Bombay HC Grants Bail To Murder Accused, Says They Were "Provoked In The Name Of Religion" [Read Order]

Making drastic observations, Bombay High Court has granted bail to three men accused of murdering Shaikh Mohsin. The single bench of Justice Mridula Bhatkar granted bail to the three accused observing – “The fault of the deceased was only that he belonged to another religion. I consider this factor in favour of the applicants/accused. Moreover, the applicants/accused do not have...

Files On PM Modi’s Foreign Visits Confidential, Exempted Under RTI Act: CIC [Read Order]

The Central Information Commission has rejected an RTI plea seeking information on costs in relation to the Prime Minister’s foreign travel, observing that disclosure of travel arrangements of the PM, whether foreign or domestic, involve important security concerns.The commission, perusing the files, said the sought information was of a nature that is exempted under Section 8 (1)(a) of the...

Interview: Scholar And Author Chintan Chandrachud Says Considerable Political Traction Is Necessary To Overturn A Judgment

Chintan Chandrachud is an associate at the London office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan LLP. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Cambridge, master’s degrees from Oxford and Yale, and a law degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai.His research has been published in prominent newspapers, journals and books, including The Hindu, Public Law, and The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution. He has undertaken several pro bono litigation projects and was chairperson of the...

Madras HC Bars Kazis From Issuing Talaq Certificates [Read Order]

The Madras High Court on Wednesday, in an interim order, held that for purposes of courts of legal proceedings, the certificate issued by the chief kazi is only an opinion and has no legal sanctity.The bench also directed that no certificate in respect of talaq would be issued as an opinion by the chief kazi.The bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh was hearing a petition...

Entry Tax On E-Commerce Sites Prima Facie Unconstitutional, Says Allahabad HC [Read Order]

The Allahabad High Court has observed that the levy of entry tax on e-commerce sites is prima facie unconstitutional as the state legislature has no authority or competence to do so.This observation was made by the Bench comprising Justice Ravindra Nath Mishra and Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, in an interim order on a plea by Instakart Services Pvt. Ltd. which had challenged the levy of...

The Kerala High Court's NSS Judgment Defies The Supreme Court

The Kerala High Court judgment in Nair Service Society v University Grants Commission is completely incorrect in law and should be set aside by the Supreme Court. This case, concerning the constitutional validity of relaxation of marks by the UGC in the National Eligibility Test (NET) for candidates belonging to Scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, Other Backward Classes and disability categories, has been decided almost entirely without reference to the correct case law. The judgment completely...

Interview: How Courts Use Stereotypes And Myths In Sentencing, Explains Academic & Author, Mrinal Satish

Prof Mrinal Satish is Associate Professor of Law, and Executive Director, Centre for Constitutional Law, Policy, and Governance at the National Law University, Delhi.He is a graduate of Yale Law School and the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. He holds masters and doctoral degrees in law from Yale Law School. His doctoral dissertation examined sentencing policy and practice with a special focus on rape sentencing in India.He was part of the research team that assisted the...

UID/Aadhaar Enabled Bio-Metric Attendance System (AEBAS) Violates Supreme Court’s Orders

Seeding of UID/Aadhaar not permitted by both the Court’s order and the Aadhaar Act 2016It is in breach of promise made in the UID/Aadhaar Number Enrolment Form Some 639 organizations registered over 1.88 lakh employees, over 5000 active devices in contempt of Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench order on the subject of 12-digit biometric Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar Number. This has been revealed by a government document titled “Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity”. The Court reiterated...

Govt Servant, Who Has Begotten Child By Surrogacy, Entitled To Maternity Leave: Chhattisgarh HC [Read Judgment]

Right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India includes the right to motherhood and also the right of every child to full development, the court held.There cannot be any discrimination between a natural mother and a mother who has begotten child by surrogacy procedure, the Chhattisgarh High Court has observed while holding that a female government servant, who has begotten a child...

Bombay HC Tells Family Courts To Follow Law In Letter And Spirit [Read Judgment]

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice GS Kulkarni of the Bombay High Court has cautioned family courts to follow the law in letter and spirit, while hearing matters of divorce with mutual consent.The bench was hearing an appeal filed by a 36-year-old woman against a judgment of the Principal Judge, Family Court, Mumbai.By the judgment dated June 20, 2015, her husband’s...

Dishonest Recording Of Court Proceedings Does Greatest Injustice: Delhi HC [Read Judgment]

It is human beings who are put to trial, and they deserved to be treated as human beings with the same dignity as any other person, the court said.A judge who does not honestly and fairly record the proceedings does the greatest injustice to the parties, the Delhi High Court has observed.Justice Vipin Sanghi made this observation while disposing of a transfer petition wherein a transfer of...

Submit PAN/ Form No.60 To Banks Before February End: Income Tax Dept. [Read Notification]

Banks have been directed to submit info about cash deposits during the period 1st April, 2016, to 9th Nov, 2016Those who have not yet submitted their PAN or Form No.60 will have to do so before February end, as the Income Tax Department has directed banks, including cooperative banks, to link permanent account number or Form No. 60, to bank accounts on or before 28 February, 2017.In an...