INDIA LEGAL: 06 March 2017

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NDIA EGAL L STORIES THAT COUNT

March 6, 2017 ` 100

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ITHE REAL

STORY BEHIND PUL’S DIARY

Our investigation into the credibility of the

“suicide note”

Ex-Arunachal Governor JP Rajkhowa “An Independent high level probe is a must”

Dangwimsai Pul “This note was dictated much ahead of my husband’s death after good amount of planning”

Interview of the Week: KTS Tulsi

CBI Mess: Directors in the soup

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Exclusive

ors

Interviews:

Why lawyer Dave withdrew the petition

Judicial validity of notes

Analysis

| INDIA LEGAL | March 6, 2017 3

UR current issue yields a boun-tiful harvest of breaking stories,investigations and penetratinglegal analyses of top-of-themind issues. The cover piece—

the continuing saga of the diaries of formerArunachal Chief Minister Kalikho Pul,which were found after his suicide, andhave rattled the establishment—was puttogether by our weekly’s senior team assist-ed by several junior reporters. It is an eye-catcher. But it also reveals several facets ofthe story not generally brought out in themainstream media.

Apart from this important—and sensa-tional—package, the two other stories thatengaged my thoughts are “Let the LightIn,” written by Justice Sreedhar Rao, and“Down the Memory Hole” by Ajith Pillai.They seem, on the surface, contradictory—one suggesting exposure, the other a hidingplace. Actually, both have to do with indi-vidual rights, fairness, and the rule of law.

Rao makes a strong pitch for opencourts where access to judicial proceedingsis in the public domain—an essential ele-ment of true and fair trials. He says thattransparency in the conduct of judicial pro-ceedings is what gives the system its great-

est credibility. This is the practice in theUK which bequeathed the legacy of

Roman jurisprudence to its formercolony, India.

It is ultimately a legacy of KingJohn’s 1215 Magna Carta, the harbinger

of the concept of the open court as againstthe “judicial arbitrariness and tyranny” ofthe Star Chamber Courts which were ulti-mately abolished in 1641, notwithstandingthe standards promulgated in 1215.

In the UK, all proceedings of the Sup-reme Court and Appeal Court are filmedand broadcast. The US Supreme Courtwebsite provides audio recordings of all

oral arguments. In fact, most democracies,including Australia and South Africa, haveprovided access to digital technology.

India lags behind. Rao argues that ifaccess to the executive can be providedthrough RTI, and to Parliament throughvideo recordings, then why exempt judi-cial proceedings from the larger publicgaze because “justice is not only to be donebut seen to be done.” That is a command-ment of democratic governance, he force-fully argues.

Pillai’s story extols what he calls a“landmark” judgment which, in effect,shields an individual or groups from publicscrutiny. As I said, this might look like acontrarian view to the one expressed byJustice Rao, but it is not really so. It alsoargues for liberty—but liberty of anotherkind: the right to privacy.

In the judgment to which he refers, theKarnataka Hight Court has upheld the citi-zen’s “right to be forgotten”, thereby open-ing the door to block personal records fromfree public access on the internet. “In thisage of search engines there may be recordsfrom your past which have no relevance toyour present or future life…. Do you havethe right to have irrelevant informationblocked?” asks Pillai.

He rightly argues that while addressingthe issue of public access to personal data,the High Court was touching upon a matter of universal concern which will“inspire our lawmakers to bring clarity intothe IT Act on an issue that needs urgentattention.”

Two seemingly contradictory proposi-tions: Open and shut. But both essential tolibertarian ideals.

OOPEN AND SHUT

Inderjit Badhwar

Letter From The Editor

[email protected]

Contents

Suicide and AfterThe late Arunachal CM, Kalikho Pul’s diary is sensational. But do his allegations hold water legally? Also, interviews of ex-governor JP Rajkhowa and the widow, Dangwimsai Pul

14LEAD

VOLUME. X ISSUE. 16

MARCH 6, 2017

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4 March 6, 2017

Fall of the TitansFormer Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir and senior advocate MN Krishnamanihave passed away. India Legal pays tribute

11OBIT

Let There Be LightThe idea of open courts, where access to proceedings is in the public domain, isconducive to true and fair trials

22COLUMN

Probing Their OwnThe CBI booked another of its ex-directors, this time for favoursto businessmen. But it’s the timing of it that poses questions

24CONTROVERSY

R E G U L A R S

Follow us on Facebook.com/indialegalmediaand Twitter.com/indialegalmedia

Ringside............................6Dilli Durbar ........................7Courts ...............................8Briefs...............................12Media Watch ..................48Satire ..............................50

Cover Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE

Blaming the CarrierDrivers aren’t always at fault in accidents involving luxury cars.Sometimes, sympathy is due

28

Not Popping That PillFinally, the government has stepped in to arrest the spread ofantibiotic resistance that is now threatening our lives

HEALTH

SOCIETY

32

Right to Be ForgottenA recent Karnataka High Court judgment has opened the doors for blocking defunct personal records from free public access on the internet

TECH

40

Where HaveYou Stashed it?The estranged wife of Africa’syoungest dollar billionaire, both beingIndian-origin, has accused him ofhiding assets

46

MY SPACE

Patent BattlesDid the method used by University of California (Berkeley) for gene splicing giveit rightful precedence over its rival, Broad Institute’s claim?

42

Whipping BoyAfter she was let off the hook vis-à-visthe Padma bridge scam, the BangladeshPM has trained her guns on MuhammadYunus, the Nobel Laureate

44


Stemming the FlowFollowing an SC ban of highway liquor shops, the Chhattisgarh CM wants thestate to take over the business. Whether it will work is the question

38STATES

Siege on KasauliToo many hotels flouting green norms have come up in this hilltown, but the NGT might yet save the day for residents

ENVIRONMENT

26

“Is the Constitution a success?”Advocate-politician KTS Tulsi wonders if we can say so when 60percent of citizens don’t have money to eat or afford healthcare

30INTERVIEW

Playing with FireThough it causes 62 deaths daily, fire safety has never been apriority in India and the guilty get away lightly and far too often

FOCUS

34 GLOBAL TRENDS

6 March 6, 2017

“

RINGSIDE

We live in a time whenpoliticians and dema-gogues around the world,from India to the UK andthe USA, seek to divideus, to separate us into“us” and “them,” and touse fear as a means ofdividing us.

—Author Salman Rushdie,in Deadline

Captaincy does not allow you to be complacent at any stage especially with the

bat if that is your only discipline in the game,in the field as well. In that aspect I think

complacency goes out the window as captain—Cricket captain Virat Kohli, speaking to media on the

eve of series opener against Australia

If the solution or the idea is right, itwill go like a hotknife through butter.If the idea is notworking, for exampledemonetisation, don’tblame execution. Ithink your idea itself is wrong,”

—Bajaj AutoManaging DirectorRajiv Bajaj, in Mail Today

In this election, peo-ple of UP should getrid of Kasab… Do notdraw any other con-clusion when I sayKasab. What I meanby Kasab is: Ka forCongress, Sa forSamajwadi Party andB for…

—BJP President AmitShah, at an electionrally in Gorakhpur

There is no proof to showthat 15-year-old petroland 10-year-old dieselvehicles cause major pol-lution. All forms of fuel,including CNG andpetrol, cause pollution.

—Additional SolicitorGeneral Pinky Anand,appearing for theMinistry of RoadTransport and Highwaysin the NGT

ABVP needs more disciplined cadre.They're weak in intellec-tual firepower so act desperate. Also disad-vantage of being “Hindimedium types.”

—Activist MadhuKishwar, on the recentviolence in the Universityof Delhi, on Twitter

This is DU andhere we won’tallow any anti-national to speak. We won’tallow DU tobecome JNU.

—DUSU PresidentAmit Tanwar, onthe violence inDelhi Universityfollowing an event at RamjasCollege, inHindustan Times

Delhi DurbarAn inside track on

happenings in Lutyen’s Delhi

Guess who has virtually become an honoraryOfficer on Special Duty at the PMO? NandanNilekani. The former Infosys CEO and ex-Chairman of the Unique Identification Authorityof India (UIDAI) which launched Aadhar cards,is often spotted in South Block attending highpowered meetings. One learns that NarendraModi’s Principal Secretary, Nripendra Mishra,often consults Nilekani on issues related to dig-italizing the Indian economy—one of the PrimeMinister’s priority areas post-demonetisation.The frequent visits to Delhi by the ex-Infy hon-cho has not gone unnoticed. In fact, severalCongressmen are keeping close tabs on himbecause Nilekani was known to be close toSonia Gandhi who inducted him into politics

and gave him a party ticket from BangaloreSouth constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha elec-tions. Nilekani lost to BJP’s Ananth Kumar by amassive 228,575 votes and exited politics.Earlier he was appointed by the UPA govern-ment in 2009 as chairman of the UIDAI—a cab-inet-ranking post. Given his proximity to 10Janpath, his former friends are upset with hiscloseness to the Modi dispensation. There iseven speculation that Nilekani is toying with theidea of joining the BJP. But he has apparentlymade it clear to confidants that politics is thelast thing on his mind, although he admits toadvising the government on a host of issuesrelated to digitalisation, in particular, and the ITsector in general.


Union railway minister, SureshPrabhu, has been an unhap-py man ever since the scrap-ping of the rail budget. Hehas been told by well-wishersthat his ministry has been lit-erally downsized in status bythe move. Now to add to hiswoes he finds himself in a sit-uation where he may have tolock horns with Arun Jaitley,

the all-powerful Union financeminister. The tussle, accord-ing to reports, is over `850crore that the railways earnsas dividends from its invest-ments in PSUs under itswatch. Last month, thefinance ministry pointed outthat after the scrapping of therail budget any investmentsmade by railways must beconsidered as coming fromfunds allocated to the min-istry by the centre. A notefrom the finance ministry

made this amply clear andrequested the rail ministry toremit the dividends to thecentre. One does not know ifthis is an over-enthusiasticbureaucrat at work or ifJaitley means business.

HONORARYOSD IN PMO

PRABHU VSJAITLEY?

The Narendra Modigovernment made abig deal out of its bul-

let train project in col-laboration with

Japan, putting itliterally on the fast

track, and projectingit as another exam-

ple of the closerelationship

between Modi and hisJapanese counterpart,Shinzo Abe. The bulletis, however, stuck in afamiliar bureaucraticbarrel. At a high-levelmeeting of the Indo-Japan Joint Committeeon the bullet train proj-ect recently, the gov-ernment faced someembarrassingmoments when theJapanese politelyasked when the man-

aging director of theNational High-SpeedRail Corporation wouldbe appointed. Thepost has remainedheadless since theproject was flaggedoff. A search commit-tee headed by theCabinet Secretary hadinterviewed candidatessometime ago but so far, it remainsbogged down in abureaucratic tangle.

COVETED POSTThe post of officialspokesman in the Ministryof External Affairs’s XPD(External Publicity Division)has come a long way fromthe days when the thenincumbent, Mani ShankarIyer, was relieved of hisduties during the Non-Aligned Summit in NewDelhi. Today, it’s a steppingstone to dizzying diplomaticheights. Nirupama Rao, thefirst woman spokespersonof the MEA, went on tobecome foreign secretary.Navtej Sarna has been post-ed as Indian ambassador inWashington DC while SyedAkbaruddin is thePermanent Representativeto the UN in NewYork. Currentincumbent VikasSwarup has justbeen made HighCommissioner to Canada.

SPEEDBREAKER

— Illustrations: UdayShankar

Asenior minister in theAkhilesh Yadav cabinet in

Uttar Pradesh, GayatriPrajapati, found himself in thedock as the Supreme Courtordered registration of a FirstInformation Report againsthim in a gang-rape case. TheCourt order came after a 36-year-old woman, who is alsoa corporator in Uttar Pradesh,alleged that she was gang-raped by Prajapati and hisassociates. She also com-plained that her life was under threat.

Terming the allegations“very serious” the Courtwanted them probed by theUttar Pradesh Police withintwo months. It also orderedthat the report be submittedby the police in a sealedenvelope.

Prajapati is contesting theon-going assembly electionsin the state from Amethi.

The Court was not happywith the UP police for beinghesitant in taking legal actionagainst the minister and reg-istering a case promptly.

The state governmenttried to put up the argumentthat a crime branch reportfiled by CID did not nailPrajapati.

FIR against UPminister

Unhappy with the progress made by theSpecial Investigation Team set up by the

centre in 2015 to probe the 1984 anti-Sikhriots cases, the Supreme Court asked thecentre to set up a high-level committee forkeeping a close watch on the probe and trial proceedings.

Out of the total of 650 cases registeredby the Delhi police, 293 cases were exam-ined by the SIT. And out of those, around240 cases have been closed by the team.The status report of SIT on the progressmade was unclear on the roadmap ahead.

The Court agreed with the plea from senior lawyer Arvind Datar that the probescould not go on endlessly and must becompleted within a given time-frame and trials must happen daily. Datar was repre-senting SGS Kahlon, who had approachedthe apex court seeking justice for the vic-tims as soon as possible.

The centre pleaded that the SIT hadenough people, an official holding the same rank as an IG Police was heading itand the progress made was fast enough and comprehensive. However, the Courtremained firm on its stand for a high-levelcommittee. The matter will be taken upagain on March 6.

Anti-Sikh riots: SITneeds supervision

Publishing negative surveys about thelower judiciary could invite legal action,

the Supreme Court ruled, and trial courtscould seek contempt proceedings.

The top court was dealing with a casewherein two organisations, TransparencyInternational India (TII) and Centre for MediaStudies (CMS), were slapped with a show-cause notice by a magistrate in Kangan,J&K. The reason—a write-up in GreaterKashmir had referred to a survey (done byCMS and published by TII), citing unbridledcorruption in the lower judiciary.

The notice said that they should be legal-ly prosecuted for contempt of court andcriminal defamation, and sought their expla-nation against the notice.

Later, the magistrate even issued bailable

warrants against top officials of the organi-sations to ensure their presence. But theSupreme Court stayed the warrants.

The top court observed that the magis-trate’s stand was justified, but he had gonetoo far by issuing the warrants. Top-rungofficials from TII and CMS were asked bythe Court to appear before the magistrateand explain. But if they didn’t, the trial courtcould send the matter to the J&K high court,seeking contempt action. TII and CMS couldlater plead against the trial court action inthe high court, the apex court ruled.

Negative surveysinvite contempt

Courts

8 March 6, 2017

Concerned over the cleaning up of theYamuna river, the top court has directed

all authorities concerned to speed up theprocess. It has been keeping a close tab onthe effor ts to check pollution in the riverfrom 1994 onwards.

The Delhi Jal Board was asked to pro-vide a report on the status of projectsmeant for controlling pollution within twoweeks’ time.

The Court felt that all effor ts made sofar by the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryanagovernments were not enough to bringdown pollution in the river. The centrepleaded that it had now become an oneroustask to clean the river on the ground thatuntreated sewage flowing into it had grownby leaps and bounds.

DJB hauled up overYamuna cleaning

The Supreme Court reserved its judg-ment on referring all petitions challeng-

ing restrictions to women's entry into theSabarimala Temple, to the constitutionbench. The Court is yet to decide thelegality of the ban on women, aged bet-ween 10 and 50, from entering the temple,and even walking up to the shrine. It alsoasked all parties to submit within oneweek their points in writing and also sug-gest questions that could be put up beforethe bench.

Verdict reserved inSabarimala case

Those serving long imprisonmentfor “indiscriminately” killing peo-

ple, did not deserve parole or interimbail for family duties, the apex courtobserved. Referring to terrorists, itpointed out that all relations with theirfamilies come to an end the momentthey are held guilty of such a grave,despicable offence.

The court went ahead to proclaimthat these people do not have the rightto seek “short-term” relief (bail orparole) after the lower and high cou-rts hold them guilty. But they couldcertainly challenge the verdicts in thehigher court.

The Court’s observation camewhile striking down the plea for inter-im bail by Mohammad Naushad, heldguilty in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bombblast, both by a Delhi court and laterby the Delhi High Court. He is servinglife imprisonment as per Delhi HighCourt ruling. He has already chal-lenged his conviction in SC but theCBI has sought capital punishment.The apex court is yet to take a call onboth pleas.

Naushad wanted bail to attend hisdaughter’s wedding. Earlier, his req-uest to Delhi government for paroledid not get him any response.

No concessions forterrorists

In a major decision that would seeindustries without operational efflu-

ent treatment plants being shut downthroughout India, the Supreme Courtgave them three months to fall in line.The Court wanted to ensure that thereis a check on water bodies (rivers)being rampantly polluted by industriesacross all states. It was not satisfiedwith the approach of state govern-ments and did not accede to somerequests that implementing the deci-sion would not be easy.

The Court was addressing con-cerns raised in a petition filed byParyavaran Suraksha Samiti, whichhad sought specific directions for pol-luting industries across India.

As per court’s order, state pollu-tion control boards (PCBs) shouldcheck all industries spewing effluentsinto rivers, to find out whether theyhave an operational effluent treatment

plant installed that conformed to pollu-tion norms. Those found at fault would be deprived of power on thedirection of PCBs and given threemonths’ time to fall in line. Powerwould be restored after they set upeffluent treatment plants or repair dys-functional ones. And those still in adefiant mode will have to shut shop.

As far as setting up of commoneffluent treatment plants in areas dot-ted with industries is concerned, theCourt ruled that the onus lay on stategovernments and local self-bodies todo the job within three years.

Strict guidelines forpolluting industries


Aggrieved that there were no takers forthe mentally-ill people even after they

had fully recovered in mental hospitals orany other place, the Supreme Courtasked the centre to come up with normsor a policy so that they could be properlyrehabilitated. The Court felt that the issue

was “sensitive” and was at painsto observe that even the familymembers of mentally-sick peoplewere not ready to accept themonce they had recovered.

The apex court also took astrong stand that people cured ofmental illness could no longer beallowed to stay in a mental asylumor nursing home and asked thecentre to follow its diktat. The cen-tre must evolve a procedure sothat they are integrated with thecivil society, the Court observed.

A scheme could easily be evolved,the Court felt, and ruled once that was inplace, state governments could be direct-ed to follow.

On the centre’s request that it willneed some time to frame a policy asother ministries like health and social justice had to be consulted, the Court granted eight weeks’ time to the centre to do the needful.

Frame policy for thementally ill

There was no way Punjab couldavoid following its order on the

Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, theSupreme Court ruled. It had earlierasked the state to build the canal. Anorder on execution of decree wouldbe issued if Punjab and Haryana triedto act smart and refrained from solv-ing the matter, the Court thundered.

The canal must be constructedeither through a legal process or byhammering out a solution amicablyby the two states, the Court ruled.The controversy could not beallowed to linger, it pointed out.Punjab’s request that the matter betaken up after the assembly electionresults was struck down by theCourt, which said that it would strikedown the Punjab Termination Act ifthat was a problem.

Construct SYLcanal as per order

— Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar

Courts

The apex court took strict cog-nizance of toxic wastes being

dumped by the centre in various partsof the country. It took strong objectionto the centre “taking waste from othercountries” for money without botheringabout the health consequences. TheCourt observed that regulations regard-ing dumping of waste could not beflouted at any cost.

The issue was raised by an NGOResearch Foundation for Science, whichalleged that the concerned authoritieshad been giving a go-ahead to dumpingof hazardous and contaminated waste indifferent parts of the country. The NGO’scounsel said that a high-powered com-mittee had already suggested in a reportthat waste dumps coming up were pos-

ing health risks and needed to beremoved. He also pointed out that thiswas happening despite the apex court’sdirections on the issue.

The court wanted the centre to filewithin four weeks a report on actiontaken, after considering all issues raisedby the petitioner. The matter was postedfor March 31.

Can’t allow dumpingof wastes

Search engine Google pleaded inthe Supreme Court that it was

not possible for it to identify obscenevideos being posted on websites andprevent them from being uploaded. Itwanted the centre to allot the task oftracking such videos to a nodalagency, which could then informsearch engines or ISPs to blockthem. The centre, however, arguedthat they should have a mechanismfor the purpose. It submitted that itwas spending close to `200 crore to set up cyber crime cells and trainpolicemen and judicial officers toensure that obscene videos are notuploaded and those doing so arepunished.

Can’t identify obscene videos

10 March 6, 2017


Obit

LTAMAS Kabir, the 39th ChiefJustice of India who died onFebruary 19 in Kolkata, was one

of the leading lights of the legal world.He died due to complications leadingfrom renal disease, type 2 diabetes mel-litus, coronary artery disease and uri-nary TB. He was 68.

Justice Kabir was appointed to theSupreme Court on September 9, 2005and was promoted to Chief Justice ofIndia on September 29, 2012. He heldoffice till July 18, 2013.

Justice Kabir, M.A.,LL.B. was bornon July 19, 1948. He was enrolled as anadvocate in 1973 and practised in thedistrict court and the Calcutta HighCourt in civil and criminal sides. He wasappointed as a permanent judge in theCalcutta High Court on August 6, 1990and later (March 1, 2005) moved to theJharkhand High Court as Chief Justice.

He was responsible for the comput-erisation of the Calcutta High Court andthe City Civil Court among others. Hebecame Executive Chairman of theNational Legal Services Authority in2010 and it was under him that legalservices to transgender people weretaken up as a new project of NALSA.

At the Supreme Court he deliveredstrong judgements in many importantcases including one in which he, withJustice Cyriac Joseph ruled that femalerelatives of a husband can also be book-ed under the Domestic Violence Act.

He took up the contempt case of adv-ocate Prashant Bhushan who had alle-ged that half out of the last 16 CJIs werecorrupt. He gave bail in 2012 to a seniorjournalist, arrested in the Israeli emba-ssy vehicle blast case, as the court failedto appreciate the procedure “adopted bythe Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.”

BORN INTO LAWHe was born in a prominent Kolkatafamily that was active in politics. Helearnt the intricacies of the workings oflaw and the system of legislation fromhis father Jehangir Kabir, who was aleading Congress politician and tradeunion leader of West Bengal.

He started his education at MountHermon School in Darjeeling and thenwent to the famous Calcutta Boys’School (CBS). It is said that his solidarguments so impressed a teacher atCBS that he advised him to pursue acareer in law. His future course of stud-ies were decided there.

He graduated in history fromPresidency College and then went on tostudy law at the University of Calcutta.

—Sujit Bhar

ORMER president of theSupreme Court Bar Associa-tionMN Krishnamani passed away

on February 15. The senior advocate studied

Geology from the Presidency College,Madras and also law from MadrasLaw College. He was enrolled as anadvocate in 1971 in Madras.

He received the “National LawDay Award” for Excellence in CivilLaw in 1998. In 2005, he received the“Seva-Ratna Award” instituted by theCentenarian Trust and the “SecularIndia Harmony Award.” He wasawarded “Sreshta Kala PracharakAward” by Ganesh Natyalaya andGayatri Fine Arts Society in 2009.

Last year, Krishnamani recei-ved the Padmashree in the field of public affairs.

He was also a scholar of Sanskrit,history and religion. He was veryfond of musical discourses and hadwritten large number of books, inclu-ding Bhajgovindam and Godlymenand their Golden Words. He com-posed poems and wrote a large num-ber of articles on various subjects.

He was associated with DelhiTamil Sangham. He was also thefounder member of Ved Parishad.

—Navank Shekhar Mishra

Altamas Kabirpasses away

Krishnamanino more

A

F

Honourable JusticeKabir was a verycourteous andhumanitarian per-son. He was anembodiment of

humility. His biggest contributionwas to the National Legal ServiceAuthority where he did a lot for far-flung areas. He was very diligentand would give a patient hearingeven after court hours. It’s a big lossto the legal fraternity.—Justice RB Misra, former acting chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court

12 March 6, 2017

Briefs

After cardiac stents sawa huge price regula-

tion, 14 more devicesincluding orthopaedicimplants, intraocular lens-es and artificial heartvalves, syringes, needlesand catheters may witnessa dip in prices. TheNational PharmaceuticalPricing Authority (NPPA)has started short-listing

such devices and has askedmanufacturers to log inevery detail about thecosts. In terms of steepretail markups, orthopedicimplants probably comeclosest to stents. Theimported hip and kneeimplants easily see profitmargins in the range of500-1,000 percent, TheTimes of India reports.

Law aspirants above 30 yearswill be able to appear for the

common entrance test for admis-

sions to the three-year law pro-gramme in 2017-18. However, theiradmissions will be confirmed sub-ject to the final outcome of the mat-ter in the Bombay High Court.

The legal education advisorycommittee, during its second meet-ing, decided to relax the age criteri-on following the HC’s interim orderrestraining the state governmentfrom cancelling provisional admis-sions granted to students agedabove 30 and above 20 years in2016-17.

The National Green Tribunal has issued a notice to Himachal

Pradesh Pollution Control Board(HPPCB) on illegal constructionsby hotel owners and others atKasauli in Solan. The HPPCB hasbeen directed by the Tribunal to filereplies within a week and to be present before the Tribunal for thenext hearing. After the Society for Preservation of Kasauli had

filed a petition, the NGT’s principalbench headed by its chairperson,Justice Swatanter Kumar, issuednotices to a prominent boardingschool and a private hotel in Solan.

Law aspirants above30 can appear for CET

Queueing for benefits

Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh has seen another scam

recently. The Union ministry forwomen and child development has been receiving lakhs of application forms signed by parents of girls from UP seeking cash benefits under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme of the Centre. The reality is that the scheme does not have anycash benefit component at all.However, parents have been buyingfake forms at various stationaryshops and Jan Suvidha Kendras for`5-10. The parents are told that theform will entitle them to cash bene-fits worth `2 lakh each in the nameof their daughters.

CCI to examine airline pricing

After receiving complaints againstsudden surge in fares on some

routes, the Competition Commissionof India (CCI) has taken suo motucognisance of the issue to examineif there is any anti-competitivebehaviour being followed by airlinesin ticket pricing. The CCI mayrestrain the airlines depending uponthe findings of its inquiry. The civilaviation ministry and the CCI arealso evaluating pricing of tickets inIndian market to see how it com-pares with global practices.

NGT sends notice toHPPCB

Price regulation formedical devices soon


It is feared that millions ofEuropean Union nationals living

in the UK will be left stranded in alegal no man’s land due to Brexit.The reason being cited is the weakBritish immigration system whichwas presided over by Theresa Mayfor six years. The Labour party hasbeen asking Prime Minister May toend unnecessary uncertainty forEU nationals but a recently leaked

document reveals that Home Officemight not have systems in place toselect who has the right to stay.One of the hurdles in sorting outthe issue is due to the fact that thegovernment does not track EUnationals when they enter andleave the country.

The Hindu marriage bill, whichhad been approved by the

lower house of Pakistan’s Senatein September 2015, has also been

passed by the upper house. Now itjust awaits the President’s signa-ture to become law. It will notonly be the first personal law forPakistani Hindus, it will also helpHindu women get documentaryproof of their marriage. The lawwill be applicable in Punjab,Balochistan and KhyberPakhtunkhwa provinces. The billalso has implications for the con-stitutional guarantee of protectionof family as well as protectivemeasures ordered by the SupremeCourt for the Hindu minority.

Malaysian Prime MinisterNajib Razak’s support of a

contentious bill that seeks toincorporate parts of the Islamicpenal code, or hudud, intoMalaysia’s existing Islamic legalsystem saw tens of thousands ofMalaysian Muslims rallying for it. However, presidents ofthree parties representing the Chinese and Indian ethnicgroups in Najib’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition have threatened to quit their cabinet posts if the bill is passed. The bill, which seeksto increase punishment caps inthe Syariah Court to a maxi-

mum of 30 years’ imprison-ment, a fine of 100,000 ringgit(79,000 baht) and 100 lashes ofthe cane, is scheduled to bedebated in parliament nextmonth. Najib, who is currentlyembroiled in a corruption scan-dal, is hoping to burnish hisIslamic credentials in order toboost his chances in nationalelections slated for August 2018.

—Compiled by Karan Kaushik and Shailaja Paramathma

The Goods and Services Tax (GST)council has approved a law to

compensate states for any loss of rev-enue from the implementation of thenew national sales tax policy. TheGST Council will meet on March 4and 5 to approve the legally vetteddraft of the supporting legislationsfor Central GST and Integrated GST,days before the start of the second legof the budget session.

States to be compensatedfor GST-related losses

To protect farmers against pricevolatility, especially in perish-

ables like onions, tomatoes and pota-toes, NITI Aayog is soon going tofinalise a model law on contractfarming for approval by the Cabinet.The centre’s think-tank is consideringoptions that can reduce the risks forfarmers by balancing entry of privateplayers with safeguards for agricul-turalists. A law on contract farmingis considered important for the entryof private players into the sector as itwould trigger competition andensure better prices of agricultureand horticulture produce to farmersthrough prior agreements.

NITI Aayog mulls overcontract farming

Muddle in Malaysia

Respite for PakistaniHindus

Brexit forebodings

Lead/ Investigation/ Kalikho Pul’s Suicide

14 March 6, 2017

mitted suicide on August 9 last year.Before he ended his life, Pul left

behind a sensational 60-page diarystrangely titled Mere Vichar (MyThoughts), in which he levelled seriouscharges of corruption and briberyagainst ministers from his state, seniorpoliticians in Delhi and relatives of sit-ting and former judges of the SupremeCourt (see picture). It spared no one,including the highest levels of the judici-ary, and the President.

Pul lost his chief ministership whenhis five-month old government was dis-missed by the Supreme Court in July2016. The following month he commit-ted suicide.

NTI-CLIMAX! Thatsuccinctly sums upthe tame end of PartI of the “Kalikho PulSuicide Note” saga. Itwas a crowded CourtNo 13 that waited in

anticipation on the afternoon ofFebruary 23 for Justices Adarsh KumarGoel and Uday Umesh Lalit of theSupreme Court to take up Item No 61on the cause list. The matter before thetwo judges dealt with a letter addressedto the Chief Justice of India (CJI),Justice JS Khehar, by Dangwimsai Pul,the widow of former Arunachal PradeshChief Minister Kalikho Pul, who com-

The deceased chief minister’s widowhad written to the CJI on February 17,seeking directions to register an FIRbased on the allegations in the suicidenote. The case was suddenly listed forhearing and Dangwimsai Pul’s letter wastaken up as a writ petition. Dangwimsaiexpected the Supreme Court to eitherhand over the case to the CBI or set upan SIT to probe the allegations.

But that was not to be. Her coun-sel, Dushyant Dave, concludedproceedings rather quickly by

withdrawing her prayer before the court.It was subsequently “dismissed as with-drawn.” Dave cited reasons why hisclient was forced to make such a move(see box). Dangwimsai Pul will have totake her fight elsewhere. She told IndiaLegal that she will “soon be petitioningthe Vice-President” since the suicidenote also alludes to the President.

While Dangwimsai’s plea in its pres-ent form is a closed chapter, the focusstill remains on the curious “suicidenote” that surfaced almost six monthsafter Kalikho Pul’s death. Several ques-tion marks hover over the note. Werethe allegations all true? Was it backedby an evidence? Was Pul actuallyapproached by middlemen (in someinstances the kith and kin of apex courtjudges) who were acting on behalf of thehonourable judges? When did he writethe 60-page suicide note? Was it hand-written or had he got it typed and then

More than Meets the Eye

A

The 60-page note of the former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister has created a sensation in legal and political circles. But does it offer enough evidence to pass the legal litmus test? By Ajith Pillai with Bureau Reports

UNI

about corruption and bribery both inArunachal Pradesh and in the corridorsof power in Delhi. So, it was not a “sui-cide note” written just before he endedhis life. It was a preplanned exercise.

A lawyer who knew him closely hadthis to say. “He often told me about thediaries. He said he was writing thingsthat would create a sensation. He alsotalked several times about committingsuicide but I dismissed it as loose talk.The diaries were handwritten and writ-ten over many months. He never typedhimself so he has obviously got it typedby someone.” According to him the orig-inal handwritten diaries are with his

first wife Dangwimsai. (Pul,whowas 47 when he ended his life hadmarried three times. Entering intomultiple marriages is not unusualin several tribal communities inthe North-east).�Though he denies having seenany handwritten suicide note, JyotiPrasad Rajkhowa, who wasGovernor of Arunachal Pradeshwhen Pul committed suicide, wasaware of the typed version of thediary (see interview).

In fact, he was the first to bring the suicide note to light inSep-tember last year. It is allegedthat he may have done so to rattle the higher judiciary which hadcome down sharply on his guber-natorial interventions into

| INDIA LEGAL | March 6 , 2017 15

signed it? (The copies doing the roundsof the media are typed in Hindi andhave his signature at the bottom of every page.)

India Legal tried to make some senseof the curious case of Pul’s “suicidenote”. Here are some pointers:�The so-called “suicide note” was writ-ten much before Pul’s eventual death.India Legal has learnt from those whoknew the former chief minister that hemaintained a diary and had been plan-ning a book even before he became CM.He had two diaries—one in which hewrote his “good thoughts” and one inwhich he penned his selected exposes

Why did lawyer Dushyant Davecounsel his client DangwimsaiPul, the wife of former ArunachalPradesh chief minister KalikhoPul, to withdraw the letter shehad written to the Chief Justice ofIndia JS Khehar?She had sought the CJI’s instructionsto file an FIR based on the allegationsof corruption against several sittingjudges of the apex court made in asuicide note left behind by herdeceased husband.Dave’s reasoning was this:• The plea should have come up onlyon the administrative side and nottaken up before a judicial bench in anopen court as a writ petition. He feltthat if the bench heard the petitionand dismissed it, then all alternateoptions would be closed for the peti-tioner. He had therefore advised hisclient to withdraw her letter. • Dave cited that there was conflict ofinterest involved vis-à-vis a judge onthe bench. Justice Goel was a col-league of a judge in a state HC,whose name also figures in the alle-gations made in Pul’s suicide note.• He quoted the K Veerasamy judg-ment to point out that the mattershould have been heard by fivejudges, not two.

The apex court registry’s explana-tion for listing the case before a judi-cial bench was that a registration ofan FIR could not be facilitated by anadministrative order and could bedone only through a judicial order.

When contacted by India Legal,Dangwimsai was measured in herwords: “This is a legal matter onwhich I cannot speak much. But Iwithdrew my petition because Isought intervention on the adminis-trative side but the matter came upbefore a bench.”

However, sources say she mayhave decided to withdraw her petitionlest she and a middleman, ShyamArora, who allegedly had regularfinancial dealings with Kalikho Pul, beexposed for these shady deals run-ning into thousands of crores. Arora,a Delhi businessman, is untraceable,though Dangwimsai has been tryingto get in touch with him.

Plea Withdrawn

It was a crowded Court No 13 thatwaited in anticipation on the afternoon

of February 23 for Justices AdarshKumar Goel and Uday Umesh Lalit of

the Supreme Court to hear the writpetition filed by Dangwimsai Pul.

HASTY RETREAT: Kalikho Pul’s widow Dangwimsai interacting with media after withdrawingher petition before the Supreme Court

Ani

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16 March 6, 2017

Lead/Kalikho Pul’s Suicide/ Legal Angles

Suicide notes, and their content, aredifferent from dying declarations.Dying declarations enjoy a unique

status. It is based on the maxim Nemomoriturus praesumitur mentire, i.e. a manwill not meet his maker with a lie in hismouth. Since the situation when a manis on his death bed is so solemn andserene, that is the reason in law toaccept in veracity his statement, evendispensing with the requirements of oathand cross-examination. As such, dyingdeclaration is taken a lot more seriouslythan suicide notes. Suicide notes can betaken as evidence in Court, but not asconclusive evidence.

One issue with suicide notes is thatthey need to be authenticated. Courtsneed proof that the note was not writtenby someone else—the handwriting mustbe authenticated.

The question which arises is, can asuicide note be termed to be a validdying declaration for the police/ investi-gating authorities to act upon. The ele-ment of admissibility of such a dyingdeclaration was considered by theSupreme Court of India in Sharad BirdhiChand Sarda vs. State Of Maharashtra.

LEGAL POSITIONThe relevant provision in law is Section32(1) in The Indian Evidence Act, 1872. It states:“When it relates to cause of death —When the statement is made by a per-son as to the cause of his death, or asto any of the circumstances of the transaction which resulted in his death,in cases in which the cause of that per-son’s death comes into question. Suchstatements are relevant whether the per-son who made them was or was not, at the time when they were made, under expectation of death, and whatev-er may be the nature of the proceedingin which the cause of his death comesinto question.”

From a review of the various authori-ties of the Courts and the clear languageof Section.32(1) of the Evidence Act, thefollowing propositions emerge:

Whether the cause of the death of theperson making the statement comes intoquestion in the case? The expression“any of the circumstances of the trans-action which resulted in his death” iswider in scope than the expression “thecause of his death”; in other words,Clause (1) of Section 32 refers to twokinds of statements: (1) statement madeby a person as to the cause of his death,and (2) the statement made by a personas to any of the circumstances of thetransaction which resulted in his death.The words, “resulted in his death” do notmean “caused his death.”

Thus it is well settled that declara-tions are admissible only in so far asthey point directly to the fact constitutingthe res gestae of the homicide; that is tosay, to the act of killing and to the cir-cumstances immediately attendantthereon, like threats and difficulties, acts,declarations and incidents, which consti-tute or accompany and explain the factor transaction in issue.

Section 32 is an exception to the ruleof hearsay and makes admissible thestatement of a person who dies. Whe-ther the death is a homicide or a sui-cide, provided the statement relates tothe cause of death, or relates to circum-stances leading to the death.

In this respect, Indian Evidence Act,in view of the peculiar conditions of oursociety and the diverse nature and char-acter of our people, has thought it nec-essary to widen the sphere of Section 32to avoid injustice.

The first step to resolving anythinginvolving a suicide note requires some-one to lodge a first information report(FIR). In the Kalikho Pul case, the alle-gations are on the Supreme Court’sjudges and other prominent political andpublic figures.

ACTION AGAINST SITTING JUDGESCan an FIR be lodged against incum-bent judges and the procedure to be followed in case of serious allegationsagainst the incumbent Judges? In KVeeraswami Vs. UoI [1991SCC(3)655],the Supreme Court, while consideringthe question regarding the applicabilityof the provisions of the 1947 Act tojudges of superior courts, has held thatjudges of superior courts fall within thepurview of the said Act and that thePresident is the authority competent togrant sanction for their prosecution.

But keeping in view the need for pre-serving the independence of the judici-ary and the fact that the Chief Justice ofIndia, being the head of the judiciary, isprimarily concerned with the integrity andimpartiality of the judiciary, the Court hasdirected that the Chief Justice of Indiashould be consulted at the stage ofexamining the question of granting sanction for prosecution.

The judgment further said that if theallegations are against the Chief Justice,then the permission required would

Complex Procedures InvolvedCan a suicide note be evidence and can allegations in it against sitting apex court judges be investigated? To proceedagainst a judge isn’t easy because judges are left to decide their own case

SUDDEN END: Kalikho Pul’s body beingtaken for final rites

UNI

Arunachal politics which led to Pul, aCongress rebel, becoming CM with thesupport of BJP MLAs. His actions weredismissed by the court as “unconstitu-tional” and the Pul government was dis-missed. �Pul’s interactions with middlemen andthose who claimed to peddle influencein Delhi were after he was sworn in asCM on February 19 2016. His appoint-ment was first challenged in the GauhatiHigh Court by the ousted chief ministerNabam Tuki and the Congress party.The case later moved to the SC.�It is reliably learnt that Pul operatedthrough several point persons in Delhi-—a senior Congress leader, now largelyout of active politics, and a former lawminister; and Shyam Arora and Pra-shant Tewari, both businessmen, oncesaid to be linked to Congress leaders.�According to a source, Pul may wellhave paid money to some fixers as hehas claimed in his “suicide note.” But thekey question is whether those who tookcrores from him actually paid money toSC judges and constitutional functionar-ies as they promised. �So far there is no evidence to proveany financial transactions did take place.But one thing is clear—the fixers failedto get any judgements in favour of Pul.Which brings us to another crucialpoint. Was Pul taken down the gardenpath by influence peddlers who milkedhim of his money? A lawyer in the knowhad this to say to India Legal: “One isnot saying that there is no corruption inthe higher judiciary. But there are eno-ugh people around who claim they canfix judgements when they actually can’t.Their logic is that if someone is willingto part with money why not take it.”�Most politicians will tell you in privatethat politics in the North-east is run oncorruption money like nowhere else in

the country. Money has to be pumpedin to ensure the support of MLAs, to gettickets and votes. Pul won five consecu-tive assembly elections—in 1995, 1999,2004, 2009 and 2014—on a Congressticket. According to sources, after the2014 elections he was unhappy with thelow-profile health and family welfareportfolio allocated to him when he hadalready served as the finance minister.That was when he started toying withthe idea of toppling CM Nabam Tuki.He sent feelers to BJP organisationalleaders willing to support him. But toseal the support of rebel Congressmenand BJP MLAs, money had to be invest-ed. It is believed that hundreds of croreswere spent on the CM project and achunk of it was paid to a BJP func-tionary in Delhi with strong RSS links.

Where did Pul, who claimed hecomes from a humble back-ground, acquire all that

wealth? Also, if he indeed paid crores tofixers and relatives of SC judges as hehas alleged in his suicide note, wheredid he source all those funds from?

Perhaps some clarity will emerge ifthe middlemen mentioned in the suicidenote are questioned. But will their testi-monies, unless backed by incontrovert-ible evidence, prove anything? It rem-ains to be seen if the suicide note willpass the legal litmus test.

The government, India Legal haslearnt, is not inclined to move in thematter that could cause much institu-tional harm to the judiciary. Also, thehome ministry is not convinced that the suicide note is a credible enoughdocument. So as things stand, its curtains for now.


be of other judges, which would obvi-ously mean the next-most senior judgeavailable.

In the administrative side, theSupreme Court, by a full Court meet-ing held on December 15 1999, adopt-ed the Report of the Committee con-sisting of Justice SC Agrawal, JusticeAS Anand, Justice SP Bharucha,Justice PS Mishra and Justice DPMohapatra for the “In-House Pro-cedure” to be followed to take suitableremedial action against judges, who,by their acts or omission or commis-sion, do not follow universally accept-ed values of judicial life. As per thereport, if a complaint is receivedagainst a judge of the Supreme Courtand the CJI, after examining it, findsthe complaint is of a serious natureinvolving misconduct or impropriety,he shall ask for the response theretoof the judge concerned.

And after his response if he findsthat the matter needs a deeper probe,he would constitute a committee con-sisting of three judges of the SupremeCourt to hold an inquiry. If the commit-tee finds that there is substance in theallegations then the CJI shall eitheradvise the judge concerned to resignand if he refuses to resign, he mayintimate the President of India andPrime Minister to initiate proceedingsof removal.

The Constitution of India, underArticle 124 (4), holds that “A Judge ofthe Supreme Court shall not be remo-ved from his office except by an orderof the President passed after anaddress by each House of Parliamentsupported by a majority of the totalmembership of that House and by amajority of not less than two thirds ofthe members of that House presentand voting has been presented to thePresident in the same session for suchremoval on the ground of proved mis-behaviour or incapacity.”

The procedure followed to proceedagainst incumbent judges is a com-plex one. And judges are left to decidetheir own case.

—By Mary Mitzy and Aditya Kr Singh

Kalikho Pul meets PM Narendra Modi in April 2016

UNI

JYOTI PRASAD RAJKHOWA was Arunachal PradeshGovernor from May 12, 2015 to September 12, 2016. OnFebruary 19, 2016, Rajkhowa had sworn in Kalikho Pul—the rebel Congress leader backed by BJP MLAs—as the ChiefMinister. The move was seen as the Governor displacing anelected Congress government bypassing constitutionalnorms. The apex court dismissed the Pul government in July2016. A month later, on August 9 Pul committed suicide at hishome in Itanagar. Rajkhowa spoke to INDIA LEGAL abouthis suicide note and why the allegations made in it must beinvestigated by an independent agency. Excerpts:

Did you see any hand-written “suicidenote” written by Kalikho Pul?I have not seen any handwritten note.What I have seen was the typed versionwhich was signed on each page by thelate chief minister. The same one that isdoing the rounds of the national medianow and everyone is talking about.

There are some very serious allegations

Lead/ Interview/ Governor Rajkhowa

18 March 6, 2017

“There is Every Reason to BelievePul’s Allegations”

made in that note…Yes, the allegations are indeed of a very serious nature and involve verypowerful people—politicians, membersof the higher judiciary, prominentlawyers and what have you. It also talksof the rampant corruption that exists in the North-east.

Is there some truth in these allegations?

There is no reason to disbelieve Pul’sallegations. In fact, there is every reason to believe them. Everyone inArunachal Pradesh knows that suchthings happen here all the time.

What do you think needs to be donenow that the “suicide note” is out in the open? Given the persons who are named in thenote, a thorough probe has to be initiat-ed to verify the allegations. It is also veryessential that the investigations are car-ried out by an independent agency, ifnot the truth will never come out. Idon’t know whether it should be the CBIor the CVC or some specially constitutedteam—an SIT monitored by the court—that should carry out the probe. But theverification exercise has to be conductedin a thorough manner.

Do you believe a high-level probe canreally get to the bottom of things?Well, for a start we have to verify andestablish the truth of what has beenalleged. He has alleged that several local politicians, ministers and otherswere involved in siphoning governmentfunds meant for development. Let uslook at these corrupt people and thewealth that they and their familiesacquired suddenly. How did they amassso much wealth? Let us find out thesource. That could be the start; then wecan move up the ladder and investigatethe bigger people involved.

If we are serious about preservingand protecting our democracy, then wehave to root out such corruption. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi keeps harpingon fighting corruption. What has beenalleged in Pul’s suicide note is corrup-tion at the highest levels, including sit-ting judges of the highest court in ourland. Pul’s suicide note must not andshould not be ignored.

Dangwimsai Pul, the widow of the late chief minis-ter of Arunachal Pradesh, Kalikho Pul, has beenpressing for a probe into those mentioned in herhusband’s suicide note. However, her withdrawal ofthe petition came as a surprise. In an interview toYilobeni Valerie Patton, she spells out her reasons.

Why did you withdraw your petition inthe Supreme Court? Actually, on 17th we put forth our peti-tion at the Supreme Court seeking per-mission to register an FIR against allthe individuals mentioned in my hus-band’s note. But today the judge seemedin a mood to dismiss the case full andfinal in the courtroom itself. We hadasked for administrative permission butsince it came up before a judicial bench,we got apprehensive and hence we with-drew the case.

Were you expecting such an outcomefrom the Supreme Court hearing?Maybe, yes. Because a lot of big person-alities from the public sphere are namedin the note. So I was anticipating somemanipulation and political drama fromthe beginning.

What is the next legal action or strategythat you are going to follow?

Lead/ Interview/ Dangwimsai Pul

20 March 6, 2017

“Judge Wantedto Dismiss theCase in theCourtroom”

I’m not aware of the legalities so we’lljust have to wait and see.

The CM himself had assured a thoroughinvestigation into Pul’s suicide. Yet, the state government seems to be doingnothing now.The state government is doing nothingbecause the sitting CM himself has beennamed in the note, along with hisdeputy CM. So maybe that’s why thepolice have been pressurised not toreveal any findings and close the case.

It’s now over six months since your hus-band’s death. Have any of your hus-band’s ex-colleagues or politicians triedto get in touch with you or the family?No, not really. I am fighting this alone.

There are contradictory reports regard-ing the suicide note, whether it was ahandwritten one with his signature, ortyped out on a computer and then print-

ed and signed by Kalikho Pul. If youcould clarify this for us? And how didyou stumble upon those notes? It was typed. He made 10 copies. Wefound those copies strewn everywhereon the floor in the very room where wediscovered his dead body hanging fromthe ceiling. It was the same day itself.Dated August 8, 2016 , his signaturewas found on every page of the note.This should not be ignored.

It is being speculated that your hus-band’s Hindi was not strong. If he didnot write it himself, do you know whowrote it for him?

What was his state of mind during thelast days of his life? Was your husbandin depression? Was he meeting people?Yes he was under severe depression buteven then he did meet a few people. Myhusband would often wonder out loudabout what he should actually do to


teach corrupt people a lesson.

How have your lives changed since thesuicide? We were hoping that the governmentwill do something for us but they havefailed us. But in our heart of hearts, weare still hoping that someone, some-where will help us get justice and wewill get a free and fair probe. I am surethere are a lot of people who support us.It’s also written in his notes that even if0.1 percent change can be brought aboutin eradicating corruption with the helpof his notes/information, he will be atpeace. We are fighting for this.

This note was written after a goodamount of planning. He had engagedsomeone to write it for him while hedictated it. From the writing to theprinting, everything was done secretlybehind our back, none of the familymembers knew about this. Sometimeafter his demise, we got to know that hehad requested the person not to tell anyof us. We were never aware. We foundthem only on the day he died.

Can you tell us who wrote the notesfor him? One of the employees from the CM’soffice had written it for him.

“In our heart of hearts, we arestill hoping that someone,

somewhere will help us getjustice and we will get a free

and fair probe.”

Anil Shakya

Column

22 March 6, 2017

RANSPARENCY in theconduct of judicial pro-ceedings is what gives itthe greatest credibility. Inthe UK, from where Indiainherited its judicial sys-

tem and practices, the tradition of opencourts ensures transparency. The con-cept of open court proceedings is aninvaluable contribution by the commonlaw tradition of England. In commonlaw, the “open court” means either acourt that has been formerly convenedand declared open for the transaction ofits proper judicial business or a courtthat is freely open to spectators, includ-

ing the media. This is pop-ularly called a public trial.

There is one theorythat the Magna Carta, acharter signed by KingJohn in 1215, is the har-binger of the concept ofthe open court. Howeverthe Magna Carta does notexpressly refer to the con-cept of open courts. Clause40 merely declares that “tono one will we sell, to noone deny or delay right orjustice” and this hasinspired the constitutionsof the other democraticcountries to adopt publictrial as a constitutionalright.

The horrendous experi-ence of Star ChamberCourts constituted underStar Chamber Act of 1487which sat at the royal

palace in Westminster reveals the short-comings of secretive proceedings thedefendant in criminal trials was exam-ined by the official of the court in theabsence of his counsel and co-defen-dant. The judicial arbitrariness andtyranny of the Star Chamber Courts ulti-mately led to its repeal in the year 1641.In England in the past, the parties andprobably their witnesses were admittedfreely in the courts, but all other personswere required to pay in order to obtainadmittance. Sir William Black Stone, inhis commentaries, advocates that “theopen examination of witnesses viva vocein presence of all mankind is much

more conducive to the clearing up of truth”.

The Washington State SupremeCourt has waxed poetic about what itbelieves to be a history of public accessto legal proceedings: For centuries, itsays, publicity has been a check on themisuse of both political and judicialpower. As a leading theorist of theEnlightenment Movement wrote: “Letthe verdicts and proofs of guilt be madepublic, so that opinion, which is, per-haps, the sole cement of society, mayserve to restrain power and passions; sothat the people may say, we are notslaves, and we are protected—a senti-ment which inspires courage and whichis the equivalent of a tribute to a sover-eign who knows his own true interests.”

In England, all proceedings of theSupreme Court and the Appeal Courtare filmed and broadcast. Some of thecrown courts in England were chosen aspilot projects for digital experiment. TheHouse of Commons is contemplating toinitiate legislation in this regard. In theUSA, the 1994th session of the JudicialConference after consideration of thereport and recommendation of the courtcase management committee approvedrecording, telecast and broadcasting ofcivil proceedings in federal trial andappellate courts.

The US Supreme Court website pro-vides access to audio recordings of alloral arguments before it which may bedownloaded or heard online by the pub-lic. The recordings are maintained bythe National Archive Records andAdministration.

After incessant crusades and churn-

Justice K Sreedhar Rao

The idea of open courts, where accessto proceedings is in the public domain,is inclusive to true and fair trials

Let the Light in

FAIR BALANCEThe Supreme Court of India

Bhavana Gaur

T


ing, the present concept of open courtsemerged as a fundamental facet ofhuman rights. In India, ancient andmedieval history has no record of thepractice of open courts. Section 327 ofCrPC 1973 is substantially a replica ofSection 352 of CrPC 1898 which incor-porated the general rule of open courts,with reasonable restrictions for publicattendance like availability of accommo-dation and in-camera trials for rape andother sexual offences against women.The concept of open courts is not con-fined to criminal trials but extends to all civil proceedings in all courts.However, in some high courts and theSupreme Court, only the counsel andthe litigants are permitted attendancefor security reasons.

The demand for public accountabili-ty of the performance of the executive issecured in Right to Information Act.The live telecast of the proceedings ofthe assembly and parliament is in place.There has been a constant campaign forvideo recording and telecast of courtproceedings for achieving greater trans-parency and access for larger publicgaze. That justice is not only to be donebut seen to be done, is one of the com-mandments of democratic governance.The concept of Open Court should notonly give right to all the litigants to bepresent in the Court but also the publicin general should have right of access forobserving the court proceedings toassure the public about the fairness, the quality and integrity of the judicialfunctioning.

The division bench of the MadrasHigh Court presided by Justice STamilvanan and Justice CT

Selvam heralded the beginning of livetelecast of the contempt proceedingsinitiated against two lawyers of theMadurai District bar association inSeptember, 2015. The Calcutta HighCourt deviated from the conservativeapproach on July 15, 2015 and directedthe recording of courtroom proceedingsin a particular case.

The Supreme Court of India in the

Pradyuman Bisht case recently passedan interim order directing installation ofCCTV cameras in court halls ofGurugram without the facility of audiorecording. The Additional SolicitorGeneral and R Venkatramani, seniorcounsel, are appointed as Amicus Curiein implementing the order and to reportabout the feasibility of the experiment.The order further states that afterreceipt of the report of the learnedcounsels, installation of CCTV camerasin one district in every state under thedirection of the concerned high courtwould be considered. The order of theapex court although is inchoate, but is a laudable historic step in the process of digitalisation of the courtroom proceedings.

The Article 227 of the Constitutioninvests the power of superintendenceover the all courts and tribunalsthroughout the territories in relation towhich its jurisdiction. The Article 235 ofthe Constitution invests the High Courtthe control over the subordinate courts.The order of the Supreme Court would

have been in sync with the constitution-al jurisdiction of the High Court had theorder directed the Chief Justice of theAllahabad High Court to carry out thesaid exercise instead of appointing theadvocates as amicus in implementingthe order.

The perception that videographingand telecasting of court proceedings willhave an intimidating impact on justicedispensation and impinges the inde-pendence of judiciary is flawed logic. A litigant who wants to know the con-duct of his case by his counsel in thecourtroom through digital technologyinstead of his personal presence in thecourt cannot be rejected as an untenable demand.

The aspiration and the right of gen-eral public to have access to courtroomproceedings in cases of national andpublic importance could be ensuredthrough digital technology. The litigantsand the public in all democratic coun-tries like the USA, the UK, Australiaand South Africa have access to court-room proceedings through digital tech-nology. It is a settled proposition of lawby the apex court that freedom of speechand expression guaranteed under Article19 of the Constitution imbibes the rightto have proper and authentic informa-tion. In that sense, the holistic purposeof open courts is better served when thelitigant and the public have the benefitof video graphing and telecasting ofcourtroom proceedings.

There has been a constant campaign for video recording

and telecast of court proceedingsfor achieving greater

transparency and access for larger public gaze.

IN FULL VIEW: The UK Supreme Court where all proceedings are filmed and broadcast

The Hidden Half-truths in

ex-CBI DirectorSingh’s Case

Controversy/ CBI/ AP Singh

24 March 6, 2017

The investigative body is gearing up to probe another pastboss. A look into the maze within the labyrinth

By Sujit Bhar

HE case of former CentralBureau of Investigation(CBI) director AmarPratap Singh is a quizzicalone. The agency has filedan FIR against its own

director, a first, but questions arise as tothe timing of the “sudden revival ofinterest” and as to who let the cat on themouse, and why?

The CBI hasn’t just stumbled ontoSingh’s case. By Singh’s own admission,his BBM messages “are mostly personaland innocuous in nature as betweenfriends. Majority are after I retired fromCBI in 2012 November,” he has beenquoted as saying. The messages wereavailable even on social media sites for along time.

The allegations against Singh areserious. Initially it was a case of himsecuring illegal favours for businessmenin collusion with meat exporter andprominent hawala operator MoinQureshi. By top-level corruption stan-dards of India, this is chicken feed.

Now the CBI is looking into whetherSingh’s actions were impacting the veryfunctioning of the agency.

During his tenure, Singh’s agencywas involved in investigating the hugeAndhra Pradesh IndustrialInfrastructure Corporation (APIIC)-Emaar township project scandal, inwhich BP Acharya (IAS), formerChairman and Managing Director ofAPIIC, allegedly entered into a conspir-acy with officials of Emaar Group andsome public servants to cheat APIICand secure wrongful gains for Emaar.

Not only was APIIC’s equity in theproject diluted, Emaar was allowed tobring in its group company Emaar MGFLand Ltd as co-developer for the 258-acre integrated township project (atGachchibowli, a prime area ofHyderabad). Then, when plots weresold, they were heavily under-invoiced,resulting in huge gain for the developersand their agents and loss for thegovernment. The CBI first arrestedAcharya and later Koneru Prasad, oneinvolved in the sales.

T

THE PAST CATCHES UPThe CBI is looking into whether APSingh’s actions were impacting thevery functioning of the agency

Now the CBI has filed an FIR againstSingh on a complaint from the Enforce-ment Directorate, agency spokespersonRK Gaur has been reported as saying.

The allegation is that the agency hadgone soft on the accused and Singh andQureshi were involved in it. No figureson the money involved have been men-tioned, but it is said to be astronomical.

As it stands, two things come out.Firstly, how is it that the CBIhas, again, been given the

responsibility of investigating another ofits own directors? Earlier Ranjit Sinha,former director, was put under the CBIscanner in the coal scam.

As a senior former IntelligenceBranch (IB) official disclosed to this cor-respondent on the condition ofanonymity: “I have no issues with anyagency investigating a former employ-ee/boss; unless any personal loyaltyexists between the investigating officerand the accused, it will go as per norms.My contention is about the timing of theprod from ED. This has been in the airfor a while and it was just a case of aformer director getting favours donethrough government agencies with a

hawala trader as a front. Now the scopehas been widened.”

So what does the former IB officialsuspect? Which, is the second part. “Isuspect this to be, firstly, a case of politi-cal bickering on the spoils of a scam.The spoils add up to hundreds of crores(it was estimated at `136 crore, butother estimates point upwards), therehas to be some sharing, without whichthe corrupt system is bound to hit back.Remember, the state of Telangana wascarved out only in June 2014. Dig a littleand you will come up with more politi-cal wheeler-dealers,” he said.

“Secondly, also, remember that 2Gand coal allocation cases were registeredduring Singh’s tenure,” said the formerofficial. The indication was clear. Theother CBI director under investigation,Ranjit Sinha, Singh’s successor, wasbeing probed for the 2G and coal scams.

Singh headed the agency betweenNovember 30, 2010 and November 30,2012. Qureshi had become close to himthrough Singh’s wife, who was a friendof Qureshi’s wife. Singh (who was notyet the CBI chief) and Qureshi devel-oped an extraordinary “working rela-tionship”. When Singh became head of

the agency, this relationship blossomed.

With his term coming to anend, Singh needed to protect his“investments”. Singh and Sinhawere close and it was only natu-ral that Singh recommendSinha’s name to the ministry tobe his successor. That was doneand hence Sinha also benefited ingetting to know Qureshi andaccording to the visitors’ diary(log) kept at the CBI director’sresidence, Qureshi was a fre-quent visitor of Sinha.

The relationship betweenSinha and Singh was alwaysgood, and if it did sour, it cer-


tainly sprung from an unspoken man-date of faith that was breached. Thiscould lead from several internal as wellas external factors.

The dependence of the agency (CBI)on its political bosses has always cloud-ed its decision-making process. There isa possibility now that even internalequations maybe have been alteredbecause of this. No clear internal systemexists within the agency to separateinternal lobbying from the operationalside. This is what the senior ex-IB offi-cial was referring to.

Sandhi Mukherjee, a former seniorIPS officer, who has campaigned for thetrue independence of investigative andlaw enforcement agencies, believes thatthe case of the Supreme Court directingan agency to investigate its own boss istechnically a correct one, though it wasnot up to the Supreme Court to decideor know the internal politics and loyal-ties in the agency. “There is too muchpolitical interference. No agency wouldbe in a position to deliver an impartialinvestigation. There has to be a differentlevel of oversight. The public needs to betold that justice is available at all times.”

Mukherjee indicated that each bossof an agency creates his own team ofloyalists, who remain loyal even afterthe boss has been removed. So was thisthe result of a clash of two sets of loyal-ists? Or was it a loss of faith betweentwo headstrong leaders?

An interesting case just got evenmore interesting.

UNVEILING THE TRUTHIndia Legal had investigated thequestionable dealings of former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha

NAILING THE CORRUPTBP Acharya (above), former CMD APIIC, wasindicted during AP Singh's tenure as CBI chief

Kasauli Fights Back

NCE known for its pristineenvironment, Kasauli,located in Solan, HimachalPradesh, is currently understress due to a boom in the

number of hotels in this hill town overthe last two decades.

Many of these hotels have been oper-ating unauthorisedly and flouting con-struction rules and green norms.However, coming to the rescue, theNational Green Tribunal has asked theHimachal Pradesh government andstate pollution control board to issuenotice to several of these properties.

The petition had been filed bySPOKE (Society for Preservation ofKasauli and its Environs), a non-govern-mental organisation, founded by formerIndian ambassador to the US BK Nehruwho was its first president, SampooranParashar, its first secretary, social acti-vist Baljit Malik, longtime resident ofKasauli Rabindra Grewal and others.SPOKE has been fighting to protect the environment of Kasauli for over 25 years.

The first such matter that came up in

a court of law and, indeed went up tothe Supreme Court, was that of the HillCrest Cooperative Society, Grewal tellsIndia Legal. It originated around 1992.An “atrocious” 14-storey building hadcome up on the Lower Mall Road. “Theowner was one Mr Dhindsa. He ens-conced himself in the town by joiningKasauli Club and becoming its secretary.He was misusing the club as his pulpit.About 40 people bought into the proj-ect,” it is reported by SPOKE. But hewas evicted from the club. SPOKE tookthe state government to court.

The case was fought in the SupremeCourt by Arun Jaitley and Soli Sorabjee.At the end of it all, the top court cameout with its verdict. It declared theproperty illegal.

That was over 10 years ago. Around ayear ago, Dhindsa, ignoring the Sup-

Environment/ Himachal/ Illegal Hotels

26 March 6, 2017

reme Court order, approached the Solandistrict collector and sought permissionto resume building the society onceagain. SPOKE got word of it and filed acase in the Kasauli tehsil court, obtain-ing a stay on this order.

One battle won but there werescores waiting to be fought. InDecember 2015, SPOKE moved

NGT over a 42-room property beingplanned on the narrow Kshetrapal Margnear Roscommons. “It was in the wrongplace. Apart from the ecological impact,which would be huge, it would causemassive traffic congestion,” saysBrigadier WS Choudary (retired), who isthe incumbent SPOKE secretary. Thecase was filed against the HimachalPradesh Tourism DepartmentCorporation. An experts’ committeereport was filed by the central ground-water department and a stay was madeout on its basis.

However, this opened up the prover-bial can of worms. About 72 new hotels,mainly privately-owned, had come upoutside the protected Cantonment area,and they were operating without requi-site authorization for digging borewellsfrom the groundwater department, withno sewage treatment plants, with a per-mit for only 13 rooms but having over50 of them in one instance and, indeed,flouting PCB rules with impunity. About11 of these hotels were asked to respondto the expert committee report.

In its ruling dated January 30, thetribunal’s principal bench—headed byits chairperson Justice SwatanterKumar—has asked the HPPCB to sub-mit its comments on the list of theseproperties within a week, while extend-ing the time limit for filing a reply to itby one week to two of them—the othershaving already submitted their respons-es. The government and state PCB mustalso serve them notices.

The order in the Roscommons mat-ter will be delivered on February 28.Regarding the case pertaining to the 11private properties, March 7 is the date ofthe next hearing.

NGT has summoned owners of 11 hotels in the hill town flouting environmental laws. The hearing is on March 7By Sucheta Dasgupta

About 72 new hotels, mostly privately-owned, have come up

outside the Cantonment area, andthey are operating illegally.

O

SIEGE ON BEAUTYReal estate boom in thehill town has put a strainon its resources

Inderjit Badhwar

S ociety/ Rash driving

28 March 6, 2017

HE prejudice in Indiaagainst the make of a carinvolved in an accident ispalpable. It is as if an Audior a Beamer or a Mercimmediately indicts the

driver or owner as guilty of criminalconduct. He must have been drunk, hemust have been speeding, he must haveno concern about the lives of poor peo-ple and he must be twice as guilty evenbefore the facts are in… after all an acci-dent in an Audi is tantamount to proofof arrogance and conceit and pure evil.

The tenor of the media reporting dis-plays such social bias and class division.It would be comical if it wasn’t so gross-ly unfair. There is no sympathy, onlyglee, as if somehow the foreign carowner deserves his comeuppance and inno way could he or she be innocent…

Why does a reckless driver in asmaller car somehow get the benefit ofdoubt, as if his flouting of the road ruleswere less indictable because his vehiclewasn’t a brute of a beaut and indicativeof a rich man’s possessions?

What the prejudice also does is makea mockery of the law in relation to hitand run drivers or those who get behindthe wheel in a stupor.

On both counts a person can be heldunder Section 279 or 304(A) of theIndian Penal Code and also under 134Aand 134B of Indian Motor Vehicle(IMV) Act. In 2012 the Supreme Courtof India upped the ante when it con-firmed a three-year High Court sentenceon Alistair Anthony Periera after hemowed down seven people in Mumbaiin a Mercedes but as a deterrent ithasn’t yet worked its way through thenatural indifference to reckless driving.

The unspoken agreement on ourroads is to hit and run to “save” oneself.Also, it gives one time to hole up some-where and dry out so that any alcoholtest becomes moot. For this reason, hitand runs often disappear till they havegot their legal ducks in a row…or boughtand paid for a surrogate scapegoat.

Ten times as many accidents report-ed have indigenous “toy cars” involved in

StopBlamingthe CarIn accidents involving luxury cars, there is no sympathy, only glee, as if somehow the foreign car owner deserves hiscomeuppance and in no way could he or she be innocentBy Bikram Vohra

T

Illustration: Anthony Lawrence


them. Of the nearly 400 people killedevery day hardly a few are victims of anAudi or a BMW to make it even statisti-cally an issue. But they do not make fora story. The moment it is an importedcar that is in the picture all hell breaksloose. Even the headline has the make ofthe car to give it more heft. Killer Audi,Beastly Beamer, Murderous Merc.Anchors on TV go hoarse repeating themodel of the car as if the car and not theperson at the wheel was at fault and hadto be held accountable.

Regrettably, lesser “deaths” bylesser vehicles do not get thesame publicity and often are

closed after a suitable financial payoff isarranged. They are written off as acci-dents or just bad luck.

It is time to make a new law for hit-and-run, one that has commonapplication and allows only for the driv-er to only “run” to the police station incase he fears a mob attack. Anythingelse by way of disappearing is to be seenas at least manslaughter and not negli-gence or simply rash driving under sec-tion 279 of the penal code.

What we also find murky and diffi-cult to admit is the uneven field inwhich each “accident” occurs. I use the

word “accident” advisedly because evenby law proving rash or negligent drivingis a confusing business with too manypermutations and the impact of outsideinfluences often making a dog’s break-fast of the law and the cops themselvestreating this issue casually.

Take the case of the doctor whoseAudi 7 car killed four people in an autorickshaw in Hindon Delhi last month.It is a perfect example of how an investi-gation into death by car unravels ratherthan unfolds.

Two days after the gruesome crashthe police could not figure out whoowned the car. This is inexplicable.Aren’t these cars registered and clearedby Customs and the RTO? By the veryfact that it is not some garden varietyclunker of a car with a changed numberplate but a top of the range Q 7 theowner should have been identified with-in a few minutes and traced… or if he

was on the lam his address discovered.Clearly, much power and pelf was at

work to thwart this whole gory mess.Although the car was finally identifiedas belonging to a doctor this worthy haddisappeared. Okay, accepted that he wasin hiding and has done a runner inpanic. But by now you would think thepolice would have been able to obtainhis photograph and put out an all-pointsbulletin to look for the man. There wasnothing. After all, if a well-known well-heeled doctor owns a top of the rangevehicle it is reasonable to assume he alsohas a social standing and relatives andpeople who work for him and know himbut even his data is spotty at best as ifkeeping all this information confidentialwas, in some way, going to lead thepolice to the bigger fish.

There are no bigger fish…or are there?

Seeing how Dr Rawat ran away fromthe gathering “crowd” rather than do hisjob as a medical practitioner, the policetook him on his word that he was notdriving the car and have registered nocase against him.

Nor are they puzzled he took severaldays to fetch up and confess his inno-cence.

Ah well, blame the Audi.

Of the nearly 400 people killedeveryday hardly a few are victims

of an Audi or a BMW to make iteven statistically an issue. But

they do not make for a story.

January 28, 2017: A 19-year-old ridinga scooter killed when hit by a car coming from behind in Ultadanga,Kolkata December 12, 2016: Four die aftertheir Maruti Alto hits a stationary truckon the Yamuna Expressway, Delhi December 11, 2016: A couple getsinjured when a speeding SUV driven bya class X student hit a scooter onwhich the two were travelling inKukatpally, Hyderabad

December 5, 2016: Three die and 19pedestrians injured after a speedingsedan jumps a red light, hit two motor-bikes and climbs a footpath in KolkataNovember 14, 2016: Four people,including three women and a child, diewhen a Mahindra XUV 500 had a tyreburst, jumped the divider on theYamuna Expressway and hit a Ford Figo November 5, 2016: Six personsincluding two children killed and threeothers get hurt when the driver of theirtaxi loses control and hits the roaddivider near Wadi Bunder, Mumbai October 31, 2016: Four killed whenthe driver of a car carrying six peopleloses control on the Chennai-Kumbakonam national highway

October 16, 2016: Three undergradu-ate students of SRM University inChennai killed when their speeding carhit the road medianOctober 15, 2016: Three engineeringstudents of Amity University, Noida,killed and seven injured after theirrental SUV, Scorpio, collided with atractor on National Highway, Murthal September 24, 2017: A 25-year-oldbiker killed and the person riding pillioninjured after they are hit by a HondaCity coming from the opposite direc-tion, near Rabindra Sarobar Metro,Kolkata September 10, 2016: Four killed whentheir speeding car collides with a con-tainer on Pune-Mumbai Expressway at Lonavala

Bleeding RoadsA look at some of the worst roadmishaps in the last six months:

KTS TULSI, an Indian politician and sen-ior advocate of the Supreme Court, is notedfor representing Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-lawRobert Vadra, who was accused by ArvindKejriwal of having taken an interest-freeloan of `65 crores and heavy bargains onland in exchange for political favours. Healso handled cases related to the assassina-tion of former Prime Minister of IndiaRajiv Gandhi. He became the AdditionalSolicitor General of India in 1990. He hadrepresented the government in the SupremeCourt in a number of cases, the mostremarkable being that of the constitutionalvalidity of the now extinct Terrorist andDisruptive Activities (Prevention) Act(TADA). The most remarkable case thatdescribes his tenacity as a lawyer is thecase of the Uphaar cinema hall fire tragedywhich he fought for 10 long years to bringjustice to the victims. He is also a symbol ofcourage in the legal fraternity. While ter-rorism was raging in Punjab and nolawyer was willing to come forward andprosecute the terrorists, Tulsi took the casesfor prosecuting ‘A’ grade terrorists includ-ing Operation Black Thunder case andattempt on the life of JF Rebeiro case. In aninterview with NAWANK SHEKHARMISRA, KTS Tulsi talks about his greatestinspiration and how even after 67 yearsour Constitution has failed to fulfill itsobjectives. Excerpts from the interview:

As an eminent advocate, you have been an inspiration for many. Who is your inspiration?My mother has been my inspiration. Shetaught me to think. She taught me to chal-lenge and encouraged me to speak outagainst any injustice in society. Whatever Iam today, I am because of her.

You have handled many notable cases inyour career. What is that one case that you remember as the turning point in your career?

Interview/ KTS Tulsi

30 March 6, 2017

“How Can We Say the

Constitution Has Been

Successful?”

indianbarassociation.org

four, the number of cases increased to40, and from 40 to 100. I went thereevery week almost. My salary was `1,100per day. This case was the most impor-tant turning point. While handling thiscase, I met many important lawyers.One day the then governor of Punjabcame and told me to file cases for con-viction of terrorists in Punjab. I wasscared and told him: “You will go awaybut I have to spend my entire life inChandigarh.” To this he replied: “This isyour bloody Punjab. If you are not wor-ried why should I stick my neck out?”My mother was with me then. Shereminded me that duty comes beforesafety. So I handled a couple of terroristcases too. After this Dr SubramanianSwamy made me the AdditionalSolicitor General. This brought me inthe national forefront and gave me anopportunity to fight notable cases.

What is your opinion on Dr Subrama-nian Swamy?He is a close friend. When I came toknow that he had became a minister, Iwent to meet him, he hugged me andsaid right there: “You are my Additional


Solicitor General”. He is a man of hiswords.

The preamble to our Constitution is sobeautifully written. Has the Constitutionbeen able to achieve its objectives?Where 60 percent of citizens do nothave roof above their heads, do not havefood to eat, lack resources for education,have no resources for healthcare, howcan we say the Constitution has beensuccessful in fulfilling its objectives? Till poverty is eradicated, we will bebehind the rest in the race.

What do you do in your spare time?I like reading and listening to music.Chetan Bhagat is my favourite author. Ihave read all his books. I also readSidney Sheldon, John Grisham. I evenplay tennis. I also like to travel. Hence Imake it a point to indulge in four longvacations every year—two in India andtwo abroad.

Who is your favourite actor?Aamir Khan. The conviction with whichhe speaks has made me his fan. Also, alot of research goes into the films hemakes. All the issues are based on real-life incidences and experiences.

What are your favourite book andmovie?All of John Grisham’s books are myfavourite. The movie which had affectedme the most was Guide.

The first five years of any lawyer’s careerare the most rigorous years. But I wasfortunate to land a part-time job as alecturer. It was just three years since Ihad started my career as a lawyer and Ihad already started earning `400 permonth. After this, the then Chief Justiceof India made me the reporter of theIndian Law Reports, which added `250to my monthly income. It was duringthis time that I started my own journal.My entire earnings went into bringingout the journal. Even the work I had toput behind it was immense. I had towork from 6 am till 12 in the night. Istudied each and every judgment, madehead-notes, send it to print and thenproofread it again. Then I also had to goto the Bar Association to sell it. All theseefforts made me more confident.

There was a law firm in Delhi, JBDadachandji and Company, whose part-ner came to me to consult on a case—four criminal cases had been filedagainst Lipton. So I filed the entire peti-tion while he was sitting there. He draft-ed it and went to Kolkata. The lawyerwho was handling the case in Kolkatasaid he wanted to meet me and discussit. For the first time I got a fee of `1,100and went to Kolkata by air. There Ilearnt a lot while working with him onthis case. I learned all the criminal lawsfrom him. I now laugh at my ignorancethat I had filed the case without eventhinking about it.

In 1979, Kanwar Pal Singh Gill cameto me. He had four cases filed againsthim in Assam and no lawyer was willingto take up his case. He had got deaththreats and posters were there all overAssam saying “Wanted Gill’s head” and“Cash Reward `50,000”. I hesitated atfirst, for the case was a risky business.That evening, my cousin who was abrigadier in the army came to visit mewith his wife and son. When I askedhim if I should take the case, his wifecriticised me for my cowardice and said:“You should be ashamed. Is your lifedearer to you than your duty as aresponsible citizen?” So I went there,fought the case and even won. From

I was scared of handling terrorist cases, but my motherreminded me that duty comes

before safety. So I handled acouple of those cases too.

UNI

Health/ Audit Prescriptions

32 March 6, 2017

ance which threatens the effective treat-ment of numerous diseases like tubercu-losis, malaria, typhoid, urinary tractinfections and many others. It plans toenforce prescription audits to controlcareless consumption of antibiotics thatare pushed by hospitals and doctorswhen they are not needed. Hospitalsand pharmacists will soon be requiredto upload all the prescriptions issuedand received by them for evaluation. Itwill start in select hospitals and then beextended to the rest of the country.

Justice Narendra Chapalgaonkar,who retired from the Bombay HighCourt, told India Legal: “The nexusbetween doctors and pharmaceuticalcompanies should be investigated asboth have pushed antibiotic use. Whyhas the Indian Medical Association notcracked down on doctors who unneces-sarily prescribe antibiotics? Just havinga law will not help as it has to be sup-ported by public education that must bein local dialects and languages so thatthe messages gets easily absorbed.”

Today, the threat of Superbugs isglobal. But India is going to be mostseriously affected as there is rampantand careless prescribing of antibiotics bygeneral practitioners and even special-ists. Doctors say that patients demand

NE of the scariestmedical realities thathave hit India and theworld is the emergence ofSuperbugs. Overuse ofantibiotics has made

bacteria resistant to drugs. Increasingly,doctors are helplessly witnessing theirpatients battle diseases like tuberculosisand pneumonia with medicines not hav-ing any effect as the bacteria has developed immunity to antibiotics. Many just die.

India has the highest rate of antibiot-ic resistance in the world. It is, there-fore, hardly surprising that it is thelargest consumer of antibiotics. TheState of the World’s Antibiotics 2015, astudy by Delhi-based Centre for DiseaseDynamics, Economics and Policy, pointsout that resistance to some medicineshas touched almost 50 percent.According to a World Bank report,antibiotic resistance could push 28 mil-lion people into extreme poverty. Areview by the United Kingdom predict-ed that anti-microbial resistance wouldend up killing nearly ten million peopleevery year by 2050!

On February 22, India’s health andwelfare ministry rolled out a strategy tofight anti-microbial or antibiotic resist-

prescription of strong antibiotics as theywant quick cures that will help thembounce back to work.

But with Superbugs on the horizonthreatening our lives, doctors need tocounsel patients and not get pressurisedby pharmaceutical companies who alsoseduce them with gifts like foreign tripsif the sales of their products rise in near-by medical shops around their clinics.Most of them are camouflaged as spon-sored visits for overseas conferences.

Points out Justice Chapalgaonkar:

FightingAntibioticResistanceFinally, the government has stepped in to arrestthe spread of antibiotic resistance that is nowthreatening our lives. It will soon have to ensurethat laws are formulated to ensure that it worksBy Ramesh Menon

O

What is the way out? Here aresome of the steps that could help:• Crackdown on the over-the-countersale of antibiotics• Get doctors actively involved in pre-scription audits to make them morealive to the threat that patients face• Promotion of delayed antibiotic pre-scribing strategies• Encourage doctors to spend moretime with patients talking to them of thedangers of carelessly consumingantibiotics• Promotion of pragmatic studies inprimary care which details out compli-cations and clinical outcomes

Easy Solutions


“The concept of the family doctor hasvanished who was trusted and genuinelydid not advise for medicines that werenot required. Now, we are all in thehands of specialists who over-prescribe.”

That is why the recent governmentmove to audit prescriptions is a move inthe right direction. In fact, it shouldhave come long ago as the threat ofSuperbugs started haunting India over adecade ago.

Union health minister JP Naddasays that the idea is to jointlystrategise with nine ministries

so that they are on the same page as faras the action plan was concerned. Hea-lth secretary CK Mishra points out thatonly a multi-sectoral approach wouldhelp to deal with the problem. He has apoint as it is not just humans who areaffected but animals too. There are envi-ronmental factors like overuse of chemi-cals in farming, aggravating the prob-lem. Clearly, antibiotic resistance is afrightening health threat that has noeasy answers. Urgent action is called forif we have to fight infectious diseases.

Points out Sunita Narain, directorgeneral of the Centre for Science andEnvironment: “It is critical that environ-mental policymakers in developing

countries are actively involved alongwith policymakers from the agricultureand health sectors to address environ-mental spread of antibiotic resistance.”

Another worrying factor is theincreasing misuse of antibiotics in farm-ing. Nearly 63 percent of the world’santibiotics are used in farming. It ismixed with the animal feed or waterused for irrigation to stop diseasesspreading through cramped, unsanitaryfactory farms.

Meat from animals and chickens alsocontain antibiotics as it is mixed in theirfeed under the guise of preventing themfrom falling sick, but the actual goal isto fatten them before slaughter. TheSuperbugs pass from the animal’s dungand spread through the air, soil, andwater into rivers and sewers.

Dr Vikram Sarbhai, senior consult-ant in chest medicine, critical care andsleep medicine at the National HeartInstitute, New Delhi told India Legal:“The idea of auditing prescription toregulate use of antibiotics may be won-derful. But the question is how do weensure compliance? The magnitude oflogistics is huge and there is no appara-tus to deal with it. India has not yetstandardised healthcare and createdeven minimum standards format. We donot have health records for every indi-vidual. The question is how do we regu-late prescriptions and then monitor itsuse; punish those who are not comply-ing. It will be a logistics nightmare aswe are not prepared.”

What are other governments doing?Countries that took stringent actions

and used regulations to control the useof antibiotics, have shown positiveresults. Penicillin, Streptomycin andTetracyclines used as feed additives over45 years ago were banned by Europeancountries. Sweden banned all antibioticgrowth promoters in feed in the mid-eighties. In the nineties, Denmark, amajor livestock producer in Europe andthe largest exporter of pork in the world,started regulating the use of antibiotics.Between 1995 and 1998, it bannedAvoparcin, Virginiamycin, Tylosin,Spiramycin and Zinc Bacitracin thatwere used as growth promoters. Then itrestricted the use of Fluoroquinolones, acrucial antibiotic for humans, in animalsin 2002. The cattle and broiler industryvoluntarily stopped use of all antibioticsas growth promoters in 1998. In 2000,the pork industry also stopped it.

There has been growing awareness inthe US about the problem of over usingantibiotics. Way back in 1977, the USFood and Drug Administration had pro-posed banning Tetracyclines andPenicillins as additives in food given tolivestock and other animals. It said itwanted to phase out the use of medicallyimportant antibiotics in food-producinganimals and bring therapeutic uses ofsuch drugs under the oversight oflicensed veterinarians.

Chandra Bhushan, deputy directorgeneral, CSE, points out that countriesmust concentrate on reducing environ-mental entry of antibiotic residues andresistant bacteria by managing wastefrom livestock and aquaculture farms,slaughter houses and meat processingunits. Discharge effluents from thepharmaceutical industry, particularly inIndia, also need urgent attention tominimise antibiotic contamination ofthe environment, he said.

It is a worrying scenario. Antibioticresistant infections are very complicatedto treat. It also calls for long stays inhospital. Obviously, there would be fatbills that would be painful to pay.

It is not a pretty picture. The gov-ernment does not have an easy job toexecute.

“The nexus between doctorsand pharmaceutical companiesshould be investigated as bothhave pushed antibiotic use.Why has the Indian MedicalAssociation not cracked downon doctors who unnecessarilyprescribe antibiotics?”Justice Narendra Chapalgaonkar

Illustration: Anthony Lawrence

Focus/ Fire Safety

34 March 6, 2017

priority it demands. A National DisasterResponse Force and Civil Defence(NDRFCD) report says that urban fireservices suffer deficiencies of 72.75 per-cent in fire stations, 78.79 percent inmanpower and 22.43 percent in firefighting and rescue vehicles.

COMPLIANCE IN DEFIANCEFaced with such critical shortages, wehave crowded markets and bustlingbazaars in every city that are prime firehazards. A quick check at Delhi’s mostcrowded markets—Lajpat Nagar andChandni Chowk—reveals a total indif-ference to fire safety. A simple question:“Do you have a fire extinguisher?” elicitsan angry response. Ironically, manyshopkeepers will have a story to narrateof a fire that broke out in their shop andhow lucky they were that nothing disas-

Burning Fire safety has never been a priority in India. Though fire causes

an average of 62 deaths per day, safety norms are flouted with impunity and the guilty, more often than not, get

away scot-free or with light punishment By Usha Rani Das

Questions

EELAM and ShekharKrishnamoorthy spent20 long years waiting tosee those responsible forthe Uphaar fire tragedythat took the lives of

their two children, behind bars. TheSupreme Court verdict was cold com-fort. Gopal Ansal, one of the proprietorsof the cinema hall, was given one yearimprisonment. The elder brother SushilAnsal, the other proprietor, was set freeas “taking note of his age-related com-plications.” The brothers, influential realestate tycoons, had got away lightly.Neelam says they will file a curativepetition against Sushil’s sentence. Thecouple lost both their children in the1997 fire which claimed 109 lives. It wasa fire that could have been averted ifproper safety rules were followed.

NIn India, there are Uphaars all

around us. Over the last five years, fireaccidents across the country caused anaverage of 62 deaths per day. In 2014alone, 19,513 cases of deaths by acciden-tal fire were reported.

According to the National HumanRights Commission (NHRC), severallives lost in minor fires go unreported.In the past 20 years, India has wit-nessed some of the gravest fire tragediesin the world. In the 1995 Dabwali fireincident near Sirsa, Haryana, 442 peo-ple, including 258 children, were killed,the 2006 fire at Victoria Park in Meerutkilled 64 and left more than 150 injured,the 2011 AMRI hospital fire in Kolkatakilled 90 people and the 2016 PuttingalDevi Temple fire in Kollam, Kerala, left106 dead. Despite such disturbing sta-tistics, fire safety is still not accorded the


trous happened. Despite that, they stilldo not keep a fire extinguisher, which ismandatory. Tanveer Ahmed, a shoe shopowner in Lajpat Nagar reasoned: “Thereis no space to keep a fire extinguisher insmall shops.”

Moreover, the narrow streets,encroached upon by the same shops,make it impossible for fire engines toreach a burning building in time. Underthe norms fixed by the Standing FireAdvisory Council (SFAC) in high hazardareas, a response time of a maximum ofthree minutes should be aimed at. Inother areas, the response time shouldnot exceed five minutes. But NavinKumar, a small shop owner, said itwould take 15-20 minutes for a fireengine to reach a fire in Lajpat Nagarmarket. To add to the problem, there aremeshes of high tension cables hanging

so low in Chandni Chowk that it wouldmake it impossible for a fire engine toenter the narrow alleys of the market. Aminor spark from one of the cablescould burn down half of the market.Similar scenarios exist in almost everyIndian city.

For larger establishments, like cine-ma halls, schools and hospitals, there’salways the power of money. Rules areflouted, officials bribed and judgmentsin cases that come to court “are over-shadowed by the power of money”,

allege Neelam and ShekharKrishnamoorthy. The couple knowsabout the travesty of justice better thananybody else. According to Neelam, theUphaar management failed to complywith the Delhi Cinematograph Rulesand false affidavits were filed from timeto time in courts to prove that devia-tions had been removed. SeniorSupreme Court advocate KTS Tulsi toldIndia Legal that “No ObjectionCertificates (NOCs) are given when theofficial is on leave or on Sundays. Thereis no rule of law, there is rule of money.”

In the Puttingal Devi Temple fire thetemple authorities were denied permis-sion for the show but they still wentahead. Most of the people died of suffo-cation and stampede in the Dabwaliincident where more than 700 peopleattended a school function where

According to a Home Ministryreport, there ought to be 8,559

fire stations in the country whenthey are only 2,987, many of

these lacking equipment.

RAGING FLAMESA fireman in a shopin Chandni Chowk,

Old Delhi

Photos: Anil Shakya

there was only one exit. So also was thecase of the Uphaar tragedy where thesecond exit was blocked by extra seats,leaving only the front exit to escape. TheAMRI hospital fire claimed lives ofmany patients, mostly aged and critical-ly ill, as they were unable to escapewithout any proper fire exits.

LOOPHOLES IN LAWSThen there are some absurd laws.Deputy Chief Fire Officer (New DelhiZone) Sunil Choudhary told IndiaLegal: “The lanes are congested. Thelow hanging wires and the narrow alleysmake it almost impossible for a fireengine to enter the area. We have topark our vehicle in the main road andconnect several hose pipes together toenter there. It takes us more than 20minutes to do so.” But they cannotenforce any fire safety laws here as thearea does not come under Delhi firesafety department’s purview. “Accordingto Delhi Fire Service Act (2009) low riseshopping centers with heights belownine meters do not need to comply withthe laws,” he explained. Likewise, mostof the restaurants in Connaught Placeand Khan Market do not have clear-ances from the fire department, but notall need it according to the law.Restaurants with a seating capacity of50 or less do not need to comply withthe fire safety laws.

Despite allocation of funds and annualmeetings being held at the state andcentral level of the fire safety depart-ment, analysis done by the SFAC foundthat funding is insufficient and the firedepartments are ill-equipped.

According to a Home Ministry report,there ought to be 8,559 fire stations inthe country when they are only 2,987.Many of these lack equipment, which isa major source of concern. The lack ofturn-table ladders, crash tenders andrescue vehicles are felt in many fire sta-tions. The NDRFCD also noted in areport that in 144 towns having a popu-lation more than one lakh, there is hugedeficiency of fire fighting infrastructure.As of now, the Fire Service needs 1,257fire stations, 2,230 water tenders, 61rescue tenders, 1,633 ambulances and1,633 extra heavy water tenders to bringadequate fire fighting facilities as pernorms fixed by SFAC. According toTulsi, unless a “safety culture with nocorners cut” is inculcated, India willalways remain a disaster zone as far asfire hazards are concerned. It’s literally aburning question, but those responsi-ble—government, fire officials, judiciaryand citizens—refuse to tackle it with anydegree of urgency.

36 March 6, 2017

� All buildings over 15 metres inheight and all buildings used as edu-cational, assembly, institutional,industrial, storage, and hazardous occupancies and mixedoccupancies having area more than500 m on each floor should have aminimum two staircases. � Fire safety appliances should be provided, installed and maintained inthese structures.� All exits should be free of obstruc-tions. No building should so alter asto reduce the number, width or pro-tection of exits to less than thatrequired.� There should be periodical fire safety inspections in commercialbuildings. � Fire safety audits should be done inindustrial institutions by external agen-cies at regular intervals depending onthe type of activity and the nature ofthe materials handled in the building.� Each building should have a sepa-rate water tank under/overground tobe exclusively used for fire hydrants.� Employees at workplace must beprovided with an educational prog-ramme about handling portable fire extinguishers.

Rules to safeguard buildings from fire and to protect life andproperty

NationalBuilding Code

Focus/ Fire Safety

DEATH-TRAPA mesh of wire cables hanging in a narrowlane in Old Delhi

States/ Chhattisgarh/ Liquor Sale

38 March 6, 2017

ownership of retail could perhaps be aprecursor to a complete ban on liquor.

The government is convinced that itis better equipped to run shops if theshops have to be shifted 500 metresfrom the main road. It also justifies itsstrategy by claiming that by limiting thenumber of bottle each customer can buyto four, it will reduce overall alcoholconsumption in the state. A ratherridiculous justification for entering thebusiness. Says TS Singh Deo, leader ofopposition: “The irony is that the samegovernment also runs a Bharat MataVahini which discourages people fromdrinking and now it wants to retail

OW does a tribal-domi-nated state likeChhattisgarh respond tothe December 15, 2016Supreme Court orderbanning liquor sale on

state and national highways from April1, 2017? Chief Minister Raman Singhhas come out with a questionable strate-gy of getting the private sector out of theliquor trade and the government takingover the retail of liquor in the state. Thereason for this change: with liquorshops banned on highways, the privatesector would not find the trade lucrativeenough to be interested in. Also state

liquor.” The joke is that the new employ-ees will be the ones who will stage dhar-nas outside liquor shops in the morningand by evening sell liquor.

The state government is ready withits ordinance, CG Excise Amendment2017, which will facilitate the govern-ment to take over the retail of liquorthrough state-owned shops and its ownemployees. The state has formed a newcorporation under its chief secretary,Vivek Dhand, which will induct 2,000new employees to sell liquor from its outlets.

A confused state commercial taxesminister, Amar Agarwal, explains the

Questionable StrategyFollowing SC ban on liquor shops along highways, Chief Minister Raman Singh wants the state totake over the lucrative liquor retailing business. Can the move really curtail liquor consumption? By Neeraj Mishra

HCURIOUS MOVESPeople queuing up at a liquor shop


homework being done before the gov-ernment’s foray into the liquor trade:“Since the Supreme Court has put arestraint on liquor vends, we have decid-ed to send a 11-member committee tosix states to observe and report on whatthe policy should eventually be.” The 11-member committee is yet to be formedand the six states include, Tamil Nadu,Delhi and Kerala, where the govern-ments run the retail business and threestates where they don’t—Maharashtra,UP and Punjab.

REVENUE GROSSERWhile the Chhattisgarh governmentmachinery may claim that it has keptthe SC order as its guiding principle, thetruth may lie elsewhere. There are cur-rently 712 private liquor outlets in thestate and they are supplied foreignliquor through the State BeveragesCorporation, which in turn acquires itfrom manufacturers. Of the total num-ber of shops, 280 on the key nationaland state highways across the state arethe cash cows. The state earns around `4,000-`5,000 crore annually by auc-tioning shops. Of this revenue, 75 percent comes from shops located onthe highways.

There are about five families in thestate monopolising the liquor retailbusiness. These families have nowrefused to remain in the business if theycan’t run the 280 shops on the high-ways. “Very few shops inside towns pro-vide the returns required to make thisbusiness lucrative since we are alsoforced by the state to run shops whichactually run up losses because they arebadly located,” says a liquor contractor.

For most state governments, excise isa huge source of revenue. Tamil Nadu,for instance, rakes in `22,000 crore perannum by way of excise revenue, Keralagets about `8,000 crore, andChhattisgarh makes around `5,000crore. It is the state’s second-best rev-enue source, after mining. To bridge thegap in loss of revenue may be difficultfor the state by simply turning to retail.But there is another underlying political

theme to what Chief Minister RamanSingh wants to achieve.

A POLITICAL SUB-TEXTMost of his partymen believe that retail-ing is the first step towards a completeban on liquor sale in the state by 2018.If Chhattisgarh does that, the CM would be following in the footsteps ofhis leader Narendra Modi who has beencampaigning for total prohibition. Oneof the key promises Modi made duringhis UP and Punjab campaigns was nashabandi.

Singh has already said that no morenew shops will be opened in the state.His PDS policies have been a roaringsuccess over the past ten years althoughthe free rice the state provides to morethan 36 lakh BPL families may have in away promoted the consumption ofliquor. Each family sells some amount ofexcess rice in the black market and mostof this money seems to have gone to the liquor vends. This has dentedSingh’s image.

However, his detractors wonder ifprohibition was the CM’s focus whywould he go through the ruse of firstretailing and then curtailing it? Perhapsonly Singh can answer that.

LIQUOR FIGHT: (L to R) Prime Minister Narendra Modi,who has nashabandi as one of his main agendas, atAnandpur Sahib Gurudwara; Chief Minister Raman Singh

Excise is a huge source of revenueand Chhattisgarh makes around`5000 crore through it.

It is the state’s second-best revenue source, after mining.

Photos: UNI

According to Google’sTransparency Report 2016, last

year the website received565,412 requests to delete URLs.

It deleted 43.2 percent of them.

Tech/ Online Search/ Personal Data

40 March 6, 2017

N this age of internet and searchengines there may be recordsfrom your past which have no relevance to your present orfuture life. For example, theremight be civil cases which have

been closed, disputes which have beenamicably settled and dusted. But theyreappear each time your name issearched. These defunct documents, ifkept alive in the public domain, mayprove to be nothing more than a sourceof embarrassment. Do you have theright to have irrelevant documentationblocked? Or simply put: Do you havethe right to be forgotten?

EXPOSED BEYOND COMFORTIndian law does not provide citizens anysuch right. In fact, the InformationTechnology (IT) Act, 2002 and the ITRules, 2011 do not even delve on theissue. And yet, in a landmark judgementlast month, Justice Anand Byrareddy ofthe Karnataka High Court adjudicatedin favour of the right to be forgotten.This is the first time that an Indiancourt has taken cognisance of what isenshrined in the European Union DataProtection Directive, 1995 which gavecitizens of member states the right toblock defunct personal records.

The case which came up before theKarnataka High Court needs recountingto place the judgement in context.

Down theMemory Hole…

In a recent landmark judgement, the Karnataka High Court upheld the citizen’s “right tobe forgotten.” It has thus opened the doors for blocking defunct personal records from free public access on the internet. By Ajith Pillai

I

Amitava Sen

A woman (Ms X) had filed a criminalcomplaint resulting in an FIR beinglodged against her “husband” under various sections of the IPC. She alsofiled a civil suit seeking declaration thatthere was no marriage between her andthe man and prayed for the annulmentof the marriage certificate that was

issued to the couple.However, a compromise was reached

between them and their families. It wasagreed upon that Ms X would withdrawher original criminal complaint and ter-minate all legal procedures initiated byher and continue with the marriage. Apetition was filed by the husband toquash the case against him and theprayer for withdrawal was grantedthrough a court order.

Subsequently, Ms X’s fatherapproached the Karnataka High Courtwith the plea that his daughter’s nameand address should be blocked from thecourt order relating to the quashing ofthe case against her husband which wasin the public domain. In his rulingJustice Byrareddy put on record thefamily’s fears: “It is the apprehension ofthe petitioner’s daughter that if a name-wise search is carried on by any personthrough any of the internet serviceproviders such as Google and Yahoo,this order may reflect in the results ofsuch a search and therefore, it is thegrave apprehension of the petitioner’sdaughter that if her name should bereflected in such a search by chance onthe public domain, it would have repercussions even affecting the rela-tionship with her husband and her reputation that she has in the societyand therefore is before this court with aspecial request that the Registry bedirected to mask her name in the cause-title of the order passed in the petitionfiled by her husband—accused inCriminal Petition No.1599/2015, dis-

posed of on June 15, 2015.Further, if her name is reflected any-

where in the body of the order apartfrom the cause-title, the Registry shalltake steps to mask her name beforereleasing the order for the benefit of anysuch other service provider who mayseek a copy of the orders of this court.”

The court directed that it “should bethe endeavour of the Registry to ensurethat any internet search made in thepublic domain ought not to reflect thepetitioner’s daughter’s name…”

Justice Byrareddy concluded hisjudgement by spelling out why he hadrecognised the right to be forgotten. To quote: “This would be in line withthe trend in the Western countrieswhere they follow as a matter of rule the“Right to be forgotten” in sensitive casesinvolving women in general and highlysensitive cases involving rape or affect-ing the modesty and reputation of theperson concerned. The petition is dis-posed of accordingly.”

However, the Karnataka High Courtruling makes it clear that a wiping outof the woman’s name from all officialcourt records is not feasible. It notes “ifa certified copy of the order is appliedfor, the name of the petitioner’s daugh-ter would certainly be reflected in thecopy of the order.”

DEMANDING AMNESIAWhile addressing the issue of publicaccess to personal data, the High Courtwas touching upon a matter of universalconcern. Websites and courts the world

over are being flooded withrequests to be forgotten.According to Google’sTransparency Report 2016,last year the website received565,412 requests to deleteURLs. It acted by deleting43.2 percent of them. The vol-ume of requests, the reportpoints out, will only increasein the future.

There is case pending inthe Delhi High Court where apetitioner has prayed that he


is being denied jobs because his wifeand his mother-in-law’s names figure ina criminal case. His contention is thatwhen his name is searched on the inter-net by prospective employers the objec-tionable case and court orders pertain-ing to it pops up. The court is yet toadjudicate in the matter.

In another case, the Gujarat HighCourt dismissed the petition in whichthe petitioner had sought the court’sdirection to restrain Google and thewebsite Indiankanoon.org from publish-ing the judgment of a case in which hehad got an acquittal. The court ruledthat the judgment posted on the net waspronounced by the court and publish-ing it could not be restrained by andlegal provisions.

The Karnataka High Court judge-ment has addressed a critical issue ofimmense contemporary relevance whichhas so far not been addressed by Indianlaws. The right to be forgotten, nodoubt, is a complex issue that involvespersonal privacy and the public’s right to information. Perhaps the judgementwill inspire our lawmakers to bring clar-ity into the IT Act on an issue that needsto be urgently addressed.

DEFUNCT BUT ALIVEClosed civil cases may cause embarrassmentwhen they reappear on online searches

“In Western countries theyfollow...the “Right to be forgotten” in sensitive casesinvolving women in generaland highly sensitive casesinvolving rape or affecting themodesty and reputation of theperson concerned.”Justice Anand ByrareddyKarnataka High Court

My Space/ Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr

42 March 6, 2017

T is a mind-blowing legal battlefor many unobvious reasons.First, it is a battle between twobig, high-profile universities—the University of California(Berkeley) and the Broad Ins-

titute at Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology of Harvard University. It is a patent battle, which means it is aboutwho got there first and who can assertthe intellectual property right.

The technology at issue is that of usi-ng a protein —CRISPR-Cas9—to sliceDNA, which is part of the burgeoningmedical research field of genetic thera-peutics, with huge commercial implica-tions and millions of dollars in earningsfor anyone who owns the patent.

Did the method used by University of California(Berkeley) give it rightful precedence?

IThe United States Patent Trial and

Appeal Board, in its decision onFebruary 15, 2017, said that BroadInstitute patents do not clash with theuse of the gene-splicing method throughCRISPR-Cas9, mastered by theUniversity of Berkeley. It is a case thatwould puzzle scientific as well as legalminds, and the judges at the US PatentTrial and Appeals Board were reallyfaced with an intellectual challenge.

Is this one of those ideal cases inwhich the technologically and economi-cally advanced United States has createdan intellectual benchmark? Many inIndia, the intelligentsia, the intellectu-als, and the scientists are not veryenamoured with patents. Call it the

civilisational bias. The argument is thatknowledge, including discoveries,should not be turned into private prop-erty because knowledge is universal. It isa common sentiment not just in Indiabut in other places as well. Rememberthe inventor of the world wide web(www), Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee,did not patent his invention, which hecould have. At home, we have the case ofSir Jagadish Chandra Bose, who discov-ered radio messaging and gave a public

Slicing through

Gene-splicing

COMPETITIVE RESEARCH The University of California (Berkeley) and theBroad Institute at Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology of Harvard University fought it outin courts over a gene splicing method

demonstration of it in Kolkata in 1895,though he never patented it, andGuglielmo Marconi, who mastered ittwo years later patented it.

In its order, the US Patent Trial andAppeals Board did what it could,slicing through the technicalities—

scientific as well as legal—that lay onthe way. Reading the order, one findsthat the evidence presented by the exp-erts from both sides has been weighed,though one cannot say evenly. The issueat stake was this: though UC (Berkeley)was the earlier one to have used theCRISPR-Cas9 method for gene-splicing,its discovery did not imply that whenBroad Institute used it for a differentpurpose, it was treading on the feet ofthe UC (Berkeley) group. The mootissue in a patent battle is who did it first.

Broad argued, and the board accept-ed, that UC (Berkeley) had usedCRISPR-Cas9 in prokaryotic cells—thatis simple unicellular organisms like thebacteria which did not have complicatedor differentiated inner structures,whereas Broad had applied the methodin eukaryotic cells—evolved cell struc-tures which had a nucleus separated bya membrane from the other parts of thecellular organism, and this includesplant and animal cells. UC (Berkeley)argued that its method, CRISPR-Cas9 –implied that it could be extended andused successfully in other organisms too.

The board, going through the evi-dence offered by the experts, came tothe conclusion that UC (Berkeley)’smethod promised the prospect of itsfuture use in other organisms, but it didnot assure success. A patent can beoffered only when the method or tech-nology is perfected and a skillful practi-tioner can use it with the confidencethat it will work. The assurance of suc-cess was not there in the earlier claimsmade for UC (Berkeley)’s breakthrough.

While denying that all the possiblefuture uses of CRISPR-Cas9 gave UC(Berkeley) patent rights because therewas no guarantee of success when app-lied to other organisms—in this caseeukaryotic cells—the board did notaward the patent to Broad Institute.

In its summary, the board says,“Broad has persuaded us that the partiesclaim patentably distinct subject matter,rebutting the presumption created by


declaration of this interference. Broadprovided sufficient evidence to showthat its claim, which are all limited toCRISPR-Cas9 systems in a eukaryoticenvironment, are not drawn to the sameinvention as UC’s claims, which are alldirected to CRISPR-Cas9 systems notrestricted to any environment. Speci-fically, the evidence shows that theinvention of such systems in eukaryoticcells would not have been obvious overthe invention of CRISPR-Cas9 systemsin any environment, including inprokaryotic cells or in vitro, because oneof ordinary skill in the art would nothave reasonable expected a CRISPR-Cas9 system to be successful in aeukaryotic environment. This evidenceshows that the parties’ claims do notinterfere. Accordingly, we terminate theinterference.”

UC (Berkeley) said that it respectsthe decision but it would want to con-sider the option of approaching a federalcourt in the matter. Meanwhile, BroadInstitute, has indicated that there isroom for many patents in the field andthat it was not a case of a single patentcovering the whole, wide field of genesplicing. Here is a case which involvesthe legality of scientific developments inthe context of intellectual propertyrights, and it requires that scientificworkings qua science have to be under-stood as well.

It would be interesting to seewhether Indian scientists and researchcentres would want to fight patent bat-tles with each other for the sake of themarket pie, or will the country continuewith the Soviet model where researchwork done in an institute will not bereplicated by another? It will also be necessary that India develop a strongpatent regime and a patent dispute reso-lution mechanism . It may also be nec-essary that Indian universities andresearch centres would have to learn tocompete with each other. The argumentthat it would be a waste of resources forseveral institutes to be racing each otherin the same field will remain a timidresponse.

The argument that it would be awaste of resources for several

institutes to be racing each otherin the same field will remain a

timid response.

DECODING HUMAN DNA Use of a protein—CRISPR-Cas9—to sliceDNA has immense potential in medicine

BridgeHelix

Rec I Rec II Rec I RuvC HNH RuvC PAMInteracting

RuvC

60 94 1801 308 718 775 909 1099 1368

Global Trends/ Bangladesh

44 March 6, 2017

OBEL laureateMuhammad Yunus isnot Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina’sfavourite person. Eversince a Canadian court,

earlier this month (on February 10), dis-missed the case against two formerexecutives of a Canadian engineeringfirm, SNC-Lava, accused of bribingBangladeshi officials, the attack on

After a Canadian court lets her government off the hook onthe Padma bridge issue, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasinalaunches attack on Nobel laureate Muhammad YunusBy Seema Guha

NYunus has become sharper. Much of thisis led by Sheikh Hasina and her son,Sajeeb Wazed Joy. With the PM settingthe tone, the entire government as wellas party leaders are baying for his blood.

The controversy dates back severalyears. The World Bank, which hadpledged $1.2 billion for a bridge over theriver Padma, pulled out of the project inJuly 2012 because of concerns that theSNC-Lava officials were paying

Bangladeshi officials to get approval.The World Bank made much noiseabout corruption in the highest quartersof government while pulling out. Thiswas a major setback for the AwamiLeague government and its internation-al reputation. Bangladesh saw it as aconspiracy and linked it to the govern-ment’s move to remove Yunus as direc-tor of Grameen Bank.

SEVERAL HEADS ROLLEDEarlier, on two occasions (September2011 and April 2012), the World Bankhad submitted its concerns about cor-ruption in high places to Hasina. TheAwami League government was forcedto act on the World Bank report. Theminister for communications, SyedAbdul Hossain, had to step down. Asenior secretary was arrested. The PM’sadviser, Moshiur Rahman, had to go onleave. Later, after an investigation, theBangladesh government dismissed the allegations.

However, the World Bank pulled outin 2012, with the following comments:“The World Bank cannot, should not,and will not turn a blind eye to evidenceof corruption... We have both an ethicalobligation and a fiduciary responsibilityto our shareholders and IDA donorcountries. It is our responsibility tomake sure IDA resources are used fortheir intended purposes and we onlyfinance a project when we have ade-quate assurances that we can do so in aclean and transparent way.”

Bangladesh decided to go ahead withthe project by raising its own resources.The multi-modal bridge is still beingconstructed. However, the Canadiancourt’s judgment has come as a shot inthe arm for the Awami League. Two ofthe SNC-Lava executives as well as aBangladeshi-Canadian national, againstwhom the corruption charges were lev-elled, were let off as the judge threw outthe wire tapping evidence provided bythe Canadian police. The police werealso rebuked by the judge who saidmuch of evidence was based on “gossipand rumours.’’ With the case of bribery

AnimosityInternational

IN COMMAND: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a function in Dhaka UNI

against the SNC-Lava officials thrownout, Sheikh Hasina and the governmentfeel vindicated.

Right from the beginning when theWorld Bank accused Bangladesh of cor-ruption, the Prime Minister and heraides felt that Muhammad Yunus hadinfluenced the ugly withdrawal. There isno evidence to back the claim, but it wasmade on the assumption that Yunus,who counts Bill and Hillary Clinton asfriends, had a hand in it. Hillary Clintonwas then the US Secretary of State.

“PRESSURE FROM US”Sheikh Hasina is now charging Clinton,the US State Department which sheheaded as well as the then Americanambassador in Dhaka, of exerting pres-sure to ensure that Yunus was not forcedout as Managing Director of GrameenBank. In 2011, he was pushed out of themicro finance company, which liftedthousands of Bangladeshi womenfrom poverty.

Since the recent court order, SheikhHasina and her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy,besides the entire ruling party havetrained their guns on MuhammadYunus. During her recent visit toGermany, the Prime Minister spoke ofthe Padma bridge controversy andcharged American officials of browbeat-ing her son not to remove Yunus asManaging Director of Grameen Bank.

“Hillary Clinton phoned me andexerted the same pressure. Even the USState Department summoned my sonJoy three times and told him that wewould face trouble,” she said. “Convinceyour mother,” she recalled Joy saying,quoting State Department officials. “TheUS ambassador always came to myoffice and threatened me that the fundfor the Padma bridge would be stoppedif Dr Yunus was removed from theManaging Director post of GrameenBank. These remarks were made toAwami League supporters, who hadgathered in Munich to greet the PM,while she was attending the MunichConference.

Accusations against Yunus by the

Awami League range from influencingthe World Bank to scrapping the Padmabridge financing on charges of high-level corruption, tax evasion and illegaltransfer of donor funds. All of thesecharges are regarded as baseless by theaverage Bangladeshi. The Yunus Centre,a think-tank founded by the Nobel lau-reate, said in a statement: “He has beenaccused, in harshest language andterms, of being behind false allegationsof corruption in the Padma bridge proj-ect and the suspension of funds for thePadma bridge. Prof Yunus has nevermade any statement private or publiclyto anyone about the possibility of cor-ruption in the Padma bridge project atany time. We condemn the false andbaseless accusations.”

OLD WOUNDSInterestingly, the Prime Minister’s ani-mosity against Yunus dates back to2007, when the Bangladeshi army wasbacking a caretaker government and amove was on to get the two squabblingbegums, Khaleda Zia and SheikhHasina, out of Bangladesh politics. Bothwere locked up. The army and thebureaucrats who were then the powercentre, anointed Muhammad Yunus as a


refreshing alternative. His image wasclean, he was admired and known inter-nationally as a Nobel laureate and hadlifted thousands of women from povertyin Bangladeshi. The move fizzled out,but Sheikh Hasina, though in power fortwo terms since then, has apparently notforgotten that incident.

With the PM herself publiclyairing her views, the party andgovernment leaders have followed. TheHigh Court has issued a statement seek-ing for trial of the Padma bridge “con-spirators”.

Like every South Asian country, theruling party, the government and officials are out to prove their loyalty tothe PM, and more and more outrageousdemands are likely to be made. Sadly,Sheikh Hasina herself has raised the pitch.

Bangladesh saw the WorldBank aid pullout as a conspiracy and linked it to thegovernment’s move to removeNobel laureate MuhammadYunus (left) as director ofGrameen Bank (below).

nobelprize.org

wikimedia.org

Global Trends/ UK

46 March 6, 2017

E is reportedly Africa’syoungest dollar billion-aire, has his office in theiconic Burj Khalifa inDubai, owns a ticket tofly into space and yet

when it comes to his divorce proceed-ings, he claims in court that he is worthless than half a million pounds. Hisestranged wife argues he is lying so thathe doesn’t have to give her a multi-mil-lion pound settlement.

Ashish Thakkar (35) and MeeraManek (33), an Indian-origin couple,are going through a high-profile, pro-tracted and messy divorce with thedetails of their disputed finances beingdragged through the London courtsbefore a final settlement can be decided.

Manek told the judge at the HighCourts of Justice that Thakkar has con-cealed assets worth billions in theBritish Virgin Islands so they are notcounted in the alimony she receiveswhen the divorce is finally pronounced.Thakkar, in his defence told the HighCourt that the beneficiaries of the MaraGroup, his IT, banking and propertyempire, actually belong to his motherand sister.

Justice Philip Moor, in whose courtthe case is being heard, said he “couldnot take as truth” any of the assertionson either side and ordered a full hearingin which both parties have to give evi-dence of their competing claims. TheHigh Court will first hear in detail thefull extent of Thakkar’s assets and then afurther trial will decide how muchManek should receive before their splitis formalised.

The couple were married in 2008 inKampala, Uganda and separated in2013. Manek filed for divorce in thesummer of 2014 in London where shelives and works as a travel and foodwriter and blogger. She applied forfinancial orders claiming that her hus-band was a billionaire and that he ran agroup of offshore companies for his own benefit.

Negotiations took place between theduo who have both hired extremelyexpensive lawyers—Thakkar is repre-sented by Conway and CompanySolicitors and Manek by Sandra Davis atthe famous Mishcon de Reya—but noagreement could be reached. It isexpected that just the legal costs in the case will run up to at least a million pounds.

At the end of 2015, Thakkar appliedfor a decree absolute, but Manek strong-ly contested it on the basis that her hus-band had failed so far to give full and

DubiousDisclosures

Estranged wife accuses Africa’s youngest dollar billionaire of hiding assets By Sajeda Momin in London

HBITTER SEPARATION

(L to R) Businessman Ashish Thakkar and

estranged wife Meera Manek


frank disclosure. The court decided inManek’s favour and ordered a full trialwhich is currently underway.

RAGS TO RICHES STORYThe High Court has been hearing theremarkable rags to riches story ofThakkar who was born in Leicester, torefugee parents who lost everything inthe 1970s when they were chucked outof Uganda by the African dictator IdiAmin and settled in Britain. Once hisparents became financially secure, in1993 they decided to migrate to Rwandain East Africa but their timing was par-ticularly bad as they had to flee thegenocide in 1994. The family was evacu-ated out of Rwanda and decided toresettle in Uganda.

Thakkar says it is this refugee pastthat drove him to drop out of school atthe age of 15 and become an entrepre-neur selling computer parts. He beganhis business in a shopping mall inKampala, Uganda’s capital and 20 yearslater his company now employs morethan 11,000 people across 25 countries.Three years ago he was appointed to theadvisory board of the IT company, Dell.

In 2013, Thakkar became the firstAfrican to be named in the Fortune

magazine’s annual 40 under 40 list withhis total assets said to be in excess of $1 billion. Thakkar, who now resides in Dubai, set up Atlas Mara, acompany which invests in African banking institutions, in 2014 with BobDiamond, the ex-chief executive ofBarclays Bank. Atlas Mara is listed onthe London Stock Exchange.

The Sunday Times Rich List 2015estimated Thakkar’s wealth at GBP 500million but for some unknown reasonomitted him from the list in 2016. AWall Street Journal investigation pub-lished in early February this year calcu-lated that Mara’s investments and assetsare worth about GBP 30 million. Itadded that Atlas Mara has lost almost80 per cent of its stock market valueover the last three years.

Thakkar told The Wall Street Journalthat he never claimed to be a billionaireand that the firm has always been

owned by his mother and sister. “Being the face of something doesn’t make you the owner of it,” said Thakkar.

Thakkar, who is the chairman of theUnited Nations Foundation GlobalEntrepreneurs Council, started Mara Foundation—an online mentor-ship portal for young African entrepreneurs in 2009. According tohis skeleton argument in court,Thakkar’s “passion is to be a drivingforce for positive and economic change in Africa and not to make money for himself ”.

The glamorous Manek refutes thisand calls him a liar. In her argument incourt, Manek said that documentsshowed that a Panamanian foundationwas formerly at the helm of the MaraGroup structure of which Thakkar wasthe primary beneficiary, and she thesecondary beneficiary. ThePanamanian foundation was dissolvedshortly after she issued divorce pro-ceedings in 2014.

Manek’s lawyers point out thatThakkar lives life large which he canonly do if he is wealthy. He was one ofthe first super-rich to buy a GBP160,000 ticket for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space flight—an indulgence that someone with total worth of only GBP 445,432cannot afford.

Manek’s lawyers at Mishcon de Reyahold the record in securing the largestaward ever ordered in contested matri-monial finance litigation (GBP 330 mil-lion). She is hoping that they will topthat record in her case.

Justice Moor (left), in whose court the caseis being heard, said he “could not take astruth” any of the assertions on either sideand ordered a full hearing in which both parties have to give evidence of their competing claims.

SPACE ODYSSEY: Ashish Thakkar was oneof the first super-rich to buy a ticket for theVirgin Galactic space flight

48 March 6, 2017

Whoever would have thought thatthe empress of TV soaps, EktaKapoor, would stray into the

news business? Well, she has. Her ven-ture, a news portal tentatively calledKhabre, is scheduled to be launched verysoon. The buzz in Mumbai is that Ekta isbeing supported in her venture by a mys-tery partner who is said to be in the con-struction business. Well, what we havelearnt is that work on the project is already

underway andKhabre has aneditor, PRRamesh, tillrecently man-aging editor ofOpen magazine.He will, however,continue with the magazine as a consultingeditor, at least for now. Ekta will contributeto the portal and edit the entertainmentsection. Well, as they say, Khabre bhi kabhisoap thi !!!

Media Watch

There are signs that India’s richestman, Mukesh Ambani, is looking toexpand his already large

media empire. He is already amedia mogul having taken controlof the TV18 network whichincluded 30 television chan-nels covering news, entertain-ment and regional content, digi-tal internet properties, e-com-merce websites and special interest

magazines. What his media business(Independent Media Trust) lacked was aprint product with a national footprint and

rumours are rife that hehas his eye on a nationaldaily which has recentlyshut down many region-al editions and is facingfinancial headwinds. Hisadvantage is that hismedia expansion planswill have the blessings ofthe Modi government.

Mukesh on the Prowl

The Hindu went through amakeover on February 17courtesy designer Aurobind

Patel. What caught the eye in therelaunch issue was the full page adannouncing the new look. It traced

the history of The Hindu since it wasestablished in 1878 with editorMukund Padmanabhan informingreaders that though change had tocome, the paper remained “constantto the core values that have madeThe Hindu the great newspaper thatit is.” That was reassuring but therewas a sour note—two landmarkevents of recent vintage which stirreda controversy of sorts were forgot-ten—or conveniently ignored. Thefact that the paper appointed its firstindependent (non-family) editor whenit elevated Siddharath Varadarajan tothat post in 2011 was given a miss.The Hindu’s first woman editor, MaliniParathasarathy (appointed in 2013),too does not find a mention. Did thepaper black out the names of thetwo editors because both quit in ahuff? Many staffers in Chennai are ofthe view that the managementshould have been more charitable.

The fracas in theWomen’s Press Clubin Delhi over the man-

aging committee orderregarding “anti-national”events has been somewhatresolved. The order had stat-ed that organisations want-ing to hold events in thepremises had to sign anundertaking stating thatthere would be no “anti-national” or “seditious”speeches made. Even thepress club member who rec-ommended the organisation,mainly NGOs, would have tosign a similar undertaking.An uproar by a majority ofmembers led to a GeneralBody Meeting where themajority demanded removalof the undertaking. Finally, acompromise was reachedwhereby the head of theorganisation would sign anundertaking which merelystates that the meeting orget-together would abide by“the laws of the land”.Further, the member who theorganisation came throughwould not have to sign anyundertaking. Not everyone ishappy with the managingcommittee, though.

Tailpiece

— Illustrations: UdayShankar

LandmarksIgnored

Soaps to News

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Judge in the DockAs the March 10 deadline for Justice Karnan’s response to contempt notice nears, the larger issue of disciplining judges assumes a national dimension

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Tamil Nadu: Governor’s dubious dabbling

ELECTIONS are a time of wildpromises and even wilder lan-guage and rhetoric. The cam-

paign in UP, in particular, has brokenall records for promises to be brokenand language that make a sailor blush.Imagine how it would all sound like tothe poor voter? Here’s a typical conver-sation among a group of villagers.

Villager 1: What do you make of this election?Villager 2: What will I make? It dependswho we vote into government.With SP, we get free laptops, pres-sure cookers, Samajwadi smart-phones, cycles, monthly pensions.Acche Din, as someone once said.Villager 3: That’s all very fine but notmuch use if there’s no electricity.Our lives are still like we are livingin a graveyard.Villager 4: Talking about graves, I saywe vote for Akhilesh. I and my wifehave serious medical problems andhe has promised to provide us allfree medicines.

Villager 1: Did he?Villager 4: Yes, he said we will all getfree tablets.Villager 2: Actually, I feel sorry for Modiji. He is asking for a sympathy vote.

Villager 3: On what grounds?Villager 2: That he is adopted.Villager 1: I think he meant somethingelse, but this election campaign hasmade my head spin with all the halftruths, lies, promises and personalattacks. They are even attacking poor Amitabh Bachchan who is noteven contesting!

Villager 2: What did they say about him?Villager 1: Akhilesh said that he is a

Gujarati donkey. Actually, I really feel like an ass trying to figure out allthese acronyms we are being bombard-ed with. It’s torture. Do you knowabout Kasab?Villager 4: Isn’t he that guy that was fed biryani in jail, or was it in a fivestar hotel?Villager 1: According to Amit Shah, Kastands for Congress, Sa stands forSamajwadi Party and B for Mayawati.I tell you, we are in an alphabet soupthis election.

Villager 3: Yes, it is all very confusing.Modi said the same thing but spelled it as SCAM; S for Samajwadi, C for Congress, A for Akhilesh and M for Behenji. Villager 2: Yes, Akhilesh added his own version for Scam, Save Countryfrom Amit Shah and Modi which Ithought was quite clever, but look atwhat we get if we vote Behenji intooffice, farmer’s loans, job quota foreveryone plus enough money to buy asmany laptops as we want, no more ele-phant statues….

Villager 1: How can we believe every-thing she says…Villager 2: Because it’s written in stone—they all call her government patthar ki sarkar…

Villager 4: Better than a graveyard, I say.Does your village have a cremationground, as Modi is demanding? Villager 2: We don’t need one; theHindus all go to Varanasi to crematetheir dead.

Villager 3: Isn’t that Modi’s constituency? Villager 1: Yes, does your village get electricity on Ramzan? And on Diwali? Villager 2: We have been waiting allthese years for someone in powerto give us power. They promise usgadgets that need power but notthe electricity to run them. It’s likeputting the gaadi before the bail.

Villager 1: This is all bullocks. Whycan’t these politicians speak inplain, simple language that we une-ducated types can understand.Modi said something about Kattaand Dupatta, Behenji calledNarendra Modi “Mr Negative Dalit Man,’’ and Rahul says Modiji

likes to peep into other people’s bath-rooms, which goes over our heads since we have never seen a bathroom.So I ask again, what does one make ofthese elections?

Village headman: Brothers. 70 years ago,when I reached voting age, we werepromised sadak, bijli and paani. Now, my grandsons want Apple,Samsung and Lenovo and our leadersregale us with abuse and acronyms.Isn’t it amazing how far our countryhas advanced?

The Village Voice

Satire/Dilip Bobb

50 March 6, 2017

Anthony Lawrence

.

RNI No. UPENG/2007/25763 Postal Regd. No. UP/GBD-197/2014-16

INDIA LEGAL: 06 March 2017

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