This is misuse of the RTI Act but from the Bureaucrats

Corruption has been an integral part of human nature. And the slightest opportunity to make a few quick bucks or extract a benefit or two by being ‘slightly corrupt’ is too tempting to be let gone away. In view of strict checks and balances including the accountability practices in the private sector and the strict stand against malpractices have kept corruption at a low in the private sector. However, absence of the above factors in the public sector has led to rampant corruption in the public sector to the brink that now Govt. officials simply do not bother about the consequences of their corruption.

And in order to put a check on that the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI) was introduced which enabled the citizens to question the Government officials, especially the Bureaucrats in order to ensure transparency and put a check on corruption. As it directly challenged the modus operandi of the corrupt bureaucrats and their easy money-making processes, there was a lot of opposition to the Act being passed and even after that, the bureaucrats kept shouting, “People are misusing RTI Act,” and stuff.

Are we Indians really working for ourselves – Think!

See this video, the highlights of the video are,

1. The U.S.A. Govt. is having a national debt of 10 Trillion Dollars as of now.
2. It does not have money to run its daily expenditures as well and borrows money at the rate of 70 Billion Dollars daily at extravagant rates.
3. When Sr. Bush became the President of the United States (POTUS), in 1986 USA had surplus revenues and the American Citizens enjoyed a lot of privileges from the Government.
4. But when Bush Jr. became POTUS in 2001, things had changed due to the tax cuts given by Sr. Bush to woo the voters. But in 1990 he increased taxes and lost in 1992.
5. Bush Jr. had learned his lessons and did not want to upset the voters and went on giving tax cuts further giving rise to debt. The national debt kept rising and then 9/11 happened followed by the Iraqi and the Afghan war adding fuel to fire.

Why is plea bargaining not implemented

These days the judiciary has been in the news quite a lot, be it for judicial reforms, or for corruption related cases or for backlog of cases. In fact, very recently the Prime Minister of India made a statement that there are 3.11 crore or roughly 30 million cases pending in various courts of India ranging from magistrate courts to the Apex Court.

Article reference here.

The Law Minister, Mr. M Veerappa Moily has also made a statement on the same.

Article reference here.

However, I refuse to buy the arguments that the judiciary is overburdened with a lot of cases and thus it is not able to dispense with cases.

Judges do not work on weekends, during weekdays also they work only 5 hours a day. More often than not they are on leave and have more vacations than school children. When the judges do not work diligently, how can they expect the load to come down when,

1. There is simply no mechanism in place to filter off cases during admission.

2. There is no punishment for filing false cases.

3. Judiciary does not use its discriminatory powers or existing provisions to reduce the load.

For example, see this RTI reply from the Ministry of Home Affairs which clearly says that the Provision of Plea Bargaining introduced in India as part of a CrPC Amendment in 2006 is effective since 5th July 2006. Yet it is a question as to why is the judiciary not using it to dispose cases faster and reduce the load?

Will the judiciary answer?

Dinakaran’s Road to the Apex Court

Article in Mail Today on Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court P D Dinakaran’s property balance sheet

Justice Dinakaran and more on judges

Catch’em red-handed Spare’em red-faced

“Truth is often stranger than fiction” – is what I’d heard sometime when I was a kid; however, as usual failed to understand its implications then. Life, however taught it to me with time. And today I am going to write one such similar instance which came to light after my interactions with some people who faced it. However, I will be protecting their identity.

A lot of malls have been springing up here and there. And these malls offer the ease of making everything available under the same roof making it convenient for people to buy daily household stuff. And this trend has made the lot stalking to malls more frequently than ever. And many a times instances of shoplifting have also been reported. We often read such news and ignore them thinking, “Why do people do such things?”

But little do we realize that to commit crime is a basic human nature and this can be corroborated from the very fact that we have law and order systems and surveillance cameras to keep a tab on people? And also we have stringent procedures to prevent and punish shoplifters.

But how effective are these mechanisms and are they clean? With my interviews mentioned above, it has become very clear they are not at all clean in implementation. They work with a single agenda of “NOT PREVENTING THE OFFENSE” but to “PUNISH THE OFFENDERS” and for this they allow people to shoplift and when caught, they just torment them with police complaints threats and extort money from them to the tune of 10 times the cost of everything they’d purchased.

Had it ended there, it would have been fine. But, as I have said, “Truth is often stranger than fiction”, those who are caught red-handed, are not even given any receipt of the fine they are made to pay after police complaint threats. Which means, the booty extorted is shared amongst the security people and the authority people might not be even aware of this gruesome extortion racket going on in the name of “PREVENTION OF SHOPLIFTING”?

While contending that by no stretch of leniency, can shoplifting be justified but the moot question is – how justified are the security people in extorting people by, first luring them to shoplift by making it easy and prey on them by extorting them? And then glorifying the shoplifting and subjugating the extortion.

In fact, the innocent shoplifters – trapped into shoplifting are left red-faced as their hard earned money is shared as booty by the agents of extortion. And it looks highly suspicious to me that the managements of these malls are not aware of this malpractice. After all, for them the security guys are Gods and if by pampering their crime of extortion – they can ensure good business, why not?

Unless awareness is created about “Catch’em red-handed and Spare’em red-faced” practice, it will continue to extort people. And also, this does not eliminate shoplifting – it rather perpetrates it as people will think – “ONLY when I get caught”. Crime under the cover of a crime is also a crime. And it is the moral responsibility of citizens to voice against it.

Should astrology services be allowed to continue on mobile phones?

Is Perception a Reality?

Often we get SMS Ads on our mobile phones from our service providers about various SMS services available at throwaway prices of Rs 3/SMS etc.

I too got, so just thought of trying them. Especially those related to astrology and future prediction caught my fancy, after all future is the most suspenseful thing in our present and everyone loves to solve the mystery called future with the knowledge of past.

First SMS that I got was on July 19, 2009 at 3:39 PM and that SMS read as:-

Find out how lovely your married life would be.SMS MAR (Your Name) (Your Partners Name) to 51515.Rs3/sms.Eg. Mar Vivek Ria to 51515

I sent the SMS and got this reply on July 19, 2009 at 7:31 PM:-

Hi VIRAG, your life after marriage looks like a perfect path to a happy journey. VIRAL will be completely devoted and loyal to you. VIRAL will certainly love gazing in your eyes. Make sure you never miss and opportunity to demonstrate your love openly. Give VIRAL the attention especially when someone is around. This will make them realize how much you respect them. And then see how your married life turns out to be the best thing that could have ever happened to you.

Find out your compatibility with your partner.SMS PYAAR (your name) (partner’s name) to 51515.Eg pyaar Anuj Diya.

We would like to get your feedback on the service you just tried. Please SMS RATE A for Excellent, RATE B for Good or RATE C for Average to 51515.

Next I got another such SMS on September 12, 2009 at 7:31 PM:-

Find out how good a husband or wife you will be.SMS Check (ur Name) (Male/Female) to 51515.Eg Check priya Female.Rs3/sms

Once again I sent the SMS and got this reply on September 12, 2009 at 10:48 PM;-

Dear virag, you will be the perfect spouse that anyone could ever wish for. Marriage is perhaps one of the most important things in your life. There will be times when you will have to act as a moderator but don’t worry, you will do really great when the time comes. Your effort and commitment to keep things in balance will help you sail through the journey of marital life with great ease. You will invest more in your marriage and hence, make it even more valuable.

Find out if you’ll have a love marriage or arranged.SMS Wed (Your Name) to 51515.Eg Wed Neha.

By using these services you accept all the Terms of Use present on www.aol.in

And to verify the truth please read the following blog from bottom to top. That’s the reality.

http://crusader-indianjustice.blogspot.com/

Do we continue to believe such things and waste time and money on that?

I know many of the readers will think that my case is an exceptional one but do we all not think the same of our individual lives; that my life is exceptional, my case is exceptional. In reality, whether we believe it or not, it is just a pattern that repeats itself.

Whatever happened with me in real life – the Blog and the SMS – can happen with anyone but we are trained to live our lives by numbers and that’s where we step back from challenging things because it requires infrastructure to get numbers and which is what we don’t have.

Anyways, I have done my job by creating awareness. Choice belies with the readers, they may continue to believe whatever they are comfortable with. After all, it is THEIR LIFE.

All Arrests after 9th Jan 2009 are illegal

Written by Milap Choraria

I received a Email from a friend Dr Rajesh Shinde. He might have not gone through my List Message posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 10:21 AM, under heading ”Central Information Commission, pronounced its decision on 27/07/2009 in Case No. CIC/AT/C/2008/00025, in complete contrast to scheme of Section 80 of CPC, as was defined by SC Judgments, thus CIC decision converted as the Cover of Protection for “Wrong Doers”, like Mr. R. Sharan, the then DGIT(Inv.) Kol.” because it was not relating to Dowry Case.

However, from his Email one very important point of law, came to my notice. According to which Section 5(1) of “The General Clauses Act, 1897 “, provides:-

5. Coming into operation of enactments -

(1) Where any Central Act is not expressed to come into operation on particular day, then it shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the assent.

In the case of a Central Act made before the commencement of the Constitution, of the governor-general, and in the case of an Act of Parliament, of the President.

Unless the contrary is expressed, (Central Act) or Regulation shall be construed as coming into operation immediately on the expiration of the proceeding its commencement.

Therefore all arrests, particularly which restrained in the recent Cr. P. C. Amendment, were illegal, from the date of assent of President to the amendment.

Below are the extracts from the aforesaid Email of Dr Rajesh Shinde.

EXTRACTS FROM EMAIL:-

HIGH ACHIEVERS:

- Mr. Atul Bhiray Vajaypee , Dr. Abdul Kalam – Never married Legally.*

ROLE OF CONGRESS GOVERMENT:*
-More than 85% time this country ruled by Congress Goverment .
- Indian husabnds had been killed openly by thier wive and by thier wive’s
boyfriends and all those killer’s are openly moving freely in our society ,
but Congress Goverment never brotherd to make any LAW to stop that.
- Unborn Child Killing became the on birth Right for Indian women in 1973
Special LAW.
- Legal Terroisom Tools like 498a, Section 125 Maintance Act , Domestic
Violence Act , in all the cases the Verbal statement of Wife to be
considered as 100% true and any evidence , like voice recording, viedo
recording, bank documents from Husabnd’s side will not be considered at the
time of investigation.
- Making adultrity as Civil LAW under process.
- New Rape LAW = Sexual assult, to destroy harmoney in work palce are on
line.
*Are not Congress Goverment Anti-male ?*
*Are not Congress Goverment desprate to make a father less society for
India?*
*Are not Congress Goverment desprate to kill the instituion of Marrige in
India , by promotion of adultrity?*
*Hope they have good Justification for Maintaing “ZERO” Budget for MEN Well
fare and as a Result more and more Crime , Violence in our Country witness.*
*(Crime Is Crime. Punishment should be irrespective of gender, religion and
caste. Let us be honest and fight for truth)*

According to the NGO’s findings, one basic difference on how investigations are
conducted in India and in the West pertains to collection of evidence. “In most
Western countries the police first visit crime scene, collect evidence and on
that basis trace the culprits, while it is the opposite way here. They first
lift the probable accused, often make them forcibly confess to crime and then
collect evidence,” said Meenakshi, who looks after the organisation’s work in
South East Asia.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Plan-panel-approached-for-police-reforms/articleshow/4942209.cms

http://www.zeenews.com/news556002.html

http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=12504

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/apex-court-notice-to-centre-for-dithering-on-police-reform_100239649.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gMhElg8ZYHSspsvWHg5kWe5gU-tA

(Crime Is Crime. Punishment should be irrespective of gender, religion and
caste. Let us be honest and fight for truth)

Act No. of 5 of 2009 – Gazette

CrPC Amendment Act gazetted in the Gazatte of India as Act No. 5 of 2009 is available here

The Gazette of India

Government fails to deliver its duty

The much debated CrPC Amendment Act which is now Act No. 5 of 2009 as per the following RTI Communication,

Police can no longer arrest arbitrarily

has more to offer. After that I filed another RTI asking them the justification of delay in enforcing the law as per the below submitted RTI Application,

RTI to MHA CrPC Amendment

And the reply received is available at,

RTI Reply MHA Justification of Delay for CrPC

The RTI reply clearly shows the apathy of the Union Home Ministry towards laws passed by the Houses of Parliament and the Honorable President of India and the public welfare at large.

The RTI reply clearly shows that how on just one letter by a lawyer’s association, the Union Home Ministry is not implementing a law that has been enacted keeping in mind the welfare of the pubic.

I will not mention here about the 40 Lakh unnecessary arrests that happened in 2007.

Further, after CrPC Amendment Act becoming a law the Union Home Ministry has no constitutional powers to stop its enforcement based on a single letter of opposition from groups with vested interests.

Moreover, NGOs under the aegis of Save Indian Family movement, have sent close to 15 representations supporting the CrPC Amendment Act which have been clearly ignored and one representation by laywers (whose illegitimate income is getting affected with the amendment) is being used a lousy excuse by the Union Home Ministry to not to enforce the Act.

What more a mockery of democracy can be than this?

Stealing—-Credit cards

Be sure to read Scene 3 Quite interesting. This is a new one. People sure stay busy trying to cheat us, don’t they? SCENE 1. A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, ‘Funny, I thought I locked the locker. Hmm, ‘He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay – all cards were in place.. A few weeks later his credit card bill came – a whooping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions. Customer care personnel verified that there was no Mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen.. ‘No,’ he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep – you guessed it – a switch had been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards. Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them. How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? $9,000! Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? Small amounts rarely trigger a ‘warning bell’ with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one! ============================ SCENE 2. A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card. The bill for the meal came, he signed it and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along. Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket. Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person. He called the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man. All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card. No exchange of words — nothing! She took it and came back to the man with an apology. Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time. Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, ‘assuming’ that it has to be theirs. FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH TIME IT IS RETURNED TO YOU AFTER A TRANSACTION! ============================= SCENE 3: Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in. I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my checking account. The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, then laid it on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure. While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialling. I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. ?Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons. Meanwhile, I’m thinking: I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on. It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I’m paying close attention to what he is doing. He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open. About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved. Now I’m standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened. Needless to say, I immediately cancelled that card as I was walking out of the pizza parlour. All I am saying is, be aware of your surroundings at all times.. Whenever you are using your credit card take caution and don’t be careless. Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card. Be aware of phones, because many have a camera phone these days. FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN THINK OF. LET’S GET THE WORD OUT! JUST BE AWARE Never let your card out of your sight…..check and check again! –

–
Thanks & Regards
Virag
Bangalore
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

<http://bit.ly/L7b4M>
Sent from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India