Archive for ‘India’s Supreme Court’

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15/03/2020

Coronavirus: Second death confirmed in India

Coronavirus advisory hangs at the entrance of the Infectious Diseases (ID) Hospital in Kolkata, India, 04 March 2020Image copyright EPA
Image caption India has stopped exports of masks to make sure there are ample domestic supplies

A 68-year-old woman from Delhi has been confirmed as the second Indian to die from the coronavirus.

The woman, who had underlying health conditions, is thought to have been infected by her son who travelled to Switzerland and Italy last month.

India’s first fatality from the virus was confirmed on Thursday.

The 76-year-old man, from the southern state of Karnataka, died after returning from a month-long visit to Saudi Arabia on 29 February.

People who came in contact with the man are being traced and quarantined, the state’s health minister said. India has 82 confirmed cases of the virus, the health ministry says.

The Delhi woman’s son was “initially asymptomatic but developed a fever and cough after one day”, a government statement said. The family were then screened and the mother and son admitted to hospital.

The 76-year-old Karnataka man was screened at the airport on his return but showed no symptoms at the time. After he developed difficulties last week, he was taken to hospital. He died on Tuesday but it was not reported until Thursday.

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India’s Supreme Court has said it will only hear urgent cases from Monday, and has restricted the number of people who can enter a courtroom.

Karnataka has banned all gatherings including weddings, sports events and conferences for a week as the country attempts to slow the spread of the virus.

Malls, movie theatres, pubs and night clubs have also been shut.

“The government will decide on further action after a week following a review,” the state’s chief minister BS Yediyurappa announced on Friday.

But he said that government offices would continue to function as normal.

India has taken a number of steps to halt the spread of Covid-19:

  • All visas, barring a select few categories, have been suspended for a month
  • Visa-free travel afforded to overseas citizens of the country has been suspended until 15 April and even those allowed in could be subject to 14 days of quarantine
  • Schools, colleges and movie theatres in the capital, Delhi, have been shut until 31 March
  • The Indian Premier League (IPL), featuring nearly 60 foreign players and scheduled to begin on 29 March, has been postponed to 15 April
  • Two one-day cricket matches between India and South Africa will be played behind closed doors

India’s health ministry says it was among the first countries in the world to prepare for an outbreak of the respiratory illness, and denied allegations that it was slow in testing suspected cases.

“Our surveillance system is strong and we are able to quickly identify any symptomatic patients,” RR Gangakhedkar from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told reporters on Thursday.

However, there are concerns about whether the country will be fully equipped to prevent and treat an outbreak.

It would be near impossible for India to force its citizens into mass quarantine and hospitalise people in numbers like China, says the BBC’s Soutik Biswas.

Our correspondent says there are also concerns about the country’s poor healthcare data. India has a shoddy record in even recording deaths and disease – only 77% of deaths are registered, and doctors are more likely to get the cause of death wrong than right, according to a study the Toronto-based Centre for Global Research. There is patchy data for flu-related deaths.

Source: The BBC

Posted in capital, Centre for Global Research, China, colleges, confirmed, coronavirus, cricket matches, Delhi, health ministry, Hospital, India, India's Supreme Court, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Premier League (IPL), Italy, Karnataka, malls, movie theatres, night clubs, pubs, quarantined, Saudi Arabia, schools, Second death, South Africa, Switzerland, Toronto-based, Uncategorized, Visas | Leave a Comment »

14/11/2019

Sabarimala temple: India court to review ruling on women’s entry

Devotees inside the Sabarimala templeImage copyright KAVIYOOR SANTHOSH
Image caption Sabarimala is one of the most prominent Hindu temples in the country

India’s Supreme Court has agreed to review its landmark judgement allowing women of menstruating age to enter a controversial Hindu shrine.

A five-judge bench last year ruled that keeping women out of the Sabarimala shrine in the southern state of Kerala was discriminatory.

The verdict led to massive protests in the state.

Women who tried to enter the shrine were either sent back or, in some cases, even assaulted.

The move is likely to anger women who fought hard to win the right to enter the temple.

Hinduism regards menstruating women as unclean and bars them from participating in religious rituals.

Many temples bar women during their periods and many devout women voluntarily stay away, but Sabarimala had a blanket ban on all women between the ages of 10 and 50.

What did the court say?

On Thursday the five-judge bench, responding to dozens of review petitions challenging the court’s landmark judgement last year, said that the matter would now be heard by a larger bench.

In doing so, however, it did not stay its earlier order. This means women can still legally enter the temple.

But it’s not going to be easy for them.

Two women trying to enter the temple in full riot gear
Image caption Some women tried to enter the temple last year

A temple official welcomed the ruling and appealed to women to stay away.

Women trying to enter the temple after the verdict last year were attacked by mobs blocking the way.

Many checked vehicles heading towards the temple to see if any women of a “menstruating age” – deemed to be those aged between 10 and 50 years – were trying to enter.

Following Thursday’s verdict, police in Kerala have appealed for calm, saying that action will be taken “against those who take the law into their own hands”. They added that social media accounts would be under surveillance and those stoking religious tensions online would be arrested.line

‘One step forward, two steps back’

Geeta Pandey, BBC News, Delhi

Today’s verdict will come as a massive disappointment to women’s rights campaigners. It’s a case of one step forward, two steps back.

In 2018, while lifting the ban on women’s entry into the shrine, the Supreme Court had said that everyone had the right to practice religion and that the ban was a form of “untouchability”.

It was seen as a hugely progressive ruling and had given hope to women that they were equal before the law and could now claim equality before the gods too. What happened in court today has taken that sense away.

The Supreme Court has not put its earlier order on hold, but with the ambiguity over women’s entry continuing, it’s very likely they could be kept out in the name of keeping peace.

With the case now to be reopened by a larger seven-judge bench, the fight will have to be fought all over again.line

Why is the temple so controversial?

Part of the violent opposition to the Supreme Court order to reverse the temple’s historical ban on women was because protesters felt the ruling goes against the wishes of the deity, Lord Ayappa, himself.

While most Hindu temples allow women to enter as long as they are not menstruating, the Sabarimala temple is unusual in that it was one of the few that did not allow women in a broad age group to enter at all.

Hindu devotees say that the ban on women entering Sabarimala is not about menstruation alone – it is also in keeping with the wish of the deity who is believed to have laid down clear rules about the pilgrimage to seek his blessings.

Indian Police patrol during clashes between Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in front of the Kerala Government Secretariat in Thiruvnanthapuram on January 02, 2019Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption The entry of women into the Sabarimala temple sparked angry scenes

Every year, millions of male devotees trek up a steep hill, often barefoot, to visit the shrine. They also undertake a rigorous 41-day fast, abstaining from smoking, alcohol, meat, sex and contact with menstruating women before they begin the journey.

Women’s rights campaigners who appealed to the Supreme Court to lift the ban said that this custom violated equality guaranteed under India’s constitution. They added that it was prejudiced against women and their right to worship.

Supporters of the ban argued that the practice had been in effect for centuries, and there was no need to change it now.

So, were any women able to enter last year?

In January, two women defied protesters and entered the shrine.

Kanakadurga, 39, and Bindu Ammini, 40, made history when they entered the Sabarimala shrine – but they had to do so under heavy police protection and were also met with massive protests after.

Right-wing groups, supported by India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded a state-wide shutdown after, and businesses and transportation became paralysed.

Across the state hundreds were arrested, and at least one person was killed in clashes.

In an interview with the BBC, the women said they felt it necessary to uphold women’s rights and they weren’t afraid of mobs “enraged” by their actions.

Media caption One of the women who defied protesters to enter the Sabarimala temple says she has ‘no fear’

“I am not afraid. But every time women make any progress, society has always made a lot of noise,” Ms Kanakadurga told the BBC in January.

But their decision to enter the temple also came at heavy personal cost.

She alleged that she had been beaten by her mother-in-law and abandoned. She has since filed for divorce.

Source: The BBC

Posted in blanket ban, controversial, court, entry, Hindu shrine, Hindu temples, India alert, India's Supreme Court, Kerala, landmark judgement, menstruating age, review, ruling, Sabarimala temple, Uncategorized, unclean, women's | Leave a Comment »

16/10/2019

Ayodhya dispute: The complex legal history of India’s holy site

In this file photograph taken on December 6, 1992 Hindu youths clamour atop the 16th century Muslim Babri Mosque five hours before the structure was completely demolished by hundreds supporting Hindu fundamentalist activists.Image copyright AFP
Image caption The dispute turned to violence in 1992 when a Hindu mob destroyed a mosque at the site

The Ayodhya dispute, which stretches back more than a century, is one of India’s thorniest court cases and goes to the heart of its identity politics.

Hindus believe that Ayodhya, a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, Lord Ram.

But Muslims say they have worshipped there for generations.

A court case pertaining to the ownership of the land has been dragging on in the Supreme Court for years, but a verdict is expected next month.

The court concluded its final hearing into the case on Wednesday.

What is the row actually about?

At the centre of the row is a 16th Century mosque that was demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking riots that killed nearly 2,000 people.

Many Hindus believe that the Babri Masjid was actually constructed on the ruins of a Hindu temple that was demolished by Muslim invaders.

Muslims say they offered prayers at the mosque until December 1949 when some Hindus placed an idol of Ram in the mosque and began to worship the idols.

Over the decades since, the two religious groups have gone to court many times over who should control the site.

Since then, there have been calls to build a temple on the spot where the mosque once stood.

The case currently being heard by five judges in the top court is to determine who the land in question belongs to.

A verdict is expected between 4 and 15 November.

Hinduism is India’s majority religion and is thought to be more than 4,000 years old. India’s first Islamic dynasty was established in the early 13th Century.

Who is fighting the case?

The long and complicated property dispute has been dragging in various courts for more than a century.

This particular case is being fought between three main parties – two Hindu groups and the Muslim Waqf Board, which is responsible for the maintenance of Islamic properties in India.

Ramu Ramdev, OSD at the City Palace, points out Lord Ramas birth place in an old dilapidated map of Ayodhya depicting the birthplace of Lord Rama, being taken out from archives of erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, at City Palace, on August 11, 2019 in Jaipur, India.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES

The Hindu litigants are the Hindu Mahasabha, a right-wing political party, and the Nirmohi Akhara, which is a sect of Hindu monks.

They filed a title dispute in the Allahabad High Court in 2002, a decade after the mosque was demolished.

A verdict in that case was pronounced in September 2010 – it determined that the 2.77 acres of the disputed land would be divided equally into three parts.

The court ruled that the site should be split, with the Muslim community getting control of a third, Hindus another third and the Nirmohi Akhara sect the remainder. Control of the main disputed section, where the mosque once stood, was given to Hindus.

The judgement also made three key observations.

It affirmed the disputed spot was the birthplace of Lord Ram, that the Babri Masjid was built after the demolition of a Hindu temple and that it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

The Supreme Court suspended this ruling in 2011 after both Hindu and Muslim groups appealed against it.

What are the other important legal developments?

In 1994 the Supreme Court, which was ruling on a related case, remarked that the concept of a mosque was “not integral to Islam”. This has bolstered the case made by Hindus who want control of the entire site.

In April 2018, senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan filed a plea before the top court, asking judges to reconsider this observation.

But a few months later the Supreme Court declined to do so.

VHP saints at Karsevak Puram taking park in Hindu Swabhiman Sammelan organized by the VHP to mark 25th anniversary Babri Masjid demolition, on December 6, 2017 in AyodhyaImage copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption Hindu activists are demanding the construction of the Ram Temple

Have religious tensions eased in India in recent years?

Ever since the Narendra Modi-led Hindu nationalist BJP first came to power in 2014, India has seen deepening social and religious divisions.

The call for the construction of a Hindu temple in Ayodhya has grown particularly loud, and has mostly come from MPs, ministers and leaders from the BJP since it took office.

Restrictions on the sale and slaughter of cows – considered a holy animal by the majority Hindus – have led to vigilante killings of a number of people, most of them Muslims who were transporting cattle.

An uninhibited display of muscular Hindu nationalism in other areas has also contributed to religious tension.

Most recently, the country’s home minister Amit Shah said he would remove “illegal migrants” – understood to be Muslim – from the country through a government scheme that was used recently in the north-eastern state of Assam.

Source: The BBC

Posted in 16th Century, activists, Allahabad High Court, Assam, Babri Masjid, birthplace, BJP, century, complex, constructed, demolished, destroyed, dispute, generations, Hindu Mahasabha, Hindu mob, Hinduism, Hindus, holy site, idol, India alert, India's Supreme Court, invaders, Islamic dynasty, legal history, Lord Ram, monks, Mosque, Muslims, Narendra Modi, Nirmohi Akhara, revered deities, riots, ruins, site, slaughter of cows, Supreme Court, temple, thorniest court cases, Uncategorized, Uttar Pradesh, worshipped | Leave a Comment »

11/06/2019

Aarey forest: The fight to save Mumbai’s last ‘green lung’

Aarey ForestImage copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption Aarey forest is in Mumbai city

The Aarey forest, a verdant strip that lies at the heart of India’s bustling Mumbai city, is often referred to as its last green lung. But now, locals say, it’s under threat from encroachment. BBC Marathi’s Janhavee Moole reports.

As a child, Stalin Dayanand used to picnic in the Aarey forest.

“It was the only place where you could go and play, climb trees or just sit and eat under the shade of a tree and be close to nature,” says Stalin, who prefers to go by his first name.

Now the 54-year-old is the director of an NGO that works to protect forests and wetlands. He is fighting for Aarey.

On 6 June, the government cleared 40 hectares (99 acres) of the 1,300 hectare forest to build a zoo, complete with a night safari.

Another slice of it is being claimed by Mumbai’s new metro rail which is currently under construction. Thousands of trees will have to be felled to construct a new multi-level parking unit for the metro.

Media caption What happens if you ban plastic?

Stalin has petitioned India’s Supreme Court challenging the construction, but the case is still pending.

Locals and environmental activists like him are up in arms because they fear the government will eventually clear the way for private builders to encroach on the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which lies to the north of Aarey. Spread over 104 sq km (40 sq miles), this protected area makes Mumbai one of the rare cities to have a jungle within its boundaries.

Their concern is partly fuelled by the fact that this is prime location in a city where land is scarce and real estate prices are among the most expensive in the world.

But officials dismiss these fears as unfounded and point out that the construction for the metro only requires 30 hectares of the 1,300 hectares that make up the Aarey forest.

“This is the most suitable land due to its size, shape and location,” says Ashwini Bhide, managing director of the Mumbai metro rail corporation.

Residents of Aarey colony and Aam Aadmi Party members protest against cutting of trees to build a metro shed at Aarey Colony on 2 October 2018 in Mumbai, India.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption Plans to fell trees in the forest have led to protests

She adds that the city badly needs a “mass rapid transport system”. India’s financial hub is congested and infamous for its crawling traffic jams and its local train system heavily overburdened.

Officials say that the metro will eventually carry around 1.7 million passengers every day and bring down the number of vehicles on the road by up to 650,000. The city’s current colonial-era railway system, which is effectively its lifeline, ferries some 7.5 million people between Mumbai’s suburbs and its heart on a daily basis.

But they have been up against the city’s residents, including activists and conservationists, ever since news emerged in 2014 that trees would be cut to make way for the metro.

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What makes the issue complicated is that the Aarey forest is the site of competing claims.

It’s locally known as the Aarey “milk colony” because most of the land was given to the department of dairy development in 1951. But they are allowed to grow cattle fodder only on a fraction of the land. The rest of it is densely forested and dotted with lakes, and the Mithi river flows through it.

Aarey is also home to tribal communities who live in settlements known as “padas”.

“We are not getting basic facilities here, and now metro authorities want to take away the jungle which belongs to us too,” says Asha Bhoye, who belongs to the Konkani tribe and lives in one of the 29 padas. Plans to relocate some of the tribal communities have also met with resistance and led to protests.

Stalin alleges that instead of declaring the Aarey forest a protected area, the state government has used the opportunity to parcel away pieces of it first to the dairy development department and now to other projects.

Aadivasi Halka Sanvardhan Samiti and Tribals of Aarey colony protesting to demand protection of Aare forest.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption Tribals who live in Aarey demand that it be declared a protected area

“Aarey Forest is part of the same forest as Sanjay Gandhi National Park and we are fighting for the national park itself. In the name of public good, the land is being opened up for developers. It’s a systematic effort to destroy the forest.”

Activists fear that after the parking units are built, other projects will be permitted, further threatening the area’s ecology and wildlife, which includes leopards.

So locals have joined the fight enthusiastically, even leading hikes into the forest to raise awareness. “We bring people here, make them familiar with the forest – there are many species of spiders like trapdoor spiders, the site [of the parking unit] is a leopard site,” says Yash Marwa, a screenwriter who is among those campaigning for the forest.

“Mumbai needs to be liveable”, he adds. “We need to talk about good quality of air and life before talking about infrastructure and development.”

Stalin agrees, saying that “air quality and temperature seem to be last among people’s priorities.”

But he is determined to not give up.

“If I couldn’t do something for my city I’d consider I’ve failed myself.”

Source: The BBC

Posted in Aarey forest, activists, BBC Marathi, cattle fodder, Construction, dairy development, dairy development department, Ecology, green lung, India's Supreme Court, Konkani tribe, leopards, mass rapid transport system, Metro, milk colony, Mithi river, mumbai, Protected area, trapdoor spiders, Tribals, Uncategorized, wildlife | Leave a Comment »

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