Haryana govt order for athletes to deposit 1/3rd share of their earnings sparks a row

Agencies

June 8, 2018

Chandigarh, Jun 8: In an unprecedented move, the Haryana government has directed sportspersons employed with it to deposit one-third of their earnings from commercial and professional commitments to the state sports council, drawing sharp criticism from the athletes.

"One-third of the income earned by the sportsperson from professional sports or commercial endorsements will be deposited with the Haryana State Sports Council. The money shall be used for the development of sports in the State," said the notification issued by Principal Secretary (Sports and Youth Department), Ashok Khemka.

Khemka had hit the headlines during his stint as head of land registration department by alleging irregularities in land deals involving Robert Vadra a few years ago.

"In case the sportsperson is treated on duty with the prior approval of the competent authority while taking part in professional sports or commercial endorsements, the full income earned by the sportsperson on this account will be deposited with the Haryana State Sports Council," said the notification, which is not yet up on the government website.

The athletes employed with the state government such as former hockey captain Sardar Singh and boxer Akhil Kumar, also a national observer for his sport, refused to comment on the matter for the time being. The athletes said they are yet to be officially communicated on the issue.

However, some other Haryana athletes, not employed with the state government, reacted with shock.

"I have not yet seen the notification, I am only coming to know of it through media reports. I can only say that the athletes who compete in Olympic sports are already from very poor families," said double-Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar

"The government should make policies which encourage athletes. I haven't heard of such a policy anywhere else in the world. The athlete should be competing with a free mind, not with stress like this," he added.

Fellow wrestler and Olympic bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt was harsher in his criticism of the move.

"God save us from such officials, who are taking senseless decisions like this. Their contribution to development of sports in Haryana has been zero but I am sure, they will play a big role in the decline of sports in the state," he tweeted.

"Now, athletes will move to other states and these officials will be responsible for this," he added.

The Haryana government had earlier courted controversy when it had decided to reduce the prize money for those Commonwealth Games medal winners from the state who were employed with other departments or states.

The felicitation function planned for the prize money distribution on April 26 had to be eventually cancelled indefinitely when the athletes threatened to boycott it.

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Acche din for athletes too...hehehehe

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Mere downloading or watching of child porn is also offence under POCSO Act: Supreme Court

News Network

September 23,2024

New Delhi: Downloading and watching child pornography is an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Supreme Court ruled today in a landmark judgment on the stringent law to prevent child abuse.

The bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala set aside the Madras High Court order that had ruled that merely downloading and watching child pornography was not an offence under the POCSO Act. The Supreme Court noted that the high court had committed an "egregious error" in passing the judgment.

The Madras High Court's order had come in a case in which a 28-year-old man was charged with downloading child pornography on his phone. The court had quashed the criminal proceedings against the man and said children these days are grappling with the serious issue of watching pornography and society must be mature enough to educate them instead of punishing them.

The Supreme Court today restored the criminal proceedings against the man.

At the outset, Justice Pardiwala thanked the Chief Justice for the opportunity to pen this judgment. The order focused on Section 15 of the POCSO Act which lays down punishment for the storage of pornographic material involving children.

"Any person who stores any pornographic material involving a child and fails to report or destroy it is punishable with a fine of not less than five thousand rupees., and repeat offence will be punishable with fine of not less than ten thousand rupees. If the material is stored for further transmitting or propagating, then along with fine, it is punishable with upto three years of imprisonment. For storing child pornographic material for commercial purpose is punishable with three to five years of imprisonment, and in subsequent conviction, upto seven years of imprisonment," the Section says.

Justice Pardiwala said that in this case, mens rea is to be gathered from actus rea -- mens rea refers to the intent behind the crime and actus rea is the actual criminal act.

"We have said on the lingering impact of child pornography on the victimisation and abuse of children... We have suggested to the Parliament to bring an amendment to POCSO... so that child pornography can be referred to as child sexually abusive and exploitative material. We have suggested an ordinance can be brought in. We have asked all courts not to refer to child pornography in any order," the bench said.

The Chief Justice called it a "landmark judgment" and thanked Justice Pardiwala.

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