Delhi underground

Occupational medication

Policing is a tough job. Two station house officers, one of whom had joined recently, were overheard discussing ailments. The experienced SHO said to the other one, "You have just joined as SHO. Six months on, your drawer will be full of medicines for blood pressure, diabetes, aches and other ailments. Look at me, I used to exercise every morning for two hours, but now, I visit the doctor for physiotherapy sessions. He says it's the beginning of spondylitis." This made the new SHO laugh, but he did cast a wary look at his drawer, which only had a set of bandages and oil.

No one to blame?

While hearing a public interest litigation on changing the symbol used by the Indian Railways, the Delhi High Court was confronted with two parties who didn't quite know who to blame. The petitioner had made the Home Ministry a party to the case, claiming that they were the ones responsible for assigning the symbol. The counsel for Centre however, said the Home Ministry had nothing to do with the symbol. When the court asked who was responsible for it, the counsel suggested that the court direct the Railway Ministry to appear before it. The acting Chief Justice asked in exasperation, "You mean you want to make the Railway Ministry a party in this case just so that you can get information from them? Why can't the two of you just communicate?" When the lawyer had no answer the Chief Justice turned to the petitioner and asked him to come on the next date of hearing with proper research on which ministry had assigned the symbol. "The Union of India doesn't know who is responsible, so you will have to tell us," the judge said.

Never miss a date

In the cash for votes case trial, Sohail Hindustani was arrested for non-appearance at a previous hearing. The court had issued non-bailable warrants against him as neither he nor an advocate had appeared on the last date. Hindustani told the court that the "miscommunication" had occurred since he had let go of his lawyer and had been away from Delhi due to an emergency. He appointed a new advocate in court and apologised to the judge for his absence. By the time the new counsel filed a plea for Hindustani's release, he had been sent to judicial custody. The counsel had to apologise again and assure the judge that Hindustani would not miss a hearing again. Only then did the court cancel the arrest warrant.

... contd.

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