Articles
Recent Appointments To Higher Judiciary: Time To Make Informal Criteria Transparent
One advantage of researching the background of those being appointed to the Supreme Court is the insights they yield regarding the role of pedigree in their success at every stage in their long judicial careers. Four out of the eight recent appointees to the Supreme Court -about whose family background information is available in the public domain - belong to reputed legal families, with their father or grandfather having been successful lawyers or Judges in the High Courts. This number...
A Long-Standing Discord On Article 282
The concept of freebies has become a buzzword with the preponderance of promises made by political parties. Promises or distribution of free electricity, free water supply, etc. have become commonplace in the Indian political milieu. In light of the above events, a few months ago, a PIL petition was filed to oppose the practice of political parties promising freebies. The petitioner had challenged promise/distribution of private goods/services, which are not for public purposes, from...
What is Surrogate Advertising?
Surrogate advertisements are essentially a substitute advertisement for the goods which cannot be directly advertised due to the prohibition of law, the goods that form the corpus of such prohibition are: tobacco products, Alcohol, Narcotic substances and other such products. Why does a brand invest large sum of money on a brand extension which is rarely marketed? Or why is a company sponsoring events which are nowhere related to their sector of business? These brands gain recall value...
World Consumer Rights Day: Recent Important Supreme Court Judgments on Consumer Protection Law
“Customers are the most important visitor on our premises, they are not dependent on us, we are dependent on them. They are not an interruption in our work. They are the purpose of it. They are not outsiders in our business. They are part of it; we are not doing them a favour by serving them. They are doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so.” – Mahatma Gandhi.The Supreme Court of India has recently pronounced numerous judgments on Consumer Protection Law. Therefore, on the...
Indian Law And Toxic Fumes-The Need To Reconsider Vape Law
With the Incremental upsurge in the usage of Electronic Cigarettes and Vapes among Youth in the past years, the Government of India responded by banning the same in 2019, through the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act 2019[1]. The ban was based on the recommendations of the Indian Council for Medical Research, the top body for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research. Further, the Government claimed that the objective of the ban was to protect the Youth, ...
The Case For Regulating, Not Banning Bike Taxis
The bike taxi sector in India is currently valued at USD 50.5 Million and is expected to grow to USD 1.4 Billion by 2030. The reason for this growth lies in bikes being an economical alternative to all other types of taxis. However, this aggressively expanding industry has been facing its fair share of regulatory struggles. On 19th February 2023, the Delhi government issued newspaper advertisements asking digital companies such as Ola and Uber to stop allowing personal bike taxis citing...
Section 156(3) R/W 397 Of Criminal Procedure Code: A Pillar To Post Provision(?)
The Code of Criminal Procedure (“Code”) provides a supplementary way to report a cognizable offence. Under Section 156(3), the Magistrate has the competence to order an investigation of an offence of which he may have taken cognizance under Section 190. Ergo, any application of Section 156(3) can only be at the pre-cognizance stage. Section 156(3) empowers a Magistrate to order police investigation when he himself refrains from issuing process under Section 204. Once the procedure under...
Black, White and Red – The Curious Case Of Court Complexes And Washroom Equity For Women in India
Recently, the Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice in the State of Kerala, Dr. R. Bindu, had declared that necessary steps would be taken in order to implement menstrual leave in all universities in the State, having regard to “the mental and physical difficulties faced by female students during menstruation”. When a PIL in this regard had been filed by Advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi before the Supreme Court, the Apex Court had refused to entertain the same stating that...
International Women’s Day: Recent Important Supreme Court Judgments On Women’s Rights
“Honesty, pride and self-esteem are crucial to the personal freedom of a woman. Social progress depends on the progress of everyone. Following words of the father of our nation must be noted at all times: To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without...
Spotlight On Recent Appointments To Supreme Court - Justice Ahsannuddin Amanullah
A general criticism of the Indian Courts has been that very little is known to the public about the judges being recommended by respective Collegium before their appointment, on merit and suitability. A designated Secretariat ideally should do the job, unfortunately we don’t have such a mechanism. Livelaw has taken an initiative to share relevant information about the appointees and we are starting with the appointments to the Apex Court. The focus is to shed light on some of their significant...
Why The Workplace Sexual Harassment Law In India Is Focused On Women?
At outset, I would like to clarify the nowhere the article is in denial of the fact that individuals not assigned female sex at birth and those who do not identify themselves as women are not victims of workplace sexual harassment. Also, it is important to recognise that complaints from them need to be acknowledged and redressed through mechanisms within organisations. However, the article is an attempt to explain reasons for India having a workplace sexual harassment law for women.The article...
“Section 27” Of The Evidence Act And The Verdict In “Pulukuri Kottaya” Continue To Elude The Comprehension Of Many Judges At All Levels
A “confession” made to a “police officer”, by a person (presently or subsequently) accused of an offence cannot be proved against him and is, therefore, inadmissible in evidence before a Court of law in view of Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (“Evidence Act” for short). Similarly, a confession by a person (presently or subsequently) accused of an offence and made while he is in the custody of a police officer, is also excluded from being proved against him by virtue of ...