The Revival of Ray VIII

Legal Journalists obsess over presence of Khanna J in ADM JABALPUR. A presence caused by… Supreme Court quoted recently: Gwalior Rayon, (1974) 4 SCC 98. Judgment of Justices Khanna, Alagiriswami and Bhagwati was delivered by Khanna J. Justice K. K. Mathew gave a Separate Opinion, on behalf of A. N. Ray, CJI and himself. My Lord, […]

Read more "The Revival of Ray VIII"

An Independent Colonial Judiciary

“In the midst of Ripon’s Viceroyalty, in 1882, for the first time in the history of colonial India, an Indian Judge, Romesh Chunder Mitter, was appointed to act as Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, when Chief Justice Sir Richard Garth went on leave.  It would take another few decades for an Indian, Badruddin Tyabji, […]

Read more "An Independent Colonial Judiciary"

Compensatory Jurisprudence of Constitutional Courts VII : James Watson

“Recently on 14 September 2018, Learned Chief Justice, speaking for Present Bench of Three Judges handed down a verdict granting compensation of Rs 50 Lakhs to a Space Scientist who was found upon further investigation by CBI to have been wrongfully implicated and subjected to custodial interrogation. This was on an allegation, he had leaked […]

Read more "Compensatory Jurisprudence of Constitutional Courts VII : James Watson"

The Sabarimala Temple I

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 373 of 2006 Hon’ble Justice Indu Malhotra The Petitioners have stated that they learnt of the practice of restricting the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years in the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala from three newspaper articles written by Barkha Dutt (Scent of a Woman, Hindustan […]

Read more "The Sabarimala Temple I"

The Revival of Ray VI

While stating, ‘genesis’ of creamy layer principle is to be found in State of Kerala v. N.M. Thomas, (1976) 2 SCC 310 Hon’ble Justice R.F. Nariman quoted a few words of Hon’ble Justice Krishna Iyer in Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta, [Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 30621 of 2011]. Of course, Ray CJ had […]

Read more "The Revival of Ray VI"

An Alive Stream II

“Indubitably, Live Streaming of Court Proceedings has the potential of throwing up an option to the public to witness Live Court Proceedings which they otherwise could not have due to logistical issues and infrastructural restrictions of Courts; and would also provide them with a more direct sense of what has transpired. Thus, technological solutions can […]

Read more "An Alive Stream II"

The Aadhaar Judgment : 26.09.2018 / The Revival of Ray V / Dharma of Constitution v. Karma of Adjudication

Hon’ble Justice A.K. Sikri (CJI, Sikri and Khanwilkar JJ) In Dattatraya Govind Mahajan v. State of Maharashtra, (1977) 2 SCC 548, Spirit of our Constitution was explained thus: “Once we grasp Dharma of the Constitution, new orientation of the Karma of Adjudication becomes clear. Our Founding Fathers, aware of our Social Realities, forged our Fighting […]

Read more "The Aadhaar Judgment : 26.09.2018 / The Revival of Ray V / Dharma of Constitution v. Karma of Adjudication"

The Last Word

It must be true, friendships & rivalries, losses & victories never have an end, only a beginning. Spectacular Judges of Supreme Court have hoped for an impactful conclusion. The irreversibly powerful ones have known more. There is never a last word. Life travels with surety of a pendulum clock, tick tock. We remember, in Puttaswamy, [Writ […]

Read more "The Last Word"

Consortium I

“In legal parlance, ‘consortium’ is a compendious term which encompasses ‘spousal consortium’, ‘parental consortium’ and ‘filial consortium’. The right to consortium would include company, care, help, comfort, guidance, solace and affection of deceased. With respect to a spouse, it would include sexual relations with deceased spouse; parental consortium is granted upon premature death of a […]

Read more "Consortium I"

#The377Debate II : 06.09.2018

Navtej Singh Johar v. UOI, [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 76 of 2016] was filed for declaring Section 377 to be unconstitutional. It was held by:  Dipak Misra CJI and A.M. Khanwilkar J. The phrase ‘against the order of nature’ has neither been defined in any provision of the IPC. What is ‘against the order of nature’? Procreation […]

Read more "#The377Debate II : 06.09.2018"

Falsus in Uno, Falsus in Omnibus

“It is a well settled position of law, testimony of a witness cannot be discarded in toto merely due to presence of embellishments or exaggerations. Doctrine of ‘falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus’, which means ‘false in one thing, false in everything’ has been held to be inapplicable in Indian scenario, where tendency to exaggerate […]

Read more "Falsus in Uno, Falsus in Omnibus"

An Alive Stream I

RNR, May 13, 2017 : “I intuitively conclude, mobile phones inside Courtrooms undermine the judicial process. One should be not be allowed to record, broadcast or communicate with outsiders while inside Courtrooms, without specific permission from Court itself.” RNR, November 13, 2017: “Even if Live Tweeting is to be permitted one day, it should be […]

Read more "An Alive Stream I"

The Revival of Ray III

George H. Gadbois, Jr., chronicler of 93 Judges of Supreme Court of India, had this to say once: “When I first wrote to Justice A N Ray requesting an interview, I included a couple of articles I had published earlier. This enabled him to see that I was rather well-informed about him and the Court. […]

Read more "The Revival of Ray III"

Clear and Present Danger

“A single revolutionary spark may kindle a fire that, smouldering for a time, may burst into a sweeping and destructive conflagration.” It was the Judgment of Holmes J in Schenck v. United States, 249 US 47 at 52 (1910) that gave rise to the test of ‘clear and present danger’ for determining whether restrictions on […]

Read more "Clear and Present Danger"