Court Rules & RTI : SC Verdict Subverts Right To Information

The Court's ruling that Court Rules will prevail over RTI Act can have a negative impact on Right to Information.

The Near Impossible Burden Of Proof For Citizenship

Though there are some legal proceedings where documents are admissible even without proof by issuing authorities, no such relaxation is given for proving citizenship.

Criminal Appeals And Setting The Muralidhar Standard Of Performance

Recently, the Supreme Court decided a criminal appeal where it found the accused not guilty of murder and acquitted him. In setting aside the Calcutta High Court's judgment, the Supreme Court held that the "circumstances relied by the prosecution to prove the guilt of the appellant were not complete". While this should have come as a huge relief to the accused, the fact that it came 36 years after he had first been convicted for murder, and a whopping 10 years after the appeal was filed in...

Civil Rights At The Bar Of the High Courts: Section 144 in Karnataka, Privacy In UP

On 13th February 2020, in Sowmya Reddy v State of Karnataka, the High Court of Karnataka held that the imposition of Section 144 throughout the city of Bengaluru for a period of three days, had been unconstitutional. The Section 144 order had been imposed between 19th and 21st December 2019, in the wake of anti-CAA protests. The arguments before the High Court took a now-familiar form: the petitioners argued a violation of the rights to free speech and assembly, while the State responded by...

Defining The Political: The Supreme Court's FCRA Judgment

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act – as the name suggests – regulates the circumstances under which individuals or bodies can accept funding from foreign sources. Section 3(1)(f) of the Act prohibits any "organisation of a political nature" from accepting foreign funds. The power to specify an organisation as a "political organisation" flows from Sections 5(1) and 48; the Central Government, having regard to the "activities", "ideology", or "association … with the activities of any...

[Women's Day] The Veil Of Morality Laid On Bride Trafficking In India: Challenges & Solutions

"We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back" – Malala Yousafzai While marriage remains to be a solemn and sacred institution in India whereby consent of the two partners is the touchstone, the odious practice of bride trafficking has its roots well established wherein the fundamental and most basic human rights of the trafficked females are utterly violated. According to the 2016 National Crime Records Bureau, 33,855 people were kidnapped or abducted for the...

Women's Day : Remembering Dakshayani Velayudhan - The Lone Dalit Woman In Constituent Assembly

Memories are important, public memories are further so. What we choose to remember (or choose to forget) from our past, decides our present and governs our future. And this is equally applicable to constitutional history of a nation. It is only when we remember where we began (i.e. the founding moment) that we can make sense of our present political and constitutional context and move towards goals and aspirations of future polity. Unfortunately, the story of Indian Constitution making...

The Glaring Illegality Of Ban Orders Against Asianet News & Media One TV

The ban has no support of law, and is wholly arbitrary and disproportionate.

SC Violates It's Own Resolution In Transfer Of Justice Muralidhar

Justice Deepak Gupta, in his lecture in Supreme Court Bar Association, on 24th February, 2020 said: "Anywhere, anytime, when ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law not the rule of men. The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and this necessitates that we must have an independent fearless judiciary. There can be rule of law only when we have judges who can take decisions independent ...

Supreme Court On Crypto Currency Notification: What Lies Ahead

Introduction As the blockchain enthusiasts, the exchanges dealing with Crypto Currencies ("CCs")and individuals holding CCs, across the globe watched in approbation, The Supreme Court of India, in the matter of Internet and Mobile Association of India vs Reserve Bank of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 528 of 2018 ("IMAI Case"), quashed the notification[1] ("Notification") issued by Reserve Bank of India ("RBI"). The Notification had directed all entities regulated by RBI not to...

Repatriation Of Aircraft: Conflicts Between International Laws And Domestic Laws

Introduction India is one of the fastest (and largest) growing domestic aviation markets in the world. According to Boeing, India will need around 2400 aircraft in the coming years to meet the rising demand for air travel. Since most of the aircraft in India are imported on the operating lease; smooth and expeditious export of aircraft also becomes an essential aspect for the industry. Thus, export is one of the remedies, which a State should provide to a lessor under the Aircraft ...

Delhi Riots: Justice Not Done

The Delhi High Court's handling of the petition seeking FIRs against the BJP leaders for their alleged hate speeches on February 27 amounts to abdication of constitutional duty. The time has come for the nation to be reminded that judges of the Supreme Court and high courts are constitutionally obliged to "make and subscribe… an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule." The oath inter-alia requires the person to solemnly affirm, "that I will...