New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order that a minor Muslim girl can marry a person of her choice.

 A bench of Justices S K Kaul and Abhay S Oka issued notice and appointed senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao as amicus curiae in the matter to assist the court.

“This matter needs to be considered,” the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NCPCR, submitted that this is a “serious issue” and sought a stay of the observations in the judgment.

The top court said it will examine the issue and posted the matter for hearing on November 7.

The single-judge bench of high court on June 13 had passed the order on a plea by a Pathankot-based Muslim couple who had approached the court for protection.

The high court had said the issue for consideration in the case was not with regard to the validity of the marriage but to address the apprehension raised by the petitioners of danger to their life and liberty.

It had directed the Senior Superintendent of Police, Pathankot, to decide the representation of the petitioners and take necessary action as per law.

The court cannot shut its eyes to the fact that the apprehension of the petitioners needs to be addressed. Merely because the petitioners have got married against the wishes of their family members, they cannot possibly be deprived of the fundamental rights as envisaged in the Constitution of India, the high court had said.

Mangaluru: Barely two days after being put up at the main door of the Dakshina Kannada District Court complex, the board that restricted entry to only ‘judicial officers,’ is missing on Monday morning.

The new board was installed on Saturday, prohibiting citizens as well as lawyers from entering through the door. The office-bearers of the Mangalore Bar Association informed the judge of the prohibition immediately but received no response, said sources.

Now, the board with the message, “Restricted entry: Entry reserved for Judicial Officers only,” is not to be found at the door to the court complex.

“As citizens too have criticized the installation of the board, the Association has called for a meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The matter will be discussed at the meeting and we will arrive at a decision regarding the board,” Shridhar Yenmakaje, secretary of the Association has said.

NEW DELHI: The Gujarat government on Monday defended before the Supreme Court its decision to grant remission to the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case saying remission was granted as they completed 14 years sentence in prison and their “behaviour was found to be good”.

The State government said it has considered the cases of all 11 prisoners as per the policy of 1992 and remission was granted on August 10, 2022, and the Central government also approved the pre-mature release of convicts.

It is pertinent to note that the remission was not granted under the circular governing grant of remission to prisoners as part of the celebration of “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”, it said.

The affidavit stated, “State government considered all the opinions and decided to release 11 prisoners since they have completed 14 years and above in prisons and their behaviour was found to be good.”

Gujarat government had granted remission to 11 convicts, who had gang-raped Bilkis Bano and murdered her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots.

The State government said that in a circular dated July 9, 1992, it had issued a policy for early releasing those prisoners who have completed 14 years of imprisonment who were imposed life imprisonment punishment.

“State Government is empowered to take the decisions on the proposal of premature release of prisoners under the provision of Section 432 and 433 of CrPC. However, considering the provision of Section 435 CrPC, it is indispensable to obtain the sanction of the government of India in cases in which the investigation of the offence was carried out by a central investigation agency. In the present case, the investigation was carried out by the CBI and the state government has obtained the approval / suitable orders of the government of India,” the affidavit said.

It further stated that all the convict prisoners have completed 14 plus years in prison under life imprisonment and opinions of the concerned authorities have been obtained as per the policy of July 9, 1992, and was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India on June 28, 2022, and sought the approval of suitable orders of the government of India.

“The government of India conveyed the concurrence /approval of the Central Government under section 435 of the CrPC for premature release of 11 prisoners vide letter dated July 11, 2022,” it added.

The government also questioned the locus standi of petitioners who filed the PIL challenging the decision saying they were outsiders to the case.

The government has said the plea is neither maintainable in law nor tenable on facts, saying that the petitioners as the third parties have no locus to challenge the remission order.

Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, social activist and professor Roop Rekha Verma and TMC MP Mahua Moitra had filed pleas against the release of convicts.

Earlier, the top court had issued notice to the Gujarat government and convicts and sought their responses on the pleas challenging remission order.

It had also asked the State to file the entire record of the proceedings in the Bilkis Bano case, including the remission order.

The pleas had sought setting aside of order granting remission to 11 convicts and directing their immediate re-arrest.

“It is submitted that it would appear that the constitution of members of the competent authority of the Gujarat government also bore allegiance to a political party, and also was sitting MLAs. As such, it would appear that the competent authority was not an authority that was entirely independent, and one that could independently apply its mind to the facts at hand,” the plea stated.

The plea said they have challenged the order of competent authority of the government of Gujarat by way of which 11 persons who were accused in a set of heinous offences committed in Gujarat were allowed to walk free on August 15, 2022, pursuant to remission being extended to them.

The petition said the case which led to the conviction of the 11 convicts was investigated by the CBI, accordingly, the grant of remission solely by the Gujarat government without any consultation with the Central government is impermissible in terms of the mandate of Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

The remission in this heinous case would be entirely against public interest and would shock the collective public conscience, as also be entirely against the interests of the victim (whose family has publicly made statements worrying for her safety), the plea stated.

The Gujarat government had released the 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, on August 15. All the 11 life-term convicts in the case were released as per the remission policy prevalent in Gujarat at the time of their conviction in 2008.

In March 2002 during the post-Godhra riots, Bano was allegedly gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. She was five months pregnant when rioters attacked her family in Vadodara. 

NEW DELHI: Despite the current strain in India and Pakistan relations, Pakistan has sent two delegations to India in the last 10 days. For the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Coordinators meeting being held in Delhi, Pakistan has sent a two-member delegation headed by DG SCO at Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Margoob Saleem.

Last week for the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) Pakistan sent two members as observers at the closing ceremony at Manesar. India has also taken over the Presidency of the SCO and will organise a Summit in September 2023. “There will be many meetings organised under the SCO and countries including Pakistan and China are likely to take part in them irrespective of the fact that relations with India are not normal,’’ said sources.

The SCO coordinators meeting is the first meet since under SCO since India took the presidency and such meetings will happen every month. “National coordinators are like the `Sherpas’ of the group and work on issues of concern to SCO,’’ sources added.

“It was a pleasure to interact with SCO National Coordinators at the start of their first meeting in India under India’s chairmanship,’’ said Minister of State for External Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi. Whether the visiting of Pakistani officials will manifest into a thaw in relations with India, one can’t really say. However, sources say that Pakistan has evinced a keen interest to take part in all the SCO meetings that India would be hosting under its Presidency.

The names of Pakistani officials circulating for attending various events include DG Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Asim Ali (he is said to be attending around three events) and Rai Muhammad Tahir, National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta).

SCO meet
For the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Coordinators meeting being held in Delhi, Pakistan has sent a two-member delegation headed by DG SCO at Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Margoob Saleem

AHMEDABAD: Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju said the people of the country are not happy with the collegium system and according to the spirit of the Constitution, it is the government’s job to appoint judges. 

Speaking at ‘Sabarmati Samvad’ organised here on Monday by ‘Panchjanya’, a weekly magazine published by the RSS, he said he has observed that half of the time judges are “preoccupied” with deciding the appointments, due to which their primary job of delivering justice “suffers”.

The minister’s remarks came after he had said at a conference in Jaipur last month that there is a need to rethink the collegium system of appointments to the higher judiciary.

“Till 1993, every judge in India was appointed by the law ministry in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

“The Constitution is clear about it. It says that the President of India will appoint judges, which means the law ministry will appoint judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of India,” he said.

“The Supreme Court in 1993 defined consultation as concurrence. In no other field has consultation been defined as concurrence but in judicial appointments,” he said, adding that the collegium system was expanded by the judiciary in 1998.

The Supreme Court collegium is headed by the Chief Justice of India and comprises four seniormost judges of the court.

While the government can raise objections or seek clarifications regarding the collegium’s recommendations, it is bound by procedure to clear the names of the five-member body reiterates them.

“I am aware that the people of the country are not happy with the collegium system of appointment of judges. If we go by the spirit of the Constitution, appointing judges is the job of the government,” said.

“Second thing, nowhere in the world except India is there a practice that judges appoint their brothers as judges.”

“Third, as the law minister, I have observed that half of the time and minds of judges are preoccupied with deciding who will be the next judge. Their primary work is to give justice, which suffers due to this practice,” he said.

“Further, the process of consultation for the selection of judges is so intense that, I am sorry to say such a thing, groupism develops in it. People can see politics among leaders but they do not know the politics going on inside the judiciary,” he added.

Rijiju said the law ministry’s job is to see that the person whose name has been recommended for appointment by the collegium is fit to be a Supreme Court or high court judge.

“A judge will be above criticism if he is not involved in the selection of another judge. But if he is involved in the administrative work, then he or she is not above criticism,” he said.

In 2014, the NDA government tried to change the system of appointing judges. The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act brought in 2014 would have accorded a major role to the executive in appointing judges to the higher judiciary.

However, it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015.

Responding to a question on judicial activism, Rijiju said, “Several judges pass observations which never become part of the judgement. During my consultations with them, I have requested them to refrain from it, especially when live streaming of court proceedings is taking place. They are being judged by the people.”

“As a judge, you might not know the practical difficulties or even financial implications of the order you pass,” he said.

“We have three pillars – the executive, legislature and judiciary. The executive and the legislature are bound and regulated by the judiciary. But if the judiciary goes astray, there is no mechanism to control it,” he said.

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: A SpiceJet plane coming from Goa made an emergency landing at Hyderabad airport on Wednesday night after smoke was observed in the cabin and aviation regulator DGCA is probing the incident, according to officials.

The plane landed safely and passengers disembarked through the emergency exit.

One passenger sustained minor scratches on the feet while disembarking from the aircraft, a DGCA official said.

A Hyderabad airport official said there were 86 passengers onboard the Q400 aircraft VT-SQB and that due to the emergency landing, as many as nine flights were diverted on Wednesday night after the incident at around 11 pm.

SpiceJet has been facing operational and financial headwinds in recent times, and it is already under enhanced surveillance of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The regulator had also directed the airline to operate only 50 per cent of its total flights till October 29.

On Thursday, the DGCA official said the regulator is probing the incident.

“SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operating from Goa to Hyderabad landed safely at its destination on October 12 after smoke was observed in the cabin during descent. Passengers were safely disembarked,” an airline spokesperson said.

According to the DGCA official, the plane made an emergency landing due to smoke observed in the cockpit.

On July 27, DGCA directed SpiceJet to operate a maximum of 50 per cent of its flights, which were approved in the summer schedule for a period of eight weeks owing to a series of incidents involving its flights.

Last month, the restrictions were extended till October 29.

Raipur: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and two other people after it conducted raids in a money laundering case in Chhattisgarh, officials said.

Businessman Sunil Agrawal of Indramani group and Laxmikant Tiwari, uncle of “absconding” businessman Suryakant Tiwari, have been taken into custody in the morning by the federal agency from state capital Raipur, they said.

The three people have been arrested under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and will be produced before a local court, where the ED will seek their further custody.

Vishnoi, CEO of the Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, was questioned by the agency in Raipur on Wednesday.

The arrests came after the agency launched multiple raids in Chhattisgarh on October 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal levy extorted from transporters in the state by a purported nexus of government officials, businessmen and private entities.

The agency had also sealed the residence of IAS officer and Raigarh district Collector Ranu Sahu as she was not available during the raids.

Sahu has informed the agency that she was undergoing a medical procedure and has assured cooperation in the investigation.