Andhra Pradesh Disha Act

Barely a fortnight after the gang-rape and murder of Disha, the veterinary doctor in Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh cabinet cleared a bill that proposes the death penalty in cases of sexual abuse against women. The bill also seeks to complete the entire trial along with the punishment within flat 21 days of the FIR being filed.

At present, there is no provision for death penalty in Indian laws for rape convicts. Once the bill is passed, Andhra Pradesh will become the first state in India to have capital punishment for rape cases. The new bill, the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law (amendment) Act, 2019 will be called the Andhra Pradesh Disha Act, a statement from the government said. It will be introduced in the state assembly on Thursday.

The bill also proposes the death penalty for sexual abuse of children on the lines of the amended Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2019 which was cleared by Parliament earlier this year. Besides, the state cabinet has proposed to increase the quantum of jail term for those convicted in sexual abuse of children. The quantum is now proposed to be increased to 10 years to life term (till death) from the present three to five years.

The cabinet, chaired by chief minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, has decided to make amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code to hasten the trial in cases of sexual abuse against women. Under law the maximum sentence in sexual violence cases will be life imprisonment. The cabinet has stamped its nod for setting up fast-track courts under the Andhra Pradesh Special Courts For Specified Crimes Against Women and Children Act, 2019. “The entire investigation in such gruesome cases should be completed within one week, trail should be completed in 14 days and judgment would be delivered within 21 days,” the new bill has proposed.

It has also been decided to set up special courts in all districts to handle sexual offences against women and children. The special courts would handle all cases including harassment of women through social media, acid attacks, rape, gang-rape and sexual abuse of all forms. Spreading malicious information through social media posts against women would also be considered as cognisable offence under IPC Section 354(e). The bill proposed two years conviction for first offence through social media and four years for second offence. Similarly, the cabinet has upped the conviction term from 3-5 years to 14 years to imprisonment till the death in the (POCSO) cases.

Nanavati panel gives Modi clean chit in post-Godhra riots

Five years after it gave a clean chit to the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 post-Godhra riots, the report of the commission headed by Justice (retd) G T Nanavati, which probed the communal violence, was tabled in the state assembly. The report also gives a clean chit to ministers and officials of the then Gujarat government for the riots, which claimed the lives of 1,025 people across the state.

Five years ago, the two-member commission of Justice Nanavati and Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta had submitted the second part of its report, which dealt with the post-Godhra riots. The first part, submitted in 2008, dealt with the Sabarmati Express train carnage in Godhra in which 59 kar sevaks were killed on February 27, 2002. While the first part said the Sabarmati Express train carnage had been orchestrated by a conspiracy, the voluminous second part concluded that the subsequent riots in Gujarat were not a conspiracy but an “aftermath” of the Godhra killings.

50th PSLV flight launches 10 satellites

Marking a major milestone in the country’s space programme, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 50th flight, successfully placed the country’s fourth radar imaging earth observation satellite — RISAT-2BR1 — and nine other foreign satellites in orbit. With the count of satellites carried by the workhorse of Indian Space Research Organisation now up to 63 of Indian origin and 319 from 33 countries in 26 years, the agency plans another 50 PSLV launches in the next five years.

“I am extremely happy to declare that the 50th flight of PSLV — PSLV-C48 — successfully injected RISAT-2BR1 and nine customer satellites precisely into a 576 km orbit. PSLV has visited almost all places in space. It has launched satellites into low earth orbit, polar orbit and GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit) and has sent satellites to Moon and Mars. Now, we will send satellite to Sun,” said Isro chairman K Sivan amid thunderous applause.

CAB set to become law as Rajya Sabha passes it

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is set to become law with the Rajya Sabha passing the hotly debated and polarising legislation by 125-99 votes after a lengthy discussion over its provisions offering citizenship to Hindus and five other minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The numbers did not prove a challenge for the government as it notched a comfortable tally even without the support of three Shiv Sena members who chose to boycott the vote. The move helped the government by bringing down the House’s effective strength marginally.

The bill, which will become law after getting the President’s assent, opens a path of citizenship for Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains fleeing religious persecution.

Just like in the Lok Sabha, the debate saw the opposition attacking the government for a new citizenship scheme sculpted after the Hindutva idea of nationhood. The opposition said the bill discriminated against Muslims and was violative of the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, an influential body of clerics, announced its decision to challenge the new citizenship regime in court.

Home minister Amit Shah defiantly stood his ground and said a law meant to protect religious minorities from persecution in the three Muslim-majority countries could not have Muslims under its ambit.

Home minister Amit Shah also asserted that the legislation would clear judicial scrutiny as the proposed law, under the doctrine of “reasonable classification”, did provide for exceptions from equal application of law in certain situations.

Besides the three Shiv Sena MPs who left the chamber, BJP member Anil Baluni, Independents Veerendra Kumar and Amar Singh and NCP’s Majeed Memon (all unwell) were absent. NCP’s Vandana Chavan took leave for personal reasons. According to political sources, other absentees included MPs from regional parties who were not seen in the House at the time of voting.

The government’s cause was powered by the help it received from AIADMK, with 11, and BJD, with seven MPs, voting for the CAB along with YSRCP and TDP. After dillydallying, AGP voted for the CAB as did PMK, SDF and BDF along with Independents, including nominated members.

The margin between the government and the opposition was wider in the divisions over five opposition amendments that were negated 124-98. The vote once again underlined that the Modi government has got over its Upper House jinx with significant bills like triple talaq and removal of J&K’s special status being passed with relative ease.

Responding to the charge that the bill excluded Muslims, Shah said the opposition was deaf to the distress of people who had to flee their countries and were struggling to build new lives. Shah said the bill did not target one community and efforts to stoke fears among Muslims were wrong as no Indian national would lose citizenship. “Will it be secularism only if Muslims are included? As per your definition, only if Muslims come then it will be secularism,” the minister said, adding over 500 Muslims were given Indian citizenship in the past five years.

With protests against CAB breaking out in Assam, Shah assured that the government was committed to preserving the language and culture of the state and a committee under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord was seized of the matter.

Shah, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi did earlier at a BJP meeting, launched a scathing attack on Congress, saying remarks made by its functionaries echoed those emanating from Pakistan. The minister also declared this was a “nagrikta (citizenship) dene ka bill, na ki citizenship lene ka”.

He repeated his argument that “religion-based'' Partition — for which he held Congress responsible — was the reason for the Modi government to bring the bill. “Partition on the basis of religion was the biggest mistake. The bill is meant to address the problems created by it. Congress never confronted these issues. Unlike the current Narendra Modi government, they were interested only in running the government,” Shah said.

Climate Change Performance Index

India for the first time ranks among the top ten countries in the Climate Change Performance Index which is being released annually after analysing four parameters — greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, climate policy and energy use. The country has, in fact, improved its ranking from 11th last year to ninth this year.

The first three spots in the CCPI were, however, left vacant symbolically as none of the countries assessed is on a trajectory compatible with the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015. The top three performers are Sweden (fourth), Denmark (fifth) and Morocco (sixth). The CCPI is a ranking of 57 countries and the European Union, is collectively responsible for about 90% of the global GHG emissions. The CCPI 2020, released by three international NGOs — Germanwatch, New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network — on the sidelines of the ongoing UN climate change conference shows that the EU collectively (22nd) and China (30th) rank below India in the list whereas the second largest global emitter, the US, figure at bottom. While only two G20 countries — United Kingdom (7th) and India (9th) — are ranked in the high categories, eight figure in the worst category of the Index.

The CCPI report noted that the current levels of per capita emissions and energy use are still comparatively low in the country. The low per capita emissions and energy use along with “ambitious 2030 targets” result in high ratings of the country in these two parameters. “While the country receives an overall medium rating in the renewable energy category, India’s 2030 renewable energy target is rated very high for its well-below-2°C compatibility,” said the report.

It added, “Despite an overall high rating for its ‘Climate Policy’ performance, experts point out that the government has yet to develop a roadmap for the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies that would consequently reduce the country’s high dependence on coal.”

Besides the USA, some other countries in the ‘very low’ rating category in the CCPI are Turkey, Poland, Japan, Russia, Canada and Australia. However, on the positive side, 31 of the 57 high emitting countries are showing falling emission trends.

“The new Climate Change Performance Index shows signs of a global turnaround in emissions.However, several large countries are still trying to resist this trend. We see opportunities for a halt to rising global emissions, but much will depend on further developments in China and the elections in the US. Both countries are at crossroads,” said Ursula Hagen of the Germanwatch.

National Security: Government can snoop on your data

The government proposes to arm its investigating agencies with powers to snoop and carry out surveillance on personal data if doing so is necessary to ensure sovereignty and integrity of the country, security of the state, maintenance of public order, and having friendly relations with countries.

The provision — which some analysts described as “blanket surveillance” — finds a place in the Personal Data Protection Bill, and is a departure from the draft bill prepared by the Justice B N Srikrishna committee that was tasked with creating the architecture of India’s much awaited personal data protection legislation.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha later this week, aims to create the first comprehensive law that the country will have to manage and legally protect the swathes of digital information that Indians are creating by the minute. While the Personal Data Protection Bill classifies data into three broad categories – personal; sensitive personal; and critical personal – there are areas where the central government wants to give itself unrestricted access to the information of citizens under designated situations.

“Where the central government is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient… it may, by order, for reasons to be recorded in writing, direct that all or any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply to any agency of the government in respect of processing of such personal data, as may be specified in the order,” the Bill states while spelling out the ‘exemptions’ enjoyed by central investigating agencies. As per the provision, the government will have the power to order or direct any internet or social-media provider (believed to be companies such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Amazon, Flipkart, Apple) – apart from a private citizen – to share the data demanded by any of the central investigating agencies. The Srikrishna committee, which had submitted its recommendations to the government in the form of a draft law last year after holding detailed deliberations, had not made a case for such sweeping exemption to the state. 

Article 370: SC’s 5-judge bench starts hearing

The Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution bench commenced hearing on a clutch of petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to scrap special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two UTs with the petitioners contending that the decision was illegal and unconstitutional.

Initiating the arguments, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for bureaucrat-turned activist Shah Faesal and others, told a bench of Justices N V Ramana, S K Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant that constitutionally prescribed procedures were not followed under which amendment in Article 370 could be done only on the recommendation of the state.

He said the Centre brought the amendment under the “temporary cover” of the President’s rule.