Aadhaar Database Fails Privacy Test, Draft Data Protection Bill Committee Is A Trojan Horse

Ahead of the hearing in the Supreme Court on 17 January amidst push for biometric gnawing concerns about privacy, the issue of Aadhaar’s realistic chances of survival and its acceptance as fait accompli after imminent verdict in UID/Aadhaar case has assumed huge significance in our national life. If one draws on Justice DY Chandrachud ‘s 266-page-long order as part of the 547-page-long right to privacy verdict of the 9-judge bench in the case related to 12-digit biometric Unique Identification...

More Women Lawyers Should Engage With DLASs To Help Women Prisoners: Standing Committee On Women Empowerment

The Standing Committee on Empowerment of Women has suggested that more women lawyers should engage with the District Legal Aid Societies (DLASs) to facilitate access for justice to women prisoners.In its report titled ‘Women in Detention and Access to Justice’, the Committee, chaired by Ms. Bijoya Chakravarty, also suggests that an impact assessment of the Model Prison Manual, 2003 and...

Time To Legislate Blood-Sucking Banking Charges On Current And Savings Accounts (CASA)

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system. For if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning,” Henry Ford once said. The statement may be proving to be true with the increasing trend in bank transaction charges in India.The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), collected Rs. 1,771 crores between April-November 2017 as charges from customers for failing to maintain monthly average balances in their...

Maternity Leave Is Part Of Service Period, Must For A Woman To Be Real Mother: Madras HC [Read Order]

Almost a fortnight after the Kerala High Court upheld a woman’s fundamental right to dignity as a mother, the Madras High Court has now said it is the fundamental right of a lady to give birth to a child and nurture him and maternity leave period should be deemed to be the service period.Justice N Kirubakaran has held that any rule or law which holds that maternity leave has to be excluded...

NGT Issues Bailable Warrant Against DMRC Chief [Read Order]

The National Green Tribunal has issued bailable warrant against the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in a matter pertaining to rain water harvesting along the metro train tracks and in areas under its control.A bench headed by UD Salvi ordered that bailable warrants be issued after none of the senior officials from DMRC appeared before it to apprise it about the possibility...

Kamala Mills Fire: Petition In Bombay HC Seeks CBI Probe, Arrest Of Owners Of Building Where Fire Broke Out Under S.304 IPC [Read Petition]

Gaurav Sud, an 18-year-old from Mumbai studying in the United Kingdom, has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI probe into the Kamala Mills fire tragedy that took place on December 29 in South Mumbai’s Lower Parel leading to the death of 14 people.The petitioner has also sought the owners of the said building where the fire broke out to be booked under Section 304...

Why Rajya Sabha Needs To Closely Scrutinize Triple Talaq Bill Before Passing It?

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights On Marriage) Bill 2017, is no doubt a piece of progressive social legislation, well warranted. In the celebrated words of Justice Wendell Holmes of the American Supreme Court, it appears to have been actuated by the ‘felt necessities of the times’. Such a legislation in India was long overdue. The evil practice of talaq-e-biddat was prevalent in India since long and had to be abolished at the earliest. The Supreme Court of India, therefore, felt it...

An Open Letter To Dr. Rajeev Dhawan

Dear Dr Rajeev Dhawan,Your letter retracting from your self-imposed exile from the profession is great news to ring in the New Year. But, we press on for your larger contribution and not confining yourself to the pending cases. And let me tell you why.Most of us quite vividly remember when the news spread in the Supreme Court that you were joining the bar. That someone who had already published 17 works on the Constitution was going to be amongst us generated the excitement it deserved. I guess...

There Is A Fearsome Scenario Despite The Unanimous Verdict Declaring Privacy As A Fundamental Human Right, Says Advocate And Author, M.P.Raju [PART 2]

Supreme Court advocate, M.P.Raju's new book, India's Constitution: Roots, Values & Wrongs, [Media House, Delhi, 2017] starts with a simple question: "India has a Constitution. Does she have a constitutional culture?". Attempting to answer this in 464 pages of his book, Raju takes the readers to the social and moral dimensions of India's Constitution.Today, most of us take India's Constitution for granted. Raju reminds us, quoting Justice H.R.Khanna, that behind it, there is...

Triple Talaq Bill: Textbook Case Of Legislative Incompetence

The triple talaq Bill (The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017), which is being hailed as a historical reform for benefit of Muslim women, was hurriedly passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The present regime has shown its intellectual mediocrity and legislative inefficiency through this poorly-drafted piece of legislation.The draft Bill raises some important questions most importantly that of urgency in getting the Bill tabled and passed in Lok Sabha. The object statement...

Punjab & Haryana HC Lawyers Seek Probe Into Judge Loya’s Death

As many as 470 members of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar have written to the Chief Justice of India and forwarded the representation to judges of the Supreme Court and the acting chief justice of the Bombay High Court seeking a probe into the death of former special CBI judge BH Loya, who was presiding over the Sohrabuddin trial.As reported by the Hindustan Times, these lawyers are...

Triple Talaq Bill In Current Form May Create More Victims Than Help Any

The government has passed The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 (in common parlance, known as the Triple Talaq Bill), in a great hurry without any serious discussion or debate. The immediate question which arises is whether anyone has thought of the practical implications of such a harsh step like penalizing of triple talaq.Let us try to understand whether the ostensible victims of triple talaq would really find succour in this Bill. Will it help the victims, or add to...