FREEDOM OF SPEECH "DONT HIT BELOW THE BELT" CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

Coming right after the recent controversy over posting of comments on Facebook by two Mumbai girls, Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir said here today that Freedom of Speech and Expression cannot be used as an instrument to “hit someone below the belt.”

Emphasizing that Freedom of Speech and Expression is one of the most important fundamental rights of a citizen; he however, added that the right must be used in a “proper and disciplined manner” so that it doesn’t offend others.

“Freedom of expression is one of the most important fundamental rights in a democracy and must be used properly in a disciplined manner without hitting someone under the belt. It must be used reasonably,” the Chief Justice suggested.

On section 66 A of Information Technology Act, 2000, the Chief Justice on the other hand refused to say much as the matter is pending before the Court.

A PIL was filed by Delhi Student recently, to amend the section as the "the phraseology of Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000 is so wide and vague and incapable of being judged on objective standards, that it is susceptible to wanton abuse and hence falls foul of Article 14, 19 (1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution."

Under the present section of the IT Act, anyone can be punished for sending offensive messages information etc through computer resource or a communication device. The PIL argues that the section violates Freedom of Speech and Expression.

Kabir said that the section needs more clarity adding that it can be misused in its present form as the language has a wide interpretation. He said that points have been brought before people involved in framing of the rules so that “ways and means can be channelized.”

The Chief Justice, who was here to launch a programme of legal aid awareness classes and clubs in schools and colleges, also said that in exercising ones right to speech and expression an individual must “self-regulate.”

He said that freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1 and 2) can be balanced to some extent, but he said, the best option before the people is to adopt an approach of self-regulation.

“We have to self-regulate and if we say, for example, that we mustn’t then we create a difficult situation. We have to know where to draw the line,” Kabir added.

MEGHALAYA PWDs: "WANT ACTION, NOT SONGS AND DANCES"

Meghalaya Government must “take action” to alleviate problems of people with Disabilities (PWD) instead of organizing just “dancing and singing programmes” every year on World Disability Day.

“We don’t want just singing and dancing programmes to mark World Disability Day, but want action for an inclusive and barrier-free association with everyone,” Celene Lawai, a young girl with locomotive disability, demanded. The Social welfare department organizes such programmes, which Celene says is okay, but such programmes “doesn’t create change” in PWDs’ lives.

“We instead want to have conferences with the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and other officers so that we can discuss some of our problems. We want an inclusive and barrier-free association with the Government and the society,” the young girl said.

Celene, together with Melip D Sangma, president of Association of Challenged People of Meghalaya and others had a candid interaction with the media here today on occasion of World Disability Day sharing some of the problems faced by people with disability in Meghalaya.

Steps, Celene continued, aren’t exactly the stepping stones to success, but are in fact “barriers” and makes life more difficult for some of the PWDs with movement problems.

 “I don’t like someone helping me up the stairs. I would rather like to move my wheelchair around, but in most offices and even the secretariat do not have arrangement for ramps and this makes it difficult to call upon officers in these buildings,” she said.

Sangma on the other hand said that the government must ensure that the Government buildings in the newly created districts must be made assessable for all. “Please consider the accessibility factor for PWDs when you make these new buildings,” Sangma urged the Government.

Reiterating that “barriers must be removed to remove pain,” Celene said: “nothing should be decided about us without us.” She lamented that most of the Government decision are being made without taking into confidence the PWDs of the state. There are over 32000 PWDS in Meghalaya, according to the census data.

Another important factor relating to the PWDs is education. Celene said that most of the schools don’t have trained teachers to teach both the non-disable and disable students. “The schools must be inclusive under the PWD Act and teachers must be trained accordingly, especially for the hearing and visually impaired,” she pointed out.

MORE ATHLETES THAN FOUR OLYMPICS IN MEGHALAYA POLICE RECRUITMENT RALLY

There are more athletes here than in the London, Beijing, Athen and Sydney Olympics put together  and the competition is fierce where contestants are fighting it out in the grueling 10 km and 5.5 km race, day and night.

Welcome to the recruitment rally for the post of unarmed and armed police constables in Meghalaya police department. More than 45,000 candidates have submitted their form for about 1500 openings.

And with the recruitment process beginning from November 26, candidates from far-flung regions of the state are putting all their effort to run 10 kms in under one hour in the case of male candidates and 5.5 km in forty minutes for women candidates.

The test is being held every day and also in some instances in the night under flood lights, where about 1500 candidates are taking the grueling test daily in two centres, one at 1st Battalion, MLP Mawiong, East Khasi Hills district and the other at 2nd Battalion, MLP Goeragre, East Garo Hills district.

“The test begins at 10 am. We are able to take the test of about 1500 applicants in a day. The process would continue till the 45000 odd candidate takes their test. We are also conducting the test in the evening under lights or else we would not be able to complete the recruitment process on time,” BL Buam additional director general of police, said.

The Meghalaya police, Buam said, first printed 20,000 forms, but due to the overwhelming response, it printed another 20,000, but when that too was insufficient it decided to print 1.2 lakh forms and distributed across the state.

In the 10 km run for male candidates, the field at Mawiong represents a fierce battlefield where ambulances and medics are present with other policemen neatly queuing up rows of water bottles for the contestants who run 25 laps to complete 10 kms and 14 laps in the case of female candidates. In case of Goeragre the male candidates run 33 laps to complete 10 kms and 20 laps to complete 5.5 km for female candidates.

The candidates, moreover, have signed a bond that the board would not be held responsible in case of any eventuality and only those medically fit are encouraged to undergo the test.

The race again is being held with the help of advanced technology. Radio Frequency Identification tags are fitted on the contestants legs, which gives the exact timing of the runners from the start to the finish.

These are studied by experts and the contestants are given their result there and then. Those who qualify would be eligible to sit for the written test to be held later and those who don’t have to bid adieu.

 “We have done away with measurement of chest, and other eligibility requirement done previously such as high and long jump etc as it is felt that a contestant who can run 10 km (and 5.5 km for women) under one hour is medically fit enough to take up the rigours of a policemen,” Buam said.

Buam believes that the run would take another 15-20 days to be complete going by the number of applicants. The multiple choice written test would be on English grammar, science, arithmetic and general knowledge. The answer sheet would be optical mark recognition for quick and transparent evaluation.

Finally, the personal interviews would be held and the entire proceedings would be held on camera. “We want to do away with this fear of nepotism and biasness in the entire recruitment process,” Buam added.