Court on arrest
The Supreme Court of India invalidating the arrest of Prabir Purkayastha, a journalist and an online portal founder, on account of the total disregard by the Delhi police for the established procedure to be followed in such arrest, should be a lesson for the investigating agencies concerned (Page 1, May 16). The Court’s ruling is significant as it has emphasised that proper procedure and due process are “guardrails” against arbitrary actions, even in stringent terror cases. Will the police authorities concerned be brought to justice for keeping a citizen behind bars for over seven months following his illegal arrest? Unless exemplary punishment is awarded for such illegal acts by the police, there will be many more instances of this kind in future.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
The UAPA was designed to combat terrorism but its misuse threatens free speech and dissent, eroding the very foundations of democracy. When journalists fear reprisals for reporting on sensitive issues, investigative journalism suffers, denying citizens access to critical information.
The top court’s intervention highlights the need for robust safeguards against arbitrary arrests. Our judiciary must continue to play a vigilant role in upholding constitutional rights.
Kurian Mathew,
Kochi
Man-animal conflict
India’s high rate of urbanisation has caused the hasty expansion of human settlements into areas that were once exclusively wildlife habitats (‘State of Play’, Opinion page, May 16). With vaguely defined boundaries for fauna, human-occupied areas have increasingly become zones for wandering wild animals. Conflict with wildlife has reached unprecedented levels, leading to retaliatory animal killings. Population increase and the demand for natural resources have led to the fragmentation of natural habitats. Mitigation of human-wildlife conflict is thus becoming one of the major concerns for wildlife managers and the scientific community.
R. Sivakumar,
Chennai
