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Ten years after the enactment of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, an analysis by an independent think-tank of cases under this legislation in eCourts across the country has found that 43.44 per cent of trials end in acquittals and only 14.03 per cent lead to convictions.
Besides, in 22.9 per cent of the 138 judgments analysed in detail by the initiative, the accused were known to the victims — they were family members in 3.7 per cent of the cases.
In these cases, 18 per cent involved a “prior romantic relationship” while the relationship between the victim and accused was not identified in 44 per cent.
The analysis, titled “A Decade of Pocso’’, was carried out by the Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) Initiative at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, in collaboration with the Data Evidence for Justice Reform (DE JURE) program at the World Bank.
It studied 230,730 cases from eCourts in 486 districts spanning 28 states and Union Territories for the period 2012 to 2021.
Incidentally, according to data published by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) in 2021, the accused was a person known to the victim in 96 per cent of cases filed under POCSO.
In the 138 judgments analysed by the Vidhi initiative, 5.47 per cent victims were under 10 years of age, 17.8 per cent between 10-15 years and 28 per cent between 15-18 years. The age of victims in 48 per cent of the cases were not identified.
Centre to SC: Review order freeing convicts… error, miscarriage of justice (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Six days after the Supreme Court ordered the release of the remaining six convicts serving life terms for the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, the Centre moved the top court, seeking review of its order.
In its review petition, the Centre said the “order was passed without affording” it an “adequate opportunity of hearing”, that the order suffers from “errors apparent on the face of record” and falls “foul of principles of natural justice”.
On November 11, the Supreme Court set free the six convicts — Nalini Sriharan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, V Sriharan alias Murugan, Robert Payas, Jayakumar and Ravichandran alias Ravi, extending to them the benefit of its May 18 order releasing co-convict A G Perarivalan.
While the Congress described the Supreme Court order as “highly problematic”, “completely erroneous” and “totally unacceptable”, DMK leader and Chief Minister M K Stalin called the ruling “historic” as it “reinforces the cornerstone of democratic principles”.
The Centre, in its review petition, said the convicts who approached the court seeking remission had not made the Union of India a respondent in their plea “despite it being a necessary and proper party to the” issue.
This in turn had resulted in the court being deprived of the “vital assistance” of the Centre “with crucial facts, going into the root of the matter, which would have apparently and ex-facie demonstrated the distinction between” the May 18 order granting remission to Perarivalan and the six accused, four of whom are Sri Lankan nationals.
Express Network
India’s first privately built rocket set for launch today (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
The private sector in India will mark its first foray into the space launch market when the Vikram-S rocket is scheduled to lift off from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) launchpad in Sriharikota.
Developed over two years by Skyroot Aerospace, a company started in 2018 when India’s space sector was not yet open to private players, Vikram-S is a single-stage solid fuel rocket meant to test nearly 80 per cent of all systems and processes before the launch of Vikram-1 scheduled for next year.
The launch on Friday will be sub-orbital, with the vehicle travelling slower than orbital velocity. This means that while the vehicle will reach outer space, it will not remain in orbit around the Earth. The flight will take less than five minutes.
On the other hand, Vikram-1 will be a much larger vehicle that will undertake orbital flights. The Vikram series of rockets developed by Skyroot is named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of the Indian space programme.
These rockets are among the few launch vehicles in the world which have their core structure built using carbon composites. The thrusters used for spin stability in the vehicle have been 3D printed.
The engine used in the launch vehicle was named after former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The performance of the ‘Kalam-80’ will be one of the key areas that the company monitors during the flight of Vikram-S.
ACC approves 23 as judicial, administrative members of AFT (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved appointments to fill 23 vacancies, including 11 as judicial members and 12 as administrative members, in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).
The move will help fill up vacant positions in AFT benches across the country many of whom have been unable to function because of shortfall of members resulting in huge backlog of cases.
In a break from tradition, a retired officer from the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) — Sanjeev Mittal of 1984 batch — has been appointed as an administrative member of the AFT. Prior to this, only retired Army, Navy and Air Force officers were appointed as administrative members of the AFT.
Those appointed as administrative members include former Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen CP Mohanty (retd), former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh (retd), former Western Army Commander Lt Gen RP Singh (retd), Lt Gen Gopal Ramaswamy (retd), Lt Gen RK Anand (retd), Lt Gen SS Mishra (retd), Maj Gen Sanjay Singh, Vice Admiral AK Jain (retd), Air Marshal Manvendra Singh (retd), Air Marshal Balkrishnan Suresh (retd), and Rear Admiral Dhiren Vig.
Those appointed as judicial members include Justices Ravindra Nath Kakkar, Ananda Kumar Mukherjee, Anu Malhotra, Asha Menon, Shailendra Shukla, Sudhir Mittal, Surinder Gupta, GoverdhanBardhar, Shekhar Dhawan, Madhumati Mitra, and Anil Kumar, all retired.
The Editorial Page
A victory still to come (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 1, Role of Women)
When I started the battle to secure Permanent Commission for women in the armed forces in 2007, I did not envisage that we would still be hearing a court judgment related to the matter in 2022.
It was 12 years ago, in 2010, that the landmark judgment came in which Justice Kishan Kaul (then with the High Court of Delhi) had hoped that “with expanding horizon of women’s participation in different walks of life, the armed forces would be encouraged to have larger participation of women in more areas of operation.”
The Supreme Court yesterday directed the Centre and the Indian Air Force to consider granting Permanent Commission to 32 retired women Short Service Commission (SSC) officers based on their suitability with the purpose of giving them pensionary benefits.
It calls for yet another celebration built on the 2010 judgment which had cleared the path for the future. The military opened its doors to women in 1992 when the Air Force inducted its first batch. It’s been three decades, and that women are still at the mercy of the courts is something to reflect upon.
The armed forces, traditionally thought of as a male bastion, have in the past 30 years seen success in the induction of women, though the journey has not been smooth.
The good news is that the forces did not wait or procrastinate under the belief that one day they will have all the policies in place and a path cleared for women to enter. In its true military style, it was a surgical strike — women were just inducted!
Then came the day-to-day struggles, including things as mundane as what uniform the women should have. Yes, when we were inducted, the Air Force had not even decided on the uniform that the “women officers” would wear.
The Ideas Page
Who’s afraid of conversion (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Swami Vivekananda in his famous address in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions had said, “The Christian is not to become Hindu or a Buddhist, nor is the Hindu or Buddhist to become a Christian.
But each must integrate the spirit of others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.” A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justice MR Shah and Justice Hima Kohli probably had Vivekanand’s statement in mind when it observed that forced conversions may “ultimately affect the security of nation and freedom of religion and conscience of citizen.”
It directed the central government to clarify what steps it intends to take to curb deceitful or compulsory religious conversions. The solicitor general, too, indicated support of the PIL by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has been filing several petitions of this kind with mixed success. Interestingly, in 2021, a three-judge bench of Justices RF Nariman, BR Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy had dismissed a similar petition by Upadhyay himself and had even threatened to impose heavy costs if he persisted with the petition.
This bench had opined that religious conversion law would be violative of the constitution as the constitution allows joining of any religion of choice and that’s why the word “propagate” in the Constitution.
Religious conversion has been on the BJP’s agenda and a law against it has been in its manifesto. In 2006, LK Advani had said that “we strongly condemn the campaign of proselytisation which poses a grave threat to Hindu society and to the national integration as well… it is bad enough that religious conversions are conducted in a systematic manner through inducements and coercions.” RSS-linked weekly, Organiser, has carried a story titled “Amazing cross connection” alleging Amazon’s involvement and financing Christian conversion in the Northeast.
Explained
Road to G20, Delhi 2023 (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The G20 summit in Bali marked the end of Indonesia’s presidency of the grouping. India’s turn at the rotating presidency will begin officially on December 1.
The Group of 20 is a non-treaty based organisation of 19 countries and the EU that traces its origins to the Asian financial crisis of 1997-99, when the G7 convened a meeting of finance ministers of a select group of countries and central bank governors from around the world to find ways to arrest the meltdown threatening to engulf the world. The broad objective of this grouping was to shore up the world’s economic and financial stability.
The 2008 financial crisis saw the group elevated to the summit level for the first time, and by consensus, play an important role in dealing with that turning point for the global economy.
Since then, the agenda of G20 — described as representing 85 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of global trade and 2/3rd of the world’s population — has expanded in scope to include dealing with humanitarian crises brought about by conflict and natural disasters, climate change, health, gender issues, and the transition to digitisation.
The G20 has also established the Financial Stability Board to coordinate and monitor efforts in strengthening financial regulation.
In 2020, during Saudi Arabia’s presidency, Covid took centre stage, with two summits that year.
It was preferred over WHO as the forum to deal with the outbreak. Member countries spearheaded the Debt Service Suspension Initiative by IMF and other development banks, and also launched other financial assistance for most vulnerable countries.
In 2021, the Italian presidency outlined economic recovery, swift response to the health crisis still gripping the world, with equitable access to vaccines and diagnostics, plus building resilience against similar shocks, and building a prosperous future through growth, innovation and digitisation. Italy’s theme was People, Planet and Prosperity.
Baliyatra: Celebrating Odisha’s ancient SE asia links (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 1, Art and Culture)
In his address to the Indian diaspora in Bali on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the annual Baliyatra on the banks of the Mahanadi in Cuttack, which celebrates the ancient trade relations between India and Indonesia.
This year’s Baliyatra, which concluded on Thursday, also found a place in the Guinness World Records for achieving an impressive feat of origami, the creation of beautiful paper sculptures.
Baliyatra, literally ‘voyage to Bali’, is one of the country’s largest open-air fairs, which is organised every year to commemorate the 2,000-year-old maritime and cultural links between ancient Kalinga (today’s Odisha) and Bali and other South and Southeast Asian regions like Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
The origins of the festival, which begins on Kartik Purnima (full moon night in the month of Kartik) can be traced back more than 1,000 years.
The Bay of Bengal region had several ports, and sadhavas (traders) traditionally began their voyage across the sea on this auspicious day, when the winds were favourable for the boats, known as boita, to sail.
According to historians, popular items of trade between Kalinga and Southeast Asia included pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, silk, camphor, gold, and jewellery.
Even today, thousands of people across Odisha sail decorative miniature boats made of banana stems, paper, or thermocol to celebrate boita bandana, or the worshipping of the boats.
The festival is organised by the Cuttack district administration and Cuttack Municipal Corporation in association with several other government agencies. Lakhs of people from Cuttack and neighbouring districts throng the fair site by the Mahanadi through the nine-day festival.
Carbon Border Tax (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A group of countries including India has opposed the carbon border taxes policy at the COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, saying it could “result in market distortion”.
The BASIC group, comprising India, China, Brazil and South Africa, said in a joint statement dated November 15, “Unilateral measures and discriminatory practices, such as carbon border taxes, that could result in market distortion and aggravate the trust deficit amongst Parties, must be avoided.
BASIC countries call for a united solidarity response by developing countries to any unfair shifting of responsibilities from developed to developing countries.”
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is a plan from the European Union (EU) to tax carbon-intensive products, such as iron and steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium and electricity generation, from 2026.
Put simply, the carbon border tax involves imposing an import duty on a product manufactured in a country with more lax climate rules than the one buying it.
While its advocates, like the EU, claim the tax will benefit the environment and provide a level playing field to companies, those opposing it call the tax unfair and protectionist.
They say it puts the burden of climate compliance on developing countries, when historically, they have done much less to pollute the environment and yet are often more vulnerable to effects of climate change.
Some developed nations, in efforts to cut emissions, impose high costs on carbon-intensive businesses in their own countries. Businesses can potentially sidestep this simply by moving production to a country with less stringent rules, a practice called carbon leakage.