Padmavati, real or fiction?

Whoever watching Indian media outlets recently will have a feeling that the most imortant thing Indians are currently interested in is Padmavati - the bollywood movie by Sanjay Leela Bansali. Print and electronic media already spent considerable amount of time and resources in this, which not only give free publicity to movie but also for some finge elements. Numerous weeks passed by; still there isn't any sign of this news fading away. Politicians, fringe outlets from Rajasthan and many other groups poured as much oil as they could to keep the issue alive. Now, a parliamentary committee on IT called director of Padmavati to explains his views.

I was shocked to read this news. When was the last time our parliament was assembled? How much time our elected representative spends in Sansad Sadan to debate on core topics? How many mantains an attendence rate about 90%? How many bills are actually getting discussed before passed by the house? Well, the answer is disappointing. Still they found time to call Bansali.

Problem with the movie Padmavati is the allegation that there are some intimate scenes between movie characters - queen of Chittor Padmavati and then ruler of Delhi Sultanate Allavuddin Khalji. Opponents (whose opposition is not limited to vocal one) says movie is a distortion of history and an attack on Rajput honor. Problem with that argument is, story of Padmavati don't have good historical footing. 

What we know is Alauddin Khalji was then ruling Delhi. Here Delhi dooesn't simply means current New Delhi. His kingdom included current Pakistan, Northern and Western India, portions of central India and huge chunk of South Indian kingdoms were his tributaries. It is also try that he fought a battle in Chittor in 1303 AD and conquered the kingdom. There is some  historical evidence that king Ratnasimha was then ruling Chittor kingdom. What we don't know is whether Padmavati is real or not. Movie is based out, in fact the story of Padmavati is based on Malik Muhammad Jayasi's epic book Padmavat written in 1540 AD. Close to two and half centuries after the siege of Chittor. As per Wikipedia quote of historian Kishori Lal - "Ratnasimha had ascended the throne in 1301, and was defeated by Alauddin in 1303 whereas Padmavat claims that Ratnasimha spent 12 years in quest of Padmavati, and then 8 years in conflict with Alauddin".

Well, we don’t know whether the character Padmavati is real; we also don’t know whether there is any intimate sequence between the character Padmavati and Khilji in the movie.

By the way it is to be remembered here that, despite all cruelties attributed to Allavuddin Khalji, he is also the ruler who fought and successfully stopped Mongolian invasion of India and led charge to territories under Mongol control. He was also successful in conquering a major part of India and what is now as Pakistan.

Sajeev

Constitution Day of India

Just like any other day, Nov 26 also gone. Decades back on this very day, constituent assembly of India adopted the constitution of India. The foundation, from which executive, legislature and judiciary draws power and look for guidance. Our constitution is the biggest in the world and probably the one which underwent largest number of changes. 

It may not be perfect, but numerous sections in that very book empowered Indians to understand and demand for their rights. It is also true that, we often short circuit the book by introducing frequent changes to it and by adding several laws as part of 9th schedule. By the way, 9th schedule was not part of original constitution. This schedule was later added through 1st amendment. Governments over a period, added numerous laws to this section which otherwise won’t survive judicial scrutiny. The book also contains sections which split Indian society midway; like reservation etc. 

Still, constitution of India remains as the foundation of laws in India and guides Indian society. There were, and are, many groups which while enjoying the facilities guaranteed by constitution trying to suppress other’s rights. These forces are there in every country at all time. Hope that our constitution will remain as the guiding light for India in future. At the same time, our bulky constitution also needs to be fine-tuned from time to time without taking away the fundamental rights.

Sajeev

No more Child Sex, at least legally

As per Indian laws, age of consent for sex is 18 years. That means sexual intercourse with a girl under 18 can put the person behind bar. But there is loop hole to this law provided by section 375 of IPC. Per that, if girl is more than 15 years only then marital sex is permitted.

Now many of us may wonder what is the problem with that any way she is his wife. Well, it is not as simple as it seems.

At the age of 15 one person might not be with in right mental capacity to take big decisions like marriage and sex which is going to affect him/her for rest of the life. In addition to that, there are many reported incidents where rich people especially from middle east marry under aged girls have sex and then divorce them. Another anomaly with this law is if in normal cases girl must be 18 years old to be eligible for sexual intercourse legally then how come in married case it can be lowered to 15.

This is the anomaly SC corrected yesterday. As per the judgement,
The minimum age of marriage now laid down by law (after 1978) is 18 years in the case of females and the relevant clause of Section 375 should reflect this changed attitude. Since marriage with a girl below 18 years is prohibited (though it is not void as a matter of personal law), sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years should also be prohibited – SCI Judgement

This is indeed a good step (of course if other wings of administration implement it properly) in reducing abuses against girls. Marriage at ages as young as 15 is not only forcing her to have sexual intercourse; but also, depriving her of schooling, education and childhood. Without education, she won’t able to understand her rights and achieving financial freedom is difficult if not impossible.

Sajeev

Bangalore Rains – Water and Potholes Everywhere

Almost every day, especially in the evening, heavy rains are hitting the city. This is supposed to be a moment of happiness after longs years to draughts and dwindling water table. Before rains, huge number of bore wells were running dry. People dug to such an extent that, even magma may start coming out. However, what is supposed to be happy moment turned out to become a disastrous one when low quality roads coupled with bad design crumpled under the pressure of downpour.

Pot holes suddenly became much bigger. In many pleases there were hardly any roads. Thanks to bad design, water clogged at the beginning of flyovers, in underpasses etc. Basements of buildings which are constructed below ground level were flooded with water. Many service roads and other connecting roads lost most of their blacktop and became storm water drainages. Needless to say, this created a nightmare for drivers especially bikers. Even major arteries lost lot of black top and many parts of it became non-navigable.

Major reason for this havoc is not rains, its bad quality of road construction and design of public infrastructure. As rains became a rare phenomenon in previous years, quality of roads went down significantly. To an extent this was compensated by frequent maintenance. Roads doesn’t last long but frequent maintenance kept things under carpet. Commuters were angrier about blocks than quality of road.

This time rain exposed the real strength of public infrastructure in Bangalore. We don’t need any cyclone but a fortnight’s heavy rain is enough to bring this city to a halt.

Problems are not limited to roads and flyovers. Lakes are filled with industrial water and it vomits white forms and foul smell. Water in lakes like Agara, Vurthur etc are untouchable for all practical purposes. It was courts which pulled up the administration to do something with lakes. Now due to rain focus moved towards roads and people are going to forget lakes for a while. I am sure, a massive infrastructure revamp will happen after rains. Lots of roads will be widened, re-tarred etc. I am also sure that, hardly anyone is going to check the quality of those work products. Hardly anyone is going to care about its design. BWSSB and private parties are going to dig up the road wherever they need going to leave a mess behind.

Sajeev 

An Adult Individual's right to Marry

Hadiya's case is the latest in the series of love jihad-related events. We are not going to check the merits or demerits of other cases, as it is not relevant to this scenario. The question here is, whether Kerala High court went overboard in annulling the marriage of Hadiya (aka Akhila) with Shafin Jahan.

Main points here are, Constitution of India allows willing adults to marry. Second thing is, constitution also allows people to believe in any region they choose. Of course, there are some conditions. But, in this case, Hadiya (aka Akhila) is an adult and also stated that their marriage is not a forced one. As far as the media reports go, she is psychologically sound. In addition to that, as per her own statement, she accepted Islam willingly. Hence, she is within her rights to marry a person of her choice and change religion. Which implies, the high court decision was not correct.

Love jihad may be real or imaginary. Even if it’s real, then also I don’t think courts have the right to annul a marriage unless husband (and)or wife submit a request for the same. Hope that Supreme Court will correct HC judgment.

For background stories and other details please read the links given in references section.

Sajeev.

References

1. Her journey from Akhila to become Hadiya - IE
2. The Jurisprudential Conundrum Of Hadiya Case - LiveLaw
3. Activists Write to Kerala CM, Women’s Commission on Hadiya Case - TheWire
4. Ruckus halts SC hearing on Hadiya case - The Hindu