KL Report
SRINAGAR
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association has decided to facilitate the filing of review petition in Pepper Gas/Pellet Gun case, as according to the Association the judgment passed in the said case is bound to effect the Human Rights of the multitude of the people living in the state of J&K and is also going to render the petition filed by two members of the Bar Association before the State Human Rights Commission infractuous and the order of restraint passed in the said case by the commission as a nulty.
In a statement issued to a local news agency, KNS, the general secretary of Bar Association Mohammad Ashraf Bhat has said the Bar Association has taken the aforesaid decision after examining the judgment passed in the case and also after hearing the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners who had requested the court to grant them some more time to argue the case and render better assistance in deciding the controversy raised in the petitions effectively and completely.
The Bar Association feels that Public Interest Litigation is not adversary litigation and as it is filed for protecting the Human Rights of the people, therefore, in the interests of justice, the court should have given further time to the parties to argue the case.
The Bar Association also feels that in a Public Interest Litigation petition, the rule of pleadings is not required to be followed strictly and as has been stated by the court itself in the judgment, even a letter can be treated as a Public Interest Litigation petition and the prayer made therein can be granted to the affected person rule of pleadings notwithstanding.
The Bar Association also feels that the judgment passed in the case would be taken as a license by the police and other forces to use Pepper Gas/Pellet Gun as a result of which, the people who have already suffered on account of the use of the Pepper Gas/Pellet Gun, will suffer further loss and injury. The Bar Association feels that there are sufficient grounds for seeking the review of the judgment, more so, when the Union of India which was a party to the case had not filed its reply to the case, though they had been directed by the court to do so, earlier.
The Executive Committee of the Bar Association has also in principle decided to file Letters Patent Appeal against the judgment dated 09.10.2013 passed in OWP No. 610/07 titled Sanjay Tikoo and others versus State of J&K.
The Executive Committee of the Bar Association has also constituted a team of its members to discuss the matter with prominent Islamic scholars, religious leaders and preachers and with other organizations/institutions, so as to enable them to examine and evaluate the judgment and give their opinion in the matter, the statement received by Kashmir News Service has said.
Meanwhile the Bar Association in another meeting held on 04th of November, 2013, has condoled the untimely and sad demise of Faisal Bashir an MBA student, who died in a car accident, yesterday at Awantipora. The deceased was the lonely son of Chief Editor State Reporter, and his tragic death has shattered the family to the hilt. The Bar Association has also expressed condolence to B. A. Bashir of Daily Srinagar Times, who has also lost his mother-in-law in the recent days.
