Editorial, "BAIL MUST BE THE RULE, NOT AN EXCEPTION," in Vol. 17: Part 1, No. 4, 28 February 2021 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD.

 BAIL MUST BE THE RULE, NOT AN EXCEPTION

is a near axiomatic rule so pronounced in the landmark order in State of Rajasthan v. Balachand, AIR 1977 SC 2447, of course with the rider, “except where there are circumstances suggestive of fleeing from justice or thwarting the course of justice or creating other troubles in the shape of repeating offences or intimidating witnesses and the like, by the petitioner who seeks enlargement on bail from the court.” Normally our first-instance courts take into consideration prima facie allegations and then even routinely order for the remand in judicial custody of the accused on their first production, consigning their pleas of innocence/requests for release on bail, to the ‘discretion’ of the courts in various tiers in the course of criminal proceedings, which can stretch for years. Even the above dictum of Justice Krishna Iyer bases upon the longstanding rule of our criminal jurisprudence, a legacy of the colonial rule, of the presumption of innocence of the accused until their guilt is proved beyond all reasonable doubt. And this editor did not find any discussion of the matter linking it to the basic or fundamental right of the accused to life and liberty (Article 21) and/or his freedom of movement and association (Article 19) in that decision. However, it is comforting to find such linking to Article 21 in the relatively recent Sanjay Chandra v. CBI, (2012) 1 SCC 40, decision of our Apex Court. In contrast, we find that the European Court of Human Rights, generally looks up such matters from the angle of their Convention Article 5 basic rights, which can be found in the Buzadji decision published in this issue; further, that Court clarifies that such right exists right from the time of first production of the accused. Hope our courts too begin to look up this grave matter primarily from the angle of human rights to liberty, etc. rather than relegate it to their merciful discretion. Here, the ASJ Sri Dharmender Rana, New Delhi, who boldly granted bail to Disha Ravi standing in favor of personal liberty and stating categorically that “[the alleged] 'Toolkit' reveals that any call for any kind of violence is conspicuously absent. In my considered opinion, Citizens are conscience keepers of government in any democratic Nation. They cannot be put behind the bars simply because they choose to disagree with the State policies. The offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of the governments,” deserves a big Kudos from all of us. Further the very sedition clause in the IPC, often misused by the power-intoxicated governments, needs to be repealed altogether – which, by the way, has been a sort of our ‘national demand’ evolved during our freedom struggle.   §§§

Editorial, "INTERNET FREEDOM A MUST FOR HUMANITY," in Vol. 17: Part 1, No. 3, 15 February 2021 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD.

INTERNET FREEDOM A MUST FOR HUMANITY

The recent arrest of an environmental activist of Bangalore, Disha Ravi, for her some edits of Greta Thunberg’s ‘tool kit’ on the current farmers agitation in North India all over the world, has once again brought to focus the utmost need for almost absolute non-interference by States plus solid assurances/ arrangements by nations to ensure the freedom for speech and expression on the internet. It is doubtless that some American corporate companies are the actual managers of the entire internet and we have seen how corporate social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. have misused their powers, and blocked the accounts of even the U.S. President Trump when he was in and now even after he is out of office. They have developed into dangerous censors undermining the freedom of speech on the net. In India we often see this or that person being arrested for trivial ‘offences’ relating to speech and expression on the internet and even charged with ‘sedition’. In the B.J.P. ruled States this revolting phenomenon is quite frequent though those run by others also no less prone to this dictatorial mentality. We may note that with the great developments in telecommunications and related technologies, entire world has become much smaller – like a global village – with more facilities for people of various nationalities, races, communities etc. to interact easily as also feel the pleasures and pains of the others and respond to those too. As such now onwards general human concerns would result in worldwide protests; the nation state itself may soon become redundant – though, of course, the ruling cliques everywhere would not let it vanish that easily. Then, we found nothing objectionable in the tool kit for which Disha Ravi was arrested; naturally, people post/share many links in their posts on the net to enable others follow their thoughts and programs. Moreover, internet speech is also a sort of blurting out of the subconscious feelings and conduct of the persons and so utmost privacy should be assured to the netizens, not such savage repression. Ultimately any reputed international organization, with the consent of many/most of the nations, may have to take charge and ensure that Internet is shifted to a headquarters outside America and, preferably, located in Geneva or Stockholm etc. to be managed under the UN auspices, with other useful changes in its conduct, but, firstly, our people must seriously protest and agitate against such repressive policies and measures of the corporates/ governments undermining the basic freedoms of the netizens.  §§§

Editorial, "REPUBLIC DAY RALLIES AND WRANGLINGS," in Vol. 17: Part 1, No. 2, 31 January 2021 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD.

 REPUBLIC DAY RALLIES AND WRANGLINGS

The farmers agitation around Delhi seems to have grown quite intense and gave rise to some awkward developments on the Republic Day with a section of farmers, mainly Sikhs, breaking away from the permitted route for their tractor rally and going on rampage near the Red Fort premises, and are even alleged to have hoisted a Khalistani flag at a vintage point on the Red Fort – or at any rate all admit that a Sikh religious flag (Nishan Sahib) was hoisted. It seems the Sikh farmer agitators were very aggressive and rode roughshod over their tractors and injured hundreds of policemen too, and in the melee, police say, a tractor overturned and a Sikh farmer (tractor-driver) was killed in the accident. Of course, no dearth of counter-allegations that his tractor toppled and he died because of police shooting him down in the first instance. One Deep Sidhu, admittedly a BJP man till recently and don’t know whether he continues so since this agitation, was the main person behind this hoisting of the ‘Nishan Sahib’ it seems and he has gone viral on the net through a video posted by himself explaining the circumstances in which the struggle took that shape; he stresses that it was to emphasize the ‘unity in diversity’ of the Indian nation that he chose to hoist that Sikh religious flag. However, a Sikh Congress MP (Ludhiana) Mr. Ravneet Singh Bittu had earlier exposed the Khalistani separatists’ involvement and incitement in the farmers agitation though he himself is camping there as one of the activist agitator leaders and even stated that the Khalistanis are spending crores of rupees for the purpose. But he seems to have kept diplomatic silence on this Republic Day melee at the Red Fort and also about the role of the alleged ‘false flag’ of BJP, Deep Singh Sidhu. However, OpIndia, a pro-BJP website, openly accuses that the Sikhs for Justice, a banned pro-Khalistan US-based group that has been attempting to ‘build a campaign for secession of Punjab’ since its inception in 2007, and which came to notice in August 2018 pro-Khalistan rally at Trafalgar Square, London, releasing the “Referendum 2020’ declaration, is very much behind these tractor rally riots and a Khalistani flag was hoisted on Red Fort with insult to the national tricolor. We have made already clear in our previous editorials that we decry this Khalistani hand but at the same time demand that suitable amendments be made in the farm laws as suggested by us earlier and this burning problem be satisfactorily resolved at the earliest. §§§

Editorial, "Can Courts Solve Political Disputes?", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 January 2021, Vol. 17, Part 1, No. 1 issue

 CAN COURTS SOLVE POLITICAL DISPUTES?

Whatever may be the socioeconomic roots/ramifications of the farmers’ agitation surrounding our national capital, it cannot be gainsaid that it is mainly political, with several organizations and sundry political parties trying to fish in the troubled waters, citing excuses of farmers’ grievances. Witnessing the lifestyle of the agitating farmers with what their cars, tractors, tents, etc., one gets the impression that many of them are capitalist landlords, rich peasants, and others influenced by those sections – again many of them seem to be Sikhs, no way a deprived section in Indian polity, but quite an enterprising, thriving community, in a way much pampered by all the establishments concerned all along, except in the difficult decade of the 80s when they put their own religious/community interests above all; almost a majority among them supported the ideal of Khalistan, a separate Sikh State, too, which led ultimately to the rise of a Frankenstein monster, then the much-lamented Operation Blue Star and consequent cataclysms – assassination of a Prime Minister and resultant mayhem of anti-Sikh riots. Now with their increased prosperity, the Sikh community world over has become more assertive and aspirational and the demands for Khalistan have grown – planned and aided by Pakistan too – and become stronger and more vocal day by day. The beginning of this agitation is mainly due to this, and we do not see other farmers in other states much interested in it. At this juncture, our Supreme Court has stepped in, even stayed the operation of the three impugned farmers’ Acts, constituting a conciliation committee even. However, we feel – especially watching the postures of the agitation leaders rejecting any solution less than repeal of the three laws – the courts can never solve such basically political disputes, at the best it may work to facilitate their resolution, that’s all. The solution lies in bringing one consolidated Act instead of the two on farm products trading, price assurance, etc. incorporating two crucially needed amendments of 1) the promises on MSP with a guarantee of government purchase of up to 50% farm produce in case farmers need so & 2) protecting States’ powers and rights to levy duties on exports/imports of farm produce to/from other states/territories. This results in the automatic repeal of two of the three Acts; and regarding the third, fresh notifications, adding or deleting to the list of essential commodities, can be issued from time to time. ♣♣♣

Editorial, "CHANGING POWER ALIGNMENTS," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 December 2020, Vol. 16, Part 2, No. 24 issue

 CHANIGING POWER ALIGNMENTS

in the international scenario, at so fast a pace, are alarming developments for peace and stability in the world. It is indeed very disturbing that the bright prospects of friendship and peace between us India and China indicated in the Modi-Xi Mahabalipuram talks in October 2019 changed so suddenly within 6-8 months due to the jingoist border policies/measures of the communal fanatic central government, perhaps in spite of Modi, to a serious conflict climate. Likewise the belligerent policies and measures of Trump, who unjustly makes China his ‘whipping boy’, have also, or in the main, contributed to a cold war situation with China and to an extent with Russia too. America, through Trump’s brash talk, but no less supported, and even exacerbated, by the ‘president-elect’ Biden’s aggressive postures, has been almost itching for a war with China, and started a serious trade war already with a number of sanctions, solely due to the jealousy of losing its status of the only superpower in the world due to China’s unparalleled growth in the last decade or so. It may also be noted that, despite Trump’s soft attitude, the American deep state has forced him into confrontation with Russia too and, instead of lifting the sanctions imposed by the Obama regime, he more vitiated the climate by his unwarranted support to Zionist chauvinism and the near terrorist tirade against Iran. Here too the Modi Government, with no discussion/debate at all in the Parliament, let alone in the public forums, has hastily shoved us into the US-NATO-Israel evil axis, shedding our traditional support to the just Palestinian causes in that most conflict-ridden region of the world. Now these fools have also forgone the bright prospects/profits we can have by shunning the recently concluded Asia-Pacific accord led by China, the world’s largest trade deal, in which many countries, even Australia and Japan, wisely joined. Instead they are egging on for a serious confrontation with China, by tagging our country to the warship of QUAD nations. Glad to note, however, that Russia and China have now joined hands for countering the imperialist, hegemonic frenzy of this evil axis, and for reshaping the world into a multi-polar, peace-loving union of diverse, self-respecting nations working for the cause of peace and welfare of entire humanity, and hope our people will also rise against the current bigot policies and measures of our government and join the tryst for such much-desired destiny. §§§

Editorial, "FARM LAWS (2020) AND FARMERS' AGITATION," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 December 2020, Vol. 16, Part 2, No. 23 issue

FARM LAWS (2020) AND FARMERS’ AGITATION

That the recently enacted three farm laws to facilitate the free trade of agricultural produce all over India as also to promote the private/corporate sector’s role in this arena, were resented by a large section of the people one always knew but it was beyond anybody’s guess that it would snowball into so large an agitation blockading the national capital Delhi. In one sense it is a welcome development in that the farmers have bravely stood on their feet and defiantly marched for their just demands in this regard, but, in another sense, it is quite disturbing too as it is very much infested by Khalistani separatists so far as the main Punjab detachment is concerned and the farmers in rest of India seem to have not much grievance or fury against these laws though several farmers/organizations there also did/are seeking to add fuel to the fire. The protests organized in some big cities of the US and the West point to the role of the Khalistanis supported by Pakistan in this regard. All of us know how badly we suffered due to the Khalistani terrorist menace in the 1980s and are shocked by the extremist declarations of reaching the present PM Modi the same ‘fate’ as suffered by our former PM Indira Gandhi. To quote from the preamble of one of these farm acts, it is said these are “to provide for the creation of an ecosystem where the farmers and traders enjoy the freedom of choice relating to sale and purchase of farmers’ produce which facilitates remunerative prices through competitive alternative trading channels; to promote efficient, transparent and barrier-free inter-State and intra-State trade and commerce of farmers’ produce outside the physical premises of markets or deemed markets notified under various State agricultural produce market legislations; to provide a facilitative framework for electronic trading and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” Not a wrong or unjust motive, but in this editor’s opinion these suffer from two main lacunae – one, the assurance of Minimum Support Price (MSP) to agricultural products of many varieties (not just the 23 or so notified so far), including perishable goods, has to be incorporated in these laws with an undertaking by governments to purchase at least 50% of the produce at MSP from the farmers if so necessitated. Secondly, the States’ sovereign rights and powers should be protected/promoted by suitable amendments to let them levy duties on imports/exports of agricultural produce to/from their states. Otherwise the present quasi-federal structure of the country itself may be seriously jeopardized by fissiparous tendencies. §§§ 

Editorial, "ELECTRONIC MACHINES, ELECTION FRAUDS," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15-30 November 2020, Vol. 16, Part 2, No. 21-22, special issue

ELECTRONIC MACHINES, ELECTION FRAUDS

With the current presidential [re-]election fiasco in the USA and the stubborn, refusing-to-concede, President Donald Trump countering the so-called ‘President-Elect’ Joe Biden, the political focus worldwide has shifted again toward the propriety and reliability of using electronic machines in election processes – be those voting or counting machines. Even in India, we feel that, widespread rigging was conducted incognito through electronic voting machines in 2014 elections, but more so in the 2019 central and states’ elections, which had tilted the balance toward some established parties to a great extent; as such, since long, we have been calling for going back to the paper ballot. It is significant to note that in developed democracies in the West, paper ballot is cherished more and electronic voting is not used, or now shunned, in most of them, including France and Germany, mainly due to cybersecurity concerns. In the recent US presidential elections, not only electronic voting but even counting machines seem to have played havoc and were manipulated to alter a definite win for the incumbent president to the so-called ‘victory’ for a corrupt and inept ‘president-elect’. President Trump is inflexibly resisting this fraudulent outcome and litigating in several courts with lots of evidence regarding electoral frauds and we wish all success to his efforts. The Dominion Voting machines, of Venezuelan origin, notorious for their alleged rigging of elections in Venezuela, have been used in the Swing States by the Democrats’ controlled cities and lakhs of votes were manipulated. The other big problem was the mail-in-votes fraud; lakhs of falsely signed mail-in-votes dumps suddenly emerged to  enable the losing Biden attain slender majorities by the next morning. Hence, even now, the said swing states’ legislatures can disregard this so-called ‘popular vote’ [including by the dead, non-resident, non-existing etc. mail-in voters] as a fraud on the people and send all electors for Trump by the time Electoral College finally meets on 14 December; that is neither unconstitutional nor illegal. Further, we may note that the unincorporated remote territory of Guam had, by public law 28-152, prohibited any sort of electronic voting ever since 2006 though it allowed counting machines. However, present developments show that even the counting machines are capable of flipping-the-votes, etc. frauds. So, unless the cybersecurity concerns are properly addressed in all or at least several major democracies in the world, electornic voting and counting should be strictly prohibited; and the mail-in-votes also must be limited to specific categories of people like government servants, armed forces, senior citizens of advanced age, seriously ailing handicapped persons etc. and that too with strict scrutiny standards as followed in our Indian postal ballot system. §§§ 

Editorial, "MYTH AND REALITY," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 October 2020, Vol. 16, Part 2, No. 20 issue

 MYTH AND REALITY

That the Adivasi Gond martyr Komaram Bheem had organized a very big rebellion to overthrow the Nizam’s rule that was suppressed with much bloodshed and difficulty with great losses to the government forces is a myth. That he was a discontented, rebellious tribal with inspirational/ organizing capabilities and fought against the illegal, forcible evictions of himself and fellow-tribals from their longstanding podu (shifting cultivation) lands is true and in that course though he used his gun just once he did not injure any ‘enemy’ but in the cruel and excessive counter-firing by the Nizam’s forces he and 10 other Gonds were killed is the actual reality. The above assertion of this editor raked up much criticism but then this narration of the event by a famous Austrian anthropologist could be the only counter: “… [Kumra] Bhimu and his supporters had no revolutionary aims, and their demands were simply freedom from harassment and extortions by forest subordinates, and the right to live undisturbed in their ancestral homeland. Negotiations with Bhimu and his supporters by the district officers were clearly mismanaged, and were abortive ……. Bhimu refused to give himself up, and when a police party advanced into the hills, where he and his followers had gathered, Bhimu fired a shot without wounding anyone. Thereupon the police opened fire, killed Bhimu and ten other gonds on the spot, and wounded many more. The incident left the Gonds deeply resentful of the policy of government … particularly of the forest officials, who intensified their oppression and exploitation, using the example of Bhimu's fate as a threat whenever Gonds resisted their exactions. [von Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph: Tribes of India: The Struggle for Survival, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982, http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ ft8r29p2r8/, pp. 91-93].” In contrast, the ruthless firings and killings of scores of tribals at Indravelli in the same district [on 20-04-1981] by the police forces in independent India were much gruesome and unequivocally true. But bitter truths are never palatable to the public hearts, which revel in weird imaginations like the filmy fictions of the Rajamouli like. Now for his RRR fiction, he is facing the furor of the extremist public. But what if to the incredible illusions of the public Rajamouli added another of Kumra Bhimu donning a Muslim guise and escaping? What discerning persons, and especially constitutional courts, should consider is as to whether spreading disinformation with completely untruthful narrations about legendary freedom fighters/social activists is permissible unless open disclaimers be made that the story is entirely fictional and not about any living/actually lived person. §§§