The Profane

Mr. Navtej Sarna’s Son is talented. I have had the opportunity to witness him in college. Mr. Navtej Sarna is an ‘Indian Author-Columnist, Diplomat, Indian Ambassador to the United States’. His son, Satyajit, recently published a Book of Poetry: “The Profane”. Here are a few of my favorite four lines: “But, if you believe you […]

A Man of Reason and Logic

Chess has been represented, or shall I say misrepresented, as a game – that is, a thing which could not well serve a serious purpose, solely created for the enjoyment of an empty hour. If it were a game only, Chess would never have survived the serious trials to which it has, during the long […]

Medical Negligence and Consumer Law I

“A surgeon cannot and does not guarantee that the result of surgery would invariably be beneficial, much less to the extent of 100% for the person operated on. The only assurance which such a professional can give or can be understood to have given by implication is that he is possessed of the requisite skill […]

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, […]

Article No. 502: The Revival of Ray VII

I was born on 5th February. This is Article No. 502. This blog was born on 21st December, 2014. Hon’ble Justice R.F. Nariman in Sabarimala Temple, covered previous decisions of SC on scope and effect of religious freedom contained in Articles 25 and 26. I highlight hereby all decisions mentioned. I bow down to: i) […]

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 […]

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 […]

Section 497: A Tripartite Labyrinth

Joseph Shine v. Union of India, [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 194 of 2017] Hon’ble Justice Indu Malhotra The issue is whether ‘adultery’ must be treated as a penal offence or a marital wrong. Adultery has the effect of not only jeopardizing the marriage between the two consenting adults, but also affects the growth and moral […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Lord Roche II / The Revival of Ray IV

In Allied Motors, (2012) 2 SCC 1 reference was made to the celebrated Judgment of Privy Council in Nazir Ahmad, AIR 1936 PC 253: “Where a power is given to do a certain thing in a certain way, the thing must be done in that way, or not at all. Other methods of performance are […]

Back Wages I

“In some cases, a Court may decline to award back wages in its entirety whereas in some cases, it may award partially. The questions, how a back wage is required to be decided, what are the factors to be taken into consideration, on whom the initial burden lies etc. were elaborately discussed in several cases […]

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 […]

Hon’ble Justice Sujata V. Manohar

A photograph of Justice Sujata Vasant Manohar is present in several scenes of Batti Gul Meter Chalu [2018, dir. Shree Narayan Singh]. Justice Manohar was the First Woman Judge of the Bombay High Court. She went on to become the First Woman Chief Justice of Two High Courts, Bombay and Kerala and eventually ended her career as […]

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 […]

The Look Out Circular

A LOC can be issued, when the accused evades arrest or does not appear in Court or is likely to leave the Country. After a year, the Investigating Officer must renew the LOC or issue a fresh one. One of Odisha’s richest businessmen [supposedly] caused a murder in 2016. Mahimananda Mishra had fled to Thailand […]

Condonation of Delay VI: 2088, 1405

‘Beyond which number is it strange if a delay is condoned?’ We have been hunting for the single noble equation. Ponnayal v. Karuppan (Dead), [Civil Appeals No. 9558-9559 of 2018] reflects Appellant’s journey to Supreme Court twice. Appellant, first, appealed against a Judgement of a HC, with a delay of 2088 days. Appellant, then, appealed against […]

Compensatory Jurisprudence of Constitutional Courts VI: S. Nambi Narayanan

The exposé of facts very succinctly put is, on 21.10.1994, Mariam Rasheeda, a Maldivian National, was arrested and sent to judicial custody. During interrogation, she made certain confessions alleging, certain official secrets and documents of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had been leaked out by scientists of ISRO. On 30.11.1994, Appellant-S. Nambi Narayanan was arrested. […]

The Enrica Lexie Incident II

Questions, My Lord Did Massimiliano Latorre [L] and Salvatore Girone [G] ‘deliberately’ fire? Did L and G ‘mistake’ Indian trawler ‘St. Antony’ to be a pirate boat? Should it be considered, ‘St. Antony’, unregistered under The Indian Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, did not raise the Indian Flag? Indian Authorities are permitted to prosecute Foreign Nationals for supposed […]