New Delhi [India], April 29 (ANI): Justice PS Narasimha, the Supreme Court judge on Friday recused from hearing a plea filed by Meru Cabs because earlier he had appeared as a lawyer for Uber India in another case.
New Delhi Apr 23 PTI The Madhya Pradesh governments policy to reward or give incentives to its public prosecutors for successfully arguing death penalty cases in trial courts has come under the scanner of the Supreme CourtA bench headed by Justice U U Lalit took note of a submission of Attorney General K K Venugopal that such a practice of rewarding prosecutors should be nipped in the budThe attorney general is assisting the top court in a suo motu case registered to examine and institutionalise the process involved in collection of data and information to decide award of death penaltyOn being told about the policy or a system in Madhya Pradesh where public prosecutors are being rewarded and paid incentives for successfully arguing death penalty cases the bench asked the state counsel to put the related documents on record and be ready to defend it on May 10 the next date of hearingThere has been policy in Madhya Pradesh wherein the public prosecutors are given incentiveincrements on the basis of death sentence awarded in cases argued by them it said and asked lawyer Rukmini Bobde appearing for the state to place the policy on record and defend itThe bench which also comprised justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha also said that it was mulling laying down guidelines to be followed in cases where maximum sentence provided for the offence is death penalty To ensure proper legal assistance to the accused facing criminal trials it said that like public prosecutors who pursue cases on behalf of the state the National Legal Services Authority NALSA can have defence counsel or public defenders office in every district of the countryI must share with you that at NALSA we are thinking of having defence counsel office in every district Something like public prosecutors officethere would be the office of public defenders Justice Lalit who is heading the NALSA said during the hearingThe bench said that currently NALSA has a very loose kind of arrangement where there are some panel and remand advocates and they keep changingHence there is a need to have an institutionalised system to ensure proper legal assistance to the accused it saidThe bench said that it has been accepted by the advocates concerned that the matter required consideration at an early date and asked them to file relevant material pertaining to award of death penalty in other jurisdictions as wellThe top court on Friday initiated the proceedings in the suo motu case to examine and institutionalise the process involved in awarding death penalty in heinous crime casesThe matter arose from a plea of one Irfan challenging the death penalty imposed on him by the trial court and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High CourtThe bench earlier had decided to examine how courts dealing with a death sentence can procure a comprehensive analysis about the accused and the crime especially the mitigating circumstances so that the judicial officer concerned can decide whether death sentence needs to be awardedPrior to this an application was filed by Project 39A of the National Law University Delhi an anti-death penalty body seeking nod for an investigator who would collect mitigating information in favour of the accused to argue on the sentencing PTI SJK ANB ANB
New Delhi Mar 30 PTI An individual approaching a court must come with clean hands and never attempt to pollute the stream of justice by filing a document he knows is fabricated the Supreme Court has said holding a man guilty of contempt and ordering his detentionA bench headed by Justice U U Lalit noted that the man has accepted his guilt right at the initial stage and has tendered an unconditional apologyIt is well settled that a person who comes to the court must come with clean hands and never make even an attempt to pollute the stream of justice by filing a document which he knows to be false or fabricated the bench also comprising Justices S R Bhat and P S Narasimha said in its order passed on TuesdayThe top court noted that the man who was last year granted two weeks to surrender before the court concerned in connection with a matter in Maharashtra had filed an application seeking four weeks more to surrenderAlong with the application he had annexed a laboratory test report under the signature of two doctors which purportedly stated he was COVID-19 positiveThe bench noted that no extension of time to surrender was granted by the top court and after it was pointed out that the report annexed by him was forged notices were issued to the doctors concernedIt said both the doctors had filed affidavit and stated they had never issued any such certificate to the man and that the report filed by him was actually issued to a woman in April last yearThe top court had then issued notice to the man as to why contempt action be not initiated against himThe bench noted that the man has filed an affidavit tendering unconditional apology for filing the fabricated medical certificate in the apex courtHowever considering the fact that he accepted the guilt right at the initial stage and tendered an unconditional apology we impose following sentence the bench said after holding him guilty of having committed contempt of courtIt directed that he shall be taken to the office of the concerned additional registrar in-charge of security where he shall be detained till the rising of the courtThe bench said he shall also pay a fine of Rs 2000 which be deposited in the apex court registry during the course of the dayIt said the registry shall deposit the fine amount in the account of the Supreme Court Legal Services CommitteeThe top court noted that the man had earlier filed a special leave petition SLP challenging the January last year order passed by the Bombay High CourtIt said the apex court had in March 2021 did not find any reason to interfere and the SLP was dismissedThe bench noted that at the request of the counsel appearing for the man he was given two weeks to surrender himself before the court concerned PTI ABA ABA SK SK
New Delhi Mar 19 PTI The Supreme Court has directed a trial court to release a man accused in a murder and an arms act case noting that he has already undergone actual imprisonment for over 15 yearsA three-judge bench of Justice U U Lalit Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice P S Narasimha noted that the appeal of the accused challenging his conviction is pending in Allahabad High Court for more than 12 yearsBy order dated February 14 2022 after noticing that the appellant had already undergone actual imprisonment in excess of 15 years the delay in preferring the petition was condoned and notice was issued The affidavit in reply filed on record accepts the fact that the actual imprisonment suffered by the appellant in the instant matter is in excess of 15 years the bench saidIn the circumstances in our view a case for relief under Section 389 of the Code is made outWe therefore allow this appeal and direct that the appellant be produced before the trial court within three days from today and the trial court shall release the appellant on bail subject to such conditions as the trial court may deem appropriate to impose it saidThe accused had approached the apex court under Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which grants liberty to an accused to approach the court for suspension of his sentence pending an appealThe man in his appeal through advocate Alakh Alok Shrivastava contended that he has been in jail for over 15 years PTI PKS NSD
New Delhi Feb 27 PTI The complete absence of motive assumes a different complexion and definitely weighs in favour of the accused the Supreme Court has said while acquitting a man sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case of 1997 A three-judge bench headed by Justice U U Lalit observed it is not that the case of prosecution must be discarded in the absence of motiveThe bench also comprising Justices S R Bhat and P S Narasimha set aside the judgement delivered in May 2014 by the High Court of Chhattisgarh which had dismissed an appeal filed by the accused against the trial court verdict convicting and awarding him life imprisonment in the caseIt is not as if motive alone becomes the crucial link in the case to be established by the prosecution and in its absence the case of prosecution must be discarded But at the same time complete absence of motive assumes a different complexion and such absence definitely weighs in favour of the accused the bench said in its February 25 verdictThe apex court delivered its judgement on an appeal against the high court verdict in the caseAccording to the prosecution a case was registered on a complaint by a man who had said that his son had gone to a paddy milling centre on January 13 1997 and had since then been missingOn January 17 1997 body of the deceased was recovered from a pond and the case was converted to one under section 302 murder of the Indian Penal Code IPCThe apex court noted in its verdict that the appellant Nandu Singh was arrested in the case and certain recoveries on the strength of his statement were stated to be madeThe counsel who argued on behalf of the appellant before the top court had said that in a case based on circumstantial evidence the prosecution had not alleged any motive on his part to commit murder of the deceasedThe counsel had argued that the case was built by the prosecution based on the alleged evidence of last seenThe bench noted that one of the prosecution witnesses had said in his statement that he had seen that the victim had gone with the appellantThe top court observed that even after the deceased had gone missing no suspicion was there against the appellant and his name surfaced only after the case was converted to section 302 of the IPCThe circumstances on record do not make a complete chain to dispel any hypothesis of innocence of the appellant The prosecution having failed to establish through clear cogent and consistent evidence the chain of events on the basis of which the guilt of the appellant could be established the courts below were not right in accepting the case of prosecution and convicting the appellant it saidWe therefore accept the appeal set aside the orders passed by the courts below and acquit the appellant of the charges levelled against him the bench said PTI ABA ABA DV DV
New Delhi Feb 20 PTI The Supreme Court has stayed the operation of death sentence awarded to a man in a case of gang-rape of a seven-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh in 2018While hearing an appeal filed by the convict against the Madhya Pradesh High Court verdict of September last year affirming the capital punishment a bench headed by Justice U U Lalit said that pending further consideration the operation of death sentence awarded to him shall remain stayedThe apex court which said that psychological evaluation report of the convict be placed before it directed that report of the jail administration concerned about the nature of work done by the appellant while in jail be also placedPending further consideration the effect and operation of death sentence awarded to the appellant shall remain stayed Let an intimation in this regard be sent to the prison concerned immediately the bench also comprising Justices S R Bhat and P S Narasimha said in its February 14 orderThe top court was hearing an appeal filed by the appellant challenging the high court judgement which had affirmed the death sentence awarded to him and one other convict in the case by the trial courtThe bench said the state shall place before it the reports of all probation officers relating to the appellant before the next date of hearingWe also feel that the interest of justice dictates that we obtain a psychological evaluation of the appellant We direct the Director Mental Care Hospital District Indore Madhya Pradesh to constitute a suitable team for psychological evaluation of the accusedappellant in this case and send a report before the next date of hearing it saidThe bench directed that authorities of jail where the appellant is presently lodged shall render complete co-operation in facilitating access to and due evaluation of the convict in all respectsThe apex court has posted the matter for further hearing on March 22In its verdict the high court had confirmed the death sentence awarded by a trial court in August 2018 to the two convicts in the caseIn June 2018 the grandmother of the girl had lodged a report at a police station in Mandsaur that the child was missing from her school premises after the classes were over for the dayThe police registered the case and on the next date the girl was found in an injured condition and was taken to a hospitalThe girl was provided treatment and she narrated the incident to the police about how she was taken to a secluded spot and was sexually assaultedAfter considering the evidence the trial court had awarded death penalty to the two convictsThe facts of the present case reveal an ominous plot hatched by the appellants seeking to satiate their lust by breaching the confidence of the minor prosecutrix girl and then heaping miseries upon her by committing such forceful aggravated penetrative sexual assault which is most ruthless in nature the high court had said in its judgementThe high court had also observed that rights of the victim cannot take a back seat while considering the rights of the accused persons PTI ABA ABA DV DV
New Delhi Feb 18 PTI The Supreme Court Friday sought response from the CBI and the Maharashtra government on bail plea of Indrani Mukerjea who is the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and P S Narasimha issued notice to the CBI and the state government Mukerjeas appeal challenging the Bombay High Court order of November 16 2021 denying her bail Issue notice Returnable in two weeks the bench said Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Mukerjea currently lodged at the Byculla womens prison in Mumbai following her arrest in August 2015 She had been denied bail on multiple occasions by a special CBI court which is conducting the trial in the murder case Mukerjea is facing trial for allegedly killing her daughter Sheena Bora Bora 24 was allegedly strangled to death in a car by Mukerjea her then driver Shyamvar Rai and former husband Sanjeev Khanna in April 2012 The body was burnt in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district Bora was born out of Mukerjeas previous relationship Former media baron Peter Mukerjea was also arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy He was granted bail by the high court in February 2020 His marriage to Indrani Mukerjea ended during the period of incarceration PTI PKS SA
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 19 (ANI): Former Andhra Pradesh Minister and senior politician Motkupalli Narsimhalu joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party. Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao invited Motkupalli Narasimhulu into the party on Monday at Telangana Bhavan.
New Delhi Sep 26 PTI Supreme Court judge P S Narasimha on Sunday said India has suffered over 70 years due to colonial era laws and their interpretation and that de-colonialisation of laws is a constitutional mission for the judges Justice Narasimha who is set to become Chief Justice of India in 2027 said that it would be a greater honour for him to take over the mantle from Justice B V Nagarathna who is set to become the first women Chief Justice of India Speaking at a function organised by Lady Advocates of the Supreme Court for felicitation of nine newly appointed judges of the top court including three women judges Justice Narasimha said he recently read a news report that CJI N V Ramana has said somewhere that Indian judicial system is affected by colonialism That is where it struck me that de-colonialisation is actually a constitutional mission for us and I could immediately connect myself to the vision that the CJI has mentioned A large number of laws a large number of interpretations that we have suffered over 70 years require a re-look and this will I am sure go into a new perspective for us he said Justice Narasimha said that Chief Justice Ramana has taken up so many issues after he took over the charge on April 24 and the way he implemented them is extraordinary and the effect of it is seen by everybody Appointment of nine judges high court judges and I was looking at Mondays cause list for the top court its amazing because there are 17 courts which will be functioning Unbelievable I was thinking how I was on that side lawyer when I used to run from court to court that is something I really miss he said In a lighter vein Justice Narasimha who was a senior advocate before being sworn in as Supreme Court judge on August 31 told the audience comprising women lawyers practising in the top court that he has been caught over by the habit of being lawyer Every day I go back to sleep as a judge and wake up as a lawyer and I start thinking which court I will have to go first in the morning and I suddenly think where I am he said amid laughter from the audienceHe said that he believed that women were a path ahead of a man he had no doubt of the fact in his mind due to their ability to balance things and ability to keep calmnessThe four women judges on the bench is an extraordinary thing Fifty per cent reservation in the judiciary is not a ceiling at all and we will not stop at 50 per cent Its merit and there is no deficiency so far as merit is concerned So therefore I dont see a ceiling of 50 per cent at any point of time he saidWith the swearing-in of Justices B V Nagarathna Bela M Trivedi and Hima Kohli on August 31 the top court now has as many as four women judges Besides the three women judges CJI NV Ramana had also administered oath to Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka Vikram Nath Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari Justices C T Ravikumar M M Sundresh and P S Narasimha who was a senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General PTI MNL SMN
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