The Hindu Editorial Analysis In English | Free PDF Download

Table of Contents

Beyond recompense

- ‘ISRO espionage case’
- The order, mercifully, lasted only for a short time, as the investigation shifted from the Kerala Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation after a few weeks.
- CBI: recommended closure of the case, citing complete lack of evidence and pointing to grave lapses in the police probe, which also used questionable methods and proceeded on nothing but suspicion.
- The attitude of the Kerala government: It opposed the CBI’s closure report and made a peevish attempt to revive the investigation by its own police.
- The latest Supreme Court order, forming a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to consider ways to take action against the officers, addresses this glaring inadequacy in the process of restorative justice for those maliciously arrested.

- The prosecution of these officers is long overdue.
- The court has reaffirmed the principle that compensation is a remedy for the violation of human rights.

The only way to avoid such a situation is to have a proper oversight mechanism to ensure that all investigation into crimes and complaints remains lawful.
While his honour and dignity were restored long back, the delay in a consequential inquiry into the conduct of the police officers concerned is disconcerting.

Power Games

• RBI February 12: asked banks to recognise loans as non-performing even if repayment was delayed by just 1 day and resolve them within 180 days.
• If banks failed to comply with the RBI’s new rules, these stressed assets had to be forced to undergo swift insolvency proceedings under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
• The Supreme Court has ordered a stay on the RBI’s circular.
+ For now, distressed power companies will be relieved.
– Undermine investor confidence
– Time frame
• The troubles of power companies can be traced to structural issues such as the absence of meaningful price reforms, unreliable fuel supply and the unsustainable finances of public sector power distribution companies.
• Banks, on the other hand, are unlikely to make much money out of these stressed assets until these structural problems are sorted adequately to attract investors.
• Policymakers, not courts, need to take charge and resolve these issues.
• Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India: lenders could realistically expect to recover less than a tenth of their dues if stressed assets are to be liquidated

The Supreme Court trans-formed

Transgender persons were routinely arrested and harassed by police, sexually abused, and had to bear the brunt of criminal threats as they were on the streets forced into begging and sex work.
In 2014, a bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri passed a judgment holding that transgender persons have the constitutional right to self-identify their gender as male, female or transgender even without medical re-assignment.

The Supreme Court held that the rights to life, dignity and autonomy would include the right to one’s gender identity and sexual orientation.
In 2017 came another big judgment in Puttaswamy v. Union of India, in which the Supreme Court said that there is a constitutional right to privacy inherent in the right to life, equality and fundamental freedoms.
It went on to hold that the right to privacy specifically includes the right to have intimate relations of one’s choice and the right to sexual orientation and gender identity, and that the Koushal judgment was incorrect.
Justice D.Y. Chandrachud: lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender persons have the constitutional rights to full and equal citizenship and protection of all fundamental rights.
Constitution protects the rights of all.

Financial News

Govt. moves to stabilise rupee

Important News

Haryana teenager gang-raped on way to class

A 19-year-old girl, an academic high achiever, was allegedly abducted and gangraped by three men from her native village in Haryana.
One of the accused is an Army constable, the victim’s family said.
Accusing the police of laxity, the victim’s family said the Rewari police took around 24 hours to transfer the Zero FIR registered by them to their Mahendergarh counterparts, allowing the accused enough time to escape.

Welfare panels can’t evaluate dowry complaints: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday modified its July 2017 order which roped in retirees, wives of “working officers” and social workers to sift genuine complaints of dowry harassment from the frivolous ones.
On July 27 last year, the court had ordered ‘family welfare committees’ to be set up in the districts.
Getting rid of these committees, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra held that such panels had no place under the established criminal procedural law.

‘Wiping out AIDS by 2030 will not be easy’