30 MAY 2021 CURRENT AFFAIRS

About:

• Dowry deaths accounted for 40% to 50% homicides in the country for almost a decade from 1999 to 2018. In 2019 alone, 7,115 cases of dowry death were registered under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code.
  
  
• But, Courts have often opted for a strict and narrow reading of the Section 304-B, which was one of the many legal initiatives introduced against dowry.
  
  
• In a recent judgement, The Supreme Court said that courts should instead interpret Section 304-B liberally while keeping in mind the law’s intention to punish dowry and bride-burning.
  
  
• According to Section 304-B, to make out a case of dowry death, a woman should have died of burns or other bodily injuries or “otherwise than under normal circumstances” within seven years of her marriage. She should have suffered cruelty or harassment from her husband or in-laws “soon before her death” in connection with demand for dowry.
  
  
• Over the years, courts had interpreted the phrase 'soon before' in Section 304-B as 'immediately before'. This interpretation would make it necessary for a woman to have been harassed moments before she died.
  
  
• Such “absurd” interpretations should be avoided, the apex court noted. Instead, the prosecution needed to show only a “proximate and live link” between the harassment and her death.
  
  
• The court further said the phrase “otherwise than under normal circumstances” in the Section also calls for a liberal interpretation.
  
  
• The judgment also raised concern about the casual way in which trial courts examined accused persons in dowry death cases under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
  
  

About:

• Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma has been named as the Convenor of the GoM.
  
  
• The GoM is constituted of total eight members including Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitinbhai Patel, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar, Transport Minister of Goa Mauvin Godinho and State Finance Ministers of Kerala, Odisha, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
  
  
• The 43rd GST Council which met on Friday recommended constitution of a GoM to examine into the needs for further relief to COVID-19 related individual items.
  
  

About:

• Enriched with protein, fibre, and a variety of minerals, ‘village rice’ is sourced directly from farmers of Thanjavur, also known as rice bowl of Tamil Nadu.