Now, China links
It is clear that the BJP is in need of a handle to hide its failures in dealing with border tensions with China (Inside pages, “BJP steps up attack on Cong. over China funds” June 28). Ever since the party came to power in 2014, it has been increasingly dependent on a strategy of accusing the Congress of the reason why things go wrong. There need to be answers to why Indian soldiers lost their lives and on the PM’s poor messaging on the Chinese incursions. If China funded the RGF then an investigation should be ordered to check whether there was anything amiss. Deliberations to defuse present border tensions with China need to be prioritised.
Thumati Anuradha,
Hyderabad
J&K Bill
On the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill by the Rajya Sabha, the factual position is that it was done with the highest numbers of Members of the House from the most number of parties participating in the discussion on any Bill during the last 20 years.
As many as 39 Members of the House from 24 political parties besides two independent and nominated members took part in the discussion on the said Bill, that lasted for over six hours and seven minutes. In addition to this, five Ministers also intervened in the discussion. There have been very few Bills that have been discussed for a longer duration than this. So it not fair to use the phrase, “pushed through” (Editorial, Members as numbers”, June 22).
No institution of democracy should be used by parties to stall initiatives and measures of the popularly elected government unreasonably, which happened during 2014-19.
Pralhad Joshi,
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines,
Government of India
New Delhi
Rights of the accused
The Sathankulam incident in Tamil Nadu, where a father and son died on account of police brutality, and, more importantly, due to abdication of judicial responsibility in remanding them to judicial custody despite noticing visible injuries, highlights everything that is wrong with the criminal justice system in India. More often than not, magistrates remand an accused mechanically despite the amendment to Section 41 of the CrPC under which they have to look into the reasons for the arrest. That apart, the Supreme Court has made it clear in many cases, that an accused is entitled to the assistance of a lawyer at the time of remand. It is common knowledge that an accused is remanded even without the magistrate noticing whether the accused has suffered any injuries or not. Many a time, the magistrate passes an order of remand in his chamber even without seeing the accused. On top of it, as it happened in this case, doctors who are supposed to protect the lives of the people, gave a report which does not conform to actualities. The constitutional guarantees of an accused person have been reduced to a farce. Remand proceedings should be video-recorded and take place in public view in the presence of near relatives and a lawyer.
N.G.R. Prasad,
K.K. Ram Siddhartha,
Chennai
