Vishnu Karle

Certain castes have been cursed and regarded as criminal tribes in India.  They have been persecuted for centuries.  They wander from one place to another place for living. Their pain is unheard by the society. No one has any sympathy or kindness towards them.  They are ignored and humiliated on time to time.  The one such tribe in Maharashtra is "Paradhi" (पारधी). They have presence in Maharashtra's rural area especially in Marathwada region of Maharashtra.   The story I am going to tell you is of Krishna and his brother Ravi. Krishna was working as a labourer in a factory in Aurangabad. His brother has a small Tum Tum.  A day ago, Krishna came to Udgir to see his new born baby who is just one month old.  Somewhere in the jurisdiction of Wadhvana police station a robbery happened and Krishna and his brother Ravi were picked up by the Local Crime Branch in Latur.  Both of them were beaten till the blood come out of their mouth. They were crying with pain and saying they a

Before Mr. Justice Macpherson and Mr. Justice Morris.   QUEEN v. NOBIN CHUNDER BANERJEE .   Judgment Date : 1873 October 24   Citation :  13 Bengal Law Reports, Ap. 20/   1873, Volume 20 WR (Weekly Reports) Page, 70  Criminal Procedure Code (Act X. of 1872), s. 263-Verdict of Jury-Murder-Insanity. - Baboo Juggadanund Mookerjee for the Crown. - Mr. Bonnerjee (with him Baboo Bacharam Mookerjee) for the prisoner. THE facts are sufficiently stated in the judgment of the Court, which was delivered by MACPHERSON, J.- The jury in this case have found that the prisoner caused the death of his wife, but that he is not guilty of murder, because, when he killed her, he, by reason of unsoundness of mind, was incapable of knowing that he was doing an act which was wrong or contrary to law. The Sessions Judge, disagreeing with the verdict of the jury as regards the unsoundness of the prisoner's mind, was of opinion that he ought to have been convicted of murder; and he has (under s. 263, of the

 In the last six-seven months, I have met thousands of prisoners in jail. I interacted with murderers, thieves, dacoits, rapists, fraudsters and some innocent people too. Whenever I went inside the jail, I realised only one thing, that,  living without freedom is not living at all. Freedom is everything in life. If a man is not free then he is a dead body.  Prisons are man made hells built on the earth. There is no freedom inside the prison.  Prisoners lose their mental well being in jail.  They have to eat whatever is given, do not have a mobile phone, are completely cut off from the society, yet there are some criminals who come to jail again and again. Perhaps they prefer jail as their home.         I have one such story of a thief. This is the story of a 25-26 year old Ganesh. Ganesh's profession is to go to any deserted house and commit theft. Sometimes in a house, sometimes in a temple. At least 40 cases of theft are registered against Ganesh in Latur district. He does not st

Indian laws are strange. There is a lot of talk of equality here but in reality the law itself does not provide equal rights. One of the most troubling aspects in this regard is that if a Hindu man has the desire/ability to marry more than one woman and the respective women willingly consent to such marriage, Indian law denies this right to a Hindu man by banning bigamy. And at the same time gives permission to other religious people. Where is the equality? It is not known from what exact tradition such restriction has been imposed on Hindu men. That I don't know (but I aspire to know it) what tradition of Hindus was assumed behind this oppressive condition of monogamy for Hindu men, because polygamy is an important feature of Hindu tradition except in exceptional cases. One can give examples of one hundred polygamous marriages against one monogamous marriage. Then it is not known what basic tradition was taken into account when making this law. Monogamy law violates the basic huma

भारताचे कायदे विचीत्र आहेत. इथे समानतेच्या मोठ्या गप्पा मारल्या जातात परंतु प्रत्यक्षात कायदाच समान हक्क देत नाही. या संबधीची एक सर्वात खटकणारी बाब म्हणजे हिंदु पुरुष असेल व त्याची एका पेक्षा अधिक स्त्रीयांशी विवाह करण्याची आकांक्षा/ क्षमता असेल आणि संबंधित स्त्रीयांची ही आनंदाने या विवाहाला संमती/तयारी असेल तरी एका हिंदु पुरुषाला भारताचा कायदा द्विभार्या प्रतिबंधन घालुन हा हक्क नाकारतो. आणि त्याच वेळी इतर धर्मीयांस ही परवानगी देतो. यात कसली आलीय समानता? असा प्रतिबंध नेमका कोणत्या भुमिकेतुन हिंदु प्रुरुषांवर लादण्यात आलेला आहे याची माहीती नाही. म्हणजे हिंदु पुरुषांना ही एकपत्नीव्रता ची जाचक अट का कायद्यात घातली यामागे हिंदुंची कोणती परंपरा गृहीत धरण्यात आलेली होती याची मला माहीती नाही( जाणुन घेण्याची आकांक्षा आहे) कारण अपवादात्मक उदाहरणे सोडली तर बहुपत्नीत्व हे हिंदु परंपरेचे एक महत्वाचे लक्षण आहे. एका एकपत्नीव्रती महापुरुषाच्या विरोधात शंभर बहुपत्नीव्रती महापुरुषांची उदाहरणे देता येतील,मग हा कायदा बनवितांना कोणती मुळ परंपरा गृहीत धरण्यात आली होती माहीत नाही.या कायद्याने हिंदु पुरुषांच

                   Illustative picture only   Today I am going to narrate you a true story of a case that I witnessed in the Latur Juvenile Court.  Since last seven months I have been working with the District Legal Services Authority in Latur.  My duty is handling cases at juvenile court, CJM, jmfc and visiting prisoners at Latur District Jail. On 20th January 2024 it was around 01:40 pm. I was going to have my lunch when I received a phone call from the juvenile court. A juvenile was apprehended by police on the allegations of rape on his own minor sister. I reached the juvenile court and met juvenile's mother. The case was of incestuous relationship of two minor brother and sister.  I could see a desparate mother trying to save his son who committed terrible sins.   A 14 year old girl was hospitalized in Government Hospital by her mother. Doctor found victim 7 months pregnant and asked mother whether she is married, to which mother replied she is not married. Pregnancy was almos

                             Major William Sleeman People living in this well governed, modern state today cannot even imagine the condition that the country was during the 19th century in colonial India.  Those were terrible times.  Theft, dacoity, fraud, assault and murder were par for the course.  In those days,  a man hesitated less before killing a fellow human than he did before swatting a mosquito.  It was from Lord Bentinck's time that laws became very strict.  Major William Sleeman assumed charge of the office of Commissioner for the Suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity in early 1839. He is best known for his work from the 1830s in suppressing the organized criminal gangs known as Thuggee.  During the operations that he supervised, more than 1400 Thugs were hanged or transported for the life.   In 19th century colonial India, two prevalent forms of criminal activity were thuggee and dacoity. Thuggee was a practice which involved criminal gangs looting, robbing, and eventuall