Those under preventive detention have right to vote: EC

Election Commission (EC) of India said that people under preventive detention have the right to vote.

EC made this statement ahead of Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana (voting on 15^th October) and warned that there should be no ground for any grievance due to non-compliance of the directive.

EC has written to the Chief Secretaries of Maharashtra and Haryana, reminding them of Section 62 (5) of the Representation of the People Act and the Conduct of Election Rules that specify that those in preventive detention are entitled to cast their votes by post.

EC’s letter also referred to the provisions in the Conduct of Election Rules under which:

The administration has to provide detail information to the Returning Officer of each constituency the names of electors under preventive detention, along with their addresses, electoral roll numbers so that postal ballots can be sent to them to facilitate them exercise their franchise in the elections.

Section 62 (5) of the Representation of the People Act and the Conduct of Election Rules

No person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police.

Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force.

What is preventive detention?

A person can be put in jail / custody for two reasons.

1. One is that he has committed a crime. In this case the person will go on trial and will be put jail as punishment prescribed by law and court ruling. It is termed as punitive detention.
2. Another is that he is potential to commit a crime in future. The custody arising out this is preventive detention and in this, a person is deemed likely to commit a crime.

Thus Preventive Detention is done before the crime has been committed.

Rights of an Arrested Person under Article 22 in Indian Constitution

• A person cannot be arrested and detained without being informed why he is being arrested.
• A person who is arrested cannot be denied to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. This means that the arrested person has right to hire a legal practitioner to defend himself/ herself.
• Every person who has been arrested would be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours.
• The custody of the detained person cannot be beyond the said period by the authority of magistrate.

However, Article 22 says that the above safeguards are not available to the following:

• If the person is at the time being an enemy alien.
• If the person is arrested under certain law made for the purpose of "Preventive Detention"

Summary of preventive detention provisions in Indian Constitution

• Every case of preventive detention must be authorized by law and not at the will of the executive.
• The Preventive detention cannot extend beyond a period of 3 months.
• Every case of preventive detention must be placed before an Advisory Board composed of Judges of the High Court (or persons qualified for Judges of the High Court).
• The case must be presented before the Advisory Board within 3 months.
• A continued detention after 3 months must be having a "favours of the Advisory Board".
• The person will be given opportunity to afford earliest opportunity to make a representation against the preventive detention.
• No person can be detained indefinitely.

Article 22 (7) provides exception to the above provisions. This clause of Article 22 mentions that:

When parliament prescribes by law the circumstances under which a person may be kept in detention may be kept in detention beyond 3 months without the opinion of the advisory board.

Parliament by law can also describe under the same law, the maximum period of detention.

Historical background and Timeline of Preventive detention in India

India is one of the few countries in the world whose Constitution allows for preventive detention even during peacetime. India has a long history of "Preventive Detention".

Pre Independence

1. 1818-In India the history of preventive detention dates back to the early days of the British rule when under the Bengal Regulation— III of 1818 (the Bengal State Prisoners Regulation) the government was empowered to detain anybody on mere suspicion.
2. 1939-Rule 26 of the Rules framed under the Defense of India Act 1939 allowed the detention of a person if it was "satisfied with respect to that particular person that such detention was necessary to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial" to the defense and safety of the country.

Post-Independence

3. 1950- The first post-independence Preventive Detention Act was passed in 1950. The validity of this act was challenged in the Supreme Court in the Gopalan v/s State of Madras Court. The Supreme Court held this act constitutionally valid except some provisions. This act expired in 1969.
4. 1971- Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was passed. MISA was basically a modified version of the PDA Act. It was abolished in 1978.
5. 1974- Another law, Conservation of Foreign exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) was enacted in 1974.
6. 1985- To tackle the heat of the terrorism in Punjab, the Terrorist & Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) was enacted in 1985. It was renewed in 1989, 1991 and 1993 and lapsed in 1995 due to increasing unpopularity due to widespread allegations of abuse.
7. 2001- Another similar act, Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) of 2001 came into force.
8. 2004-Both the TADA & POTO were later succeeded by another controversial Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) during 2002-04. This act was supported by the NDA Government but later was scrapped by the UPA government.
9. 2008- After the Bombay attacks of November 26, 2008 parliament enacted another anti terror law known as Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Lalitha Kumarmangalam appointed National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson

On 17th September 2014, Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has appointed BJP national executive member Lalitha Kumaramangalam as the new chief of the National Commission for Women (NCW).

She is the eighth chairperson of NCW.

About Lalitha Kumaramangalam

• Kumaramanglam is an alumnus of St. Stephen's College, Delhi and has an MBA from Madras University.
• She runs NGO called Prakriti.
• She had contested Lok Sabha elections in 2004 & 2009 but lost in both the elections.
• She was born to Mohan Kumaramangalam a communist ideologues, politician and trade union leader and Kalyani Mukherjee.

What is National Commission for Women (NCW)?

The National Commission for Women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990.

It was set up  to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women, recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.

Functions of NCW

• Investigate and examine all matters relating to the safeguards provided for women under the Constitution and legal safeguards for women, recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.
• It will present report to the Central Government annually and at such other items as the Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards.
• The NCW constitutes Expert Committees for dealing with such special issues as may be taken up by the Commission from time to time.
• Some important issues taken up by the NCW include sexual harassment at workplace, women in detention, anti-arrack movement, issues concerning prostitution and political and technological empowerment of women in agriculture.
• The Commission has initiated generation of legal awareness among women, thus equipping them with the knowledge of their legal rights and with a capacity to use these rights. It assists women in redressal of their grievances through pre-litigation services.

PMO constituted committee to facilitate utilization of Mineral resources in Meghalaya

On 11 September 2014, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) constituted a six-member committee to facilitate systemic, scientific and planned utilisation of mineral resources in Meghalaya to prevent environmental degradation.

The Committee will be chaired by the cabinet secretary and other members are Home secretary, Coal ministry secretary, Mines secretary and Meghalaya chief secretary.

The committee was constituted on the request of Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma.

In July 2014, Mukul Sangma has taken up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and engaged a renowned Constitutional lawyer to advise the state government on how to deal with the coal ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Why there is need to constitute this committee?

The Meghalaya government has approved the Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy in 2012 but its rules are yet to come up and made operational affecting the environment due to mining.

In April 2014, NGT has put on hold all coal mining activities pending operationalising of a scheme to meet statutory requirement of environment protection and safety.

SC ruled 3 percent quota for disabled persons in all government jobs

On 12^th September 2014, Supreme Court ruled 3 percent quota for disabled persons in all government jobs.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha said that the disabled people have not got their due in the last 19 years, despite the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act was passed in 1995.

The bench also comprised Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton F Nariman.

On the other hand, government contended that reservation cannot be given in case of promotion to Group A and Group B officers category as it is not a case of appointment.

Further, it claimed that the Persons with Disabilities Act provides for three per cent quota for the differently-abled people.

The bench, however, observed that appointment is a broader concept and the Centre is giving a narrow interpretation of it.

Hence, SC allowed the reservation in all categories of government jobs including in the matters of appointment, selection, direct recruitment, deputation and also for promotions.

The bench also included that the principle of not exceeding 50 per cent reservation would not be applicable while granting quota for differently-abled people.

The bench ruled that the objective of the reservation policy, as envisaged by Parliament, was unequivocal that the differently-abled people must get the benefits without technical impediments.

The court dismissed the petition of the Centre challenging an order of Bombay high court which had directed the Centre and the Union Public Service Commission to implement 3 per cent quota in direct recruitment and promotions for the disabled in the IAS.

Repeal 72 archaic laws: Law panel to government

On 12^th September 2014, Law Commission submitted a list of 72 laws to the government that need to be repealed immediately.

Law Commission chairman Justice A P Shah, submitted this report to law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Justice Shah said the commission was studying all Acts and would make a comprehensive recommendation on laws that need amendments. This report will be prepared once obsolete 

laws are deleted from the statute books. 

The report said that, 72 laws needed to be repealed as the laws in question were outdated and were no longer needed to govern that subject.

In some cases, the purpose of these laws has been fulfilled and they were no longer needed and newer laws or regulations had been brought in to govern the subject. 

The commission said it had earlier recommended repeal of 253 such laws, but they still 

existed on the statute books. The commission, while pursuing the study, also found that 34 repealed laws still figured on the government website. The government has been asked to remove them and update its websites.

Among the list of 72 laws:

• The oldest is the Bengal Districts Act of 1836 that provides for creation of districts.
• Another Act of the same time, stipulates that only residents of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal can be directors of the Bengal Bonded Warehouse Association and that the association can sell its property only to the East India Company. (Neither the warehouse nor the East India Company is in existence, but the Act continues on the statute books) 
• The Bengal Bonded Warehouse Association Act of 1838, recommended for repeal, was enacted to stipulate that only residents of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal could be directors of the Bengal Bonded Warehouse Association and that the association could sell its property only to the East India Company. "The East India Company is no longer in existence, and the Presidency of Fort William has also ceased to exist as an administrative unit. Consequently, the Act is now redundant," the report said. 
• The Police (Incitement to Disaffection) Act of 1922 was introduced by the colonial government as a curb on nationalist activities and made it an offence to spread disaffection among the police. The Act is loosely worded and prone to misuse. Also, the Act does not describe what amounts to 'disaffection'. 

Single-phase State Assembly elections in Maharashtra & Haryana on Oct 15, result on Oct 19

On 12^th September 2014, Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates of Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections. 

The Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath announced the dates in New Delhi.

The two states will go to the polls on October 15. The counting of votes will take place on October 19. 

In Maharashtra, 288 assembly constituencies will go to the polls while Haryana will vote for 90 seats. 

There will 16,244 polling stations are in Haryana and 90,403 in Maharashtra for this state assembly elections.

In Maharashtra of the 288 seats, 29 and 25 each have been reserved for SC and ST candidates.

As per ECI announcement, last date for filing nominations will be September 29 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination will be October 1. 

These state assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana will be held in in a single-phase i.e one-day poll on October 15.

In Maharashtra, over 8.28 crore voters will elect 13th state assembly and its 18th chief minister.

The bypoll for the parliamentary seat of Beed, vacated following the death of BJP leader Gopinath Munde, will also be held on October 15.

In this election, an experiment of VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) system will be carried in 13 seats across the state, where voters around 3,942 polling stations in will get to verify if their votes have been cast correctly.

Statistic of 2009 Assembly elections of Maharashtra

Sr no	Party	Contested	Won	Voteshare (%)
1	Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)	119	46	14.0
2	Shiv Sena (SS)	169	44	16.3
3	Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)	143	13	5.2
4	Indian National Congress (INC)	170	82	21.1
5	Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)	113	62	16.4
6	Independent	1820	24	15.6
7	Others	772	17	12.8

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)

VVPAT is method of providing feedback to voters after casting their vote in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

At present, EVM's are used for voting and counting in elections. VVPAT will help to resolve the election disputes by providing physical verification of the votes in EVM's.

How Does VVPAT works?

In VVPAT printer is attached to the balloting unit of the voting machine.

When a voter casts his vote by pressing the button on EVM for a particular candidate, the printer generates a paper slip containing the serial number, name and symbol of candidate for whom the vote has been cast.

The paper slip remains visible to the voter through a window covered by glass on the printer  and after sufficient time gets automatically cut-off and falls in the box permanently attach below the printer.

How VVPAT is going to help?

This system enables the voter to verify and satisfy himself that the vote casted by him for the candidate of his choice has been actually recorded correctly for that candidate.

This will help to detect possible election fraud or malfunction and bringing transparency in voting mechanism, making elections free and fair.

The election commission of India for 1st time used EVM with VVPAT on 4th September 2013 for the by elections to the Noksen Assembly constituency in Nagaland.

VVPAT are manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronic Corporation of India (ECIL).

Cost of each VVPAT systems is Rs.12000, introducing VVPAT systems throughout country will cost around 2000 – 3000 crore rupees.

To allow VVPAT system with the EVM in by election, Government of India on August 14, 2013 amended the conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

Government taps 9,000 phones every month: Report

As per report of Internet Governance Forum in Istanbul, Union government issues 7,500-9,000 telephone interception orders on an average each month.

Istanbul based forum has made this report based upon statistics taken from a May 2014, 

RTI reply from the union ministry of home affairs.

What is Phone Tapping?

Phone tapping means secretly listening or/and recording a communication channel (esp. a telephone) in order to get information.

It is also known as ‘wire-tapping’ in some countries (primarily in USA).

It can only be done in an authorized manner with permission from the department concerned.

If it is undertaken in an unauthorized manner then it is illegal and will result in prosecution of the person responsible for breach of privacy.

Procedure for Phone tapping in India

Both, the Central and the State Governments have a right to tap phones under section 5 of Indian Telegraphic Act, 1885.

Section 5(2) of the amended Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, permits following agencies to intercept in case of public emergency or in the interest of public safety:

1. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
2. Intelligence Bureau (IB).
3. Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).
4. Enforcement Directorate(ED).
5. National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).
6. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
7. Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
8. Income-Tax Department
9. State police.

Commanding Officers i.e. Field officials of above enforcement agencies initiate the process of tapping after final command is given by Union home secretary in case of Central government agencies & state home secretary for state police.

Specific reasons have to be mentioned in the application for tapping any person phone. In the application it must be explained that how tapping will help in further investigation of the case.

The ministry considers the request and grants permission if it the reason specified seems fit, otherwise the request is denied.

The home secretary's authorisation was made mandatory by a Supreme Court judgment in 1996.

Every above mentioned agencies have an Internal Evaluation Cell to examine outcomes. The highest body to monitor lawful telephone interception is Oversight Committee headed by cabinet secretary.

Maximum for 180 days a phone can be tapped. But in this case after every 60 days, a fresh permission needs to be taken.

For maximum 72 hours authorised agencies can tap a phone without permission in case of an emergency situation. But in this case, after 72 hours permission must be taken. If permission is denied, the records of tapped conversations need to be destroyed in 48 hours.

Equipment’s used by Government agencies for authorized phone tapping

In old times the equipment manufactured by a small firm in Bangalore and tapes were used for recording.

These machines were manual and someone had to be posted to plug in the lines. Till 1992, 

one machine could tap only 10 lines.

At present wide range of snooping equipment is available.

Modern gadgets can recognize voices and automatically record a conversation.

Now, government has following Mass Surveillance projects:

• Network Traffic Analysis (NETRA)
• National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)
• Central Monitoring System (CMS)

What can be done tapping takes place in an unauthorized manner or illegal phone tapping?

If phone tapping is undertaken in an unauthorized manner then it is illegal and will result in prosecution of the person/agencies responsible for breach of privacy.

Let’s take example of illegal tapping:

A car loaded with laptop-sized phone-interception machine is parked near the target's residence or office. The phone number of the target is fed into the machine. Once the target takes a call, it automatically gets recorded in the machine.

In this case, these machines are illegally imported into India.

In case of illegal phone tapping, the culprits can be charged with violations of the IT Act and the Telegraph Act for illegally accessing private information.

This punishment may be upto 3 years of imprisonment under Section 26 (b) of the Indian Telegraph Act.

Person whose phone is illegally tapped can file an FIR and also move the Human Rights Commission as unauthorised tapping is violation of right to privacy.

Note: Private detectives don’t have authority to tap anyone’s phone. If they are tapping anyone’s phone then it is considered as case of illegal phone tapping.