Editor,
I fully agree with Mr Toki Blah’s article “Oh Shillong ! My Shillong !” (ST 21st January 2014). Mr Blah deserve thanks for his bold article. He has rightly pointed to the dismal condition of the Shillong Municipality and Iewduh. He has described Shillong as a vast urban slum. Mr Blah has quoted from Wikipedia’s definition of slum as, “a heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor. Substandard housing usually means squalid unplanned structures with questionable drinking water facilities and poor or outdated sanitary provisions. Squalor would imply non-existent drainage and sewage systems accompanied by outmoded and shabbily maintained waste disposal system.”
In this article Mr Blah concentrated on the affairs of Shillong Municipality. But the Shillong Cantonment especially the civilian populated areas are no better. Jhalupara is a slum. There has been no development for a long time and the Shillong Cantonment does not bother about developing the civilian areas. It is only interested in increasing the House Tax every three years. There are hardy four or five public taps to cater to the needs of a population of over 10,000 people. The roads are in dilapidated condition. In the name of road repair, patch up works have been carried out and no one bothers. Eatables like fish, meat, vegetables and cooked food are sold in the open on the pavements and are exposed to dirt, dust and flies. There are many illegal liquor shops operating in each and every restaurant but neither the Cantonment Board not the Excise Department care to look into this.
There is random parking of vehicles on both sides of road from Mahavira Park to Barapathar point. Of course, ‘NO PARKING’ sign boards have been placed at many places by Shillong Traffic Police but surprisingly no action seems to have been taken against the violators.
Yours etc.
B.B.Chettri,
Shillong -2
Unhygienic eatery!
Editor,
I wish to draw the attention of the public to the deplorable conditions prevailing in one of the popular eateries of Shillong – Delhi Mistan Bhandar, where I unfortunately had gone with my family on January 26 evening. Can you believe it? Waiters don’t bother to clean the tables till at least half an hour after somebody has eaten and left. Disposable spoons are washed and reused (so much concern for economy or the environment?) and the management turns a deaf ear to complaints of customers. Isn’t the management of DMB answerable to Shillongites because of whom they are earning? Will they take responsibility for any health hazards?
I hope the management of DMB wakes up to realise their mistake and not think that we are fools.
Yours etc.,
Indrani Bhuyan,
Shillong -3
Of Human Rights
Editor,
The Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and the UN – a coalition of human rights organisations of Manipur – welcomes the far-reaching pronouncement of the Supreme Court on 21st January 2014, commuting the death penalty of 15 convicts to life term on ground of unexplained delay in deciding their mercy plea by the government and mental illness. The death penalty of 13 condemned prisoners has been commuted to life on the ground of inordinate delay on part of President to decide their mercy pleas. The other two convicts were given life sentence on finding that long years on death row had made them mentally ill.
This judgment delivered after the court heard a specific case, went through its merits and demerits and arguments of the parties. The landmark judgment is a reflection of the stature and role of India’s highest court of law. Time has come when the people of India expect a clear stance on the question of death penalty from the guardian of the Constitution and supreme authority for resolving disputes of legal and constitutional in nature.
Article 51 (c) of Indian Constitution clearly stands to foster respect for international law and treaty obligations and we also expect that the democratic Indian state would follow the international opinion and abolish the death penalty completely. The judiciary must take up the cudgel to facilitate the same.
The Indian state has made voluntary pledges and commitments before UN; wherein it proclaimed – “India shall continue to cooperate with United Nations treaty bodies and contribute constructively …” The justified international opinion on capital punishment affirmed while the United Nations made researches in 1988 and 1996 regarding executions and capital punishments that ‘Research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect then life imprisonment and such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming.’
In the multi-layered judiciary of India, there is ample scope to rectify judicial wrongs committed by the lower courts, but in case of capital punishment ordered by a court and subsequently executed, termination of a human life cannot be regained by any judicial rectification. The law cannot take away what it has not given.
The Indian state should acknowledge the overwhelming international opinion and accede to the Optional Protocol on the abolition of the death penalty of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Such a step would promote a torture-free culture in our society and more humane society for our future generations.
The CSCHR urges the apex court to take a progressive interpretation of the right to life and to review AFSPA, which 16 years ago upheld its constitutionality. Its continued imposition in certain parts of the country amounts to Government of India abdicating its obligation to protect the right to life of the population inhabiting the “disturbed areas” and imposing a discriminatory and racist de facto death penalty by Indian armed forces without due process of law.
Yours etc.,
Dr Laifungbam Debabrata Roy
Convenor,
Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur