CCTV Cameras Inside Class Rooms Won’t Affect Children’s Right To Privacy: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court Thursday said there was nothing wrong with having CCTV cameras inside classrooms and rubbished the claims that children's right to privacy would be affected.A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao said there was "no privacy issue" with regard to having closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in classrooms as nothing private was being done...

Widow Eligible For Family Pension Even After Re-Marriage: Central Administrative Tribunal [Read Order]

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has ruled that the widow of a deceased government servant is eligible for family pension even after remarriage. The order was issued by Administrative Member Praveen Mahajan. CAT was hearing an application filed by one Ms. Renu Gupta, who was appointed as a storekeeper in 1998 on compassionate grounds after the death of her husband the year before....

Bishop Franco Case : 'Arrest Is A Matter Of Discretion Of Police', Kerala HC Observes [Read Order]

The court said that it was premature to consider plea for CBI investigation.Today, the High Court of Kerala considered three petitions seeking proper investigation of criminal case against Franco Mulakkal, Bishop of Jalandhar Diocese of Catholic Church, who stands accused of raping a nun.The Division Bench of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar perused the...

'Surrender Your Mobile First!', Court Tells Petitioners In PIL Against Mobile Phone Harms [Read Order]

A group of public-spirited citizens who filed a PIL in the Madhya Pradesh High Court to control 'harms' caused by mobile phone usage has been asked by the Court to demonstrate the weight of their concern by surrendering their own mobile phones.Rajendra Diwan and few others filed the PIL to highlight the potential 'hazards' of mobile phone usage, and to create awareness about it so as to...

Third Parties To Arbitration Proceeding Entitled To Appeal If They Are Affected By Arbitrator’s Decision: Bombay HC [Read Judgment]

In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court has held that a third party to an arbitration proceeding has the right to maintain an appeal under Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, if they are affected by an order passed by an arbitrator under Section 17 of the said Act.Justice RD Dhanuka heard a batch of 13 petitions filed under section 37 of the Arbitration...

The Tuesday Column: Right To Equality From The Prism Of The Third Gender

Socio-economic rights under our Constitution have been relegated to the non-justiciable category of the Directive Principle of State Policy. And yet, the harsh reality is that freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed under Article 19 of our Constitution, which though technically justiciable, remains purely theoretical unless you have the social and economic means to truly express yourself with dignity and security.This is as true for persons of the third gender as it is for any other...

Welcome The Post-Sec. 377 Era! What About Conversion Therapies?

The flow of inexplicable emotions and energy cannot be defined in words. India has transitioned into an era where the rainbow is sprightlier than ever before!My friends and colleagues from the bar and beyond have done an excellent job in identifying the key takeaways from the 6th September verdict, so I won’t get into that aspect. For the past two years, I, along with colleague Dr. Bhuchitra Singh, who is situated at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, have made some...

Delhi Court Discharges CM Arvind Kejriwal In Defamation Case Over His 'Thulla' Remark

A court here Monday discharged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him over his alleged 'thulla' remark against the city police.Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal granted relief to the politician saying the complainant, a Delhi Police constable, was not a person "aggrieved" in the case and, therefore, his complaint of...

Delhi HC Rejects Pleas Of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Oscar Fernandez Against I-T Reassessment Notices [Read Order]

“The writ petitions have to fail. It is, however, clarified that the observations with regard to the parties’ contentions is not conclusive and were recorded for the purpose of disposing of these petitions; the assessees’ rights to urge them are reserved in the income tax proceedings.”The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the challenge against reassessment notices issued by the...

Navtej Johar v Union of India – Key Highlights

Much has already been written and said about the recent landmark decision of the Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, where a bench of five judges of the Supreme Court partially struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which made “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” a criminal offence. Four separate judgments were delivered by the court, by Chief Justice Misra (supported by Khanwilkar J), and Justices Nariman, Chandrachud and Malhotra. Though the...

Kathua Rape Case Trial: Postmortem Doctors Say Victim Was Sexually Assaulted, Died Of Asphyxia

The doctors who conducted a postmortem on the eight-year-old Kathua rape victim told a court here that the girl was sexually assaulted and she died of asphyxia, a lawyer has said.As many as 54 witnesses have deposed before the court so far in the ongoing trial in the brutal rape and murder of the girl.The girl was allegedly repeatedly assaulted before being killed at a village in Jammu...

Section 27 Recovery- Some Myths And Misconceptions

The expression “Section 27 Recovery” itself is a misnomer. There are other instances of misapplication and mistaken assimilation of the underlying principles behind this important topic in the criminal justice system.Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (the “Evidence Act” for short) reads as follows:-“How much of information received from accused may be provedPROVIDED that when any fact is deposed to as discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of any...