NATIONAL NEWS
A) SC grants bail to 13 who were in jail for two decades despite proving juvenility.
The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim bail to 13 prisoners who have languished in Agra Jail over two decades despite proving their juvenility at the time of the commission of the crime. A Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and V. Ramasubramanian allowed them bail when the government of Uttar Pradesh did not raise any objection. The petition filed through advocate Rishi Malhotra had highlighted the unfortunate and sorry state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh, where many prisoners continued to languish in jail despite proving their claim of juvenility. An accused can raise a claim of juvenility at any stage of a criminal trial or even any time after his conviction and sentence for a crime. If the claim is found true, the court should maintain the conviction, but set aside the sentence and forward the case to the Juvenile Justice Board. A juvenile can be punished only for a maximum period of three years. According to the petition, there were clear and unchallenged rulings from the Juvenile Justice Board declaring the 13 prisoners as juveniles at the time of commission of their crime. Yet no steps have been taken to release them forthwith. The miseries are further compounded by the fact that these petitioners who are languishing in Agra Central Jail have already undergone judicial incarceration for periods ranging from 14 to 22 years, the petition said. Malhotra said they had spent years in hardcore jails among hardcore criminals. This completely negates the purpose and objects of Juvenile Justices Act, the petition said. The petition argued that a delay in raising the ground of juvenility could not be a reason to let them languish behind bars for years. The claim could be raised even at the stage of advanced appeal before the Supreme Court. The delay in raising the claim of juvenility cannot be a ground for rejection of such claim. The claim of juvenility can be raised in appeal even if not pressed before the trial court and can be raised for the first time before the Supreme Court, though not pressed before the trial court and in the appellate court, the petition referred to 2012 judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue.
B) Facebook ought to appear before Delhi House panel: SC
The Supreme Court on Thursday said Facebook ought to appear before the Delhi Legislative Assembly Committee of Peace and Harmony enquiring into the circumstances leading to the February 2020 communal riots. Investigation of a socially complicated problem was within the domain of the legislature, it noted.The judgment pronounced by Justice S.K. Kaul, however, said the committee cannot behave like a prosecution agency trying to probe whether Facebook was innocent or guilty of anything. The court said the committee cannot delve into prohibited zones of law and order and criminal prosecution. These were the domains of the Centre. Besides, courts were already seized of the criminal trials of the accused in the riots. The official representing the social media giant need not respond to questions from the committee on these domains. The court criticised the Delhi government side for its remarks in the Press about Facebook in connection with the riots. The statements made in the Press conference by respondents were hardly conducive to the proceedings before the committee, the court stated in its verdict. The judgment was reserved in February last. The case concerns a petition filed by Facebook India head Ajit Mohan against summons issued to him by the committee. He had challenged the summons and the threat of breach of privilege posed by the panel if he refused to testify about any role played by social media platforms in the events leading up to the riots. The apex court found Mohan’s petition premature. The court agreed with the Delhi Assembly that he had been summoned for his assistance in dealing with a social problem. He had not been subjected to any coercive action. The court also recognised the polarising effect of social media. Mohan had urged the court to recognise his right to silence as a virtue in these noisy times.
C) Twitter appoints India compliance executive, yet to fill other roles to meet IT rules.
Twitter Inc’s India unit has appointed an interim chief compliance officer and said it will soon designate two other executives to comply with the country’s new IT rules, the social media giant said in a court filing on Thursday. The IT rules are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making them more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. The Centre said in a court filing earlier this week that Twitter no more enjoys liability protection against user-generated content in India as the U.S. microblogging giant has failed to comply with the new rules. The filing came in a case against Twitter by a user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said the company was not complying with the new IT rules, which became effective end-May and also require the appointment of certain new executives. Twitter will try to fill the nodal contact person’s job on an interim basis within 2 weeks and would appoint an interim grievance officer on or before July 11, the company said in the June 8 filing. It has posted job openings for all three positions and will try to make an offer of employment to resident Indians, as asked by rules, within 8 weeks, Twitter said. The California-based company is setting up a liaison office in India, it aadded Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said anyone working in India needs to follow the rules and laws of the country. Vaishnaw, who was inducted into the Cabinet on Wednesday, took charge of his three ministries – Electronics and IT, Communications and Railways, on Thursday. He is a former IAS officer of the 1994-batch and has previously held leadership roles across major global companies such as General Electric. Law of land is supreme, Twitter must follow the rules, the IT Minister said on his first day in the office.
D) Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh passes away.
Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and veteran Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passed away after prolonged illness on Thursday in Shimla. He was 87 years old. The six-time Chief Minister, who had twice recovered from Covid-19 in the past three months and remained under observation at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), was placed on ventilator support after he suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this week. Dr. Janak Raj, Senior Medical Superintendent, IGMC, said Singh passed away following multi-organ failure in the early hours of Thursday. The State government declared three days mourning from July 8 to July 10 as a mark of respect to Singh. He will be cremated at Rampur, his native place, on July 10. Singh was a nine-time MLA was elected to the State Legislative Assembly for the first time in October 1983. He remained Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh from April 8, 1983 to March 5, 1990; December 3, 1993 to March 23, 1998; from March 6, 2003 to December 29, 2007; and from December 25, 2012 to December 26, 2017. He was at present MLA from the Arki Assembly constituency in Solan district. Singh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962 and in all, he was a five-time MP.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Spectators to be banned from Olympic venues; Tokyo under virus emergency from July 12.
Spectators will be banned from Olympic venues in Tokyo because of a virus state of emergency, Japan’s Olympic minister announced on Thursday, meaning the Games will happen mostly behind closed doors. We reached an agreement on no spectators at venues in Tokyo, Tamayo Marukawa said, after talks involving local and national government officials, organisers and Olympic and Paralympic chiefs. Most Olympic competition will happen in Tokyo, but a few events will be held outside the Japanese capital. Marukawa said that, in other areas, organisers would decide on concrete measures for spectators after discussions with each local governor. The public has already been asked to stay away from the marathon, which is being held in the northern Hokkaido region to beat Tokyo’s summer heat. And large parts of the torch relay traversing the country have also been held behind closed doors because of virus concerns. The spectator decision comes after Japan’s government said on Thursday that Tokyo would be under a virus state of emergency from July 12 to August 22. The measure is much looser than harsh lockdowns seen elsewhere, but comes with infections rising in the capital and concern about the increased prevalence of the Delta variant.
B) Cairn Energy claims order to attach 20 Indian properties in Paris
The Cairn Energy dispute with India over the settlement of a $1.2 billion award from The Hague took a dramatic turn on Thursday, with the company saying it had secured a French court order allowing it to freeze at least 20 Indian properties in Central Paris. However, the government denied all knowledge of the award. It said it had filed an appeal against the tribunal decision of the Permanent Court at The Hague delivered in December 2020. Government is trying to ascertain the facts, and whenever such an order is received, appropriate legal remedies will be taken, in consultation with its Counsels, to protect the interests of India, a Finance Ministry statement said. Earlier, a Cairn Energy spokesperson had told The Hindu that the ball is in India’s court to stop the enforcement proceedings of assets. Our strong preference remains an agreed, amicable settlement with the Government of India to draw this matter to a close, and to that end we have submitted a detailed series of proposals to them since February this year, the spokesperson said in a statement. However, in the absence of such a settlement, Cairn must take all necessary legal actions to protect the interests of its international shareholders, the statement added. According to sources, the award by the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris was the necessary preparatory step to taking ownership of the properties and ensuring all proceeds from the sale of the properties would be accrued to Cairn Energy PLC as part of its efforts to enforce the award from The Hague delivered in December last in Cairn’s favour. While the Paris properties are estimated to yield about $23 million, Cairn sources had told The Hindu that they have identified assets worth about $70 billion in several jurisdictions that they could potentially attach through court orders. Cairn lawyers have registered The Hague award in courts in at least 10 jurisdictions, including the U.S., the U.K., Netherlands, Canada , France, Singapore, Japan, the UAE and even the Cayman Islands. In June, Cairn lawyers had approached the court in the Southern District of New York, making the plea that Air India should be made liable for the outstanding settlement, and said that other state-owned corporations could be targeted as well. The government has until next week to file its challenge in that court. Government has already filed an application on March 22, 2021 to set aside the December 2020 international arbitral award in The Hague Court of Appeal. Government of India will vigorously defend its case in Set Aside proceedings at The Hague, the Finance Ministry asserted on Thursday. Despite the snowballing dispute, both the government and Cairn Energy said they were open to continuing talks over the issue. In December, the three-member tribunal in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled unanimously against the retrospective tax levied by India on Cairn in 2015, ruling that the tax fell afoul of the bilateral investment pact.
