Mosque dispute: Common sense gives way to cunningness !

Bolstered by the victory in Ayodhya dispute the staunch Hindu lobby has begun a crusade to retrieve as many as 40,000/- mosques including some prominent ones such as those within the vicinity of Kashi Viswanath and Krishna Temples in Varanasi and Mathura respectively.

Claims and counter claims from Hindu and Muslim sides notwithstanding and the ultimate belated court verdicts whatsoever, one thing is certain that this massive exercise is going to create bad blood and bring about a sea change in the socio-cultural architecture of the country. It is a proven fact that most of the mosques were constructed on the debris of temples razed by the foreign Muslim aggressors some 700 years ago. It is also true that the Act of constructing a holy place for worship of the Almighty on the debris of holy places of another faith is condemnable. Even Quran does not allow such a sinful act.

Still under a political agenda hue and cry is raised when a court orders collection of evidence to prove or disprove the claim of Hindus about existence of a temple beneath a mosque. By indulging in such diatribes cunning politicians focus on the vote bank.

Today when the judiciary is over-burdened with the pendency of about 4.8 crore cases in the lower courts and a few lakhs in the higher Courts, what baffles a common man is what useful purpose would be served by adding a few thousand more cases to the already over burdened judiciary.

When the history and belief both have conclusively proved the fact that a vast majority of mosques in the country have been constructed on the debris of temples, then the proper course of action should be to make a legislative declaration to this effect and take over all such mosques at one go and handover to Hindu organisations for construction of temples thereon. At the same time in order to assuage the feelings of the Muslim community, many of whom may not be aware of this historic fact and therefore, offering prayers from such religiously forbidden places, alternate sites for construction or relocation of mosques should be allotted by the government. Even financial assistance for construction of such mosques and rebuilding of demolished temples should be provided without any discrimination.

Indeed, such an approach will go a long way in serving the dual purposes namely bringing the past cultural glory to life and ensuring communal harmony among people. True, some voices of dissent for the political reasons from both communities would be raised but they must be ignored in the wider interest of democracy, coexistence and integrity.

Needless to say that this is the only permanent and viable solution in the present much hyped situation which has potentials to explode into communal strife within the country which eventually will tarnish the good image of India i.e., Bharat in the comity of nations.

The onus of living up to the spirit of the Constitution is on the elected public representatives who are the law makers and the judiciary which is entrusted with the task of ensuring the Rule of Law.

Their prudence or to say in the simple terms, the common sense in this regard can certainly over -power the cunningness of self-serving politicians. The people irrespective of their religious or political affiliations should also support the via media formula suggested herein and defeat the evil designs of the politicians to plunge the nation into communal frenzy.

GRANT STATUTORY STATUS TO GST BODY

Recent judgment of the apex court holding that the GST Council's decisions are not mandatory but recommendatory in nature and the States are 'free' to take their own decisions in the matter of Goods and Service Tax (GST) is bound to stir the hornet's nest in the coming days.

While the protagonists of States' autonomy consider the said verdict as a step forward in the direction of promoting the spirit of federalism, others supporting the GST Council are of the view that when so far the functioning of GST Council, which has representation of States also, has been smooth and efficient, due to the SC verdict, some states politically opposed to the Centre would take advantage of the said judgment and create unnecessary hurdles in the economic development of country.

Therefore, the best way to continue this hastle- free system of GST Council is that a Central law governing the establishment and managing the affairs of Goods and Services Tax should be passed at the earliest.

YASIN MALIK CONVICTED ON CONFESSION

After pleading guilty by Yasin Malik, Chairman, Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front, an NIA Special Court convicted him under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code on May 19. The quantum of punishment will be decided on May 25. Earlier Malik had voluntarily admitted that he was involved in raising funds from businessmen, terror activities and offences of sedition.

DISHA MURDER CASE: FAKE ENCOUNTERS CONFIRMED

The Judicial Enquiry Commission appointed by the Supreme Court of India to verify the police theory that the accused in Disha murder case were killed in self defence by the police has slammed the Cyberabad police of Telangana State for staging a fake encounter and killing four accused persons, three being minor.

The three-member Commission headed by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice V.S.Sirpurkar submitted its report to the apex court on May 20 and confirmed that the accused were killed by the police in a fake encounter.

The Commission also recommended framing of charges against 10 policemen. However, strangely the Commission has spared the top-brass in police without whose tacit or explicit approval, support or planning such a gruesome act of staging the fake encounters cannot be imagined. Hope, as the story unfolds further in due course, more heads will roll.

This is indeed, a blot on the Telangana police which does not lose a single minute to blow its own trumpet for all and sundry 'achievements' day in and day out.

'BIZARRE' PENALTY FOR TAHASILDAR

Rather in a unique manner, the Orissa High Court has ordered the Tahasildar of Kakatpur to plant at least 50 trees as penalty for passing a bizarre Order in a land encroachment case. Justice Biswanath Rath observed that the petitioner was not granted sufficient opportunity before passing the impugned order in an encroachment case.

P&H- HC ON SEC. 82 Cr.P.C

Setting aside the impugned Order of proclamation declaring a person as proclaimed offender, Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case titled Gurpreet Singh Vs. State of Punjab held that a clear period of 30 days starting from the date when a proclamation under sec. 82 of the Cr.P.C is actually affected up to the date nominated for causing appearance is mandatory. In the instant case, only 26 days notice to the petitioner was given. The High Court relied on the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Ashok Kumar Vs. State of Haryana and Anita Sharma Vs. State of Punjab.