The Supreme Court on May 8 called the Manipur crisis a “humanitarian problem” while noting that it is the President, and not the High Court, who has the power to designate a community as Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.
“We have made our concern explicit about the need for protection of people and property and the need for restitution and stabilisation. This is a humanitarian problem. We are concerned deeply about the loss of life and property,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud addressed the Centre and the Manipur government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The court emphasised to the Centre and Manipur government the need to make due arrangements in relief camps to provide displaced persons with basic amenities, food and medication. Those in need of medical care should be transferred to Army or other suitable hospitals, the court said.
The Bench urged the government to ensure that “displaced people are able to go back”. “That is the priority,” Mehta responded.
The court said the government should “take all necessary steps for rehabilitation of displaced persons and for protection of religious places of worship”.
The court recorded Mehta’s submission that “appropriate steps are being taken in respect of the March 27, 2023 order of the Single Judge of the Manipur High Court before the appropriate forum”.
“You should have told the High Court about Constitution Bench judgments which had held that the High Court does not have the power. It is a Presidential power to designate a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe,” Chief Justice Chandrachud told senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, who represented the original petitioners in the case which led to the March 27 order in the Manipur High Court.
The petition filed by the Chairman of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, Dinganglung Gangmei, in the apex court had alleged that the High Court order led to the clashes in Manipur. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for both Gangmei and the Manipur Tribal Forum, highlighted the need to protect the displaced.
“That is part of our job,” Mehta said. The Solicitor General said there have been no instances of violence in the past two days. He said the court should wait till normalcy prevailed in the State.
He briefed the court that 52 companies of Central Armed Police Forces and 105 columns of the Army/Assam Rifles were deployed in the State. Flag marches were held in the disturbed areas. The State had appointed a retired police officer as its security advisor and the Centre had repatriated a senior officer to take over as the Chief Secretary of Manipur.
He said curfew had been relaxed for several hours in the past two days. Peace meetings were held and a constant vigil was on. He said helicopters and drones were patrolling the areas. Mehta informed that relief camps were opened to provide shelter, food and medication for displaced people.
“On the ground, the Army, paramilitary forces and other agencies are working. They have been successful. The situation is returning to normal… In larger interest, post this case after a week or 10 days,” Mehta submitted.
The court said it has voiced its concern but cannot go on to tell the government to “go to this area with so much equipment”.
“The government has to enforce our concern, which is the concern of every citizen. There is no reason to doubt that they are doing it,” Chief Justice Chandrachud remarked.
The Bench said it did not want the court hearings to become another instance for destabilising anything in the State. The court directed the Centre and the State to file a status report before the next date of hearing on May 17.
BJP moves EC, seeks derecognition of Congress over Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Karnataka sovereignty’ remark
The BJP on May 8 moved the Election Commission seeking action against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and derecognition of her party for her use of the term “sovereignty” for Karnataka during the State poll campaign.
A BJP delegation headed by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav submitted a memorandum to the poll watchdog over the issue. Karnataka is a very important member State in the Union of India and any call to protect the sovereignty of a member State of the Union of India amounts to a call for secession and is fraught with perilous and pernicious consequences,” the party said.
Speaking to reporters, party leader Tarun Chugh cited the Representation of the People Act and said the Congress party should be derecognised. The BJP also submitted a copy of the Congress tweet quoting Gandhi on the issue.
The Opposition party had tweeted, “CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji sends a strong message to 6.5 crore Kannadigas: ‘The Congress will not allow anyone to pose a threat to Karnataka’s reputation, sovereignty or integrity’”.
Air India urination case: SC issues notices to Centre, DGCA on plea of woman for framing SOP
The Supreme Court on May 8 agreed to examine the plea of a 72-year-old woman, on whom a male co-passenger urinated on board an Air India flight in November last year, seeking a direction to the Centre, aviation regulator DGCA and airlines to frame an SOP to deal with such incidents.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala took note of the plea of the woman and issued notices to the Centre, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and all airlines, including Air India.
The top court also sought the assistance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in the case, in formulating the standard operating procedure (SOP) and fixed the plea for hearing after the summer vacation in July.
“This is that 72-year-old woman who had suffered an incident in a flight.... Solicitor General, she wants guidelines to be formulated so that such cases do not arise,” the CJI said while issuing notices to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and others.
Besides the Centre and DGCA, the top court also issued notices to Air India, Vistara, Indigo, Go Airlines (India) Ltd, Akasa Air and Spicejet Ltd on the plea of the woman.
The woman had filed a PIL in March saying she was constrained to approach the top court because Air India and the DGCA failed to treat her with care and responsibility after the incident.
The woman, represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, referred to seven instances of passenger misconduct on board from 2014 to 2023 alleging that they were not dealt with properly by the airline concerned. The PIL sought a direction to the Centre and the DGCA to ensure that Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) norms adhere to the highest standards laid down internationally.
“In addition, the wide-ranging national press reportage full of conjecture and surmises has severely undermined the petitioner’s rights as a victim under Article 21 (right to personal liberty) of the Constitution, and in fairness has also affected the rights of the accused as well.
“Their rights to a free and fair trial have also been substantially affected due to a selective leaking of the ‘AIR SEWA’ complaint of the petitioner, the FIR and selective witness statements being released to the media to match specific narratives,” the woman said in her plea.
The petition said an absence of clear guidelines for media outlets on what requires reporting, whether they ought to make conjectures where matters are sub-judice, and the impact of media coverage based on unverified statements end up impacting the victim as well as the accused.
The petitioner said her intentions were inspired and motivated in the interest of the general public and are a sincere attempt to set up a framework within the airline industry so that such incidents are prevented, and if they do occur, they are dealt with in a manner that does not cause additional trauma to the passengers.
The woman sought directions to the DGCA and the airline companies to comply with the legal requirements of the SOPs, operation manuals and reporting protocols to be followed by airline crew and staff.
Referring to the incident, she said, it “caused the petitioner to go into shock and distress during this 12-hour long flight and the crew was both unhelpful and uncooperative”.
The plea said the suffering of the woman was significantly compounded as the crew coerced her to enter into a “settlement” with the passenger who urinated on her.
“She continues to deal with the trauma of the incident”, the plea said.
She alleged that during the incident and after it, there have been multiple violations by Air India including the cabin crew as they facilitated the handing over of her phone number to the passenger who had urinated on her in order to reimburse the cost of shoes, dry-cleaning, etc.
Sanjay Kumar Mishra will not continue as ED Director beyond November 2023: Centre informs Supreme Court
Appearing before a three-judge Bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Mishra was given his third extension keeping in view the ongoing evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The Supreme Court reserved the petitions challenging the “piecemeal” extensions granted to Mishra for judgment. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for a petitioner, submitted that such short tenures affect institutional integrity. Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that “95% political personalities arrested in money laundering cases are from the Opposition.”
In the last hearing, the court had asked whether Mishra was so “indispensable” to the ED and whether the government could find no other officer to replace him. “This officer [Mr. Mishra] cannot continue after November 2023. But right now the peer review of FATF is going on. It was supposed to happen in 2019, but could not due to COVID… Nobody is indispensable. No organisation becomes ineffective in the absence of one particular individual, but the presence of an officer who has been hearing the institution for the past three years makes a difference,” Mehta submitted.
In 2021, the Supreme Court had categorically directed the government to not give any further extension to Mishra. However, the government, within two months of the judgment, made amendments to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act by way of promulgation of an ordinance in November 2021. These amendments paved the way for the government to stretch Mishra’s tenure by a year till November 2022. On the strength of these changes, the government had again given the 1984-batch Indian Revenue Service officer his third extension in November 2022. He is expected to continue till November 18, 2023.
“If you knew that FATF was originally scheduled for 2019, did you bring that to the notice of this court before the judgment in 2021? At that time you had only argued that some very serious investigations were going on and his continuity in office was necessary… Based on that submission, the court had allowed him to continue till November 2022… So, is this FATF argument presented before us now an afterthought?” Justice Gavai quizzed the government.
Mehta argued that the ED Director was not a promotional post, so nobody was losing a career opportunity due to the extension of Mishra’s tenure. On May 3, the court had shot a barrage of questions about the government’s decision to go with Mishra despite a Supreme Court judgment.
“Is there no other person in the organisation who can do his job? Is there no one else in ED who is competent? What will happen post 2023, when he does retire,” the court had asked.
The court is hearing petitions filed by Congress party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, social activist and General Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Congress Mahila Committee Jaya Thakur.
They have argued that the “piecemeal” extensions affect “institutional independence”.
Bilkis Bano Case: Ahead of SC hearing, short film voices miseries of Muslim women in Gujarat
While the Supreme Court is all set to hear a bunch of pleas challenging the remission granted to the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case on May 9, Muslim women in Gujarat, through a short film, voiced that Bilkis Bano’s battle was their own battle now.
The 19-minute film titled, ‘Bilkis Bano: Justice overruled’ has images of women protesting the release of the convicts and the Muslim women of the State expressed their distress over setting convicts free.
In the movie, made by Bebaak Collective (Voice of Fearless) that works on human rights issues, Seema, a women’s rights activist said in such cases women’s safety and protection is the government’s responsibility. “Following the release of the convicts, the survivor will lose faith in the judicial system,” Seema said.
The film opens with a woman exclaiming, “India’s 75th Independence Day was celebrated by releasing rapists.”
In 2011, a trial court in Mumbai had convicted Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Shah, Bipinchandra Joshi, Kesharbhai Vohania, Pradip Modhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana and in 2017, the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction.
However, last year on the eve of 75th Independence Day, the Centre decided to give special remission to certain categories of prisoners, who maintained “good conduct” in jail. This also led to the Gujarat government releasing the 11 convicts involved in Bilkis Bano case.
Bilkis was gang-raped when she was five months pregnant and 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, were murdered in the aftermath of the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. After the convicts were released, they were felicitated with garlands and sweets. Bilkis had released a statement saying she was reliving the trauma of the past 20 years.
Yakub Rasul, Bilkis’s husband featured in the film spoke about his struggle and said, “We were thinking of starting our life afresh but our lives are ruined again. We have to keep changing our locations, we are broken emotionally and financially. Bilkis is traumatized. Those who should be in jail are home and those who should be home are on the run.”
One of the women in the film said, “I heard that the convicts are given an election ticket, today we have 11 rapists, next we will have 50. They have become bold now, they know they can get away with anything. Sarkar bhi inki, police bhi inki, vakil inka. [The government, police and the lawyers are all theirs].”
There are other women in the documentary too, who voiced similar opinions. “Whether Hindu or Muslim, all women deserve equal respect. Today this has happened with Bilkis tomorrow it will be us. That’s why Bilkis Bano should get justice. On one hand the government says, ‘beti bachao’ and then they release rape convicts,” said another woman.
The film also highlighted the horrors of 2002 and how the police and government turned a blind eye to women’s misery. The women in the film stated that they were asked to go to Pakistan.
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West Bengal Government bans screening of The Kerala Story to maintain harmony
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on May 8 ordered an immediate ban on the screening of the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’ to avoid “any incident of hatred and violence”, a senior official said here. Action will be taken against any theatre found showing the film, the official said. Earlier in the day, Banerjee described ‘The Kerala Story’ as a distorted movie, aimed at defaming the southern State.
Second low-intensity blast near Golden Temple in 30 hours, one injured
A low-intensity explosion occurred on Monday on a heritage street near the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the second in the area in less than 30 hours, prompting authorities to further step up security. One person was injured in the blast that took place at 6.15 a.m. on the road that is dotted with shops and food joints and witnesses heavy footfall every day. Forensic teams reached the spot soon after the explosion and police held a flag march as additional security personnel were deployed in the area.
