Dilip Simeon's blog

NB:  Numerous instances of re-instatement of policemen accused of heinous crimes are in public view.  Readers may judge for themselves as to the fate of our constitutional rights and criminal justice system, both of which have been under sustained attack from various quarters for the past several decades: (see links supplied below). On one point I agree completely with Mr Vanzara, when he says:  " In the dirty politics of India, it is the individual interests of the leaders which are considered supreme, then come group interests within the party and ultimately comes the party interest among many parties; national interest is only talked about just to befool the people, in reality, nobody is bothered about nation ."   We have been warned. Unless dutiful members of the bureaucracy, judiciary and police force remember their oath to the Indian Constitution, citizens can expect a rapid degradation of their lawful rights (which were already under threat) in the immediate ...

'CBI investigating officers have to arrest the policy formulators also as we, being field officers, have simply implemented the conscious policy of this government which was inspiring, guiding and monitoring our actions from very close quarters...  I am of the firm opinion that the place of this government, instead of being in Gandhinagar should be in Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai, or in Sabarmati Central prison at Ahmedabad..' One of Gujarat's most senior policemen, DG Vanzara, who has been in jail since 2007 for a series of fake encounters ,today said that officers like him were exploited by former Home Minister  Amit Shah  and the Gujarat government and later thrown to the wolves. In a long letter in which he says he is resigning, the former officer reprimanded Chief Minister  Narendra Modi  who he says he "adored like a God", for being misled by Mr Shah's "evil influence."  The letter, dated September 1, alleges that the Gujarat governme...

The damning letter of the murder accused, deputy inspector-general of police of Gujarat, D.G. Vanzara is a time bomb with a long fuse. Even before it goes off, it is likely to damage the prime ministerial ambitions of Narendra Modi. It will also change the shape of the election campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr Vanzara claims that he has been forced to “draw the sword” — suggesting that he is ready to strike. The accused police officer is no saint but he suggests through his confessional resignation letter that he is not the only sinner. Since a copy of the letter is marked to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he may be forced to strike at his partners in crime sooner than later. He could be called to explain the charges made in the letter that the top echelons of the government were in the loop on encounter deaths. The CBI is already examining the letter for any evidentiary value it might have. Meanwhile, it could become increasingly difficult for the BJ...

The encounter cop, a broken omerta -  by Abhinav Kumar The question is not of the individual culpability of Vanzara and his team, but of the systemic distortions that have led us to this situation 'Encounters were used to fight naxalism in Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, terrorism in Punjab, separatism in the Northeast and J&K, dacoits in UP and MP, organised crime in Mumbai and Delhi. What would qualify as cold blooded murder in any society became an instrument of state policy and everyday administration. Very soon, encounter specialists were feted as heroes. Medals and cash awards were showered on them. Many were depicted on celluloid. The irony, of a democracy using murder as a tool of state policy, was lost on the police and the polis alike.' The Vanzara letter represents a Rubicon moment in the history of Indian police. A boundary has been crossed. While the media and political parties cry themselves hoarse about the political and legal significance of this letter, ...

On 5 July, the Supreme Court  upheld  a Gujarat trial court’s verdict convicting 12 people accused of the murder of Haren Pandya, a former Gujarat home minister. Pandya, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was killed in Ahmedabad on 26 March 2003. The  trial court’s conviction , on 25 June 2007, had been reversed by the Gujarat high court on 29 August 2011. In a scathing indictment of the investigation, the agencies responsible and the lower court, the high court had acquitted all the accused of the murder charges and termed the trial court’s verdict as “perverse and illegal.” The high court’s judgement noted that the investigation had been “botched up and blinkered” and “misdirected.” It also came down heavily on the investigating officers and recommended that the “concerned ought to be held accountable for their inaptitude resulting into injustice, huge harassment of many persons concerned and enormous waste of public resour...

NEW DELHI: While acquitting all the six persons who had been convicted by Gujarat high court in the September 2002 Akshardham temple attack case, the Supreme Court has brought out many curious aspects of the investigations in its May 16 verdict.  It took almost a year for the police to swing into action in the Akshardham investigations. Till August 28, 2003, Gujarat's anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had been, as the apex court verdict put it, "shooting in the dark for about a year without any result". It added: "No trace of the people associated with this heinous attack on the Akshardham temple could be found by the police."  And then, there was a dramatic change, merely because of the transfer of the case from ATS to another wing of the Gujarat police: the crime branch, which did not take even a day to crack the case.  Drama in a day   This was all thanks to a "verbal instruction" from the controversial police officer DG Vanzara, who has been in jail since...

“The Truth Behind This Conspiracy Is Necessary For The National & People’s Security” -  Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Grover , who represents  Ishrat Jahan ’s mother Shamima, talks about the shocking testimonies and the sting which implicates IB Special Director Rajendra Kumar and Modi’s top guns.  http://tehelka.com/the-truth-behind-this-conspiracy-is-necessary-for-the-national-peoples-security-vrinda-grover/ Did Narendra Modi, Amit Shah know of the Ishrat Jahan encounter in advance? Also see:   Caught On Tape – Gujarat Minister & Top Officials Admit Influencing Ishrat Jahan Investigation Ishrat Jahan case: senior Gujarat IPS officer declared absconder A Special CBI court in Ahmedabad here on Friday declared Gujarat IPS officer PP Pandey an absconder in the 2004 fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of the special CBI court HS Khutwad passed an order proclaiming Additional DGP (Crime) PP Pandey an ab...