PRAYAGRAJ (UP), Feb 17: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday said that there is a need to “pay attention at trial courts,” to reduce the burden of growing number of cases.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of an arbitration centre inaugurated by him, the CJI said, “Trial courts are where the solution to problems begins, there is a need to pay attention. Many such cases are increasing in the Supreme Court which should be settled in the trial court itself. Due to non-availability of bail in small cases, people are coming to the Supreme Court and the pressure there is increasing.” Talking about Uttar Pradesh, CJI Chandrachud said that investment is increasing in the state. Industries will be set up in the state and in this regard, it is necessary to have expansion and trust in the judicial sector, he added.
Appealing to advocates and others in the legal profession to engage with technology, the CJI said, “I ask all senior advocates to engage with technology, work on tablets and laptops and a lot of people are doing this now.” Talking about young people joining the profession of law, he said, “This generation thinks differently and a large number of women are coming in it. They consider their future secure here.” Discussing his tenure as the chief justice of Allahabad High Court, Chandrachud said, “I grew up in an urban environment, but after coming to Uttar Pradesh, the heart of India, I got to learn and know a lot.” (Agencies)
Gujarat: Five senior cops among 19 booked in kidnapping, extortion case of Kutch Firm Staffer
Bhuj, Feb 17: Two superintendents of police (SPs) and three other senior policemen are among 19 persons against whom a case has been registered in connection with the kidnapping and extortion of an employee of a firm in Gujarat’s Kutch district, police said on Saturday.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday registered an FIR against two SPs, three DySPs, a sub-inspector, and owners of Electrotherm Limited, among others, nearly a month after the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the Gujarat High Court order directing the probe agency to do the same, they said.
According to a release issued by the CID, Parmanad Seerwani, a resident of Gandhidham in Kutch district, lodged a police complaint against two company owners and 11 others for kidnapping and extortion committed in December 2015.
The probe agency, in the release, did not disclose the exact roles of the accused police officers, citing that it would affect the investigation.
Former Kutch (East) SPs GV Barot and Bhavna Patel and DySPs RD Desai, DS Vaghela and VJ Gadhvi, and sub-inspector N K Chauhan have been named in the FIR, the release stated.
The complainant worked at Electrotherm Limited in 2011 and later tendered his resignation, which was repeatedly rejected by company owners Shailesh Bhandari and Anurag Bhandari.
The Bhandaris were accused of allegedly kidnapping the complainant when he refused to become the firm’s director after trying to resign unsuccessfully, the release said.
In December 2015, Seerwani was allegedly kidnapped and held captive in the company bungalow in Ahmedabad, where he was forced to sign blank papers to give away his properties, along with cash and gold worth lakhs, it said.
A case has been registered against the accused under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 347 and 348 (wrongful confinement and extortion), and 364 (kidnapping to murder), among other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act, the release said.
The complainant and his wife had approached the concerned authorities between December 6, 2015 and February 4, 2016 to get an FIR registered against the accused, it said.
However, when no action was taken, they moved the high court for directions to register an FIR, it said.
In its order dated October 10, 2019, the high court directed the authorities to register an FIR, but the accused got a stay from the Supreme Court. The stay was lifted on January 16 this year, the release said.
