Supreme Court discourages use of Article 32 in scribe case

Source:-https://www.hindustantimes.com

The Supreme Court said on Monday it was trying to discourage the use of a provision that allows incarcerated people to directly approach the top court against violation of their fundamental rights as it felt that high courts were well-equipped to deal with such matters.

In a case pertaining to Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan, who is facing charges of sedition and offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and who is being probed by the Uttar Pradesh police for alleged links with banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), the SC said it was trying to discourage the use of Article 32. Article 32 of the Constitution allows any citizen to approach the Supreme Court against the breach of any fundamental right.

Kappan was arrested on October 5 while on his way to Hathras to report the death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl after she was gang-raped.

The bench headed by the CJI issued notice to the UP government on a petition filed on behalf of Kappan by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and posted the matter for hearing on Friday. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for KUWJ, sought interim bail for Kappan, but the bench wished to hear the state first before passing any order.

The SC bench told Sibal of its reservation to entertain the petition, saying that such petitions should be filed before high courts. “We are trying to discourage Article 32 petitions. Of late, we find a spate of Article 32 petitions.”

Sibal mentioned the fact that the court was granting bail in Article 32 petitions and in this case, too, an extraordinary situation arose due to the arrest of a journalist. The bench said: “We are not commenting on the merits of the case. We are aware of similar orders in the past and the vast powers that this Court possesses under Article 32. We want to discourage this trend.” Although notice was issued, the bench told Sibal that it was keen on ordering the petition to be heard by the Allahabad high court.

In another case, involving Sameet Thakkar, a resident of Nagpur who is currently under arrest in multiple criminal cases for his tweets on Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the SC decline to entertain a petition under Article 32. Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who appeared for Thakkar, pointed out that while all offences were bailable, his client was being arrested in one case after another.

The bench of CJI Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian told Jethmalani to approach the Bombay high court. The bench said: “High Court can also uphold your fundamental rights and grant you bail. Why are you coming under Article 32?”

Jethmalani pointed out that the facts of the case were “shocking” as was under arrest for three weeks, with the police treating him inhumanly by producing him in court with a rope around his neck. The bench replied: “We are quite immune from shocks. What makes you think that we approve of all this. We are only saying go to the High Court. You can point all this out to the High Court too.”

The Maharashtra government, represented by advocate Rahul Chitnis, informed the court that the petitioner’s custodial interrogation was over and the state would not oppose his bail plea. The bench held: “The petitioner seeks permission to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to move before the appropriate forum.”

A magistrate’s court in Mumbai later granted bail to Thakkar in one of the three cases registered against him for allegedly tweeting “objectionable” content against Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray.

Thakkar was granted a cash bail of Rs 25,000 by the magistrate’s court in Bandra, said his lawyer Abad Ponda. He secured bail in a case registered against him at the BKC Cyber Cell police station in Mumbai following his tweet against the Thackerays earlier this year.

Two more FIRs were registered against him for the same tweets, one in Nagpur, and another in the VP Road police station, also in Mumbai.

Ponda said Thakkar will be released from jail following the bail order since he had already secured similar relief in the other two cases.

Thakkar was arrested by the Mumbai Police in October this year after he failed to appear before the VP Road and BKC police stations to record his statement, despite a Bombay HC order directing him to do so.