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Today : 28th July 2010
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Court questions Bihar on child trafficking
The Bihar High Court Tuesday issued notice to the Bihar government on the issue of child trafficking, asking it to respond within three weeks and file a status report, an NGO said in a statement issued in New Delhi. The notices were issued after Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an NGO working for child rights at the national level, filed a suit in the court. BBA Chairperson R.S. Chaurasia said: “The judiciary has been taking a proactive role in the fight against child labour and trafficking. We are happy that even in the state of Bihar the judiciary has taken note of the matter and is trying to prevent the same.”
Centre’s reply sought on abolishing poverty line
The Supreme Court Tuesday sought the central government’s response to its suggestion to abolish the above poverty line segment and expand the ambit of the below poverty line category under the public distribution system. A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma asked the union food secretary to file his reply to this and scores of other suggestions, including steps to plug pilferage and rotting of foodgrain. The court said in a situation where people are admittedly starving, the rotting of foodgrain is a crime.
Court decision on disputed Ayodhya land in September
A special bench of the Allahabad High Court Monday concluded the hearing related to ownership of a disputed land in Ayodhya to which Hindus and Muslims have made rival claims for over a century. The decision is likely to be delivered in September. While Hindus claim the land to be the site of the birthplace of their revered deity Lord Ram, Muslims have asserted their right over the same as the site of a 16th century mosque claimed to have been built by the first Mughal emperor Babur in the ancient town of Ayodhya, about 120 km from here. The three-judge special bench comprising Justice S.U. Khan, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, reserved the judgement, indicating that it will announce the verdict in the second week of September.
Court questions government on Dalit Muslims’ plea
The Supreme Court Monday gave six weeks’ time to the central government to file its reply on a suit filed by the Akhil Maharashtra Muslim Khatik Samaj seeking inclusion in the list of other scheduled castes. The petition said that socially Muslim Dalits like khatiks, mehtars, bhangi, lal-begi, halakkhor, mochi, mukri and garudi were similarly placed as their Hindu counterparts therefore they should be included in the category of other scheduled castes. An apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan gave six weeks’ time to the government after Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the court that a petition by similarly placed Dalit Christians was pending before the court.
Trial court told to decide rape case afresh
The Delhi High court Monday set aside a 10-year jail term awarded to a man for allegedly raping a five-year-old girl and directed the trial court to decide the case afresh. The high court slammed the trial court and told it to record the accused’s statement while deciding the matter again. While setting aside the trial court order, Justice Ajit Bharihoke said: “On perusal of the impugned judgment it transpires that the additional sessions judge has approached this case in a careless and casual manner.” The trial court judge has failed to put all “incriminating circumstances” to the accused while seeking his responses on evidence collected against him, the court said.
Regulate visas issued to terminally ill patients: Court
The Delhi High Court Monday directed the central government to regulate the procedure for issuing visas to terminally ill foreign nationals, some of whom are suspected of serving as carriers for drug traffickers. The court issued notices to the union home and external affairs ministries on issuing visas to foreign nationals who are terminally ill and who intend to visit the country for non-medical purpose. A division bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mool Chand Garg said terminally ill visa seekers should carry a doctor’s certificate at the time of applying for travel documents. The bench also asked the ministries to frame guidelines within two weeks for regulating the procedure to be followed while issuing visas to such foreign nationals. “The policy should emphasize on mandatory medical checks of citizens of certain countries involved in excessive drug trafficking to India,” said the bench.
Don’t doubt cops who appear as witnesses, courts told
The Delhi High Court Monday said that courts should not doubt the evidence given by police officers as witnesses in a case. The court’s observation was made while upholding life imprisonment awarded to a man, for killing his wife two years back, on the b asis of statements of police personnel. A division bench of Justice V.K. Jain and Justice B.D. Ahmed said: “The presumption that a person acts honestly and legally applies as much in favour of police officers as of others. It is not proper and permissible to doubt the evidence of police officers.” The court relied upon the evidence of police officers after other witnesses turned hostile and no other witness turned up in the murder case in which the convict stabbed his wife to death. “Judicial approach must not be to distrust and suspect their (policemen’s) evidence on oath without good and sufficient ground thereof,” the court said. The court made the remarks on an appeal filed by Ram Dass challenging his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment in the murder case of his wife.
Show rule that makes women ineligible for army: apex court
The Supreme Court Monday asked the defence ministry to produce the Army Act notification that makes women ineligible for permanent commission in the regular army. When the apex court bench of Justice J.M. Panchal and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra said that Section 12 of the Army Act, 1950 was in breach of Article 14 of the constitution, Additional Solicitor General Parag Tripathi said the provision was protected by Article 33 of the constitution. The court then asked the additional solicitor general to produce notification under Section 12 of the Army Act.
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Yesterday : 27th July 2010
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30 percent of pending cases are government’s: Moily
Government litigation accounts for nearly 30 percent of the cases pending in courts across the country, Union Minister for Law and Justice Veerappa Moily said on Sunday. “More than 30 per cent of the litigation space is covered by government litigations. This space should be reduced and the space should be given to the ‘aam aadmi’ (common man),” Moily told reporters at the end of a review meeting of implementation of 13th Finance Commission recommendations on improving justice delivery and other matters held in Goa. Moily said that all states had been asked to drastically trim down their pendency to not more than three years.
No consensus on creating all-India judicial service: Moily
There is no consensus yet on creating an all-India judicial service, union Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily said Sunday. ‘The attempt is to attract the best talent to the judicial service. But there is no unanimity on the subject yet,’ Moily said. He said that a paper on the issue will be prepared and suggestions will be invited from all sections of society in an effort to build a consensus.
Aberrations in judiciary reflection of society: Moily
The few aberrations in an otherwise highly efficient judiciary are only a reflection of society and these have to be removed, Union Minister of Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily said on Sunday. Speaking at a regional review meeting of the implementation of the 13th finance commission recommendations on improving justice delivery and other matters here, Moily also underlined the importance of retaining the independence of the judiciary. The minister made these observations in the presence of chief justices of five high courts of the western region.
Trial court barred from deciding Kachru case accused’s bail
The Himachal Pradesh High Court Saturday restrained the trial court from passing any order related to bail given to four students of a medical college who ragged their junior Aman Kachru to death last year. The court adjourned the proceedings till Monday after hearing the government and the four accused students on a matter related to cancellation of their bail. Taking suo motu cognizance of media reports regarding the bail granted to the accused by a fast-track court of Dharamsala in Kangra district July 17, Justice D.D. Sud Thursday asked the government and the accused: “Why should the bail granted to the accused not be cancelled?” During the hearing Saturday, counsel for the accused Shravan Dogra argued that the accused got the notice Saturday and the time was too short to file the reply. He sought adjournment in the case.
Supreme Court speaks up for wives, mothers
The personal care and attention rendered by a wife and mother to her family is immeasurable, and to compare it to that of a housekeeper or servant is ‘highly unfair, unjust and inappropriate’, the Supreme Court observed while asking for proper compensation to be given to dependents of women killed in road accidents. In a judgment of far reaching consequences, the Supreme Court has said that it was high time that the Motor Vehicles Act and related laws are amended to give compensation to dependents of women road accident victims. The apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly said in their separate but concurrent judgment that parliament should rethink amending the statutory provisions for providing compensation to a woman victim and a home maker.
