Shopian case, plea against Sec 377: SC to have a busy week

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court in the coming week will hear a bunch of important cases including the Centre’s petition on the Shopian firing incident and a hotelier’s plea seeking to quash Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises homosexuality.

Water dispute between Delhi and Haryana, a plea for a permanent commission for women army officers and Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s petition in a criminal case registered against him in Rajasthan over his alleged derogatory remarks against the member of the Scheduled Caste community are other important matters listed for hearings during the week.

The Centre has questioned the registration of a criminal case against an army officer, accused of opening fire on protesters in Kashmir’s Shopian on January 27.

Three civilians were killed in the firing, prompting the Jammu and Kashmir police to file a first information report (FIR) against him.

In its plea, the Centre stated that the state government cannot launch a criminal prosecution against an army officer without its approval under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

The Centre is also expected to place its policy decision before a bench headed by Justice NV Ramana on Monday after being pulled up by the top court for not setting up a permanent commission for the army’s women officers.

Disputes between Delhi and Haryana over sharing of Yamuna water will be heard by a bench led by Justice MB Lokur on Monday.

Irked by Haryana’s reluctance to release water to Delhi, the bench had last week ordered personal appearance of Haryana chief secretary and also directed them to release the water.

A bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra will hear Khan’s petition seeking to quash the case over allegedly using a caste slur on a public platform.

Hotelier Keshav Suri’s petition challenging the vires of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is likely to be tagged with the other set of petitions on the issue, already referred to a constitution bench.