CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury wrote a letter to Ram Nath Kovind, president of India, on December 16, bring to his notice a very serious complaint against Pankaj Mithal, the chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, who has violated his oath and compromised the constitutional office held by him.

Mithal addressed a programme organised by an organisation affiliated to the RSS on December 5, 2021 at Jammu and spoke against the Constitution of India.

It has been widely reported in the media that Mithal addressed a seminar organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad and said the following: “Inclusion of the terms secular and socialist in the preamble of the constitution had narrowed India’s spiritual image”. He is further reported to have said: “Sometimes, we bring amendments due to our adamancy.”

Yechury said that utterances against the country’s constitution by a High Court chief justice, that too from a platform which preaches a particular ideology, is an unpardonable offence, which is in violation of the oath taken by him to carry out his constitutional functions.

Mithal’s conduct unbecoming of the constitutional office of the chief justice that he is holding warrants his immediate removal from the said office. Yechury requested the president of India, who is the custodian of the constitution, the head of the State and the appointing authority of Mithal, to immediately set in motion the process for his removal from office to uphold the sanctity of the constitution and independence of judiciary.

A copy of the letter was also sent to N V Ramana, chief justice of India.

Human Rights Trampled in J&K

HUMAN rights in Jammu and Kashmir are being trampled by state and non-state actors with recent killing of civilians in a tragic incident at Hyderpora and targeted killings of civilians in October are glaring examples, said CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami.

In a statement on World Human Rights day on December 10, he said the gross violation of human rights has left behind traumatising tales almost in all pockets of the region.

The targeted killing of civilians, including members of minority community, in October and the Hyderpora shocking  incident, in which three civilians were killed gives us a grim reminder as to how human rights of people are being violated with impunity in Kashmir, he said.

Not only through killings, but human rights of people here are being violated by indiscriminately detaining them under draconian laws like Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Public Safety Act PSA. This situation has seen an alarming rise after the unconstitutional and undemocratic scrapping of erstwhile state’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019 and subsequent security clampdown.

Freedom of expression which is a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights continues being trampled upon.

Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), a lawless law that enables the security forces to act with impunity, has led to atrocity after atrocity on the civilian population in J&K after its implementation in 1990 and in North-East since 1958. The AFSPA, along with the PSA and UAPA and other draconian measures have created a regime of impunity and brutal excesses on the civilian population in this region in the past three decades.

Under AFSPA, to prosecute any security personnel for a crime committed requires sanction from the central government. This is practically impossible as the experience of Jammu & Kashmir shows. Till July 2018, successive state governments had sent 50 cases for sanction of prosecution against armed forces personnel under the AFSPA. However, the union government denied permission to prosecute in all these cases. There is an immediate need to repeal these draconian laws.