A nine-hour wait at check-post keeps bride, groom on edge before wedlock in Kerala
Kasaragod: Coronavirus scare nearly derailed the marriage of a couple in Kerala as procedural wrangles kept the bride from Karnataka and the groom, in their wedding attire, waiting for nine long hours on two sides of a border check-post before they finally came to be united.
The delay even forced the couple to miss the fixed 'muhurtam' time of 11 AM on Monday, but the determined families went ahead with the wedding the same day after the bride was allowed to cross over into Kerala around 4 pm with the clearance of her e-pass, official sources said.
Authorities refused to allow bride Vimala, hailing from nearby Mangaluru, and her mother when they arrived at the Thalapady check-post around 7 AM on Monday en route to the groom's place as they did not have a valid inter-state travel pass required in view of the COVID-19 lockdown curbs.
There was some confusion as Vimala had applied for the pass 15 days ago citing a medical emergency. But as no medical certificate was attached, her plea had been turned down, which the bride was not aware and undertook the journey for the marriage.
She was then asked to make a fresh online application and got the clearance around 4 pm.
Groom Pushparajwho had come to pick up Vimala and her mother waited patiently on the Kerala side of the checkpost even as the two, wearing masks, remained seated in the car in which they came.
The marriage was to be held at 11 am at Mulleria here
As the bride and groom waited anxiously, the "muhurtam' (auspicious time) for the wedding at 11 am went past as the authorities took their time to get the fresh pass ready.
The wedding was solemnised at the groom's residence in the presence of a few relatives due to the lockdown restrictions.
The newly wed couple would have to undergo 14 days home quarantine as the woman came from another state,health department sources said.
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36 ex-judges slam Opposition move to impeach Justice Swaminathan
New Delhi (PTI): Thirty-six former judges on Saturday gave a call to people, including parliamentarians, to denounce opposition leaders' move to impeach Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan, saying such an attempt, if allowed to proceed, would cut at the very roots of democracy and independence of the judiciary.
On December 1, Justice Swaminathan held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy Temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the Deepathoon, in addition to the customary lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam.
The single-judge bench said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community.
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The order sparked a row, and on December 9, several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of the judge.
Taking serious exception to the move, the former judges in a joint statement said this is a "brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society".
"If such an attempt is permitted to proceed, it would cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary," they said.
"We therefore call upon all stakeholders -- Members of Parliament across party lines, members of the Bar, civil society, and citizens at large -- to unequivocally denounce this move and ensure that it is nipped in the bud at the very inception," they added.
The statement emphasised that the judges must remain answerable to their oath and to the Constitution of India, not to "partisan political pressures or ideological intimidation".
"The message from all constitutional stakeholders must be clear and firm: in a republic governed by the rule of law, judgments are tested by appeals and legal critique, and not by threats of impeachment for political nonconformity," it said.
The statement was signed by former Supreme Court judge Krishn Murari J as well as ex-chief justices and former judges of different high courts.
The statement said the opposition party's move is not an "isolated aberration". It fits into a "clear and deeply troubling pattern" in India's recent constitutional history, where sections of the political class have sought to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary whenever outcomes do not align with their interests, it added.
"The unprecedented bid in 2018 to initiate impeachment proceedings against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the sustained campaigns of vilification directed at Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, S A Bobde and D Y Chandrachud while they were in office," the statement noted.
"The targeted attacks now being mounted against the incumbent CJI, Justice Surya Kant, whenever a judgment/remark displeases a political constituency, are all manifestations of the same trend," it said.
"This is not principled, reasoned criticism of judicial decisions; it is an attempt to weaponise impeachment and public calumny as instruments of pressure -- a practice that strikes at the heart of judicial independence and the basic norms of constitutional democracy," the statement added.
