SRI LANKA ON BOIL

Mehta also tried to lean on a 2021 judgment in which the Supreme Court reiterated the guidelines issued by a Constitution bench in the Kedar Nath case to check indiscriminate arrests under Section 124A.

The bench, however, retorted: “Judgments are delivered but who is invoking Section 124A at the ground level? It is local police etc. There are judgments and guidelines but who cares? Till the time you issue directives that we will keep 124A in abeyance until the reconsideration exercise is complete, cases will continue getting registered.”

When the SG started reading out his written submissions to establish that the Kedar Nath judgment has struck a balance to ensure that Section 124A is not misused, Sibal argued that this judgment was based on federal court judgments, in the pre-constitution era where there was no difference between the government and the State. “After we became a Republic, there is a difference between the government and the State. Section 124A penalises creating disaffection towards the government. It has nothing to do with the State,” Sibal argued.

Sibal also quoted Nehru’s statement in 1951 in the parliament: “Nehru said this provision (Section 124A) is obnoxious. The sooner we get rid of it, the better”.

To this, the SG responded: “What Nehru could not do then, we are trying to do now.”

The court was hearing an array of petitions, filed separately by former army officer SG Vombatkere, Editors’ Guild of India, Trimanool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, NGO PUCL, and some journalists, pressing for striking down Section 124A on grounds of infringement of fundamental rights and rampant abuse.

While admitting the case in July 2021, the bench highlighted the “enormous power of misuse” of the sedition law in India, and asked the Union government why it should not scrap a colonial law that was once used by the British government to oppress the freedom movements and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

When the case was taken up last week, attorney general KK Venugopal, who was assisting the Court, said that the sedition law in India must be retained to ascertain the security of the nation and its citizens, adding that some guidelines may be laid down by the court to control the misuse of the statutory provision. creating an administrative vacuum. Even though the President has the most power under the constitution, a prime minister and cabinet are needed to manage the government. The prime minister is also the next in line if the presidency falls vacant.

Protesters angered by shortages of fuel, cooking gas and electricity defied the curfew to attack government figures, setting ablaze homes, shops and businesses belonging to ruling party lawmakers and provincial politicians.

Demonstrators on Tuesday swarmed the entrance to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in the capital for the 32nd day to demand that he follow in his brother’s footsteps and quit.

The Rajapaksa clan’s hold on power has been shaken by months of blackouts and shortages in Sri Lanka, the worst economic crisis since it became independent in 1948. But Monday’s attacks represented a turning point after weeks of peaceful demonstrations.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds and declared an immediate curfew in Colombo, a measure later widened to include the entire South Asian nation of 22 million people.

Nearly 200 protesters were injured when government supporters were bussed into Colombo on Monday, and attacked protesters with sticks and clubs.

“We were hit, the media were hit, women and children were hit,” one witness told AFP.

The violence saw arson attacks on the homes of several politicians, including the ancestral home of the Rajapaksas in Hambantota.

Video footage showed the Rajapaksas’ house in Medamulana in Hambantota city was burning.

Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was Sri Lanka’s president from 1994 to 2005, warned against violence, tweeting that “saboteurs may be used to incite violence in order to pave the way for military rule”.

President Rajapaksa is a former military officer who has loyalists within the forces.

Authorities said the curfew will be lifted Wednesday morning, with government and private offices, as well as shops and schools, ordered to remain shut on Tuesday.

The United Nations condemned the escalating violence, with human rights chief Michelle Bachelet calling on the authorities to prevent further unrest. “I am deeply troubled by the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka after supporters of the prime minister attacked peaceful protesters in Colombo yesterday May 9 and the subsequent mob violence against members of the ruling party,” Bachelet said in a statement on Tuesday.

In another sign of rapidly deteriorating security, vigilante groups blocked on Tuesday the main road to Colombo’s airport and stopped all traffic to check for any Rajapaksa loyalists trying to leave the island, witnesses said.

Despite the attack on his residence, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal said that his father would not flee, describing the surge of national anger against his family as a “bad patch”. The 76-year-old said he was resigning to pave the way for a unity government.

But it was unclear if the opposition would join any administration with Gotabaya still president. Under Sri Lanka’s political system, even with a new unity government, the president will have the power to appoint and fire ministers as well as judges, and enjoy immunity from prosecution.

Opposition parties said Tuesday they called off unity talks with the government after the outbreak of violence.

For months, people have been forced to stand in lines to buy essentials because a foreign exchange crisis has caused imports of everything to plunge, spawning dire food shortages and rolling power cuts.

INDIAN MAESTRO

(1993) was much acclaimed. After working on eight films, both musicians decided to focus on classical music.

Born in Jammu on January 13, 1938, Sharma was initiated into music by his father Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma. After learning vocals and tabla, and even performing for the Jammu radio station when he was 12, he was drawn to the sound of the santoor, which was played commonly in the Kashmir region.

The instrument is considered to be part of the dulcimer family; other similar instruments include the hammered dulcimer (as it is called in the US, UK and Canada), hackbrett (mainland Europe) and cimbalom (East Europe and Russia). Iran, Japan, Korea and China have their own types of dulcimers, too.

The Indian santoor, which derives its name from the shatatantri veena or 100-stringed instrument, is played when the strings are struck by a pair of mallets. With his father’s guidance, Sharma spent a lot of time studying its features and possibilities to devise a unique style. Because of his background in playing the tabla, he understood the instrument’s rhythmic possibilities too.

He had his critics, as traditionalists felt the santoor could not replicate certain features typical to Indian classical music. But Sharma increased its melodic range, changed its tuning, and reworked his technique to make it more conducive to classical music.

He played raga Yaman on the santoor in his first concert at the Haridas Sangeet Sammelan in Mumbai in 1955. At the same time, he looked for other avenues of performing. He played the santoor in V Shantaram’s 1955 film, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, whose music was composed by Vasant Desai. He was only 17 at the time.

Though Sharma slowly began gaining popularity as a solo artiste, the 1967 album Call of the Valley gave him the muchneeded boost. A trio with Chaurasia and guitarist Brij Bhushan Kabra, it remains one of the highest selling albums of Indian classical music.

Having made a mark across India, Sharma helped spread the santoor’s popularity abroad. Foreign audiences were attracted to the meditative and serene nature of the music. For his part, the maestro focused on the purer form of classical music, rarely doing fusion experiments. There was the rare exception, like his guest appearance at the Remember Shakti concert in Mumbai in 2000, where he played the piece Shringar, with guitarist John Mclaughlin.

Known to follow a strict schedule, Sharma regularly practised pranayam and meditation. In interviews with this writer, he often talked of his approach to music with characteristic humility. “I cannot preplan anything. My mental frame is not like that. I will just decide and play as things go,” he said.

He also believed there were two types of riyaaz, or practice. “One is the physical type, which I do as and when I get time. The other is mental riyaaz. Mentally, I am always thinking of music,” he would say. “Whether I am in a flight or in a hotel, music is always on my mind. As they say, I eat, drink and sleep music.”