SC grants 1.8 crore to Chennai girl in Medical negligence case [Read the Judgment]

The Supreme Court of India yesterday ordered one of the highest compensations so far in the country in a case of medical negligence to the tune of 1.8 crore. The Tamil Nadu government has to pay the sum to an 18-year-old girl who lost her vision at birth due to medical negligence at a government-run hospital. A bench of justices J S Khehar and S A Bobde considered inflation and escalating...

The most serious flaw in NJAC is that any two members of the Commission can veto the decision of the majority which would result in stalling appointments; Interview with Eminent Jurist and Senior Advocate P.P.Rao

A doyen of Constitutional Law,Senior Advocate P.P. Rao has been a natural successor to legends such as H.M. Seervai, M.C. Setalvad, C.K. Daphtary, N.C. Chatterjee, S.V. Gupte, A.K. Sen, Niren De, whom he all assisted during his early days.He was enrolled as an Advocate with Bar Council of Delhi in 1967 and thereafter shifted practice to the Supreme Court. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1976. He was elected the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in 1991, and in 2006, he was...

Breaking ; Under No Circumstances a Rape Case can be Compromised; Supreme Court [Read the Judgment]

The Supreme Court of India in a judgment pronounced today has held that in a case of rape or attempt of rape, the conception of compromise under no circumstances can really be thought of. The Supreme Court accordingly ruled out mediation in such cases.The Judgment is very relevant because of the controversial Judgment of Madras High Court in which the Court had ordered mediation in a rape...

Death Penalty; U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge against controversial Execution Drug [Read the Judgment]

The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled against three death row prisoners who had brought a challenge to the use of the controversial lethal injection, midazolam drug on the ground that it violates the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.Midazolam is used to sedate inmates before injecting them with two other drugs, and the petitioners argued that...

Taking the President seriously: Indian President’s power to grant sanction of prosecution against the Prime Minister

1. The President of India is a constitutional head of the Union Government                                    In India, it is generally assumed that the President has no specific powers and acts as per the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister in the exercise of his powers and functions and can only once send the advice back...

Justice Katju moves SC seeking quashing of Resolutions passed by Parliament condemning his statements on Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

Ex-judge of the Supreme Court and former Chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice Markandeya Katju has moved the Supreme Court through a writ petition seeking  quashing of the Resolutions dated 11.03.2015 & 12.03.2015 passed by the Rajya Sabha & the Lok Sabha respectively condemning his comments on Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, claiming that Parliament lacks...

Two Ex- SC Judges tendered Legal Opinion to Lalit Modi saying revocation of his passport was bad in Law [Read Opinion]

After Lalit Modi, ex-Commissioner of the Indian Premier League fled to London in 2010 following alleged death threats from the underworld, even as an investigation was initiated against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, his appeal for immigration was accompanied by the opinion of two former Supreme Court judges who said his passport had...

Italy launches International Arbitration in Enrica Lexie, refuses to return sailor

In something that can be described as only an increasing political tensionwith a legal background, the Italian government has decided to seek international arbitration in accordance with United National Convention on Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS) to resolve the Enrica Lexie issue even when Indian Courts are hearing the matter.Italy’s Foreign Ministry released a statement that read,...

BREAKING; US Supreme Court legalises same-sex marriages [Read the judgment]

In a historic and landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled same-sex marriage as legal. The judgment was delivered by a majority of 5:4 and said that the US Constitution provides for due process and as a result, same-sex marriages cannot be illegal.The Court held that “Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and...

High Court of Kerala stays the order to compensate “Maoist” Shyam Balakrishnan [Updated]

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court headed by Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan on Friday stayed the directive issued by a single Judge of the Court asking the state government to pay a sum of Rs 1 lakh as compensation in addition to Rs. 10,000 as costs to Shyam Balakrishnan, who was illegally detained by the police last year on suspicion of his being a Maoist.The Division Bench granted the...

Madras HC passes order permitting person convicted of rape of a minor to settle the matter through mediation [Updated]

In a decision which may perhaps appropriately be described as a ‘howler’, a man, found guilty by the trial court of raping a minor and resultantly sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, has been given an opportunity by the Madras high court to 'settle' the matter by mediation. The order was passed in an appeal filed by the convict, V. Mohan before the Madras High Court.Justice P...

The Emergency of 1975: An Academic Inquest

Despite getting a conditional stay order from the vacation bench of Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer against the order of the Allahabad High Court, the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was imposed the National Emergency on the night of 25 June 1975. It is said that she was not happy with the conditional stay as she was facing the protest of different political outfits led by Jai Prakash...