Mathrubhumi

Kerala, which is notorious for hartals and bandhs, may soon have its Law Reforms Commission recommending to the state Government a law to ban both...

Kerala, which is notorious for hartals and bandhs, may soon have its Law Reforms Commission recommending to the state Government a law to ban both, says a news report in the Mathrubhumi. It says the Commission headed by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer is working on a draft public interest legislation for the state Government to that effect, because repeated orders by the Kerala High Court banning bandhs and hartals never found practical implemention. The report says the new law will arm the police with wider powers to cope with hartal-related violence on the premise that no political party could have the right to infringe on the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of the citizens. The report said the legislation would also have the mechanism for extracting compensation from political parties for destruction of public property if they call for hartals or bandhs.

Malayala Manorama

After a mad dog bit nearly 50 people in Kottayam last week and the town’s police and fire force had to sweat for hours to put the canine to sleep, an editorial in the daily blasted Menaka Gandhi for ordering that stray dogs should only be sterilised, not killed, when she was the minister of state for social welfare.

The editorial recalled that Menaka had asked for two vets to examine every dog showing symptoms of rabies and to confine them in isolation wards till they died a natural death. Kerala, while trying to follow these directions, had seen an increase in the stray dog population and resulted in increasing deaths from rabies. While calling for programmes to train more people to kill stray dogs, the editorial lauded a recent observation by the Kerala High Court, upholding the state panchayat ombudsman’s order to kill stray dogs on a war footing.

Deshabhimani

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This is how an in-house edit piece in the state CPI(M)’s mouthpiece has interpreted the media coverage of its 19th Party Congress at Coimbatore last week: “The media agenda was to hide the political content of the meet and the influence it has on the country’s policies. The media discussion of the factionalism in the Kerala party, which is now almost over, was part of this agenda. Party General Secretary Prakash Karat has said that the biggest cause of the media’s enmity towards CPI(M) is the party resisting American imperialism. The media cannot tolerate the CPI(M) continually opposing the RSS controlling the Sangh Parivar. But more than its antagonism towards the CPI(M), the enmity has to do with the media’s bias in favour of America and the BJP. The media can never, ever, stand the expose of the BJP and America.”

Thejas

A report said the Kerala State Human Rights Commission has suo motu registered cases against workers of the CPI(M) youth outfit, DYFI, for attacking policemen during an agitation against a retail chain outlet in Manjeri, and another against senior police officers for not taking action against the attackers. This is the first time that the state human rights commission is making a suo motu intervention on behalf of the policemen, the report said.

Compiled by Rajeev PI

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