NATIONAL NEWS
A) Immediately withdraw cases registered under repealed Section 66A of IT Act: Home Ministry tells States, UTs
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday asked the States and Union Territories to immediately withdraw the cases registered under the repealed Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, days after the Supreme Court expressed shock that it was being invoked even six years after the apex court had struck it down. The Supreme Court found it distressing, shocking and terrible that the provision held unconstitutional and a violation of free speech in the Shreya Singhal judgment authored by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman on March 24, 2015 — was still being used to book people. Through an advisory, the MHA asked the authorities in the States and Union Territories to direct all police stations not to register cases under the repealed provision and sensitise the law enforcement agencies for the compliance of the order issued by the Supreme Court. If any case has been booked in your State under Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000, it should immediately be withdrawn, said the advisory. In view of the Supreme Court judgment, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, through a letter in January 2019, and the MHA, via two letters in January and April 2019, had asked the States and Union Territories to sensitise the police department and local police authorities for strict compliance of the Court directive. The ministries had also said that all such cases, if any, should be withdrawn. It has been brought to our notice through an application in the Supreme Court that FIRs are still being lodged by some police authorities under the struck down provision…Supreme Court has taken a very serious view in the matter, said the latest advisory.
B) Taking suo moto cognisance, Supreme Court asks U.P. to clarify stand on Kanwar Yatra amid pandemic
The Supreme Court on July 14 took suo motu cognisance of the Uttar Pradesh government move to reportedly go ahead with the annual Kanwar Yatra amid fears of a third wave of the pandemic. A Bench led by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman referred to media reports that U.P. was pushing for the yatra even as Uttarakhand had suspended it. The annual pilgrimage witnesses a heavy flow of pilgrims who put up bivouacs across Delhi and the northern belt of the country. The court said it wanted the State governments to clarify their stand on the conduct of the yatra amid a public health crisis. The citizens of India are completely perplexed. They don’t know what is going on. And all this amid the Prime Minister, when asked about a third wave of Covid-19 striking the nation, saying ‘we cannot compromise even one bit’, the court remarked. The yatra is scheduled to commence on July 25. The court issued notice to the Centre, U.P. and Uttarakhand and asked them to file their responses early for the Bench to take up the matter on July 16.
C) Supreme Court agrees to examine fresh plea challenging sedition law
The Supreme Court will examine a petition filed by a retired Army General, who said a nearly 60-year-old judgment of the court that helped sedition survive in the Indian Penal Code was behind time and needed a relook. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana on Wednesday listed the case for hearing on July 15 and asked Major-General S.G. Vombatkere (retd.), represented by advocates P.B. Suresh and S. Prasanna, to serve a copy of his petition to Attorney General K.K. Venugopal. The petitioner argues that the 1962 judgment in the Kedar Nath case, which upheld Section 124A (sedition), a relic of the colonial legacy, was given at a time when doctrines such as ‘chilling effect’ on free speech were unheard of. The doctrine of ‘chilling effect’ on speech considers the probability of a legal provision causing psychological barriers in the free exercise of the right… This doctrine had not sufficiently developed in 1962. Even in the US, the doctrine was established only as late as 1967… The most concrete pronouncement on a statutory provision causing a chilling effect on speech is as recent as 2015 in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, he submitted. The Kedar Nath judgment was delivered during an era when the extent, scope and inter-relationship of fundamental rights like liberty, equality and dignity were rather restrictive, the plea said. In the judgment, the court had reasoned that without Section 124A, the State would be in jeopardy if the government was subverted. It, however, said that Section 124A would apply only to expressions that either intended to or had the tendency to cause violence. The maximum punishment was life imprisonment. The offence was classified as ‘cognisable’ and ‘non-bailable’. This judgment could hardly be seen as a beacon of light now, the petitioner contended. He referred to the Supreme Court’s recent judgments decriminalising homosexuality and declaring privacy as a fundamental right as testaments of how the times and attitudes have undergone a sea change over the years. The Constitution is a living document. All constitutional provisions have to be construed with regard to the march of time and the development of law, he stated. The petition said Section 124A criminalised expression based on vague terms such as ‘disaffection towards government’, ‘contempt towards government’, etc. The provision, by employing phrases like disaffection and contempt toward government, which are incapable of precise definition, causes a chilling effect on speech, constituting an unconstitutional invasion into the right of free speech, it said.
D) Haryana Police invoke sedition charges against protesting farmers
Haryana Police have invoked sedition charges against a group of protesting farmers who allegedly attacked and damaged the official vehicle of Haryana Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa in Sirsa on July 11, during a demonstration against the Centre’s farm laws and BJP leaders. Sirsa’s Senior Superintendent of Police Arpit Jain confirmed to The Hindu that sedition charges under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code had been invoked against the accused and an investigation was under way. So far, no arrests have been made in the case, he said on Wednesday. The Sirsa police have registered the FIR under Section 124A (sedition), 307 (attempt to murder) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), in which two farmer leaders — Harcharan Singh and Prahlad Singh — have been booked. Apart from them, over 100 unidentified people have been booked. On July 11, the official car of the Deputy Speaker was attacked in Sirsa by a group of protesters shouting slogans and waving black flags. During the demonstration, protesters allegedly smashed the windscreen of vehicles by pelting stones. Gangwa, however, escaped unhurt. Reacting to the FIR, senior Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Darshan Pal said the government was trying to provoke farmers by taking such steps. By invoking sedition charges, the government is provoking the farmers. How can sedition and murder charges be justified if a windscreen of a vehicle was broken? We have already announced that all legislators, including those from the BJP, the Jannayak Janta Party and the Independents who support the laws, will be peacefully boycotted and will not be allowed entry into villages across the State. We will take a call on the issue at a meeting today [July 14], he added. The SKM is the umbrella organisation of farmer unions which is spearheading the ongoing protest.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) EU proposes effective ban on new petrol, diesel cars from 2035
The European Union on Wednesday proposed an effective ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as of 2035 which, as part of a broad climate package, will accelerate a switch to zero-emission electric vehicles (EVs). The EU executive, the European Commission, proposed a 55% cut in CO2 emissions from cars by 2030 versus 2021 levels, much higher than the existing target of a 37.5% reduction in CO2 emissions by that time. The Commission also proposed a 100% cut in CO2 emissions by 2035, which would make it impossible to sell new fossil-fuel-powered vehicles in the 27-country bloc. This is the sort of ambition we’ve been waiting to see from the EU, where it’s been lacking in recent years, said Helen Clarkson, Chief Executive of the Climate Group, a non-profit group that works with business and government to tackle climate change. The science tells us we need to halve emissions by 2030, so for road transport it’s simple – get rid of the internal combustion engine. In order to boost sales EV sales, Brussels also proposed legislation that would require countries to install public charging points along major roads with a maximum distance of 60 km between them by 2025. The rollout of EVs is expected to create 3.5 million public charging stations for cars and vans by 2030, with that number to grow to 16.3 million by 2050. Even when buyers have been able to afford the price premium for a part- or all-electric vehicle, many have been deterred by range anxiety because of a lack of public charging stations. Car makers had telegraphed that they would accept tougher emission targets only in return for massive public investment in chargers. All the Commission’s proposals will need to be negotiated and approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, which could take around two years. Low-emission car sales surged in Europe last year, even as the Covid-19 pandemic knocked overall vehicle sales, and one in every nine new cars sold was an electric or plug-in hybrid.
B) Bush says withdrawal from Afghanistan withdrawal is a mistake, fears for women
Former U.S. President George W. Bush criticised the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan in an interview with a German broadcaster released on Wednesday, saying he fears that Afghan women and girls will suffer unspeakable harm. Asked in an interview with German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle whether the withdrawal is a mistake, Bush replied: You know, I think it is, yeah, because I think the consequences are going to be unbelievably bad. The war in Afghanistan began under Bush following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops set in motion earlier this year by current President Joe Biden is now nearing completion. Taliban fighters have been surging through district after district, taking control of large swaths of the country.
