Supreme Court to hear on March 6, the petitions filed by victims’ families challenging the TN Govt's decision to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

Supreme Court on Monday decided to hear the petition filed the families of victims of the 1991 blast challenging Tamil Nadu government's decision to release the seven convicts in the 'Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case'.The petition was filed by family members of the victims, a local Congress politician Americai Narayanan and three others.Challenging the state government's decision to release...

Government Prohibits two-finger test on Rape Victims, New Guidelines drawn out for Forensic Medical Care

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has drawn new guidelines for treating rape victims and asked all hospitals to set up a designated room for forensic and medical examination of victims also prohibiting the two-finger test performed on them, labeling it as unscientific.The Department of Health Research (DHR) along with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with the help of...

Permission granted by the Apex Court to withdraw writ petition; Senior lawyer writes to CJI in protest.

An important issue of judicial propriety and legality has arisen in the light of permission granted by the Supreme Court to withdraw a Writ Petition from the Mumbai High Court. While permitting the withdrawal, the Court has rendered the High Court judgement non est and  set it aside. As a result, the damaging observations of the High Court, where it found on merits  that  the public...

Petition filed by Naz Foundation alleges discrimination against HIV affected children; Apex Court issues notice to the centre and states

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the centre and all the states on a petition filed by the NGO Naaz Foundation seeking to declare HIV affected children as a disadvantaged group under the Right of Education Act to ensure they got education without discrimination.Alleging that children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS are denied admission, suspended and even expelled from schools,...

Apex Court declines to entertain a PIL seeking framing of guidelines to regulate Government advertisements; asks the petitioner to approach it after the general election

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL filed by Kochouspeh Chittilappilly seeking framing of guidelines to regulate advertisements given by the government to project its achievements, saying that election is round the corner and the timing is not appropriate to hear such a plea. The petitioner had alleged that governments spend crores of rupees in advertisements to project...

After Fali Nariman, Justice (retd) K.T. Thomas now pulls out of the Lokpal Search Committee

Close on the heels of one of the eminent jurists of the Country, Fali Nariman slamming the Lokpal selection process and refusing to become a part of the 8-member Lokpal Search Committee, Justice K.T. Thomas, who was chosen as the head of the Search Committee, has followed suit, and written to the Prime Minister's Office expressing his inability to take up the appointment as head of the...

Haryana Urban Development Authority unearths illegalities in plot allotments to former President of India, former Chief Justice of P&H High Court among others

Under directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to probe multiple allotment of plots under the discretionary quota, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has unearthed several illegalities in plot allotments to several persons, including a former President of India, whose wife and son “obtained allotment of more than one plot” in Gurgaon, and a former Chief Justice...

Six new judges of the Bombay High Court to be sworn in today

North Goa Principal District and Sessions Judge Anuja Prabhudessai, Anil Menon, Chandrakant Bhadang, Vishwas Jadhav, Ananta Badar and Pukhraj Bora will be sworn in as new judges of the Bombay High Court today. They will be administered the oath as judges today at the High Court premises. With the appointment of the six new judges, the strength of the High Court of Bombay will go up to...

Centre seeks review of Apex Court’s verdict commuting death penalty of 15 convicts to life imprisonment

The Centre on Saturday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a review of the judgment dated 21st January of the Apex Court commuting death penalty of 15 convicts to life imprisonment. A 3-judges bench of the Apex Court headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, in its judgment of 21st January rendered in Shatrughan Chauhan and others, had held that 'undue and unexplained delay in...

PIL seeks establishment of a National Court of Appeal with regional Benches; Supreme Court seeks response of Centre and the Ministry of Law

The Supreme Court on Friday sought to know the response of the Centre and the Ministry of Law on the question of establishment of a National Court of Appeal with regional benches in major cities to finally decide cases arising from high courts.The Apex Court was considering a Public Interest Litigation filed by a Puducherry-based Advocate, Sri. V Vasantha Kumar seeking a direction to the...

SC commutes death penalty of four murderers to life imprisonment on the basis of their young age and socio-economic background; says the convicts are not beyond reformation [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court in a recent ruling, commuted the capital punishment of four convicts, who were accused of killing nine people, to life imprisonment on the basis of their young age and poverty-stricken socio-economic background.A Bench of the Apex Court headed by the Chief Justice of India, P Sathasivam, found that the behaviour of the convicts inside the jail was very good and they are...

SC finds Judicial Negligence in a Medical Negligence Case; Directs to re-hear the case

The Supreme Court directed the High Court of Punjab and Haryana to rehear a special leave petition on finding judicial negligence while hearing a case on medical negligence. The bench comprising of Justice K S Radhakrishnan said that, “the judgment (of the Punjab and Haryana High Court) is vitiated by an error apparent on the face of the record, which goes to the very root of the matter in...