Insulted disabled; non-functional legal framework

Exercising one’s right or freedom of speech and expression every so often creates hatredness aiming insult of a class of people. A former minister of Kerala abused the physically handicapped or differently able persons accusing that the various schemes of reservations and privileges granted to them is one of the major reasons for loss in public sector undertakings. The factual merit of his statement is not a matter for discussion, because, his statement did not contain any data to justify his...

Removal of the Governors in India

Recently the NDA Government sacked Mr. Aziz Qureshi, Governor of Mizoram. Last year Mr. Qureshi had fiercely objected to being asked to put in his papers and later dragged the Government to the Supreme Court against attempts to remove him. As Governor of Uttarakhand he had alleged that the then Home Secretary Anil Goswami, had called him on the Government’s behalf, asking him to put in his papers or face a transfer for certain allegedly inappropriate comments on rapes that were attributed to him...

NJAC and The Tragedy of the Library of Alexadria

The Royal Library of Alexandria was founded by the Greek general Ptolomy II, the successor to Alexander the Great. Built in the 3rd century BC, it was the  centre of learning of the classical world. It had a precious collection of 5,00,000 papyrus scrolls of world's greatest and foremost thinkers, astronomers, philosophers, mathematicians, litterateurs, scientists like Homer, Plato, Socrates, Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Erasistratus, Hipparchus, Aedesia,  Theon, Hypatia and Aristarchus of...

A Judgment inviting Police Raj

BhagwanDass ( God’s servant) has despised and dishonored his Divine name by an honor killing and was convicted by the apex court. Bhagwan Dass Vs State (NCT of Delhi) (2011) 6 SCC 396, (2011) 2 SCC (Cri)985.Honour killings have to be stopped. It dishonours the society. Even its nomenclature is misleading and it is to be rewritten as “dishonor killings”The apex court verdict is welcomed. But the revolting method that was adopted for evaluating a particular set of evidence is against the basic...

My understanding of Order XLI Rule 22 CPC

1. Under sub-rule 1 of Order XLI Rule 22 CPC a respondent may,  not only support the decree (which is wholly in his favour) but also may assail any (adverse) finding against him without filing any appeal or cross- objection.  As per the said provision, a respondent can also assail any part of the decree either by filing a separate appeal or by filing a memorandum of cross-objection. The words “respondent may object to decree as if he had preferred separate appeal”  occurring in the heading of...

[Exclusive] : A true Account by Anoop Kumaran , who slayed draconian 118(d) of Kerala Police Act, along with 66A IT Act; Why our ruling class panic of the democratization of communication space?

The recent judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v. UoI [Anoop.M.K v. UoI] is a milestone in the history of fights for rights and freedom in India. It will be hailed for years to come for upholding the freedom of speech and expression. In this case, the Supreme Court declared section 66A of the Information Technology Act and Section 118d of the Kerala Police Act as unconstitutional. This decision raises important questions as to what prompted the central and the...

Judging the Judges: Debating Judicial Conduct

The Supreme Court Bar Association had proposed a resolution demanding “fair treatment of lawyers” by judges.  The notice issued recently by the Association, which consists of members from almost all the states in the country, says that the lawyers must receive respect “irrespective of their standing and seniority”.  It also protests against the “hurried and selected manner” in which some Supreme Court Benches hear the cases (The Hindu, 3.3.2015).  The subsequent circular issued by the...

Changing Nature of Indian Judicial Structure – The Political Implications

Recent amendments made in the Indian Judicial Structure, though made considerable spaces in national media, the talks revolved round the principle of Judicial Independence and the discrepancies in judicial appointments. The formation of National Judicial Appointments Commission and the enactment of 121st Constitutional Amendment Bill 2014, which got its Presidential assent on 31st December 2014, were of no substantial importance to social networks neither the issues were analysed in a larger...

For 66A, the 19(2) operated as AK 56 !!!

Can anyone in any democracy imagine an expression crime without defaming or inciting a crime, affecting public order, decency or morality and devoid of mens rea? Section 66A was opposed not only to constitutionally guaranteed expression freedom but also to cardinal principles of criminal justice anywhere in the rule-of-law-governed states. The offence created by Section 66A (of Information Technology Act 2000 as incorporated by amendment in 2008) has no proximate relation with any of the eight...

Respect All, Suspect All; ‘Whether sealed or, not?’ As long as the proposed ‘Net Content’ to be sold is pre-determined, every package has got to be a ‘pre-packed’ commodity

Instead of shuffling through heaps for our daily needs grabbing onto the instant fix has been rendered rather easy as the market is, increasingly, being in-undated with the pre-packed options of every other product. And, the building passion towards catchy labels leaves little to doubt that buying through these options of goods has some conspicuous edge – obviously, it cuts short on time taken with mundane bargaining, apart from repeatedly weighing and measuring the utilities in the presence of,...

Causation Vanishing into a Morbid Silence in Criminal Jurisprudence

A criminal act consists of two parts. Mens rea ( the guilty mind)  and  Actus reus ( the act) The culpability depends on the resultant damage. Volumes have been written about Mens rea. It is being transformed and metamorphosized into finer propositions and the guilt is fixed by the degree of it.  The resultant punishment of the Act depends upon this aspect of the mind.   A causes the death of B by hitting him with  a car. If the intention of killing is proved, A’s liability is for murder.  If...

Women’s Day Special: 15 Supreme Court judgments that made India a better place for women

“Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.” -Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's OwnWomen have always been considered as the weaker sections of the society, as the victims. They have been shown merely as characters in a man’s world. What they don’t realise is that women are leaders everywhere you look, from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children...