Cabinet approves amendments to be made to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for amending the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (1 of 2014) and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 (25 of 1946) and for introduction of a Bill in Parliament during the winter session of Parliament, on the lines of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas and other related law (Amendment) Bill, 2014 with such modifications or changes of drafting and consequential nature, if any, as may be considered necessary. 

 

File Picture: Cabinet meeting chaired by PM Modi

A press note released by the Press Information Bureau after the cabinet meet says "The proposed amendments will address some crucial deficiencies noticed in both the Acts: as under:

a) as regards the composition of the Selection Committee for selection of the Chairperson and Members of Lokpal, by providing, inter alia, that when there is no Leader of Opposition In the House of the People, recognized as such, the expression "Leader of Opposition" shall include the "Leader of the Largest Party in Opposition of the Government" in the Lok Sabha;

b) for providing for qualifications for appointment of Director of Prosecution in the CBI and for his functional independence.

The proposed amendments will also address other deficiencies in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013"

The Act, as now proposed to be amended, seeks to remove the deficiencies and provide for the alternative of Leader of Single Largest Opposition Party in the Lok Sabha in the event there is no Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, for being represented on the Selection Committee for appointments of Chairperson and Members of. Lok Pal. The amendments will, inter alia, also ensure functional independence to the Director of Prosecution under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act. The amendments seek to synchronize the provisions of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act with the existing regulating Acts, Rules and Regulations in respect of declaration of assets and liabilities by various categories of public servants and establish appropriate mechanisms to obtain and publish such information received from public servants, for the benefit of the public. The proposed amendments will, also ensure functional independence to the Director of Prosecution under the DSPE Act.

Ohio man, forced to spend 28 years in prison for a 1975 crime he didn't commit, exonerated by a Cleveland Court in December 2014

A Cleveland Court on Tuesday dropped all charges against an Ohio man, Kwame Ajamu, 56, one of three accused, in the 1975 robbery and murder of Harold Franks, a Cleveland-area money order salesman, but not before spending 28 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Kwame Ajamu, has a word with Judge Pamela A Barker after charges were dismissed against him on Tuesday. Photo Courtesy : Associated Press

The two other accused, Ajamu's brother, Wiley Bridgeman, 60, and Ricky Jackson, 57, were released from prison last month. It was last month that Judge Richard McMonagle threw out the charges against Jackson, and Judge David Matia tossed out the conviction of Wiley Bridgeman. The three had been convicted and sentenced to death in the slaying of a businessman outside on a corner store on a warm spring day in 1975.

The men won their freedom after a witness last year recanted his testimony from the trial, saying he was coerced by detectives at the time. The Witness Edward Vernon, now aged 53 years, filed an affidavit in 2013 stating that he never saw the murder take place, but he was told by detectives that if he didn’t testify against Jackson, his parents would be arrested.  The witness, Eddie Vernon, was 12 when Harry Franks was killed and 13 when he testified against the three men at their trials in 1975.

In fact, Vernon wasn't even close. He was riding a school bus, but he said he did hear the shots that killed Franks at the Fairmont Cut-Rite on Fairhill Road, which is now Stokes Boulevard. Jackson's attorneys, Mark Godsey and Brian Howe of the Ohio Innocence Project, called other witnesses who testified that Vernon was on the bus with them and could not have seen the murder.

Ajamu, then known as Ronnie Bridgeman, was 17 when he was sent to death row. Jackson was 19, and Wiley Bridgeman was 20. Their death sentences were later commuted to life terms. Ajamu later earned parole in 2003. Ajamu championed the causes of his brother and Jackson after he was released in 2003. The case against the three began to unravel last year after Vernon admitted to his pastor, the Rev. Anthony Singleton, that he lied. He said he had been encouraged by the Pastor to confide to the Ohio Innocence project. Vernon wrote that he had “been waiting to tell the truth about this for a long time.”

The three are expected to file for compensation from the Ohio Court of Claims. Each could receive more than $40,000 for every year they were wrongly held in prison. In order for the men to obtain compensation, judges must rule that the three  were wrongfully imprisoned.

"I feel vindicated,'' Ajamu said, reacting to the verdict. "I feel free.'' He said he soon hopes to go to the grave of his mother, Bessie Mae Bridgeman, who died in 1990. He said he wants to talk to his mother about the struggle. "If she hears me, and I pray she will, I will tell her about it,'' he said.  "She walked the last days of her life in pain.''

After the hearing, Ajamu credited Kyle Swenson, a writer for Scene Magazine, who in 2011 dug into the men’s stories and exposed how justice had been subverted.

Ajamu said he hoped one day to meet with Eddie Vernon, so he can tell him he understands what happened and has no ill will toward him.

Union Government in favour of decriminalizing attempt to commit suicide, says MoS, Home Affairs Haribhai Chaudhury

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary  informed Parliament today that the Union Government had decided to delete Section 309 of the IPC (attempt to commit suicide), a decision that will ensure people driven to take their lives do not end up in prison in case they don’t succeed.

 

The Minister said the Law Commission of India, in its 210th Report, had recommended that Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) needs to be repealed from the statute book.

Chaudhary said since law and order is a state subject, views of all states and union territories were sought on the recommendations of the Law Commission. "18 states and 4 union territory administrations have supported that Section 309 of the IPC may be deleted. Keeping in view the responses from the States/UTs, it has been decided to delete Sec 309 of IPC from the Statute book," he said in reply to a written question.

However some states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have opposed the move to decriminalize attempt to commit suicide. Bihar government told the Home Ministry that omitting the section from IPC would not prove beneficial as there are suicide bombers who fail to blow themselves and terrorists who consume cyanide so as not to come let any evidence out. The Sikkim government said, ”Deleting the provision may further weaken law enforcement.” The Madhya Pradesh government also opposed the decision of the government and warned of people going to fast until death or commit self immolation if Section 309 were to be deleted.

Section 309 of IPC makes an attempt to commit suicide punishable with jail term of up to one year and fine.

Kiren Rijiju, the minister of state (MoS) for Home Affairs, had in August told Lok Sabha that the Union Home Ministry is in the process of effacing Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code as recommended by the Law Commission along with amendment to certain other sections of the CrPC and IPC in consultation with all stakeholders.

The Law Commission in its 210th report on “Humanization and Decriminalisation of Attempt to Suicide” had said that Section 309 needs to be deleted because the provision is inhuman, irrespective of whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional.

The repeal of the anachronistic law would relieve the distressed of his/her suffering, it had said.

The Commission had also said that attempting suicide was “manifestation of a diseased condition of mind” that called for treatment and care rather than punishment.

Critics of the law say that it is cruel and irrational because it provides double punishment for a troubled individual whose deep unhappiness had caused him to try and end his life. They say it is cruel to inflict additional legal punishment on a person who has already suffered agony and ignominy in his failure to commit suicide.