Contemptuous Katju

Armed with 35 years of hindsight, Justice Bhagwati, in 2011, expressed regret for his 1976 Judgment upholding Prevention Detention during the Emergency. Justice Chandrachud did so in 1978 in case his chances of being CJI were blighted. Were these declarations simply a flourish to catch the public eye? Do Judges even concede they are wrong? […]

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Tender Law IV

“Recently in Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. v. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., 2016 (8) SCALE 765 a Two-Judge Bench eloquently exposited… “We may add, the owner or the employer of a project, having authored the tender documents, is the best person to understand and appreciate its requirements and interpret its documents. Constitutional Courts must defer to […]

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Monsters-In-Law III

Appellant-Husband was treated cruelly by Respondent-Wife. There were repeated threats of suicide [Pankaj Mahajan v. Dimple, (2011) 12 SCC 1]; levelling of disgusting accusations of indecent familiarity with a person outside wedlock [Vijaykumar v. Neela, 2003 (6) SCC 334]. Both are acts of cruelty within the meaning of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Respondent-Wife wanted […]

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Monsters-In-Law II

A ‘domestic violence‘ within the meaning of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is ‘gender neutral‘; physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse and economic abuse can all be by women against other women. “Even sexual abuse may, in a given fact circumstance, be by one woman on another.” SC in Hiralal Harsora […]

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A Legally Enforceable Debt II

To commit an offence, within the meaning of Section 138 of The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 there must be a legally enforceable debt or other liability subsisting on the date of drawal of the cheque. This is important to point out for sometimes cheques are post-dated. Notably, in Indus Airways Pvt. Ltd. v. Magnum Aviation […]

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Experts II: Handwriting Experts

“The sole evidence of a handwriting expert is not normally sufficient for recording a definite finding about the writing being of a certain person or not. A Court is competent to compare the disputed writing of a person with others which are admitted or proved to be his writings. It may not be safe for […]

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