High Court

HC rejects Prajwal Revanna's plea to suspend life sentence in rape case

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 ...

SC status after conversion amounts to 'fraud' on Constitution: Allahabad HC

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

'SEC's 'misinterpretation of laws' led HC to defer local polls vote count'

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

MP HC stays action against ancestral house of Al-Falah chancellor

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

SC raises retirement age of MP judicial officers from 60 to 61 years

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 HC bars Adani group from Singapore arbitration over power deal

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

Lahore HC judge resigns protesting Constitutional amendment in Pakistan

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.

SC tells High Courts to disclose judgment delay and reasons publicly

The petitioners had complained that the Jharkhand High Court had kept their criminal appeals pending for years after reserving verdicts, with no indication of when a decision would be delivered

Delhi High Court upholds Jaya Bachchan's personality rights against misuse

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 ...

Even before pandemic disruption HC tax cases took longer for disposal

The second of a two-part series on tax litigation looks at the time it takes for high courts to wind up cases

HC refuses SIT probe into anti-Naxal operation killing CPI (Maoist) leader

The Chhattisgarh High Court has said anti-Naxal operations, being part of regular counter-insurgency measures undertaken by state or Central security forces, cannot be subjected to investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) unless exceptional circumstances warrant such intervention. The HC made the observation while dismissing a petition seeking an SIT probe into the killing of outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) Central Committee (CC) member K Ramachandra Reddy in an anti-Naxal operation in Narayanpur district last month. A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Judge Bibhu Datta Guru said on October 14 that ordering an SIT probe into such regular field operations would not only undermine the federal structure of policing powers but also set a precedent inconsistent with established legal and administrative principles. Reddy's son Raja Chandra (33), a resident of Theegalakuntapally in Telangana's Siddipet district, had filed the petition seeking the ...

SC dismisses Telangana's plea against HC order on quota to Backward Classes

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the Telangana government's plea challenging a high court order which stayed a government order providing 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes in local bodies. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the state's plea against the October 9 order of the Telangana High Court. The high court had issued an interim stay against the government order. The high court, which was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the state government's order that increased the Backward Classes quota, had directed the state to file its reply in four weeks. Some of the petitioners before the high court challenged the September 26, 2025, government order, saying the 42 per cent quota to Backward Classes raises total reservation in local bodies to 67 per cent. It breaches the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations laid down by the court in its verdicts, they claimed.

Karisma Kapoor's kids dispute Sunjay Kapur's Will, call it forged

Sunjay Kapur's children tell Delhi High Court their father's alleged Will is forged, citing misspelled names, wrong addresses, and missing asset details

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

Prajwal Revanna challenges conviction in rape case in Karnataka HC

Former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna has approached the Karnataka High Court appealing against his conviction in a rape case. A special court that convicted Revanna last month had sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life and imposed fines, in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases against him. The Special Court for MPs/MLAs, Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat, who sentenced the convicted politician under various sections of the IPC on August 2, had imposed a total fine of Rs 11.50 lakh on him, and had said Rs 11.25 lakh from this fine amount will be paid to the victim. Revanna, who was arrested in May last year after returning from Germany, is contesting the verdict on several grounds, including what he claims are contradictions in the survivor's testimony and inconsistencies in the evidence produced by the prosecution. The case in which Prajwal has been sentenced pertains to the one involving 48-year-old woman who was working as a help at the family's Gannikada farmhous

X to challenge Karnataka HC order upholding Sahyog portal validity

Elon Musk's X will challenge the Karnataka High Court verdict that upheld the Centre's Sahyog portal, which allows online content takedowns without judicial review

Musk's X 'deeply concerned' by HC content takedown order, plans appeal

X owner Elon Musk, a free-speech absolutist, has often clashed with authorities, but the firm's India lawsuit challenges the very foundation of the country's tightened internet regulation

Karnataka HC allows Russian woman, daughters found in cave to return home

The Karnataka High Court on Friday permitted the Union Government to issue travel documents to facilitate the return of a Russian woman and her two minor daughters who had been discovered living in a cave in coastal Karnataka. Justice B M Shyam Prasad passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Israeli national Dror Shlomo Goldstein, who claims to be the father of the children. Goldstein had approached the court seeking a direction to the Centre not to immediately deport the minor children. The woman, identified as Nina Kutina, was found on July 11 in a cave in the Ramatirtha Hills near Gokarna in Kumta taluk. Authorities reported that she and the children had been living there for nearly two months without valid travel or residence documents. Goldstein had earlier lodged a complaint at the Panaji police station in Goa in December last year after being unable to trace his children in India. During Friday's hearing, the court recorded that the Russian consulate had issued ...

Inclined to stay bike taxi ban: K'taka HC seeks clarity on gig workers law

The Karnataka High Court questioned whether the state's new gig workers law applies to bike taxis and adjourned the matter to October 15, asking the government to avoid coercive steps against riders

Social media can't be left in 'anarchic freedom': Karnataka High Court

Observing that social media could not be left in "anarchic freedom", the court said that every sovereign nation regulated social media