India Legal 25 March 2019

Nirav Modi:
Luxury in exile
J&K Offer:
Rehabilitating militants
Thispiquantquestionabout
women’ssixthsensewas
posedbyJusticeAKSikriinhis
farewellspeech.Ananalysis
byDrMohanGopal,former
Director,NationalJudicial
AcademyandformerV-Cof
NationalLawSchool,Bangalore
Should
JudgesHave
aFeminine
Side?
NDIA EGALL STORIES THAT COUNT
` 100
I
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March25,2019

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am absolutely delighted that Professor
Mohan Gopal, one of the world’s most emi-
nent jurists, has written India Legal’s cover
story this week. Not only is he an intellectu-
al to reckon with but is also amongst the
most original minds of our time—a person with
passion, academic finesse and a flair for original,
authoritative prose.
Consider the way he opens his piece: “Judges
don’t normally make confessions.” The reader
gets immediately pulled headlong into his essay.
The subject matter is compelling, relevant and
provocative: “Should judges have a feminine
approach?” He chose to write on the subject
because Supreme Court Justice AK Sikri had
raised it during his farewell speech in which he
described part of himself as “feminine: …It is the
attribute of femininity which instills the desired
sensitivity, that is required in varied types of
cases and in various circumstances….”
Asks Gopal: What do we make of the signifi-
cance of Justice Sikri—at his retirement, the
third most senior judge in our country—volun-
tarily claiming the derided and derogatory label
of femininity in a misogynist legal profession?
Do these remarks, coming from one of India’s
most senior and scholarly judges, have any larger
significance for gender equality?
“Misogyny” may be too harsh a word, if I may
differ with the professor. My choice would have
been “male-oriented”, “discriminatory”, perhaps
even “patriarchal” or “macho”. But Gopal’s head
and heart are affirmatively in the right place as
you continue to read his compelling piece.
I am reminded of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the
iconic US Supreme Court Justice who, at age 86,
having lived through and beaten two cancers
and the attendant debilitating chemotherapy,
continues to be a jurisprudential powerhouse, a
role model for judges and students across the
world, and a bastion for liberalism and the con-
stitutional value systems of the republic created
by America’s founding fathers.
“I will do this job as long as I believe I can do
it full steam,” she says after having served her
26th year in the Supreme Court. In fact, Gins-
burg is a prime example of the male mindset in
the judicial system which is really not that dif-
ferent from other socio-political eco systems in
the world.
To quote from one of countless biographies
about her incredible life, while at Harvard
University Law School, the world’s premier law
institution, Ginsburg learned to balance life as a
mother and her new role as a law student. “She
also encountered a very male-dominated, hostile
environment, with only eight females in her class
of 500.
“The women were chided by the law school’s
dean for taking the places of qualified males. But
Ruth pressed on and excelled academically,”
eventually becoming the first female member of
the prestigious legal journal, Harvard Law
Review. On June 27, 2010, Ginsburg’s husband,
Martin, died of cancer. She described Martin as
her biggest booster and “the only young man I
dated who cared that I had a brain”.
Some of my favourite quotes from Ginsburg’s
thousands of already immortal thoughts on life,
society and law include: “If you just needed the
skills to pass the bar, two years would be
enough. But if you think of law as a learned pro-
IS FEMININITY
THE MAGIC WAND?
Inderjit Badhwar
Letter from the Editor
I
Religiousleader,
authorandlawyer
JamesEFaustwho
diedin1987atage
87,onceintoned:
“Feminityisnotjust
lipstick,stylish
hairdosandtrendy
clothes.Itisthe
divineadornmentof
humanity.Itfinds
expressioninyour
qualitiesofyour
capacitytolove,
yourspiritualities,
delicacy,radiance,
sensitivity,creativi-
ty,charm,gracious-
ness,gentleness,
dignityand
quietstrength.”
4 March 25, 2019

Ginsburg,theiconic
USSupremeCourt
Justice,86,isa
jurisprudential
powerhouse,arole
modelforjudgesand
studentsacross
theworld.She
encounteredmale
dominatedhostility
withonlyeight
femalesinherclass
of500.
Twitter: @indialegalmedia
Website: www.indialegallive.com
Contact: editor@indialegallive.com
fession, then a third year is an opportunity, for,
on the one hand, public service and practice
experience, but on the other, also to take courses
that round out the law that you didn’t have time
to do.”
“My mother told me to be a lady. And for
her that meant, be your own person. Be
independent.”
I
n America, even as older role models like
Ginsburg continue as inspirational figures,
younger ones exist side by side. One of them
is the newly-elected firebrand Democrat from
New York, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez, popularly known by her initials AOC. To
quote her: “Mentors of mine were under a big
pressure to minimize their femininity to make it.
I’m not going to do that. That takes away my
power. I’m not going to compromise who I am.”
On the same subject, religious leader, author
and lawyer James E Faust who died in 1987 at
age 87, once intoned: “Feminity is not just lip-
stick, stylish hairdos and trendy clothes. It is the
divine adornment of humanity. It finds expres-
sion in your qualities of your capacity to love,
your spiritualities, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity,
creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dig-
nity and quiet strength.”
In his current article on the subject, Gopal
says that Justice Sikri was not being “epicene in
saying that a part of him is feminine. His pur-
pose in doing so appears to have been to extol
four qualities that he considers essential for a
judge: sensitivity, mercy, compassion and a sense
of justice, a so-called ‘sixth sense.’ Highlighting
these values signifies Justice Sikri’s judgment
that they are currently in short supply. A corol-
lary of his proposition would be that, in their
absence, their antonyms are at large—insensitiv-
ity, mercilessness, injustice and cruelty. If true,
this would have a deeply corrosive impact on
faith and confidence in the Republic itself as
well as in our courts.”
Why are these extolled values in short sup-
ply? Or are they? Or will the greater “feminisa-
tion” of men, an evolution of consciousness as it
were, have a practical impact on job discrimina-
tion, gender biases, exploitation and the hard-
ships that women as well as men face in every-
day life?
Gopal’s conclusions and observations are fas-
cinating. His is a must-read piece in this issue.
| INDIA LEGAL | March 25, 2019 5
TWO POWERHOUSES
(Left) Justice AK Sikri: Are his comments valid?; Ruth Bader
Ginsburg (centre) and US Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez: Living life full size their own way

ContentsVOLUME XII ISSUE19
MARCH25,2019
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6 March 25, 2019
12
Should Judges Have a
Feminine Approach?
This piquant question about women's “sixth sense” was posed by Justice AK Sikri
in his farewell speech. An analysis by Prof G Mohan Gopal, former director,
National Judicial Academy, and former V-C, National Law School, Bangalore
LEAD
17Live-in OK, Custody Not
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has declined to hand over a minor girl to her father
who did not get a divorce from his wife but was staying with a live-in partner
COURTS
18Serial Offender
In an order with societal implications, the Madras HC has asked the centre and states numerous
questions about whether certain TV shows have stimulated an increase in extramarital relationships
20Unjustified Denial
An archaic provision in the Representation of the People Act, which denies voting rights to
prisoners, is being challenged in the Delhi High Court on the ground that it violates equality

Involve the People
Heritage bylaws will not be effective unless proper relocation
plans are put in place with people being compensated
adequately and made the centre of all legal processes
Courting Chaos
Donald Trump’s paroxysms will ensure that the 20 months
between now and the 2020 election will be a political soap opera
28
35
GLOBALTRENDS
Colour Code
REGULARS
Followuson
Facebook.com/indialegalmedia
Twitter:@indialegalmedia
Website:www.indialegallive.com
Contact:editor@indialegallive.com
Cover Design
ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Ringside............................8
Courts ...............................9
Is That Legal...................10
46
Big Leap Forward
A new ordinance for micro, small and medium enterprises in Rajasthan is
expected to promote growth and investment by removing red tape
42
In an attempt to promote the sale of generic drugs over branded ones, the centre has laid
down guidelines to ensure that they are prominently displayed in pharmacies
COLUMN
Cracks Show Up 44
By choosing to sit on a government recommendation for months, the Madhya Pradesh
governor may be signalling that the assembly has seen its last Anglo-Indian member
50Breathless No More
Taking cognisance of the massive pollution
caused by mining around the Chittorgarh
Fort and city, as well as the Bassi Wildlife
Sanctuary, the National Green Tribunal has
banned mining in the area
A Peace Offering
Though the J&K government
has for the third time framed a
draft rehabilitation policy for
militants, it is by no means
enough to rid the state of the
scourge of militancy
24
MYSPACE
Plug the
Loopholes
Although the current Consumer
Protection Bill has lapsed, it
needs thorough tweaking in
several areas before it is
introduced in Parliament again
32
Brazen Pursuits
After billionaire fraudster
Nirav Modi was found
living life king size in the
UK, India is scrambling to
save face and fight off
allegations that the UK
Serious Frauds Office got
little cooperation from it
36
Unceremonious Ouster
Justice (Retd) Sajjan Singh Kothari, whose
tenure as the Lokayukta of Rajasthan was
abruptly curtailed by the Congress government,
has never been swayed by political colours
40
STATES
A Salve for Wounds
The centre's decision to reduce the prices of 42 non-scheduled
cancer drugs will help patients save around `800 crore annually
38
HEALTH
SPOTLIGHT
Sound
and Fury
While the formula for making
environment-friendly crackers has
been successfully tested in labs,
many feel that it may not be easy
to replicate it in the factories
48
ENVIRONMENT
CONSERVATION

8 March 25, 2019
“
RINGSIDE
“Chief Minister, I
have not understood.
Please tell us what
‘cock a snook’ means
in Hindi or...show us
how it is done....”
—SP chief Akhilesh
Yadav on UP CM Yogi
Adityanath’s tweet
that UP will “cock a
snook” at SP-BSP pact
“...there is no possibil-
ity ever. We are a
Bahujan samaj. And
we will support their
cause. We are not
natural allies….For
now, the strategy is
that we will... fight....
Our main thing is
that we won’t let
Modi win.”
—Bhim Army chief
Chandrashekhar
Azad, refuting claims
of an alliance with the
Congress after meet-
ing Priyanka Gandhi
“I am not with-
drawing due to any
fear. I have contest-
ed 14 elections and
never lost.... I am
not contesting Lok
Sabha elections as I
don’t want many
people from one
family contesting
the elections.”
—NCP chief Sharad
Pawar on his deci-
sion not to contest
the Lok Sabha polls
“First time since 1996
Assembly elections in
J&K are not being
held on time. Rem-
ember this the next
time you are praising
PM Modi for his
strong leadership.”
—NC leader Omar
Abdullah on Twitter
after the EC did not
declare assembly polls
in J&K on March 11
“The women of Odi-
sha will lead the way
in women’s empo-
werment in India. If
India is to lead the
world... women’s
empowerment is the
only answer.”
—Odisha CM Naveen
Patnaik, announcing
that BJD will field
women in at least 33
percent of the Lok
Sabha seats in Odisha
“All this talk of Ramzan affecting Muslim voting,
thereby leading to less voting percentage, is
rubbish. Muslims don’t stop working during
Ramzan. They will fast and do other spiritual
things, but they will definitely vote.... the EC has
to complete the election process before June 3....”
—AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi on cries that the Ramzan
period will deter Muslims from voting in the Lok Sabha polls
“...The Election
Commission should
act impartially....
Why is the BJP so
scared of us?....
They are disrespec-
ting the state and
the people who
live here....”
—West Bengal CM
Mamata Banerjee
on the BJP seeking
super sensitive sta-
tus for the state in
the Lok Sabha polls
“BJP wanted to
crack down on
Jamaat-e-Islami, a
crackdown on
moulvis. I didn’t let
them do it. BJP
wanted to carry out
NIA raids on
Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, Syed Ali
Shah Geelani and
others. But I didn’t
let them do it.”
—Former J&K CM
Mehbooba Mufti
CEC
Sunil Arora
Anthony Lawrence

Life ban on Sreesanth
set aside by SC
ASupreme Court bench com-
prising Justices Ashok
Bhushan and KM Joseph revoked
the lifetime ban on cricketer S
Sreesanth, and told the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
to decide afresh the quantum of
punishment that should be
imposed on the cricketer. The
BCCI had imposed a lifetime ban
on Sreesanth along with fellow
cricketers Ajit Chandila and
Ankeet Chavan for their alleged
involvement in match fixing dur-
ing the 2013 Indian Premier
League (IPL). This
ban had been
upheld by the
Kerala High Court
following which
Sreesanth had
filed an appeal
before the
Supreme Court.
Courts
—Compiled by India Legal Team
The Supreme Court has reserved its order
on whether certain documents submitted
by the petitioners, who sought a review of its
December 2014 verdict on the purchase of
36 Rafale fighter jets, should be examined or
not. Appearing for the centre, Attorney
General KK Venugopal argued that the docu-
ments are privileged and cannot be produced
in court without permis-
sion, while the petitioners
argued that national securi-
ty cannot be touted as a
reason for brushing them
aside. The AG also urged
the Court to remove the
“leaked” documents from
the review petitions since
the government is claiming
privilege over them. It may
be recalled that during the
last hearing, on March 7,
Venugopal had argued that the Rafale deal
documents were stolen from the office of the
ministry of defence and those publishing
them were guilty under the Official Secrets
Act. However, a day later, he took a U-turn
and said that the petitioners had used “pho-
tocopies of the original” papers deemed
secret by the government.
SC reserves order on Rafale papers
The Supreme Court directed state govern-
ments to consider those IPS officers for
the post of Director General of Police (DGP)
who have at least six months residual period
of service. The Court also said the recom-
mendation for the post of DGP by the Union
Public Service Commission (UPSC) and
preparation of the panel for the same should
be done purely on the basis of merit. A
bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi
issued these directions while hearing a plea
filed by former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash
Singh. Singh had alleged that the July 3,
2018, order of the Supreme Court was being
misused by state governments who were
ignoring competent senior officers for
appointment as DGPs. In that order, the Court
had decreed that state governments should
henceforth send their proposals for DGPs to
the UPSC three months before the incumbent
is due to retire.
Consider officers with
six months’ tenure: SC
The Supreme Court asked the Bar
Council of India (BCI) to reconsider its
decision to impose an upper age limit for
admission in the five-year and three-year
law degree courses. The bench, compris-
ing Justices SA Bobde, SK Kaul and S
Abdul Nazeer, was acting on a plea filed by
law aspirant Rishabh Duggal and others
challenging a 2016 circular by which the
BCI had fixed an upper age limit of 20
years for taking admission in the five-year
integrated bachelor of law degree pro-
gramme and 30 years for the three-year
programme. The bench unanimously
expressed the view that there is no
specific age to acquire education.
Reconsider age limit for LLB courses: SC to BCI
26 judges elevated
to 3 High Courts
The Supreme Court collegium
approved the elevation of 26
additional judges as permanent
judges of the High Courts of
Bombay, Madras and Patna. The
collegium, comprising Chief Jus-
tice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices
SA Bobde and NV Ramana, clea-
red six names each for the Mad-
ras and Patna High Courts and
14 for the Bombay High Court.
The collegium noted that it had
carefully scrutinised the material
placed on record while doing so.

10 March 25, 2019
ISTHAT
What is a Special Leave Petition or an
SLP?
A Special Leave Petition (SLP) refers
to the power of the Supreme Court
under Article 136 of the Constitution
which empowers it to grant special
leave or permission to a party
aggrieved by an order of a high court
or tribunal. Under this provision, the
party does not file an appeal but seeks
permission to file an appeal. There-
fore, when a special leave petition is
filed in the Supreme Court, the Court
hears the matter and if it considers fit,
it may grant leave pursuant to which
the petition is converted into an
appeal. An SLP must be filed within 90
days from the date of judgment of a
high court or a tribunal. It can also be
filed in cases where a high court
refuses to grant a certificate of fitness
for appeal to the Supreme Court. In
such cases the SLP must be filed
within 60 days from the date of refusal
of the high court to grant the certifi-
cate of fitness.
What is the doctrine of res judicata?
Res judicata is a Latin term meaning
“the thing has been judged”. The con-
cept evolved to avoid multiplicity of pro-
ceedings in a court. It means that no
court will have the power to try a fresh
suit or issue pertaining to an issue
which has been already settled in a for-
mer suit between the same parties.
When a court finds that a suit or issue
on the same matter has already been
decided by the court and there is no
appeal pending before any court, then
the court has the power to dispose of
the case by granting a decree of res
judicata.
Res Judicata Evolved to
Avoid Multiple Court Cases
—Compiled by Sankalan Pal
SLPs Must be Filed Within Prescribed Time
Ignorance of law is no excuse. Here are answers to frequently asked
queries regarding matters that affect us on a day to day basis
What is the principle of judicial review?
Judicial review is a process under
which executive and legislative actions
are subject to review by the judiciary.
Judicial review is one of the checks
and balances in the separation of pow-
ers, forming a part of its basic struc-
ture as laid down in the case of SR
Bommai. However, many a time the
matter has been a subject of discus-
sion among legal luminaries. Judicial
review is a tool which assures that the
administrative, executive and legislative
action is in consonance with the law of
the land. Through this tool, the judici-
ary reviews what has been done by the
other organs of the government. The
apex court, being the guardian of the
Constitution and the highest court of
interpretation as to the provisions of
the Constitution, is dutybound to pro-
tect the Constitution.
JudicialReviewisa
PartofBasicStructure
?
Who can file a complaint against an incident
of domestic violence?
A complaint against a domestic violence inci-
dent can be filed by any person, whether
related to the victim or not. However, to file a
complaint against an incident of domestic vio-
lence one must have reason to believe that an
act of domestic violence has taken place in
the past, or is taking place, or is likely to take
place in the future. The law exempts such
persons from any criminal or civil liability if
such information is given in good faith in the
absence of bad intentions.
Anyone Can Complain Against Domestic Violence

Lead/ Gender Confession
12 March 25, 2019
Should Judges
Have a Feminine
Approach?
Inamale-dominatedlegalprofession,theclaimingofthederidedandderogatorylabelof
femininitybyjust-retiredSupremeCourtJusticeAKSikriissignificant,andyetproblematic
By Prof G Mohan Gopal
GENDER BIAS Senior advocate Indira Jaising has stated that there are different standards for judging male and female advocates
Photo: Anil Shakya

UDGES don’t normally make
confessions. They only hear
them. Justice Arjan Sikri broke
this convention. He made two
confessions in his farewell
speech to the Bench and the
Bar on March 6, 2019, his final
day in office as a judge of the Supreme
Court of India. The first was mundane.
The second, quite startling: “Let me
make (a) confession today,” he said. “By
nature, a part of me is feminine.”
The judge explained: “It is the attrib-
ute of femininity which instills the desi-
red sensitivity, that is required in varied
types of cases and in various circum-
stances…After all, the symbol of justice
is a goddess, i.e. a female form. No
doubt, she is shown blindfolded. How-
ever, her heart is not shut from where
emanate the qualities imparting jus-
tice…It helps inhering the qualities of
doing justice which is pregnated with
mercy, justice which has the attribute of
compassion.” (sic) He added: “It is well-
known that women have sixth sense. I
told earlier that while discharging judi-
cial function, with the passage of time,
judges acquire a sense of justice, which is
their sixth sense. However, there is a
pre-condition to that, namely, you have
to have feminine approach to justice.”
(sic) Justice Sikri also said: “I am of the
firm opinion that every male, in order to
be a complete human being, should pos-
sess some elements of femininity.”
The extremely misogynistic and
macho environment in which Justice
Sikri dared to say that a part of him is
feminine is captured in an open letter
written by senior advocate Indira Jaising
to the chief justice of India two days
later—on International Women’s Day,
March 8.
In this letter, Jaising described the
derogatory sexist language still used in
courts. She said she had been called
“shrill while my male colleagues are val-
ourised for being totally aggressive in
the court”. She spoke about how she has
been “sexually harassed in the corridors
of the Supreme Court of India, notwith-
standing my grey hair and notwith-
standing that the corridors are under
CCTV surveillance”. She added: “In over
50 years of practice, I have not found
any improvement in the culture of the
courts which is predominantly male.
Women, though present, in larger num-
bers are invisible from public discourse,
unless they are someone’s wife, sister,
daughter, or politically connected to the
powers that be.” Jaising also refers to
judicial language still using “words and
phrases which perpetuate patriarchy,
endorse stereotypes of women’s per-
ceived roles and behaviour and entrench
biases that are detrimental to the status
of women in our society”. She said: “The
symbol of justice may be a blindfolded
woman, but none of us will settle for
tokenism or symbols.”
What do we make of the significance
of Justice Sikri—at his retirement, the
third most senior judge in our country—
voluntarily claiming the derided
J
“Itistheattributeoffemininity
whichinstillsthedesiredsen-
sitivity,thatisrequiredinvar-
iedtypesofcasesandinvari-
ouscircumstances…judges
acquirea...sixthsense...thereis
apre-conditiontothat,namely,
youhavetohavefeminine
approachtojustice.”
—JusticeAKSikriinhisfarewell
speechonMarch 6,2019
Bhavana Gaur

14 March 25, 2019
and derogatory label of femininity in
a misogynist legal profession? Do these
remarks, coming from one of India’s
most senior and scholarly judges,
have any larger significance for gender
equality?
Read as a whole, it is clear that the
core theme of Justice Sikri’s farewell
speech was quality of judges, not equal-
ity in society. Indeed, the
speech was confined to
law—legal education,
practice of law and judg-
ing. There was no discus-
sion of larger issues,
internal or external,
including, for example,
the flaming controversies
that have raged around
him over the last few
months over the inde-
pendence of the judiciary.
J
ustice Sikri was not
being epicene in saying that a part
of him is feminine. His purpose in
this claiming appears to have been to
extol four qualities that he considers
essential for a judge: sensitivity, mercy,
compassion and a sense of justice, a so-
called “sixth sense”. Highlighting these
values implicitly signifies Justice Sikri’s
judgment that they are currently in
short supply. A corollary of his proposi-
tion would be that their antonyms are at
large—insensitivity, mercilessness, injus-
tice and cruelty. If true, this would have
a deeply corrosive impact on faith and
confidence in our courts and in the
Republic itself.
Why are these extolled values in
short supply? Justice Sikri’s comments
show that values such as sensitivity,
mercy and compassion are seen in the
legal domain as “effeminate” (He says:
“It is the attribute of femininity which
instils the desired sensitivity, that is
required in varied types of cases and in
various circumstances”). In turn, the
macho legal culture in our country asso-
ciates the feminine with weakness. For
example, the Supreme Court of India
said in one of its judgments—State of
UP vs Chatur Singh in
2005: “Woman by its
feminine nature and with a feeble body,
ordinarily would not pose threat or
danger to life of a well bodied man
with a lathi.”
If sensitivity, mercy and compassion
are to be strengthened, the stigma asso-
ciated with their being seen as “attribut-
es of femininity” should be eliminated.
One way to do this is to advance an idea,
accepted religiously by many sections of
Indians, that, like ardhanariswara, hu-
mans may also have in them both the
feminine and the masculine. Such an
approach would, in Justice Sikri’s line of
argument, strengthen the status of these
exalted values even though they are seen
as attributes of femininity.
A fifth quality, lack of malice, was
suggested in the other, more mundane
“confession” Justice Sikri made in the
same speech: “Even at this age of 65,
there is a child in me. It has kept intact
some kind of ‘innocence’. This innocence
ensures that there is no malice for any-
one, and that helps in doing justice.”
Notwithstanding his laudable inten-
tions of improving the quality of judges,
Justice Sikri’s remarks on femininity
and feminine values are problematic at
many levels. First, the theory of femi-
ninity and gender that Justice Sikri uses
in this speech reflects a segregated,
binary understanding of gender, packed
with stereotypes, that, in the words of
Judith Butler, “being a man or a woman
is actually an internal reality, something
that is true about us”.
French feminist theorist and author
Monique Wittig said 40 years ago (as
Justice Sikri was starting his forensic
career): “A materialist feminist approach
to women's oppression destroys the idea
that women are a ‘natural group’. A les-
bian society pragmatically reveals that
the division from men of which women
have been the object is a political one
and shows that we have been ideologi-
cally rebuilt into a ‘natural group’. In the
case of women, ideology goes far since
our bodies as well as our minds are the
product of this manipulation. We have
been compelled in our bodies and in our
minds to correspond, feature by feature,
with the idea of nature that has been
established for us. Distorted to such an
extent that our deformed body is what
they call ‘natural’, what is supposed to
exist as such before oppression. Distor-
ted to such an extent that in the end
oppression seems to be a consequence of
InalettertotheCJIonMarch
8,senioradvocateIndira
Jaisingwrotethat“inover50
yearsofpractice,Ihavenot
foundanyimprovementinthe
cultureofthecourtswhichis
predominantlymale”.She
referstojudiciallanguagestill
using“wordswhichperpetu-
atepatriarchy....”

that, paraphrasing Siomone de Beau-
voir, one is not born as, but is made
into, one or other gender.
A persistent confusion between “fem-
inine” (characteristic of or appropriate
or unique to women) and “feminism”
(theory of the political, economic, and
social equality of the sexes and organ-
ised activity on behalf of women’s
this ‘nature’ within ourselves (a nature
which is only an idea). What a material-
ist analysis does by reasoning, a lesbian
society accomplishes practically: not
only is there no natural group ‘women’
(we lesbians are living proof of it), but as
individuals as well we question ‘woman’,
which for us, as for Simone de Beauvoir,
is only a myth. She said: ‘One is not
born, but becomes a woman. No
biological, psychological, or economic
fate determines the figure that the
human female presents in society: it is
civilisation as a whole that produces this
creature, intermediate between male
and eunuch, which is described as femi-
nine.” (Monique Wittig, One is Not Born
a Woman).
Famously, Judith Butler said gender
is “performative”, a “phenomenon that is
being produced and reproduced all the
time” and that “nobody is really of a
gender from the start”.
T
he Supreme Court fully under-
stands this contemporary under-
standing of gender, but seems not
to have accepted it. Even while recognis-
ing the social and political construction
of gender, it largely holds on to the tra-
ditional construction of gender. A
detailed analysis of gender theory by the
Supreme Court is available in its land-
mark 2014 “Transgender” judgment
(National Legal Services Authority vs.
Union of India, dated April 15, 2014).
Justice Sikri was a party to the judg-
ment. Even though the Court took a
welcome and progressive view and re-
cognised transgender as a “third gender”
(enlarging the binary to a trinary), it
failed to fully accept that gender is
merely “performative”, a false social and
political construction, and to appreciate
Frenchfeministtheoristand
authorMoniqueWittigsaid40
yearsago(asJusticeSikriwas
startinghisforensiccareer):“A
materialistfeministapproach
towomen'soppression
destroystheideathatwomen
area‘naturalgroup’...oneis
notbornbutbecomesa
woman....itiscivilisation...that
producesthiscreature...”
DEBATABLE VERDICT
An analysis of the gender theory by the SC is
incorporated in its 2014 transgender verdict
UNI

16 March 25, 2019
rights and interests to that end) contin-
ues to bedevil our jurisprudence.
This confusion shows through in the
evidence that Justice Sikri offers in his
speech for his proposition that as a nec-
essary pre-condition, male judges “have
to have feminine approach to justice” “if
they are to acquire sense of justice”,
“which is their sixth sense”, because “it is
well-known that women have sixth
sense”. (sic) The evidence offered by
Justice Sikri is the United States Fe-
minist Judgments Project, a collabora-
tive effort of more than 100 feminist law
professors to rewrite US (and later
other) court decisions from a feminist
perspective. Justice Sikri says that the
rewriting of the judgments from a femi-
nist perspective “demonstrated that
feminist reasoning increases the judicial
capacity for justice, not only for women
but for many other oppressed groups.”
T
he point that Justice Sikri may be
overlooking is that the authors
who rewrote judgments from a
feminist perspective under that project
are not all women—they include men as
well. He also overlooks the possibility
that not all women will have a feminist
approach either. This is because he
appears to be of the view that a feminine
perspective is a natural, biological
attribute of women.
It’s clear that our courts are yet to
accept the full force of feminist legal
theory, described succinctly as “a body of
scholarship produced over the last half
of the twentieth century and the first
quarter of this one that proffers expla-
nations of law’s complicity in the ongo-
ing subordination of women and sexual
minorities, while also pursuing the pos-
sibilities within law for achieving lasting
gender and sex equality. Its purpose is
thus both descriptive and critical on the
one hand, and normative and aspira-
tional on the other.” (Robin West,
Introduction to the Research Handbook
on Feminist Jurisprudence).
In the absence of theoretical clarity
on gender, gender equality and legal
theory on gender, men being “feminine”
(a la Justice Sikri) instead of becoming
feminist is likely to be counter-produc-
tive. It will do little more than entrench
the gender binary (or trinary), reinforce
stereotypes, attaching “strong” qualities
to the male and “weak” qualities to the
female and the transgender, and lull
judges into a false comfort that their
judicial methods do not suffer from gen-
der bias. This is an approach fraught
with danger. Men becoming feminine
cannot be a substitute for the due
representation of women as an
oppressed class.
If and when our courts recognise
that gender is a system of subjugation
and exploitation, and that women con-
stitute a class of people deprived of free-
dom and equality because of the unique
social and political construction of the
idea of gender, our jurisprudence will
align more closely with our Constitu-
tional struggle for establishing a new
social order based on equality and free-
dom for all.
Finally, it is important to place the
feminist struggle in our country in a
broader social context. Why wasn’t
someone as sensitive as Justice Sikri also
able to proclaim: “By nature, a part of
me is Dalit/avarna/a landless labourer”?
Is it because he lacks the same sense of
shared heritage with the avarna/Dalit
labourer as he does with women of his
own family, caste and religion? Is it
because the prejudice against the
Dalit/avarna/working class is so strong
that there is as yet no lore of exalted val-
ues associated with them (such as sensi-
tivity, sense of justice, mercy and com-
passion)? Is it because there is no reli-
gious tradition of worship of the Dalit or
the worker as there is of women? This
underscores the importance of inter-sec-
tionality in our approach to issues of
gender jurisprudence and gender justice.
Some 90 percent of Indian women are
avarna/Dalit who are triply victimised—
as women, as low caste and as working
class and poor. Diversity and representa-
tion in the judiciary is essential so that
we can have in the Supreme Court a due
share of Dalits/avarna women who will
be able to have, as part of their nature,
the feminist as well as the Dalit/avarna
and the poor.
—The writer was former Director,
National Judicial Academy and former
VC, National Law School of India,
Bangalore
Diversityandrepresentationinthejudici-
aryareessentialsothatwecanhaveinthe
SCadueshareofDalits/avarnawomen
whowillbeabletohavethefeminineas
wellastheDalit/avarnaandthepoor.
UNI

Courts/ Child Custody
HILDREN ARE, undoubt-
edly, the worst sufferers
when their parents get
divorced or decide to live
separately. However, with
the trend of one of the sep-
arated parents opting for a live-in rela-
tionship gaining momentum, the courts
are faced with the issue of providing
custody of the affected child.
In deciding such cases, courts are
increasingly keeping the child’s interest
in mind. This was witnessed recently in
the Punjab and Haryana High Court
when a division bench decided against
giving the custody of a minor girl to her
father, who was in a live-in relationship
without the dissolution of his marriage.
The bench held that “there are chances
that the child would learn that live-in
relationships are the way of life”.
The bench, comprising Justice Ra-
kesh Kumar Jain and Justice Harnaresh
Singh Gill, dismissed an appeal filed by
a Hisar resident, challenging the deci-
sion of a family court on child custody.
The family court had favoured custody
to her mother.
The bench said it cannot approve
this kind of a social set-up “because it
would give a wrong signal to the society
at large and would create an adverse
impact on the tender mind of the minor
child, especially a girl child”.
The couple had got married in 2005
and had two daughters. The wife was
later allegedly harassed and humiliated
for bringing inadequate dowry and
thrown out of her matrimonial home by
the appellant. Without obtaining a
decree of divorce, he started living with
another woman with whom he had
another daughter.
The husband got custody of one of
the two daughters through an order
from the subdivisional magistrate,
Hisar. The wife then approached the
Hisar family court to seek custody of
the girl on the ground that she was
being humiliated by her husband’s live-
in partner. The family court found that
it would not be in the welfare of the
child to remain in the custody of the
husband because he was stated to be a
habitual drunkard, living an immoral
life. The husband, however, argued that
since he had admitted his daughter to a
good school in Hisar and the welfare of
the child was of paramount considera-
tion, he should be allowed to retain cus-
tody because his wife did not have any
source of income.
Declining to give custody of the dau-
ghter to the husband, the family court
held that the custody of a child could
not be given to a person who had
fathered a child through a live-in rela-
tionship without even divorcing his
wife. The husband then approached the
High Court which dismissed his appeal.
The Supreme Court had in a judg-
ment in 1978 considered live-in rela-
tionships valid for the first time.
Ajay Malhotra, a lawyer who spe-
cialises in cases pertaining to custody
of children, welcomed the High Court’s
judgment, pointing out that the hus-
band had not obtained a divorce from
his wife before getting into a live-in
relationship and it could have had a
lasting impact on the child’s personali-
ty and growth. Another senior lawyer
said that while the circumstances in
this particular case could be peculiar,
society and the courts should reconcile
with the growing trend of live-in rela-
tionships.
C
Live-inOK,CustodyNot
ThePunjabandHaryanaHighCourtdeclinestohandoveraminor
girltoherfatherwhodidnotgetadivorcefromhiswifebutwas
stayingwithalive-inpartner
By Vipin Pubby in Chandigarh
Amitava Sen

notices to both the central and state
governments, and posted the case for
further hearing to June.
A division bench of the Court headed
by Justice N Kirubakaran and compris-
ing Justice Abdul Quddhose passed
these orders. This was done after quash-
ing a detention order passed under the
“much misused Goondas Act by the
authorities of Tamil Nadu” against a
person who was allegedly connected
with a murder case which, in turn, was
related to an extramarital affair.
The bench said: “Extramarital rela-
tionships have become a dangerous
social evil nowadays. Many heinous
crimes including ghastly murders,
Courts/ Extramarital Relationships
18 March 25, 2019
N an interesting development
with deeper consequences, the
Madras High Court has asked
both the central and state govern-
ments to find out if exposure to
television mega serials, among
other things, is responsible for the inc-
rease in extramarital relationships and
the resultant spurt in murders, attempt-
ed murders, abductions, assaults, and
the like. The Court also wanted to know
whether economic independence of cou-
ples, the internet, sexual dysfunction,
social media, westernisation and lack of
quality time for the family were also
responsible for the increase in extramar-
ital relationships. The Court ordered
assaults and kidnappings are committed
because of clandestine relationships and
they are alarmingly increasing day-by-
day. Most of the killings are either by
husbands or wives to eliminate his or
her cheating life partner, the paramour,
and shockingly, even children. Moreover
murders are being committed either by
husband or wife to continue the rela-
tionship with the paramour.”
It further said: “Marriage in India
was based on love, faith, trust and legiti-
mate expectations. The marital relation-
ship was considered to be sacred. How-
ever, what were to be sacred were dan-
gerously fast becoming scary and shat-
tering families due to outside conjugal
relationship, and therefore to adjudicate
the said issue of extramarital relation-
ships between men and women, this
court suo motu impleads the Union of
India, represented by its Secretary,
Ministry of Family Welfare, New Delhi,
and the state of Tamil Nadu, represent-
ed by its Secretary, Ministry of Home
Department as respondents.” The bench
then framed 20 questions for both the
central and state governments to
respond to.
Inanorderwithsocietalimplications,theMadrasHChasaskedthe
centreandstatesnumerousquestionsaboutwhethercertainTV
showshavestimulatedanincreaseinextramaritalrelationships
By R Ramasubramanian in Chennai
I
Serial Offender?

The bench seemed cautious about
the whole exercise when it said: “In view
of the spurt in offences, especially mur-
ders due to extramarital affairs, it was
the bounden duty of this court to add-
ress the issue. In an effort to find out the
reasons and find ways and means to
address the extramarital relationship
and to prevent/reduce the related offen-
ces, queries are being raised by this
court. Therefore, the queries are neither
opinion nor the findings or conclusions
of this court.”
Among the 20 queries the Court
asked were the following:
(a) How many murders took place in
Chennai as well as Tamil Nadu and
India in the past 10 years due to extra-
marital affairs?
(b) How many offences like suicide,
kidnapping and assault, other than mur-
der, were committed due to illicit inti-
macy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and in
India in the past 10 years?
(c) Is it a fact that television mega
serials and cinemas are major reasons
for the increase in scandalous relation-
ships in our country?
(d) Do TV serials and cinemas in-
variably give a clue to the people invol-
ved in a clandestine relationship to
commit offences, such as murder and
kidnapping?
(e) Are spouses increasingly engag-
ing paid killers to get rid of their life
partners?
(f) Does the spurt in scandalous
affairs due to the internet, which offers
platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and
Instagram, give many opportunities for
strangers to get connected?
(g) Is the increase in clandestine
relationships due to westernisation of
our culture and way of life?
(h) Is the breaking up of the joint
family system and formation of the
nucleus family responsible for the
increase in extramarital relationships?
(i) Why are central and state govern-
ments not constituting an expert com-
mittee headed by a retired Supreme
Court judge/High Court judge, consist-
ing of psychologists, psychiatrists,
andrologists, neurologists, physicians,
social activists and NGOs working for
safeguarding the families to study and
analyse the reasons for this menace?
(j) Why are the concerned authori-
ties not constituting family counselling
centres to give counselling to spouses in
every district?
S
urprisingly, the reactions to the
bench’s orders were varied. P Sun-
dararajan, an advocate and a psy-
chologist, told India Legal: “In my view,
this is judicial overreach. The high
courts and the Supreme Court are sup-
posed to give correct interpretations of
written legislation. They cannot and
should not create legislation. The con-
cept and practice of counselling is a sci-
ence and not magic. Through counsel-
ling, you cannot solve all issues. We have
to understand that the existing social
structure is one of the major reasons for
the present-day problems. As for extra-
marital affairs, this is an issue existing
in all societies since time immemorial.”
He added: “This tendency of devel-
oping relationships outside the institu-
tion of marriage is individualistic and
psychological. So the judiciary should
keep away from it and allow the existing
social structure to solve the problem, if
at all it is a major problem. The motives
of the bench are noble, but it cannot
overstretch itself.”
BJ Ajitha, an advocate practising in
the Madras High Court, told India
Legal: “Though the motives are noble,
courts can only speak through their
orders. So we have to wait and watch
how the questions and answers that will
be given will be used for the betterment
of society. Courts should also under-
stand the position of women and their
rights. The basic structure of our society
must also be taken into cognisance
while dealing with such matters.
A retired family court judge who did
not want to be named said: “The apex
court’s ruling decriminalising adultery
has also become an added factor for
extramarital affairs. Its decision in
abrogating a British legacy law like
adultery was mainly on the point that
the said law punishes only a man and
not a woman. So it was on the ground
that an over 100-year-old law was gen-
der-specific and discriminatory and
thus the Supreme Court quashed it. But
that has become one of the reasons for
adultery growing. Also, the bench
raised 20 queries. But there is another
query: Is the Supreme Court’s decision
to decriminalise adultery one of the
reasons for extramarital affairs growing
these days?”
JusticeNKirubakaran(right)andJusticeAbdulQuddhoseoftheMadrasHCsaidthat
extramaritalrelationshipshavebecomeadangeroussocialevilnowadaysandarethe
causeofmanyheinouscrimesincludingmurder,assaultandkidnapping.

T is not unusual to find legal provi-
sions which, on the face of it, lack
justification, and continue in the
statute books simply because they
have not been successfully chal-
lenged in courts. Section 62(5) of
the Representation of the People Act,
1951, is one such provision, which has so
far evaded scrutiny by activists, who are
inclined to use PILs to bring legal aber-
rations under challenge. It is to the
credit of three law students of Galgotias
University, Greater Noida—Praveen K
Chaudhary, Atul K Dubey and Prerna
Singh—that they mounted a challenge
concerning prisoners before the Delhi
High Court so that its repeal is consid-
Courts/ Prisoners
20 March 25, 2019
ered by the judiciary at the earliest.
Section 62(5) of the RPA says: “No
person shall vote at any election if he is
confined in a prison, whether under a
sentence of imprisonment or trans-
portation or otherwise, or is in the law-
ful custody of the police; Provided that
nothing in this sub-section shall apply
to a person subjected to preventive
detention under any law for the time
being in force; Provided further that by
reason of the prohibition to vote under
this sub-section, a person whose name
has been entered in the electoral roll
shall not cease to be an elector.”
General Elections 2014 – Reference
Handbook published by the Election
Anarchaicprovisioninthe
RepresentationofthePeople
Act,whichdeniesfranchiseto
prisoners,isbeingchallengedin
theDelhiHighCourtasitviolates
theconceptofequalityand
freedomofexpression
By Venkatasubramanian
I
Give
Voting
Rights
A FEELING OF
REJECTION
Prisoners making
organic pickles at the
district jail in Udhampur,
Jammu. Although they
can work and earn
money legally they
can’t vote

Commission excludes prisoners from
participating in elections even if their
names are on the electoral rolls. The
first proviso to Section 62(5), however,
does not deny voting rights to detainees,
while the second proviso safeguards the
right to vote of a prisoner who has been
deprived of it by reason of prohibition
under this sub-section. This was insert-
ed through an amendment in 2013.
This amendment was the result of a
Supreme Court order on July 10, 2013,
in the case of Chief Election Commi-
ssioner v Jan Chaukidar and Others
upholding an order of the Patna High
Court declaring that a person who has
no right to vote by virtue of sub-section
attributes of dignity and personhood,
which they are entitled to as citizens
and human beings. The petitioners said
that Section 8(3) of the RPA, 1951, does
not disqualify a person from contesting
an election if he has been convicted and
sentenced to imprisonment for less than
two years for an offence. Denying the
same persons their right to vote when
they are under imprisonment, therefore,
makes no sense. Besides, there is no bar
on persons who manage to secure bail
from exercising their franchise, even
though those who are in prison, and
denied franchise, are considered a sepa-
rate class only on the ground of their
inability to secure bail. The nexus
between securing bail and franchise is
again unreasonable, and strikes at the
root of equality.
In support of their petition, the stu-
dents invoked Article 51 of the Constitu-
tion which requires the State to endeav-
our to foster respect for international
law and treaty obligations. Thus, they
point out that Article 21 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
provides for the equivalent free voting
procedures and which shall be by uni-
versal and equal suffrage. Further, Arti-
cle 3 of the UDHR provides an equal
right of men and women to the enjoy-
ment of all civil and political rights.
Article 25 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights guarantees
the right to vote and free expression of
the will of the electors.
Under Sections 34, 35 and 36 of
Chapter VII of the Prisons Act, 1894,
prisoners can work and follow any trade
or profession with the prison superin-
tendent’s permission. “It is irrational
and unjustifiable to deny them the right
to vote within the jail itself,” say the
petitioners.
Australia, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand, and South Africa are among
the few countries, according to the peti-
tioners, which have granted the right to
vote to their prisoners.
Therefore, the petitioners have
argued that Section 62(5) of the RPA
violates the concept of equality, and
Photos: UNI
Thepetitionerssubmittedthatifprison-
ersenjoyvotingrights,moreandmore
politicianswillconsiderreformingthe
criminaljusticesystem,andthiswould
helpthemidentifyneededchanges.
(5) of Section 62 of the RPA, is not an
elector and is, therefore, not qualified to
contest the election to either House of
Parliament or the Legislative Assembly
of a state.
The then UPA government filed a
review petition and without waiting for
its outcome, felt the law should be am-
ended for suitably addressing the situa-
tion arising out of the order. It is clear
that the purpose of the 2013 amend-
ment is not to enable a prisoner to exer-
cise his franchise, but to enable him to
contest an election. Enabling prisoners
to contest an election, but denying them
the right to vote is both inexplicable and
indefensible.
A
s per the 2015 report of the Na-
tional Crime Records Bureau,
the total number of jails in India
is 1,401. The total number of prisoners
as on December 31, 2015, is 4,19,623,
of which 2,82,076 are undertrials (67.2
percent). The petitioners argue that
giving prisoners the right to vote will
serve as “natural defenders” of their
own interest.
They also contend that providing
franchise to prisoners will make prisons
a part of a constituency and help
improve prison and jail conditions and
make whom they vote for accountable.
They further submit that if prisoners
enjoy voting rights, more and more
politicians will consider reforming our
criminal justice system, and this would
be a commonsense way to help them
identify needed changes.
While the reform of prisons across
the country is an immediate objective of
granting franchise to the prisoners, it
will make adult franchise truly univer-
sal, as it would make the vote of each
and every citizen count, besides en-
abling prisoners to enjoy the human

22 March 25, 2019
freedom of expression, and hence is in
breach of the basic structure of the
Constitution. The impugned Section,
according to them, fails to consider that
Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and 21 of the
Constitution constitute the golden trian-
gle, and the three together protect an
individual from falling into the abyss
of unrestrained exercise of power by
the State.
T
he petitioners rely on the Sup-
reme Court’s observations in
Jyoti Basu v Debi Ghosal (1982)
that freedom of voting, as distinct from
the right to vote, is a species of freedom
of expression. In this case, the Supreme
Court held: “Initially, right to vote can-
not be placed on the pedestal of a fun-
damental right, but, at the stage when
the voter goes to the polling booth and
casts his vote, his freedom to express
arises. The casting of vote in favour of
one or the other candidate tantamounts
to expression of his opinion and prefer-
ence and that final stage in the exercise
of voting right marks the accomplish-
ment of freedom of expression of the
voter. That is where Article 19(1)(a) is
attracted.”
In People’s Union for Civil Liberties v
Union of India (2009), the Supreme
Court held: “Under our Constitution,
Article 19(1)(a) provides for freedom
of speech and expression. Voter’s speech
or expression in case of election would
include casting of votes, that is to say,
voter speaks out or expresses by
casting vote.”
In C Narayanaswamy v CK Jaffer
Sharief, the Supreme Court held in 1994
that democracy based on adult franchise
is part of the basic structure of the
Constitution. In Francis Coralie Mullin
v The Administrator, Union Territory of
Delhi (1981), the Supreme Court had
held that the prisoner or detenu has all
the fundamental rights and other legal
rights available to a free person, save
those which are incapable of enjoyment
by reason of incarceration.
The Supreme Court’s landmark
judgment in 2017 declaring the right to
privacy as a fundamental right has also
been used by the petitioners to contend
that prisoners, under Article 21 of the
Constitution, have the right to live with
dignity, and therefore, should have
access to all the rights available to a
free person, which add meaning to his
dignity, which is a facet of the right
to privacy.
Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and
Justice V Kameshwar Rao, who heard
the petitioners on February 20, have
directed issue of notice to the respon-
dents, the Union of India and others,
and posted it for further hearing on May
9. As it is not an adversarial litigation,
the respondents, it is hoped, will not
oppose the striking down of Section
62(5), to ensure justice to prisoners.
TIME TO RETHINK
Giving prisoners voting rights like other
citizens will also ensure prison reform
Courts/ Prisoners
Australia,Canada,Ireland,NewZealand,
andSouthAfricaareamongthe
fewcountries,accordingtothe
petitioners,whichhavegrantedthe
righttovotetoprisoners.

Sheikh Abdullah accord had achieved
in 1974.
Yet, it is recognised as an important
part of an overall strategy to get rid of
the scourge of militancy lock, stock and
barrel. Its two essential components
have all along been monetary relief and
a training regime.
The present administrative dispensa-
tion headed by Governor Satya Pal
Malik has said that the new policy
would have a “fresh focus” on
“socio-economic reintegration”
of disillusioned youth.
Evidently, this serious con-
Column/ J&K Rehabilitation Plan Pushp Saraf
24 March 25, 2019
OR the third time, the socio-
economic surrender and reha-
bilitation policy for militants
to return to normal life is
being revised in Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K) after it was
first launched by Governor General KV
Krishna Rao on August 15, 1995. That
explains its continuing relevance. But by
no means is it a panacea. It does not
have the political ingredients necessary
to win over the main secessionist ele-
ments opposed to the state’s accession
and the Constitutions of India and J&K,
something which the Indira Gandhi-
cern is caused by the swelling ranks of
young educated persons who have taken
up armed militancy. The contours of the
new scheme are being finalised before
being made public. An indication is that
a militant giving up arms to join the
mainstream would get a monthly
stipend of `6,000. That can only be one
feature of a plan whose eventual aim is
to enable people to acquire skills enough
Thoughthestategovernmenthasforthethirdtimecomeupwithadraftpolicytoencouragemilitants
tojointhemainstream,itisfarfromaremedytowinoversecessionistelements
F
PANACEA FOR TERRORISM?
A 20-year-old footballer-turned-militant
surrendering before security forces in
South Kashmir's Anantnag district
UNI
A Peace Offering

to earn their livelihood with the passage
of time.
Those who have been in charge of
the implementation of such measures in
the past have noticed the surrenderees’
penchant for government jobs instead of
acquiring skills for private enterprise.
This is because they want a permanent
job which ensures post-retirement pen-
sion to perpetually take care of their
economic needs. This mindset needs to
be changed as the state government is
already overburdened. Writer-academi-
cian-bureaucrat Sudhir S Bloeria, a for-
mer chief secretary, told India Legal that
it might help to expand training pro-
grammes with the involvement of effi-
cient NGOs so that there is a large vari-
ety of skills to be taught.
T
he steps being taken now are in
tune with the governor’s own
assertion at the beginning of
2019: “Terrorism is not in the barrel of a
gun, but it is in the brain. We want to
cure that by offering them something in
the form of rehabilitation so that they
return to the mainstream. A policy for
their rehabilitation is under considera-
tion...I feel bad even if there is loss of a
regard identified two “categories of ter-
rorists from amongst residents of
Jammu and Kashmir” eligible for reha-
bilitation after surrender: “(a) known
militants who surrender with weapon;
and (b) hardcore militants even without
weapons”. It was made abundantly clear,
among other provisions: “The surren-
deree involved in heinous crimes like
murder, rape, abduction etc. will be
entitled to benefits only when legal
action has been completed, court cases
decided and the person has been pro-
nounced innocent.” The scheme raised
the monthly stipend to `2,000 and pro-
vided incentives for surrendered
weapons as well—`15,000 for each
Kalashnikov rifle, for instance.
On November 23, 2010, Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah initiated the
third version of the rehabilitation policy
for the homecoming of “those who have
gone to PoK/Pakistan between 1.1.1989
and 31.12.2009 and their dependents”.
It was intended to “facilitate the return
of ex-militants who belong to J&K state
and had crossed over to the PoK/
Pakistan for training in insurgency but
have given up insurgent activities due to
a change of heart and are willing to
VIOLENCE UNPLUGGED
Youth pelting stones at security forces during
a strike called by separatists in Srinagar
single life—even if it is that of a terror-
ist. We want all (local militants) to come
back to the mainstream and (plan to)
make a good rehabilitation offer.”
Call it allurement or an urgent neces-
sity for a jobless person, the offer of
money has been inbuilt in all rehabilita-
tion policies. Governor Rao had begun
with the incentive of a one-time fixed
deposit of `1.5 lakh, a monthly stipend
of `1,800 and vocational training for
each militant to find his feet. The late
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who had
done extremely well as the founder-
president of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP), a regional party, rather
than as a long-time leader of the
Congress, would often say as a champi-
on of the rehabilitation policy that it
was better to let the people (former mil-
itants) come back through normal legal
routes than via clandestine passages.
In keeping with his vision, his gov-
ernment’s rehabilitation policy, as enu-
merated on January 31, 2004, was add-
ressed “to those terrorists who undergo
a change of heart and eschew the path
of violence and who also accept the int-
egrity of India and Indian Constitution”
in order “to encourage them to join the
mainstream and lead a normal life and
contribute towards prosperity and pro-
gress of the state as well as the nation”.
The relevant cabinet order in this
Thepresentadministrativedispensation
headedbyGovernorSatyaPalMalikhas
saidthatthenewpolicywouldhavea
“freshfocus”on“socio-economic
reintegration”ofdisillusionedyouth.
UNI

return to the State”. Parents or “close
relatives (in case there are no parents)”
were made eligible to apply on behalf of
“prospective returnees”. The following
routes were designated for the return-
ees: the Wagah-Attari international bor-
der in Punjab, Salamabad (Uri) in the
Valley, the Chakan-da-bagh crossing in
Poonch district on the Line of Control
and the Indira Gandhi International
Airport in the national capital.
A
ll rehabilitation policies specified
a detailed procedure involving
almost all security agencies, inc-
luding the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and
the Army for detailed scrutiny of mili-
tants wanting to resume normal life.
The reason for identifying routes for
their return journey from Pakistan and
the occupied territory (“Azad” Kashmir,
as locally called) was to eliminate the
possibility of infiltrators exploiting a
goodwill gesture to gain entry via other
places at the behest of forces inimical to
the country; Nepal seemed to be a pop-
ular transit point.
Bhim Singh, a senior advocate and
politician, in an article quoted a state
government affidavit filed in the Sup-
reme Court in August 2013 that 282 for-
mer militants had entered J&K via
Nepal after the 2010 rehabilitation poli-
cy. Naturally, they had disqualified
themselves for rehabilitation benefits for
choosing a wrong passage. Some com-
mentators argue that Nepal should be
included among the designated routes.
Their plea is that in the absence of prop-
er documents, former militants and
their families cannot take a sanctioned
route from the occupied territory or
Pakistan, thus implying that they were
compelled to undertake an illegal jour-
ney via Nepal with the help of touts.
This may be a humanitarian perspec-
tive. What is, however, overlooked is
that the 2010 policy has a set process
under which the ministry of home
affairs, on the completion of all screen-
ing, would forward “the details of per-
mitted returnees to MEA (Ministry of
External Affairs) which would in turn
communicate the information to the
concerned mission so that the action to
facilitate the return can be taken. On
application, the returnee will be issued
an emergency certificate by the High
Commission of India, Islamabad. The
returnee may also apply for an entry
permit as per the existing procedure in
order to return by one of the notified
entry points”.
There is a strong possibility that an
unstated fear discourages a prospective
returnee from undertaking a designated
route: he may invite
harm and probably
death itself by disclos-
ing his purpose of leav-
ing militancy and
returning home while
being still in Pakistan or in the territory
under its illegal occupation. After all, he
had secured arms training from them,
walking into their trap bewitched by the
dream of “azadi” (freedom).
In 2000, while on a trip to Pakistan
and “Azad” Kashmir with separatist
leader Abdul Ghani Lone (who was later
slain), this writer met many young peo-
ple from the Valley who had travelled all
the way without their original identity
papers and did not get any official docu-
ments from Pakistan or the government
in the occupied territory which remain-
ed suspicious of their loyalty. Such mili-
tants have landed in a piquant situation
because of a momentary miscalculation
because of which they deserted their
home and hearth.
The rehabilitation policy at present
has no flexibility such as throwing open
all routes without designating them.
Instead, it makes it incumbent upon a
militant-applicant to establish his iden-
tity by sticking to fixed norms. It will be
too much to expect the Union and J&K
governments to make any deviation for
their sake. The two governments have
their hands more than full because of
militant strikes in the state. Unless, of
course, it turns out that the governor’s
administration has something up
its sleeve.
NOBLE MOVE
(From left) The late
Governor General KV
Krishna Rao, the late
Mufti Mohammad
Sayeed, and NC
Vice-president Omar
Abdullah have previously
initiated different
versions of the
rehabilitation policy
26 March 25, 2019
Column/ J&K Rehabilitation Plan/ Pushp Saraf
Peopleinchargeofrehabilitation
measuresinthepastsaymanyamong
thosewhosurrenderhaveapenchantfor
governmentjobsratherthanacquirethe
skillsforprivateenterprise.

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ONLY THE STORIES THAT COUNT

28 March 25, 2019
HE National Monuments
Authority (NMA) has noti-
fied heritage bylaws for 10
monuments inside the
Nizamuddin Basti in Delhi,
that are on the list of the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The bylaws will guide physical, social
and economic interventions within 300
metres of the centrally protected monu-
ments. Reports said that similar bylaws
were notified for 17 monuments in the
Sundar Nursery and Humayun’s Tomb
complex a few weeks earlier.
The notifications were issued by the
NMA under the Ancient Monument and
Archaeological Sites and Remains Act
(AMASR), 1958, as amended in 2010
and allow the framing of heritage bylaws
and other functions. As per Section 20
(E) of AMASR Act, 2010, and Rule 18 of
the NMA rules, heritage bylaws are req-
uired to be prepared in respect of each
protected monument/protected site. A
draft version of the bylaws is posted on
the website of the NMA for informa-
tion/ suggestions, which may be sent wi-
thin 30 days from the date of uploading.
Broadly speaking, there are two que-
stions that need to be raised in connec-
tion with the notice issued by the NMA.
One is whether there is a need for site-
specific bylaws and whether it is enough
to put them on the NMA website. The
answer to the first question is in the
affirmative. Yes, there is need for such
site-specific bylaws, primarily because
no matter how comprehensive a law
ABIDING REVERENCE
People offer namaz at the tomb of Hazrat Amir
Khusrau at the Nizamuddin Dargah complex
T
Involve the People
Alongsidelawsforconservingheritage,itisimportanttodemocratisetheentireprocess,
putpeopleatthecentreofalllegalprocessesandcompensatethemforousterfrom
monuments’vicinity
Conservation/ Heritage Bylaws Sohail Hashmi
Photos: Bhavana Gaur

dealing with issues of conservation and
protection might be, it can never visu-
alise every obstacle that might crop up
to obstruct these efforts. So site-specific
solutions are required and any authority
responsible for protecting our heritage
needs to have the leeway to frame site-
specific rules.
L
et us look at the Act as it has pro-
gressed from the time when it
was framed and the present stip-
ulations of the law. Originally, there was
a 50-yard prohibition on any construc-
tion in all directions from a protected
monument. In 2010, the limit was
extended to 100 metres, with a further
limit of an additional 200 metres that
was declared a regulated zone.
The implications of this can be seen
through a concrete example—the 14th
century Begumpur Mosque built by
Maqbool Juna Shah Telangani, the vazir
of Ferozeshah Tughlaq. When this
mosque was placed on the protected list
post-Independence, it was found that a
large number of people had built their
houses inside it. They were told to move
out and asked to build their houses be-
yond the 50-yard limit. The mosque is
now surrounded by houses on three
sides; these are houses of those who
were asked to vacate the mosque when
it became a protected monument. One
of the displaced was a little boy, his par-
ents and grandparents. His grandpar-
ents built a house opposite the mosque,
beyond the 50-yard limit and that is
where this boy lived with his parents.
Let us move forward to 2012. Some
of us, led by Prof Narayani Gupta, one
of the founders of Delhi Heritage So-
ciety and a pioneer of heritage walks in
Delhi, visited Begumpur because we had
heard that there was some tension bet-
ween the villagers and the ASI. Prof
Gupta initiated the formation of “Frien-
ds of ASI” with a view to facilitating a
dialogue between the villagers and the
ASI. During our meetings with the vil-
lage elders, we discovered that the vil-
lagers wanted to make additions to their
houses but were not being permitted
PRESERVING HISTORY Conservation work on this monument will not escape attention
BRISK BUSINESS Markets bustle with activity inside the Nizamuddin Basti
AMAZING SIGHT The baoli or stepwell located within the Nizamuddin Dargah complex

30 March 25, 2019
Conservation/ Heritage Bylaws/ Sohail Hashmi
because now the area where construc-
tion was a no-no had been increased to
100 metres and they were inside the
no-construction zone.
One of the people we met was a child
of the late 1950s. He had studied, joined
the Indian Air Force and was now re-
tired. His grandson was to get married
soon and he wanted to add a new room
to his house for his grandson and his
bride. He had been told that he could
not do it. He was obviously frustrated
and angry.
The point of this narration is to
underscore the fact that there would be
such situations at each step, we need to
be sensitive to these human problems
and no law or bylaw can solve them
unless we democratise the entire process
of lawmaking and the people have a say
in the process.
We need to understand that the orig-
inal law for protection of monuments
(Act XX of 1863), like all laws prior to
1947, was framed by a colonial adminis-
tration which treated the people as sub-
jects if not as outright enemies of the
state. Our lawmakers and the entire
process of lawmaking in most former
colonies continues to follow the same
approach and unless we change this
process, people like Singh (the child
born inside the Begumpur Mosque) will
continue to be at the receiving end. And
there will be many like him in the Basti.
T
he question is, if there is a need,
do we have a relocation plan, will
they be given new houses, new
occupations and new skills to cope with
the new circumstances in their lives? If
the bylaws have provided for all these
contingencies and if sufficient funds
have been earmarked and will be avail-
able as and when needed, no one will
have any major problem. It may not be
easy to convince those who are going to
be ousted, but it will not be impossible
and it will not be too difficult to mobi-
lise public opinion in favour of this
much-needed conservation effort.
And the last point is that placing the
draft bylaws that run into 91 pages in
English and Hindi and without a single
word in Urdu in a state that has Punjabi
and Urdu as its second languages is
absolutely inadequate. Many of those
who will have to relocate are illiterate or
can only read Urdu and hardly anyone
in the Basti would even know that there
are such bylaws that they need to com-
ment on and they will never know
unless the NMA goes to them.
The inadequacy of the notice can be
judged from the fact that from the day it
was launched on April 26, 2016, to
15.40 pm on March 10, 2019, only 3,107
people had visited the NMA website. My
guess about how many of them visited
the site since the Basti bylaws were
uploaded is as good as yours.
—The writer is a heritage and
conservation activist and conducts
heritage walks
PRAYER AND PIETY Preparing to offer namaz at the Nizamuddin Dargah
HERITAGE BUILDING The Barakhamba Tomb, near the Nizamuddin Basti

NATIONAL
OPINION
SURVEY
2 0 1 9

death and has to be introduced in Par-
liament once again by the new govern-
ment that takes oath after the parlia-
mentary elections.
Considering that the Bill was first
introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2015,
the government’s failure to push it thro-
ugh both Houses of Parliament during
its tenure is indeed disconcerting. How-
ever, given my personal involvement in
the first draft of the Bill and my disap-
pointment with the final version, I feel
relieved that it lapsed and there is still
an opportunity to improve on it.
My Space/ Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 Pushpa Girimaji
32 March 25, 2019
HILE inaugurating a
panel discussion on
the Consumer Pro-
tection (CP) Bill,
2018, organised by a
media group on
March 1, Union Consumer Affairs Min-
ister Ram Vilas Paswan regretted that
he could not get the Bill, which was to
replace the CP Act of 1986, passed by
both Houses of Parliament. With the
term of the present Lok Sabha coming
to an end, the Bill, passed only by
the Lower House, will die a natural
But first, let me explain why the Con-
sumer Protection Act of 1986, hailed at
one time as the panacea for all con-
sumer ills, needs to be replaced. In all
fairness, I must say that the 1986 law
was a milestone in the history of con-
sumer protection in India because for
the first time, it gave Indian consumers
their six basic rights and created an
Beforeanewbillisintroducedinthesoontobeelected16thLokSabha,theconsumerdisputes
redressalmechanismshouldbeoverhauledtoprovidesimpleresolutionwithoutthepresenceoflawyers
W
ALL ABOUT RIGHTS
An awareness drive launched by the
India Consumer Protection and Action
Committee in Ahmedabad
UNI
Need for a Strong
Regulatory Regime

DISTANT JUSTICE
(Above) The National Consumer Dispute
Redressal Commission office, New Delhi
alternative system for resolution of con-
sumer disputes in the country. When
first constituted, these tribunals opened
the floodgates of consumer litigation in
the country and many landmark judg-
ments delivered by the apex consumer
court and the Supreme Court further
fortified the consumer rights encapsu-
lated in the law.
But unfortunately, the concept of
consumer protection envisaged in the
law was erroneous. Even though it listed
the rights of consumers, it failed to pro-
vide a regulator to enforce those rights
and instead, entrusted the “promotion
and protection” of consumer rights to
toothless, advisory bodies called Consu-
mer Protection Councils at the national,
state and the district levels (many of
whom are not even functioning).
T
ake, for example, the very first
right specified in the 1986 law—
the right to safe goods and servic-
es. The law did not bestow a mechanism
(like the Consumer Product Safety Com-
mission in the US or similar machinery
in the European Union) to collect data
on product or service related injuries
and deaths, investigate them, order
recall of unsafe goods and protect con-
sumers from harm. Instead, the law pro-
vided for the enforcement of just one
right—the right to redress of grievances
and lawmakers hoped that the adjudica-
tory body, with its power to award com-
their insensitivity to consumer suffering
and the miserly computation of com-
pensation all took away the promise of
“inexpensive, quick and simple justice”.
Quick to take advantage of these pit-
falls in the system were retailers, manu-
facturers and service providers, who fo-
und that by routinely appealing against
the orders of the consumer courts (Dis-
trict Forum to State Commission to
National Commission and the Supreme
Court), they could prolong the adjudica-
tion process for years and effectively
discourage consumers from filing com-
plaints.
A good example of how delays
defeated the very essence of the law
can be found in the class action suit
filed by 130 distressed farmers from
Maharashtra against defective hybrid
cotton seeds sold to them. They eventu-
ally won the case, but it took 14 years
and during this time, 10 farmers died
(RP no 524 of 1997, RP no 718 to 753 of
1999 and others).
To improve the quality of consumer
justice, the Union ministry of consumer
affairs amended the law several times—
in 1991, 1993 and 2002. Its efforts to
tweak it further in 2011 failed as the Bill
lapsed. But when the basic structure
itself is faulty, mere scratching on the
surface will not help. As part of the
2002 amendments, the lawmakers
made it mandatory for consumer
forums to resolve complaints within 90
days. But that came too late because by
then, the consumer courts had already
imbibed some of the worst features of
civil litigation in the country.
About a decade after their inception,
consumer courts resolved only 32 per-
cent of the complaints within 90 days
(as per data provided in the agenda note
for the 19th CCPC meeting).
But a subsequent evaluation of the
working of the forums done by the
Indian Institute of Public Adminis-
tration in 2013 showed that only 10.2
percent of the cases were resolved with-
in three months. From the time of their
inception, 48,85,877 cases have been
filed before these courts and 91.03
The2018Billismoreintunewith
modern-dayconceptsofconsumer
protection,newmarketdynamicsand
developmentsinthedigitalage.
However,itneedstobetweakedfurther.
pensation, would instil fear of the law,
discipline trade and industry, and pre-
vent practices inimical to consumer
interest.
The idea was obviously flawed be-
cause an adjudicatory body cannot do
the work of a regulator. And consumer
courts certainly could not achieve that
objective partly because of the lacunae
in the law itself and partly because of
the way they functioned. Even though
the idea behind the creation of con-
sumer courts was to provide simple and
quick resolution of consumer disputes
without lawyers, the law was drafted in
such a way that it was an open invita-
tion to lawyers. And they did come in
large numbers and brought with them
all the trappings of a civil court.
Soon, the increasing presence of
lawyers, repeated adjournments given at
their behest, legalese bandied about in
the court, complicated procedures
adopted by the adjudicating members
(particularly the judicial members) and
Anil Shakya

34 March 25, 2019
percent of them disposed of.
In 2014, the government constituted
a committee to consider the recommen-
dations of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee submitted in 2013 on the (by
then lapsed) Amendment Bill, 2011. As
a member of the Committee headed by
S Gurucharan, then additional secretary
in the ministry of consumer affairs, I
argued strongly for a regulatory authori-
ty and this was readily accepted by
the Chair.
Since the government decided that in
addition to the regulatory body—the
Central Consumer Protection Autho-
rity—it would also introduce a chapter
on product liability for any injury, death
or destruction of property caused on
account of a defective product and also
provide for mediation as an alternative
dispute redress mechanism (ADRM), it
was decided to draft a new bill to
replace the old.
T
he first draft underwent several
changes following consultations
with stakeholders before being
introduced in the Lok Sabha in August
2015. The Bill was reintroduced in
January 2018 after taking into consider-
ation the recommendations of the
Standing Committee on Food, Consu-
mer Affairs and Public Distribution sub-
mitted in April 2016. The Bill was
passed by the Lok Sabha on December
20, 2018.
Certainly, the Bill is more in tune
with modern-day concepts of consumer
protection, new market dynamics and
developments in the digital age. It deals
with unfair contracts and e-commerce
issues; it provides for e-filing of com-
plaints and product liability suits. It
provides for mediation in addition to
the earlier system of consumer justice
and empowers the Central Consumer
Protection Authority or the regulator to
recall unsafe goods or services, order
reimbursement of their price, put a stop
to unfair trade practices including false
and misleading advertisements, order
investigations into violations of con-
sumer rights and in general, promote,
protect and enforce the rights of con-
sumers as a class.
However, the law needs to be twea-
ked further so that we are not stuck with
a bad law once again. For example,
instead of providing mediation cells as
an alternative to consumer courts and
spending taxpayers’ money on media-
tors, lawmakers should completely over-
haul the consumer disputes redress
mechanism to provide simple resolution
of disputes without the presence of
lawyers. One must also remember that a
strong regulatory regime will consider-
ably bring down consumer complaints.
It is also extremely important to
strengthen the regulatory authority and
remove a number of inconsistencies,
ambiguities and weaknesses that dilute
the regulatory framework in the Bill. For
example, there is too much focus on
misleading advertise-
ments and too little on
consumer safety. The
Bill, for example, pro-
vides for a steep fine
and even imprison-
ment of two-five years
for false or misleading
advertisements. For
storing, selling, distrib-
uting, manufacturing
or importing spurious
goods or products con-
taining adulterants,
imprisonment can
extend to life. How-
ever, for unsafe products and services,
which lead to large-scale deaths and
injuries in the country, there is no such
penalty.
In fact, the 2015 Bill provided for
a chief commissioner and five commis-
sioners dealing with 1) safety of goods
and services, 2) Unfair trade practices
including false and misleading adver-
tisements, 3) quality assurance and
standards, 4) preventing consumer
detriment and unfair contracts and
5) enforcement of consumer protection
laws.
The 2018 Bill is, however, ambigu-
ous on the number of commissioners or
their area of work. Of equal concern is
Section 23 which says that the govern-
ment may designate any statutory auth-
ority or body to exercise the powers and
perform the functions of the Central
Authority.
In short, considerable changes are
required in the Bill to make the law
work effectively for the good of con-
sumers. So I am now drawing up my
wish list in the hope that they will be
considered when the Bill is re-intro-
duced in the new Lok Sabha.
—The writer is an author and a
pioneer in consumer advocacy
journalism in India
THE MAN IN CHARGE
(Above) Consumer Affairs Minister
Ram Vilas Paswan; the involvement
of lawyers in consumer cases has
denied quick and inexpensive justice
My Space/ Consumer Protection Bill, 2018/Pushpa Girimaji
Anil Shakya

This budget trim-
ming is window
dressing as the
administration bor-
rows money from
various federal budgets to help pay for
any border wall with Mexico.
Additionally, the art of the deal is asking
for more than $8.6 billion dollars for a
Mexican border wall in next year’s feder-
al budget.
That is unlikely to happen consider-
ing that Congress said no to $5.7 billion
in Trump’s abortive government shut-
down in January. And will again
because Democrats in the House of
Representatives basically control the
level of federal spending.
Elections have consequences as
Trump voters may realise with this
budget. Trump’s projected budget calls
for huge reductions for Medicare,
claiming this will cut alleged “waste,
fraud and abuse” in the federal pro-
gramme that gives health insurance to
older Americans.
Big business and wealthy Americans
got a huge tax cut. The resulting deficit
means belt-tightening rests on poorer
people, many of whom voted for Trump.
Campaigning, Trump said that he would
“save Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security without cuts” adding it was
“not fair” to make cuts to a programme
that people had been paying into for
years.
Besieged by investigations into per-
sonal and political behaviour, decisions
and scandals, embarrassed by heavy-
handed diplomatic failures, polling sug-
Global Trends/ US / Donald Trump
HE Trump administration
eagerly embraces anything
that hinders legal immigra-
tion to the United States.
Some Indians are about to
experience that reality as the New Delhi
office for US Citizenship and
Immigration Services is on a list to be
closed.
According to an Associated Press dis-
patch from Washington, the Homeland
Security Department is moving towards
closing immigration services offices out-
side the United States, saying it is
expected to free up millions of dollars a
year to better address a backlog in
domestic locations.
US Citizenship and Immigration
Services spokeswoman Jessica Collins
said Tuesday that the agency is in pre-
liminary discussions to close offices in 20
countries outside the United States.
There are about 70 employees in Britain,
Mexico, South Africa, Italy, India, the
Philippines, China and other countries.
She says the agency will work closely
with the State Department to avoid any
interruptions to services overseas.
Organisations including Amnesty
International and Human Rights First
criticised the move, saying that closing
international offices would mean fewer
services for refugees. The agency says
refugee processing won’t be affected.
Folding immigration services into
American consulates and embassies
seems a showboat effort. USCIS
Director L Francis Cissna said closing
international field offices “is an effort to
maximise our agency’s finite resources”.
gests more than half the American vot-
ers see President Trump as an increas-
ingly irrational leader.
The 20 months between now and
the 2020 election will be a political soap
opera with an international audience
and obvious global implications.
Because the anti-immigration cuts
are a discretionary administrative move,
they will happen. The Draconian cuts
sought in social security and health pro-
gramme won’t happen. Most probably,
the Defense Department budget will not
get the entire $750 billion budget
Trump wants. Some political analysts
believe this entire budget is more “guid-
ance” than reality and leads to what the
president knowingly likes most: chaos.
Another no-win situation will give the
president another excuse to shut down
the government once again.
—The writer has worked at The
Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CNN.
He also consults for Indian channels
DonaldTrump’sparoxysmswillensurethatthe20
months betweennowand the2020electionwill
beapoliticalsoapoperawithaninternational
audienceandobviousglobalimplications
By Kenneth Tiven
TheTrumpadministrationismoving
towardclosingimmigrationservices
officesoutsidetheUS,sayingitwillfree
millionsofdollarstoaddressbacklogs.
UNI
Season of Chaos
T UNI

India Legal 25 March 2019

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