The Slaughter Of The Spring Lambs

Only three films in Oscar history have taken all the 5 top awards distributed annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The first was 1934’s It Happened One Night, which was faithfully reproduced by Bollywood as Dil Hain Ke Manta Nahin. The second was forty years later with Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which mercifully was spared the copycat treatment, not least because a reprisal of McMurphy the crazed inmate would have been nigh impossible. One other...

Allahabad HC Dismisses Plea Against Yogi Govt.’s Circular Making Mandatory Singing Of National Anthem In UP Madrasas [Read Order]

The message and ethos of our National Anthem and Flag therefore needs to be spread and inculcated in all educational institutions irrespective of their affiliation or denomination, the Bench said.Dismissing a plea challenging Uttar Pradesh Government’s ‘forcing’ students of Madarsas to sing the National Anthem, the Allahabad High Court has observed that the singing of the national Anthem...

Transparency In Collegium Strengthens The Independence

Voluntary maximum disclosure is the internationally accepted principle of achieving good governance. The Indian Supreme Court of justice took a significant step forward to implement the obligation of disclosure under section 4(1)b) of Right to Information Act, 2005. Its note said: “Resolution is passed to ensure transparency and yet maintain confidentiality in the Collegium system,” it read:  “The decisions henceforth taken by the Collegium indicating the reasons shall be put on the website of...

Legal Training in India- The Missing Link

Structured Legal Training in India In India, the concept of a structured legal training for lawyers is absent. Any legal practitioner would agree that legal training is absolutely essential despite acquiring an LLB. A degree does not equip one enough to practice as a lawyer. Indian law students depend heavily on internships to learn about the profession. However, neither the quality nor the duration of these internships are monitored or regulated.Only a handful of Indian law firms have developed...

Registration Of FIR Can’t Be Treated As Gospel Truth, Says Bombay HC; Rescues Student From Expulsion [Read Judgment]

The Bombay High Court recently held that the registration of FIR cannot be regarded as gospel truth and be a reason for expelling a student, as it is against principles of natural justice. A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice SK Shinde was hearing a petition filed by a 21-year-old student of Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering College affiliated to Narsee...

Undeclared Practices At The Supreme Court - I

Sampling the Supreme Court, I recently wrote on how the bench and bar are inseparable. Sharing an unfortunate incident of altercation between the bar and bench, I made an attempt to highlight a growing concern of steep rise in heated exchanges between members of the bar and bench. I closed my submission writing that a spade needs to be called a spade, be it a lawyer or the bench.The current piece borrows inspiration from a recent incident where a notable Advocate-on-Record traced it to the Chief...

Decoding The Millennial Lawyer

Equipped with a fresh outlook, the new generation of lawyers is breaking away from the traditional mold. The change has brought opportunities and challenges in equal measure…The term “Millennials” (also called Generation Y) is used by demographers and researchers to refer to the group born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s to the year 2000. The millennial generation is credited with ushering in change through entrepreneurial spirit; collaborative attitude; technological know-how;...

Cleaning up Of Legal Profession And Education: Madras HC’s 25 Questions To Bar Council And Others

Justice N Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court made some scathing observations against the unsavoury system in place in India where getting a law degree from “letter pad colleges” is a common practice and asked BCI on what basis it has increased number of law colleges in India which stood at 800 (in 2014) against the needed 175 colleges in 2010.The court delved in to the issue of...

Madras HC Shuns Goondas Taking Avatar Of Advocates, Blames BCI For Mediocrity In Legal Profession [Read Orders]

The Madras High Court has made some serious observations against people in “black and white” dress acting as hooligans while holding the Bar Council of India for institutionalizing mediocrity in the profession by randomly granting approval to law colleges and creating disproportion in demand and supply of lawyers in the society. Justice N Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court made...

Talwars’ Case: An Acquittal Well Deserved

The Allahabad High Court has acquitted Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar in the Arushi-Hemraj double murder case for the right reasons. The theory of honour killing has been debunked and moral pontification about loss of family values in the upper middle class section has been rendered context-less, with the high court setting aside the judgment of the CBI court which had held the Talwars guilty of the murder of their daughter Arushi and their domestic help Hemraj. The alleged motive of the twin...

Expert Panel Suggests Amendments To Curb Online Hate Speech [Read Recommendations]

An expert panel constituted to study the 267th Law Commission of India report on hate speech has suggested amendments to the IPC, CrPC and IT Act for curbing online hate speech. The committee was chaired by Dr TK Viswanathan, former Law Secretary, and present Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha. The committee has proposed the addition of sections 153C and 505A to IPC. The expert panel noted...

Loudspeakers At Religious Places Vs Right To Privacy: Delhi HC Issues Notice To Centre [Read Petition]

The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Union of India on a public interest litigation for removal of loudspeakers from all religious structures on the ground that their use is an encroachment on a person’s “right to be left alone and spatial control” and thus violates the newly recognised fundamental right to privacy.A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal issued...