TRIVANDRUM, 13 February 2006 — India will soon introduce e-passports that would phase out the traditional paper book by 2013, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed has said. “The introduction of e-passports with all details of the cardholder embedded in a chip would end malpractices and fake passports,” he told a news conference here on Friday. The United States, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have started issuing e-passports that contain biographic information and a digital photograph, embedded in a contactless chip set in the passport complying with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards. Ahamed, who also inaugurated a touch-screen passport information kiosk, electronically controlled token and queue management system and automatic telephone inquiry system at the regional passport office here, said his ministry would simplify the process of issuing passports.
A Pardon After Two Decades
Pakistani citizen Akhtar Hussain, 70, who is in the death row in the United Arab Emirates, can walk free now thanks to a family in a remote Kerala village. Inspired by the Saudi victim who gave up his right to retribution and saved Abdul Lateef Naushad’s eye, the family of P. T. Murrath, who was murdered during a robbery attempt in the Emirates, has granted pardon to Hussain, his assassin who has been languishing in jail for over two decades. News reports said Murrath, 21, a hotel employee in Al-Ain, was murdered on July 30, 1980. Two assailants, identified later as Akhtar Hussain, then 45, and Mushtaq Sardar Khan, 17, barged into his hotel to rob inmates. Murrath resisted their attempt and received several stab wounds. Later, he succumbed to his injuries. A court in the UAE awarded Hussain the death sentence while Khan escaped the noose because he was a minor at that time. His hands were chopped off before he was deported to Pakistan. Since Murrath’s family members couldn’t be traced to seek their opinion, Hussain’s sentence was inordinately delayed.
Fund for Jailed Expats
NRI businessman and philanthropist C.K. Menon, whose Behzad group of companies registered a turnover of 40 billion rupees, is setting up a fund to secure release of Indian workers languishing in Gulf jails for not being able to pay blood money. Menon, who was felicitated here on receiving Pravasi Bharatiya Samman from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Hyderabad last month, said he had been discussing with community forums in the Gulf on the proposal. Menon is also a director of Norka-Roots, the government-backed NRI welfare agency.
Kerala High Court Goes Online
Litigants can just log on to the Kerala High Court’s website http://highcourtofkerala.nic.in and track their cases now. The high court, busy celebrating its golden jubilee this year, will initially upload judgments with digital certification that helps avoid hassles in procuring certified copies. The court will soon offer facilities for filing writs, appeals and other petitions online and for obtaining copies of orders electronically, according to T.V. Praseetha, a top official of National Informatics Center, the federal agency that hosts the site. “We are doing these things in a phased manner. Within two months, everything including the interactive voice response system will be in place,” she said.
