SC declines plea, says issue in House realm
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea challenging the Constitutional validity of Indian Penal Code section 375 which deals with rape on the ground that the provision is not gender-neutral.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul said the issue raised in the petition is a subject matter of the legislature’s domain.
“The issue falls in the realm of Parliament. We don’t want to say anything on it right now,” the bench said, while granting liberty to the petitioners to make a representation to the legislature.
While section 375 deals with rape committed on a woman by a man, section 376 lists out the punishment for the offence.
The top court was hearing a petition filed by NGO Criminal Justice Society of India, through advocate Ashima Mandla, contending that section 375 violates articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution as it does not account for rape of men and transgender persons.
The plea sought that the definition of rape under section 375 be held “ultra vires” for being “discriminatory and violative of articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex...) and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution”.
The petitioner has submitted that the section applies only to women as victims and men as perpetrators.
It does not take into account non-consensual sexual assault inflicted on a woman by a woman, on a man by another man, on transgender by another transgender or a man or woman, on a man by a woman.
The plea referred to the August 2017 order passed by a nine-judge bench of the top court that declared privacy as a fundamental right and also cited the NALSA judgment that recognised transgenders as the third gender.
“It is imperative to note that transgenders including but not limited to homosexuals & bisexuals, and men are sequestered from the point of view of victims of rape under the existing penal laws of the country, despite an impending need for the same,” the plea said.
Amid a controversy over dropping International Workers Rights Day or May Day from the list of state government holidays, Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has told government employees that they do not need a holiday on the day as they are not “labourers or workers”.
“Are you people in secretariat labourers? Am I a labourer? No, I am the chief minister. You view official files. Are you working in industrial sector? No, you don’t. Then why do you require holiday on that day?
Deb said at a programme of Gazetted Officers’ Sangh in Agartala on Sunday.Last week, the BJP government in Tripura had decided to designate May 1 as a restricted holiday.
Deb explained how May Day is for the workers and that’s why, the BJP-IPFT government has decided to give a holiday to those in the industrial sector.“If you want to take leave, then you may. And we will also keep a watch on those who are taking holidays on that day,” he warned.The opposition CPI(M) had demanded that the government withdraw its decision on the leave.
NEWDELHI: AGARTALA: