Gun legislation should be more stringent, say experts

NEW DELHI, Feb 6: Close on the heels of incidents of campus shootings in various schools across the country, experts today stressed on making the gun legislation more stringent.

"We want to make the Indian Arms Act of 1959 more stringent. Every one should not be allowed to possess arms. Those provided license for possessing weapons should be accountable for their use," Lt Gen (retd) B S Mallik, president of Control Arms Foundation of India, an organisation spearheading the movement against misuse of arms, said at a seminar here.

He said children should not be allowed to use these weapons at all.

"Children should be denied access to arms," he said at the seminar on ‘Lessons from Gurgaon school shoot-out: call for redrafting India’s gun legislation’.

The issue assumes significance in view of recent incidents of children resorting to shooting their friends in schools. A boy was shot dead by his classmates in a Gurgaon school in December last year, while another student in Satna district in Madhya Pradesh was shot dead by a fellow student last month.

Jasjit Singh, Director, Centre for Air Power Studies, said the Constitution allows somebody to defend himself, not to carry weapons.

"The licenses for weapons are given for three reasons-hunting, display and protection. It shows the state is failing to provide security to its people that is why people are opting for arms for their security," he said.

India’s former ambassador to the US, Arundhati Ghose, emphasised on conducting research to know the details of arms use and taking up awareness programme against the misuse of arms. (PTI)

I don’t mind doing a B-grade film: Hrishitaa

NEW DELHI, Feb 6: Bollywood actress Hrishitaa Bhatt, who made a dream debut opposite Shahrukh Khan in ‘Ashoka’, admits that she had lost track in her career but says work is work and as long as the role is appealing she doesn’t have any inhibitions working in B-grade films.

"After my debut I got busy with my education and so couldn’t concentrate on films and in between I did some films which were not from mainstream. But I think work is work and as long the characters are versatile, I don’t have any problem in acting in such films. After all the show must go on," says Hrishitaa who acted in film like ‘Jigyasa’, apart from the critically acclaimed films like ‘Hasil’ and ‘Dharm’.

Hrishitaa, who has paired up with noted actor Manoj Bajpai for her next film, ‘Jugaad’, says it has been a delight to work with the star.

"Manoj Bajpai is such a great actor and undoubtedly he was one of the reason that I signed the film," Bhatt says. So what is her role in the film?

"I play Manoj’s wife, who is an ad agency owner. His office gets sealed during the Delhi sealing drive and it is about the emotional turmoil that the couple undergoes at that time," says the 26-year-lass. But what about the title, ‘Jugaad’? "The title has been kept ‘Jugaad’ keeping in mind the character and the things that happens around that character and it suits the film to the T," she says.

Hrishitaa is also doing a film with Mithun Chakrabarty, called ‘Don Muthuswami’, directed by Ashim Samanta, son of Shakti Samanta. "It is a laugh riot. I play the daughter of Mithunji who is a don. The unique feature of the film is that here the don doesn’t bully people rather he makes them laugh," she says. (PTI)

‘Equal share for father in dead children’s riches’

NEW DELHI, Feb 6: Fathers shall now have a better chance of getting a share of the riches of their children, who die without writing a will, if Government accepts an amendment to the Hindu Succession Act suggested by the Law Commission.

The Commission’s 204th report seeks to set right an inadvertent discrepancy in the 50-year-old law which entitles only mothers - not fathers - to get a share in the property owned by their children at the time of their death.

The Commission Chairman Justice A R Lakshamanan, in his report today submitted to Law and Justice Minister H R Bhardwaj, has suggested inclusion of a dead property owner’s father in the top priority list (Class I heirs) of beneficiaries - along with his widow, son, daughter and mother.

In cases where both the father and the mother of a dead property owner are alive, then both the parents shall together take one share in the property.

The suggested changes in the law are likely to offer succour to elderly people spurned by relatives after the death of their children. These also assume significance at a time when there is talk of making laws to make it obligatory for children to take care of their old parents.

"The idea behind elevation of father to Class I heir was to try and safeguard the interest of the elderly - quite like the Senior Citizen Welfare Protection and Maintenance Act," he said.

On the face of it, the biggest beneficiaries of the proposed changes would be widower fathers, who fall (with fathers) in the second priority list (Class II) of heirs at the time of distribution of their children’s property.

Earlier, widower fathers had little chance of getting any financial support in the twilight of their lives in the absence of their wives who could have legally earned a share in their children’s properties.

Moreover, even the law did not permit them (widowers) to stake a claim in the property if their dead children’s sons, daughters and widow were alive.

The report, submitted by Justice Lakshmanan and Commission member-secretary D P Sharma, has now recommended a revision of the Class I heirs list (by including fathers in it) and also suggested changes that shall make it more simple.

On the elevation of the father as Class I heir, the Commission said "We have to consider the desirability of elevating the father as Class I heir, with the mother, as he may not be a lesser heir than a daughter’s daughter in the list. Particularly, when we are now thinking of enforcing, by law, of obligation of the children to maintain their parents."

The report also suggested elevation of a dead property owner’s step mother, in the Class II list of heirs. It said the step mother should be elevated in Class II heirs from entry six to entry 2 and may be placed along with the dead property owner’s brothers and sisters.

The Commission had been asked to revise the central succession law to simplify it and remove anomalies, ambiguities and inequities in law.

With this objective, the Commission has also suggested pruning of the list that names heirs upto the third generation of a property owner. With this objective, it has recommended deletion of four categories of heirs from Class II of the Schedule.

Instead of mentioning each of these descendants, it will be better to have a general provision in the matter with a view to avoid mentioning each individual’s relation (with the deceased), the Commission said.

The Commission’s report aims to simplify the Hindu Succession Act 1956 and address issues related to equal distribution of a dead man’s riches among various legal claimants in the absence of a will.

The Act, which deals with property distribution issues, governs the priority in which a deceased’s kin share his assets. It is not applicable in cases where a deceased leaves behind a will, specifying the manner in which his assets have to be divided among various claimants.

Under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, the property of a male Hindu dying without writing a will, is first divided among heirs named in Class I of the Schedule. If there is no heir as enlisted in Class I, then the property is divided among relatives specified in Class II of the Schedule.

A dead property owner’s sons, daughter, mother and father, have been given varying importance under the Act while distribution of his riches.

The Act was amended in 2005 in accordance with the 174th report of the Commission which dealt with giving equal rights to daughters as sons during distribution of their father’s property. (PTI)

Ban marriages between children below 18 years of age: Panel

NEW DELHI, Feb 6: The Law Commission has proposed that child marriage below 18 years of age for both girls and boys should be prohibited and that marriages below the age of 16 years be made void.

Besides recommending compulsory registration of marriage, the Commission has proposed that marriages involving children between the age of 16 and 18 be made voidable (which can be annuled with mutual agreement between both the parties).

Elaborating on the Commission’s proposals on issues related to child marriages, the panel’s member Kirti Uppal said today that the panel has proposed that the age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 years to 16 years for all girls, regardless of marriage.

Thus, if the proposal is accepted by the Government, even consensual sex would invite punishment for those men who have sex with girls under 16 years of age.

Even those men who have sex with their minor "wives," aged below 16 years could be booked under the law. Till now, having sex with a minor "wife" aged below 15 years is punishable under section 375 of the IPC.

To ensure that young women and children are not left destitute, the Commission recommends that provisions relating to maintenance and custody should apply to both void and voidable marriages.

While studying the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA), the Commission found that the present law did not make a child marriage invalid even if it was below the age of 15 years. But under the criminal law, section 375 of IPC makes it a crime to have a sexual relation with a child under the age of 15 years.

In the light of the contradictions that exist between the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and Section 375 IPC, the Commission examined whether the new Act addressed all the concerns relating to child abuse, health and human rights, which are an inevitable consequence of child marriage.

Thereafter, the Commission forwarded its suggestion to the Supreme Court of India in December 2007. While hearing a writ petition, the apex court had sought the Commission’s assistance on legal issues relating to Child Marriages under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and the different ages at which a person is defined as a child in different statutes.

The Commission in its proposal noted that child marriage stunts the growth and development, particularly of the girl child who is the more vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual abuse. It also deprives the girl child of her right to obtain education and live with freedom and dignity.

It studied the changes to the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, with reference to the age of marriage and age of consent for sexual intercourse, and judgements which have upheld the validity of child marriage through the years.

The panel also looked at laws related to child marriage from various countries and also International Covenants that mandate the eradication of child marriage like the CEDAW (The Convention On The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).

It also studied the CRC (Convention On The Rights Of The Child), which makes it obligatory for states to protect children from all forms of violence, abuse and neglect. (PTI)