Articles
Section 65B(4) Evidence Act : Despite SC Decision In 'Arjun Panditrao', Uncertainty Looms Around Electronic Evidence
On 14 July 2020, a three judge bench of the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Arjun Panditrao Khotkar, in what ought to have been an authoritative ruling on the law on electronic evidence. The judgment is borne out of a reference made by a two judge bench in the same matter, by an order dated 26.07.2019. The reference was made to address the inconsistencies between the decisions of...
No More 'My Lord' Please!
Justice T B N Radhakrishnan, the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has recently suggested that he would like to be addressed as 'Sir' by all judicial officers coming under the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court instead of 'My Lord' or 'Your Lordship', as the judges usually address the Chief Justice and other judges of the High Court. The Chief Justice asked the Registrar General...
Referendums And The Indian Constitution
Earlier this month, Russia voted on an important referendum that brought significant changes to its Constitution. The Russians decided to grant President Putin the option of leading the country until the year 2036, by limiting a President's Rule to two six-year terms in total rather than two consecutive terms. They also voted to effectively ban same-sex marriages in the...
Recent Judgement Of The Supreme Court In Arjun Khotkar: A Missed Opportunity To Revisit 65B
Finally, the reference to the larger Bench in Arjun Khotkar v. Kailash Gorantyal[1] was answered by the Three Judge Bench on 14th July 2020 apparently halting the swinging pendulum swinging between P V Anvar[2], Tomso Bruno[3] and Shafhi Mohammad[4]. The Judgment was eagerly awaited not only for judicial certainty but to decide course of judicial treatment of the electronic evidence...
Free Speech Or Hate Speech: A Critique On Bombay HC Order In Arnab Goswami's Case
Republic Television has been a vociferous supporter of the current political dispensation. In this endeavour, they effortlessly mix fact and fiction. Two recent programmes, anchored by Arnab Goswami, have given rise to important legal issues. The first programme anchored by Goswami insinuated that the protest by migrant labourers, who had gathered in Bandra with hopes that transportation...
US Supreme Court On "generic.com" Trademark: A Tale Of Missed Opportunities
On 30th June 2020 Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in United StatesPpatent and Trademark Office et al. v. Booking.comdealt with the issue of whether the combination of generic terms is also generic for the purpose of trademark registration. SCOTUS by an overwhelming majority (8 judges) held otherwise i.e. such combination is not generic in nature. The sole dissenting opinion...
Functioning Of Local Committees Under The Sexual Harassment Of Women At Workplace Act
Vishaka Guidelines The legal recourse on the issue of sexual harassment in India came only in the 1990s, though the country signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on 30 July 1980 and ratified it on 9 July 1993. It was in the case of Bhanwari Devi,2 a village-level worker employed with the Rajasthan state government on...
Advocate on Record System In Patna HC: A Closer Look
My earlier article titled 'Advocate-on-Record' System In Supreme Court & High Courts' attempted to provide a bird's eye view of the Advocate on Record [AoR] System prevalent in the Supreme Court of India and the Patna High Court as well as 'Roll of Advocates' system followed by the Allahabad High Court. The present article ventures to have a closer look at the Advocate on Record...
Equality Is Not Enough, Ensuring Equity In Acid Attack Legislation In India
Recently, the movie 'Chhapaak', based on the story of the acid-attack survivor Lakshmi, was released. An alarming spate of memes and reactions followed. One of the memes carried the poster of the movie, featuring Deepika Padukone as Lakshmi, with the caption – 'this could be you par tumaangyi' which translates to 'this could be you but you gave in (to my advances)'.[1]More than...
Justice R. Banumathi, An Upright And Hardworking Judge
"We form a particular group in the community. We comprise a select part of an honourable profession. We are entrusted, day after day, with the exercise of considerable power. Its exercise has dramatic effects upon the lives and fortunes of those who come before us. Citizens cannot be sure that they or their fortunes will not some day depend upon our judgement…It is necessary...
Refusing Access To Lavasa's Dissent Undermines RTI Act And Sanctity Of Electoral Process
Access to information is key to a participatory democracy which enables citizens to actively participate in matters of public affairs. Enactment of RTI Act shattered the entrenched culture of secrecy carried out by our bureaucracy for years and marked a transformation into an era of transparency. Since then, we have witnessed a number of success stories of RTI empowering people at...