Pairokar

                                          Parmanand Pandey Rafale Fighter Jets deal case, decided by the Supreme Court, on 14 th  December, the last working day before it was closed for the winter vacation has actually brought a sort of political tremor in the country. While on the one hand, the people of the country, by and large, and the Indian Air Force heaved the sigh of relief that the deal with the French Dassault company for the supply of the Rafale Fighter Jets has improved its fighting capacity. Another reason for the satisfaction has been that the security of the country has not at all compromised. On the other hand, however, it has sent some political parties into a tizzy, who wanted to make capital out this deal. This judgement of the Supreme Court has unequivocally vindicated the stand of the government, particularly of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that his government has acted above board. The government can also take pride that it has kept itself free from

                                                     Parmanand Pandey The Supreme Court has again voiced its concern for the safety of witnesses, particularly in criminal cases.  The criminal justice is essentially an adversarial system, where the cases are decided on the basis of evidence, be it documentary or oral. Therefore, witnesses play a vital role in facilitating to arrive at correct findings. They are the backbones in the decision-making process. In ‘Mahender Chawla and others vs Union of India and others’, the Supreme Court has said that w henever, in a dispute, the two sides come out with conflicting version, the witnesses become an important tool to arrive at right conclusions, thereby advancing justice in a matter. It is for this reason that the Legal philosopher Jeremy Bentham stated that “witnesses are eyes and ears of justice”. A witness may be a partisan or interested witness but even then, his testimony is relevant, though, stricter scrutiny is required wh

‘Diwali gets noisier; more polluted despite SC curbs’ screams the newspaper headline. The most auspicious Hindu festival of Deepawali or Diwali is celebrated all over the country. On this day Laxmi and Ganesha are worshipped for bringing prosperity and happiness. The other reason is that people rejoice the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after his victory over the demon king Ravana. It also marks the harvesting of crops heralding the change of weather reminding us to protect and preserve the ecological balance. However, it has now become a very hazardous festival because of the uncontrolled use of firecrackers, although it is associated with lights and lamps. To curb and control the water and air pollution, Parliament passed the Environment Protection Act of 1986 but still, the level of pollution is going on unabated. The Supreme Court of India has played a sterling role by banning many factories to maintain the ecological balance and keep the water and air neat and clean, yet th

All Courts, right from the lower court to the Apex Court, have been dithering in pronouncing any judgement on Ayodhya and, in a way that is the correct approach also. In this context, it’s relevant to recall the obiter dicta of the former Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, who had suggested during one of the hearings of the Ayodhya case that all parties to the dispute must make sincere efforts to settle the issue amicably out of court. Therefore, those who were expecting that the Supreme Court would start day-to-day hearing of the Ayodhya matter were extremely disappointed when the Chief Ranjan Gogoi led bench did not take even a minute to adjourn the case till January 2019. He also did not tell about the composition of the bench whether it would be headed by him or any new bench would be constituted to hear the case. The previous Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had fixed the date of the 29th October 2018 for the day-to-day hearing. So all hopes of the early decision in the case fro

While going up from Haridwar to the heights of Badrinath and coming down from there to Haridwar, journalists Hemant Tiwari, Siddharth Kalhans and I spent nearly 30 hours travelling in the same car. Obviously, we talked and discussed on a range of issues and topics. We all marvel at the entrepreneurial skill of two persons- Baba Ramdev and Mahashaya Dharampal, who has passed a few days back at the ripe old age of 100 years. Mahasha ji. as he was called, was just a literate person with no academic degree. He was plying Tanga in old Delhi after migrating from Pakistan. He started grinding spices at his house to supplement his income. In due course of time, he became the shahenshah of masalas. His MDH brand spices are now sold all over the world and enjoy the status of uncrowned king.  I have met him twice with a leading lawyer HL Kumar, who recommended him to engage me for some legal cases. There has been a striking similarity in both personalities. Both have been ardent Arya Samajis.

My recent visit to Badrinath, one of the holiest shrines of Hindus, after a gap of eleven  years  has been highly reinvigorating, mentally satisfying and spiritually uplifting. This time I was in the company of Hemant Tiwari and Siddharth Kalhans, two talented and gifted journalists of Lucknow, who have razor-sharp analytical mind and possess wonderful information about politics, history, religion, spiritualism, society and social mores. It goes without saying that Uttarakhand is amazingly beautiful; replete with high hills, deep vales, dense forests and breath-taking scenic places. It can be made the most attractive and alluring tourist destinations in the world. If necessary facilities and infrastructures are provided, Uttarakhand itself can generate many times more money from domestic and foreign tourists than even Switzerland. It can be the haven of trekkers’ delight. Lakhs of pilgrims visit the four most sacred places of Hindus, known as the ‘Chaar Dhams’- Gangotri, Yamunotri,

Shri Asok Pandey (Yes, that is how he writes his name), my good friend, is a public-spirited lawyer and he must have filed more than 200 PILs in the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court of India. Some of the judgements on his PILs have now become an integral part of the Indian constitutional study.  His tenacity for the cause that he espouses is seen to be believed. Recently, he has filed a PIL for the preponing the of the swearing in of the Chief Justice-designate Ranjan Gogoi on the ground that the post of the Chief Justice of India is in continuum and it cannot remain vacant even for a few hours. The incumbent CJI Dipak Misra is retiring on 2 nd  October, which is a national holiday, being the Gandhi Jayanti. Therefore, the CJI designate will take oath on 3 rd  October leaving a time gap of many hours between the retiring CJI and the new CJI.  The fate of the PIL will be known when it is heard and decided by the Supreme Court but what has impelled me to write on it is ho

Death is inevitable, but the death of any near and dear ones is always sad and shocking. The death of my younger brother Shrinand, which occurred in the morning of 22 nd  of August has shocked and benumbed me. He was nearly four years younger than me and was the youngest among all brothers. He died young at the age of only 58. He was a carefree person, particularly in his younger days. He remained almost untouched of the worldliness and that was the reason that he hardly got bothered by the damages and difficulties in the worldly life.      He did not possess high academic degrees but due to his self-studies, he developed a good understanding of literature, social values, political ups and downs, changing trends of the society and unfortunate rupturing of the family bonds and relations. He was a good connoisseur of the qualities of others and that was the reason he was loved and respected by young and old, uneducated and highly educated persons alike. He had no foes but only frie

Live-Streaming of Court Proceedings is a Welcome Step                                                                  Live- streaming of court proceedings is a momentous and laudable decision of the Supreme Court of India. This will, without doubt, bring about transparency in the courts. Incidentally, the first step in this direction was taken in November 2017, when the bench headed by the CJI Dipak Misra directed that the proceedings of two courts in every district of the country would be video recorded. Now in the first week of July this year a bench consisting of the CJI, Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud handed down an earth-shattering decision for the live telecasting of the court proceedings and the beginning will be made from the court of the Chief Justice itself. There are many democratic countries where video recording is allowed. In some countries like; the United States of America live telecast of some selected cases is also permit

How can a scientist, a philosopher, an intellectual be prefixed with the community that he or she belongs to? When we say a Muslim/ Hindu/Christian scholar it connotes that the person has the depth only in that particular religion. It is an oxymoron- a contradiction in terms. But when a person is called a historian, then he/she cannot be branded as a Hindu/ Muslim or Christian historian. That is why, it was shocking to know that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi recently met Muslim historians, journalists, economists and intellectuals.  As a matter of fact, it is the so-called intellectuals of the Muslim community who themselves should have objected to being prefixed with the word Muslim because that makes them narrow-minded. They cannot even pretend to be intellectuals. Their shameless behaviour has totally exposed them that they have been working more on communal lines than indulging into any dispassionate intellectual exercise. If Rahul Gandhi met them for seeking their advice

Caesar’s wife must be above board but what would you say when the judge pronounces the judgement without hearing the arguments? This is what has happened L'affaire Tanvi Seth. By releasing the report of the so-called enquiry after fifteen days after the incident, the External Affairs Ministry has not inspired any confidence in the public. The report has held the passport official of Lucknow guilty of misbehaving and asking irrelevant questions from her, but it leaves many questions unanswered. It may be recalled that hurt by the searching questions of the passport officer regarding her different names and different addresses, the passport seeker Tanvi Seth twitted to the External Affairs Minister Ms Sushma Swaraj, who immediately swung into action and virtually in a jiffy took two decisions. One; the lady concerned was called the next day and the passport officer handed over her passport and apologized for the alleged misbehaviour of the official. And the second was that