Prashant Bhushan files fresh plea seeking review of Supreme Court order in contempt case

New Delhi: Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking review of the 31 August sentencing order to either pay fine of Re 1 or face a three-month jail term and debarment from law practice for three years in the contempt case for his two tweets against the judiciary.

Bhushan, who has already deposited Re 1 as fine with the apex court's registry on 14 September, has filed two separate review petitions in the contempt case.

The first review plea on 14 September had challenged the 14 August verdict convicting him for the contempt of court, while the second plea has been filed against the 31 August sentencing order which imposed the fine.

In the second review plea, filed through lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, Bhushan has sought an oral hearing in an open court on the matter.

He has also sought recall of the impugned judgment and a fresh hearing, and said that the questions of law raised by him should be referred to a larger bench of appropriate strength.

The plea said Bhushan was not supplied with the copy of the contempt petition filed by a lawyer on which the apex court had taken cognisance.

Referring to an apex court judgement, the review plea said the court never indicated to Bhushan that it was contemplating barring from practicing as a lawyer.

"At no point during the judicial proceedings in this matter did this court even slightly indicate that it was contemplating disbarring the Petitioner-Advocate herein from appearing before this court," the plea said.

However, without any prior notice, the impugned order imposed on the petitioner a sentence in the alternative disbarring him from appearing before this court for a period of three years which is per incuriam as per the law laid down by a coordinate three judge bench in RK Anand vs Delhi High Court case, it further stated.

The rules of natural justice, therefore, demand that before passing an order debarring an advocate from appearing in courts he must be clearly told that his alleged conduct or actions are such that if found guilty he might be debarred from appearing in courts for a specific period, it said.

Besides, Bhushan was denied an opportunity to file a fresh affidavit in case the court was not satisfied by his preliminary reply.

He said that his second tweet regarding the judiciary in the last six years was not part of the contempt petition and was a separate issue altogether and should have been placed before the Chief Justice Of India for appropriate directions in the face of settled law.

The petitioner was further denied an opportunity to lead evidence under Section 17(5) of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, to substantiate averments in his preliminary reply, the plea said.

On 14 August, the top court had held Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt for his two derogatory tweets against the judiciary saying they cannot be said to be a fair criticism of the functioning of the judiciary made in the public interest.

Holding that Bhushan attempted to scandalise the entire institution of the Supreme Court, the top court had said, If such an attack is not dealt with, with requisite degree of firmness, it may affect the national honour and prestige in the comity of nations.

The top court had analysed the two tweets of Bhushan posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter on 27 June on the functioning of judiciary in past six years, and on 22 July with regard to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde.

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Hathras gangrape incident isn't a law and order issue, problem is manuvadi mindset of upper caste men

My heart bled as I read the news of a 19-year-old Dalit Valmiki girl gang raped and brutally killed in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh. The civil society and political parties in opposition are up in arms against the government and law enforcement agencies. I don’t want to go into the details of how the girl was raped and killed - it's too traumatising to write every detail of this incidence about which almost everyone knows by now.

The intention of this piece is to point out the silencing of atrocities against the Dalit women for long. It is an elephant in the room. How can you eradicate a crime from the society without acknowledging it? Upper caste-dominated civil society - Right, Left or Center - reacted as if this is the first time a Dalit woman was raped. They should acknowledge that our Indian society is casteist to its core and women are the worst victim.

As a historian working on the Dalits in general, and Valmikis in particular, I want to intervene with the facts that upper caste men for centuries have been treating Dalit women as objects of sexual pleasure. Dalit women did not have the right to deny them sex. Moreover, unlike upper caste women, the Dalit women do not have ‘dignity’. It is a truth often denied, silenced or excluded by the scholars.

During my research , I came across a case in which Dalit women were forced to sexually ‘entertain’ the upper caste men in the name of social and religious customs. The people who did not allow shadow of Dalits to fall over them, did not eat with them and excluded them from their society would feel it their social duty to rape Dalit women.

Dalits were not given access to sexual freedom and dignity. While upper caste women were suppressed through purdah (veil) system and their bodies were used to protect the honour of the upper caste men, Dalit women were used to ‘dishonour’ their communities. They were forced into sexual acts. The sexual subjugation was sanctified through social and religious customs with tacit support of the ruling classes.

Harijan Sevak Sangh (HSS) was an organisation formed by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 and was a part (in practice) of Indian National Congress to eradicate untouchability from the society. In one of its survey reports of 1934, an issue of a social custom was raised. It was pointed out that in several villages of Uttar Pradesh, there was a practice that during the Hindu festival of Holi, upper caste men entered the Dalit colonies singing obscene songs. They would visit Dalit houses and sing songs calling women out with sexually suggestive songs. Dalit women, would then be taken with the force of sticks into secluded corners for the ‘entertainment’. Before leaving these men would give the women money for ‘amusing and entertaining’ them. The 1930s was a time when Dalits started asserting their right to self-respect. Periyar and Ambedkar were campaigning among Dalits to fight for self-respect. As a result, at times Dalits would object to this derogatory and criminal custom. And these objections were met with violence by the upper caste men, which included beating up Dalits and destroy their houses.

The upper caste-dominated Congress and its arm HSS acknowledged this custom and tried to remove it. Even with Gandhi’s popularity and network of Congress workers, upper Caste men did not stop this custom. The report pointed out that in only one of the several villages, where HSS campaigned against the practice, this custom could be eradicated.

We live in a country where a Dalit woman, Bhanwari Devi, was gang-raped in front of her husband by Upper Caste men for doing her duty as a worker of Rajasthan Government’s Women Development Program (WDP). The judge during trial noted that “rape is usually committed by teenagers, and since the accused are middle-aged and therefore respectable, they could not have committed the crime. An upper-caste man could not have defiled himself by raping a lower-caste woman.” Local politicians organized public rallies in support of the rapists.

It is a country where economic well-being, education, or even ascending to high political posts does not make a Dalit woman immune to the sexual assaults. Mayawati, former Chief Minister of U.P, was attacked by the MLAs a day before she took oath as the first Dalit woman chief minister in the country. The fact that she was an MLA, leader of the third largest party and was going to swear in as the chief minister, did not deter the upper caste MLAs from attempting a physical assault on her.

The thing to note here is how civil society, media and activists react differently to the rapes of upper caste women and Dalit women. After the infamous Nirbhaya rape in Delhi almost nobody disclosed her real name. People were sensitive enough that they would not disclose the identity for societal and legal reasons. In a complete contrast, from the first day media, activists and all the so-called sympathisers have been disclosing the name and identity of the Hathras rape victim. Why? The answer lies in the age-old social conditioning which led them to believe that a Dalit woman has no honour, and hence no right to privacy, unlike her upper caste counterparts.

Whatever has happened in Hathras is not a simple law and order problem as civil society and politicians want us to believe. The shit is deeper. The problem is the ‘Manuvadi’ mindset of upper caste men. They are unable to let go of the culture in which their ancestors used to rape Dalit women at will. Acknowledging the problem is the first step to the solution. If upper caste activists are serious and do not want a repeat of such rapes they should strike at the core of the problem, i.e, casteism.

The author is a PhD scholar at the Department of History in University of Delhi. She has received Post-graduate degree in Modern History from Jawahar Lal Nehru University. Her current field of research is Dalit history.

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Gujarat govt announces 25% fee cut in private schools across all boards for current academic year

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Wednesday asked all private schools to take a 25 percent cut in annual school fees, in a relief to parents of school-going children hit by economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown.

Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told reporters in Gandhinagar that school owners have agreed to collect 25 percent less fees from students during the current academic year.

The decision to give relief to parents of school-going children was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, said Chudasama after the meet.

This decision is applicable to all schools affiliated with various boards, including the CBSE and international boards, he said.

Parents who have already paid the entire year's fees are entitled to get a refund after adjusting 25 percent cut, the minister said.

In another relief, Chudasama said since schools are not functioning physically due to the pandemic, they can not collect charges related to transport, library, computer, and sports activities.

"Earlier, school owners were ready to accept only 10 percent fee cut, while the government was insisting on 25 percent reduction.

"Now, we have decided to implement 25 percent fee cut and we are glad that schools have now agreed to it," said Chudasama.

Two weeks back, the Gujarat High Court had refused to intervene in the matter and asked the government to decide on school fee reduction.

While disposing of an application seeking the court's intervention on the fee issue, the high court had said the government can take an "independent decision" under the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act, which are in force in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

In August, the high court had quashed a government order which prohibited private schools from collecting tuition fees until they reopened.

The court had also asked the government to sit with representatives of private schools and find an amicable solution to the fee issue.

But the government approached the high court earlier this month, saying no solution was found as the apex school association was not ready to cut tuition fee by 25 percent as proposed by the state, so the court should issue necessary directions.

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Odisha CPET 2020 admit card for PG entrance test released; check at samsodisha.gov.in

The Odisha Common PG Entrance Test (CPET) 2020 admit card has been released by the government of Odisha, Higher Education Department at pg.samsodisha.gov.in.

Odisha CPET 2020 will be conducted between 12 and 22 October. Along with the printout of the hall ticket, candidates will be required to carry government approved identity card to the exam centre for verification.

The entrance exam will comprise of multiple-choice questions (MCQs). Each question will consist of 1 mark each. There is no negative marking.

Candidates will have to indicate their answers on OMR sheets. Examinees will get a composite time of 90 minutes to answer 70 questions.

The paper will have 40 questions from Honours/ Core subjects and 30 from same subject's generic elective papers as per the OLD CBCS UG syllabus (2016-2019).

Admit card is the important document for Odisha CPET 2020 and candidates who fail to carry it to the exam centre will not be allowed to write the exam.

The hall ticket will mention the candidate’s name, roll number, registration number, exam date and time, reporting time. It will also mention the health guidelines that students will have to abide by in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steps to download Odisha CPET 2020 admit card:

Step 1: Go to the website - samsodisha.gov.in
Step 2: Under the Higher Education section, click on "Post Graduation" tab.
Step 3: You will be directed to a new page, where you have to tap on “e-Space”.
Step 4: Key in your username, password and code displayed on the page.
Step 5: Your Odisha CPET 2020 admit card will appear on the page. Check all the details carefully before saving and taking a print out.

Here is the direct link to download Odisha CPET 2020 hall ticket: https://ift.tt/3l3Eto5

Odisha CPET is conducted every year for admission into State Public Universities and Colleges with PG courses.

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International Coffee Day 2020: ICO to celebrate entrepreneurs in coffee sector this year; day raises awareness on cultivators' plight

International Coffee Day is celebrated every year on 1 October to celebrate the coffee sector's diversity, quality and passion. The day is an opportunity for coffee lovers to share their adoration for the beverage and support millions of farmers around the world whose livelihood depends on the crop.

The International Coffee Day is organised by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), the member states of which had decided in March 2014 to create a day of celebration for coffee lovers around the world.

ICO is the main intergovernmental organisation for coffee, that helps tackle the challenges faced by the coffee sector around the world through international cooperation. ICO represents 98 percent of world's coffee production and 67 percent of world's consumption.

Set up in London in 1963, the ICO aims to strengthen the global coffee sector and promote its sustainable expansion. It has announced that the focus of International Coffee Day 2020 is 'Coffee's Next Generation', a global initiative targeting talented and motivated young people and entrepreneurs in the coffee sector.

According to ICO, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented situation in the coffee sector, negatively impacting both supply and demand. The initiative is an opportunity to not only promote sustainable coffee practices, but also to raise awareness for the plight of coffee growers.

The name 'International Coffee Day' was first used by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, which organised a press conference on 3 October, 2009 to announce the first New Orleans Coffee Festival. However, the International Coffee Organisation first celebrated the day in China in 1997, Taiwan in 2009 and Nepal first celebrated the National Coffee Day on 17 November, 2005.

According to a report published in Harvard Health, a November 2015 study published in the scientific journal Circulation found that coffee consumption was associated with an 8 to 15 percent reduction in the risk of death. Coffee drinkers also may have reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, a few types of cancers and cirrhosis.

Furthermore, studies have also pointed out that caffeine can boost a person's metabolic rate and increase fat burning in the body as well. It can also help people feel less tired and increase energy levels because it contains the stimulant caffeine, which is the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world.

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Shiromani Akali Dal leaders take out 'kisan marches' against farm laws in Amritsar, Bathinda, Anandpur Sahib

Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday began three separate 'kisan marches' from the three religious Takhts in Punjab to Chandigarh against the new farm laws.

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is leading one of the marches which started from the Akal Takht in Amritsar while his wife and former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is leading another procession which commenced from Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda.

The third procession is led by senior Akali leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra and Daljit Singh Cheema from Takht Keshgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib.

The processions from the three Sikh Takhts will reach Chandigarh later in the day where the SAD leadership will hand over a memorandum against the farm laws to Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore.

Addressing the media in Amritsar, Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party wanted a rollback of the farm bills and that the farming community was against the “black laws”. The 'kisan marches' by the SAD, which are being seen as the party's show of strength, are being organised days after the Akalis quit the National Democratic Alliance over the bills.

Last week, the SAD had announced to part ways with the NDA, the third major party to walk out of the BJP-led coalition in the last couple of years.

On 17 September, Harsimrat Kaur Badal had quit the Union Cabinet after the SAD chief had strongly opposed the bills in Lok Sabha, claiming the legislations will "destroy" the agriculture sector in Punjab.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday gave assent to the three contentious bills - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.

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CUCET 2020 final answer keys for undergraduate courses released at cucetexam.in; results expected soon, says report

The Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) 2020 final answer keys for undergraduate courses have been released by the Central University of Rajasthan on its website - cucetexam.in.

The CUCET 2020 was conducted in pen-and-paper mode from 18 to 20 September. The provisional answer keys were released on 21 September and candidates were given time till 24 September to raise objections.

The date on the announcement of CUCET 2020 results has not been declared yet, however, the university is expected to release the results anytime soon, The Indian Express reported. Students can match their responses with the final answer keys and estimate their score. For each correct answer, they will be awarded one mark. There is a negative marking of 0.25 for every wrong answer.

Steps to check and download CUCET 2020 final answer keys:

Step 1: Log on to the official website of Common Universities Common Entrance Test - cucetexam.in.
Step 2: On the left-hand side on the homepage, tap on the link that reads, “Click to view final answer key”.
Step 3: Key in your exam roll number and date of birth.
Step 4: Tap on the Login button.
Step 5: Your CUCET answer key 2020 for UG courses will appear on the page. Save and take a print out.

Here is the direct link to check the answer key

The final answer keys for the PG and RP courses are expected to be released by the Central University of Rajasthan on 2 October, a report in The Times of India said.

CUCET is held every year for admission to integrated/undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG) and research programmes to 14 central and four state universities across India. After the CUCET results are announced, the universities will release counselling and admission schedule and the merit list.

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