SC collegium recommends chief justices for four HCs

Source: Hindustan Times dated 14.05.2019

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court collegium has cleared the names of four judges as chief justices of the high courts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.

According to collegium resolution — put up on the SC website, the panel of three top judges headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi decided that Justice DN Patel from Jharkhand HC will be the new chief justice of Delhi HC, Justice AA Kureshi will take over as CJ of MP HC after relinquishing his post from Bombay HC, Justice V Ramasubramanium — posted in Telangana HC — becomes the new CJ of Himachal Pradesh HC and Justice RS Chauhan, who is acting CJ of Telangana HC, has been confirmed as CJ in the same court.

The collegium made the recommendation to the Centre on Friday after the three judges held a meeting. Two of the appointments – Delhi and MP HCs – have been made in advance as the present incumbents retire in June. While Justice Rajendra COLLEGIUM CLEARED THE NAMES OF CHIEF JUSTICES FOR HCs OF DELHI, HIMACHAL, MP AND TELANGANA Menon of Delhi HC retires on June 6, CJ of MP HC Justice SK Seth will retire on June 9.

The collegium proposal to elevate Justice Ramasubramanium as Himachal Pradesh CJ follows its recent decision to promote the present CJ, Justice Suryakant, as a judge of the SC. While making the above recommendation, the collegium has also taken into consideration the fact that at present only one judge from Madras is heading a HC as chief justice.

The SC collegium had last week nominated four judges of the HC as SC judges, while reiterating its earlier resolution to promote Justice Aniruddh Bose to the top court after the Centre asked the panel to reconsider his candidature. Besides, the collegium – which in the case of SC appointments comprises five senior judges of the top court – had forwarded names of justices AS Boppana, Suryakant and BR Gavai to the Centre for elevating them. The NDA government is yet to notify the new appointments for SC. Once they are, the strength of judges in the SC will go up to 31 from 29.

CJI IN VACATION BENCH

For the first time in over 15 years Chief Justice of India would be heading a vacation bench in the SC. The SC summer break started on Monday and it will resume work on July 3. As has been the practice vacation benches would hear urgent cases on daily basis. As per the roster released by the SC registry, one vacation bench would sit every day. From May 13 to 20th, the bench will be headed by Justice Indira Banerjee, Justice Arun Mishra (May 21-24) and CJI Ranjan Gogoi (May 25-30).

In the past, only Chief Justice of India S Rajendra Babu sat during the vacations. However, unlike CJI Gogoi, he had a very short tenure of 29 days as the CJI, major part of which fell during the summer vacation. He was the CJI from May 2 to May 31, 2004.

Indian constitutional laws on celluloid!

Source: Hindustan Times Cafe supplement dated 13.05.2019

• Anurag Singh Bohra (anurag.singh@htlive.com)

You may not be aware of your constitutional rights, but Bollywood, through some gripping stories, is bringing awareness about the Indian constitutional laws to its audience. For instance, actor Ayushmann Khurrana is busy with his next, a movie titled, Article 15 directed by Anubhav Sinha, and a film called 377: Ab Normal was recently streamed on an OTT platform, while actors Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chadha have been roped in for a film Section 375.

Actor Manvi Gagroo, who has acted in 377 Ab Normal considers the experience humbling. She says, “As an actor, it’s fulfilling to portray characters based on stories that are not just real but even fresh in our memories.”

Gaurav Solanki, who has cowritten the script of Article 15 along with Anubhav Sinha, says, “It’s a good sign that we are talking about it in mainstream cinema so more people are aware of it.” Solanki further adds, “People in rural areas vote and choose their leaders, but still don’t know about the rights they have been promised decades ago.”

But does the audience appreciate such movies? Trade analyst Atul Mohan believes that the audience’s engagement depends on who’s making the film and who’s featuring in it. “The upcoming movies on constitutional laws are backed by big production houses, featuring some of the best talents. It may be able to generate people’s interests as today’s audience prefers realistic cinema.”

Mayank Tewari says. “Appreciating such movies is a sign of the audience’s maturity. The rest depends on merit and the way these stories are told.”

Actor Richa Chadha feels such films draw in audience in big numbers as people care about issues like Section 377, triple talaq, widow remarriage, etc. She says, “People want to watch a well-made film irrespective of the subject.”

A well-made film, with the accurate information goes a long way in making an impact on the society. Richa says, “Such films create awareness among people about their rights and duties.” To this, Atul adds, “Through these subjects people understand how Indian constitutional laws are formed.”

Maanvi is hopeful that such films would encourage indie film-makers and scriptwriters. She says, “Our news space is full of story ideas. It’s about sinking one’s teeth into it and bringing it out on celluloid.”

Mayank feels such films are pushing the envelope for an entire generation of filmmakers. He says, “When one person attempts to make such films, others also get the conviction to be able to do so.”

Judge who made city safer for women stands against misuse of rape laws

Source: Times of India dated 13.05.2019

by Swati Deshpande (Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com)

Mumbai:

Retired Bombay high court Judge V M Kanade has called for a revamp in criminal law for the handling of certain types of rape cases. He has supported the principle of anonymity for accused, along with measures against immediate or mechanical arrests. His stand is significant given his longstanding reputation in the judiciary as a champion of women’s rights as evidenced by significant judgments he delivered until his retirement in 2017.

In an exclusive interview to TOI about what ails society specifically in relation to misuse of rape laws, the eminent judge said on Sunday, “It is perhaps time to effect a change in law or to clarify the existing position in respect of procedure followed in rape accusations that are made essentially on the premise that there has been a breach of promise to marry, promise on which consent to get into a physical relationship was granted.” But, he said, “Let one thing be immediately clear. I am speaking only of cases which are either filed after a substantial delay or after a relationship which may be on and off has ended sourly, often involving an allegation that consent… was given on promise of marriage.”

In a bold suggestion, Justice Kanade said, “In such types of cases, the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Lalita Kumari matter perhaps needs to be revisited. The judgment says once police are informed of a cognizable offence, they are bound to register an FIR and have no other option. But when it comes to certain complaints of rape, either after substantial delay or in the case of a relationship which ended with complaint of consent under promise of marriage, it may merit a preliminary enquiry by the police to verify. This would be as is sought in cases of cruelty to wife under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) where the SC accepted possibility of abuse and directed that police first verify.”

What should be done to ensure that the police are not hasty in making arrests that can never be undone, even in cases which high courts have described as cases of vendetta? “I think the police ought not to rush into an arrest. They should investigate before effecting any arrest since the power to do so under Section 41 of the IPC is not to be exercised mandatorily in every case,” said the retired judge. “Arrest is not mandatory unless there is no consent. This procedure of naming the accused in such cases where there has been a relationship for some time which either ended sourly or there was a break in the physical relationship, and it is alleged that therefore it is a case of rape as defined under Section 375 and 376 of the IPC, must change,” said Justice Kanade, who retired in 2017 and was briefly the acting Chief Justice of the Bombay high court.

Among the high points of the judge’s career were orders to make the city and the state safer for women in the backdrop of an increase in molestation cases. In December 2016, recognising the dangers of travel after the “graveyard shift” for solo women, he directed the state to enumerate steps for their safe commute. Another important judgement was his death sentence for the accused in a horrifying Pune rape-murder case; his order was upheld by the apex court. Also, his bench in 2016 made way for women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah.

Justice Kanade said as a “matured society” a debate was in order. “When something goes wrong, using Section 376 to settle any score or even in anger over a break-up or rejection is unfair and in such a limited band of cases you need to protect the anonymity of the accused too,” said Justice Kanade.

The issue, he said, is primarily with an increase in the number of cases where the woman has given consent which she alleges cannot be counted as voluntary on grounds of a promise of marriage. “There are several judgments of this being a trend. Why not give anonymity to the accused till a charge is framed or till he is convicted? In the last two decades there has been a spate of such allegations. High courts and the apex court have had to decide such cases, concluding that a mere breach of promise to marry or a misrepresentation cannot be defined as rape,” he said. “The courts have made a distinction between breach of promise and cases of fraud where from the inception a man never intended to marry and may have taken several women for a ride.”

Speaking of his experience as an HC judge, he said, “As a judge dealing with pleas for the quashing of such complaints, I found that very often the complainant supports the quashing of the plea or she herself comes as a petitioner for withdrawing her complaint. In a third category, she comes with consent for quashing, the quashing consent saying it was ‘due to a misunderstanding’ or ‘misconception’. The issue is serious and calls for debate and study.”

An unfair process: SC must re-examine procedure to probe allegations against the CJI

Article in the Indian Express dated May 10, 2019 regarding the procedure to probe allegations against the CJI by Rekha Sharma (Former Judge, Delhi High Court). Link to this article:

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/39270387