Lifer for yasin: where do we go from here?

The much-hyped case of Yasin Malik, chairman, J&K Liberation Front (JKLF) has at last taken the logical turn. On his own confession, he has been sentenced to life imprisonment in two cases of terrorism besides some other offences such as criminal conspiracy etc, he has been sentenced to varying imprisonment up to 10 years and fine. Still there are other cases of equal gravity pending in the court and the Damocles' sword is hanging over his head. No surprise, in the coming days this dreaded self-confessed terrorist of late turned Gandhian may have to face the gallows.

Yasin Malik's case comes to a grand-finale at a time when the nation is agog with fierce debate or section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code. Under the British Raj the said section was enacted in 1860 in the aftermath of 1857 rebellion. The section was enacted to punish the freedom fighters which remained in the statute even after Independence. During Independence moment national leaders such as Lokmanya Balgangdhar Tilak and Mahtma Gandhi were also convicted and imprisoned under this section.

The much-discussed debated section 124-A reads as under:

"Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excites disaffection towards, the government established by law in India shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extent to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine." The section is followed by three explanations also.

The first case under this section was filed in the year 1981. Known as "Queen Vs Jogendra Chandra Bose" the accused was the proprietor, editor, manager and printer of 'Bangobasi' was charge by the government with sedition before the Calcutta High Court alleging publication of the offending articles which attracted section 124-A. However, the prosecution was finally dropped after the accused tendered an apology. This case was followed by several others in which moderate to severe punishment was given to the offenders.

Recently, the Supreme Court of India on May, 11 ordered that the 152-year-old sedition law should be effectively kept in abeyance till by Union Government reconsidered the provision. The court also urged to Centre and State to refrain from registering any FIR under section 124-A IPC. In the same breath the three- judge Bench headed by The Chief Justice of India N V Ramana held that all pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to charges framed under section 124-A be kept abeyance.

Thus, the predicament of the government is 'to be, or not be'. On the one hand, there has been a phenomenal increase in the terrorists activities which has got momentum due to several factors including the on-going Mandir-Masjid disputes, Article 370 abrogation in J&K, Pak supported terrorism, extremist violence with in the country etc, and on the other, growing demand for balancing between the human rights, freedom of expression and State's power to maintain sovereignty, integrity of the nation and freedom, liberty and security of the people of the country. The game is indeed akin to the tight rope walking. The lawmakers, judiciary and intelligentsia of the country can alone find a way to this ticklish situation. Any excess of governing power or too much of lenience in the name of human rights and freedom of expression can only render the country a banana nation!

ARYAN CASE: FIASCO OR FRAMING ?

One of the high-profile cases in recent past has been that of Aryan Khan, son of the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on various charges and sent to the jail. The case has all the essentials of a melodrama with punch. Despite engagement of a battery of leading lawyers, the youngster had to cool his head for 27 days behind the bars. Meanwhile, charges and counter-charges were freely traded between the then Zonal Director, Sameer Wankhede and a senior minister of Maharashtra who is now lodged in a jail on serious allegations of money laundering and proximity with the fugitive Dawood Ibrahim. In the result, Wankhede, an IRS was repatriated to his parent department.

Now, the story has taken an amusing turn which has raised many eye-brows not only among the members of the elite authority, the NCB but also has raised a number of questions like the control or remote control of drug peddlers on the NCB, role of mafia and political big-wigs and goons and incompetence of investigating agency etc. In the meanwhile, the NCB top brass has assured a full-fledged enquiry into the incident which resulted in the non-inclusion of Aryan's name in the chargesheet along with five other accused initially named in the FIR.

However, the law has not closed its doors for the NCB to file a supplementary charge-sheet against those persons now dropped from the charge sheet if and as and when new and cogent evidence is found. Anyway, for the present all partners in Maharashtra Aghadi combine have a reason to open champagne bottle and blame the unsavory Central government for the NCB fiasco.

INSURANCE COMPANIES CAN'T BE TOO TECHNICAL: SC

Decrying the tendency of the insurance companies to be too technical while dealing with the claim settlement, the Supreme Court while dealing with a case titled, Gurmel Singh Vs Branch Manager, National Insurance Company Limited, recently observed that it is not a good practice to ask for the documents which a claimant is not in a position to produce due to circumstances beyond his control.

TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court imposed the cost of Rs 25 lakh on a website, 'Sholay.Com' for infringing the trademark of the block buster film, Sholay.

Justice Pratibha M. Singh in her judgment in the case titled, Sholay Media Entertainment & Anr. Vs. Yogesh Patel and others rejected the argument of the defendant that films cannot be registered under the law of trademarks and observed that titles of landmark films are entitled to protection under trademark law since it transcends generations of Indians and its characters, dialogues, settings and box office collections are legendary.

The court, therefore, besides imposing the costs, also restrained the website from using the logo, designs and selling the DVD of Sholay film.

RE-OPENING OF HC AFTER SUMMER VACATION

The Telangana High Court and offices working under its administrative control such as Judicial Academy, Legal Services Authority, High Court Mediation and Arbitration Centre and High Court Legal Services Committee will effectively re-open on June 6 Monday after the end of summer vacation.