U.S. Supreme Court On Absolute Immunity Of The American President (The Case Of Trump V. Vance)

One of the most baffling legal questions confronting the judiciary in most constitutional democracies, the world over, is how to balance the increasing demands of the political Executive for Absolute Immunity from all prosecutions and the protection and preservation of basic individual rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the laws. Can any modern democracy countenance a situation whereunder the legal maxim 'rex non potest peccare', i.e. "the King can do no wrong", an English...

Is India Always At War? All About Preventative Detention & National Security Act

Basic human rights and liberties are the most significantly identifiable set of legal guarantees that exists in any civilized society and national constitutions. Liberty is the most precious of all the human rights. But in recent times in India, the differentiation between the set normative and the reality is ever so more evident with a steep increase in the number of instances where a person is taken under preventive detention. Preventive detention is something unknown in the United...

Women's day: Of Courts And Women

On 1st March, 2021, the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde asked a man accused of raping a minor in 2014 whether he would marry her. The shocking question uttered in the highest Court of the land led to a rightly ignited furore, with many even asking the Chief Justice to retract his words, issue an apology and step down from his position. What was even more deplorable is the scathing indictment by the Bar Council of India of the people who protested against the CJI's suggestion in a ...

The Question Isn't Who Is Going To Let Me; It's Who Is Going To Stop Me

The position of my women in the backdrop of the Indian social, political, economic and cultural framework has been fluctuating more or less towards progressive yet challenging developments. With the recent dazzling victory of Priya Ramani against being prosecuted for defamation by a man who exploited his position of power to dominate a naïve entrant, we may get the feeling that with each passing year women in India are standing up to what they would negatively countenance. It is only a...

Forced Marriage As An Instrument To Escape Liability Of A Sexual Offence

The recent judgment, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High court in Satish v. State of Maharashtra dated 19.01.2021, on Section 7 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, held that sexual assault without disrobing and or skin to skin contact does not attract section 7 of POCSO Act. Instead, it falls under section 354 of IPC. This judgementhas invited scathing criticism and has been castigated by the Supreme Court which stayed its operation.[i] In the case of Virendar Singh...

Reading 'The Path of the Law' on Justice Holmes' Birthday

Legal systems go through massive upheavals, with organic interpretation in both constitutional and non-constitutional branches getting shaped on the whims and fancies of the Parliament. What has been said a century back will thus lose its relevance with time. In light of this premise, when one starts reading the scholarship of late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841- March 6, 1935), the only result is astonishment, amazement, and bewilderment because Holmes' path is the most ...

Exemplary Role Of District Courts In Dispensing Justice And Protecting Human Rights

A recent editorial on the bail granted to a 22-year old, much maligned, alleged conspirator and foreign agent, 'toolkit' climate activist Disha Ravi in the Indian Express ( 27 February, 2021 ) says it all. Titled 'Thank you', it begins with a positive summing up: "(Additional sessions) Judge Dharmender Rana's verdict granting bail to Disha Ravi underscores what judiciary can - and should - do today." It concludes with the hope that : " The next time a government wants to come down on...

Challenging The Validity Of The IT Rules, 2021 - Can Rules Relating To Digital Media Be Made Under The IT Act?

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ("IT Rules 2021"). The said rules inter alia cover guidelines in relation to intermediary liability and code of ethics to be followed by intermediaries and publishers that process content on digital media. 'Digital media' is under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), as per a recent amendment to...

Nepal And Constitutional Reforms

In all modern constitutions, human rights and freedoms and their security occupy a prominent role. Many of them include references to human rights in international law, Constitutional reform is a compelling shift from one form of governance to another, from autocracy to democracy, from one-party rule to multi-party rule, for example, it is a precursor to elections for any new form of government (by local constituents as well as the international community). Constitution-making is no ...

What Is The Newly Notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines And Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.?

The government on 25th February notified about the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 at a press conference with the presence of Prakash Javedkar (Minister for Information and Broadcasting) and Ravi Shankar Prasad (Minister for Electronics and Information Technology) which aims to regulate social media, digital media and OTT Platforms (Over The Top). The said rules are neither under parliament scrutiny nor are they statutory but it...

[Tandav] The Offended Majority And The Inconsistent Policy On Bail- A Critique Of The Allahabad High Court's Order

In 1977, Justice Krishna Iyer summarised the basic rule of the criminal justice system in a tersely worded phrase- 'bail, not jail'. The deprivation of liberties must be an exception to the rule. However, far more important than the exposition of this basic rule, is a significant observation made by the same judge in another case, while dealing with the issue of bail. In Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Justice Krishna Iyer remarked that the issue...

Tax Residency In The Time Of COVID - What Does The Supreme Court Ruling In Gaurav Baid v. Union Of India Mean For NRIs?

In 1885, a lady born and domiciled in Australia visited England with her mother and sister. Four-months after her arrival, she was certified as of unsound mind and thereafter, until her death fifty-four years later, she remained in England and did not recover. Fifteen years prior to her death, however, the receiver of her estate had been authorized by an English Court to concur in the sale of certain real estate in Australia, of which she owned half. The proceeds of that sale were ...