Fixing A Flawed Interpretation Of "Consent" For Sexual Offences In India

A Kerala High Court judgement in June 2020 defined consent to construe an elevated standard of affirmative consent. The judgement also gives an insight on the the standard which can prevent acquittals like the Mahmood Farooqui case in future. In Farooqui case the court gave benefit of doubt to the accused by placing undue relevance to section 90 of IPC. This section puts additional burden on the victim to ensure that the perpetrator understands the absence of consent. This article will...

Justice D. M. Chandrashekhar-A Centenary Tribute (26.9.1920 – 3.10.2003)

The very name Deshamudre Mallappa Chandrashekhar evokes feelings of reverence and brings to mind a gentle stalwart in every sense. He was indeed a colossus on whom everything sat lightly. He was a great judge and a great man, but he was more, almost approximating to an ideal. It is in the fitness of things that we remember and pay tribute to him on his birth centenary and record our gratitude for such a noble and exemplary life. He was the ultimate in being a gentleman. He did not wear his...

A Hammer Blow For 'Sealed Cover' Jurisprudence

Surprisingly little comment has followed the landmark order which Justice Gautam Patel ofthe Bombay High Court passed on 21 September 2020 in a case concerning the invocation of an arbitration clause under the rules of the National Stock Exchange. In language which was as principled as it was unyielding, the judge expressed his abhorrence of a practice which has developed in recent years of litigants being allowed – sometimes encouraged – to hand over material to judges in circumstances...

Trade Dress As Interpreted By The Bombay High Court In The Case Of Merwans Confectioners Pvt Ltd v M/s Sugar Street & Ors

Trade Dress is a form of intellectual property. Trade Dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers.[1] The concept of Trade Dress is recognised by US law under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, a federal statute which regulates trademarks and trade dress. However, the term Trade Dress is not specifically mentioned under any Indian statute. All aspects of the concept...

The Curious Origin Of The Crime Of Outraging Religious Feelings By Insulting Religious Beliefs

Indian legal traditions invariably retain their British heritage to this day – this enduring legacy subsists unrivalled in the core of our criminal jurisprudence. The Indian Penal Code ("IPC"), with certain modifications, dates back to 1860. The exercise actually began in 1834, when the First Law Commission, under the chairmanship of Lord Macaulay, set out to codify law in India. It first came into force on 1 January, 1862, and represented a transplantation of English law to India....

'Pub' In Republic- Interesting Court Room Exchanges

Part IV of the Constitution of India contains the Chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy ("DPSP"). The Part casts a non-binding obligation on the government, to promote and achieve certain objectives mentioned therein. The debate and furore over protection of cattle, implementation of the Uniform Civil Code and recognizing labour rights, all have their genesis in Part IV. Interestingly, Article 47 of the Chapter also obligates the government to prohibit consumption of...

Increasing Incidences Of Depression And Suicide Necessitate Compulsory Mental Health Education In Jharkhand Schools

Severity of Mental Health Issues in the students Being home to two premiere institutions: Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) and Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), Jharkhand is well-known in the Indian Map of Mental Health. But when we look at the statistics, they are very alarming. As per the National Mental Health Survey of India (2015-16) conducted by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and NIMHANS, at least 11.1% population of Jharkhand ...

'My Constitutional Right To Fair Trial Will Be Violated If This Court Doesn't Intervene': Mehul Choksi Submits Before Delhi HC In Plea Against Netflix's Big Boy Billionaire

Mehul Choksi has submitted before the Delhi High Court that his constitutional right to fair trial will be severely affected if the court doesn't exercise its writ jurisdiction against Netflix's docu-series Big Boy Billionaire. While addressing the Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan, Choksi submitted that the investigation against him is going on and he has agreed to join the same through video-conferencing. Mehul Choksi has moved an appeal against the...

Professor Ranbir Singh: An Appreciation

Professor Ranbir Singh is widely respected as a great institution-builder and a celebrated academic leader in the legal world. After serving as the founding Vice-Chancellor of two National Law Universities, that is, NALSAR, Hyderabad, and National Law University, Delhi, for more than twenty years, he is going to retire next week. He is a great and innovative law teacher and a wise and very important academic leader who has made a Himalayan contribution to the Indian legal education system...

Farm Bills: Abuse of Legislative Due Process Vitiates the Law

The indecent haste with which the divisive farm bills have been legislated into law raise several disquieting questions about the future of our parliamentary democracy. The voice of the Opposition was suppressed and dissent against the Bills bludgeoned to ram through with their passage in both Houses of Parliament, in a brazen abuse of power without a meaningful debate. The audacious bypassing of parliamentary processes will remain etched in public memory as a watershed event in the...

A Critical Note On Supreme Court's UGC Judgement

On 6 July 2020, the University Grants Commission ('UGC') released guidelines directing all colleges, universities and institutions of higher education to conduct final year/ terminal semester examinations before 30 September 2020 ('Guidelines'). These Guidelines had been released at a time when the number of COVID-19 cases continued, and still do, to increase exponentially with every passing day; and have added to additional stress on universities, colleges and students across the country....

How Judges Judge?

We have been reading the criticism against Justice Arun Mishra, a judge, recently retired from the Supreme Court for quite some time now particularly, with respect to the performance of his judicial functions as a judge. In his farewell speech he said that: "I have dealt with every case with my conscience and took every decision with conviction." He went on to urge the legal fraternity to analyse every judgement of his "but do not give them this colour or that colour." This statement...