Articles
The Art of Kindness
I stood there, with my jaws agape, staring. Ten feet away stood a young adult, two years my senior, naked from the waist up, his muscled chest glistening with what suspiciously looked like a copious serving of oil. Draped lazily across him was the prettiest girl in college who was being studiously ignored by aforementioned Greek God.Not the sight you would expect at the National Law School, Bangalore in the fall of 1996. Mercifully, this tableau was not the standard fare during torts class, but...
Re-writing Article 370 : The Legal Test Ahead
The President has, on the recommendation of Parliament,issued the "Declaration under Article 370(3) of the Constitution" in exercise of his powers under Article 370(3) read with Article 370(1) of the Constitution to declare that all clauses of Article 370 would cease to be operative from 6 August 2019, except the clause to the effect that "(a)ll provisions of this Constitution, as amended from time to time, without any modifications or exceptions" shall apply to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K),...
The Supreme Court On Mandatory Voice Samples – II: The Rise Of The Executive Court
In the previous post, Abhinav Sekhri highlighted some of the flaws with the Supreme Court's judgment on the mandatory taking of voice samples from an accused party. In this post, I want to build upon Sekhri's arguments, and make two further points.To start with, in order to prevent misunderstanding, let us get a few basic points out of the way. The debate before the Court wasn't so much about whether the compelled taking of voice samples would violate the guarantee against self-incrimination...
Understanding The Consumer Protection Bill 2019
On 30th July 2019, a bill introduced as the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha. Presumably the said bill will be passed in the Rajya Sabha and shall receive the assent of the President of India soon as well. Upon the said Bill becoming effective, and subject to the notification passed by the Government, the present Consumer Protection Act, 1986 will stand repealed. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was enacted with the objective of providing better protection of the...
Why The Government's Move On Article 370 Is Unconstitutional
This short piece argues that the actions taken by the President on Monday to move towards the nullification of Article 370 of the Constitution of India are unconstitutional. I will first discuss the relevant constitutional provisions, i.e. Articles 370 and 356, and then briefly describe what the Government did today. I will then explain how the Constitution has been violated.Article 370(1) and Article 356Broadly, Article 370(1) says two things of relevance: first, that Articles 1 and 370 shall,...
The Supreme Court On Mandatory Voice Samples – I: Some Glaring Conceptual Errors
"In the light of the above discussions, we unhesitatingly take the view that until explicit provisions are engrafted in the Code of Criminal Procedure by Parliament, a Judicial Magistrate must be conceded the power to order a person to give a sample of his voice for the purpose of investigation of a crime. Such power has to be conferred on a Magistrate by a process of judicial interpretation and in exercise of jurisdiction vested in this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. We...
The Effect Of Abrogating Article 370, Will It Increase Or Decrease The J&K Autonomy?
The Author is examining the constitutional question, though hypothetical, about the legal nuances of abrogation of Article 370. The rationale offered for seeking abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is to remove the autonomy of J&K and allow its full integration into the Indian Union. Let us assume for the sake of argument that it is constitutionally permissible for New Delhi to abrogate Article 370 and that it does do so. But then, would not such hypothetical abrogation...
Why Criminalization Of Triple Talaq Is Uncalled For?
Talaq! Talaq! Talaq! - the three forbidden words under Muslim personal law which engenders the irrevocable breakdown of a marriage. The husband utters these words, sometimes even by text messages, right before he leaves his lawfully wedded wife. Unlike the other forms of Talaq, where a few month's period (iddat period) is observed before the actual divorce, talaq-e-biddat is abrupt and questionably quick. And this, till the recent Supreme Court judgment of Shayara Bano v. Union of India And...
The Zomato Outrage And The Need For An Anti-Discrimination Law
The Jabalpur resident, Amit Shukla has sparked outrage, after he posted on twitter about his cancelling an order with Zomato -without refund- since the latter refused to concede his demand that he be assigned a delivery person belonging to the same religion as him – Hinduism. While the Zomato Founder, Deepinder Goyal's tweet celebrating the diversity of India, and his lack of regret in losing business coming in the way of protecting secular values won widespread acclaim, the outrage in the...
Political 'Turncoats' & Mockery Of The Democratic Ethos: An Analysis Of The Anti Defection Law & The Way Ahead
When the framers of our Constitution set out making the statues, they had certain moral & ethical standards in mind for the conduct of politics. They could not foresee the 'Aya Ram, Gaya Ram' syndrome, and the lust of power and money which prompted the enactment of the anti-defection law. Today even the anti-defection law has turned out to be inadequate to deal with the situation in Karnataka, which has multiple levels of complications, which will take great drafting genius to...
The RTI Amendments: Constitutional Statutes In Precedent And Practice
In the previous two posts, Malavika Prasad and I have developed the concept of a "constitutional statute", in the context of the recent amendments to the Right to Information Act. In the first post, I argued that a constitutional statute provides a statutory framework towards implementing a fundamental right, thereby fulfilling the State's positive obligation to do so. This is what justifies the status of the Information Commissioners under the RTI, and the requirement of...
