CJI Gavai backs exclusion of creamy layer in reservation to scheduled castes
Amaravati, Nov 16 (PTI): Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Sunday affirmed that he is still for exclusion of creamy layer in reservations to Scheduled Castes.
Addressing a programme "India and the Living Indian Constitution at 75 Years", Gavai opined that children of an IAS officer can not be equated with the offsprings of a poor agricultural laborer when it comes to reservations.
"I also went further and took a view that the concept of creamy layer, as has been found in the judgment of Indra Sawhney (vs Union of India & Others). What is applicable to the Other Backward Classes, should also be made applicable to Scheduled Castes, though my judgment has been widely criticised on that issue," Gavai said.
"But I still hold that judges are not supposed to normally justify their judgments, and I still have about a week to go (retirement)," Justice Gavai further said.
The CJI said over the years, equality or women empowerment is gaining momentum in the country and the the discrimination which was meted out to them was strongly criticized.
He said before he is set to end his journey as the Chief Justice in a couple of days, the last function that he attended happened to be again at Amaravati of Andhra Pradesh while the first one after becoming the CJI was at his native place Amravati in Maharashtra.
Justice Gavai observed in 2024 that states must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes (ST) and deny them the benefit of reservation.
Asserting that the Indian Constitution is not "static", Justice Gavai said Dr BR Ambedkar always considered that it has to be evolving, organic, and a state-of-the-art living document as Article 368 provides for the amendment of the Constitution.
"On one hand Dr Ambedkar was criticized that the powers to amend the Constitution are too liberal, and on the other hand, it was criticized that some of the amendments require ratification by half of the states, and two-third majority of the parliament, and it was difficult to achieve an amendment in this manner," he said.
According to him, DR Ambedkar’s addresses during the presentation of the draft Constitution in the Constituent Assembly are the most important speeches which every student of law should read.
Quoting Ambedkar he said equality without liberty will take away an incentive of a human being to excel in his life and liberty alone would lead to supremacy of the powerful over the weaker. The trinity of equality, liberty and fraternity would be necessary to take the country forward in achieving the social and economic justice.
He said it is because of the Constitution, India had two Presidents from among Scheduled Castes and also the incumbent is a woman from Scheduled Tribe.
"Coming from a humble background from a school, predominantly in a semi-slum area in Amravati, a municipal school, I could reach the highest office in the judiciary and contribute in my humble way to nation building only because of the Constitution of India,” Gavai said.
He said the Indian Constitution stands on the four pillars of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
