Articles
A Tale Of Two Dissents
When we think of dissents, we are reminded of the powerful words of the 11th Chief Justice of the United States Charles Evans Hughes that "a dissent in a court of last resort is an appeal to the brooding spirit of law, to the intelligence of a future day when a later decision may possibly correct the error into which the dissenting justice believes the court to have been betrayed." While unanimity in a decision is desired to ensure consistency and finality, a dissent may reflect an...
[Constitution Day 2020] Reminiscing India's Constitutionalism: Homage to the Indian Constitution
"However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good." -Dr. B.R. Ambedkar At the time when the Constitution of India was framed, democracy was meant to be its utilitarian manifestation. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru while moving the Objectives Resolution commented that democracy needs to be extended from political to the economic and...
Where Free Speech Is A Path To Lose Personal Liberty: After 70 Years Of Constitutional Democracy
We celebrate 70 years of Constitutional Governance in India, i.e., Bharath on 26th November 2020 with Damocles sword on free speech that could deprive personal liberty. None is bothered about those innocent, not very popular, common journalists and protestors who were arrested for talking against the establishment or protesting against Government policies like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). In recent times, several Journalists have been charged under the sedition law, the Official...
When Heavens Will Fall For Justice To Others…?
While inaugurating'Nyay Kaushal' – e Resources Centre of the country at Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on 31-10-2020, CJI S A Bobde said: "Let justice be done, though heavens may fall."[1] However, late Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer in his famous book "Off the Bench" narrated " … the delightful account by Lord Denning of the barbaric origin of fiat justitia in Rome" which goes as under; "Let justice be done I As done in Rome In my coat of arms, I took as my...
Section 28 DA Of Customs Act 1962 & CAROTAR Rules 2020: Is The Remedy Worse Than The Disease?
India is a signatory to trade agreements with several countries, including Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries like Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, various ASEAN members etc. The said FTAs are international treaties . In terms of the FTAs, a preferential tariff treatment is given to originating goods of the exporting country. In this regard, 'Rules of Origin' (RoO) are cardinal principles based on which the source country of import goods is established, and subsequently...
The Exorcism Of UAPA
Even after the advent of the NIA Act, 2008, covering the investigation and prosecution of offences under UAPA, the shadow of CrPC still looms large.Prior to the enactment of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 ('NIA Act,' for short), the investigation and prosecution (trial) of offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 ('UAPA,' for short) was governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ('CrPC,' for short). The Part II of the First Schedule of the CrPC...
A Police Constable's Constitution
Commenting about the section prepared by the Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee for the Draft Constitution of India, Somnath Lahiri famously said that the provisions on fundamental rights appear to have been drafted from the point of view of a police constable. Considering that the final version of the fundamental rights clauses retained much of this draft (and, frankly, only narrowed the scope of rights further), Lahiri's criticism squarely holds for Part III of the Constitution as we know...
Discouraging Article 32 Habeas Corpus Petitions – The Legal Basis
Observations by a bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India while hearing a habeas corpus writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution that the court is trying to discourage Article 32 Petitions - has understandably received coverage critical of the judicial attitude of the court. Particularly, as it came in the backdrop of an order granting interim bail to Arnab Goswami in a hastily convened vacation hearing punctuated by several oral observations by the...
The SC/ST Act- Reduced To Yet Another Footnote In The Quest For Social Justice?
"A caste system gives us false comfort, makes us feel that the world is in order, that we automatically know the good guys from the bad guys." ― Isabel Wilkerson Siddharth, a young Hindu College graduate from Delhi moved to Bhojpur, a non-descript village about 500 km from Delhi, sometime in 1969-70. He was there to be a part of the communist movement, to ignite the revolution that would free the oppressed lower castes from the thakurs of the village. In his letter to his beau, Geeta,...
118A OF Kerala Police Act: An Affront On Parrhesia
In exercise of the exceptional powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 213 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Kerala promulgated an exceptional Ordinance amending the Kerala Police Act, 2011 (8 of 2011) and inserting a new provision 118A. Section 118A reads thus: whoever makes, expresses, publishes or disseminates through any kind of mode of communication, any matter or subject for threatening, abusing, humiliating or defaming a person or class of persons, knowing it to be...
'A Lawyer With High Principles' : A Junior Remembers His Senior KG Kannabiran
'Kannabiran used to say that the legal profession is the only profession where one would get a chance to deal with different subjects and provides an opportunity to fight for human rights, and various freedoms given under the Constitution'.