Page 2 - Court Cases

Trump asks US Supreme Court to overturn $5 mn judgment in Jean Carroll case

Trump was found liable by a Manhattan jury in May 2023 for sexually assaulting Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by calling her a liar, following a trial in which he declined to testify

Somnath Bharti declared absconder by court in connection with 2021 case

An MP-MLA Court in Rae Bareli has declared former Delhi Law and Justice Minister Somnath Bharti an absconder for failing to appear before it in connection with a 2021 case. "Somnath Bharti failed to appear for hearing in a 2021 case on Tuesday, following which Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Dr Vivek Kumar on Thursday declared him an absconder. The court has issued a non-bailable warrant and a notice under Section 82 (proclamation for person absconding) of the Criminal Procedure Code," Special Public Prosecutor Sandeep Kumar Singh said on Friday. He added that the court has fixed November 13 as the next date of hearing. Singh said a case was filed against the former minister in 2021 for allegedly misbehaving with police at the Delhi Irrigation Department's guest house. However, Bharti later secured a bail and the case has been pending ever since in the MP-MLA Court. Despite the court's repeated orders for his in-person appearance, Bharti has not been appearing in court, Singh

Musk's lawyer vows continued legal battle to unwind OpenAI restructuring

Altman has denounced Musk's lawsuit challenging the OpenAI restructuring as a weaponisation of the legal system to slow down a competitor

Trial begins over Trump's plan to deploy National Guard in Portland

A federal trial over whether President Donald Trump can deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, began Wednesday, with a police commander describing on the witness stand how federal agents at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building repeatedly fired tear gas at nonviolent protesters. Attorneys for the city and state are attempting to block Trump from deploying troops by arguing that they aren't needed to enforce the laws and that the president should not be allowed to use the military to remedy a situation worsened by federal agents. Portland Police Bureau Cmdr. Franz Schoening called federal agents' actions at the building, which has been the site of mostly small protests since June, startling. State and federal law prohibit police agencies from using munitions, including tear gas, the way the federal officers have, Schoening said. City police officers themselves had been tear-gassed and forced to pull away from the scene, Schoening said. At one point during a large

Trial begins for man accused of killing former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe

The trial of the accused killer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to begin Tuesday. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, goes to court as US President Donald Trump visits Japan for talks with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Takaichi, a conservative protege of Abe, highlighted their close ties in talks Tuesday with Trump, who called Abe a "great friend." Yamagami allegedly shot Abe in 2022 with a homemade firearm during an election speech because of a grudge against the controversial Unification Church, which he believed had close ties to Abe and other Japanese politicians. He has told officials that massive donations his mother made to the church, which was founded in South Korea a year after the Korean War ended in 1953, caused his family's financial collapse. Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister since World War II, is regularly mentioned by both Trump and Takaichi. The trial in the western city of Nara is set to finish in mid-December, Kyodo news agency reported. The

US court releases Ashley Tellis on $1.5 mn bond in espionage case

A Virginia court ordered the release of India-US strategic affairs expert Ashley Tellis pending trial, with strict conditions including passport surrender and electronic monitoring

Trump can command Oregon troops, says US court, blocks deployment for now

An appeals court on Monday put on hold a lower court ruling that kept President Donald Trump from taking command of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. However, Trump is still barred from actually deploying those troops, at least for now. US District Judge Karin Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders early this month -- one that prohibited Trump from calling up the troops so he could send them to Portland, and another that prohibited him from sending any National Guard members to Oregon at all, after the president tried to evade the first order by deploying California troops instead. The Justice Department appealed the first order, and in a 2-1 ruling Monday, a panel from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the administration. The majority said the president was likely to succeed on his claim that he had the authority to federalise the troops based on a determination he was unable to enforce the laws without them. However, Immergut's second order remains in effect

US judge lifts travel restrictions for Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

A federal judge has lifted travel restrictions for Mahmoud Khalil, allowing the Palestinian activist to speak at rallies and other events across the US as he fights his deportation case brought by the Trump administration. Khalil, who was freed from a Louisiana immigration jail in June, had asked a federal magistrate judge to lift the restrictions that limited his travel to New York, New Jersey, Washington, DC, Louisiana and Michigan. "He wants to travel for the very significant First Amendment reasons that are at the bottom of this case," his lawyer, Alina Das, said during a virtual hearing on Thursday. "He wants to speak to issues of public concern." An attorney for the government, Aniello DeSimone, opposed the move, arguing that Khalil "has not provided enough of a reason why he could not attend these and other events telephonically". The magistrate judge, Michael Hammer, agreed on Thursday to allow Khalil to travel, noting he is not considered a flight risk and had not violated

Two jurors say they were bullied into convicting Weinstein, claim lawyers

Two jurors who voted in June to convict Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault said they regret the decision and only did so because others on the panel bullied them, the former movie mogul's lawyers said in a newly public court filing. Weinstein's lawyers are seeking to overturn his conviction for first-degree criminal sex act, arguing in papers unsealed Thursday that the guilty verdict was marred by threats, intimidation, and extraneous bias, and that the judge failed to properly deal with it at the time. In sworn affidavits included with the filing, two jurors said they felt overwhelmed and intimidated by jurors who wanted to convict Weinstein on the charge, which accused him of forcing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006. One juror said she was screamed at in the jury room and told, we have to get rid of you. The other juror said anyone who doubted Weinstein's guilt was grilled by other jurors and that if he could have voted by secret ...

Conversion victims can face action if they try to convert others: HC

The Gujarat High Court has said that persons claiming to be victims of religious conversion can also face legal action if they later attempt to convert others. On account of their act of "influencing, pressuring and alluring other persons to convert to Islam", a prima facie offence is made out against them, the court of Justice Nirzar Desai said on October 1, hearing a batch of petitions moved by several persons. The petitioners claimed they were originally Hindus and had been converted to Islam by other persons, and hence they were themselves victims of conversion and not accused. The court noted that they were involved in "pressuring and alluring other persons to convert to Islam," which would prima facie make out an offence against them. Several men accused of religious conversion had approached the HC, contending that they were themselves victims of religious conversion and the First Information Report (FIR) against them was misconceived. They sought the FIR lodged against the

Trump deploys California Guard to Oregon despite setback from court

The troops arrived Saturday night with no prior notice to state officials, and more troops are on the way, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said in a statement Sunday

NCLAT sets aside Future Consumer's plea for insolvency against Aussee Oats

Appellate Tribunal NCLAT has set aside an appeal by Future Consumer Ltd (FCL) seeking to initiate insolvency against Aussee Oats Ltd. A two-member NCLAT bench has upheld the orders of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had rejected the claims of FCL, part of the debt-ridden Future Group. FCL had claimed an amount of over Rs one crore due from Aussee Oats. It had given Rs two crore to Aussee Oats in the form of an Inter-Corporate Deposit. According to FCL, out of the total deposit, only Rs 1.35 crore has been paid, and the rest Rs 65 lakh is due, which now, along with interest, totals over Rs one crore. However, NCLT observed that the financial statement of the corporate debtor (Aussee Oats) reflected a 'set off' of the claims, and there was NIL amount payable to the Financial Creditor (FCL). Moreover, it also observed a dispute between them. This order was challenged by FCL before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which also rej

Google asks US Supreme Court to freeze app store ruling in Epic Games case

Google in its Supreme Court filing said that the changes will have enormous consequences for more than 100 million US Android users and 500,000 developers

Amazon faces trial over allegedly tricking customers for Prime subscription

A federal trial beginning in Amazon's hometown this week is set to examine whether the online retailing giant tricked customers into signing up for its Prime service and made it difficult to cancel after they did so. The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon in U.S. District Court in Seattle two years ago and has alleged more than a decade of legal violations, including of the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, a 2010 law designed to help ensure that people know what they're being charged for online. Jury selection began Monday, with opening statements to follow. Prime provides subscribers with perks that include faster shipping, video streaming and discounts at Whole Foods for a fee of USD 139 annually, or USD 14.99 a month. It's a key and growing part of Amazon's business, with more than 200 million members. In its latest quarterly report, the company in July reported more than USD 12 billion in net revenue for subscription services, which is a 12% increase from the same .

Need to curb avoidable service-related appeals in HCs: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh on Saturday said there is a need to find ways to avoid avoidable appeals filed in high courts in service matters related to government employees. Addressing an event, he urged all concerned to help ensure that the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) fulfils its basic original mandate of reducing the backlog of service-related cases in higher courts. The CAT adjudicates on government employees' service matters. Singh emphasised the need to find ways of avoiding avoidable appeals in high courts, noting that the very purpose of the CAT is to provide finality at the tribunal level for ease of justice to employees and streamline judicial procedures. Speaking at the 10th all-India conference of the CAT at Bharat Mandapam here, the minister urged the members of the judiciary to voluntarily come forward to take up assignments in the tribunal "in the interest of administration of justice and in the service of the nation". He observed t

Judge rules Trump admin illegally fired thousands of probationary workers

The Trump administration's central human resources office acted illegally when it directed the mass firings of probationary workers as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to downsize the federal workforce, a judge has ruled. US District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco said Friday in awarding judgment to a coalition of labour unions and nonprofits that the US Office of Personnel Management "unlawfully exceeded its own powers and usurped and exercised powers reserved by Congress to each individual" federal agency to hire and fire its own workers. He said the government "disagrees but does not persuade" in its defence that the office did not direct employment decisions, but merely offered guidance to other agencies. "Judge Alsup's decision makes clear that thousands of probationary workers were wrongfully fired, exposes the sham record the government relied upon, and requires the government to tell the wrongly terminated employees that OPM's reasoning for firing them was ...

Dispose of bail pleas within two months: SC tells HCs, district courts

The Court noted that while heavy case loads remain a challenge, matters affecting liberty must be given priority

Supreme Court to give interim order on Waqf Act issues on September 15

These include the power to denotify properties declared as "waqf by courts, waqf-by-user or waqf by deed."

Road blockade case: Congress leader Pradeep Jain, 13 others get 2 yrs jail

A court here on Friday sentenced senior Congress leader and former Union minister of state Pradeep Jain Aditya and 13 others to two years' imprisonment in connection with a 2013 road blockade held to protest power cuts, a case lawyer said. However, all of them were released on a personal bond and granted a month to appeal the verdict, he said. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM-I) and Special MP-MLA Court Judge Anil Kumar Saptam convicted Aditya and others under various sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, a case lawyer said. He said the case pertains to a June 11, 2013, protest by the Congress near Parichha Thermal Power Plant over electricity issues, where party workers allegedly blocked the Jhansi-Kanpur highway at the call of Jain, causing a massive traffic jam. All convicts were released on a personal bond. They have been granted a month's time to appeal against the verdict, he added. Jain appeared emotional after the sentenc

Delhi riots case: SC defers bail pleas of Umar Khalid, others to Sept 19

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned to September 19 bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider in the UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the February 2020 riots in the national capital. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria said it received the files very late. The activists have challenged the September 2 Delhi High Court order which denied bail to nine persons, including Khalid and Imam, saying "conspiratorial" violence under the garb of demonstrations or protests by citizens couldn't be allowed. Those who faced bail rejection include Khalid, Imam, Fatima, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Shadab Ahmed. The bail plea of another accused Tasleem Ahmed was rejected by a different high court bench on September 2. The high court said the Constitution affords citizens the right to protest and carry out demonstrations or agitations, provided they are orderly, peac