YEH MERA INDIA

Court should respond to collective cry of society: SC

New Delhi: A court, while imposing sentence, has a duty to respond to the "collective cry" of the society as people await with patience to see that justice is done, the Supreme Court said as it quashed a High Court order to allow three persons to walk free in a case of abetment to suicide.

The apex court termed as "casual and fanciful", the order of the high court to reduce the sentence of three years jail term of the three convicts to the period of nearly four months and 20 days, already undergone by them. "A court, while imposing sentence, has a duty to respond to the collective cry of the society. The legislature in its wisdom has conferred discretion on the Court but the duty of the court in such a situation becomes more difficult and complex. It has to exercise discretion on reasonable and rational parameters. The discretion cannot be allowed to yield to fancy or notion.

"A judge has to keep in mind the paramount concept of rule of law and the conscience of the collective and balance it with the principle of proportionality but when the discretion is exercised in a capricious manner, it tantamounts to relinquishment of duty and reckless abandonment of responsibility," a bench of justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant said. The judgement assumes significance as it was delivered on a day when another bench allowed real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal to walk free on payment of Rs 60 crore as fine in the 1997 Uphaar fire case, sparking a debate over the award of adequate sentence in proportion to the offence. Finding fault with the High Court's decision, the bench said it is really "unfathomable" that the HC observed that no useful purpose would be served by sending the accused to jail for undergoing their remaining sentences of imprisonment, for the High Court itself has recorded that the appellants had remained in custody only for four months and 20 days. "The approach of the High Court, as the reasoning would show, reflects more of a casual and fanciful one rather than just one," it said. 

The verdict, penned by Justice Misra, talked about the the doctrine of proportionality to stress that the punishment should be commensurate with the offence.The apex court, while upholding the trial court verdict in the abetment of suicide case, asked the three convicts to surrender forthwith to undergo the remaining jail term."One cannot remain total alien to the demand of the socio-cultural milieu, regard being had to the command of law and also brush aside the agony of the victim or the survivors among the victim. Society waits with patience to see that justice is done. There is a hope on the part of the society and when the criminal culpability is established and the discretion is irrationally exercised by the court, the said hope is shattered and the patience is wrecked.

"It is the duty of the court not to exercise the discretion in such a manner as a consequence of which the expectation inherent in patience, which is the 'finest part of fortitude' is destroyed. "A Judge should never feel that the individuals who constitute the society as a whole is imperceptible to the exercise of discretion. He should always bear in mind that erroneous and fallacious exercise of discretion is perceived by a visible collective," the verdict said.

Recruit more woman & Pay well for better GDP

Ankara:  India’s GDP can expand by a whopping 27 per cent if the number of female workers increases to the same level as that of men, International Monetary Fund’s chief Christine Lagarde said.

This is much higher than the positive impact a 50-50 gender parity in workforce can have on the economies of the US and Japan at 5 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.Speaking at the launch of W20, a grouping of women leaders from the world’s 20 largest economies including India, Lagarde said that “it is an absolute economic no-brainer” that empowering women boosts economic growth.

“For example, we have estimates that, if the number of female workers were to increase to the same level as the number of men, GDP in the United States would expand by 5 per cent, by 9 per cent in Japan, and by 27 per cent in India,” Lagarde said in a written keynote speech she had prepared for the event. “These estimates, while of course tentative, are significant and large enough to be taken seriously. This applies particularly to countries where potential growth is declining as the population is ageing,” she added. Lagarde also said only big words should not matter for women and they must verify the delivery of the promises made for the women empowerment. She also said that men have a key role to play in the empowerment of women and quoted Indian-origin Nobel laureate Amartya Sen as saying, “Women are increasingly seen, by men as well as women, as active agents of change — the dynamic promoters of social transformations that can alter the lives of both women and men.”

Referring to the G20 pledge of November 2014 to reduce the gap in women’s labour force participation by 25 per cent by 2025, Lagarde said this would have the benefit of creating an estimated 100 million new jobs for the global economy.

“That was The Promise of 2025. Today, I want to focus on how to deliver on that promise… By the latest estimate, there are more than three and half billion reasons why gender equity matters,” she said while adding that women’s empowerment is not just a fundamentally moral cause, it is also an absolute economic no-brainer.

Lagarde also said that getting more women into secure and well-paid jobs raises overall per capita income.

The IMF chief listed three key policy areas for women’s empowerment as the education, getting a job and having a family. She said that a number of countries with highly educated women still have low levels of female labour force participation.

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