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‘Privacy doesn't confer right on consenting adults to do illegal act'
- The Delhi High Court judgment, declaring ultra vires Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code relating to unnatural sex between two consenting adults and holding that it is violative of the right to privacy, is clearly erroneous, Amarendra Saran argued in the Supreme Court
- The senior counsel appearing for the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said the right to privacy did not confer any right on consenting adults to commit an act which was illegal. It “does not confer any immunity to crimes committed by consenting adults in private.”
- Counsel noted that the High Court, while reading down Section 377 had held that it was constitutional morality alone that could pass the test of compelling state interest and public morality had no role to play. But “public morality has been a very important consideration in framing a law as is evident from the provisions contained in Articles 19, 25 and 26.”
- Mr. Saran said the community had a higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and that was all the more reason to ban such behaviour.
- Mr. Saran told the court: “Tomorrow dowry-seekers can say that they are being discriminated [against] by non-dowry seekers. Can they be allowed to challenge the validity of Section 304 B IPC (dealing with dowry deaths)?”
- Justice Singhvi said a member of the younger generation might want to run naked on the street. That could be a natural right “but is it a fundamental right? In such cases what happens to the right of dignity of others, or the right of privacy? What about exchange of wives?”
Centre evolving uniform surrender policy for Naxal-hit States
- In a bid to motivate Maoists to join the mainstream, the government is likely to come up with a new uniform surrender policy for all Left Wing Extremism-affected States, offering Rs. 5 lakh to anyone laying down a Light Machine Gun (LMG) and Rs. 3 lakh to those depositing an AK-47 assault rifle.
- At present, different State governments follow different surrender policies and surrender packages that include varying financial incentives.
- The policy, announced by the Home Ministry last year, offers an incentive of Rs. 15,000 for each deposited AK 47/56/74 rifle, Rs. 25,000 for each Rocket Propelled Grenade/sniper rifle and Rs. 3,000 for a pistol or revolver.
- At the meeting, States and paramilitary forces were asked to take all possible steps to ensure protection of human rights of every individual while carrying out anti-Maoist operations and countering Naxals' negative propaganda.
- The Home Ministry also indicated that it was keen on extending the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) being implemented in 78 worst Naxal-affected districts.
- Chief Secretaries and DGPs or their representatives of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh attended the meeting.
Common entrance for engineering aspirants from 2013
- Students aspiring to join the central engineering institutions will have to write a common national examination from next year.
- The State governments and private institutions can, however, decide whether or not to join the common entrance test regime.
- It will cover admissions to 15 IITs, 30 National Institutes of Technology and four Indian Institutes of Information Technology.
- While Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Chandigarh have already decided to join this system, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Puducherry and West Bengal sought more time to study the proposal in detail.
- All universities and institutions offering engineering courses will now use the all-India merit list for admissions.
- The final merit list will be prepared, with a 40 per cent weightage for the State Board examination results and 60 per cent for the entrance test marks.
- The test would have two parts: main and advanced, to test the general aptitude and specific knowledge in the subject. The formula for equivalence across boards, derived by the Indian Statistical Institute, has taken into account the results of the last five years.
