*** If I am not mistaken these 'special' courts were designed to provide fast justice, weren't they?
cm 14 yrs in courts, 1 hour to walk free 27 Mar 2008, 0155 hrs IST,Rukmini Shrinivasan,TNN Print Save EMail Write to Editor MUMBAI: The much hyped but much delayed special courts, which the Maharashtra government set up last year to try 1992-93 riots cases, disposed of the first case on Tuesday: a man accused of stealing two cans of groundnut oil 14 years ago was acquitted. Metropolitan magistrate R C Bapat Sarkar took a little over an hour to acquit Abdul Ghaffar, whose case was one of the "priority" cases specially selected by the government to be tried in the new courts. Ghaffar (45), a sherbet seller on Mohammed Ali Road, was arrested in May 1993 for "breaking into" and "stealing" two cans of oil from a godown near his house in December 1992. "Dozens of us were rounded up during those days and charged with offences ranging from theft to murder depending on our 'look'," Ghaffar said during a break from work at his house near Suleman Usman Bakery. "I was in custody for two and a half months. They beat me up and tortured me in ways that I cannot tell you," he added. Ghaffar was charged under Sections 380 (robbery) and 454 (trespass) of IPC. His trial began at the Mazgaon magistrate's court. "My date would come up every two weeks. I'd go to court, sign my name, and then be told that the case was adjourned. I'd return home by evening, a day's earnings lost," said Ghaffar. For the past two years, there was no hearing and Ghaffar was told by police that his case had been put in the dormant file. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
