by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial in Junaid Khan lynching case as it sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Haryana government on a plea seeking the transfer of investigation from the state police to the CBI.
Junaid Khan, 16, was lynched by a mob on board a Mathura-bound train in Haryana on June 22, 2017, following a row over seats which allegedly led to snowballed into religious slurs being hurled. The murder triggered nationwide outrage.
The bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar stayed the trial before the court in Haryana’s Faridabad and sought response on transfer of investigation to CBI on a plea by Junaid Khan’s father Jalaluddin.
Jalaluddin has moved the top court challenging November 27, 2017 Punjab and Haryana High Court order rejecting his plea for handing over the investigation to CBI.
Holding that there was no substance in the plea to indicate that the investigation by the state police was tainted or shoddy, the High Court had said that there appeared no deliberate attempt to derail the investigation.
It had declined to exercise its extraordinary powers, saying that the case did not have any national or international ramifications.
Junaid and his cousins Hasim Moin and Shakir Moin were on the EMU train going from Ghaziabad to Mathura after Eid shopping on June 22.
The accused, along with around a dozen others, boarded at Okhla and ordered Junaid and his brothers to give them their seats.
When they refused, the three were brutally beaten up, stabbed and dumped at Asaoti railway station in Palwal district.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the CBI and the ED for not investigating all cases relating to 2G spectrum allocation and directed them to complete it within six months.
A bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Naveen Sinha slammed the agencies for not completing their probe in all 2G spectrum cases and related cases arising out of it, including the Aircel-Maxis deal, saying “you can’t keep the people of this country in the dark”.
“The issue is serious for this country. People want to know why investigation has not been completed… We are worried about this case, we are very unhappy,” said the bench observing that the investigation has been going on for long time.
The judges added: “We direct the competent investigating agencies to complete the investigation within six months in all the cases and aspects concerned with 2G spectrum case. No stone should be left unturned.”
The apex court while slamming probe agencies for delay in investigation warned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that further delay will attract contempt of court against the officials.
“It is shocking. All matters should see end of the day. The country can’t be kept in darkness like this. It is a very unfortunate state of affair that investigation in all the cases pointed by the CAG has not been completed so far,” said the bench.
Saying that investigation should come to an end, the bench said it is “not concerned about the personalities involved” in the case.
The bench asked the Centre to file a report on the status of investigation into the 2G and other related cases in two weeks.
The court also discharged senior advocate Anand Grover, who was appointed the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) by the apex court in the 2G case. The bench also dismissed a contempt petition filed by an NGO against the Centre for appointing Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta the SPP replacing Grover.
The court said it was open for the central government to change the SPP to represent the CBI and the ED after the trial gets over.
On December 21 last year, the trial court had acquitted DMK leaders Kanimozhi and A. Raja and 15 other accused in the 2G court for lack of evidence.
The court had also dropped charges against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and others accused in the Aircel-Maxis case.
Now, the pending investigation includes one by the CBI into the role of Malaysian accused T. Ananda Krishnan and Ralph Marshall in the Aircel-Maxis deal, and by CBI regarding FIPB approval.
The ED is also looking into the money laundering aspects of the Aircel-Maxis deal which includes the probe into Karti Chidambaram’s role in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Kozhikode (Kerala) : On her first visit to her home state Kerala after the Supreme Court upheld her marriage with Shafin Jahan, Hadiya on Saturday said “all this happened as I embraced Islam”.
“The Constitution gives all the freedom to choose their religion, which is a fundamental right of every citizen and all this happened because I embraced Islam,” said Hadiya while interacting with the media.
Hadiya and her husband arrived here on Saturday from Salem and drove to the office of the Popular Front of India (PFI) where she briefly interacted with reporters.
“With the Supreme Court upholding our marriage, we feel we have got freedom,” Hadiya said here. The top court on March 8, set aside an order of the Kerala High Court that annulled their marriage.
Hadiya, 24, earlier Akhila Ashokan, embraced Islam and married Shafin Jahan, a Muslim. Hadiya’s father alleged that she was forcibly converted by groups with links to terrorist outfits.
“It was only the PFI that supported us all through our troubled times and what’s more surprising is that two Muslim organisations whom we approached refused to help us,” added Hadiya who will be in Kerala for three more days before returning to Salem in Tamil Nadu where she is studying.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Thursday said: “Hadiya alias Akhila Asokan is at liberty to pursue her future endeavours according to law.”
However, the court also said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would continue its probe into the criminal dimension of the case, if any.
Hadiya’s father has said that he will go ahead in the case seeking legal recourse to the apex court’s latest judgement.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday denied before the Supreme Court the allegation of Kerala woman Hadiya, who is in the midst of a “love jihad” controversy, that the agency behaved with her with a prejudice as if she is a criminal or a terrorist.
The NIA, in an affidavit, filed in the apex court said it has conducted the investigation in a “fair, objective and impartial manner” based upon evidence and material collected so far.
Denying the allegations of Hadiya that she was misled to portray her husband Shafin Jahan as a terrorist and that she was treated as a criminal, the agency said the allegations are “misconceived, entirely baseless, incorrect”.
The NIA denied Hadiya’s allegation that some personnel of the agency behaved with her with a prejudice as if she is a criminal or a terrorist, saying the entire probe has been undertaken by it in accordance with the order passed by the apex court.
“The NIA has conducted the investigation in a fair, objective and impartial manner based upon the evidence/ material collected so far. There is no question of any personnel, who was entrusted with the investigation of the case, acting in a prejudicial manner, much less treating Hadiya as a criminal or a terrorist,” stated the affidavit filed by the NIA.
The agency also rejected Hadiya’s charge that it had created a story (of love jihad and forced conversions to Islam) and were trying to establish it without any proof. The NIA asked the court to take into consideration the outcome of the status report filed by it before passing any order.
Hadiya, in her affidavit before the top court, had earlier said that she converted to Islam and married Jahan on her own and wanted to remain like that.
She had levelled allegations against her father and some NIA officials for being prejudiced.
The court had asked the NIA, which is investigating the matter, to probe into any criminality in the marriage, but not to intrude into it.
On investigation aspect, the NIA in its affidavit said that it has almost completed the investigation except examination of two individuals, Fasal Musthafa and Shirin Shahand, who are material and crucial witnesses in the case.
The agency said it has been learnt that these two individuals left India before the NIA took over the investigation, as directed by the court, and they are currently in Yemen.
“The NIA got look-out circulars issued through competent authority. Barring these two crucial witnesses, the investigation by the NIA is almost complete,” it stated.
“The NIA will complete the investigation at the earliest and will proceed in accordance with the law based on the outcome of the investigation of the case,” affidavit added.
The top court by its November 27, 2017 order had set Hadiya free from the custody of her parents and directed that she be allowed to complete her studies at a Salem homeopathy college.
The apex court will hear the case next on March 9.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed all criminal actions by Telangana and Maharashtra against Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier and restrained all other states from taking any action based on the song “Manikya Malaraya Poovi…”.
Staying the criminal action on an FIR and complaints in both states, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud said that action could not be initiated in other states as well.
Priya’s lawyer Harris Beeran told the court that there has been no case filed against her in Kerala though. Priya shot to fame following her ‘wink song’ from the film “Oru Addar Love”.
The stay order will cover the producer and the director of the film which is helmed by Omar Lulu .
Some Muslim activists had lodged an FIR against the team of “Oru Adaar Love” in Hyderabad under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code on February 14, for hurting religious sentiments.
A group in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad had also filed four police complaint against Varrier and Lulu on the same grounds.
The contentious scene where Priya winks at a boy features the Mappila lyrics — a traditional Muslim song from the Malabar region of Kerala — that celebrate the love between Prophet Mohammed and his first wife Khadija.
The complainants had primarily objected to the use of Mappila as background music in the flirting scene.
Priya told the court that the song, which went viral online and is picturised on her, has been in existence for the last 40 years.
—IANS
