Courts

Rahul appears in court over RSS defamation case; Sapkal as surety

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday appeared before a court at Bhiwandi in the district in a defamation case filed by an RSS activist, and presented his party's Maharashtra unit chief Harshwardhan Sapkal as his new 'surety' or guarantor for bail. As he travelled to Bhiwandi by road after landing in Mumbai, BJP workers showed him black flags at Mulund toll plaza and shouted slogans, accusing the Congress of maligning India's image through the Youth Congress's protest at the AI summit in Delhi. Gandhi, accompanied by Sapkal, party MP Varsha Gaikwad and his lawyers Narayan Iyer and Kushal Mor, reached the magistrate's court around 10:30 am. The court had asked the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to appear in person and provide a new surety following the death of previous guarantor, former Union Minister Shivraj Patil Chakurkar, in December last year. Chakurkar had stood surety when the court granted bail to the Congress leader in 2016 upon his appearance. Sapkal on Saturda

Law must shift from 'fortress to forum' for wider access: CJI Surya Kant

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday said that "law cannot remain a fortress erected to protect society from arbitrariness", and called on the young lawyers to make it a "forum" where differences are debated, rights articulated and power is reasoned with. Kant, during his address -- "From Fortress to Forum: Law in an Unfinished Republic" -- at the 18th Convocation of National Law University here, urged the professionals to see law not as a closed citadel but as a living, evolving public space. The CJI invoked the Mehrangarh Fort as a powerful metaphor for the historical journey of law. "A fortress is built to defend, to guard against disorder and uncertainty. In its earliest conception, law resembled such a structure, erected to protect society from arbitrariness and chaos," he said. "But in a constitutional democracy, he said, law cannot remain a fortress alone. It must transform into a forum where differences are debated, rights articulated and power reasoned with," he .

Pappu Yadav gets bail in forgery case, to stay in jail for separate case

The MP/MLA court here on Tuesday granted bail to independent MP Pappu Yadav in a three-decade-old forgery case. Yadav was arrested on Friday evening at his residence by Patna Police after a warrant was issued against him by the court in connection with a 1995 case lodged under Section 467 (forgery of documents) of the IPC. He was admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) due to illness the next morning. Advocate Shivnandan Bharti, who appeared for the MP, told reporters: "Pappu Yadav has been granted bail in the 1995 case. However, he will remain in custody, as another case was filed on the same day at the Buddha Colony police station for allegedly obstructing police work." He claimed that the police "conspired" to file a case accusing him of obstructing their work while he had "offered himself for arrest after seeing the warrant". The advocate said that the MP himself raised certain questions before the court during the hearing. An ACJM court on Saturday ordered that

Court rejects discharge plea of Anil Deshmukh-linked firm in PMLA case

A special court here on Saturday refused to discharge Premier Port Links Pvt Ltd, a company allegedly controlled by former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh's family, in a money laundering case while ruling that there was strong prima facie evidence against it. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has alleged that the company served as a vehicle for laundering proceeds of crime. The firm, managed by NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh's son Salil Deshmukh, had sought discharge claiming that it had been implicated falsely. As per the prosecution, the company took illegal loans totaling Rs 2.20 crore from M/s Flourish Properties Pvt Ltd, a firm in which the Deshmukh family had allegedly infused funds via bogus share capital. About 50% of the company's shares were allotted to Salil Deshmukh for just Rs 17.5 lakh despite the company possessing assets including Rs 20 acres of land in Uran valued at approximately Rs 5.4 crore, the ED alleged. The federal probe agency submitted that these ...

Law Ministry takes step to cut govt litigation tag, mediation efforts lag

The Union Law Ministry took a crucial step this year to help the central government shed the tag of being the "biggest litigant", but at the same time, efforts towards promoting mediation, which can eventually help in reducing court pendency, have fallen short. The year 2025 also saw the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner under a new law, which has been dubbed by the opposition as "non-inclusive". As part of the Modi government's agenda to clean up statute books of obsolete laws, the ministry brought a bill to repeal over 70 such Acts that had lost their relevance over the years. The bill received Parliament's nod in the Winter session. While 65 of these laws were amendment Acts, which were brought to tweak existing laws, six were principal laws that had become outdated. At least two laws repealed were of the British era. Since May 2014, the Modi government has been consistently repealing colonial-era, archaic and obsolete laws to declutter statute

No formal policy yet on AI use in courts, Centre tells Lok Sabha

The Supreme Court has also constituted an Artificial Intelligence Committee to explore the use of AI in the judicial domain

Judge to decide degree of media access in Charlie Kirk assassination case

Lawyers for the 22-year-old Utah man charged with killing Charlie Kirk are due in court Thursday as they push to further limit media access in the high-profile criminal case. A Utah judge is weighing the public's right to know details in Tyler Robinson's case against his attorneys' concerns that the swarm of media attention could interfere with his right to a fair trial. Robinson's legal team and the Utah County Sheriff's Office have asked Judge Tony Graf to ban cameras in the courtroom. Prosecutors have charged Robinson with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 shooting of the conservative activist on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, just a few miles north of the Provo courthouse. They plan to seek the death penalty. Robinson was expected to appear in person Thursday after making previous court appearances via video or audio feed from jail, according to a transport order. A coalition of national and local news organizations, including The Associated Press, is fighting to .

Justice Surya Kant appointed next CJI; to enter office on Nov 24

Justice Surya Kant was on Thursday appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India and he will assume charge on November 24. The Department of Justice in the Union Law Ministry issued a notification announcing his appointment. Justice Surya Kant succeeds Justice Bhushan R Gavai, who demits office on November 23. He will be the CJI for nearly 15 months and will demit office on February 9, 2027 on attaining the age of 65 years. "In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Surya Kant, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as the Chief Justice of India with effect from 24th November, 2025," Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a post on X. "I convey my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to him," he added. Justice Kant, born in a middle-class family on February 10, 1962 in Hissar district of Haryana, became a top court judge on May 24, 2019. He brings to the country's top judicial office a wealth of experience

SC reserves verdict on eligibility of judicial officers for district judges

The bench is examining questions over the interpretation of Article 233 of the Constitution that governs appointment of district judges

Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to five years for 2007 Libyan cash campaign

The judges decided that any appeal by Sarkozy wouldn't lift the execution of the sentence. Agence France-Presse said that he is due to be summoned within a month to learn the start of his jail term

Karnataka High Court dismisses X's petition on content removal rules

Filed in March, the company's case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in the Karnataka High Court had targeted the entire basis for tightened internet censorship in India

Aircel-Maxis corruption case: Fresh summons issued to Malaysian giant Maxis

A special court here has issued fresh summons to Malaysian telecom giant Maxis and its former director Augustus Ralph Marshall on the CBI's request in connection with FIPB clearance granted to its subsidiary during the tenure of former finance minister P Chidambaram for the takeover of Aircel in 2006, officials said. The agency has also requested the issuance of a summons to the Malaysian company Astro All Asia Network in connection with the case, which has also been cleared by the special court, they said. The CBI has sought three months from the court to serve the summons in Malaysia, they said. The probe agency had filed its first chargesheet against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and some others on August 29, 2014, but they were discharged by a special court on February 2, 2017. The discharge has been challenged by the CBI in the Delhi High Court through a revision petition. The agency filed another charge sheet on July 19, 2018, against Chidambaram and others, which i

Administrative tribunals bridge executive, judiciary: CJI BR Gavai

The Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai, commented on the functioning of the administrative tribunal in India during the 10th All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal on Saturday.During the conference, Chief Justice BR Gavai discussed the functioning of Indian tribunals, highlighting that administrative tribunals occupy a unique position between the executive and the judiciary. He noted that, in contrast to courts, many members of these tribunals come from an administrative background, while a significant number also have judicial experience."...The administrative tribunals are unlike courts in that they occupy a unique space between the executive and the judiciary. Many of the members come from the administrative services, while others come from the judiciary..." said CJI BR Gavai.However, Gavai emphasised that even though diversity is a strength of tribunals, he notes that members with an administrative background require training in legal reasoning and are generally

Delhi BMW crash: Court extends custody of accused driver till Sept 27

A Delhi court on Wednesday extended till September 27 the judicial custody of the woman who drove the BMW car involved in a crash that left a senior finance ministry official dead and his wife injured in Dhaula Kuan here. Judicial magistrate Ankit Garg extended her judicial custody. The court also issued notice on a plea by the accused seeking preservation of the accident's CCTV footage. The plea will be heard on Thursday. Arguments on her bail plea were also heard by the court, which posted the matter for Saturday. Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, was remanded to two days of judicial custody on September 15 after being arrested on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences. Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh (52), a resident of Hari Nagar, was killed in the accident on the Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on Sunday afternoon. They were returning home after visiting the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.

Indian court rejects Asian Paints' plea to stop antitrust probe: Report

The High Court in a brief hearing on Thursday dismissed the company's plea, and a detailed order will be issued later, said the six sources

Court bars reporters, activists from publishing defamatory content on Adani

In a major relief to Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), a Delhi court on Saturday restrained certain journalists and others from publishing unverified defamatory content against the firm. In an interim order, the court also directed the journalists and foreign-linked NGOs to remove alleged defamatory material against the firm from articles and social media posts. Senior Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh was hearing a suit filed by the plaintiff (AEL), alleging that coordinated defamatory publications on paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au, along with related posts and videos, were designed to tarnish the business group's reputation and disrupt its global operations. The defendants in the case are Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskanta Das, Ayush Joshi, Bob Brown Foundation, Dreamscape Network International Private Limited, Getup Limited, Domain Directors Private Limited trading as Instra and John Doe persons. "There is a prima facie case in favour of the

Bangladeshi court jails 1971 war veterans, professor on terrorism charges

A Bangladeshi court on Friday sent 16 people, including several 1971 Liberation War veterans, to jail under the tough Anti-Terrorism Act, a day after a mob allegedly disrupted their scheduled public discussion in the capital. Magistrate Farzana Haque ordered them to be sent to jail after they were produced in court nearly 24 hours after their detention. Police had initially detained them for their protection from public unrest on Thursday. Dhaka police after midnight Thursday said the detainees were being charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 without further elaboration. The initial case document submitted in the court suggested at least six of the 16 arrested were in their 70s. "For the sake of a proper investigation, which is yet to be completed, and the identity and address of the accused is yet to be verified, it is absolutely necessary' to keep the accused in custody," read the police application submitted in court. According to media reports, former minister and 1971

Bengaluru court orders removal of defamatory content on Dharmasthala Temple

A court here on Friday ordered the immediate removal of defamatory content targeting the Dharmasthala temple and its hereditary head, D Veerendra Heggade and his family in connection with the mass burial case. The 17th Additional City Civil and Sessions court's ruling follows the Supreme Court's earlier directions in a related petition. The order comes after a civil defamation suit was filed by Heggade's brother D Harshendra Kumar, who sought relief against defamatory remarks circulated by activist Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, Girish Mattannavar, Jayanth T, and others allegedly linked to the so-called 'Burude (skull) Gang'. The court, after examining videos, WhatsApp chats, Instagram posts, and Facebook reels, held that the allegations were baseless and damaging. It granted an injunction against further defamatory activity and directed platforms to delete objectionable videos and posts. Earlier, the Karnataka High Court had set aside an interim injunction, prompting Harshendra Kumar to

Musk's X reaches tentative $500 mn settlement with ex-Twitter workers

The parties disclosed the deal in a Wednesday court filing asking for a scheduled Sept 17 hearing in the case to be postponed

India's GDP growth likely at 6.3% in FY26, below RBI estimates: SBI report

The politically charged decision resulted in the five-judge panel issuing three separate opinions. The majority ultimately concluded that Trump violated the law by inflating his assets