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SC Notice To Centre, ECI On PIL Backing Prisoners’ Right To Vote

SC Supreme Court Dalit

A bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi sought response from the government and ECI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a plea challenging Section 62(5) of the Representation of People Act which deprives prisoners their right to vote.

A bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi sought response from the government and Election Commission of India. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Aditya Prasanna Bhattacharya, pointed out that the wording of Section 62(5) uses ‘confinement’ as the yardstick, thereby, creating several anomalies.

Bhattacharya filing the plea in 2019 challenged 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 which deprives any person confined to a prison of the right to vote at any election.

Also Read: Taliban Deny Entry Of Female Students In Campus For Not Wearing Burqa

“No person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police,” the section states.

The petitioner has argued that the section did not specify if, under trial, a detained person or a person out on bail can exercise their universal adult franchise.

The provision operates as a blanket ban, as it lacks any kind of reasonable classification based on the nature of the crime committed or the duration of the sentence imposed, the petition stated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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International

Taliban Deny Entry Of Female Students In Campus For Not Wearing Burqa

ANI
Taliban

Taliban crackdown on Afghan women and girls continues as one of the Taliban guards barred female students from entering the campus for not wearing a Burqa on Sunday.

Kabul:  Taliban crackdown on Afghan women and girls continues as one of the Taliban guards barred female students from entering the campus for not wearing a Burqa on Sunday.

The incident occurred at the Badakhshan University in northeastern Afghanistan. The Afghan girls were forced to remain outside the entry gate as the students were not following the norms of the Taliban’s preferred attires, Khaama Press reported. Taliban’s restriction on women’s freedom of movement, speech, expression, work opportunities, and attire does not just end here. The group has also barred girls from attending school from sixth grade since taking control of war-torn Afghanistan.

Khaama Press reported quoting the president of Badakhshan University, Naqibullah Qazizada who said that the terror outfit’s violence and unlawful conduct toward the students will be taken care of and the student’s request would be realized.

After the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, they immediately began rolling back the rights of women and girls. Women began to protest on the streets since Taliban’s first week in power, despite the grave risks they faced in doing so.

By early September, women-led protests were taking place in Herat province in western Afghanistan and quickly spread across multiple provinces.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban response was brutal from the beginning, beating protesters, disrupting protests, and detaining and torturing journalists covering the demonstrations. The Taliban also banned unauthorized protests.

Over time, the Taliban’s abusive responses escalated, with a particularly brutal response to a protest on January 16 in Kabul, when Taliban members threatened, intimidated, and physically assaulted protesters, using pepper spray and electric shock devices.

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Notably, the situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power in August last year.

Although the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue unabated, especially against women and minorities.

Besides this, the continuously soaring prices of food products in the country have emerged as a new challenge for Afghans. In a short span of fewer than three months, food prices have almost doubled, reported Khaama Press.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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