The Haynes Discourse

“Haynes was a role model of mine. He and Greenidge were a pair that would take apart any bowling attack in the world. From the start of the day’s play I had kept a close watch on him. He was sitting in the Sussex dressing room, absorbed in the match. I worried that he might […]

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The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law

“A distinguished South African Judge, Albie Sachs has spoken of the importance of understanding the value of Constitutional Transformation. In his book titled ‘The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law’, explaining the role of the Constitutional Court, Sachs has this to say: “It is difficult to analyze the impact that Court Decisions have on actual […]

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The Last Word on Padmaavat

Witnessing Padmaavat unfold on screen, on its first day of release, was unique, especially since your smart phone kept reminding you of persistent violence. The casual viewer may have even ignored a woman threatening to immolate herself or even a policemen who stood guard, but the skeptic whispered if a riot broke out… on which […]

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Section 499, Indian Penal Code IV

The Fourth Chapter is intriguingly titled ‘Bloodless Murder: Defamation‘. Senior Advocate Pinky Anand and her daughter Gauri Goburdhun have stood by Sections 499 & 500, IPC in Trials of Truth: India’s Landmark Criminal Cases, (Shobhaa Dé Books, Penguin, 2017). Here is brief excerpt from pp. 61 to pp. 79: “The origin of defamation can be traced […]

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The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process I

Abhinav Chandrachud is not incorrect in noting, Doctrine of ‘Fairness’/‘Non-Arbitrariness’ laid the foundation of Substantive Due Process in our country. Justice Nariman supports this view. In a richly cited CJI K.G. Balakrishnan Judgment [2010] it indeed was held, ‘Substantive Due Process’ is a part of Indian Constitutional Jurisprudence. 5 years later, in Rajbala v. Haryana, (2016) 2 SCC […]

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D For Don II: Khullam Khulla

The Don always sells. There is even a sweet, fan-girl account in Sheela Raval’s Godfathers of Crime (Hachette, 2015). She attended the reception of Mahrukh’s wedding in the summer of 2005 and said, “Mario Puzo would have been proud of the scene“. In Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored (HarperCollins India, 2017), the actor has his […]

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An Unsuitable Boy

This blog has previously carried content on K3G here and here. I had the chance to read the biography of its Director, Karan Johar, recently. Here is [some of] what caught my interest… _____ I’ve had two unrequited love situations in my life. One in my twenties and one in my thirties where I’d loved […]

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A Review of “Legal Eagles”

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” Legal Eagles traces the journey of […]

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D for Dayan, D for David

“It was a scorching summer day on 31st May, when the NIA sleuths gathered in the chambers of Gopal Subramanian, the Attorney General of India. He had just returned from the US where he had spent hours discussing the David Headley issue with the US Attorney General, Eric Holder… Behera spoke, ‘We will be leaving […]

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#NoJailForSalman

Tukhm-e-tasir, sohbat-e-asar It is the social mileu and lineage that chisel human character. “In the year 1915, a hundred years ago, India was entirely in the grip of the British. That same year, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa. Salman Khan’s grandfather would join the police service of Holkar the following year. He […]

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The Lives of Sri Aurobindo

In Aurobindo Ashram v. R. Ramanathan, [Civil Appeal No. 12 of 2016] Respondents alleged, Appellant Ashram failed to take any positive action to prohibit the availability of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. They even assisted Peter Hees in getting a visa for his continued stay in India. Whether or not ‘The Lives of Sri Aurobindo‘ is […]

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Expert Determination v. Arbitration

Russel on Arbitration, 21st Edition: “Many cases have been fought over whether a contract’s chosen form of dispute resolution is Expert Determination or Arbitration. This is a matter of construction of the contract, which involves an objective enquiry into the intentions of the parties. First, there are the express words of the disputes clause. If […]

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