High Court puts govt on notice over convicted person’s rights

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the state of Haryana on a petition for quashing the provisions of Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012, that prevented a convicted from becoming member of society in Haryana.

The notice came after the counsel for petitioner Pardeep Kumar Rapria contended that a convicted person, who stood reformed, should have certain rights to settle down in the mainstream.

The matter was brought to the High Court’s notice on a petition filed by NGO Matdata Jagrukta Manch and another petitioner. Rapria contended that the Haryana Government enacted the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012, which among other things said a person convicted and sentenced for a year or more could not become the member of a society.

Seeking directions for quashing clause (iv) of Section 4 of the Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012, Rapria said it was inhuman, humiliating, arbitrary and unreasonable. It was also in violation of constitutional provisions contained in Article 19, 21, 14, 25, 26 30 and 80 of the Constitution.

He added fundamental rights of a person convicted and reformed were not inferior to that of any ordinary citizen. The case will come up on November 5 for further hearing.

Not allowed in mainstream 

The Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012, says a person convicted and sentenced for a year or more cannot become a member of society