The Government is Misusing the Law to Target Lawyers Collective for Political Reasons

When governments misuse the law, a country has much to fear. It is as if the State, which is meant to uphold the rule of law, subverts it instead. Perhaps, a citizen in such a country has no recourse except for the court of public opinion. Justice could be the first casualty when people in positions of power decide to be vindictive or consciously distort and misuse the law.Since this morning, I have been asked to share my response to the show-cause notice issued by the Government of India to the...

It wasn’t the Selfie After all!

I am a graduate in media and communication specializing in journalism. Having done that, I’ve worked with various news channels and newspapers for a brief period.Objectivity, accuracy and timeliness were some of the few things every journalism teacher talked about in class.I personally don’t think being objective is possible while publishing a story. We all are humans and the reporter, writing the piece does end up taking one side.Accuracy and timeliness are the other two things which I’ve seen...

Identity Theft - Trusted ID and Life Lock is a way of catching the criminals

Identity theft is a way of stealing a person’s identity whereby; a person pretends to be somebody else by assuming his or her identity(Schneier, 2012). It is a way of obtaining credit card or getting resources using that person’s name. The identity theft victim can suffer consequences if the perpetrator’s actions get held against them. Identity theft usually occurs when someone’s personally identifying information such as the credit card number;another person uses identifying number or name...

Oh, GOD! Ishwar Allah Tere Naam; Nothing Unconstitutional in Mamata’s Oath

Mamata Banerjee has scored another political point. She has introduced an inventive way of taking the oath in the name of ‘Allah and Ishwar’ combined, in the place of ‘GOD’ given in the form of oath as mandated by the Constitution. By this stroke of oath politics, she has pleased her two major constituencies. Though the act illustrates her political astuteness, one can foresee the legal challenges ahead. We may also see her lawyers taking shelter under ‘Ishwar Allah Tere Naam’, and wake up...

Ordinances – Death of NEET

President of India promulgated two Ordinances on 24th May, 16 amending Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and Dentist Act, 1946 and inserted Section 10D in both the Acts.Ordinances as claimed by the Government have been promulgated to give relief to the States from the judgment and Order of Supreme Court which directed implementation of NEET forthwith. In other words, the Govt. has used the route of Ordinance to stay the order of the Supreme Court.Interestingly, while promulgating, the Govt. has...

Indian Tax amnesty schemes - No carrot no stick

The trinity of Indian taxation regime consists of mounting tax litigation, dismal rate of prosecution, and failed tax amnesty schemes. Taking forward the age old legacy of amnesty schemes, from next month i.e., June 1, 2016, India is all set to witness yet another voluntary income disclosure scheme. The Finance Bill, 2016 stands passed by the Parliament has given green signal to the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 (IDS, 2016) which will remain open for four months. In other words, once again...

Does the government want ‘parrot judges’?

All governments do want a submissive or pliant judiciary. While active judiciary may be good but activist judiciary is not a great idea as it may disturb the delicate balance of powers under separation of functions. Let judiciary too show the same level of determination to protect citizens' rights that it demonstrates in preserving its own independence.A few years back to the delight of the BJP, the Supreme Court had called the CBI as a "caged parrot." The CBI certainly works under the...

Uttarakhand Case: Towards a new jurisdiction?

The Uttarakhand High Court judgment that invalidated the President’s rule in the State is emblematic in several respects. The judgment by the Division Bench that runs into 99 pages is, to an extent, a reiteration of Bommai (AIR 1994 SC 1918) as regarding the imperativeness of the floor test. But the judgment indicates a leap further when it dealt with the mandate of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution that embodies a procedural therapy for defection.The litany of the events is captivating. The...

Cyber bullying is a vice that should be stopped completely

Cyber bullying is a premeditation and malicious antagonistic activity that is demonstrated by a perpetrator towards a victim (Hendricks, 2012). Many people spend more time texting and on the internet oriented devices and, therefore, they are culpable to be victimized by their friends, peer groups, activists in the name of self-adjudged common good and others who have malicious intent and have an intent on intimidating and harassing. The cyber bullies anonymously attack their victims by forging...

Open letter to BCI

Dear Sir,I am one of those thousands of lawyers, who after passing dozens of papers, who wrote the AIBE Exam, because the Bar Council of India (BCI) has made it mandatory for us, to clear that exam, if we wish to continue as lawyers, after two years of our enrollment. I attempted AIBE about a week before the ides of March had come. After a week, the AIBE Website, notified us that our results will be released 'tentatively before April 16th'.Since the results were not seen published, even a week...

Right to reputation & Right to eat – Article 21 stretched further

Tennyson wrote –“A land of settled government,A land of just & old renownWhere freedom slowly broadens downFrom precedent to precedent”Article 21 of the Constitution states – No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to “procedure established by law”. The most vocal debates during Constituent Assembly sessions on its predecessor draft Article 15 surrounded use of an alternate expression - ‘due process’. Constitutional advisor Benegal Narsing Rau went to US...

Need for Sanction before passing an order for investigation u/s 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973

Chapter XII of the Code of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (for short, the Code) deals with information to the police and their powers to investigate. The Chapter deals, so to say, with A to Z of first information given to the police (in cognizable or non-cognizable cases), and police investigation leading to final report under Section 173 of the Code. Section 156 specifically deals with police officer’s power to investigate cognizable cases. A Station House Officer can investigate any...