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The Kerala High Court on Monday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in a case relating to the alleged rape of a woman and forcing her to abort pregnancy. A bench of Justice K Babu, which was hearing Mamkootathil's petition challenging the Thiruvananthapuram Principal District and Sessions Court denying him anticipatory bail, posted the matter for further hearing on December 18. The court extended its earlier direction restraining the police from arresting Mamkootathil until the petition is considered again on that date. Meanwhile, a separate petition filed by the state government challenging the Thiruvananthapuram court's order granting pre-arrest bail to Mamkootathil in another case, relating to the alleged sexual assault of a woman on the false promise of marriage, came up for consideration before a HC bench of Justice Viju Abraham. The court decided to take up the matter after the Christmas vacation. Mamkootathil, who
The Allahabad High Court has directed its registry to place on record the details of various measures and support systems available for persons with disabilities (PwDs) within the high court premises. The order was passed after a person with a locomotor disability, seeking protection against a threat from his wife's parents, faced 'great difficulty' while entering the court precincts due to a lack of immediate assistance. The bench comprising Justice Ajay Bhanot and Justice Garima Prashad passed the order on a petition filed by Simaran and her husband. The court said, "This court has noticed that the petitioner No 2 is a person with disability and suffers from locomotor disability. However, no assistance was offered when he entered the court campus, and he arrived in the court with great difficulty and despite the disability." After the court noticed the petitioner's physical condition, a wheelchair, along with assistance, was promptly provided. The bench, in its order dated Decem
The Rajasthan High Court has ruled that two consenting adults are entitled to be in a live-in relationship even if they have not yet reached the legal age for marriage, underscoring that constitutional rights cannot be curtailed on that ground. Justice Anoop Dhand delivered the judgement while hearing a plea for protection filed by an 18-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man from Kota, who told the court that they were living together out of free will. The couple told the court that they had executed a live-in agreement on October 27, 2025. The petitioners alleged that the woman's family opposed the relationship and had threatened to kill them, and that their complaint to the Kota police went unaddressed. Opposing the petition, public prosecutor Vivek Choudhary argued that because the man had not attained 21 years -- the minimum legal age for marriage for men -- he should not be permitted to be in a live-in arrangement. The court dismissed the argument, saying the right to life and
The Karnataka High Court has refused to suspend the life sentence imposed on former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna by a trail court in one of the four rape cases registered against him. A division bench of Justice K S Mudagal and Justice Venkatesh Naik T on Wednesday held that considering the gravity of the offences, multiple cases pending against him, and the risk of witness tampering, this was not a fit case for bail. The judges noted that even during the trial, Revanna was not granted bail and the victim had delayed reporting the assault due to his influential background. Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing Revanna, argued that the conviction was based on weak evidence and affected by a "media trial." He questioned the credibility of electronic evidence, pointed to delays in the FIR and procedural lapses in forensic investigations, and said the defence was not given sufficient opportunity to argue for a lesser sentence. He also claimed political vendetta behind the ...
The Allahabad High Court has issued a sweeping direction to the entire administrative machinery of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that individuals converted to Christianity do not continue to avail benefits meant for Scheduled Castes (SC). The court directed the Principal Secretary (Minorities Welfare Department) to take appropriate action to ensure that the distinction between minority status and Scheduled Caste status is strictly enforced. The court said that retention of SC status after conversion amounts to a "fraud on the Constitution" and set a strict deadline of four months for all district magistrates in the state to act in accordance with the law to identify and prevent such occurrences. Justice Praveen Kumar Giri while dismissing an application filed by Jitendra Sahani passed the order. Sahani has been accused of mocking Hindu deities and promoting enmity. Sahani had filed the plea to quash the charge sheet in the case on the ground that he had sought permission from authorities
Maharashtra Minister and senior BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday said "misinterpretation of laws" by the State Election Commission (SEC) has led to the Bombay High Court deferring the counting of votes for the local bodies polls to December 21. The SEC's actions alone had "prompted such a decision", the state revenue minister claimed, adding that he had repeatedly cautioned the poll body against delaying elections. Bawankule was speaking to reporters here hours after the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court directed that the counting of all civic bodies polls in the state will be held on December 21. The SEC had earlier scheduled the counting for Tuesday's elections on December 3. The HC's order has come on a day when polling was underway for elections to 264 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra, days after the SEC rescheduled the elections in 24 local bodies on December 20. "I have been saying that the SEC is misinterpreting laws and postponing electi
The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has temporarily stayed the Mhow Cantonment Board's notice to remove "unauthorised construction" at the ancestral house of Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, the chancellor of Al-Falah University, which is at the focus of the Delhi blast probe. The high court passed the interim order on Thursday and disposed of the petition filed by a resident of the house who challenged the Board's notice. Siddiqui was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 18 after the agency conducted searches against the group, linked persons and the Faridabad-based university. The Board issued a notice on November 19, stating the "unauthorised construction" must be removed within three days, failing which it would remove it under the relevant legal provisions and recover the cost from the occupant or the legal heirs of the property owner. Abdul Majid (59), who lives in the house, challenged the notice in the High Court. Majid, who identified himself as a farmer
The Supreme Court on Thursday raised the retirement age of judicial officers of Madhya Pradesh from 60 to 61 years. In an interim order, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices Prasanna B Varale and K Vinod Chandran referred to a similar decision taken by the Telangana High Court. It asked why judicial officers should be denied the relief when the state government was willing to do so. It is needless to say that judicial officers as well as other employees of the state government draw salaries from the same public exchequer, the bench said, adding that the retirement age of other state government employees is 62 years. In any case there is a difference of one year between the retirement age of high court judges and the district court judges, the court said. High court judges retire at the age of 62 and now the age of superannuation of district court judges in Madhya Pradesh will be 61. The bench posted the plea for final hearing after four weeks. Senior advocate G
Bangladesh's High Court on Thursday ordered India's Adani Group not to proceed with its planned international arbitration in Singapore over the payment dispute with state-run Power Development Board (BPDB) until an investigation into its power supply deal is completed. The court officials said a two-judge High Court bench issued the order that the arbitration must remain suspended until a committee it appointed to scrutinise the power purchase agreement and investigate potential irregularities submits the findings. The order came in sequence of a lawyer's petition, seeking the High Court's intervention for review of scrapping BPDB's agreement with Adani, calling it a "one-sided" deal signed during deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's regime. The petition said Adani's power price is much higher than other regional sources, as electricity from Indian state-owned companies costs 5.5 taka per unit against 8.5 taka per unit by other Indian private companies, and from Nepal, it is 8 tak
Judicial crisis in Pakistan deepened on Saturday with a senior judge of Lahore High Court following suit of two Supreme Court judges who resigned protesting the assault on the constitution and judiciary through a new constitutional amendment. Under the amended legislation, a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) was set up to deal with matters related to the Constitution, while the existing Supreme Court would deal only with traditional civil and criminal cases. The 27th Constitutional Amendment will also allow Army Chief Gen Asim Munir to stay in office till 2030 as Chief of Defense Forces (CDF). Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza tendered his resignation becoming the first judge to resign from any high court after the contentious amendment was enacted into law. Justice Mirza was due to superannuate on March 6, 2028.
The Delhi High Court on Monday protected the personality rights of actor and Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan. A bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was hearing Bachchan's plea, saying several social media accounts, YouTube channels and websites were misusing her name and persona for commercial gains. The defendants in the matter include Google, Amazon, eBay and Meta. Her counsel said that attributes of her persona, including her images, were being misused without any authorisation from her and that merchandise featuring her pictures was being sold. The counsel said that technological tools such as Artificial Intelligence were used to create videos having a likeness to her client. Justice Arora said that she would pass an order of injunction to restrain the infringing entities. The judge, however, said that she was not inclined to pass a restraining order against a private entity selling Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan's posters of the 1973 movie Abhimaan on ...