Page 5 - Court Cases

Prosecutor in Trump files case invokes 5th Amendment in Congress interview

A key prosecutor on the classified documents case against President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a congressional interview Wednesday, declining to answer questions because of concern about the Trump administration's willingness to weaponise the machinery of government against perceived adversaries, a spokesman said. Jay Bratt had been subpoenaed to appear before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee for a closed-door interview but did not answer substantive questions because of his Fifth Amendment constitutional right to remain silent. Bratt spent more than three decades at the Justice Department before retiring in January, just weeks before President Donald Trump took office. He was a key national security prosecutor on special counsel Jack Smith's team, which in 2023 charged Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and with obstructing the government's efforts to recover them.

Wisconsin judge indicted for allegedly helping man evade immigration agents

A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin judge Tuesday on charges she helped a man in the country illegally evade US immigration authorities looking to arrest him as he appeared before her in a local domestic abuse case. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's arrest and ensuing indictment has escalated a clash between President Donald Trump's administration and local authorities over the Republican's sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition to the crackdown. Prosecutors charged Dugan in April via complaint with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. In the federal criminal justice system, prosecutors can initiate charges against a defendant directly by filing a complaint or present evidence to a grand jury and let that body decide whether to issue charges. A grand jury still reviews charges brought by complaint to determine whether enough ..

Pocso Act now misused for exploitation, says Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has observed that the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which was enacted to protect children under the age of 18 years from sexual exploitation, has now become a tool for their exploitation. While hearing a bail application, Justice Krishan Pahal stressed that the Act was never meant to criminalise consensual romantic relationships between adolescents and said the fact of a consensual relationship borne out of love should be considered while granting bail. The court said it would amount to the perversity of justice if the statement of the victim was ignored and the accused was left to suffer in jail. The court made these observations while granting bail under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and POCSO Act to an 18-year-old boy who was booked for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl. The applicant Raj Sonkar was arrested in March this year. His counsel contended before the court that it was a case of consensual relationship and that .

100 PMLA courts in country but money laundering trials delayed: ED

Timely completion of money laundering case trials continues to face several "systemic" and "procedural" hurdles, even though there are 100 special PMLA courts across the country, the Enforcement Directorate has said in its latest report. The federal probe agency has been regularly targeted by political parties in the opposition, alleging that its actions were biased and the conviction rate was "poor" -- a claim strongly refuted by the organisation. ED Director Rahul Navin defended the track record of his agency during an event held here on Thursday to mark the 'ED Day', saying its conviction rate was more than 93 per cent. Same day, the ED also released its first-ever annual report, where it devoted a specific chapter to 'Challenges in Expeditious Completion of PMLA Trials'. Till now, the estimate of yearly work done by the agency was clubbed in the 'Annual Report' of the Union finance ministry under which the ED works. "While the legal framework under PMLA (Prevention of Money ..

Mangione wants murder case dropped, cites double jeopardy in CEO killing

Luigi Mangiones lawyers urging a judge Thursday to throw out his state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amount to double jeopardy. If that doesn't happen, they want terrorism charges dismissed and prosecutors barred from using evidence collected during Mangione's arrest last December, including a 9 mm handgun, ammunition and a notebook in which authorities say he described his intent to wack an insurance executive. Mangione's lawyers also want to exclude statements he made to police officers who took him into custody at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City, after a five-day search. Among other things, prosecutors say the Ivy League graduate apologised to officers for the inconvenience of the day, and expressed concern for a McDonald's employee who alerted them to his whereabouts, saying: A lot of peop

Law ministry urges timely response to court orders to prevent contempt

With nearly 1.50 lakh contempt cases involving the central government pending across courts, the law ministry has pushed for "timely and adequate" response to court orders by Union ministries to prevent such proceedings. The ministry also pointed out that many officials managing litigation in ministries or their departments do not possess qualification in the field of law which results in a lack of understanding of legal implications and delayed response to judicial directives. This leads to contempt cases against head of the organisations, it said. In its 'Directive for the efficient and effective management of litigation by the Government of India', the Department of Legal Affairs in the law ministry said the capacity of ministries to manage litigation is limited due to resource constraints. Most ministries and departments do not have a dedicated legal cell, and cases are generally being handled by the administrative or technical divisions overseeing the relevant subject matter.

Man uses AI avatar in court, raising fresh concerns over ethical boundaries

The use of an AI-generated avatar in a New York courtroom has sparked a debate over the ethical boundaries of artificial intelligence, raising questions about its role in legal proceedings and beyond

Elon Musk's 'relentless' campaign to undermine us must stop, says OpenAI

In a lawsuit filed last year, Musk accused OpenAI of straying from its original nonprofit mission by accepting billions in funding from Microsoft in 2019, a year after he stepped down from its board

Law ministry comes out with directive to reduce litigation involving Centre

Seeking to reduce and prevent court cases involving the central government, the Union law ministry has come out with a set of directives to be followed by all central ministries. The central government is a party in nearly seven lakh cases pending across courts, according to official data. Minimising "unwarranted appeals" in courts and addressing "inconsistencies in notifications and orders" that lead to court cases are the key measures proposed by the ministry. The Department of Legal Affairs in the law ministry has formulated the "Directive for the efficient and effective management of litigation by the Government of India" based on the recommendations of the committee of secretaries (CoS), chaired by the cabinet secretary, the ministry said in a statement on Friday. " It shall be applicable to all ministries and departments of the central government, including their attached and subordinate offices, autonomous bodies, as well as Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs)...," it

Chevron told to pay $740 mn to restore Louisiana coast in landmark case

Oil company Chevron must pay more than $740 million to restore damage it caused to southeast Louisiana's coastal wetlands, a jury ruled on Friday following a landmark trial more than a decade in the making. The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world's leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state's rapidly disappearing coast. The verdict - which Chevron says it will appeal - could set a precedent leaving other oil and gas firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages tied to land loss and environmental degradation. What did Chevron do wrong? Jurors found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands impacted by dredging canals, drilling wells and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh. No company is big enough to ignore the law, no company is big enough to w

New India Co-op Bank case: Police get nod to attach ₹168 crore assets

In the first such instance in the city after the new criminal laws came into force, a court has allowed the police to attach 21 properties worth Rs 167.85 crore of five accused in the alleged case of embezzlement at the New India Co-operative Bank. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police which is probing the case has started the process of attachment after receiving a magistrate court's nod on Wednesday, said an official. These properties include a Slum Rehabilitation Project worth Rs 150 crore at Charkop, being developed by builder Dharmesh Paun, one of the arrested accused. This would be the first such action under section 107 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in Mumbai city, the EOW official said. The section allows the police to attach any property "derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of a criminal activity". In response to the EOW's application, the court allowed the attachment of 21 properties including seven flats, a shop and a

Court defers bail plea of Sambhal's Shahi Jama Masjid president to April 4

The hearing on the bail plea of Zafar Ali, the president of Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, was postponed to April 4 due to the unavailability of the case diary, a lawyer said on Wednesday. Ali was arrested on March 23, and his bail plea was initially set for hearing on March 27. However, ADJ-II court of judge Nirbhay Narayan Rai in Chandausi refused him interim bail and set April 2 as the date for hearing his regular bail application. Additional district government advocate Hariom Prakash Saini said, "During today's hearing, the defense counsel requested interim bail for Zafar Ali, citing the absence of the case diary. However, I argued that his interim bail had already been rejected earlier, and therefore, the plea should be dismissed again. The court accepted this argument and dismissed the interim bail application." The court then directed the prosecution to present the case diary on April 4. Ali was arrested on March 23 after being questioned over the November 24 Sambhal flare

Judge orders June trial for US government's felony case against Boeing

A federal judge in Texas has set a June trial date for the US government's years-old conspiracy case against Boeing for misleading regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people. US district judge Reed O'Connor did not explain in the scheduling order he issued on Tuesday why he decided to set the case for trial. Lawyers for the aerospace company and the justice department have spent months trying to renegotiate a July 2024 plea agreement that called for Boeing to plead guilty to a single felony charge. The judge rejected that deal in December, saying that diversity, inclusion and equity policies the justice department had in place at the time might influence the selection of a monitor to oversee the company's compliance with the terms of its proposed sentence. Since then, O'Connor had three times extended the deadline for the two sides to report how they planned to proceed. His most recent extension, granted earlier this month, gave them

Court issues notice to Rahul over his 'Fight against Indian state' remark

On January 15, Rahul Gandhi, during the inauguration of Congress' 'Indira Bhawan,' criticized the BJP, claiming that Congress and opposition parties were not just fighting the BJP but the Indian state

Rs 4 lakh/kg saffron in Rs 5 pan masala pouch? Notice to actors, company

Jaipur has issued a legal notice to b'wood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over an alleged 'misleading' advertisement for a Vimal Pan Masala, and asked them to appear on Mar 19

Delhi riots: Shahrukh Pathan granted interim bail for father's ailment

He is accused of aiming a pistol at police constable Deepak Dahiya during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots and has been in custody since March 3, 2020

Judge stops immediate shutdown of small US agency for African development

A judge barred the Trump administration on Thursday from immediately moving to shut down a small federal agency that supports investment in African countries on Thursday. US District Judge Richard J Leon in Washington issued the order hours after the filing of a lawsuit by the president and CEO of the US African Development Foundation. Ward Brehm said in a complaint that he directed his staff on Wednesday to deny building entry to staffers from billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and Pete Marocco, the deputy administrator for the US Agency for International Development. DOGE and Trump do not have the authority to shut down the agency, which was created by Congress, Brehm said in the complaint. The order from Leon, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, bars Brehm from being removed or DOGE from adding members to the board over the next few days. Brehm also said that days after President Donald Trump targeted the agency in a Feb. 19 execut

SC disapproves 'long dates' in matters of liberty, urges expedited hearing

The Supreme Court on Thursday said courts were not expected to keep the matters concerning liberty after a long gap. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih made the observation after being informed that the Punjab and Haryana High Court posted the hearing of a plea for temporary bail on medical grounds after two months. The petitioner's counsel said he had approached the high court for the grant of temporary bail on the ground that his client's two-year-old daughter needed urgent surgery. The lawyer argued the high court, in its order passed on February 21, posted the matter on April 22. "In the matters of liberty, the courts are not expected to keep the matter at such a long date," the bench said and permitted the petitioner to move the high court for an earlier hearing. The bench asked the high court to advance the date and hear the issue at least with regard to grant of temporary bail on the medical ground of operation of the petitioner's daughter. The ...

Centre spent over Rs 400 crore to contest court cases in last 10 years

The government has spent more than Rs 400 crore to contest court cases during the past 10 years, official data showed. The central government's Rs 66 crore expenditure on litigations in the 2023-24 financial year was over Rs 9 crore higher than the previous fiscal. The amount incurred on litigations has gone up since 2014-15, barring two fiscals when the Covid pandemic was at its peak, according to data shared by the government with the Lok Sabha in response to a question in the ongoing Budget session. In 2014-15, the cost incurred on litigations stood at Rs 26.64 crore while the expenditure for 2015-16 was Rs 37.43 crore. Between the 2014-15 and the 2023-24 financial years, the government spent more than Rs 409 crore on litigations. The government is working on a national litigation policy that seeks to expedite the resolution of pending cases. A draft of the proposed policy will go before the Union Cabinet for a final call. The policy has been drafted and redrafted for several

Sajjan Kumar sentenced to life in 1984 riots case: Timeline of events

Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar was on Tuesday awarded life-term imprisonment in connection with the murders of two persons during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Here's a timeline of events leading to the case's conclusion. *1991: FIR lodged in the case. *Jul 8, 1994: Delhi court finds no sufficient evidence to initiate prosecution. Kumar not chargesheeted in the case. *Feb 12, 2015: Govt forms special investigation team (SIT). *Nov 21, 2016: SIT tells court case requires further probe. *Apr 6, 2021: Kumar is arrested. *May 5, 2021: Police files chargesheet. *Jul 26: Court takes cognisance of chargesheet. *Oct 1: Court begins hearing arguments on charge. *Dec 16: Court frames charges of murder, rioting, other offences. *Jan 31, 2024: Court begins hearing final arguments. *Nov 8: Court reserves verdict. *Feb 12, 2025: Court convicts Kumar. *Feb 25: Kumar gets life-term imprisonment. According to a report of the Nanavati Commission, constituted to probe the violence and its a