HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH'S - Weekly News Paper On Web
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Editor : NAGARAJ.M.R. VOL.2 ISSUE.1 18/03/2006
Editorial : LAW GUARDIANS THEMSELVES ARE LAW BREAKERS
- POLICE TURNING INTO ROBBERERS IN KARNATAKA
In india corruption has spread it's tentacles far & wide. Recently karnataka lokayukta has arrested 5 top cops on charges of corruption . in raid he has unearthed crores of rupees worth propperties & cash. Nowadyas police play the role of a mediator in land disputes , property disputes , accident cases , etc. They don't book the cases as per law , instead they settle it through mediation & in some cases coerces innocents , poor people without backing to come to compromise with rich criminals. They threaten poor people with faslse fix-ups in cases , 3rd degree torture , etc , if they don't agree to compromise . without an alternative poor people agree to the forced down compromise formula. In the end , mediating cop gets a hefty commission from the rich criminal. The corrupt cops collect mamools from bar owners , transporters , etc to shield their illegal deals. Now as the mumbai encounter specialisty S.I. DAYA NAYAK's case is unfolding , it is becoming clear what he did as a S.I OF POLICE are not encounter deaths , cunningly planned & ruthlessly executed supari murders. Mr.daya nayak is not a encounter specialist but a hit man for the under world in uniform. Literally corrupt police are nothing but GOONDAS , ROWDIES IN UNIFORM.
The corrupt habbits of corrupt police die hard. Even if they are posted to C.B.I , VIGILANCE , LOKAYUKTA , etc, they make money by passing on information about raid details. Thereby , they help the guilty to escape. Abiut this issue karnataka upalokayukta himself has expressed his heplessness . lokayukta police are on deputation from state police , lokayukta don't have any powers to take disciplinary action against his own subordinates , he can recommend it only to his mother organisation. What a paradox. Cops turning into thieves & the lokayukta police who are supposed to book corrupt themselves corrupt.
The politicians in power simply make statements about giving more powers to lokayukta , on record they don't do any thing. As the corrupt officials are one of the sources of party funds & those corrupt officials themselves help corrupt politicians in doing corrupt deals & shielding it. H.D kumara swamy chief minister of karnataka has said "I want to send a strong message to government servants that stringent action will be taken against corrupt elements among them without fear or favour. We will empower the Lokayukta with more legal powers to continue its crackdown on all officials indulging in corrupt activities."
The arrested police personnel are deputy superintendent of police (Bangalore rural) N. Krishnappa, Crime Branch inspector Shami-ur-Rahman, VVIP security inspector N. Narayanaswamy, Koramangala (south Bangalore) inspector Mir Arif Ali and Yeshwantpur (north Bangalore) inspector Shivanna. Lokayukta chief N. Venkatachalaiah said: "It is not about the quantum of money or properties seized but the rot that has set in the system. If lawmakers turn into law breakers, how can people have confidence in them?"
However these corrupt people pay a part of the looted booty to their superiors & political masters , as a result in the end nothing happens out of enquiries or investigations. At the most these guilty person are transferred to another fertile location away from the eyes of people to make more money. in some cases even the guilty corrupt officers are promoted. The fate of over 100 reports of the Karnataka Lokayukta against government servants, facing charges of corruption, is hanging in the balance with the Karnataka High Court declaring that Lokayukta will not inherit the powers of Upalokayukta to take suo motu action, when Upalokayukta's post is vacant.
Further, the future of about 1,000 cases being investigated by the Lokayukta has also become uncertain as in all these cases the Lokayukta had exercised the suo motu power available only to the Upalokayukta under the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984. The Lokayukta had invoked suo motu powers and initiated action on complaints against government servants as the State government had failed to appoint Upalokayukta. The post is vacant since April 2002. The Karnataka High Court, in the case between Prof S N Hegde, former vice-chancellor of Mysore University and the Karnataka Lokayukta, has declared that Lokayukta had no jurisdiction to discharge the functions of Upalokayukta when "no Upalokayukta is appointed".
The High Court had also clarified that the Lokayukta can carry out functions of Upalokayukta only when Upalokayukta is unable to discharge his duties due to "absence, illness or any other causes". However, the Lokayukta was empowered to investigate a case, not defined under the Act, if the Government refers the case to the Lokayukta through a notification, according High Court's observation. But the State government, except in a few cases, has neither referred the complaints to the Lokayukta through a special notification nor appointed Upalokayukta so that it can inquire into these complaints. With this, it is clear that in all these cases Lokayukta acted without jurisdiction as government had not referred most of the complaints to Lokayukta when post of Upalokayukta is vacant, said a senior advocate. In the light of the above observations by the High Court to the most of the cases investigated by the Lokayukta while exercising the powers of Upalokayukta would mean that all the action taken by the Lokayukta would become void ab-initio (not legally binding), observed an advocate. However, the benefit of these judgement would available to the government servants only when they question Lokayukta's action before the High Court, said an official of the Law Department. "Inaction on the part of the Government in appointing Upalokayukta has seriously affected the painstaking investigations done by the Lokayukta", said a police officer attached to Lokayukta police wing.
Meanwhile, realising the impact of the High Court order, the State government, apart from preferring an appeal against this verdict before a larger bench, has initiated the measures to clothe the Lokayukta with suo motu powers. According sources, the government was also studying the possibility of giving suo motu powers with retrospective effect so that the reports already submitted by the Lokayukta and the cases under investigation would not become invalid following High Court's verdict. Lokayukta Justice N Venkatachala and State Advocate General A N Jayaram said that they have decided to challenge this judgement of single judge bench before a division of the High Court.
However all is not last , there are few sincere hard working police officers in the state police , there are sincere public servants like lokayukta & upa lokayukta , let all of us support them. India will be a corruption free country.
JAI HIND. VANDE MATARAM.
Your's sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.
AN APPEAL TO HONOURABLE CHIEF MINISTER , WEST BENGAL , INDIA
Dear Madam / sir ,
INDIA: Failure to stop the murder of wife by abusive husband and in-laws
Names of victims:
1. Mousumi Raha, daughter of Bimal Chandra Das, aged 27 years, of 159 Natun Pally, Kharda District; Police Station - Kharda District, 24 Parganas (North), West Bengal, India.
2. The unborn child of Mousumi Raha, 7-month-old foetus.
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Akash Raha, alias Pawan, Husband
2. Gourhari Raha, Father-in-law
3. Other members of the Raha family
Date and time of incident: 13 December 2002, at around 2:25am
Place of incident: House of Akash Raha, Natun Pally; Police Station: Kharda District, 24 Parganas (North), West Bengal, India.
I am appalled to hear of the murders of Mousumi Raha and her unborn child in 2002 by burning and the complete lack of action taken by the police of Kharda Police Station to investigate their deaths.
Prior to her death Mrs. Raha had been repeatedly beaten and treated cruelly by her husband and his family. Mr. Raha had asked Mrs. Raha's father, Mr. Bimal Chandra Das, for money on previous occasions and had also stolen jewellery to the value of Rs.300,000 from one of her relatives, Mr. Malancha Ghosh. Mr. Chandra Das' refusal to furnish Mr. Raha with any money had angered Mr. Raha and his family, causing violent reprisals being directed towards Mrs. Raha.
On 13 December 2002, at 11:30a.m, Mrs. Raha, was admitted to Balaram Seba Mandir Hospital, Kharda. She was later transferred to R.G. Kar Hospital at Kolkata, where she died after five days in agony. Mrs. Raha had suffered burns to 90% of her body due to the actions of Mr. Akash Raha, her husband of one year, and his family members. She was only 27. Mrs. Raha was also 7 months pregnant – the child did not survive.
Mr. Chandra Das has requested the post-mortem report of Mrs. Raha, however the hospital authorities and Kharda Police Station have both denied his requests. Recent inquiries by a local organisation have found that the Kharda Police Station have in fact no records at all pertaining to the death of Mrs. Raha and her unborn child.
Under section 174 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of India, a police officer who receives information that a person has died under suspicious circumstances should notify the nearest Executive Magistrate, investigate the death and prepare a report describing the injuries on the body and manner in which the injuries were inflicted. Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code also prohibits the cruel treatment of women by their husbands or husband's family. The police of Kharda Police Station have taken no action whatsoever to fulfill their obligations under the Indian statute.
I am deeply concerned by the lack of police action and have reason to believe that this is due to corruption and friendships between police officers and the Raha family.
In consideration of the above, I urge you to use your authority to ensure that a thorough and immediate investigation into the death of Mousumi Raha and her unborn child is performed, that the perpetrators are held accountable for their actions, and that there is no favourable treatment awarded by the police to any parties under investigation.
I also urge you to use your authority to promote a stronger approach by police in conducting immediate and independent investigations into all instances of female deaths caused by fire.
Yours sincerely,
NAGARAJ.M.R.
Farm deal: US trap, MNCs to benefit
Unlike India's civil nuclear deal with the US and implementation of the separation plan, the agreement on farm research and education has not drawn much attention of the Parliamentarians. Apprehensions were expressed about the nuclear deal by the UPA allies and some parties in the Opposition. Eventually, after the nuclear deal was signed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to make a suo-moto statement on the issue in the Parliament.
Though a majority of the members of the Parliament are elected from constituencies in rural areas, very few are interested in the implications of the India-US Knowledge Initiative on Agricultural Education, Research, Services and Commercial Linkages signed on March 2.
Any deal can have implications—beneficial or otherwise. In a democracy, it is the duty of the government to discuss the issue in the Parliament before signing the deal. This did not happen. This attitude is not new. Earlier also, on major issues like signing of the Uruguay Round negotiations leading to the birth of WTO, the government did not take the Parliament into confidence.
However, the farmer outfits of the ruling Congress party and the Left have raised some apprehensions about the implications of the farm deal. This deal is for a period of three years and covers three areas - research and education, food processing and marketing, and biotechnology and water management. The US has pledged investments to the tune of $24 million.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was the nodal agency for suggesting the modalities and the areas of cooperation. The preparation of the draft was done in a strictly confidential manner within ICAR. The earlier draft proposal suggested an investment of Rs 1,000 crore by India for 2006-07. It also included areas of collaboration on development of transgenic crops and animals. However, the final agreement suggested cooperation in the three areas for a period of three years.
The PM while making his statement on the nuclear deal in Parliament spoke briefly about the farm deal. He said, "Our first Green Revolution benefitted in substantial measure from assistance provided by the US. We are hopeful that the Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture will become the harbinger of a second green revolution in our country."
True. The US did assist in our first Green Revolution. The assistance largely came from the US Land Grant Universities with the condition of reshaping our farming and research on the US models. We got some benefits of Green Revolution, which were certainly not devoid of negative fallout.
Every country has its own peculiar farming system, which has stood the test of time. It would be a height of folly, if we totally reject our time-tested systems.
The emphasis of the present pact is on development of transgenic crops and animals, and commercialisation of agriculture with the direct participation of corporates and multinationals. The agreement in the name of research will facilitate the US companies to get free access to our country's genetic resources. This may have dangerous consequences of biopiracy, unless adequate safeguards are put in place.
The US is very aggressive in forcing a patent regime in agriculture. We need to be careful on this account. It would spell doom if our bioresources are patented by US companies. American companies have attempted to patent our Basmati rice, turmeric and neem. transgenic technology is controversial worldwide with some scientists expressing concerns over health and environmental safety. There may be pressure from the US in future to revise our regulatory system and make it flexible enough to accept transgenic products developed by US companies. The interesting thing is that we are to learn water management from the US - a country which has no respect for global treaties on environment. On the whole the agreement intends to promote US-based companies and their products.
Edited , printed , published & owned by NAGARAJ.M.R. @ EWS 190 HUDCO 3RD STAGE , HEBBAL MYSORE - 570016 INDIA E-MAIL : naghrw@... Homepage :http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naghrw
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