PELLET GUNS USED IN VALLEY AS LAST RESORT, CENTRE TELLS SC

The Centre on Monday asserted in the Supreme Court that the practices of talaq-e-bidat, nikah halala (forms of divorce) and polygamy are not protected under the Right to Religion guaranteed under Article 25 (1) of the Constitution.

In its written submissions in the triple talaq case which will be heard by a Constitution Bench from May 11, the Centre said the fundamental question for determination by this court in this case is whether, in a secular democracy, religion can be a reason to deny equal status and dignity, available to Muslim women under the Constitution.

It submitted that gender equality and the dignity of women are nonnegotiable, overarching constitutional values and can brook no compromise. The practices which are under challenge, namely, triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are practices which impact the social status and dignity of Muslim women and render them unequal and vulnerable qua men belonging to their own community; women belonging to other communities and also Muslim women outside India.

The Centre said there The Centre on Monday asserted in the Supreme Court that pellet guns are used only as a last resort to disperse protesters and Kashmir and alternative methods like ‘rubber bullets’ and ‘skunk water’ mixed with chemicals are being experimented.

Attorney General are unreasonable classifications which arise from practices such as those under challenge in the present petition, Mukul Rohatgi made this submission before a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul hearing the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association’s plea against the use of pellet guns in the state. He said the intention is not to kill the protesters but only to disperse the crowd. which deny to Muslim women the full enjoyment of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.