Achey Lal Vs. NCT Delhi : Setting a bad Precedent

The recent news of Forceful sex not Rape has caught the attention of several news stories and Senior Lawyers. Several points have been raised for and against the judgment. There has also been some amount of wrong reporting as to what was held by the Delhi High Court.The analysis here is confined to established tenets of law, the factual matrix and what can be interpreted legally and reasonably from the present judgment.The judgment dated 30.10.2014 in CRL.A. 1534/2011 held:AcheyLal even if held...

Departure from reasoning in reasoned order by Supreme Court of India: Analysis of Suspension of Sentence vis-a-vis corruption matters in relation to public servants

The present article discusses the rationale behind the difference in parameters of Section 389 Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.) suspension of sentence and regular and anticipatory bail. It also notes the stringent attitude of the Supreme Court in dealing with Corruption matters and public servants and the law as has been developed in this regard. The practical application of suspension of sentence in a case of a corruption matter has been analysed with reference to the recent, much publicized,...

Why Public bodies fear to be “Public Authorities”?

The RTI regime is facing a peculiar problem with many political parties, public servants, utility services, educational institutions and some public authorities refusing to be in ‘public’. They do not want to respect the people’s right to information, while the law and administrators of that law are taking years to say whether they are public authorities or not.  Some of the public authorities are interpreted to be private bodies by reading the definitions out of context, separated from...

What it takes to implement a law on sexual harassment at workplace in India

The Vishakha guidelines (1997) affirmed that sexual harassment of women was common and resulted in violation of their fundamental rights to life and liberty guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. The Apex court specified that the guidelines would be binding and enforceable on all employers until the Indian Parliament enacted suitable legislation to replace them.  Looking at the dismal and faulty implementation of the Vishakha guidelines, fourteen years later a Joint Parliamentary Committee...

People can regulate Parties through RTI

It is difficult to hope that the present political parties agree on any law providing for effective regulation of their parties. What is the way out? Considering the all-round deterioration of moral standards, blaming only the representatives is not proper. Though every voter is not corrupt, surely, most of them are not honest. 90 per cent of employers including teachers, have reportedly sold their postal ballets in recent elections. They are self-centered to the extent that they do not bother...

“Look, Ultimately, Ultimately, Ultimately…” – The lawyer on the bench: Justice Lodha’s Final Day in Court

The scene in courtroom no. 1 today was astonishing. A jampacked courtroom with lawyers having experience at bar ranging from a month to over 70 years were present, few to argue and few just to see Chief Justice R.M.Lodha presiding over the last time. Not to mention, the Attorney General Rohatgi, the Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, Harish Salve, Dushyant Dave, R.P.Bhatt, Ram Jethmalani and above all Mr. Soli Sorabjee stood tall in the first queue to verbally salute Justice Lodha. Wishes were...

Telangana: Intolerance to hostile media

Voltaire [François-Marie Arouet (1694 –1778)], a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state, said:“I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. What is happening in Telangana, the new state on tolerance to hostile media?K Chandrasekhar Rao has been caught in the controversy for the first time as CM for his harsh comments against...

Uniform Civil Code: The Unique Goa Experience

The laws of India, be it procedural or substantial do govern every citizen, irrespective of religion, caste or creed. But in matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance, citizens are governed by diverse laws depending on their religion, which are termed as personal laws, though religion is not merely a matter of personal choice. Under a Constitution which promotes an egalitarian society and wedded to the ideals of equality and fraternity, this rule of treating citizens differently based on...

Ethics in Medical Practice

Introduction                                                  “Vaidyaraja namasthubhyam,Yamaraja sahodara                                                Yamasthu harathi pranan, Vaidya pranan dhanani cha”  -- ?The authorship of this stanza is unknown. The meaning is as follows:  “ I salute the physician, who is the brother of Yamaraja (god of death). Yama takes away the pranan (lives), but the physician takes away the pranan as well as the money”.Once upon a time,  the physician was considered...

India’s tryst with tribunalization and transfer of judicial power to regulatory bodies

IntroductionThe liberal economic approach undertaken in 1991 inserted into the Indian political governing system, elements of both democracy and oligarchy. Montesquieu identified three essential organs of a government: legislature, executive and the judiciary. The democratic branch in our system is represented by legislature (bureaucracy as its subordinate) and executive, while the judiciary represents the oligarchy. The constitution as the grund norm and a political document lays down the...

Intellectual Property Rights protection in South Asian countries

Intellectual Property Rights is now considered valuable assets in any major economy as business models of the world over has transformed into more ideas driven. It is intangible domain of rights, so its protection is unique and technically elaborated. IPRs comprises of trademarks, copyrights, Geographical Indication, patent, designs rights. Prior to the multination agreement TRIPS these rights used to be protected through individual manner and most of the times breaches and violations occurred...

Trial by Media [Updated]

This article is confined to the objectionable parallel trial by the media of a case which may be the imminent or current subject matter of a trial before a Court of justice.The Fourth Estate and the Need If Any,  For Its EmpowermentThe term “fourth estate” comes from the Reporter's gallery in the House of Commons of the British Parliament.  The said expression is currently used  to mean the journalistic profession  and the news media.  The origin of the  term   “fourth estate” is attributed to...