Dalit profs at BU allege discrimination
In case their cases are not heard, the professors have threatened to relieve themselves from the administrative work. | TNN
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NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
"Supreme Court Is Not A Chief Justice-Centric Court": BR Gavai
Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai reaffirmed the Supreme Court's commitment to transparency in judicial appointments during a felicitation ceremony organised by the Bombay Bar Association. He emphasised that the court is working to dispel the perception that the Supreme Court is "CJI-centric." Speaking at the Bombay High Court in an event organised by the Bombay Bar Association, CJI Gavai highlighted ongoing efforts to ensure a more inclusive and transparent appointment process. He noted that this approach had been strengthened since the tenure of Justice Sanjiv Khanna. "...We have tried to dispel the impression that the Supreme Court is a CJI-Centric court," CJI Gavai said. "In the interest of the institution, from the period of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, we have tried to infuse more transparency in the matter of appointments." He shared that the court had recently interviewed 54 candidates and recommended around 36 appointments. He assured that the selection process would continue to be transparent while ensuring fair representation from all sections of society. "For the last three days, on the first two days, we held interviews with about 54 candidates, and yesterday we have recommended around 36 appointments...I must assure you that we will ensure that we adopt a complete process of transparency while ensuring that representation is given to all sections of society. The merit will never be compromised," he added. Addressing the issue of case pendency, CJI Gavai acknowledged it as a serious challenge. He attributed one of the significant causes of pendency to judicial vacancies and assured that steps are being taken to address them. "Pendency is a huge issue. We are trying to work on it. One of the reasons for dependency is the vacancies which are not filled up. This is the third function in Nagpur that has flagged an issue about interference in the functioning of the college. I must assure you that we will ensure that we will adopt a complete process of transparency. While ensuring that the representation is given to all sections of the society, the merit will never be compromised, and in so far as my own High Court is concerned, I can assure that the names, whatever are recommended, we will try to follow it up and that as soon as possible the Bombay High Court starts functioning at full strength so that at least the issue of dependency is addressed to some extent." Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India in May. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Gavai, who succeeded CJI Sanjiv Khanna. Justice Gavai is the first Buddhist Chief Justice and only the second from the Dalit community, after former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, who held office in 2007, to occupy the highest judicial office in the country. Justice Gavai has also made it clear that he will not take any post-retirement assignments.
Scroll.in
3 hours ago
- Scroll.in
I saw firsthand how callous prison officials and their negligence lead to Stan Swamy's death
Editor's note: Father Stan Swamy and Arun Ferreira were among the 16 members of civil society – lawyers, professors, poets – who had been arrested under anti-terror laws in a case related to caste violence in Bhima Koregaon village outside Pune in 2018. It is also known as the Elgar Parishad case – the name of a meeting held to commemorate the role of Dalit soldiers in a battle in 1818 in defeating the army of the Peshwa, who had the reputation for being casteist. The government claims that the 16 people arrested had conspired to instigate the violence and other acts of terror across the country. But since then, independent researchers have produced technical reports alleging that the evidence being marshalled against them had been planted on electronic devices by hackers. Ferreira was incarcerated along with Swamy in the prison hospital. He has been now released on bail on conditions, one of which disallows him from commenting about the case in the media. 'This is not a natural death, but the institutional murder of a gentle soul,' reads the statement by the family members of the people accused in the Elgar Parishad case that was released immediately after Father Stan Swamy's death on July 5, 2021. Some may consider these words a bit too harsh given Stan's age (he was 84) and health (he had Parkison's disease). However observing and experiencing the callous treatment meted out to Stan at Taloja Prison, I am inclined to endorse their view. On December 5, 2020, on Stan's request, I was allowed by the authorities to stay in his cell at the prison hospital. He wanted to be kept with one of his co-accused so as to have some meaningful conversation. Those were Covid times: no accused were being taken to court, no physical mulakaats with family or friends permitted, no newspapers allowed and restrictions on the movements of all inmates in prison. For Stan, like the rest of us, being in touch and in conversation with our co-accused meant everything. At the time Stan entered the Taloja Prison outside Mumbai, medical care at the prison hospital was supervised by three people with BAMS degrees (they were Bachelors of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) and a pharmacist. This was the situation before and during Covid. Apart from these handful of staff, all other tasks such as administering medicines, intravenous injections, para-medical assistance and help in the wards was undertaken by inmates whose labour was unpaid as it would be improper to have their assistance mentioned anywhere on record. A doctor with expertise in psychiatry would visit the prison once a week. He supervised Stan's medical care, but merely continued with the medication he had been prescribed before he was arrested. The prison authorities made no effort to refer Stan to the City Civil Hospital despite his visible Parkinson's tremors and weak bones. It is not unusual for the authorities to consider such medical conditions unworthy of attention. Stan's health deteriorated considerably after he was jailed in October 2020. Before this, he could manage without any assistance, but was later reduced to depending on the help of others, Eventually, he had to move onto the wheelchair. I distinctively remember that one day early in Stan's incarceration, when he needed no assistance as such, the prison superintendent insisted that he pose for a photograph with seven or eight plastic sippers, a walking stick, a walker, a cot, a wheelchair and a western commode chair. It had taken a court order for Stan to be allowed a sipper, without which he could not drink water by himself because of his tremors. Stan stubbornly resisted, but the superintendent wanted evidence to demonstrate that he had provided facilities for any possible medical emergency, present or future. In retrospect, the jailer probably knew that conditions in prison would eventually reduce Stan to the wheelchair. The deterioration rapidly increased in May 2021. Anticipating a second round of Covid cases, the prison administration decided to empty all the cells on the ground floor of the prison hospital to make space for Covid patients and quarantine facilities. This meant that Stan, myself and the chachha who was our cellmate, would be shifted to the first floor. We had mixed feelings about this. Going to the first floor would allow us to interact more closely with one of our co-accused, Anand Teltumbde, who was on that floor. But Stan would miss his daily evening walks in the hospital quadrangle. However as in all such administrative transfers of prisoners, the choice is never ours. On May 10, we were shifted into a cell on the first floor of the hospital. Anand could now talk to us every day. We also briefly got to meet another co-accused, Hany Babu, before he was taken to a private hospital to treat his eye infection. But for Stan, things had changed for the worse. He immediately developed a severe cough. The Ayurvedic practitioner on duty decided that this should be treated by a strong antibiotic and prescribed a three-day course of Azithromycin. The cough subsided a bit, but then Stan got diarrhoea. As per prison-medical-practice, it was logical that this too had to be treated with another course of antibiotics. So Stan was additionally on dosages of Metronidazole and Ciprofloxacin. All this made Stan extremely weak. He now required to use a walker in the corridor. By the next weekly round of the prison superintendent and the senior-most Ayurvedic practitioner, Stan's weakness was too apparent to ignore. He could not even stand up. The doctor who had earlier prescribed a medical diet of boiled eggs and milk for Stan now advised him to avoid them due to the diarrhoea. On record, the prison was providing Stan with a 'high protein diet' but in reality this was not true. Stan had no other choice but to eat less as a means to control his diarrhoea. He even felt it would not be proper to use more water because the younger inmates in the hospital had to carry bucket-loads of water from almost half a kilometer away to fill the storage drum in our cell. On noticing this stark deterioration, Anand and I insisted with the doctor that Stan needed to be hospitalised. In fact, the oximeter was daily indicating oxygen (SPO2) levels of around 75%. The Ayurvedic doctor claimed that either the oximeter was malfunctioning or that the readings were incorrect because Stan's fingers were wrinkled. But despite him replacing the oximeter or trying several fingers, the readings did not change. Eventually, when Stan was put on oxygen, the doctors realised that the lone oxygen cylinder in the hospital was almost empty. Though still weak and obviously ill, on May 18, 2021, Stan was administered his first dose of the Covid vaccine. The very same day, he was transported to the City Civil Hospital in South Mumbai. We could not understand the urgency of doing both on the same day, but later realised that it was because the High Court was to hear Stan's application for bail on medical grounds on the following day. The prison authorities had to show that they had done their best. Later that evening, when Stan returned to our cell, he was not only visibly tired but also furious. The prison authorities had sent him to the wrong department at the hospital. Instead of taking him to the neurology department, he was taken to the psychiatry department where the interning doctors kept inquiring about his mental health. On the following day, May 19, during the bail hearings before the High Court, the report of the prison authorities was taken on record. Among other things, it stated that Stan was being 'provided high protein diet on daily basis; hot water for bathing daily; he has been provided two attendants (prisoners) at their own willingness for his health and necessary care to avoid fall; he is also provided with mattress, bed sheet, pillow, wheel chair, walker, waking stick, straws, sipper mug, sipper bottle, commode chair and battery cells for his hearing aid' and that he 'is also examined and treated by visiting psychiatrist at regular intervals'. The bench went on to direct the prison authorities to take Stan to the City Civil Hospital in Mumbai the next day for a medical check-up by a panel of specialist doctors such as a neuro physician, ENT specialist, orthopedic surgeon and general surgeon. Stan went to the hospital in the hope that he would be admitted and allowed to rest. But this time too, the visits to the various departments to be administered a battery of tests drained him physically. He returned to his cell in the evening thoroughly exhausted and disheartened. It was in this context that Stan felt it was futile to visit a hospital outside. If his legal plea to be with his own was denied he would prefer to die in prison. He had expressed this online to the High Court bench hearing his bail petition. Nevertheless, on the next date, May 28, the bench allowed Stan to be treated in a private hospital. On reaching the private hospital, the failure of the prison department was exposed. Stan was found to be Covid positive. Explanations were immediate. The prison superintendent and doctor told me that Stan had contacted the virus after leaving the prison gate and before entering the private hospital. It is this callousness and negligence of the prison department and its supervising institutions that are primarily responsible for the death of Father Stan Swamy. Other institutions are equally to blame and are party to his death.
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Business Standard
5 hours ago
- Business Standard
Jagan claims collapse of law and order in Andhra, demands President's rule
YSRCP chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday advocated the imposition of President's Rule in the state, alleging a total breakdown of law and order under the TDP-led NDA government. He alleged that YSRCP leaders and activists were being targeted through false cases, "illegal" arrests, and an "organised campaign of political harassment". "When there is no protection to politicians and citizens, law and order is deteriorating, and the Constitution is being violated, then why shouldn't President's rule be imposed?" Reddy posed on X. He said the recent attack on Dalit sarpanch Nagamalleswar Rao of Mannava village in Guntur district in broad daylight shows the "lawlessness" in the state and the video of that incident depicts the gravity of the situation. The former chief minister alleged that YSRCP workers were being "assaulted" for defying the ruling TDP and questioned whether people are truly safe under the Chandrababu Naidu government. Meanwhile, YSRCP SC Cell president TJR Sudhakar Babu accused Naidu of insulting Dalits. He alleged that the chief minister demeaned Dalit YSRCP supporter C Singayya, who died by allegedly falling under the wheels of Jagan Mohan Reddy's convoy at Etukuru Cross in Guntur district. Naidu likened Singayya to a dog and resorted to disrespecting the deceased person and politicising the tragedy, Babu alleged. The YSRCP leader also accused Naidu of showcasing "a pattern of hurling casteist insults", and cited previous remarks by TDP leaders, ostensibly questioning Dalits' education and political rights. Babu alleged that CM Naidu and IT Minister Nara Lokesh prioritise real estate over welfare and foster violence against Dalits, and demanded a full probe into Singayya's death. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
