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New Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
CoBRA sting in Operation Black Forest
In a pre-mission briefing of his men from the special CoBRA force, Manoranjan, a newly-inducted young officer, had declared, 'It's a do or die mission, and mine will be the first CoBRA blood to be shed if it came to that.' During his pre-induction interview, I had observed his readiness to give his best for an operation. He and the brave men of CoBRA knew the challenge of fighting a well-armed, motivated and organised adversary—one who can't be identified easily even if seen gossiping with local villagers. So, imagine taking him on in his own adda. You cannot disrupt village life, though you are sure an extremist is hiding there. You don't have Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in force and your adversary enjoys the rights of a vibrant democracy. Maoists demonstrate their position by sporadic violence, so that the local population toes their line and joins their militia in large numbers out of fear, most often not knowing the movement's ideology. Mobile warfare is a decisive stage in guerrilla warfare to liberate pockets of influence. They set up alternative administrative structures where the presence of government agencies is not seen or felt—like in Abujhmad, which literally translates as 'unknown area'. Detection and disposal of explosives, especially the improvised explosive devices, are a real challenge. In September 2009, in one of the CoBRA unit's early major operations, Manoranjan and his men succeeded in outmanoeuvring the IEDs. But he did not survive the ensuing close encounter to tell the tale. For the newly operationalised CoBRA, it was a shock and a warning. But they just could not fail. The central government had recognised left-wing extremism as the worst internal security threat and had mandated CRPF to raise 10 units (about 10,000 personnel) of Commando Battalions for Resolute Action or CoBRA. The CRPF, seasoned with decades of experience in dealing with insurgency and terrorism, had to identify and develop 10 centres in affected states; and induct, train and equip the personnel recruited with stringent limits on age and physical efficiency.
News18
23-05-2025
- Politics
- News18
Supreme Court Allows Delhi's BJP Govt To Withdraw 7 AAP-Era Cases Against L-G, Centre
Last Updated: These cases questioned the L-G's authority over various administrative and regulatory matters The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Delhi government, led by chief minister Rekha Gupta, to withdraw multiple cases initiated by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration against the Centre and the lieutenant governor (L-G), mainly concerning control over administrative services. The AAP-led Delhi government had filed seven cases against the Centre and the L-G. These cases questioned the L-G's authority over various administrative and regulatory matters, including waste management, cleaning the Yamuna River, and the validity of certain legislation and ordinances. On Thursday, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh scheduled the application filed by the BJP-led Delhi government for May 23. Representing the Delhi government, additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati indicated a resolution to the long-standing legal disputes, stating, 'These matters should not trouble this court anymore." In July 2023, the apex court had issued a notice to the Centre following a plea from the AAP-led government challenging the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023. This legislation, which replaced an earlier ordinance, created an authority to oversee the posting and transfer of Group-A officers in Delhi. It was enacted shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the elected government's control over services, excluding police, land, and public order. One of the withdrawn cases involved a stay granted by the top court in July 2023 against a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order. In January 2023, the NGT had directed the L-G to lead a high-level committee for rejuvenating the Yamuna River. Another petition concerned the alleged withholding of funds sanctioned for the Delhi Jal Board by the finance department of the Delhi government for 2023-25. Additional cases included a plea reaffirming that the L-G must act on the advice of the GNCTD's council of ministers and another seeking directives on the appointment of the chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). The Delhi government has also decided to drop its challenge to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) and L-G orders related to the release of payments to government-appointed lawyers and the process for appointing advocates-on-record and other legal representatives in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court. (With agency inputs) First Published: May 23, 2025, 19:19 IST
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Civic groups question Greater Bengaluru Authority Act over centralisation concerns
Bengaluru: Taking objection to the haphazard manner in which the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has been rolled out, several civic activists are contemplating legal options to prevent what they call derailment and destruction of decentralised governance in the city. At a public discussion organised by CIVIC Bangalore here Saturday, activists said they plan to file a PIL plea in this regard. In the current form, GBA will weaken local decision-making and hamper effective civic administration in Bengaluru, they claimed. On the govt's justification that GBA had to be brought in as Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had failed in administering the city, CIVIC Bangalore executive trustee Kathyanai Chamaraj said: "BBMP did not fail because of internal inefficiency, it was was systematically undermined by the govt. " One of the major criticisms by experts is that the govt failed to expand Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC), a body meant to coordinate various parastatal agencies, and instead opted to create GBA, which took away crucial planning and financial powers from BBMP. This move will leave the city's smaller municipal corporations with limited authority and resources, forcing them to depend heavily on the state-controlled GBA for major projects and budgets, they said. Satyajit Arikutharam, mobility expert, spoke about the impact the bill will have on major mobility decisions: "BMLTA (Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority) Act is already in force — the problem isn't the absence of law, but the deliberate neglect of it. Mega projects like tunnel roads are being pushed through without scrutiny, undermining public transport goals and democratic oversight. We're seeing real estate interests take precedence over planning, and citizens are left paying the price. This isn't just bad governance, it is an erosion of accountability disguised as development." TR Raghunandan, former bureaucrat, said the GBA Act is being sold to people as a reform, but in reality, it's a dangerous centralisation of power. "It creates multiple urban populations without constitutional backing, ignoring the spirit of the 74th Amendment. There's no clarity on what local bodies actually do. It's all PowerPoint governance and not actual empowerment. The Act pretends to devolve power while concentrating it at the top. This is not local self-governance; it's a model of elected monarchies. If we are serious about democracy and functional devolution, we need real responsibilities at the local level, not ornamental laws that weaken it further."
RTÉ News
13-05-2025
- RTÉ News
Former solicitor Michael Lynn has appeal over sentence rejected
Former solicitor Michael Lynn has failed to have his five-and-a-half-year sentence reduced on appeal for stealing more than €18 million from six financial institutions during the Celtic Tiger era. In a lengthy judgment delivered at the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice John Edwards said the thefts were perpetrated "cynically, knowingly and intentionally", and Lynn's culpability was aggravated by the breaches of trust involved in how he dealt with the banks. He noted Lynn had brought his profession "into disrepute" and had effectively "leveraged" his status as a solicitor to facilitate his crimes. Mr Justice Edwards said Lynn had displayed "arrogance" and "hubris", traces of which were evident "even to this day" in the way in which he had met this case and the suggestion that because the victims were institutions rather than individuals who may have been insured against theft and fraud, the harm done by him was somehow "less significant". He said the trial judge was correct to approach the sentencing on the basis that there was a "high level of premeditation" on Lynn's part in respect of the offending. The former solicitor had displayed "limited insight" into the harm done and there was no finding of "sincere remorse", Mr Justice Edwards said. Lynn was jailed for obtaining multiple mortgages on the same properties in a situation where banks were unaware that other institutions were also providing finance. These properties included 'Glenlion', Lynn's €5.5 million home in Howth, and multiple investment properties. He had to be extradited from Brazil in 2018 after spending years resisting attempts to have him face charges. As part of the extradition agreement with Brazil, Lynn was to be given credit for the prison time he had already served. Lynn, of Millbrook Court, Redcross, Co Wicklow, pleaded not guilty to theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud offences) Act, but he was found guilty by a jury of ten of the 21 theft counts against him following a second Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial after the jury in his first trial in 2022 failed to reach a verdict. The 56-year-old former solicitor was originally sentenced by Judge Martin Nolan to five-and-a-half years in prison having been convicted of stealing €18.1 million from six financial institutions. Judge Nolan fixed the headline sentence at 16 years, before discounting three years for mitigation. He subtracted a further seven-and-a-half years because of time spent by Lynn in a Brazilian prison while awaiting extradition, and also because of the conditions of the prison in Brazil. The judge also took into consideration 105 days Lynn spent in Cloverhill, with the sentence backdated to 20 December 2023. At the appeal hearing last November, Paul Comiskey O'Keefe BL, representing Lynn, argued that not enough weight was given to the mitigating factors in the case, including the recovery by financial institutions of certain losses and the asset disposal by the former solicitor for the repayment of losses. He also suggested that insufficient weight was given to Lynn's PTSD from his time in a Brazilian prison, despite being acknowledged by the sentencing judge. Delivering judgment on behalf of the three-judge court today, Mr Justice Edwards noted that "regrettably", the single biggest potential mitigating factor - a plea of guilty - was absent in this case. He said that while the conditions Lynn faced while in prison in Brazil were "harsh", the former solicitor was, to some extent, "the author of his own misfortune" by consciously relocating to a country with which Ireland does not have an extradition treaty. "It is an entirely reasonable inference on the evidence in this case that his relocation to Brazil was expressly for the purpose of avoiding an anticipated future request for his rendition to Ireland from Portugal," he said. The judge said appropriate allowances were made for the time spent on remand while in prison in Brazil and rejected the contention that not enough weight had been given to the mitigating factors in the case. Mr Justice Edwards went on to say there was no error in the headline sentence set by the trial judge or in the overall global approach taken. However, the court found the sentence imposed had been "inappropriately structured" in respect of how credit for time served on remand in an Irish prison was treated. The court therefore quashed the original sentence and reduced the amount of credit being given for time spent in custody in Ireland by three months, leaving a final sentence of five years and nine months in prison. He imposed the same five years and nine months on each of the ten counts, to run concurrently, dating from 20 December 2023. This will effectively leave Lynn's sentence unchanged if the prison authorities apply the full three months' credit for remission. During his trial, Lynn took the stand and claimed the banks were aware he had multiple loans on the same properties and that this was custom and practice among bankers in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger. He was extradited from Brazil in 2018 after spending four-and-a-half years in a "hellhole" prison there. In the first trial, Lynn told the jury the jail was essentially run by prisoners, and he witnessed the beheading of a young gay prisoner.
Time of India
12-05-2025
- Time of India
No judge, no trial: Over 3,500 cases pending in Coimbatore's Special Court for EC Act cases
Coimbatore: The trial of over 3,500 cases, mostly related to ganja and synthetic drugs, has been pending for the past three months due to a vacancy in the judge's post at the Special Court for Essential Commodities (EC) Act cases at the Coimbatore Combined District Court court has jurisdiction over four districts—Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, and the Nilgiris—covering nearly 250 police previous judge retired in February. Since then, the judge of the Special Court for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been holding additional charge to handle cases filed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. However, regular trials have not the recent transfer of 77 district judges across Tamil Nadu, no new judge has been appointed to the special court for EC Act cases.A senior advocate noted a sharp rise in both ganja and synthetic drug cases in recent years. On average, about 30 ganja and synthetic drug cases are registered daily across the four districts. "Without a permanent judge, the backlog is growing. Delays in trial proceedings only benefit the accused," he said."Speedy trial in drug-related cases is crucial to ensure timely justice, deter offenders, and prevent the accused from resuming illegal activities while on bail. Prolonged delays may lead to loss of evidence, witness tampering, and unnecessary pre-trial detention, further burdening the prison system," he special court also receives around 40 petitions daily, including bail applications, criminal miscellaneous petitions (CMPs), pleas for condition relaxation, and return of property petitions."Considering the staff strength in other courts, the EC court has comparatively fewer staff members. To ease the burden, an additional court dedicated to NDPS cases is urgently needed," said another the special court for the trial of bomb blast cases in Coimbatore has been functioning without a permanent judge for the past two years. Currently, the CBI court judge is holding additional charge for the bomb blast court, which has about 100 pending the post of judge in the IV Additional District Court, Coimbatore, has been vacant since April 30. The court has approximately 2,000 pending official from the judicial department said that the appointment of a judge to the EC court may take another two months. "The promotion list is pending. Once the government issues orders, judges will be appointed to the existing vacancies," the official the official added that trial proceedings in the bomb blast cases have not been affected so far, as the CBI court judge is currently managing the workload.
