Karnataka HC grants govt 10 weeks to redo delimitation and reservation of zilla and taluk panchayats
Bengaluru, June 28: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday granted the state government 10 weeks to redo the delimitation and reservation process for the zilla panchayat and taluk panchayats.
The Advocate General on Wednesday mentioned the petition pending before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale, and sought 10 weeks' time from the day to redo the delimitation and reservation lists and issue the notifications.
The high court recorded the submission made by the AG as an undertaking given to the court. It directed the State to furnish the necessary notifications of delimitation and reservation for zilla panchayats and taluk panchayats in 10 weeks and file a compliance report.
It also directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to take necessary steps thereafter. The hearing of the petition was directed to be listed after 11 weeks.
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The SEC had prepared for the ZP-TP polls in Karnataka in April and May of 2021. It had completed the delimitation exercise on constituencies and the final list of voters was also published, following which the reservation draft was also announced by the SEC.
However, before the SEC could announce the election schedule, the then BJP government ruling the state amended the Karnataka Panchayat Raj and Gram Swaraj Act, withdrawing the powers of the Commission to redraw the constituencies and prepare the reservation list. A new delimitation panel was created by the State to conduct the exercise.
The elections for ZP-TPs are pending ever since, following the SEC's challenge to the government's amendment before the high court.
The HC had in December 2022 imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on the government for its delaying tactics.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
