#World’sOldest #Intelligence Agency - #IB of #India has NO #LEGAL Entity !!! & for the 1st time the IB or #IntelligenceBureau, which was set up by the colonial-era regime in 1887, stands formally accused of criminal conspiracy, abduction, planting of evidence &, worse, plain, cold-blooded murder by the #CBI in the Ishrat Jahan #FakeEncounter case chargesheet. The IB has so far stonewalled the CBI investigation and refused to share information with the investigators. Arvind Verma, a former #IPS officer, told Outlookindia “IB has a well-structured process of documenting every bit of information & keeping full records of every transaction.” But it is not willing to cooperate with the CBI or allowing it access to records dating back to 2004 & pertaining to the encounter. Which is why the CBI is wary of naming the IB officials (like Rajinder Kumar, special director of IB) among the accused. A former #DIB (IB director) hinted that spy agencies are forced to carry out unpleasant duties in the line of duty. “Strictly speaking,” he went on to add, “everything the IB does is #Illegal.” #Advocate Mukul Sinha, Lawyer for the father of #JavedSheikh (1 of the 4 victims of that fake encounter) said “The #Chargesheet hides more than it reveals. #Political pressures have been at work and the masterminds have been left alone.” A #PIL questioning the legally grey status of the IB is also pending before the Karnataka High Court. Filed by former IB officer R.N. Kulkarni, it observes that the finest intelligence agencies in the world operate in secrecy, but within a legal framework. It asks: if other countries, including the #US, can have statutes guiding their agencies, why can’t India? The PIL also questions the use of #SecretFunds by the IB. It alleges that IB has at its disposal sums running up to 100 Cr under secret funds, which amount was being put to ‘bizarre’ uses. The case has been dragging in the court for the past 2 years, with the next hearing due in August. However, in May this year, the Union of India filed an affidavit to claim that the IB’s operations as a wing of the #MHA was constitutional. But R.K. RAGHAVAN, the former joint director of IB & director of CBI, in his article (published in the same issue of the #Outlook magazine outlookindia/article.aspx?286686) is also of the same opinion that "The IB, it must be remembered, is not a legal entity. It was created by an executive order & is merely an “attached office” of the Union home ministry. It has no powers under the Criminal Procedure Code (#CRPC), which lays down investigation procedure for the police." Former CBI director asserts “As far as I know, an IB officer cannot be chargesheeted for providing wrong/false information. Since the IB is not a legal entity..." Whatever be the final outcome, the controversy has served to highlight the fact that the IB does not work under any statute or legal framework. While the government describes it as a #civilian organisation, it is manned largely by police officers & acts somewhat as a #police organisation. In the absence of any statute, the IB is open to abuse, as the #ShahCommission of inquiry had emphasised when it was appointed to look into #Emergency excesses in 1977. The commission’s recommendations, however, have never been acted upon by successive governments. Advocate Vrinda Grover, #Lawyer for #IshratJahan’s mother adds “What is dangerous is there are elements in #bureaucracy, police etc, with their own vision of India at variance with the #Constitution.”
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 09:59:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015