IPA Newspack
  • Home
  • now
  • politics
  • business
  • markets

IPA /

IPA Special

IPA Special

Umar Khalid And Jignesh Mevani Experience The High-Handedness Of Law

By Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr

One of the unfortunate recent developments has been that the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]-ruled Union Government has been misusing the law much more brazenly than previous governments in general.

The Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid, who had been arrested in September 2020 for the north-east Delhi riots of end-February 2020, has been consistently denied bail. Even under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, you cannot deny a person bail beyond a point. The only alternative is to hold a trial and convict him.

When Khalid appealed to Delhi High Court on the bail issue, the judges of the court wondered whether the language used by Khalid against Prime Minister Narendra Modi was appropriate. One would have thought that this was an extra-legal aspect. What counts in law is whether he had committed an offense under existing laws. If using the word ‘jumla’ (which needs to be translated loosely as ‘trope’, which is an abstract linguistic-literary term) is objectionable, then the lawmakers would have to create a dictionary of illegal words!

The Delhi High Court has put off the bail plea saying that the Supreme Court is hearing arguments over sedition, and therefore the Supreme Court should decide on the crucial issue of sedition before the High Court decides whether Khalid should get bail or not.

We have the second case of Gujarat legislator, Jignesh Mewani, who was arrested in Gujarat last week by Assam police because a BJP leader filed a case against Mewani in Kokrajhar for remarks that Mevani is supposed to have made against Prime Minister Modi. In the first place, the Kokrajhar police should have just sent a notice to Mevani if it felt that there was a prima facie case. It should not have issued an arrest warrant. Whatever the seriousness of the crime Mevani is accused of, it cannot warrant instant arrest.

Mevani was then given bail, which shows that the arrest was superfluous. He was arrested again, after he got bail, on charge of threatening a woman police officer on duty. The Barpeta judge had to dismiss the charge as “false” and grant Mevani bail. But this was not before the police obtained five-day police custody of Mevani.

These are glaring examples of what can only be described as high-handedness of law. This is not something new, but this is happening for barely-hidden political reasons.

The legal remedy in this kind of issue is that the affected person – the prime minister himself – should be filing a libel case against Khalid and Mevani. It is not the job of a BJP leader in Kokrajhar to file a case saying that his leader – the prime minister – has been insulted. Nor is it the job of judges to wonder whether a speech critical of the prime minister is acceptable or not.

The BJP cadres cannot be allowed to misuse the provisions of law to express their devotion to the leader. There are plenty of other ways for them to flaunt their adulation.  Similarly, judges should not be considering the issue of “proper language” to be used for the prime minister. In the eyes of the judges, an expression can only be legal or illegal.

The crux of the issue seems to be that of the right of the police to arrest anybody anytime. Legal experts recognize the fact that this issue of arresting remains nebulous, and it is not clearly laid out either in the Indian Penal Code or the Criminal Procedure Code.

The arbitrariness that is inherent in the process of arresting a person is a throwback to the colonial era, when the State/government/ police/ magistrate held everybody suspect. This was an unfair matter even in the colonial times, and it becomes an untenable issue in an independent, democratic State.

No citizen should be arrested under any circumstances. The exception should be an act of violation of laws. And in case of preventive arrests, due processes must be followed, and the persons arrested should be treated with care and respect, and not as a criminal. In all such cases, there should be no police custody of the person arrested. It should always be judicial custody.

Police interrogation is a euphemism for intimidation and torture. Legal officers and the police must change their ways. They have a responsibility to maintain law and order, and the law officers have the extra obligation to act justly. The rule must be to desist from arresting a person. And if arrest becomes an imperative, then bail should be used as a matter of routine. The arrest of the person is a warning, and the bail is a guarantee that he will be answerable to legal summons.

We have heard the police and the judges bemoan the fact that the rich and the powerful get in the way of the proceedings of the law, and they get away because of loopholes in the law. It is indeed the case. But that should not make the laws unjust and unfair, and those who use the law, tyrannical. (IPA Service)

Courtesy: The Leaflet

IPA Special

In The Wake Of War In Ukraine, Wheat Is Now A Strategic Commodity

May 18, 2022
IPA Special

The Economist Of London Goes Gaga With Indian Growth Story

May 18, 2022
IPA Special

Turkey’s Erdogan Plays Games Within And With NATO

May 18, 2022
IPA Special

Arrest Of A Big Bangladeshi Financial Scamstar In Bengal Creates A Row

May 18, 2022
IPA Special

Chandrutt Mishra, World’s Foremost Leopard Expert Is A Change Maker

May 18, 2022
IPA Special

Can Hindu Marriage Act Allow Same Sex Marriage In India?

May 18, 2022
Politics

Hardik Patel finally quits Cong, may be headed for BJP

May 18, 2022
Happening Now

Protesting Punjab farmers serve ultimatum to Mann govt

May 18, 2022
Politics

CBI arrests close associate of Chidambaram’s son

May 18, 2022
Happening Now

China jet crash sabotage, suggests Black Box data

May 18, 2022
Business

Export curbs relaxed for outbound wheat consignments

May 18, 2022
IPA Special

Rahul Gandhi Has Damaged The Cause Of Opposition Unity With Udaipur Statement

May 17, 2022
IPA Special

Centre On Backfoot After Unsuccessful Privatisation

May 17, 2022
IPA Special

Central BJP Leaders Are Depending On Yogi Adityanath For Next Lok Sabha Win

May 17, 2022
IPA Special

Regional Parties Are Jittery At Rahul Gandhi’s Dig To Them On Ideology

May 17, 2022
IPA Special

‘Gyanvapi’ Aurangzeb Alamgir Refuses To Rest In Peace

May 17, 2022
IPA Special

Centre Cherry-Picking Names Recommended For High Court Judges

May 17, 2022
Politics

RJD terms Rahul’s comments on regional parties ‘bizarre’

May 17, 2022
Happening Now

CBI searches Chidambaram’s premises linked to son

May 17, 2022
Happening Now

Mehbooba says ‘The Kashmir Files’ behind violence

May 17, 2022

An appeal

The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.
Click here to learn more

Share

Reply

  • 0
More on IPA

In The Wake Of War In Ukraine, Wheat Is Now A Strategic Commodity

May 18, 2022 3:19 pm | IPA Staff

By Arun Kumar Shrivastav In what appeared to be a sudden move, the Indian government prohibited the export of wheat on May 13. This appeared...

IPA Special

The Economist Of London Goes Gaga With Indian Growth Story

May 18, 2022 3:16 pm | IPA Staff

By Anjan Roy The Economist newspaper of London, highly respected worldwide for its expertise and views on the global economy and issues, has predicted India...

IPA Special

Turkey’s Erdogan Plays Games Within And With NATO

May 18, 2022 3:13 pm | IPA Staff

James M Dorsey Amid speculation about a reduced US military commitment to security in the Middle East, Turkey has spotlighted the region’s ability to act...

IPA Special

Arrest Of A Big Bangladeshi Financial Scamstar In Bengal Creates A Row

May 18, 2022 3:11 pm | IPA Staff

By Ashis Biswas Nothing has engaged the capabilities of police forces in India (West Bengal) and Bangladesh in recent times more the arrest of international...

IPA Special

In The Wake Of War In Ukraine, Wheat Is Now A Strategic Commodity

in IPA Special
May 18, 2022   ·  

The Economist Of London Goes Gaga With Indian Growth Story

in IPA Special
May 18, 2022   ·  

Turkey’s Erdogan Plays Games Within And With NATO

in IPA Special
May 18, 2022   ·  
Follow us on
Up Next: Courts And The Governments Have Equal Responsibility In Disposal Of Pending Cases
©2020 -2021 India Press Agency, All Rights Reserved
Newspack by India Press Agency
Posting....
logo
  • Home
  • now
  • politics
  • business
  • markets