MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE-JUNE 2022

NEW DELHI: The news report datelined New Delhi “Making marital rape criminal: Delhi HC delivers split verdict” is not a comfortable thought at all. In a democratic milieu that we are in, and the kind of cultural moorings we Indians inherit, to think that woman is unequal to man is spiritual blasphemy. India in particular has a long history of ladies being kept at an honored pedestal and there are umpteen examples. That is being the case, it is absolutely in order to think that, SHE is as autonomous as HE is. No debate. Of course, in living together some adjustments are needed, which is an universal norm. Hence for learned judges of the Delhi High Court to disagree on the issue sounds rather shocking. Delivering the judgment at Delhi High Court on the petition to criminalize the marital rape, two judges of Delhi High Court agreed to disagree. One said “its rape” and other said “it need not be”. Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who headed the Delhi HC bench on the petition in question, has favored the striking down of the marital rape exception. But his colleague Justice Hari Shankar held that the exception is not unconstitutional. If the former has said provisions of IPC are violative of Article, 14, 15, 19(1) A and 21 of the constitution, the later stated that they are not violative of these articles of constitution, which envisage gender equality of all kinds and in all situations. The exception to IPC section 375 states, “Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape”. But it is not clear if a forced sex without consent is exempted! As a free nation, constitution makers have not differentiated between genders in its application to all, pari passu. SHE has as much right as HE has. Like all actions between adults are accepted to be legal only when the action is taken in the same spirit and same understanding and is completely acceptable to both. Especially when it comes to physical relations between married couple it has to be mutual and none can force it on the other, using one’s physical quotient. Clearly, if one partner is not participating, then it is violative of other’s right to freedom of expression and right to personal liberty. We all need to recognise that constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender. Therefore prima facie, if the petition has accused her partner of rape within the confines of their legal relationship as husband and wife, on the forced attack on her persona, she has a very strong case. How can court be oblivious to this clear position? If one of the judges have problem in accepting the well argued position, then he needs to be sensitized. This judgment should be challenged. At this point, the ambivalent stand of union government in not responding to the courts request to come clear on the issue has not really helped. This is rather sad. Thus, the Supreme Court looks to be the only place to knock at. NEW DELHI:Some months ago there was this report “Grant bail to convicts who are not repeat offenders”, Supreme Court was advising Allahabad High Court to consider granting bail to convicts who have served 10 to 14 years or more in jail and are not repeat offenders, as this would ensure massive decline in pendency. There are inmates, who are undergoing jail term, and there are those whose appeal is pending against the conviction in High Court. Reportedly, Allahabad HC and its Lucknow benches had over 190,000 criminal appeals pending as on 31/08/2021. And comes this conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justice of High Courts in New Delhi. “Devise ways to release 3.5 lakhs under trial prisoners: Modi”, was a New Delhi datelined report, post CM/CJ conference. “Sensitivity of people is linked to speedy justice and this should never be forgotten. In India approximately 3.5 lakh prisoners are under trials, most of whom are either commoners or are from poor families. Every district should have committee headed by the district judge, to examine each of these cases and whenever possible release them on bail. I am appealing to all CMs and High Court Chief Justices to give priority to this issue while taking into a/c human sensitivities without compromising the legal requirements”, PM Modi was reported to have stated while addressing the conference. Thus the issue of not only overcrowded jails but also the welfare of those who are rightly or wrongly inside the four walls of prisons, incarcerated for far too long without the application of mind by either the judiciary or the executive. There has to be a mechanism in place, on a continuous basis to visit jails by teams consisting of judicial officers and police personnel to have a firsthand knowledge of the silent suffering of these prisoners. Hope both the Chief Justice of India who is an activist judge himself and PM Modi, who shared the stage at the conference, are on the same page on this issue of serious concern. NEW DELHI:Something is seriously wrong with the way our authorities think, or else, they would not have sold the land, where a primary school exists, to a developer to build a commercial complex and a multi-level parking area. A news report datelined New Delhi says it all. “PIL Challenges building of parking by razing school”, is the report, informing that New Delhi Municipal Corporation has sold a piece of land in Karol Bagh in the national capital to Omtech Infrastructure & Construction Ltd. for Rs. 181 crore. A commercial area with a multi-level parking is proposed to be built on the land in question. The land has a primary school building established in 1927, informs the report. However there are no details of strength of school, like number of students and the classes that the school runs. It could be from 1st to 7th or there about. Of course, if there are very few students, due to migration to English medium schools the demolition can be justified by making arrangements to shift the existing number of students to nearby schools. But, being generally insensitive to these dimensions of development, Municipal authorities may have ignored the importance of retaining the school. In a situation, where might is right and those who are poor and vulnerable are only to be booted around, this incursion by the official apathy, even media does not make noise. It is likely the issue is not covered by any TV channel of Capital Area Region. Even AAP running the Delhi government is not making any noise! This is Yeh Mera India. NEW DELHI:The news report titled “GST council recommendations not binding on governments, say SC”, is an intervention by the highest court of the land which can be truly called an unnecessary judicial interference in the working of the executive and therefore un-called for. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath, reportedly ruled that GST council’s recommendations are not binding on Union and State governments. It has also mentioned that Union and States are conferred with equal powers to legislate on GST. The ruling can hugely be disruptive in its sweep, if taken on face value. GST council is a constitutional body. Ever since it was started in 2017, GST council chaired by the Union Finance Minister and having representatives of all states, has been the decision making body on all commercial tax matters. Therefore its decisions are binding on all State governments so also Union government. By overruling the existing arrangement it introduces a degree of uncertainty that is bound to disrupt the existing tax structure and reverse back to the old system of too many taxes in too many places. But what is more disturbing is the judgment or the ruling in this particular case has gone beyond the questions raised by the litigant. The case between Union of India and Mohit Minerals Pvt. Ltd (MMPL) was dealing with levy of GST on ocean freight. Hence, prima facie, court had to interpret the Goods & Services Tax Act on the ocean freight only. Instead the court went into the legislative powers of Centre and State, which was never questioned by the litigant MMPL. This is surprising besides being disturbing too. As we all know, there were some 18 central and state levies within the country and therefore there couldn’t be one MRP on any product on all India basis. There were multiple prices being charged in different parts of the country, before the onset of GST on the same product. M.S. Mani, an authority on GST writes “While consumers were unable to get an all inclusive price for products on the product pack, manufacturers had to also factor in the cost of setting up a warehouse in each state to avoid paying the central sales tax (CST) despite logistic considerations frequently not justifying warehouse. GST meant that for consumers every product would come with one all inclusive price mentioned on the product pack without any caveats. This uniformity was achieved by a constitutional amendment leading to the GST legislation and its implementation was overseen by GST council”. Thus, it is clear in its intent and application. Therefore this latest development of Supreme Court ruling can put the cart before the horse instead of other way round. However, what is interesting and therefore reassuring is the observation of Union Revenue Secretary (URS).According to Tarun Bajaj, the URS, “SC ruling unlikely to alter GST regime”. It has to be noted that there is already provision in GST not to accept the proposal of GST council if it chooses to, but states have not opted for it during all the last 5 years of GST regime. Both the Centre and States have worked on GST in a spirit of co-operative federalism and the uniformity in GST laws across states has benefitted both consumers and manufacturers. Hope status quo is maintained of ONE NATION ONE TAX, with may be some simplifications thrown in. NEW DELHI:A report datelined Bengalooru “LIC’s unclaimed money can fund 2 Gaganyaans”, has not come a day too early. Having started on 1st September 1956, this September 1st 2022, LIC will have completed 66 years. Close to seven decades cover some 3 generations of Indians. Some 56 Indian and foreign, privately owned, Insurance Companies, were nationalized by an Act of Indian Parliament to create Life Insurance Corporation of India. It was in 1956. As LIC it has grown in both its infrastructure and value. To-day it’s reportedly close to 30 trillion rupees, that is a whopping 30 lakhs crores. It’s real huge. And the report informs that there’s some Rs.21, 500/- crores unclaimed insurance policy proceeds. In other words, there are no claimants of the above money covered and payable to assured persons. They may be dead and gone with no kith & kin around to receive the proceeds. Now that LIC is a public enterprise, established under an Act of Parliament, this amount is an asset of the nation and therefore should be available for some asset creation for the benefit of the country. Of course if LIC was not there, this unclaimed insurance policy proceeds would have been usurped by the private owners of those nationalized insurance companies. While we are about it, it is also important to note that there are many deposit holders in public sector banks, which were earlier private and nationalized to become public sector banks, are also having unclaimed deposits by the deceased deposit holders, who did not nominate anybody to claim the deposit in case of death. These unclaimed deposits too can run into thousands of crores, which are a kind of national asset, like unclaimed insurance policy proceeds. Cases of unscrupulous managers joining hands with cheats to create bogus records to claim such deposits have been known to be there. Under the circumstances Government of India, must bring a bill in the parliament to create a fund of such unclaimed money to use for a larger national purpose. May be government can ask suggestions from general public how to utilize such funds. One such proposal is to develop a second national capital. New Delhi has developed to the brim. A new area in the Deccan could be thought of as a possible place. There are vast un-developed and under-developed areas in the South-East Maharashtra, North-East Karnataka and North-West Andhra. A look at these places can throw up a possible new place for the second National Capital, to experience development in true sense. Hope it’s not a wild dream. BIHAR: Bridges and Bihar have some queer connections, more for its problems due to corruption and apathy rather than anything else. Sometime around this mid April, reportedly, a 60 feet bridge, believe it or not, was stolen in broad day light. A group of men, posing as irrigation department staff, came with an excavator (JCB) and started dismantling a railway bridge which was not in use on Sone River. In 3days they dismantled the entire metal bridge, bit by bit and carted it away. A sub divisional officer of the department reported the theft and interestingly, he himself was arrested among other 7 people for his complicity in the crime. Awaiting inauguration, a newly built bridge on Kankai river in Kishanganj got washed away following rise in water level on 17th September 2021. Before that on 15th July 2020 a part of Sattarghat bridge on Gandak river collapsed after 29 days of its inauguration on 16 January 2020, by the Chief Minister. Reportedly it was 1.4km long bridge, took 8 years to complete costing close to Rs 270 crores. And comes this news “Newly built bridge crumbles”, datelined Patna. Reportedly, a newly constructed river over bridge on Ganga at Sultanganj collapsed on April 30, 2022. According to the Managing Director of Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation, a part of the bridge collapsed at 4 am due to thunder storm. Reportedly, it was constructed at a cost of Rs. 1710/- crores. An MLA, Narayan Mandal of Sultanganj alleged it was due to poor construction and sub-standard material. A Hyderabad based contractor had built the bridge, who had also built a bridge on Kosi River, which collapsed four years ago. The question was how such contractors with poor history, should have been given the fresh and much bigger contract. Clearly corruption was the basis of such huge contracts! Reportedly, this was supposed to have been a showpiece? Bihar which is still considered BIMARU state after 75 years of planned development continues to be poorly managed by its political leadership. Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family, which ruled the state for good number of years with the help of criminals is still calling the shots at the hustings. It is a poor reflection on the people governing the state so also the people who voted them to power. When shall be the deliverance! MADHYA PRADESH: A Jabalpur datelined news report “MP High Court exonerates tribal MBBS student in murder case 13 years after conviction”, was most disturbing for the machinations of authorities in fixing innocents in their nefarious scheme of things. On 20th September 2008, Chandresh Marskole was taken into custody on the charge of murder of Shruti Hill, allegedly his girl friend. In less than one year, on July 31, 2009 he was pronounced guilty by a Bhopal sessions judge and sentenced to life imprisonment. Immediately thereafter, he appealed against his conviction. However it took some 13 long years for the system to find time to hear his story of unremitting suffering at the hands of authorities. On 4th May 2022, Madhya Pradesh High Court set aside the conviction of Chandresh Marskole and he was set free from prison immediately thereafter. Chandresh Marskole, all of 23 years, was a final year MBBS student of Bhopal based Gandhi Medical College, when he was falsely accused of a murder he did not commit. Allegedly even the body, after the murder, was disposed by him. After going through the details of the case High Court came down heavily on the police. “The enthusiasm shown by the police in conducting the case in a tearing hurry, adds to the suspicion. When a case is investigated, charge sheeted and concluded in less than a year, makes the cloud of suspicion even more dense, especially when norms are hugely different, in the state”. Bench pointed out “Chandresh is a Gond and therefore a tribal. After his formal arrest on September 25, 2008, the appellant has continuously remained in jail, first as an under trial and thereafter as a convict. He has wasted more than 13 precious years of his life. He was 23 when arrested and to-day he is 36”, while noting “Chandresh was falsely implicated to protect, perhaps, the actual perpetrators of the offence who may have been known to the higher echelons of the state police”. Court also noted the points presented by HR Naidu, the lawyer for Chandresh that, ‘case against appellant was trumped-up on account of the enmity Dr. Hemant Verma had with Chandresh due to campus politics’. According to him Dr. Hemant Verma, who was also the Prosecution Witness No: 1 (PW1) had used his influence with the then Bhopal Inspector General of Police Shailendra Srivastava and had falsely implicated Chandresh by concealing his own culpability in the murder of the deceased with the tacit complicity of police. In conclusion court observed “The case reveals a sordid saga of manipulative and preconceived investigation followed by a malicious prosecution, where the police have investigated the case with the sole purpose of falsely implicating the appellant and perhaps deliberately protecting a prosecution witness, who may have been the actual culprit”. The court also ordered a compensation of Rs.42 lakh to Chandresh, payable by the state government, while observing “No amount of compensation can ever replenish the lost period of youth that he suffered for no fault of his. He has been a victim, of truth being sacrificed, at the altar of motivated and malicious investigation”. While, High Court needs to be complimented for the justice, although delayed by 13 long years, to the helpless hapless victim of time and circumstances, authorities in particular need to be, not only sensitized to the ground conditions, those responsible for the miscarriage of justice should be hauled-up before the court whether its Dr. Verma or the IGP Srivastava, who colluded to fix an innocent student who’s dream of becoming a doctor was destroyed. Unless that happens, there will always be victims like Chandresh suffering in silence and in solitude. Hope court suo moto takes up to see that the justice has been done. TELANGANA: There were two social media posts going viral. One said, Amir Khan can marry and divorce a Hindu wife. Saif Ali Khan can marry and divorce a Hindu wife. Farhan Akhtar can marry and divorce a Hindu wife. But Hindu Nagaraju can't marry a Muslim Ashrin Sultana, instead he is lynched by her brothers, law of equality No: 786. The other post says how liberals see lynching. They check victim’s religion. If victim is Hindu, they check caste. If victim is Dalit, they blame Brahmins, blame oppression, blame Modi, RSS, BJP and keep repeating. If not Dalit, liberals check if it’s a BJP ruled state. If not ruled by BJP, liberals ignore it and remain silent. If ruled by BJP, liberals will blame the law and order, liberals will demand CM must resign and blame Modi, RSS, Amit Shah. Now, what will liberals do if it’s the Muslim, who was lynched, they will take play card procession, storm social media and shout for minority rights, target Hinduism, BJP and RSS then keep repeating. The above reproduction of social media posts became necessary unfortunately because of a TOI (Times of India) editorial of 7th May 2022. Commenting on the gruesome murder of a 25 year old Nagaraju on a busy Hyderabad Street by his wife Ashrin Sultana’s brothers, even as she pleaded with bystanders to intervene, the editor in his stupidity found it necessary to mention Nagaraju as a Dalit. “Married for just 3 months, interfaith couples Ashrin Sultana and B. Nagaraju knew each other through school and college and had been in a relationship for a long time against the wishes of her family. Religion and caste, Nagaraju was a Dalit, came in the way of her family accepting their adult daughters choice”, informs the editorial. It was clearly a Hindu man marrying a Muslim girl was not acceptable to girl’s family. Mr. Editor, if Nagaraju was Brahmin, would the family of the girl have accepted him? The state is ruled by Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Editor did not demand that the government and police act tough with killers or blamed TRS for the killing. If reverse was the case and Hindus were the killers, editor would have gone to the market to scream, blaming RSS, BJP, Modi and Amit Shah. Why can’t he and his media do that against institutions and outfits with whom these killers are associated or AIMIM of Owaisi family. The editorial is completely silent on this sadly. That is liberalism for you, barking up the wrong tree. According to the report datelined Hyderabad in the same TOI, there was no mention about Nagaraju being a Dalit. “Nagaraju was a Dalit” in the editorial was an addition by the editor. This is how discreetly these so-called intellectuals are keeping the society divided. Reportedly, the couple got married at Arya Samaj temple in Lal Darwaja area in Hyderabad on Jan.31. How many marriages take place between Non-Muslim girls and Muslim men? How many Muslim men have been killed for such interfaith marriages? These journalists, who try only to give lessons in tolerance and secularism to Hindus why don’t they write on the violence from Muslims against Non-Muslims? Editor in TOI editorial was beating about the bush by writing about gender sensitivities etc. without calling names. KARNATAKA: Wonder why no one reacted in the social media on the report datelined Udupi “Hindi is not our national language: Yadav”. Mind you, this is not one of those innumerable Yadavs from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. This was the redoubtable Yogendra Yadav, one and the only Yogendra Yadav of multiple credits on his Curriculum Vitae. He had such a wonderfully fantastic past, it is sad to see him so pathetic in his anxiety to be seen as anti-Modi, anti-BJP etc. Everything appeared alright, until the over-ambitious Arvind Kejriwal threw Yogendra Yadav out of AAP, along with Bhushans, Shanti & Prashant, the father son lawyer duo. Ever since his sad and abrupt expulsion from AAP and he launched his SWARAJ ABHIYAN, things have not been very encouraging for Yogendra Yadav. In fact, personally I was deeply disappointed when he was removed by the over-ambitious Kejriwal from AAP. I attended the first ever well organised launching of Swaraj Abhiyan in New Delhi, soon thereafter. But somehow Swaraj Abhiyan did not go far. Slowly he started to appear dispirited. However he emerged as a critic of BJP and its leadership. Particularly he appeared anti-Modi and started to become more critical in his language against Modi. Was he trying to become relevant, as he was losing his steam? But when his sister’s hospital was raided by investigative agencies, he took it, personally, at least publicly, that it was Modi targeting Yogendra Yadav. That was rather ludicrous. Modi as PM was hardly bothered by public posturing of Yogendra Yadav or his ilk. His sister’s hospital and residence were raided to find out details of purchases she had made from notorious diamond Merchant Nirav Modi, who is on the run, a fugitive from the laws of the land. She had purchased some diamond necklace worth lakhs of rupees paid in cash. Investigating agencies were going through details of purchases by different people from the Nirav Modi Diamond outlets. They stumbled upon a purchase which happened to be by a lady doctor Neelam Yadav who happened to be a sister of Yogendra Yadav and her son Dr. Gautam Yadav. So, where does Yogendra Yadav comes into the picture! But since then he has been making all kinds of noises. But clearly he has lost lot of his sheen. The latest barb “Hindi is not our national language” has to be seen in this context. I am from coastal Karnataka, my mother tongue is Tulu, school language is Kannada I write in English and speak Hindi fairly fluently. I consider and have accepted Hindi as India’s national language, and there are millions in Karnataka who have no problem with Hindi being national language for some very good reasons. Of course, there are fringe groups, like in all places, who are opposed, for their own agenda. Would Yogendra Yadav have made this remark in his native Haryana that ‘Hindi is not our national language’? Yogendra Yadav, was not required to go down so cheaply to please a section of the crowd of so-called Sahabalve Sauharda groups. KARNATAKA:Crying with poor and siding with the rich is slowly and surely becoming the norm for most governments in the country. The news report datelined Bengalooru “Over 11000 mid-day meal workers to lose jobs” is a very disturbing development in Karnataka. Just before the reopening of schools reportedly government of Karnataka has relieved some 11000 mid-day meal workers, who had crossed 60 years of age as on 31.3.2022. The government circular has also informed that those relieved are not eligible for any financial benefits. Mid-day meal scheme started under National Food Security Programme was launched in 1995. But in Karnataka it was started in 2002/03. When started cooks were getting Rs.300 as compensation and in some 20 years, it increased to 2600/- With an assistant, the duo would work almost 5 hours every day. But it being a heavy work of cooking for hundreds of children it would leave them exhausted after the strenuous 5 hours labour. Probably they would have the mid-day meal in the school itself. That was the only other pecuniary benefit besides the monthly wages. But in this 300 some 20 years ago and 2600/- in March 2022, how much can it help these workers, which is not covered by any additional perk like, annual leave or any other terminal benefits, with no compensation during summer vacation! Their situation is simply, get used and get thrown. Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) Commissioner Dr. R Vishal was reported to have stated “Like all government departments those who attain 60 years retire. Likewise mid-day meal workers too are being relieved from service”. But what this joker of a DPI Commissioner did not mention was at what salary a government employee starts, what are the weekly, monthly and yearly benefits they are having, what is the last salary drawn on their superannuation and what are the terminal benefits they will get to enjoy their post retirement life. These poor hapless helpless workers, started with a few hundreds and ending with few thousands, which may not suffice, even for their monthly expenses, let alone secure the future. When they go, leaving this mid-day meal job they will be having only emptiness to look forward, like that widow, Mahadevamma, from Chennapatna in Nanjangud Taluk said, “I am a widow with no children. Started in 2003 and relieved on 31st March 2022. I was asked to leave without any social benefit. My first salary was 300/- a month and my last salary was Rs.2600/”- Where will she go, from after 1st April 2022, nobody thought! This is Yeh Mera India, where being born poor and lonely is a curse.