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India and China will take up remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) once the ongoing disengagement at Patrolling Point (PP) 15 in Gogra-Hot Springs is completed by Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Beijing welcomed the disengagement at PP15 as “a positive development”, but reiterated its stand that it would not accept India’s demand to restore the status quo prior to China’s transgressions, saying “the status quo of April 2020… was created by India’s illegal crossing of the Line of Actual Control [LAC]”.
China will by no means accept that,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters when asked if the latest disengagement would pave the way to full restoration of the status quo.
We don’t accept the so-called status quo created by India’s illegal crossing of the LAC, but that doesn’t mean we don’t attach importance to peace and tranquillity along the border.
China and India hold different positions on the border issues. But what is most important now is for both sides to keep up communication and dialogue, make the disengagement a first step and ensure peace and tranquillity along the border. The beginning of disengagement is a positive development.
Beijing’s comments suggested difficulties may still lie ahead for both sides as they look to resolve differences in the remaining friction areas in Demchok and Depsang.
Only after full disengagement and subsequent de-escalation of the more than 50,000 troops on each side that remain deployed in forward areas, India has made clear, can relations return to normalcy.
India and China have completed disengagement in five other areas — PP15 being the latest — creating buffer zones in Galwan Valley, north and south of Pangong Lake, and in PP17A in Hot Springs.
The timing of the announcement on PP15 did, however, also suggest both sides appeared to be looking to create conditions that might enable a first meeting between their leaders after close to three years.
The MEA statement said disengagement at PP15 would be completed by September 12 — three days before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping would likely attend in Samarkand, convenes.
Neither side has commented on whether the two leaders, who haven’t spoken since a November 2019 meeting in Brasilia or during the more than two-year-long LAC crisis, will meet on the sidelines at the SCO or at the G20 in Indonesia in November.
SC allows bail to journalist Kappan (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court allowed bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, who has been in custody for nearly two years and is accused of offences under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), saying “every person has a right to free expression”.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to produce Mr. Kappan before the trial court within three days for release on bail subject to conditions that would ensure his presence in the trial.
The Bench directed that Mr. Kappan would remain in Delhi for six weeks immediately following his release and report to the local police station every Monday.
At the end of the six weeks, he was at liberty to re-locate to his native place, Malappuram, in Kerala. He would continue to mark his presence in the local police station there on Mondays.
Mr. Kappan would be present either in person or through his lawyer at every date of his trial in the case. He should surrender his passport to the investigating agency, if not already done.
He should not get in touch with any person associated with the case. The court said restrictions on his movement could be relaxed, if need be in order to allow him to attend proceedings or seek bail in a money laundering case initiated against him.
The court refrained from commenting in its order about the progress of the investigation or the prosecution material against Mr. Kappan, saying the charges in the case were yet to be filed though the chargesheet was submitted in the trial court way back in April 2021.
It said Kappan was eligible for bail on the basis of the length of the custody undergone and the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.
Uttar Pradesh, represented by senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, objected to the plea for bail by Kappan, represented by senior advocate KapilSibal and advocate HarisBeeran, saying he was the "terror gang" PFI's "agent provocateur", financed and sent to incite riots in Hathras following the alleged gangrape of a Dalit girl.
His attempt was "nipped in the bud" when the police arrested him along with three others while travelling in a car to Hathras on October 5, 2020.
Mr. Jethmalani alleged the "literature" found in the car contained messages like 'Justice for Hathras' and "optics to stir up feelings". There was allegedly a "toolkit" or a "riot incitement handbook".
Editorial
Moving out of the shadows, from silence to assertion (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
A Talaq-e-Hasan petition filed by a Ghaziabad-based woman, seeking to make the divorce pronounced by the husband at an interval of at least a month extra-judicial, was in the limelight recently when Justice S.K. Kaul observed that the practice of Talaq-e-Hasan or divorce pronounced to the wife once a month for three months is “not so improper”.
The Bench of the Supreme Court of India, that included Justice M.M. Sundresh, also brought to the counsel’s notice the possibility of exploring divorce through mubarat or mutual consent. The judges referred to the option of khula, or a Muslim woman’s right to divorce as well.
The Bench said, “We have also put to the learned senior counsel whether in view of the allegation of respondent of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, would the petitioner be willing for a settlement by process of divorce through mutual consent on amounts being paid over and above the mehr fixed. In fact, we have also brought to their notice the dissolution of marriage is also possible without the intervention of the court through mubarat.”
The Court’s observation continues the trend of the judiciary taking into cognisance the rights available to a Muslim couple to dissolve an unhappy marital union. It also marks the increasing propensity of Muslim women to stand up for their rights in marriage or otherwise, a clear departure from times when women left the husband’s house in silence, battered, bruised and fearing social opprobrium. Indeed, more and more Muslim women are now approaching various courts, including DarulQaza or shariah courts, for redress of marital grievances.
While the widely-acclaimed invalidation of instant triple talaq by a five-judge Bench of the Court, in 2017, is well documented, there was a Kerala High Court judgment of 2021 which upheld the validity of khula.
The court called khula, “the form of divorce conferred upon the wife similar to talaq conferred upon the husband”. Incidentally, there are more cases of khula in DarulQazas or shariah courts than those of instant triple talaq, post the 2017 verdict, according to a rough estimate. In other words, greater awareness of their rights is seeing more and more Muslim women walking out of an abusive marriage, even opting for khula.
While much has been happening in the judicial fora when it comes to Muslim women’s rights, a silent churning is also going on within the Muslim community in India.
News
SC takes up pleas against Places of Worship Act (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court on Friday set the ball rolling on a series of petitions challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act of 1991, a parliamentary law that protects the identity and character of religious places as on August 15, 1947.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit said the petitions would be listed before an appropriate three-judge Bench of the apex court, which may consider the possibility of referring the challenge to the 1991 law to a Constitution Bench of five judges.
A slew of petitions has been filed against the Act, contending it has illegally fixed a retrospective cut-off date (August 15, 1947), illegally barring Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs from approaching courts to "re-claim" their places of worship which were "invaded" and "encroached" upon by "fundamentalist barbaric invaders".The main objective of these petitions is to set right a "historical wrong".
The court's readiness to test the law is significant considering the recent happenings in courts in Delhi, Varanasi, Mathura and the Supreme Court which test the protective grip and probe the boundaries of The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.
In the hearing, advocate Vishnu Jain, for VishwaBhadra Pujari PurohitMahasangh, said the judicial review of a law cannot be taken away.
Mr. Jain quoted the Minerva Mills judgment of the apex court which held that taking away the power of judicial review would "make a mockery of the distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the States and render the fundamental rights meaningless and futile".
It would make Parliament the sole judge of the constitutional validity of what it has done and that would. In effect and substance, nullify the limitation on the amending power of Parliament and affect the basic structure of the Constitution.
Advocate EjazMaqbool, for the JamiatUlama-i-Hind, countered that the Places of Worship Act is a central legislation and has already a "presumption of constitutionality" attached to it.
He referred to the Constitution Bench's observations in the unanimous Ramjanmabhoomijudgment which upheld the validity and necessity of the 1991 Act.
The Ayodhya judgment of the Supreme Court had said the 1991 Act “speaks to our history and to the future of the nation.
In preserving the character of places of public worship, Parliament has mandated in no uncertain terms that history and its wrongs shall not be used as instruments to oppress the present and the future”.
Campaign to expand SHG footprint (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
In a bid to increase the coverage of self help groups, the Ministry of Rural Development announced a nationwide campaign to expedite the inclusion of women who are left out of the umbrella of Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the DeenDayalUpadhyay National Rural Livelihood Mission.
As on August 31, more than 8.5 crore families have been linked with 78.33 lakh SHGs under the scheme. Rural Development secretary NagendraNath Sinha said that during the campaign, women institutions from each village would conduct a social mobilisation event where each member would bring a friend or neighbour who was not a SHG member. The campaign was also particularly aimed at women living in remote gram panchayats.
The Ministry also announced that the campaign was to give a structure to the SHGs involving them at higher level federations- Tier two level village organisations and tier three level cluster federations.
The idea was to evolve community-managed institutions that could take a lead on livelihood and social development issues.
Rules relaxed to bring IAS, IPS officers to J&K (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Centre has relaxed the norms to encourage the All India Services and other Central Services officers to get posted in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Territory is reeling from a shortage of officers since 2019 after the former State of J&K was split into two, Ladakh being the other UT.
Union Personnel Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday that the deputation rules have been relaxed by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to encourage the posting of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and the other central services officers to J&K.
Due to this relaxation, 22 officers belonging to various services and different cadres have been posted in Jammu & Kashmir at various levels at a crucial time,” Mr. Singh said.
A senior government official said that the requirements such as the cooling off period and the stringent norms for inter-cadre deputation have been waved off.
Inter-cadre deputation is only given under compelling circumstances, one being marriage, now the norms have been liberalised.
Recently a senior IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre who did not wish to go back to his cadre was sent to J&K on deputation.
Mr. Singh said, the DoPT had played a major role in facilitating the induction of the Jammu & Kashmir Administrative Services Officers (JKAS) into the IAS by coordinating with the UT of J&K, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Union Public Service Commission.
As a result, recently 16 officers from the JKAS have been inducted into the IAS and another 8 such vacancies will be filled up shortly giving opportunities to the JKAS officers to become part of the prestigious IAS service after a long gap of 12 years.
In 2020, the DoPT wrote to all the States that the State cadres were requested to send the names for deputation to J&K and Ladakh directly to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).