Banishment Of Villagers For Following Different Religion Unconstitutional: Manipur HC [Read Judgment]

Inexorable and inescapable conclusion is that the said provision of the village constitution which lays down that there shall not be any denominational activity dividing the existing Religion (i.e., Baptist Christianity) is void in law and cannot be enforced being violative of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India, it said.The Manipur High Court has held provision of the...

Father Of Teen Killed As 'Naxalite' Moves Chhattisgarh HC Seeking Justice For His Death, Protection From Authorities

Sulo Kashyap, the father of an 18-year-old youth who was killed by the police last year after being tagged a Naxalite, has moved the Chhattisgarh High Court seeking justice for his son and protection for his family from alleged constant abuse by the authorities trying to silence their voices against the cold-blooded murder.Early this month, Justice Goutam Bhaduri had directed the Jagdalpur...

'Any Attempt by Supreme Court to Introduce Safeguards Against SC/ST Act Would Send Wrong Message'

On 20th November 2017, a bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, while hearing the case Dr Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v State of Maharashtra, framed the following question for consideration: Whether there can be procedural safeguards so that provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 are not abused for extraneous considerations?The facts of the case being heard by the bench are that certain adverse remarks were recorded...

Good Samaritan: Kerala HC Advocate’s Timely Service Saves A Man’s Life

R. Ranjini, an advocate practising at the Kerala High Court, turned to be saviour for a man who had fallen from a high rise on the busy MG Road of Kochi city, the state’s financial capital.Ranjini was passing through the road along with her daughter when she saw the injured man and she rushed to his help. She arranged emergency medical aid for the victim, while several passersby remained...

Delhi HC Initiates Suo Motu Petition On Letter By Missing Woman's Mother; Raps Police For Inaction [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court recently rapped police authorities for non-registration of FIR in a case of a missing woman.The observations were made by a Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar on a suo motu petition initiated after the Chief Justice received a letter complaining about the inaction and inability of police personnel to trace her daughter who has...

The Power Of Dissent And The Silence Within

The fate of the judiciary as an institution, and our fate as a democratic nation, hinges on whether we, as a people speak out, or watch passively.Justice D.Y. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court recently remarked that India needed to rethink the power of dissent. Delivering the presidential address at an event organised by O.P. Jindal Global Law University at the Indian Law Institute on January 11, he highlighted the three most powerful dissents in the history of the Indian legal system – by...

"Sorry Sir" Says Madras HC To 89-Yr-Old Freedom Fighter Made To Wait For Pension For 37 Years [Read Order]

"Sorry sir, you are made to suffer at the hands of our people too, as, unfortunately, this is how the bureaucratic dogmatism with wooden approach works, at times, in this country, for which you fought to get freedom”, said the Bench.The Madras High Court has apologised to an 89-year-old freedom fighter, V Gandhi, who waited “patiently” for freedom fighter pension for 37 long years...

When Rule Of Law Becomes A ‘Dead Horse’: SC Order Refusing Probe Into ‘Attack’ On Kanhaiya Kumar Is Unfortunate

On 24th January, the Supreme Court dismissed the plea seeking probe by a Special Investigation Team into the attack of JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar which took place in the premises of Patiala House Court during February 2016. Reportedly, the bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogi and Justice R Banumathi dismissed the plea, observing “We don’t want to flog a dead horse back into life”.  The court felt that nothing survived in the matter and closed it.As much as it is disappointing, it is also...

Apex Imprimatur On Acquittal Of ‘Peepli Live’ Co-director Mahmood Farooqui In Rape Case

In this era of me-too and him-too naming and shaming campaigns, which have placed the issue of consent centre stage, we have the dismissal by the Supreme Court of the appeal against the acquittal of Mahmood Farooqui by the Delhi High Court. It is to be borne in mind that Farooqui was convicted by the trial court judge for rape and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. The conviction was reversed by the Delhi High Court. The throwing out of the petition at the threshold without deeming it fit to...

Prisoner Has Right To Conjugal Visits, Says Madras HC; Allows Leave To Lifer For Fertility Treatment [Read Order]

Recognising that “Conjugal visits of the spouse of the prisoners is also the right of the prisoner”, the Madras High Court has allowed a 40-year-old lifer detained at Palayamkottai Central prison to proceed on a leave for two weeks for assisting his wife in infertility treatment.Quoting from a 1978 Supreme Court judgement which said “Whether inside prison or outside, a person shall not...

Delhi HC Raps Railways For Requiring Declaration From Husband/ Father Before Granting Medical Benefits To Mother/Daughter Duo [Read Judgment]

Mere involvement in litigation against each other would not change the status of their relationship.The Constitution of India establishes a welfare state whose duties include the providing of medical care for its citizens. This right is firmly protected within the right to live with dignity under Article 21. Additionally, as an employer, the government must ensure (as Section 603 of the...

A Little Sunlight Hurts None

The controversy about the press conference by the four senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court recently has not fully died down and most critics have already given it a political flavour. While some celebrated the revolutionary step taken by Justice Chelameswar, Justice Gogoi, Justice Lokur and Justice Kurian, there has been considerable conservativism which seems to propagate that the problems of the court must be dealt with within the four walls of the court - the “dirty linen in public”...