K'taka HC says police interrogation of Shaheen School students in anti-CAA drama violated JJ Act
Court has asked State govt to file reply on action taken against police officers involved
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Monday observed that the policemen interrogating children with regard to the sedition case on the staging of an anti-CAA drama at Shaheen Education Society in Bidar last year, was a serious violation of the provisions under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 as the policemen were wearing uniforms and were carrying their weapons during the interrogation.
The Court also directed the state government to file a report on action taken against the police officers involved in the act while also issuing directions to the police across the state so that no such case is repeated in the future.
The observation was made by a division bench comprising of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice NS Sanjay Gowda. The observation was made after the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Basaveshwar accepted the correctness of the photographs in which the cops were interrogating the children while dressed in their uniforms and while carrying their weapons.
“The second photograph of April 1, 2020, shows that these school children (2 boys, 1 girl) are being interrogated by five police officers out of which four are in full uniform and at least two of them are carrying firearms. In the affidavit, Shri Basaveshwar has accepted the correctness of the photographs annexed to the IA. By not denying the photographs annexed to rejoinder, it is apparent that he has accepted the correctness of the photographs,” the court observed.
“The police officer interacting with children shall be as far as possible in plain clothes and not in uniform and for dealing with a girl child, woman police personnel shall be engaged," Section 86 on the constitution of a Special Juvenile Police Unit for Children in its Sub-Rule 5 states
The bench added, "Prima facie this is a serious case of violation of Rights of the Children and provisions of 86 (5) of JJ Act 2016."
“We direct the state government to respond by filing an affidavit of a very senior officer stating on record what action has been initiated against the police officers who interrogated school children while wearing uniform and carrying firearms. Apart from placing the action taken report the state government may consider issuing directions to the police throughout the state which will ensure that such violation of rights of children does not take place again," the order observation added.
“"If we condone this action, this will be repeated. We cannot condone such action at all. Why children are subjected to all this? This has to be corrected, this can't go on like this” the bench orally observed.
Students of the Shaheen Education Society belonging to classes 4, 5, and 6 had staged a play on the CAA and NRC, last year. Following that, an FIR was registered at the Bidar New Town police station, for sedition against the school authorities for performing "anti-national activities" and "spreading negative opinion" about Parliamentary laws, based on a complaint by activist Nilesh Rakshala. Pursuant to the FIR, the Headmistress of the school, as well as a parent of a child, were arrested. They were later released on bail.
The court has now directed the Director-General Inspector General of Police to nominate a senior officer to file an affidavit in two weeks’ time. The officer, Court has directed, should be higher in rank than Shri Basaveshwar, the Deputy Superintendent. The matter will now be heard on September 3.
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BJP stages walkout in Karnataka assembly over 'non-disbursal' of Gruha Lakshmi payout
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The opposition BJP on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Karnataka assembly protesting the alleged "non-disbursal" of two months' installments to 1.26 crore beneficiaries under a woman's assistance scheme of the state government.
The protest followed a heated debate in which the opposition accused the state government of providing "misleading" information regarding the payment status of the flagship Gruha Lakshmi scheme.
The saffron party members trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans, leading to the adjournment of the proceedings of the House for over an hour.
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The Gruha Lakshmi guarantee scheme is one of the five pre-poll promises of the ruling Congress. It provides Rs 2,000 monthly to women heads of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
The BJP legislators accused Woman and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar of having "misled" the House by giving false information to BJP MLA Mahesh Tenginkai that all the instalments till August have been paid under the scheme.
The opposition charged that the installments for the months of February and March this year were not paid.
The BJP MLAs' grouse was that they had been demanding an explanation from the Minister for the past three days, but she never turned up to provide information.
As soon as the session started, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House demanding the Minister's presence, which led to the adjournment.
When the members assembled again, the Minister replied that this is a unique flagship programme of the Congress government, which is a model for all the states.
Hebbalkar said she always strived to ensure that this scheme is implemented religiously.
"However, when I checked, I noticed that two months' installments were not paid to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). If my reply has hurt anyone, then I express my regret," she said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who came to the defence of Hebbalkar, said the BJP should apologise for the lie in the Union Budget.
"Despite the Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project in the budget, the money was not given to Karnataka. You should question that as well," Shivakumar underlined.
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To this, Leader of Opposition in the assembly R Ashoka said the matter was raised because not only were the BJP members hurt but also the 1.26 crore beneficiaries who were eagerly waiting for the money.
Demanding that the lie be expunged from the House records, he insisted on a date for when the backlog will be paid to the beneficiaries.
The Minister said she was apologising for giving a wrong reply, but she was peeved at the way a woman was targeted in the House.
Objecting to this statement, BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar asked her to refrain from playing victim card and bring up the issue of gender, caste and religious discrimination as it was a matter related to 1.26 crore people.
Ashoka and the BJP MLAs then staged a walkout, saying the Minister's reply was not satisfactory.
