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 Nabira Farman and Utkarsh Shubham Does the Veil of Freedom of Speech & Expression Immune the Media from Penal Liabilities? INTRODUCTION When India was already blazing under the communal fire post the introduction of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, the novel CoronaVirus came to make people realize that this battle is not religious. It … Continue reading COVID-19 – IX: A Pandemic for the world, Antagonism for the Indians
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 Devanshu Anada Introduction It was unimaginable for the government of most of the countries that a pathogen not even visible to a naked eye would have the potential to bring even the most developed countries down to their knees and their economies to a virtual standstill. As unprepared the immunity system of our bodies … Continue reading COVID-19 – VII: Is the Indian Legal Framework Capable of Handling the Coronavirus Pandemic
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 Dhruti Lunker and Isiri S.D. Introduction In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Government has announced a nationwide lockdown mandating its people to stay indoors. The Government has taken all measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus that has taken a high toll across the world. The doctors, nurses, … Continue reading COVID-19 – V: Violence and Coronavirus: Saving the Frontline Health-workers
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 Amrashaa Singh The recent killing of the four accused in the Hyderabad veterinary doctor’s rape case created a huge hue and cry across the nation. While some people praised the incident, others pointed out the human rights violations caused by the incident. Many famous personalities, praised it, including Jaya Bachchan, a Rajya Sabha M.P., … Continue reading Extra-Judicial killings: A solution for preventing crime in Adityanath’s UP?
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 Raj Krishna and Rishika Introduction Human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized. – Judge Michael Leburu On 30th March 2020, the High Court of Singapore, in Ong Ming Johnson v Attorney-General and other matters, upheld the colonial-era law that criminalized homosexuality between two consenting adults. The Court held that Section 377A of … Continue reading Singapore High Court’s Judgment on Homosexuality: A Critique
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 Jagriti Pandey and Deeptangshu Kar On 11th February 2020 in Praveen Kumar Chaudhary & Ors. v Election Commissioner of India and Ors., the Delhi High Court re-affirmed the constitutionality of Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 that deprives prisoners of their right to cast vote in elections. The Section … Continue reading A Critique of Section 62 (5) of Representation of the People Act, 1951
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 Sehaj Cheema and Kuldeep Garg Although dubbed as the world’s ‘second oldest profession’, it was not until the 20th century that the potential of currency-counterfeiting as a strategic weapon was realized. An ingenious prong of Hitler’s offence against the British consisted of efforts at smuggling counterfeit currency into their territory, and therefore, economically destabilizing … Continue reading From A Peccadillo to Treason: How Counterfeiting Became a Terrorist Offence
By Nipun Kalra INTRODUCTION Judgement is not upon all occasions required, but discretion always is. -Philip Stanhope Discretion is said to be the right or the power to make official decisions using reasoning and accurate judgment of the circumstances while choosing from the available alternatives. The exercise of this power is considered to be omnipotent … Continue reading Scope of Judicial Discretion in Sentencing
By Raj Krishna and Jagriti Pandey INTRODUCTION “Rape is a very serious offence, constituting as it does a humiliating, degrading and brutal invasion of the privacy, the dignity and the person of the victim. The rights to dignity, to privacy, and the integrity of every person are basic to the ethos of the Constitution and … Continue reading South African Constitutional Court Affirms Doctrine of Common Purpose in Rape Cases
By Raj Shekhar and Zevesh Modi “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Abstract On December 16th, 2012 a young paramedical intern was beaten, brutalized and raped by five men and a juvenile on a moving bus. They threw her out afterwards and thereafter, she died due to her injuries and internal bleeding. This case sparked a … Continue reading Nirbhaya Case: An Analysis of the Cyclic Syndrome of Delay and Pendency
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 Abhinav Sekhri Basit, Talib, and Amir are three students of the prestigious KLE college in Karnataka. They are all in their early 20s and received scholarships to pursue their college education. They also happen to be Muslim, and hail from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. These students made a short video … Continue reading Descending into the Abyss: The Denial of Bail in the KLE Students Case.
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 Abhinav Sekhri (This is Part II in a multi-post series on the Blog. The previous post can be accessed here) In this post, the agenda is threefold: (i) offering a history of how the text behind what is Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code [Cr.P.C.], 1973 evolved during the first thirty years of its existence;(ii) showing … Continue reading Section 144 Cr.P.C. — Part II: Origins, Use, and the “Rule of Law” (From 1861 till 1901)
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 Abhinav Sekhri (This is the first part of a new multi-part series on the Blog) December 19, 2019. Thousands of people took to the streets across several major cities of India. The photographs would later reveal just how diverse the gatherings were: many students, of course, but numerous old men, women and salaried employees … Continue reading Section 144 CrPC — Part I
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 Abhishek Choudhary and Aditya Shekhar “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe foe the terrible power of the things they carried.”- Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried.[1] INTRODUCTION Traumatic events have the potential to generate a psychiatric disorder i.e. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, popularly known as PTSD. War, rape, … Continue reading Debunking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Dilemma for the Criminal Justice System
By Abhinav Sekhri The many public demonstrations across the territory of Delhi and also other parts of the country that began last December brought the police powers of regulating such demonstrations into sharp focus. The statutory powers of the police were easily traceable — the Delhi Police Act of 1978, modelled on the old Police Act of … Continue reading Delhi Police Circulars & Standing Orders for Regulating Protests
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 Abhinav Sekhri On January 24, 2020, a bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Rastogi & Malhotra, JJ, delivered its judgment in State of Kerala v. Rajesh [Crl. Appeal Nos. 154-57 of 2020]. The State of Kerala had challenged an order of the High Court granting bail to persons in a case under the Narcotics, Drugs & Psychotropic Substances … Continue reading The complex world of bail in India’s Criminal Justice System
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 Tanya Hasija Is society more to blame for crimes than the individuals who commit them? Crime makes up an unfortunate part of our society. While not all of us are prone to committing crimes, a number of us find ourselves grappling with the question: what is right and what is not? The understanding of … Continue reading Criminals and Their Society: A Peek Into the Abode of a Criminal Mind
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
By Neha Meena Introduction The object of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 is to make the laws stronger and more effective so as to prevent corruption and the matters connected with it. It is necessary to have clarity on the concept of demand of undue advantage by public servants because in most cases the … Continue reading Demand: Pre-Requisite for an Offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act
By Mayur Kulkarni Introduction A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the case that challenged the five-month-long internet shut-down and an Emergency-like imposition of Section 144 Cr.P.C, in Jammu and Kashmir post the de-operationalization of Article 370. The Court inter alia held that freedom to practice any profession or carry … Continue reading Imposition of Restrictions under Section 144 Cr.P.C. and the Test of Proportionality
By Sagrika Rajora ‘Oh’ for Obscenity Every day we live by impressions of reality that have been constructed around us. These notions develop a congenital identity that brands us as members of society. The common sense that is inherent to societal functioning ensures a certain normative behavior. Law is an institution that promotes this common … Continue reading Criminal Law and Obscenity – A Legislative Analysis
By Raj Krishna and Alivya Sahay Introduction “Gender identity refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body which may involve a freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or functions by medical, surgical … Continue reading Nathanson v. Mteliso & Ors.: Zimbabwe High Court Affirms Human Rights of Transgenders
By Abhinav Sekhri [The Proof of Guitlt] has consistently argued that changes to the laws that form the bedrock of India's criminal justice architecture — The Indian Penal Code of 1860, Indian Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 — are necessary. No legal system is, or can be, foolproof; … Continue reading Criminal Procedure Reform: The Dangers of Overvaluing the Ends and Forgetting the Means
By Nityesh Dadhich Introduction ‘Having passed 10 years of my total life in prison dungeons and condemned cells….. I know the tortures which detention without trial means and I can never reconcile with it’ said Shibban Lal Saxena in Constituent Assembly while the assembly was discussing Article 22 of the Indian Constitution. Article 22 of … Continue reading Decoding the Judicial Interventions in National Security Act, 1980
By Raj Krishna and Vivek Kumar Introduction "We declare that human rights are for all of us, all the time: whoever we are and wherever we are from; no matter our class, our opinions, our sexual orientation.” - Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon On 6th of May 2019, amidst international criticism, the Government of Brunei … Continue reading Is it Time for Brunei to Amend its Penal Code?
By Isha Choudhary The Supreme Court of India, in its decision in Kandaswamy Ramaraj v. The State by Inspector of Police, CBID seems to have digressed from the law set by the precedents and has thereby, considered short-temperedness of a person as a decisive factor while ascertaining whether that person is entitled to the benefit … Continue reading SC Gives Partial Relief to the Accused Charged for the Offence of Murder Considering his Temperament to be a Decisive Factor
By Isha Choudhary With the Commercial Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the bill’) being sent to the Rajya Sabha Review Committee, it becomes pertinent to shed light upon the forthcoming aftermath, if the bill is assented to by the Rajya Sabha and subsequently secures the Presidential assent. The legislative history of attempts … Continue reading “Need of The Hour” is Not the Bill but Robust Laws: Regulating Commercial Surrogacy in India.
By Akash Anurag and Navya Bhandari Sexual offences against women have often been termed as a "silent epidemic"[1] mainly due to the propensity of such cases going unreported. It is only in the recent years that women globally have broken the long imposed societal omerta of keeping quiet over the sexual offences committed against them … Continue reading Not a Yes, Means a No: Spanish Laws Roar for Change
By Abhinav Sekhri and Mansi Binjrajka Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sharad Aravind Bobde, just yesterday, took suo moto cognizance of the working of the criminal justice system in relation to sexual offences. Highlighting how the amendments brought to criminal law after the Nirbhaya incident have not achieved the objective of speedy investigation … Continue reading Supreme Court’s Fact-Finding Priorities
By Amlan Mishra [This article risks engaging with preventive measures under CrPC and their constitutionality from the prism of lived experiences in protests against CAA] The recent protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 have raised pressing questions about the right to protest and the proportionality of police action. This post uses lived experiences of … Continue reading Preventive Measures under CrPC: A Tool to Stifle Peaceful Protests?
By Abhinav Sekhri India's constitutional courts have won deserving acclaim for intervening to save forests, put curbs on pollution, fearlessly address corruption in government, usher in prison reforms, drive governments to pass anti-lynching laws, and strike down patently unconstitutional laws and practices to enable the expression of individual freedom. So to read a news article … Continue reading Can Constitutional Courts Really Not Do Much About Police Brutality?
[Radhika Malpani is a fourth year law student at National Law University, Jodhpur. It was first published on the blog on Dec. 11, 2018] Introduction With the increase in the reliance on internet for every single detail, its significance in today’s world is not less than a necessity. It helps in imparting information and knowledge … Continue reading A Repost: On the legality of Internet Shutdowns
By Abhinav Sekhri Below are some random quotes that I've extracted from news reports in the aftermath of the horrible incident of alleged rape in Telangana: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has promised to bring in a law to punish rapists within 21 days of a crime. [Article dated 09.12.2019 from News Minute]; Thank … Continue reading No Censure and Total Sanction: A Recipe for Disaster
By Anthony Schembri Manuel Valle was born in Florida. I was born in Brooklyn. On Sept. 28, 2011, we would meet for the first time at Florida State Prison in Starke. Our roles were different. He had to die. I had to watch. On April 2, 1978, Manuel Valle killed a Coral Gables police officer … Continue reading The Death Penalty Debate: Witness to an Execution in 2011
By Shivaang Maheshwari On the morning of 6th December 2019, four rape accused in the Hyderabad rape-murder case were killed in a police encounter when they allegedly attacked the police and tried to flee. This has led to a dividing public opinion between the ones who hail the killings as ‘divine justice’ and those questioning … Continue reading Undermining the ‘Rule of Law’: Can the ‘Extra-judicial’ Killings be Justified [Caution: Graphic Content!]
By Abhinav Sekhri [This is a long post discussing both the CBI and the ED Bail Orders] Readers may recall that at the end of August 2019, the Delhi High Court dismissed the petitions of P. Chidambaram for anticipatory bail in connection with what has become popularly known as the "INX Media Scam", which was the subject … Continue reading Supreme Court Grants Bail in the P. Chidambaram Cases — Some Thoughts
By Abhinav Sekhri The 47th All India Police Science Congress recently concluded in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and it has been reported that the Union Minister for Home Affairs has once again spoken of this Government's desire to carry out amendments to the Indian Penal Code 1860 [IPC] and the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 [CrPC]. This, according to … Continue reading Dear Minister, There Are No Silver Bullets — Of Speedy Trials and the Criminal Process
By Women in Criminal Law Association "We emphatically condemn the custodial murder of the four persons suspected of raping and murdering a 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad and unequivocally disown the use of violence in the name of women’s rights and women’s safety. The murder of people in so-called “encounters” by the police and security forces … Continue reading Statement Condemning the Hyderabad Police Encounter.
By Utkarsh Krishna This article is an attempt to analyse the recent judgement of the Supreme Court in X vs. State of Maharashtra wherein it laid down the law that is to govern post-conviction mental illness in case of impending execution. To fully appreciate the issue, it is important to produce the facts of the … Continue reading Accused X v. State of Maharashtra: Decoding the Complex Relationship Between Crime, Punishment, and Mental Illness
By Shubh Arora Section 125 is one of the very few sections in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 that deal with substantive law. The section often comes in controversy because of the numerous parallels in personal law that deal with maintenance. The section is not gender-neutral, unlike Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, … Continue reading Maintenance for Divorced Women: The Paradox of Section 125(4) CrPC
By Alivya Sahay and Raj Krishna INTRODUCTION 22nd October 2019 will be remembered for long in Northern Ireland as on this day the British Parliament by Northern Ireland Act, 2019 legalized abortion and same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. The breakdown of local government in Northern Ireland enabled the British Parliament to step in and amend … Continue reading Northern Ireland Legalizes Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage: A Discussion
By Abhinav Sekhri [This is Part IV in a multi-part series. The previous posts can be accessed here, here and here] The issue being discussed in this series has been given a sense of urgency, because a trial court in Delhi was pressed to make a reference under Section 305 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973 [Cr.P.C.] to … Continue reading Section 251 CrPC and Discharge in Summons Cases: Part IV
By Deeksha Sahni The High Court of Punjab and Haryana in a recent decision in Union Territory, Chandigarh v. Amit Kumar @Rachu & Others passed a very absurd statement to refuse to grant Leave to Appeal against the judgment of acquittal in a rape case. The Court opined that since there were no injuries on … Continue reading Absence of bodily injury implies consent(?) in rape cases…
By Abhinav Sekhri [This is Part III in a multi-part series. The previous posts can be accessed, here and here] The previous post in this series traced how the statutory text pertaining to the procedure for trial in Summons Cases developed from 1861 till the late 1960s. This historical arc was traced to identify how, at different points … Continue reading Section 251 CrPC and Discharge in Summons Cases: Part III
By Sneha Sanyal Introduction Suicide is a non-fatal self-directed potentially injurious behavior with an intention to die. This intention can be triggered due to numerous factors such as Psychiatric illness, Depression, Other mental disorders, Sexual/physical abuse (inclusive of childhood adversities), Abuse of alcohol/drugs, Stressful life events such as loss of loved one, imminent criminal prosecution, … Continue reading Attempt to Suicide : A Comparative Study of Indian Laws vis-a-vis Singaporean and Sri Lankan Laws
By Abhinav Sekhri [This is Part II of a multi-part series. The previous post in this series is here.] The previous post teased the issue of whether magistrates have the power to end criminal proceedings in Summons Cases at a stage prior to acquittal / conviction, after the magistrate has gone ahead and summoned the accused … Continue reading Section 251 CrPC and Discharge in Summons Cases: Part II
By Mansi Gupta Introduction On August 2, 2019 the Parliament passed Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 seeking amendment in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967. This bill allows the government to declare ‘individuals as terrorists’ as opposed to the previous law which allowed only organizations to be labelled as ‘terrorist organizations’ but not … Continue reading Decoding the UAPA Amendment Act: A Death of the Rule of Law?
By Tanishk Goyal Introduction The extraterritorial application of Indian statutes abroad is something which has been the subject matter of debate for quite some time. To this effect, Section 4 of the Indian Penal Code (‘IPC’), and Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (‘The Code’), provide for the extra territorial application of Indian … Continue reading The Problematic Case of Sanctions Under Section 188, CrPC: Filling the Void
By Abhinav Sekhri Very recently, the Delhi High Court received a reference under Section 395 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 [Cr.P.C.] to clarity certain issues of law. The matter has been registered as Crl. Reference No. 4 of 2019. The issues presented to the High Court are detailed in the order of 11.10.2019, and are extracted below: Does … Continue reading Section 251 CrPC and Discharge in Summons Cases: Part I
By Priyanka Preet ‘Even so every good tree bringeth: forth good fruit; but a corrupt: tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.’ ~Matthew 7:17-18 A doctrine or a legal metaphor? The ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ doctrine was perhaps a … Continue reading Rethinking ‘Fruit of the Poisonous Tree’ Doctrine into the Indian Evidence Act
By Jayesh Kumar Singh Introduction The police are entrusted with the responsibility of prevention of cognizable offences; however, the Anti-Romeo Squads and Operation Majnu in Uttar Pradesh depict a pitiable tale of moral vigilantism. It refers to the actions of vigilant groups in enforcing a preconceived code of conduct based on personal morality, culture and … Continue reading Moral Vigilantism: A Joint Effort Under the Garb of Preventive Action and Enforcing Ethical Behaviour
By Aastha Gangwal Introduction The prosecution for contempt of lawful authority of public servants, for offences against public justice and for offences relating to documents given in evidence has been discussed under Section 195 [“Section”] of the Code of Criminal Code, 1973 [“CrPC”]. It can be broadly categorized into three parts. Section 195(1)(a) deals with … Continue reading Analysis of the Supreme Court Judgment in CBI v. M. Sivamani
By Aditya Tripathi INTRODUCTION Section-498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) was inserted by way of an amendment in 1983. It was enacted with the aim of providing protection to married women against cruelty by their husband or in-laws, which often may lead to cases of dowry deaths. However, with the changing scenario it … Continue reading Unbridled Power in Hands of Married Women: A Brief Analysis of Section 498A of IPC
By Udayan Tandan and R. Harikrishnan Recently, the Supreme Court in P. Chidambaram v. Directorate of Enforcement (hereinafter ‘Chidambaram’), had the occasion to consider the scope of Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (hereinafter ‘PML Act’). To give a brief background of the case - In 2007, INX Media … Continue reading P. Chidambaram v. Directorate of Enforcement: A Lost Opportunity?
By Vedangini Bisht Some researchers prefer to call hate crime a misnomer. Because going solely by the literal meaning of the term, it would refer to a crime which is motivated by hate, when actually there is not hate, but prejudice involved, although there is no saying that there cannot be an overlap in them. … Continue reading Rape as a Hate Crime
By Raj Krishna and Alivya Sahay INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND "Human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized." - Judge Michael Leburu On 11th June, Botswana’s High Court in the case of Letsweletse Motshidiemang v Attorney General struck down the colonial law which criminalized homosexual acts between two consenting adults with up to seven years … Continue reading Letsweletse Motshidiemang v Attorney General: Botswana High Court Decriminalizes Homosexuality
By Abhinav Sekhri On 19 September, 2019, there was a big strike organised by public transport workers across Delhi and other parts of India, to protest against the amendments recently made to India's Motor Vehicles Act [MV Act]. The main cause for the protests, I am led to understand after speaking to several cab and auto drivers … Continue reading What the Protests over the Motor Vehicles Act Amendments tell us about Criminal Law
By Ritwik Sharma On 19th September 2019, the Supreme Court issued a notice in the backdrop of the Jharkhand High Court’s refusal to quash the FIR registered under the sedition law against four Adivasi activists for allegedly inciting violence through Facebook by supporting the ‘Pathalgadi’ movement of the Munda tribal community. In August 2019, an … Continue reading Law of Sedition and the Kedarnath Singh Test: A Confusing Paradox
By Teresa Dhar and Raj Krishna Introduction On April 1, 2019, in a significant decision, the United States Supreme Court by a majority of 5-4 reiterated the fact that the Eighth amendment of the US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment altogether, but it did not guarantee any right to painless death. In this case … Continue reading US Supreme Court Denies Right to Painless Death: A Critical Analysis of Bucklew v Precythe Judgment
By Ayush Mishra Introduction The Supreme Court recently referred the question of ‘requirement of certificate under §65B(4) of the Indian Evidence Act,1872 being mandatory for production of electronic evidence’ to a larger bench.[1] The issue at hand is that the Supreme Court in Shafhi Mohammad vs. State of Himachal Pradesh (2018), held that the “requirement of … Continue reading The Conundrum of Certification of the Electronic Evidence
By Abhinav Sekhri Recently, the Home Minister made an interesting public speech where he reportedly lamented the poor conviction rates. An official report of his comments also notes that the Minister suggested that wholesale changes to the Indian Penal Code of 1860, and Criminal Procedure Code of 1973 were on the cards to help make things better on the conviction … Continue reading Science in Policing: The New Old Thing
By Abhinav Sekhri A Two Justices' Bench of the Supreme Court has decided the appeal filed by P. Chidambaram against an order of the Delhi High Court dismissing his plea for Anticipatory Bail in an ongoing investigation being conducted into what is being labelled as the "INX Media Scam" [Crl. Appeal 1340 of 2019, decided … Continue reading The Supreme Court Order in P. Chidambaram v. ED: Some Thoughts.
By Sameer Sharma Introduction Amidst recent developments in the INX Media case involving former Union Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram relating to allegations of money-laundering, a new legal and political storm seems to have broken out with a politician from the South in the fray. Congress bigwig and their go-to troubleshooter in Karnataka, Mr. D.K. … Continue reading The Karnataka High Court’s Decision in the D.K. Shivakumar Case: Facets of PMLA Clarified.
By Mr. Abhinav Sekhri This week saw the arrest of a former Union Minister, P. Chidambaram, in connection with allegations of corruption and money laundering in what has popularly been called the "INX Media" case. In this post, I'm not interested in the arrest itself — the pageantry of which has already attracted much discussion … Continue reading The Delhi High Court Order in P. Chidambaram v. ED: Three Thoughts
By Bhaskar Kumar and Prannv Dhawan The legal and political commentariat has been buzzing with the controversy over the reasons and methods regarding the arrest of former Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram. While many have been critical of the unusual haste in the arrest of Mr. Chidambaram, several analysts have suspected that this could … Continue reading The Question of Justice: Fair Trial, Approver Witnesses and Accused’s Rights
By Sameer Sharma I had written a short article recently on the amendments to the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002, and as to how these amendments clarify the conception of what money-laundering constitutes. Now, with the INX Media case involving money-laundering allegations against former Union Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram pending before the Supreme Court, … Continue reading Is the 2019 Amendment to the PMLA “Retrospective” in its Operation?
