Manu Sebastian Profile picture
Feb 16 10 tweets 4 min read
#Thread on the South African Constitutional Court judgment allowing a Tamil Hindu girl to wear nose-stud in school as a cultural practice, which was cited by Sr Adv Kamat in #HijabBan case. Remarkable the manner in which SA court upheld minority rights & cultural diversity.
An interesting aspect from the South African judgment was that it did not go into whether wearing of the nose-stud was an essential or mandatory practice. What matters is if it is a "sincere belief".
Differentiating between mandatory and voluntary practice falls short of Constitutional project which promotes and celebrates diversity. We cannot celebrate diversity by permitting it only when no other option remains - what a beautiful exposition
The school argued that the infringement was not severe as she is asked to remove the nose ring only for a few hours at school. Court didn't agree saying it will send a symbolic message that she, her religion and her culture were not welcome and can infringe her identity.
Court said that the school should allow reasonable accommodation so as to ensure people who do not conform to certain social norms are not relegated to the margins.
The school argued that she is free to go to another school. Court said such an approach will marginalize minorities. "our constitution does not tolerate diversity as a necessary evil, but affirms it as one of the primary treasures of our nation"- what a beautiful exposition.
School argued that allowing nose-ring will lead to other claims and a "parade or horribles". Court said - "The display of religion & culture in public is not a parade of horribles but a pageant of diversity which will enrich our schools and in turn our country"- again, beautiful.
The South African Constitutional Court's judgement is a brilliant affirmation of the principles of tolerance and accomodation. The broad Constitutional vision expressed to uphold and celebrate cultural diversity is remarkable.
Perhaps, SA's ugly tryst with apartheid might have prompted the court to lean towards protecting cultural minorities and pluralism. The judgment is a must read. It can enrich & broaden your vision. The language is simple but beautiful. Humanity pulsates throughout the judgment.
The judgment can be read here :
saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Manu Sebastian

Manu Sebastian Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @manuvichar

Feb 15
Some highlights from #HijabBan case hearing.

Petitioner : Kannada word used in GO means "public order". Same word used for "public order" in Kannada translation of Constitution.

Bench : GO can't be interpreted like statute or Constitution.
Petitioner cites a South African ruling which allowed a Hindu girl to wear nose ring in school as cultural practice.

Bench : How is this relevant to present issue? We follow our own Constitution.

#HijabBan #KarnatakaHC
Petitioner : Expelling student for not wearing uniform disproportionate.
Bench : You're not expelled.
Petitioner : I'm denied entry. Same effect as expulsion.
Bench : If someone expelled from train for not having ticket, can it be termed disproportionate?
#HijabBan #KarnatakaHC
Read 4 tweets
May 1, 2021
A good judgement to read on #MayDay is the 2020 SC judgment which quashed the Gujarat Govt order exempting Factories from paying overtime wages to workers. The Court emphatically said that " a workers’ right to life cannot be contingent on the mercy of employer
or the State"
Notably, the judgment acknowledged that labour rights are "hard won" rights which cannot be diluted citing the excuse of pandemic.

State cannot permit exploitation of workers making their "hard won" rights illusory, SC said.
#MayDay2021
During pandemic, State should be more protective of workers than diluting their rights citing difficulties of employer.

"...financial losses cannot be offset on the weary shoulders of
the laboring worker, who provides the backbone of the economy", the Court said.

#MayDay2021
Read 4 tweets
Nov 26, 2020
Scenes from a court after fundamental rights have been linked to fundamental duties.

Lawyer : My client has been jailed for writing against the government.

Judge : Why would anyone write against the govt? Is it something expected of a good citizen?
Lawyer : No my lord. But it may be seen that my client is a dutiful citizen. He has donated to the PMCARES . Has installed all apps of govt. He signs national anthem before movies. Regularly watches republic day parades and the channels of the Republic.
Judge : Oh okay. In that case, bail granted subject to condition that he will use social media only to retweet national leaders for next 10 days.

"once we perform our duties, rights will automatically be safeguarded"
Read 4 tweets
Nov 26, 2020
So on this #ConstitutionDay what do we see :
1. Nearly 10 lakh people in JK denied rights to access 4G internet despite SC pronouncements on proportionality principle.
2. Discussions about bringing State monitoring over citizens' decisions to choose life partner and religion.
3. A Supreme Court which is getting increasingly wary of holding the executive to account to the constitution.
4. Increased state intolerance towards citizen movements and protests. Use of sedition, NSA, UAPA to crack down dissent.
#ConstitutionDay
5. Parliament which acts like a rubber stamp passing laws without effective discussions.
6. Increased impunity for hate speech against minorities.
7. Election Commission not doing anything to control brazen communal propaganda in elections.

#ConstitutionDay2020
Read 5 tweets
Nov 24, 2020
It makes me proud to note that many important High Court judgments are brought to the public domain FIRST by LiveLaw @LiveLawIndia. The latest one is the recent Allahabad HC order on inter faith marriages.
This important order, which had been lying obscure, was traced out by @ISparshUpadhyay. Another recent example is the CIC's damning order in the Aarogya Seri RTI issue, which was discovered by Akshita @_Akshita_Saxena.
There are other examples too of LiveLaw sparking public discussions by bringing to public knowledge HC orders which were remaining unnoticed by many.
For eg :
1. Bombay HC order on vilification of Tablighi Jamaat followers.
2.Kerala HC order on right to access internet in hostels
Read 8 tweets
Oct 1, 2020
Studying some provisions of Indian Evidence Act in the light of #BabriVerdict

"A is tried for a riot and is proved to have marched at the head of a mob. The cries of the mob are relevant as explanatory to the nature of the transaction" - illustration (f) of Section 9.
For example, if Advani & Co were heading the mob at Babri site, the cries of mob calling for demolition ("mandir waheen banaeenge" etc) are relevant facts to prove incitement.
#BabriDemolitionCase
#BabriMasjidDemolition
Criminal Conspiracy - Sec 10 says acts done by different members of conspiracy at different stages are relevant against each other in proving conspiracy, though the members may be strangers.
(In #BabriDemolitionCase, court said accused & kar sewaks are strangers to each other)
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

:(