AFSPA cases
It said the verdict was against the top court’s own constitution bench judgment upholding AFSPA, and supplants the law meant to protect security personnel carrying out their official duties.
The petition also comes barely two weeks after CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma personally appeared before a bench led by Justice M B Lokur to explain why there was a delay in filing a chargesheet in five cases of extra-judicial Manipur killings.
Verma told the court that the agency had filed two chargesheets against 15 security personnel in connection with fake encounters and 14 of them had been charged with murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. He said the five remaining chargesheets will be filed by August end.
The petitioners have demanded framing of specific guidelines “to protect the bonafide action of soldiers under AFSPA, so that no soldier is harassed by initiation of criminal proceedings for actions done in good faith in exercise of their duties, as mandated by the Union of India, in protection of sovereignty, integrity and dignity of the country”.
It also sought adequate compensation for the effected serving personnel and their families who had been unnecessarily embroiled in malafide criminal proceedings for discharging their bonafide duties.
The government should take “all steps to protect the soldiers protecting the integrity and sovereignty of the nation from persecution and prosecution by motivated and indiscriminate FIR’s against the mandate of law,” it said.
The AFSPA was sacrosanct for defending the sovereignty and integrity India, the petitioners said, wanting a direction to the effect that “in accordance with the mandate of the Act, no prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government, against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers conferred by AFSPA”.
Any probe, assessment or adjudication about “criminality, misuse, abuse, negligence, excessive power, judgment error, mistake, bonafide or malafide, of actions done in good faith by soldiers operating in AFSPA areas, without considering the Standard Operating Procedures of Indian Army, should be declared illegal and unconstitutional, they demanded.
The petitioners also sought a comprehensive probe into “mischievous complaints” launched by individuals and organizations against soldiers “discharging their bonafide duty to uphold the dignity of the Indian flag”.
. by being true to a professional ethic, be it the doctor’s ethic, the nurse’s ethic, the teacher’s ethic, the public servant’s ethic, the factory worker’s ethic, the businessperson’s ethic, the ethic of those who have to care for ageing parents who brought them up with love and sacrifice --each of these and many others are in their own way upholding the values of freedom.
He said Independence Day is always special, but this year there is an unusual significance attached to it as in a few weeks, on October 2, India will begin the commemoration of the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
“Mahatma Gandhi is everywhere, across continents, Gandhiji is mentioned, cherished and remembered as an icon for all humanity. He is the embodiment of India,” the President said.
Kovind said Gandhi spoke of swadeshi with an uncommon zeal and to him Indian civilisation was defined by open windows and not closed doors.
“This was his concept of swadeshi and it is still relevant to us as we engage with the world whether for our economy, our health, education and social aspirations, or our policy choices,” the President said, urging all to adopt Gandhi’s ideas and maxim to everyday’s work to celebrate our freedom and Indianness.
He said this Indianness is not for us alone. “It is part of what our country and our civilisation bring to the global stage.”
Kovind said the outcome of education is not merely a degree or a diploma, but the commitment to help improve the life of another in a way that is sustainable.
“This is empathy and fraternity in action. This is the Indian spirit. This is India, because India belongs to the people of India — not just to the government,” he added. the country will not help much at this stage for stabilising the rupee,” Garg told reporters. “Even if the rupee falls to 80, it will not be a concern provided all other currencies depreciate,” he added.
Global risks, such as high oil prices and trade tensions, are weighing on the growth outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its recent report on India that likened the economy to an elephant that’s started to run. Despite the headwinds, the latest high-frequency indicators like the purchasing managers’ surveys show that India’s start to the July quarter has been strong.
The IMF has forecast India’s economy will grow by 7.3% in 2018-19 against an earlier estimate of 7.4%.
“The good old issues of large unhedged exposure, worsening current-account deficit, worries on fiscal deficit and uncertainty heading into elections” are playing out once again in the backdrop of general concern around emerging markets, said Gopikrishnan MS, head of foreign exchange, rates and credit for South Asia at Standard Chartered Plc in Mumbai. With fresh pressure on emerging markets, the rupee is expected to move in a range of 71-72 against the dollar, he said.
In 2013, India joined the ranks of the so-called Fragile Five emerging market economies (the others were Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa) amid a free fall in their currencies. A string of policy measures put in place by then RBI governor Raghuram Rajan helped the rupee stabilise then. At the time, Narendra Modi, who was then chief minister of Gujarat, had blamed the rupee’s loss on corruption in the central government.
On Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at Modi.
Gandhi tweeted a video of MOdi’s comments on the rupee weakness in 2013, and commened: “The Indian rupee just gave the Supreme Leader, a vote of No confidence, crashing to a historic low. Listen to the Supreme Leader’s master class on economics in this video, where he explains why the Rupee is tanking.”
After the rupee’s fall to a record low, the Congress posted this comment on Twitter: “Modiji finally managed to do something that we couldn’t do in 70 years.”