Articles
Recent Judgement Of The Supreme Court In Arjun Khotkar: A Missed Opportunity To Revisit 65B
Finally, the reference to the larger Bench in Arjun Khotkar v. Kailash Gorantyal[1] was answered by the Three Judge Bench on 14th July 2020 apparently halting the swinging pendulum swinging between P V Anvar[2], Tomso Bruno[3] and Shafhi Mohammad[4]. The Judgment was eagerly awaited not only for judicial certainty but to decide course of judicial treatment of the electronic evidence in the digital era to come. Though this Judgments obviates any need to revisit the verdict in Anvar PV,...
Free Speech Or Hate Speech: A Critique On Bombay HC Order In Arnab Goswami's Case
Republic Television has been a vociferous supporter of the current political dispensation. In this endeavour, they effortlessly mix fact and fiction. Two recent programmes, anchored by Arnab Goswami, have given rise to important legal issues. The first programme anchored by Goswami insinuated that the protest by migrant labourers, who had gathered in Bandra with hopes that transportation to return would be made available, were not genuine. He further insinuated that the protest appeared to be a...
US Supreme Court On "generic.com" Trademark: A Tale Of Missed Opportunities
On 30th June 2020 Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in United StatesPpatent and Trademark Office et al. v. Booking.comdealt with the issue of whether the combination of generic terms is also generic for the purpose of trademark registration. SCOTUS by an overwhelming majority (8 judges) held otherwise i.e. such combination is not generic in nature. The sole dissenting opinion was written by J Breyer who held respondent's Trademark as generic in nature. For the purpose of...
Functioning Of Local Committees Under The Sexual Harassment Of Women At Workplace Act
Vishaka Guidelines The legal recourse on the issue of sexual harassment in India came only in the 1990s, though the country signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on 30 July 1980 and ratified it on 9 July 1993. It was in the case of Bhanwari Devi,2 a village-level worker employed with the Rajasthan state government on contract, that the Supreme Court issued Vishaka guidelines for employers in 1997 (Vishaka Guidelines and Others v...
Advocate on Record System In Patna HC: A Closer Look
My earlier article titled 'Advocate-on-Record' System In Supreme Court & High Courts' attempted to provide a bird's eye view of the Advocate on Record [AoR] System prevalent in the Supreme Court of India and the Patna High Court as well as 'Roll of Advocates' system followed by the Allahabad High Court. The present article ventures to have a closer look at the Advocate on Record system introduced by the Patna High Court in 2009. The Patna HC is the only High Court in India...
Equality Is Not Enough, Ensuring Equity In Acid Attack Legislation In India
Recently, the movie 'Chhapaak', based on the story of the acid-attack survivor Lakshmi, was released. An alarming spate of memes and reactions followed. One of the memes carried the poster of the movie, featuring Deepika Padukone as Lakshmi, with the caption – 'this could be you par tumaangyi' which translates to 'this could be you but you gave in (to my advances)'.[1]More than an irresponsible behavior of certain anti-social elements, this seems to be a reflection of a wider, deeply...
Justice R. Banumathi, An Upright And Hardworking Judge
"We form a particular group in the community. We comprise a select part of an honourable profession. We are entrusted, day after day, with the exercise of considerable power. Its exercise has dramatic effects upon the lives and fortunes of those who come before us. Citizens cannot be sure that they or their fortunes will not some day depend upon our judgement…It is necessary for the continuity of the system of law as we know it, that there be standards of conduct, both in and out of...
Refusing Access To Lavasa's Dissent Undermines RTI Act And Sanctity Of Electoral Process
Access to information is key to a participatory democracy which enables citizens to actively participate in matters of public affairs. Enactment of RTI Act shattered the entrenched culture of secrecy carried out by our bureaucracy for years and marked a transformation into an era of transparency. Since then, we have witnessed a number of success stories of RTI empowering people at the grass-root level and fixing accountability of public functionaries. Recently the Central Information...
Nomination Under Companies Act, 2013: Critical Analysis Of Supreme Court Judgment In Oswal Case
On 06.07.2020 Supreme Court in the case of Arun Oswal Vs. Pankaj Oswal & Ors (Oswal case) , held that the dispute as to the inheritance of shares cannot be decided in a proceeding under Section 241-242 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Companies Act). Supreme Court was also seized of the question as to whether the rights of a nominee of shares & securities under Section 72 of Companies Act is similar or different to the rights of a nominee under the Life Insurance Act 1938, ...
15 Takeaways To Ace "Consumer Fora Litigation" In India
Determination of compensation for the loss or injury suffered by a consumer on account of deficiency in service: In the matter of: Charan Singh V/s Healing Touch Hospital & Ors, (2000) 7 SCC 668, it was held that: "… While quantifying damages, Consumer Forums are required to make an attempt to serve the ends of justice so that compensation awarded, in an established case, which not only serves the purpose of recompensing the individual, but which also at the same...
The Typewriter Still Works -The Story Of A Judge Who Presided Over India's Most Sensational Trial
I have only re-read one book. The first time was when it was gifted to me on my birthday by a dear college friend in 1998 and it had me right from the catchy title "Princely Imposter"[1]. It was the tale of British India's most iconic litigation-The Bhowal Sanyasi's Case masterly captured in every page by Partha Chatterjee. When the Legendary Ram Jethmalani, donning his professorial hat, had come to Law School to teach us the law of evidence, explaining the 'hearsay' doctrine,...