BMW accident: No legal provision allows sharing CCTV footage with accused, says court
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Thursday said there was no legal provision allowing sharing of CCTV footage with the accused in a criminal case.
Judicial magistrate Ankit Garg was hearing a plea filed for preservation of CCTV footage by Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, who was allegedly behind the wheel of the BMW that rammed into the two-wheeler of a senior finance ministry official, leaving him dead and his wife with grievous injuries in Dhaula Kuan area of the capital.
Advocate Gagan Bhatnagar, who appeared for Kaur, cited some portion of the FIR about the sequence of the events and argued that the entire case rested on the CCTV footage.
Bhatnagar said the footage of Dhaula Kuan metro pillars 65 and 67 needed to be examined, which could then reveal “something else”.
The magistrate, however, said there was no legal provision or law under which the footage could be provided to the accused.
“I am not saying give it to me but to preserve it and submit in the court,” Kaur’s counsel responded.
He alleged the investigating officer (IO) provided an “evasive reply” on the plea, saying notice was given to the person concerned for providing the footage to Delhi Police.
Bhatnagar claimed that senior police officials had given statements of having watched the footage, which was contrary to the IOs reply.
The court directed the IO to appear on September 19, besides issuing a notice to the station house officer of Dhaula Kuan police station.
The hearing would continue on September 19.
Kaur was remanded to judicial custody till September 27 and her bail plea is set to come up on September 20.
Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh (52), who lived in Hari Nagar, succumbed to injuries on Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on the afternoon of September 14.
Singh along with his wife was returning home after visiting the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.
A case was registered under Sections 281 (rash driving), 125B (endangering life or personal safety of others), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the BNS.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
