india legal 15 august 2016

NDIA EGAL L August 15, 2016 `100

www.indialegalonline.com

I STORIES THAT COUNT

12

ILRF Conclave: Ensuring Access To Justice For All

By Sucheta Das Gupta and Sandeep Sharma

Ajith Pillai Cricket cleanup: Will other sports follow? 34

Nayantara Roy Amend archaic abortion law 30

Dinesh C Sharma Goodbye to Delhi’s ageing diesel cars 60

Kalyani Shankar Should the governor’s post be abolished? 48

SC strikes a BALANCE

In a hard hitting judgment, the apex court rules that AFSPA cannot be permanently imposed By Ramesh Menon 20

Irom Sharmila

Droupadi Murmu,Governor of Jharkhand

Virender Singh,Chief Justice, High Court of Jharkhand

AUGUST 15, 2016

A Memorable DayOn July 23, 2016, India Legal embarked on a journey to promote grassrootsinvolvement in making the fruits of justice available to all. INDERJIT BADHWAR

Shadow of the GunSince it was passed in 1958, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been widelymisused resulting in countless killings and rapes in the North East. A recent SupremeCourt order questions the controversial law and brings hope. RAMESH MENON

20LEAD

7

A Judge’s Diary Pro-active action by Virender Singh, Chief Justice of the Jharkhand HighCourt, has shown justice has a humane side. RAMESH MENON

18

Archaic ActA recent apex court judgment allowing a rape victim to terminate her 24-weekpregnancy reflects the need to amend the abortion law in the light of scientificadvances and new social realities. NAYANTARA ROY

30

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VOLUME. IX ISSUE. 23

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Editor Inderjit Badhwar

Managing EditorRamesh Menon

Deputy Managing EditorShobha John

Executive EditorAjith Pillai

Bureau ChiefsNeeta Kolhatkar, Mumbai

Vipin Kumar Chaubey, LucknowBN Tamta, Dehradun

Principal CorrespondentHarendra Chowdhary, Mathura

ReportersAlok Singh, Allahabad

Gaurav Sharma, VaranasiAssociate Editors

Meha Mathur, Sucheta DasguptaDeputy EditorPrabir BiswasStaff Writer

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Sonu Kumar SharmaTechnical Executive

Anubhav Tyagi

Justice for AllThe first-ever conclave of the India Legal Research Foundation in Ranchiexamined the reasons why access to justice still eludes the poor andpowerless. SUCHETA DASGUPTA and SANDEEP SHARMA

INDIA LEGAL CONCLAVE

SUPREME COURT

4 August 15, 2016

REGU

LARS

Response .................................................................... 6Quote-Unquote ......................................................... 11National Briefs ........................................................... 29Supreme Court.......................................................... 39Is that Legal............................................................... 74International Briefs .................................................... 75Figure It Out .............................................................. 80Wordly Wise .............................................................. 81

China’s belligerent reaction to the recent UN court verdict that it has noterritorial claims in the South China Sea reveals its larger design todominate the region. BHASKAR ROY

Angry Dragon 68

Follow us on Facebook.com/indialegalmediaand Twitter.com/indialegalmedia

48There is a debate in legal and political circles on whether the postshould be abolished after the controversial events in Uttarakhandand Arunachal Pradesh. KALYANI SHANKAR

Do We Need Governors?

The National Green Tribunal’s order to scrap diesel vehicles in Delhiwhich are more than 15 years old will help the capital breathe easy.DINESH C SHARMA

End of the Road 60

76

ENVIRONMENT

In three weeks of political churning, Theresa May has emerged asunelected prime minister of Britain. But the road ahead is a dauntingone as the country prepares to exit EU. SAJEDA MOMIN

The Brexit PM

Cover Illustration and Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE

LEGAL EYE

64The murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch highlights the sexismand feudal mindset in Pakistani society which has no law to to punishsuch “honor killings”. FIROZ BAKHT AHMED

Dishonorable DeedMY SPACE

DIPLOMACY

GLOBAL TRENDS

The top court accepting the Lodha panel reforms could impactbeyond cricket. Lawmakers will now find it easier to debar politiciansfrom holding office in other sport federations as well. AJITH PILLAI

34Sports the Winner

In July, four members of theKarnataka police force committed suicide unable tocope with the pressures ofduty: an alarming trend.IMRAN QURESHI

56SuicidalStress

SOCIETY

In a landmark judgment, the Madras High Court dismissed a ban onPerumal Murugan’s 2010 novel Madhorubhagan thus upholding theauthor’s right to practice his craft. R RAMASUBRAMANIAN

42Writer’s “Resurrection”

COURTS

53The Chief Justice of India had to step in after a confrontationbetween the press and the legal fraternity took an ugly turn bringing courts in Kerala to a standstill. NAVEEN NAIR

Unbecoming ConductSTATES

The actor was acquitted in two poaching cases by the Rajasthan HighCourt. NAYANTARA ROY

41Salman Gets a Breather

5INDIA LEGAL August 15, 2016

6 August 15, 2016

Can triple talaq beoverturned?This is with reference to the story,“No, No, No!” by Ramesh Menon(July 15, 2016 issue) that dealtwith the triple talaq. A uniform civilcode should solve this and otherproblems once and for all. But Idon’t see our governments,including the present one display-ing the guts to implement it.

Sudhir Narasimhan onFacebook

RESPONSE

Thanks to Inderjit Badhwar for providing in one articleall the complexities involved in resolving the Kashmir

issue (“Another Gory Chapter on Kashmir”, July 31,2016). It is rich in detail, convincing in arguments, andabove all, compassionate to all the stakeholders. Pro-bably, only he could have written with such a world view.

But whether we like it or not, Kashmir has now gotmixed up with territorial loyalties, religious and nationalidentity and cultural identity of diverse peoples living inIndia and Pakistan. So, it is as much an issue ofPakistan as India, though we may not accept it officially.

A peaceful solution involves the ability of the leader-ship from both countries to evolve a mutually accept-able solution; but the more difficult job for them is to sellthe mutually-agreed solution to their people.

It does not look within the realm of possibility consid-ering over 43,000 people have died in Jammu andKashmir alone from 1988 to 2016. This includes not onlythe people of the state but from other parts of India andPakistan as well.

With honor killing tradition deeply rooted in the psy-che of the sub-continent, I doubt whether the issue willever be resolved to the satisfaction of all the peoplefrom both sides.

That’s why an out-of-the-box solution involving a newdesign of a quasi-nation will have to be evolved. It isalright to suggest this from my armchair. How many willbuy an ideal solution when personal stakes of the peo-ple are so high?

So I am waiting for my grand-daughter's generationin both countries to be a little more wiser, less emotionaland more universal in their outlook to evolve a solution.

Col R Hariharan, who was head of intelligence,IPKF, now advises the NSA and RAW

Kashmir deconstructed

TAKING LAW TO THE PEOPLE

INDERJIT BADHWAR

on the facade of the Supreme Court building; it isperhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It isone of the ends for which our entire legal systemexists . . . it is fundamental that justice should bethe same, in substance and availability, withoutregard to economic status,” said Justice Lewis FPowell, Jr, US Supreme Court in 1976.

“Courts exist for the convenience of the liti-gants and not in order to maintain any particularsystem of law or any particular system of adminis-tration,” noted Justice MC Chagla, former ChiefJustice of Bombay High Court.

Their wisdom, and those of countless lumi-naries who have fought and argued pas-sionately for the majesty of the Rule of Law,

guides the editorial spirit of India Legal magazineand the conclave on “Access to Justice” organizedby the ILRF.

India Legal magazine is now completing morethan two years of publication as a revamped andrelaunched fortnightly magazine. And there isplenty to commemorate and rejoice about.

At a time when the market wisdom was againstlaunching new magazines and periodicals becauseof “commercial viability” problems, our well wish-ers Rajshri and Pradeep Rai—both journalists andlawyers—took a leap of faith. And their belief—asthe growth and progress of the magazine hasdemonstrated—has been rewarded by success.

Our job was not to pander to fashionable mar-ket trends or infotainment but to persuade readersback into serious reading rather than just flippingthrough.

I believe that one measure of our success lies in how quickly we began to attract some of the

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

ULY 23, 2016 was a proud day for theIndia Legal family. The magazine was partof the launch of a unique public serviceinitiative which brought a governor, thechief justice of a high court, sitting judges

of the high and lower judiciary, journalists, toplawyers, senior bureaucrats, and law studentsunder one roof.

The occasion—starting from Ranchi, the capi-tal of Jharkhand—was the first conclave sponsoredby the India Legal Research Foundation (ILRF),partnered by India Legal magazine and APNNews. Subject: “Access to Justice.” This will be ayear-long theme for similar conclaves ILRF isplanning for all major cities across India. Theobjective of the year-long exercise is to promotegrassroots involvement in making available thefruits of justice to all those who are given this basicright within our democracy but often cannot evenpick the low-hanging fruit.

When I joined India Legal as its editor, littlehad I imagined that one day I would be add-ress-ing the legal community directly as I did at theconclave rather than through my laborious pen.

When I returned from the US many years agoas Editor of India Today, a friend who had justattended a court hearing seemed very depressed.He shook his head and said, “date mil gayee.” (“I’vegot a date”) I was puzzled. In the West “date”means getting to meet and court a young lady whomight become your lifetime partner. Of course, asI learned in India, this means your case has beenpostponed to some other indefinite date. I alsolearned that these delays in the judicial processwere a sad flaw in our system of justice.

“Equal justice under law is not merely a caption

J

7INDIA LEGAL July 15, 2016

telling of all breaking stories and investigationswithin the perspective of their legal parameters.It’s to the credit of the unspoken wisdom of ourConstitution that we are a nation of laws and notman-made whimsies.

Take any major political, social or economicissue facing the nation or the world, research andwrite on it within the legal framework and you’vegot an India Legal story!

Aword about Pradeep Rai, the President ofILRF which drew inspiration from themagazine. Pradeep Rai is a many-faceted

individual who has been able to link the legal pro-fession with activism and human rights. Sensing avacuum in this area—the lack of adequatelytrained reporters and editors capable of transmit-ting and explaining the experience of law as itimpacts the human condition, society and gover-nance—he ventured to create a platform thatamalgamates the two streams.

This combination of law and journalism—hehas a passion for both—led Pradeep to explore newdepths and avenues over the last decade until hecould build a bridge which would help him strad-dle both professions. The organization was actua-lly started by his journalist wife Rajshri, an IIMCgraduate and NDTV anchor, some family mem-bers and interns—with his pet magazine ventures,Views on News, and India Legal. Pradeep kept astrong distance from editorial decision-making orinterference though he was always available foradvice on complex issues and helping reportersgain access to reliable sources. They were able toproject the two magazines on a national footingonly in early 2014 when the senior managementhired a professionally-driven editorial staff witheditors of national and international standingcapable of guiding a team and drawing in some of the best known writers as contributors on a regular basis.

Editorial independence and ability to scoopstories missed by the general media has been thehallmark of our publications. India Legal andViews on News—which we are now developinginto a daily website—between them provide widecoverage of the judiciary, the law, developmentsand trends in the media as well as governance andinside reports on the bureaucracy.

I will take the liberty to reproduce Pradeep’sRai’s address to the gathering from the dais whichincluded Governor Droupadi Murmu and Chief

finest writers, reporters and editors in the coun-try—many of them legendary in their own life-times—to write for us.

Our very first issue with the cover story “HowDid She Die” raised serious questions aboutSunanda Pushkar’s death along with the firstexclusive photographs of her dead body showingbruise marks. The story later went viral and herdeath is still under investigation.

During the first event-packed, frenetic sixweeks during which our fortnightly magazine wason the stands, the one question I was repeatedlyasked is why we call it “India Legal”. Not that people didn’t like the title. They found it authorita-tive, catchy and different. But they remain mysti-fied by our choice when they read the contents anddiscover that the magazine is not simply a hand-book or digest for the legal profession.

Precisely. And yet, members of the legal com-munity who read it find it fits their niche readingneeds. I write this not to wallow in self-praise butrather to suggest that India Legal was probably theright choice of a name. It is obvious that the mag-azine has mined a rich vein of readers’ interest. Ithas placed a niche perspective of the law withinthe wider ambit of a general readership. It hasbecome a marketplace for the discussion and

A BRAVE NEW INITIATIVE

Pradeep Rai, president,

India Legal ResearchFoundation,

addressing the conclave on “Access to Justice” in Ranchi


8 August 15, 2016

limits of our vocation. We enjoy reaching for thestars! And it is in the course of this journey thatILRF or India Legal Research Foundation hastaken birth.

“Many of you, I am sure, are aware that IndiaLegal is the country’s only news conglomeratewhich serves as a unique platform focusing on acomprehensive and sweeping range of news, views,opinion and breaking stories from all courts, thelegal and judicial community through a network ofmagazines, TV channels, websites, and partner-ships with prestigious colleges, their professorsand students, like the National Law University,Delhi, NALSAR, and Jindal Global Law School.

“Some of the leading lights of the judicial com-munity have used our platforms to directly addressthe concerns of the judiciary. The participantshave included former Chief Justices, Union Minis-ters for Law and Justice, and top Senior Advocates.My Honoured Guests and Colleagues, and Friends,I would now like to share a secret with you whichhas just been revealed to me by the top editorialteam of the India Legal-APN family. APN Newshas recently launched the India Legal Helpline. Itis a live call-in show in which ordinary people inneed of proper guidance call our team of expertlawyers present in the NOIDA studio. I am told,it’s becoming one of the top TV shows. In thisendeavor we are being supported by our electronicmedia partner, APN News. The confidential

Justice Virender Singh, (whose speeches appear inan accompanying story in this issue):

“Your Excellency Governor Murmu; YourHonour Chief Justice Virender Singh;Your Lordships of the High Court of

Jharkhand; Ladies and Gentlemen, I do not knowhow to express my joy and feeling of elation thatsuch a distinguished congregation has gatheredhere today to pay respect to one of the greatestgifts of freedom and liberty endowed to us by ourFounding Fathers—the Access to Justice.

“These may be simple sounding words. Buttheir beauty and spirit lies in their very simplicity.Access is another word for the “right to entry,” orthe “right to use.” Justice means fairness, impar-tiality, righteousness, even-handedness, fair deal-ing, honesty, integrity. I could go on and on. It isnot for me to preach to this distinguished gather-ing, which day in and day out faces the formidablechallenge of implementing this “right.” But simplyto emphasize that it is from this juridical principleof natural justice that human beings can derive themoral ammunition to strive for what each individ-ual craves day by day: A Life of Dignity.

“If I may be allowed to inject a personal note inthis small welcoming note to all of you, I wouldlike to state that the pursuit of these core valuespropelled me into the profession to which I amwedded. But most of us have a desire to go beyond

LEGAL NEWSABOUNDSA bouquet of newsofferings from IndiaLegal-APN family

INDIA LEGAL August 15, 2016 9

based prejudices andincidences of farmers’suicides are issues thathave remained as blotson our democracy.

“The framers of ourConstitution were fullyaware of the fact thatjustice is the greatestinterest of man.... Intheir arduous quest forjustice during NationalFreedom Struggle theyfelt the prime impor-tance of framing aConstitution for a freenation where justicefor its citizen becomeseasily accessible.

“The notion of‘access to justice’ in our Constitution is placed onthe high pedestal of fundamental rights. Access tojustice is an inbuilt content of Article 14 whichguarantees equality before the law and equal pro-tection of laws. If, in accessing justice, the commonman has to encounter barriers and impediments,the equality clause in our Constitution becomes nomore than a promissory note! A Paper Tiger!

“So, in a judiciary where access is gagged andthe institutions which are responsible do nothingto remove the obstacles, such a system ceases to bean independent judicial system. As early as in1956, the Apex Court, while interpreting Article14, decided that our Constitution is not meant onlyfor the elite, but it is also for ‘the butcher, the bakerand the candlestick maker’. In subsequent yearsthe Apex Court incorporated access to justice inArticle 21 by various judicial interpretations.Articles 22(1) and 22(2) specifically ensure the‘access to justice’ for persons who are arrested anddetained in custody....

“Under our constitutional dispensation, sover-eignty vests in the people. So, we the people ofIndia can legistimately boast of a people-orientedjurisprudence with unimpeded access to justice.However, there is much more to be done in thisregard and ILRF has taken the initiative and em-barked upon this arduous journey and an oneroustask with clear vision of realizing the first Missionof Mahatma ‘to wipe every tear from every eye’.”

news that the editorial team has allowed me toshare with you is that they are now expanding intothe realm of the English medium, by launching anew channel, India Legal Live.

“Today’s theme is very much a part of India Le-gal Research Foundation’s attempt of providingfree and high quality legal services to those unableto afford legal help. This conclave is very much apart of that overall design by spreading the wordand sensitizing all concerned through debate andinteraction. It is also a celebration of the best of thepast history of Ranchi, a part of our nation fromwhere some of the wisest teachings spread acrossthe world.

“This is a collective effort of TAKINGTHE LAW TO THE PEOPLE throughthe judiciary, the press and the legal

fraternity. I do believe that in promoting social andconstitutional causes, the “trickle down” theorycan really work. Legal literacy, just as literacyabout health and environment, is essential instrengthening civilized existence. And what betterway for awareness to spread than “trickling down”into the mind space through the media and media-related events such as this pre-sent one?

“But, unfortunately, we have not been success-ful in ensuring that the fruits of developmentreached the lower-most strata of society. Poverty,illiteracy, high rates of infant and maternal mortal-ity, adverse gender ratio, unemployment, poorhealth-care system, caste, gender and religion-

STRUGGLE FORJUSTICE

Litigants at TisHazari Court in

New Delhi

[email protected]


10 August 15, 2016

“It is excruciatingly sunnyoutside. When we stepin…we shut our eyes in thecool here so that they getsome moisture. Aur aapbolte ho woh sote hain(And you say he sleeps)!”

—Congress leader RenukaChowdhury defending

Rahul Gandhi after he was shownnapping in the Lok Sabha during

the parliament session

“IS has given a wrongmeaning to Islam. If someone killed Muslims inGujarat that doesn’t justifykilling innocent Hindus inMumbai.”

—Zakir Naik, condemning theIslamic State as “an anti-Islam

state”, in The Times of India

“Dalits across the country notonly treat me as a leader but as aDevi (goddess).”

—BSP chief Mayawati, justifying theDalit backlash in the wake of the derogatory

comment on her by BJP functionaryDayashankar Singh, on Firstpost

“The aim is to rapidly andeffectively take all stepsneeded to eliminate thethreat against democracy,the rule of law and thepeople’s rights and freedoms.”

— Turkey’s President RecepTayyip Erdogan, after declaring

a three-month state of emergency in the country,

in The New York Times

“They (the Indian authorities) havehad access to many executives ofKingfisher Airlines, and they havehad access to thousands of documents. If the missing link is onlyto interview me, come to Londonand interview me, get on the radioconference and interview me, sendme an email with questions and I willreply. I have nothing to hide.”

—Vijay Mallya, accusing the Indian government of conducting a witchhunt

against him, in Autosport magazine

QUOTE-UNQUOTE

“I have no prime ministerial ambition.I am fine in my own state. But I amfor stronger regional parties. Strongerstates make a stronger center. This istrue federalism. But what are they(Modi government) doing?

—West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjeecriticizing the Modi government, in

The Times of India

“We have ignored thegrand bargain underwhich Kashmir accededto India. I think we brokefaith, we broke promisesand therefore we havepaid a heavy price.”

—Congress leader and former Home Minister

P Chidambaram on whyKashmir is burning, to

India Today TV


“There can be no equal justicewhere the kind of trial a mangets depends on the amount of

money he has.” —Justice Hugo Black, US Supreme

Court in 1964

INDIA LEGAL CONCLAVE/ Jharkhand

The first-ever conclave of the India Legal Research Foundation held in Ranchitook a long hard look at the reason why access to justice still eludes the poorand powerless. Addressing this vexed question is the mission of the India Legalmagazine which will raise this issue in all major cities in India and involvejudges, lawyers, bureaucrats, law students and others in finding a solutionBy Sucheta Dasgupta and Sandeep Sharma in Ranchi

Reaching Out,

THE first ever conclave of IndiaLegal on Access to Justice held inRanchi this fortnight was a re-sounding success as it was attend-ed by Droupadi Murmu, the

Governor of Jharkhand, Justice VirenderSingh, the Chief Justice of the High Court ofJharkhand, Justice Anant Bijay Singh,Justice Apresh Singh, Justice Harish

12 August 15, 2016

CONCERN FOR THE COMMON MAN(L-R) Chief Justice of the High Courtof Jharkhand Justice Virender Singh,Governor of Jharkhand DroupadiMurmu, and Editor-in-Chief of IndiaLegal Inderjit Badhwar addressing the“Access to Justice” conclave

(Facing page) Distinguished speakerson the dais

Reaching All

Chandra Mishra, Pravin H Parekh, formerpresident of the Supreme Court BarAssociation and other luminaries, includingbureaucrats and lawyers. The conclave dis-cussed how justice to all was a must as it wasa fundamental right but was not reachingmany of those who needed it most.

There are various causes for unequal jus-tice. These include lack of infrastructure,shortage of judges, rising pendency, adminis-trative lapses like shoddy police investiga-tion, presence of a criminal-politician nexus,undertrial prisoners not being able to securebail even after many years in jail and so on.

Droupadi Murmu, Jharkhand’s firstwoman governor, said that access to justiceas a human rights concept based on dharmawas familiar in ancient India. The state inancient India was neither sacerdotal, norpaternalistic. The concept of dharma wasmulti-dimensional. It was embraced and sus-tained in a compassionate sweep. It gave

birth to both human rights and laws to safe-guard them, she said.

Stressing on the link between poverty andlack of knowledge of law, she said law educa-tion should become part of our curriculum sothat justice becomes accessible to all. Shecongratulated the India Legal ResearchFoundation (ILRF) for its bold initiative tomake justice accessible to all (see box).

CREATIVE ALTERNATIVESMaking use of the alternate dispute resolu-tion mechanism is one such way to provideaccess to justice. Justice Virender Singhnoted the importance of this method of casedisposal in jurisprudence and underscoredhow it would go a long way in reducing thealready-humongous caseload on Indian jud-ges and make way for speedy justice.Enactment of the Legal Services AuthoritiesAct on the strength of Article 39A of theConstitution of India paved the path for


establishment of legal services authoritiesacross the country with this objective insight, he said.

“It is a matter of great satisfaction for usthat the Jharkhand Legal Services Authority(JHALSA) and the District Legal ServicesAuthorities are playing a tremendous roletowards giving the citizens access to justice.Apart from enhancing legal literacy amongcommon people, conflicts are being resolved

through the Alternate Dispute Resolution(ADR) mechanism in large numbers. Atpresent, the success rate of mediation inJharkhand is 49 percent,” Singh said.

JHALSA and DLSAs are also playing animportant role in extending a helping handto victims of crime, he noted. After anamendment was brought in Section 357ACrPC, victim compensation schemes wereformulated by state governments. Till June

“Jails are full ofpoor people”

Administration of justice was one ofthe paramount functions of the

state, Droupadi Murmu, Governor ofJharkhand said, adding that it was theduty of the state to promote justice onthe basis of equal opportunity and pro-vide legal aid to all citizens of the coun-try. “The Supreme Court has empha-sized, while interpreting Article 21 in thelight of Article 39A, that legal assis-tance to the accused who is arrestedwith jeopardy of his life or personal lib-erty, is a constitutional imperative man-date not only by Article 39A but also byArticles 14 and 21. In the absence oflegal assistance, injustice may resultand every act of injustice corrodes thefoundations of democracy,” she said.

She said: “Gaon ke log teen jagahjane se hichkichate hain—thana, doc-tor khana aur court. Sochte hai jobacha khucha hai, who bhi chalajayega.” (People in villages are scared

of visiting three places-police station,doctor’s clinic and court. They areapprehensive that they would losewhatever they have.)

“I am aware of these facts as I alsocome from the poorest among the poorfamilies,” she said.

Murmu said that when she visitedjails, she always found that it was full ofpoor people who had no knowledge ofthe law. It is therefore important that laweducation should be included in theacademic curriculum to make justiceaccessible to all, she stressed.

She praised the effort of the IndiaLegal Research Foundation (ILRF) toaddress this need. “Considering allthose important aspects and the chal-lenges ahead, I express my best wish-es to ILRF. I also commend them fortaking up a bold initiative which wouldgo a long way in realizing the cherishedgoals enshrined in our Constitution.”

IN STEP WITHTIMES

Jharkhand ArmedPolice (JAP) Band

playing the NationalAnthem


14 August 15, 2016

LEGAL EAGLES (Clockwise from above, left)Jharkhand GovernorDroupadi Murmu lights theceremonial lamp as FormerPresident of Supreme CourtBar Association PravinParekh, Justice VirenderSingh and ENC Ltd MDRajshri Rai look on

Rajshri Rai hands a plaqueto Registrar General of theHigh Court of JharkhandAnil Kumar Choudhary

Inderjit Badhwar, NationalLaw School-Delhi RegistrarProf GS Bajpai, JharkhandHC judge Justice AnantBijay Singh, Pravin Parekhand senior advocate withJharkhand HC Mani MalaPal, at an interactive session

this year, a sum of `81,061,000 was dis-bursed to victims under the JharkhandWelfare Scheme 2012 and `13 lakh given outunder Victim Welfare Fund Rules 2014 asinterim compensation to victims, he said.

“Awareness of ADR, coupled with thecontributions of the legal services authoritiesand organizations such as the ILRF, areeffective means for combating the menace ofhuge numbers of pending cases and increas-ing litigation. I feel that adhering to themwill help us reach the ultimate goal of accessto justice for all,” Singh stated.

Justice Singh said it was noteworthy thatIndia Legal was holding up the legal issues ofthe day before society. “Its excellent analysisof our legal system to strengthen our democ-racy adds remarkable value to it. I can saythat India Legal has been nicely performingits role as the fourth pillar of democracy.” Hesaid he agreed with all the issues that IndiaLegal had raised on concerns like pendencyand the reach of justice to all.

WHAT AILS THE SYSTEMJustice Anant Bijay Singh led an interactivesession with lawyers, NGO representatives,media-persons and law students. Questionswere asked regarding the ambit of the Rightto Information Act, delay in court hearings,predominance of the English language in theconduct of hearings which was a handicapfor the poorest of poor as well as other perti-nent topics relating to access to justice. Apanel of experts comprising the judge him-self, as well as National Law UniversityRegistrar Prof GS Bajpai, senior advocatewith the Supreme Court Pravin Parekh, and

senior advocate Mani Mala Pal, took part.Parekh said the Constitution had ensured

justice and fundamental rights for all, whichwas interpreted by our courts in a purposiveway. “It is important that the lowest of thelow in the country get justice at a reasonablecost. Unfortunately, many clients have toshell out lakhs of rupees today to get justice,”Parekh said.

Senior advocate Pradeep Rai said that themission of the newly-formed ILRF was towipe every tear from every eye. He said thatas early as in 1956 the apex court, while inter-preting Article 14, decided that our Cons-titution is not meant only for the elite, but isalso for “the butcher, the baker and the can-dlestick maker”. “In subsequent years, itincorporated access to justice in Article 21 byvarious judicial interpretations. Articles22(1) and 22(2) specifically ensure access tojustice for persons who are arrested and


IL

detained in custody.... A judiciary whereaccess is gagged and the institutions whichare responsible do nothing to remove theobstacles ceases to be an independent sys-tem,” he said.

Vimal Kirti Singh, former principal secre-tary, energy, Jharkhand, pointed out thatauthorities should be alert enough to protectthe rights of citizens so that they do not haveto go to court to secure them. He also advisedautomation and digitization wherever possi-ble to promote efficient governance. “Karna-taka has made sure that the number of prop-erty disputes there goes down. It has comput-erized records, making it easy for people toaccess them and confirm which piece of landbelongs to whom.... In comparison, the peo-ple of Jharkhand still take ages to figure outthe same thing,” he said.

INDIA LEGAL’S JOURNEYIndia Legal editor-in-chief Inderjit Badhwarsaid that soon after launching India Legal itattracted some of the finest writers, reportersand editors in the country, many of whomwere legends in their own lifetime.

A short film by APN TV was shown at theconclave, highlighting the infrastructuralproblems currently plaguing our judiciary.

The film brought home the point that jus-tice delayed is justice denied. At present,there is only one judge for 73,000 people or,17 judges for 10 lakh people. Transpose thiswith the Law Commission recommendationsaying there should be 50 judges per 10 lakhpeople. Pendency of cases is a serious issue.Till June this year, about 60,000 cases werepending in the Supreme Court. In the highcourts, the figure has crossed a staggering 42lakh and in the lower courts it is nearly 2.65crore! There are only 16,438 judges currentlyoperating in the lower courts. In the 24 highcourts of the country, there are 621 judgesagainst a sanctioned figure of 1,079 judges.In the Supreme Court there are 29 judgeswhile the sanctioned strength is 31.

There are about 80,000 cases pending inthe Jharkhand High Court of which morethan a half have been pending for over a year.But there is a silver lining. In the year 2015,the Supreme Court cleared over 47,000cases. In 2013, it was 40,000 cases in whichthe judges reached a verdict and in 2014, thejudges dispensed with 45,000 cases. Clearly,we have a long way to go to ensure that jus-tice reaches the litigant faster, but a begin-ning has been made.

MOMENTS TO CHERISH(Clockwise from top) NLU

Registrar Prof Bajpai felicitating Pravin Parekh

APN correspondent PrabhatSingh felicitating ILRF

President Pradeep Rai

Registrar (Establishment) ofthe Jharkhand HC SK Singh,Registrar General Anil Kumar

Choudhary, and JusticesHarish Chandra Mishra, Anant

Bijay Singh and ApareshSingh of the Jharkhand HC

sing the National Anthem


16 August 15, 2016

INDIA LEGAL CONCLAVE/ Judge’s Initiative

Pro-active action byVirender Singh, ChiefJustice of the JharkhandHigh Court, has helpedreach justice to thosewho never dreamt theywould get itBy Ramesh Menon

HumaneFace ofJustice

WHEN his nine-year-olddaughter staggered homeseverely injured and bleed-ing, her father, a poorlaborer, was overwhelmed

with shock at what she told him. She hadbeen raped by a driver who abducted her andassaulted her by the banks of a nearby river.

The distraught father registered a casewith the police in August 2015. He also tookhis daughter to a local hospital nearHathipada village in East Singhbhum districtof Jharkhand. But doctors were unable tostop her bleeding and she was rushed toJamshedpur. There too doctors battled tosave her and finding that her intestines wereseverely damaged rushed her to Ranchi.There she underwent a colostomy to removethe damaged intestine and attach a colosto-my bag.

18 August 15, 2016

Illustration: Anthony Lawrence

IL

Justice VirenderSingh (left) readabout the plight ofthe father and girlin the HindustanTimes, Ranchi, andadmitted the newsitem as a publicinterest litigation.He ordered thestate administra-tion to pay aninterim compensa-tion of `1 lakh onthe same daybefore sundown tothe father of thevictim. He alsodirected that thebest medical careand protectionwere provided tothe victim.

After she was discharged, her father hadto take her for her daily dressing to a doctorfour kilometers from home. As he lived in aMaoist infested area, there was no publictransport plying and he had to physicallycarry her as he did not even own a cycle. Hismeager savings had depleted by then and hewas finding it difficult to treat her. He wasforced to sell his livestock.

Sometimes, a simple pro-active and posi-tive action from the judiciary can work a mir-acle. When Virender Singh, Chief Justice ofthe High Court of Jharkhand, read about theplight of the father and girl in the HindustanTimes, Ranchi, he admitted the news item asa public interest litigation taking suo motucognizance on August 29 though it was anon-working day. He ordered the stateadministration to pay an interim compensa-tion of `1 lakh on the same day before sun-down to the father of the victim. He alsodirected that the Jharkhand State LegalServices Authority ensure that the best med-ical assistance, care and protection were pro-vided to the victim.

As the court had ordered action, the dis-trict administration provided a job card tothe father under MNREGA, a bicycle, a blan-ket, clothes and financial assistance for theconstruction of a house under the IndiraAwas Yojna.

That’s not all. When well-known cardiolo-gist Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman ofMedanta-The Medicity at Gurgaon, heard ofthe medical plight of the girl, he said that hewould adopt her and ensure her free treat-ment at Medanta in Ranchi. Justice VirenderSingh referred to this act in his speech at therecent India Legal Conclave in Ranchiapplauding her treatment that was the bestavailable in India at the high-profile hospitaland also that two psychologists worked ongetting the girl tide with her trauma.

The Governor of Jharkhand, DroupadiMurmu, who was at the India LegalConclave, pledged to provide funds for thegirl's schooling and healthcare after listeningto the heart-rending story.

Earlier, as news travelled about the plightof the girl and her poor parents, donationspoured in. The father now has ` 40.64 lakh inhis account which will go for the welfare of

the girl in the years to come.Justice Singh had this point to note: “This

is access to justice. The pain that she sufferedcannot be alleviated by pecuniary compensa-tion. But we did whatever we could do withinthe parameters of the law to achieve that end.When you hit your bed in the evening, yourconscience asks you, ‘Judge, what have youdone today?’ And the answer comes forth,‘yes, I have done something’, and you go tobed with a calm mind.”

Surendra Sardar, the 42-year-old rapist,was soon arrested and sentenced to rigorouslife imprisonment. The sentence would runtill his death, the court said as he had tried torape another minor. The wheels of justicehad come full circle.

In another case that deserves mention,Justice Virender Singh directed a couple whowanted a divorce to stay in one room togeth-er for a few weeks. When they underwentthat advice, they reconciled and realized it isbetter to be together than live apart. Both arenow happily working together as para-legalvolunteers counseling warring couples.Justice Singh pointed out that breaking up ofa marriage was not only a tragedy for a cou-ple but for their children too, and so it isimportant for family courts to dig deeper intoeach case and try to save the marriage ratherthan break it.


WHEN armed mili-tants would oftenbarge into hismodest home inImphal in the deadhour of the night,little Thounaojam

Herojit would crouch in fear. They wantedhis father to pay them as he was a govern-ment servant and was seen as the enemy.Each time they would demand thousands ofrupees. So, his father had to sell pieces of hissmall landholding to meet their incessantdemands. But when he grew up, there was anew emotion: anger. Little did these mili-tants realize that one day Herojit would turnhis gun on them and without blinking shootthem point-blank. Earlier, this year, Herojit,35, a head constable with the Manipur Police,confessed that he had killed over a hundredin encounters. Returning home after theencounters, he would bathe outside beforeentering his modest home. He would thenget his wife, Ratna, to wash his uniform evenif it was not soiled. It is only years later thatshe knew why.

One of his last encounters was in 2009 ofChungkham Sanjit who had earlier been amilitant with the PLA but had left it to live anormal life. Following orders of senior offi-

Chronicles of

20 August 15, 2016

The imposition of this draconian Actway back in 1958 has seen mindlesskillings of innocent people, rapes ofwomen and all-pervasive fear.However, a recent Supreme Courtjudgment could well change mattersBy Ramesh Menon

TERROR’SCHILD

ThounaojamHerojit with an

under-barrelgrenade launcher

captured fromManipuri militants

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Illustration: Anthony Lawrence

Deaths Foretold

TRAGIC END Sanjit, a former insurgent, was one ofthe many who werekilled in fake encounters by Herojit. Sanjit had come overground and started living anormal life


cer, Akioijam Jhalajit, he had pushed theunarmed youth into a pharmacy in Imphaland shot him six times in full view of thosewho were in the shop. Sanjit’s body was thendragged out and thrown into a truck whichhad the body of a woman who was fivemonths pregnant. She had fallen to a straybullet moments before Sanjit’s death at thebusy marketplace.

He used to return home and record thedetails of each encounter in a notebook. As the pages of one got exhausted, he startedanother. That also got full, so he started thethird. He felt no remorse during the killings,he said. But later, he felt that he must confess.

In another instance, he chanced uponseven insurgents from the United NationalLiberation Front, who wanted a lift from atruck in which Herojit was traveling. Aftertaking their guns, Herojit lined them up in alonely place and shot them dead. That day,the police issued a statement that seven mili-tants had been killed in an encounter withthe police.

Herojit was suspended in 2008 after thedeath of a journalist, Konsam Rishikanta,working in Imphal Free Press but reinstatedsoon after. In 2009, he got a gallantry medaland was promoted as head constable. But asthe trauma of these numerous fake encoun-ters caught up with him, he tried to escape byconsuming various types of drugs. He fearsfor his life. He wonders whether he canescape the immense guilt that shrouds himand if fate will catch up with him.

Manipur’s stunning landscape ofmountains, water bodies and lushgreenery, mixed with its tingling

fresh air and the melodious songs of womenas they work in the fields, stand out as stark contrasts in a state wracked by violence, fear

and death. Insurgent activity for decades followed by

retaliatory action by security forces has madelife hell for ordinary people. Tension hangsaround the state like a cloak. Images of tor-ture and death refuse to go away. When life isnormal on certain days, the fear is that it willnot last. It has been like this for many yearsnow and people wonder how the next tragedywill unfold. Numerous terrorist groups oper-ate in the state. Some are demanding inde-pendence from India and mostly survive withforeign funding and arms. It is a lucrativebusiness as they go around extorting moneyin the name of taxes.

When Ravi Nitesh, a human right activist,recently visited Manipur, he asked a Class Xstudent how the Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act (AFSPA) which gives securityforces special powers to search, arrest,

Tehelka

destroy property and kill, had affected him. The 15-year-old replied: “AFSPA hassnatched our right to dream. Youngsters allover India can dream. We cannot. Every timeI move out of home, my family worries if I will return. My grandfather and fatherhave been victims of atrocities. No one is safe here, not even journalists. We live inconstant fear.”

For Manipuris, life is hell. They feeltrapped in a state ravaged by frequentbandhs, attacks, arbitrary detentions, execu-tions and shortages. But more than every-

thing else, it is the fear of impending deaththat mentally maims them. After anyambush on security forces, villagers flee fromthe area, fearing a backlash from uniformedforces even though they may have nothing todo with the attack. Over a period of time,even the state police forces have taken shelterunder the Act, though they cannot under thelaw and have killed many in the name of encounters. Observers in the state feel thatmany of these extra-judicial killings havenothing to do with terrorism and are donejust to win accolades and gallantry medalsfrom the state government. Or to settlescores. The rant against AFSPA in the statehas got louder with every encounter.

“Almost every house in Manipur has astory about what AFSPA has done to peoplethere,” says Nitesh. In 2011, he filed an RTIasking the National Human RightsCommission how many times its membershad traveled to Manipur to probe humanright violations between 2000 and 2011. Thereply was that in those 11 years, none of itsofficials had visited Manipur. He was not sur-prised. This was when news about humanright violations had got highlighted in the

“The SC judgment on AFSPA demolishes

the framework that is often used as a

camouflage to hide or disguise fake encounters.”

—Colin Gonslaves, senior lawyer

and human rights activist

22 August 15, 2016

MISERY PERSONIFIEDManipur has been

witnessing protracted violence,

bandhs, insurgent activity and fake

encounters for morethan two decades

UNI

LEAD/ AFSPA/Manipur

media all the time. The Naga People’s Movement for Human

Rights was formed in the JNU campus tofight AFSPA, among other things. In October1980, it petitioned the Supreme Court, chal-lenging the constitutionality of AFSPA.Seventeen years later, the Supreme Courtdelivered a judgment on November 27, 1997,which said that it was constitutional to haveAFSPA as it was applied only in affectedareas and there were Do’s and Don’ts workedout by the army to ensure it would not do anything wrong. Well-known jurist FaliNariman called it one of the most conserva-tive judgments in the annals of the Indian judiciary.

In 2000, Human Rights Alert constitutedan independent peoples’ commission ofinquiry in Manipur under Justice HosbetSuresh and lawyers Colin Gonsalves andPreeti Verma to look into the human rightsimpact of the prolonged imposition ofAFSPA. Their report in October 2000, aftermeeting numerous victims of the Act, saidthat the Do’s and Don’ts the army followedunder AFSPA were hardly complied with andwere breached most of the time. Referring to

the earlier Supreme Court judgment thatsaid that AFSPA was constitutional, JusticeSuresh said: “Sanction to kill cannot be con-stitutional.”

One week after this report came out, onNovember 2, 2000, a bomb went off by theside of a road in Malom village near Imphalwhen an Assam Rifles convoy was passing by.No one was hurt, but the jawans rounded up10 civilians and shot them dead at a bus stopas they suspected they were insurgents.Ironically, it included a 63-year-old womanand a school student who had won a nationalaward for bravery.

Three days later, Irom Sharmila, a 28-year-old woman who was a volunteer

UNENDING VIOLENCESecurity men inspect a siteafter a truck of the 6th DograRegiment was ambushed bymilitants in Chandel district of Manipur


“Almost every house inManipur has a storyabout what AFSPA hasdone to people there.”—Ravi Nitesh, Convenor,Save Sharmila SolidarityCampaign

“Probes into fake encounterallegations would

demoralize security forceswho would have to bat-

tle insurgency withtheir hands tied.”

—Mukul Rohtagi, attorney-general

of India

with Human Rights Alert, was so incensedwith the incident that she decided to go on anindefinite hunger strike demanding theremoval of AFSPA. For the past 16 years, shehas not had a morsel of food or water and isbeing force-fed at the Jawaharlal Institute ofMedial Sciences in Imphal. She has beenarrested numerous times on charges ofattempting to commit suicide, but herresolve has not broken. Her action galva-nized numerous activists to demand theremoval of AFSPA.

One of them was Nishant, who, after hisM Tech in gas engineering, decided to set upthe Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign in2009 to sensitize society in India about whathe calls, a “draconian law”. It took himnumerous trips to Manipur to figure out thecomplications that ordinary lives werecaught in because of human right violations.

In a significant and far-reaching judg-ment, the Supreme Court recently said that

AFSPA cannot continue forever and it wasonly a temporary measure to restore law andbring in normalcy. It clearly laid out princi-ples and points of law stating:

� There cannot be immunity for armedforces in human right violations � The army and police can be investigatedand prosecuted in accordance with law � Criminal courts also have the jurisdic-tion to prosecute � Truth about the violations must be

found out� Magisterial inquiries conducted are

of no relevance as only the judicialinquiries are relevant� Inquiries conducted by the

human right cell of the army does not inspireconfidence� Internal disturbances have to be handledby a civilian administration and the role ofthe army is only to aid it.

This has been one of the most hard-hit-ting judgments on human rights as the Acthas been in force in Manipur for nearly 35years. It said that it showed a failure of gov-ernance as no solution had been found.Senior lawyer and human rights activistColin Gonslaves told India Legal: “Theextraordinary judgment is a major break-through as it demolishes the frameworkwhich is often used as a camouflage to hideor disguise fake encounters.”

The judgment was in response to a peti-tion filed in the Supreme Court in September2012 by the Extra Judicial Execution VictimFamilies Association (EEVFAM). It wanted aSpecial Investigative Team to probe the 1,528extra-judicial executions and compensateaffected families. The court randomly pickedsix cases out of the lot and appointed JusticeSantosh Hegde to head a commission ofinquiry that would investigate the encoun-ters. Justice Hegde found that all of themwere fake encounters and all the seven whowere killed had no criminal antecedents.

One of them was Azad Khan, a 12-year-old who was reading a newspaper to hismother when the Assam Rifles and policebarged in and dragged him to a paddy fieldand shot him. Another shocking caseinvolved a young villager who was cycling

24 August 15, 2016

Irom Sharmila plans to end her16-year-old hunger strike onAugust 9 as she wants to nowpolitically fight for removal ofAFSPA. She has been underarrest all these years and hasbeen fed with a nasal tube.She will contest the 2017 elections, she said.

LEAD/ AFSPA/Manipur

around looking for his cow when he waspicked up and shot dead. Then, there werecousins Nobo and Govin who were having teaat a stall when they were picked up andshot dead.

Said Babloo Loitongbam, executive direc-tor, Human Rights Alert: “The judgment hasbrought hope to hundreds of families whohave suffered under AFSPA and lost dearones. We are working on documenting all the1,528 cases in as much detail that we can findas the Supreme Court now wants to look intoall these cases. How can we have such alaw in a democratic civilized country?”

Nirjhari Sinha, convenor of the JanSangarsh Manch, Ahmedabad, who vis-ited Manipur along with her late hus-band Mukul Sinha, a human rightsactivist and lawyer, said that it was ter-rifying to step out on the lonely streetsof Manipur after 8 pm as there wereuniformed men all around with guns.She said she would never forget the talesthat she heard from young widows whohad lost their husbands to encounters.“All these widows wanted was proof thattheir husbands were militants as thiswas the charge the army used to shootthem dead,” she said.

In a significant observation, theCourt said that if the Act had beendeployed for so many years in Manipur,

it directly reflected the failure of both thesecurity forces and the government that hadnot resolved the problem. The Court saidthat while Manipur faced a public order situ-ation since 1958 for almost 60 years and gen-erations have gone by, issues continued tofester. It was high time that concerted andsincere efforts were made by civil society,insurgents, the state and central govern-ments to find a lasting, peaceful solution.

The Court said that the use of excessiveforce or retaliatory force by the Manipur

“There is a crying need totry armed forces personnelguilty of sexual offenses in conflict areas under theordinary criminal law.”—Gopal Subramaniam, former Solicitor General of India

SHOCK TREATMENTOn July 15, 2004,12 women strippedbefore the Kangla Fort in Imphal to protestagainst the alleged rapeand execution ofThangjam Manorama byAssam Rifles jawans


Yahoo

police or the armed forces was not permissi-ble. Any allegation of excessive force result-ing in the death of any person by theManipur police or armed forces must bethoroughly probed. The case will come up forhearing again in mid-August. The petitionershad pointed out that the Manipur police hadnot registered a single FIR against the secu-rity forces despite complaints that they wereextra-judicial executions. Many of thosekilled had no criminal records but werelabeled as militants, they said.

In his submission to the Court, MukulRohtagi, attorney-general of India, arguedthat probes into allegations of fake encoun-ters would demoralize security forces, andthey would end up battling insurgents withtheir hands tied behind their backs in a war-like situation. The Supreme Court bench ofJustices Madan B Lokur and Uday Lalitrejected his arguments outright pointing outthat there was no war-like situation inManipur and what was under the scannerwas the smoking gun and not the encounteroperations. Security forces were deployedonly to aid civil authorities and not for anindefinite period, the Court said.

Rohatgi had referred to Article 355 whichsaid that it was the duty of the Union to pro-tect every state against external aggression

and internal disturbances and ensure thatthe government of every state is carried on inaccordance with the provisions of the consti-tution. He stated that militant groups wereoperating in the north-east and demandingseparation from India and had the support ofcountries inimical to the interests of thecountry. He said they were killing innocentpeople to create fear and indulging in extor-tion and had no fear of the law. There was aconstant threat to Manipur from the militantgroups, so counter-insurgency operationswere carried out. As they had deadlyweapons, the lives of armed personnel wereunder threat and so AFSPA was put intoforce, he argued.

Rohatgi said that only 5,000 militantswere holding a population of 23 lakh inManipur to ransom and were exploiting eth-nic rivalries, tribal divides and unemployedyouth to fuel tension. The Ministry ofDefence had issued instructions to the armedforces to observe restraint in their opera-tions. “Situations of internal disturbances arenot issues that can be decided in a court oflaw,” he said. The Ministry of Defence did notrespond to queries of India Legal.

On July 15, 2004, 12 women, who were allmothers, stripped before the Kangla Fort inImphal that housed security personnel of theAssam Rifles to protest against the allegedrape and execution of 32-year-old ThangjamManorama by its jawans. She had beenpicked up on the night of July 11 and hours

“How can we have a lawlike AFSPA in a democratic, civilizedcountry like ours?” —Babloo Loitongbam (left),

executive director, HumanRights Alert

26 August 15, 2016

Jitendra Singh, minister of state forDevelopment of Northeastern

Region says decisions on sensitive issues like AFSPA should

be left to the armed forces.

LEAD/ AFSPA/Manipur

later, her body was found riddled with bul-lets. Forensic tests confirmed rape. The secu-rity forces said that she was a militant of thebanned People’s Liberation Army. Theencounter death of Manorama led tostatewide protests. The women stood in frontof the entrance to the Fort carrying bannersasking the jawans to rape them too. All ofthem were arrested and jailed for threemonths. Soon after, the Assam Rifles movedout of the Fort and AFSPA was lifted fromseven assembly constituencies of Imphal butcontinued in the rest of the state.

One of the women, L Gyaneshori, whotook part in the protest at the Forttold Human Rights Watch:

“Manorama’s killing broke our hearts. Wehad campaigned for the arrest memo to pro-tect people from torture after arrest. Yet, itdid not stop the soldiers from raping andkilling her. They mutilated her body and shother in the vagina. We mothers were weeping.Our daughters can be raped. They can besubjected to such cruelty. Every girl is at risk.We shed our clothes and stood before thearmy. We said: ‘We mothers have come.Drink our blood. Eat our flesh. Maybe thisway you can spare our daughters.’ But noth-ing was done to punish those soldiers. Thewomen of Manipur were disrobed by AFSPA.We are still naked.” The killers of Manoramawere never found. This fact resonates in the state even though 12 painful years haveflown past.

C Upendra Singh, retired district sessionsjudge, who was the chairman of a commis-sion to probe into the death of Manorama,said: “This is the most shocking custodialkilling of a Manipuri village girl.” His reportsaid that she was picked up by armed troopsof the 17th Assam Rifles at midnight fromher home and later found dead with gunshotinjuries on her private parts and thighs.Barging into her home, the jawans haddragged her out as she screamed out toKhumaleima, her mother, saying, “Ima ImaKhamu (Mother please stop them).” AssamRifles had said that they had recovered agrenade and a radio set from her house andthat she was shot as she tried to flee. Herfamily disputes this.

In December 2006, then Prime MinisterManmohan Singh declared that the Actwould be amended to make it more humaneon the basis of the recommendations. Butthat never happened.

In 2009, the UN Commission for HumanRights said the law was outdated and had noplace in the 21st century. Neena Ningombamof the Extra Judicial Execution VictimFamilies Association said that 31 women and98 children were killed by the security forcesbetween 1979 and 2012.

As the encounters invited national atten-tion through the media, the central govern-ment set up a committee under formerSupreme Court judge BP Jeevan Reddy tolook into the working of AFSPA. TheCommittee said the Act was a symbol of hate,a weapon of oppression and an instrument ofdiscrimination and recommended its repeal.It also said that if the military needs a legalframework to fight insurgency, it must be apart of the general law and there must be awindow for commoners to register theirgrievances, if any. The government did notact on the recommendation. The UPA justchose to be silent on the report. Soon after ittook over, the NDA government rejected itin toto.

Let us look at the origins of this draconianlaw. It was the British in India who whippedup the Armed Forces Special PowersOrdinance in 1942 to suppress the freedommovement led by Mahatma Gandhi in India.Lord Linlithgow, the viceroy of India hur-riedly promulgated it on August 15, 1942,after the Congress passed the historic

“People’s lives inManipur are fettered by anoverwhelmingand intrusive military presencewhere their livescould change anyminute. AFSPA isa tangible symbolof oppressionwith justice andhuman rightsbeing inevitablecasualties.”—Minnie Vaid (left),author of Iron Irom-Two Journeys


Anjalika Sharma

IL

Indian soldiers and paramilitarymen to crush it. He got AFPSA(1958) passed in parliament toboost the army attack and providethem legal protection. One of thefew MPs who spoke up against itwas Surendra Mohanty who saidthat while all of us wanted a freeIndia, we did not want one withbarbed wires and concentrationcamps where havaldars could shoot anybody.

What followed were large-scaleatrocities which Nagas even todayrecall with anger and bitterness.Gavin Young, a reporter from TheObserver who was witness to it ashe traveled through the state at thattime, wrote: “The stories of burnedrice stores and houses seemed end-less. Individuals told how they hadbeen beaten and tied up for hours

without water; how they had been bound andhung downwards from beams to be flogged;how sons, brothers and fathers had been bay-oneted to death.”

A 2008 Human Rights Watch reportcalled “These Fellows Must Be Eliminated:Relentless Violence and Impunity inManipur” says that for 50 years there hadbeen a failure of justice in Manipur and thearmy protected under AFSPA has beeninvolved in numerous violations of humanrights and so could not be held accountablefor serious crimes. “In the name of nationalsecurity and armed forces morale, the state protects abusers and leaves Manipuris with no remedy to secure justice”,the report said.

The Justice JS Verma Committee thatsuggested amendments to laws relating tocrimes against women said that there was animminent need to review the continuance ofAFSPA. Gopal Subramaniam, one of thecommittee members, said that there was acrying need to try armed forces personnelguilty of sexual offences in conflict areasunder the ordinary criminal law.

When will these numerous voices beheard? The Supreme Court remains the only hope for thousands of victims andtheir families.

28 August 15, 2016

Quit India resolution on August 8, 1942. TheBritish were under a lot of pressure, with theJapanese making advances during WorldWar II. They had entered Burma and alsoparts of Nagaland and Manipur. So the lawput in had all kinds of rigorous clauses givingextensive powers to the army.

India created the Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act drawing on this British ordinanceand added some more provisions whichmade it stringent. It added vaguely definedpowers like using force to search any placewithout warrant, destroying a place if therewas suspicion that it was being used byarmed groups and even killing any person itsuspected of carrying weapons.

While the British Ordinance had onlyauthorized captains or officers above thisrank to take action, the Indian Act gave thepower to lower ranks, which included non-commissioned officers. Garnering huge pow-ers under this Act, security forces have tillnow being shielded from being tried underhuman right violations. But with the latestobservation by the Supreme Court, it will notcontinue to be the case.

When the Naga insurgency which wasdemanding independence from India brokeout in 1954, Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru thought it best to send in battalions of

�Jammu and Kashmir

�Assam

�Nagaland

�Manipur (exceptImphal municipal area)

�Arunachal Pradesh(only Tirap, Changlangand Longding districts,plus a 20-km belt bordering Assam)

�Meghalaya (confinedto a 20-km beltbordering Assam)

States under AFSPA

SEARCH OPERATIONManipur residents are

often subjected to checksby security forces. Theabnormal has become

normal here

e-paolive.net

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NATIONAL BRIEFS

— Compiled by Sucheta Dasgupta

Child labor bill passedParliament has passed the contro-

versial Child Labour Amend-ment Bill, 2016, which allows a childto help out in family enterprises afterschool hours.

The new legislation extends theban on child labor to all sectors of 18hazardous occupations and 65processes. It also stiffens penalties forthose employing children. However,under the new law, children will beallowed to work in family businesses,outside school hours, and in enter-tainment and sports, if it does not

affect their studies. Children aged 15to 18 years will be permitted to work,except in mines and hazardousindustries. The government says theexemptions aim to strike a balancebetween education and India's eco-nomic reality.

Meanwhile, UNICEF has raisedconcerns about the Bill. BachpanBachao Andolan founder and NobelPeace prize winner Kailash Satyarthitoo is of the opinion that the changeswould lead to further victimization ofpoor children.

Just as educationbecame a fundamental

right in 2009, health, too,could become one soon.Pending for nearly twoyears, a draft nationalhealth policy proposed bythe ministry, which advo-cates a National HealthRights Act, will be for-

warded to the Union cabi-net early August. The Act,if passed, will make “denialof health“ an offense. Thepolicy proposes that theCenter, in coordinationwith the states, use thelegal clause availableunder the ClinicalEstablishments Bill and

ensure health asa fundamentalright. It propos-es that publichealth expendi-ture be raised to2.5 percent ofthe GDP fromthe current 1.2percent.

The Center has cleared theappointment of chief justices

to three high courts—Patna,Punjab and Haryana and

Allahabad. The new appointeesinclude Justice IA Ansari as chief justice of Patna High Court,Justice DB Bhosale forAllahabad High Court andJustice SJ Vazifdar for Punjaband Haryana High Court.

Earlier, the Center hadrequested the Supreme Courtcollegium headed by ChiefJustice of India TS Thakur toreconsider acting Patna HC chief justice Ansari’s appoint-ment. But the collegium took atough stand, causing the Centerto give in. The Center has alsoaccepted the recommendationsof the collegium for the transferof Justice Indira Banerjee fromCalcutta HC to Delhi HC andJustice MM Shantanagoudar from Karnataka HC to Kerala HC.

Appointments tothree high courts

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh andhis family have been listed in the

below poverty line (BPL) category in thecensus list of socially and economicallybackward classes for free LPG connec-tions under the Prime Minister’sUjjawala Yojana.

“This is a conspiracy against me andmy family. I demand a probe,” Singh,who was once chief minister of Madhya

Pradesh and is also a descendant of theerstwhile ruler of Raghogarh, said.Officials in Guna district, however,maintained that Singh and his familywere included in the BPL list in 2011after a socio-economic caste census.

The family has lodged a complaintwith the district collector and sought aninvestigation even while Singh blamedthe state government for the mess.

Health, a fundamental right

Digvijaya wants probe for BPL listing


SUPREME COURT/ MTP Act

ON July 25 Ms X, a rape victimfrom a disadvantaged back-ground, was permitted to termi-nate her 24 week old pregnancyby a Supreme Court order after

a team of doctors had examined her. Thejudgment by the apex court brought thefocus on a recent spate of cases where courtshave aided young rape survivors to over-come the limitations of legislation on med-ical termination of pregnancy.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy

Act (MTP Act) which was enacted in 1971was considered progressive then because itallowed for medical termination of pregnan-cy. Prior to 1971 abortion was an act punish-able under the Indian Penal Code, a law thatcame into force under British rule in 1860!But according to rights lawyer ColinGonsalves, who appeared for Ms X, the lawremains frozen in the 70s, both in terms offactoring in medical advances as well as inkeeping up with social realities. The lawneeds to be amended.

SERIOUS ABNORMALITIESIn Ms X’s case the fetus showed terribleabnormalities when the mother was exam-ined after 20 weeks—according to medicalanalysis it would not have survived thebirth. A gynecologist who did not want to beidentified, explained that the descriptiongiven by the team of doctors who examinedMs X on the orders of the Supreme Courtshowed that not only were the organs of thefetus outside the body, but also that the vault

Abortion Needs an Amendment

An apex courtorder allowing

a rape victim toterminate her

24-week pregnancybrings into

focus the needto change an

outdated legislation

which controls medical

intervention. Itis time our lawmakerswake up to

scientificadvances

and to social realities

By NayantaraRoy

30 August 15, 2016

Rajender Kumar

of the skull was not formed, a conditioncalled anencephaly wherein the frontal lobeis missing.

The gynecologist explained that thisbaby would not have survived birth in anycase and labor would have been prolongeddue to the missing frontal lobe of the brainwhich normally helps the fetus participatein the labor process. The shoulders wouldhave got stuck and there was danger to themother of obstructed labor with uterinerupture and post-partum hemorrhage. Allfierce sounding medical terms which effec-tively mean that the mother would probablyhave died giving birth to a child who wouldnot have survived anyway. Further, in Ms X’scase, the gynecologist explained that thetrauma of carrying the baby to term wouldbe tenfold that of the trauma of terminatingthe pregnancy at the 24 week stage.

Section 3(2)(b) of the MTP Act of 1971puts a ceiling on termination of pregnancyafter 20 weeks. Section 5 sets out an excep-tion to Section 3 in case the mother’s life isin danger. However, there is no provision ifthe mother’s life is not endangered but thefetus has abnormalities. The onus of caringfor such a child including the possible med-ical expenditure on such a child would be onthe pregnant woman, no matter her age, sit-

uation or ability to provide.The explanations to section 3 do take

into account situations such as pregnancycaused by rape, the anguish of which couldpose a grave risk to mental health. It allowsfor terminating a pregnancy arising out offailure of contraception but only applies it toa married couple. The woman’s “foreseeableenvironment” is also taken into accountwhen considering grave risk to mentalhealth. But all this is considered to be withinthe 20-week limit.

While abortionhas historicallybeen a key issuefor feminists inthe UnitedStates, in India,the women’srights movementhas focused onstopping femalefeticide.


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Cases pleading for termination of preg-nancy being heard in court expose the limi-tations of the current legislation. Gonsalves’client Ms X obtained relief from theSupreme Court which applied the exceptionset out in section 5 to her case. Even as hercase was being heard a 15 year old victim ofrape sought the Delhi High Court’s inter-vention to enable her to abort a 24 week oldfetus. The Court constituted a medical panelto determine the physical and mental condi-tion of the 15 year old to ascertain if thepregnancy can be terminated. Similarly, inJanuary this year the Madras High Courtdirected a medical board to determinewhether the five month pregnancy of a 14year old, rescued from the flesh trade, couldbe terminated.

REASON TO REVISIT ACTAmerican birth control activist and sex edu-cator Margaret Sanger had famously said“no woman can call herself free who doesnot own and control her body”. The MTPAct, 1971 while introduced by the thenhealth minister S Chandrasekhar as a steptowards the emancipation of women doesnot give women the right to make thisimportant decision regarding abortion butplaces the decision making in the hands ofhealthcare providers.

This is a view endorsed by ShwetaKrishnan, research associate at IIT Madras,in her paper in the Indian Journal ofMedical Ethics. She points out that theMedical Termination of Pregnancy(Amendment) Bill of 2014 intends to makemuch needed changes in the current Act.These will go a long way towards savingwomen from reaching out to whatGonsalves terms “the underground” in orderto terminate pregnancies that the limita-tions of the current Act force many womento resort to.

Poverty and lack of access to informationand knowledge of what to do is probablywhy so many cases seeking termination ofpregnancy after the 20-week period havebeen allowed by various courts across thecountry. But among the poor who lack prop-er healthcare, there is the chance that awoman may not even realize that she is

The MTP Act in its current formallows termination of preg-nancy on the advice of one

allopathic medical practitioner forup to the first 12 weeks of preg-nancy. Between 12 and 20 weeks,the advice of two allopathic med-ical practitioners is required inorder to terminate the pregnancyafter which period termination isnot allowed except under excep-tional circumstances as spelt out inSection 5. Termination of pregnan-cy is allowed within the 12- and 20-week period only on the groundsthat the continuance of the preg-nancy would involve a risk to thelife of the pregnant woman or “of

grave injury to her physical or men-tal health”. In the alternative thereshould be a substantial risk that ifthe child were to be born it would“suffer from such physical or men-tal abnormalities as to be seriouslyhandicapped”.Section 5 lays down exceptions toSection 3. This section allows ter-mination of pregnancy over the 20-week period prescribed in Section3 and does away with the require-ment of the advice of two medicalpractitioners if a medical practition-er is of the opinion, in good faith,that termination is immediatelynecessary to save the life of thepregnant woman.

The current lawThe MTP Act allows termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeksonly under exceptional circumstances

SUPREME COURT/ MTP Act

Lawyer ColinGonsalves supportsthe MTP (Amendment)Bill but feels that it’sunlikely to be passedanytime soon.

In 1919, Americanactivist Margaret Sangerespoused the woman’sright over her body. Theterm, birth control, isattributed to Sanger.

32 August 15, 2016

pregnant until the 20-week period lapsesand fetal movement is first felt. Often rapevictims who find themselves pregnant aretoo young to understand till it is too late. It is in this context that an amended law is important.

THE PROPOSED LAWThe MTP Amendment Bill, 2014, providesfor termination of pregnancy up to 24weeks. It will allow termination of pregnan-cy of up to 12 weeks on the decision of thewoman herself. After 12 weeks and up to 24weeks the advice and opinion of only onemedical practitioner will be needed makingthe process less bureaucratic and cumber-some.

This amendment takes into con-sideration that medicine hasadvanced since 1971 when D&Cs(dilation and curettage) were the onlyabortion methods available. At a laterstage of pregnancy this method couldprove dangerous to the mother. Thecurrent practice is to induce minilabour by administering oxytocin anda cervical dilatory agent so that thefetus is delivered along with the pla-centa. Then, if required, some scrap-ing might be done. Some doctors saythat by this method the pregnancy can even be terminated in the eighth andninth months.

In Ms X’s case the Attorney Generalargued that having a liberal process formedical termination of pregnancy wouldincrease female feticide. But Gonsalvespoints out that feticide is a completely dif-ferent issue. Krishnan in her paper says thatthe Pre-Conception and Pre-DiagnosticTechniques Act 1994 (PCPDT) is meant totackle feticide.

It is true that trade in fetuses is a grislycrime that is supported by markets as variedas beauty and medical treatments and mightbe a fall out of a liberal MTP regime. Speciallaws are needed to tackle this horrific crime.But the answer cannot lie in forcing unwant-ed pregnancies on people who cannot sup-port the progeny, especially in cases of severeabnormality of the fetus. The intent of thelaw should be to help victims expeditiously

and not to burden them further.According to Krishnan the Abortion

Assessment Project report says that 56 percent of the 6.4 million abortions per-formed annually in India are unsafe. Ten to13 percent of maternal deaths are due tounsafe abortions. Drafting good laws is allabout factoring in possible fall outs, socialevils and whatever else may impact on a law,not restricting the law so that it cannot ful-fill its intent.

In another case represented byGonsalves, the Bombay High Court hadrejected the plea of a pregnant woman toterminate her more than 20 week pregnan-cy. She had only just found out that the fetuswas abnormal. An appeal has been filed inthe Supreme Court challenging the MTPAct. The rights lawyer is all for a progressiveMTP (Amendment) Bill but is pessimisticabout our lawmakers passing it.

The US has also seen court rul-ings against abortion laws thatmake access to termination dif-

ficult. Recently the US SupremeCourt ruled against a Texas law thathad made access to abortion verydifficult due to excessive proceduralregulations. The discourse in the USrevolves around “life” and theimmorality of taking “life”. In the1973 landmark American case Roeversus Wade the right to privacy was

extended to a woman’s decision tohave an abortion. In order to protectmaternal health as also human lifeabortion laws were tied to the thirdtrimester of pregnancy. Subsequentlyin Planned Parenthood vs Casey theperiod during which abortion wasallowed was linked to the viability ofthe fetus outside the womb, evenwith artificial help. With advances inmedicine it has become possible tokeep a fetus alive outside the wombat earlier stages. This linkage hasresulted in various US state legisla-tions becoming more conservativeon the period until which abortionsare allowed.

Nevertheless the courts in the UShave in recent times ruled more liber-ally in favour of women as for exam-ple when the US Supreme Courtrecently struck down a proposedArkansas law that would have pro-hibited abortion after 12 weeks.

The US experience The 1973 Roe vs Wade case was a watershed moment for America’sabortion rights activists

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SUPREME COURT/ Lodha Committee Recommendations

THERE is this story thatsomeone close to Vee-rappa Moily, Union lawminister in UPA-II, likesto narrate. It does nothave to do with the for-mer minister’s literary

pursuits in his mother tongue, Kannada, norhis vision of India as a future superpowerspelt out in four volumes in English titledUnleashing India. It has all to do withMoily’s effort to cleanse sports and pushthrough a Bill in 2011 that would bar politi-cians from heading sports federations. The

A Game-Changing

With the apex court endorsingthe findings of this panel,

lawmakers will find it easier toframe effective legislation to

debar politicians from holdingoffice in sport federations

By Ajith Pillai

34 August 15, 2016

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move did not find favor with his own cabinetcolleagues or politicians from all majorpolitical parties.

STICKLERS FOR POWER The Sports Development Bill (2011) wassummarily rejected at a cabinet meeting inAugust 2011. Among those who objectedwere ministers who headed sports federa-tions or were closely associated with them—Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Farooq Abdu-llah, Rajiv Shukla and Jyotiraditya Scindia.It was a major embarrassment for thensports minister Ajay Maken as well as Moily.

Later, a revised form of the draft bill wasprepared by a working group of legal expertsand former and current sportspersonsunder the chairmanship of Justice (Retd)Mukul Mudgal. But the proposed law hasnot been tabled in parliament so far andmedia reports suggest that it has all butbeen abandoned by the NDA government.

By all accounts, there is stiff resistance fromthe political establishment to any clean-upeffort vis-à-vis sports.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling onJuly 18, 2016, upholding the Lodha Commi-ttee recommendations on reforming theBCCI, there is a view emerging that it is timethat some of the Committee’s recommenda-tions be applied to other sports federationsas well. Congress leader and Supreme Courtlawyer Manish Tewari, who represented ex-cricketers Bishan Singh Bedi and Kirti Azadin the apex court in the BCCI matter, feltthat it is time for other sports bodies to ringin changes, however unpalatable.

“Why should other sports be treated dif-ferently from cricket? What is good for thegoose is good for the gander. I think the timehas come that the Lodha Committee recom-mendations should be used as a templateand the principles should be applied acrossthe Indian Olympic Association (IOA)

Verdict

GAME OVER?(L-R) Rajya Sabha MPand senior BCCI functionary RajivShukla and NCP president and formerBCCI President SharadPawar stand to losetheir clout if the reformsare implemented

(Facing page) Themoney-spinning IPLhas been at the centerof several corruptioncontroversies

There are 70recognizedsports federations ofwhich 38 areheaded bypoliticians.What is worse,once thetakeover happens, thenetas and theircohorts don’tlet go.


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and all the sports federations,” Tewari told anews agency following the SC judgment.

REASON FOR RESISTANCESo why are sports bodies resistant to anygovernment oversight or accountability?The main argument advanced has been thatit would impinge on their autonomy thr-ough official interference. When the DraftSport Development Bill was submitted tovarious stakeholders in 2011 and its revisedform two years later, it was pointed out thatthere was no international precedent of sucha broad sweep law covering all sports and

that India would be the first to implement it. Most sports bodies the world over had

self-regulatory mechanism and the judicialsystem came into the picture only when the-re was any illegality or crime involved likematch-fixing. Moreover, it was argued thatgovernment involvement cannot guaranteeprofessionalism in sports management.

Sports federations, including the IOA,were also uncomfortable with age limits andlimiting tenure duration of its office-bearersas well as restrictions on ministers and gov-ernment servants to be included. But theapex court ruling on the Lodha Committeerecommendations has provided clarity on allthese issues. In effect, a template, as ManishTewari put it, has been provided.

But behind all the objections, it is easy tosee the sub-text: our politicians are loath togive up control over sports federations thatthey so immensely enjoy. According to theDelhi-based Centre for Public Policy Res-earch, there are 70 recognized sports feder-ations of which 38 are headed by politicians.What is worse, once the takeover happens,the netas and their cohorts don’t let go.

Remember Jagdish Tytler headed theJudo Federation for 25 years and when agecaught up with him, he quit only to becomea patron for life! Then there is the ArcheryFederation which was headed by BJP’s VijayMalhotra for 40 years (he is now hono-rary life president). The list goes on span-ning all parties….

SPORTSPERSONS TAKE OVERSportspersons over the years have beenharping on the fact that politicians need to

One can understand politicians beinginterested in being part of the man-

agement that runs popular, glamorousand cash-rich games like cricket. Butwhat about lesser-known sports likehandball or, say, Sepaktakraw (volleyballplayed with the foot) or even Kho-Kho?According to sports journalists, heading

even the most nondescript sport federa-tion comes with the following perks—money, power, foreign travel and theprospect of furthering business interests.

The popular impression is that sportsbodies, other than those which managegames like cricket and tennis, are cash-strapped and hence compensate playerspoorly. But that may not be true. Sportsorganizations get grants from internatio-nal bodies like the Olympics Association

Perks galore

Justice Lodha (left) has suggestedsweeping reforms to rid cricket of

corruption. Justice Mukul Mudgal (right)exposed the peril of betting in IPL.


36 August 15, 2016

be kept out of federations, which in turnhave to function with transparency. Here isa representative sampling of what two iconsof Indian athletics reportedly said. “For thegood of sport, sportsmen should be at thehelm of affairs,” said Milkha Singh, formertrack and field sprinter.

“We have seen several politicians at thehelm of various sports bodies in the countryand there has not been much improvement.I feel the time has come for sportspersons totake over.” That is what ace sprinter PT Ushasaid. Her views are endorsed by the likes of

Ashwini Nachappa, Kirti Azad and BishenSingh Bedi.

But critics will argue that getting rid ofpoliticians from sports federations andbringing them under government oversightby passing a law will not bring professional-ism to sport. In fact, the sports ministry hasa poor track record in this regard. Perhapsthe private sector needs to be more involved.This was articulated in an assessment of theDraft Sports Development Bill by theFederation of Indian Chambers of Comm-erce and Industry (FICCI).

for development of the sport. Much of themonies is siphoned off and shown asexpenses in the books. There is very littleaccountability and no questions areasked and there is no media scrutiny ofthe bodies that run marginal sports.

During foreign junkets to attend meet-ings not only is one hosted and takencare of but the representative of a sportsbody is often treated as a guest of thestate and can meet senior officials,

including ministers, in the country he isvisiting. This opens up business possibili-ties and regular visits cement ties whichcould translate into deals not always connected with the sport. Similarly, hecan represent foreign business interestsback in India.

For the politician, another perk is influ-encing team selection, deciding oncoaches and the venue where a tourna-ment is to be conducted. As sports

administrators, netas can also rewardcronies by favoring their candidate forselection into a team. Lesser-knownsports rarely attract controversy, so thereis no public furore over who is chosenand who is not.

Finally, there is this feeling amongmost politicians that their CV looksimpressive if they are seen as associat-ing themselves with any sport. So what ifit’s cycling or tug-of-war?

Veerappa Moily He faced embarrassmentwhen his draft Bill on BCCIreforms was rejected bymany of his own partymenin the Congress.

Farooq Abdullah The flamboyant NationalConference leader wasamong those whoopposed reforms suggested by Moily.

Jagdish Tytler He headed the JudoFederation for 25 yearsand later became patronfor life, when age caughtup with him.


To quote FICCI: “Industry’s importanceand role must be stressed beyond the con-text of collaboration with National SportsFederations (NSFs). There is mention ofintroducing and implementing professionalmanagement and processes within the spo-rts domain. Industry will be able to impartand introduce more stringent and fiscallyprofessional and responsible practicestherefore it must be given a defined rolewithin the Sports Bill and the Sports Code.There is a strong case for public privatepartnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure relat-ed and capital intensive initiatives. Industrycan also contribute to human capital res-ource projects such as skill training, andprofessional management expertise.”

PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT However, pundits warn that wanton com-mercialization of sports comes with its ownset of problems as has been illustrated in thecase of cricket. Admittedly, professionalmanagement of sports bodies is the answerto many of the ills that currently plaguesports federations which are run like fief-doms by politicians.

Perhaps, to break their stranglehold andto professionalize sport, a legal frameworkneeds to be put in place, otherwise changewill be resisted.

While delivering their verdict on theLodha Committee recommendations, theapex court bench of Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla madethis significant observation: “The truth isthat resistance to change stems partly frompeople getting used to the status quo andpartly because any change is perceived toaffect their vested interest in terms of loss ofego, status, power or resources. This is trueparticularly when the suggested change isstructural or organisational which involvessome threat, real or perceived, of personalloss to those involved.”

If the BCCI resisted change till nowdespite the spot-fixing scandal, then it is dif-ficult to see sports federations change in theabsence of a law. The latest Supreme Courtverdict can help our lawmakers frame a newand effective legislation that would be holis-tic and good for sport in the country.

The Supreme Court verdict okayedmost of the Lodha Committee recommendations for reforming theBCCI. Here are the key ones:� All recommendations cleared by theCourt will have to be implemented withinsix months� No one above the age of 70 canbecome an office-bearer in the BCCI orstate associations� Ministers and bureaucrats barred frombeing office-bearers� Officials cannot hold dual posts in thestate unit and the BCCI� Only one vote per state at BCCI

meetings� Parliament will decideon whether BCCI shouldbe brought under theambit of RTI and if bet-ting should be legalized� Running of the BCCIwill have to be stream-lined and become pro-fessional

SC verdict

PT Usha, ace sprinter She says India has severalpoliticians at the helm ofvarious sports bodies in thecountry and there has notbeen much improvement.

Milkha Singh, former track and field sprinterHe firmly believes that for the good of sport,sportsmen should be at the helm of affairs.

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38 August 15, 2016

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The Supreme Court made it clear thatonce it decides upon a law, the con-

cerned authorities must “follow andimplement it in letter and spirit”. Thecourt’s observation came on a petitionfiled by an NGO, Lok Prahari, whichclaimed that despite the apex court’s2013 ruling, instances of lawmakers los-ing membership of parliament or statelegislatures, once convicted, were fewand far between.

The apex court, in its July 10, 2013verdict, had struck down Section 8 (4) ofthe Representation of People Act 1951.The Section enabled convicted MLAs and

MPs to legally challenge the order in ahigher court within three months and geta stay and steer clear of Section 8 (1)(2) and (3) which disqualifies them forsix years. After the order, MPs and MLAswere to be immediately disqualified forsix months once convicted.

The NGO alleged that no system wasin place for the trial court to get in touchwith the Election Commission and passon the information about a lawmakeronce he/she is held guilty of a criminaloffense.

The apex court asked the poll bodyand the center to respond on the petition.

Are laws being followed?

SUPREME COURT

The Ministry of Defensewill take charge of the

controversy-ridden AdarshCooperative SocietyBuilding in Mumbai, theapex court ruled recently.

It also asked the regis-trar general of the BombayHigh Court to supervise thetransfer—either personallyor through somebodydeputed by him—and prepare an inventory of all important documentsrelated to thebuilding.

The courtdid not passany order onthe pleas fromresidents ofthe Societychallengingand seeking astay on the

Bombay High Court’s Aprilverdict to demolish thebuilding. But the benchdealing with the caseobserved that it was“implicit” in the order itselfthat the demolition hadbeen stalled till the courtsettles the issue.

The counsel for the ministry informed the courtthat there will be no demoli-tion till the apex court takesa final call on the issue.

Adarsh Society incharge of MoD

Just because a tradition hassustained for thousands of

years does not imply that wecontinue to cling to it, the apexcourt reminded proponents ofJallikattu, a brutal bull-tamingsport in Tamil Nadu.

To bring home the point, itasked the Tamil Nadu govern-ment, whether the same logiccould be applied to child mar-riage which had existed forcenturies in India.

The court’s responsecame when the counselfor Tamil Nadu, ShekharNaphade, argued thatJallikattu should beallowed as it was part ofthe culture and traditionof Tamil society sinceancient times.

The court was hear-ing pleas filed by animalrights activists againstthe center’s (NDA gov-ernment) notification inJanuary this year, allow-

ing the traditional sport on theoccasion of Pongal.

The January notificationhad overturned the 2011 notification of the central government (UPA) prohibitingthe sport, as well as the 2014 order of the apex court, upholding the 2011 notification.

The next hearing in theemotive matter is slated onAugust 30.

Old, not always gold


The apex court took a serious note of theexploitation suffered by porters who lug sup-

plies, ration and ammunition of the Army in hillyareas along the borders and held that this muststop. It blamed the system set up by the Army forthe scourge.

It was responding to a plea by some porterswho complained that they were deprived of evenminimum wages as sanctioned by law despitedoing the job for years. They also lamented thatthere was no job security and some of them hadbeen removed by the Army after receiving one-time compensation.

The counsel for the Army contended that ascheme was being chalked out for porters and theinformation presented by them in court had beenblown out of proportion. He requested for anopportunity to respond to their allegations.

Granting his wish, the court gave the Army aweek’s time and fixed the next hearing for July 29.But this was not before it had almost arrived at adecision to hand over the charge of examining theservice conditions of the porters to the ArmedForces Tribunal.

Porters can’t beexploited

The apex court recently asked a Delhi-based management institute—FORE

School of Management—to deposit `2 crorewith its registry over an issue resulting fromover-admissions.

It was responding to the institute’s plea tosanction the admission of 51 “extra” studentsfor the current academic year.

The matter had gone to the Supreme Courtwith FORE seeking the court’s intervention todirect All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) to grant approval for the extra seats.

Parents of 22 affected students had alsofiled a petition against FORE in the court. Theyhad dragged FORE to the apex court for play-ing with their career. FORE had over-admittedstudents in its two-year programs—PostGraduate Diploma in Management (PGDM)and International Business (PGDM-IB)—andhad later asked the students to withdraw theirnames. And that too, a fortnight after the ses-sion had started.

The institute had earlier applied to AICTEfor the approval of extra seats but AICTE had refused citing a Supreme Court order that had set the deadline of April 30 forapproval to technical institutes. However,FORE went ahead presuming that the approvalwill come later.

The counsel for FORE, Salman Khurshidpleaded that the B-school had applied toAICTE much ahead of the deadline and met allrequirements. He laid the blame on AICTE fordelaying the sanction, putting at risk the careerof so many students.

The counsel for AICTE countered FORE’splea on the ground that the denial had beenissued well in advance.

The bench dealing with the case listed thematter for August 9.

FORE asked to deposit `2 crore

—Compiled by Prabir Biswas, Illustrations: UdayShankar

SUPREME COURT

40 August 15, 2016

COURTS/Rajasthan/Salman Khan Verdict

YET again, the stars seemed tofavor Salman Khan. On July 25,the Rajasthan High Courtacquitted the actor in two sepa-rate cases where he was accused

of poaching on chinkaras belonging to thedeer family. In fact three separate cases werefiled against Khan for killing deer on differ-ent days in the months of September andOctober 1998 while he was in Jodhpur for afilm shoot.

The trial court had convicted Khanunder Section 51 of the Wild Life Prot-ection Act and sentenced him to one year ofsimple imprisonment with a `5,000 fine.But the High Court found all the evidenceproduced most unsatisfactory and repletewith infirmities.

Khan was convicted primarily on thestatement of the driver of a Gypsy that Khanpurportedly used for his hunting trips. Thedriver’s statement had been taken downunder section 164 of the CrPC before a mag-istrate but was subsequently never exam-ined in court as he had “disappeared.”Therefore Salman Khan’s lawyer was notgiven an opportunity to cross examine himas per the requirement of section 33 of theEvidence Act.

It was found that the driver had beenkept in the illegal custody of the ForestDepartment at the time that his statementunder Section 164 was recorded. Further,the testimony of the vehicle owner was thatthe driver had been left behind at the UmaidBhawan Palace Hotel and had not driven

Salman Khan. Regarding the driver’s testimony, the

court said that it made Salman Khan appearto have been “multi-tasking”, driving thevehicle, shooting the deer, climbing out ofthe vehicle to cut the deer’s throat with aknife and climbing back in to take the wheel.

The vehicle had been left unattended anduncovered, in the open, after recovery.Testimony from various witnesses showeddiscrepancies such as that they had notfound blood or hair in the car at the time itwas impounded but several days later theyfound deer bloodstains (proved by laborato-ry forensic reports) and hair in the vehicle.

Even regarding the recovery of the vari-ous guns allegedly used the evidence showedthat the .22 gun had been brought toJodhpur only on the request of officials afterthe case had been filed.

There was nothing to prove that it was inJodhpur prior to the filing of the case. Theother two weapons, a revolver and an airgun were not the usual weapons that areused in deer hunting. Importantly no deercarcass was recovered; therefore bulletscould not be matched to corroborate theprosecution’s story.

According to media reports, animalrights activists have alleged that the evi-dence has been deliberately weakened. Twodays after the verdict the driver, HarishDulani reappeared and told the media thathis family had been threatened and that hewould have come forward and deposed if hehad been given protection.

No One Killedthe ChinkarasThe actor is acquitted by the RajasthanHigh Court in two poaching cases inwhich he had been earlier convictedBy Nayantara Roy

NOT GUILTYSalman outside the Rajasthan High Court premises

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COURTS/ Madras/Perumal Murgan

WITH these words, a benchof the Madras High Courtgave a historic judgmentwhich “resurrected” Tamilwriter Perumal Murgan

who announced his own death in aFacebook post over a year ago.

The author was forced to make thisannouncement after caste and local groupsat Namakkal district collectorate in TamilNadu on January 12, 2015 forcefully elicitedan unconditional apology from him for the

theme of his novel Madhorubhagan (OnePart Woman). The meeting, organized bythe district administration, was called as a“peace committee meeting”. Locals andcaste groups were up in arms against thenovel for “denigrating” women of their areaand caste and for lowering the dignity oftheir famous “Arthanareeshwarar temple”.

PUBLIC HUMILIATIONAfter being forced to tender an uncondition-al apology, the author was also pressured to

“Resurrecting”a Tamil Writer

In a heart-warming judgment, this High Courthas come to the rescue of a novelist who washounded for his bookMadhorubhagan and said it was so absorbing that itcouldn’t be put downBy R Ramasubramanian

“I may not agree with what you say,but will defend to the death, your right

to say it, said the author Voltaire.”(Attributed to Voltaire by SG Tellyntyre

in The Friends of Voltaire (1907)

42 August 15, 2016

withdraw all the remaining copies of“Madhorubhagan” from book stalls. It wasafter this humiliation that Murugan notonly announced his own death but alsowithdrew all his other works from his pub-lishers and appealed to all those in posses-sion of his books to burn them.

The novel, set in 1940, was about achildless couple in Tiruchengode, the hometown of the author. The plot revolvesaround Kongu Vellala Gounder Kula Gotras(an intermediary caste). The protagonistsin the plot are Kali and Ponna. They failedto have a child despite being married fordecades. Kali’s mother suggests to him thatif he allows his wife, Ponna, to participatein a sexual orgy on the 14th day of the Vaikasi car festival at ArulmighuArthanareeshwarar temple in Tiruchen-gode, they could get a child.

Initially, Kali refuses but later gets con-vinced. Kali was pacified by his brother-in-law who tells him that the popular saying,“Sami Kodutha Pillai” (God-given child)used by the locals is nothing but a referenceto children begotten by women having sexu-al intercourse with unknown persons duringthe 14th day of the Vaikasi car festival.

Challenging the January 12, 2015 peacecommittee meeting, a progressive Tamilwriters association moved the Madras HighCourt. Interestingly, Murugan was not aparty to the petition, but later impleadedhimself after the Court issued notices to himto get his opinion on the issue.

Two other petitions—one from a localresident of Tiruchengodu and another froma devotees’ association of Arthanareeswarartemple praying to the Court to initiate crim-inal proceedings against the author forwounding the sentiments of the people—were also moved. So in total, three petitionswere moved.

MAJOR JUDGMENTOn July 5, 2016, a bench headed by ChiefJustice of the Madras High Court SanjayKishan Kaul and comprising Justice PushpaSathyanarayana allowed the Tamil writers’association petition and quashed the Jan 12,2015, Namakkal collectorate peace commit-tee meeting proceedings. It also dismissed

the other two writ petitions. The judgesquoted extensively from newspaper reports,literary reviews and ancient and modernforeign literature to uphold their judgment.

For example, in page 89 of the 158-pagejudgment, the judges quoted from the editpage of The New York Times dated January23, 2015. The edit—“Silencing authors inIndia”—refers to the petitions pending inthe Madras High Court and the larger con-cern expressed by the Court over extra-judi-cial groups wielding power to decide what isright and what is not right, and askingauthors what to write and what not to write.

While upholding the right of the writerto write the novel and lifting the undeclaredban, the judges quoted 19 Supreme Courtjudgments in their order. The judgmentswere classified in six categories—Freedom ofSpeech and Expression, Freedom ofExpression and Obscenity, Obligation ofstate to protect rights of individual underArticle 21, Katta Panchayats, Banning ofBooks under Section 95 & 96 of the CrPCand Precedence for guidelines relating toProsecution.

One of the important judgments quotedwas “S Khushboo vs Kanniammal, 2010 (5),SCC 600”. This case relates to the quashingof cases filed against Tamil film actressKhushboo for remarks made by her on

OFFENDED BY ARTA devotees' association fromArthanareeswarar Mandir inTiruchengode (above) hadsought criminal proceedingsagainst author PerumalMurugan (on facing page) who had set his novelMadhorubhagan (below) in the temple town


premarital sex. “This court observed that aculture of responsible reading is to be incul-cated amongst the prudent readers.Morality and criminality are far from beingcoextensive. An expression of opinion infavor of non-dogmatic and non-convention-al morality has to be tolerated as the samecannot be a ground to penalize the author.”

JUDGING A BOOKThen came the finest portion of the judg-ment, viz. the operative part of the order: “Abook is the literary expression of the author. Apainter paints his thoughts… A sculptorexpresses his thoughts through his murals…an author writes… The first two are simpleexpressions of a mixed set of thoughts andhave to be observed in that manner. Theaspect of painting was dealt with by one of us(Sanjay Kishan Kaul J) in MF Hussain’s case,which also received the imprimatur of theSupreme Court by dismissal of SLP

(Criminal) of No. 6287 on 8.9.2008. A book isdefinitely a more detailed and expressivemethod of setting forth one’s thoughts. It isnot a single expression. It weaves a theme.Thus while judging a book on any parameternot necessarily restricted to obscenity, it hasto be read, digested and examined as a whole.A book is not to be read like a statue to cometo a conclusion. Sentences cannot be pickedup here and there to give a conclusion.”

The judges had this to say about thequality of the novel: “On reading the novel,we felt that it could not be put down withoutgoing the whole hog. It was so absorbing. Atthe end of the story what comes to themind? At least to our mind, it is a heartrending story of a husband and wife who areat peace with themselves, but at are con-stantly reminded by the society of their sta-tus—of being childless.”

The bench further added: “The novelshakes you, but not in the manner its oppo-nents seeks to profess. It jolts you, because itsuccinctly sets forth the pain and sufferancedepicted through the words of this childlesscouple. That is the takeaway from the novel.”

VICTORIAN PHILOSOPHYThe judgment says, “As a society we seem tobe more bogged down by this Victorian phi-losophy rather than draw inspiration fromour own literature and scriptures. Sex per

The novel shakes you, but not in the manner its opponentsseeks to profess. It jolts you, because it succinctly setsforth the pain and sufferance depicted through the wordsof this childless couple.

—Judgment of Madras High Court bench comprising JusticeSanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana

COURTS/ Madras/Perumal Murgan

44 August 15, 2016

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se was not treated as undesirable, but wasan integral part right from the existence ofcivilization. The Indian scriptures, includ-ing the Mahabharata are set to be repletewith obvious examples of sex outside mar-riage, also specifically for the purpose ofhaving progenies and that too of the intel-lectual class.” The judges quoted a portionof Santi Parva (79:31) Mahabharata whichsays: “In response to the demands of timeand place what is proper may becomeimproper, and what is improper maybecome proper.”

The golden part of the judgment is its

last paragraph: “The author Prof PerumalMurugan should not be under fear. Heshould be able to write and advance the can-vas of his writings. Time is a great healerand we are sure, that would hold true forPerumal Murugan as well as his opponents;both would have learnt to get along withtheir lives, we hope by now in their ownfields, and bury this issue in the hatchet ascitizens of an advancing and vibrant democ-racy… We conclude by observing this… Letthe author be resurrected to what he is bestat. Write.”

The judgment strikes a perfect balancebetween literature and law. The judgmentspeaks about Lady Chatterley’s Lover toshow how novels down the ages have runinto opposition and how the concept ofoffence is also changing from time to time.The judges also quote Salman Rushdie onbanning books—“It is very easy not to beoffended by a book. You simply close it.”

On the evening of July 5, 2016, immedi-ately after the judgment was pronounced,Murugan in a short statement said: “Thejudgment gives me much happiness. It com-forts a heart that had shrunk itself and hadwilted. I will get up and resume writing.”

The judgment had come at a time whenthe Tamil Nadu government was bitten bythe “ban mania”.

In 2015, the state government hadbanned two books ostensibly under the logicthat the books were insulting the sentimentsof a few castes. The Jayalalithaa governmentalso banned films like “Dam 999” andKamal Hassan’s “Vishwaroopam” in recent times.

THE BAN MANIAThe Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu has prohibitedthe screening of Dam 999in 2011 and that ofVishwaroopam in 2013

UNDER FIREActress Khushboo and painter MF Hussain haveboth courted controversy for their work and views


— Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar

The Gujarat High Courtrecently reversed the

verdict of the trial court ina post-Godhra riots’ case.It convicted 10 personsfor murdering two peoplein the Mehsana district ofthe state.

Twenty-seven personswere accused in the casebut a Mehsana trial courthad acquitted all of themin June 2005.

Kalu Miyan Saiyed andhis daughter Hasina Bibiwere burnt alive in March2002 by a rampagingmob. As many as six peo-ple stood before the courtto testify that the accusedwere indeed guilty.

Those who had testi-fied against the accusedhad challenged the trialcourt’s verdict.

The high court willorder the quantum of sen-

tence on August 4. In another

verdict, theHigh Courtawarded lifeimprisonmentto seven peo-

ple in a post-Godhra riot at

Viramgam.

COURTS

Responding to a clutch ofpetitions seeking can-

cellation of JNU presidentKanhaiya Kumar’s six-month interim bail, theDelhi High Courtobserved that therewere no reasons tobelieve that he wasobstructing the probe in any manner. Kumar,arrested in a seditioncase, was granted bail on March 2.

The petitioners contendedthat the speech given by Kumarafter his release from jail wasblatantly “anti-national” and thushis bail should be cancelled.Even the Delhi Police cited thespeech against Kumar, but saidit was not seeking cancellationof bail.

But the Court still wanted toknow whether there was anyground for cancelling Kumar’sinterim bail from Delhi Policeand berated it for not respondingto the petitions. It ruled that thecase would only be taken upafter Delhi Police files itsresponse.

Google gets a notice

Global search engine Googlelanded in legal trouble over

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’spicture appearing when onesearches for top 10 criminalsof the world.

An Allahabad district court,besides issuing notice to itsCEO and India head, alsoordered that a criminal case beregistered against the Americanmultinational technology com-pany and its top officials.

The petitioner, advocateSushil Kumar Mishra, pleadedthat despite apprising Google of

the matter, there was noresponse from the company.He had even sought the assis-tance of the police. He laterapproached the chief judicialmagistrate but his applicationwas dismissed on the groundthat it was a civil case.

In June 2015, Google hadproffered an apology for “con-fusion and misunderstanding”on the issue and stated that thesearch results do not reflectGoogle’s “opinions”.

The next hearing is onAugust 31.

Ten held guilty in post-Godhra riots

Objection to Kumar’sbail rejected

46 August 15, 2016

THE use and misuse ofArticle 356 of the consti-tution has come intofocus once again withthe July 13 SupremeCourt judgment on Aru-nachal Pradesh where it

restored the Congress government. On August 4, 1949, Dr BR Ambedkar,

while reassuring the Constituent Assemblyon the Union government’s power to imposePresident’s rule in the provinces, noted: “Ihope the first thing he (the President) willdo would be to issue a mere warning to aprovince that has erred, that things were nothappening, in the way in which they wereintended to happen in the Constitution. Ifthat warning fails, the second thing for himto do will be to order an election allowingthe people of the province to settle mattersby themselves. It is only when these tworemedies fail that he would resort to this

LEGAL EYE/ Article 356

Do We NeedGovernors?

Should this gubernatorial post be abolishedconsidering how this article was misused in

Arunachal and Uttarakhand, so much so that the Supreme Court had to intervene to

restore these state governments?By Kalyani Shankar

GOVERNOR’SWHIMS?The Harish Rawat government inUttarakhand was dismissed on March27, but he won the floor test in May

48 August 15, 2016

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article. I do not think we could then say thatthese articles were imported in vain or thatthe President had acted wantonly.”

The tussle in the Constituent Assemblywas between those who saw Article 356 giving overreaching powers to the centerand the president and those who saw thatthe power enabled them to merely give ahelping hand to tide over the political andconstitutional crisis. Ultimately, the latterprevailed but over the years, the formerproved to be right.

CENTER’S POWERHowever, former Supreme Court judgeSantosh Hegde points out in The Wire thatdespite Ambedkar’s remonstrations, it be-came clear that it was not a true federationof independent states that had voluntarilyacceded into a union. “The Central govern-ment’s power to override the States, far frombeing a dead letter, became a heavy hand,

casting a long shadow on Centre-State rela-tions,” he wrote.

This is borne by the fact that in the past70 years, there have been 125 instances ofimposition of President’s Rule. Manipur hasbeen under President’s Rule on 10 occa-sions, while Uttar Pradesh and Punjab haveseen it nine times. Prime Minister IndiraGandhi made use of it at least 50 times dur-ing her two stints to get rid of the opposi-tion-ruled governments. Morarji Desai gotthe Congress governments dismissed afterthe Emergency. Almost all successive

“Governors... are unable to shed theirpolitical inclinations, predilections andprejudices while dealing with differentpolitical parties within the State.”

—Sarkaria Commission Report

JUSTICE AT LASTFollowing the landmarkSC order on Arunachal,Congress leader PemaKhandu is sworn in as thestate’s chief minister inItanagar on July 17


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governments have used or misused the pow-ers, affecting regional satraps.

It was in Arunachal Pradesh that themisuse of Article 356 played out in recentmonths. What happened in this state isimportant both politically and constitution-ally. The apex court’s landmark judgementon July 13 may make governors, the Unioncabinet and political parties think twicebefore dismissing an elected government.

The judgment by a five-judge constitu-tional bench headed by Justice JS Khehar,which ordered a status quo ante restoringthe Nabam Tuki-led Congress governmentas on December 15, 2015, is clear about thepowers of the governor, the Union govern-ment and the Speaker. In a major embar-rassment to the Narendra Modi govern-ment, and even the President of India, theSupreme Court declared the decision to dismiss the Tuki government as illegal. TheBench told governors to remain aloof from

the heat and dust of politics and that theywere not entitled to convene, advance orpostpone assembly sessions without the “aidand advice” of the council of ministers head-ed by the chief minister as long as it enjoyeda majority.

The Arunachal judgment is the second inquick succession by the apex court againstmisusing the provisions of Article 356. Onlya few months back, the Court restored theHarish Rawat government in Uttarakhand.It was dismissed by a presidential proclama-tion on March 27, 2016, and Rawat won afloor test on May 10. Both were Congress-ruled states and the root cause in both casesremained at the door of the Congress highcommand which refused to listen to dissi-dents or give them an audience.

In Arunachal, there was a rebellion agai-nst the Congress chief minister Nabam Tuki.The BJP, which wants a “Congress Mukt”North-east, stepped in to lure the rebels.The Tuki government was dismissed onJanuary 26, 2016, after 21 of the 47 Cong-ress MLAs rebelled against him. The gov-ernment, led by dissident Congress leaderKalikho Pul, took over on February 20, withthe support of the BJP from outside.

CONGRESS ACTSThe Congress tackled the situation withalacrity. It went to the Supreme Court, chal-lenging the removal of the Tuki governmentand ultimately won the case. Next, it tookthe BJP by surprise by changing the horsemid-way—yielding to the Congress rebelsand replacing Tuki with Pema Khandu.

The assembly now has an effective str-ength of 58, where the BJP has 11 MLAs andindependents, two. With Speaker NabamRebia and the return of the dissidents, theCongress strength has gone up to 45. Theresult is that the state now has the youngestchief minister, Pema Khandu, 37, son of for-mer chief minister Dorjee Khandu and anominee of Tuki. For the Congress, all’s wellthat ends well.

After the apex court judgment, Congressvice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted:“Thank you Supreme Court for explaining tothe Prime Minister what democracy is”, forgetting that at the root of the problem


JP Rajkhowa, Arunachal governor

The apex court has castigated him for

overstepping his powersand interfering in

legislative functions.

KK Paul, Uttarakhand governorAccording to media

reports, during the crisis inMarch, he instructed the

speaker to conduct a floortest in camera.

50 August 15, 2016

was the Congress high command. TheCongress took note of the rebellion onlyafter the dissidents joined hands with theBJP and brought down governments.

The imbroglio in Arunachal Pradeshnow and Uttarakhand earlier cannot be seenas a BJP-versus-Congress fight as it goesbeyond (impinging upon the federal struc-ture of India). Article 356 gives wide powersto the center over a state. The past sevendecades have shown that political partieshave often misused this power as the guber-natorial posts of governors have come toacquire the dubious distinction of being par-tisan offices for the center to make use ofthem. Opposition parties often call themagents of the center. Unfortunately, this isbecause those governors who get their posi-tions due to political patronage feel behol-den to their godfathers.

POLITICAL AFFILIATIONSEven the Sarkaria Commission had noted:“The burden of the complaints against thebehaviour of Governors, in general, is thatthey are unable to shed their political incli-nations, predilections and prejudices whiledealing with different political parties with-in the State. As a result, sometimes the deci-sions they take in their discretion appear as partisan and intended to promote the

interests of the ruling party in the UnionGovernment.”

Arunachal’s governor JP Rajkhowa is notthe first nor the last to find himself in theeye of a storm. Before him there were othererrant governors such as Romesh Bhandari,Ramlal and Buta Singh.

The apex court’s strictures were strong.“Governors have limited powers, which sho-uld be used in a fair manner, so that democ-racy survives,” it said, adding “the governorhad no business to call an assembly sessionon whims. Such action amounts to interfer-ing with the legislative functions”. Rajkhowaseems to have acted in a partisan manner.

The echo of the verdict is not limited to Arunachal alone. It can be heard else-where. The immediate impact was thedemand from opposition chief ministers toabolish the post of governor.

The attack on Modi during the Inter-State Council Meeting (a forum for chiefministers) on July 16 was led by Bihar chiefminister Nitish Kumar and supported by

Narendra Modi came in for attack at the Inter-state Council Meeting, withopposition chief ministers demandingthat the governor’s post be abolished.

FEDERAL QUESTIONS(L-R) At the Inter-state CouncilMeeting, Nitish Kumar andArvind Kejriwal teemed up todemand an amendment to Article 356

Prime Minister Narendra Modiwith cabinet ministers andchief ministers at the Meet


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others like Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal andJharkhand CM Raghubir Das. They dem-anded curtailing of the governor’s powers byamending Article 356, consultation with thechief minister on the appointment of thegovernor and implementation of the Pun-chhi Commission report on center-staterelations.

CAUTIOUS BJPSecondly, the BJP will have to be cautious inits attempts to get rid of Congress govern-ments in view of the recent two apex courtverdicts. The Arunachal verdict came on aday when BJP chief Amit Shah was launch-ing the BJP-led North-east DemocraticAlliance in Guwahati for achieving aCongress Mukt North-east. The BJP shouldbe careful before attempting another coup,this time in poll-bound Manipur where dis-sident Congress legislators are said to be intouch with the BJP to topple the OkramIbobi Singh government.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh chiefminister Virbhadra Singh has been accusing

the BJP of trying to destabilize his govern-ment. These two Congress CMs may get abreather after the apex court judgments.

The Arunachal echo could make theCongress-led opposition belligerent duringthe Monsoon Session of parliament. Mostopposition parties have already blamed theBJP for the constitutional crisis in Aru-nachal and for hurting federal relations. Theverdict could also have an echo in the forth-coming assembly polls in UP and Punjabwhere the stakes are high for the BJP andthe Congress and for regional parties likethe SP, the BSP, the Akali Dal and AAP.

Modi has been talking of cooperative fed-eralism. The meeting of the Inter-StateCouncil has taken place almost after a dec-ade. Modi had suggested the center wouldrise above political schisms to give everystate a level-playing field. But, the promisesounds hollow.

It is time all parties heed the courts whohave cautioned against the misuse of Article356. The framers of the constitution wouldnever have dreamt of such misuse.

Virbhadra Singh, Himachal CMHe feels that the BJP is tryingto destabilize his government.

But the SC judgment onArunachal will give him a

breather.

Okram Ibobi Singh, Manipur CMThere are indications that in

poll-bound Manipur, dissidentCongress legislators are in

touch with the BJP to topplehis government.

Nabam Tuki, ousted Arunachal CMThere was a rebellion against

him and the BJP, keen on“Congress Mukt” North-east,capitalized on the situation to

unsettle the government.

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52 August 15, 2016

STATES/ Kerala/ Lawyers and Media

THE media and the legal profes-sion are known to march handin hand. Last month this bon-homie was derailed as Keralawitnessed members of the

fourth estate and lawyers openly clashing onthe streets. What triggered this unusualconfrontation was a report in the Kochi edi-tion of Deccan Chronicle, Kochi edition, onJanuary 19 about a division inside theKerala High Court Advocates’ Association

over supporting a state government pleaderwho had been caught in a sexual harassmentcase. The report alleged that a resolutionsupporting the government pleader was notpassed due to opposing voices among law-yers. Though the daily published a rejoinderacknowledging its mistake, Rohit Raj thereporter who filed the story was attacked bylawyers inside the Kerala High Court prem-ises in Kochi. He was abused and pusheddown the stairs by a group of lawyers.

Black Robes Vs the PenWork came to stop in courts across the state as a confrontationbetween the press and the legal fraternity took an ugly turn. Finally,the Chief Justice of India had to step inBy Naveen Nair in Thiruvananthapuram

JUNGLE RAJLawyers and journalistsengage in fisticuffs atthe Kerala High Courtin Kochi


From then on, all hell broke loose aslawyers went on a well-planned rampagenot just in Cochin but also in district courtsacross the state including the state capital,Thiruvananthapuram. Journalists out onreporting were attacked and various lawyers’associations called for a boycott of the courtstill a solution was reached. Work wasderailed for two days. Finally when theimpasse hit unprecedented levels, the ChiefJustice of India TS Thakur had to step in.He directed Justice Kurian Joseph of theSupreme Court to look into the matter andfind a solution at the earliest. Perhaps it wasfor the first time in Independent India thata CJI had to step in resolve a fist fightbetween journalists and lawyers.

While calling for the utmost restraintJustice Thakur told mediapersons who methim in Delhi that “The judiciary will doeverything possible to find a solution. Themedia and the court represent the integralpillars of the society.’’ Journalists had plead-ed with the CJI that their “right to work”inside the Kerala courts had to be protectedsince lawyers were hell-bent on not allowingreporters to enter. The CJI promised the re-

opening of the media room at the KeralaHigh Court which had been sealed by thelawyers at the earliest.

THE GENESIS Trouble began brewing on July 14 eveningwhen Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran, a gov-ernment pleader was caught red handed bylocal residents in Cochin while he was mol-esting a 43 year old woman. Based on hercomplaint and eye witness accounts, Man-jooran was booked under relevant sectionsand an FIR was registered. As the newsspread, lawyers of the Kerala High Courtmade an all-out attempt to protect Man-jooran by filing a petition where the victimclaimed it was a case of mistaken identity.But the plan failed as the victim retractedher words and gave a statement under sec-tion 164 of CrPC before the district court.

The media reported the case threadbareeven when the lawyers wrote a letter to theAdvocate General seeking his interventionto stop what the lawyers called “the highhandedness of the police’’. A desperateManjooran moved the High court to quashthe case but the court rejected his plea. OnJuly 19 unruly scenes unfolded at the HighCourt complex. First to face the ire of thelawyers was the Deccan Chronicle reporter.

Soon other reporters waiting in the me-dia room at the High Court were pushed outand the room locked. The handful of repor-ters including a physically challenged ladyreporter had to seek refuge at the registrar’soffice as hundreds of lawyers preventedthem from leaving the court premises.

“We did carry a report that there was dif-ference of opinion inside the Advocates’Association regarding Manjooran’s case. Butafter the Association told my reporter that itwas not true, we even gave a rejoinder.Matters should have ended there. Insteadthe lawyers took law into their hands andour reporter was chased out of the Courtand some even manhandled him,’’ says KJJacob, Executive Editor, Deccan Chronicle.

Meanwhile as the news spread abouttheir colleagues being held inside the courtcomplex, media persons from across Cochingathered in front of the High Court with slo-gans. They sat down on the street in protest

CJI Justice TS Thakur He directed JusticeKurien Joseph to find asolution, and assuredjournos that the mediaroom at the high courtwould be re-opened.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan Calling for a truce, headvised mediapersons toavoid such situationswhere they get into abrawl with the lawyersand get hit by them.

STATES/ Kerala/ Lawyers and Media

54 August 15, 2016

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CALL FOR A TRUCEChief Minister PinarayiVijayan talking to mediapersons andlawyers to reach a solution on July 23

blocking the way of lawyersleaving the court.

The ensuing scuffle be-came a free for all betweenlawyers and media personswhile the police remainedmute spectators. At the sametime, the media room insidethe High Court was lockedby the advocates associationbarring entry and exit ofjournalists.

TROUBLE SPREADSWhat kicked off in Kochi hadits repercussions across thestate. While lawyers boy-cotted the courts in everydistrict, media persons who went to reportthe boycott were attacked in several places.At the Thiruvanathapuram district court,posters calling the media ‘the fourth gender’were pasted across the premises as well as inthe media room. When media personsrushed in with cameras to cover the inci-dent, they were greeted with abuse andphysical assaults.

Meanwhile senior lawyers held theirheads in shame lamenting on how their col-leagues in black robes had stooped to thelevel of street goondas. Said senior advocateSangeeta Lakshamana: “Not only is it un-ethical for the entire profession, legally too itis wrong for advocates to boycott courts.There is a Supreme Court directive of 2003which clearly prohibits such actions on thepart of the lawyer. I fail to understand wherethis is all going.’’ But those who dared tospeak up against the high handedness of thelawyers soon faced the ire of the associationswho ousted six senior lawyers. Meanwhile tocool tempers two judges of the High Courtbegan reconciliatory talks with the media.

STATE A MUTE WITNESSWhile the lawyers and the media fought itout, the LDF government remained a silentspectator. Perhaps the police inaction ref-lected the state government’s attitudetowards the problem. Finally succumbing toopposition pressure in the assembly, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan called for a truce.

However, not only was the peace talks afarce but the CM overlooked the demand ofthe media persons on ensuring security toreporters working in courts. “Mediapersonsshould avoid such situations where they getinto a brawl with the lawyers. You shouldnot go and create a problem and then get hitby the lawyers,’’ advised Vijayan.

Lawyers now say media persons need toshow more restraint while reporting casesand even alleged that often half-truths werebeing published. “We have not received anydirection from the chief justice to open themedia room and we will strongly oppose anysuch move in the future too,” said advocateDhanil Maravttikkal, treasurer, Kerala HighCourt Advocates’ Association.

The lawyers have gone back to work. Butat the time of filing this report, no media-person is allowed inside any courts acrossthe state. A notice has also been issued bythe High Court saying “the chambers of thejudges and the judges’ stenographers willnow remain out of bounds for the media’’.

At the district court in Cochin where twoterror accused were recently produced,reporters and camerapersons had to literallywait on the footpath outside as the citypolice commissioner, succumbing to thepressures of the lawyers, advised the medianot to enter the court premises.

One can only hope that the commonman’s right to information and news is notlost in this ugly circus.


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20 August 15, 2016

SOCIETY/ Karnataka Suicides

His head is all fried up. He hasdone night duty and has notyet gone home. And it isalready 2.30 pm,” said awoman writer about a police

inspector at a police station. “Fried up?’’asked a man accompanying a friend whowas the complainant. The friend had had anangry exchange with a house owner overparking. In the meantime, the inspector hasto look into an illegal demolition of anapartment. That’s when the chairman of aneducational institution walks in with thecomplaint about parking. Just then theinspector gets a call from a local MLA whichmakes him say: “Yes, sir, yes sir. I have justfinished night and will sort out the buildingissue and attend the meeting at 5 pm.’’

Is it any wonder then that this StationHouse Officer (SHO) is stressed out as hetries to keep his wits about him with thesediverse demands on his time and patience?By the time he has finished his duty, it willbe 24 hours since he left home. This hap-pens twice a week when he is on nightrounds. Regular day duty isn’t any better. Ifhe gets a 12-hour day, he’s lucky. Weeklyoffs, family outings and leave are generallyfrowned upon. “It is a fact that the middlelevel in the police department—from sub-inspector to assistant commissioner or evendeputy superintendent of police—are high-pressure jobs,” said a senior police officialon condition of anonymity. And accounta-bility from these levels is much more thanfrom their superiors, barring the commis-sioner of police.

TOO MUCH STRESSGopal B Hosur, retired IG (Intelligence),told India Legal: “The volume of work tomeet prescribed procedures is also veryhigh. A small slip can land such police per-sonnel in trouble with not only the bosses but the law as well. Aren’t these good enough reasons for stress-relatedproblems to crop up? It is God’s grace thatan overwhelming majority manage thestress and strain.”

However, there have been a growingnumber of police officers who can’t holdup and commit suicide. The resignation

Hung by a Noose

“

The month of July was one of the worst forthe police of this state as four of their menand women took their lives unable to bearwith the stress and strain of duty. What ailsthis profession?By Imran Qureshi in Bengaluru

Rajender Kumar


of a deputy superintendent of police (DySP)after a fracas with the political class hadhardly died down when her colleagues in thesame rank attempted suicide within a spanof three days.

The first suicide on July 4 was that of ayoung DySP, a direct recruit of 2011, whowas surprisingly caught receiving a ransomamount to resolve a kidnapping issue.Kalappa Handibag, many officers privatelyadmit, seemed to have got inadvertentlytricked into the deal because he was follow-ing instructions of his superior without real-izing the harm it would do to him and thedepartment.

SHOCK WAVESBut Handibag’s case did not shake up thepolice department as much as the suicide ofMK Ganapathy, the second DySP, on July 6.His television interview sent shock wavesacross the police and political establish-ment. Ganapathy told television channelsthat he was a victim of harassment at thehands of then home minister KJ George as

well as ADGP (Intelligence) AM Prasad andIGP-Lokayukta Pronab Mohanty.

George had to reluctantly quit the min-istry when a judicial magistrate ordered reg-istration of an FIR for abetment of suicide.Ganapathy’s family had argued that the tel-evision interview be treated as a dying declaration because soon after, he had gone to his hotel in Madikeri town andcommitted suicide.

This was followed by a woman sub-inspector who attempted suicide on July 20after a fracas with her immediate boss, aSHO, who had just returned from suspen-sion. Two days later, a KarnatakaAdministrative Service officer attemptedsuicide because her promotion had beendelayed and there were hurdles in her post-ing as well.

SPOTLIGHT ON POLICEDr Meeran Borwankar, Director General,Bureau of Police Research and Development(BPRD), told India Legal: “The police per-sonnel are indeed stressed; first because

“There arereally no leaders thatyounger officers canlook up to...Morale is at itslowest ebb. Itis all a result of years ofpolitical interference.There is nocounseling ofany kind.” —ST Ramesh, formerDGP, Karnataka

OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAIDPolicing is a high-stress jobinvolving long hours. Many inthe force are caving under theconstant pressure to perform

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of the very nature of their work and also forthe average of 12 hours they put in all overthe country.” A BPRD-sponsored study hasstrongly recommended eight hours duty andanother study also found that police staff isresponding to stress through emotionalstrategies instead of problem-solving ones,highlighting the need for professional counselling. The way out is to go in for ashift of eight hours, timely grant of leave andcounselling to help us cultivate a problemsolving approach when faced with stress.The current scenario is harmful both for cit-izens as well as police personnel. It is time toact now.

The sudden spurt of suicides andattempted suicides have raised several ques-tions and brought the spotlight on thepolice, the face of state power. These inci-dents have come in the wake of questionsbeing raised in social media about criticalissues relating to the police constabulary.Though efforts by a few dismissed consta-bles to organize a strike last month werequelled, the constabulary’s problems came

It is well-established that those who are better peoplemanagers have less problems from their colleagues.These managers are largely persons who are sensitive to

the feelings of others and would not, possibly, shout orhumiliate others in public. A systemic change on this countcould prevent suicides.

Dr Prabha Chandra, professor and HOD, psychiatry, atNIMHANS, said: “In western countries, suicides largely hap-pen due to depression, unlike in India where it is moreimpulsive. It is largely due to humiliation, rejection or asense of shame because of the standing a person mayhave in the family, society or among colleagues. It is mainlybased on our cultural ethos.’’

She said that a suicide never happens due to one rea-son. There are many reasons that can make a person vul-nerable. “This is why it is necessary for people to be dealtwith sensitively. This is the reason why even in the officespace, it is necessary to deal with people cautiously,” she said.

The vulnerability also increases when those who holdhigh positions commit suicide. “Others will start thinking thatif such a person can commit suicide, what can we, the com-moners, do. We cannot go anywhere, so what else can wedo? This used to earlier apply to celebrities and was calledthe Copycat Syndrome. This is precisely what the mediashould curb,” she said.

“Deal with people sensitively”Psychiatrist says systemic change on this count will go a long way in reducing number of suicides

On July 6, deputy superintendent of policeMK Ganapathy took hisown life. His TV interviewsent shock waves acrossthe police and politicalestablishment.

Karnataka home ministerKJ George had to quit hispost when a judicial magistrate ordered theregistration of an FIR forabetment of the suicide ofGanapathy.

58 August 15, 2016

SOCIETY/ Karnataka Suicides

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IL

to be addressed partially. Two years ago, thestate had seen the spectacle of an ADGP-level (additional DGP) officer creating aruckus and instigating subordinates after hewas caught taking pictures of a youngwoman in a coffee shop.

ST Ramesh, former DGP, Karnataka,said: “There are really no leaders thatyounger officers can look up to or just goand discuss issues and seek advice. Morale isat its lowest ebb. It has reached the tippingpoint. It is all a result of years of politicalinterference. There is no counseling of anykind. There is no doubt that the police workunder a much higher pressure than severalother professions.’’

Said a senior officer on condition ofanonymity: “The pressure of annual trans-fers has become like the annual mainte-nance contract for an equipment. By thetime they settle down in the new posting, ittakes about two to three months. By thetime they start effectively functioning, it istime to get tensed up about where they willagain be transferred. Political interference isat a peak during this period.”

Other officers admit that reports of vari-ous committees and directions of theSupreme Court have been effectively side-stepped or sabotaged by states to ensurethat the power to give postings remains withthe political class.

NO RESPECTSaid Hosur: “There is no respect for rank. There could be fear, but not respect.So officials are always in a dilemmawhether to do or not to do a particular job.Either of the paths are fraught with prob-lems and it all depends on how strong theindividual is. This is where survival instinctand adaptability get tested. Many adapt,some don’t.’’

The to-do-or-not-to-do syndrome is notconfined to the police alone. It applies togeneral administration as well. “There is nosense of accountability. A couple of yearsago, a senior officer was upbraided by thegovernment for no fault of his for a proce-dural lapse. For the next two years of hisservice, he simply refused to take any deci-sion,’’ said a senior official.

Then of course, there is the shortage ofpersonnel. The problems faced by theinspector on a single day in the Bengalurupolice station referred to earlier reflect thestresses and strains of this service. “Eachpolice station requires three SHO-level offi-cers or senior inspectors who can work inshifts,’’ said a circle inspector.

So, does being pulled up by a senior offi-cer lead a person to committing suicide?Not necessarily, say psychiatrists. DrPrabha Chandra, professor and Head ofDepartment, Psychiatry, National Instituteof Mental Health and Neuro Sciences(NIMHANS), was highly critical of the waythe media reported these suicides. “Weneed to be extremely careful about report-ing suicides. There are many social implica-tions of suicides but the most important isto encourage people to look for solutionsrather than ask why a person committedsuicide,’’ said Chandra, who insists themedia should follow guidelines onreportage of suicides. (See box)

Obviously, there is a deep rot within thesystem.

Meeran Borwankar, DG, BPRD“The police personnel areindeed stressed; firstbecause of the very natureof their work and also owingto their 12-hour duty.”

Gopal B Hosur, former IG“There is no respect forrank. There could be fear,but not respect. Officialsare always in a dilemmawhether or not to do a job.”


ENVIRONMENT/Diesel Vehicles

DIESEL is bringing auto-mobile companies to theirknees the world over.Volkswagen has beenforced to cough up $14.7billion in settlement forthe diesel emission fraud

case in the US. In the UK, a leading thinktank—Institute of Public Policy—in its newreport has suggested that diesel vehiclesmust be banned in London if the UK is tomeet its air pollution targets. BMW hasdelayed the introduction of its new dieselversions following the scrutiny of dieselvehicles by the US Environment ProtectionAgency. Diesel subsidy was a hot electionissue in recent federal elections in Australia.

In India, diesel carmakers are facinguncertainly over their future business with aspate of court orders against diesel-run carsand commercial vehicles. Even as the caseseeking to ban registration of new diesel-run luxury cars lingers in the SupremeCourt, the National Green Tribunal (NGT)

has ordered immediate deregistration and scrapping of old diesel cars in thenational capital.

DO IT IN PHASESIn a landmark order on July 18, the apexgreen court directed Delhi’s RegionalTransport Office (RTO) to deregister alldiesel vehicles older than 10 years so thatthey stop running on Delhi roads withimmediate effect. However, on July 20, theNGT bench headed by NGT chairpersonJustice Swatanter Kumar amended its ownorder saying the phasing out of diesel carsshould be done in stages, beginning with thede-registration of diesel cars which are olderthan 15 years and the ones which are onlyBS-I and BS-II compliant. The petition was filed by Delhi-based lawyer Vardhman Kaushik.

Diesel vehicles which are 15 years old willhave to be scrapped altogether. They will notbe allowed to run outside the Delhi-NCR aswell. Transport authorities have been asked

End of theRoad?

On July 20, the National Green Tribunaldirected that diesel cars in Delhi shouldbe phased out in stages. This is part of

a long list of landmark orders to clear up the capital’s air By Dinesh C Sharma

60 August 15, 2016

not to issue No-Objection Certificates(NOCs) for such vehicles. Deregistereddiesel vehicles which are less than 15 yearsold, however, will be issued NOCs to ply inregions outside NCR. Such areas will have tobe identified and notified by authoritiesbased on factors like low density of vehiclesor higher dispersion of air. This is to wardoff criticism that Delhi’s air pollution prob-lem will only be shifted to other areas asderegistered diesel vehicles from the capitalcould be used there. The NGT has directedDelhi RTO to issue NOCs only for vehiclesto operate in areas which have been identi-fied by states.

POLLUTER DIRECTIVEThe NGT’s strong directive to RTO followsthe inability of the police and transportauthorities to implement its April 2015order in which the Tribunal had directedauthorities to prevent diesel vehicles morethan 10 years old from running on Delhiroads. The Delhi Traffic Police informed the

Court that it was issuing challans and levy-ing monetary penalties to owners of carsviolating the ruling. But, as the NGT benchnoted, such measures have hardly been suc-cessful. “It is also stated that vehicles arereleased by the magistrates after imposingfine under the Motor Vehicle Act and thevehicles surface again on the roads,” thebench noted. The RTO will make a list ofvehicles registered 15 years ago, issue a pub-lic notice and hand over the list to the DelhiPolice for action. The Delhi government's counsel informedthe bench that over 3,000 old diesel vehicleswere impounded after the April 2015

“The time has come for the governmentto take firm steps. Deregistering pollutingpetrol-run two-wheelers will also greatlyimpact pollution levels.”—Sohinder Gill, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles

BREATH ALERTPeople guard againstbreathing Delhi’s polluted air

Anil Shakya


order of the NGT. In addition to levyingpenalties under the Motor Vehicles Act forrunning vehicles older than 15 years, thebench directed that “such offenders wouldalso be liable to pay EnvironmentalCompensation of `5,000 per violation onthe basis of ‘Polluter Pays Principle’.” Themoney thus collected by the traffic policeshould be deposited in a separate accountthat would be maintained by the DelhiPolice or NCT Delhi as the Chief Secretaryof Delhi may decide.

It is not as if the judiciary or the NGT arereacting in a knee-jerk fashion. Over theyears, several directives have been issuedand it was only when government agenciesfailed to implement them that the NGT inthe present case took a strong view.

The NGT had already banned 10-year-old diesel trucks and buses in Delhi in Aprillast year. Following this, the state govern-ment stopped renewal of permits for 10-year-old commercial vehicles. In addition,the Supreme Court had in December 2015banned the registration of diesel-run SUVs

and high-end cars with an engine capacity of2000 cc and above in Delhi and NCR. Theban was for a period of three months butwas later extended without any deadline.Auto companies as well as the central gov-ernment have argued that such cars may beallowed to be on the road subject to a pay-ment of a green cess, which could be one percent of the vehicle’s ex-showroom price.

ALLOT LAND Even now, the Tribunal is actively proddingthe executive to take requisite decisions to

“We direct NCT/Delhi to take immediatesteps for expanding the mass transporta-

tion system. It should introduce properbuses from destination to destination.”

—National Green Tribunal

FIGHTING FORCLEAN AIR

(Above) People holding placards, at an

awareness campaignagainst pollution, at

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi;

(Right) A vehicle spews out smoke on a

street in London

ENVIRONMENT/Diesel Vehicles

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motoring.co.uk

62 August 15, 2016

ensure that the general public is not put totrouble. Revocation of registration and banon restrictions on moving older vehicles toother cities would mean that old cars andtaxis will have to be scrapped. For this, thegovernment needs to license scrapping orrecycling agencies which can deal with oldcars and also provide some compensationto people who will have had to abandontheir diesel cars. For this, the NGT benchhas directed the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority to allot land to set up a scrappingplant. The heavy industries ministry hasbeen directed to file an affidavit on the status of electric and hybrid vehicles in thecountry, and on the proposed policy for old vehicles.

However, the NGT ruling may be chal-lenged as already indicated by taxi unions,transporters and other parties. The NGTbench in Kochi had banned diesel vehiclesolder than 10 years in six cities in the state

(Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi,Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur). The rul-ing was challenged in the Kerala HighCourt, which in June this year granted astay. This provided a respite to the KeralaState Road Transport Corporation as wellowners of private buses and cars. The High Court had also stayed theTribunal’s directive restraining the stategovernment from registering new dieselvehicles of 2000 cc and above except that ofthe public or local authorities. While grant-ing the stay on the ban on diesel vehicles,the Court referred to arguments of thetransporters that the air quality in Keralawas much better than in Delhi, and in addi-tion, data was not available about the airquality in the six cities.

Diesel is certainly in trouble for causingpollution in Indian cities and this timeround, the judiciary is in a mood to solve theproblem permanently. IL

Commercial vehicles � Imposition and doubling of environment compensationcharge—orders issued on 9.10. 2015 and 16.12. 2015 � Diversion of non-destined commercial vehicles—ordersissued on 16.12. 2015 and 5.1.2016 � Ban on entry of pre-2006 commercial vehicles—ordersissued on 16.12. 2015 and 5.1.2016

Luxury cars� Directive issued to ban luxury diesel cars with 2000 cc andabove—order issued on 16.12. 2015

Buses and autos� All buses are on CNG in the national capital—order issuedon 28.7.1998 � Directives on taxis and three-wheelers to move to clean fuelas per order of 28.7.1998. All the three-wheelers are on CNG � Freezing of the number of three-wheelers—order issued on16.12.1997

� Registration of additional 5000 autos was permittedonly on CNG and LPG mode—order issued on20.12.2002 � Age of commercial vehicles capped at 15 years—orderissued on 28.7.1998

Other directives� Notification of the Government of NCT Delhi dated26.5. 2006: Goods carriages having gross vehicle weightfrom 3000 kg to 7500 kg not to be registered on diesel � Directive on advancement on BS IV fuel/emission stan-dards: Order of 21.1. 2016 � Since October 2015 specific directives have beenissued to ensure control of pollution from constructionwork, road dust, power plants and municipal solid wasteburning

Judicial directives These are the orders issued regarding air pollution:


MY SPACE/ Firoz Bakht Ahmed/ Honor Killing

THAT Pakistan’s society has soldits soul to the devil, has onceagain been proved by the killingof Qandeel Baloch under theheinous and politicized banner of

“honor killing”— an act of the most barbarickind by Pakistani Muslims. These Pakistanispersist in killing the poor Qandeels of theworld and Sufi singers like Amjad Sabri whowant to fight against exploitation and wantto lead their own lives. However, they felici-tate dreaded terrorists like Hafiz Saeed. Ifthey can attack a Malala going to school,how can they leave the Qandeels andAmjads with that archaic, retrograde andclosed mindsets?

All of us must consider the questionsthrown up by the premise of Qandeel’s peti-tion in 2006 and now her demonization andmurder. Earlier in 2006, Qandeel, a girlfrom Gujranwala (in the Punjab province ofPakistan) applied for admission to KingEdward Medical College, Lahore, but wasrejected. Instead, another student, who wasawarded 20 additional marks for being ahafiz-e-Quran (one who knows the Quran or

MurderMost FoulSocial media star Qandeel Baloch’s

death at the hands of her brother for leading a lifestyle which challenged

conservative societal norms in Pakistanreflects the retrograde and intolerant

mindset that discriminates women and isaccepted by the country’s legal system

VICTIM OF A FEUDAL CULTURE

Qandeel Baloch

64 August 15, 2016

is faithful), was accepted. Qandeel, theaggrieved Christian girl, has since posed thefollowing question before the Lahore HighCourt: Is she, a Pakistani Christian, equal toa fellow Muslim citizen? With this kind ofsocial setup, can minorities really feel thatthey have equal opportunities in Pakistanwhere the constitution states that the headof the state has to be a Muslim; where theblasphemy law is used routinely to victimizethem; where knowledge of other religions isnot valued at par with knowledge of Islam?

Qandeel Baloch, a social media starwhose exploits divided opinion inconservative Pakistan, was strangled

by her brother Waseem, who himself as perthe police record, was a drunkard and anaddict, in what appears to be a so-called“honor killing”. Qandeel’s racy social mediaphotos challenged social norms in Pakistan,a deeply traditional Muslim country wherewomen are often repressed by their familyor the community. Her killing shocked theworld. She had been receiving multipledeath threats and suffered frequent misogy-

nist abuse, but continued posting provoca-tive pictures and videos.

Qandeel had asked questions that dis-turbed almost all minority Pakistanis. Shewas challenging a legal system riddled withflaws and internal contradictions.According to Article 22 of the constitutionof Pakistan: “No citizen shall be deniedadmission to any educational institutionreceiving aid from public revenues on theground only of race, religion, caste or placeof birth.” According to Article 27: “No citi-zen otherwise qualified for appointment inthe service of Pakistan shall be discriminat-ed against in respect of any such appoint-ment on the ground only of race, religion,caste, sex, residence or place of birth.” Fromthis it would appear that the treatmentmeted out to Qandeel, amounted to a viola-tion of the constitution.

Her plea for better security was ignoredby the government despite requests madethree weeks prior to her death to the interiorminister and other senior officials. Qandeeldivided opinion in Pakistan, a largely conservative nation, as she appeared on

EASY TARGETS(L to R) Pakistaniactivist and Nobel laureate MalalaYousafzai; assassinatedqawwal Amjad FaridSabri; dreaded terroristHafiz Saeed roams free


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television to speak about female empower-ment, often dressed in non-traditional,revealing, clothes. She began her career byauditioning on Pakistan Idol (a reality showfeaturing singing talent) and soon afterlaunched a social media enterprise, postingvideos that went viral.

On her final, July 4 post on her Facebookpage, which has almost 800,000 fans,Qandeel wrote: “I am trying to change thetypical orthodox mindset of people whodon't wanna come out of their shells of falsebeliefs and old practices.” Her apparent"honor killing" has caused outrage the worldover. Sherry Rahman, a Senator and outspo-ken advocate for the rights of women andminorities, called for the national assemblyto pass an anti-honor killing bill.

This is sadly, not the first example of thedismal indifference towards minorities anddisregard for the constitution. Pakistan’shistory has illustrated the government’s fail-ure to protect the rights of minorities. It hasalso time and again reminded society thatthe much-contested blasphemy law is a toolfor victimization, demonization and perse-

cution of the minorities. This is whatQandeel wanted to stop.

In the name of honour killing, thePakistanis have become butchers andbeasts, ignoring the fact that this isabsolutely un-Islamic act! The profane actof killing a young woman model is blasphe-my itself. The law, which is essentially theIslamic Sharia law of Diyat, tips the balancein favor of the men attacking women as aresult of which several hundred lives are lostevery year. Women are callously killed in thename of honor if they go against the will oftheir families in any way, or even if there’ssuspicion suggesting so.

According to a report by the HumanRights Commission of Pakistan, 995 womenwere killed in 2014 in the name of honorwhile 869 women were eliminated in 2013.In 2011, this figure was close to 900, includ-ing 93 minors. Pakistan’s legal system hasno law enforcing punishment in case of“honor killing”, if the accused can get a par-don from the family. And since the assailantis, more often than not, a blood-relativethese pardons are easy to obtain after whichthe state has absolutely no say in the matter.The void left by the state is filled by tribesand local elders who continue to encouragethe sickening culture. Even in the face of ris-ing demands for basic rights for women,Pakistan has openly abdicated itself fromthe responsibility calling “honor killing” afeature of a feudal society.

Nida Kirmani, who teaches sociology atLahore University, said: “She (Quandeel)was a woman who was living life on her ownterms, she wasn't afraid ... she was fun, loud,bold brash and beautiful—we would like todrown out those voices who think shedeserved it because of the way she wasbehaving.” According to Veena Malik, well-known Pakistani actor: “We feel thatthere is no value to a woman’s life if she doesn't live in a particular way ... in thebounds of what a conservative, patriarchalsociety expects of you. We're here to protest that.”

(The writer is a community worker, educationist, and grandnephew of

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad)

Veena Malik, actor"We feel there is no value toa woman's life if she doesn'tlive in a particular way ... inthe bounds of what a conservative, patriarchal society expects.”

Sherry Rahman, Senator“In view of thespate of killings, the national assembly ofPakistan needs to pass an anti-honor killing bill.”

IL

66 August 15, 2016

MY SPACE/ Firoz Bakht Ahmed/ Honor Killing

DIPLOMACY/ South China Sea

BelligerentBeijing T

HE myth of the “peaceful rise ofChina” has been shattered com-pletely by China’s reaction to theaward by the UN PermanentCourt of Arbitration in favour of

the Philippines last month. The term “rise ofChina” was coined during the tenure ofPresident Hu Jintao, and the word “peaceful”quickly added when it was realized that thephrase would send a message of an arrogantand aggressive nation. Since then, arroganceand aggressiveness have become a pattern

68 August 15, 2016

The intemperate and aggressive Chinese reaction to the UNPermanent Court of Arbitration’s verdict that it has no territorialclaims in the seas off Philippines and other nations reveals thecommunist nation’s larger design to dominate the region By Bhaskar Roy

both in China’s propaganda and in its foreignpolicy. Beijing’s belligerence is assuming dis-turbing proportions.

Parts of the South China Sea are claimedby the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia,Brunei and Taiwan. China, however, claimsalmost 90 percent of the Sea with a self-drawn map on which nine dashes, referred toas nine dash lines, denote the claim area. Themap was originally drawn by the Nationalistgovernment of China in 1947, before theirdefeat at the hands of the communists.

Manila had taken the case to the tribunalin 2013, following Beijing’s overbearing andaggressive attitude in its territorial waters.China, which joined the UN Conference ofthe Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1996,declined to contest the Philippines, expectingthe award to go against it. In fact, it went intopropaganda mode even before the verdictcame out.

The tribunal has now rejected China’s

claims on historical grounds, declaring thatthe rocks, reefs and shoals in the South ChinaSea have been used by fishermen fromancient times and no single country, includ-ing China, ever had administration overthese features. It did not go into territorialissues as claimed by China.

TERRITORIAL CLAIMDwelling on the definition of islands, the tri-bunal ruled that none of the features quali-fied for the status of island and hence Chinadid not have any claim to an exclusive eco-nomic zone of 200 nautical miles and thecontinental shelf. Therefore, sea areas withinthe exclusive economic zone of thePhilippines could not be claimed by China.

The Philippines and Vietnam may befaulted for initially building artificial islandsin the South China Sea but they stoppeddoing so. China, meanwhile, continues tobuild large islands with light houses and

FOCAL POINT(From far left) Animage of Chinesedredging vesselsaround the MischiefReef in the disputedSpratly Islands, provided by the US Navy;Chinese President Xi Jinping

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airstrips on them, apart from continuouslysending its naval vessels and flying its com-bat aircraft in the region, with intent tointimidate. Artificially changing geographi-cal features is a tactic which is not new to theChinese. While negotiating river boundarieswith the Russians, the Chinese were caughtsurreptitiously advancing their bank lines byshoring up mud from the river bed anddumping earth by cover of night.

REGIONAL ALIGNMENT Beijing’s show of strength, especially its gun-boat diplomacy in the waters of the SouthChina Sea has spurred a small arms race inthe region. Although aware that they are nomatch for China’s military and economicmight, these countries have undertakendefense construction for self-protection.

Kenneth Allen, a China specialist at theDefense Group Inc., USA, has recently writ-ten an article in China Brief, elucidating onChina’s military transparency as employingsoft power. Demonstrating its awesome mil-itary might with a smiling face and danglingeconomic carrots before the claimant coun-tries has had effects beneficial to China.

India not only has an interest in the freedomof navigation in the South China Sea as aglobal common, it also has a moral right totake a position. In 2014 India accepted adecision of this very court in a dispute over aBay of Bengal claim with Bangladesh.Although the tribunal upheld Bangladesh’sclaim, India did not adopt a negative stance,thus abiding by International law.

India has called on all concerned partiesto respect the tribunal’s ruling on the presentcase, and to resolve the issue peacefully,meaning through dialogue. At one level theChinese have interpreted India’s position assupporting China’s position. China wantsdialogue as per the Declaration of Conduct inthe South China Sea (DOC) signed in 2002between China and the ASEAN. But theDOC is a wide-ranging document and noneof the parties, including China have strictlyadhered to it. In fact, China treated the DOCas a temporary arrangement to buy time,until it was ready to take over the SouthChina Sea. In an interview to the Chinesemedia, state councillor Yang Jiechi stated:“The sovereignty issue is China’s bottomline,” (China Daily, July 15). He warned that

anyone using the tribunalaward to provoke Chinawould face a resolute Chineseresponse.

China’s Navy chief,Admiral Wu Shengli, recentlytold visiting US Chief ofNaval Operations, AdmiralJohn Richardson (Beijing,China Daily, July 19) thatChina “will advance and com-plete island and reef con-struction as planned,” andany attempt to intimidateChina will only “backfire”. Healso conveyed that China’slevel of defense on theseislands will depend on thelevel of threat China faced.Wu Shengli’s statement wasstrong and clear.

Commonly discussedimportance of the SouthChina Sea relates to the use ofits maritime lanes through

China is steppingup construction of

a naval base inDjibouti.

Reportedly, it hasalready soundedout the Maldivesand Seychelles.

Pakistan’sGwadar deep sea

port (below) isconstructed by

China and managed by aChinese state

owned company.


70 August 15, 2016

which US $ 5 trillion worth oftrade moves, including oiltankers; its oil and gasreserves plus sea-bed miner-als; fish stocks, a majorsource of food and foreignexchange earner; and theemployment the above activi-ties provide.

THE CHINA DREAMThe South China Sea issue isalso closely connected withPresident Xi Jinping’s strate-gic flagstaff “China Dream”project which will concludeits first major step by 2022,when he is supposed to retire.Xi’s 21st Century Silk Roadproject sees sovereignty overthe South China Sea essentialas an invincible steppingstone to the Indian Ocean.

China claims its “One Belt,One Road” (OBOR) project isan economic endeavor and a“win win” situation for all. But, in reality, it ismuch more. It is a strategic project of softprojection on the one side, with a militaryunderpinning on the other. The US $ 46 bil-lion Pakistan-China Economic corridor is aprime example. In fact, small economicallydependent countries which become part ofthis project, can fall potentially into China’ssatellite orbit. Pakistan, Cambodia and Laoscan be listed here. Eventually, OBOR will try to carve out a huge swathe between the West Line (Middle East) and the East Line(Asia Pacific).

In this area, China has two priorities (i)establishing near seas claims/sovereignty,and (ii) furthering far seas interest. TheChinese authorities are quite sanguine thattheir land mass is secure except for intermit-tent irritation in Xinjiang and Tibet. Thecurrent step is to secure the areas betweenthe coasts to near seas. A review of China’smissile and naval development at an acceler-ated pace suggests they are getting ready tothwart any external interference (read, theUS) in the near seas, which includes the EastChina Sea (dispute with Japan).

Securing the South China Sea means onestep forward into the Indian Ocean, con-structing the 21st Century ”Maritime SilkRoad”, and strategic holding points. They arealready stepping up construction of a navalbase in Djibouti.

Reportedly, they have already soundedout the Maldives and Seychelles. Sri Lanka isa potential. Pakistan’s Gwadar deep sea portconstructed by China and managed by aChinese state-owned company, is alwaysthere. Constructing a deep sea port inBangladesh (in Payra) has been discussed butnot firmed up.

The importance of the South China Sea tothe Chinese and its consequences to theregion and stake holders needs no emphasis.It should surprise no one if China decides inthe near future to declare the South ChinaSea as of “core importance”, that is, at thesame level as the Communist Party, the State,Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan.

Power asymmetry and economic inter-dependence between China and the SouthEast Asian countries is so great that thesecountries cannot get away from China’s

The importance ofthe South ChinaSea to theChinese and itsconsequences tothe region andstake holdersneeds no emphasis. Itshould surpriseno one if Chinadecides in thenear future todeclare it as “ofcore importance”.

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ONE-UPMANSHIPON THE SEAS

A Vietnamese sinkingboat was rammedand then sunk by

Chinese vessels neardisputed Paracels

Islands in May 2014


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China is concerned about a possiblealignment of the US, Japan, India and Aus-tralia ranged against it. It has been closelywatching the Malabar naval exercises bet-ween India and the US. This year, Japanbecame a permanent member of this annualexercise.

ALL EYES ON CHINA Everything depends on how Beijing behavesfrom now on. What is disturbing is Beijing’soutburst after the tribunal award. Calling thetribunal judges “corrupt”, accusing thePhilippines and other countries (unnamed)of bribing the judges, declaring that the Seahad become a cradle of war and threateningto declare an Air Defense Identification Zone(ADIZ), does not inspire confidence.

China has lost credibility in the globalizedinternational order conducted under inter-national law. The strategy of engagementwith China has changed. As China growsstronger, more aggressive and assertive, itsSouth China Sea model can be replicatedelsewhere.

(The writer is a New Delhi based strategic analyst, and a former officer of the

Cabinet Secretariat and NTRO)

China is concerned about

a possible alignment of theUS, Japan, India

and Australiaranged against it.

It has been closely watching

the Malabar navalexercises

between Indiaand the US.

shadow. The only capable power in theregion is the United States. But with the USpresidential elections just a few monthsaway, and involvement in Iraq and Af-ghanistan and engagement in Syria,Washington is in no mood for a flare up withChina. Also, China and the US are deeplyinvolved in bilateral economic relations.

WOOING COLOMBO (Top) Sri Lankan students visit

Indian Navy's largest aircraftcarrier INS Vikramaditya atColombo port in Sri Lanka;

(Above) President Xi Jinping (L) and Sri Lankan President

Mahinda Rajapaksa (R) unveil aproject to build a port city in

Colombo in 2014

UNI

UNI


72 August 15, 2016

NO HOLDS

BARRED

NDIA EGAL EEEL July 15, 2016

`100

www.indialegalonline.comNISTORIES THAT COUNT

6476

Morphine Mercy Legal Tangles after Brexit By Shobha John

By Sajeda Momin

Neeta Kolhatkar Beach security still at sea

55

Dinesh C Sharma Contentious water bills 46

Vivian Fernandes The GST e-commerce muddle

60

Forest Policy Groping in the dark 40

Tumult against gggTALAQWomen reach out to the Supreme Court to ban the age-old practice that is against the Quran, the constitution and natural justice By Ramesh Menon 24

NDIA EGAL EELJune 30, 2016

`100www.indialeg

alonline.com

NI STORIES THAT COUNT

44Euthanasia: Government Tackling Death Wish

By Ramesh Menon

Supreme Court Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh

deliver a blockbuster judgment to protect those accused from frivolous arrests

By Inderjit Badhwar 08

A Powerful Blow for

Human Rights

Vipin Pubby

Jat quota: New

politico-legal

calculus

40

Kumar Rajesh

Government

slept as Mathura burnt 36

Usha Rani Das

& Tithi Mukherjee

Lawyers on a

summer holiday 78

By

sra and Shiva Kirti Singh

ose accused from frivolous arrests

hwar 08

Ajith Pillai explains Modi’s

globe-trotting

and the nuclear

matrix 26

Justice Shiva Kirti Singh

Justice Dipak Misra

NDIA EGAL EEL July 31, 2016 `100

www.indialegalonline.com

NI STORIES THAT COUNT

48 56Will Supreme Court save a marine graveyard?

Culling: What the law ignores

By Ramesh Menon By Amita Singh

R Ramasubramanian When judges joined the Telangana issue 26

Nayantara Roy The gowns are lovely, dark and deep 64

Usha Rani Das Surrogacy: A law is born 60

Kalyani Shankar How Narasimha Rao tweaked laws to usher in a new dawn 32

KASHMIR EXPLODES - AGAIN! Inderjit Badhwar leans on history, legal tangles and personal experience to pierce the veil of the valley 6

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IS THAT LEGAL?

A person watching acricket match got hit bythe ball. Can he claimdamages for theinjury?No, he cannot claimdamages because of thedoctrine of Volenti nonfit injuria.

According to this doctrine a person whoengages in an eventaware of the risks inher-ent in that event, cannotlater complain of, orseek compensation foran injury suffered dur-ing the event.

What is perjury?Section 191 of theIndian Penal Codedefines perjury asgiving false evidence.Whoever, being lega-lly bound by an oathor by an express pro-vision of law to statethe truth, or beingbound by law tomake a declarationupon any subject,makes any statementwhich is false, andwhich he eitherknows or believes tobe false, is said togive false evidence.

Section 193 of theIndian Penal Code

specifies the punish-ment for perjury.Prosecution for per-jury is done asper Section 340 ofthe Cr.P.C, whereinthe presiding judgehas to first conduct a preliminary investi-gation and then givea hearing first.

When is culpable homi-cide not a murder?According to Section 299 ofthe IPC, homicide means

the killing of a human by ahuman being. Culpable means liable. Butthere may be some cases ofkilling where one is not culpable (eg. self defence,exercising powers of authority, etc)

When an act classified asmurder under Section 300falls under one or more ofthe following exceptions, itis culpable homicide notamounting to murder.

� Grave and sudden provocation � Private defense (exceeding it)� Exercise of legal power � Sudden fight (withoutpremeditation)

These exceptions do notoffer complete vindicationof the offense; however theymitigate the impact of thegravity of the offence on the grounds of humanityand reason.

Proceeding withoutcourt’s permission

When intentmatters

Guarantorof rights

Wilful liars

Watch it at your own risk

If a person’s funda-mental right has beeninfringed upon, whichcourt shall he or she goto, to file a complaint?For violation of funda-mental rights, the con-stitution of India pro-vides us with provisionsfor approaching thehigh court and SupremeCourt directly by way ofwrit petitions underArticles 226 and 32respectively.

However, these provi-sions should be invoked,only after all efficaciousalternate remedies areexhausted first.

What are cognizable and non-cognizable offenses?In case of a cognizable offense apolice officer has the authority tomake an arrest without a warrantand to start an investigation withor without the permission of acourt. The police officer lodges anFIR upon receiving information ofthe offense. In a non-cognizableoffense, a police officer does nothave the authority to make anarrest without a warrant and aninvestigation cannot be initiatedwithout a court order. The PoliceStation officer records the com-plaint as a non-cognizable offense,or “NC”, and advises the complaintor victim to approach the court forfurther directions.

—Compiled by Radhika Kumar andMishika Chowdhary;

Illustrations: UdayShankar

74 August 15, 2016

An employee of Georgia Publixwas caught filming a woman

skirt up, as she was browsingthrough the aisle of the grocerystore. The employee, Brandon LeeGary, positioned himself beneaththe shopper and secretly aimedhis cellphone camera up her skirt.

The Washington Post reportsthat when questioned by police,Gary admitted to the deed andwas convicted of unlawful eaves-dropping and surveillance under

Georgia’s Invasion of Privacy Act.However, Gary’s attorneys saidthat though he may have commit-ted a morally reprehensible act,there was nothing criminal aboutit. Citing a “gap” in Georgia's crim-inal statutes, Judge ElizabethBranch and five colleagues ruledthat “upskirting” is permissibleunder current law.“It is regrettablethat no law currently exists whichcriminalizes (the appellant’s) rep-rehensible conduct,”Branch noted.

In Georgia, legal to filmvideo up a woman’s skirt!

INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

Legal Sea Foods faces flak David Ford tolegally challengeBrexit Legal Sea Foods restaurant

chain in the US, that has takena tongue in cheek approach toadvertising, poking fun at politi-cians and their flip-flops, hasearnd ire on social media over itslatest ad, reports Fox News. Fiveyears ago, the Boston-basedrestaurant chain began running aseries of ads that poked fun atpolitocos and animal rights

activists. The campaign’s latestprint ad, a full-pager that ran inThe Boston Globe, has gonedown like a bad oyster. “We havea term for cold fish,” reads the ad,underneath a supersized pictureof the Democratic Presidentialnominee. “Sushi.” The backlashon Twitter was swift and manyaccused the chain—and itsleader—of sexism.

Northern Ireland’s formerJustice Minister David

Ford (below) is among agroup of politicians andhuman rights activists whohave threatened a judicialreview over Brexit, reports Irish Legal News. Lawyers fora cross-community grouphave written to Prime MinisterTheresa May and NorthernIreland Secretary JamesBrokenshire, calling forNorthern Ireland’s uniqueinterests and circumstances tobe fully considered beforeArticle 50 is activated. Itcomes in the wake of lastmonth’s EU referendum, inwhich the Leave side narrowlywon with 52 percent of vote.

India lost a majorarbitration case in an

international courtinvolving the IndianSpace ResearchOrganization (ISRO)with regard to satelliteand spectrum alloca-tions, Scroll reports. Itwill now have to payapproximately `6,734crore fine to DevasMultimedia, a telecomcompany inBangalore. Devasfiled cases at theInternational Court ofArbitration of the

International Chamberof Commerce inParis and at thePermanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague after theIndian governmentcancelled a dealbetween Antrix, thecommercial arm ofISRO, and Devas in 2011.

Two eight-year-old girls have beencharged under a draconian Thai

junta law for tearing down voter listsfor an upcoming referendum, policesaid, as authorities go to increasing-ly bizarre lengths to muzzle dissent,reports Jamaica Observer. The juntais determined to see a charter itdrafted pass in the August 7 polland has outlawed critical discussionof the document with a 10-yearprison sentence. Campaigning ofany kind is also banned and author-ities have already arrested orwarned scores of people for hand-ing out critical leaflets or wearing'Vote No' t-shirts.

Setback for India inAntrix-Devas case

Thai cops charge 8-year-old girls


GLOBAL TRENDS/ UK Politics

BRITISH Prime MinisterHarold Wilson famouslysaid “a week is a long timein politics”. More thanhalf-a-century after hecoined the phrase, theUnited Kingdom has fou-

nd out how true it really is. Within threeweeks, Britain has gone from being a stablenation under a democratically elected primeminister—albeit with a slim majority—to adeeply divided country with a new primeminister who no one elected, neither the

In three weeks, Britain witnessed a shocking churning, leading to theappointment of a PM whom no one had elected or expected By Sajeda Momin in London

Turbulent Timespublic nor the ruling Conservative Party.

If the Brexit vote was considered to be aseismic surprise, then the country was cer-tainly not ready for the aftershocks whichcontinued daily. Even before all the votes ofthe referendum were counted, DavidCameron announced he was resigning fromthe prime ministership as he was not theman who could successfully steer his countryout of the EU.

Ironically, Cameron, who led the“Remain” campaign, will now be branded byhistory as the prime minister who took

76 August 15, 2016

UNI

THE NEW DISPENSATION Prime Minister Theresa Maymeeting First Minister ofScotland Nicola Sturgeonat Bute House, Edinburgh

THE NEW DISPENSATION Prime Minister Theresa Maymeeting First Minister ofScotland Nicola Sturgeonat Bute House, Edinburgh

Britain out of the EU.As predicted by the Remainers, the

British economy went into freefall. Thepound tumbled to a 31-year low against thedollar and 40 years’ worth of UK contribu-tions into the EU were wiped off the Londonstock exchange in 24 hours. Nearly a monthlater, the pound has still not recovered andthe economy is bracing itself for a recessionin the next couple of years as Britain negoti-ates itself out of the EU.

BORIS BECOMES FAVORITEAs expected, Boris Johnson, former mayorand leader of the Brexit campaign, immedi-ately became the bookies’ favorite to replaceold buddy Cameron. But just a couple of dayslater came a shock even greater than theBrexit win—Michael Gove, the Go in theBoGo (Bo for Boris) dream team, told Bo togo! Stabbed in the back by Gove who allalong kept insisting that he (Gove) didn’thave what it takes to become prime minister,

Johnson was forced to announce to ashocked audience that he would not bestanding for the leadership race, leaving hiscareer in tatters. Within less than a week, aremarkable victory ended in an ignominiousdefeat. The Cameron camp quietly rejoicedin the “just retribution” for what Johnson haddone to their leader.

Seeing the worst bloodletting since thefall of Maggie Thatcher, it was one of herministers who came out with the blunt truthabout Johnson’s behavior. “He has ripped theTory party apart, created the greatest consti-tutional crisis in peacetime. He has knockedbillions off the value of the savings of theBritish people,” said Michael Heseltine,Conservative peer. Lord Heseltine comparedJohnson to “a general who marches his armyto the sound of the guns and the moment hesees the battleground he abandons it … Thepain of it will be felt by all of us and, if itdoesn’t get resolved shortly, by a generationto come yet.”

MARCHING OUTBritain’s outgoingprime minister, DavidCameron, accompanied by hiswife Samantha,daughters Nancy(2nd L) and Florenceand son Arthur,leaves 10, DowningStreet on his last dayin office


UNI

The Tory party was left with a battle for itsleadership with “the man who would be king”not even in the fray. The Machiavellian Govepromptly threw his hat in the ring. So didTheresa May, the 59-year-old, media-shyhome secretary. who was in the Remaincamp. She suddenly became the favorite toreplace her boss. Apart from Gove, two moreBrexiters—Andrea Leadsom and Liam Fox—decided they could become PM, to leadBritain out of the EU. Then came anothersurprise candidate, Stephen Crabb, one ofthe government’s young and rising stars andthe Works and Pensions Secretary.

ELECTION PROCESSThe ballot papers were complete and sostarted the long-drawn election process ofthe new Tory leader laid out by the oddly-named 1922 committee under the chairman-ship of Graham Brady. The parliamentaryparty would vote in successive rounds toeliminate the weakest candidates until twocontenders remained who would then battleit out during a two-month campaign.

Fox was the first to exit the contest, get-ting only 16 votes out of 329 cast in the firstround of voting. Crabb suddenly announcedhis withdrawal from the contest—as inexpli-cably as his entry, citing no reasons, hence

leaving only three in the fray. In the secondround, Gove, the Brexit master strategist and backstabber, was defeated leaving May andLeadsom to fight it out to become Britain’ssecond female prime minister.

Feeling left out of all the political machi-nations, the Labour Party decided to commithara-kiri. Within a couple of days of the referendum, instead of sitting back andwatching the turmoil in the Tory camp,Labour MPs organized a coup against partyleader Jeremy Corbyn—which failed miser-ably! Despite mass resignations from his shadow cabinet and losing a no-confi-dence vote of the Labour ParliamentaryParty, Corbyn refused to go, insisting that hehad grassroots party support. Worried thathe was right, considering he was electedleader only last year with a 60 percent man-date—the largest received by any Labourleader—the rebel MPs plucked up courage tolaunch an official challenge against Corbyn.

First off the mark was Angela Eagle, sec-retary of state in the Corbyn shadow cabinet,

“He has rippedthe Tory partyapart, created

the greatest constitutional

crisis in peacetime. He

has knocked billions off

the value of thesavings of the

British people.”—Michael Heseltine,

Conservative peer, onBoris Johnson,

leader of the Brexit campaign

LEAD CAMPAIGNER(Left) Boris Johnson, who was made foreign secretary by the new PM, attends an EU meet in Brussels;

(Below) Brexiter Liam Fox was a contender for the top post after David Cameron quit

78 August 15, 2016

GLOBAL TRENDS/ UK Politics

UNI

who had previously fought and lost thedeputy leadership election last year.However, every time she tried to launch hercampaign over the last 10 days, some majorshock in the ongoing Tory soap opera would make sure she was interrupted. Yetanother candidate has emerged out of thewoodwork for the Labour leadership in theshape of Owen Smith, former shadow worksand pensions secretary. The divisions inLabour seem to be even deeper than amongthe Conservatives with murmurings of a splitin the party being inevitable. Eagle andSmith both claim they are taking on Corbynin a bid to unite the Labour Party.

On June 24, when Cameron announcedthat he would be stepping down, he prom-ised that the Conservative Party would have anew leader by the time they went to theirannual conference in October, giving theparty three months to find his replacement.But another surprise was waiting in thewings. Leadsom, after having to apologise toMay for calling her unfit to be the prime min-ister as she was not a mother, suddenly with-drew from the leadership contest, allowingMay a walkover. Seeing the unexpecteddevelopment on July 11, Cameron announcedthat instead of waiting till October, he wouldresign on July 13 and end the uncertaintythat had dogged the government.

WOMAN POWERIn a ceremony that was choreographed withsplit-second timing by Downing Street andBuckingham Palace, Cameron, Britain’syoungest prime minister in 200 years, leftoffice and May, the second woman afterThatcher in 1979, became prime minister.She becomes the 13th prime minister to serveunder Queen Elizabeth II, who is now officially the longest serving monarch thecountry has ever seen, surpassing QueenVictoria’s record.

As May entered Downing Street on theevening of July 13, people breathed a collec-tive sigh of relief, expecting that finally theaftershocks had ended. But, no, that was notto be! Before the day ended, May announcedthat she was sacking George Osborne andreplacing him with Brexiter PhillipHammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

And then, to most commentators’ shock andhorror, she revived Johnson’s dead career bymaking him the new foreign secretary.

The next day was dubbed the “Day of theLong Knives” as May virtually decimated theentire Cameron cabinet. After breakfast, Mayruthlessly sacked five cabinet ministers,including Gove, before coming to DowningStreet. She then called in MPs to be appoint-ed or promoted and by evening, the cabinethad a completely new look with the stamp ofauthority of the prime minister.

The most interesting appointments werethe portfolios given to Leave supporters.Cleverly, she gave Brexiters, includingJohnson, Fox and Leadsom, full responsibili-ty to deliver on the promises they had madeduring the referendum and to steer the coun-try out of the EU—and ensure that theywould get the rap if all the fears of theRemain campaign came true.

Ironically, Priti Patel, the only Indian-origin minister and a Brexit campaigner,became the International Development Sec-retary—running a department she once sug-gested should be abolished.

And so ended the most turbulent threeweeks of British politics in recent history!

MAKING A POINTAndrea Leadsom,who was also a contender to the toppost, speaking at anews conference incentral London

IL


UNI

� Over 68 percent of milk in Indiadoes not conform to standards laiddown by the Food Safety andStandards Authority of India.

� Complaints against mobile serv-ice providers had increased to80,947 in 2015, from 68,691 in theyear 2014.

� The Department of Telecomreceived 57,634 complaints in 2015compared to 50,197 in the previousyear. Complaints received by tele-phone regulatory TRAI had increasedto 23,313 in 2015, as opposed to18,494 in 2014.

� In 2015, as many as 405 inci-dents of cross-border firing havetaken place along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu andKashmir, killing 16 civilians.

� While 253 incidents of cross-bor-der firing were reported along theInternational Border, 152 incidentsoccurred along the Line of Control.

� There has been a rise in thenumber of cases being referred bythe Supreme Court and HighCourts to the CBI for probe. Atotal of 292 cases were referred in2015 by the apex court and HighCourts as opposed to 175 in 2014.

� In January alone, the SupremeCourt and High Courts have referred15 cases to the CBI.

� As many as 2,400 trains arebeing daily escorted by the RailwayProtection Force (RPF) of about75,000 personnel, nationwide. A total of 21,32,332 people were

prosecuted for offences undertheRailwayAct last year. About7,000 children were rescued dur-ing 2015 from trains or stations.

� Over 15.09 crore pieces of counterfeit notes were in circulationduring 2014-15 period in the banking system.

� India spends `54,899 crore oneducation every year with7,40,000 schools. India has thethird largest education systemafter China and United States.About 54 percent of all childrenaged 11-17 years attend secondaryschool.

� At least 41 percent of India’s popu-lation is under the age of 19.

� India has the world’s largest stu-dent body with an estimatedrecord of 135 million childrenattending primary school.

� There are 3.4 billion smartphonesin India. India’s mobile data usagewhich has witnessed a surge in thepast few years is expected to grow 15times by 2021 according to theEricsson Mobility report.

� There are 3 billion global inter-net users now and India has 277million internet users surpassingthe US and second only to China.

� About 28 million decade-old polluting vehicles would be pushedoff the roads under the voluntaryvehicle fleet modernisation pro-gramme. `11,500 crore worth of steel scrap is estimated to be gener-ated every year.

—Compiled by Mahesh Trivedi

FIGUREIT OUT

80 August 15, 2016

1. Cafeteria is a …..word.A: GermanB: FrenchC: RussianD: Spanish

2. HereticalA: UnorthodoxB: SpiralC: ReligiousD: Frenzied

3. Fear of dogs A: Barkophobia B: Cynophobia C: CanophobiaD: Pediphobia

4. PellucidA: Stone-likeB: ClearC: SourD: Ancient

5. Drop a clanger A: Reveal a secretB: Quit jobC: Make serious errorD: Upset plans

6. . FlatfootA: Paralytic person B: Gangster C: Assistant D: Police officer

7. Throw one’s voice A: Vomit B: Scream C: Maintain silenceD: Hand over power

8. Zagged A: SackedB: ShockedC: DrunkD: Cheated

9. Ca va?A: What happened?B: How are things? C: Where to? D: Who is he?

10. NostomaniaA: Longing for friendB: Extreme

homesicknessC: Obsession with

past D: Desire for gifts

11. Quibble A: Trivial complaintB: Pocket BibleC: FeatherD: Juvenile cat

12. Busker A: Baby elephantB: Triangular flagC: Street singer D: Beggar

13. Gay LotharioA: Lazy personB: WomaniserC: Gay bishopD: Jovial man

14. Off one’s rocker A: JoblessB: CrazyC: Divorced

D: Penniless

15. Sweet Fanny AdamsA: Nothing at allB: RewardC: Cruel rulerD: Custard

16. Exaggerated speech

A: HyperboleB: HarangueC: LogorrhoeaD: Rhetoric

17. Hatred of menA: MisanthropyB: MisogynyC: HomophobiaD: Misandry

18. Bad poetA. BardB. ScribblerC. SkaldD. Poetaster

19. Distaff sideA: Elderly in familyB: Female side

of familyC: Illiterate in

family D: Bread-winners

20. Garrulous A: Miserly B: BraveC: FussyD: Talkative

1. Spanish2. Unorthodox3. Cynophobia4. Clear5. Make serious error6. Police officer7. Vomit8. Drunk9. How are things?

10. Extreme homesickness11. Trivial complaint12. Street singer13. Womaniser14. Crazy 15. Nothing at all16. Hyperbole17. Misandry18. Poetaster19. Female side of family 20. Talkative

SCORES

0 to 7 correct—Youneed to do this more

often. 8 to 12 correct—Good,

get the scrabble board out.

Above 12—Bravo! Keep it up!

Have fun with English Get the right answers Play better scrabble

By Mahesh Trivedi

WORDLY

WISE

[email protected]


ANSWERS

GLEEFUL BLUES: Protestors demonstrate London’s solidaritywith the European Union after the recent EU referendum, inTrafalgar Square, Britain

PEOPLE /

TIMES THEY ARE A-BURNIN’: National guard “Azov” regiment members andactivists of its civil corp protest against local elections in pro-Russian rebel-heldareas of eastern Ukraine under the Minsk peace agreement, in Kiev, Ukraine

— Compiled by Kh Manglembi Devi Photos: UNI

RIGHT TO JUSTICE: Protesting against police brutality, Lastarla Barker demands the Oakland PoliceDepartment to be defunded in Oakland, California

Voices of Protest

KILLING PRICES: Congress activists protest against theprice hike of vegetables in Ahmedabad

DIRTY COAL POLITICS: Activists protest at the open-cast mine of Welzow-Süd near the eastern German town of Welzow

STAIRWAY TO VICTORY: Spectators sit on a tree to watch a rallyorganized by “Joint Opposition” party on May Day in Colombo

82 August 15, 2016

india legal 15 august 2016

News & Politics