CJI RAMANA LAMENTS LACK OF DEBATE WHILE PASSING LAWS
Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana compared the lack of proper debate in Parliament and Assemblies while passing legislation these days with what used to be the practice in the past – of detailed, informed debate and discussion. He was speaking at an event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on August 15, 2021, to mark India’s 75th Independence Day. Thanks to the lack of debate, the judiciary is burdened with badly drafted laws and there is no official clarity about why these laws have been drafted, he said. CJI Ramana said there was a need for more intellectuals and professionals like lawyers to enter Parliament.
CBI SHOULD HAVE AUTONOMY: MADRAS HIGH COURT
The Central Bureau of Investigation should be an autonomous body reporting only to parliament, the Madras High Court said on August 17. Batting for the autonomy and independence of the central agency, the court said: “The CBI should have autonomy as that of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, who is only accountable to Parliament”. In its 12-point instructions overhauling the current system, the court said, “The Government of India is directed to consider and take a decision for enactment of a separate Act giving statutory status with more powers and jurisdiction to CBI at the earliest… the Central Government shall make CBI independent with functional autonomy without administrative control of the Government”. Hearing a plea seeking a CBI probe into an alleged ponzi scam in Tamil Nadu to the tune of ₹ 300 crore, Justices N Kirubakaran and Justice B Pugalendhi in their judgment said, “The CBI shall be made more independent like Election Commission of India and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.”
GUJARAT HC PUTS SECTIONS OF NEW ANTI-CONVERSION LAW ON HOLD
Hearing two petitions challenging the constitutionality of Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, the Gujarat High Court on August 19 stayed the operation of several sections of the Act, including the provision that termed interfaith marriage an ingredient of forceful conversions. The amended act came into force on June 1, and till date, three cases have been filed under it, according to submissions made by advocate general Kamal Trivedi. In the operative part of the order which serves as interim relief, Chief Justice Vikram Nath stated, “After recording the preliminary submissions and the arguments advanced, we have directed as follows: We are therefore of the opinion that pending further hearing, the rigours of sections 3, 4, 4A to 4C, 5, 6 and 6A, shall not operate merely because marriage is solemnised by person of one religion with another without force, or allurement or fraudulent means and such marriages cannot be termed as marriages for the purpose of unlawful conversion.”
ASSAM DETENTION CENTRES RENAMED ‘TRANSIT CAMPS’
A notification issued by the Assam government on August 17 says the nomenclature of the “Detention centre is changed to Transit Camp for detention purpose”. The renaming is declared in a partial modification of a 12-year-old notification pertained to the setting up of the detention centres. A large detention centre with a capacity to house 3,000 foreigners is under construction at Agia in Goalpara district which is deemed as Asia’s largest and the world’s second-largest detention camp. “Changing the name of detention centre to ‘Transit Camp’ won’t change the fact that Indian citizens are being detained after stripping their citizenship. In the last 8 years, the number of ‘declared foreigners’ deported is in single-digit,” slammed Aman Wadud, an outspoken lawyer who handles citizenship cases. “Shut down the detention centre or whatever you call it. Changing the name won’t absolve the state of the shame and guilt of detaining its own citizens by denationalizing them” Wadud wrote on Twitter.
NETAJI’S KIN WANTS SEDITION LAW REPEALED
Colonial-era laws such as sedition, which are continued to be used to stifle dissent, should be repealed, said Sugata Bose, the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose, who won the Lok Sabha elections from Jadavpur in 2014 as a TMC candidate but refrained from contesting the last parliamentary polls, said he would like to “play a role” to bring about qualitative change “in support of democracy”. Expressing concern, he pointed out that several colonial-era laws, which were used to try silence freedom fighters such as Netaji, Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, are still being used by the government. Bose, who is the chairman of Netaji Research Bureau, besides being the Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University, said, “We have continued with a whole battery of these colonial laws, sometimes under new names such as the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). These need to be scrapped to protect erosion of democracy.” “Even without a formal Emergency, application of these laws is enough to create a state of Emergency,” he added.
INDIA NEEDS A LAW AKIN TO SC/ST ACT TO PROTECT MUSLIMS
Dr. N.C. Asthana, former DGP Kerala and a long-time ADG CRPF and BSF, in an article in The Quint said on August 17 presented many cases of hate speeches and incidents and said, “Given such a situation, it makes sense if a law similar to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is enacted for the Muslims, too, where an offence is accompanied by insult or humiliation on account of religion.” But he rues, “I am acutely aware that given the notorious track record of partisan behaviour of the police, enacting the law might not help change the situation materially on the ground. However, the government would have, at least, made its intentions clear.” The enactment of such a law would, however, inspire some confidence in the Muslim community, which is rapidly losing faith in the rule of law, he said.