-By Shreyas Sinha Introduction The Latin term ‘mens rea’ refers to the mental element of a criminal act, i.e., a legally-determined state of mind required to convict an individual of a criminal offence. A person can be said to possess the requisite mens rea vis-à-vis a criminal offence when – (1) they are aware that … Continue reading The Mens Rea of Fraud: Lessons from the Great White North
-By Abhinav Sekhri Prologue: The Budget Leaks of 1956 Aschara Lal Mehra was, presumably, one of many Sales Managers in Bombay's Mercury Paints and Varnishes Ltd.; a pre-independence firm which continues to exist today. Perhaps Mehra was dissatisfied with the income Mercury Paints gave him, because when he was introduced to one Davinder Pal Chadha from … Continue reading Indefinite Incarceration of Approvers — In Need of Necessary Amendments
By Abhinav Sekhri Six year old Lalita Kumari went missing from near her house on the night of May 5, 2008. When she did not come back, her father filed a missing persons report. A week later he was told that his daughter had been abducted, and so he filed a complaint with Police Station … Continue reading Lalita Kumari, and Police Discretion at the Stage of Registering an FIR
-Sanjana Gupta & Aditi Roy Introduction Bail can be termed as the procurement of a person’s release from legal custody through an undertaking that one shall remain present at the designated time and place and submit himself to the Court. Bail can be denied only in exceptional circumstances and has to be given as a … Continue reading Setting the paper tiger free – Bail provisions and UAPA
-By Namrata Pahwa Introduction When the products of any brand are authentic and original, it receives a considerable amount of recognition in the minds of its prospective buyer. It is important to preserve the market integrity of any product sold by such brands and that protection is granted by the product-related intellectual property rights, i.e. … Continue reading Juxtaposition of IP and Criminal Law
-By Anshul Ramesh and Andolan Sarkar Introduction Confessions play an important role while deciding on the future course of action that is required to be taken by the police and also while securing the conviction of the accused. Sections 25 and 26 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (“Evidence Act”) proscribe the admissibility of confessional … Continue reading The Irrationality of Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872
By Vibhore Yadav Introduction Modern money laundering essentially relies on legitimate businesses characterised by a large cash-flow and complex, anonymous transactions that are difficult to trace in order to convert proceeds from illegal activities into ‘clean’ money which can be used for legitimate purposes. Historically, businesses such as retail outlets, restaurants, rental companies, casinos etc. … Continue reading Online Gambling and the Regulation of Money Laundering
By Abhinav Sekhri On July 10, the Delhi High Court delivered its judgment and final order in a petition filed by Sharjeel Imam [Crl. M.C. 1475/2020] challenging the order passed under Section 43-D(2) of the UAPA, by which the police have been granted additional time to complete the investigation in a case filed against him. The extension … Continue reading Snippet: The Delhi High Court Order In Sharjeel Imam’s Case
By Aditya Saraswat Introduction The number of women prisoners is constantly rising in India; however, the male-centric prison system in the country is denying some crucial rights to them which are extremely necessary for their reformation. One such right is the access to Open Jails. There is apparent discrimination in the selection procedure of inmates … Continue reading Open Jails for Women: The Disguised Discrimination
By Gahna Rajani and Himanshu Bhargava Introduction J Jayaraj and Bennix Immanuel were subjected to brutal torture in police custody and later succumbed to death. This was not the first incident. The prisoners in India have been subjected to torture and violence for a long time. The apex court has issued several guidelines in the … Continue reading Police in India: Protectors against Injustice or Perpetrators of Injustice?
By Mayank Udhwani and Ragini Agarwal An investigation into whether the highly acclaimed crime thriller had an element of truth on the basis of real cases from Indian Courts. [SPOILER ALERT] When Pataal Lok released on Amazon Prime, it received raging reviews for its fast-paced, engrossing narrative and stellar acting performances. The crime-thriller also irked … Continue reading Paatal Lok: Fact or Fiction?
By Abhinav Sekhri India's primary anti-terror legislation, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 ["UAPA"] continues to make headlines as a legislation reportedly used to stifle dissent and legitimate criticism of India's central government, even as the world grapples with the Coronavirus. This has, justifiably, prompted a rise in the conversations around the UAPA. "Unlawful Activity" … Continue reading Snippet: “Unlawful Activity”, the 1967 UAPA, The Attorney General, and a “Ministry of Astrology”
By Mehar Kaur Arora No individual has the right to take the life of another unless done in accordance with the due process of law and in the best interest of the general public. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) has been criticised heavily for its stringent punishments, including that of … Continue reading Death Penalty under Section 31A of NDPS Act, 1985.
By Shantanu Pachauri A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court in Gurubakash Singh Sibbia v. State of Panjab (1980) while distinguishing normal bail from anticipatory bail held that while the former is granted after an arrest, releasing a person from the custody of the police, the latter is granted in anticipation of arrest and is … Continue reading Anticipatory Bail and Children in Conflict with Law
By Tanvi Rahim and Sannidhi Buch The 2019 Amendment “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” -Nelson Mandela Sexual abuse of children is a dark reality which is prevalent in several countries. A recent review of 55 studies from 24 countries found that … Continue reading The 2019 Amendment to POCSO: A Socio-Legal Analysis
By Shivangi Pandia Remember our parents telling us about the term “stranger danger” and the risk that we might be exposed to on the internet? Today the youth is facing much more insidious threats to its emotional and mental health with the menace of cyber flashing. Have you ever come across a situation when you … Continue reading Stranger Danger: Making a Case for Cyber Flashing as a Crime
By Abhiraj Das and Nihal Deo Sudan has in April 2020 banned and criminalized Female Genital Mutilation. India is also no less a victim of the practice, but the absence of special legislation and inadequacy of the existing laws has allowed FGM to persist in silence. What is FGM? WHO has defined Female genital mutilation/Cutting … Continue reading Female Genital Mutilation: When Will India Take Concrete Steps?
By Sezal Mishra INTRODUCTION The ‘loaf of bread’ example has frequently been employed in philosophical discussions of necessity. The classic problem is often posed as "Would you steal a loaf of bread in order to feed your family?" and is what is known as a moral dilemma. However, a legal solution to the moral conundrum … Continue reading COVID-19 – XVII: Survival Crime in the Time of Coronavirus
By Ranjeet Soni and Rohit Shrivastava INTRODUCTION “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last unless we learn how to avoid the risks.” -- Stephen Hawking In the twenty-first century, technology’s role in the domain of healthcare has grown leaps and bounds. Previously in this … Continue reading Emanating Consequences of AI in Healthcare- Ethicality and Legality
By Jayanta Boruah INTRODUCTION Protection of forests is both a responsibility of the state[1] and a duty of the citizens[2] in India. It is even a moral obligation of the entire humanity to protect and conserve the forests since they provide with the basic necessities for surviving on this Planet. Moreover, at present conservation of … Continue reading Environmental Crimes in the Forests of Kamrup District, Assam
By Pramothesh Mukherjee Two individuals enter into a contract of services, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, it so happens that the fulfilment of such contract turns out to be equally fruitless to both. They ‘agree to end’ the contract; as a result, neither party is obligated to perform their contractual duties. In essence, they agree … Continue reading Section 120A of the Indian Penal Code: At the Cusp of Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence
By Rishav Devrani and Poojan Bulani INTRODUCTION The Sudanese government on April 22, 2020, made an announcement criminalizing the long-followed practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (hereinafter ‘FGM/C’) by amending its Criminal Law Article 141. A WHO report shows that more than 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone the practice of female genital … Continue reading Sudan’s Criminal Law Amendments and the State of Women’s Rights
By Diksha Singh “Adherence to the constitutional principle of substantive due process is an integral part of our collective response to terrorism. We must uphold the right of fair trial for all individuals, irrespective of how heinous their crimes may be.”[i] Terrorism persists as an iniquitous operation in society that has shaken the entire human … Continue reading UAPA, 1967: A Draconian Law to Combat Terrorism
By Shailendra Shukla and Yash More Introduction The word “appeal” is not defined in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (“Cr.P.C”). As per the Black Law's Dictionary[i], an appeal is defined as “a complaint to a higher tribunal of an error or injustice committed by a lower tribunal, in which the error or injustice is sought … Continue reading Section 378 CrPC: Impediments to Justice faced by Appellate Courts
By Anurag Mohan Bhatnagar and Manvendra Shekhawat Introduction We live in an era in which, almost every crime has an electronic component involved, and be it a computer or mobile phones or even a small SD Card. Mobile phones, laptops, computers can be used for carrying out crime and can further be helpful for investigating … Continue reading The Nuances of Search and Seizure of Electronic Evidence: What Are the Components Involved?
By Bodhisattwa Majumder and Ritika Acharya A pandemic does not discriminate on the basis of class, community or character and strikes every section of the society equally. However, the precautions one can take against the virus are highly prejudiced and biased based on an individual’s financial, social and geographical position in the society. While society … Continue reading COVID-19 – XVI: Monitoring the Prisoners Beyond the Prisons: GPS Tracking for Interim Bails/Paroles
By Abhinav Sekhri (This is the sixth post in a multi-part series. The earlier posts can be accessed here) The two previous posts in this series charted the slow but determined emergence of Section 144, in what was the Criminal Procedure Code of 1898, as an integral part of the toolkit of repressive laws that was … Continue reading Section 144 Cr.P.C. — Part VI: Continuity and Change (1941 to 1950)
By Ritika Goyal “Enmity is a double-edged sword. It can be a ground for assault. It can also be a ground for false implication.” More than 150 years ago, Bentham stated that “Witnesses are eyes and ears of justice.” Undoubtedly, witnesses are important players in the judicial system and help the Judges in arriving at … Continue reading Inimical Witnesses: Can Animosity Affect the Credibility of a Witness?
By Kaartikay Agarwal “It is the power of punishment alone when exercised impartially in proportion to the guilt, and irrespective of whether the person punished is the King’s son or an enemy, that protects this world and the next” – Chanakya Reformation of a Penal Code based on 19th-century Victorian ideals has been a constant process … Continue reading Conceptualizing a Kautilyan Criminal Justice System
By Shivam Mishra and Dharmesh Basedia In the concluding part of the bipartite blog series, the authors continue their discussion on the undesirable effect of Indian sentencing policy in the constitutional touchstone. An imperative analysis of the Constitutional touchstone has been followed by suggestions including the adaption of measures enshrined under the Coroners and Justice … Continue reading Sentencing Policy of India: A Critical Analysis and Suggestions [Part II]
By Shivam Mishra and Dharmesh Basedia In the opening part of this bipartite blog series, the co-authors take a gestalt perspective to carefully analyze the sentencing policy of India, its evolvement and ranging wide discretion power entrusted to judges. The compelling concern of such wide range power and its effect in the form of different … Continue reading The Sentencing Policy of India: A Critical Analysis and Suggestions [Part I]
By Abhinav Sekhri [This post first appeared on the author's blog, 'The Proof of Guilt'.] I've put out a short primer/paper (made with friends) explaining the basics about mobile phones and criminal investigations. This is meant to help convey the legal issues that arise in the context of the following: (i) seizure of a phone by … Continue reading Mobile Phones and Criminal Investigations
By Samarth Srivastava INTRODUCTION In today’s globalised world, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs; Indian citizens who work overseas on a visa and are actually Indian citizens) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs; people who live overseas and are Indians by descent) form an important part of the economic and social prosperity of many countries across the globe. … Continue reading Parental Child Abduction and the Extraordinary Application of s.188 CrPC.
By Livie Jain How feasible is it to protect the rights of owners by legally recognising the theft of information? In the recent annual report on Cyber Safety Insights, the country director of NortonLifeLock, Ritesh Chopra has flagged concerns regarding increasing instances of data theft and the complacent attitude of people when it comes to … Continue reading Barriers to Recognition of Information Theft
By Mitali Kshatriya The news is replete with instances of violation of advisories issued by the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In the wake of such delinquencies, the state governments are resorting to various penal provisions under the Indian Penal Code (The Code or IPC). s.307 is one of the various sections being … Continue reading COVID-19 – XIV: Examining the Use of ‘Attempt to Murder’ in Times of COVID-19
By Lalit Ajmani It is quite common to witness vexatious litigations that are devised solely to harass and torture the other party. Resultantly, the innocently accused person has to suffer a great ordeal of defending the criminal/civil case and sometimes gets defamed by the vexatious litigation initiated by the other, both for no reasons. Law … Continue reading Different Timelines for Different Defamation Cases
By Arjit Mishra Gender neutrality is a concept that postulates the eradication of distinction between different sexes in the drafting and execution of laws. It aims to make every citizen entitle to equal rights, for example, equal protection of the law, etc. without distinguishing on sex. As regards, rape laws, it aims to exterminate the … Continue reading Gender Neutral Rape Laws: Need of the Hour
By Bhoomika Agarwal Policemen so cherish their status as keepers of the peace and protectors of the public that they have occasionally been known to beat to death those citizens or groups who question that status. - David Mamet The events that took place in the last few months have raised a very essential question … Continue reading Law Against Police Brutality
By Nayan Grover Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (“NDPS Act”) is a Sue Generis Code and thus anything provided in this act will prevail over the general law. The offences under the NDPS Act are considered to be of more serious nature than usual and also viewed with more scrutiny by the courts. … Continue reading Whether Section 37 of NDPS Act Renders the Provision of Anticipatory Bail Infructuous
By Sri Hari Mangalam Introduction Three Strikes and you are out, a common baseball phrase is also the underlying principle for criminal penalties in America. The measure originally enacted to curb the increase in violent crimes across the country is as of now, centred in a few states. California passed the law in 1994, in … Continue reading Three Strikes and You’re Out: Indian Criminal Legislation Needs Baseball Rules?
By Himanshu Tyagi The Supreme Court of India recently emphasized on the need of having special public prosecutors in the case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The Hon’ble Court observed that the prosecutors must be trained to deal with child witness in sexual harassment cases. As we all … Continue reading The Credibility of Child Witnesses
By Abhinav Sekhri On April 22, 2020, a Three Justices' Bench of the Supreme Court decided a reference made to it in Hira Singh [Crl. Appeal No. 722 of 2017, decided on 22.04.2020]. The primary issue before the Court was the correctness an earlier decision by a Two Justices' Bench of the Supreme Court, E. Micheal Raj v. Intelligence Officer [(2008) … Continue reading There are No Right Answers: The Supreme Court and the Purity / Mixture Debate under the NDPS Act
By Harpreet Singh Gupta Recently, while hearing a revision petition, the Jharkhand High Court enlarged the accused on bail who was sentenced for one year for obstructing running of trains, etc. under Section 174(a) of the Railways Act. The conditions that the court put were rather interesting. The accused were directed to: (a) deposit Rs. … Continue reading COVID-19 – X: Jharkhand High Court’s Recent Bail Conditions: Improper exercise of Judicial Discretion?
By Devangana Kuthari and Ishani Mookherjee The term ‘Protest Petition’ has not been defined under any statute in India, whether the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973 or the Indian Penal Code, 1860. However, it has been accepted in practice and has been a part of the criminal procedure in India, even before independence, though with … Continue reading Protest Petitions as a Tool to Check Unconvincing Closure of Cases
By Nishtha Nikhil Gupta The lockdown due to COVID-19 has impacted one and all. The courts are no exception to it. While many courts are not working, yet some others are hearing only urgent and important matters. Even the Supreme Court has been hearing only important cases through video conferencing. The Supreme Court has ordered … Continue reading COVID-19 – VIII: Plea Bargaining- A Simple Solution for Difficult Times
By Tanay Singh and Tanya Rathod INTRODUCTION The term bail essentially means the interim release of an accused from the judicial custody and to place him/her under the custody of some monetary assurance to serve the accused person his right to enjoy the personal freedom. Granting of bail in the Indian criminal justice system has … Continue reading COVID-19 – VI: India’s Decaying Bail System: A Virus Exposes the Truth
By Abhinav Sekhri (This is the fifth post in a multi-part series. Earlier posts can be accessed through here) The previous post in this series discussed how a growing political consciousness across British India led worried administrators to use the law as a means to suppress civil liberties. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code … Continue reading Section 144 Cr.P.C. — Part V: Combating the Repressive Law (1921 to 1940)
By Rishabh Warrier Introduction Modern times have seen our lives being pervaded by algorithms, from suggestions on Netflix to music recommendations. An area where this pervasion is seeing a stark increase is in the domain of criminal sentencing. Prisons in the United States hold more people than any other country across the world. This problem, … Continue reading Analysing The Use Of Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Sentencing through the Loomis Decision
By Aditya Krishna Introduction In March of 2018, in the case of State of West Bengal v Animesh Boxi,[i] which is widely considered the first-ever,[ii] the Sessions court in Tamluk, West Bengal, sentenced a man to five years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 9,000, for uploading private and objectionable pictures of a girl … Continue reading Revenge Porn: Prosecution Under the Current Indian Legal System
By Ranjeet Soni and Rohit Shrivastava INTRODUCTION A clean environment is an indispensable fundamental right which is vested with all the people Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Supreme Court elucidated that any disturbance of basic environmental elements namely air, water and soil would amount to punishment. To prevent disturbance reasonable restrictions may be put … Continue reading COVID-19 – IV: Infectious Diseases: Rein on Quarantine & Archaic Laws
By Kartik Agarwal India went into a state of despair on December 16th, 2012 when a 23-year-old girl was raped by six men in a moving bus in Delhi. Five of them were sentenced to death in 2013 by the Fast track court and one was sent to the juvenile justice board. The death penalty … Continue reading Are Rights of Victim Subservient to the Rights of Convicts: An Analysis in Light of the Nirbhaya Case
By Abhinav Sekhri (This is the Fourth Post in a series on the Blog. Previous posts can be accessed here) The previous post expanded upon the officers who dealt with the powers conferred under what, by 1898, was Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code [Cr.P.C.]. The post also elaborated upon the expansion of such powers … Continue reading Section 144 Cr.P.C. — Part IV: Public Order and Political Agitation (1901 to 1920)
By Shreyash Mittal Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Hate the crime, not the criminal.” Introduction The aim of the criminal justice system is the reformation of criminals rather than inflicting punishment on them. Probation is an alternative to the customary form of punishments, where instead of sending the offender into the jail; he is released on … Continue reading The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958- An Extremely Crucial but Underplayed Legislation
By Nishtha Gupta “The safety of the people is the supreme law.” -Markus Tullius, Roman statesman and lawyer The Indian state has recently faced the world’s largest lockdown wherein 1.6 billion people have been subjected to an unprecedented lockdown. This has obviously led to a certain protest in terms of people not following the lockdown … Continue reading COVID-19 – III: Is Use of Lathi by Police During Lockdown Justified?
By Yashwanth J With the onset of nationwide lockdown following the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the coronavirus, various photos and videos have surfaced on the internet and the TV news channels portraying the highhandedness by the police officials against the flouters of the impugned curfew. The Government’s Guidelines on the measures to be taken by … Continue reading COVID-19 – II: Lockdown and the Wave of Police Brutality
By Manan Daga The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) is one hundred and twenty-three years old legislation. It was incorporated by the Britishers to fight the bubonic plague epidemic in 1896 in the Bombay Presidency.[1] This underlines a vital fact which cannot be ignored. The Act was a mechanism for … Continue reading COVID-19 – I: Does the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 Call for an Amendment?
By Ashima Sharma and Nidhi Pratap Singh The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 ( “Bill”) has been formulated to create a national DNA database for use in criminal investigation and civil matters. DNA technology can be used to ascertain the identity of a person and can be of use in criminal investigation … Continue reading The DNA Technology Regulation Bill, 2019 and its Impact on Marginalised Communities
By Ashna D After making innumerable attempts to postpone their execution, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh, the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case have been hanged to death on 20th March 2020. In recent years, there has been a heightened support in favour of imposing the capital punishment for … Continue reading Looking Beyond Retribution: A Plea To Abolish Capital Punishment
By Anmol Mathur Introduction The Constitution of India guarantees all persons the right to personal life and liberty, equal protection of laws and prohibits any discrimination based on sex. The Constitution is not simply a long, celebrated, big-book of ideas on democracy and civil society, but is a tool for social change in the coming … Continue reading The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and Gender-Neutral Sexual Offences in India
By Abhiraj Das and Nihal Deo On the 24th of February, when the international community was keenly looking forward to the U.S. President’s visit to India, a severe riot broke out in Delhi. More than 50 people are reported to have lost their lives with hundreds being injured, shops thrashed and several homes set ablaze. … Continue reading Delhi Riots: Duties of the State Organs
By Bodhisattwa Majumder Apology legislation provides an opportunity for a guilty person to provide information without the fear of liability, thus strengthening the victim’s right to have accurate information.[i] The main purpose behind having apology legislation is to enable the accused to feel culpable for their actions, and offering of sympathy without the fear … Continue reading Apology Legislation: A Boon for an Overburdened Judiciary.
By Abhinav Sekhri (This is the third post in a multi-part series on the Blog on Section 144, Cr.P.C. The previous posts could be found here and here) The previous post traced a historical arc stretching from 1861 till the end of the 19th Century to show the gradual development of Section 144, Cr.P.C. It … Continue reading Section 144 Cr.P.C. – Part III: Expansive Powers, in the hands of many officers
By Gopal Gour Introduction The criminal justice system works in a set of the hierarchy of institutions which make the process of justice-seeking smoother. It starts with the police and finally leads up to the court which imparts justice. For the sake of impartial and efficient working of the criminal justice system, the courts have … Continue reading Cognizance of the Case after Committal: An Analysis of the Dharam Pal Judgment
By Anchal Bhatheja The Law treats civil and criminal matters differently in terms of the degree of burden of proof required, the nature of courtroom procedure to be followed, the punishment to be awarded and so on. This is because civil matters concern only private individuals while criminal matters concern the society at large and … Continue reading The Economics of an Imbalanced Scale of Justice
Aman Garg On January 29, the Gujarat High Court, in a strongly worded verdict, declared the ‘two-finger test’ to be violative of woman’s right to privacy and dignity and held the same to be unconstitutional. The Hon’ble Court noted that the said practice was in direct conflict with different constitutional and statutory provisions and directed … Continue reading Two-finger Test: Transgression into Dignity, Privacy, and more…
By Milind Rajratnam and Shivang Yadav “Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.” - Henry Louis Gates Jr. INTRODUCTION The UNHRC has passed a resolution that makes access to the internet a basic human right. Recently in the case of Faheema Shirin R.K. v. State of Kerala, the Kerala High Court has held … Continue reading Internet Shutdown under Section 144: Only Alternative?
By Aastha Agarwalla and Daksh Aggarwal Prefatory The principal aim of the administrative and judicial processes is to provide a mechanism to protect the interests, physical and psychological well-being and dignity of the victims of serious crimes. One of the prerequisites to achieve the same is to enable the sufferer to be defended and represented … Continue reading Rekha Murarka v. State of West Bengal: Arbitrarily Undermining the Victim’s Rights
By Yagnesh Sharma INTRODUCTION India is viewed as an emerging superpower in the world that we live in today, and one of the major reasons for this status of India is attributed is to the sheer workforce that is translated to the population of the country. This population, however, brings its own problems. While India … Continue reading Privatization of Prisons and the Constitution in India
By Priyadarshee Mukhopadhyay INTRODUCTION “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” - George Orwell. Over the last five years, India has been thunderstruck by a growing number of informal public executions or extrajudicial killings commonly recognized under the term “Mob Lynching”. However, … Continue reading The Epidemic of Mob Lynching in India: Analysing Tehseen S. Poonawalla v. Union of India
By Aditya Suresh Introduction The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [“CrPC”] aims at consolidating the law pertaining to criminal procedure in India and seeks to ensure a fair and speedy trial, by encompassing the procedural powers and safeguards necessary for the purpose of effective criminal law administration. Chapter XX of the CrPC deals with the … Continue reading The Power to Discharge in Summons Cases Issued Upon Complaint: Judicial Divergence and Future Considerations
By Sehaj Cheema and Kuldeep Garg When the Supreme Court expressly dubbed pollution a tort in 1997,[i] the pronouncement was perhaps prophetic of India witnessing the contentiousness that the law of torts entails. Amongst the controversies that have ensued in the field of India’s environmental laws, a fundamental one is the blurring of the line … Continue reading Amidst Tort & Crime: Quasi-Criminal Liabilities in India’s Anti-Pollution Litigation
By Abhinav Sekhri A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court decided a reference made in Sushila Aggarwal & Ors. v. State (NCT of Delhi) & Anr. [SLP (Crl.) 7281-82/2017, decided on 29.01.2020], where two questions had been posed for consideration: (1) Whether the protection granted to a person under Section 438 Cr.P.C. should be limited to a fixed period … Continue reading The Constitution Bench Reference in Sushila Aggarwal v. State
By Diya Vaishnav and Nihal Deo Recently, Union Minister Mr. Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Mr. Parvesh Verma received a ban of 72 hours and 96 hours respectively from campaigning for the Delhi Elections. The reason behind the same was the ‘Hate Speech’ that they delivered in their respective rallies in Delhi. While Mr. Thakur … Continue reading The Peril of Hate Speech in India
By Ishan Kumar Introduction “I know that it's hard to believe that the people you look to for safety and security are the same people who are causing us so much harm. ― Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race On 17th December 2019, the Sri Lanka Supreme Court in the case of Rathnayeke Tharanga … Continue reading Custodial Death Verdict by Sri Lankan Supreme Court: Justice at Last
By Samarth Sansar “The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution.”[1] A 9- judge bench of the Supreme Court in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. vs Union Of India … Continue reading Privacy Judgement: Impact on Law of Searches
By Nipun Kalra INTRODUCTION The right to seek discharge is one of the most important rights of an accused in a criminal justice system. This gives an opportunity to the court to filter out the cases which are meritless. However, at this stage, the court is confronted with very limited material. In a large number … Continue reading The Accused Person’s Right to Rely on Exculpatory Material at the Stage of Framing of Charges
By Viti Bansal A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking framing of proper procedures, rules, and guidelines for the disposal of mercy petition in an effective and time-bound manner. According to the petitioner, the rights of both the convicts as well as that of the victims under Article 14 … Continue reading Mercy Petitions: The Need for Regulation
By Deeksha The seizure of vehicles by police officers has been a matter of great legal concern in recent years. The police stations around the country are now being converted into dumping yards for seized vehicles with these confiscated vehicles gathering dust over a number of years.[i] Section 102 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 … Continue reading Seizure of Motor Vehicles and Violation of Human Rights
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