Appointment and procedure followed by Probation Officers for pre-sentence report: Delhi HC lays down guidelines to be mandatorily followed upon conviction with offence punishable with death penalty

Commuting the death sentence awarded to a convict to life imprisonment, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has laid down guidelines and collated the existing procedure with regard to appointment of Probation Officers and the procedure to be followed by them. These guidelines have been directed to be mandatorily adopted by the Courts before the sentencing hearing, upon conviction...

2G Spectrum Case: SC dismisses Essar's Petition demanding De novo joint trial by Special Judge or a Separate Trial by Magistrate [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a Petition filed by Essar Teleholdings Ltd and its promoters demanding a De novo Joint trial with the Accused in the main charge sheet or a sperate Trial by Magistrate based on the supplementary Charge sheet.Essar Teleholdings Ltd. had approached the Court challenging a judgment passed in September 2013 by the Special Judge, dismissing an application...

Infants move SC for steps to control pollution in Delhi; demand ban on crackers during festivals [Read Petition]

Three infants, Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin, aged between 6 months and 14 months, being the youngest petitioners before the Apex Court, have filed a PIL through their legal guardians, praying for urgent measures to bring down the "fatal" pollution level in the national capital, Delhi.Filed by Advocate Pooja Dhar and to be argued by lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan, the...

RBI, SEBI, Gujarat and Jharkhand question SC interim order not making Aadhaar mandatory

Protests against the interim order not to make aadhaar cards mandatory for availing benefits of various government sponsored welfare schemes continued with the RBI and SEBI, along with the governments of Gujarat and Jharkhand today seeking clarifications and modifications from the Supreme Court on it.A bench of Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde and C Nagappan agreed to  hear the pleas on...

Evolving a uniform sentencing policy is a tough call; Supreme Court [Read Judgment]

A two Judge Bench of the Supreme Court has held that determining the adequacy of sentence to be awarded in a given case is not an easy task, just as evolving a uniform sentencing policy is a tough call. Justices T.S. Thakur and Gopal Gowda by separate but concurring opinions, had ordered the release of an Accused, who was convicted by Delhi High Court for offence punishable under Section 8...

Breaking; Punjab & Haryana, Gujarat HCs direct CBDT to extend due date for filing of Tax Audit and Income Tax Return (ITR) to Oct 31st [Read Judgment]

A division Bench of Punjab & Haryana High Court today directed CBDT to extend due date for filing of Tax Audit and Income Tax Return (ITR) to 31st October 2015.The petitioners challenged the Press Release dated 9.9.2015, whereby the Government and the CBDT have taken a decision not to extend the date for filing of returns due by 30.9.2015 for the assessment year 2015- 16 for...

Criminal Antecedents of Accused cannot be ignored while granting Bail; SC [Read Judgment]

A Two Judge Bench of Supreme Court today in Neeru Yadav v. State of UP has held that criminal antecedents of Accused cannot be totally ignored while granting Bail. The Bench was hearing an appeal against the Allahabad High Court order which granted Bail to Budhpal @ Buddhu- one of the Key Accused [Respondent;2] in a Murder Case. The High Court extended the Bail to Budhpal by applying...

Gujarat High Court recalls order of admitting petition against PM Modi for Poll Code Breach, clicking selfie with BJP Lotus

Gujarat High Court has reportedly recalled its order of admitting a criminal revision application against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly violating the Election Code of Conduct by clicking a selfie with the BJP election symbol, a lotus, and holding a press conference on the eve of 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The matter has now been adjourned to October 6.Justice U.R. Udhwani recalled...

Refusing to ban killing of animals for religious purposes, SC says cannot interfere with centuries old traditions

The Supreme Court today said it “cannot close its eyes to centuries-old traditions” and refused to entertain a public interest litigation which wanted a ban on the practice of killing of animals in the name of religion.“In villages people feel by appeasing gods, they will get rain..the legislation-- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960-- itself says it is not an offence if it is...

SC dismisses Somnath Bharti’s anticipatory bail plea and asks him to surrender

The Supreme Court  today dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of former Delhi Law Minister and AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, booked for attempt to murder and matrimonial Cruelty on a complaint by his wife, and asked him to surrender immediately.Just after the court's oral  order, Gopal Subramaniam, the senior lawyer who represented Bharti took instructions and told the bench headed by chief justice...

Delhi HC quotes with approval, submissions by amicus curiae Dr. Mrinal Satish, Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Law, Policy, and Governance, NLU Delhi

A Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi had appointed Dr. Mrinal Satish, Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Law, Policy, and Governance, NLU Delhi as Amicus Curiae in a Death Sentence Reference to assist the Court on the issue of sentencing. Dr. Mrinal Satish submitted two briefs to the Court, one in 2013 and one in 2015. The Court delivered its judgment last week, where it extensively quotes from Dr. Mrinal's written submissions."Concerned with the importance of the matter,...

High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Delhi High CourtThe Court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to Somnath Bharti, Former Law minister of AAP Government and the present MLA of Delhi assembly, in a complaint filed by his wife accusing him of domestic violence and torture among other allegations. Justice Suresh Kait observed that the allegations against him are not baled but supported with documentary proof. The court also said...