NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will on Friday deliver its judgement on a bunch of petition seeking reconsideration of the 2017 apex court judgment diluting the efficacy of Section 498A – anti dowry harassment law of the Indian Penal Code.
A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had heard the arguments made by amicus curiae and the then senior advocate Indu Malhotra, now elevated as SC judge, that investigation of a crime is the police’s job and not that of a Family Welfare Committee (FWC) composed of non-legal persons. The order was reserved in April.
Last year, another Bench of Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit had banned immediate arrest of accused persons and allowed grant of bail to them on the same day. The same Bench had also stated that there should be no arrest of accused until FWCs, set up by the National Legal Services Authority, composed of social workers, homemakers, retired persons, etc, vet the complaint.
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The Bench may also pronounce its verdict on a plea by a former ISRO scientist, discharged in an espionage case, seeking action against former Kerala DGP Siby Mathews and others.
Nambi Narayanan had approached the SC against the judgement of the Kerala High Court which had said that no action was required to be taken against the former DGP and two retired Superintendents of Police, K K Joshua and S Vijayan, who were later held responsible by the CBI for the scientist’s illegal arrest.The Bench may also issue directions to the Centre and states, which would end discrimination against leprosy affected persons by removing it from existing statutes as a ground for divorce, and separation.