A month before Gujarat went to the polls, the Centre cleared a State legislation that empowers police officers to register cases — without informing the local court in writing — against persons who protest and agitate violating Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Section 144 empowers police and district magistrates to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance of apprehended danger. The Code of Criminal Procedure (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by the State Assembly in March 2021. It was sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to examine if it was repugnant with any central law or deviated from the Central government’s policy. The clearance to the amendment comes at a time when the Ministry is actively working to overhaul the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the CrPC to remove any colonial baggage from the codes.
After holding inter-ministerial consultations, the MHA gave an opinion to process the bill, following which it was signed by the President, paving the way for it to become the law in Gujarat.
The bill seeks to make any violation of prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 CrPC, a cognisable offence under Section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).
It amends Section 195 of the CrPC, which states that no court shall take cognisance of any criminal conspiracy for contempt of lawful authority of public servants, except on the complaint in writing of the public servant concerned.
The statement and objects of the bill moved by the then-Gujarat home minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said that the Government of Gujarat, Commissioners of Police and District Magistrates are empowered to issue prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC directing any person to abstain from certain act or to take certain order to prevent disturbance of public tranquility or a riot or an affray to maintain public order on various occasions. It said that police officers while deployed on such duties come across incidents of violation and need to take appropriate legal action against the violators under Section 188 of the IPC.
“However, Section 195 of the CrPC, 1973 makes it mandatory for the public servant issuing such orders to be the complainant against the violators thereby creating an impediment for taking cognizance of violations.... Section 195 (1) (a) (ii) CrPC prohibits the jurisdictional courts from taking cognizance of the offences except on the complaint in writing of the public servant concerned,” the statement said.
Section 188 IPC was invoked liberally by police across the country on the directions of the MHA during the COVID-19 induced lockdown years of 2020 and 2021. In those two years, the number of cases registered under the said section stood at 6.12 lakh and 3.22 lakh respectively, a sharp jump from the 29,469 and 22,907 cases registered in 2019 and 2018 respectively. The maximum punishment under the Section is six months imprisonment.
Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Charges framed against Ashish Mishra, 13 others
A court here on Tuesday framed charges against Ashish Mishra and 13 others in connection with the October 2021 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri’s Tikunia in which four farmers were killed.
Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, is the main accused in the case.
District government counsel (Criminal) Arvind Tripathi said the court of additional district judge Sunil Kumar Verma fixed December 16 as the next date of hearing.
Charges of murder, attempt to murder, rioting and the Arms Act, among others, were framed against Mishra, in the case where four farmers and a journalist were mowed down by a speeding convoy.
Ashish Mishra, Nandan Singh Bisht, and others have been charged under 148, 148, 149, 302, 307, 326, 427, 120B, IPC, 177 MV Act and Arms Act
The Kheri District Court on December 5 rejected the discharge plea moved by Mishra.
A Supreme Court Bench of Justices B. R. Gavai and B. V. Nagarathna on November 11, 2022, withdrew for the sake of “judicial propriety” from hearing the bail application of Mishra.
In April, Justice Surya Kant had authored a scathing judgment against Mishra while cancelling his bail granted by the Allahabad High Court. On October 3 2021, eight people were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence during a farmers’ protest against the visit of U. P. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Ajay Mishra’s village in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
All party meeting: Congress demands debate on appointment of Election Commissioner
The Congress on Tuesday raised questions on the hasty appointment of the Election Commissioner of India at an all party meeting ahead of the winter session of Parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped the meeting which was chaired by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Leader of House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were also present. The meeting is called before every session to discuss the legislative agenda.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi and other leaders during an all-party meeting ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, at Parliament House in New Delhi on December 6, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI
The Congress, as per sources, asked the government to clarify on the reasons behind Election Commissioner’s appointment without due consultations. They have also demanded a discussion on EWS quota in reservation and unemployment. The Congress was represented by party’s Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary and Rajya Sabha whip Naseer Hussain. Chaudhary said that meetings such as these are futile, because the government rarely adheres to the agreements arrived at here.
Trinamool Congress, represented by its floor leaders in Lok Sabha Sudeep Bandhopadhyay and Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien, raised the issue of long pending dues to the states. O’Brien argued that the government was trying to destabilise the states through economic blockade. He was speaking in the context of the Centre’s stopping of MGNREGA funds worth ₹7,000 crore. The party has also demanded a debate on the Meghalaya-Assam stand off.
O’Brien also told the government that the Opposition should be allowed to raise issues of importance. The Winter Session will last till December 29, with 17 sittings over 23 days.
Demonetisation was an integral part of nation-building, says RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while noting that it did not want to sound “pompous”, declared in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the demonetisation exercise in 2016 was an “integral part of nation-building”.
“I don’t want to sound pompous. But this was really a part of nation-building. There is a lot of consensus, unanimity that everybody was prepared to suffer some hardship... Some people do not agree, but that’s all right,” the central bank, represented by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, told a Constitution Bench led by Justice S. Abdul Nazeer hearing the challenge to the demonetisation exercise.
At one point, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, on the Bench, reminded Gupta of the long queues outside banks and ATMs. Many were not able to access their money. “Each bank had only limited cash which had to be distributed among its branches. There were cases when 100 people could exchange their notes and the 101st person had to come back again,” senior advocate P. Chidambaram, for the petitioners, submitted.
Gupta said “some hardships may not have been anticipated, but we had everything in place from the first day. It is not possible to take out money one day and remonetise the next day. Care was taken to see that nobody’s money was destroyed unnecessarily,” he said.
He submitted that elaborate arrangements were made to provide everybody a reasonable opportunity and time to exchange old money for new. It was for people to arrange their affairs. Whenever problems arose, changes were made. A control room was in operation.
Justice Nagarathna referred to people who may have returned empty-handed on December 31, 2016, the last day of legal exchange of their demonetised ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes for the new currency, because the queue outside the bank was too long.
Gupta said banks during those days worked 24 hours. Bank officers upheld the system. “They were a marvel,” he declared.
Justice Nagarathna said many of the people in queues may have been domestic workers and daily labourers paid in the old currency and waiting to exchange it day after day. “Such payments in old notes were illegal. The act was illegal. From November 9, demonetised notes could only be exchanged,” Gupta reasoned.
On the practicality of a comatose person or an Indian who had gone abroad exchanging her old notes, Gupta said they could have had somebody to go to the bank on their behalf to exchange the old notes.
“And if the money was in a locker, you cannot give the key to somebody?” Justice Nagarathna asked. “But why would you not come back to India in accordance with the law?” Gupta questioned in reply.
Chidambaram said the RBI had “meekly submitted to the government’s recommendation after a deliberation of one hour in one day”. He said that finding the objectives for the 2016 demonetisation exercise was like looking for a “black cat in a dark room”. He submitted in his rejoinder that the government could not “frighten” the court to not judicially review demonetisation by saying that judges were not experts in economic policy.
He pointed out that the government had not shared with the court the records of the decision-making process leading to demonetisation. The senior lawyer said the government had not claimed “privilege” either in its oral arguments or on affidavit.
“A fair decision-making process usually leads to a fair decision. If so, they (government) should be able to confidently defend not only the decision but also the decision-making process,” Chidambaram submitted.
In Brief:
Indonesia’s Parliament passed a long-awaited and controversial revision of its penal code Tuesday that criminalises extramarital sex for citizens and visiting foreigners alike. The amended criminal code includes several revised articles that make sex outside marriage punishable by a year in jail and cohabitation by six months, but adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by their spouse, parents or children. It also says the promotion of contraception and religious blasphemy are illegal, and it restores a ban on insulting a sitting president and vice president, state institutions and national ideology.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
