Mumbai Apr 18 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit detailing what steps it has taken towards preventing the solemnisation of child marriages in the state A division bench of Justices Amjad Sayed and Abhay Ahuja noted that there are hardly any cases registered in the state related to child marriage offences The bench was hearing a public interest litigation PIL that raised issues related to child marriages in Maharashtra and non-implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act PCA The Act prohibits solemnisation of marriage of a boy who is less than 21 years of age and a girl who is less than 18 years old As per the petition the Rules to be framed under the Act is still in the pipeline The state government shall file its affidavit In the affidavit the government shall say what steps it has taken on the issue the court said It appears that there are hardly any case registered under the Act Justice Sayed said The court will hear the plea further on June 13 Advocates Asim Sarode and Ajinkya Udane appearing for the petitioner claimed before the court that around one lakh cases of child marriages take place per year across the state As per the PIL the effects of early marriage have devastating consequences for a girls health and other aspects of her life Child brides are frequently deprived for their rights to health education girls married young are far less likely to stay in school with lifelong economic impacts Child brides are also at greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth contracting HIVAIDS and suffering domestic violence the plea noted The petition suggested certain steps for effective implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act PTI SP RSY RSY

Mumbai Mar 31 PTI The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to grant any interim stay on the ongoing trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast while hearing a petition filed by Lt Col Prasad Purohit an accused in the caseA division bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak refused to stay the trial observing the process had already reached midwayThe trial is already midway with many witnesses already produced We are not at all inclined towards passing any order which will block the trial the HC saidThe bench noted that so far the prosecution had examined over 245 people and around 100 remained to be examined by the special court in the city that is conducting the trialAs on March 30 as many as 20 witnesses were declared hostile by the prosecution in the caseThe HCs observations came on a request for interim stay on the trial made by Purohits advocate MR VenkateshI am seeking a stay on the trial said Venkatesh But before he could continue the judges stopped him and said they were not inclined to stay the trialVenkatesh was arguing on Purohits behalf on a plea challenging the validity of the sanction granted by the government to prosecute him under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in the caseThe HC will hear the plea on the issue of sanction further on June 21Six people were killed and over 100 injured after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon in north Maharashtra about 200 kilometres from Mumbai on September 29 2008 All the seven accused in the case are currently out on bail PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Feb 28 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday granted two more days to the Maharashtra government to issue fresh directives on whether people who have not taken the anti-COVID-19 vaccine or have taken only one dose would be allowed to travel in local trains The state government had last week withdrawn three of its circulars issued last year by which only fully vaccinated people were allowed to use the local trains considered as the lifeline of Mumbai and to go to public places like malls and movie theatres The governments move to withdraw the circulars came after the HC said those orders were illegal and issued without following the procedure prescribed under provisions of the Disaster Management Rules The court was hearing a bunch of Public Interest Litigations challenging the prohibition on use of local trains in the city by unvaccinated people saying it was illegal arbitrary and in breach of the citizens fundamental right to move freely across the country as guaranteed by Article 19 1 d of the Constitution The state government had last week told the HC that the state executive committee would hold a meeting on February 25 after which fresh directives would be issued On Monday government pleader P P Kakade told the court that the meeting was held but sought two more days for the order to be issued The minutes of the meeting and all other relevant material have been placed before the chief secretary for his signature The government officials are busy and held up due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis as several students from Maharashtra are stranded there Kakade said The bench agreed and posted the matter for further hearing on March 2 but also said no further time would be granted Your government chief secretary is retiring today Dont take more time on this ground Chief Justice Datta said To this Kakade said the chief secretary would sign the fresh order before retiring PTI SP GK GK

Mumbai Feb 23 PTI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Maharashtra governments rule mandating shops and establishments to display their names in Marathi Devanagari script language was reasonable and refused to quash it A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar dismissed a petition filed by the Federation of Retail Traders and imposed a cost of Rs 25000 on it The court in its order noted that there was no bar on using any other language in their display board and the rule only mandated the shops name to be displayed in Marathi The petition had challenged an amendment to the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service Act 2017 as per which all shops and establishments have to display signboards of their names in Marathi the font of which shall be the same as that of the other script and not smaller The federation said this was in violation of Articles 13 Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights 19 Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech and 21 Protection of life and personal liberty of the Constitution of India The petitioners advocate Mayur Khandeparkar argued that the state government had adopted Marathi as its official language for its own use The government cannot foist any language on its citizens he argued The bench then questioned as to how the petitioners fundamental rights were violated when the government was not imposing a bar on anyone from using any other language If the rule said that you have to use only Marathi then it would have been a matter of discussion Here you can use any other language as well as there is no bar Justice Patel said Justice Jamdar said the rule was for the convenience of Maharashtras public at large whose mother tongue is Marathi What the petitioner fails to recognise is that this requirement is not meant for retail traders but meant for workers and public who approach them who are more likely to be familiar with Marathi the court said Marathi may be the official language of the state government but it is also undeniably the common language and mother tongue of the state the HC said The bench also questioned the motive behind filing of the petition in 2022 when the amendment was carried out in 2018 The rule was existing even prior to that 2018 Only its implementation was stayed Justice Patel said To say that there is some sort of invidious discrimination is wholly untrue If a trader wishes to carry out trade in Maharashtra then it must be subject to rules of the government which seek to impose uniformity on all the HC said in its order The court further said there were some states in India which mandate the use of only local language and script which was not the case in Maharashtra PTI SP GK GK

Mumbai Feb 22 PTI The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said the Maharashtra governments orders of 2021 permitting only people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel in local trains were illegal and brazenly affected the fundamental rights of citizens A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik said the three orders signed by the governments then chief secretary Sitaram Kunte were in clear diversion from the prescribed procedure under the Disaster Management Rules The orders passed by the former chief secretary were in clear diversion of the prescribed procedure Due to the illegal orders the fundamental rights of citizens were brazenly affected the HC said On Tuesday the governments counsel Anil Anturkar informed the court that the three orders in question issued on July 15 August 10 and August 11 2021 stand withdrawn In spirit of the observations made by the high court the three orders are withdrawn The state executive committee would be holding a meeting on February 25 following which fresh directives would be issued Anturkar said We may withdraw the prohibition on use of local trains by unvaccinated people or those who have taken one dose or may impose it based on the present COVID-19 situation At this stage I cannot say anything further Anturkar said The bench then pointed out that the number of people who tested positive for coronavirus in Mumbai on Monday was at the lowest in 20 months We hope and trust that the state executive committee takes an appropriate decision on February 25 keeping in mind the declining trend of COVID-19 cases the HC said and posted the matter for further hearing on February 28 On Monday Mumbai reported 96 new COVID-19 cases the lowest single-day rise after April 17 2020 as per the city civic body The HC bench noted that Kuntes orders breached the state disaster management rules and were issued in his individual capacity as chairperson of the state executive committee without there being any deliberation with the other members The chairperson has the powers to pass such orders only in emergency situations But we opine that none of the three orders rendered an emergent situation warranting the former chief secretary to pass such orders the high court said The bench had on Monday asked the government if it was willing to withdraw the three circulars as they were not passed following proper procedure The court was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations challenging the prohibition on use of local trains in the city by unvaccinated people saying that such a prohibition was illegal arbitrary and in breach of the citizens fundamental right to move freely across the country as guaranteed by Article 19 1 d of the Constitution Niles Ojha the counsel for one of the petitioners in the case argued previously that the state failed to apply its mind while coming up with the SOPs and that it discriminated between the vaccinated and unvaccinated people though neither the Centre nor the Maharashtra government had made vaccination mandatory PTI SP GK GK

Mumbai Feb 21 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday said the Maharashtra government has not done anything substantial with regard to the installation of CCTVs in police stations across the state A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and M N Jadhav said in the past whenever the court asked for CCTV footage in any case the police refused with one excuse or the other Let us be candid and say that this is all done intentionally Justice Kathawalla said The HC said that the Supreme Court had in December 2020 passed an order directing all states to install CCTVs in police stations Nothing substantial has been done in Maharashtra in the past two years Has anyone even bothered to read the Supreme Court order You state government have to comply with the SC order the high court said The whole purpose of the Supreme Court order was to ensure transparency and hence only paper compliance would not suffice the HC said You Maharashtra government need to set up a committee to look into all this otherwise no one would be bothered the court said Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni appearing for the state government told the court that work is being carried out by two contractors to install CCTVs in police stations and to repair the ones which are currently non-functional As per an affidavit submitted by the government in the court on Monday there are 1089 police stations in the state So far 6092 CCTVs have been installed in 547 police stations Out of these cameras 5639 are functional while the remaining are non-functional Kumbhakoni said the contractors have been asked to repair all the non-functional CCTVs in 15 days The bench then said steps are being by taken only after orders are passed and till then nothing is done The HC also said that as per the apex court order the CCTVs have to be placed at all the entry and exit points inside lock-ups in the rooms of the inspector sub-inspectors and other places Kumbhakoni said this was most probably being complied with The court also sought to know from the government as to why the tender to install CCTVs in the police stations was awarded only to two contractors Why cant you government have more than two contractors for the job Would these two contractors be able to do such a major job Are they equipped the HC asked Kumbhakoni informed the bench that an agreement was made with the two contractors in November 2020 to install the CCTVs within a period of 22 weeks and thereafter maintain the same for five years The work of wiring is complete in all police stations However due to the COVID-19 pandemic and non-availability of some hardware parts further work could not be done Hence payment was withheld and was made in January 2022 when the work resumed Kumbhakoni said The HC posted the matter for further hearing on March 2 and asked the government to submit to it documents related to the tender awarded and also the work experience of the two contractors PTI SP GK GK

Mumbai Jan 31 PTI The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government through an interim order to not keep pending the applications made for ex-gratia claims by kin of COVID-19 victims merely because those were not filed online A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta also directed the Maharashtra government the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Union government to file their replies to a PIL seeking directions to the state government to pay such ex-gratia amounts even to those who filed their applications physically or by post and not through the state governments online portal The Maharashtra governments counsel Poornima Kantharia told the HC that the state had received a total of 114 applications for ex-gratia payments physically or by post in Mumbai suburban and city areas and 54 of these applicants had been contacted by officials for assistance with the online procedure Their applications were now pending with the BMC she said The state was unable to trace the whereabouts of 14 of the applicants and hence was unable to assist them with the online method of applying Kantharia said The court asked Kantharia if the state government was willing to make a statement that it will not reject an application merely because someone had applied physically Kantharia however said the online portal had been formulated by the Maharashtra government in accordance with an order of the Supreme Court and was meant for the benefit of the applicants She further said the state government was willing to provide requisite assistance to those who were not comfortable with the online system of applications The petitioners counsel Sumedha Rao told the HC many of those laying claims to such ex-gratia payment were slum dwellers or poor people who were not adept at filing claims and annexing documents online The SC also said ex-gratia must be paid within 30 days of one applying for the same Almost 50 people applied for the payment physically between October and November last year from across Maharashtra before the formation of the portal Rao said These applications have been acknowledged by the collector concerned but the claimants have not been paid yet she told the HC The formation of the portal was delayed Let the state not delay payment for those who applied physically before the portal was formed she said But Kantharia argued that the petitioners must not insist on physical applications being accepted as the online procedure was easier and was a convenient and more streamlined method The HC then asked all the respondents to file replies and said that by way of interim measure those who had applied physically must be assisted by the state authorities to apply online It also said that earnest steps must be taken by the state to assist the applicants But if they are not in a position to apply online do not keep their applications pending on the ground of online applications the HC said The high court will hear the PIL further on February 14 PTI AYA BNM GK GK GK

Mumbai Jan 27 PTI The Bombay High Court on Thursday sought to know from the Maharashtra government if the tribal population in the state can be provided employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act MNREGA A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations filed in 2007 highlighting high numbers of deaths among children pregnant women and lactating mothers due to malnutrition in Melghat region of the state Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni appearing for the state on Thursday informed the court that while the government welfare schemes were available to the tribal population in Melghat region the same was not available when they migrate to other regions after the monsoon season There is then a disconnect or interruption in these persons getting benefits of the scheme Our final aim is to ensure that there is no migration Until then the governments endeavour would be to provide the benefits even in those areas where these persons migrate to Kumbhakoni said To this the bench said if the tribal population is provided employment at their own villages then they would not find the need to migrate Can they be given jobs under the MNREGA scheme If you government want to prevent migration then you have to find out sources of employment That should be a part of your plan Chief Justice Datta said One of the petitioners Bandu Sane informed the court that while around 40 children died due to malnutrition each month in Melghat region till August 2021 the number has now come down to 20 deaths per month from November 2021 to January 2022 The court then said that the state government was not taking steps to ensure that there were no deaths The bench also sought to know from Kumbhakoni as to why the benefit of providing hot cooked meals was stopped This is something very disturbing This is something very basic that the government should have provided Justice Karnik said To this Kumbhakoni said it was stopped when the COVID-19 pandemic spread and the same will resume from February this year Hot cooked meals were stopped when the virus started spreading Alternatively the government was providing take home ration he said The court then posted the matter for further hearing on February 28 PTI SP ARU ARU

Mumbai Dec 22 PTI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday extended the stay granted on proceedings in a criminal defamation suit filed against Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt and authors S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges in connection with the upcoming Hindi film Gangubai KathiawadiA single bench of Justice SK Shinde extended the interim stay that the HC had granted in August this yearBhatt and the others had moved the HC against the summons issued against them earlier this year by a magistrate court after one Babuji Shah who claims to be the adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi alleged some portions of the film were defamatory and tarnished the image of his late mother a powerful madam from Kamathipura Mumbais red light area during the 1960sOn Wednesday Justice Shinde said Shah had failed to prove so far that he was Kathiawadis legally adopted sonThe HC said the issue deserved attention since in a defamation suit only ones close relatives or family members have the right to raise a grievanceThe issue deserves attention since the right to raise grievances against defamation is limited to family members or close relatives hence it was important for Mr Shah to prove he was one of them the HC saidThe bench said prima facie on the face of it a case was made out for the grant of interim relief to Bhatt and the others and stayed the proceedings and summons against them till further hearing of their plea in the HC PTI AYA RSY RSY

Mumbai Nov 25 PTI The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the life sentence awarded to a man in the case of the gangrape of a 19-year-old telephone operator inside the abandoned Shakti Mills compound here in 2013The high court earlier in the day commuted to life sentence the death penalty awarded to three convicts in the case of gangrape of a photojournalist in the Shakti Mills compound which had taken place only a month laterAs to the rape of the 19-year-old telephone operator the court held that delay in filing of FIR would not matter considering the attitudes in our societyA division bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithiviraj Chavan dismissed the appeal filed by Mohammed Ashfaq Dawood Shaikh against the trial courts order of March 2014 sentencing him to life imprisonmentAs per the prosecution on July 31 2013 the appellant and six others gangraped the victim a telephone operator after forcibly taking her and her boyfriend inside the premises of the defunct textile mill in central MumbaiThe case came to light after a 22-year-old photojournalist was gangraped by five persons inside the mills compound a month laterDuring the probe police realized that a similar crime had taken place in the compound earlierA total of seven persons including a minor were arrested in the two casesThree accused were common in both the cases While the trio was awarded death penalty by the trial court Shaikh and another accused were awarded life imprisonmentShaikhs lawyer Anjali Patil had argued that it was a false case that was lodged after a month of the alleged incidentThe high court refused to accept thisIn view of our tradition-bound non-permissive society where the reputation and honour of the family of a victim of a sexual assault is at stake it is not expected that an immediate report would be lodgedThere is no doubt the victim was subjected to the most humiliating horrendous and embarrassing form of sexual assault by the five accused that too in the presence of her boyfriend with whom she was to marry the HC saidEvidence given by the victim and her boyfriend was reliable truthful and inspired full confidence and there was clinching evidence pointing to the guilt of the appellant Shaikh the court saidThe HC also passed strictures against the state-run J J Hospital for using the degrading and unscientific archaic two finger test during the victims medical examinationWe hope that the State of Maharashtra would take necessary steps to shun all such unscientific and heavily criticized two finger test It appears that the Maharashtra government has formulated some guidelines We expect and hope that the State will strictly adhere to the same the bench said PTI SP KRK KRK KRK