New Delhi:

Terming as “highly objectionable” the observation made by a high court about make-up articles and a widow, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said such a comment was not commensurate with the sensitivity and neutrality expected from a court of law.

The Supreme Court was dealing with the appeals filed against a verdict of the Patna High Court in a murder case of 1985 in which a woman was abducted and later killed, allegedly to obtain possession of a house belonging to her father.

The high court had upheld the conviction of five persons in the case and had set aside the acquittal of two other co-accused. It had convicted the two persons, who were earlier acquitted of all charges by a trial court, and sentenced them to life.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma noted the high court had examined the question of whether the victim was actually residing in the house from where she was alleged to have been abducted.

The top court also noted that relying on the testimonies of the maternal uncle and brother-in-law of the woman as well as the investigating officer (IO), the high court had concluded that the victim was residing in the said house.

The bench noted the IO had inspected the house and no direct material, except some make-up articles, could be gathered to indicate that the victim was actually residing there.

It said admittedly, another woman, who was a widow, was also residing in the same portion of the house.

The bench noted the high court did take note of this fact but explained it away by observing that since the other woman was a widow, “the make-up articles could not have belonged to her as there was no need for her to put on make-up, being a widow”.

“In our opinion, the observation of the high court is not only legally untenable but also highly objectionable. A sweeping observation of this nature is not commensurate with the sensitivity and neutrality expected from a court of law, specifically when the same is not made out from any evidence on record,” the bench said in its verdict.

It said mere presence of certain make-up articles cannot be conclusive proof of the fact that the woman was residing in the house, especially when another woman was admittedly residing there.

“The make-up articles were linked with the deceased on the basis of a completely unacceptable reasoning and without any corroborative material,” the bench noted.

It said no personal belongings of the woman such as clothes and footwear could be found in the entire house.

The bench noted that the victim had died in August 1985 in Munger district and a report was lodged by her brother-in-law that she was abducted by seven persons from their house.

The bench noted that an FIR was lodged and later, a chargesheet was filed against seven accused.

The trial court had convicted five accused for commission of offences, including that of murder while the other two were acquitted of all charges.

In its verdict, the Supreme Court said there was no direct evidence on record to prove the commission of murder by the accused persons.

“As regards motive, we may suffice to say that motive has a bearing only when the evidence on record is sufficient to prove the ingredients of the offences under consideration. Without the proof of foundational facts, the case of the prosecution cannot succeed on the presence of motive alone,” the bench said.

The top court acquitted the seven accused of all the charges and directed that they be released forthwith, if in custody. 

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New Delhi:

The Bihar government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Patna High Court verdict that has set aside the amended reservation laws in the state, which enabled the Nitish Kumar government to increase the quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent.

In its June 20 verdict, the high court declared that the amendments, passed unanimously by the state’s bicameral legislature in November last year, were “ultra vires” of the Constitution, “bad in law” and “violative of the equality clause”.

The state’s plea has been filed in the top court through advocate Manish Kumar.

A division bench of the high court had allowed a bunch of petitions challenging the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the Bihar (In Admission in Educational Institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, while “leaving the parties to suffer their respective costs”.

In a detailed order running into 87 pages, the high court made it clear that it saw “no extenuating circumstance enabling the state to breach” the 50-per cent cap on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case.

“The state proceeded on the mere proportion of population of different categories as against their numerical representation in government services and educational institutions,” the high court pointed out.

The amendments had followed a caste survey, which put the percentage of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) at a staggering 63 per cent of the state’s total population, while the SCs and STs were stated to have accounted for more than 21 per cent.

The exercise was undertaken by the Bihar government after the Centre expressed its inability to carry out a fresh headcount of castes other than the SCs and STs, which was last held as part of the 1931 Census. 

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New Delhi:

In a big setback to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court today struck down the 65 per cent reservation in government jobs and education that was introduced last year after a statewide caste survey. The state government’s move had taken the reservation in Bihar past the 50 per cent cap mandated by the Supreme Court.

The order was passed by a division bench headed by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran on petitions opposing the legislation brought by the Nitish Kumar government in November 2023. Mr Kumar’s JDU was then allied to the RJD and the Congress. A month later, he switched to the BJP and became Chief Minister again. 

Ritika Rani, one of the counsels appearing for the petitioners, told news agency PTI, “We had submitted that the amendments to the reservation laws were violative of the Constitution. After hearing both sides, the court had reserved its judgement in March. Today, the final order has come.”

In November last year, days after the Bihar Assembly unanimously passed the reservation Bill, the Nitish Kumar government had issued gazette notifications for raising the quota for deprived castes from 50 to 65 per cent in state government jobs and educational institutions.

Senior JDU leader and minister Ashok Choudhary said the state government will study the judgment and challenge it in the Supreme Court. 

Responding to the high court ruling, RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha said it is an “unfortunate” development. “Such rulings prolong the journey towards the destination of social justice. We remember Tamil Nadu had to struggle for many years, we will do the same. But we must see what is the social background of these petitioners, who is controlling them from behind the curtains. We saw the same thing during the caste survey,” he said.

The RJD leader stressed the party’s demand to put reservation under the ninth schedule of the Constitution to shield it from court orders. “The NDA government is in power now, courtesy Nitish Kumar. He should go to the higher court and secure the rights of a big population.”

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended the names of seven judicial officers for appointment as judges of the Patna and Madhya Pradesh High Courts.

The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, named judicial officers Rudra Prakash Mishra and Ramesh Chand Malviya as judges of the Patna High Court.

“On May 8, 2023, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Patna in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues recommended the elevation of the above judicial officers as Judges of the High Court of Judicature at Patna.

“The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Bihar have concurred with the recommendation. In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the above persons for elevation to the High Court, we have consulted Judges of the Supreme Court who are conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Judicature at Patna,” the collegium said.

For the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the candidates for elevation to the high court, the collegium scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record including the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file as well as the complaints received against the candidates.

In another decision, the collegium recommended the names of judicial officers Rajendra Kumar Vani, Pramod Kumar Agrawal, Binod Kumar Dwivedi, Devnarayan Mishra and Gajendra Singh as judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

“On May 11, 2023 and August 9, 2023, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues made the above recommendation.

“The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Madhya Pradesh have concurred with the recommendations. In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the above persons for elevation to the High Court, we have consulted our colleague conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh,” the collegium said.

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