Page 3 of 22 FirstFirst 1234513 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 217

Thread: India

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    The mystery behind access to Kasab

    Next week, eight Pakistanis will visit India to record statements about the Mumbai attacks.

    Khalid Qureshi, head of the FIA’s special investigation group, will accompany two government lawyers prosecuting members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The prosecutors are Muhammad Azhar Chaudhary and Chaudhry Zulfikar. Five lawyers representing the LeT members accused of planning the 26/11 attacks will also come.

    The Pakistanis will meet and record the statements of police inspector Ramesh Mahale and magistrate R V Sawant-Waghul. Mahale was the officer who investigated the attack, and Sawant-Waghul was the judge who recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab. The Pakistanis will also talk to the doctors who treated Kasab after his capture on Marine Drive by sub-inspector Tukaram Omble who was shot, but held on to Kasab till he died.

    The Pakistani team will not, however, be meeting Kasab. When Rehman Malik said last week that the team would seek to meet Kasab, the Indian government said this would not happen. India said this was not part of the written understanding reached with Pakistan. However, reports in newspapers here quoted unnamed Indian officials as giving two reasons for the refusal. First was the concern that Kasab will retract his confessional statement. The second was that Pakistan is in turn refusing India access to voice samples of the LeT’s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. Pakistan says that its law only allows fingerprints as evidence of individual identity, not voice samples. The samples are important because the voice of the man who guided the attackers through their carnage is available in the evidence.

    Perhaps these are really the reasons, it’s difficult to say.

    The LeT’s lawyers say Kasab’s statement is inadmissible in Pakistani courts. So it’s not clear what would be achieved even if they got Kasab to retract his confession. Retracting confessions during trials used to be common in India (it is the reason why a magistrate records all confessions). However, the conviction of Kasab is based on evidence that is visual, aural, circumstantial and physical. His statement by itself is unimportant.

    Why then is the Indian government not allowing access to him?

    I have information that the reason could be Kasab’s mental condition.

    A friend of mine visited Arthur Road jail in Mumbai a few weeks ago. This person was shown around the jail and also observed Kasab. Not physically, because he is being held in isolation, but on closed circuit cameras. Kasab, India’s most valuable prisoner, is monitored through the day to ensure he doesn’t harm himself. He is kept in solitary confinement in Arthur Road’s Barrack No 12. The daily report of his food intake shows that he’s healthy and eating well. He also has access to books in Urdu, which he was reported as reading last year. He declined to keep a fast last Ramazan and did not get the special food that rozaydars are given.

    When this person saw Kasab he was swinging his head around, like a headbanger at a rock concert. There was no music in his cell, of course, he was moving to something in his mind. He sat down at one point but kept throwing his head violently about. This continued for 15 minutes or so and the person was in no doubt that the man on the screen was disturbed. The other thing that the visitor observed was that the jail officials and officers who were present were not surprised by what was unfolding before them. This suggests that Kasab often behaved in this fashion.

    Could it be that the man photographed by Sebastian D’Souza so clinically picking out and shooting people dead has lost his mind? It would not be surprising if this were so. Kasab was only 21 when he took part in that savage attack. He has since lost his friends, all contact with his family and was confronted in court with the vivid details of his actions. His government in Pakistan first disowned Kasab and in November, Rehman Malik said he ought to be hanged immediately.

    Tomorrow, Monday January 30, just before the Pakistanis arrive, India’s Supreme Court will begin hearing the appeal against Kasab’s death penalty.

    It isn’t clear whether insanity after conviction is a reason for someone to be spared the noose. But the terrible actions of Kasab and his nine companions may well have already claimed their final victim.

    http://tribune.com.pk/story/328540/t...cess-to-kasab/

  2. #22
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Beant Singh case convict to be hanged on March 31

    Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in the former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, who had requested a court to fix the date for his execution, will be hanged in Patiala central jail at 9am on March 31. This would be the first execution of a convict in the state in 24 years.

    Chandigarh additional sessions judge Shalini Nagpal issued orders for the implementation of the death warrants against the Babbar Khalsa terrorist on March 10.

    The order for carrying out the death sentence was issued on the request of Rajoana, who did not challenge his conviction.

    As a trial relating to recovery of RDX is pending against Rajoana, Patiala jail authorities wrote to DGP jails, seeking clarification on whether a death warrant can be carried out when a case is under judicial process against a convict.Rajoana is presently lodged in Patiala central jail.

    Interestingly, Punjab has no hangman currently, and jail officials have raised this issue with higher authorities.

    http://www.hindustantimes.com/Punjab...e1-824963.aspx
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  3. #23
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Balwant Singh death row: Lack of executioner leaves Punjab cops in a fix

    A local court’s orders directing Punjab state prison authorities to hang the alleged Babbar Khalsa terrorist, Balwant Singh,till death, has left the state police top brass in a fix. There are no hangmen in Punjab and the neighbouring states and with no convict having been executed in recent times, the Punjab police officers have been forced to dig out the decades-old Punjab jail manual for the procedure on how to hang a prisoner on death row.

    The absence of a hangman in Punjab and other neighbouring states has left the state police force facing two major challenges: To locate a executioner in the country and secondly to determine the procedure on how a hangman would implement the court order. Balwant Singh, who is presently lodged in Patiala jail, was allegedly among the 11 Babbar Khalsa International terrorists, who were arrested on charges of assassinating Beant Singh on August 31, 1995. The court has fixed March 31 as the date of his hanging.

    The last hanging of a prisoner in Punjab was carried out in 1983 and since then, no convict has been hanged in the state. The last convict to face the noose in the country, was Dhanonjoy Chatterjee, who was convicted on charges of rape and murder and was hanged till death in Kolkata on August 14, 2004. The then hangman, Nata Mullick, who was posted in Alipur Central Jail in Kolkata, died a few years ago. “There is no hangman in Kolkata, these days, as the only one - Nata Mullick has also died a few years ago”, said an official posted at the Alipur Central Jail, Kolkata. The only hangman with the Haryana Prisons Department , Kalu Ram, also died a few years ago and the post has been lying vacant.

    Shashi Kant, Director General of Prisons, Punjab, said: “The court orders were received by us this morning and frankly speaking, we are yet to find out the procedure, as how to go about it. The state of Punjab does not have a hangman and the last hanging was done in 1983. Even the neighbouring states, to my knowledge, don’t have a hangman. We are searching the jail manual for the procedures, which need to be adopted for the hanging of a convict, because all these years, there has never been any such execution in this part of the country”.

    Haryana’s Director General of Prisons, Rakesh Malik, said: “Haryana also does not have any hangman. To the best of my memory, I could not recall of any convict having been hanged till death in Haryana, in the last at least 15-20 years. I feel, even Himachal Pradesh and J&K don’t have a hangman”.

    “Though there is a provision in the Haryana jail manual, which says that in the absence of a hangman, the execution could be carried out by any trained person, whom the Jail Superintendent finds fit for the job; it’s not clear as who could be this trained person and how to go about it”, said a senior Haryana Police officer.

    A special court of Judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi had awarded the death sentence to Balwant Singh and another convict Jagtar Singh Hawara, on July 31, 2007. While Hawara filed an appeal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and successfully had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment; Balwant Singh refused to appeal against his death sentence.

    http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ba...a-fix/923784/0
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  4. #24
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    We can’t hang Balwant Singh Rajoana at this stage: Jail authorities reconfirm; death warrants returned again

    As per information available with “Sikh Siyasat” the Central Jail, Patiala authorities have again returned the “death or black warrants” of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana to the Chandigarh court. The authorities have sent an eleven pages letter to the court, claiming that it would be illegal to hang Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana at this stage. Authorities have referred to various decisions by Supreme Court of India that if an appeal filed by a co-convict is pending before any appellant court the death sentence of a convict should not be executed, because the appellant court has the powers to reduce the sentence of all the conflicts, whether appealing or not.

    It is notable that same argument was raise by Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI) before the Punjab and Haryana High Court few days back by way of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking stay on execution of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana, but the bench of the High Court refused to hear the plea on technical basis. The court observed that the petitioner had no locus standi to file the petition and no “public interest” could be involved in death sentence cases, therefore PIL could not be entertained in these cases.

    Senior Lawyer of Supreme Court of India Advocate Harwinder Singh Phoolka is also reported to have confirmed that only convict can appeal against conviction or file a plea for stay, as the Indian courts are of the view that no public interest lies in death penalty cases.

    This argument could be justified to an extent so far as the question of appeal against sentence is concerned, but extending it to plea of stay does not seem to be in the interests of justice.

    Stay on execution was sought by LFHRI in public interest arguing that if Supreme court at the end of appeal proceedings decides to commute the death sentence of all convicts, including Balwant Singh Rajoana, to life imprisonment, using it’s constitutional power, and Balwant Singh is executed before that stage then the values of justice would suffer great loss. Therefore, High Court judges should have at least listened the argument raised by LFHRI.

    So far as the so-called static position of Indian courts that there is “no public interest in death penalty” is concerned, it is visible that the judges have failed to appreciate the argument of LFHRI, which was both in the interests of justice as well as in public interest. The Constitution of India has imposed the duty on Indian judiciary, High Courts and Supreme court, to uphold the “spirit of justice”. There is always larger public interest in “upholding the spirit of justice”. If the interest of justice demand that some particular argument should be listened there is always a public interest in listening to that argument.

    http://www.sikhsiyasat.net/2012/03/2...eturned-again/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #25
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Capital Region NY
    Posts
    865

    Indian state OKs shooting tiger poachers on sight

    NEW DELHI—A state in western India has declared war on animal poaching by allowing forest guards to shoot hunters on sight in an effort to curb rampant attacks on tigers and other wildlife.

    The government in Maharashtra says injuring or killing suspected poachers will no longer be considered a crime.

    Forest guards should not be "booked for human rights violations when they have taken action against poachers," Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said Tuesday. The state also will send more rangers and jeeps into the forest, and will offer secret payments to informers who give tips about poachers and animal smugglers, he said.

    No tiger poachers have ever been shot in Maharashtra, though cases of illegal loggers and fishermen being shot have led to charges against forest guards, according to the state's chief wildlife warden, S.W.H. Naqvi.

    But the threat could act as a significant deterrent to wildlife criminals, conservationists said. A similar measure allowing guards to fire on poachers in Assam has helped the northeast state's population of endangered one-horned rhinos recover.

    "These poachers have lost all fear. They just go in and poach what they want because they know the risks are low," said Divyabhanusinh Chavda, who heads the World Wildlife Fund in India and is a key member of the National Wildlife Board, which advises the prime minister. In many of India's reserves, guards are armed with little more than sticks.

    India faces intense international scrutiny over its tiger conservation, as it holds half of the world's estimated 3,200 tigers in dozens of wildlife reserves set up since the 1970s, when hunting was banned.

    Illegal poaching remains a stubborn and serious threat, with tiger parts in particular fetching high prices on the black market because of demand driven by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

    According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, 14 tigers have been killed by poachers in India so far this year -- one more than in all of 2011. The tiger is considered endangered, with its habitat shrinking more than 50 percent in the last quarter-century while its numbers declined from an estimated 5,000-7,000 in the 1990s, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

    Eight of this year's tiger poaching deaths in India occurred in Maharashtra, including one whose body was found last week chopped into pieces with its head and paws missing in Tadoba Tiger Reserve. Forest officials have also found traps in the reserve, where about 40 tigers live.

    Naqvi said encounters between Maharashtra's forest guards and poachers were rare because poachers generally hunt the nocturnal big cats at night. He said the state's offer to pay informers from a new fund worth about 5 million rupees ($90,000) would likely be more effective. "We get very few tips, so this will really help," he said.

    But conservationists said the fact that poachers are rarely seen has more to do with low ranger numbers, and that increasing patrols around the clock would help.

    Dozens of other animals are also targeted by hunters across India, including one-horned rhinos and male elephants prized for their tusks, and other big cats like leopards hunted or poisoned by villagers afraid of attacks on their homes or livestock.

    A recent study on hunting in India noted 114 species of mammals were being actively hunted across the country, with dozens of birds and reptiles also under attack.

    "There has been an onslaught going on in India," said William Laurance, a conservation biologist at James Cook University in Australia and one of the three authors of the study, which was published in Biological Conservation journal in April. "It's a serious threat to wildlife, along with habitat encroachment and forest degradation. A lot of species are clinging to survival in remote areas."

    It's unclear whether Maharashtra's example in targeting poachers will be followed by other states, though tiger poaching has also been a major problem in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in recent years. The hunting of male elephants for their tusks has skewed the sex ratio, and there are now about 100 female elephants for every male in the south.

    According to the April study, some of the most rampant hunting is occurring in the eastern Himalayas, where high numbers of army troops are deployed and some hunt for sport, and in the northeast near the porous border with China and Myanmar, where hunting is a way of life and sometimes an economic necessity for tribal communities.

    "The remarkable thing in India is that there is still anything alive at all with 1.2 billion people," Laurance said. "As populations grow, an increase in hunting pressure is a classic thing that happens."

    http://www.boston.com/news/world/asi...ell_News_links

  6. #26
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Indian SC upholds Kasab's death sentence

    India's Supreme Court Wednesday rejecting appeal upheld the death sentence of the lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Geo News reported.

    Mohammed Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in attacks that lasted nearly three days and killed 166 people, launched his appeal claiming he had not been given a fair trial. He was found guilty of charges including waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts, and was given the death penalty in May 2010.

    Two Supreme Court judges in New Delhi have heard the appeal of Pakistan-born Kasab, who is currently held in a maximum-security prison in Mumbai. If he loses his Supreme Court petition, he can lodge a final appeal for clemency with the president.

    During the November 2008 attacks, heavily armed gunmen stormed targets in Mumbai including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, a hospital and a bustling train station.

    Kasab initially pleaded not guilty but later confessed, admitting he was one of the gunmen sent by the LeT. “I was denied a fair trial," Kasab said in a statement when his appeal hearing began in January. "I may be guilty of killing people and carrying out a terrorist act but I am not guilty of waging war against the state."

    http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-65...ath-sentence--
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #27
    Admiral CnCP Legend JT's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 1976
    Location
    In ma hoose
    Posts
    1,215
    For some reason, I suspect the Indians might actually be serious about hanging him. The wheels of justice usually move very slowly for those on death row in India...

    India has a thriving economy and a very stable government. It might take them a few years but ultimately they won't wimp out.

  8. #28
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    I thought for sure you were going to put all that schooling aside and apply for the job in Sri Lanka!
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  9. #29
    Admiral CnCP Legend JT's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 1976
    Location
    In ma hoose
    Posts
    1,215
    Sri Lanka hasn't executed anyone in over thirty years. Probably not the most lucrative of careers...

  10. #30
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Capital Region NY
    Posts
    865
    Hoshiarpur boy's killers to be executed on Oct 5

    The killers of local boy Abhi Verma (16) would be hanged at 9 am on October 5 in the Central Jail, Patiala. The court of district and sessions judge GK Dhir on Thursday fixed the date and time of the execution of Vikram Singh Walia and Jasvir Singh, who had abducted and killed Abhi, a goldsmith's son, for ransom in February 2005.

    The court directed the jail superintendent to make necessary preparations and give a report after executing the death warrants. The court added that it should be informed in case the convicts got stay on the execution.

    The sessions court had pronounced death penalty for Vikram, Jasvir and the latter's wife Sonia, the third accused in the case, on December 21, 2006. The Punjab and Haryana high court had confirmed the death sentence on May 30, 2008, but the Supreme Court had commuted Sonia's sentence to life imprisonment in January 2010. The death-row convicts had filed a special leave petition in the apex court, stating that death sentence for conviction under Section 364-A (kidnapping for ransom) of the Indian Penal Code was unconstitutional, but after arguments, the court dismissed the plea as withdrawn on May 2, 2012.

    The victim's father, Ravi Verma, through his counsel Maninderpal Singh, had applied in the sessions court for death warrants for the convicts under Section 414 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Maninderpal said the Patiala jail superintendent had informed the court that so far there had been no stay on the execution of the convicts.

    Ravi Verma welcomed the order but said the court had taken too much time in delivering the judgment. "It has been almost 32 months since the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence, but I am happy that my son's killers would be hanged at last," he said.

    Abhi, also known as Harry, a student of Class 9 in the local DAV school, was kidnapped when he was going to school on February 14, 2005. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs. 50 lakh. Abhi's body was found from Daulatpur village in Jalandhar district the next day.

    The investigation had revealed that the child had died due to overdose of chloroform and fortvin (pentazocine). It emerged that the convicts had kept Abhi captive in a house owned by Jasvir's relatives in Milap Nagar. When the child died, they carried his body in a car to Daulatpur and dumped it in a field.

    http://www.hindustantimes.com/Punjab...e1-930023.aspx

Page 3 of 22 FirstFirst 1234513 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •