New Law On Jallikattu: Fraud To The People Or Panacea For Ancient Tradition?

Jallikattu means an event involving bulls conducted with a view to follow tradition and culture on such days from the months of January to May of a calendar year and in such places, as may be notified by the Tamil Nadu Government, and includes "manjuviratu", "vadamadu" and erudhuvidumvizha". [Section 2 (dd) of the Prevention of Cruelty Act, 1960, after amended by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Ordinance, 2017]. One of the first known instances of Jallikattu in Indian...

Indian Penal Code: Static Structure Of Fine

Supreme Court of India, a bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur in a judgment on a suomoto PIL, (in RE - INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN  PRISONS (II), on 3rd Oct 2016  observed that prisons are crammed with inmates by over and a half times the permissible limit. Court said that, “on the basis of this submission we called for information and now find that the situation continues to be not only tragic but also pathetic. Learned Amicus has drawn our attention vide his Note dated 20.9.2016 to over-crowding to...

IIM’s Diploma Versus Non-IIM’s Degree – When Nomenclature Becomes A Disqualification

Recently, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bill, 2017.IIMs are not authorised to award degrees, and hence, they have been awarding diplomas. As per the aforesaid bill, IIMs would be declared as Institutions of National Importance which will enable them to grant degrees to their students.If an IIM student is given a “degree” instead of a “diploma”, would it make a big difference? Generally speaking, no. After all a...

Indian Supreme Court’s Judgment On Mixing Religion And Politics : A Reply To Prof. Noah Feldman

The Supreme Court of India (SC), in one of its latest judgments -Abhiram Singh vs. CD Commachen (delivered on 2nd Jan 2017), ruled that a political candidate or anyone with his/her consent, cannot appeal to the candidate’s, his agent’s, or voters’ – religion, race, caste, community or language during elections. Both the positive element viz. an appeal to vote on these grounds, and the negative element viz. an appeal not to vote on these grounds are covered. In essence, the SC provided that in...

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016: A Critical Appraisal

Introduction India is considered as a major destination for foreigners for ART services particularly for surrogacy practices. As a result, the surrogacy business is well-established in India, with an estimated annual turnover of billion dollars. Despite this growing prominence of the Indian surrogacy industry in recent years, it is strange but true that the surrogacy practices in India remain largely unregulated. However, recently the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 was introduced by Minister...

Jallikattu - Legal Questions

The Constitution Drafting Committee had a difficult task of balancing rights and duties in a multicultural, diverse country like India while framing its Constitution. The fundamental rights of persons or groups of persons have been subjected to reasonable restrictions. While fundamental rights were not specifically extended to animals but in a dignified society bound by constitutional values, respect for other living beings is implicit. Whether such respect extends to a fundamental right to life...

A Case Of Perjury Against A Minor: The POCSO Act And Its Implementation

The issue of child sexual abuse has received much-needed attention from the legislatures in recent times. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) came into force on November 14, 2012 to effectively deal with sexual offences against children. However, it has faced unforeseen challenges in its implementation, at times working against the children it is meant to protect.On 22 December 2016, in an unprecedented move, a Special Court in Thane, Maharashtra issued a...

With All Due Respect

The Delhi High Court’s order granting bail to erstwhile student leader from Jawaharlal National University, Kanhaiya Kumar had very strange observations in it. I had an occasion to criticize it here. In another such judgment, this time the Bombay High Court in a much criticized judgment recently granted bail to 3 accused persons alleged to have committed crimes under Section 302, 307, 143, 147, 148, 149, 120B and 153A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Pertinently the maximum punishment under these...

The Text Is Explicit

“[g]eneral propositions do not determine concrete cases. I always say in Conferences………that I will admit any general proposition you like and decide the case either way” said Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior, a former judge of the United States’ Supreme Court. This statement by Justice Homes captures the essence of the sense an average reader would make of the recent judgement of seven judges’ constitution bench verdict of the Supreme Court of India in Abhiram Singh v. C. D. Commachen (Dead...

A Pregnant Pause And Child Rights

In the wake of the staggering prevalence of practicing overseas commercial surrogacy in India,the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 was proposed in Lok Sabha in the last week of November 2016. It defines surrogacy as a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple and agrees to hand over the child after the birth to the intending couple. This bill will be tabled in the budget session of Parliament, commencing from January 31, 2017 onwards. Introduced with the objective of...

Surveillance, Is It Not A Big Deal?

Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar headed three-judge bench asked, “Surveillance to what. Is it a big deal?” This seemingly innocent question posed on January 5, 2017 merits considered reply. The other two judges were Justice N V Ramana and Justice D Y Chandrachud.According to Concise Oxford Dictionary, surveillance means 'close observation, especially of a suspected person'. Isn’t surveillance dehumanizing? Why is it that when people are out of power they are quite perturbed about it and when...

Bid Adieu To Voice Of International Law Jurist C.G Weeramantry

International Jurist and renowned Scholar from third World  Mr. C.G Weeramantry, former  Vice-President of International Court of Justice and former judge of Srilanka Supreme court,  passed away on 5 Jan 2017, leaving behind the legacy of his intellectual work in international law which will remain forever for world peace, humanity and environment.. His immense contribution to international law requires no introduction. In capacity as ICJ, Judge Mr. Weeramantry, gave new horizon to nuclear...