‘Displaying Holy Cross no ground to cancel SC cert’

‘Displaying Holy Cross no ground to cancel SC cert’

Madurai:  07.10.2021

Can a Holy Cross and other religious symbols and practices displayed by a Dalit be cited to cancel his/her Scheduled Caste certificate? No, said the Madras high court, calling it a “bureaucratic narrow-mindedness” the Constitution never foresaw, reports K Kaushik.

In a recent order, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice M Duraiswamy held that merely because a member of the Dalit community married a Christian and her children have been recognised as members of her husband’s community, the SC certificate issued to her cannot be cancelled.

‘Conduct of authorities portrays a degree of narrow-mindedness’

The court made the observations while allowing a petition filed by P Muneeswari of Ramanathapuram district in 2016, seeking to quash a 2013 order passed by the district collector cancelling her community certificate. A doctor by profession, she was born to Hindu Pallan (a Scheduled Caste) parents and certified so in accordance with law. She then married a Christian and raised her children also as members of the Christian community.

Citing this, her certificate was revoked by the district authorities. When she challenged the decision in court, officials said they visited her clinic and found a Holy Cross hanging on the wall. On this basis, the officials conjectured that she had converted to Christianity and was, thus, disqualified from retaining the Hindu Pallan community certificate. Slamming the argument, the first bench said: "There is no suggestion in the affidavit that she has abandoned her faith or that she has embraced Christianity. It is equally possible that she, as a part of a family, may accompany her husband and children for Sunday matins, but the mere fact that a person goes to church does not mean that such person has altogether abandoned the original faith to which such person was born."

The judges further said: "The acts and conduct of the authorities portray a degree of narrow-mindedness that the Constitution does not encourage." It would do well for the members of the scrutiny committee to approach the matter with a broader mind than is evident in the present case, they said. Judges directed the authorities to restore the certificate originally issued in favour of Muneeswari with immediate effect.

‘Displaying Holy Cross no ground to cancel SC cert’

 ‘Displaying Holy Cross no ground to cancel SC cert’

K.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Madurai:07.10.2021

Can a Holy Cross and other religious symbols and practices displayed by a dalit be cited to cancel his/her Scheduled Caste certificate? No, said the Madras high court, calling it a “bureaucratic narrow-mindedness” the Constitution never foresaw. In a recent order, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice M Duraiswamy held that merely because a member of the dalit community married a Christian and her children have been recognised as members of her husband’s community, the SC certificate issued to her cannot be cancelled.

Under SC fire, govt agrees to revert to old NEET-SS system

Under SC fire, govt agrees to revert to old NEET-SS system

New Pattern To Be Effective From Next Year

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:07.10.2021

Put under the pump following scathing criticism from the Supreme Court, the Centre, National Medical Commission and National Board for Education in medical sciences buckled and informed the court that the NEET-Super Speciality examinations will be as per the erstwhile pattern for the academic year 2021-22. The changed pattern will be applicable from the 2022-23 session onwards.

Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati for the Centre and senior advocate Maninder Singh for NBE informed that in deference to the SC's views, it has been decided to implement the new pattern of question and subject-wise distribution of marks, implementation of which from current academic session was under challenge, from the following academic years. As of now, the court decided not to go into the correctness of the new examination pattern.

As many as 41 MD doctors had approached the SC through advocate Javedur Rehman alleging that the government changed the rules of the game after the starting whistle by completely altering the question pattern and subjectwise distribution of marks for the NEET-SS from what it was since 2018 and notifying the changes more than a month after the schedule of examination was announced. This, they said, jeopardised preparations of 12,000 doctors aspiring for super speciality courses.

Bhati informed the court that doubts of the SC about changes being made to benefit private medical colleges were unfounded as from among 414 colleges offering super speciality courses, 118 in government, and 296 in private sector and as many as 802 seats went vacant last year,” the ASG said.

Notices issued to seize property, arrest doctors over ₹10L bond

COVID DUTY ROW

Notices issued to seize property, arrest doctors over ₹10L bond

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:07.10.2021

To tighten the noose around doctors who did not respond on being summoned for Covid-19 duty during the second wave, the state government has started issuing notices to them for attachment of their properties or properties belonging to the guarantors who stood for them in lieu of the Rs 10-lakh bond executed during admission to PG medical courses.

The state government had ordered doctors who studied at government medical colleges and yet to discharge their bonds, to join Covid duty.

In the notices issued under provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code in September, the government authorities asked the doctors to either pay the bond amount and discharge themselves from the mandatory three-year rural service or properties belonging to them or their legal heirs or their guarantors would be attached and put on auction to recover the Rs 10 lakh bond amount.

In case of failure to pay the amount, the government also threatened to arrest them and put them behind bars and said that a proposal to this effect would be sent to the collectors and district magistrates concerned.

This threat has created panic among doctors and those who stood guarantors when they took admission and their families did not have enough money to pay off the bonds, and had relied on relatives to stand as guarantors.

In some cases, medical college authorities have issued notices to former students asking them to pay Rs 10 lakh and get themselves discharged from the bond. They have been given a seven-day period to pay up or the bank guarantee issued at the time of their admission would be forfeited.

Following the government’s communications, as many as 45 doctors have paid the bond amount and freed themselves from the liability. They are among 251 doctors, who had taken admission to PG medical courses before 2013, and who have approached the Gujarat high court against the state government’s notices issued in June for failure to turn up for Covid duty.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the petitioner doctors’ advocate, Amit Panchal, raised the issue. In response, the government pleader promised the court that the authorities would be told to go slow against the doctors in this regard.

After the government gave an assurance of going slow, the bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice V D Nanavati asked it to file a reply in this regard

‘Language of law has to be English only’

LOST IN TRANSLATION?

‘Language of law has to be English only’

TIMES-NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:07.10.2021

The Gujarat high court on Wednesday asserted that when it comes to the law, the language to be used in court is English only.

During a hearing of a case relating to appointments for the post of police sub-inspectors, the bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice V D Nanavati made it clear that for the legal fraternity in India, the mandatory language is only English and the court does not know any other language.

The proceedings were with regard to the scoring of marks in English and Gujarati languages in examinations conducted for recruitment of PSIs. The candidates had scored less marks in English and performed better in Gujarati.

The lawyer argued that in Gujarat people are more conversant with Gujarati and even law books are available in Gujarati.

The judges immediately posed a question, “How will they read the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code? We don’t understandGujarati.” The lawyer argued further that even law books referred to in lower courts are in the Gujaratilanguage and Gujarat’s law journals also provide headnotes of judgments in Gujarati.

This led the judges to comment, “When it comes to the law, it has to be English and only English, and nothing else. You are sending a wrong signal to the legal fraternity. Any lawyer, any upcoming, budding lawyer who wants to practice without English is nothing in this fraternity. How will he understand the judgements delivered by the Supreme Court and various high courts? Will he bank upon the translations undertaken by law journals?” The lawyer argued on the prevalence of Gujarati in the lower courts and said, “But this is the hard reality.” The judges asserted again, “Whatever the reality may be. The language has to be English.”

Snake a deadly murder weapon, says SC; denies bail

Snake a deadly murder weapon, says SC; denies bail

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:07.10.2021

Accidental snakebite deaths may be common in India, but the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is a heinous crime to use a poisonous snake as a ‘weapon’ to murder an elderly woman and refused to grant bail to the accused in a case from Rajasthan.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli was dealing with this unique case.

A woman, married to an army man who was posted away from his hometown, was regularly talking to her paramour over phone, which was objected to by her mother-in-law. Her father-inlaw too was away as he worked outside his hometown. Irked by the nagging reprimands of her MIL, the daughter-in-law in conspiracy with her paramour and his friend, procured a poisonous snake from a snake charmer in Jhunjhunu district. Wrapped in a bag, she kept the snake near her MIL’s bed on the night of June 2, 2018. The elderly woman was found dead in the morning. The hospital she was taken to declared she died of snakebite.

Snakebite deaths being a normal occurrence in Rajasthan and many other states, the Jhunjhunu police took time to discover an unusual number of phone call exchanges, over 100, between the daughter-in-law and her paramour during the fateful night. It also found that these two have been in constant touch for a long time over the phone.

The police arrested the three — the woman, her paramour and his friend — and traced down the snake charmer from whom the ‘murder weapon’ was procured. The snake charmer turned approver and gave a statement under Section 164 CrPC before a magistrate that the paramour had procured the snake from him.

Arguing for the paramour, advocate Aditya Kumar Choudhary told the bench that his client was not present at the crime scene. “How would he be a part of the conspiracy when no one can predict whom the snake will bite? Just leaving a poisonous snake in the room does not mean the snake knew whom it should bite. The police have not authenticated the call records. The man is behind bars for more than a year.” To that, the bench said, “It is very common in Rajasthan to use poisonous snakes for committing murders. You have used an innovative method to commit a heinous crime. You were allegedly part of the conspiracy and provided the murder weapon (snake) after procuring it from the snake charmer. You do not deserve to be released on bail at this stage.” There are around five million snakebite cases worldwide every year causing around 1,00,000 deaths. India accounts for almost half of them. A WHO report said India had an estimated 1.2 million snake bite deaths (averaging 58,000 every year) in the period between 2000-2019.

“It is very common in Rajasthan to use poisonous snakes for committing murders”

Honourable acquittal alone can entitle job in forces: SC

Honourable acquittal alone can entitle job in forces: SC

Acquittal Due To Lack Of Evidence Not Enough: Top Court

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:07.10.2021

In an important judgment, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a candidate would be entitled to join any of the security forces or police only if he has got an ‘honourable acquittal’ from the judiciary and not a mere acquittal due to lack of evidence or benefit of doubt.

A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari differentiated between ‘honourable’ and ‘mere’ acquittals, both terminologies emerging from judicial pronouncements as these do not find place in the criminal laws.

It said an honourable acquittal is one where the courts record that the person has been falsely implicated and that there is absolutely no evidence to link him to the crime.

However, a person is ‘acquitted’ for various other reasons including lack of sufficient evidence, benefit of doubt and prosecution witnesses turning hostile.

The bench reversed concurrent judgments of the single judge and division bench of Madhya Pradesh high court directing employment to be given to a person who was acquitted in a kidnapping case because the prosecution witnesses turned hostile.

The bench said it was not an honourable acquittal as the prosecution had alleged that the accused had indulged in physical violence against the witnesses, who in course of time turned hostile.

Writing the judgment, Justice Maheshwari said, “If a person is acquitted giving him the benefit of doubt, from the charge of an offence involving moral turpitude or because the witnesses turned hostile, it would not automatically entitle him for the employment, that too in disciplined force.”

“The employer has a right to consider his candidature in terms of the circulars issued by the Screening Committee. The mere disclosure of the offences alleged (by the candidate) and the result of the trial is not sufficient. In the said situation, the employer cannot be compelled to give an appointment to the candidate,” he said.

The SC said a person intending to join the police force must be a person of utmost rectitude and impeccable character and integrity. “A person having a criminal antecedents would not fit in this category. The employer has a right to consider the nature of acquittal or decide until he is completely exonerated because even a possibility of his taking to the life of crimes poses a threat to the discipline of the police force,” it said.

“If an acquittal is directed by the court on consideration of facts and material evidence on record with the finding of false implication or the finding that the guilt had not been proved, accepting the explanation of accused as just, it be treated as honourable acquittal. In other words, if prosecution could not prove the guilt for other reasons and was not ‘honourably’ acquitted by the court, it be treated other than ‘honourable’, and proceedings may follow,” it said.

A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari differentiated between ‘honourable’ and ‘mere’ acquittals, both terminologies emerging from judicial pronouncements as these do not find place in the criminal laws