Articles
The Babri Demolition and the Judiciary: Ineptitude or Incompetence?
On the thirty-second anniversary of the shameful demolition of the Babri Masjid, we see that the Pandora's box has been opened. There are several litigations by plaintiffs belonging to the majority community about alleged temples that are believed to have existed on the lands occupied by mosques and dargahs. Sambhal and Ajmer Sharif are the latest instances. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which put an end to all litigation concerning places of worship other than Ayodhya...
Regulating Puffery:The No.1 Solution To Covert Disparagement
Earlier this year, the High Court of Delhi (“DHC”) in Kent RO Systems Ltd. v. Advertising Standards Council ofIndia & Ors., held that puffery falls outside the scope of disparaging advertisements. This means that advertisers shall not be penalized for making exaggerated or vague claims in their advertisements as a legitimate marketing strategy. This decision has reignited the debate on whether the present legal position on puffery adequately protects the main stakeholders – the...
A Legal Intro To Redevelopment In Mumbai
Mumbai, India's financial capital and most populous city, faces a monumental challenge in accommodating its ever-growing population within its limited geographical area. The scarcity of land and the high population density have made redevelopment an essential tool for urban planning and growth management. Redevelopment involves the reconstruction of old, dilapidated buildings to optimize land use, improve living conditions, and create additional housing stock.However, the redevelopment process...
Sanganer Open-Air Camp: Prison Where Prisoners Live With Their Families
India is not new to the open-correctional institutions. One of the open correctional institutions, Sanganer open-prison, officially known as Shri Sampurnanand Khula Bandi Shivir, has been there for six decades now. Allegedly, the land on which the open prison operates has recently been allotted by the Rajasthan Government for constructing a Satellite hospital and it is a matter of ongoing litigation before the Supreme Court and the Rajasthan High Court.As per Rule 723 of the Rajasthan Prison...
Judicial Orders Mandating Incarceration- Recent Trend Of Imposition Of Restriction On Filing A Subsequent Bail Petition
The fixing of time for concluding the trial and renewing the Bail application after a certain time became a generally inevitable part of criminal jurisprudence of the High Courts of India and the Supreme Court while deciding Regular Bail Petitions. In other words, it may be stated that the Courts impose a virtual 'cooldown period for seeking bail'. In this context, this article provides a trifold argument that such imposition of a minimum period before the subsequent bail application is to...
Sports Governance: A Case Of Apathy, Lethargy And Unbridled Corruption
Regulation of sports governance by the Central Government has always been a thorny issue, and the latest attempt by the Ministry for Youth Affairs and Sports (“Ministry”) is no different. In the second week of October this year, the Ministry issued the Draft National Sports Governance Bill, 2024 (“Bill”),[1] inviting comments and suggestions. In what could have been an excellent opportunity for the Ministry to finally bridge the gap between intent and action, the Ministry yet again fell...
An Emotion Called Devotion
The judiciary is coming to terms with a sharp ideological divide across the world, where notions of justice are grounded in different worldviews. This creates new expectations from judges and decision making, which is often expected to move beyond the strict framework of black letter law. It is required to be sensitive to historic injustices and oppression, marginalization, and traumas not just of individuals but of communities. The conduct of the judge and not just his judgments are also...
Will India's Initiative Turn Out To Be A Significant Breakthrough In Reorienting The Indus Water Treaty?
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is one of the "most successful" transboundary water agreements in the world, which was borne out in the late 1950s, as a result of the extensive discussions between India, Pakistan, and the World Bank. It has long been regarded as thestandard for institutional bilateral water-sharing agreements, particularly because it has withstood numerous wars and crises and demonstrated its independence from political conflicts. However, IWT has a history of controversy...
Is Not The Magistrate A Prisoner Of Section 175 (3) Read With Section 173 (4) Of BNSS?
What impelled me to pen this article is the grievance voiced by some members of the Bar to the effect that on receiving “private complaints” all Magistrates are seeking the report of the Police before deciding to order investigation under Section 175 (3) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (“BNSS” for short). 2. For a better assimilation of the problem, it may be necessary to make a comparative evaluation of Section 156 Cr.P.C. and Section 175 of BNSS by means of a tabular...
Understanding Crime & Youth Delinquency By Revisiting The Movie 'Dev.D'
While cinema (or now OTT) is often critiqued for being a bad influence upon the society, or overly exaggerating some claims, there can still be some kernel of truth reflected in them. In this piece, the author would employ the learnings from 'Development of Life Course' (DLC) theory in the field of criminology to analyse the movie 'Dev.D' as a case study to understand youth delinquency in urban India. Based on a 1917 Bengali novel 'Devdas', this story has been adapted for several plays and...
Exploring AMU Minority Judgment: A Legal Analysis Of Issues And Implications
The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) case represents one of the most complex and prolonged constitutional debates on the minority status of educational institutions under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution. This article examines the historical and legal backdrop of AMU, the evolution of the case through pivotal amendments, judgments, and constitutional interpretations, and the recent judgment's extensive analysis of indicia for minority institutions. Although the expectation was for the...