When The Bar Council Of India Ceases To Be Truly Representative

‘To safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of Advocates’- this is one of the  functions of the Bar Council of India , as stated in the Advocates Act. Hallowed function, indeed!  This ought to mean that the Bar Council is representing the interests of Advocates. But when the Bar Council itself is not a representative body, how can it claim to represent the rights and interests of advocates.  It can only be a formal representation without any moral backing.The debates surrounding Bar...

Remembering Gandhiji As A Lawyer On This Gandhi Jayanti

Gandhiji was a trained barrister but could not practice in England as he had to return to India on account of his mother’s death. His attempts at establishing practice in Bombay did not take off, apparently because of his psychological failure to cross-examine witnesses. His practice in Rajkot comprised of drafting petitions for litigants. He then went on to practice law in South Africa where simultaneous with his moderate success as a lawyer, his ideas on the freedom, equality and liberty took...

Human Rights Discourse in South Asia

The South Asia has been metamorphosing, transforming and transiting in desire and discourse, grace and guidance, purpose and practicality, pace and propensity, terrorism and transcendentalism, unity and ubiquity, and its regimental ruthlessness is mawkish with modernity, primordial with present and furtive with future that is devitalized to the proliferation of prognostications. The propensity of the planet earth transcended its limits of growth, wealth of nations and industrialization of...

Ten Is Not, And Can Never Be, Less Than Ten

As at present advised, I am in respectful agreement with the dissenting verdict of Sri. Justice Prafulla C. Pant in Rakesh Kumar Paul v. State of Assam – 2017 (4) KHC 470 (SC). The three Judges Bench was, inter alia interpreting clause (i) of paragraph (a) of the first proviso to Section 167 (2) Cr.P.C in order to consider whether the offence punishable under Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (“P.C Act” for short) prescribing a sentence of imprisonment for a term which may...

Crisis of Credibility in the Judiciary

“In endowing the Supreme Court of India with very wide powers, the Constituent Assembly, the Assembly representing the voice of the people through its elected representatives, has shown complete confidence in the Court as the final body for dispensing justice between individuals and also between States and States and the States and the Centre. We hope to deserve that confidence. We trust that the people of India will also maintain the independence, honour and dignity of the Supreme Court.” Thus...

Supreme Court Finally Interprets "Existence Of A Dispute" Under IBC – Mobilox V Kirusa

The Supreme Court of India (Supreme Court) in Mobilox Innovations Private Limited v Kirusa Software Private Limited (Mobilox v Kirusa) has finally settled the widely debated question of what constitutes "existence of a dispute" in the context of applications filed by operational creditors for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of corporate debtors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). This path breaking judgment follows close on the heels of another...

National Law Universities Romancing with Criminology

Criminological education in India saw one of the most unusual developments in 2017: the proposal to launch Criminology at Gujarat National Law University (GNLU). This development surprised many scholars across the criminological spectrum. And rightly so, because of two reasons. First, Criminology had never been marketed in national law universities – the ‘so-called’ hallmarks of superlative quality of education. Second, much of the activities that contributed to this break-through took place...

Why BCI’s Show Cause To Dushyant Dave Should Be Immediately Recalled?

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. Martin Niemöller"The CJI and other judges are undoubtedly judicial authorities but when they act in their collegiate capacity they do not undertake a judicial function....

No, Your Lordships! Even A Feeble ‘No’ Does Not Mean A ‘Yes’

45 years ago, a young girl named Mathura was raped by two policemen. While acquitting the accused, the sessions judge called Mathura “a shocking liar”, whose testimony “is riddled with falsehood and improbabilities”. It was also remarked by the sessions judge that “Mathura is habituated to sexual intercourse”. When the matter reached the Supreme Court (Tukaram v. State of Maharashtra/ Mathura rape case, AIR 1979 SC 185), it observed that “the alleged intercourse was a peaceful affair” and that...

Does Judiciary Get Carried Away By Patriarchal Sentiments While Decoding Sexual Consent?

Decoding sexual consents in rape cases involving persons who have been maintaining close relationship with a shared past of physical intimacy can be a tricky affair. It takes a highly balanced and nuanced approach to resist the temptation to read the past history of intimacy into the offence to infer presumed consent.A close study of two high court orders passed over the last week makes one wonder whether patriarchal sentiments and moral prejudices are at play, at least at the judicial...

The Magic Of Method

My first conference with PP Rao as a briefing counsel was my first conference as a briefing counsel. I walked into his office, ready to impress, with a certitude of knowledge that can be forgiven only in the uninitiated. Post a three-hour conference, I was no longer thinking of the case but this man. He was unbelievable.Imagine this: five Judges of the Supreme Court render an elaborate judgment, fully reasoned and very specific to you. It is the final word, the end of the road. What does one do?...

God Save The Legal Education In India

Look at those bright eyed, full of enthusiasm, doned in black and white youngsters, armed with legal degrees, awarded by the Chief Justice of India himself. Clearly, they are headed for a great future both for themselves and for this country. Poof! Are they?According to the Bar Council of India, every year, around 60,000 -70,000 (approx.) students graduate from around 950 law schools in India. Where are they mostly employed, how much do they earn, how many of them continue to be in the legal...