Hate Speech & Media : Lessons From Rwandan Genocide

Recent times have seen a highly worrisome trend of few popular media houses acting as platforms for spreading hate-speech and malicious propaganda against minorities and critics of the establishment.Casual but dangerous labels like "tukde-tukde gang", "urban naxals", "anti-nationals" etc, are thrown at those who do not subscribe to the majoritarian narrative. In the given context, it becomes necessary to explore the relation media has with hate speech, the extent of their...

Online Harassment: How Delhi HC Asked Facebook To Retrieve Lost Data Of A Deleted Profile?

The Petitioner in this case had filed a complaint against her in-laws for online harassment. She had also complained about receiving 'filthy messages' and pornographic pictures from a Facebook account named 'Sumit Sethi'. Due to inordinate delay in investigation, and continued harassment by threatening calls, the Petitioner filed a complaint before the ACP/Public Grievance Cell (Rohini District) against the officers of the Cyber Crime Cell (Economic Offences Wing) for dereliction of...

Remembering Enrica Lexie - Italian Marines Case On 8th Year Of Sea Firing

On February 15, 2012, when the fishing boat 'St. Antony' set sail from Neendakara harbor in Kollam district in Kerala, little did the fishermen aboard it anticipate the danger which was awaiting them in the seas.It must have felt like a regular day in their lives with the the usual toil in seas for livelihood!At about 4.30 PM, at a distance of about 20.5 nautical miles from the coastline, their fishing boat happened to pass "Erica Lexie", a tanker flying the Italian Flag. Two marines...

Women In The Armed Forces: Are We A Regressive Society?

"Women are often associated with peace and men are often associated with warfare"This deep-rooted association of gender with tight-roped, often vacuum-sealed roles has been embossed throughout most cultures in history. Since war has usually been defined as a male activity encompassed with "highly-valued" masculine characteristics, the image of women warriors has been seen as inherently unsettling, entailing a symbolic rupture with the dominant gender order based on separation of male and...

The Supreme Court's (New) Reservations Judgment And Its Discontents

This Friday, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court handed down a judgment holding that Article 16(4) of the Constitution is only an enabling provision, and does not confer a "right" to reservations. The context of the case was as follows: in 2012, the government of Uttarakhand decided to fill up the posts in the state's public services without providing reservations to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) (paragraph 5). This was challenged, and after a round of litigation before...

[Law On Reels] 'Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho'- Of Hopes & Delays Of Judicial System

Justice delayed is justice denied- this often repeated quote has been repeated so often that it is almost mundane, ineffective and boring to quote this quote anymore. But it is hardly debatable that time and justice share a relationship, that timely delivery of justice is important factor (if not essence) in ensuring justice 'being done'. Our judicial system is struggling with issues of long pendency and delay- a fact we, law students and lawyers are very well-aware of. While National Judicial...

Domicile Reservations In National Law Universities

Reservations based on domicile in education are not unknown, however, reservations in institutes having national importance certainly call for a debate. Recently, NLU Delhi announced a 50% domicile reservation which would be implemented from the year 2020. In view of the demand by the local students, when one state introduces domicile reservations, other states are bound to follow the same. Last year, the West Bengal Government passed an amendment to provide 30% domicile reservation in...

Allowing Room For Student Activism At National Law Schools Would Be A Befitting Tribute To Gandhi

The best of academic institutions around the world have played a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and influencing the national politics. Be it the protest against the Vietnam war in the 1960s at Harvard or the protest against racial insensitivity at Yale in 2015, students across top universities have never shied away from speaking up their minds. Being intellectual hubs, top universities provide ample space – physical and mental to the students and the faculty members to take strong...

Nirbhaya Case: How Disturbingly Clamour For Death Manifested Itself In Courtroom

It would be an understatement to say that the Nirbhaya rape case is more than just a 'legal proceeding'. The entire gestation of this case, the facts involved and the judgments delivered, has galvanised a nation, led to structural changes in criminal law, and surfaced a polarised discourse on punishment and deterrence. Hence, by its very development, it has transcended the limits definitive of a 'legal case'; so much so, it can safely be called an 'event'.There lies the tragedy of it all, the...

'Holy Cow' : An Extract From The Book 'Republic Of Religion' By Dr. Abhinav Chandrachud

(This is an extract from "Republic of Religion: The Rise and Fall of Colonial Secularism in India" by Dr Abhinav Chandrachud. The extract has been published with the permission of the Author and Publisher.) This chapter examines how independent India became less secular than British India by permitting laws that banned cow slaughter. In British India, Muslims were allowed to sacrifice cows during the festival of Bakr Id (the word bakr is Arabic for cow), though Hindus worshipped...

Chinmayanand Bail : An 'Unusual' Order Playing On Textbook Rape Myths

The Allahabad High Court speaking through Hon'ble Justice Rahul Chaturvedi has grantedbail to former Union Minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand. Chinmaynand is accused of sexually exploiting a 23 year old LL.M. student at SS Law college where he is a Director. Previously, District and Sessions' Judge, Shahjahanpur had denied the bail application of Chinmayanand. In my humble opinion, the bail order of the High Court is bad in law and is based on range of myths about rape and...

The Conundrum Of The "Seat" And "Venue" Of Arbitration: When Is "Venue" A "Seat"?

The three judgments of the Supreme Court in quick succession namely Union of India v. Hardy Exploration and Production (India) INC[1] (in short "Hardy's Case"), Brahmani River Pellets Ltd. vs Kamachi Industries Ltd[2] (Brahmani's Case) and the most recent BGS SGS SOMA JV v NHPC Pvt Ltd[3] (BGS's Case), underscore the significance of identifying the "juridical seat" in an arbitration agreement clearly so as to avoid wholly unnecessary litigation. These Judgements also highlight, why...