Uttarakhand high court (HC) on Thursday banned “all the religious outfits/bodies and panchayats/group of people from issuing fatwas, since it infringes upon the statutory rights, fundamental rights, dignity, status, honour and obligation of individuals.”
The division bench of acting chief justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, observed in the order, “Fatwa is nothing but extra-constitutional adventurism, not permissible under the Constitution. The constitution of panchayats is provided under Article 243 of the Constitution of India. These are created under the Panchayati Raj Act. The panchayats are only required to discharge their duties and functions enshrined under the law. Issuing fatwas is no part of their statutory duties and functions. The fatwas cause immense agony and devastation to the victim, even if the same has been issued by local outfit/local panchayat/family panchayat like ‘khap panchayat’.”
The bench commented that the fatwa is against the “letter and spirit of the Constitution” and the panchayat, (in a recent instance at Laksar near Roorkee) instead of sympathising with the rape victim, had the audacity to extern the family from the village.
The court was taking cognizance of a media report which highlighted that villagers at Laksar near Roorkee were threatening the family of a minor girl who had alleged that she was raped by her neighbour. The girl who has been pregnant for the past couple of months had been warned by the village panchayat through a fatwa that if she or her family complained to the police, they would be thrown out of the village. The father of the 15-year-old girl had also filed a complaint with the Haridwar SSP that a group of villagers had recently threatened him that his family will be “burnt alive if he reported the rape case to the police.” The father had alleged that his daughter was raped by a village youth in April and subsequently, it was found that she had also become pregnant. “After I complained to the village head to take action against the rapist, around 20 persons came to my house on August 27 and started pressurizing me for termination of my daughter’s pregnancy and simultaneously threatened us for not taking any legal action against anyone in the matter,” he told TOI.
Police officials said that they have registered cases under section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) along with sections 3(A) and 4 of POCSO Act in the matter.
Meanwhile, the court also ordered the Haridwar SSP on Thursday to depute the circle officer of the area to “immediately reach the village and to ensure that the family of the victim is traced and in no circumstance it is externed from the village.” The judges further directed SSP, Haridwar to “ensure round the clock safety of the victim and her close family members and to initiate criminal proceedings against all the members of the panchayat/local outfit that issued the fatwa.”
Courtesy: Times of India
