Just being member of banned outfit not a crime: Supreme Court

Supreme Court's Historic Judgement
We
should try to get a full text of this judgement and must be send across
the country. Dalits, tribals, Minorities and human rights defenders are
being targeted by the police and intelligence for...



We
should try to get a full text of this judgement and must be send across
the country. Dalits, tribals, Minorities and human rights defenders are
being targeted by the police and intelligence for being part of some
ideology just because they are raising issues of their rights. Reading
books and raising uncomfortable questions have become crime in India.
Hundreds of activists have been arrested. It is time these matters
should reach to each one of our friends who have been humiliated,
and targeted by the state.

regards,


Vidya Bhushan Rawat
[font=Arial][font=Georgia][b] Just being member of banned outfit not a crime: Supreme Court[/b]

[/font][color=#999999]Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN, Feb 5, 2011, 01.07am IST[/color][/font]

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[font=Arial][font=Arial] [b]Tags:[/b][url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=ULFA]ULFA[/url]|[url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Terrorist%20and%20Disruptive%20Activities%20Act]Terrorist And Disruptive Activities Act[/url]|[url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Supreme%20Court]Supreme Court[/url]|[url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Arup%20Bhuyan]Arup Bhuyan[/url][/font]
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[color=#3F3F3F][font=georgia]
NEW DELHI: Members of banned organizations cannot be treated as
criminals by police till they indulge in or incite violence, the [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Supreme%20Court]Supreme Court[/url] ruled on Friday.

The apex court's Friday ruling is part of a judgment acquitting [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Arup%20Bhuyan]Arup Bhuyan[/url],
convicted by a Guwahati court under the now lapsed anti-terror law
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. Bhuyan was a
suspected member of the outlawed secessionist outfit [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/United-Liberation-Front-of-Assam]United Liberation Front of Assam[/url] ( [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Ulfa]Ulfa[/url]) which figures at the top of the home ministry`s list of banned organizations.

"Mere
membership of a banned organization will not make a person a criminal
unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates
public disorder by violence or incitement to violence," a Bench
comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra said.

The
order can have a bearing on the plans of outlawed outfits which include
terror and insurgent groups. The list of 32 banned organizations on the
website of ministry of home affairs includes al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Taiba,
Jaish-e-Mohammad, Students` Islamic Movement of [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/India]India[/url] (SIMI),
CPI(M-L) and allied formations, militant groups active in north-eastern
states, Khalistan Commando Force, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front,
International Sikh Youth Federation, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and Al Badr.

Exactly
a month ago, the same Bench had upheld bail to a doctor arrested for
treating a man accused of chopping off the hand of a Kerala professor
for setting a controversial question paper.

The January 3
judgment had said, "Mere membership of a banned organization will not
incriminate a person unless he resorts to violence or incites people to
violence or does an act intended to create disorder or disturbance of
public peace by resort to violence."

The trial court had
convicted Bhuyan based on his confession to police, admissible as
evidence under TADA. Bhuyan had appealed in Supreme Court.

Allowing
his petition, the court said his conviction was based on "a very weak
kind of evidence" and could not be sustained in the absence of
corroborative material.

On the confessions, Justices Katju and
Misra expressed strong views. "As is well known, the widespread and
rampant practice in the police in India is to use third-degree methods
for extracting confessions from the alleged accused. Hence, the courts
have to be cautious in accepting confessions made to the police by the
alleged accused," the Bench said.

Police often extracted
confession from an accused because they were neither trained nor
equipped with gadgets to conduct scientific investigation like their
western counterparts, the Bench said, adding, "Hence, to obtain a
conviction, they often rely on the easy short-cut of procuring a
confession under torture." The court added, "Torture is such a terrible
thing that when a person is under torture, he will confess to almost
any crime. Even Joan of Arc confessed to be a witch under torture."[/font][/color]
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Read more: [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Just-being-member-of-banned-outfit-not-a-crime-Supreme-Court/articleshow/7428601.cms#ixzz1D2vCXIK9]Just being member of banned outfit not a crime: Supreme Court - The Times of India[/url] [url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Just-being-member-of-banned-outfit-not-a-crime-Supreme-Court/articleshow/7428601.cms#ixzz1D2vCXIK9]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Just-being-member-of-banned-outfit-not-a-crime-Supreme-Court/articleshow/7428601.cms#ixzz1D2vCXIK9[/url][/font]
--
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
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