SPS Rathore gets Bail from Supreme Court

Source : Indlaw.com

The Supreme Court today granted bail to former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore in the Ruchika molestation case. 

Rathore, who was awarded six-month imprisonment by the trial court for an offence under Section 354 IPC, had received further setback when the Punjab and Haryana High Court enhanced his sentence to 18 months. 

Rathore came in appeal to the Supreme Court against the judgement of the High Court. 

A bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan ordered the release of Rathore on bail till the final diposal of his appeal. 

The apex court also admitted his appeal. 

The CBI has already decided to close two cases against Rathore involving the illegal detention and torture of Ashu Girhotra, brother of Ruchika. 

Ruchika, an upcoming tennis player, had committed suicide when she could not tolerate the torture to which her brother was subjected by Haryana police, allegedly at the instance of Mr Rathore who was IGP at that time.

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Won't Say Sorry : Shanti Bhushan to Supreme Court

Source : New Kerala.com

Shanti Bhushan

Former law minister Shanti Bhushan Wednesday told the Supreme Court that he and his lawyer son Prashant Bhushan would prefer to go to jail instead of tendering an apology for pointing to corruption in the judiciary.

Bhushan told this to the court after he and his son were asked if they were willing to offer an apology.

The former law minister told the apex court bench of Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice H.L. Dattu that he was speaking for himself and his son Prashant Bhushan.

The senior Bhushan said this when he was asked by the court whom he was speaking for.

He bacame a party to the contempt case by filing an affidavit saying that of 16 chief justices' of India, eight were "definitely corrupt", six were "definitely honest" and for two of them "a definite opinion cannot be expressed."

The court is hearing a contempt petition against the senior counsel Prashant Bhushan and managing editor of Tehelka magazine, Tarun Tejpal.

The contempt proceedings were initiated after Prashant Bhushan in an interview to Tehelka levelled allegation of corruption against the sitting judges of the apex court.

Prashant Bhushan in his interview had alleged that Justice S.H. Kapadia (now the Chief Justice of India) who had the shares in Sterlite company decided a mining lease case in favour of the company.

The court took serious objection to the senior counsel Rajiv Dhawan saying "the fact that there is corruption in judiciary is not in doubt".

Reframing his statement, Dhawan said that former chief justice S.P. Barucha had said that 20 percent of judges in the country were corrupt.

To this, Justice Kabir said "he did not say that. It was other way round" meaning that Justice Barucha had said that 80 percent of judges were honest. That the remaining 20 percent were corrupt was an inference drawn by the people, he said.

Justice Kabir said that you can say there is "a little doubt" that there is corruption in judiciary.

Appearing for Tejpal, Dhawan said that the concern expressed in the Tehelka magazine were "bonafide" and "genuine".

He said that question is if there were genuine and bonafide concerns about the state of affairs in judiciary then how they could be dealt with.

He questioned the summary procedure of initiating the contempt proceedings against the alleged contemnor. He said that there was no mechanism by which genuine grievances or concerns about the judicial functioning could be addressed.

He told the court that it was dealing with a case of "constructive contempt". The question is was it a malafide and mischievous exercise of editorial powers.

Ramalinga Raju & 5 others Surrender before Trial Court

Article Source: Times of India

B Ramalinga Raju, the prime accused in the multi-crore Satyam accounting fraud, and five others surrendered before a trial court in Hyderabad on Wednesday. 

Ramalinga Raju, his brother B Rama Raju, former Satyam CFO V Srinivas and three other former employees of the IT firm -- G Ramakrishna, Venkatapathi Raju and Srisailam -- surrendered before the 21st additional chief metropolitan magistrate as the Supreme Court had last month cancelled their bail. 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) later took the disgraced founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Limited to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) for a medical check-up. 

The Supreme Court had Tuesday rejected the petitions of the accused seeking additional time to surrender. 

The apex court had on October 26 cancelled the bail of Raju and five others and had asked them to surrender before the trial court by November 10. 

Raju, 56, was arrested in January last year after he admitted to India's biggest corporate fraud. He was granted bail by the Andhra Pradesh High Court Aug 18 on the ground that other accused had also been granted bail. 

At that time Raju was undergoing treatment at NIMS for hepatitis C infection. He had been avoiding court since November last year, delaying the commencement of the trial. He was discharged from NIMS Oct 2.

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Justice Soumitra Sen Guilty : Rajya Sabha Inquiry Committee

Source : Indlaw.com

Justice Sen

A report of the Inquiry Committee of the Rajya Sabha has found Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court guilty of misbehaviour in connection with the two charges he faced involving corruption. 

The report was tabled in the Rajya Sabha today. 

The Committee headed by Supreme Court Justice B Sudershan Reddy have found Justice Sen guilty of misbehaviour under Article 124 (4) read with proviso (b) to Article 217(1) of the Constitution. 

Justice Mukul Mudgal, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana Court and noted jurist Fali S Nariman were the other members of the Committee constituted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari. 

In the two-volume report, the Committee found Justice Sen guilty of misappropriation of large sums of money received in his capacity as receiver appointed by the High Court of Calcutta. 

The panel has also upheld the charge that the offending judge had made false and misrepresented statements regarding the misappropriation of money before the High Court. 

The panel said that Justice Sen gave no evidence before the Committee nor made any statement nor even personally attended any of the hearinings to enable the inquiry committee to be assured from Justice Sen himself on how Rs 33,22,800 was actually invested and where and how this amount had been expended in his capacity as a receiver. By refusing to personally participate in the hearings the judge had denied himself an opportunity of giving explanation (if had any). 

The Rajya Sabha Chairman had admitted a notice for motion of Sitaram Yechuri and 57 other MPs seeking the removal of Justice Sen from the Calcutta High Court on two grounds -- misappropriation of large sums of money which he had got in his capacity as receiver of the High Court and misrepresentation of the facts with regard to misappropriation of money before the High Court. 

The inquiry committee was appointed by a notification on December 16, 2009.

Find the Original Article here.