New Delhi: The leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the President’s rule imposed in Manipur. Kharge said that suspending his own party’s government is a direct admission that it has failed the people of Manipur.

In a post on X, Kharge termed the President’s rule a constitutional ‘crisis’ in the state, claiming that the BJP’s MLAs are unwilling to accept the baggage of the government’s incompetence.

Further sharpening his attack on the BJP, he said that despite 11 years of rule at the centre and 8 years at the state, the central government imposed presidential rule in Manipur.

“It is your party that has been ruling at the Centre for 11 years. It is your party that was ruling Manipur for 8 years. It is the BJP that was responsible for maintaining law and order in the state. It is your government that is responsible for national security and border patrol,” Kharge said on X.

“The imposition of President’s rule by you, suspending your own party’s government, is a direct admission of how you failed the people of Manipur,” the Congress president stated.

“You have imposed President’s rule not because you wanted to, but because there is a constitutional crisis in the state, as none of your MLAs are willing to accept the baggage of your incompetence,” he added.

Taking a further dig at BJP’s “double engine’ government (government at the centre and state), he said, “Your double engine ran over the lives of the innocent people of Manipur!”

He pointed out the need to listen to the pain and trauma of the suffering people of Manipur.

“High time you now step in Manipur and listen to the pain and trauma of the suffering people and apologise to them. Do you have the courage of conviction?” he questioned.

He said that the people of the northeastern state will not forgive Prime Minister Modi and the BJP.

Meanwhile, security has been heightened in the capital city of Imphal on Friday in the wake of the president’s rule imposed in Manipur amid prolonged ethnic violence and political instability in the region.

President Droupadi Murmu imposed President’s Rule in Manipur on Thursday after receiving a report from the state governor.

The move comes days after N. Biren Singh resigned from his position as the Chief Minister of Manipur on February 9. His resignation came amid violence and political instability that had plagued the state for nearly two years.

The imposition of the President’s Rule can last up to six months, subject to parliamentary approval. During this period, the central government will oversee governance, and fresh elections may be called to elect a new assembly.

The unrest in Manipur primarily involved clashes between the majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki-Zomi tribes. Tensions escalated over disputes related to economic benefits, job quotas, and land rights. The violence resulted in hundreds of fatalities and displaced approximately 60,000 individuals.

New Delhi, Feb 14: The Centre is yet to file its counter affidavit to a clutch of petitions pertaining to the Places of Worship Act, 1991, though the Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday the pleas challenging the validity of the contentious law, which prohibits the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.

As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan will resume hearing the matter on February 17.

In an application filed before the apex court on January 21, the Committee of Management of Mathura’s Shahi Masjid Eidgah pleaded that the right of the Centre to file its reply in the matter should be closed. The application said that in an order passed on December 12, 2024, the apex court noticed that the Union government had not filed its reply to the petitions challenging the 1991 Act for over three years and directed that a common counter affidavit be filed by the Centre within four weeks.

The mosque committee said that the Union of India is “deliberately” not filing its counter affidavit with the intention to delay the hearing, and thereby, obstructing those who are opposing the challenge to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 in filing their respective written submissions, as the stand of the Centre would have a bearing on the same.

The Shahi Masjid Eidgah’s application contended that since the Supreme Court has fixed the date of hearing of the batch of petitions as February 17, “it would be in the interest of justice if the right of the Union of India to file its counter affidavit/ reply/pleadings/submissions is closed”.

In March 2021, a Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde sought the Centre’s response to the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay challenging the validity of certain provisions of the law, prohibiting the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.

The plea said, “The 1991 Act was enacted in the garb of ‘public order’, which is a State subject (Schedule-7, List-II, Entry-1) and ‘places of pilgrimages within India’ is also State subject (Schedule-7, List-II, Entry-7). So, the Centre can’t enact the Law. Moreover, Article 13(2) prohibits the State from making a law to take away fundamental rights but the 1991 Act takes away the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs, to restore their ‘places of worship and pilgrimages’, destroyed by barbaric invaders.”

It further added, “The Act excludes the birthplace of Lord Rama but includes the birthplace of Lord Krishna, though both are incarnations of Lord Vishnu, the creator and equally worshipped throughout the world, hence it is arbitrary.”

In an interim order passed on December 12, 2024, CJI Sanjiv Khanna-led Special Bench had ordered that no fresh suits would be registered under the Places of Worship Act in the country, and in the pending cases, no final or effective orders would be passed till further orders.

The CJI-Khanna bench had asked the Union government to file within four weeks its reply to the batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions), 1991.

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday announced that the state will ‘completely’ roll out the new criminal laws within the next six months. This came following a review meeting in the North Block with Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the implementation process of the new provisions.

Speaking to reporters, Fadnavis shared that Maharashtra has already made significant strides in implementing the new laws and mentioned that 27 vans have been deployed to enhance forensic infrastructure for cases older than seven years.

Additionally, he stated that the state has established online systems for courts, but under the new provisions, dedicated and designated cubicles needed to be set up in courts and forensic labs.

Furthermore, Fadnavis said that 90 per cent of Maharashtra’s police force, which consists of 2 lakh personnel, has already been trained to implement the new laws.

“Today, Union HM Amit Shah called a review meeting regarding the three criminal laws… The HM reviewed how we are working on the new provisions in the laws. On behalf of the state of Maharashtra, we informed him we have deployed 27 vans for the forensic infrastructure for cases older than seven years… We have established online systems for courts, but according to the new law, we have to set up a designated, dedicated and notified cubicle in courts and forensic labs. We have started working on this, and it will be completed in the next 6 months,” the Maharashtra CM stated.

“Cases will be heard in court via videoconferencing, and the accused will not have to be presented in court time and again… It was a good meeting… We will completely roll out the new laws in the next 6 months,” he added.

The three new criminal laws come under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023.

These laws were conceptualised with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to replace colonial-era laws that persisted post-independence and to reform the judicial system by shifting the focus from punishment to justice.

The new criminal laws, which were implemented nationwide on July 1, 2024, aim to make India’s legal system more transparent, efficient, and adaptable to the needs of contemporary society. These landmark reforms represent a historic overhaul of India’s criminal justice system, bringing in new frameworks to tackle modern-day challenges such as cybercrime and organised crime and ensuring justice for victims of various offences.

According to the Union Home Minister, Chandigarh became the first city in the country to fully implement the new criminal laws.