The Enrica Lexie Incident I

[This Article was First Published in June, 2016] As per Article 97 of The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“Convention”): “In the event of a collision or any other incident of navigation concerning a ship on the high seas”, only the Flag State of that ship can launch penal proceedings. Is […]

Referred to Larger Bench XIII: Venue v. Seat, Arbitration

Foreign Cases Cited: Naviera Amazonica Peruana S.A., (1988) (1) Lloyd’s Law Reports 116. Hiscox, (1992) 1 AC 562. McDonnell Douglas Corpn., (1993) 2 Lloyd’s Law Rep. 48. C vs. D, (2007) EWCA Civ 1282 (CA). C vs. D, (2008) 1 Lloyd’s Law Rep 239. Braes of Doune Wind Farm (Scotland) Limited, (2008) EWHC 426 (TCC). […]

Moral Turpitude I

Dio non fa mai retromarcia con il suo amore Offences involving ‘moral turpitude’ were in discussion recently in Union Bank of India v. C.G. Ajay Babu, [Civil Appeal No. 8251 of 2018]. You may read Section 4(6)(b) of The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. ‘Moral turpitude’ describes conducts which are: inherently vile, depraved; immodest; shameful and wicked [Pawan Kumar, (1996) 4 SCC 17 and Sushil […]

#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 […]

Pragmatic Realism v. Romantic Idealism v. Recluse Extremism

“Read, Read for now I shall say a lot. The evidence of my battle fought. The only way I shall make you learn, I tried a lot when it was my turn.” Hon’ble CJI Dipak Misra shall retire in less than 30 days. His words on word-craft shall be remembered too as his ‘last words’. […]

The Mayo College, Ajmer

“The Mayo College, Ajmer is an educational institution founded in 1875 by Sir Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, who was also the Viceroy of India from 1868 to 1872. It is one of the oldest educational institutions which was set up as a public boarding school, offering admission to the then elite. This […]

A Mensa Et Thoro

Parliament often begins to legislate with remarkable vigor but about the same time it gives up the attempt to govern. It begins to lay down general rules, entrusting its working to Officials/Secretaries of State/Boards of Commissioners/Law Courts, who are endowed with new statutory powers. Once or twice upon a time, Ecclesiastical Courts could pronounce a divorce, ‘a mensa et […]

The Closet Killer

Additional Commissioner of Police (III) Shri Supratim Sarkar’s efforts, translated in English, is nothing short of brilliant. He can either be e-mailed at addlcp3@kolkatapolice.gov.in or called on 033-22143970. There are several who enquire, why do some prefer watching/reading stories on crime; are they criminals themselves or are they learning how to protect/investigate/solve? I remember the ‘coin […]

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 […]

Section 5(1) + Section 15 of The Hindu Marriage Act

Section 15 of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: “When a marriage has been dissolved by a decree of divorce and either there is no right of appeal against the decree or, if there is such a right of appeal, the time for appealing has expired without an appeal having been presented, or an appeal has […]

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 […]

Conditional Intention of Arbitration

3-Judge Bench [Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra] in Oriental Insurance Company Limited, (2018) 6 SCC 534 opined: “It does not need special emphasis that an Arbitration Clause is required to be strictly construed. Any expression in the Clause must unequivocally express the intent of Arbitration. It can also lay the postulate in which situations the Arbitration Clause […]

Section 34(2)(a) of The Arbitration Act

“In an early Delhi High Court Judgment, Sandeep Kumar v. Dr. Ashok Hans, (2004) 3 Arb LR 306 Learned Single Judge of Delhi High Court specifically held, there is no requirement under the provisions of Section 34 for parties to lead evidence. The record of the Arbitrator was held to be sufficient in order to […]

The Compromise in Illicit Intercourse

It was decided once by Gujarat HC, an unreportable Judgment is not ‘unreportable’ on a website. Nonetheless, there has been no report on Sajid v. State of Uttarakhand, [Criminal Appeal No. 983 of 2018]. Appellant was convicted under Sections 363 and 366, IPC and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for 7 years [CRLA/314/2004, High Court of Uttarakhand […]

Alienation of Affection IV

Siddaling prolonged an ‘illicit relationship’, all while he was freshly married. In an agreement before a Panchayat, Siddaling agreed to change. He never did. A ‘psychological imbalance’ for the wife led her to commit suicide. Siddaling stood convicted under Section 498A and 306 and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for 2 yrs. and 5 yrs. […]

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. […]

The Woman – Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi

I am happy, a book finally celebrates Mrs. Gandhi. ‘Did you know Eve Curie, the scientist Marie Curie’s daughter, was a guest at the wedding? And Harivansh Rai Bachchan, the poet? He and his wife, Teji, sang a duet.’ ‘Six months before Operation Blue Star, as troubles escalate, Mrs. Gandhi decides, on a whim, to […]

Dipak Misra, Chief Justice of India II

2018. A magazine has published a disastrous story on the Chief Justice of India. Lawyers are keen to exercise their freedom of speech, criticizing that CJI. 180K Followers, Former President, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. 275 Followers, Lawyer. 266 Followers, Lawyer. 1.15M Followers, Public Interest Lawyer and Activist. 11.9K Followers. 23.6K Followers, Writer. 3194 Followers, Lawyer. […]

Mr. Robert “Bob” Zeidman

Diyora and Bhanderi Corporation v. Sarine Technologies Ltd. [Civil Appeal Nos. 7304-7305 of 2018] A copyright infringement action over proprietary software under the Respondent’s ‘ADVISOR’ trade mark triggered the dispute. The Respondent wished to direct Mr. Robert “Bob” Zeidman to compare the softwares and to report Court as to whether the source code and object […]

Attributes of Arbitration Agreements

P. Dasaratharama Reddy Complex, (2014) 2 SCC 201 referred to a large number of decisions of the SC in order to distinguish between clauses that were Arbitration Clauses and clauses that either led to Expert Determinations or were otherwise not Arbitration Clauses. For example, Tipper Chand, (1980) 2 SCC 341 was referred to; equally, the Court relied […]

The Last Word

A Diversion for Lawyers and Others