Congress' disqualified Himachal MLAs join BJP
New Delhi (PTI): Six former MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, who were disqualified as Congress legislators after defying a party whip, joined the BJP on Saturday amid the continuing political crisis in the state.
They joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur, former Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and its state unit president Rajeev Bindal.
Welcoming the former lawmakers into the party, Thakur said their presence will strengthen the BJP further as he accused the Congress government in the state of failing to fulfil its promises, leading to all-round anger among people.
Thakur said these leaders supported the BJP in the recent Rajya Sabha election, reflecting "public anger" against the Congress.
Those who joined the BJP are Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto -- all elected on a Congress ticket and disqualified on February 29 for defying a party whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the state government during a cut motion and budget.
The Election Commission has announced bypolls for their constituencies and they are expected to contest as BJP candidates.
Three Independent MLAs -- Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh and KL Thakur -- who submitted their resignations on Friday, are also likely to join the BJP soon.
The Congress government led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was last month plunged into a crisis after the BJP won the Rajya Sabha poll for the state's lone seat due to the support of these nine MLAs.
Though Sukhu has been putting up a brave face and there appears to be no immediate threat to his government, the BJP is looking to bring down his dispensation with bypoll wins amid a view that it may draw more legislators of the ruling party into its fold.
With the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling party came down from 39 to 33 in the now 62-member assembly. Its original strength is 68. The BJP has 25 members.
The Speaker, who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, is affiliated to the Congress.
The resignations of the three Independent MLAs have further reduced the assembly's strength.
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Where is question of offence when there is consensual relationship? SC asks
New Delhi (PTI): Where is the question of an offence when a relationship is consensual? the Supreme Court on Monday asked a woman who had challenged an order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court that had quashed an FIR against her former live-in partner in a case of alleged sexual assault on a false promise of marriage.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the woman lived together with the man and also had a child from him.
"Where is the question of offence when there is a consensual relationship? They were living together and she also had a child from him and then there is no marriage and now, she says sexual assault? For 15 years they lived together," Justice Nagarathna remarked.
The woman's counsel told the court that she had lost her husband earlier and was introduced to the accused by her brother-in-law.
The court was also told that the accused had promised to marry her and sexually exploited her.
Justice Nagarathna then asked, "Why did she go and live with him before marriage?"
"She lived with him. She had a child from him. He walks out because there is no marriage bond. Legal bond is not there. He walks out, that is the risk in a live-in relationship. So once he walks out, it does not become a criminal offence," she said.
The woman's lawyer submitted that the accused was already married and had concealed this fact.
"See, if there was marriage, the question of her rights would have been better. She could have filed regarding bigamy. She could have filed for maintenance. She would have got those reliefs. Now since there is no marriage, they live together, this is the risk. They can walk out any day. What do we do?" Justice Nagarathna said.
She suggested that the woman could pursue remedies, such as maintenance for the child, and asked the parties to go for mediation.
"Even if he goes to jail, what will she gain? We can think of some maintenance for the child. Child is now seven years (old). At least, some monetary compensation can be made for the child," Justice Nagarathna said.
The apex court issued a notice in the matter and asked the parties to explore if a settlement could be reached between the petitioner and the accused.
