, adding "Yet,
> we chose the wrong path, though with good intentions. We
> chose
> outdated ideologies then. The world was following
> capitalism, but we
> chose outdated ideas like socialism. It weakened our
> democracy and
> only created factions".The firebrand leader was
> speaking During the
>
> speech, when an audience member complained that he could
> not hear the
> BJP leader, Gandhi shot back, "This is the first time
> somebody is
> accusing me of being soft spoken."
>
>
>
> "You left the country in search of a dream. I want
> India to be that
> dream. India will be the world's next super power and
> the next century
> is India's century," he said, adding, "in
> spite of the high level of
> economic growth, many Indians don't have enough to
> eat." He further
> added, "India is not a poor country, but a poorly
> managed country,"
> drawing a hearty applause from the audience.
>
>
>
> He pointed out, "the system has failed to provide the
> requisite help
> to the people with regard to basic necessities. Even the
>
> constitutional guarantees are not reaching the
> people", stating, "That
> is not right. It is not democracy. Every Indian should be
> assured of
> dignity and justice and the opportunity to earn for his
> family". He
> added, "Today, 60 per cent or 630 million people in
> India are under
> the age of 30. That is double the population of the United
> States. It
> is the creative work force. How do we utilise it," he
> said
>
>
>
> He emphasized, "Poverty is still a problem. Forty
> years ago, we spoke
> of 'Garibi Hatao' but we are still in the same
> situation. The super
> rich get richer. A tiny percentage of the population owns
> 37 per cent
> of India's riches. Four Indians own 16 percent of the
> GDP. The poor
> are getting poorer." And, "Poverty is not
> inevitable. It is a system
> and it is only a symptom. There is a lack of big ideas to
> cope with
> the problems of 1.2 billion people."
>
>
>
> Criticizing the education system, he said,
> "Officially, 70 lakh
>
> children are outside the school system. The education
> imparted in
> government schools is outdated. Only two per cent of
> students get
> trained for some kind of work, while that figure is as high
> as 96 per
> cent in Korea and 80 per cent in Japan. No schools or colleges
> teach
> anything about environmental issues".
>
>  Thanks & Regards,
>
>
> Sudhir Srinivasan
> B.Arch, Dip.ID, Dip.CAD,
> Dip.PM, AIIA, IIID, ARIAI
> | Architect | M: +353-87-285
> 9086 |
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Dear friends

Today The Nation is celebrating the birth anniversary of the father of our
Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

Let us all dedicate our efforts to build up our country, strong in all respects
of the word.

Jay Bharat

Akalpita

Friends,

The New York Times has just covered a story entitled "Questions Mount in India
on Executions Attributed to the Police". It is about the Ishrat Jahan case that
took place in early morning of June 15, 2004. It says- "The sensational case has
fed a heated national debate about the longstanding Indian police practice of
killing suspects." It goes down to define the phenomenon as  "Known
euphemistically as encounter killings," adding its own point of view- "such
extrajudicial executions have been a tolerated and even celebrated method of
dealing swiftly with crime in a country with a notoriously slow and sometimes
corrupt judiciary." The Article also tries to present the general methodology of
such cases- "An officer in such cases invariably "encounters" a suspect and
kills him, supposedly in self-defense."
The same incidence has also been the subject matter of the Cover-story in the
latest issue of the fortnightly Frontline.
The US columnist and anti-war activist Norman Soloman recently wrote an Article
"George Orwell in 2001: Speaking from The Grave". Is Ishrat Jahan turning into
being in the same league as Orwell ?

Amitabh Thakur
IIM Lucknow
# 94155-34526

Quark 2010, Innovation Festival of BITS Pilani, Goa Campus AND NextSapiens is
organizing an International Robotics Competition in February 4-6, 2010 at BITS,
Goa.

We are looking out for the colleges at various locations to collaborate with
BITS Quark 2010 Graviton series. Under this collaboration, we will be organizing
the Robotics workshop at the college campus and the participants attending the
workshop will be on board for the Robotics competition to be held at BITS Goa
from 4-6th Feb 2010.

For more details about the workshop and competition, please contact us at
9810570011 or email us at kumar@...

Friends,

As per the Newspaper reports, the body of a policeman, Inspector Francis
Indvaar, 52 who was kidnapped last week by Maoist rebels in Jharkhand, has been
found. He was taken last week from Khunti area as he shopped in a local market.
The rebels had offered to release him in exchange for Kobad Ghandy, Chhatradhar
Mahato and Chandra Bhushan Yadav - three senior Maoists who are currently in
police custody. This demand was rejected by the authorities. The Naxalites must
have retorted against this by killing down the hostage. As per BBC report, a
senior Maoist leader, Samarji warned of more similar "arrests" of policemen
unless three Maoist leaders currently in police custody were released.
This brings us to the hostage policy, a very important topic pertaining our
domestic and foreign policy arena. As per a Newspaper report by Siddharth
Srivastava in the TOI dated 25/11/2002 -"Despite so many instances where the
government has had to give in to the demands of dreaded terrorists and many more
potentially similar situations, India is yet to come up with a proper hostage
policy, unlike other terrorism-affected countries, who have acted fast and put a
policy in place to deal with future crises." This Article, in particular, talks
of Indian Airlines IC814, Rubaiyya Sayeed and Raj Kumar case.
An Article in the India Today Issue Of November 29, 2004 by Murali Krishnan
said- "The Government is all set to unveil a comprehensive hostage policy that
would prevent terrorist outfits from arm-twisting the administration." The
Article hoped that the hostage policy would be "on the lines of those in the US,
China and Israel", adding that "The basic premise of the new policy will be a
strict "no negotiations" section"
What happened to this initiative can be known through another News Article
entitled "Shooting in Dark" by CNN-IBN dated August 29, 2009. It says that it
was "planned to put in place a new and tough anti-hijack policy" adding that "It
promised better coordination among security agencies during a hostage or hijack
crisis." But "the proposals were so radical that there was an uproar in
Parliament and the Opposition refused to back the policy." The News Article went
on to say- "India is good at conceptualising but not as good in executing
concepts".
It might be of interest to us that many Western European, the US and Russia
follow a no-negotiation policy with terrorists. This was best exemplified by the
Chechen incidence where despite the loss of life of 100 hostages, the Russian
government did not buckle and ended up the operation by finally eliminating/
capturing all the terrorists.
Now to give a brief description of the US hostage policy. It clearly states-
"The US Government will make no concessions to individuals or groups holding
official or private US citizens hostage." At the same time it also says that-
"The United States will use every appropriate resource to gain the safe return
of US citizens who are held hostage." but "it is US Government policy to deny
hostage takers the benefits of ransom, prisoner releases, policy changes, or
other acts of concession."
The reason cited by USA is also rather clear- "Based upon past experience, the
US Government concluded that making concessions that benefit hostage takers in
exchange for the release of hostages increased the danger that others will be
taken hostage."
How much do we agree to the above words? And I hope we remain consistent in all
cases of hostage that we face in the days to come as we have been in Inspector
Francis Indivar case?

Amitabh Thakur
IPS,
Currently at IIM Lucknow
# 94155-34526

Friends,

India and Pakistan owe their Criminal Justice system to a common origin, though
with time many variations have got introduced. One of these relate to the
different punishments provided in the two countries. Here I present the
situation as prevalent in the Statute books of the two countries.
Comparative presentation of the punishments as per the Indian Penal Code
(Central Act 45 of 1860 and Pakistan Penal Code (again Act 45 of 1860)-

IPC-
Section 53. Punishment
The punishments to which offenders are liable under the provisions of this Code
are-
First-Death;
Secondly-Imprisonment for life;
2[***]
Fourthly-Imprisonment, which is of two descriptions, namely: -
(1) Rigorous, that is ,with hard labour;
(2) Simple;
Fifthly:-Forfeiture of property ;
Sixthly-Fine.
2. Clause "Thirdly" omitted by Act 17 of 1949, sec.2 (w.e.f.6-4-1949).

PPC-
53.Punishments:
The punishments to which offenders are liable under the provisions of this Code
are:
Firstly,  Qisas
[Note- Qisas is an Islamic term meaning retaliation, similar to the biblical
principle of an eye for an eye]
Secondly,  Diyat;
[Note- Diyya (plural: Diyyat is compensation paid to the heirs of a victim. In
Arabic the word means both blood money and ransom]
Thirdly,  Arsh
[Note-compensation for hurting human organ]
Fourthly,  Daman
[Note-It means compensation determined by court to be paid by the offender to
the victim for causing hurt not liable to   Arsh.]
Fifthly,  Ta'zir
[Note- It refers to punishment, usually corporal, that can be administered at
the discretion of the judge, as opposed to the hudud, the punishments for
certain offenses that are fixed by the Qur'an].
Sixthly,  Death;
Seventhly,  Imprisonment for life;
Eighthly,  Imprisonment which is of two descriptions, namely:--
(i)  Rigorous, i.e., with hard labour;
(ii)  Simple;
Ninthly,  Forfeiture of property;
Tenthly,  Fine

Thus so much of similarities and many differences as well.

Amitabh Thakur
IPS
Currently at IIM Lucknow
# 94155-34526