Supreme Court of India rejects Sanjay Dutt's application for permission to contest Lok Sabha Polls

Sanjay Dutt, the famous Indian cine star was convicted by the court of Special Judge under the Arms Act in the infamous Mumbai Blast case that rocked Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, in 1990s. He filed an Appeal in Supreme Court of India against his conviction and sentence which is pending. During pendency of his appeal, he applied for bail and the Supreme Court granted him bail on 28.2.2007. Reently, Sanjay Dutt filed application in said Appeal in the Supreme Court of India praying that execution of the order of conviction and sentence be suspended pending final hearing of the appeal so that he can contest Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow. Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 bars a person from contesting elections who has been convicted and sentenced by a court for more than two years. The Supreme Court of India rejected his application on 31.3.2009 which dashed his hopes to become a Member of Parliament on Samajwadi Party ticket. Here is the complete text of the Supreme Court’s order dated 31.3.2009 :

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRL.M.P. NOS. 4087, 5229, 5230,5237 & 5314 OF 2009 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1060 OF 2007 SANJAY DUTT ...PETITIONER/APPELLANT VERSUS STATE OF MAHARASHTRA ...RESPONDENTTR. CBI, BOMBAY J U D G M E N T K.G. BALAKRISHNAN, CJI : The petitioner herein, the 117th accused in Special Case No. 1/93 (Bombay Blast Case) before the Special Judge, TADA (Mumbai), was charged under various Sections of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) such as Section 3(3), Section 5 and Section 6 and also for the offence under Section 3 and Section 7 read with Sections 25(1A) and 25(1B) of the Arms Act, 1959. The petitioner was found guilty of offences punishable under Section 3 and Section 7 read with Sections 25(1A) and 25(1B) of the Arms Act and was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment. The petitioner has filed appeal against his conviction and sentence and that appeal is pending consideration before this Court. Pending consideration of that appeal, the petitioner was granted bail on 28.2.2007. Crl.M.P. No. 4087 of 2009 has been filed by the petitioner under Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) praying that execution of the order of conviction and sentence be suspended pending final hearing of the appeal. In the petition it is stated that he belongs to a family which has been in long public service in the country and the petitioner is now desirous of contesting election to the House of People from Lucknow Parliament Constituency and in view of Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, he has incurred disqualification from contesting the election for becoming a member of either House of Parliament. Therefore, it is prayed that the conviction and sentence of the petitioner be suspended to enable him to contest the election. We have heard Shri Harish N. Salve, learned senior counsel, appearing for the petitioner and Shri Gopal Subramanium, learned Additional Solicitor General of India, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)opposing the petition. Some third parties have also filed intervention applications. These parties were given opportunity to address their arguments even though we have not allowed any of these intervention applications as it is a Criminal Miscellaneous Petition. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner drew our attention to the extracts of the judgment passed by the learned Special Judge and elaborately argued that the petitioner was not part of the criminal conspiracy charged against him. He has been acquitted by the Special Judge for the offence under Sections 3 and 5 of the TADA and no appeal has been filed against that by the State and the conviction is only under Sections 3 and 7 read with Sections 25(1A) and 25(1B) of the Arms Act. It was argued that the conviction itself for the above offences are based on alleged confession made by the petitioner which was not strictly admissible under the law. It was also contended that the alleged possession of the weapon by the petitioner was much prior to the criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched by other accused. The learned counsel for the petitioner also drew our attention to the fact that though under Section 12 of the TADA the Designated Court, when trying any offence, was competent to try any other offence with which the accused may, under Cr.P.C., be charged at the same trial if the offence is connected with such other offence. It was argued that the finding of the Designated Court would show that offence, if any, allegedly found against the petitioner was not even connected with other offences for which other accused were charged and, in that event, Section 15 of the TADA itself would not be attracted and the confession allegedly made by the petitioner to the police officer was not admissible. The learned counsel further argued that some of the observations made by the Constitution Bench of this Court in Prakash Kumar vs. State of Gujarat, (2005) 2 SCC 409, require slight clarification. The learned counsel further pointed out that the petitioner has got fair chance of appeal filed by him being allowed and, if the conviction and sentence is not suspended, he would be seriously prejudiced. He placed reliance on the decisions of this Court in Navjot Singh Sidhu vs. State of Punjab & Anr, (2007) 2 SCC 574, and Rama Narang vs. Ramesh Narang, (1995) 2 SCC 513. The learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the CBI contended that the conviction and sentence could be suspended only in exceptional circumstances and the petitioner in this case is not entitled to any such relief in view of the serious crime allegedly committed by him. It was argued that under Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, any person who has been convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years, except any offence referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release. Therefore, it is argued, when there is an express prohibition of law from contesting the election, the relief prayed for by the petitioner may not be accepted in the facts and circumstances of the present case. We have carefully considered the contentions advanced by the petitioner. The petitioner has been convicted for serious offences. Of course, his conviction and sentence have been challenged before this Court in an appeal. Though our attention was drawn to the various findings recorded by the Special Judge and also the nature of evidence adduced by the prosecution, we do not propose to consider these facts at this stage as it may seriously prejudice either of the parties when the appeal filed by the petitioner is considered by this Court. The petitioner is a well-known cine artist and because of his contribution to art and cinema he has got large number of fans throughout the country and abroad. His father was also a well-known film actor and he was deeply involved in politics. At one point of time, petitioner's father was Minister in the Union Cabinet. The petitioner is not a habitual criminal nor it has been brought to our notice that he had involved in any other criminal case. Despite all these favourable circumstances, we do not think that this is a fit case where conviction and sentence could be suspended so that the bar under Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 will not operate against the petitioner. Law prohibits any person who has been convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years from contesting the election and such person shall be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release. In the face of such a provision, the power of the Court under Section 389 Cr.P.C. shall be exercised only under exceptional circumstances. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has placed reliance on the decision of this Court in Navjot Singh Sidhu's case (supra). But in that case, the petitioner was a sitting MP and he could have continued as an MP even after his conviction and sentence in view of Section 8(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1951. The petitioner in Navjot Singh Sidhu's case (supra) resigned and expressed his desire to contest the election. In fact, that was a case where the trial court acquitted the petitioner and the High Court, in reversal, found the petitioner guilty. It was in those circumstances this Court granted stay of the order of conviction and sentence in that case. In the present case, no such circumstances are in favour of the petitioner. In view of the serious offence for which he has been convicted by the Special Judge, we are not inclined to suspend the conviction and sentence awarded by the Special Judge in the present case. We make it clear that we do not express any opinion on the merit and, if any of the observations made in this order, even it has remote possibility to prejudice either parties, we state that the same is only made for the purpose of disposal of Cr.M.P. No. 4087 of 2009- application for suspension/stay of conviction. In the result, Cr.M.P. Nos. 4087/2009, 5229/2009,5230/2009, 5237/2009 and 5314/2009 are dismissed. .......................................CJI ( K.G. BALAKRISHNAN) .........................................J. ( P. SATHASIVAM ) .........................................J. ( R.M. LODHA ) NEW DELHIMarch 31, 2009
Sunil Goel advocate
B.Sc. L.Lb L.Lm

I am Back

Hello Friends. I am back !
Sorry, I could not blog for last several days.
Watch out for this space for some interesting things very shortly.
Sunil Goel advocate
B.Sc. L.Lb L.Lm

It's the time of the year we find time to remember friends we have met, not met, spoken to, not connected at all, some whom we remembered and some just old memories. Thank god its time to say Season's Greetings!

May you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Great New Year 2009.
WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Keep in touch and
Cheers! God bless.

Sunil Goel advocate
B.Sc. L.Lb L.Lm

प्राणायाम क्यों करें

प्राणायाम क्यों करें।

संसार की समूची वस्तुएं जिनमे शक्ति व् गति है, जिनमें मनुष्य भी शामिल है, प्राण उनका आधार है। प्राण आप energy के रूप में मान सकते हैं। रेल के इंजन में पानी, कोयला, अग्नि एवं वायु के मिश्रण से जो भाप बनती है, इस भाप से जो धक्का देने की शक्ति (energy) पैदा होती है, वह प्राण है।

इसी प्रकार हमारे शरीर में वायु तथा अन्य तत्व - जल, आकाश, पृथ्वी व् अग्नि (जठराग्नि) के मिश्रण से प्राण-उर्जा पैदा होती है।

हमारा शरीर सुचारू रूप से चलता रहे उसके लिए जरूरी है की हमारे अंदर प्राण उर्जा भी सम्पूर्ण मात्रा में उपलब्ध रहे। परन्तु हम नित जो कार्य करते हैं उसमे प्राण उर्जा खर्च होती रहती है। परिणामस्वरूप हमारे शरीर में प्राण उर्जा की हमेशा कमी बनी रहती है। यह जानकर हैरानी होगी की यदि हम साधारण स्वास लेते रहें, तो शरीर के पूर्ण अंग प्रभावित होना तो दूर, फेफडे भी पूरी तरह से प्रभावित नहीं होते। फेफडों के साथ साथ शरीर के अन्य अंगों की क्रियाशीलता (activity) व् क्षमता (capacity) तो घटती ही है, मन की शुद्धि भी नहीं हो पाती।

प्राणायाम का अर्थ है : प्राण + आयाम अर्थात प्राणों का आयाम अर्थात प्राणों का संचय यानि प्राण-उर्जा (energy) को अपने शरीर में करना।

जिस तरह हम अपने बैंक अकाउंट में पैसे जमा करते रहते हैं ताकि जरूरत अथवा मुसीबत के वक्त उस पैसे का इस्तेमाल कर सकें तथा जिस तरह बैंक अकाउंट में जमा पूँजी हमें जरूरत के वक्त सहारा देती है, ढीक उसी प्रकार प्राणायाम द्वारा जमा की हुई प्राण उर्जा हमें किसी भी बीमारी, विकार आदि को दूर करने में सहायक होती है।

प्राणायाम करने से प्राण शक्ति धीरे धीरे नाडयों में प्रवाहित होती हुई, नाडयों के माध्यम से शरीर के एक एक अंग में store होती रहती है। इससे शरीर की समस्त processes (प्रणालियों) व् अंगों की सक्रियता (activity ) सम्भव होती है।



प्राणायाम के अभ्यास से प्राणशक्ति शरीर में एकत्रित होने से धीरे धीरे चेहरा कांतिमय हो उठता है, चेहरे पर एक अलग glow आ जाता है, कार्य कुशलता व् सफुर्ती बढ़ जाती है तथा चेहरे पर तृप्ति एवं प्रसन्नता अलग ही दिखाई दिखाई देती है। (इसके विपरीत साधारण स्वास लेने वाला व्यक्ति शिथिल अस्वस्थ तथा तनावपूर्ण स्थिति में रहता है।

प्राणायाम के द्वारा अर्जित व् संचित प्राण शक्ति शरीर में किसी विकार व् बीमारी को उत्पन्न होने नहीं देती तथा जो भी विकार पहले से हैं उन्हें धीरे धीरे शरीर से निकाल फेंकती है।

प्राणायाम के गहन अभ्यास से धीरे धीरे विचारों की गहनता बढती जाती है तथा प्राणी के विचारों में आश्चर्यजनक रूप से परिवर्तन आता है, वह भला सोचने लगता है, क्रोध कम हो जाता है, संसार को देखने का नजरिया बदल जाता है, मन में परोपकार की भावना उत्पन्न होने लगती है तथा स्वार्थ की भावना कम होने लगती है, मन पर नियंत्रण बढ़ने लगता है।

यदि हम बैंक में जमा धन को केवल खर्च करते रहें और बैंक खाते में और धन नहीं डालें तो एक दिन बैंक बैलेंस जीरो हो जाएगा और परिणामस्वरूप सुरक्षा चक्र खत्म हो जाएगा। ठीक इसी प्रकार यदि हम प्राणायाम करना बंद कर देते हैं तो पहले प्राणायाम द्वारा जमा हुई प्राण-शक्ति कुछ दिन तो हमारी रक्षा करती है पर शरीर में धीरे धीरे कम होने लगती है जिसके फलस्वरूप विकार पुनः उत्पन्न होने लगते हैं, चेहरे की आभा कम होने लगती है, शरीर की activity व् capacity घटने लगती है तथा मन चंचल व् विचलित होने लगता है।

अतः प्राणायाम का निरंतर अभ्यास करने से हमारी प्राण शक्ति का bank balance बढ़ता चला चला जाएगा जिसे हम मुसीबत के वक्त (जब हमारा शरीर ज्यादा मेहनत करने लायक नहीं रहता अथवा गंभीर बीमारी से ग्रस्त हो जाता है) इस्तेमाल करके quality life जी सकते हैं।

यदि कुछ बातों का विशेष ध्यान रखें तो प्राणायाम बहुत जल्दी results देता है : -

(१) ब्रह्मचर्य का ज्यादा से ज्यादा पालन

इस से वीर्य की बचत होती है जिस से शरीर में चमक दमक, उत्साह, आनंद, बल दिखाई देता है तथा प्राणायाम के समय ध्यान लगाने में कम कठिनाई आती है।

(२) खान- पान

सादा भोजन करें व् समय पर करें। असमय न खाएं। रात का खाना ७-८ बजे तक खा लें। सुबह ४.३० तक उठ जाएँ। तला व् मसालेदार भोजन कम से कम खाएं। सफ़ेद चीनी का त्याग कर दें। मीठे का मन हो तो गुड अथवा शहद लें। मौसम का फल लें। जितना हो सके फलों व् सब्जियों को natural रूप में लें। भोजन चबा चबा कर करें। पानी का सेवन ज्यादा से ज्यादा करें। जितनी भूख हो उससे थोड़ा कम खाएं।

Hello Friends

Hello Friends.
How are you.
A Very Happy and Prosperous Diwali to All of You.

Court Case of Bollywood Actress Ms. Rani Mukherjee

The case :
Bollywood actor Rani Mukherjee purchased some land in Ningaonkovali village, on the border of Nasik and Ahmednagar districts, Shirdi, Maharashtra. Earlier, there was a sugar factory on the said land that was subsequently closed. Since the factory had excess land, the government took it over in accordance with the Urban Land Ceiling Act (ULCA) and handed it over to the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC). As the land remained unused for a long time, the MSFC sold it to the original owner, a farmer who worked in a hotel in Shirdi town. From the farmer, Rani bought the plot in December 2005 for Rs.3.3 million. However, when she applied for registration of the plot in her name, the revenue department refused permission and stressed that as it was an agriculture land, only a farmer could buy it. The deputy collector of Ahmednagar district conducted an inquiry and Rani was asked to pay penalty for buying a farmland. Since the actress failed to pay the penalty, the Shrimanpur SDO ordered her name be deleted from the sale deed.

Against this decision of the Shrirampur Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) canceling jher ownership of the said land and direting her to surrender the said land, Rani Mukherji, through her father Shri Ram Mukherjee, filed a petition in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court in June 2008, challenging the cancellation of her ownership of a piece of land in Maharashtra.

Her petition challenging the Shrirampur sub-divisional officer’s (SDO) Mr. Nandkumar Suryavanshi’s order, came up for hearing before Justice Naresh H.Patil who passed order on 19.6.2008 thereby staying the SDO's order and said that Rani Mukherjee ws entitled to get her name recorded in the Revenue Records.

For the exact Text of said order of the High Court, kindly email me. I will email the Text of the Order, which is in Pdf format.

Eureka! I Found the Formula To Convert PageMaker File to PDF file

Dear Friends,

For last few days, I was searching on the internet for some method to convert my files in PageMaker format (these files contain the Book authored by me) to more conveniently readable Adobe PDF format. However, throughout the internet, I could not locate any free software to do this task. Then, I hit upon an idea and, believe me, it worked ! You do not even need Adobe Acrobat or any other Adobe software to do so. Infact, even the Adobe site does not give you option to do this conversion with the software available for free download (despite the fact that PageMaker and Acrobat PDF both are produts of Adobe). Infact, by this method, mot of the file formats can be converted into PDF.

It goes like this :

-- Download CutePDF Writer from the site http://www.cutepdf.com/ and install it on your computer.

-- Open the Original Document which you want to convert.

-- Select PRINT command in File Menu, so as to open PRINT dialog box.

-- Select CutePDF Writer as the Printer to print (DO NOT select "Print to file").

-- You get a SAVE AS dialog box for saving the created PDF file. Select a folder to save it and enter a file name.

-- Then click SAVE.

-- Go to that folder to find your PDF file.



I hope you all benefit from this. If you find it useful, kindly convey this to your friends.



Sunil Goel

A blog by Sachin Palewar: Talking flash characters for your website

A blog by Sachin Palewar: Talking flash characters for your website

BEST OF HEALTH TO AMITABH BACHCHAN

I heard the news today that Shri Amitabh Bachchan is not well and has been admitted to a Mumbai Hospital. I am his keen admirer, for many reasons. One is that we share the same alma mata (we both are from Kiroromal College, North Campus, Delhi University). Secondly, we did the same course at the said college i.e. B.Sc.(General) Group 'A'. Thirdly, he issued a nice and encouraging appreciation letter for my book "COURTS, POLICE, AUTHORITIES & COMMON MAN' (see at www.sunilgoel.org) and fourthly, he is a wonderful person and a versatile actor.

I wish Amitabh ji a speedy recovery.

Supreme Court : Police bound to register the Complaint else face action

The Supreme Court of India recently passed an order thereby alleviating the often made grievance of the public that their compaint is not registered in the form of FIR by the police officers and they have to run from pillar to post for getting the FIR registered.

The relevant part of the said Order reads as under :
“The grievance in the present writ petition is that the occurrence had taken place in the month of May and, in that very month, on 11th May, 2008, the written report was submitted by the petitioner before the officer In-charge of the concerned Police Station, who sat tight over the matter. Thereafter, when the Superintendent of Police was moved, a First Information Report (for short "F.I.R.") was registered.Even thereafter, steps were not taken either for apprehending the accused or recovery of the minor girl child. It is a matter of experience of one of us (B.N. Agrawal, J.) while acting as Judge of Patna High Court, Chief Justice of Orissa High Court and Judge of this Court that in spite of law laid down by this Court, the concerned police authorities do not register F.I.Rs unless some direction is given by the Chief Judicial Magistrate or the High Court or this Court. Further experience shows that even after orders are passed by the concerned courts for registration of the case, the police does not take the necessary steps and when matters are brought to the notice of the Inspecting Judges of the High Court during the course of inspection of Courts and Superintendents of Police are taken to task, then only F.I.Rs are registered. In large number of cases investigations do not commence even after registration of F.I.Rs and in case like the present one, steps are not taken for recovery of the kidnapped person or apprehending the accused person with reasonable despatch. At times it has been found that when harsh orders are passed by the Members of the Judiciary in a State, the police becomes hostile to them for instance in Bihar when a bail petition filed by a police personnel, who was accused was rejected by a member of Bihar Superior Judicial Service, he was assaulted in the Court room for which contempt proceeding was initiated by Patna High Court and the erring police officials were convicted and sentenced to suffer imprisonment. On the other hand, there are innumerable cases that where the complainant is a practical person, F.I.Rs are registered immediately, copies thereof are made over to the complainant on the same day, investigation proceeds with supersonic jet speed, immediate steps are taken for apprehending the accused and recovery of the kidnapped persons and the properties which were subject matter of theft or dacoity. In the case before us allegations have been made that theStation House Officer of the concerned Police Station is pressurising the complainant to withdraw the complaint, which, if true, is a very disturbing state of affairs. We do not know there may be innumerable such instances. In view of the above, we feel that it is high time to give directions to Governments of all the States and Union Territories besides their Director Generals of Police/Commissioners of Police as the case may be to the effect that if steps are not taken for registration of F.I.Rs immediately and copies thereof are not made over to the complainants,they may move the concerned Magistrates by filing complaint petitions to give direction to the police to register case immediately upon receipt/production of copy of the orders and make over copy of the F.I.Rs to the complainants, within twenty four hours of receipt/production of copy of such orders. It may further give direction to take immediate steps for apprehending the accused persons and recovery of kidnapped/abducted persons and properties which were subject matter of theft or dacoity. In case F.I.Rs are not registered within the aforementioned time, and/or aforementioned steps are not taken by the police, the concerned Magistrate would be justified in initiating contempt proceeding against such delinquent officers and punish them for violation of its orders if no sufficient cause is shown and awarding stringent punishment like sentence of imprisonment against them inasmuch as the Disciplinary Authority would be quite justified in initiating departmental proceeding and suspending them in contemplation of the same. Keeping in mind these facts, we are of the view that notices should be issued to Government of all the States and Union Territories besides Director Generals of Police/Commissioners of Police as the case may be. Issue notice to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories and the Director Generals of Police/Commissioners of Police,as the case may be, to show cause as to why aforesaid directions be not given by this Court. Notices may be sent to the parties by Fax and it should be mentioned therein that the order has been put on the Website of the Supreme Court of India so that they may file response without loss of time.”