As backlog leads to overcrowding in jails, security concerns abound

Mateen Hafeez & Rebecca Samervel | TNN

   The snail-paced disposal of cases in Maharashtra’s courts has not just kept the pendency rate high but also caused overcrowding in jails. In most prisons in the state, the prisoner population is considerably more than the permitted capacity, leading to law-and-order problems.
 

    In the state’s southern region, where Mumbai falls, three of the four prisons were overcrowded in the last week of September. Arthur Road jail has a capacity of 804 but housed 1,995 inmates. Thane jail can accommodate 1,105 inmates but its population was 1,984. Kalyan jail is meant for 505 prisoners but held 1,122.
 

    To tackle just such overcrowding, the chief of the National Human Rights Commission had earlier this year recommended creation of night courts on prison premises to at least dispose of cases relating to petty crimes. Jail authorities appreciate the suggestion but point out that its implementation is the government’s prerogative. “Although it will help speed up trials, the idea has to be accepted by the law and judiciary department and the directorate of prosecution,” said a jail officer. “There have been times when inmates were not taken to court for hearing due to shortage of escort staff.” 

    No wonder then, undertrials out on bail as well as those acquitted support courts in jails or nearby. “It will save time and manpower,” said an inmate who was recently granted bail. They note that, partly due to overcrowding, the state of most of Maharashtra prisons is abysmal. This has resulted in fights among prisoners and riots. Recently, an inquiry was set up when a group of inmates assaulted policemen in Taloja jail.
 

    Officials argue that prison understaffing compounds problems spawned by overcrowding. Not infrequently, inmates flee from police custody while being ferried to court for hearing or back. A few years ago, four undertrials slipped away while being transported back to Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai from a sessions court in Mumbai.
 

    The suggestion of night courts in jails finds backers among prisoners and prison officials but not among many legal experts. Public prosecutor Neelima Kasture maintains nights courts are “not the solution” since they would add to the burden of judges and lawyers. “We need judges who will not give repeated adjournments. Unlike earlier, several district judges now focus on procedural technicalities, which cause unnecessary delay. They must hear the matter every day and dispose of them quickly. Another problem is lawyers who survive on adjournments. This practice should be curbed,” she said. 

 

 

The Times of India, October 8, 2012

MBA, naval dock clerk arrested in SpeakAsia fraud

Mumbai: The EOW arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in the SpeakAsia scam. According to the police, the two—Saurabh Singh (26), an MBA graduate, and Suresh Kumar Padhi (35), a clerk attached to the naval dock, collected over Rs 20 crore from investors and duped them.
 

    “The two were produced before the court and remanded in police custody till October 10,” said the police. SpeakAsia, floated in 2010, allegedly duped people by posing as a survey company. “As per our estimate, investors lost Rs 2,276 crore in SpeakAsia schemes. SC has also allowed EOW and ED, investigating money laundering allegations, to continue with probe,” said Rajvardhan Sinha, additional commissioner of police, EOW. 

    Singh is proprietor of Turtle Informatics, while Padhi owns Winner Associates in Mumbai. “Both had taken SpeakAsia franchise, collected money on behalf of the firm and deposited it in the company’s account. We have come across some transactions done by those who claim to be associated with All India SpeakAsia Panelists Association. We are currently busy in collecting evidence against them,” said B P Shelke, investigating officer. Cops said they have found that some agents’ names were not mentioned in the financial transactions. “Code words like Sakinaka, Andheri and Kalyan have been mentioned. We are probing the codes,” the officer said. —  Mateen Hafeez

 

The Times of India, October 5, 2012 

Just a week into scheme, police ‘adopt’ 4,200 silvers

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: It’s been a week since the city police announced their ‘adopt a senior citizen’ scheme and they have already distributed police diaries at the residences of 4,200 seniors. In accordance with the scheme, a policeman would visit one of these homes every day, wr ite down his remarks and maintain a rec o rd of the visitors and old age-related problems of the senior. 

    The scheme will give a detailed idea about seniors to the police. “It will be like a status report on the 4,200 senior citizens who are staying alone,” said a police officer.
 

    The work of visiting seniors has been assigned to the local police stations’ beat chowkies. There are approximately 96 police stations in the city with an average of four beat chowkies each. The status report will be submitted to the in-charge of police stations on a weekly basis and will be reviewed regularly.
 

    Police records show that there are 38,000 more senior citizens in the city but they live with their families. “We do keep inquiring about them as well, but they have children to look after them,” said the officer. “Senior citizens staying alone are more vulnerable to crime against them,” he added. 

 

 

The Times of India, October 3, 2012

Home minister and city police chief meet senior citizens, at last

HELPING HAND: Home minister R R Patil and city police chief Satya Pal Singh with 80-year-old Shoaib Dholakwala in Nagpada on Monday

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Home minister R R Patil and police commissioner Satya Pal Singh finally found time on Monday to launch the adopt-a-senior-citizen scheme. The two were supposed to visit elderly citizens last Wednesday but the plan was cancelled due to political reasons, raising doubts over the seriousness of the scheme.
 

    On Monday afternoon, Patil and Singh visited two families of senior citizens in Fort and Nagpada and assured them that the state would do the needful to address issues related to them, particularly security concerns.

    Following a spate of crimes against senior citizens, Patil had proposed last month that every policeman should adopt a senior citizen. Patil had also said that he, too, would take the responsibility of one elderly citizen.  One of the families the duo visited on Monday was that of 80-year-old Shoaib Dholakwala in Nagpada. The exercise, as it turned out, was marked by much pomp and drama.
 

    While a police van was arranged to take journalists to Dholakwala’s residence, the minister himself turned 

up late. He reached the house only at 4.45pm, over an hour after the scheduled time of 3.30pm. Also, before his arrival, more than a dozen cops from the Nagpada police station landed up in Dholakwala’s neighbourhood to remove motorcycles and cars parked there.
 

    Patil later met Dholakwala and his relatives amid much fanfare. He also gave a bouquet to the 80-year-old and sat with him for 10 minutes. “Our policemen will be coming to your place on a regular basis and you can share your problems with them. We are here to help you,” he told Dholakwala. Later, a few more people came to meet Patil and he spent some time with them, too. Singh, meanwhile, instructed senior inspector (Nagpada) Vinayak Saude to solve the problems Dholakwala had been facing.
 

    Before going to Nagpada, Patil visited another senior citizen’s family in Fort. “Today, the world is observing International Senior Citizens’ Day. The state will take care of its elderly citizens. The children of many such people go to other places to study and work and the senior citizens are left alone. Our policemen will help them in every possible way,” said Patil.
 

    The minister said he would meet one elderly couple every month. “The policemen will also help the senior citizens maintain records of their domestic help,” he added. “I will talk to the law and judiciary department to try cases of violence against senior citizens in fast-track courts.”
 

    Dholakwala, whose two sons are in Dubai and Thane, said: “Patil’s meetings with senior citizens should be appreciated. This is a good initiative, one that will help create confidence among the elderly.”
 

Civic plan for elderly
    The civic body on Monday declared a policy for senior citizens. Under this, every ward will have a recreation centre for the elderly. The BMC will also give preference to senior citizens by providing halls if they want to organize a programme. There will also be a help desk and helplines especially for the elderly in all civic hospitals. Mayor Sunil Prabhu said suggestions would be discussed in the general body meeting and incorporated in six months. TNN

The Times of India, October 2, 2012

Kasab wrote to Pak envoy twice seeking legal help

Ajmal Kasab

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Convicted 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab desperately wanted to meet the Pakistani high commissioner in India after his arrest in Mumbai. 

    TOI has obtained exclusive copies of the two letters Kasab wrote in Urdu to the Pakistani high commissioner. The first sought an appointment for legal help and requested that the body of his colleague, Ismail Khan, be taken back to Pakistan for burial. The second letter said he did not want the services of an Indian lawyer and requested the Pakistan government to appoint a compatriot “mere bachav ke liye (for my protection)”. Neither of his letters got any response. 

    In the first undated letter that runs into three pages, Kasab stated that he was a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Providing his residence telephone number (03017363886), Kasab, now 25, admitted his role in the Mumbai attack and narrated his journey from Pakistan till he was captured. 

 

 

 Kasab signed off as a Pak ‘patriot’

 Mumbai: Terrorist Ajmal Kasab had sought legal help from the Pakistan government in his two letters to the Pakistani high commissioner. “I took training in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camp since I wanted to become a jihadi. For this, I learned to operate firearms and bombs at Muridke in Muzaffarabad and became a fidayeen. Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and Kahafa trained me in LeT camps and brainwashed me,” he wrote.
 

    He went on to give information about the names of his nine other accomplices and their addresses in Pakistan. He narrated how they travelled on a Pakistani ship, Al-Hussaini, and later hijacked Indian fishing trawler, M V Kuber. “Khan and I reached VT and began firing at different places; police also fired. During the exchange of fire Khan died and I was injured. I request for an appointment to meet you so that I can talk to you. I want legal help from you. Take Khan’s body to his home in Pakistan,” wrote Kasab. He signed off the first letter stating himself a watan parast (patriot).
 

    Kasab wrote the second letter on December 26, 2008, exactly a month after he was caught. In it, he repeated his story and wrote, “I don’t want an Indian lawyer for defence” and requested to meet a Pakistani lawyer. He pleaded that he had not got any response from the Pakistani high commissioner to his first letter and again requested for legal help. The second letter shows how Pakistan forsook the terrorist it sent to India. In both the letters, Kasab did not mention other attacks by his associates. Sources in the security establishment say that Kasab was not aware about the death of the eight gunmen in encounters. “He knew only about Khan’s death since both were travelling together,” said a source.
 

    Kasab and his nine accomplices killed 166 people. Kasab, who has been lodged in a special cell at Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison, was awarded the death sentence by the special court that was upheld by the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court. He has filed a clemency petition before the President of India. Currently, Kasab is practising karate to kill time in jail.
 

 

THE FIRST UNDATED LETTER

• In the 3-page undated letter, Kasab says he is a Pakistani national. Besides giving his residential address in Pakistan, Kasab also mentions his home phone number, 03017363886

• Speaks about his ambition to join militancy and become a fidayeen. Also mentions his trainers, Hafeez Saeed, Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and Abu Kahafa, and the nine other terrorists who came to India on 26/11

• He admits to have hijacked Indian fishing trawler, M V Kuber. Mentions attacks at CST and his associate Ismail Khan’s death in police encounter

• Requests the Pakistani high commissioner in India to meet him, to provide him with legal assistance and to send Khan’s body to the latter’s home

•Calls himself a patriot
 

The second letter, dated December 26, 2008:
• Narrates the lead-up to the 26/11 attack, Ismail Khan’s death and his capture. Kasab states cops have booked him

• Kasab requests for a Pakistani lawyer saying he does not want any Indian lawyer to defend him

• He says he had written to Pakistani high commissioner even earlier but did not get any reply

The Times of India, October, 1, 2012

‘No mediation in SpeakAsia cases’

SC ASKS ED, EOW TO CONTINUE PROBE

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: The Supreme Court has recalled its order allowing mediation for settling the complaints of investors who lost their money in schemes floated by investment firm SpeakAsia. In a recent order, the SC said the complaints are criminal in nature and facts presented before it does not justify settling the disputes through mediation. 
 
    Solomon James, one of the investors, known as panelists in the firm’s parlance, had moved the SC seeking directions for distributing Rs 141 crore in various bank accounts among them. This money was frozen by cops after a case was registered against the firm’s office-bearers. Over 175 accounts in various banks in India have been frozen. The city police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), investigating the case against SpeakAsia for cheating over 20 lakh investors, has so arrested more than 10 persons. “According to our estimate, investors lost Rs 2,276 crore in the firm’s schemes. The SC has allowed EOW and Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the money laundering allegations, to continue with its probe,” said Rajvardhan Sinha, additional commissioner of police, EOW.
 
    The company told the court earlier that it wanted to repay its investors and deposited $10mn (Rs 50 crore) in a Singapore bank. However, the police was not satisfied with this. “If they were interested in returning the money, why only Rs 50 crore? They should have returned the entire amount of Rs 2,276 crore. Why did they want to pay only a few hundred people, while there are over 24 lakh investors across the country?” a police officer asked.
   
 All the accused arrested in this case are out on bail. The apex court had appointed a retired SC judge as mediator, who was busy getting all the correct records of investors, the money duped and other legal things. However, the SC has now made it clear that the case does not justify settlement through mediation.  

The Times of India, September 28, 2012

High-profile jail inmates a constant worry for officials

Violence At Taloja Raises Security Concerns Yet Again

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: How safe are the state’s jails, which are home to several high-profile prisoners, for the security personnel posted there? This question has come to the fore once again in the wake of the violence at the Taloja jail. 

    On Saturday evening, a group of four inmates attacked a jailer and a few police personnel after one of them was told not to roam around after the prison’s closing time. 

    High-profile inmates such as Arun Gawli, Abu Salem and Ajmal Kasab, among several others, are lodged in jails across the state (see box). The presence of a large number of such inmates, particularly at Taloja, has become a cause for concern among the jail officials. 

    The Taloja jail, which was built in 2004 and opened in 2006, is located around 50 km from Mumbai in Raigad district. Spread over 77 acres, it is fast becoming the new hub of dreaded criminals as several suspects involved in sensitive cases have been shifted there from Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail.
    The jail houses only 1,112 inmates as against a capacity of 2,124 while. However, less than 100 police personnel have been posted there to keep an eye on the inmates. 

    Many of these prisoners are big names involved in sensitive cases. For instance, former MLA and gangster Arun Gawli —convicted in connection with the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar —is still lodged in Taloja. The jail authorities are expected to shift him to Yerwada in Pune soon. In July 2010, extradited gangster Salem was taken to Taloja from Arthur Road after he fought with D-gang member Mustafa Dossa. Salem, who was shifted for “security reasons”, is currently lodged in an anda cell. 

    Police personnel posted at the jail say the arrival of so many gangsters and big-ticket prisoners has created a law-and-order problem. “There is a constant fear of clashes breaking out between the gangsters. We want more staffers to ensure that the situation is kept under control,” said a policeman.
 

    Several of the inmates transferred to Taloja were reportedly involved in feuds with rivals or were a major security threat at other jails. Salem’s aide Hasan Mehndi, who was attacked by members of the Pandav-Putra gang at Arthur Road two years ago, was later shifted to Taloja. Irfan Shaikh and Sachin Shetty, both arrested for killing a dreaded robber at Arthur Road, were also shifted to Taloja. It is learnt that the two are seen frequently in Salem’s cell, washing his clothes or bringing him food and cigarettes.
 

    Jail sources say the gangsters and robbers meet during the day and chat for hours. “They also identify potential recruits for their gangs within the jail,” said a source. 

 

 
THE MAHA PRISON DIARIES
JAILS IN THE STATE
    Maharashtra has 56 jails, including 8 central prisons, which fall in four regions—south, north, east and west
    The Mumbai prisons fall in the south region. These include Arthur Road, three jails at Byculla, Thane, Kalyan, Alibaug, Ratnagiri, Sawantwadi and Taloja. These prisons house 6,820 prisoners  

 

BIG NAMES BEHIND BARS
    The Taloja jail is home to several high-profile prisoners. They include murder convict Arun Gawli, Chhota Rajan gang member D K Rao, D-gang’s deported member Riyaz Siddiqui, extradited gangster Abu Salem, 10 members of Abhinav Bharat suspected to be involved in the 2008 Malegaon blast, more than 30 accused in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, 5 accused in the 13/7 Mumbai blasts case and more than 20 members of Indian Mujahideen
    The Arthur Road jail in Mumbai was built in 1925. It currently houses big names such as 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab, deported gangster Santosh Shetty, Mustafa Dossa of the D-gang, alleged tax evader Hasan Ali Khan and diesel don Mohammed Ali Shaikh
 

Security for the high-profile inmates
    While Kasab has been kept in an isolated, highsecurity cell, Mohammed Ali, Shetty and several blast suspects have been kept in anda (egg-shaped) cells, which are away from the general barracks
    Wherever high-profile gangsters and terror suspects are lodged, security is reviewed and deployment changed frequently 

 
The problem of inadequate staff
    All the jails in Maharashtra are understaffed. For example, to handle around 2,000 inmates, there are only 100 police personnel—who are divided into shifts—at the Arthur Road jail
    Recently, 30 constables (called rakshaks) were recruited for the state’s jails. There is a need for more than 125 constables 

How crowded are our prisons?
    Most of the prisons are overcrowded. While the Arthur Road jail has a capacity of 804 inmates, it houses 1,995 prisoners. The Thane jail has a capacity of 1,105 inmates but houses 1,984
    Jails at Taloja, Ratnagiri, Alibaug, Sawantwadi and Byculla have enough space for prisoners

The Times of India, September 25, 2012