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Hijab ruling will have effect on constitutional morality, individual dignity, AG to HC

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Karnataka Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi on Tuesday told the High Court that the judicial decision on hijab will have binding on “constitutional morality” and “individual dignity”.

“When we impose, the element of choice of dress goes away. The woman will be obligated to wear that dress. It becomes compulsory,” he said in his concluding remarks before a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, hearing the hijab row.

“Women cannot be subjugated to any form of dress code and she can’t be made to feel less equal and children of a lesser god. Judicial declaration of every woman of a particular religion to wear hijab, would it not violate the dignity? If it is a compulsion of an attire, it is impermissible on this day.

“We propose no ban on hijab, it should be left to the choice of the woman. Right to privacy cannot be enshrined in public. Institutional discipline is paramount. Dignity of women must also be kept in mind in a plural society,” Navadagi said.

He also quoted a Bollywood song: “Na muh chupake jiyo, na sar jhuka ke jiyo, gamon ka daur bi aaye toh muskura ke jiyo”.

He argued that it is entirely on the petitioner to prove that the practice of hijab is obligatory in nature and compulsorily followed in Islam. However, they have placed 144 Surahs of Quran to the court’s query and there is no record on table to show that the custom is obligatory and it is an element of compulsion which compels a member to be expelled from the community, he added.

“Wearing of dress is freedom of speech, as argued by the petitioners as their fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (a). However, Article 19 (1) (a) is subject to public order, decency under Article 19 (2). In the present case, the uniform rule is subjected to institutional restriction and it is subjected to institutional discipline not only in schools but also in hospitals, military establishments and others,” the AG submitted.

“The rule imposes reasonable restrictions on wearing a headscarf,” he said, adding that a uniform is being prescribed till Pre-University as they have “an impregnable mindset”.

“There is no restriction on campus to wear a hijab. Only during class hours, in the classrooms, it has been not allowed and anything beyond uniforms, irrespective of any religion, is not allowed,” he said.

As Navadgi mentioned the total ban on hijab by France and Turkey in public spaces, Justice Krishna S. Dixit, who is also on the bench, intervened and stated that it depends on the constitutional policy of every country. He then said that he only wanted to bring out that there is no prohibition as such in our country.

Reiterating that hijab is not an essential practice of Islam and can’t come under the Constitution’s Article 25. (Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) he sought to bring to the notice of the court that how this has been upheld by various High Courts and Supreme Court judgments.

Giving clear indications of an early verdict on hijab row, the bench had directed counsel to complete their arguments by this week.

Chief Justice Awasthi asked the Advocate General to complete his submissions at the earliest, and he said that he would complete his arguments on Tuesday.

CJ Awasthi informed all counsel that the bench wants to complete the hearing on the case by this weekend and directed them to keep the arguments brief. “Make positive endeavors to complete within this week only,” he said.

Senior advocate R. Venkataramani, appearing for teachers who have been made respondents in the case, maintained that there are no hierarchies of religions between teachers and students. “School environment is more important than a public place. There should be a free mind among students and all minds of children should be in unity for education,” he said.

“Whatever may be the assertion, if the state is in collision with public order, morality and health, it will stop. The state comes in through Article 25 (2) in the matters of religion and finance, when it comes to regulation. There is public space and qualified public space. School is a qualified public space,” he added.

Referring to the verdict of the South African court allowing the wearing of ‘nose ring’ to school there, he stated that the court did not make an emphatic statement of religion in the judgment. “Borrowing from foreign judgments could be problematic here, though we cannot close our eyes on them,” he held.

Senior advocate S.S. Nagananda, who also appeared for teachers, maintained that there is a fine line of distinction as far as culture and religion are concerned. “It is not possible for Muslims to give five time prayers, similarly, it is not possible for a Brahmin to perform Sandhyavandana three times. This practice of wearing hijab is not an essential religious practice. There are some practices, which are required to perform otherwise, they will have consequences,” he said.

Hearing will continue om Wednesday.

Crime

Delhi Police arrest notorious cyber stalker in Palam

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CRIME

New Delhi, July 2: A 21-year-old man was arrested in Delhi’s Palam village for allegedly harassing a college student by creating fake Instagram accounts and using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate objectionable content.

The accused was persistently stalking and defaming the victim, a college-going girl, through multiple fake Instagram profiles, Amit Goel, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West District, said in a statement.

The complainant approached the Cyber Police Station, West District, on June 16, reporting that the accused was daily creating new accounts using her photographs, posting them with derogatory captions, and targeting her and her followers.

Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

“In view of the seriousness of the matter, a dedicated team led by SI Priyanka was formed to identify and apprehend the accused,” the statement added.

A team of PS Cyber, South-West District, arrested the notorious cyber stalker and recovered the smartphone used in the commission of the offence, the statement read.

During the investigation, it came to the fore that the accused was impersonating a female using a profile picture taken from the victim’s public Instagram account, the police said.

The police said the accused further used AI tools to convert the images into sexually explicit content and uploaded these edited pictures through fake Instagram stories.

Despite efforts to mask his identity by not linking any accounts to verifiable mobile numbers or Gmail IDs, the cyber team used advanced technical analysis to track the suspect to the Palam area of South-West Delhi. Multiple raids were conducted before he was successfully arrested.

The accused, whose identity has been withheld, confessed to the crime during interrogation, the police statement read.

Further investigation is underway.

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Crime

CBI books ex-SBI branch manager in Assam for illegal assets of Rs 80 lakh

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CBI

New Delhi, June 30: The CBI has booked a former manager of the State Bank of India branch in Assam for possessing allegedly illegal assets worth over Rs 80 lakh, an official said on Monday.

Pinku Kumar, former Branch Manager, SBI, Ramkrishnanagar Branch, Karimganj, is also facing a separate investigation over his alleged collusion in a multi-crore scam involving sanction of loans using forged documents, the official said.

CBI’s Shillong-based Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) registered the latest Disproportionate Assets case against Pinku Kumar on June 27 after receiving a complaint from a preliminary investigator.

The complaint alleged commission of criminal misconduct by Pinku Kumar while intentionally enriching himself illicitly, during the check period from April 1, 2019 to March 27, 2025.

During this period, he was found in possession of pecuniary resources/property, disproportionate to his known sources of income which he cannot satisfactorily account for, to the tune of Rs 99.20 lakh -(81.84 per cent DA), said the CBI FIR filed against the former bank manager.

Taking note of the preliminary probe conducted in the matter of criminal misconduct, the CBI’s FIR said, “The facts mentioned in the aforesaid complaint, prima facie, reveal commission of congnizable offences, punishable under Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended 2018) on the part of Pinku Kumar.”

Section 13 of the Act defines various forms of criminal misconduct by public servants. These include actions like abusing their position, misappropriating property, or possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Earlier in March, the CBI booked Pinku Kumar twice in separate corruption cases naming two brokers Sumen Paul and Jadab Paul, along with the former, in each of the cases.

Raids conducted by the federal agency in these two cases led to seizure of 481 grams of gold, 11.11 gram of diamond-studded jewellery and 1,092 gram silver.

The CBI investigation showed that the former bank manager conspired with the two brokers and allegedly approved loans base on forged papers, leading to a loss of crores of rupees to the SBI.

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Crime

Kolkata law college rape case: College ignored criminal antecedents of accused

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Kolkata, June 30: As the investigation into the rape of a law student within her college premises at Kasba in South Kolkata, West Bengal, continues, information has surfaced that the said college authorities allegedly ignored criminal antecedents of one of the three prime accused, Monojit Mishra, while giving him contractual employment.

Sources said Mishra originally got admission for the LLB course in the same college in 2012.

In 2013, he was booked in a police case on charges of hooliganism in the Kalighat area in South Kolkata, in which he chopped off the finger of an individual.

Thereafter, his admission at the same college was cancelled, and he remained absconding and away from the state for over three years. He returned to Kolkata after the case against him was settled and got re-admission at the same college in 2017.

Again in March 2018, two female students of the same college accused him of sexual harassment, following which he was partially suspended for some time from attending the college, except for appearing for examinations. However, somehow the matter against him did not proceed for a long time, and he started attending the college regularly.

In March 2023, he was again accused of sexual harassment by a female student of the college. In December 2023, some students filed a complaint at the local police station, accusing Mishra of entering the college with outsider anti-social elements and beating them up.

Now, questions are being raised about how the college authorities gave him a contractual appointment, ignoring his criminal antecedents.

College insiders said that Mishra happened to be an extremely close confidant of the ruling party MLA, who is also in the governing body of the same college, whom the accused used to address as “uncle”.

Questions have started surfacing on why just “initials” of the three persons accused of raping a law college student in Kolkata were mentioned in the FIR instead of full names.

The names of the three accused are Monojit Mishra, Jaib Ahmed, and Pramit Mukhopadhyay, all linked to the Trinamool Congress’ student wing, Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP).

However, in the FIR registered in the case, the three accused persons were referred to as “M”, “J” and “P”.

While the leaders of the opposition parties claim that this mention of just the initials of the three accused in the FIR was done deliberately by the cops to conceal the fact that the accused persons were linked to TMCP, even legal experts feel that in this case, there was no reason for the police to mention just the initials instead of the names.

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