PARAGRAPH,WORDS AND MEANING
Topic Of The Day:-“Flouting Laws”
To return to Prof. Baxi’s concerns on the place of law: Article 17 of the Constitution of India states: “Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of Untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.” This is a fundamental right and therefore justiciable and enforceable by courts, which shall call governments to account.
In 2009, the Delhi High Court, in Naz Foundation v. NCT of Delhi, invoked Babasaheb Ambedkar’s delineation of constitutional morality in asserting the urgency of decriminalising consensual sexual relations proscribed by Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The court cited a second provision as well: Article 15(2) which prohibits any form of horizontal discrimination drawing again from the experience of untouchability that obstructed the universal use of public places, restaurants, water sources, etc. We witnessed last month a triumphal return of constitutional morality as a guiding principle for constitutional interpretation. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India,deployed this framework to reaffirm the rights of LGBTQ and all gender non-conforming people to their dignity, life, liberty, and identity.The genealogy of Ambedkar’s signposting of constitutional morality may be traced to the strength of anti-caste resistance and the abolition of untouchability. It is from this context that constitutional wisdom was applied to analogous situations of oppressions based on sexuality. It is time to call the government to account through a recursive method that takes us to the original constitutional proscription of untouchability, armed with the wisdom of the Navtej Singh Johar case.
MEANING AND WORDS
1) offence
Meaning : a breach of a law or rule; an illegal act.
Synonyms : breach , infraction
Antonyms : behavior
Example : “the new offence of obtaining property by deception”
2) enforceable
Meaning :compel observance of or compliance with (a law, rule, or obligation).
Synonyms : accomplish , administer
Antonyms : cease
Example :”the role of the police is to enforce the law”
3) discrimination
Meaning : recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.
Synonyms : bigotry , hatred
Antonyms : equity
Example : “discrimination between right and wrong”
4) triumphal
Meaning : made, carried out, or used in celebration of a great victory or achievement.
Synonyms : arrived , champion
Antonyms : dejected
Example : “a vast triumphal arch”
5) deployed
Meaning : move (troops or equipment) into position for military action.
Synonyms : expand , open
Antonyms : conclude
Example : “forces were deployed at strategic locations”
6) oppressions
Meaning : prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority.
Synonyms : abuse , brutality
Antonyms : niceness
Example : “a region shattered by oppression and killing”
7) proscription
Meaning : condemnation or denunciation of something.
Synonyms : ban , constraint
Antonyms : allowance
Example : “he plays a the priest whose moral proscriptions lead only to catastrophe”
