03-12-2006, 08:34 AM
What did you say?
Posted online: Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 0000 hrs
FOR close to 59 years, â<span style='color:red'>perjury</span>â never made news in India. Last week, it cropped up for the first time. Not once, but twiceâin connection with two cases that have rocked the nation: The Best Bakery trial and the Jessica Lall murder case. On Friday, Zaheera Shaikh surrendered herself in the Mazagon courts after the Bombay special trial court in the Best Bakery case issued notices for perjuryâdefined in Indian penal laws as ââgiving false evidenceâââand the Supreme Court convicted her with a one-year imprisonment term for telling lies in a related contempt of court case.
In the Jessica Lall case, the Delhi High Court has sou motu taken cognizance of the police/prosecution theory on ââ<span style='color:red'>hostile witnessesââ</span>.
Both cases are demonstrative of the fact that India is finally gearing up to strictly enforce laws relating to perjury and false witness, which could go a long way in deciding future criminal cases. This is because a personâs statement on oath, testimony, and/or in sworn affidavit is regarded as the truthâunless the contrary is establishedâand vital evidence on which judicial decisions are based.
Wheels of Justice
THE high rate of acquittals in criminal cases in India is mainly due to witnesses turning hostile. The criminality of ââbuyingââ of witnesses by influential accused can be handled only by strictly enforcing the penal law on perjury. Now the allegation that Zaheera took money to retract her statement is open to judicial scrutiny.
Though Zaheera is not the lone example of perjuryâin a majority of cases in Indian courts, false evidence or retraction of statements result
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Next
Posted online: Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 0000 hrs
FOR close to 59 years, â<span style='color:red'>perjury</span>â never made news in India. Last week, it cropped up for the first time. Not once, but twiceâin connection with two cases that have rocked the nation: The Best Bakery trial and the Jessica Lall murder case. On Friday, Zaheera Shaikh surrendered herself in the Mazagon courts after the Bombay special trial court in the Best Bakery case issued notices for perjuryâdefined in Indian penal laws as ââgiving false evidenceâââand the Supreme Court convicted her with a one-year imprisonment term for telling lies in a related contempt of court case.
In the Jessica Lall case, the Delhi High Court has sou motu taken cognizance of the police/prosecution theory on ââ<span style='color:red'>hostile witnessesââ</span>.
Both cases are demonstrative of the fact that India is finally gearing up to strictly enforce laws relating to perjury and false witness, which could go a long way in deciding future criminal cases. This is because a personâs statement on oath, testimony, and/or in sworn affidavit is regarded as the truthâunless the contrary is establishedâand vital evidence on which judicial decisions are based.
Wheels of Justice
THE high rate of acquittals in criminal cases in India is mainly due to witnesses turning hostile. The criminality of ââbuyingââ of witnesses by influential accused can be handled only by strictly enforcing the penal law on perjury. Now the allegation that Zaheera took money to retract her statement is open to judicial scrutiny.
Though Zaheera is not the lone example of perjuryâin a majority of cases in Indian courts, false evidence or retraction of statements result
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Next