Planned murders: A challenge to all political parties
Owing to the efforts of Special Investigation Team, a shocking plan made by anti-social elements to kill some of the great thinkers and writers of Kannada has been revealed. Looking at this list, anybody that has some amount of humanity in them would be shocked. Every true Indian, and every political party needs to think seriously about this development that has taken place in Karnataka, to target the rationalists and thinkers of the state. Writer Girish Karnad won the most prestigious Jnanpith award for Kannada. He not only held the name of Karnataka high in the map of Indian literature, he has transcended the map of state and shone bright on the world map too, representing India on international platforms.
Chandrashekhar Patil went to jail, opposing imposition of emergency in mid 70s. Great leaders like Lokanayak Jayaprakash Narayan, LK Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and others were also jailed during that time. Champa was the president of Kannada Sahitya Parishat and chaired Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana during his illustrious career.
Prof K S Bhagwan translated Shakespeare’s works into Kannada and continued the rational thinking ways of Kuvempu even after the writer was long gone. Champa and Bhagwan have often issued controversial statements, have influenced thousands of students; and most importantly, they are open to discussion as far as their stances are concerned. Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji is a dalit and has always worked to bring progress into the society with his thoughts and speeches for the empowerment of progressive minds and Dalits. He has focused on religious reforms. Writer and former minister B T Lalitha Nayak has written extensively about the exploited Lambani tribals. She later joined Janata Dal and worked for the empowerment of Dalits and Lambanis. Dr C S Dwarakanath is a lawyer who got doctorate for his work on Kaivara Thataiah. He did phenomenal work during his time as chairperson of the minority commission. Banjagere Jayaprakash is a pride of Kannada and has been known for his poems and activism to empower the working class communities.
Along with all of them, planned attacks have been revealed on rationalist Narendra Nayak since a long time. All of them have contributed immensely to the progressive tag Karnataka wears with pride. They have stood with the voiceless and the exploited, across genders, in their works. One may have differences of opinion as far as their statements are concerned and people are free to accept/debate of distance themselves from such stances of these people. All of them have accepted criticism with grace in the past, while choosing not to resort to a language of derogation themselves in response. All their contribution has been regarded by India should be a matter of pride for Kannadigas.
Further investigation may reveal why their presence is a threat to people who want them dead. Experts have opined this is a wakeup call to for the rest of India to understand this is a massive threat to the cultural identity of India. Such heinous crimes may be carried out against anyone, cutting across partylines too. Politicians need to understand this well because owing to violence incited by such rabid groups in Kashmir, holding elections is a challenge in that state.
One particular ideology, fuelled by religion and politics, is at work there and there would be counter strategies too. This may turn the entire state into a Taliban mainstay. Such rabidity will soon spread to other fields such as Science, films and politics. Hence this bloodbath needs to be ended and every responsible person must raise his/her voice against this. All the parties Including the BJP, Congress, Janata Dal, Communists and Bahujan Samaj Party have to come together to fight against this. Seniors have to caution the youth against taking to violence that may spoil their life. And those persons who are ruining the lives of young men by engaging them in such crimes, have to introspect and see their actions would lead to dark and dinghy corners of the world. This would yield us more crisis than solutions to the differences of opinion they face with the others.
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Detaining prisoner without trial amounts to pre-trial punishment; bail is rule, says HC
Mumbai, May 11 (PTI): The Bombay High Court has emphasised that the principle of bail is the rule, and refusal is an exception, saying detaining a prisoner for a long period without trial amounts to "pre-trial punishment".
A bench of Justice Milind Jadhav on May 9 also took note of overcrowded jails in the state, and said the courts need to strike a balance.
The bench made the observations while granting bail to one Vikas Patil, arrested for allegedly killing his brother in 2018.
Justice Jadhav noted that trials are nowadays taking perpetuity to conclude, and prisons were simultaneously overcrowded in some segments.
The bench said it regularly deals with cases where undertrial prisoners have been in custody for a long period and is equally aware of the conditions of the prisons.
Justice Jadhav referred to a December 2024 report from the superintendent of the Arthur Road Jail, which stated that the facility was overcrowded beyond its sanctioned capacity by more than six times.
It noted that every barrack sanctioned to house only 50 inmates, as of date, has anywhere between 220 to 250 inmates.
"Such an incongruity leads us to answer the proposition: How can courts find a balance between the two polarities?" Justice Jadhav remarked.
The court said these are cases concerning the liberty of undertrial prisoners who have been incarcerated for long periods, impacting their constitutional right to speedy justice and personal liberty.
The principle rule is bail is the rule, and refusal is the exception, it said.
Justice Jadhav referred to an article written by two undertrial prisoners, "Proof of Guilt", which raised the question of the long incarceration of persons awaiting trial.
He said while mere long incarceration cannot be an absolute proposition for bail, it was an important issue that needed consideration along with the right to a speedy trial.
The paradox in the question raised in the article as to how long is too long a period of incarceration until the right to a speedy trial is defeated is relevant prima facie, and there cannot be one definite answer, the court remarked.
Detaining an undertrial prisoner for a long period only served to legitimise the award of "surrogate punishment" without trial, which amounts to pre-trial punishment, the court said.
The bench also called for a change in the mindset and approach of the prosecution and referred to how prosecutors vehemently oppose bail pleas even in cases of long incarceration pending trial under the mistaken impression that the crime was serious, and hence, bail should not be granted.
"The overarching postulate of criminal jurisprudence that an accused is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty cannot be brushed aside lightly, however stringent the law may be," Justice Jadhav said.
The court noted that in the present case, the accused has been in jail for over six years, and there is no distinct possibility of the trial to start or conclude in the near foreseeable future.
