India Legal 31 December 2015

Bhai gets new Jaan26
By NEETA KOLHATKAR
NDIA
EGAL
I L
www.indialegalonline.com
December 31, 2015
`100
STORIES THAT COUNT
Political
Paralysis
As the Congress goes on the warpath in

defense of its First Family in the
National Herald controversy, legislation
comes to a full stop
Ajith Pillai examines the national fallout
Venkatasubramanian untangles the legal
intricacies 18
LAW
TWEAKED
SO
BEATLES
CAN LIVE
ON IN
RISHIKESH 58
PAPIA
SAMAJDAR
Legal
ownership
race in
space 70
TS THAKUR
Chief Justice
speaks out
on arbitration
42
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
INDERJIT BADHWAR
KALYUGA AND
THE RULE OF LAW
VER since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948, December
10 is observed every year to memorialize this remarkable milestone in
the journey of humankind towards the goals
of dignity, freedom, equality of opportunity
and social and economic justice for all. The
international covenants adopted by the
United Nationswith India as a signatory to
bothare the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. Formalized in 1966, these pledges
actually commit the world to uphold what are
perhaps the highest and noblest values of
human civilization as articulated by saints,
sages, philosophers, revolutionaries and
political visionaries.
Todays reality, notwithstanding these
goals, is that we watch with helpless horror
the chaos, blood-letting, massacres, lack of
justice, inequalities and the spreading culture
of impunity that prevails in every part of the
globe. If one has any belief in the ancient
Indian theories of yugas (eons), then surely
what prevails today is the kalyugathe dark
eonruled over by dark knights.
So what do we do? Simply wring our
hands or hold our heads in distress and pray
to the heavens for relief? Prayer may be comforting and may bring on a personal sense of
psychological calm. The practice may even
transform you into a better human being and
the more the better human beings, the more
December 31, 2015
the progress towards a better world.

But does prayer work for all? Actually,
through a process of philosophical introspection, historical experience and practical
necessity over the ages there have evolved
simultaneously with the evolution of the
human speciesformulae prescribed for
fighting ourselves out of this black hole into
the universe of greater enlightenment. It
is my belief that evolutions ultimate destination is greater harmony, peace and enlightenment. If the human species is not to perish, it
must pursue ethics which is a compulsion of
evolution.
he formulae I speak of are not the religious beliefs of ascetics or religious

pathfinderseven though many of
them may have their origins in religious texts
and sermonsbut the down-to-earth enunciation and application of precepts by men and
women of wisdom designed to make all
humankind reach out to and follow eternal
truths which will make us better citizens of a
better world.
One all-encompassing precept is that of
human rights which time and again finds
utterance in various cultures and in various
forms. In ancient India, Raj Dharma bound
all kings to bow to basic principles of justice.
It was a version of what we now call the Rule
of Law, the gold standard which differentiates
democracies and republics from authoritarian regimes, absolute monarchies and banana
republics.
In England, Raj Dharma has its origins in King Johns Magna Carta of
1215. One of the most important documents in history, it guaranteed the
people certain rights and bound the
king to certain laws at a time when
England was mainly operated on a feudal system of land ownership. In
ancient Greece, the Big ThreeSocrates, Aristotle and Platowere philosophers who critically studied matters
of ethics, science, politics and democracy. The French Revolution in 1789
ushered into Europe ideas of Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity, while the Chartist
Movement in England in the 19th
Century created a working class pressure group for political freedom.
Perhaps the clearest enunciation of
human rights as embodied in legally
and constitutionally enforceable freedoms was pronounced by US President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1941: freedom
from fear, freedom of speech, freedom of worship and freedom from want.
he Indian constitution is a document

which reflects the collective wisdom of
progressive liberal minds which have
been propelling the principle of human
rights, human, freedom and the Rule of Law
which are inextricably intertwined. Indias
constitutionally protected fundamental rights
under various sections and Directive Principles under Article 1V include freedom of
religion, speech, movement, association and
empower all Indians to seek justice against
the states wrongdoings. And Prime Minister
Nehru warned that governments would
ignore these directives at their own peril.
The Indian constitution is a formidable
testament to the fact that the concept of
human rights was central to the collective
thinking and vision of the nations founding
fathers. But has India lived up to the expectations of international conventions and the
beliefs of her founding fathers?
The country has tried to, in fits and starts,
but the transgressions stick out. I will not go
into statistics here, but suffice it is to say that
most Indiansdespite our highly evolved
judicial systemdo not have access to
UNI
lawyers or even basic justice. Hundreds of

thousands languish without trial, without
court-framed charges in jails. This makes a
mockery of the very fundamental concept of
the Rule of Law without which Human
Rights are nothing but a mirage.
Religious hatred-inspired murders, police
brutality, extra-judicial killings, the misuse of
the law to protect criminals and send innocents and political opponents to jail, fake
encounters, torture by policethey are
reported liberally in the Indian press.
The silver lining is that they are reported
by a relatively free press and from social and
political platforms through the exercise of
free speech and peaceful assembly.
So what should Indians do to observe
Human Rights day? They can study the UNs
pronouncements and make solemn speeches.
Or they can express their gratitude to their
own founding fathers by ensuring that they
exercise the freedoms they have been given to
fight for the preservation of the Rule of Law
and freedom and dignity for all.
Some of the best prescriptions to fight
ourselves out of many of the evils of Kalyuga
exist in front of our very nosesin the Indian
constitution. IL
Has India lived

up to the
expectations of
international
conventions and
the beliefs of her
founding
fathers? The
country has
tried to, in fits
and starts,
but the
transgressions
stick out.
editor@indialegalonline.com
INDIA LEGAL December 31, 2015
DECEMBER 31, 2015
VOLUME. IX
ISSUE. 08
Editor
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Managing Editor
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CFO
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December 31, 2015
LEAD
Herald of Bad News?
18
The Delhi High Court ruling in the National Herald case will make political parties
accountable for fund spending. All eyes will be on December 19 when the accused,
including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, appear in court, writes
VENKATASUBRAMANIAN. Bitter mudslinging over the verdict has stalled
parliament. In such a scenario, democracy is the worst casualty, says AJITH PILLAI
COURTS
Down with Parochialism

The Gujarat governments parochial bid to reserve seats in private
medical colleges for non-resident Gujaratis was struck down by the High
Court for being unconstitutional. KAUSHIK JOSHI explains why
CRIME
New Life for Bhai

Salman Khan was acquitted in a hit-and-run case by Bombay High
Court, thanks to shoddy investigation and a weak prosecution,
reports NEETA KOLHATKAR
STATES
Haven for Terrorists

A porous Indo-Bangladesh border has ensured that extremists, even
those from the dreaded IS, have free passage as the BSF and police
fumble, writes SUJIT BHAR
12
26
32
BJPs Gujarat Debacle
38
TOURISM
Strawberry Fields Forever
Close on the heels of the Bihar defeat, the BJP suffered visible
dents in Gujarats self-government polls as it alienated Patels,
OBCs, tribals and Dalits. RK MISRA discusses the result
AJITH PILLAI joins millions of Beatles fans in welcoming the

Uttarakhand governments decision to convert an ashram that
the Fab Four lived in into a heritage property
LEGAL EYE
INTERVIEW
42
Chief Justice of India TS Thakur says that while arbitration is a

way to reduce pendency of cases, the legal framework has to
change to let it function effectively. RAMESH MENON reports
Give Credit
Where Its Due
45
Law secretary PK Malhotra has praised Congress PM PV

Narasimha Rao and former finance minister Manmohan
Singh for the reforms that liberalized our economy.
NEETA KOLHATKAR reports
SOCIETY
Family Vs
Hindutva Model
46
In a multi-religious and multi-cultural society such as ours,

family can be seen as a metaphor for India and is more
effective than the Hindutva model, argues ABHAY VAIDYA
BOOK REVIEW
Left
Dissected
Praful Bidwais
book is an objective
critique of communist parties and
their failures, says
AJITH PILLAI.
Also, an extract
from The Phoenix
50
64
A Long Way to Go
Despite a strong judiciary, India has lagged in implementing

global procedures while settling international disputes. Judge
Ronny Abraham of the ICJ speaks to NEETA KOLHATKAR
HUMAN RIGHTS
USs Double Standards
66
International humanitarian laws were flouted when the US

bombed a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Afghanistan
on October 3, leaving 30 dead, asserts ANUJ RAINA
70
SPOTLIGHT
The Race in Space
With the US allowing its citizens to mine asteroids,

the pursuit of land rights in outer space just got
keener. PAPIA SAMAJDAR warns other countries
could follow suit with disastrous consequences
REGULARS
Integrity matters
58
Edit............................................................................... 4
Quote-Unquote............................................................ 8
Ringside..................................................................... 9
Supreme Court........................................................... 10
Courts......................................................................... 16
National Briefs.......................................................30, 31
Is That Legal............................................................... 74
International Briefs................................................ 76, 77
Campus Update......................................................... 78
Figure It Out............................................................... 79
People................................................................... 80, 81
Wordly Wise................................................................ 82
Cover Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Follow us on Facebook.com/IndiaLegalMagazine and

Twitter.com/IndiaLegalMag
QUOTE-UNQUOTE
As long as there is rule of law, an

independent judiciary and courts
are upholding the rights and
obligations (of all), I dont think
anyone has to fear anything.
Forty percent of Indians dont have

food, homes and other facilities in the
country. But intellectuals which make
0.1 percent of the population and the
voice of society have a tendency to
become a club and the arrogance of
that club becomes a burden upon
society.
Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on the

climate of intolerance and its effect in India,
The Economic Times
We will go to Centre, the PM

and the President....wherever
it is required to ensure that
the bill is enacted as law. Aur
agar woh paas nahin kartey,
toh phir humein apni ungli
tedhi karni bhi aati hai (if they
dont pass the bill, we will be
forced to resort to other
tactics as we know how to
have our way).
I regret that I could not

select judges when
there were so many
vacancies in the high
courts. The judicial
process took a long
time to determine the
constitutional validity of
the NJAC...
Outgoing chief justice of
India HL Dattu, on selecting
judges for the higher judiciary,
The Times Of India
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after the

Delhi assembly passed the Delhi Jan
Lokpal Bill 2015, The Times Of India
Even if the entire Indian

Army comes, they
cannot defend people
against militants and
terrorists.
Former Jammu and Kashmir
chief minister and National
Conference patron Farooq
Abdullah, stressing that the
Kashmir issue can only be
solved through political
dialogue, at a seminar on
Indo-Pak relations
December 31, 2015
Eminent filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on

intolerance at the International Film
Festival of India in Goa
English education can only train us

enough to be able to earn our daily
bread.... We dont need such
schools but those that teach us to
serve for the betterment of
other human beings.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, at
a statue unveiling function of
RSS founder KB Hedgewar, The
Times Of India
I am the daughter-inlaw of Indira Gandhi. I

am not scared of
anyone. I am not
disturbed.
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi to mediapersons, on
facing trial in the
National Herald case
I request the government, please

do not learn the wrong lessons from
Pakistan. Be tolerant. Listen to your
people, embrace your own people.
Mahatma Gandhi gave voice to the
people. Pakistan became a failure
because their leaders crushed
voices of their people... were intolerant. Let us not learn the wrong
lessons.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi
in parliament
Aruna
VERDICT
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits
than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln
SUPREME COURT
Probe panel
gets visitors
diary
T
he crucial visitors diary from

former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief Ranjit Sinhas residence was finally made available to the
special probe panel by the Supreme
Court. The panel, set by the apex court,
is investigating whether Sinhas alleged
Help for acid victims

M
aking a case for acid

victims, the
Supreme Court ruled that
the minimum compensation of `three lakh fixed
for them was not enough.
The Court also felt that
considering the social,
economic and personal
problems that the victims
face, there was a need to
slot them as disabled.
The Court wanted that
they lead a full life.
Being in the disabled
category would allow acid
victims to get social welfare benefits under The
Persons with Disabilities
10
December 31, 2015
(Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights and
Full Participation) Act,
1995. The Court directed
all state governments to
include acid victims in the
disabled category.
The Court was
extremely unhappy with
the rise in acid attacks all
over India despite repeated directions to states to
regulate the sale of acid.
It was hearing a case in
which the Bihar government meted out shabby
treatment to a Dalit girl,
Chanchal, with 90
percent acid burns. Her
sister was also a victim
of an acid attack. They
were not accorded
proper medical care in
government hospitals
and a compensation of
`2.42 lakh was paid to
the sisters by the state
government.
The case was brought
to the Court by NGO
Parivartan Kendra.
meetings with the coal scam accused

at his residence led to the dilution of
the CBI investigation in the case. The
diary allegedly has records of tainted
people in coal and 2G spectrum cases
visiting Sinha.
The panel head, former CBI special
director ML Sharma, was also directed
by the court to let other members go
through the diary and submit a report
within 12 weeks.
In May, the court had ordered that a
probe be initiated against Sinha in the
light of his alleged questionable meetings with the coal scam accused.
Judiciary and
uniform civil code
t was for Parliament to

bring in a uniform civil
code and the judiciary
was not in a position to
either direct the government to introduce it or to
legislate it itself, the
Supreme Court observed.
The Court, however,
made it clear that if a
Muslim woman brings a
case of triple talaq before
it, it will certainly scrutinize its legal validity and
protect her fundamental
rights.
The court was hearing
a petition from advocate

and BJP member Ashwini
Kumar Upadhyay whose
counsel pleaded that a
uniform civil code was
essential in India.
His plea: The need to
have a uniform civil code
is enshrined in Article 44
of the constitution under
the Directive Principles of
State Policy. It is a goal
which the founding fathers
envisaged.
Although the petitioner
pleaded that there were
several cases in which the
Apex Court had impressed
upon the center to enforce
uniform civil code, the
Court clarified that the
observations only reflected hope and expectation. But it came down
heavily on Upadhyay for
being a spokesperson for
Muslim women citing gender discrimination.
TS Thakur, the new CJI

J
Right to property, a
constitutional right
R
ustice Tirath Singh Thakur

took charge as chief justice of
India on December 3, 2015. He
took charge from HL Dattu who
retired on December 2, 2015.
Justice Thakur will hold the post
till January 4, 2017.
Justice Thakur became a
Supreme Court judge on
November 17, 2009. Among the
prominent cases dealt by him are
the IPL betting and spot-fixing
scam, the Subrata Roy Sahara
case and Saradha scam.
Remission is centers call

S
tate governments must consult the center and seek its
permission before releasing convicts whose cases have been
probed by a central agency. A
constitution bench
of the Supreme Court gave this
ruling while referring to the decision of the Jayalalithaa
government to release seven
convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case last year.
The Supreme Court had commuted the death sentence of
three convicts, Perarivalan,
Murugan and Santhan, to life
imprisonment in February 2014.
The Jayalalithaa government

immediately decided to free
them, as well as four other
lifers in the case. The center had
moved the Apex Court which
stayed the move.
After this verdict, the prospects are bleak for the convicts.
The apex court has already ruled
that in case death sentence is
reduced to life imprisonment, the
convict will have to spend their
rest of life in jail. It further held
that hardened criminals do not
deserve sympathy and rehabilitation should not be a issue in their
case.
The interest of victims and
national cause should take
precedence. This is crucial to
maintain the rule of law, the
court observed.
While commenting on the
powers of the state on remittance, the Court ruled that state
ought to seek the opinion of the
concerned court before pardoning the sentence of a convict.
ight to property cant be shrugged off or

overlooked as its a constitutional right under
Article 300 A, the Supreme Court observed. It
was adjudicating a case wherein a group of
farmers in Rajasthan had approached the Court
for fair compensation against land acquired by
the state government. It ruled that the state
government was bound by the constitution to
give proper compensation to landowners.
The state government was taken to task by
the Court for going back on promises made to
farmers while acquiring their properties in 2001.
Regulate social
networking sites
I
t is not possible to block

social networking sites
carrying vulgar and offensive material but the government could consider
initiating legal action
against them, the Apex
Court ruled. It asked the
center to do the needful.
The Court was responding to a plea from an
NGO, Prajwala, which
wanted the government to
prosecute social networking sites that were being
used for disseminating
vulgar material. As the
center could not check
such content, the sites
needed to be blocked,
it requested.
The center had clarified
that it was not feasible to
track people who used
mobile phones for uploading sex videos and circulated them through
WhatsApp. It also maintained that regulating such
material was not possible.
The courts reaction
came after it became
aware of two cases: one in
which rape videos had
been spread through
WhatsApp in Mumbai; and
the second one in which a
sex racket was being managed through Facebook.
Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar

11
COURTS/ Gujarat HC/ Medical Admissions
GOOD NEWS FOR THE AILING

The Gujarat court order puts merit
over identity in medical college
admissions. It comes as a relief
for deserving candidates.
UNI
Stop Being Parochial!

R
An attempt by the
Gujarat government to
reserve seats in private
medical colleges for
non-resident Gujaratis
was struck down by the
High Court as it goes
against the constitution
By Kaushik Joshi
12
December 31, 2015
egionalism has come to the fore in admissions to medical colleges in Gujarat.

Thankfully, in an order dated September
7, 2015, the Gujarat High Court declared
invalid a rule framed by the state government to give priority to non-resident
Gujaratis (NRGs) for admission to selffinanced (private) medical colleges there.
The division bench of acting Chief Justice Jayant Patel
and Justice NV Anjaria quashed and set aside sub-clause
(i) of clause (4) of sub-rule C of rule 7 of the Gujarat
Professional Medical Education Courses (Regulation of
Admission and Payment of Fees), (Amendment) Rules,
2015. The petitioner was Kolsani Sai Yaswanath Reddy
from Andhra Pradesh, but being a minor, it

was filed by his father, Kolsani Venkata Nagi
Reddy.
FOUR CATEGORIES
The petitioner challenged the following
order of categories framed by the government for admission to self-financed colleges:
Merit list of genuine NRIs who are domiciled in Gujarat
Merit list of genuine NRIs who are not
domiciled in Gujarat
Merit list of dependant NRIs who are
Merit list of dependant NRIs who are not
Gunvant Thakar, advocate for the petitioner, argued that giving reservation for
NRIs domiciled in Gujarat was violative of
Article 14 of the constitution, besides Article
15(1) and Article 29(2). Article 14 of the constitution says: The State shall not deny to
any person equality before the law or the
equal protection of the laws within the territories of India. Article 15 (1) provides that
there shall be no discrimination on grounds
only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of
birth or any of them.
The petitioner posed some valid questions: Were the four categories based on
intelligible differentia, can the concept of
NRI and domicile of Gujarat be grouped
together and can categorization have a
rational nexus with the objects sought to be
achieved.
In its verdict, the court observed that
observance of merit criteria for the purpose of admission is in itself ensuring the
equality clause and adherence to the tenets
of Article 14. In all admissions, especially to
the higher courses, the object sought to
A division bench
of acting Chief
Justice Jayant
Patel (left) and
Justice NV
Anjaria (right)
quashed
sub-clause (i)
of clause (4) of
sub-rule C of
rule 7 of Gujarat
Professional
Medical
Education
Courses
Rules, 2015.
AT THE RECEIVING END

Students, too, had
opposed the government
move on grounds that it
was a political whim
13
COURTS/ Gujarat HC/ Medical Admissions
After deletion of the words, who are domiciled

in Gujarat, the merit list will now be made in
the following order: Merit list of genuine NRIs
and merit list of dependant NRIs.
be achieved is maintaining the merit order.
Therefore, any rule of mechanism flowing
from the provisions of law or rules which
have a tendency of compromising with merit
selection cannot be said to have rational
nexus with the object intended to be
achieved.
WHERE IS THE MERIT?
The court further ruled that the very basis of
these categorizations is not only a mismatch
to the NRI category seat quota, but operates
mischievously vis-a-vis a desired order of
merit to be observed for admission of students in the courses. In essence, it said that
the rule in question, to the extent it provides
for domicile of the state as the basis and the
categories devised on those criteria for the
preparation of merit list, is violative of Article
14 and therefore, ultra vires. The court
ordered the government to delete the words
who are domiciled in Gujarat in these categories. Following this order, the merit list will
now be prepared in the following order:
Merit list of genuine NRIs and merit list of
dependant NRIs.
Meanwhile, the advocate-general for
Gujarat prayed that the judgment be stayed
for some time to enable the state to move the
higher court. The court rejected this and
ordered that the matter pertains to admission process in a medical faculty and the
same should not be deferred, as it may result
into wastage of an academic year for the students concerned.
Thakar, the advocate for the petitioner,
did not mince words while arguing against
the amended rule. He said: Priority to
NRGs (non-resident Gujaratis) in crucial
matters like medical admission would be
gross injustice to meritorious students.
Making such a rule amounts to parochialism
and discrimination.
Even students were against this move of
the Gujarat government. Dr Vijay Nakum, a
14
December 31, 2015
pediatrics resident at Civil Hospital,

Ahmedabad, said: Some political or bureaucratic whim often comes into play during
such exams and the students have to suffer.
This year it is the NRG (non-resident
Gujarati) over NRIs. Do they realize how
agonizing it is for the students?
AGAINST STATUTE
Kolsani Venkata Nagi Reddy, the father of
the petitioner, said: The amended rule was
clearly a denial of admission to meritorious
students from other states of India. The classification in favor of NRGs is based on territorial consideration which goes against the
constitution. It is utterly discriminatory. To
provide for reservation on the ground of
place of birth is not tenable. Therefore we
had to challenge it.
But what do NRGs feel about this ver-
Giving reservation
for NRIs domiciled
in Gujarat is
violative of
Article 14 of the
constitution.
Gunvant Thakar
Advocate for petitioner
dict? Roshan Shah, an NRG from Canada,

cautiously said: Per se it seems to amount to
discrimination against other NRIs. More so,
in matters of academic merit. There is no
basis for it except a narrow, parochial outlook. NRGs who have settled abroad do not
contribute to the economy here in India. If
this aims at checking brain-drain, it wont
work as NRG medicos have their eyes on
greener pastures abroad. Shah even advocates mandatory social service in rural areas
for all medicos just like conscription in
Singapore.
However, Pinakin Pandya, 55, an NRG
settled in the US, supports the government
move. Many of us NRGs contribute liberally
towards rural development in their native
places. Besides, they also chip in at times of
natural calamities. So, why shouldnt they
enjoy certain privileges? he argued.
It amounts to
discrimination
against other
NRIs. More so,
in matters of
academic merit.
Roshan Shah
A non-resident Gujarati
Harikrishna Barot, 70, a retired bank
employee and an NRG, said: Why shouldnt
NRGs be considered for privileges?
Whenever the state government issues an
appeal for donations in times of floods or
earthquakes, NRGs have contributed
generously.
The Gujarat High Court order comes as
a relief to students of other states who seek
admission to medical courses in selffinanced medical institutions in Gujarat.
Lets face it: Being an Indian is more important than sticking to narrow, parochial
boundaries. IL
15
COURTS
Go-ahead for mobile towers

n a significant judgment that
is going to stand in good
stead for companies installing
mobile towers in various
places, the Himachal Pradesh
High court struck down the
plea that they pose serious
health hazards.
While quashing a clutch of
petitions that pointed to the
health implications, the Court
observed that there was nothing to prove the connection. It
came to this conclusion after

examining the issue by looking
at earlier verdicts in favor of
towers and going through
research reports.
The High Courts order
ratified the stand taken by
Cellular Operator Association of
India (COAI) which had been
maintaining that a false alarm
was being raised about mobile
tower radiation affecting the
health of people.
Gender equality and govt jobs

he Allahabad High Court clarified
that the privilege to get a government job after the death of a father
or motherwho was a government
employeecould not be limited to
sons; even married daughters could
lay claim to the job.
It observed that married daughters must be treated as part of the
family, as defined by UP
Recruitment of Dependants of
Government Servants Dying-inHarness Rules, 1974. Leaving them
out would be unlawful and against

the constitution, it observed.
The Court asked the UP
government to give due importance
to job claims made by married
daughters along with unmarried or
divorced ones.
The order came while the High
Court was looking into a petition
where a claim by a married woman
from Azamgarh, UP, had been
set aside by the towns district
magistrate.
Probe Tytler further

espite CBI closing a 1984 anti-Sikh
riots case against Jagdish Tytler and
holding him not guilty, a Delhi court felt
that the probe done by the central investigating agency was not enough. The case
was in relation to Tytlers alleged role in
the killing of three men at Gurudwara Pul
Bangash on November 1, 1984.
The court threw light on the witnesses whom the CBI claimed as untraceable, and observed that they needed to
be examined. It also took serious
cognizance of arms dealer Abhishek
Vermas stand that Tytler had won over
16
December 31, 2015
the witnesses. The court did not wish

away Vermas statement to the CBI that
Narinder, the son of key witness in the
case, late Surinder Singh, was packed off
to Canada on Tytlers directions and `1
crore was paid to him to retract his statement. It asked the CBI to put Verma to a
lie-detector test, if needed. It also wanted
the CBI to get Narinders account.
The court fleshed out 11 points that
needed to be investigated by the CBI.
Taking responsibility for the probe, the
court pointed out that it would keep a tab
on the probe every two months to ensure
that all angles were taken care of. It slated the next hearing on February 2, 2016.
VK Singh absolved
Delhi court did not permit
filing of an FIR against
Union Minister VK Singh for
his dog remark after two
Dalit children were burnt alive
in Faridabad this October. The
court felt that Singhs comment had been interpreted out
of context, twisted and magnified out of proportion to
make it seem castiest.
The court also observed
that there were prima facie
no evidence that Singh
wanted to belittle any caste
or creed.
Advocate Satya Prakash
had sought an FIR under certain sections of the SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act,
the IT Act and the Indian Penal
Code. The Delhi Police had
already given a clean chit to
lamming the centre for its

sloppy attitude in coming
up with a sanction note for
additional police force in
Delhi, the Delhi High Court
he Madras High Court banned all kinds of

protests, demonstrations or rallies in Tamil
Nadu in relation to the bringing down of the Babri
Masjid, on December 6, starting next year.
The mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, was
razed on December 6, 1992, causing widespread
riots and escalating communal tension.
The court issued directions to Tamil Nadu chief
secretary, home secretary, and director general of
police in this regard. It ruled that the order applied
to all organizations, irrespective of the religion they
belonged to.
The court also did not grant permission to an
organization, the Hindu Munnani, to hold protests
for building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on
December 6, this year.
Singh in its action-taken

report.
Singhs comment that the
government could not be
blamed if anyone throws
stone at a dog has triggered a
huge controversy and the
opposition is gunning for his
removal as a central minister.
Sanction police force in Delhi
No Babri Masjid protest
showed concern over the

rising incidents of crime in
the capital.
It also took the bureaucracy to task for delaying the
matter. The court pointed out
that while judges could write
reams of pages on a judgment, the bureaucrats could
not finish a three-page sanction note in time.
The court did not take
kindly to the assurance given
by Additional Solicitor General
Sanjay Jain that an interministerial cabinet note was
underway. It asked the center
to clear the air on whether it
was at all interested in augmenting the police force, in
the next hearing.
Railways pulled up for apathy

hile giving a piece of its mind to the Indian
Railways, the Bombay High Court wondered
whether the public transporter was at all bothered
about the safety and comfort of passengers. The
Court was reacting to an online video that showed
a person falling off a train on the Central Railways
due to overcrowding. It blamed the Railways for
failing to make proper arrangements in train
coaches and platforms and develop other facilities
to keep pace with the rapid increase in the number
of commuters.
There was no long-term planning, no clear
vision as to how the Railways wished to tackle the
issue, the court observed. It also took the Railways
to task over its failure to make passengers aware
about safety, especially while boarding overcrowded trains.
PIL on cars in Delhi quashed

he Delhi High Court rejected a PIL against the
Kejriwal governments decision to restrict the
movement of private vehicles in Delhi from January
1, 2016. The PIL was seeking a stay on the move.
The Court ruled that the objection was too early as
the proposal was yet to be implemented.
Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar

17
LEAD/ National Herald Case
Swamys T
Dark Herald
The Delhi High Court ruling in the Herald
case will make political parties
accountable for fund spending. All eyes
will be on December 19 when the
accused will appear before the trial court
By Venkatasubramanian
HE Delhi High Courts verdict in Rahul Gandhi vs Dr

Subramanian Swamy, delivered by Justice Sunil Gaur, on December 7, set off a
huge political storm both
inside and outside Parliament. The ruling dismissed the challenges to
the issue of summons by a lower court to
Congress officials in connection with a complaint of misappropriation of party funds.
The judgment provoked the Congress to allege that NDA was encouraging proxy litigation to harass political rivals.
In his judgment, Justice Gaur began by
saying that the probity of a legendary national political party was under the scanner in
these petitions, which had challenged the
issue of summons by a lower court to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president
Rahul Gandhi, party officials Motilal Vora,
Oscar Fernandes and Sam Pitroda, journalist, Suman Dubey and the company, Young
Indian Private Company (YI), floated by
the party.
BACK TO THE WALL?

The facts and legality of
the case will pose a tough
challenge to Sonia-Rahul
to emerge unscathed in
the trial court
18
December 31, 2015
In this case, which has its origins in the

trial court, the maverick BJP leader Swamy
sought to expose cheating, fraud, criminal
misappropriation, etc., by office bearers of
the Congress, who also happen to be directors and shareholders of YI and Associated
Journals Private Limited (AJL). AJL was
engaged in publishing National Herald,
which had a historical association with the
Congress during the freedom struggle and
even after Independence.
n June 26, 2014, the trial court, after

recording the evidence of Swamy; a
chartered accountant, MR Venkatesh; an official from the Registrar of Companies, Gulab Chand; and journalist J Gopikrishnan summoned the seven accused for
offences under Sections 403, 406 and 420
read with Section 120-B of the IPC. Section
403 deals with dishonest misappropriation
of property, Section 406 with punishment for
criminal breach of trust and Section 420
with cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property. Section 120-B deals with
punishment for criminal conspiracy.
When AJL had closed the printing and
publication of National Herald in 2008, it
owed a huge debt of `90 crore to the

Congress. Although this debt had accumulated over a period of time, this was the outcome of interest-free loans extended by the
Congress to AJL from time to time.
AJL was a public limited company with
immovable assets of crores of rupees. The
Congress had assigned the debt of `90 crore
to YI on receiving a paltry amount of `50
lakh only.
Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi
owned 38 percent each of shares of YI. The
debt which AJL owed to the Congress then
stood transferred to YI, which was formed in
November 2010.
In December 2010, AJL increased its
share equity by allotting large chunk of its
shares to YI in lieu of the debt owed to the
Congress which now stood assigned to YI.
Thus, AJL became a wholly-owned company
of YI by merely paying `50 lakh and thus, YI
acquired complete control of AJL which had
real estate assets of at least `2,000 crore,
that too in prime areas of New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Mumbai, Indore, Patna, Panchkula and other places. According to Swamy, the conservative real estate worth of AJL
is `5,000 crore.
NAMING NAMES
(L-R) Oscar Fernandes,
Motilal Vora, Suman
Dubey and Sam Pitroda
19
ILLEGAL MOVE?
The current
owner of the
National Herald
House, has
rented out the
property to MNCs
and to the
Ministry of
External Affairs
for its Passport
Seva Kendra
Swamy (right)
alleged that
Sonia and
Rahul Gandhi
had hatched a
criminal
conspiracy
with the other
accused to
defraud the
Congress and
AJL by
dubiously
forming YI to
misappropriate
the huge
assets of AJL.
20
December 31, 2015
Swamy alleged that Sonia and Rahul

Gandhi had hatched a criminal conspiracy
with the other accused to defraud the
Congress and AJL by dubiously forming YI
to misappropriate the huge assets of AJL.
They thus committed a criminal breach of
trust reposed in the Congress and the AJL
and its shareholders. He alleged that the
rights of shareholders of AJL and its properties had been dishonestly misappropriated by
the accused by conversion of a loan of `90
crore into equity shares in favor of YI.
uriously, while the Memorandum of

Association of the AJL bars the company from entering into any transaction which is not for furthering its objective
to publish newspapers, YI declared, after
having possession of the vast real estate of
AJL, that it would not engage in publishing a
newspaper as it was against the declared
objective submitted for obtaining registration under Section 25 of the Companies Act.
The National Herald House is a prime
property on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in
Delhi and was given by the government for
the purpose of publishing a newspaper at
concessional rates. Yet, YI, the current owner
of National Herald House, has rented out
this property to MNCs and to the Ministry of
External Affairs for its Passport Seva Kendra.
It is a matter of serious concern as

allegations of fraud, etc are leveled
against the Congress Party, who has
ruled the nation for many decades
Justice Sunil Gaur (left), Delhi High Court
Such commercial use of property is considered illegal.

In August 2014, the trial court prima facie
concluded that YI was created as a sham or a
cloak to convert public money to personal
use or as a special purpose vehicle for
WHY NOW?
he Congress alleges that the

National Herald case against its top
functionaries, including Sonia
Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, is nothing
short of political vendetta. Its charge
rests on the Enforcement Directorate first
closing the case in January and reopening it in August this year.
The latter action, the Congress maintains, is linked to two letters written by
Dr Subramanian Swamy to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on inaction on
the part of the ED director in the matter.
He also demanded the appointment of a
new ED chief, whereupon, Karnal Singh
(right) was appointed. Seven days after
his appointment, Singh issued a circular
on August 26 that revoked the order of
his predecessor, Rajan Katoch, to discontinue the case.
In his first note to Modi dated August
11, 2015, Swamy, who is also a BJP MP,
opened with this point: It is a matter of
surprise that even after more than a year,
acquiring control over `2,000 crore worth of

assets of AJL. As all the accused had allegedly acted in consortium with each other to
achieve the nefarious purpose or design,
there were sufficient grounds for proceedings
against all of them, it said.
It was asserted by the accused before the
High Court that due to historical and emotive relations, money was advanced by the
Congress to AJL from time to time and the
partys objective was to uphold the legacy and
tradition of secularism and non-alignment.
The accused also strongly argued that
there was no legal bar on disbursement of
the Enforcement Directorate

does not have a full time director. The present Director who is
holding additional charge as
Secretary in the Ministry of
Heavy Industry, seems to have
no interest in pursuing any
matter related to the Congress
party perhaps due to the fact
that he is a close relative of Mr
Digvijay Singh, who is the
General Secretary of the
Congress Party.
The letter then goes on to
give details of the case involving
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other
Congress functionaries and ends with:
....Therefore I urge you to see that a full
time Director of the Enforcement
Directorate is appointed immediately and
that a clear cut direction be given to
properly investigate the matter of money
laundering submitted to them last year
by me in the National Herald scam.
Swamy dashed off a letter the following day (August 12, 2015), reiterating the
poor functioning of the ED under
Katoch and gave further details of how

the National Herald case was poorly
investigated. It pressed for the immediate appointment of an able, honest and
educated high official as the ED director. Katoch was removed seven days
later on August 19. Karnal Singh took
over on that very day and reopened the
National Herald case in a matter of days.
But the two letters written by Swamy
does not take away from the legalities or
merits of the case.
Ajith Pillai
21
The past
unraveled
A chronology of what
transpired after
National Herald was
launched in 1938 by
Jawaharlal Nehru
Sep 9, 1938
Nov 23, 2010
Jawaharlal Nehru established National Herald

(NH). The masthead had
the words: Freedom is in
Peril, Defend it with All
Your Might. K Rama Rao
was the first editor. It was
run by Associated
Journals Ltd (AJL), a
Sec 25 company and
had seven shareholders,
including Kailash Nath
Katju (grandfather of
Markandey Katju), Nehru,
PD Tandon and Sri
Krishna Dutta Poliwal
Young Indian Pvt Ltd incorporated as a Sec 25

company. Suman Dubey
and Sam Pitroda are directors. AICC decides to
assign AJLs `90-crore
debt to Young Indian
Mar 22, 2002 Motilal
Vora becomes chairman

and MD of AJL
April 1, 2008
NH stops publishing
Dec 13, 2010
Rahul Gandhi becomes a

director of Young Indian.
He holds 38 percent
shares. AJL transfers its
entire equity to Young
Indian in lieu of the debt.
Young Indian pays AJL
`50 lakh
Sep 30, 2008
AJL still has over 1,000

shareholders, including
Congress office bearers and businesspersons. Even Shanti
Bhushans father,
Vishwamitra, owned
shares in AJL
money to a newspaper, which was closely

linked to the Congress.
They cited Section 13A of the Income
Tax Act which contemplates income from
other sources in respect of political parties,
which are run on donations and contended
that other political parties have also invested money in mutual funds.
Rich Haul
These are the properties owned by AJL
as per documents produced by
Subramanian Swamy and reported by
agencies.
A seven-storey building with one lakh
square feet of office space in Delhi

A 22,000 sqft building in Indore
A 50,000 sqft property in Bhopal
A 3,400 sq yard plot in Bandra
A two-acre plot in Lucknow
A 3,360 sqm plot in Panchkula
Properties in Patna

22
December 31, 2015
Jan 22, 2011
Sonia Gandhi and Oscar

Fernandes join the board
of directors. Sonia has 38
percent shareholdings, the
remaining 24 percent are
equally shared by Vora
and Fernandes
They made a pointed reference to the BJP

investing in Canstar Fund.
he accused told the High Court that

the constitution of the Congress permits formation of a trust to hold immovable properties belonging to the party, and
that there is no allegation that the accused
were the trustees of the funds of the
Congress. Secondly, it was argued that there
was no entrustment of any money to the
Congress. Therefore, there is no question of
any misappropriation or breach of trust as
the donations received by the Congress could
be dealt with in the manner it liked.
Thirdly, it was suggested that AJL had no
net worth and was unable to repay the debt
to the Congress. Fourth, the accused pointed
out that neither the Representation of the
Peoples Act nor the Income Tax Act or any
other Act prohibits giving of loans by a political party. Reliance was placed upon a decision of the Income Tax Tribunal in the
Nov 14, 2011
The paper was slated to

come out but didnt
Feb 2013
Subramanian Swamy
files a petition in a Delhi
court against the four
Congress leaders alleging fraud and criminal
breach of trust
Aug 1, 2014
Delhi HC issues notice to

Swamy on a batch of petitions filed by the Gandhis
and others in the case
seeking stay on summons
issued for August 7
Jan 19, 2015
Supreme Court asks

Swamy to make out a case
in the Delhi High Court for
speedy trial of the NH
case.
Aug 26, 2015
ED reopens the case

Aug 6, 2014
HC stays proceedings
against the Gandhis and
others
Dec 7, 2015
Delhi High Court bench

refuses to quash summons
against Sonia, Rahul
Dec 15, 2014
HC extends stay till disposal of appeals

Jan 12, 2015
Dec 19, 2015
The day Sonia and Rahul

have to appear before the
trial court
Judge recuses himself

from hearing Sonia and
Rahuls plea
June 26, 2014
Delhi court summons

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul
in the NH case
Jan 2015
Enforcement Directorate
decides to close the case
Bharatiya Janata Party vs Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax [CIT (2003) 258 ITR
1] to maintain that a political party could
invest in commercial ventures.
The accused also refuted allegations that
writing off the loans by the Congress was an
illegal act or that there was breach of trust
qua the shareholders of AJL. They relied on
a Supreme Court decision in the Bacha F.
Guzdar, Bombay vs Commissioner of Income
Tax, Bombay (1955) 1 SCR 876 to assert that
a shareholder is not the owner of the assets
belonging to the company.
The High Court, having heard both
Swamy and the counsel representing the
accused, concluded that in a democratic set
up, how a political party of national stature
acts is everybodys concern. Rather, it is a
matter of serious concern as allegations of
fraud, etc. are leveled against the Congress
Party, who has ruled the nation for many
decades, the High Court held.
Therefore, the Court repelled the chal-
lenge that Swamy lacked the locus to make

the complaint against alleged breach of trust,
as he himself was not a victim of such alleged
breach of trust, by holding that the right of a
private citizen to proceed against the corrupt
could not be restricted.
The High Court also noted with concern
the impropriety of extending interest-free
loans to a separate legal entity, namely, AJL,
by the Congress, particularly when the
source of the partys funds is largely from
donations given by the public. Any citizen
can legitimately question the siphoning of
funds by a political party, the High Court
held, making it legally possible for any future
challenge to misappropriation of funds by
any political party. In sum, the High Court
found sufficient grounds for summoning the
accused by the trial court.
With fresh summons being issued by the
trial court to the accused to appear before it on
December 19, the likely twists and turns in this
case would be of interest to everyone. IL
The Delhi High

Court repelled
the challenge
that Swamy
lacked the
locus to make
the complaint,
as he himself
was not a victim
of alleged
breach of trust.
It held that the
right of a
private citizen
to proceed
against the
corrupt could
not be
restricted.
23
LEAD/ National Herald Case/Parliament
Unheralded Crisis
Parliament has
been plunged
into paralysis
over the
National Herald
case with the
Congress
projecting it as
a BJP
conspiracy
By Ajith Pillai
24
December 31, 2015
T is a truism that when parliaments

functioning is derailed, it is democracy itself that suffers. In the last decade or so we have repeatedly been
witness to hostilities in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha stalling proceedings
and causing needless adjournments. More
recently, an aggressive opposition first ensured that the monsoon session was a
washout. It persisted with its non-cooperation in the winter session resulting in precious timethat should ideally have been devoted to discussing issues of national importance and passage of key billsbeing wasted.
Who is responsible for this impasse? It is
easy to blame either the opposition or the
ruling dispensation. The truth lies somewhere in between. It cannot be denied that
the primary task of ensuring the smooth
functioning of parliament is the responsibility of the treasury benches. However, the
opposition too owes it to people to ensure
that the democratic process proceeds without too many hindrances.
Ironically, there was a glimmer of hope
that the sabre-rattling would be within permissible limits. Prime Minister Narendra
Modis meeting with Manmohan Singh and
Sonia Gandhi and the placatory noises he
made seeking the support of the opposition

were seen as positive signals.
But these efforts were drowned out in the
flood of controversies that followed. Contentious issues like intolerance towards minorities and those who propagated views seen as
anti-government and anti-Sangh Parivar
remained unresolved.
On the contrary, the fires continued to be
stoked at regular intervals by the right-wing
fringe and BJP leaders who projected the
entire intolerance issue as politically orchestrated by anti-national intellectuals.
Indeed, what we have been seeing in parliament is a reflection of the larger ideological war raging outside. It is a battle between
those who believe in the Nehruvian ideal of a
secular state and those who repose faith in
the principles of a strident Hindu rashtra. It
is this widening fissure between them that
frequently raises its ugly head and has contributed to several controversies.
It also found reflection in the National
Herald misappropriation case. Congress
leaders are now projecting it as a BJP conspiracy not only against the Nehru-Gandhi
family but also as an attempt to eliminate
the Congress. This charge may be farfetched. But it would best be left for the
courts to decide whether the Gandhis are
guilty or innocent. This, incidentally, is the
official stance of the BJP. But its leaders have
all too often not suppressed their glee at the
Gandhis courting trouble.
Very clearly, much more needs to be done
before the forthcoming budget session vis-avis conflict management. Perhaps, the ruling
dispensation and the opposition should initiate a dialogue while parliament is in recess
instead of holding last-minute talks before
the house reconvenes.
As for the Congress, it must learn to live
with the fact that Sonia and Rahul have a
long legal battle ahead. But that should not
come in the way of it functioning as a responsible opposition. IL
CRIME/ Salman Case
Bhaijaan
Walks Free
December 10 was a watershed day for
Salman Khan as he was acquitted in a
hit-and-run case. Like many other cases
in India, shoddy investigation and a weak
prosecution led the accused to walk free
By Neeta Kolhatkar
26
December 31, 2015
FTER 13 years, the verdict in

Salman Khans case was
straight out of a film. He was
acquitted by the Bombay High
Court for running his car over
five pavement dwellers outside a bakery on
Hill Road, Bandra, in September 2002. One
person was killed and four injured. The High
Court order came after a sessions court in
May convicted him of culpable homicide not
amounting to murder and sentenced him to
five years jail.
On December 10, 2015, as tension heightened in the High Court and people milled
around, Salmans bodyguard, Shera, reached
the Court first to survey how best the star
could avoid the scores of media persons and
innumerable fans, which included bystanders, police, lawyers and even Court staff.
The Bombay High Court suddenly resembled a busy Mumbai street where a film
shooting was taking place. Salman entered
the gate adjacent to that of the judges wearing a white and blue check shirt and sporting
a stubble. He had come straight from Karjat
and looked tense and exhausted. The judge
arrived at 1.35 pm and pronounced the order
exactly a minute later.
Delivering the verdict, Justice AR Joshi
said: On the basis of evidence submitted by
the prosecution, Salman cannot be convicted. He added: Prosecution has failed to
establish its case against the appellant
accused (Salman Khan) on all charges.
MANY LAPSES
The Court made stringent observations about the conduct of the lower court during this
trial and criticized the lapses in police investigation. The judge said: The burden is on
the prosecution to establish the guilt of the
accused and this needs to be done beyond
reasonable doubt.
As per observations, the trial in the lower
court was based only on the statement of one
key eyewitness, Ravindra Patil, who was
Salmans bodyguard and attached to the
Mumbai police. Patil was present in Salmans
car at the time of the crash and in May, the
sessions court took his evidence while convicting the actor. However, on December 10,
the High Court said Patil was not a wholly
reliable witness, and his version needed to

be corroborated with that of other witnesses.
Incidentally, the case saw 27 prosecution witnesses and one defense witness.
Police investigations could not prove that
the person driving the car was Salman. The
Court further said the trial court had erred in
accepting bills of Rain Bar and Restaurant
(where Salman had gone prior to this incident) without ascertaining the blood sample
and alcohol test and more so, without a
panchanama. The court also questioned why
the mandatory procedure of recording the
statements of at least five people was not
conducted.
This led the Court to observe that investigations were conducted in a faulty manner
and had many loose ends and hence, the benefit had to be given in favor of the accused.
Salman was asked to pay `25,000 as a personal bond to ensure that in case Maharashtra went in for appeal to the Supreme Court,
he would be present in court. It also ordered
the police to return his passport to him.
RELIEVED SALMAN
Soon after the verdict, a much-shaken and
visibly overwhelmed Salman wept. Later, he
intermittently smiled and cried, coming to
terms with the fact that the biggest scare (of
going to jail) was averted after 13 years.
In September 2002, soon after the incident, Salman was arrested by the Bandra
On the basis
of evidence
submitted by the
prosecution,
Salman cannot
be convicted.
Prosecution has
failed to establish
its case against
the appellant
accused on all
charges.
police after an FIR was registered. His blood
sample was collected at JJ Hospital to determine the alcohol content. He was granted
bail the same day, but arrested later when he
surrendered again before the Bandra police.
Later, after a PIL was filed in the Bombay
HC, Salman was directed to pay `19 lakh
within two weeks to the victims as compensation. Out of this amount, `10 lakh was to be
given to the family of Nurullah Mehboob
Sharif, the person who died in the incident.
Hearing the present verdict, Maharashtra
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in
the midst of a stormy season in the Assembly,
said that his government would decide on
Justice AR Joshi, of
the Bombay High
Court
CRUCIAL EYE WITNESSES

Ravindra Patil, Salman
Khans bodyguard, was the
sole defense witness and
was not considered reliable
by the High Court
Singer Kamaal Khan was
also present in the car with
Salman Khan in 2002
27
CRIME/ Salman Case
The court observed that investigations

were faulty and had many loose ends
and hence, the benefit had to be given
in favor of the accused.
YOURS FAITHFULLY
Salman Khans fan
following remains
undiminished despite
the court cases
the further course of action after examining

the HC verdict.
Amit Desai, Salmans advocate, told the
media on behalf of his client: It is very satisfying. Its a big relief for him and he is very
happy. Meanwhile, Salman Khan tweeted
that he accepted the decision of the judiciary
with humility. I thank my family, friends &
fans for their support & prayers.
WEAK EVIDENCE
The legal fraternity welcomed the verdict and
said it needs to be respected. However,
lawyers felt that the prosecutor and the
police did not do a thorough job. Former IPS
officer and advocate YP Singh said that if
there were faults in the evidence, it could
have been sent for retrial and other witness-
28
December 31, 2015
es, including singer Kamaal

Khan (who was in the car
with Salman), should have
been examined. There could
have been further examination of Kamaal Khan and
other witnesses that were
dropped in the High Court.
Also, the prosecutor did not
pursue the case effectively
and the police did not match
the magnitude of the other
partys legal panel, said
Singh. He added, They
should have appointed a senior counsel, as prescribed
under the police manual. In
fact, they should conduct an
inquiry against the police and
prosecute those who saved
the accused. Singh said this
procedure is mandatory when
strictures are passed against
the prosecution and the
UNI
police by the court.
Advocate Niteen Pradhan
told India Legal that the public needs to
accept the decision and was critical of the
coverage given to this case. Media trial and
public perception do not determine the
courts verdict, he said. He came down heavily on the media for trying to drive Salman
Khans case as the national agenda for the
day. We are experts in sensationalizing nonissues. The victims widow was to be paid a
hefty compensation and one needs to determine whether it was paid to her at the right
time. Now she has remarried and has a large
family and it needs to be ascertained if this
money eventually reaches her or will be used
by her family, said Pradhan.
Immediately after the verdict, pandemonium broke out as hundreds of people
descended inside the courtroom and crowded the corridor to get a glimpse of the star.
Court staff even brought family members to
see Salman and ran across the dais of the
judge. As lawyers and others took selfies with
the star from every angle despite a rule prohibiting mobile cameras inside court, the
craze over Bollywood stars continued
unabated. IL
VIEWS ON NEWS
THE CRITICAL EYE
EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL NEWS, ANALYSES AND
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BIKR AMstories
DINESHA
Letting
SHARMchs
hang 22
do
ur
M
er of
ov
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ta
is
eo
G
Nat
ws 18
bad ne
AJITH
PILLAI s
TV new er
hype ov
nothing
30
2015 `50
Also
N RENEW
CNN, IB33
TIE-UP
EW
VI
TV RE ish and the
Black- vide 38
race di
SUDHAK
J. TILA mar,
Ajith Ku
the newanth
Rajinik
26
NATIONAL BRIEFS
Air filters installed in apex court

ising pollution levels in Delhi got
alarm bells ringing finally, and
the effect was seen in various offices.
Officials from the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB) visited the
Supreme Court and installed air filtering equipment in the courtrooms
and on the premises to check for pol-
Park Street
rape accused
found guilty
lmost four years after 37-year-old
Suzette Jordan was gangraped in
Kolkata, in what came to be known as
the Park Street rape case, a Kolkata
court has found three of the five
accused guilty of the crime, NDTV
reports. Two others, the main accused
Kader Khan and Ali, are still absconding. Jordan, who announced her
identity in public, died of meningitis
this year.
Additional sessions judge Chiranjib
Bhattacharya pronounced Ruman
Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj
guilty of gangrape. The trial in the case
began only in 2013, delayed by the
accused who demanded copies of the
crucial CCTV footage that had been
sent to Hyderabad for forensic tests.
The accused claimed the case was false.
Jordan was examined and cross-examined over almost six months.
The case sparked furor when political leaders, including chief minister
Mamata Banerjee dismissed her allegation stating that she was trying to make
the government look bad. The then
joint commissioner of police (crime)
Damayanti Sen, who originally apprehended Ruman, Naser and Bajaj, was
transferred to Barrackpore soon after.
30
December 31, 2015
Panel to summon
Robert Vadra
over land deal
he BJP-appointed oneman commission, under
former Delhi High Court
judge SN Dhingra to probe
alleged irregularities in grant
of licenses to developers in
four villages of Gurgaon, is set to summon businessman Robert Vadra,
reports The Indian Express.
The licenses were issued by the
previous Congress government
lutants and shall come up with remedies. Following a PIL by environmentalist MC Mehta on the alarming
spurt in air pollution in Delhi-NCR,
Chief Justice of India-led bench
ordered the CPCB to install air
sampling equipment in the
Supreme Court.
between 2008 and

2014. When in opposition, the BJP had
repeatedly said it
would probe the deals
if it came to power.
Incidentally, in its
report for 2013-14
tabled in the Haryana
assembly early this
year, the Comptroller
and Auditor General had
come down heavily on the
Department of Town and Country
Planning and the Hooda government
for helping builders.
Criminalizing of marital rape mooted

he center has said that it will introduce a comprehensive law to criminalize marital rape by amending the
IPC, CrPC as well as the Indian
Evidence Act and was awaiting the Law
Commissions report on the issue. The

issue of marital rape is very complicated
and it is very difficult to explain and
describe it. The cases are of an extreme
private nature and no records of any
consent are available. The matter
has been dealt in detail by a parliamentary committee as well as the
Law Commission, Minister of State
for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in
the Rajya Sabha while replying to a
debate on a private members bill.
He said the parliamentary committee in its report has recommended
the need for a comprehensive review
of the criminal system of law.
The odds of an
even car
A bemused bench of Chief Justice

G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath
kept receiving requests for change of
dates only to ensure lawyers could
drive in the city on the proposed
dates. The bench had earlier termed
the PILs filed against the AAP in this
matter as premature, saying, the
Delhi government has proposed an
idea, which is to be implemented
from January 1, 2016, on trial basis
for 15 days, so let them try it.
elhi Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal got lawyers in a tizzy
with the proposed even-odd vehicular
policy. Even as the Delhi High Court
Bar Association wanted the state government to exempt lawyers from the
policy, many advocates started adapting to the proposed plan.
Human Rights Day

he National Human Rights
Commission celebrated the
International Human Rights Day on
December 10 under the slogan Our
Rights, Our Freedoms, Always.
In a gathering attended by Chief Justice
of India TS Thakur and Union Minister
Kiren Rijiju, a resolution was taken to
always uphold human rights. Former CJI
RM Lahoti also addressed the meeting.
Close security watch

at metro stations
A case of doing
too much?
parliamentary standing committee wants

Delhi police to increase its visibility and
work in close coordination with the CISF at
metro stations as they are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. It raised concerns about the safety of
people from the North-East and pointed out
that crime against women has a disheartening
trend, reports The Indian Express.
n a significant remark on
the judiciarys intervention
in CBI investigations, a parliamentary committee headed
by EM Sudarsana
Natchiappan has stated:
various high courts and
Supreme Court are frequently
issuing directions to the CBI
to handle cases relating to
Prevention of Corruption Act,
1988 as also of 'public order'.
As a result, the jurisdiction
and powers of the CBI have
widened and deepened and
have far exceeded than what
was contemplated under the
Delhi Special Police Act,
1946. It slammed the process
of establishing special CBI
courts leading to the introduction of a dual judicial system. It said the practice is
making the CBI the most
sought-after investigating
agency and is relegating the
state police to the level of
home guards, reports The
Times Of India.
PM clears Real
Estate Bill
he Union cabinet, chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, approved
the Real Estate (Regulation and
Development) Bill, 2015 which will now
be taken up for consideration by the
parliament, reports NDTV. The bill provides a uniform regulatory environment
to ensure speedy adjudication of disputes and orderly growth of the real
estate sector. It ensures mandatory disclosure by promoters to the customers
through registration of real estate projects and also of real estate agents with
the Real Estate Regulatory Authority. It
aims at restoring the confidence of consumers by institutionalizing transparency and accountability in this sector.
Review ban on gay sex

nion Finance
Minister Arun
Jaitley said at the
Times LitFest in Delhi:
The Supreme Courts
2014 verdict banning
gay sex is not in
accordance with
evolving legal
jurisprudence and the
court needs to
reconsider it. He said
that he supported the
decriminalizing
of gay sex. He also said
that the courts in the
country have always
upheld and defended
the right to free speech
and expression.
Compiled by Shailaja Paramathma

31
STATES/ West Bengal
In Terrors W
Crosshairs
Infiltration into Bengal from Bangladesh

has acquired scary dimensions as IS
sympathizers could be among them.
With little collaboration between the BSF
and police, could it become another
playground for terrorists?
By Sujit Bhar in Kolkata
32
December 31, 2015
EST Bengals 2,216.7km

porous border with
Bangladesh is seeing
massive infiltration into
India and there are ominous signs that terror
outfits, even dreaded
Islamic State (IS) sympathizers, may have come in. By
unofficial estimates, there are on an average, around
600 illegal entrants into India every day. This, however,
is denied by the Border Security Force (BSF). What was
mainly an economic issue and a struggle for life has
now turned ugly. In the midst, the police, which is
responsible for keeping citizens safe by drawing out
sensitive information to pre-empt attacks, is restive
and short on confidence, laid low by constant political
interference.
According to a highly placed source, the police
force in border districts has been virtually rendered
useless and the BSF, manning the actual border, gets
little or no backup information to act upon. The infiltration continues unabated. This is despite the fact
that the BSF here has killed no fewer than 15-20 peo-
TERROR KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES

West Bengal is Indias new terrorist haven thanks to
the porous Bangladesh border. (Above) Yasin
Bhatkal was arrested with fake currency in Kolkata
ple every year. Still, terror walked in,

when in October 2014, the Bardhaman
blast took place.
LAX ADMINISTRATION
Looking back, it was found that the fault lay
with Indian security nets and poorly shared
intelligence. Some time before the blast,
Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin
Bhatkal had been arrested in Kolkata. But a
pathetic lack of coordination between central and local intelligence agencies allowed
Bhatkal, travelling on a false identity, to
walk away despite being found with a cache
of fake Indian currency notes. The result
showed up in Punes German Bakery
blast in 2010, which killed 17 and injuring
60. It was suspected that the raw material
for the blast was given to Bhatkal in Kolkata
by an IM operative in Nadia, a district
bordering Bangladesh. It is believed that
fake currency was used liberally to source
and purchase raw materials for the blast
and also to fund terrorist sleeper cells within Bengal.
Kolkata is fast becoming the center of
arms caches and transfers from the border
with Bangladesh. This has been proven over
and over again in recent years. Yet intelligence, the very plinth on which any security
environment rests, has been hacked from
inside by political freewheeling.
Ask any officer in-charge of a police station in the border districts and one can find
little evidence of pre-emptive arrests. Even if
an arrest is made, political dadas land up
immediately and virtually order the suspects release. Added to that are the fastchanging demographics of these districts,
which indicate that influx of people is taking
place rather than organic growth. Though
the vote bank swells for the ruling Trinamool
partyit was little different in the latter
stages of the Left Front ruleit has grown to
fearsome proportions now and adds to the
overall threat perception.
According to a senior IPS officer who
didnt want to be named: Thanedars have
been rendered useless, their capabilities
never allowed to be put to use against
threats and all men at their disposal rendered puppets of the ruling party. The result
is an absolute vacuum of information and a
situation in which any number of terrorist
threats can emanate.
HANDS TIED
A thanedar India Legal spoke to in South 24
Parganas district, which is extremely susceptible to infiltration, said: The situation is
such that we dare not take any serious action
against wrongdoers and people found
There are
around 600
illegal entrants
into India
every day.
But what was
mainly an
economic issue
and a struggle
for life has now
turned ugly.
DANGEROUS TERRAIN
Sleuths on way to inspect
the site of the Bardhaman
blast. A Bangladesh link to
the mishap has been found
33
STATES/ West Bengal
Kolkata is fast
becoming the
center of arms
caches and
transfers from
Bangladesh.
This has been
repeatedly
proven in recent
years. Yet
intelligence,
the very plinth
on which
any security
environment
rests, has been
hacked from
inside by political
freewheeling.
with suspected movements. Under law, they

can be easily apprehended and may yield
important and useful information, leading
to further arrests. However, they represent a
large section of the vote bank, and with the
2016 assembly elections coming up, the ruling party is in no mood to put public safety
over votes.
The IPS officer points to the demographic change. Not many years ago, this area
had a 40-45 percent Muslim population. I
have
myself
seen
it
grow
to
around 50 percent in a few years and now I
have information that it has become around
60 percent, he said. The rate at which the
demographics have changed cannot
emanate from organic growth. It can only
34
December 31, 2015
happen through massive, unchecked

infiltration.
So what is the BSFs job? Would the new
fencing being constructed help? The fencing could help, but the problem remains on
two fronts. First, a fourth of the IndiaBangladesh border is riverine, making it
very difficult to man and patrol. Also, huge
cattle smuggling has resulted in gaping
holes in the fencing, said the bureaucrat.
This theory has been supported by a BSF
official who has said that with lack of enough
manpower at the border two BSF jawans
with batons would naturally step aside from
herds of marauding cattle being driven at
full gallop towards the border by smugglers
in the dead of night.
DOING WHAT
HE CAN
BSF DG DK
Pathak has taken
some steps to
stop infiltration
(Left) The logistics
for the Pune blast
was supplied from
Nadia, close to
the Bangladesh
border
FIREARMS ISSUE
Another sticky issue is that while the BSF
has advanced night vision equipment (such
as LORROS, HHTI, BFSR, night vision goggles), with Bangladesh being a friendly
neighbor, firearms are not issued as a regular practice at the border. So, even when they
can see infiltrators, they actually have no
viable way of stopping them.
The BSF has taken steps in this regard
though. BSF director-general DK Pathak
reportedly said that his forces had taken an
aggressive strategy, with a special joint task
force being set up with Border Guards
Bangladesh. Mapping of Border on Posts
(BOPs) is on too at a fast pace.
Pathak also said: The earlier stand of
not retaliating to the attacks of infiltrators

has led to casualties of our troops. Nonlethal strategy cant be used at the cost of
casualties of our men. We try to follow nonlethal means as far as possible, but not
beyond a limit and this strategy has reduced
injury and casualty rates of our troops.
The fence is a deterrent, but when cattle
smugglers cut the fence, it is used by infiltrators even before it can be repaired. That is
where local law-keeping agenciesthe police
forcecome into play. They can keep a watch
on the local population and immediately spot
new people or families and check their credentials, said the senior official. Even that is
problematic. Political interference means
that the infiltrators get their ration cards and
Aadhaar cards, voter IDs and other documentation done at a quick pace. Some are
able to buy land and settle down, even
though there is actually no land available to
buy. The forgery will stay hidden in official
records for years, maybe decades, before
coming to light. Meanwhile, the infiltrators
would have become naturalized citizens,
adding to the vote bank.
Police can
immediately
spot new
people or
families. But
political
interference
has ensured
that infiltrators
get their
documents at
a quick pace.
Some even
buy land
and settle
down even
when none
is officially
available.
ISLAMIC STATE ATTACK

What has now has lent an ominous color to
this situation is the IS. On November 26, the
IS owned up to an attack on a Shiite
35
STATES/ West Bengal
BAD NEWS NEXT DOOR

Islamic State has assumed
responsibility for an attack on a
Shiite mosque in Bangladesh
that claimed one life. Women
affected by the tragedy (above)
comfort each other
36
December 31, 2015
mosque in Bangladesh that killed a cleric and

wounded three. This was the second attack
within a month on Bangladeshs tiny Shia
population. It was a completely pre-planned
attack, with three young men hiding in the
mosque in northwestern Bogra district and
shooting men indiscriminately during
prayers. Not long ago, two foreigners, four
secular bloggers and a publisher were killed
in that country.
According to the IPS officer: Its just a matter of time before IS sympathizersbelieved to
be the most brutal of all jihadistsslip into
Indian territory. Their immediate work would
be to establish themselves within the community in Bengalas others haveand then
source funds from within India and from outside and even use fake currency notes. Having
done that, they would not only be in a position
to carry out terror attacks within Bengal, but
use their bases to infiltrate other parts of the
country, quite like a virus. Two major rail stations in Kolkata which are easily accessible
from these border districts are Sealdah and
Howrah. They connect to the rest of the country, he said.
But is the state prepared to tackle this?
Not at all, he said. If the BSF is facing several handicaps with a very porous border,
the state police has been rendered virtually
helpless through political interference. In
order to fetch short-term political gains, the
state government has allowed long-term
destruction to creep in unchecked.
The policeman corroborated this. Smalltime felonies these dayslike the stealing a
chickenare often leading to riot-like situations. This is new to these areas. We are sitting on a ticking time bomb. The policeman
on foot can only travel so much and oversee
that much. And when we find suspects, one
phone call from him brings the political
dadas to the thana. We are people with families and we need our jobs, said one of them.
What is scary is that the information
bank has touched a nadir. The BSF has little
to fall back on, and even when this force and
the state police collaborate, they come up
against fake documentation of suspects, created deliberately to add them to the vote
bank. Petty politicking has struck a death
blow to the security atmosphere of this very
sensitive area, says the officer.
And thats a dangerous game to play. IL
STATES/ Gujarat Local Polls/BJP
Another One
Bites the Dust
After the Delhi and Bihar poll debacles,
the BJP had to contend with a poor
showing in Gujarats local elections. Not
only did it alienate the Patels, but also the
OBCs, tribals and Dalits
By RK Misra in Ahmedabad
TOO EARLY IN THE DAY

Even as the BJP workers
celebrated their victory in
Ahmedabad in the civic polls,
the party got a rude shock in
large swathes of the state
UPERSTITION is as much a
part of Indian life as salt. So
when a flock of crows were
found dead outside the BJP
office in Ahmedabad on November 22, the first leg of polling
to 323 local self-government
bodies in Gujarat, it was seen as a bad omen.
The ruling BJP retained six of eight
municipal corporationsAhmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar (seen as urban segments)that went
to the polls that day, while the Congress got
10 against the six it held in 2010. In Rajkot,
the BJP won by a mere four seats (38 to the
Congress 34). In Ahmedabad, it was down to
142 as against 151 in 2010. In Surat, it fell to
80 from 98 in 2010. In Vadodara, Bhavnagar
and Jamnagar, the BJP won comfortably.
The Congress, meanwhile, improved its tally
38
December 31, 2015
Photos: UNI
from 14 (in 2010) to 36 (in 2015).

However, disaster struck in the second leg
of polling on November 29 when over 2.6
crore people cast their franchise for 31 district panchayats, 230 tehsil panchayats and
56 municipalities. The Congress swept the
district and tehsil panchayats, bagging 23
and 132 respectively against 39 and one it
held in 2010. On the other hand, the BJP
which controlled 30 of the 31 district panchayats in 2010 was down to a dismal six and
its control of tehsil panchayats whittled down
to 73 from the 192 it controlled in 2010.
There was a tie in Gir-Somnath and Dangs
districts between the two parties.
URBAN VS RURAL
The results show that there was a broad vertical divide. While the BJP retained its oldtime urban vote bank, it was swept away
North Gujarat
Mehsana
Blow to BJP
Viramgam
Ahmedabad
District and tehsil

panchayats:
Congress bags 23 and
132 seats respectively
against 39 and one in
2010.
Central
Gujarat
Vadodara
Jamnagar
Rajkot
Saurashtra
BJP gets six and 73

against 30 and 192 in
2010.
Bhavnagar
Surat
Municipal corporations:
BJP wins Ahmedabad,
Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat,
Jamnagar, Bhavnagar.
Congress wins 10 seats
against six in 2010.
Weakening hold
Areas where the BJP was wiped out
Tenuous hold
39
STATES/ Gujarat Local Polls/BJP
COURTING CONTROVERSY
The poll reverses have taken
the BJP by surprise as Modi
had handed over an almost
opposition-less Gujarat to CM
Anandiben Patel. (Below) The
State Election Commissioner,
Varesh Sinha, obliged the
government in the poll process
40
December 31, 2015
in rural areas where the Congress made a

spectacular comeback.
Ironically, the Patels, a solid vote bank for
the BJP, did not back the party. They constitute about 14 percent of the total 63 million
population of Gujarat and 21 percent voter
representation. But this time, they chose to
move away from the present establishment
headed by a Patel chief minister, Anandiben
Patel; a Patel state BJP chief, RC Faldu; a
cabinet where seven of 24 ministers were
Patels and an assembly where 42 of 182 legislators were also from their community.
Instead, the Patels cast their lot with the
Congress, where the top three leadersstate
party chief Bharatsinh Solanki, Cong-ress
legislature party chief Shankersinh
Vaghela and another leader Shaktisinh
Gohilwere Kshatriyas.
What began as a demand for
caste-based reservation led by
Hardik Patel, 22, turned into a fullscale confrontation after a public meeting in Ahmedabad led to a clash with
the police which left eight dead. The
governments move to put Hardik and
half-a-dozen others behind
bars on sedition charges
only added fuel to fire.
Such has been the
alienation in rural
areas from the BJP that it has been virtually

wiped out in Saurashtra and North Gujarat
and has just a tenuous hold in Central
Gujarat. Whats more, rural Gujarat voted
with a vengeance, with 69 percent turnout
compared to about 47 percent in urban
municipal corporations. Not only did the
Patels move away from the BJP, but lastditch desperate attempts to entice OBCs,
tribals and Dalits also failed to yield results.
What led to this rural angst was the heavy
urban tilt in governance and a feeling of
neglect. This was reflected in the state
governments agrarian policies where agricultural land was given to industries while a
heavy-handed approach was taken towards
rural protests.
While considerably relieved at the showing in urban areas, Anandiben Patel is believed to be disturbed at the rural washout.
She has cause to be for if one was to calculate
the 182 assembly seats, the Congress has
almost drawn even with the BJP.
MODIS CONCERN
The reverses in Gujarat are also a matter of
concern for the national BJP leadership as
this is the home state of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and the Gujarat model of
governance has been much bandied about at
the national level. During his 13 years as CM,
Modi had sent the Congress cartwheeling out
of reckoning and handed over an almost
opposition-less state to Anandiben. In just 18
months, the Congress is back with a bang in
Gujarat and as things stand, seems to be
gearing up for a fight during the next assembly elections in 2017. For Modi, after the
reverses in Delhi and Bihar, the loss of
Gujarat will prove a catastrophe, more so
because it will come just two years ahead of
the general elections in 2019.
While a change of guard in Gujarat is not
likely in the near future, it cannot be entirely
ruled out if the slide is not arrested. In fact,
the situation for the BJP in urban Gujarat
would also have been disquieting were it not
for the fact that the State Election Commission (SEC) headed by a retired civil servant
of the Gujarat cadre, Varesh Sinha, virtually
acted as a B team of the state government.
The SEC obliged the government by going
along with it in the promulgation of an ordinance to postpone local self-government

elections. Thankfully, the Gujarat High Court
intervened and ordered elections to be held
promptly, leading the SEC to cut a sorry figure in court.
Even during the holding of elections, the
SEC was mired in controversy when over a
lakh of voter names was found deleted. The
Gujarat Congress was scathing in its criticism of the SEC.
The Congress, as expected, is upbeat.
State party chief Bharatsinh Solanki has
termed the poll verdict as a decisive mandate
against the BJP government. Anandiben, on
her part, has gone on record to state that she
will go back to the drawing board to ensure
that she regains the confidence of the rural
areas. Already, she has initiated numerous
measures to undo the damage.
BJP IGNOMINY
The damage has been immense. Mehsana,
the home district of Modi, Anandiben and
numerous other ministers has fallen to the
Congress. Even the village Karnali in Vadodara district, adopted by Union Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley, has chosen to turn its

back on the BJP. Unjha, a small town, considered the cumin seed capital of the country
and a BJP bastion for over two decades, saw
the party facing the ignominy of not being
able to put up a single candidate. While the
Congress managed to win a seat here, the
remaining 35 went to independents, including 18 women.
One saving grace for the BJP was that in
Viramgam, the home town of Hardik Patel, it
bettered its tally.
Even as the Congress gets ready to drive
home the advantage of these elections with a
burst of activity, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
has also decided to fish in troubled waters. It
is in the process of restructuring its Gujarat
unit and has appointed regional heads in a
bid to provide a third option to the people
of Gujarat in the 2017 elections. According to
Sanjay Singh, an AAP leader from Delhi, his
party would organize 50 rallies in rural
Gujarat over the next six months.
These local self-government polls have
undoubtedly raised the political temperature
in Gujarat and the state could see more
action in the coming months. IL
NEW CASTE
EQUATIONS
(Above, L-R) The Patels
reposed their faith in
the Congress, where
AICC spokesperson
Shaktisinh Gohil,
Congress legislature
party leader
Shankersinh Vaghela
and Gujarat Congress
president Bharatsinh
Solanki are all
Kshatriyas
41
LEGAL EYE/ Arbitration
Honesty is
Not the
Monopoly of
Judges: CJI
Arbitration is an alternate mechanism to resolve disputes and while
it reduces the pendency of cases, arbitrators should be people with
impeccable integrity, says Justice TS Thakur
By Ramesh Menon
Fthe arbitration process has to work

well in India, its legal format must
undergo a change with professionalism
coming in. India had potential to grow
in this arena but lack of professionalism on the part of arbitrators and lawyers is
bringing a bad name to the country, said
Chief Justice of India TS Thakur.
He was speaking at an international conference: Arbitration in the Era of
Globalization in Delhi, which was organized
by the Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA)
and FICCI.
Go outside India to figure out why arbitration is not flourishing in India. An arbitrator in India will just sit for two hours for arbitration and is more interested in marking his
presence. But in places like London, an arbi-
42
December 31, 2015
trator will sit for eight hours at a stretch as

there is professional dedication. Singapore
had become popular too because of the legal
format it follows. Similarly, if a litigant is
paying a lawyer, then the lawyer cannot seek
an adjournment to suit his schedule. An arbitration bar should be there to bring in professionalism, he said.
RESOLVING CASES
Justice Thakur said that due to the huge pendency of cases, the judiciary was supportive
of the alternate dispute resolution mechanism of arbitration and wanted it to lessen its
burden. We will welcome a system like arbitration as it relieves us of the burden of pendency of cases and helps resolve disputes
quickly. We welcome these measures as it
Anil Shakya
consumes less time and money, he said.

He stressed that the arbitration process
must be pure without any extraneous consideration. Our greatest concern is the integrity
of the arbitrator when we are sitting in judgment of an award granted. One of the greatest
challenges is to ensure that the arbitrator is of
impeccable integrity. The judiciary also needs
to be sensitized about how it needs to look at
arbitration awards as binding, he said.
Honesty is not the monopoly of judges
only and the judiciary does not say that the
entire system barring judges is suspect
Arbitrators should have impeccable integrity
so that there is no doubt in the minds of concerned parties about the award being decided. When comparison is being made between
a judicial arbitrator and non-judicial arbitra-
tor, we can say that the judicial arbitrator has

been more reliable and credible," Justice
Thakur said.
In a lighter vein, he said that arbitration
was also popular in Indian mythology. In the
Mahabharata, when the Kauravas and the
Pandavas were fighting, Lord Krishna became
the arbitrator. He tried to settle the fight by
mediating which shows us that mediation is a
divine function. But he failed and so the lesson
is that if we fail, we must remember that even
Lord Krishna failed, he said.
Honesty is not
the monopoly of
judges We
dont say that
in the entire
system, only
the judges are
honest and
everyone else is
a suspect.
Arbitrators
should have
impeccable
integrity so that
there is no doubt
in the minds
of concerned
parties about
the award being
decided.
Justice Thakur, Chief
Justice of India
STOP DELAYING
The government has proposed amendments
to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996,
where an arbitrator will have to settle a case
within 18 months. However, after the
43
LEGAL EYE/ Arbitration
Photos: Anil Shakya
The judiciary
encourages
arbitration to lessen
the burden of
adjudication and
solve business
disputes. Conditions
applied to arbitrators
will be a deterrent.
India has set a

precedent in judiciary
amongst SAARC
nations and that
could be replicated
in arbitration with
the support of the
government and
the judiciary.
The arbitration
practice in India
should be more
contemporary, in
line with global
standards, making
the business
environment more
stable and certain.
Justice SS Nijjar, former judge,

Supreme Court
NG Khaitan, President, Indian

Council of Arbitration
Dr Jyotsna Suri, President,

FICCI
completion of 12 months, certain restrictions

will be put in place to ensure that the arbitration case does not linger on. Justice Thakur
said that it was heartening that the government was conscious of this requirement and
was considering making amendments.
Justice Thakur said that critics of the
judiciary were always pointing to the fact
that there was a huge pendency of cases. As
India grows and emerges as a huge economy,
there are bound to be challenges and there
will be a large spurt of litigations when new
laws are made and challenged. This was a
challenge before the judiciary, he said.
In a country with a population of over
1.25 billion, there are around 15,000 judges
in the lower judiciary, 800 judges in the high
courts and 30 judges in the Supreme Court,
44
December 31, 2015
besides the Chief Justice. Over five crore

cases are processed yearly in India. Out of
them, two crores are disposed of despite the
lack of infrastructure to do so, he stressed.
Former Supreme Court judge SS Nijjar in
his keynote address said that the commercial
and legal world had realized that arbitration
has to be taken seriously. India has the tag of
how arbitration is for bravehearts and not for
the weak. For arbitration to succeed, it must
be speedy and the fee structure must be controlled apart from the fact that the arbitrator
must be impartial, he said.
Other topics discussed at the conference
were bilateral investment treaty awards, the
best arbitration practices, the changing
face of arbitration in India and the global
scenario. IL
LEGAL EYE/ Indias Reforms
Rao Architect of Liberalization

The BJP has debunked Congress initiatives,
but its own law secretary has praised the
ex-PM for opening up the economy
By Neeta Kolhatkar
N a bold statement recently, law secretary PK Malhotra said the country

should give credit to the Congress government led by Prime Minister PV
Narasimha Rao and then finance minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, for initiating the
reforms that we are seeing today. Coming on the
heels of a diktat from the present BJP government asking bureaucrats to adhere to a certain
code of conduct, this statement was surprising.
Malhotra was speaking at a conference on
Alternate Dispute Resolution organised by
ICDAR
(International
Conference
on
Document Analysis and Recognition). He said:
"The process of liberalization of the economy in
India started in 1991 when PV Narasimha Rao
was the PM and Dr Manmohan Singh was the
finance minister. With that process of liberalization, foreign firms started coming here and participating in the Indian business community.
And if today, we are seeing any economic reform
and stability in our economy as compared to
other economies, the credit goes to the reform
process that began in 1991."
The law secretary then went on remind the
legal fraternity of the need for judicial reforms
and especially in the Arbitration and
Conciliation Act, 1996. "With international
companies coming and establishing their commercial interests here, obviously the number of
such disputes is likely to increase and it has
increased, thereby necessitating judicial
reforms, which as I said earlier, began in 1996."

ARBITRATION ACT
Though he patted the Congress government of
1991 for economic reforms, he did not stop to criticize it for the amendment in the arbitration act.
"Although we had an amendment in 1996
and it was thought that it would be an improvement on the earlier enactment, unfortunately
our experience has been that because of the
intervention of our courts at every stage at the
time of appointment of arbitrator, at the time of
passing an interim order and even at the time
of the award being given and the appeal, the
way Section 34 of the Arbitration and
Conciliation Act of 1996 was interpreted, it
probably created more problems for the business community," said Malhotra. The objective
of quick resolution of commercial disputes was
not achieved, he said.
Justice Madan Lokur had mentioned that
when this act was passed, we came to know
there were certain deficiencies which needed to
be corrected. And the process of correcting or
amending this act also began way back in
2003," said Malhotra. IL
UNEXPECTED
ENCOMIUM
PK Malhotra (centre)
believes its the former
PM and his finance minister Manmohan Singh
(right) who ushered in the
new economic model
45
SOCIETY/ Hindu Rashtra Vs Famliy
United
India is Like
a Family
t may sound incredulous, but the

fact is that Indian liberals and
right-wing organizations such as
the RSS have a common meeting
point which is fundamental to
Indias identity and ethos. Both
agree that at the very core of
India is its evolution as a pluralistic, multireligious, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic
society. This in itself is a good starting point
for any discussion on India, although from
this point on, the RSS and its political wing,
the BJP, take a divergent, divisive path in its
pursuit of a Hindu Rashtra.
Consistent with its dream of creating a
Hindu Rashtra a nation with Hindus and
Hinduism at the helm the RSS claims that
India is fundamentally a pluralistic society
because this is the very character of
Hinduism. The RSS then rejects the word
secularism calling it an unnecessary imposition of Western thought on India while
interpreting it narrowly as an equality of all
religions when in fact, secularism means the
separation of state from religion and religious influence.
SECULARISM DEBATE
While addressing a seminar on secularism in
Chennai, senior RSS leader and ideologue
Manmohan Vaidya had said that secularism
evolved along the themes of separation of the
46
December 31, 2015
An analogy can be
drawn between a close
family and a pluralistic,
multi-religious,
multi-cultural India.
This family model
can promote
Hindu-Muslim unity
more effectively than
the Hindutva model
By Abhay Vaidya
Over the centuries,

various streams of
thought and
religions, ranging
from Hinduism,
Islam, Christianity,
Jainism, Buddhism
and Sikhism, have
contributed to the
assimilative and
accommodative
character of India.
Church and State in Europe and since India
doesnt have a history of theocratic states, the
concept of secularism is irrelevant in the
Indian context. He noted that the Bharatiya
tradition has from time immemorial regarded all faiths and sects as one and therefore,
the artificial injection of secularism is not
needed in a society as hospitable and assimilative as Hindu society.
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh
spoke on similar lines on Constitution Day
on November 26 when he termed secularism as the most misused term which
caused tension in society and blamed the
Congress for introducing it in the Preamble
when even the chief author of the constitution, BR Ambedkar, didnt feel the need
for this.
Although the RSS acknowledges Indias
pluralistic character, its ideology is fundamentally flawed when it gives the entire credit for Indian pluralism to Hinduism. The fact
is that, over the centuries, it is the various
streams of thought and religions, ranging
from Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism,
Buddhism and newer religions like Sikhism,
that have contributed to the assimilative and
accommodative character of India.
To therefore assert that Hindutva is the
true and only identity of India and the only
path forward is extremely divisive as has
been witnessed in recent months when the
Photos: UNI
intolerance debate reached its peak. A large

number of people of eminence, including
superstars such as Shah Rukh Khan and
Aamir Khan came under fierce attack from
the right-wing for speaking in favor of communal harmony.
IDEAL OF FAMILY
Since there is no dispute between the RSS
and liberals on Indias fundamental identity
as a pluralistic and multi-cultural society, it
would go a long way if the ideal of the family
with its deep emotional roots is accepted
SYNCRETIC SPACE
(Top) Muslims greet
Hindus during
Kalash Yatra near
Varanasis Kashi
Vishwanath temple.
(Above) BJP, HAM
and LJP leaders at
an iftar party
47
SOCIETY/ Hindu Rashtra Vs Famliy
A large, joint family is a more accurate representation

of India than the Hindutva model or the sanitized,
secular model of Western societies presented as a
vision for India by some liberals and intellectuals.
GANGA-JAMUNI TEHZEEB
A burqa-clad woman
accompanies her son to a
Janmashtami fancy-dress
gala. (Left) Muslim children
celebrate Diwali
48
December 31, 2015
as a metaphor for Indian society. A family

that is born of common parentage and stands
united against external threats in spite of all
the acrimonies and jealousies among its constituents, is the right metaphor for a multireligious society like India. This family
model could promote Hindu-Muslim unity
far more effectively than the Hindutva
model which will succeed in dividing and
destroying India.
Indeed, a large, joint family as a metaphor
is a more accurate representation of India
than the Hindutva model or the sanitized,
secular model of Western societies that is
presented as a vision for India by a section of
the liberals and intellectuals. Our families as
social units are far stronger and stable, carrying secular and liberal values that are also
common to various religions.
What are the key features of a successful
family? Family members recognize that they
are united by blood and that they are children of the same parents. They recognize
that they live in a shared space called home
in whose welfare and upkeep they have a

common interest. Family members, in particular siblings, recognize that they are all
equals, although the eldest among them is
accepted as the first among equals. The
members of a family help each other in times
of distress and are bound by their joys and
sorrows. In the normal course, one family
member does not rejoice at the misfortune of
the other and most certainly, one family
member does not rejoice at the death and
ruin of a member of his family. Over time, the
family grows and makes way for smaller families and everyone lives through all their likes
and dislikes, pursuits and passions, fortunes
and misfortunes; united, ultimately by an
emotional bond. How is this family structure
vastly different from a multi-religious and
multi-cultural society like India which we
incidentally refer to as mother India in our
imagination, literature and folklore?
People of different religions are like children of the same mother. They are all equals
and yet, the Hindus being the most domi-
nant, are like the eldest child in a family, the

first among equals with a special responsibility towards all the younger siblings, especially those who are weak and vulnerable.
Being the most dominant or the eldest
does not give Hindus the right to dominate
over others in a dictatorial manner and pursue their self-interest at the cost of others.
The eldest sibling cannot decide what the
other siblings should do with their lives just
as Hindus cannot decide suo motu whether
Muslims can or cannot eat beef. Points of differences have to be decided and settled
through collective thought. Why cant a magnificent Ram Mandir stand next to a magnificent Babri Masjid as a symbol of lasting
Hindu-Muslim unity for generations to
come? Why cant this become the modern
Taj Mahal of our times and be more relevant and meaningful than the marble structure at Agra that is famed for its shape and
symmetry?
FUTURE IN JEOPARDY
Every constituent of a family is responsible for
the peace of the household and this is what is
expected of all the communities in a nation. It is
better to learn to live and grow together than
fight, suffer and destroy our own future, as has
been the history of independent India.
The family has to live by rules which apply
to all, even as some members are bestowed
certain privileges and concessions. This is
where a secular state comes in with the provision for reservations and concessions for
weaker sections of society.
Just as the RSS-BJPs attempt to turn India
into a Hindu Rashtra could lead to serious
civil strife, instability and communal clashes,
it is not realistic to expect that a deeply religious society like India will become a sanitized, secular and liberal state like a Western
nation simply because the constitution has the
best elements of liberal, democratic states in
Europe and America.
While being deeply influenced by liberal
and secular ideas, both Dr Ambedkar and
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were fully aware of
the challenges before India on her journey as a
liberal state. While Dr Ambedkar pointed out
that the area of operation of religion is so vast
in Indian society that everything from birth to
Many people of eminence, including superstars

such as Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan,
came under fierce attack from the right-wing for
speaking in favor of communal harmony.
death is a part of our religion, Nehru told
French writer and minister Andr Malraux
that building a secular state in a religious society was the most serious challenge he faced.
Strong and stable families are an inherent
strength of Indian society and it is this vision
that must be extrapolated to Indias existence, progress and prosperity as a nation.
Hindus and Muslims need not see one
another as mutually opposed but as children
of the same motherjust as Swami
Vivekananda did. There is no reason for
Hindus and Muslims to be trapped in the
deeply divisive politics of the RSS, the
Uddhav Thackerays and the Azam Khans of
this country who play politics on communal
lines. It is time to wake up and apply the
family model to India. IL
49
BOOK REVIEW/ The Phoenix Moment
Photos: UNI
Saving Whats Left

While Praful Bidwais critique of the Left is sympathetic at one level, it
doesnt pull any punches when it comes to addressing flaws that have
dogged the communist movement in India
By Ajith Pillai
STRUGGLING TO STAY
RELEVANT
(L-R) Left leaders
D Raja, AB Bardhan, Prakash
Karat, Sitaram Yechuri and
S Sudhakar Reddy at a
dharna in protest against the
rigging and Trinamool terror in
West Bengal during the 2014
Lok Sabha elections
50
December 31, 2015
HOSE who have followed Praful Bidwais

writings would be well
aware of the fact that he
was not only sympathetic
towards Left ideology
but
also
reposed
immense faith in its ability to bring about
social transformation and equitable and
inclusive growth. Yet, despite his own commitment, he was never blind to the flaws in
the functioning of communist parties in

India which were supposed to translate
Marxian concepts into contemporary reality. In fact, more than anything else, his
book, The Phoenix MomentChallenges
Confronting the Indian Left reflects the
writers honesty and objectivity in critiquing the Left and is thankfully, not an
attempt to justify or whitewash some of its
cardinal failings.
Having said that, Bidwais fervent hope
CONSTRUCTIVE
CRITICISM
Praful Bidwai is
frank in describing
the shortcomings of
the Left
is that communism will bounce back as he

believes it is indispensable to the health of
Indian democracy. If it did not exist, we
would have to invent it. The books title is
self-explanatory. Its the authors effort to
look at what such a reinvention entails.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
But in doing that, the writer does not
attempt to editorialize on the issue. That
would have been the easy way out. Instead,
Bidwai has taken the trouble to delve deep
into history and look at what went wrong
with the Left in post-Independent India
and how past mistakes can be and ought to
be rectified.
This is an in-depth study which may
upset some of the authors communist
friends, particularly politicians. But as
constructive criticism, it should be welcomed because Bidwai is not treading the
clichd path taken by right-wing pundits
failure of collectivism, state intervention
and the public sectorwhen they attempt
to run down the Left. On the contrary, this
Bidwai says that the Left did a blunder

when it stood with the BJP in opposing
the Indo-US nuclear deal. Once in power
in 2014, the BJP endorsed this very deal.
book is an attempt to see what role the
communist movement can play in our
present times when several contexts have
sharply changed following the breaking of
the Berlin Wall and the advent of globalization.
According to Bidwai, instead of waking
up to the changes, Indian communists
worked largely within a framework inherited from the Communist International
some 90 years ago. It went by a rigid formulaic understanding of various issues,
based on the experience in another era in
another context. It is this adherence to
outdated concepts and style of functioning
that has reduced the Left to the margins.
That is why he makes a fervent plea for
51
BOOK REVIEW/ The Phoenix Moment
According to Bidwai, the Left has been

reduced to the margins as it goes by a
rigid understanding of issues, based on
experiences in other eras and contexts.
NO MORE ON
STRONG TURF
Opposition leader and
CPM member
VS Achuthanandan
addressing a dharna in
Thiruvananthapuram
in September
Photos: UNI
52
December 31, 2015
the emergence of a New Left free from the

baggage of the past.
The author gives a candid insight into
what went fundamentally wrong in the
Lefts dogged adoption of old models. He
says in the book: The Left embraced the
notion of socialism which led it to regard
the Soviet Union, and later China, as models, which they are not. It has long failed to
define a coherent project of socialism for
the twenty first century, and to identify
possible pathways that might connect it to

the present. The Left did not develop an
India-specific understanding of caste, gender, tribal and ethnic identities, nor a
political strategy that could help translate
that understanding into a realizable, practical project. At another level, it lacked an
analysis of the specificities of Indian capitalism, the nature of the state, and the
character of the ruling class, especially
since the 1990s.
LEFT EROSION
The writers criticism of the Left is indeed
sharp. Bidwai does not spare words in
recounting the Lefts erosion in electoral
terms even in Kerala where it once was an
unassailable force. It now remains content
with sharing power alternatively with the
WHEN THE BASTION FELL

(L-R) Mamata Banerjees
Trinamool Congress has
captured West Bengals
imagination, which returned
Left stalwart Jyoti Basu to power
for five consecutive terms
Congress-led United Democratic Front. In

West Bengal, it suffered an ignominious
rout at the hands of the Trinamool
Congress and is yet to recover and its
cadres are demoralized.
He also notes that the links of the communist parties with trade unions and kisan
sabhas have weakened over years, corroding its mass base. Meanwhile, the Hindu
right, says Bidwai, has come to power
nationally under one of its most rabidly
communal leaders. The Rights ascendancy
will mount further pressure on Left, aggravating its crisis.
One of the historic blunders of the Left
which the writer includes is the one in
1996 when a non-Congress-non-BJP Third
Front was unanimous in its choice of Jyoti
Basu as the prime minister. This was an
opportunity for the Left to play the lead
role in the government. But the choice of
occupying 7 Race Course Road was not left
to Basu but to the CPM politburo. It voted
in favor of being part of the central government but the central committee of
the party overruled it and the Left missed
the bus.
The other blunder, according to Bidwai,
was the position the communists took vis-
-vis the Indo-US nuclear deal in 20072008. In this case, the Left stood with the
BJP in opposing it.
According to the author, it was a tactical error since after coming to power in
2014, the BJP did a U-turn and enthusiastically endorsed the very deal it had
opposed for purely political reasons.
The book comes at a time when it is a
make-or-break moment for the Left.
Bidwais burden is that it either introspects
on its flaws and weaknesses and undertakes a radical course correction or persists with what it is doing now and maintains the status quo. If it chooses the latter
option, then the downward slide may not
be arrested. In fact, the process will only
speed up.
This engaging book will, no doubt, trigger a debate among those interested in the
health of the Left movement in the country. Bidwai, who passed away in June at the
age of 66, will be happy if that happens.
One must end by pointing out that the
size of the book must not intimidate
prospective readers. Of its 586 pages, only
352 constitute the main text and the preface. The rest is devoted to notes and
appendices. IL
THE PHOENIX MOMENT

CHALLENGES CONFRONTING
THE INDIAN LEFT
By Praful Bidwai
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: `599, 586 pages
53
BOOK EXCERPT / The Phoenix Moment
Anil Shakya
Lost Opportunities
This excerpt from Praful Bidwais book explains the nuclear-nationalist
trap the Left found itself in opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal
UNFOUNDED
CRITICISM?
(Above) Left parties
protesting against
the 2008 Indo-US
nuclear deal in
New Delhi
54
December 31, 2015
HE US-India civilian nuclear

cooperation agreement, inked
in 2005 and finalized in 2008,
made a one-time exception for
India in the global nuclear commerce regime by permitting the sale and
transfer of nuclear materials to India for its
civilian programme although India is not a
signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) or any other nuclear restraint

agreement. The special waiver was rationalized on the ground that India is a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology,
with which the US sought to forge a global
partnership.
The Left parties pilloried the nuclear deal
on a number of grounds: it would further
consolidate the US-India strategic partner-
UNI
ship, making India Washingtons subordinate ally; it would interfere with Indias sovereign decision making in nuclear matters,
including programmes linked to the production of plutonium and other weapons-related materials; it would not ensure full civilian
nuclear cooperation or guarantee uninterrupted fuel supply on the part of the US, as
promised; it would impose extraneous nonnuclear conditions on India, such as a commitment to support a Fissile Material Cutoff
Treaty at the UN Conference on Disarmament. Besides, the legal agreements and US
legislation that the deal involved would not
be compatible with Indian self-reliance in
the nuclear sector. Thus, in all these ways,
the deal would violate the national interest.
The Left was virtually silent on the deals
impact in weakening the global non-proliferation regime thanks to the special exception it made for India, which set a dangerous
Leave alone large numbers of the general

public, the Left could not mobilize even
sympathetic middle-class individuals on a
significant scale on the nuclear deal issue.
precedent. The Left also did not question the
safety and ecological sustainability of
nuclear power generation as such, although
expanding it was officially presented as the
key to Indias energy security and decarbonization of its energy economy. The Left
primarily confined itself here to commenting adversely on the high costs of imported
reactors, while arguing for indigenous reactorsin reality, pressurized heavy water
reactors designed by Canadaand rationalizing the fantasy of Indias three-stage
nuclear power programme, with thermal or
normal uranium-fuelled reactors in the
US NUCLEAR FEARS
(Above) Protestors
demonstrate against
the US nuclear deal
with Iran at the Times
Square, New York,
in July
55
BOOK EXCERPT / The Phoenix Moment
The Left was virtually silent on the deals

impact in weakening the global
non-proliferation regime thanks to the
special exception it made for India.
MAN OF THE MOMENT
(Above) As foreign minister
in 2008, Pranab Mukherjee
was a key member of
a joint committee set up by
the UPA to focus on nukedeal objections
56
December 31, 2015
first stage, fast-breeder reactors in the second stage, and eventually, thorium-fuelled
reactors.
The central thrust of the Lefts attack on
the US-India deal was founded on unrefined
nationalism, which made decision making in
respect of nuclear weapons the litmus test of
national sovereigntycontrary to the classical socialist stand which vests sovereignty in
the people, and holds that there is no such
thing as the national interest which can be
separated from the interest of the dominant
or ruling class. This stance pushed the Left
into the arms of the hawks within the
nuclear establishment, typically former officials of the Department of Atomic Energy
(DAE), which is in charge of both the military and civilian nuclear programmes.
Some of the hawks opposed the deal

either out of blatantly national-chauvinist
considerations, or because it would drive the
Indian government towards a policy of
nuclear restraint, a prospect they loathed.
Yet others opposed the original terms of the
deal (for instance, on bringing Indias fastbreeder reactors under the purview of the
civilian programme and hence IAEA inspections), but only because they wanted to drive
a better or stronger bargain on the civilian
power front. Most of them did not share the
Lefts strategic rationale for opposing the
deal (namely, that it would bring about a
US-India strategic alliance, and compromise
Indian sovereignty).
Yet, the Left joined hands with them, as
also did the BJP from time to time. (The BJP
ultimately voted against the deal, out of the
purely opportunistic tactical calculation of
toppling the UPA government; on coming to
power in 2014, it enthusiastically supported
the deal.). At the very least, the Lefts crude
nuclear nationalism eclipsed, if it did not
practically undermine, the contribution it
had itself made to the cause of peace and
social sanity in 1998 by opposing and condemning Indias nuclear tests and demanding that its nuclear arsenal be dismantled.
At any rate, the Lefts nationalist stance
did not evoke a strong popular response.
Leave alone large numbers of the general
public, the Left could not mobilize even
sympathetic middle-class individuals on a
significant scale on the nuclear deal issue.
The Left parties, with their parliamentary
leverage, however succeeded in persuading
the UPA to set up a joint committee to look
into their objections to the nuclear deal. A
key player in the committee was the then
foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who
had a line of communication open with the
Bengal leaders of the CPI(M). The committee held nine meetings between September
2007 and June 2008, which failed to resolve
UPA-Left differences. Eventually, the UPA
stuck to its guns and even refused to hand
over to the Left a copy of the draft of the
safeguards agreement to be signed with the
IAEA: it only presented a brief note on the
agreements salient features and took it
back.... IL
TOURISM/ Uttarakhand/Beatles ashram
Here Comes the

In a happy
initiative,
Uttarakhand has
decided to
convert an
ashram the
Beatles lived in
into a heritage
property rather
than tweak
forest laws for
commercial
reasons. A
happy moment
for Beatles fans!
By Ajith Pillai
SUMMER OF LOVE
The Beatles in India with
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
(centre) along with others
58
December 31, 2015
f you are a Beatles fan, then, this

would surely qualify as good
news. On December 8, while the
world solemnly remembered that
day in 1980 when ex-Beatle John
Lennon was shot dead outside his
New York apartment building by
a crazed fan, the Uttarakhand government,
some 11,500 miles away, formally opened the
gates of what is referred to by tourist guides
in Rishikesh as the Beatles ashram.
By doing so, the state government may
have unwittingly entered the book of Beatles
memorabilia. The ashram in the holy town of
Rishikesh is the Chaurasi Kutia built in 1961
by the Transcendental Meditation (TM)
guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was here
that the Fab Fouras the Beatles are referred
tospent a few months in 1968 to meditate

and introspect. It was also here that they
composed over 40 of their songs.
SAD DECLINE
But after the glory days of the 60s when
celebs rushed here, the ashram fell into bad
times. It started with the then Uttar Pradesh
government terminating the 20-year lease of
the 19.81 acre land in 1981. Reason: the
ashram land fell within the newly demarcated Rajaji National Park and Tiger Reserve
and forest land could not be leased out.
However, the ashram continued to function
out of the premises till 2003, after which it
was formally abandoned.
Since then, Chaurasi Kutia has been in a
state of disrepair till it was recently refur-
Sun in Rishikesh
Pushpender Singh
bished and opened to the public. When it was

abandoned, a board outside identified it as
forest land and banned the entry of visitors
into the scenic property overlooking the
Ganga. Now the notice has been formally
revoked after approval from the National
Tiger Conservation Authority to allow ticketed entry into the ashram (`150 for Indians,
`600 for foreigners). According to Neena
Grewal, director of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve,
the ruins of the ashram will soon be declared
and maintained as a heritage site.
But ban or no ban, the ashram has been
frequented by Beatles fans from across the
world. All it takes is a ` 150-tip to the forest
guard for one to sneak in through gaps in the
barbed wire and set off on a magical mystery
tour. It will take you through winding forest
paths to the egg-shaped futuristic igloo-like
meditation cubicles where the rich and the
famous used to go. Graffiti, drawn by ardent
fans, on the walls of the dwelling quarters
and community halls remind you of the
Ever since the ashram was abandoned, many

had been eyeing the land. There were
several attempts by hoteliers and real
estate developers to grab the property.
Beatles, their songs and the Maharishi in his
flowing robes with the signature line Jai
Guru Deva which famously formed the
refrain of the Beatles song, Across
the Universe.
How such pristine forest land was handed
over to the Maharishi remains a mystery. But
back in the 1960s, conservation was not a
priority and the Guru enjoyed tremendous
popularity and clout to get the land.
SAVING FOR POSTERITY

(Left) The egg-shaped
futuristic igloo-like
meditation cubicles at
Chaurasi Kutia, late
Maharishi Mahesh Yogis
erstwhile ashram;
(Right) Children on a tour of
the ashram
PROPERTY GRAB
Ever since the ashram was abandoned, many
had been eyeing this land. There were several
attempts by hoteliers and real estate developers to grab the property. India Legal has
59
Photos: Pushpender Singh
GOING BACK
IN TIME
(From top) The
refurbished ashram is
now a tourist-friendly
place;
A section of the
ashram that proclaims
it as being a part
of the Rajaji
National Park
60
December 31, 2015
learnt from sources that setting up an

upscale Beatles resort was among the proposals once mooted by a prominent hotel
group. It goes to the credit of the
Uttarakhand government that it did not give
in to pressure and has decided to preserve
the ashram as a heritage property accessible
to the public. It was not agreeable to tweak
any forest land laws.
There was even a proposal to use the
ashram land to build a home for Delhis
street children. This idea was mooted in
2007 by Maggie O Hara (aka Prabhavati
Dwabha), a struggling Hollywood actress
who gave up the silver screen in the 1970s
and headed to India seeking spiritual solace
and enlightenment. Since then, she has dedicated her life to running schools for the poor
in India. She said she would establish a home
for 2,500 street children and a job training
centre on the ashram for 500 women.
According to her proposal, the project
would be financed by an eco-friendly hotel
on the campus where guests could share the
same space that was once occupied by John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr. When she first submitted
her proposal, OHara told The Washington
Post that she was determined to make something out of the ashram which was going to
seed. Helping Indias children would be in
the spirit of what the Beatles were in India
searching for: generosity, optimism, kindness. Its a terrible shame that the Beatles
ashram is lying in waste. It could become a
model for other centers to be built like it
around the country, she had told the paper.
However, her plans came to naught as they
found no favor with the government which
was not prepared to hand over forest land
even for an altruistic cause. Other efforts to
make commercial use of the ashram campus
were relentlessly pursued.
Mahesh Yogi died on February 5, 2008, at
the age of 90 in Vlodrop, Netherlands. But
much before that, he had faded into oblivion.
The ashram that he abandoned in Rishikesh
continued to draw tourists because of the
Beatles connection. The few months that the
Fab Four spent there in 1968 is almost a must
visit for the bands devoted following.
CULTURAL ICONS
It was an evolved Beatles that came to
Chaurasi Kutia in 1968. They had by then
shed their boy band image and put their
syrupy songs of the I Want to Hold Your
Hand and Love Me Do period behind them
and got down to more serious writing. They
were fresh from the critical and commercial
success of their epic 1967 concept album Sgt
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band which has
been described in the Encyclopaedia of
Popular Music as no mere pop album but a
cultural icon embracing the constituent elements of the 60s youth culture: pop art, garish fashion, drugs, instant mysticism and
freedom from parental control.
Yesterday Once More!

Some of the Beatles songs which
were penned in Chaurasi Kutia:
Back in the USSR: It was Paul
McCartney who penned this upbeat
track. He even played it on an acoustic
guitar to Mike Love of the American
band, Beach Boys, who was staying at
the ashram. Love suggested adding
something about girls from Ukraine and
Georgia to give the song a
Russian touch.
duo took time out from meditation and

went tiger hunting on elephants. They
even killed a tiger. John Lennon wrote a
sarcastic song on the incident. These
caustic lyrics upset Nancy: He went out
tiger hunting with his elephant and his
gun/ In case of accidents he always took
his mom/ Hes the all American bullet
headed Saxon mothers son/ All the children sing, Hey Bungalow Bill, what did
you kill, Bungalow Bill...
had the line Maharishi, look what youve

done, you made a fool of everyone.
Fearing litigation, all references to the
guru were taken out and Maharishi
was replaced with Sexy Sadie.
Blackbird: McCartneys song was written in the woods surrounding the
ashram and used finger-style picking on
the guitar which he learnt from Donovan.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The

musical progression was worked out by
Harrison at the ashram with help from
folk singer Donovan. The latter played a
descending progression based on a
Bach piece and that sparked off the
central guitar motif in Harrisons song.
Mother Natures Son and Child of
Nature: Both songs were based on
Maharishis lecture, called Son of
Mother Nature. Paul McCartneys
Mother Natures Son found its way into
the White Album. John Lennons Child of
Nature was later turned into Jealous Guy
in his solo album, Imagine.
The Continuing Story of Bungalow
Bill: The song is about socialite Nancy
Cooke Herrera and her son Riki who
came to the ashram. The mother-son
Sexy Sadie: This was originally written

by Lennon attacking the Maharishi and
But the band, which had stopped live performances and touring in 1966, was also trying to live with the loss of their manager,
Brian Epstein, who died of a drug overdose
on August 27, 1967.
His death left the band rudderless and
drew it more towards eastern mysticism and
spirituality.
The Beatles first met Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi in London in August 1967 and had then
gone off to attend one of his seminars in
Bangor, Wales. When he suggested a trip to
the ashram in the Himalayas, they agreed.
The Fab Four were in good celebrity company when they reached Rishikesh in
February 1968. These included actress Mia
Mean Mr Mustard: The song fragment

by Lennon was included in the Abbey
Road album. He described it as some
crap I wrote in India.
Farrow, her sister, Prudence and brother,

John, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Scottish
folk-rock singer Donovan, flautist Paul
Horan, sculptor and songwriter Gyp Mills,
socialite Nancy Cooke de Herrera and
Canadian director Paul Saltzam.
IDYLLIC PLACE
Chaurasi Kutia provided the perfect backdrop for Lennon, McCartney and Harrison to
set down song ideas and lyrics, figure out
melodies and riffs. In fact, several tracks
which figured in the groups November 1968
untitled double album, referred to as the
White Album because of its blank white
space cover, had songs from the Rishikesh
Regardless of
what I was
supposed to be
doing, I did write
some of my best
songs there.
John Lennon
remembering his days
in Chaurasi Kutia
61
The Beatles first

met Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi in
London in August
1967 and later
attended one
of his
seminars in
Bangor, Wales.
When he
suggested a trip
to his ashram,
they agreed.
Photos: Pushpender Singh
LYRICAL
STROKES
(Top and above)
Graffiti, drawn by
ardent fans, at the
ashram
62
December 31, 2015
phase (see box). Years later, Lennon remembered his days in Chaurasi Kutia in an
interview: Regardless of what I was supposed to be doing, I did write some of my
best songs there.
How seriously did the band take to
meditation and the Maharishi? The Beatles
apparently took it lightly after the first
few days.
They treated the trip as a good break from
the madness of London.
Prudence, who took her sojourn at the
ashram in all earnestness, did not fail to
notice their casual approach. I would always
rush straight back to my room after lectures
and meals so I could meditate. John, George

and Paul would want to sit around jamming
and having a good time.
In fact, Prudence was so obsessed
and lost in her transcendental meditation
that Lennon was even asked at times
to make her snap back to reality.
He composed a song on her detached
existence titled, Dear Prudence which later
figured in the White Album.
It is scraps of such memorabilia
that could enliven a visit to Chaurasi Kutia.
Right now, Rajaji Tiger Reserve authorities
have put up new signages identifying
the various jungle trails, but something more
needs to be done to bring to life the glory
days of the ashram in the heady Sixties and
its place in counter-culture history.
What the Beatles visit did was to give
a quantum push to western interest in
eastern spirituality.
Suddenly, philosophy, mysticism, music
and yoga from this part of the world got a big
boost. Young men and women who wanted
a break from western materialism and the rat
race took the next flight out to India. One
holy town on their itinerary was Rishikesh.
It still is.
This is the reason why Uttarakhand
tourism must maximise on the legacy
and iconic status of the ashram in
musical culture. IL
INTERVIEW/ Judge Ronny Abraham
India Resolving
Commercial Disputes in
the Best Way
With greater liberalization, India was
exposed to the demands of international arbitration. However, despite a
strong judiciary, it has lagged behind
in judicial reforms and implementing
international procedures while
dealing with disputes with different
countries. Often, these have acquired
political overtones, causing a
blemish on India's credibility. Most
international parties opt to settle
conflicts in the International Court of
Justice in The Hague, London or
Singapore, as India's alternate
arbitration and mediation facilities
are seen as time-consuming and
expensive. At a recent conference on
Alternate Disputes Resolution (ADR)
organized by the International
Conference on Document Analysis
and Recognition (ICDAR), JUDGE
RONNY ABRAHAM, president of the
International Court of Justice (ICJ),
The Hague, told NEETA KOLHATKAR
that international commercial
relations had given rise to more cases
on diplomatic protection issues
64
December 31, 2015
With increasing foreign investments from countries with different judicial systems, is the world
today facing more commercial disputes? How does
the ICJ deal with these cases?
Yes, you are right. With globalization and liberalization, disputes have increased over the years. With countries and private parties having commercial interests in
different countries, this is bound to happen. Also, every
country has different rules of judiciary. The
International Court of Justice gives top priority to settlement of international disputes related to commercial
activities. We even tackle complex issues involving
diplomatic issues.
With countries
and private parties
having commercial
interests in
different countries,
disputes have
increased over the
years. While the
International Court
of Justice gives
top priority to the
settlement of
disputes related
to commercial
activities, we even
tackle diplomatic
issues.
Ronny Abraham,
president, ICJ
India has been inundated with an

increasing number of commercial
disputes. But it has a long way to go
before establishing ADR of international standards. Why do international parties who invest in India
prefer to go to The Hague, London
or Singapore in case of a dispute?
India, like other countries, is handling
more and more commercial disputes
and is finding the best ways to resolve
these disputes peacefully through judicial, arbitration, mediation and other
means. I have heard the efforts that are
going on. I cannot state any preference
but I will definitely speak of the work
we do and the issues we tackle.
Can you mention a case that

stood out?
I would like to highlight the role of the
International Court in handling
Diplomatic Protection. We are getting

more and more such cases. On May 24,
2007, there was a case of Guinea versus
the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). Our court gave its decision
based on preliminary objections raised.
The case concerned a claim of diplomatic protection by Guinea, which
alleged that Congo had violated the
rights of its national, Ahmadou Sadio
Diallo, by expelling him and confiscating the property he owned and controlled in Congolese companies.
The Court held that the state of a
shareholder who has invested in a foreign company could not diplomatically
protect him. This was because, if the
company possessed its own separate
legal personality, although two separate
entities may have suffered from the
same wrong, it is only one entity whose
rights have been infringed. An act
directed against and infringing on only

the companys rights does not involve
responsibility towards the shareholders, even if their interests are affected.
This decision severely restricted the
diplomatic remedies available to shareholders in foreign companies operating
in foreign jurisdictions.
There is also a judgment by ICJ in
the Brazilian Traction case which creates a nearly insurmountable barrier to
foreign shareholders hoping to protect
their investment based on general
principles of international law. Since
the Court concluded that shareholders
interests constitute indirect interests
which do not warrant international
legal protection, a claimant state
cannot espouse the claim of its nationals who have invested in foreign
corporations unless treaties specify
otherwise. IL
65
HUMAN RIGHTS/ Geneva Conventions
An Unequal War
The Geneva Conventions are meant to protect civilians during war. But
nations have flouted these with impunity, leading to collateral damage in
places like Afghanistan and Yemen
By Anuj Raina
GHOST TOWN
Remains of the MSF Hospital in
Kunduz, following the US strike
AR
doesnt
have
many
rules. Though
it is often
romanticized
as a fair confrontation, the
reality is quite different. Modern combat is
usually about fighting as unfairly as possible.
It entails eliminating the enemy as efficiently
as possible, while exposing oneself to as little
risk as possible.
Insofar as rules go, there are a few that
66
December 31, 2015
most nations have agreed to, as codified by

the Geneva Conventions of 1949. These confirm immunity for civilians, hospitals and
medical staff. Also, the 1977 Additional
Protocols to the conventions state: The civilian population and individual civilians shall
enjoy general protection against the dangers
arising from military operations.
The rule is that civilians must not be
directly targeted for military attack. Also,
wounded, sick or shipwrecked military personnel, who are considered to be hors de
combat (out of action due to injury), are pro-
COMPLICIT IN THE
ATTACK?
According to the US
militarys investigation,
the militarys
headquarters at Bagram
(left), had been
informed of the
impending attack,
with exact location of
the hospital.
tected, as are prisoners of war.

One of the oldest references to conduct in
war can be found in the Mahabharata, where
a discussion takes place between Bhishma
and Yudhishthira concerning what constitutes acceptable behavior on a battlefield.
According to Bhishma: One should not
attack chariots with cavalry; chariot warriors
should attack chariots. One should not assail
someone in distress, neither to scare him nor
to defeat him.... War should be waged for
the sake of conquest; one should not be
enraged toward an enemy who is not trying
to kill him.
Lets fast forward to 2015. International
Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a legal framework applicable to situations of armed conflict and sets in when two or more parties
engage in an armed confrontation. These
may be international or non-international in
character. The application of IHL is not
dependent on a declaration or formal recognition of war. Broadly speaking, international law (along with its subordinate IHL) is
based on three pillars: Treaties, customs and
general principles.
Only states that have taken necessary and
sufficient steps to bring a treaty into force are
bound by its terms. Even if a state is not party
to a specific IHL treaty, many of its rules

reflect customary international law.
These rules came into play recently when
Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) trauma
hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, came
under precise and repeated airstrikes on
October 3, 2015. The main building, which
housed the intensive care unit, emergency
rooms, laboratory, X-ray, outpatient department, mental health and physiotherapy
ward, was hit during each aerial raid, while
the surrounding buildings were left mostly
untouched. It left at least 30 dead, including
10 patients, 13 staff and 7 unrecognizable
bodies. When the attack occurred, there were
105 patients in the hospital and 80 MSF staff
who were on duty.
This was done despite the Geneva Conventions saying that hospitals, ambulances,
medical aircraft and medical personnel are
entitled to protection from hostile fire, provided that the structures are marked with a
red cross or red crescent and not used
improperly or near military objectives.
The Geneva
Conventions
specify that
civilians must
not be directly
targetted. Also,
wounded, sick
or shipwrecked
military
personnel, who
are out of action
due to injury,
should be
protected.
FATAL ERROR
By the US Department of Defenses own
admission, MSF had provided the GPS coordinates of the trauma hospital to the US
67
HUMAN RIGHTS/ Geneva Conventions
On October 3,
2015, MSF
Trauma Hospital
in Kunduz,
Afghanistan,
came under
precise and
repeated
airstrikes.
Around 30
were killed.
EQUAL TREATMENT
The Geneva
Conventions state
that enemy
combatants, including
insurgents like the
Taliban, should be
cared for if they are
wounded
68
December 31, 2015
Department of Defense, the Afghan Ministry

of Interior and Defense and the US Army in
Kabul less than a week before the airstrike.
The attack continued for more than 30 minutes despite MSF informing the NATO command in Afghanistan and US military officials in Kabul and Washington that it was a
hospital being hit.
According to the US militarys investigation of the incident, the medical facility was
misidentified as a target by its personnel who
believed they were striking a different building several hundred meters away where there
were reports of Taliban fighters. The hospital
was on the militarys so-called no-strike list.
A minute before the firing, the crew transmitted the coordinates of their target to their
headquarters at Bagram Airfield, north of
Kabul, giving the accurate location of the
hospital.
MSFs hospital in Kunduz was the only
facility of its kind in north-eastern Afghanistan, providing free life- and limb-saving
trauma care. Since its opening in 2011, more
than 15,000 surgeries were conducted and
more than 68,000 emergency patients were
treated. The hospital has been substantially
destroyed and is no longer operational.
INDEPENDENT PROBE
MSF has now demanded an independent
investigation by the International Humani-
tarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC) to

establish the facts of this event. IHFCC is not
a UN body; it was created in 1991 by
Additional Protocol 1, Article 90 of the
Geneva Conventions that govern the rules of
war. It was set up to independently investigate violations of humanitarian law such as
attacks on hospitals which are protected in
conflict zones.
Although the US military has formally
apologized for the incident with suspended
members accepting that the cause of this
tragedy was avoidable human error, compounded by process and equipment failures,
it has categorically rejected accusations of
war crimes and calls for independent
inquiries.
Far more troubling are the broader implications of the US militarys report on the
incident. They indicate deep, systemic failures at every level of the US militarys chainof-command. At no point were US forces in
visual contact with Taliban fighters; they
relied on the reports of Afghan soldiers, who
reported taking fire from the hospital.
Moreover, the US militarys Central Command had the precise GPS coordinates of the
hospitals location and yet bombed it.
Counterterrorism expert and executive
director of Delhi-based Institute for Conflict
Management Ajay Sahni points out the double standards of the US. One of the justifica-
tions the US gave for the attack was that

Taliban insurgents were using MSF hospital
as a base. That doesnt hold water. If you
remember, at the UN, the US itself was pushing to condemn Sri Lanka, which killed civilians who were being used as human shields
by the LTTE. So targeting insurgents using
civilians as human shields in Afghanistan is
illegal as well, he says.
CULTURE OF IMPUNITY
The US is not the only power that has recently been accused of violating IHL by targeting
medical facilities. An examination of conflict
zones shows a disturbing culture wherein
states wage war disregarding the Geneva
Conventions with impunity.
Airstrikes carried out on the night of
October 26 by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition
in northern Yemen destroyed a hospital supported by MSF. Miraculously, no one was
killed. Hospital staff and two patients managed to escape before subsequent airstrikes
occurred over a two-hour period. With the
hospital destroyed, at least 2,00,000 people
now have no access to medical care.
Less than two months later, on December
2, another airstrike carried out by the Saudiled coalition hit a clinic in southern Yemen
run by MSF, wounding nine people, including two MSF staff. Three airstrikes initially
targeted a park in Taiz citys Al Houban
district, 2 km from MSFs clinic. The MSF

team immediately evacuated the clinic and
informed the Saudi-led coalition that their
jet planes were mounting an attack nearby.
Regardless, the clinic itself came under
attack a short while later. The hospitals GPS
coordinates were regularly shared with the
coalition and the roof of the facility was
clearly identified with the MSF logo.
While the US and others have often
implied that MSF provides medical care to
wounded insurgents and enemy combatants,
such criticism is utterly baseless insofar as
IHL goes. Geneva Conventions clearly state
that so long as they refrain from any act of
hostility and do not attempt to escape, the
wounded and sickof all partiesmust be
collected and cared for. Medical personnel,
units, and transports under the control of
those parties have so-called special protections under IHL.
Moreover, under IHL not only warring
states but also organized armed groups, at
least pursuant to Additional Protocol II, may
control their own medical personnel, units,
and transports. Those organized armed
groups may thereby extend special protections to the medical personnel and objects
under their control.
So obviously, though rules are laid down,
it isnt necessary that they will be followed
with care. IL
CRIPPLING EFFECT
The destroyed MSF
facility in Yemen
following Saudi
Arabias October
26 attack
69
SPOTLIGHT/ Space/Property Rights
Buy Me the Moon!
Photo Imaging: Anthony Lawrence
With the United States signing an act allowing its citizens to mine
asteroids, the race for property rights in outer space will get keener. And
with a weak Outer Space Treaty, the repercussions could be scary
By Papia Samajdar
70
December 31, 2015
N November 25, 2015, Barack

Obama signed the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act which allows
US citizens and companies to
mine asteroids. What caught
the attention of everyone is a
provision in it for extension of property
rights to US companies and citizens legalizing the ownership of asteroids. This means
that if they can retrieve minerals, metals or
resources from outer space, they can keep it.
The Act says: Any asteroid resources obtained in outer space are the property of the
entity that obtained them, which shall be
entitled to all property rights to them, consistent with applicable federal law and existing
international obligations.
A US commercial space resource utilization entity:
*Shall avoid causing harmful interference in
outer space
*May bring a civil action in US district court
for any action by another entity subject to US
jurisdiction causing harmful interference to
its operations with respect to an asteroid
resource utilisation activity in outer space.
LAWLESS US
This is one of the biggest steps in terms of
extension of property rights to outer space.
However, is the US allowed to extend property rights to its citizens when its bound by
international law which universalizes outer
space and celestial bodies? The new law provides US jurisdiction with respect to outer
space activity if a domestic company or citizen is involved, which is in violation of the
Outer Space Treaty, 1967. This international
treaty, which the US is a signatory to, does
not give it the right to own, obtain or transport resources.
The US justifies its law by saying that it is
not against the international treaty and that
it has not given sovereign rights for the celestial body, but merely extended its right to
economically exploit resources affirmed by
the state practices.
The Outer Space Treaty, or the Treaty on
Principles Governing the Activities of States
in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space,
including Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,
NASA
russianspaceweb.com
1967, has 104 countries as signatories. The

treaty seeks to ensure peaceful activity in
outer space and specifically prohibits states
from parking weapons of mass destruction
there. The treaty emphasizes that outer space
belongs to everyone, and exploration and
study would be done to benefit everyone. No
one state can either claim sovereignty of
jurisdiction in outer space. Article 2 of the
Treaty states that outer space, including the
moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of
sovereignty, by means of use or occupation,
or by any other means.
Article 4 of the Treaty leaves the supervision of outer space with the international
UNMINDFUL
SPACE ACTIVITY?
(Top) More than
1,000 active
satellites orbit
the Earth as of now
(Above) The new US
commercial space
launch law legalizes
the ownership of
asteroids
71
SPOTLIGHT/ Space/Property Rights
India must
look into the
effects of outer
space activities. It
should maintain
that outer space
property cant be
appropriated and
any extraction of
resources can't
happen without
an international
instrument,
from spacefaring
nations.
Photos: UNI
MISSION SUCCESSFUL
(L-R) PM Modi
congratulating ISRO
Chairman K Radhakrishnan
after the launch of Mars
Orbiter in September 2014;
ISRO scientists watch on
screens display the graphics
of Mars Orbiter Mission at
ISRO complex, Bangalore
72
December 31, 2015
community. There was a Moon Agreement

(or the Agreement Governing the Activities
of States on the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies, 1979), which was a follow-up to the
Outer Space Treaty. It was an attempt to
establish a regime for the use of Moon and
other celestial bodies. However, it failed to
muster enough support as only 16 nations
were signatories to it.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Outer space activity has seen a sudden rise,
thanks to technological development during
the Cold War era. Currently, 11 countries
have space launch capability and over 60
own and operate approximately 1,100 active
satellites orbiting the Earth. In the absence
of a strong regulatory instrument, outer
space is already crowded. Negligence and
technological breakdown has caused enough
damage to satellites, without any move to
clean the debris. As a result, approximately
20,000 soft ball-sized
debris are floating around
the Earth.
This hyper activity is
harmful enough, not to
mention unknown imprints on Earth. If the US
space mining law and others proceed to tamper with
the pristine environment, Earths immediate

environment could suffer damage. The impact of space activity is unknown as governments dont release enough data for the public on the issue. A feasibility study to understand the fallout of these activities does not
seem to have crossed the minds of these mining companies.
Too much tampering might also spoil the
clues crucial for the discovery of outer space
life forms and other secrets the celestial bodies might hold.
Contamination of outer space with our
bacteria might also adversely affect the
atmosphere and ruin our chances of discovering how life on Earth might have evolved.
SPACE RACE
Apart from the grave environmental impact
of extra-terrestrial mining of resources and
tampering with outer space, the US move could well trigger an international race to own
and exploit asteroids and other celestial bodies. The US law has set the stage for other
countries to come up with their own domestic laws which will permit resource mining.
Currently, with a handful of spacefaring
countries, the Earths orbit is a crowded and
dirty place. With time, the race will get faster
and dirtier.
Countries such as Russia and China and
The US justifies the

new law by saying that
it is not against the
international treaty and
it has not given
sovereign rights for the
celestial body, but
merely extended its
right to economically
exploit resources
affirmed by the state
practices.
UNI
even India can, in all likelihood, extend property rights of celestial bodies to their citizens
without claiming sovereignty over them, just
as the US mining lobby is doing.
Currently, the US accounts for 75 percent
of the worldwide government funding for
space and the US government or industry
owns and operates roughly 40 percent of all
active spacecraft in orbit. However, Russia
and China follow closely.
As regards Russia, Article 2 of the Law of
Russian Federation About Space Activity
Decree No. 5663-1 permits operations to
explore and use outer space including the
moon and other celestial bodies. Article 4,
however, restricts monopolistic and entrepreneurial activity, while Article 8 hints that
their federal space program shall be elaborated taking into account conditions in the
world space market.
The US law is enough ground for Russia
to develop its own space program.
INDIAS STAND
India does not have a domestic law or policy
with regard to outer space activity though it
is a signatory to both the Outer Space Treaty
and the Moon Agreement. However, it has
been active in space explorations and has a
number of satellites orbiting Earth. These
are used for mapping, communication, defense purposes, etc.

The Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO) has already showed the world its advanced technological capabilities by putting
forward the Mars Mission Orbiter in one attempt and at a very low cost in September last
year. India for the first time entered the Mars
orbit. Until then, ISRO was dealing mainly
with launching satellites.
Though the impact of the US law is futuristic, US mining companies are already investing and developing technology which will
enable them to begin mining asteroids within a decade.
In the wake of increasing outer space activity, India needs to gear up and consider the
repercussions of these activities. Our country
and the international community should
maintain that outer space property cannot be
appropriated and that any extraction of
resources cannot happen without a proper
international instrument, which spacefaring
countries should be signatories to. Also, a liability regime should be put forward.
The future when celestial bodies will be
mined is not far. However, mankind should
refrain from being irresponsible in outer space activity so that we dont witness catastrophic consequences. IL
SPACE WAR?
(Above) The US law on
asteroid mining could
well trigger an international race to own and
exploit asteroids and
other celestial bodies
73
IS THAT LEGAL?
Surrogacy ban justified

Surrogacy services for foreign
couples have been banned in India.
Is that not a violation of an Indian
womans right to livelihood?
The Indian government has banned
surrogacy services for foreigners
due to concerns raised over the
largely unregulated industry. In many
surrogacy agreements, poor women
are sucked into it because of the
money involved, thus heightening
the risk of exploitation and abuse.
These women enter into lucrative
contracts as foreign couples pay

much more than what they would
have received in the country for
such services.
As of now, only Indian nationals
who cannot have children can
commission wombs, a practice that
has created a $1-billion industry in
the country. The same viewpoint has
been submitted by the centre before
the Supreme Court wherein the
government said it does not support
commercial surrogacy.
Concern for disabled

The disabled in India have fought many legal battles for their rights,
especially for getting government jobs. Is the government not serious
about their welfare?
The constitution mandates taking care of the disabled. The Government of
India itself is committed to their welfare. It has set up national institutes to
deal with various types of disabilities. There are Composite Regional Centers
set up by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in different parts
of India for their rehabilitation.
The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation provides
loans to the disabled at concessional rates for self-employment. There are
many NGOs supported by the government that work for the welfare of the
disabled. There is a separate Department of Disability Affairs, under the
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for the disabled.
Perils of online shopping

Several online shopping portals often do not
deliver the same stuff that they display on their
websites. There are also cases where the
concerned company did not return the money
when the customer rejected products. Can a
buyer take legal action?
Any person buying a product online must
follow the Latin term, Caveat emptor, which
means let the buyer beware or implying
that the buyer should know that product may
be either defective or may fail to meet his
or her expectations. This is a consumer
law principle.
Having said that, the terms and conditions
given on websites must be read carefully
74
December 31, 2015
before ordering a product. Generally speaking,

websites do have a detailed policy for product
rejection or replacing it, and the buyer must
go through the policy details carefully before
the order is given.
It is prudent to opt for cash on delivery
method. The buyer is well within his or her
right to check the product delivered at his or
her doorstep before signing the delivery receipt
and paying the amount.
If a customer feels that he or she has been
cheated, a complaint can be filed to the
company itself for redressal. And if there is
no action, one can approach a consumer
forum or even go to a consumer court.
Answers by Shailendra Singh

Illustrations: UdayShankar
NO I
HOLDS
BARRED
Liberated sex wo
rkers turn into par
Never-told-before explosive story of the CBIs complicity with

Lalu Yadavs political enemies to nail him in the fodder scam
nteers
alegal volu
ESH MENON
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By AP DURAI
Interpretation of
46
JUSTICE N CHAPA
49
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LGAONKER
Chhota Rajan: Polit

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NDIA L EGAL
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INDIAL EGAL
NDIA L EGA ips, I
42
www.indialegalonline.com
lonline.com
www.indialega
`100
December 15, 2015
`100
Minefield
AJITH PILLAI
52
15, 2015
November
November
30, 2015
www.indialega
lonline.com
`100
STORIES
STORIES THAT COUNT
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THAT COU
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Lessons for
By Kalyani ShaModi and Nitish
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Inderjit Badhwar examines the Indian Modis Freako
legal tangle on snooping
By Ajith Pillai nomics
France caught in a web of confusion Pracharak or PM
By Inderjit Bad ?
Is Belgium the new terror theatre?
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US ponders efficacy of mass surveillance 08
CONSTITUTION
DEBATE
Modis balm 54
34
THAT COU
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MURALI
KRISHNAN
Taslima
Nasreens
exclusive
interview
AJITH
PILLAI
Indranis
mess
gets
messier
42
56
VIPIN
PUBBY:
Identity
crisis hits
meat 40
BIKRAM
VOHRA:
Air travails
of the
disabled
64
RK MISRA:
Wanting a
Womb 26
R RAMASU
Bad blood BRAMANIAN:
Madras HCin
42
58
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INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS
A case for abortion

T
he Belfast High Court has ruled

that abortion legislation in
Northern Ireland, which currently
allows termination of pregnancy
only if a womans life is at risk or if
there is a permanent or serious risk
to her mental or physical health, is
a breach of human rights law.
The Guardian reported that the
Northern Ireland Human Rights
Commission (NIHRC) took up the
case to extend abortion to cases of
Pak hangs Peshawar

school attackers
akistan has hanged four men

linked to last Decembers massacre at an army school which
killed over 150 people, most of
whom were children, reports
Al Jazeera.
Hazrat Ali, Mujeeb ur Rehman,
Sabeel and Abdus Salam were
convicted for their involvement in
the attack. They were identified as
members of the Toheedwal Jihad
Group, a previously unheard of
faction of the Pakistani Taliban.
The men were sentenced to
death by a military court and are
the first to be hanged in relation to
the attack. Taliban militants
stormed the Army Public School in
the north-western city of Peshawar
on 16 December 2014.
The massacre prompted a
crackdown on Islamist militants, the
establishment of military courts to
try terror suspects and the
resumption of capital punishment
after a six-year moratorium.
76
December 31, 2015
No place for terrorists
ustralia has sought to strengthen

anti-terrorism measures, passing a
bill that will strip Australian dual nationals of their citizenship if they are suspected or convicted for terrorism. The
Olympian Pistorius
convicted of murder
lympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has

been found guilty of murder after a
South African appeals court overturned
an earlier manslaughter verdict, reports
NBC News. Pistorius killed his girlfriend
Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013
after shooting her four times through a
locked toilet door.
South Africas Supreme Court of
Appeal ruled that the lower court did
not correctly apply the rule of dolus
eventualiswhether Pistorius knew
that a death would be a likely result of
his actions.
A five-judge bench presided over by
Judge Eric Leach reached a unanimous
verdict, concluding that Judge
serious fetal malformation, rape or

incest. A judicial review found the
grounds for abortion should be
extended in Northern Ireland. The
UKs 1967 Abortion Act does not
apply to Northern Ireland.
In his ruling, Justice Horner said
women who were the victims of
sexual crime and cases of fatal
fetal abnormality were entitled to
exemptions. Attorney General John
Larkin said that he was profoundly
disappointed and was considering the grounds for appeal.
new law was one of the several

terrorism-related legislations passed in
the countrys upper house, the
BBC reported.
Australia has been a significant
source of jihadist foreign fighters in the
Middle East, with at least 90 Australians
having joined groups such as the
Islamic State of Iraq and Ash-Sham.
About half of them are dual citizens.
The new laws apply only to
such individuals and will not allow
anyone to be left stateless, echoing
measures proposed by French
President Franoise Hollande
following last months terrorist attacks
by ISIS in Paris.
Thokozile Masipa, who gave the original

verdict, made fundamental errors and
that elements of the ballistics evidence
were seemingly ignored by the
trial court.
The six-time Paralympic gold
medalist faces up to 15 years in
prison under South African law.
Hungary challenges
EU migrant quota
ungary filed a legal challenge to the European

Union's plan to distribute 1,60,000 asylum-seekers
among member states under a quota system, a day after
fellow bloc member Slovakia filed its own lawsuit against
the mandatory quotas, at the European Court of Justice
in Luxembourg, according to Hungary Today.
Under the EU quota system, both Budapest and
Bratislava are expected to take in around 2,300
migrants each.
In September, Hungary voted against the scheme
together with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania
at an EU meeting, revealing a deep split between western
and eastern bloc members.

Nearly 8,60,000 migrants have landed in Europe so
far this year, with many fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and
Afghanistan. Hungary was a key transit country for
people trekking along the western Balkan route to reach
northern Europe, until it sealed its southern borders with
razor-wire fencing in October.
Probing Blatter in FIFA bribery scandal
he US Federal Bureau of
Investigation is probing suspended FIFA chief Sepp Blatters role in a
$100 million bribery scandal, the
BBC reported.
Blatter, who has led the organi-
zation since 1998, has denied

knowledge of wrong-doing. He and
two other FIFA officials were
suspended for 90 days by its
ethics panel in October.
Sports marketing company
International Sport and Leisure paid
a total of $100 million, including
payments to two men, one of whom
was indicted former Brazilian soccer
chief Ricardo Teixeira, the other exFIFA president Joao Havelange of
Brazil, according to the BBC. In
exchange for that money, ISL
received lucrative television and
marketing rights throughout the
1990s, the BBC said.
Guantanamo prisoner
mistakenly held
he US Government has admitted

that a prisoner held at
Guantanamo Bay for 13 years may
have been detained as a result of
mistaken identity, reported
ABC News.
Mustafa al-Aziz al-Shamiri, a 37year-old Yemeni, is now thought by
US officials to have been a low-level
Islamist fighter and not an al-Qaeda
courier and trainer, as originally
believed.
A report, written by the
Pentagon, presented to the hearing
said that while Al-Shamiri had

admitted to interrogators that he
had fought in Yemens civil war in
1996 and for the Taliban in
Afghanistan in 2000-2001, officials
wrongly thought he had a more
significant role because he was
confused with someone else
who had a similar name.
Brazils President
faces impeachment
he speaker of Brazils lower house

of Congress, Eduardo Cunha,
agreed to start impeachment
proceedings against President Dilma
Rousseff, raising pressure on the beleaguered leader at a time when she is
grappling with a severe economic
downturn and a colossal graft scandal
in her government.
Voice of America reported that the
move was instigated by Cunha, who is
himself battling charges in a bribery
case. A vote in Congress on whether
to impeach Rousseff is expected to
involve weeks of delicate political
negotiations, making it challenging for
proceedings to culminate before a holiday recess in December end.
Rousseff, who earlier called an
emergency cabinet meeting, said she
was confident that the impeachment
motion would be rejected. Two-thirds
of the lower house must approve the
process. The governing coalition
has a majority in the lower
house of Congress.
Compiled by Anuj Raina

77
CAMPUS UPDATE
Upcoming Moot Court Competitions
idayatullah National Law University,

Raipur, is organizing the 8th Justice
Hidayatullah Memorial National Moot
Court Competition in memory of the
11th chief justice of India, Justice
Hidayatullah, on February 19-21,
2016. The subject is International
Environmental Law and International
Law. The last date to register is
Award for Outstanding

Contribution
rof (Dr) Sukh Pal Singh,

Vice-Chancellor,
Hidayatullah National Law
University, Raipur, was conferred the prestigious Award
for Outstanding Contribution to
Education at the 23rd
Business School Affairs &
Dewang Mehta National
Education Awards, 2015, in
Mumbai on November 28.
This award was in recognition of his leadership development, innovation and industry
interface of the institute. The

award was received by Dr
Deepak Kumar Srivastava, registrar in-charge, on behalf of
Prof Singh.
78
KIIT Conference on
International Law
Institutional Excellence Award

for WBNUJS
ecognizing its contribution to

innovative legal education
and multi-disciplinary research
on contemporary legal issues,
Society of Indian Law Firms
(SILF) and Menon Institute of
Legal Advocacy Training
(MILAT), Thiruvanan-thapuram,
conferred on West Bengal
National University of Juridical
Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata,
this years SILF-MILAT
Institutional Excellence Award.
The award acknowledged the
January 10, 2016.

Meanwhile, the New Law College,
Pune, is organizing the 6th Justice PN
Bhagwati International Moot, to be held
from March 19 to 20, 2016. This is in
honor of Justice PN Bhagwati, the 17th
chief justice of India and an eminent
jurist. The last date of registration is
January 5, 2016.
law universitys consistently

good record of academic
performance and contribution to
legal scholarship, with a large
number of research publications
and some innovative extension
services.
he International
Law Society at
KIIT School of Law,
Bhubaneswar, is
organizing the 1st
KIIT National
Conference on
International Law to
provide students a
platform to deliberate upon the
theoretical as well as practical
aspects of International Law.
The conference, to be held
from January 15 to 17, 2016
will facilitate an interaction

between students, practitioners and academicians. The
registration closes on
December 30, 2015.
Call for papers at NLSIU
ndian Journal of
Law & Technology
(IJLT), focused on
the study of the
interface between
law and technology and published annually by the National
Law School of India University
(NLSIU), Bangalore, is now
accepting submissions. These
are: articles (5000-12000
words), essays (3000-5000
words) and case notes, legislative comments, book and
article reviews (2000-6000
words) in the areas of intellectual property rights, internet

governance, information communication technologies,
access to medicines, privacy
rights, digital freedom,
telecommunications policy,
media law and innovation. The
last date for submission is
January 31, 2016.
Compiled by Sherien Kaul and Priyvrat Singh Chouhan

December 31, 2015
FIGURE
IT OUT
Internet users in India increased by
5.2 crore in the first six months of
2015from 30.2 crore to 35.4 crore
by June 2015.
The Union government has
announced a list of 98 cities that
will be developed as smart cities.
A report published by World Health
Organization in December 2014 says
that 13 of the top 20 most polluted
cities are from IndiaDelhi, Patna,
Gwalior, Raipur, Ahmedabad,
Lucknow, Firozabad, Kanpur
Amritsar, Ludhiana, Allahabad, Agra
and Khanna in Ludhiana district
of Punjab.
A new survey, based on
interviews of 15,000-odd teens,
aged between 13 and 19 years, from
20 cities has revealed that the
average age of first sexual contact
for boys was 13.72 years and 14.09
years for girls.
In 2014, as many as 644 communal incidents took place, including
133 in Uttar Pradesh, 72 in Rajasthan,
97 in Maharashtra, 56 in Madhya
Pradesh, 73 in Karnataka, 10 in
Jharkhand, 74 in Gujarat, 7 in Delhi,
61 in Bihar and 16 in West Bengal.
This year, between January and
October, 650 communal incidents
have taken place, with a maximum
of 139 reported from UP.
Nearly 97 communal incidents were
reported from Maharashtra, 86 from
Madhya Pradesh, 79 from Karnataka,
24 from Jharkhand, 47 from Gujarat,

59 from Bihar and 24 from West
Bengal, this year.
According to the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB),
in 2014, the country witnessed
33,981 murders and 3,332
incidents of culpable homicide
not amounting to murder.
The Indian Coast Guard has a fleet
of 117 ships while 74 more are under
various stages of construction at
different shipyards in the country.
Arthritis affects 15 percent
people i.e. 18 crore people in India
in some form or another. Of these,
around one crore people suffer
from rheumatoid arthritis.
Men above the age of 45 years are
at a greater risk of having low levels of
Vitamin D. About 80.63% of Indian
urban men exhibit lower than normal
levels of Vitamin D.
Hindi has emerged as the
largest Indian language spoken
in the US, with around 6,50,000
people speaking it. Nearly
4,00,000 US residents speak Urdu,
and Gujarati is spoken by over
3,70,000 people.
India is set to displace the UK and
become the third largest aviation market globally. Its among the five
fastest-increasing markets with 27.5
crore new passengers, as per
International Air Transport
Association.
Compiled by Mahesh Trivedi

79
PEOPLE / Chennai Deluge
DELUGE OF DESPAIR
A street filled with debris
LIFE MOVES ON
People being evacuated
80
December 31, 2015
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

A woman at a partially submerged temple
DOGS BEST FRIEND

Carrying a pet to safety
WATERY WASTELAND
The heaviest rainfall in over a century
SALVAGE OPERATION
Household items kept out to dry
COPING WITH DISASTER

A flood-affected couple dwarfed by the picture of CM Jayalalithaa
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

A flooded road in Chennai
WINGS UNDER SIEGE

Paralyzed Chennai airport
Compiled by
Kh Manglembi Devi
Photos: UNI
81
1. Plural of enfant
terrible.
A: Enfants terrible
B: Enfants terribles
C: Enfant terribles
D: Enfante terrible
Have fun with English.

Get the right answers.
Play better scrabble.
By Mahesh Trivedi
D: Languid
8. Cicerone.
A: Violent storm
B: Narcotic drug
C: Tourist guide
D: A car brand
2. To psych up.
A: To brainwash
B: To excite
C: To feign
D. To memorize
9. Albumen.
A: Egg white
B: Carbohydrate
C: Herb
D: Sleeping pill
3. Basket case.
A: Precious
B: Neglected
C: Special case
D: Useless
10. To play Judas.

A: To be a traitor
B: To intervene
C: To support lovers
D: To impersonate
4. A Rip Van Winkle.

A: Sleeps a lot
B: Cheats people
C: Is a serial killer
D: Toils whole day
11. Stupid person.

A: Romo
B: Wazzock
C: Vanilla
D: Swingbeat
5. To sequester.
A: To collect
B: To kill
C: To set apart
D: To crash
6. Dutch bargain.
A: Unfair deal
B: Compromise
C: Fair deal
D: Written agreement
12. Penurious.
A: Painful
B: Miserly
C: Dirty
D: Wealthy
13. Pull the other one!
A: Get lost!
B: I dont believe you!
C: Start your work!
D: Think again!
7. Adjective of lip.
A: Lippery
B: Labial
C: Lascivious
14. To talk Billingsgate.

A: To talk in foul
language
B: To flatter and deceive

C: Remain silent
D: Talk business
15. Verdant.
A: Aristocrat
B: Strong
C: Green
D: Wordy
16. Quod.
A: Sea animal
B: Long poem
C: Easy chair
D: Prison
17. Both oars in
the water.
A: Crazy
B: Bankrupt
C: Mentally normal
D: Very rich
18. Lunchtime
engineering.
A: Office politics
B: Eating together
C: Idle talk
D: Bribery
ANSWERS
1. Enfants terribles
2. To excite
3. Useless
4. sleeps a lot
5. To set apart
6. Unfair deal
7. Labial
8. Tourist guide
9. Egg white
10. To be a traitor
11. Wazzock
12. Miserly
13. I dont believe you!
14. Talk in foul language
15. Green
16. Prison
17. Mentally normal
18. Bribery
19. Scuffle
20. In Real Life
Y
L
D
R
WO ISE
SCORES
19. Rough and tumble.
A: Mountaineering
B: Scuffle
C: Bad times
D: Hard work
20. IRL.
A: In Real Life
B: I Received Letter
C: Ill Reply Later
D: Its Real Love
0 to 7 correctYou
need to do this more
often.
8 to 12 correctGood,
get the scrabble
board out.
Above 12Bravo!
Keep it up!
textdoctor2@gmail.com
82
December 31, 2015

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India Legal 31 December 2015

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Bhai gets new Jaan26

December 31, 2015

STORIES THAT COUNT

As the Congress goes on the warpath in

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

December 31, 2015

the progress towards a better world.

he formulae I speak of are not the religious beliefs of ascetics or religious

he Indian constitution is a document

lawyers or even basic justice. Hundreds of

Has India lived

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Published by Prof Baldev Raj Gupta on behalf of E N Communications Pvt Ltd

OWNED BY E. N. COMMUNICATIONS PVT. LTD.

December 31, 2015

Herald of Bad News?

Down with Parochialism

New Life for Bhai

Haven for Terrorists

BJPs Gujarat Debacle

Strawberry Fields Forever

AJITH PILLAI joins millions of Beatles fans in welcoming the

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur says that while arbitration is a

Law secretary PK Malhotra has praised Congress PM PV

In a multi-religious and multi-cultural society such as ours,

Despite a strong judiciary, India has lagged in implementing

USs Double Standards

International humanitarian laws were flouted when the US

The Race in Space

With the US allowing its citizens to mine asteroids,

Follow us on Facebook.com/IndiaLegalMagazine and

As long as there is rule of law, an

Forty percent of Indians dont have

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on the

We will go to Centre, the PM

I regret that I could not

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after the

Even if the entire Indian

December 31, 2015

Eminent filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on

English education can only train us

I am the daughter-inlaw of Indira Gandhi. I

I request the government, please

INDIA LEGAL December 31, 2015

he crucial visitors diary from

Help for acid victims

aking a case for acid

December 31, 2015

meetings with the coal scam accused

t was for Parliament to

a petition from advocate

TS Thakur, the new CJI

ustice Tirath Singh Thakur

Remission is centers call

The Jayalalithaa government

ight to property cant be shrugged off or

t is not possible to block

Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar

COURTS/ Gujarat HC/ Medical Admissions

GOOD NEWS FOR THE AILING

Stop Being Parochial!

December 31, 2015

egionalism has come to the fore in admissions to medical colleges in Gujarat.

from Andhra Pradesh, but being a minor, it