Page 28 - Law

Law must not be used as tool to harass accused, says Supreme Court

The law must not be used as a tool to harass the accused and courts must always ensure that frivolous cases do not "pervert" its sacrosanct nature, the Supreme Court has said. The apex court, which quashed the criminal proceedings pending at a Chennai court against two people, said law is meant to exist as a shield to protect the innocent rather than being used as a sword to threaten them. A bench of Justices Krishna Murari and S R Bhat delivered its verdict on an appeal against the August last year judgement of the Madras High Court which had dismissed a plea seeking quashing of a criminal complaint regarding alleged contravention of the provision of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The top court noted there was a gap of over four years between the initial investigation and filing of the complaint, and even after the lapse of substantial amount of time, no evidence was provided to sustain the claims in the complaint. It said while inordinate delay in itself may not be a ground f

Govt needs to bring National Judicial Appointments Comission: Manoj Jha

Disagreeing with current collegium system, RJD member of parliament from Rajya Sabha Manoj Jha said that with the new changes, the government needs to bring the Judicial Appointments Commission bill

Convention on the Law of the Sea more relevant than ever: UN chief Guterres

As the ocean is "in dire straits," the landmark UN Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted 40 years ago is more relevant than ever, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said

Russia implements new law to broaden net for foreign agents in country

Russia on Thursday put into effect a new version of its foreign agents law that expands authorities' powers to consider anyone under foreign influence to be an agent of another country. Under previous versions of the law, officials had to show that an organization or individual had received financial or material assistance from overseas to be designated an agent. The new version of the law was signed in July by President Vladimir Putin. Foreign influence is considered to be the provision of support by a foreign source to a person or influencing a person including by coercion, persuasion or other means', according to a statement from the Duma, the lower house of parliament. The new law is the latest move in a long-running crackdown on opposition supporters, independent media and human rights activists. The law obliges organizations to publicly identify themselves as being foreign agents; media outlets designated as agents must run a lengthy statement to that effect with their storie

Cooperative sector law will be amended for flawless functioning: Minister

A comprehensive amendment would be made to the law governing the co-operative sector to make its functioning flawlessly, State Minister for Cooperation and Registration V N Vasavan said on Sunday. Speaking at the concluding session of the State-level 69th All-India Cooperative Week here, Vasavan said the changes would be made to solve the problems in the sector. For this, the suggestions and opinions of the employees and the cooperative community would be considered, he said. The Minister said the sector, keeping with the times, should be able to take advantage of modern technology and advance the banking activities. The co-operative sector works with social commitment to health, agriculture and education and has come forward to help the farmers when privatisation and mergers took place, he said. Vasavan said isolated incidents of irregularities in the co-operative sector were generalised and propaganda was carried out. He probably was referring to the Rs 300-crore scam in the ..

Bulldozing of houses in name of investigation not provided under law: HC

The Gauhati High Court has stressed that "bulldozing of a house is not provided under any criminal law", even if an agency is investigating a "very serious matter". Chief Justice RM Chhaya made the observation on Thursday, while hearing a suo motu case taken up by the high court regarding demolition of the house of an accused in Batadrava Police Station arson case in Nagaon district of Assam. The Batadrava Police Station was set on fire on May 21 by an irate mob following the alleged custodial death of a local fish trader, Safikul Islam (39), who was picked up by police the night before. A day later, the district authorities had bulldozed at least six houses, including Islam's, purportedly in search of weapons and drugs hidden beneath the structures. "Even if a very serious matter is being investigated by an agency, bulldozing of a house is not provided under any criminal law," Justice Chhaya observed. Emphasising that it requires permission to even search a house, he said, "Tomor

Centre amends Aadhaar regulation, advises updating supporting documents

The amendment made to the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations said users may update their documents to ensure the continued accuracy of their information in CIDR

CLAT 2024 Exam Schedule: Test in December 2023; registrations to begin soon

The registration process for CLAT 2023 is still underway. CLAT 2023 is scheduled to be conducted on December 18, 2022

Centre decided to remove all obsolete, archaic laws: Kiren Rijiju

Rijiju announced that the Centre has decided to remove all obsolete and archaic laws of the Indian judiciary from the statute box stating that they have no relevance in today's time

Incorporate feminist thinking in the way you deal with law: D Y Chandrachud

Pitching for a more inclusive and accessible legal profession, Supreme Court judge Justice D Y Chandrachud on Saturday advised young law students to incorporate feminist thinking in the way they dealt with law. Addressing the convocation of the National Law University (NLU) here, Justice Chandrachud said students must strive to make the legal profession more inclusive and accessible. "I would particularly advise you to incorporate feminist thinking in the way you deal with the law," he told the gathering. Recounting his experience as a junior judge in the Bombay High Court, Justice Chandrachud said he used to sit in a criminal roster with Justice Ranjana Desai (now retired) and heard diverse criminal appeals. "Initially, I viewed the matters where women were often subjected to the worst of crimes and violations from a straightjacketed perspective, but sitting with a colleague who had more diverse exposure to realities of gender gave me the necessary feminist perspective, he said.

US Supreme Court welcomes back public to courtroom after abortion ruling

The Supreme Court is beginning its new term, welcoming the public back to the courtroom and hearing arguments for the first time since issuing a landmark ruling stripping away women's constitutional protections for abortion. Monday's session also is the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court's first Black female justice, will participate in arguments. And the public is back for the first time since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The court's overturning of the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade abortion decision is still reverberating in legal fights over state abortion bans and other restrictions. But a new stack of high-profile cases awaits the justices. Several cases the court has agreed to hear involve race or elections or both, and the court has also agreed to hear a dispute that returns the issue of free speech and LGBTQ rights to the court. Also hanging over the justices is some unfinished business from last term: the leak of a

Newsmaker: Constitutional law is new Attorney General Venkataramani's forte

With his appointment as AG, the many constitutional law matters that are pending before the Supreme Court will receive specialised attention

Ready for talks to settle Murugappa family dispute: Valli Arunachalam

Eldest daughter of former Murugappa Group exec chairman M V Murugappan was the one who had taken family members to NCLT

Moonlighting: No blanket ban in India though several laws frown upon it

The Factories Act is one such, but its provisions don't apply to firms that don't run a factory; many states have their own laws on the matter

CJI U U Lalit asks law graduates to devote time, energy to legal aid work

Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit urged law graduates on Saturday to devote their time and energy to legal-aid work. Speaking at the ninth convocation of National Law University Odisha here, Lalit called upon the graduates to have absolute passion for the profession and show compassion for people of the country. The CJI said that during his association with the National Legal Services Authority for over a year, he observed that the legal aid work in the country faced neglect at times. Lalit did not elaborate further, but urged the young graduates to devote their time and energy to legal aid work. "Hereafter, the society will be looking forward to your contributions at every juncture," the CJI told the law students. He stated that the profession of law has been one of the frontrunners when it comes to keeping civil rights intact. "History of every society, every country shows that legally-trained minds have been beacons, path breakers and centres of attraction when it comes

Decoded: What does SC verdict on BCCI's new constitutional amendments mean?

The SC has approved amendment of the BCCI constitution. Why has this happened? And what other changes made by BCCI have been approved? Let's take a look

JSW Paints likely to contest CCI's order on Asian Paints in NCLAT

This move by JSW Paints comes after CCI disposed off JSW Paints plea which stated that Asian Paints blocked its entry in the decorative paints segment

Right to contest election neither fundamental nor common law right, says SC

The right to contest an election is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right, the Supreme Court has said while dismissing with a cost of Rs one lakh a petition which raised the issue regarding the filing of nomination for Rajya Sabha elections. Observing that an individual cannot claim that he has a right to contest an election, the apex court noted that the Representation of People Act, 1950, read with the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, has contemplated the name of a candidate has to be proposed while filling the nomination form. A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia passed the order while hearing a plea challenging the June 10 order of the Delhi High Court which had dismissed a petition about deciding the candidature of the petitioner to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, 2022. The petitioner had said that a notification for election to Rajya Sabha was issued on May 12, 2022, to fill up the seats of members retiring from June 21, 2022,

Court cannot stop govt from bringing law on cryptocurrencies, says SC

The Supreme Court said on Friday it cannot stop the government from bringing a legislation in Parliament on crypto currencies and dismissed a plea challenging constitution of an inter-ministerial committee to make recommendations to the Centre on virtual currencies. Crypto currencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate generation of their units and verify the transfer of funds while operating independently of a central bank. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli termed the PIL filed by a private firm "misconceived" and dismissed it. "There is no actionable cause for a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. The Court cannot interdict the Government from bringing a legislative proposal before Parliament, the bench said. At the outset, the court said, "What kind of plea is this? Government has made an inter-ministerial committee (IMC), so you filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution? You want to ...

AILET 2023 exam date announced, forms available on Sept 7; know more

AILET 2023 exam date announced. Candidates can check the official website from Sept 7, 2022, to check the detailed schedule