Libertatem Magazine - Issue 32 [September 2017]

EDITION 32 SEPTEMBER 2017LIBERTATEM MAGAZINE www.libertatemmagazine.com Cover Story Conviction of the “Godman” Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insaan Featured Story Increasing Accidents: Bane for Indian Railways Editor’s Pick All you need to know: Triple Talaq Verdit

LIBERTATEMLibertatem Magazine - Masthead MAGAZINE www.libertatemmagazine.com Edition 32 - September 15, 2017 Masthead Editor In Chief Ankita Ranawat Pubishing Editor Rahul Ranjan VP - Editorial Operations Ritisha Mukherjee (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Advisory Editors Prof. Dr. Howard Williamson (Univ. of South Wales) Prof. Dr. Ahmad Ghouri (Univ. of Sussex) Dr. A. Lakshminath (Chanakya National Law Univ.) Prof. T. Sathyamurthy (National Law School of India Univ.) Dr. Borbala Fellegi (Consultant, Social Policy, Hungary) Dr. Dabiru Patnaik (Jindal Global Law School) Shhaurya Sah (Associate, Inttl Advocare) Fr. Peter Ladis (Chanakya National Law Univ.) Editorial Associate Nada Faruqi (Aligarh Muslim University) Senior Editors Smriti Brar Swarnabh Dutta Madhav Kumar (LLM, University of Hong Kong) Associate Editors Rubel Bareja (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Rohit Yodha (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Amit Singhal (National Law Institute University, Bhopal) Apurv Taran Jain (National Law University, Odisha) Arushi Sheti (Amity Law School, Delhi) Mohd. Azeemullah (University of Al-Asmariya, Libya) Saloni Sharma (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Muskan Yadav (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Content Developers Khushbu Shah (Maharastra National Law University) Vaishakhi Mudanna (Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University) Vaibhav Sharma (Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law) Nitya Jain (Instiitute of Law, Nirma University) Shreyan Acharya (Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies) Shresth Vardhan (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Debajyoti Saha (School of Law, Christ University) Mohammad Azeemullah (University of Al-Asmariya, Libya) Chahat Mangtani (Institute of Law, Nirma University) Shashwat Tiwari (Institute of Law, Nirma University) VP - The Courtroom Swarnalee Haldar (Advocate) The Courtroom Reporters Jane Maria (National Law University, Odisha) Shweta Subudhi (Midnapore law college, Vidyasagar University) Desktop Publishing Design Ankita Ranawat & Rahul Ranjan © All Rights Reserved by Libertatem Media Group [2017]

Contents Contents of Edition 30 September 2017 Volume 3 Number 9 Edition 32Cover StoryConviction of the “Godman” Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insaan (p.4)Featured StoryIncreasing Accidents: Bane for Indian Railways (p.8)Editor’s PickThe ‘Triple Talaq’ Verdict – Analysing the Judgement and its Impact (p.12)The Triple Talaq Judgement: A Sisyphean Achievement (p.15)Battle Of Laws: Equality For Muslim Women (p.18)Legal News StoriesDeportation of Rohingya Muslims (p.20)The 2017 BRICS Summit & Doklam Crisis (p.24)The Gorakhpur Tragedy (p.26)Aadhaar Card Case- A Mystery To Be Solved (p.28)the CourtroomWhere should you watch the next Live Telecast of our Cricket Match? (p.32)Employees who have resigned cannot claim pension under the VRS (p.33)Judgement on the 15 long year’s dragged case of the “Godman” Ram Rahim (p.34) © All Rights Reserved by Libertatem Media Group [2017]Disclaimer - The opinion expressed in each article is the opinion of its author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Libertatem Media Group. Therefore, Libertatem Magazine carries no responsibility for the opinion expressed thereon.

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32Conviction of the“Godman” GurmeetRam Rahim Insaan By Shashwat TiwariPage 4

Cover Story Introduction On 25th August the so called “godman” was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment for committing rape of his disciples in the year 2002. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insaan as he is popularly known by his followers is said to be the most supported individual for the Padma Awards 2017 which is quite astonishing given the fact that all the supporters who backed him for the prestigious award, knew his crim- inal record. His journey from a sevak (volun- teer) to the Rock star baba has been nothing less than the mega masala movies he writes and directs. His organization works for a number of social causes, which includes the welfare of orphans, transgenders, sex workers and tribal’s. The organization also strives for social causes like cleanliness campaigns, blood donation drives, tree planting and disaster relief. The conviction of the accused took around fif- teen years, which means that the rape victims have to wait for a long period to see the culprit behind the bars. The delay in delivering justice is one of the hot topics in the country but the peculiarity of this case lies in how a so called ‘messiah’ or a chief of a religious organization which claims so much popularity was able to mislead all of his disciples. To understand how Gurmeet Ram Rahim deceived his follow- ers who devoted their lives to him, let’s take a glimpse at the organization he led and some lesser known facts of his life which never saw the daylight.What Is Dera Saccha Sauda (DSS)Currently, the most controversial non-profit organization in the country, Dera Saccha Sauda accordingto its website claims to be a religious and non-profit organization. Established by Mastana Baloochistaniin the year 1969 the institution is estimated to have more than 60 million followers which taught NAAMmethod of meditation where people accepted three principles that are:-1. No consumption of meat, egg etc.2. No consumption of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco3. No adultery or illicit sex.The Dera strives for making India as a caste free society. It is one of the projects started by the currentchief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and one of the peculiar custom which is practiced since ages is that during theSatsang, the Guru of the Dera sits beneath Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian symbols which are organ-ised in a way that depicts him as the union of these religions, and it is also depicted in the tagline whichsays “confluence of all religions”.Despite having such commonplace beliefs, this organization enjoys popularity among the states like Pun-jab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Page 5

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 Though the official website of Dera Saccha Sau- da does not explicitly mention the funding, in 2009 a research was conducted by Jacob Cope- man which highlighted the asset ownership of DSS ranging from a petrol pump to a super- market and 38 ashrams in the northern parts of the country. Dera Sacha Sauda is the only Dera, which openly asks its supporters to vote for particular political parties. Previously, it was the Congress government which, provided Z-plus security for the group’s leader, and in return enjoyed the organization’s support. But there has been a change in the political back- ings of the group since 2014 Lok Sabha and Haryana Assembly polls and has now thrown the weight behind the ruling government. The organization supported BJP in the Bihar assem- bly polls in 2015 where approximately 3000 Dera followers campaigned for BJP. History of Ram Rahim After being named as one of the 100 most pow- erful Indians in 2015 by the Indian Express, Ram Rahim becomes the third saint who is convicted of a criminal charge. At the age of seven, he joined DSS because of his devotion towards the group and worked as an Sevak (volunteer). When Satnam Singh, the then chief of Dera announced his retirement, Ram was definitely not one of the three contenders for the post but sur- prisingly in a public meeting Satnam announced Gurmeet Ram Rahim as the new chief of Dera Saccha Sauda and gave him the title “Huzoor Maharaj Gurmeet Ram Rahim”. Thus he became the chief of DSS at the age of 23. What made him choose Singh over other experienced members, is still a mystery. To much surprise, Dera Saccha Sauda as a religious group has grown under Singh, the popularity in the form of disciples and followers, which it enjoys today is only because of its chief. In the year 1990 when Singh be- came chief of the group, it had some thousand followers and in the year 2015, the number jumped to 60 mil- lion not only in India but across the globe. One of the strangest things about the followers of the group is that they regard themselves as followers of Ram Rahim first, the idea and belief of DSS come later, and this is only because of his charisma. But it is not because of his charm or the ailments he is regarded as God but there is more to it. The caste-based discrimination is quite rampant in Punjab and Haryana which have 20%-30% Dalits. Punjab is the state with the highest percentage of Scheduled Caste population in the country. Since a large chunk of the population faces extreme caste discrimination it makes both the states a fertile ground for Babas. As the Dalit population has remained disappointed for far too long in religious matters, Dera Sacha Sauda and Gurmeet Ram Rahim offered dignity to their disciples. He asked his followers to shun their family surnames of centuries and adopt the new one as ‘Insan’ (human being) to end caste inequality. The Dera Sacha Sauda of Ram Rahim provided food, ration, education, free medical services and money for various social rituals to poor. This won him the strong allegiance of the large disadvantaged group. Also, he promotes his agendas of caste discrimination through social media which has made him a ‘Rockstar Baba’. He has also released his trilo- gy named MSG (Messenger of God). Ram Rahim: Not a Rapist Since the initiation of rape proceedings, the whole country regarded the ‘Rockstar Baba’ as a rapist and this was not the first time that a baba was dragged into the courtroom, last year the infamous Asaram Bapu was also convicted of committing rape of her disciple which compelled most Indians to believe that Ram Rahim would be found guilty. Now a rape convict, Ram Rahim also stands charged with two murders one of Ranjit Singh, the brother of the rape survivors and the other of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who exposed Ram Ra- him’s illegal activities. But there lies another untold story of a murder case which is still pending in the Punjab and Haryana High court which accuses Ram Rahim of committing murder of Fakir Chand who went missing in 1990.Page 6

Cover StoryThe Untold Story of Fakir ChandFakir Chand was the manager of Dera Saccha Saudaand who was residing there for past 25 years. Therewere some rumors of some friction between himand the newly elected chief and in 1991 he wasreported missing. One of his close friends Ram Ku-mar Bishnoi who was also a follower of Dera filed acomplaint with police. In an interview, he told thatfor months he didn’t know that Fakir was missingbecause he wasn’t going to Dera. When he finallywent to Dera and found that Fakir was last seenthere and suddenly went missing he approached thepolice authorities.For several years, there was no response from thepolice, some years later a TV channel in a sting op-eration found that one Gobind Singh and a driver ofDera are responsible for committing the murder onthe directions of Ram Rahim.On the petition filed by Ram Kumar in the Punjaband Haryana High Court, a preliminary inquiry wasinitiated by CBI in 2009. During the investigation, Gobind Singh accepted what he had said in the written state-ment.After conducting the inquiry CBI registered a case against Ram Rahim and four other including Gobind Singhin 2010. But the case took a turn when suddenly the investigating officer Satish Dagar was replaced by BS Dograwho ultimately closed the investigation in 2010.In response to the closure report filed by the CBI, Ram Kumar Bishnoi filed a petition in the High Court de-manding re-investigation into the case. The petition said: When accused Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh saw the inquirygoing against him, (he) started complaining against Satish Dagar (the first investigating CBI officer) and put politicalpressure on higher authorities of CBI to hand over the investigation to some other officer who can toe the line according tohis wishes.Now, whether there was a delinquency on the part of authorities or it is Ram Rahim who being a religious gurucontrols the police and the Judiciary, this is yet to be answered.Sainthood To Be ReviewedOne of biggest issue that was highlighted during the whole Ram Rahim case was the growing number of peo-ple who camouflage as Babas or Saints and are able to amass large chunk of people in the name of religion orfaith. Also, the constitutional safeguards available to these imposters help them gain mass popularity among thepeople by just displaying superstitions. Thus Hindu spiritual leaders and saffron groups have decided to putin place a mechanism of scrutiny and a degree of standardization. Over the years, several spiritual leaders havebeen accused of sexually abusing followers, amassing untaxed money and finding favor with politicians. Manyof them enjoy immense influence for their ability to mobilize millions of supporters.Joint general secretary of Vishva Hindu Parishad, Swami Vigyananand in a recent program displayed his sup-port for the review system and “cited the example of Shankaracharya who had to go through a series of dispu-tations and discussions before his authority could be stamped. His fabled encounter with Mandana Mishra is anexample. Sources say the Akhara Parishad has already prepared a list of fake babas and gurus which would bemade public in September when the ABAP meets in Allahabad.”Now the citizens of the country have to decide whether they are still going to believe in the babas or sainthoodwhich has till date duped thousands of people across the country. People have to decide whether they want tolead a life full of myths and superstitions or rationality and truth. Page 7

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32Increasing Accidents:Bane for Indian RailwaysBy Vaibhav Sharma The Indian Railways is one of the biggest public sector undertakings in the country. Since its advent in April, 1853, when first train ran between Mumbai and Thane, it has come a long way/covered a great distance indeed. It is the fourth largest in term of length and second largest when it comes to carrying passengers. Crores/mil- lions of Indians commute through it daily, both for jobs as well as long distances/long distance journeys across the length and breadth of the nation. With manpower of about/around 12 lakh employees, Indian Railways is a force to reckon with. While these numbers might sound daunting, there is another dimension of Indian Rail- ways that poses a glaring problem for the government. Railways in India have the highest number of casualties in the world and it also suffers from chronic problem of delays. This year’s budget was remarkable, since it was the first time ever that the Rail Budget has been/was subsumed with the General Budget. Which laid stress on/urged the need to focus on railway safety with just a sum of Rs.1,00,000 crores in its pocket. Rashtriya Rail Suraksha Kosh (RRSK) to be created for a term of 5 years. But the entire rhetoric about rail safety just did not proved to 3suffice. Last one year has seen large number of rail accidents with an average of around 200 people losing their lives and 1000 people getting injured in the mishaps. The twin accidents in/that took place recently in August within the span of four days have reinvigorated the debate concerning Railway Security. It has blunt- ly exposed the ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude of the railways, particularly when it comes to the passenger’s safety. While the problems of regular delays, overcrowded trains, poor sanitation, corruption in railways and unprofessional staff might be forsaken /taken for granted by the people, the spree of train accidents has highlighted to change this dilapidated/paralytic organisational setup for the safety of the common man. Accidents in Railways- Harsh Reality The Indian Railways is the lifeline of a nation which provides or has a potential to provide mass-transit to large segment of the working people at exceptionally affordable rates. The trains also serve as the only long distance transportation medium for scores of skilled and semi-skilled workers who migrate from their native places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to the peninsular states namely Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Keralawith a hope for a brighter future. This movement of workers is vital for eco- nomic development of the hinterland as well as the peninsular states and also the metropolitan cities which need working population/workforce to sustain high/optimum growth rates. The railways also carry thousands Page 8

Featured Storyof tonnes of coal, raw iron and other freight items across the nation. The bane of accidents has been a curse ofthe colonial past for the organisation. Those were the times of British colonialism, the railways for the first timewere laid across the length of the nation with an objective of plundering the natural resources and subjugatingthe native population. In addition to this it also served as a medium of rapid movement of army, natural re-sources and raw materials to be sourced out of the country through the ports. However, No attention was paidtowards the development of the trains, the only lifeline for the native people. Eventually entire responsibilityof the same rested on the Indian Government when the nation attained independence in 1947. The governmentwith all of its resources extended the railway network throughout the nation, but the focus still was nowherein the vicinity of rail safety. India has been witnessing large number of the train accidents every year in spite ofhollow promises by the ministers regarding improvement of the situation. Last one year has seen to record thehighest number of accidents throughout the decade. The growing number of accidents has seriously dented/caused a grievous wound to the reputation of the Modi government which always used to boast about goodgovernance. The casual attitude of the railways is primarily responsible for the growing number of accidents.The entire focus has been on announcing newer trains in poll bound states to woo voters/appeal voters and tothe contrary, the safety aspect is a neglected one. It is pertinent to note that about 75% of the rail accidents thattook place this year have occurred in the form of/due to derailment of either a locomotive or some bogies. Theold infrastructure is highly stressed/retard and therefore, needs a herculean effort for the improvement.Reasons of AccidentsThe increasing number of the rail accidents is mainly due to out-dated/obsolete machinery and indifferent atti-tude/ ‘Chalta Hai’ Attitude towards the safety of the people. The main issues with Indian Railways have beenquiet clearly illustrated by the Rakesh Mohan Committee Report of 2002. It states that the “railways has falleninto vicious cycle of under investment, misallocation of scarce resources, increasing indebtedness, poor custom-er service and rapidly deteriorating economics”.[ Gist of Rakesh Mohan Committee Report on Transport Devel-opment Policy ,Press Information Bureau, Government of India] The statement brings out the grim situation ofthe railways which needs a clear emphasis upon safety of the passengers. The recent Utkal express mishap hasrefreshed the memories of the Indore-Patna Express disaster that took place in November, 2016. Around 150innocent lives were lost. The fact that the fares have not been hiked since the last decade in spite the fact that therailways has been registering millions and millions of losses every year, this pity situation points out towardsthe prevalence of the vote banks politics whish always supercedes over the need of safety measures. The poortracks and absence of Link-Hoffman –Bosch coaches which are considered as standard locomotives in most ofthe developed nations for last five years, have collectively added to the death toll. The casual attitude of the staffand the lack of accountability have also been the prime contributors for a dramatic rise in rail disasters.The height of the callousness is revealed by fact that the August mishap of train derailment occurred when thetrack was under certain repair procedures, but the rail staff apparently didn’t care/bothered to stop the incom-ing train even when the tracks were loosely connected. The railway authorities sacked a number of high rankingofficials including a member of the railway board, but the fact that it is rather a temporary satisfaction and not apermanent solution. Another dimension to the problem is that a majority of the accidents have occurred in U.P.-Bihar-Jharkhand-M.P. belt which is considered to be very busy when it comes to train traffic and involves largetransit of the people. Therefore, due to lack of time and heavy traffic it becomes very difficult to maintain thesetracks.Reforms to reduce AccidentsThere has been a number of Committees setup by the Union government over the years to study the problem ofrail accidents and poor infrastructure. The recommendations by most of the committees pertain to/have empha-sised upon the privatisation of the railways. This suggestion was first mulled by the Rakesh Mohan CommitteeReport of 2002 which advocated the corporatisation of the Indian Railways. But the reforms have not been re-ceived by the government in good light. The Modi Government called for the Anil Kakodkar Committee whichis considered to be a high level Safety Committee, so as to increase the safety of the passengers. It quiet efficient-ly pointed out certain issues, the lack of empowerment and neglect of maintenance as the main reasons for theaccidents. It mooted the idea of the reformation of the role of Railway Board and revamping the infrastructure.It also proposed the idea of Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of railways to be deputed,with the objective of improving the safety by utilisation of emerging technologies. The most of the recommen-dations of the committee were accepted by the government with General Budget 2017-18 proposing the replace-ment of ICF coaches with LHB ones in coming five years. New Metro Rail Policy and accrual based financialaccounting system are also said to have been included in the list of reforms. While cleanliness and sanitation Page 9

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 received the required impetus in the form of ‘Clean My Coach’ App, ‘Coach Mitra’ and bio-toilets from 2019, albeit, the safety features are still a far cry from. The government is pondering over the option of opening up the railways for private participation, but the said move needs a cautious approach. Another Committee headed by NITI Ayog member Bibek Debroy, which was formed with an intention to look into the matter of ‘Mobilisation of Resources for Major Railway projects and Reinstructing of Railway Board’. The committee suggested/urged the need of an independent regulator in the Indian Railways and also focusing on core activities while outsourcing the non-core functions like education, catering, etc. It has pointed out that the delay in the railway projects has led to the escalation of several costs and loss of millions of rupees of the public money. The government is also increasing the /reach/proximity of the Indian Railways at a robust rate along with the electrification of large portion of the tracks. The need of this hour is that all the proposed reforms must be accompanied with safety measures in order to instil the confidence of the public in this system. Bullet Trains- Case of Misplaced Priorities The Indian government is trying to bring into India the phenomenon of the bullet train with cutting edge tech- nology and breathe taking speeds. The inauguration of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed corridor which is due to take place in the coming month of September this year is known to be built at the whooping cost of about Rs. 1 lakh crores with the assistance of Japan. The train will cover distance of 508 kilometres in about 2 hours and 8 minutes, with the top speed being 350 km/hr. While it might be a cherry on the cake for the ‘New India’ and be a boastful achievement for the Modi Government, it sounds quiet ironic that we are mulling for bullet trains for the ultra-rich class of people while a majority of the population still travels in trains with poorPage 10

Featured Storysafety features. Another dimension to the problem the problem is the clash of the conflicting ‘ideas of develop-ment’. The replacement of all the coaches of the Indian Railways from ICF to LHB will take years and teays tocome and also millions and millions of rupees as well. The railways till now has been able to replace the coach-es of only Shatabdi and Rajthani trains, but the sleeper coaches of large distances trains which are highly/moreprone to accidents are yet to be replaced. It is heartening to see that on one hand the death of about 30 people inUSA due to Hurricane Hurvey receives global attention, on the other hand in India where more than 400 peoplehave died in Bihar floods this year, but Indian government is still unmoved. Is the death of poor and commonman a mere statistics for the government to distribute compensation and an opportunity for the officers toappropriate public money? We must have the sensitivity towards the value of human lives and must try to lookinto the directions of railway safety so as to reduce the number of rail accidents. The prospects of bullet trainare fascinating, but the government must tread sincerely as well as carefully on the ‘Mission Zero’ to reduce theaccidents in the railways.ConclusionThe problem of increasing numbers of accidents in railways has rightfully received the media attention with theformer railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu offering his resignation in the moral responsibility. The recent cabinetreshuffle has resulted in the command of the department in the hands of Piyush Goyal. While the change of theminister is a welcome step, but it would in addition also take a herculean effort to improve the ailing system.The attitude of the officials must be changed and accountability of the accidents must be fixed with stringentpenalties. India must first learn the art of rail safety from Japan which has the impeccable record of zero casual-ties in rail accidents since 1964 and still counting. If the government is able to realise the gravity of the situationand is able to invest seriously in safety on war footing, it could certainly help in reducing the number of acci-dents and make the Indian Railways more safe and passenger friendly than ever. Page 11

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32tVThheeerdJ‘iTucrdtipg–eleAmnTeaanllayt qsai’nndgits Impact By Vaibhav Sharma The Supreme Court of India on 22nd August, 2017 delivered a historic decision in the constitutional bench de- cision on the validity of ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ or ‘Triple Talaq’ under the Muslim personal law. The Hon’ble Court, declared by 3:2 majority the practice of Triple Talaq as unconstitutional. The decision of the Apex court will have a wide impact on the question of primacy between the fundamental right to the freedom of religion en- shrined under the Constitution of India in the Article 25 and the fundamental right to equality under the Arti- cle 14, both of which the Hon’ble Supreme Court is duty bound to protect. The validity of ‘Triple Talaq’ is also significant from the point of view of gender justice as ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ was seen to be blatantly discriminatory towards the Muslim women and the wider question of progressive reforms under the Muslim personal laws. The verdict which is being hailed by many political leaders, journalists and parliamentarians as securing gen- der justice for the women has been the result of a litigation by Shayara Bano in order to get the practises of tri- ple talaq, polygamy and halala being declared as unconstitutional. The brave litigant valiantly bared pressures from religious leaders and society at large refusing to succumb to male chauvinism. The support for the noble cause was also rendered by numerous women organisations like Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan which campaigned for gender justice and equality for women. It is welcoming to see that the verdict is unanimously accepted by the community without any malicious or nefarious criticism of the same. Issue of ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ The issue of the ‘Talaq-e Biddat’ under the Muslim personal law pertains to the practise by which the husband is able to divorce his wife by simply uttering the word ‘talaq’ three time consecutively. It is seen as manifestlyPage 12

Editor’s Pickunjust for women who are victims of this practise as the divorce under ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ is irrevocable in na-ture. The religious leaders are also divided on the question that whether the said practise has its origins in theHoly Quran itself. It is pertinent to state that under the Holy Quran marriage is a pious institution and divorceis only to be granted if it is unavoidable with essential safeguard of period of reconciliation for the same. Themultiple and conflicting interpretations of the Holy Quran has given rise to the present controversy. The issueis also of reform in the Muslim laws with women from the community now spearheading movements for justand equal laws.The present case has risen from an earlier decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Prakash andOrs. v. Phulavati and Ors., 2015. The case pertained to the denial of the inheritance rights to a Hindu womanby her brothers and the bench comprising of Justice Anil R Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel remarkedthat the Muslim Law too is discriminatory and a separate public interest litigation should be initiated for thesame. The litigant in the present case Shayara Bano was also given divorce in the form of Triple Talaq by herhusand. The contention for the declaration of the Triple Talaq being struck down by the Apex Court was basedon gender justice, arbitrariness and equality before the law. Another petitioner in the case Ishrat Jehan had togo through the trauma of divorce when she was divorced over a phone call by her husband who uttered theexecrable word ‘Talaq’ thrice from Dubai where he had gone for employment. She is a mother of four childrenand was left defenceless due to the arbitrary provision of the law of divorce. Due to the pivotal importance ofthe clarity of the law as regards the provision of ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ and issue of gender justice for crores of Mus-lim women, the present decision of the Apex Court is a historic step in achieving justice for the fairer gender.One Decision – Three Judgements…The decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court though appears to be unanimous in its ruling the practise of TripleTalaq as unconstitutional, but the complexities of the sensitive issue was such that even the Hon’ble Judgeswere divided on various points of law. The seminal decision was rendered in the form of 395 page judgementwith 5 Judge Bench expressing the view in the form of 3 different opinions. The Court took more than threemonths to prepare the judgment after it finished hearing of the matter in May 2017. We will now analyse thedecision of the various Judges and the reasons put forward by them to arrive at the verdict.Justice Nariman and Justice UU LalitThe decision in the present case was given by the Constitutional Bench in three different opinions. The opinionendorsed by both the Justice Nariman and Justice UU Lalit was that the practise of Triple Talaq is unconstitu-tional because it is irrevocable in nature and dismisses any opportunity of reconciliation succeeding the di-vorce. They said that the ‘Talaq-e-Bidddat’ is contrary to the right to equality bestowed as a Fundamental Rightunder the Article 14 of the Constitution of India as it is arbitrary in practise. The Hon’ble judges recognised thatthe Triple Talaq was having its basis under the Shariat Application Act, 1937. The Section 2 of the said Act wasstruck down by them as being unconstitutional in nature. They rightly stated that the Courts cannot refuse tointerfere in the matter when a litigant approaches them for the protection of the Fundamental Rights guaran-teed by the Constitution of India.Justice Khehar and Justice Abdul NazeerThe second and the most detailed opinion on the quintessential issue was expressed by the Chief Justice Khe-har and Justice Abdul Nazeer. The 272 pages opinions mooted the primacy of the right to religion as enshrinedby the Constitution. The freedom of religion was declared to be ‘absolute’ subject to the restrictions under thelaw. It is of great importance as the Justice held that right to religion under the Article 25 of the Constitution is‘absolute’. He said that the personal laws are part of the freedom of the religion itself. He also stated that thepersonal laws are beyond the judicial scrutiny. He advocated that accepting the plea of the litigant to declareTriple Talaq as unconstitutional would amount to negation of the Fundamental Rights. Disagreeing with JusticeNarimand and Justice Lalit , he said that the Shariat Act, 1937 which codified the practice of divorce under theMuslim Personal Law does not have a statutory basis and is not ‘law’ as per the Constitution; and consequentlycannot be held as unconstitutional. He stated that just like the malpractices of sati and devadasi system underthe Hindu Law which were removed by the legislative enactment, the Parliament must take precedence in thecase of Triple Talaq as well and bring about a legislation on the same.He used the powers under Article 142 to do complete justice and ordered that no Triple Talaq must be given for Page 13

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 six months and the Parliament should bring a law on the topic during the interval. It is humbly stated by the au- thor that the opinion expressed by the Hon’ble Chief Justice is wrong to the point that the onus is being shifted on the Parliament to make a law on the topic, while the litigant has approached the Apex Court to secure justice from the Apex Court for the violation of her Fundamental rights. The ruling that the practise of ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ under the Shariat Act, 1937 does not have a statutory basis is not correct as the said act is the binding law on the topic of divorce for the Muslim personal law. Even taking into the account the sensitivity of the issue, it was pragmatic that the verdict was rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court for it to be devoid of the suspicion of any partisanship. Justice Joseph Kurian The third opinion in the present case was given by the Justice Joseph who supported the contention of the Chief Justice on the topic of right to religion being ‘absolute’ thereby making it a majority decision on that point of law. He agreed with the reasoning of Justice Nariman and Justice Lalit that Triple Talaq was not an essential part of the Muslim law. As it doesn’t find any mention in the Holy Quran. But he sided with Justice Khehar and said that the Shariat Act, 1937 is not a legislation and was introduced to remove the un-Islamic and regressive customs from the Muslim law. He stated that a balance must be struck between the gender justice laws and the right to religion given by the Constitution of India. Significance of the Verdict The said verdict of the Apex Court by 3:2 majority is unprecedented in the sense that it violates the usage of Triple Talaq which was grossly unjust for women. Most of the victims of the gruesome usage were poor and illiterate women who were living in the apparent fear of being given divorce by their husbands without any excuse. Due to their weak economic status, they were left to fend for themselves and their children after divorce and the expen- sive legal procedure to secure maintenance and social stigma saddled their freedom considerably. The demand for the removal of unjust laws in the Muslim community is being raised by educated and political aware women activists who are struggling to secure justice against the conservative forces of theology. Movements like Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan have provided a forum to the women to protest against the unjust laws and seek legal recourses. The spread of education due to the Right to Education Act, 2009 and enactment of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 have been useful in generating consciousness among the women regarding their rights. It is however, interesting to note that the Supreme Court had struck down the Triple Talaq on the grounds of being arbitrary and Un-Islamic, not on the moot premise of it being gender derogatory. Connection with UCC The main aspect of the decision that must be understood is that the verdict is not connected with Uniform Civ- il Code (UCC) in any manner. Some of the miscreants have tried to render a communal tinge to entire issue by projecting the invalidation of Triple Talaq to mean a step towards UCC. The avowed constitutional objective of striving to achieve the UCC must be laid down after careful mobilisation of public opinion. Every segment of the population and each religious minority must be taken into confidence before the enactment of the penultimate civil code. The verdict has reassured the minorities as regards the ‘absolute’ nature of the right to religion as given by the Constitution of India and must be seen as a victory of constitutional values and secularism of the state. The Court did not delve into the constitutionality of polygamy and halala which were also requested by the petitioners. The Court considered it wise to tread in step-by-step towards the reformation of the Muslim personal laws, rather than stirring the entire hornet’s nest at once. Conclusion The verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court although divided in terms of points of law and reasons for the decision, must be construed as a milestone for the cause of gender justice in India. It marks a watershed movement in the history of Independent India and would rank with the historic Shah Bano verdict of 1985 when the Apex Court granted the right to seek maintenance to the Muslim women. It is a victory for thousands of women activists as well as the victims of barbaric practice of Triple Talaq who have struggled hard to see the light of the day. It would have been a more befitting verdict had the decision being based on the gender justice and right to life of the Mus- lim women, but it is pleasant enough that the Court found the practise to be arbitrary and Un-Islamic in nature with no sanctity in the Holy Quran. There is hope that this landmark decision will pave way for more gender par- tisan laws to be tested on the scales of the Fundamental Rights in the endeavour to achieve a just and fair protec- tion of women in India by the judicial system.Page 14

Editor’s PickThe Triple Talaq Judgement:A Sisyphean AchievementBy Khushbu ShahIn ancient Greek mythology, the king of Ephyra, Sisyphus wassentenced by Gods to roll the rock up the hill. After toiling hard,he would reach the peak to complete his punishment, only towatch the rock come back rolling down to hit him. Thus, at theend of the even after grinding away, he wasn’t left with makingany real progress.The widely hailed judgement by the Supreme Court has set asidethe‘Triple Talaq’or ‘Talaq -e-Biddat’. This was the first instancewherein the Supreme Court of India has set aside a discrim-inatory practice in the intimate sphere. However, on a closerperusal of the judgement, it is realized that the important issuessuch as the lack of gender justice in personal laws and Uniform Civil Code have not been addressed by any of the5-Judges. Thus, even though the nefarious practice of Triple Talaq was set aside by a narrow margin of 3:2. But inessence, it is an equivalent of Sisyphean’s progress where there is no real progress in the jurisprudence. The judge-ment egregiously fails to engage with any consequential issues. Even after majority judgement of Justice JosephKurian and Justice Nariman concurred by Justice Lalit, it must not lose sight that it has not ruled that our basicconstitutional values override religious belief and practice.While wholeheartedly appreciating the outcome that set aside the downright discriminatory and patriarchalpractice of ‘Triple Talaq’, this article will critically analyse the legal importance of the 5-Judge Bench ‘Triple Talaq’judgment.Majority Judgement: The Intersection of Parallel LinesThe majority, Justice Kurian, Justice Nariman concurring with Justice Lalit, arrived at the same decision using twodiverse, distinct and at times, contradicting reasoning. It is perhaps difficult to curl out a judicial precedent whichcan be used as reference point for future issues like Polygamy and Halala which are pending before the Honour-able Court.The stark difference between the two judgments is that Justice Nariman recognises the Muslim Personal Law(Shariat) Application Act, 1937 as a statutory provision, whereas Justice Kurian recognises it codification of per-sonal laws. For Justice Kurian Joseph the purpose of Shariat Act was to codify Islamic laws, thereby separating theUn-Islamic elements from it. Therefore, by establishing that the ‘Triple Talaq’ is Un-Islamic in nature, he set asidethis practice. The issues leading out of this judgment is that he used the religious text to set aside the discrimina-tory practice of ‘Triple Talaq’ instead of putting the practice on test of Fundamental Rights under Indian Consti-tution, absolutely evading the question of gender justice and interpreting the Quran, he simply asserted that ‘badin theology is bad in law’. Thus, setting aside the practice of ‘Triple Talaq’on the narrow ground, of it being un-Is-lamic, instead of Un- Constitutional seems like a wrong method todeal with the whole issue.Whereas, in the judgement written by Justice Nariman and sup-ported by Justice Lalit, approached the issue in a different manner.They categorised the Shariat Act, 1939 as a statutory enactment,which “recognises and enforces triple talaq”. The same was notprotected as a religious practice under Article 25 and was put totest under Article 14 of the Constitution. The practice was putto test of ‘Doctrine of Arbitrariness’. Furthermore, he holds thepractice to be “manifestly arbitrary” as it depends entirely on thewhims and fancies of the husband and takes places Page 15

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Editor’s Pick instantly without any possibility of reconciliation. Here, he fails to make any remarks on how the practice is against the very fiber of gender equality guaranteed under the Constitution. The Minority Judgement- A Faux Pas The minority judgement was given by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Khehar, concurred by Justice Naseem even while conceding to the fact that the practice of ‘Tri- ple Talaq’ as a demeaning and obnoxious practice for Muslim women, were reluctant to set it aside. Accord- ing to them, setting aside of the unjust practice would amount to interference by the Judiciary on Legislative function, so they implore the Legislation to make laws on the matter. The most dubious outcome of this judgement is that they have placed the personal laws of each religion, over and above the Indian Constitution. Justices Nazeer and Khehar’s dissenting decision offers the strongest de- fense of community rights over individual rights places gender equality below religion and personal religious law over statutory enactment. It does not stop there. By placing practices like personal law tantamount to Article 25(1), with freedom of conscience, it lays places the per- sonal law in a shield impregnable by the Constitution of India,holding the personal laws beyond the reach of Courts. Conclusion Though, the practice of Triple Talaq has been set aside, all the judges fail to take notice or even address the co-lossal issue of gender discrimination. Unlike the popular perception, this case insufficiently moves in the direc-tion of achieving gender justice. Unlike a frog leap, it has advanced only a step in that direction. Page 17

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32Battle Of Laws: EqualityFor MuslimWomen By Vaishakhi Mudanna Introduction Way back in the past, when no law of the land had been defined, nor codified, customs were considered to be the law. With the changing times, society changed, and, there- fore, laws had to be changed in accordance with the needs of the society. There was a time when our people used to cure diseases with leeches, but, with time, they found a better method, with modernization of the medical field and technology replacing the ancient way. In the olden days, women used to take a back seat at all times, as they were not considered to be the breadwin- ners of the family. Most of the family members wished for a son over a daughter as they saw him as an addi- tional person to earn and carry on their legacy. Even today, there is an ongoing battle for recognition of the rights of women. Malala Yousafzai fought for rights of the girls to who weren’t allowed to study. The Supreme Court, in the case of Haji Ali, put enough pressure on the trust members to allow women into the dargah. The case is still pending for allowing women of reproductive age to enter the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. Today once again the world watched, as the Muslim women fought for equality to have a say in divorce. According to the Personal Law of Muslims, when a husband says “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq”, three times, it is considered that the divorce has been finalized. The will and wish of Muslim women is not considered, as they have “no say” in the divorce. Background Of The Case In the year 2015, the Court, while dealing with Prakash v. Phulavati, relating to the rights of Hindu daughters’ under Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, had taken into consideration “the issue of gender discrimi- nation against the Muslim women”. The Bench said that there is no safeguard against a divorce which is arbi- trary and the concept of polygamy while the dignity and security of women are at stake. Shayara Bano had filed a PIL before the Supreme Court to declare “Triple Talaq” as unconstitutional for which a five-judge constitutional bench had been set up. Verdict Of The Court After a long haul of arguments, the Court decided 3:2 that Triple Talaq is arbitrary and that it violates the consti- tutional provisions, and hence, it is unconstitutional. The Hon’ble Justices observed that the very concept of instant Triple Talaq without any scope for reconcilia- tion violates the constitutional provisions of Right to Equality, and is arbitrary. The question originating here, is whether the concept of Triple Talaq has been included in the Shariat Application Act, 1937. The very reason that the Act had been enacted in 1937, was to curb the discrimination suffered by Muslim women from centuries. Since the Act was enacted before the Constitution came into force, it falls within the ambit of Article 13, wherein any law which is inconsistent with the Constitution is void.Page 18

Editor’s PickIn Sarabhai V. Rabia Bai, the court held that “ it is good in law but bad in theology”. Commenting on this ratio,Justice Joseph said, “what is bad in theology should also be held bad in law”.Protection Under Article 25 The Omeyyade Monarchs had introduced talaq-ul-biddat in the second century of the Mo- hammedan Era. Over the period of time, it became more of a custom rather than a personal law. Quran is considered to be the apex law for all Muslims, and it mentions a divorce with a chance for reconciliation, so that it doesn’t affect the parties if they take any hasty decision. Alternative to the Quran is Hadith, which are a collection of traditions consisting of the say- ings of the Prophet. Neither in the Quran, nor in Hadith is there a concept of instant Triple Talaq, hence, it is not considered to be an essential part of the practice for Muslims. India, being a secular country, while framing the Constitution, had given a very wide ambit to religious practices protected under Article 25 of the Constitution. The Courts have in- cluded an important caveat as to what practices are protected under the Article. They have observed that the practices essential to the religion are to be protected under the Article. In the present case, it has been inferred that Triple Talaq is not an essential part of the prac- tice for Muslims. Equality Under Article 14 Most of the Muslim community, although accepting of the concept of Talaq-ul-biddat,considers it an illegal practice. Most of the major Muslim countries have done away with this concept. Taking intoconsideration that if the Muslim countries, which follow rites and traditions to the word of Quran have set asidethe practice of instant Triple Talaq, then the time has come for India to act on the arbitrary practice curbing wom-en ‘s dignity and final say in the matters of marriage.Where the world is moving forward with an outlook where women should have equal rights in every aspect, theconcept of instant Triple Talaq is a hurdle to it. It allows gender discrimination to still fall through for Muslimwomen. According to Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, giving equal rights to all the citizens, instant TripleTalaq violates its provisions as it is arbitrary and unreasonable. It discriminates against all the Muslim women, asmen have an ultimate authority to divorce without the women having a say.The courts, in many judgments have ruled that, any law, which is arbitrary and discriminatory in nature, is con-sidered to be violative of the basic “Rule of Law” concept.In E.P. Royappa v. State of T.N., it was held, “ Equality is antithetic to arbitrariness. In fact, equality and arbitrari-ness are sworn enemies. One belongs to the rule of law in a republic while the other to the whim and caprice ofan absolute monarch. Where an act is arbitrary, it is implicit in it that it is unequal both according to political logicand constitutional law and is therefore violative of Article 14.”The Hanafi Jurisprudence teaches that the Talaq-ul-biddat is considered a sinful practice, even though it is lawful.Quran clearly mentions that a chance for reconciliation should be given to husband and wife. Talaq-ul-biddat isinstant and is irrevocable, thereby not giving any chance for reconciliation. Being so, it is considered to be an arbi-trary practice, and hence, is violative of Article 14.ConclusionThe fight started way back in 1966 when a social movement took place for equality to Muslim women. It hastaken a lot of years and efforts by many people to bring the judgment everyone was waiting for. Though there areshortfalls in the judgment given by the apex court, it is still a stepping-stone towards a better future for Muslimwomen. Where the world is moving forward with a common agenda to curb discrimination against women, thisdecision by the Apex Court is a step towards that goal. The practice of Sati, though widely followed in the past,had been abolished because it was unreasonable on the part of woman to die alongside their husbands, manysuch practices are now extinct which were considered to be sacred and followed as customs. Now, it is time forthe Muslim women to soar to new heights as the instant Triple Talaq has been set aside and enjoy the freedom tohave a say in the divorce. Page 19

Deportation ofLibertatem Magazine - Edition 32Rohingya Muslims By Chahat Mangtani Where it began from During World War II/those were the days of Second World War, when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Burma, at that time the British forces had to intervene because there existedinter communal riots between Ara- kanese and Muslim villagers. The British armed Muslims/the Royal British Army ended up aiding Muslims with Ammunitions and weaponary so that they could protect the area from Japanese invasion. But what happened in turn was that they tried to misuse these provisions provided to them by to destroy the Arakanese villages instead and this created a vent between the two communities. This caused a lot of displacement in that particular region and according to the International Crisis Group these displaced people were termed as Rohingyas and when they wanted/desird to return to Arakan after independence, they were rendered as illegal immigrants. United Nations in 2013, described them as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Ac- cording to the Rohingya, they have been res- idents of Myanmar since long with a mix of colonial and pre-colonial settlers. The official stance of Myanmar government still pertains to recognizing them as illegal migrants/im- migrants from Bangladesh. The Problem: Rohingya population/Rohingyas is/are denied of citizenship under Burmese citizen- ship Law as the law lists 8 communities be- ing ethnic minorities as the “national races”, Rohingya nit being one of them because the law mentions/clearly states that one has to prove their residence in Myanmar before the happenings of Anglo Burmese War 1823, so as to obtain the nationality. Same is the reason stated for not providing them with the permission to hold civil ser- vice jobs. UN officials have described Myan- mar’s persecution of the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing because Yanghee Lee, the UN spe- cial investigator on Myanmar, believes/has a sufficient reason to believe that the country/ some people in the country want to expel its entire Rohingya population. Some people even compare the condition of these people to that of Apartheid.Page 20

News StoryThe Roots of Political ParticipationAs Burma got independence and formed its own government, Rohingyas were given the status of miniorities.Zura Begum who was Burma’s one of the first female legislators was elected by Rohingyas in 1951 for the samepurpose/to serve the same purpose. These people also supported the uprising for democracy in the country.Discrimination against these people increased since, Burmese coup was imposed and this representation/statusprovided by Burma earlier was snatched away.After some years, somewhere around in early 1980s General Ne Win’s government came up with a BurmeseNationality Law which could now govern the citizenship and respective rights of these people and ultimatelythis Law ended up stripping off Rohingya from the status of being a Burmese citizen. It listed 8 races as “nationalraces” and did not recognise Rohingyas as one of them. Such incidents caused around 250,000 refugees to fleeto neighbouring Bangladesh and because of this both the countries came to the brink of a war. Myanmar’s gov-ernment refuses to recognize the term “Rohingya” and refer to the community as Bengalis/Bnnglas. They aredeprived of citizenship; their political leaders are barred and tortured so that they can be systematically deprivedof the elections.India’s stand on the deportationIndia’s stand on need to deport all illegal immigrants pertains to the fact that, even the ones who have the pro-cession of certain UNHRC papers are suspected to be members belonging to certain terror groups. Consideringthe huge population of the country, migrants can cause social, political and cultural problems. He also states thatthese immigrants “not only infringe on rights of Indian citizens but also pose grave security challenges” also to“ensure that the demographic pattern of India is not disturbed”. In response to the criticism made by humanrights activists on the deportation plans, being adamant about the influx, asserts that India has already taken ina huge amount of refugees and therefore, “nobody should tell us how to deal with them. The government’s planwas challenged in the Supreme Court and the next hearing is due on 11th September 2017. There are more than40,000 Rohingya in segregated in Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Jammu, Hyderabad, UP and Rajasthan.Talking of the legal database, India has no refugee law. Also it is not a signatory to 1951 UN refugee convention,or its 1967 Protocol. Whether To allow refugees or not is decided according to the situation prevalent at that timeand accordingly Long Term Visas are provided when we allow plea for refuge and this visa has to be renewedannually as an obligation. Because this visa gives them the access to Indian education, right to work here in pri-vate sector etc. it becomes difficult to arrange all this for lacs of people after looking at the wide array problemsthat the existing people are facing and so this becomes another reason for the deportation plan. But the ‘princi-ple of ‘Nonrefoulement’ is binding on all states irrespective of the fact that they have signed UN’s refugee con-vention or not and in addition to this the customary law also says that once refugees steps foot in your countryyou cannot forcefully send them back where they don’t feel safe and face threats.According to the interrogators of ARSA, suspects who have been jailed, their objective seems to declare Myan-mar as an Islamic State and are also suspected of having links with foreign Islamist groups and are being fundedby them. But ARSA in turn says that its objective is just to get rid of the Burmese cruelty on them and assuringthat they have no foreign connections.Current Scenerio: The Blame GameThe Myanmar military and the“ultra nationalist Buddhists” are conduting “summary executions, enforceddisappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and ill-treatment and forced labour” upon Rohingyas.Burmese security forces are after the “ultra Nationalist Buddhists”, the ones murdering’, raping and torturingRohingyas in the name of nationalism. United Nations states that the human rights violations against the Ro-hingyas can possibly be termed as “crimes against humanity”.Rohingya campaign groups, notably the Arakan Rohingya National Organization, demands for the right to“self-determination”within Myanmar since, they face problems in integration with the people of other communi-ties as their language and culture is highly influenced by Bangladesh and India and doesn’t match with the restof the population.Also, comparing with the rest of the population Rohingyas have the child mortality rate of around 224 which is Page 21

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 four times more than the national average. Similarly diarrhoea and infections are five times more than the national average. This is majorly because most of the hospitals refuse to accommodate them because of the discrimination prevailing at a certain level and also the other reason being that, most of them reside in camps where conditions are pathetic. Earlier mostly these people swallowed the violence on them but recently a group called Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ASRA) tried to take matters in their hands by executing some vio- lent actions against the security forces. The military responded with violence and cruelty as well and as UN saysclaims it may amount to ethnic cleansing. Refugees are all running and flooding in Bangladesh stating that their relatives and families have either been murdered or raped and their villages been burnt. To the contrary Some of the Buddhists are also fleeing away claiming that Muslims have killed and raped members of their community. Because of these disputes lakhs of people have died and many states have divided on religious lines. According to Aung San Su Ki the sympathy developing for Muslims around the world is blinding most of the people making them blind enough to see the other side of the story or rather as she calls it an “iceberg of misin- formation”. Hatred towards the Rohingya is so strong in Myanmar’s majority, that speaking up for them might sound po- tentially a politically suicidal move. The Panacea Bangladesh already has overstretched their bordersa well as camps. But till now they have not been able to provide for basic necessity such as food for them. Suu Kyi’s government commissioned former UN chief Kofi Annan to lead a year-long review on how peace can be brought back to Rakhine. The report was welcomed in- ternationally with call for Myanmar’s government to swiftly implement its findings, which they have previous- ly vowed to do. But within hours of the report’s release, renewed fighting breaks out sparking the latest exodus. Therefore, it has become very/quiet difficult to find an amicable solution since, both the sides are stuck on two different extremes. In my opinion/I believe that, India should allow these refugees as we have always believed in a principle where we say that an innocent person should not be punished even if it is at the cost of cutting loose ten wrong doers and therefore, same goes for these people.Page 22

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Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32The 2017 BRICS Summit& Doklam Crisis By Shreyan Acharya After the Second World War, there was a global shift in the world order. Alliances were earlier formed to counter foreign aggression or to conquer foreign territory, but the destruction and loss of millions of lives led to the emer- gence of the United Nations to avert war-like situations and resolve disputes through diplomatic channels. The late eighties and early nineties of the 20th Century witnessed the transformation of closed door economies which accelerated the pace of global economic dependence and cooperation. The economies of different nations relied on developed ones for trade and business. With the passage of time, the need for creating a platform for cooperation of emerging economies for dispute settlement, economic governance and other related issues was felt. This need was acknowledged, which led to the establishment of a body, initially named ‘BRIC’. The BRIC was a body of countries from different parts of the world for pragmatic cooperation, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Later, when South Africa was also inducted, it changed to BRICS. BRICS is an association of the five nations, with annual summits buttressed by meeting of the National Security Advisers, Foreign Ministers and other ministerial level meetings. The first sum- mit was held in Russia. It is attended by the heads of the States to discuss issues, and cooperate in areas like agriculture, finance,Page 24

News Storysecurity, trade, etc. In the year 2017, the 9th Annual Summit was held in Xiamen, China. It was held under height-ened tensions between India and China due to the stand-off in the border area. This year, the summit was heldunder the theme, “BRICS: stronger partnership for a brighter future”. But, this summit, dealing with critical issues,was majorly a ‘cool-off’ between the two growing economies of the world, i.e., India and China.India-China DiplomacyThe diplomacy between the two countries has always been fluctuating on various grounds. Whether it be blockingIndia’s entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group by objecting on the ground of it being a non-signatory to the Nucle-ar Non-Proliferation Treaty, or blocking the proposal to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN,China has always created a diplomatic roadblock for India.There are other diplomatic irritants between India and China. To fulfil the economic ambitions of China, Pakistanis a desirable destination. The One Belt One Road Initiative has been a visionary Chinese project to link economiesunder one umbrella. To make it successful, the Chinese have always been supportive of Pakistan’s proxy waragainst India, and this has caused a major diplomatic fallout between India and China. The territorial integrityhas been another setback. The issue of Arunachal Pradesh and frequent transgressions by the Chinese troops intothe Indian territory have been among reasons for keeping these two nations view each other as a threat. India,too, channelized its diplomatic strategy effectively to challenge China on many fronts. It has managed to securea strong relationship with the United States of America and Japan, two of the biggest economic rivals of China.India has also presented its pragmatic stand on the issue of South China Sea, creating a sense of suspicion amongthe Chinese, of our rising naval presence and future involvement. China does not undermine the military mightof India, and it is a cause of concern for China, with India’s growing military collaboration with the world powers.India has managed to establish closer links with Taiwan and Vietnam, further fuelling the suspicion of the Chinese.It is equally important, and moreover, a need for India to play the chess of geopolitics intelligently to counter thegrowing Chinese aggression, either economic or military.Doklam Crises and Importance of DiplomacyIn the midst of all the outstanding issues between India and China, a video surfaced on social media showing themilitary troops of both nations confronting each other. This turned into serious crisis-like condition. The situationin the Doklam sector led to the suspension of the Kailash Mansarover yatra, furthering escalating the situation.The world cautioned, as both the countries have excellent military strength, while the major concern was that bothare nuclear powers. But, despite de-escalation of heightened threats of war, both the countries gave rhetoricalstatements demonstrating their military power and putting the blame on each other. The situation worsened whenstone-pelting was reported in the Ladakh sector between the armies of the nations.War is never a solution for anything; under the garb of heightened tensions, India and China made themselvesappear prepared for any adverse situation, straying from finding a peaceful solution. The crisis took both thecountries back to 1961, when India and China faced each other militarily, leading to heavy causalities. AlthoughIndia faced a huge loss then, it did not hesitate to draw a distinction between the times and presented itself as aglobal power. On the other hand, China too resorted to take a harder line, putting all blame on India, and hintingat a war-like situation through its state-run news channels. De-escalation was required to ensure a peaceful andprosperous South-Asia, as both the nations are seen as key players for the growth and development of other Asiancountries. The BRICS Summit scheduled in Xiamen, China was eagerly awaited to see both leaders confrontingeach other after the recent crisis. But, the tables turned, when both nations, through diplomatic channels, pacifiedand agreed to pull back their troops, relaxing the Summit happening under a tense climate; the leaders applaudedthe move that averted a major crisis.The end of the crisis can be presented as a recent and noteworthy example for the importance of diplomacy inthe current age. The BRICS Summit worked as a cool-off factor here. Both the nations have identified each other’simportance for co-existence; no nation can deny their neighbours’ presence for growth and development. Thetermination of tensions led to the success of the conference. In a joint statement, China agreed to identify the terrorgroups operating from Pakistan as global threats. China itself cannot deny being a victim of terror due to the risingterrorist activities in the Xinjiang province. Many commentators have perceived this move, much to India’s sur-prise, as a diplomatic victory that would strengthen the cooperation between both nations. But, India must not turna blind eye; China has been known of taking a stand back on several issues.Overall, the purpose of this piece is to highlight the significance of the recent BRICS Summit in the light of Doklamcrisis and how such summits are crucial to resolve issues diplomatically rather than direct military confrontation. Page 25

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32The Gorakhpur Tragedy Vaibhav Sharma The Recent Happenings The Gorakhpur catastrophe has set off a gigantic objection the country over. It has disclosed the glaring im- perfections existing in the healthcare centers of India. Sixty kids passed on between August 7 and 11 in BRD Hospital, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. While 30 passed on in two days, supposedly because of absence of oxygen following non-supply of barrels by the contractual worker for non-installment of levy, 12 died because of AES (intense encephalitis disorder) and the staying because of different causes. Inside 48 hours, beginning August 10, 30 youngsters died in the hospital crosswise over different wards. 17 kids died in the neo-natal ward, five passed on in the intense encephalitis disorder (AES) ward while 8 died in the general ward. On August 11, the loss of life rose to 60. The BRD hospital has been recording death of kids from mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis and intense en- cephalitis disorder for quite a long time. In the previous three decades, the two sicknesses have asserted more than 50,000 youngsters. On August 12, the Government of Uttar Pradesh suspended the doctor Rajeev Mishra for professedly deferring the arrival of installment to oxygen provider and “careless conduct”. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath likewise requested an authoritative investigation into the episode. Nonetheless, Health serve SN Singh guaranteed that 60 kids died of different sicknesses yet none as a result of lack of oxygen. Pushpa Sales, the sole provider of fluid oxygen to the hospital, had been composing letters consistently to the authori- ties, saying the supply of oxygen could be upset if amassed contribution of Rs. 68 lakhs were not cleared. The hospital’s specialists made a halfway installment of Rs. 21 lakhs against the aggregated duty just a day after 23 kids had passed on at the nodal medicinal office for the treatment of Japanese Encephalitis in the district. The letter was composed to the hospital experts on August 3 and 10 advising them about the lack of oxygen barrels as the Pushpa Sales halted supply over pending installment.Page 26

News StoryThis fills in as another confirmation that demonstrates that the doctor was very much aware of the waythat there was lack of fluid oxygen barrel in the doctor’s facility, which professedly guaranteed lives ofmore than 30 babies. In the letter, it was obviously specified that the clinic had just restricted stock acces-sible, which was adequate to serve the necessity till August 10. It additionally stated that even after a fewdemands, the supplier of the fluid oxygen in the hospital halted the supply because of the over pending installment, and obviously featured that the life of the patients of the ward is at risk. The Legal Aspect This makes out a reasonable instance of medicinal carelessness. Medical negligence emerges from a demonstration of carelessness by a medicinal specialist, which no sensibly capable and watchful ex- pert would have conferred. What is anticipated from a medicinal expert is ‘sensibly skillful conduct’ receiving the ‘common abilities’ and practices of the calling with ‘conventional care’ In specific cases, carelessness is blatant to the point that it welcomes criminal procedures. A special- ist can be rebuffed under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for causing passing by a rash or careless act, say for a situation where demise of a patient is caused amid operation by a specialist not fit the bill to work. As indicated by a current Supreme Court choice, the standard of carelessness required to be demonstrated against a specialist in instances of criminal carelessness (particularly that under Section 304A of the IPC) ought to be high to the point that it can be portrayed as ‘gross carelessness’ or ‘neglectfulness’, not only absence of important care. Criminal risk won’t be pulled in if the patient suffers because of mistake in judgment or mischance. Each thoughtful carelessness is not criminal carelessness, and for common carelessness to end up plainly criminal it ought to be of such a nature, to the point that it could be named as gross carelessness. Status Quo In India The circumstances of health services of the nation are prima-facedly in a poor condition. There have been various such tragedies as Gorakhpur Tragedy in our nations. Around 29,000 kids less than five years old – 21 every moment – died each day, primarily from preventable causes. More than 70% of about 11 million child deaths consistently are inferable from six causes: loose bowels, jungle fever, neonatal contamination, pneumonia, preterm conveyance, or absence of oxygen during childbirth. The nation’s human services framework is in shambles. Open spending has expanded yet just hard- ly finished the previous two decades—from 1.1% of total national output in 1995 to 1.4% of every 2014.The nation has just around one specialist for each 1,700 patients though the World HealthOrganization (WHO) recommends no less than one for each 1,000 patients.The BRD doctor’s facility is stuffed, under-staffed and under-resourced, prompting an unreasonably highnumber of deaths in the doctor’s facility. It has a financial plan of just Rs. 5.32 crore for medications, whichworks out to simply Rs. 150 for every bed for each year. Consistently a huge number of babies in the Gan-getic fields of India are influenced by encephalitis and around a thousand of them don’t survive. UP ob-serves the biggest number of such cases. These figures depend on recorded information, and the genuinenumber is probably going to be 2-5 times higher.A recent report by Tata Trusts and Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) program, subsidized by the UKgovernment’s specialization for universal improvement (DFID), considered the state’s human servicesframework and uncovered significant holes in it. “The social insurance status of women and kids in UttarPradesh is cause for most extreme stress—an infant in Uttar Pradesh is relied upon to live four years lessthan in the neighboring territory of Bihar, five years less than in Haryana and seven years less than in Him-achal Pradesh,” the report of the examination’s discoveries said.ConclusionUttar Pradesh has the most noticeably poor infant mortality rate in the nation of 78 (per 1,000 live births) asindicated by the National Family Health Survey-IV (2015-16). The national normal is 41. These mass deathshave brought up major issues on the medicinal services arrangement of Uttar Pradesh. Among the politicalargument and allegations, someone needs to take responsibility of the unsalvageable misfortune confront-ed by the parents of the lost infants. The administration can’t get rid of the conflicts raised this time. Page 27

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32Aadhaar Card Case-A Mystery To Be Solved By Debajyoti Saha Aadhaar has been in controversy from nearly a decade. The main controversy is the invasion of right to privacy through it. The purpose of Aadhaar is to bestow the citizens of India with different kinds of benefit. The argu- ment of the State in the Aadhaar case was that the poor people have to sacrifice their privacy in order for the state to reap benefits. But, the main question was whether the State is discriminating among the poor and rich. Now on August 24, 2017, the Honorable Supreme Court of India stated that right to privacy is a fundamental right. The Aadhaar judgment was given subject to the constitutionality of the right to privacy verdict. The right to privacy judgment has the potential to affect specific pending legal cases. The Aadhaar card contains all the information including the biometric information as well. Anyone who wants to access the information of any citizen of India, he/she may misuse the information as well. The information contained are all private in nature. . While it is premature to infer the impact of this ruling on Aadhar, the unique ID number, its fate will be deter- mined by cases pending in the Supreme Court that will be shaped by this judgement. Justice Chelameswar for instance defines privacy to include three aspects: “repose, sanctuary and intimate decision. Repose is essentially freedom from unwanted stimuli, sanctuary is protection against intrusive observation and intimate decision is respecting personal life choices.”Page 28

News StoryJustice DY Chandrachud interpreted the right to privacy as both positive and negative right. As negativeright, state actors cannot intrude into any person’s privacy unless with procedure established by law. Aspositive right, it imposes a duty on the state to protect the right to privacy of citizens from its invasion bythe non-state actors. Therefore the state has to keep in place a strong framework to strengthen the same.The right to privacy judgment may impact the Aadhaar controversy in different manners. It might lead toamendment of the specific provisions of the Aadhaar Act or amendment in the data protection laws pres-ent in India. The change in the data protection laws will directly impact the Aadhaar proceedings. Thisjudgment will compel the legislators to think of the competence of the current Information Technology Act.Aadhaar has been in controversy in problems ranging from mission creep, inadequate legal safeguards,se- curity vulnerabilities to enablement of state surveillance.What started as a volun- tary scheme has been extended first stealthily and then openly, to several schemes that have de-facto become compulsory, thereby amplifying concerns about the motivation behind the scheme. Biometric information is unchangeable. If the database is compromised, then it will not be possible for the people to change their passwords. Whether the retinal information may be stored or going to be stored, a breach in the data store would disclose information regarding every individual. The loss cannot be compensated in any manner. There are already data leakage reports by the third parties using simple data hacking tools. In the earlier judgments, the Supreme Court had not created any standard to anal- yse the right to privacy. But in the current verdict, the Supreme Court has stated specifically that the right to privacy is a fundamental right subject to procedure es- tablished by law which has to be just, fair and reasonable. Now, the onus of proof is on the Government to show that the invasion of privacy by Aadhaar is just and fair. The portions of the judgement related to the data protection laws states that every invasion of privacy in relation to the same must be backed up by law. The inference that can be drawn from the above is that the information collected by the UIDAI authorities prior the right to privacy verdict has come into question. The Government had earlier introduced different cards like ration card, krishi card etc. in order to make the citizens access the benefits of the state welfare programs. But all those cards are reportedly been duplicated and forged. But Aadhaar cannot be easily forged. The welfare benefits will be given on some eligibility and iden- tity. Though the Government has stated many times, that it has saved millions of currency through earlier mechanisms, but Aadhaar can make a breakthrough by avoiding all the hardships. There is no doubt that what was expected from the roll-out of Aadhaar and its use has not happened. There are cases of data leakages. There have been innumerable reports of biometric authentication failing, resulting in people being denied the welfare benefits. But these problems will be addressed in the future as Aadhaar is still in its nascent stage. Due to the obstructions, the whole Aadhaar scheme cannot be abandoned. No welfare state can give benefits toits citizens without establishing the eligibility and identity of that citizen. The activists can help the peopleto enrol in the Aadhaar scheme in their own name thereby helping the government finding the fake enrol-ments.Government of India cannot state that only one aspect of government’s protective responsibility matters— that the cost of privacy destruction can be imposed upon the poor in return for LPG subsidies, or anyother social benefit on which they absolutely depend. Both US and Indian Supreme Court have held thatthe government cannot condition the receipt of public benefits on waiver of fundamental rights. A findingrelates to the involvement of private individuals when it comes to data collection and handling. The Courthas reiterated a decision of two-judges bench of Supreme Court taking the view that, while the State maygain access to private information of individuals for legitimate state aims, this power cannot be delegatedto private persons. The State has to ensure that the collected private information of an individual must notfall in the hands of another private body or person. This raises serious questions about Aadhaar or otherinitiatives of the government, where data collection has been delegated to private entities. Page 29

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 the cou By Swarnalee Haldar, Jane Maria, Piyush Agnihotri & Sweta Subudhi

the Courtroomurtroom

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 Where should you watch the next Live Telecast of our Cricket Match? Facts The BCCI is having the monopoly over the telecast of live telecasting of Cricket matches in our country. It had given out the license for telecasting of cricketing events to Star India Pvt. Ltd. Star India Pvt. Ltd. had engaged ESPN Software Pvt. Ltd. to distribute the telecasting of cricketing events in the country to its cable subscribers. Under Section 3 of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007, both these companies are obliged to share the live broadcasting signals of sporting events of national importance with the Prasar Bharati (which owns Doordarshan’s channels/networks) for retransmission of the same through its terrestrial and Direct-to-Home networks. The Issue raised in this case was Whether Prasar Bharati have the right to retransmit the telecast to other private cable operators and di- minish the rights of BCCI, Star India Pvt. Ltd. and ESPN Software Pvt. Ltd.. Judgment: In the judgment, the court considered duties of Prasar Bharati and the Sports Act of 2007. Under Sec- tion 12 of the Prasar Bharati Act the primary duty of the Corporation is to organize and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain the public and to ensure a balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television. Section 12(2)(e) of the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990 clearly stipulates 12 that Prasar Bharati shall, inter alia, be guided by the objective of “providing adequate coverage to sports and games so as to encourage healthy competition and the spirit of sportsmanship.” Therefore, it seems that one of the primary objectives behind the incorporation and establishment of Prasar Bharati is to give an adequate coverage to games and sports for the above purpose(s). The preamble of Sports Act of 2007 makes it clear that it was enacted “to provide access to the largest number of listeners and viewers, on a free to air basis, of sporting events of national importance through mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati and for matters connected there- with or incidental thereto.” Section 3 of the Sports Act of 2007 discusses on the right of Prasar Bharati to obtain the telecasting signals from the cable operators and retransmit them:- “3. Mandatory sharing of certain sports broadcasting signals.- (1) No content rights owner or holder and no television or radio broadcasting service provider shall carry a live television broadcast on any cable or Direct-to-Home network or radio commentary broadcast in India of sporting events of national importance, unless it simultaneously shares the live broadcasting signal, without its advertise- ments, with the Prasar Bharati to enable them to re-transmit the same on its terrestrial networks and 19 Direct-to- Home networks in such manner and on such terms and conditions as may be specified.” Nevertheless, this does not give them any rights to retransmit it to private operators other than its own terrestrial and DTH operators. It is for this reason that the court dismissed the appeal and held that :- “31. On the basis of the above discussions, we, therefore, come to the conclusion that under Section 3 of the Sports Act, 2007 the live feed received by Prasar Bharati from content rights owners or holders is only for the purpose of re-transmission of the said 40 signals on its own terrestrial and DTH networks and not to Cable Operators so as to enable the Cable TV operators to reach such consumers who have already subscribed to a cable network.” Learning Outcome Prasar Bharati cannot retransmit the live telecasting signals to private operators and trample upon the rights of BCCI and their revenue from the same.Page 32

the Courtroom Employees who have resigned cannot claim pension under the voluntary retirement schemeCase – Hutoxi Noshir Shroff vs. Bank of India FactsA writ petition by former employees of the respondent bank who asserted that differentiating between ‘resig-nation’ and ‘voluntary retirement’ was bad in law and unjustified, was dismissed by a Division Bench com-prising of M.S. Karnik and A.A. Sayed, JJ. The petitioners’ contention was that since they had been employeesof the bank for more than 20 years and had resigned because they had no provision pertaining to voluntaryretirement upon completion of 20 years of service, they were entitled to be covered under the Bank of India(Employees) Pension Regulations, 1995.The Regulations of 1995 provided for entitlement to avail pension after 20 years of service on grounds ofvoluntary retirement for persons retiring between 1986 and 1993. The petitioners resigned between the afore-mentioned period and sought that the court declare ‘retirement’ to include ‘resignation’.That is, in our opinion, so even when this Court has always maintained a clear distinction between “resigna-tion” and “voluntary retirement”. Whether or not a given communication is a letter of resignation simpletonor can as well be treated to be a request for voluntary retirement will always depend upon the facts and cir-cumstances of each case and the provisions of the Rules applicable. The distinction between the expressions“resignation” and “voluntary retirement” was elaborately discussed by this Court in UCO Bank and Ors.v. sanwar Mal (2004) where this Court was examining the provisions of UCO Bank (Employees’) PensionRegulations 1995 applicable to a bank employee who had resigned from service after giving an advancenotice to the appointing authority. So also in Reserve Bank of India and Anr V. CECIL Dennis Solomon andAnr .[2004] this Court was considering the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Pension Regulations, 1990while it made a distinction between what is resignation on the one hand and voluntary retirement on the oth-er. At the same time a long line of decisions have recognized that pension is neither a bounty nor a matter ofgrace but is a payment for past services rendered by the employee. Decisions of this Court in D.S. Nakara andOrs V. Union of India (1983)1 SCC 305, and Chairman Railway Board and Ors. V C.R Hangadhamaiah andOrs.(1997), are clear pronouncements on the subject.HearingsLearned Counsel for the petitioners contends that after putting more than 20 years of service the petitionersresigned on personal grounds. They had no option but to resign because there was no provision of voluntaryretirement upon completion of 20 years of service then existing. In the submission of the learned Counselthe PR of 1995 are discriminatory. According to him, the employees who are covered by the PR of 1995 havean option of receiving pension upon completion of 20 years of qualifying service vide Regulation 29. In hissubmission as the petitioners have completed more than 20 years and as the petitioners are similar situate,the petitioners also should be extended the benefit of Regulation 29 by treating their resignations as voluntaryretirement.We are of the view that the petitioners failed to show any pre-existing rights in their favour either in the stat-utory settlements or PR of 1995. The petitioners had resigned from the services prior to 1/11/1993, therefore,were not covered by the PR of 1995. The petitioners could not show established preexisting legal, statutory orfundamental rights in their favour to claim the benefits of the PR of 1995. Consequently, the reliance placedby the petitioners either on Regulation 29 or Regulation 22 in support of their contentions, cannot be acceptedsince they are not covered by the scheme of pension introduced by the Bank w.e.f 1/11/1993. Page 33

Libertatem Magazine - Edition 32 Judgements The Court rejected their contentions, accepted the cases put forward by the respondent, relied on the definition of ‘retirement’ under the Regulations and held that under service jurisprudence, the concept of resignation is not covered under retirement. Since the petitioners’ employment terms were governed by the Officers Service Regulation, 1979, the Court came to the conclusion that they were not entitled to receive pension under the new scheme. Therefore, the petitioners had voluntarily relinquished their services. Learning Outcome It will be too imprudent for anyone to suggest that a bank employee who has worked with such commitment as earned him the appreciation of the management would have so thoughtlessly given up the retiral benefits in the form of pension etc, which he had earned on account of his continued dedication to his job. If pension is not a bounty , but a right which the employee acquires on account of long years of sincere and good work done by him, the court will be slow in presuming that the employee intended to waive or abandon such a valuable right without any cogent reason. At any rate there ought to be some compelling circumstances to suggest that the em- ployee had consciously given up the right and benefit, which he had acquired so assiduously.Judgement on the 15 longyear’s dragged case of the“Godman” Ram Rahim Facts Self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was on Monday sentenced to 20 years in jail in a rape case. Authorities are on high alert in Punjab and Haryana, as Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s followers went on the rampage that left 38 dead after his conviction of Friday. Ahead of Monday’s court proceedings, the two states ordered schools and colleges shut, suspended mobile services, stepped up security and threw a five-tier cordon around a Rohtak jail, where a judge handed out punishment to the Dera chief for raping two disciples 15 years ago. Courts hearings In 2002, the rape case was brought against him after an anonymous letter was sent to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 accusing Singh of repeatedly raping the sender and several other women in Dera Sacha Sauda sect. The court observed that the dera head behaved like a wild beast and thus deserves no mercy. “The court is of the considered view that when the convict did not even spare his own pious disciples and had acted like wild beast, he does not deserve any mercy,” the court said. Judgement “In other words, a man who has no concern for humanity, nor has any mercy in his nature, does not de- serve leniency from the court,” the judgment states. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced on Mon- day to 10 years in jail and a fine of Rs 65,000 for raping two women 15 years ago as a CBI court ignored the Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s last-minute pleas for leniency. The sentence was read out inside the heavi- ly-guarded premises of Rohtak jail in Haryana by CBI judge Jagdeep Singh, who sentenced Singh under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (rape), Singh was pronounced guilty for the rapes on Friday by the CBI court in Haryana’s Panchkula.Page 34

the CourtroomMinutes after his conviction, hundreds of his followers went on a rampage, burning down buildings, rail-way stations and vehicle, Section 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 509 (insulting the modesty of awoman).The victims revered Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on the pedestal of God but he committed breach of thegravest nature, a special court on Monday said while refusing any leniency as it sentenced him to 20 yearsin jail for raping two of his “gullible and blind followers”. The court awarded 10 years of sentence each forthe rape of two women by making it clear that both the punishment will run consequently against the chiefof Dera Sacha Sauda. While observing that a man who has neither any concern for humanity nor has anymercy in his nature does not deserve leniency, the CBI court said such criminal act by one who is stated to beheading a religious organization is bound to shatter images of pious and sacred spiritual social cultural andreligious institutions existing in the country since time immemorial. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15lakh each against the Dera chief in both the cases and said that both the victims would get Rs 14 lakh each ascompensation.After the judgementLockdown and high alertCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court judge Jagdeep Singh, who had on Friday held the Derachief guilty of rape and criminal intimidation of two female disciples in 2002, will be flown to Rohtak forannouncing the sentence.The district jail premises, about 10 km from Rohtak town, has been completely cordoned off by security forc-es, including para-military forces and Haryana Police. The Army has been kept on stand-by. No movementof people, other than those authorised, will be allowed within a distance of 10km from the prison premises.“We are fully prepared for any situation. The army has been kept on stand-by,” Haryana director general of police(DGP) BS Sandhu said. Rohtak range Inspector General (IG) Navdeep Singh Virk said that 28 companies ofpara-military forces, along with Haryana Police, have been deployed in Rohtak.Security forces were on high alert again on Monday in Haryana and Punjab as both states braced for thesentencing. Curfew was reimposed in Haryana’s Sirsa town, where the sect’s headquarters are located, onSunday. The curfew continued till Monday. The sect has lakhs of followers mainly in Punjab and Haryana.Fears of violenceIn a televised appeal before the verdict, Singh asked his supporters not to resort to violence, but some saidthey would not tolerate a verdict that went against their leader.The Dera Sacha Sauda sect claims to have 50 million members. It promotes vegetarianism and campaignsagainst drug addiction and has taken up social causes such as organizing the weddings of poor couples.Such groups have huge followings in India. It is not unusual for leaders to have small, heavily armed privatemilitias protecting them. Besides the rape charges, Singh was also under investigation over allegations thathe convinced 400 of his male followers to undergo castration, charges he denies.A variety of reasons have been given for why the men agreed to castration, including promises of becomingcloser to god. Singh’s two films, “Messenger of God” and its sequel, include sequences in which he fights offvillains and tosses burning motorbikes into the air.In 2014, six people were killed when followers of another religious leader, guru Rampal, fought with policewho were attempting to arrest him for contempt of court. He had repeatedly failed to appear in court inconnection with a murder trial.Indian “godmen” can summon thousands of supporters to the streets at the drop of a hat. Their systems ofpatronage and quasi-religious sermons are popular with people who consider the government has failedthem. Page 35

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