Shahjahanpur Rape Case: Swami Chinmayanand Hides behind Lesser Charges

Swamy Chinmayanand, spiritual leader, and former Member of Parliament from the BJP has been accused on charges of rape against a student at Shahjahanpur. With murkier details of the case emerging, the case has now faced a number of turns with the victim herself being kept in judicial custody on charges of extortion. The case was set in motion through a rape allegation made by a law student. The student went missing shortly after her accusation. After the victim re-emerged, she eventually...

Why Is Arbitration Not Working In India?

Arbitration has been the toast of the legal community for a long time. It has been long expected that arbitration will replace business litigation to a great extent one day. Lawyers have been encouraging parties to have an arbitration agreement in all their business transaction documents for more than two decades now. However, arbitration has not been proven to be effective too often. A lot of lawyers have begun to reevaluate if they should put in those arbitration clauses blindly...

Sec.12A IBC : Propriety Of Allowing Withdrawal Of CIRP At The Instance Of Defaulting Promoters

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ("NCLAT") reversed the order of NCLT while adjudicating upon the matter concerning insolvency of Sterling Biotech. The NCLAT allowed the creditors to withdraw the insolvency petition as per section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code ("IBC"), 2016 and to settle with the promoters of the Corporate Debtor. Thereby, allowing the promoters of the Corporate Debtor to take the control after making full payment to the lenders. An application...

Law On Reels - The Bat v. The Clown : Some Philosophical Questions

"It's not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us"

Constitutional Morality: Can We Understand Our Morals Right?

Over the last couple of years, there have been a slew of judgments rendered by the Supreme Court in the field of constitutional law. For a student of constitutional law, these have been exciting times as the apex court has taken upon itself the daunting task of interpreting complex yet nuanced issues of constitutional interpretation. In recent times, the court has championed the cause of gender justice in the decisions of Triple Talaq case and Sabrimala case; emphasized the right of...

Delay In Pronouncing Judgments – Rafale, Sabarimala,RTI et al Need for Judicial Introspection

In the Sabarimala case(Indian Young Lawyers' Association v. State of Kerala), Supreme Court had rendered a path breaking judgment which led to a huge furore in the State of Kerala. A batch of fifty-plus Review Petitions was filed, the matter heard and the judgment reserved on 6th February, 2019. It has been 7 months since, but the judgement is yet to be delivered. Likewise, in the Rafale Judgment, the review petitions were heard and judgement was reserved on 10th May 2019. The delay...

Inter-State River Water Disputes Bill- Watering-Down The Water-Federalism

National Commission for Review of Working of Constitution (NCRWC) has strongly recommended for protection of already adjudicated rights of states over the rivers flowing through their states and effective and meaningful consultation with all state governments before bringing any bill on River Water Rights. The Centre cannot ignore these two important suggestions because India is a federation and states have share in the sovereignty. The NCRWC after studying this aspect, explained ...

SC's Amusing Logic Burdens Deserted Husband To Maintain Wife After Divorce

"To hold that a wife who deserts and forces a husband to obtain a divorce on that ground, is entitled to maintenance, is neither the intention of the legislature, nor in the interest of justice, equity or logic."

One Year Of Sabarimala Verdict : The Emancipatory Force Of SC Judgment

One must realize that the judgement is not an attack on faith; it is merely an attack on the discriminatory practices embroiled in the faith.

Living Wills Have Been Recognized; But Are They Being Executed?

On 8th March, 2018, the Supreme Court rendered its historic decision legalizing, recognizing and providing constitutional sanctity to Advance Medical Directives or Living Wills. A Living Will is a written instrument executed during a person's lifetime under which instrument, the executor expresses his/her wishes in relation to the medical treatment he/she wishes to receive or not to receive in the event of a terminal illness or incapacitation. Say, a young adult otherwise healthy today can...

The (Not So)Strange Case of Pehlu Khan

When I read in the newspapers that Trial Court, Alwar, had acquitted the cow vigilantes accused of lynching Pehlu Khan, which, to me, had appeared an open and shut case from the news papers, I was curious to find out on what grounds he had done so. Having worked in the legal field where it is commonly believed that a Judge who has written a perfect judgment is yet to be born, I did not expect it to be perfect. But most certainly, I expected to see a judgment on a standard format...

Why SC Judgment On Retrospective Application Of Section 148 NI Act Is Problematic?

The SC has erred in holding Section 148 to be procedural and not substantive