Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 28 September 2018
India chief justice's new decision strikes down adultery law

By ASHOK SHARMA prosecuted, but they also
Associated Press couldn't file a complaint
NEW DELHI (AP) — The chief against cheating hus-
justice of India's Supreme bands.
Court has presided over a Earlier this month, the Misra-
string of verdicts in recent led court also struck down a
weeks that grant more colonial-era law that made
rights to women, gay cou- gay sex punishable by up
ples and religious minorities, to 10 years in prison. The
challenging deeply conser- 1861 law, a relic of Victo-
vative Indian society as he rian England that hung on
prepares to retire from the long after the end of British
bench next month. colonialism, was "a breach
In the latest decision Thurs- of the rights of privacy and
day, Chief Justice Dipak dignity," the court ruled. It
Misra and the rest of the added that "history owes
five-member court struck an apology to the mem-
down a 158-year-old law bers of this community and
that treated adultery in their families, for the delay
certain cases as a criminal in providing redressal for
offense punishable by up the ignominy and ostracism
to five years in prison. that they have suffered
The court called the law, through the centuries."
which did not allow wives On Thursday, the court also
to prosecute adulterous decided not to reconsider
husbands, unconstitutional In this Sept. 6, 2018 file photo, gay rights activists celebrate after the country's top court struck a 1994 decision that would
down a colonial-era law that made homosexual acts punishable by up to 10 years in prison, in
and noted that a "hus- Mumbai, India. have delayed proceedings
band is not the master of Associated Press in a case over the owner-
woman." Adultery can still ship of the site of a mosque
be grounds for divorce in ment. "Excellent decision," ... is unequal treatment and when a woman was con- that Hindu hard-liners de-
India, the verdict said, but tweeted Sushmita Dev, a militates against her status sidered to be the property molished in 1992.
a criminal penalty violat- lawmaker and president as an individual." of her husband." The court's recent pace of
ed women's protection to of the opposition Congress The rights group Amnesty The scrapped law allowed decisions speaks to anoth-
equal rights under the law. party's women's wing. She International India said the men to file charges against er feature of Misra's tenure:
The verdict was hailed by said "a law that does not decision was "a progressive other men who had affairs expediting cases in a coun-
activists and left-of-center give women the right to judgment" and the old law with their wives. Women try where they routinely
members of India's Parlia- sue her adulterer husband was a "remnant of a time having affairs could not be take decades to resolve.q

In Nigeria, voodoo festival shows strength of traditions

By SAM OLUKOYA Togo. The West African re- tardized or criminalized as
Associated Press gion once was known as being fetish."
AJIDO, Nigeria (AP) — Ex- the Slave Coast because of Meanwhile, he said, mod-
citement grew in the crowd the large number of slaves ern institutions like the po-
as the Zangbeto Voodoo taken from there over cen- lice have failed to perform
festival reached a climax, turies. as effectively as the tradi-
with scores of colorful palm- Beyond the slave trade, tional ones they replace.
frond figures representing Ogu land is also noted for Many people would rather
the traditional guardian of the voodoo widely prac- take their case to the Zang-
the night. ticed there. The use of the beto than to the police
As men and women in Zangbeto is said to date post, he said.
white ceremonial cloth- back to the 17th century. Nigerian authorities are in-
ing sang and danced to "As the traditional police creasingly tolerant of such
the sound of heavy drums, and court of the people festivals and their underly-
adherents doused a cone- the Zangbeto handles such ing beliefs as long as they
shaped Zangbeto with ker- In this photo taken Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, people attend the cases as theft," Seton Id- are not criminal in nature.
osene. A ball of fire rose as Ajido Voodoo festival in Nigeria. owu, who believes strongly The Zangbeto Voodoo fes-
it went up in flames. Associated Press in its spiritual powers, told tival had the support of the
Some Nigerians frustrated the AP. "Everyone fears the government, with senior of-
by crime and corruption Every religion has some events in the local religious Zangbeto and you can ficials in attendance.
have suggested that reviv- hold on the people, he calendar. get into trouble if you go While turning to Zangbeto
ing such traditions could said. The Ajido Kingdom's leader, against the rules." and other traditional figures
be a deterrent. The perfor- "The people needed to see Aholu Saheed Adamson, The beliefs hold that Zang- reduces the burden on au-
mance over the weekend that the Zangbeto is not just described the Zangbeto as beto's punishment could thorities, the resort to mob
helped to create "fear and a toy." a symbol of authority of the range from fines to the ban- justice against suspected
reverence," the chairman The festival of about 2,000 ethnic Ogu people and a ishment of an individual. criminals, with some beat-
of the festival's organizing people in the coastal Ajido "means of security of entire Outside influences have en to death, is widely seen
committee, Sehude Adey- Kingdom in Lagos State, communities." steadily eroded such tra- in Nigeria as an indication
inka Amosu, told The Asso- held every three years, is The Ogu inhabit coastal ar- ditional institutions, which of the loss of faith in the po-
ciated Press. one of the most important eas of Nigeria, Benin and Amosu said are being "bas- lice and justice system.q