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Letter to Maharashtra CM (justicekatju.blogspot.in)

54 points by jaseemabid ↗ HN
Response from judge after girl gets arrested in india for protesting over hartal after the death of a political leader.

Harthal : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartal In short, you just shut down the whole state for a day.

News article : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/21-year-old-girl-arrested-for-Facebook-post-slamming-Bal-Thackeray/articleshow/17276979.cms

16 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 40.8 ms ] thread
maeon3
The judge's name is Markandey Katju. I'm not sure how politics and political warfare works in India. Maybe someone who knows about that can enlighten us?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markandey_Katju

denzil_correa
It just be noted that he is the Chairman of the Press Council of India, currently.
irahul
> I'm not sure how politics and political warfare works in India. Maybe someone who knows about that can enlighten us?

He is a former judge of Supreme Court(the highest court in India for the unfamiliar) and Chairman of Press Council of India. Being a former judge means he has a good understanding of legal system's letter and spirit, and being the Chairman of Press Council of India means he can rattle the cage quite easily.

The way freedom of speech and expression works here is you have it if you can enforce it. He is among the 5%(owing to his position) who can safely speak their mind without goons ransacking his house.

And his ultimatum to the CM mentions legal means. The CM(Chief Minister of a state) will have to act as he too knows very well that the ultimatum isn't vain and will most likely would be followed through. Also, the cops have a very weak case. Press is saying they have reliable information that the bigger dogs aren't happy with the way cops made the arrest.

Basically, if this guy has any intentions of actually following through(and he isn't just going to forget about it after 10 days), he has the means to make the government take action on the cops.

sravfeyn
If anybody is wondering this is in response to "a mumbai girl arrested". http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4803350

He is the same guy who published the article "Why I can’t pay tribute to Thackeray"[1] in national news paper The Hindu.

I request OP to edit the title from 'smart judge' to 'former supreme court judge', which makes the HNers know that that articles is worthy of their time and attention. And also I didn't understand 'Smart Judge'

[1] http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/why-i-cant-pay-tribute...

jaseemabid
Title updated by someone else already
lifeisstillgood
In US terms, Judge Rehnquist just wrote to the Washington Post with a letter titled "Fuck You, You Fascists"

Am I reading this wrong?

I would also like some Indian context I may be missing.

Cheers

balakk
He's a former supreme court judge. A bit of a maverick, unfortunately.

Just a few months ago he wanted to bring in all media (electronic, social, print) under the Press council of India ambit.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3832839.ece

As an Indian, I've tuned myself to ignore his statements completely. This article doesn't belong on HN.

sravfeyn
I don't see why it is a bad thing. I did not weigh any positives & negatives, but in India, TV needs to be properly censored. Many political parties have their own News Channels where they twist facts and make own party a hero. There is an example of Sakshi in Andhra Pradesh.

This really needs an attention. And I think by brining TV into PCI, I guess he is trying to attempt to scrub bogus self-promotion of political parties.

Please tell me why this would wrong?

pionar
If you ever find yourself saying the words "x needs to be properly censored", you should get a bad taste in your mouth. I would.
potatolicious
> "Many political parties have their own News Channels where they twist facts and make own party a hero."

Your response to this would be to put everyone's speech in the hands of a select few who can filter and pick as they see fit?

madhadron
We have news channels in the US which twist facts and make their own party a hero as well. One thing you won't find us calling for is censorship. Censorship for "someone's own good" doesn't work in practice. Work on education instead.
tehwalrus
We don't in the UK, because we have complicated impatiality laws (if you mention a candidate in an election, you have to mention all the others, and you can have broadcast licenses revoked for being biased - I'm simplifying, but it's a real law. Some students at my old university radio station nearly got the MW license revoked for being dismissive/rude about candidates that they didn't like, and not mentioning everyone.)

On the other hand, we have a rabidly partisan print media instead, which is now moving onto the internet (daily mail, guardian, etc).

kumarm
>>There is an example of Sakshi in Andhra Pradesh.

The other leading paper eenadu in AP is accused of projecting another leader for decades. (In fact Sakshi was started to counter the propaganda) :)

irahul
A popular leader died. The city was closed down. A 21 year old woman posted on fb about people dying everyday and the vanity of closing down the city. Her friend liked it. Both of them were arrested for hate speech.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/two-girls-arrested-for-que...

> In US terms, Judge Rehnquist just wrote to the Washington Post with a letter titled "Fuck You, You Fascists" Am I reading this wrong?

You are reading it wrong. The posted open letter is to the Chief Minister of the state, stating that the arrest was unconstitutional and if the state doesn't take the cops to task, he will have to resort to legal means.

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