The term secular was not included in the original constitution. But, the spirit of secularism was ever found in the constitution. The Preamble declares that the constitution secures ‘to all citizens liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship’. The 42 Amendment Act, 1976 inserted the term ‘secular’ in the Preamble.

Secularism: Western View

The concept of secularism refers to guaranteeing every individual the liberty of managing his religious affairs, embracing a religion and worship. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘secularism means being non-spiritual and having no concern with religious matters. It is used in the sense of being opposed to religion. However, secularism and religion are not hostile to each other but are mutually exclusive. Secularism does not oppose religion or advocate the abandonment of religion. Religion and secularism can perfectly coexist. It refers to being neutral to religious affairs.

Secularism in India

The western view of secularism is not acceptable in the Indian context. The founding fathers of the constitution sought to establish India as a secular state. It is ‘the state that is not going to make any discrimination whatsoever on the ground of religion or community against any person professing any particular form of religious faith. This means, in essence that no particular religion in the state will receive any state patronage whatsoever. The state is not going to establish, patronize or endow any particular religion to the exclusion of or in preference to others and that no citizen in the state will have any preferential treatment or will be discriminated against simply on the ground that he professed a particular form of religion. In other words, in the affairs of the state the professing of any particular religion will not be taken into consideration at all.’

The constitution guarantees the following freedoms to all persons in India:

1. Freedom of conscience and the right to profess practise and propagate a religion of his faith
   (Article 25).
2. Freedom to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes and administer their affairs (Article 26).
3. Freedom to own and acquire properties (Article 26).
4. The right not pay any tax for the promotion of any particular religion (Article 27).
5. Prohibition on imparting religious instructions in the state-run/state-funded educational institutions (Article 28).
6. Prohibiting discrimination with regard to places of public importance (Article 15).
7. Providing equal opportunity in matters of public employment (Article 16).
8. Right of the minorities to conserve their language, script and culture (Article 29).
9. Right of the minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice
   (Article 30).

This clearly indicates that secularism in Indian context is based on ‘freedom, equality and tolerance’. The constitution does not erect a wall separating state and religion. It requires the state to be non partisan. The state will not identify itself with any religion. The state is neither theistic nor theocratic nor an atheistic state. The state is envisaged as an ‘Irreligious State’. Moreover, the constitution guarantees the right to religion subject to reasonable restrictions so that equality is established. Thus, Indian secularism is a ‘progressive’ concept.

Every individual is guaranteed with the right to conscience that is, one can embrace any religious faith, or remain agnostic or even atheistic. The state shall keep itself away from ‘man–God’ relations and shall only regulate the ‘man–man’ relations. The Supreme Court has held that the right to conscience is an absolute right and must not be subject to regulation. Irrespective of this the state shall treat every individual equally and must not treat any one preferentially or discriminate any of them. The state must keep equidistance from all religions. In case of any privilege or patronage accorded to any religion shall be available to all religions equally. All religions must be provided with equal opportunity for development. The provisions of Articles 14, 15 and 16 guarantee equality by prohibiting any discrimination on the ground of religion. Towards promoting equality, Article 44 directs the state to secure a uniform civil code for all citizens.

The religious denominations/groups are guaranteed the freedom to manage their religious affairs and establish institutions for that purpose. They also have the right to acquire and own property as a fundamental right even after the constitution (44 Amendment Act) which repealed the right to property as a fundamental right. On the same lines the educational institutions established by the minorities also enjoy the right to property as fundamental right. Further, the constitution guarantees the right not to pay tax if the proceeds of such tax are to be used for the promotion of any particular religion. This is a towering feature of Indian secularism. Tax is compulsory exaction of money and the power to impose tax is an important feature of sovereign power.

The state-run or state-funded educational institutions are prohibited from imparting any religious instructions. However, the institutions set-up by the religious groups, imparting religious instructions are permitted but no one should be compelled to receive them. In case of minors, the consent of their parents or guardians is essential for imparting religious instructions. This is fully in conformation with the Preamble and Article 25 (1) which guarantees the right to conscience as an absolute freedom.

Given the complexities of Indian culture, the debate on secularism is different from that in other countries. In India the religion happens to be the basis for the caste and the associated discriminatory practices. Traditionally the social evil practices such as untouchability, gender disparity, etc., were justified on ground of religion. Hence, the restrictions on this right are essential. Further, the state needs to be empowered to regulate the right in order to promote social reforms. It is also essential to regulate the economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice. Similarly, the educational institutions established by the minorities are also subjected to the regulation of the state with respect to the quality of education. The state must prevent any regressive education in the garb of religious freedom.

The constitution guarantees the right to the individuals and conferred power on the state to create conducive conditions for the smooth and harmonious exercise of the same. Thus, the concept of secularism in India is a progressive one.

‘Parliamentary democracy, democratic form of government in which the party (or a coalition of parties) with the greatest representation in the Parliament (legislature) forms the government, its leader becoming Prime Minister. Executive functions are exercised by members of the Parliament appointed by the Prime Minister to the cabinet. The parties in the minority serve in opposition to the majority and have the duty to challenge it regularly’. It is also known as Cabinet Form of Government with ministerial responsibility. The Constitution of India sets up parliamentary form of government to both the union and the states. Indian system is a legacy of the British rule and follows the English Parliamentary System.

Characteristic Features of Parliamentary Democracy

Parliamentary democracy has certain important features which are:

1. Dual Executive
   In the parliamentary democracy, there are two executives namely, the titular head and the real executive head. The former is the head of the state and the latter is the head of the government. In India, the President is the titular head and the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers is the real executive head. Constitution regulates the relationship between the two.
2. Bicameral Legislature
   In the parliamentary democracy, there are two Houses namely, the Council of States and the House of the People.
3. Responsible Government
   A responsible government is one which is responsible to the people. It is essential that the government enjoys the confidence of the Parliament for making laws to govern the country. Responsible government refers to two elements of parliamentary government in British derived parliamentary systems. First, the government— Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, is accountable to the Lower House of Parliament. Hence, the government must maintain majority support in the Lower House; loss of that support means that the government must resign. In this sense, responsible government is another term for parliamentary government; a ministry is ‘responsible’ to Parliament for the activities of government and must resign if it loses the confidence of the lower house. Thus, a government whose accountability to people is ensured through the answerability to the Houses of the Parliament for all its acts, is a ‘Responsible Government’.
4. Ministerial Responsibility
   The parliamentary form of government is otherwise known as ‘Cabinet Form of Government with Ministerial Responsibility’. The collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers to the House of People for all acts of commission and omission of the government and the individual minister being answerable to the Houses of Parliament for the performance of the ministry/department in his charge are two dimensions of ministerial responsibility.
5. Weak Separation of Powers
   Montesquieu, a French social and political philosopher coined the term ‘separation of powers’ in his book ‘Spirit of the Laws’. According to him, the political authority of the state is divided into legislative, executive and judicial powers in order to promote liberty most effectively. Separation of powers is an essential element of the Rule of Law and limits one branch from exercising the core functions of another and prevents the concentration of power and provides for checks and balances. The legislature enacts the laws, the executive implements and administers the law and public policy and the judiciary interprets the constitution and laws and decide disputes. In the presidential form of government there is a complete separation of powers. However, this arrangement is weak in the parliamentary system. ‘The parliamentary government has a sort of link between the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.’ In the parliamentary system there is a strong executive branch government but answerable to and controlled by the legislature.
6. Continuous coordination of Legislature and Executive
   ‘The presidential government has complete separation of powers of the three principal organs of the state, each embodying the sovereignty of the people in the different aspects of the state’s activities and there is no link between them.’ Hence, in this form the executive is pivoted on the President and he is the chief executive and the source of all executive power. In such a system the imminent danger of personality cult is unavoidable. As a consequence, there is a need for continuous coordination of the executive and legislature. This is a natural feature in the parliamentary form of government as there is no complete separation of powers. Furthermore, given the low rate of literacy and low level of political socialization in India it would be difficult to resolve any conflict between the three organs of the government. The coordination system inherent to the parliamentary form helps resolving such conflicts by itself without the citizen playing a role. To quote Shri K. Hanumanthaiya, ‘Instead of having a conflicting trinity it is better to have a harmonious governmental structure’.
7. Complete and Continuous Responsibility of Executive to Legislature
   The founding fathers wanted to establish a responsible and accountable government; they wanted the government to be sensitive to public expectations, hence, they had chosen the parliamentary form of government. The ‘complete and continuous responsibility’ of the executive to the Parliament is the most distinctive characteristic feature of a parliamentary democracy. Hence, the parliamentary system of government is also known as cabinet form of government with ministerial responsibility. According to M. V. Pylee, the parliamentary system works under the ‘principle of concentrated authority under strict control’. This on the one hand enables an ‘intimate cooperation’ between the Council of Ministers and the Parliament and on the other fixes’ responsibility of the council to the Parliament. Hence, the council is under the constant vigil of the Parliament which is the ‘real merit’ of the Parliament system.

Twenty years, 10 months and two weeks after her daughter vanished, Cynthia Haag was inside the row house she refused to abandon – lest her missing child come back – when her phone started to ring. Her other daughter was on the line, saying she’d just gotten an unexpected message on Facebook.

It was from Crystal. The long-lost child.

Haag steeled herself for yet another disappointment. But when she saw the Facebook profile picture later that day in March last year, she knew immediately. Same white straight teeth. Same crinkled eyes. Same luminous smile. The daughter whom she’d last seen as a 14-year-old girl: now a mature adult.

Questions started tumbling in her mind. Why did Crystal leave? Where had she been? Why had she come back? And, most basic of all, was she OK?

Within a half-hour, Haag’s older daughter, Bianca Davis, was in the car, driving north to New York City, where Crystal was living north of Harlem. Late that night, after word had spread throughout the West Baltimore neighborhood, and the house had filled with people, Crystal finally appeared.

Her hair was now short. She spoke Spanish somehow. And she was no longer Crystal Haag, who would have been 35, but had adopted the alias of Crystal Saunders, who was 44. In that moment, however, none of those changes mattered.

“Still my pretty girl,” Cynthia said, hugging her.

Her missing daughter was finally home, but the hard part was just beginning.

‘I cried every day’

Roughly half a million children are reported missing every year, the vast majority of whom are soon found or return. For a small number, however, it can take months before they’re with their families again, and for a smaller number still, it can take up to a year, possibly even two. But it’s extraordinarily rare that a missing child who eventually comes back is away for as long as Crystal. Between 2011 and 2016, only 56 children were gone longer than 20 years and returned, according to a report by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

There’s a conventional narrative to how these reunions play out – with tears and hugs and the promise of a new and happier beginning. “The fairy tale ending,” is how Meaghan Good, the curator of The Charley Project, a database of the long-term missing, described it. But in many cases, experts say, the situation is significantly more complicated.

“It’s not as simple as being found and restarting your life,” said Robert Lowery, an official with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children who edited its report on long-term missing children. “There are feelings on both sides that they’ll have to reconcile, but that takes a lot of time and patience and understanding.”

The longer someone is gone, the more difficult that can become.

Lori Peterson, 60, a mother in Colorado Springs, Colorado, learned that a decade ago when her son, Derek, reappeared after four years. A troubled teen who ran away from a residential treatment facility at age 16, he’d spent much of the four years either homeless or living on the other side of the country, in North Carolina. Meanwhile, back in Colorado Springs, Peterson deteriorated. Convinced he was dead, the family started doing DNA tests to see if he matched any cadavers. “I cried every day on the way to work, and then cried all the way home,” she said.

Then for him to suddenly come back, after everything they’d been through, after they’d held a candle service to finally put him to rest? It was at first challenging to forgive him. And in some ways, the damage was irreversible. “It’s not really a mother-son relationship,” Peterson said of her bond with her son. “I missed those years of him going from a teenager to a man, and there are things I don’t know about him.”

The majority of kids who go missing are runaways like her son. But not all who vanish had behavioural issues. Some simply disappear without their family having any indication of why. Some are like Crystal.

Had she been abducted?

It was April 26, 1997, a Saturday. Cynthia was working as a cashier at the local grocery store. She wasn’t making much in those days, just a few bucks per hour, but felt proud that food was always on the table and her children had clean clothing. She was busy all of the time, working and parenting, but she was making it as a single mom.

That morning, she looked up at work to see 14-year-old Crystal, her fourth child, smiling as usual. Cynthia knew her as a burst of light – “a sweet girl” who won an award in the fifth grade for always complimenting others, who liked school, and who got along with everyone, classmates and three siblings included.

Crystal got some milk and cereal, and came over to her mom. “Stay around the house today,” Cynthia recalls saying, and her daughter said she would. That was the last time she saw her for 21 years. In the first few hours after Cynthia returned home and found Crystal was gone, she called friends, relatives, anyone who might know where Crystal was before finally contacting the police.Her mind ran through possibilities. Had she been abducted? Did she run away? She refused – then and later – to think that her daughter had been killed or had somehow died.

From then on, she looked for Crystal in the face of every brown-haired girl. One day, she was going down Baltimore Street in the back of a taxi, and thought she saw her outside one of the clubs, on the sidewalk, but by the time she ran over, the girl was gone. Another time, there she was again, this time on the back of a bus, pulling away, to who knew where.

“She always wore a baseball cap,” Cynthia said. But that clue wasn’t enough to find her. Cynthia stopped celebrating Christmas – it just seemed wrong without Crystal – and years went by, with intermittent Baltimore police reports charting the passage of time:

April 29, 1997: “Crystal Haag has not returned.”

Aug. 19, 1999: “Investigation continues.”

May 3, 2006: “Crystal’s case is still open.”

Sep. 20, 2010: “All efforts to locate [her] have been exhausted.”

A new identity

Crystal remembers those years differently than her mother. She said she barely got along with her siblings. She said she sneaked out all of the time. And she said she was not the happy kid her mother recalled. In fact, she was so miserable and so scared that the only plan that made sense to her was to escape.

When she was 9, she recalled, a neighbour began sexually assaulting her, and for the next few years, it happened so much that it seemed to be almost normal. She never told anyone about it, but when she became a teenager, she began to suspect there wasn’t anything normal about it. The abuse by then had gone on for so long that, she said, she’d begun to think her mother had to have known – a suspicion that solidified into belief. Her mother called it ridiculous and untrue. “What kind of mother would do that?” Cynthia said.

After getting her milk and cereal from the grocery store that spring Saturday in 1997, Crystal did not stay at home as her mother had requested. She went to hang out with friends for hours. She knew her mother would be mad, so decided to stay out even longer. “And then it was 12 [a.m.], and I wasn’t going back,” she said.

She boarded a bus to New York, she said, and recalls walking the streets of the city as morning broke, seeing Statue of Liberty license plates. She didn’t have anything with her, but remembers feeling little fear. Those first few nights, she slept outside, homeless, until she made it up to Upper Manhattan, where she introduced the world to a new person: Crystal Saunders, a 23-year-old woman, though she now doesn’t remember why she chose that name.

Soon she was cleaning houses and apartments, living in a heavily Dominican neighborhood, pregnant with her first child by a local man and equipped with a fake drivers’ license. Later, she said, she even acquired a Medicaid card, which for pregnant women in New York City is relatively easy to obtain without official documentation.

The new identity at first was easy to remember, she said, because she had changed only small details. The last name. The age – believable because she looked so much older than she was. As for her family? She told people she didn’t have one, and often they didn’t press the issue. “It’s not a rare thing to not have a family,” she said.

But over time, as Crystal learned fluent Spanish, birthed four children, immersed herself in the Dominican community and even adopted new relatives – people she referred to as “grandpa,” “grandma” and “cousin” on social media – she didn’t have to remember anymore. Her new identity had subsumed the old.

And so on Jan. 29, 2014, the date Crystal actually turned 31, she posted an image on Instagram. It showed her holding a birthday cake. “Happy 40th to me!!!!!!” wrote Crystal, who was by then working in the food industry.

“We have seen this before,” said Lowery of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “Some of these kids don’t want to be found, and they assume new identities.”

In the national records database, Nexis, Crystal Marie Saunders, now 45, is a fully-realized person, with a list of New York addresses, a 2010 lien against her in the amount of $1,282, and a felony conviction for criminal sale of a controlled substance. But for Crystal Marie Haag: nothing.

‘I just want to love her’

When her oldest child, Bryan, now 20, reached his late teens, he started asking questions. Where was her family? Everyone has at least some family, he said. At first she didn’t tell him what she’d been doing regularly since Facebook came into existence: furtively checking in on her family back in Baltimore.

She badly wanted to reach out to them and often thought of Cynthia. But she was terrified to contact her relatives, ashamed by what she’d put them through. Only after her son started urging her did she write her sister, Bianca. And then it all happened so fast. Bianca was coming to get her. Crystal was walking through the door of a home she’d left 21 years ago. And Cynthia was so overjoyed to see her – even asking Crystal to sleep in her bed that night – that Crystal decided to stay.

The joy at the reunion, however, soon gave way to uncertainty, even resentment.

Crystal: “She treats me like a child … but I have kids myself.”

Cynthia: “It’s like meeting a whole new person. She leaves as a child, and comes back as a grown adult.”

Crystal: “It’s been very difficult, and sometimes it’s easier to just stay away.”

Cynthia: “I just want to love her.”

But in addition to that, Cynthia had to know why she had left for so long. Crystal, after equivocating for months, finally came out with it. She’d been raped continuously as a child. And she’d thought that Cynthia had known.

Cynthia said she was shocked. She said she’d had no idea that had happened, but no matter how many times she says it, Crystal said she still isn’t certain it’s the truth. She loves her mother – that’s why she came home, why she wondered about her for so many years – but there are so many issues weighing down their relationship that it seems stuck at times.

Still, both keep trying, as months go by, 2018 turning to 2019. Crystal these days lives with an aunt in the same neighbourhood, and often sees her mother, who’s on disability. They’re in each other’s lives, each wanting more. “I just wish we were a bit closer,” said Cynthia, now 61.

But it’s a start. It’s also the end of something else: With her daughter back home, Cynthia will finally move out of the house that she’d refused to leave all of these years.

“Within the next year,” she said. “I’m gone. It’s time to go.”

The term “caveat” has been derived from Latin which means “beware”. According to the dictionary meaning, “a caveat is an entry made in the books of the offices of a registry or Court to prevent a certain step being taken without previous notice to the person entering the caveat”. In other words, a caveat is a caution or warning given by a party to the court not to take any action or grant any relief to the applicant without notice given to the party lodging the caveat. It is very common in testamentary proceedings. It is a precautionary measure taken against the grant of probate or letters of administration, as the case may be, by the person lodging the caveat. Section 148-A of the Code of Civil Procedure provides for lodging of a caveat.

Section 148-A

Section 148-A, as inserted by the Amendment Act, 1976 is a salutary provision. It read as under:

1. Where an application is expected to be made, or has been made, in a suit or proceeding instituted, or about to be instituted, in a Court , any person claiming a right to appear before the Court on the hearing of such application may lodge a caveat in respect thereof.
2. Where a caveat has been lodged under sub-section (1), the person by whom the caveat has been lodged (hereinafter referred to as the caveator) shall serve a notice of the caveat by registered post, acknowledgement due, on the person by whom the application has been, or is expected to be, made, under sub-section (1).
3. Where, after a caveat has been lodged under sub-section (1), any application is filed in any suit or proceeding, the Court, shall serve a notice of the application on the caveator.
4. Where a notice of any caveat has been served on the applicant, he shall forthwith furnish the caveator at the caveators expense, with a copy of the application made by him and also with copies of any paper or document which has been, or may be, filed by him in support of the application.
5. Where a caveat has been lodged under sub-section (1), such caveat shall not remain in force after the expiry of ninety days from the date on which it was lodged unless the application referred to in sub-section (1) has been made before the expiry of the said period.

Object

The underlying object of a caveat is twofold: firstly, to safeguard the interest of a person against an order that may be passed on an application filed b a party in a suit or proceeding instituted or about to be instituted. Such a person lodging a caveat may not be a necessary party to such an application, he may be affected by an order that may be passed on such application. This section affords an opportunity to such party of being heard before an ex parte order is made. Secondly, to avoid multiplicity of proceedings. In the absence of such a provision, a person who is not a party to such an application and is adversely affected by the order has to be taken appropriate legal proceedings to get rid of such order.

The provision related to the caveat would be applicable to suits, appeals as well as other proceedings under the code or under other enactments. It is no doubt true that no order should be passed against the caveator unless he is heard, but if the caveator is not present at the time of hearing of the application and the Court finds that there is a prima facie case in favour of the applicant, ad interim relief can be granted by the Court in his favour. Interim order passed without giving notice to the caveator is not without jurisdiction and is operative till it is set aside in appropriate proceedings.

Who may File?

Sub-section (1) of Section 148-A prescribes qualifications for the person who intends to lodge a caveat. He must be a person claiming a right to appear before the Court on the hearing of the application, which the applicant might move for the grant of interim relief. The language of Sub-section (1) of Section 148-A is wide enough to include not only a necessary party, but even a proper party. Hence, a caveat may be filed by any person who is going to be affected by an interim order likely to be passed on an application which is expected to be made in a suit or proceeding institute or about to be institute in a Court. Thus, a person who is a stranger to the proceeding cannot lodge a caveat. Likewise, a person supporting the application for interim relief made by the applicant also cannot file a caveat.

Rights and Duties

Sub-section (2), (3) and (4) of Section 148-A prescribe the rights and duties of the caveator who lodges a caveat, of the applicant who intend to obtain an interim order and of the Court.

Under Sub-section (2) of Section 148-A, once a party is admitted to the status of a caveator, he is clothed with certain rights and duties. It is his duty to serve a notice of the caveat lodged by him by registered post on the person o persons by whom an application against the caveator for an interim order has been or is expected to be made.

Sub-section (4) of Section 148-A provides that is the duty of the applicant to furnish to the caveator forthwith at the caveator’s expense a copy of the application made by him along with the copies of papers and and documents on which he relies. This provision thus makes it obligatory for the applicant to serve his application along with all copies and documents filed or intended to be filed in support of this application.

Once a caveat had been lodged, under Sub-section (3), it is duty of the Court to issue a notice of that application on the caveat. This duty has been cast on the Court obviously for the purpose of enabling the caveator to appear and oppose the granting of an interim relief in favour of the applicant.

Aloe vera is a succulent plant species of the genus Aloe. An evergreen perennial, it originates from the Arabian Peninsula, but grows wild in tropical, semi-tropical, and arid climates around the world. People have used it for thousands of years for healing and softening the skin. Aloe has also long been a folk treatment for many maladies, including constipation and skin disorders. The cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries use aloe vera extensively, and the plant has an estimated annual market value of $13 billion globally. Each leaf contains a slimy tissue that stores water, and this makes the leaves thick. This water filled tissue is the “gel” that people associate with aloe vera products. Like other Aloe species, Aloe vera forms arbuscular mycorrhiza, a symbiosis that allows the plant better access to mineral nutrients in soil.

ANTIOXIDANT

The gel contains most of the beneficial bioactive compounds in the plant, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants .Aloe vera gel contains powerful antioxidants belonging to a large family of substances known as polyphenols.

SKIN PROBLEMS AND WOUND HEALING

Aloe vera is known for its antibacterial, antiviral, and antiseptic properties. This is part of why it may help heal wounds and treat skin problems. There is some preliminary evidence to suggest that topical aloe vera gel can slow aging of the skin. The United States Pharmacopeia describe aloe vera preparations as a skin protector as early as 1810–1820.

REDUCES CONSTIPATION

Aloe vera may also help treat constipation. This time it is the latex, not the gel, that provides the benefits. The latex is a sticky yellow residue present just under the skin of the leaf. The key compound responsible for this effect is called aloin, or barbaloin, which has well established laxative effects.

LOWERS BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL

People sometimes use aloe vera as a remedy for diabetes. This is because it may enhance insulin sensitivity and help improve blood sugar management.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.