Among the accused are Shahabuddin, hailing from Chetrampur village in Moradabad district, Bajrang Dal leader Monu Bishnoi alias Sumit, and his volunteers Raman Chaudhary and Rajiv Chaudhary.According to the police, Shahabuddin took the help of the Bajrang Dal workers to put Maksud, against whom he had nursed vengeance, in jail by making it appear that he had slaughtered cows.

The police also told the media that on January 16 the head of a cow was recovered from Kanwar Path, a road that is mostly used by Hindu pilgrims during the Shravana month to go to religious sites such as Haridwar.“A case was registered against unknown people. After this, on the night of January 28, another incident of cow slaughter took place a few kilometres away in Chetrampur village (in the same police station area of the first incident). Both the incidents seemed suspicious and interconnected. Since the manner in which this information was given to the police, there was a suspicion that this incident was planned and it was not just a case of cow slaughter, there was definitely some hidden agenda in it,” said Hemraj Meena, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Moradabad, on Thursday.

He said in the second incident when the officers reached the spot, they found a man’s trousers and a wallet that had a photo of Maksud in it.

“When Maksud was interrogated, he told that he had enmity with some people in the village, due to which an attempt was made to implicate him. The names of Shahabuddin and Jamshed came up. These people took the help of Monu Bishnoi, Rajiv Chaudhary and Raman Chaudhary to send their opponent to jail,” Meena said.

“These people have been putting pressure on the police to get their illegal work done,” he said, while mentioning that only a few days ago Monu Bishnoi was arrested under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder) case and sent to jail.

The SSP said that after coming out of jail, Bishnoi started his “illegal activities” to get things done from the police at Chhajlait station and when the officials did not listen to him, he created a trap through this incident.

“First they planned the January 14 incident in which they gave Rs 2,000 to Naeem, an associate of Shahabuddin, and told him to bring the head of the cow from somewhere and keep it in Chhajlait police station area, so that action will be taken against the police and the police come under their pressure. He told Shahabuddin and Jamshed to take the names of those with whom they had enmity. In order to do this, evidence was created by placing the photo of that person at the spot. These same people stole a cow from a house, slaughtered it and then informed the police,” added SSP Meena.

Officials also said that two accused are still absconding.

“The police have exposed the conspiracy on the basis of electronic surveillance, mobile location and other evidence. These are people with criminal tendencies and have been regularly putting pressure on the police,” said Meena.

The Moradabad police have registered two First Information Reports (FIRs) under IPC sections 120B (Criminal Conspiracy), 211 (False charge of offence made with intent to injure), 380 (Theft in dwelling house), 457 (house-trespass or house-breaking) and 411 (Dishonestly receiving stolen property) and section 3,5,8 of Cow Slaughter Act.

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Shravasti/Lucknow: He used a lathi, but his steps had a spring. On October 7 morning, 30-year-old Alauddin Khan alias Chotkau got a new lease of life. He walked out of Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi Central Jail after ten years behind bars for the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl. The irony of this momentous day in his life was that he had always been innocent but was wrongly framed by the police.

Clad in a white T-shirt and trousers with a cream-coloured gamcha hanging from his shoulders, Chotkau, a native of Semgarha village of Shrawasti district, was received by his mother and relatives as he stepped out of jail for the first time after ten years.

Chotkau walked out of the prison’s main gate at around 12.15 pm on a bright sunny afternoon with a small bag containing his clothes, medicine for heart disease and a copy of the Supreme Court judgment that had ordered his release. This was a restart of his life. His mother Jannatul Nisha (69) broke down as she embraced him and kissed him on the forehead.

When asked how he views his acquittal by the apex court, Chotkau said, “The judgment has restored my faith in the judiciary. It vindicated my conviction and restored my innocence. But my years of wrongful imprisonment are clear signs of systemic failure.”

Chotkau has wasted over ten precious years of his life. He was 20 on the date of his arrest and is 30 at present. Meanwhile, he went through heart surgery at the department of the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (IMS-BHU).

“I had a cardiac arrest at Varanasi Central Jail five-six years back. I have been freed from jail after a decade, but what will I do with this health when I can not lift heavy luggage? I will not get even labourer work. I have proven innocent and walked out of jail, but how would I survive without money?” Chotkau asked while speaking to NewsClick.

THE CASE

It all began in March 2012 when one co-villager, Kishun Bahadur, lodged a complaint at Ikauna police station alleging that Chotkau took his niece aged about six years under the pretext of showing dance and song performances on the occasion of the Holi festival. When the girl did not return home, a search was conducted. It was found that the appellant was not found in his house, but the dead body of the girl was found in the sugarcane field located on the southern side of the village.

Fatehpur Bahadur, who had claimed to have seen Chotkau leaving the sugarcane field. Therefore, invoking the last-seen theory and on the basis of circumstantial evidence, Chotkau was charged for the commission of the offences of raping the minor girl and murdering her.

The trial court sentenced him to death in March 2014, a verdict that was confirmed by the Allahabad high court in April 2016.

Chotkau’s case, however, came to the notice of retired high court judge S Nagamuthu, who argued for him in the top court and exposed the contradictions in the prosecution case. The bench outlined several discrepancies in the prosecution case.

It was argued by the prosecution that the Chotkau, who was last seen with the little girl, took her for a dance and song performance on the occasion of Holi festival following which the girl went missing. Her body was later recovered from the fields.

The top court noted that the prosecution did not bother subjecting the accused to a medical examination. This was considered “fatal” to the prosecution story as the top court held that in cases of circumstantial evidence, medical evidence becomes the clincher.

“When the offence is heinous, the court is required to put the material evidence under a higher scrutiny,” said the bench. “This erroneous approach on part of the sessions court and the high court has led the appellant being ordained to be dispatched to the gallows,” it added.

“Unfortunately, the sessions court, as well as the high court, have trivialized these major contradictions to hold that the chain of circumstances has been established unbroken,” the bench said as it set aside the conviction and the sentence.

The apex court noted that Chotkau was so poor that he could not afford a lawyer for the trial and was provided services of a lawyer to assist the court as amicus curiae only after repeated requests.

The bench said the rape and murder of the six-year-old girl were undoubtedly “ghastly”, but the prosecution had done great injustice to the appellant by fixing the culpability on him “without any shred of evidence which will stand scrutiny”.

“Court cannot make someone a victim of injustice, to compensate for the injustice to the victim of a crime,” the bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer, AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said in its 47-page verdict that tore into the police, prosecution and the courts.

The top court even found contradictions in the statements given by the witnesses presented by the police. The witnesses contradicted their initial version during their cross-examination. They differed on material aspects of the case regarding lodging of FIR, location of the dead body, place of the inquest, and description of clothes worn by the victim.

‘CONSPIRACY TO GRAB LAND’ 

According to Chotkau, the entire conspiracy was hatched by one of his relatives who had an eye on his more than 28 bighas land, which was given by his maternal grandfather to his mother as he had no other children.

Chotkau told NewsClick he had been falsely implicated in the case at the behest of his maternal uncle Zalim Khan, who wanted to grab his mother’s property. “Zalim Khan had told me to get the FIR lodged. We have all the documents of the land as vasiyatnama. Since Zalim was then the village head and a very influential person, he succeeded in grabbing all my land, producing fake documents that my nana had no children, so the property belonged to him. He threatened to kill us if we complained to the police,” he claimed.

Chotkau has a sense of fear that his character was assassinated among the villagers, due to which he lost respect and his relatives succeeded in taking over his mother’s property. 

“I don’t have money to buy ration to feed my mother and married sister who took care of my mother for ten years in my absence. Who will return my good days and property? What will I do if I am proven innocent after ten years? Can the Supreme Court also order compensation?” Chotkau asked. 

Showing his ‘kutcha house’ that has turned into debris in the absence of money, he further said that he does not have even Rs 200 rupees to buy bamboo so that he could cover the house. “Life is full of uncertainty. Now, I want to serve my mother for as many days are left,” Chotkau said and burst into tears.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post UP: Wrongly Convicted Muslim Youth Freed After 10 Years, Says Lost Respect, Land appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Farmers group Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) condemned the Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property during Disturbance to Public Order Bill, 2021 introduced by the state government dubbing it a tactic to “trap agitators in false cases,” said an official press release on March 16, 2021.

Calling the law a “fiasco,” leaders accused the state administration of trying to suppress the on-going farmers movement, and to trap participants in false cases. This legislation comes at a time when farmers such as Ranjeet Singh are getting bail after the Republic day incident. Singh will be released from jail on March 17.

Accordingly, the SKM termed this law as a fiasco of the Haryana government, where the public has socially boycotot even the Chief Minister of the state.

“A resolution has been passed against the farmers in the Haryana Legislative Assembly regarding the social boycott of JJP and BJP MLAs, which we strongly oppose.  This is the result of the pressure created by the farmers of Haryana on the JJP and BJP MLAs,” said farmer leader Darshan Pal.

Similarly, the SKM reiterated that members have always been in favour of dialogue provided the central government removes various obstacles and opens a path for dialogue. During previous meetings, farmers clarified they would not agree to the government’s former proposal.

While farmers agitate against the three farm laws – the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act, the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act – bank employees and officers went on a total two days’ strike on March 15 and March 16 against the Centre’s move to privatise public sector banks.

Tens of thousands of workers participated in the demonstrations across India, with support from Central Trade Unions and almost all independent industrial federations. On Wednesday, General Insurance employees will observe demonstrations. During this time, farmers will meet with trade unions, transport unions and other people’s rights organisations, and chalk out a strategy for the upcoming Bharat Bandh. Later, on March 18 LIC employees will protest privatisation.

Meanwhile, the Kisan Adhikar Yatra in Odisha reached Kashipur in the Gajapati district on Monday. The Yatra is getting stronger with overwhelming support from farmers and local people, and farmers are also strengthening the movement by organising small meetings, said the SKM.

In Bihar, all seven yatras returned to Patna after visiting about 35 districts.  In this series, farmers organized more than 300 meetings and travelled about 5,000 km to establish direct communication with two thousand villages and about one lakh farmers.

“It has been more than three months since this movement was started on Delhi borders. Beyond political differences, the government is also not showing basic humanity.  Nearly 300 farmers have died in this movement.  Road accidents have caused heavy losses to many farmers.  The government should break its arrogant attitude and provide all possible help to the farmers who were martyred and injured in this movement,” said the SKM.

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The post Haryana gov’t trying to trap farmers in false cases: SKM appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Last time Mumbai was humbled was over 30,000 farmers marched in silent protest to India’s urbs prima. November 2018. In a bid to scuttle the demands and protests, the Phadnavis government hastily agreed to the demands. Now, barely four months later, with all demands unfulfilled, in a clear bid to stop the AIKS-led second Kisan Long March in Maharashtra against the betrayal of farmers by the BJP’s central and state governments, the government has taken recourse to repression. The AIKS has alleged that the state general secretary Dr Ajit Nawale is under threat of arrest. Overnight criminal cases have been lodged against him.

This second Long March, which will begin from Nashik on February 20, the martyrdom anniversary of Comrade Govind Pansare, and will end in Mumbai on February 27, the martyrdom anniversary of Chandrashekhar Azad, is expected to be at least double in size compared to the one held last year. In Ahmednagar, a large farmers’ convention was held on February 13 to prepare for the Long March and a memorandum was submitted to the district collector. Nowhere was there any breach of peace. All necessary police permissions were taken.

The AIKS, through a statement issued by its president, Ashok Dhawale, has condemned this act of the government as an attempt to crush a democratic and peaceful satyagraha struggle. The AIKS warns that such repressive attempts of the government will not succeed in stopping the Long March. The statement says that the government should realise that farmers’ issues can be solved by accepting their just demands and by implementing them.

“Farmers in Maharashtra will not rest until the major issues that are being taken up in this second Long March in two years are resolved. These are: immediate relief in the grim drought situation, issues of irrigation, land rights, complete liberation from debt, MSP at one and a half times the full cost of production, a pro-farmer crop insurance scheme, increased pension, ration and food security,” concludes the statement.

The post Govt Slaps False Cases to Stop Farmers March: M’tra appeared first on SabrangIndia.