Civil Liberties

- Bilkis Bano and G N Saibaba: A tale of two injustices October 22, 2022 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/bilkis-bano-and-g-n-saibaba-a-tale-of-two-injustices-8221303/  The question is not about the power of the Chief Justice to order the listing of a matter before any bench at any time. It is about the unhealthy precedent that has been set. It is only in the rarest of rare cases that special sittings were held in the past, where the life and liberty of an individual was at stake. Never, perhaps, have they been held to take away the liberty of an individual who had secured the same through the process of the court, and not by executive fiat.
UAPA is a stringent and draconian law. It is difficult — perhaps even impossible — for a person prosecuted under the said Act to obtain bail. That is why procedural safeguards, such as obtaining sanction from a competent authority appointed by the central or state government, as the case may be, before launching prosecution have been provided. It is against this background that the Bombay High Court made the salutary observation that “the fight against terrorism was important, but procedural safeguards cannot be sacrificed at the altar of perceived peril to national security.”
Comment: Somehow some lawyers seem to have persuaded judges that the State is so weak against people like Sai Baba, Stan Swamy, or for that matter BK16, that cannot be confined in some other more human manner till the trial is done. And that should raise whatever "procedural" issues in the first instance. Teesta had insisted that the Gujarat Police take them to a jurisdictional police station so that she could record her statement and get due service..

The State position seems to be that Bilkis' and other women and their who were targetted in 2002, dont need any protection from people who feel that their "sanskar" allows them to violate human beings for their beliefs, and politics... and that the only issue was that the order followed formal procedure even if it was illogical or had key persons in the State disagreeing with it...

Quite clearly, the entire proceedings against Saibaba are null and void without the previous sanction to prosecute him. Despite this, the SC took the unprecedented step of suspending the Bombay HC order to discharge him.

https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-gn-saibaba-discharges-suspend-new-abnormal 

by Madan B. Lokur

20/10/2022

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HC: All policemen in Maharashtra should be aware of arrest norms by August 30 Omkar Gokhale August 14, 2022 https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/hc-all-policemen-in-maharashtra-should-be-aware-of-arrest-norms-by-august-30-8088713/lite/

The court also warned that “failure to abide by the said guidelines, shall invite disciplinary action against the said officer as well as the superiors.” Additional Public Prosecutor S V Gavand for the state placed on record the guidelines on ‘law of arrest’, which referred to past Supreme Court verdicts in Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar (2014) and Satender Kumar Antil v CBI (2021) cases. The DGP order said that if the IO decides to arrest the accused after assessing the adequacy of evidentiary material, he or she shall record for making or even for not making an arrest. The guidelines said that once a decision of arrest is made by the IO, he or she has to comply with the procedure for arresting persons according to the CrPC and past court judgements.

Today we commemorate the 50^th birth anniversary of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) of West Bengal which is one of the oldest human rights organisations in India. A truly landmark day in the history of the civil liberties movement in India. Positive that today inspite of all ups and down it is shimmering it’s torch .

https://countercurrents.org/2022/06/salute-association-for-democratic-rights-apdr-on-turning-50/

by  Harsh Thakore

26/06/2022

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