PREGNANCY- NOT WARRANT TO COMMIT CRIME

Killing of elephant in Kerala, India with explosive laden fruit causes death of the pregnant elephant. This incident has prompted a wave of national outrage across India. Many artists are expressing their pain for this murder through their paintings and sketches. Whole India is together against this practice and criticize it strongly.

Whereas,some evil minds have moulded the situation, and are stating on social media “we cry for a pregnant elephant but we don’t have empathy for pregnant women.” The women mentioned in this is “Safoora Zargar.” She was arrested in April, 2020 for conspiracy in Delhi riots which lead to more than 50 casualties and injuries to many, also huge damage to public property. Yes, she is pregnant but that does not change the fact that she is also an accused. A criminal remains a criminal and deserves punishment.

She sent a Petition to court for Bail but it was rejected later. As per the provision of Sec.339 of IPC, causing wrongful restrain to even a single individual is a penal offence. Section 141 clause 3 provides that any assembly of five or more persons is designated as ‘unlawful’, if its common object is to commit any offence.” Quashing her petition judge also mentioned, “When you choose to play with embers, you cannot blame the wind to have carried the spark a bit too far and spread the fire. The acts and inflammatory speeches of the co-conspirators are admissible under the Indian Evidence Act even against the accused.”

Let’s look at a Case Law I have gone through in my research. The person in this case is also a woman who was 2 month pregnant- Nalini Sriharan and for a crime, she was sentenced for lifetime imprisonment. She was one of 5 convicts of Assassination of PM Rajiv Gandhi. Despite, she was pregnant she gave birth to her child- Athira in jail and serving jail term for over 28 years and has never availed ordinary leave of a month available to convicts serving lifers. Her daughter is now doctor in UK.

Also, Nalini is probably a longest serving woman prisoner in the World. She once talked about her conditions in jail. Disrobed, punched in the chest, asked to make love with her husband in front of others, threatened with gang-rape by policemen, chained and kept in a 5X5 room for weeks and going through every possible third-degree torture in custody. Her pregnancy survived all this. Can you imagine this!?

After reading all of it one thing was on my mind that this Wonder Women is still alive and going through her lifetime imprisonment sentence. When she went through all of this brutal torcher then Safoora must learn from her and obey the constitution and the judiciary. Moreover, yes she has committed a crime but by learning from Nandini’s condition the court and jail authorities must ensure that Safoora and her Baby is secure by giving her special care till the time she needs. But, there is no comeback and bail is not a solution. If she gets bail it will become a trend for more conspirator women out there.

Is it right to compare an innocent pregnant elephant with a pregnant criminal woman?

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