Delhi courts punish influential offenders in 2009

The principle-justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done-was the driving force for Delhi courts in the year gone by as they punished clout-wielding offenders like Sukhram and Dawood Ibrahim's alleged front-man Romesh Sharma.

Octogenarian former Union communications minister Sukhram was sentenced to three years jail term in a 13-year-old corruption case by a court which also ordered forfeiture of Rs4.25 crore disproportionate assets amassed by him during his tenure in the P V Narasimha Rao government.

Former bureaucrat Runu Ghosh also got three years jail term for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs20.94 lakh during the tenure of Sukhram.

Sharma, in jail since 1998 in connection with a dozen criminal cases, failed to get relief in a tax evasion case to the tune of Rs8.5 crore as the appellate court upheld his conviction and two years jail term in the matter.

The courts were equally harsh on offenders indulging in sexual offences as they punished two members of elite president's Body Guards (PBG) for raping a 17-year-old Delhi University student in 2003 in a park near Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The ghost of 1984 riots kept haunting veteran Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, who were withdrawn as party candidates in the Lok Sabha polls on the ground that courts were seized with the cases pertaining to massacre of Sikhs.

Despite CBI filing several probe reports giving clean chit to Tytler, he failed to recover the lost political ground as the court is yet to give its nod to close the matter.

The first probe report, filed on April two, was rejected by the court which ordered re-investigation saying key witnesses were not examined. The agency reiterated its stand in its second report which is pending adjudication.

Tytler was sought to be prosecuted for his alleged role in the killing of three persons on November one, 1984 in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination.

Two-decade-old Bofors pay-off case hogged the limelight in the year gone by as law officers and CBI  tried hard to give a legal burial to the matter against lone surviving and elusive Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Amid opposition from lawyer Ajay Agarwal that there was sufficient evidence to nail the Italian, the court had deferred its decision till March 31, 2010, saying it did not have the documents which have been sent to the Supreme Court.

The stalled trial in the drug abuse case allegedly involving Rahul Mahajan, son of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, could not start this year as well as the judicial records were not received from Delhi High court.

Mahajan, along with his late father's secretary Vivek Moitra, was admitted to Apollo hospital here in the wee hours of June two, 2006 after allegedly consuming contraband drugs.

Moitra later died at the hospital.  At the fag end of 2009, a court here termed gang rape as a "beastly" act and awarded 14 years rigorous imprisonment to Ajit Singh Katiyar, the lone arrested accused in the sensational Dhaula Kuan gang rape case for assaulting a Delhi University student in a speeding car more than four years ago.

The victim, 20, hailing from Mizoram, was abducted on May 8, 2005, when she was walking back home after buying food from a roadside eatery along with a friend and was raped by four accused in a car in south Delhi here. Police, however, could not nab three co-accused -- Danda, Jat and Tappe.

The Centre and Delhi Police received a jolt as a court dismissed their plea seeking to drop charges under stringent MCOCA against underworld don Abu Salem on the ground  that it was against the extradition terms agreed to between India and Portugal.

The Centre had said the plea was moved with an aim to save the Indian government from possible adverse remarks by the Portuguese Supreme Court on the issue. 

Salem, extradited from Portugal in 2005, was booked under MCOCA for allegedly making extortion calls to a Delhi-based businessman Ashok Gupta in 2002, demanding Rs5 crore as protection money.

The behaviour of some lawyers lowered the dignity of the judiciary when additional district judge Pankaj Gupta, who hears cases relating to Hindu marriage Act at Rohini district court, was beaten up on the dais.

The Delhi High Court took a suo motu cognizance of the matter and issued contempt notice against the lawyers. The lawyers in the capital observed strikes several times to protest the changes in the CrPC, giving police the discretion to arrest the accused in offences punishable up to seven-year jail term.

In an incident which dented the image of judiciary, Company Law Board member Vasudevan was arrested by CBI along with a company secretary of a leading vernacular daily Manoj Banthia for allegedly taking Rs 7 lakh bribe to pass a favourable order in a matter relating to the daily.

In another high-profile case, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh testified that accused Barun Kumar Verma posed as a law officer and demanded money to ensure a favourable order from an apex court judge in a disproportionate assets case against party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

A court here also ordered framing of charges against 20 accused including two policemen in a 12-year-old case, relating to drowning of over 170 Indian illegal immigrants near Malta in the Mediterranean sea.

The victims, hailing from Punjab, died in the icy waters off the Malta coast on December 25, 1996, after they were transferred from a ship to a boat in the sea. Top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy, 63, who has been booked under various provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after his arrest on September 20, is also all set to face the trial in 2010.

A Delhi court also framed charges under stringent MCOCA against underworld don Babloo Srivastava and his aide Fazal-ur-Rehman for running organised crime syndicate here during 1983-1997.