Meghalaya HC sets aside former Judge's "Hindu Country" Verdict

Shillong, May 26, 2019:

The Meghalaya High Court, after an appeal has set aside a controversial judgement written by a former judge, Justice SR Sen, observing that India should have been declared a ''Hindu Rashtra'' after partition.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice H S Thangkhiew found the judgement "legally flawed" and "inconsistent" with the constitutional principles.

The judgement had been given by Justice SR Sen (now retired) in December last year and he observed that if divided on the basis of religion, India should have been declared a Hindu country.

"…Pakistan declared themselves as an Islamic country and India since was divided on the basis of religion should have also been declared as a Hindu country but it remained as a secular country", Justice Sen had observed in the December 10 judgment.

Justice Sen issued a clarification later and stated that he had been "misinterpreted".

The bench said in an order on Friday that "after bestowing our thoughtful consideration to the entire gamut of the matter we have reached to a firm conclusion that the judgement is legally flawed and is inconsistent with constitutional principles, the observations made and directions passed therein are totally superfluous, therefore, is set aside in its entirety."

After disposing a petition by a person who was denied domicile certificate by the Meghalaya government, Justice Sen had also observed that anyone opposing Indian laws and the Constitution should not be considered a citizen of India. Justice Sen had received sharp criticism afterwards.

In his judgement, Justice Sen had also set aside two notifications issued by the Meghalaya government relating to grant of permanent residence certificate/domicile certificates.

The division bench, however, observed that setting aside of the two notifications without any challenge was "impermissible" and "not sustainable".

Justice Sen had also directed the Centre to enact a law to safeguard the interests of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, Khasis and Garos who have already come to India and who are yet to arrive from the neighboring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

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