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 […]
Read more "Section 499, Indian Penal Code IV"TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA launched the world’s first hybrid car, ‘Prius’, in Japan in 1997. In India, the car was released in 2009 and until that point of time Toyota had not obtained registration of the mark ‘Prius’ in the Indian jurisdiction. M/S PRIUS AUTO INDUSTRIES LIMITED had got the mark ‘Prius’ registered way back […]
Read more "The Goodwill in Passing Off Actions: The Toyota Prius Story"In July, 2017 a Bench of Three in Nithya Anand, (2017) 8 SCC 454 speaking through Justice A.M. Khanwilkar disapproved of the “first strike” principle developed in Surya Vadanan, (2015) 5 SCC 450. It had been argued, since the mother had not sought custody of the child by approaching any competent Indian Court prior to […]
Read more "The “First Strike” in Child Custody Battles II"Advocate represented its Client before a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and charged a fee of Rs. 10,00,000 [Rupees Ten Lakhs]. Tribunal awarded compensation. Client was compelled to sign a further cheque, in favour of Advocate, towards payment of a certain percentage of decretal amount. That cheque stood dishonoured and Advocate in due time initiated proceedings […]
Read more "A Legally Enforceable Debt III"I had earlier defended Explanation 1 to Section 499 and Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, [Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 184 of 2014], in the wake of strong arguments that, the legal regime of defamation as set out in Sections 499 and 500 is unconstitutional. Legislature in its wisdom has still not thought it appropriate to abolish […]
Read more "Section 499, Indian Penal Code III"Hon’ble Justice R.F. Nariman has now clarified, a Majority in Triple Talaq Judgment (3/5) held, arbitrariness in sense of manifest arbitrariness would apply to negate legislation under Article 14. “In so far as ‘manifest arbitrariness’ is concerned, it is important to advert to Majority Judgment of this Court in Shayara Bano v. Union of India, […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process III"There are always the traditionalists. They imagine Live Tweeters in Court when ADM Jabalpur was on going, and shiver at the thought. Ray CJI would have had none of it. The present Chief Justice seemingly does not subscribe to old world ideas. Juniors who have the time and the resources are travelling to SC every day […]
Read more "The Live Tweets Ailment II"A Senior Advocate proclaimed recently: One wonders if ‘all present in the hall’ were not judicially urged to ‘stand up to show respect to the National Anthem’ whether there would be objections against playing of the Anthem itself. (Turns out: Yes!) This is specially important because very few have availed the opportunity to protest the […]
Read more "In Re: Ramachandra Guha on National Anthem in Cinema Halls"Jactitation of marriage means persistent boasting of a marriage, falsely alleged to have taken place. The suit prays for a decree of perpetual silence on the subject. This is the only case in which a matrimonial suit can, as of right, be proceeded without prima facie proof of a marriage de facto. For the object […]
Read more "Jactitation of Marriage"In George Leslie v. State of Kerala, AIR 1970 Ker 21 the term ‘Kuttikanam’ was explained. It was held, ‘Kuttikanam’ is neither a fee nor a tax. A tax or fee is levied in the exercise of sovereign power. ‘Kuttikanam’ means Government’s share of the value of the reserved trees. It was further held by Mathew […]
Read more "Kuttikanam / Seigniorage"Late Nineties, Vijay Palande had adopted an interesting identity – that of a waiter at the iconic Copper Chimney restaurant in Juhu. The job was ideal as it gave him the opportunity to keep a close watch on prospective victims while serving them their favourite dish. On one such occasion, he met a young engineer […]
Read more "India’s New Serial Killers II: Vijay Palande"One of the most controversial and interesting questions in contemporary Arbitration Law is ‘incorporation by reference’. It is a common practice in some industries, particularly shipping and construction, for the contractual relationship between the parties to be composed of several documents. It sometimes happens, a dispute arises with reference to one of these documents, while […]
Read more "Section 7(5) of The Arbitration Act I"Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra of Allahabad High Court commenting on (Retd.) Justice Shyam Lal, in Nupur Talwar v. State of U.P., [Criminal Appeal No. 293 of 2014]: “Learned Trial Judge has prejudged things in his own fashion, drawn conclusions by embarking on erroneous analogy conjecturing to the brim on apparent facts telling a different story […]
Read more "The Finesse of a Trial Judge"“In State of A.P. v. McDowell & Co., (1996) 3 SCC 790 a 3 Judge Bench of this Court held that an enactment could be struck down, if it is being challenged as violative of Article 14, only if it is found that it is violative of the equality clause, equal protection clause or violative […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process II"Recently in M/s. Meters and Instruments Private Ltd. v. Kanchan Mehta, [Criminal Appeal No. 1731 of 2017] Goel and Lalit JJ observed: “There appears to be need to consider categories of cases which can be partly or entirely concluded ‘online’ without physical presence of the parties by simplifying procedures where seriously disputed questions are not required […]
Read more "Video Conferencing in Matrimonial (Cheque) Disputes II (I)"There was a Full Court Reference at Supreme Court on 7th August, 2012 in memory of Late Shri Prabha Shankar Mishra, Senior Advocate. It was briefly mentioned, P.S. Mishra was appointed as a Judge of Patna High Court in 1982; was transferred to Madras High Court in 1990; was thereafter appointed as Chief Justice of […]
Read more "The Story of Justice Prabha Shankar Mishra"My Lord, Is the statutory period of six months prescribed under Section 13B(2) of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 mandatory or directory and if directory can same be dispensed with, exercising power under Article 142? Before 2 Judges in Manish Goel, (2010) 4 SCC 393 the question was not raised: “The statutory period of six […]
Read more "Section 13B of The Hindu Marriage Act III"An Arbitrator’s appointment was argued to be bad for the reason of Item 1 of the Seventh Schedule read with Section 12(5) of The Arbitration Act that ensures if the Arbitrator is an employee, consultant, advisor or has ‘any other’ past or present business relationship with a party to the Arbitration he becomes ‘ineligible’ to […]
Read more "Section 12(5) of The Arbitration Act 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 […]
Read more "The Doctrine of Arbitrariness / Substantive Due Process I"ADM Jabalpur must be confined to the dustbin of history. Hon’ble Justices Aftab Alam and A.K. Ganguly in Rajnath Chauhan, (2010) 14 SCC 209 were clear on that conclusion. Two months after the pronouncement of Judgment, Times of India carried the following headline: ADM Jabalpur is a flop movie, only remembered fondly for the stellar […]
Read more "The Discomfort of ADM Jabalpur I"
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