The Evening Wrap: U.N. panel slams Safoora Zargar detention

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Saturday 13, March 2021 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap Here are the biggest news stories of the day [alt_text]( Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. U.N. rights panel slams detention of Safoora Zargar Taking note of the detention of Jamia Millia Islamia University student Safoora Zargar, who was pregnant when Delhi police arrested her in April 2020 over the Citizenship law protests and the Delhi riots, the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council’s (HRC’s) Working Group against Arbitrary Detentions (WGAD) has [adopted an opinion critical of the government’s workings](, and referred the case to three Special Rapporteurs for action. In the opinion, based on a complaint from a “source” who was not identified by the human rights body, Zargar had suffered a “deprivation of liberty” contravening “universally recognized human rights, in particular the right to freedoms of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly” and several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also asked the government to ensure a “a full and independent investigation” of the case and take measures against those responsible for the “violation of her rights”, including Zargar’s allegedly irregular detention despite her pregnancy, where she said she was made to sign blank sheets of paper. “Given the fact that Ms. Zargar was critical of the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, as a woman human rights defender engaged in public protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and a media liaison officer for the Jamia Coordination Committee, her current detention can clearly be interpreted as another move to curb her dissent by intimidating her and others associated with the Jamia Coordination Committee,” the WGAD’s 11-page opinion, adopted on November 27, 2020, that was released on Thursday, said in its analysis of Zargar’s case. Zargar and her lawyers declined to comment on the WGAD report. In the disposition, the WGAD also said it was referring the case to Special Rapporteurs on “the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the situation of human rights defenders; and on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism,” for appropriate action. The WGAD report said it had written to the Indian government on July 22, 2020, with a request for a reply for information in the Zargar case within three months, but the government had not responded nor requested an extension of time. Yashwant Sinha joins Trinamool Congress Former Union Finance Minister [Yashwant Sinha on Saturday joined the Trinamool Congress]( (TMC). Senior TMC leaders such as Sudip Banerjee and Derek O' Brien welcomed Sinha in the party. “You will be surprised at today’s development as to why at this age I am joining a party when I had withdrawn myself from party politics. This is because the country is passing through crucial times,” Sinha said. The 83- year-old politician said that democracy does not only mean elections every five years. “The strength of democracy lies in the strength of institutions and I say it with regret that these institutions, including the judiciary, have been weakened,” he said. [Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha after joining Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Satursday]Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha after joining Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Satursday Before officially joining the party, Sinha spoke to TMC chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for nearly 45 minutes at her Kalighat residence. Sinha quit the BJP in April 2018. “The BJP of Atalji (Atal Behari Vajpayee) and the BJP now are poles apart. Atalji believed in consensus, but the BJP today believes in conquering,” he said. Showering praises on Banerjee, Sinha said she is a fighter and expressed the hope that TMC will return to power with a thumping majority. “A message should go from Bengal that what Modi (Narendra Modi) and Shah (Amit Shah) are doing from Delhi cannot go on,” he said, adding that a victory of TMC would strengthen the call for parivartan (change) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Sinha had also campaigned for the party during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal. DMK manifesto promises law against NEET, 75% jobs for locals, special court to try cases against AIADMK ministers The [DMK manifesto]( for the [April 6 Assembly elections](, released today, made a slew of promises, including a law to provide 75% jobs in the state to locals, financial assistance of ₹25,000 to one lakh persons going on pilgrimage to major Hindu temples, increase in the maternity leave period and assistance, cut in fuel prices, steps to ban NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test), and establishing a special court to try corruption charges against Ministers in the AIADMK government. Describing the party’s manifesto as the “second hero” of the DMK, party president M.K. Stalin said a separate government department would be set up to implement the promises made in the manifesto. [ DMK President M. K. Stalin releasing the election manifesto at the party headquarters in Chennai on Saturday. The first copy was received by Duraimurugan, general secretary. MP T. R. Baalu looks on ] DMK President M. K. Stalin releasing the election manifesto at the party headquarters in Chennai on Saturday. The first copy was received by Duraimurugan, general secretary. MP T. R. Baalu looks on “The list of candidates is our first hero and the manifesto is the second hero,” he told reporters. At a time when the rise in the price of petroleum products has become a cause for concern, Stalin announced a ₹100 subsidy per cooking gas cylinder. The price of petrol and diesel will be reduced by ₹5 and ₹4 per litre respectively; the price of Aavin milk will be reduced by ₹3 per litre and there will be no increase in the property tax till the economy revives from the impact of Covid-19, the manifesto said. The manifesto also said the DMK would urge the Centre to make Tirukkural a national book. Passengers who don’t wear mask properly can be deboarded, put on ‘no-fly’ list: DGCA order to airlines Passengers refusing to wear a mask properly or follow social distancing norms during a flight despite repeated warnings [could be put on a no-fly list]( for a period of three months to two years or more, according to an order issued by aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The DGCA has also said that if a passenger refuses to comply with the instructions before a flight takes off, then he or she should be deboarded. “In case, any passenger on board an aircraft refuses to wear mask or violates the COVID-19 protocol for passengers even after repeated warnings during the course of the flight, such passenger may be treated as ‘unruly passenger’ and the procedure in respect of handling such unruly passenger as provided in CAR shall be followed by the concerned airline,” said the DGCA circular issued on March 13. [ ] The civil aviation requirements on unruly passengers provides for an offender to be put on a no-fly list for varying periods — three months for verbal abuse, six months for physical assault and two years or more for life threatening behaviour. “The internal committee constituted by an airline to look into the incident will decide in which category the offence falls,” a senior official of the DGCA explained. If a passenger is found violating the protocols before boarding a flight, then the DGCA order requires that airport staff hand them over to security personnel after sufficient warnings. The move follows a Delhi High Court order that passengers without a mask be put on a no-fly list after the judge observed the callous attitude of passengers while he was on an Air India flight from Kolkata to Delhi earlier this month. Sri Lanka announces burqa ban, to shut 1,000 madrasas [Sri Lanka will soon ban the burqa]( (face veil), a Cabinet Minister said on Saturday, as he announced the Rajapaksa administration’s latest policy decision impacting the minority Muslim community. Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara said authorities would henceforth use the controversial Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) law — that human rights defenders have termed ‘draconian’— to deal with religious extremism, with wide-ranging powers to detain suspects for up to two years, to ‘deradicalise’ them. At a media conference, Weerasekara said, “The burqa is something that directly affects our national security…this [dress] came into Sri Lanka only recently. It is a symbol of their religious extremism.” While the Minister said he had signed the documents outlawing the burqa, the move awaits Cabinet approval. Over 1,000 madrasas would be shut, he said. [ A new Dutch law has come into force banning face-covering clothing including the burqa and niqab worn by conservative Muslim women on public transport, in government buildings and at health and education institutions. ] A new Dutch law has come into force banning face-covering clothing including the burqa and niqab worn by conservative Muslim women on public transport, in government buildings and at health and education institutions. Following the IS-inspired Easter terror bombings in Sri Lanka in April 2019, attributed to a local Islamist radical network, the government temporarily banned the face veil using emergency laws. A small section of Sri Lankan Muslim women wears the burqa, and some of them reported harassment in public spaces at that time, when they were barred entry into banks and commercial establishments. Some sections criticised the move then for ‘targeting’ the women of the community that had not only condemned the attacks but also provided evidence that investigators said was crucial to their probe. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected to office in November 2019, following his campaign on the plank of enhancing security, promising a crackdown on extremism. The announcement on the burqa ban comes after a year-long controversy over the government’s policy of mandatory cremation of Covid-19 victims, based on unsubstantiated claims that the bodies would contaminate ground water. The government reversed its decision recently, amid persistent calls for burial rights from Muslims, who make up about 10% of the 21-million population, as well as international bodies including the U.N. Kunal Kamra a haughty man ‘puffed up with conceit', petitioner tells Supreme Court Stand-up comedian [Kunal Kamra is a haughty man “puffed up with conceit”]( who wants to justify his “scandalous tweets” about the Supreme Court as “jokes”, law student Shrirang Katneshwarkar told the Supreme Court in an affidavit. Mr. Kamra is facing criminal contempt proceedings in the apex court on a plea filed by the student. In his response to the contempt petition, Kamra had said the Supreme Court should trust the public not to form opinions on the basis of a few jokes cracked by him on Twitter. Kamra said “taking offence” to comedy or satire had become a much-loved indoor sport in a growing culture of intolerance. He had refused to apologise or retract his tweets. [ Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra. Photo: Twitter/@kunalkamra88 ] Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra. Photo: Twitter/@kunalkamra88 Countering in his rejoinder affidavit, Katneshwarkar said, “...he (Kamra) says the tweets were funny. An ordinary prudent man can gather they are obnoxious.” The law student said Kamra has forgotten in his “hubris” as an “alleged/so-called” comedian that jokes are meant to cause amusement or laughter. A joke is a story with a punchline, Katneshwarkar noted. He quoted Socrates -- “when the debate is lost, scandal becomes the tool of the loser” -- to push his point across. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 1,13,56,359 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,61,238. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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