SAMAJWEEKLY = 453 13-05-2022

www.samajweekly.com
New Delhi : The Delhi
High Court, in its split verdict
on criminalisation of
marital rape, has observed
that rape is rape and a rapist
remains a rapist, and while
every other woman, including
a sex worker, is entitled
to decline consent and prosecute
for rape, but the right
which is not available to a
married woman.
In the split verdict passed
on Wednesday, Justice Rajiv
Shakdher supported striking
down the contentious exception
in the Indian Penal
Code’s Section 375 which
exempts forceful sexual intercourse
by a man with his own
wife from the offence of rape.
"No amount of classification
and verbal jugglery can
alter that reality," he held.
The opposing argument
was that the position of a sex
worker cannot be compared
with persons bound by marriage.
The perpetrator or the
abuser cannot claim restitution
of conjugal rights against
a sex worker and correspondingly,
a sex worker cannot
NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
ALLAHABAD HC dismisses
petition on TAJ MAHAL,
sharply pulls up petitioner
Lucknow : The Allahabad
High Court’s Lucknow bench
on Thursday dismissed the petition
seeking opening of 22
rooms in the Taj Mahal premises.
The two-judge bench ripped
into the petitioner who sought
opening of the 22 locked
rooms, stating that the truth
about the iconic monument
needs to come out, and that he
has filed multiple PILs for the
same. "Tomorrow you will ask
for permission to see our chambers.
Please, don’t make mockery
of the PIL system," the
bench said during the hearing.
The writ petition, seeking to "find the
truth" behind the 22 locked rooms in the
Taj Mahal, was filed last week before the
Lucknow bench by Rajneesh Singh, who
is the media in-charge of the BJP’s
Ayodhya unit.
The petition cited the claims of some
historians and Hindu groups about the
mausoleum actually being an old Shiva
temple. The petition has sought the
Archaeological Survey of India form a
special committee to examine the locked
rooms and release the report to the public.
Singh said that the demand is not to
make the Taj Mahal a temple but to bring
out the truth of the matter for the sake of
social harmony. He said that the only
way to end such controversy is by examining
closed rooms. Justices D.K.
Upadhyay and Subhash Vidyarthi questioned
the petitioner on what his plea is.
Pointing out that the petitioner wants the
court to issue a writ of mandamus, they
stated it can only be issued in case of
infringement of rights. "What judgment
do you want us to pronounce? Who built
Sex worker entitled to decline
consent, but not married
woman: Delhi HC verdict
claim maintenance against
the perpetrator or abuser.
There is no emotional relationship
between the sex
worker and the perpetrator
whereas the relationship
between the husband and
wife is a package comprising
mutual rights and obligations
which are social, psychological,
religious and economic.
It cannot be limited to just
one event of consent in the
context of sexual relationships,
as per the countering
argument.
"The argument that in a
marriage, there is a presumption
in favour of consensual
sex which is not present in
forced sexual intercourse outside
marriage is flawed.
The argument is founded
on the theory that
husbands have a greater
degree of laxity available
to them with regard
to consent when engaging
in sex with their
wives. That this argument
is untenable in law
can be tested against the
plight of a sex worker.
The Supreme Court has
decried such an attempt by
holding that even a sex worker
has a right to refuse forced
sexual intercourse," read the
order.
Justice Shakdher stated
that the exemption of the husband
from the offence of marital
rape is unconstitutional
while Justice C. Hari Shankar
said he does not agree with
Shakdher.
"The impugned provisions
in so far as they concern a
husband having intercourse
with his wife without consent
are violative of Article 14 and
are therefore struckdown,"
said Justice Shakder.
the Taj Mahal? Don’t go
into historical facts...
Mandamus can only be
issued when rights have
been infringed. What rights
of yours have been
infringed?" the bench
asked.
The petitioner said he is
asking for a fact-finding
committee to be constituted
to get to the bottom of the
issue and reiterated his
demand to be allowed
access to the 22 rooms as
the "truth" needs to emerge
about the Taj Mahal.
Citizens need to know why
multiple rooms in the monument are said
to be locked due to "security reasons",
he said. The bench responded sharply,
saying: "Who are you asking the information
from? If you are not satisfied that
the rooms have been closed for security
reasons, use your remedies in law to
challenge that. Do some research first --
do MA, Ph.D, enroll yourself somewhere.
Don’t make a mockery of this."
Several right-wing organisations
claim Taj Mahal to be Tejo Mahalaya, a
Hindu temple.
13/05/2022 39
Rajiv Kumar named
new Chief Election
Commissioner
New Delhi : Election
Commissioner Rajiv
Kumar has been appointed
the new Chief Election
Commissioner of India
with effect from May 15,
an official statement said
on Wednesday.
According to the statement
issued by the Ministry
of Law and Justice, he will
take over on May 15 as
incumbent Sushil
Chandra’s term ends on
May 14.
Rajiv Kumar is the senior
most Election
Commissioner in the three-member poll panel after Sushil
Chandra.
"The President is pleased to appoint Rajiv Kumar, the senior
most Election Commissioner, as the Chief Election
Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. Rajiv
Kumar will assume the charge of the office of the Chief
Election Commissioner of India with effect from May 15,
2022 vice Shri Sushil Chandra consequent upon his demitting
Office of the Chief Election Commissioner on May 14,
2022," it read.
Rajiv Kumar, a 1984 batch IAS officer, was appointed as
an Election Commissioner in September 2020.
He retired as Finance Secretary in February 2020. During
his over three-decade tenure in the government, he worked
with various ministries at the Centre and in his state cadre of
Bihar and Jharkhand.
He joined as Election Commissioner in place of Ashok
Lavasa.