SC orders CBI probe into 2003 NEET aspirant's death
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Visakhapatnam: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into the suspicious death of a 17-year-old girl student from West Bengal, who died at a hostel in Vizag city in July 2023.
The SC was hearing a plea filed by the girl's father (Sukdeb Saha). The deceased was preparing for NEET examination and had enrolled at a corporate institute in Vizag. In July 2023, she was reported to have fallen from the third floor terrace of the hostel where she was residing, and later succumbed to her injuries. Her father alleged foul play, suppression of CCTV evidence in the incident, medical negligence at the private hospital in Vizag, and bias in police investigation. He moved the AP high court seeking transfer of the investigation to CBI, which was declined, following which he approached the Supreme Court.
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Hindustan Times
a minute ago
- Hindustan Times
Delhi HC orders reconstruction of 1984 anti-Sikh riots case records to ensure fair trial
The Delhi High Court has ordered the reconstruction of four-decade-old trial records in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, saying the victims' and society's right to a fair investigation and trial cannot be compromised by missing files or flawed earlier proceedings. The directive, issued to the trial court, concerns the acquittal of five men including former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar in the killing of four Sikhs in Ghaziabad's Raj Nagar. The court said the available material revealed 'several lacunae' in both the investigation and trial. The murders took place on November 1, 1984, a day after then PM Indira Gandhi's assassination. Three women had alleged that their husbands and son were burnt alive. In 1986, the trial court acquitted Khokhar and four others, citing lack of evidence. Now, nearly 40 years later, a bench of justices Subramanian Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar WHEN has acted on petitions challenging the correctness of that verdict. The bench had earlier observed that the 1986 judgment appeared 'unsustainable' and noted it was being relied on in appeals by Khokhar, Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal, Mahender Yadav, and Krishan Khokhar against their 2013 conviction for murdering five Sikhs in the same locality. Neither the state nor the victims had appealed the 1986 acquittal at the time. The court said the available material -- composite challans and the final judgments -- revealed 'several lacunae' in both the investigation and trial. Key eyewitnesses were never examined because summons were sent to addresses destroyed or abandoned during the riots. 'A composite challan has been filed for several cases, prima facie reflecting a perfunctory investigation,' the court said in its 66-page order, adding that the matter 'cannot be left to rest at this juncture.' Citing Supreme Court precedent in Abhai Raj Singh, the bench ruled that the trial court must reconstruct the records of Sessions Cases 31 and 32 of 1986, and only then can the High Court assess whether the original acquittals can stand. The matter will be heard next on September 1. 'The valuable rights of victims and the society at large to a free and fair investigation as also a real trial cannot be allowed to be compromised as a result of fait accompli,' the court observed. Senior advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for the complainants, argued that the 1986 investigation and trial were 'thoroughly inadequate and sketchy' and urged that the matters be remanded for retrial. Amicus curiae Siddharth Aggarwal asserted that the court, before giving any findings into the correctness of the judgements passed by the additional sessions judges, was under a mandate to call for the records, examine the same and only then proceed ahead in the matter. He submitted that the trial court records had been weeded out and it was inappropriate for the court to proceed further with the matter without getting the records. Khokhar's counsel had asserted that ordering a re-trial or further investigation, when the records have been weeded out, would violate his client's right to free trial. In a separate 26-page judgment, the same bench directed the authorities to widely publicise the various government compensation schemes available for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. It further instructed them to verify victims' claims within 16 weeks of receiving them and to disburse the compensation within two months thereafter.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
SC alarmed over ‘rampant' child trafficking in Delhi
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Union government to submit within a week a report detailing measures taken to curb what it termed the 'very rampant' crime of child trafficking in the national capital. SC alarmed over 'rampant' child trafficking in Delhi A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, hearing the matter on its own motion, expressed dismay at the scale of the problem and the interstate gangs operating within and beyond Delhi. 'We would like to know from the Union government what steps have been taken to curb this crime… Let this report be filed at the earliest,' the court ordered. The bench, assisted by senior advocate Aparna Bhat, also called for copies of the bail orders by subordinate courts releasing two accused in child trafficking cases in Delhi. 'We want to know the status of investigations into the Delhi case. We have also been informed that two accused… have been released on bail. We would like to examine these bail orders,' the court said. The proceedings followed the court's April 21 direction to police to intensify their hunt for a gang leader known by the single name of 'Pooja' and recover three infants sold to different buyers. At the time, inspector Vishvendra Chaudhary of special staff, Dwarka, informed the bench that the parents of the missing infants may themselves have sold them. The court, describing the case as a 'big challenge' for the investigating team, said the situation was 'going from bad to worse' in child trafficking cases. HT had reported on July 30 about the nexus that brings babies from poor people in villages and tribal areas and sends them to the rich in Delhi. The matter stems from an April 15 judgment in which the apex court, alarmed by the trafficking of newborns from hospitals, ordered trials in such cases to be completed in six months, cancelled bail for 13 accused in an inter-state trafficking racket, and mandated suspension of licences of hospitals from which infants were trafficked. 'When any woman comes to deliver her baby in any hospital, it is the responsibility of the administration of the hospital to protect the newborn infant in all respects,' the court ordered then. In that case, the bench had severely criticised the 'callous' approach of the Allahabad High Court in granting bail to the accused despite the 'serious nature of the crime' and their established modus operandi. It underscored that the liberty of such offenders is 'not in the realm of absolutism' and must yield to the community's need for security. The April 15 ruling also directed all high courts to collect and review data on pending child trafficking trials, and instruct trial courts to finish them within six months. It said the states must act on recommendations of a 2023 National Human Rights Commission-backed study urging that all missing children cases be treated as suspected trafficking until proven otherwise. It had also urged parents to remain 'extremely vigilant and careful'. 'We want to convey a message to one and all, more particularly to parents across the country that they should remain extremely vigilant and careful with their children. A slight carelessness or negligence or laxity on their part may prove to be extremely costly. The pain and agony which parents may have to face when a child dies is different from the pain and agony that parents may have to face when they lose their children to such gangs engaged in trafficking,' the court observed.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
HC Orders Retrial In Anti-Sikh Riot Case
New Delhi: More than 40 years after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots followed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination, resulting in brutal killings where the accused walked free, Delhi High Court on Monday ordered retrial in one of the cases. In three other acquittals, HC asked the trial court to "reconstruct" the case records as vital documents, including deposition of witnesses and their statements, are missing. The cases relate to the killing of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part I area in Palam Colony and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part II, and were lodged at the Delhi Cantt police station. In 2017, HC had reopened these cases after it found that all accused were acquitted by trial courts in 1986, and neither Delhi Police nor CBI appealed. Incidentally, only two of the several accused men are alive. In multiple verdicts, a bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar ordered the retrial of the accused, Ramji Lal Sharma, and the reconstruction of records in three cases against another accused, Balwan Singh Khokhar. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi HC said it is "mindful" that more than 40 years have passed, but underlined that the case "undoubtedly falls within the category of an 'exceptional case' warranting setting aside of the acquittal dated May 28, 1986, and consequent direction for a retrial." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Kate Middleton's Daring Outfit Took Prince William's Breath Away Crowdy Fan Undo The court noted that the "truth-finding exercise was given a go-by previously" and directed CBI to probe further "since the alternative would entail turning a Nelson's eye to the needs of the society at large and the rights of victims, including the complainant and her children, to a comprehensive free and fair investigation". HC also flagged how, in Sharma's case, the trial court in 1986 "committed several manifest errors of law" that resulted in a "miscarriage of justice", and a "grave offence of murder and arson with communal overtones" was neither investigated properly nor "tried in right stead". The court said sufficient efforts were not made to involve all natural witnesses in the probe, including victim Harbhajan Singh's children who were present at the time of the incident, and/or any neighbours in whose house Singh's wife and children took shelter after the mob burnt their house down. On the long delay in victims approaching police, HC pointed out that "a bloodbath took place after the assassination and as a result of the violence, widows, children and persons residing in the vicinity ran away for their safety and took shelter elsewhere, which naturally meant they would not have been readily available for investigation". It said the trial court "failed to factor in the precarious situation and communal tensions which existed in the aftermath of the assassination". Dealing with the other three cases reopened in 2017, HC noted that apart from the shoddy investigation, trial judges "hardly took any steps to ensure the presence of crucial witnesses, including persons who had witnessed the incident", leading to missing material evidence. "Valuable lives have been lost in the incidents which form the subject matter of the present cases. Several crucial witnesses, including eyewitnesses to the incident, were not examined on account of insufficient efforts to secure their presence through service of summons at addresses which had been damaged and/or abandoned by such witnesses in the aftermath of the incident," the court observed. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
