Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a local court in Gujarat’s Surat on March 23, 3023, in a criminal defamation case filed against him over his remark on the “Modi surname” that he had allegedly made during campaigning for 2019 parliamentary polls. He was granted bail.
The sessions court in Surat soon suspended the sentence for 30 days, so that Gandhi can appeal in a higher court. The court has given bail to him on ₹10,000 bond. Gandhi was present at the court when the judge passed the verdict.
The criminal defamation case was filed against him by Surat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, who was earlier president of Surat city BJP. In his complaint, Purnesh Modi alleged that Gandhi while addressing a poll rally in 2019 in Karnataka defamed the entire Modi community by saying “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
The Chief Judicial Magistrate H.H. Varma had last week concluded hearing final arguments from both sides and set March 23 to pronounce its judgment in the four-year-old defamation case.
Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court regarding the case, filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation), in October 2021 to record his statement.
In the midst of parliamentary polls in 2019, Purnesh Modi, in April, filed the case against Gandhi. He alleged that the latter, while addressing a poll rally in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, defamed the entire Modi community by saying “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
The Congress party reacted to the developments, tweeting that its leader would appeal in the matter and that Gandhi was “raising his voice against the dictator”.
The tweet says that the “dictator is horrified by his courage” and is using the ED, police and cases to intimidate Gandhi, reiterating a view held by many opposition parties that the Centre is using various agencies to target opposition leaders.
Rahul Gandhi mismanaged the Himanta episode, Ghulam Nabi Azad in his upcoming autobiography
Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his upcoming autobiography “Azaad”, has revealed how Rahul Gandhi had “mismanaged” in dealing with the leadership tussle in Assam between former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after rebelling against Gogoi. The book, that promises to reveal several backroom stories and humourous anecdotes, will be launched on April 5.
However, the publisher, Rupa, has put out an excerpt of the episode in the invite to the formal launch. “When we arrived at Rahul’s residence the next morning, we saw Tarun Gogoi and his son, Gaurav Gogoi, sitting with him. Rahul told us bluntly that there would be no change in leadership. We pointed out to him that Himanta had the majority of MLAs and would rebel and quit the party. ‘Let him go,’ Rahul said. The meeting was over,” Azad is quoted as saying in the book.
“.. I am not sure if Rahul said this to assert himself or because he was ignorant that his decision would have far-reaching consequences, not only in the state of Assam but the entire Northeast,” noted the author.
The former Congress veteran, who has worked with several Prime Ministers including Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh, then wrote how he called on the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to “apprise her of the twist in the tale”.
“Despite understanding the disastrous consequences that lay ahead, it is rather unfortunate that she did not assert herself as the party president. Instead, she asked me to request Himanta to not rock the boat,” Azad has written.
In August last year, Azad had severed his nearly five decade long association with the Congress over his difference with the leadership regarding the functioning of the party and launched his Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) in Jammu and Kashmir.
One conviction for unsafe sewer cleaning so far, House panel raps government
The Union government has informed a Parliamentary Standing Committee that FIRs have been registered in 616 cases where contractors had not provided safety gear and equipment to sewer workers. Among the cases registered under the Manual Scavenging (Prohibition) Act, one conviction has been secured so far, the government said.
The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment made these submissions before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, which in a report tabled in both Houses on Thursday, said that the implementation of the MS Act must be done strictly and that errant contractors should be “immediately held and convicted”.
The government submitted before the House panel that a total of 1,035 people had died in India due to hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks since 1993, and families of 836 victims have been given the full compensation of ₹10 lakh as mandated by the Supreme Court. In addition, families of 112 victims have received a little less than ₹10 lakh as compensation.
When asked about what action was being taken against contractors who were failing to provide safety gear to workers entering sewers and septic tanks, a representative of the Social Justice Ministry said that the Union government’s responsibility in this regard was to ensure the registration of FIRs.
The government added that it has successfully got 616 FIRs registered in such cases where provisions of the MS Act have been added. Further, the government said that it is regularly following up on the status of these cases with respective Principal Secretaries and that FIRs being registered in such cases lately have provisions of MS Act in them.
On convictions, the Social Justice Secretary said, “One conviction has been done so far, so we have to do a lot in this area.” The Ministry official, however, added that the top priorities currently were to ensure compensation is given as an immediate measure and to ensure zero deaths from hazardous sewer cleaning.
Seeking updates on action taken to ensure convictions in MS Act cases, the House panel, headed by BJP MP Rama Devi, noted in the report, “The Committee feel that these norms with regard to penalty and conviction for engaging sewer and septic workers by the Contractors are strictly implemented so that the Contractors are immediately held and convicted for any violation of norms.”
Meanwhile, on the recently announced NAMASTE scheme (National Action Plan for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem), which proposes to spend ₹350 crore over the next three years, the House panel urged the government to set up a timeline for enumerating sewer and septic-tank workers.
The scheme aims at mechanising septic-tank cleaning and sewer-cleaning operations and providing livelihood support to workers, among others. The committee noted that the scheme had been envisioned for a FY 2023-24 start and for this, the completion of the enumeration work is necessary. The government informed the panel that they intend to count the number of such workers in over 4,800 Urban Local Body areas and profile them before starting the implementation of the scheme.
The House panel added that for the scheme to start on time, the Union government needs to push State and Union Territory governments to finish data collection on sewer workers as soon as possible and also encourage the governments to start setting up Responsible Sanitation Authority and Emergency Sanitation Response Units so that targets can be set and achieved as envisioned.
Don’t arrest those who put up posters against me: Delhi CM Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that those who put up posters against him should not be arrested. “I have no objection to these people who have put up posters against me in Delhi. In a democracy, the public has every right to express their views in favour of or against their leader. Those who put up posters against me should not be arrested”, the CM told mediapersons.
Kejriwal said, “I saw on social media what they have written, ‘Kejriwal Hatao, Delhi Bachao’. I don’t mind. I did not understand why their printer was seized and those people were arrested. That is not good.” The Delhi Chief Minister’s remarks came in the wake of posters targeting him surfaced in the national capital, a day after posters against PM Narendra Modi had cropped up.
On Wednesday, Delhi Police arrested several persons for allegedly putting up posters against PM Modi. The posters calling for the ouster of PM Modi with the slogan ‘Modi Hatao Desh Bachao’ were found pasted in several parts of the city. The Delhi CM also hit out at PM Narendra Modi over the incident. “I don’t know why the Prime Minister is so scared. What difference will it make if some people paste the posters? Modi ji is fighting with the printing people and those who paste posters. It does not suit such a powerful Prime Minister of a great country to clash with the printing and the poster-pasting people”, Kejriwal said.
In a press briefing, weighing on the poster row, Kejriwal said, “Why is PM Modi so scared? Why is he so insecure? This is a normal poster, anyone can put such posters in a democracy.” More than 100 FIRs were registered and six people were arrested in connection with the matter.
Parliamentary panel recommends new law to define power, functions of CBI
Highlighting withdrawal of general consent for CBI probe by many States, a Parliamentary Committee has said that an existing law governing the federal probe agency has “many limitations” and there is a need to enact a new legislation to define its status, functions and powers.
The federal probe agency was established in 1963. It is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, enacted to regulate the functioning of the special police establishment set up in 1941 to investigate cases of bribery and corruption involving purchases and supplies during World War II.
The department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice said that according to the provisions of the DSPE Act, the consent of the State government is a prerequisite for any investigation by the CBI and as on date, nine States have withdrawn the general consent.
“The Committee feels that the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act has many limitations and therefore, recommends that there is a need to enact a new law and define the status, functions and powers of the CBI and also lay down safeguards to ensure objectivity and impartiality in its functioning,” it said.
The panel said that vacant posts in the CBI are not being filled up at the required pace and recommended that “every effort should be made to fill up vacancies at the earliest”.
A total of 1,709 posts are vacant in the CBI against its sanctioned strength of 7,295.
“The Committee is of the opinion that vacancies in the cadres of executive ranks, law officers and technical officers will unquestionably increase pendency of cases, hamper the quality of investigation and ultimately impact the effectiveness and efficiency of the agency,” the report said.
The panel further recommended that the Director of CBI should monitor the progress made in filling up of vacancies on a quarterly basis and take necessary measures to ensure that the organisation is sufficiently staffed. On being asked about the reasons for delay in filling up of vacancies, CBI informed the committee that it is not receiving sufficient nominations of officers from Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and state police which have traditionally been a major source of induction, particularly up to the rank of inspector in the organisation, it said.
“CBI further said that CAPFs and state police are under increasing pressure within their own jurisdictions and hence have expressed challenges in sparing officers and personnel to the same extent as in the past,” the report said.
The Committee, in its previous reports, had recommended CBI to reduce its dependence on deputationists and strive to recruit permanent staff in the ranks of inspector of police and deputy superintendent of police. “However, CBI showed unwillingness and justified its stand citing that deputationists bring in fresh ideas, novel strategies and varied skill sets with them and that direct recruitment at higher levels would affect career progression,” it said.
The Committee said it fully agrees with the view of CBI that deputationists benefit the organisation with their expertise and skill sets, however, feels that an organisation should keep the mode of recruitment through deputation to minimum. It said that the details of cases registered with the CBI, the progress made in their investigation and the final outcome are not available in public domain and asked the agency to put in public domain the details to the extent possible.
The committee observed that the annual report of CBI is also not accessible to the general public. “The Committee is of the opinion that in this age of transparency, every public authority should strive to proactively disclose the data available with it or held by it in public domain to the extent possible,” said the report tabled in the Parliament recently.
It said that providing access to information will not only empower the citizens but will also make the functioning of CBI more accountable, responsible, efficient and transparent. The committee, therefore, recommended CBI to publish case statistics and annual reports on its website. The panel also reiterated its recommendation that CBI should maintain a case management system which would be a centralised database containing details of cases registered with it and the progress made in their disposal. “The case management system should also enable tracking of the progress of each individual case and should be, by and large, accessible to the general public,” the report said.
In Brief:
The Supreme Court said Thursday it will set up a fresh five-judge Constitution bench at an “appropriate stage” to hear pleas challenging the constitutional validity of polygamy and ‘nikah halala’ among Muslims. A bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala was urged by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, who has filed a PIL on the issue, that section 494 of the Indian Penal Code allows ploygamy, halala etc. and needs to be struck down. “I will consider it. At an appropriate stage, I will constitute a constitution bench,” the CJI responded.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
