Prevent misuse of system: Ex-SC judge Santosh Hegde on hanging of convicts
Bengaluru: Retired Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde expressed concern that it took a "long-time" to give effect to the apex court's final judgement in the Nirbhaya case and called for steps to curb the misuse of the system.
It was overdue, said the former Solicitor General of India on the hanging of four men in Tihar jail early Friday for gang-rape and murder of a young Delhi woman, who came to be known as Nirbhaya.
"... the time taken to ultimately give effect to the final judgement of the Supreme Court gives rise to some sort of a thinking in the mind of the people: is justice really functioning?" Hegde told PTI here.
"Because ultimately when the highest court gives a verdict and constitution of law provides one review -- may be a mercy petition before the President, you (the convicts) make a joke out of that. There were multiple petitions", he noted.
Hegde said there should be some system to prevent "such misuse", adding he does not buy the argument that everybody has a right to challenge it as long as it's permissible in law.
On whether he favoured time-bound trial for heinous crimes, Hegde said every trial should be time-bound.
"Unfortunately, the system gives room for large delays; I think all concerned should sit and apply their mind to avoid this large delays and on how fast we can dispose of litigations.
"People take advantage of this, because of large delays lot of speculative litigation comes into the system which will spoil people's confidence in the system", he said.
The former Karnataka Lokayukta said he did not think that the ultimate hanging of Nirbhaya's accused has sent any message in regard to speedy delivery of justice.
"At the most what we can say is justice will ultimately prevail but it took a long time", he said.
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Goa court grants bail to 2 managers of fire-hit nightclub
Panaji (PTI): A Goa court on Tuesday granted bail to two managers of the 'Birch by Romeo Lane' nightclub who were arrested in connection with the fire that killed 25 people at the entertainment hotspot earlier this month.
District Judge D V Patkar granted bail with certain conditions to Rajveer Singhania and Priyanshu Thakur, both managers of the club, while it rejected a similar application of a third manager, Vivek Singh.
All three were arrested on December 7, a day after a devastating fire ripped through the nightclub at Arpora village in North Goa.
Advocate Vinayak Parab, representing Singhania (Bar Manager) and Thakur (Gate Manager), said that while granting bail, the court ruled that the applicants shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case.
The court made it clear the duo shall not leave India without its prior written permission.
According to Parab, the court directed that the accused shall make themselves available for interrogation by the Investigating Officer (IO) as and when required and co-operate in the ongoing probe.
"The applicants shall report before the IO or the PI Anjuna Police Station, once a month, preferably, on first Wednesday, until the filing of a chargesheet/final report," the bail order said.
Twenty-five persons -- 20 staff members and five tourists -- were killed in the major blaze at the nightclub around midnight on December 6.
So far, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case, including two co-owners of the club -- Gaurav Luthra and his brother Saurabh -- who were deported from Thailand.
