Thackeray let off in contempt case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed charges of contempt of court against Shiv Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray, reports our legal correspondent.

A three-judge bench of Justices Y.K. Sabharwal, D.M. Dharmadhikari and Tarun Chatterjee in a unanimous decision set aside a Bombay High Court order of 1997 convicting Thackeray of contempt of court for allegedly levelling bribery charges against a judge in a public speech at Mumbai?s Shivaji Park in 1996.

The judges held that the contempt proceedings were initiated by private parties and, hence, under the Contempt of Court Act, consent from the state advocate-general should have been obtained before initiating the proceedings.

As no consent was obtained before the petition was filed by state Congress members Harish Pimpal Khute and Mohan Prasad Tripathy, the high court had committed an error by going ahead with the contempt proceedings, the Supreme Court said.

The high court had held Thackeray guilty of making the contemptuous remarks that a particular judge?s ?price? was Rs 35 lakh to get a favourable order. These remarks were also published in the party mouthpiece Saamna.

Charges against Saamna?s editor Sanjay Raut and its printer and publisher Subhash Desai were also quashed. The Supreme Court directed that the fine deposited by them be refunded.

AIIMS union undertaking

New Delhi (PTI): The AIIMS Karamchari Union on Monday gave an undertaking to Delhi High Court that it would not disrupt the normal functioning of the hospital, which had been affected by a strike by Class III and IV employees since November 25.

A division bench of Chief Justice B.C. Patel and Justice B.D. Ahmed then disposed of a public interest litigation that contended that the strike violated the right to life and was also contrary to Supreme Court directives on the subject.

The petitioner, Sampat Kumar, had sought directives to AIIMS, the Union health secretary and the hospital union to restore normalcy in the hospital.

However, the court clarified that the employees could give a memorandum to authorities for the redress of their grievances.

Man held for bigamy bid

Muzaffarnagar (PTI): Police have arrested a groom for allegedly committing bigamy when a woman claiming to be his wife appeared at the marriage ceremony.

Seven persons, along with the groom, Virsen, who were performing wedding rituals, were arrested when a woman with an eight-month-old-child claiming to be his wife came to the pandal, the police said on Monday.

Revelry death

Kanpur (PTI): A guest at a marriage ceremony on Sunday night opened fire, injuring one person who died in hospital. Police have arrested Uma Kant Srivastava and seized his gun after the deceased?s brother lodged a complaint.

Riots panel visit

Ahmedabad (PTI): The panel probing the riots in Godhra after the burning of the Sabarmati Express is scheduled to visit the town on December 13 and re-inspect coach S-6. The commission decided to visit the town after going through the affidavits of several victims of the train carnage. The U.C. Banerji technical committee of the railways that was formed to probe several aspects of the fire on the coach had also recently visited the town.

Rapist convicted

New Delhi (PTI): A court on Monday sentenced a 35-year-old man to 10 years? rigorous imprisonment for raping a three-year-old girl. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on the convict, Inder Thakur, a native of Darbhanga in Bihar.

Gang busted

Ahmedabad (PTI): Gujarat police on Monday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of dacoits with the arrest of 17 persons over the last one month. The arrests were made after the sleuths learnt the whereabouts of the dacoits while investigating the lynching of two gang members in the Bapunagar area of the city in October, police said.

As many as 145 silver coins dating back to the medieval period have been found at Veerpura village, 75 km from Kota. Such a hoard has been unearthed in Rajasthan for the first time.