Judiciary

Shortly before the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which defined adultery as a punishable offence, the Rajasthan High Court upheld a man’s conviction under the law. Last conviction This was probably the last conviction under the legal provision described by the apex …

Calls for setting up Rapid Response Teams to curb mobs Leaders of outfits who instigate a mob to an act of vandalism, which results in death or loss of public and private property, will personally face criminal action and are liable to compensate the victims of the violence, the Supreme …

Attorney-General wants salaries of SC, HC judges doubled or tripled and retirement age raised Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Monday called the Indian judiciary the “most robust in the world”. The outgoing Chief Justice’s declaration, in his farewell speech a day before he retires, comes even as Attorney-General …

What we wear, eat, say, read and think are no longer “small and insignificant” questions about our personal lives. They have become issues which “cut and divide us.” They make us hate and despise those who are different, Chief Justice of India-designate Justice Ranjan Gogoi said on Monday in the …

The Supreme Court’s challenge to patriarchy has been on-going across Benches, CJIs The past two years have seen the Supreme Court progressively question patriarchy in religion to ensure emancipation for women, and set the course for the future. But majority decisions in the court continue to rely on legal technicalities …

This time in adultery law verdict This is the second time Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has contradicted the verdict of his father, former Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud. Thirty-three years after his father upheld the validity of adultery law, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud ruled on Thursday that the earlier view cannot …

‘She can makeher ownsexual choices’ Justice D.Y. Chandrachud held that a married woman can make her own sexual choices. By marrying, she has not consented to refrain from sexual relations outside marriage without the permission of her husband. A husband is not the owner of his wife’s sexuality. To be …

Plea to refer issue to larger Bench rejectedNew three-judge Bench to be constitutedHasty decision, says dissenting judgment A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, in a majority opinion of 3:1 on Thursday, declined to refer the question if a “mosque as a place of prayer is an essential part of …

The Supreme Court held that whenever there is tension between two rights — privacy of a few and dignity of a majority — the court should intervene to balance it. Justice A.K. Sikri, writing for the majority on the Constitution Bench, “whenever such tension arises, the task of balancing is …

The Supreme Court on Tuesday formed a Committee on Prison Reforms chaired by former apex court judge, Justice Amitava Roy, to examine the various problems plaguing prisons in the country, from overcrowding to lack of legal advice to convicts to issues of remission and parole. A Bench of Justices Madan …

Cleansing politics from criminal elements begins with purifying political parties itself, as they are the central institution of India’s democracy, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday. The verdict by the five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India referred to the Law Commission reports which pointed …

Says political patrons had a nexus with criminal gangs, police, customs officials The presence of criminalisation of politics was felt in its strongest form during the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said in a 100-page judgment …

No government formation will take place through underhand means, there will be elections; whoever wins will be sworn to power, says Governor Ahead of the local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor Satya Pal Malliksays the Congress had rigged earlier polls, leading to alienation of the youth. Asserting that …

What is it?How did it come about?Why does it matter?What next? Over 54,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court. But only a few grab public attention, and they become the litmus test for the court. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who assumes office as the Chief Justice of India on October …

‘Should prove no job post-dismissal’ An employee has no right to back wages merely because the court has set aside his dismissal and returned his old job, the Supreme Court held in a judgment. “A workman has no right to claim back wages from his employer as of right only …

“You [the Maharashtra government] should make a clear distinction between opposition to government and efforts for mass destruction or violence… We may not like it [resistance], but we must accept the fact that there will be opposition,” Justice Chandrachud told Mr. Mehta. The Maharashtra government claimed that their raids unearthed …

Sixteen died and many sustained grievous injuries in the 1991 suicide attack The Supreme Court on Monday decided to hear families of the victims of the bomb blast which killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in 1991, and gave them permission to file additional documents. Sixteen died and …

‘How will you finish it by April 2019?’ The Supreme Court on Monday asked additional sessions judge S.K. Yadav, who is hearing the Babri Masjid demolition cases against top BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders like L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and “lakhs of unknown kar sevaks”, to explain …

Justice Pattanaik was CJI only for just a little over a month, during which 24 judgments with benches of three or more judges were delivered. At the other end of the spectrum, former CJIs H.L. Dattu (68%), R.M. Lodha (67.5%), K.G. Balakrishnan (55.1%) and A.S. Anand (63.5%) used other collegium …

Chief Justice Dipak Misra’s role as Master of the Roster was called into question by the other four judges in the Supreme Court collegium in January. While their complaint was about cases being “assigned selectively” to benches of “preference”, how have members of the collegium been represented in major cases …