Today’s Legal Updates

Friday, 22nd June 2022

Legal Awareness :- CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

Part – V THE UNION

CHAPTER- I THE EXECUTIVE (The President and Vice-President)

Article – 69  Oath or affirmation by the Vice-President.

Every Vice President shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe before the President, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation in the following form, that is to say—
“I, A.B., do swear in the name of God that I will bear true faith and solemnly affirm allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.”.

Today’s Legal Updates :-

  1. On Friday the Delhi High Court has held that merely because a sexual abuse of a minor girl results in the birth of a child or accused marrying the victim does not sanctify or mitigate the offence.  (Jagbir v State (NCT of Delhi))
    • the Court held, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children are heinous crimes which need to be effectively addressed. Merely because such sexual abuse results in tying of knot between the victim and the accused in violation of provisions of law or results in birth of a child, it does not mitigate the act of the petitioner (accused) in any manner, since the consent of a minor is immaterial and inconsequential in law.
    • the Court said, Such incidents of luring a minor and entering into physical relationship, accused thereafter claiming consent of the minor, cannot be treated in a routine manner, since rape is not only a crime against the minor victim but is a crime against the entire society which leaves little option for the minor child but to toe the line of the petitioner/accused.
  2. On Friday the Allahabad High Court refused to grant bail to former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mukhtar Ansari in Barabanki ambulance case.  (Mukhtar Ansari v. State of UP)
    • the Court said, The accused-applicant commands un-parallel fear in the minds and hearts of the people that no one dares to challenge him and his men and his politics. If the accused-applicant is enlarged on bail, the apprehension of the prosecution that he would tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses, cannot be ruled out.
    • the bench opined, It is irony and tragedy of the Indian republic and biggest scar on Indian democracy that criminals like the present accused-applicant are the law-makers.
    • submitted the State counsel, To his credit, there are as many as 56 criminal cases, in which 14 are murder cases under Section 302 along with 364-A and 307 IPC etc. Other cases are also for commission of the serious offences by him. He enjoys the image of Robin-hood and because of his terror, witnesses do not date to depose against him, and if someone dares, he would be finished.
    • the Court said rejecting the bail, Considering all these aspects, this Court finds no ground to enlarge the accused-applicant on bail.
  3. On Friday Facebook argued before the Delhi High Court, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) cannot start investigating Facebook while conducting its probe into WhatsApp’s privacy policy. (WhatsApp LLC v. Competition Commission of India)
    • the Senior Counsel argued, The fact that WhatsApp can share items with certain people does not mean they could all be the necessary parties. These policies are not my policies. Whether it breaches the right to privacy is to be seen but merely because they share it with X, Y or Z is not a ground to investigate me.
    • Rohatgi submitted, They are asking me to show my revenue and balance sheet. It is not an accounting issue. If the highest court in the land is seized of the matter, I dare say, it is a matter of judicial discipline that they not act in this manner.
    • Senior Advocate Harish Salve said, “If they allow our privacy policy, we will have it. If they don’t, we won’t,”
  4. On Friday the Kerala High Court has issued a slew of directions to the State authorities to set up a victim protection protocol to ensure that survivors of sexual assault, irrespective of gender, are empowered and supported so that they can work through their trauma and approach law enforcement agencies as comfortably as possible.
    • The judgment rendered by single-judge Justice Devan Ramachandran began with the following quote from the Canadian poet who goes by the nom de plume, Atticus.
    • She was powerful not because she was not scared; but she went on strongly despite the fear.
    • The Court issued a slew of directions to ensure implementation of various mechanisms already established for the benefit of the survivors. The directions include encouraging survivors to access toll free number 112, ensuring 24/7 access to crisis centres and providing legal support.
    • the Court said, Hands down, sexual assault is the most traumatic of criminal victimization. While most crime victims find it difficult to discuss their ordeal, sexual assault victims find it particularly painful – because they are intensely traumatized not only by the humiliation of their physical violation, but also the fear of stigmatization, derision and ridicule from the community and society…. Indubitably, survivors have to be treated sensitively, respectfully and ought to be told that they will be believed. The process of recovery is slow and painful.
  5. On Friday the Supreme Court has directed that personal information of a petitioner and a respondent in a sexual offence case be masked on the internet so that their details are not thrown up by search engines, in a brief but significant order augmenting the right to be forgotten as a facet of the right to privacy.
    • the Court directed, We thus, call upon the Registry of the Supreme Court to examine the issue and to work out how the names of both the petitioner and respondent No.1 along with address details can be masked so that they do not appear visible for any search engine.
  6. On Wednesday the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) held that the penalties imposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy and others for non-disclosure of material information to NDTV shareholders were excessive and not commensurate with the alleged violations. (Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd v. SEBI)
    • the order, Admittedly, the loan agreement is nothing else but an investment which was required to be disclosed under the Code of Conduct. Such non-disclosure, however, in our opinion is neither fraudulent nor found to be an unfair trade practice.
    • We are satisfied that the appellants were required to disclose the loan agreement under the Code of Conduct in terms of Clause 49(I)(D) of the listing agreement especially when PR and RR were the Chairman and Managing Director of NDTV respectively.
    • Such disclosure would enable the shareholders and the public to take a informed decision on the investment or disinvestment in the securities of NDTV.
  7. On Friday two murder convicts who were sentenced to life imprisonment are set to walk free after the Delhi High Court acquitted them and observed that the arrests, on the face of it, were carried out in “serious haste” by the investigating team purportedly on the basis of the statement of the victim’s wife. (Anil Kumar, Ajeet v. State)
  8. On Friday A Mumbai court rejected a plea filed by members of the Congress party seeking blanket anticipatory bail for Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) belonging to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which is currently the opposition in Maharashtra Assembly.
  9. On Friday Two of the accused in the Best Bakery case related to the 2002 Gujarat riots have filed an application before Mumbai Sessions Court seeking transfer of the matter to another court.
  10. On Friday BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has moved the Bombay High Court seeking investigation by SIT or directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register an FIR against former cabinet minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab for alleged illegal conversion of land.
  11. On Friday Adding fuel to the “angry lions” controversy, two Advocates-on-Record have moved Supreme Court against the State Emblem installed atop the Central Vista building, claiming that its design is in violation of the State Emblem of India (Prohibition Against Improper Use) Act of 2005.
    • states the plea, The Motto “Satyameva Jayate written in Devanagari script below the profile of the Lion Capital as envisaged in the Act to be mandatory also seems missing in the newly installed emblem.
  12. On Friday Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in Lok Sabha the issue of corruption in judiciary has to be addressed by the judiciary itself since it is an independent organ under the Indian Constitution.
  13. On Friday the Supreme Court allowed the Central government to continue providing security cover to industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his family members. (Union of India v. Bikash Saha)
  14. On Friday the Supreme Court directed that commission of inquiry report in the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey should be kept in public domain by uploading it to the top court’s website. (Anoop Prakash Awasthi v. State of Uttar Pradesh)
  15. On Thursday the Kerala High Court flagged the lack of proper sex education and easy access to porn as factors contributing to rising teen pregnancies, while allowing a 13-year-old girl to terminate a 30-week-pregnancy.
  16. On Friday the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction and 20 years rigorous imprisonment of five men, who posed as policemen, kidnapped a 21-year-old school teacher and gangraped her.  (Ashwin s/o Ashok Donode & others vs State of Maharashtra)
  17. On Friday the Andhra Pradesh High Court upheld an order of the Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner holding that the loss of a workman’s limb amounted to 100 per cent loss of his earning capacity, despite a medical board assessing his disability at 40 per cent. (The Divisional Manager v Harijana P)
  18. On Friday the Supreme Court issued notice to the Maharashtra government on a plea challenging the government decision mandating all shops and establishments within the State to display their signboards in Marathi (written in Devanagari script).  (Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.)
  19. On Friday the Delhi High Court has issued notice for criminal contempt of court proceedings against a practising advocate Virendra Singh for making scandalous and mala fide allegations against several sitting judges of the High Court in a petition filed on behalf of a rape survivor.  (Ms M Victim v State of NCT of Delhi Through SHO and Ors)
  20. The appeal against the judgment of a Special CBI Court in Lucknow acquitting former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh, BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, and several others in the Babri Masjid demolition case, will be heard by the Allahabad High Court on 1st August 2022. (Haji Mahboob Ahmad v State Of UP)
  21. On Monday the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition seeking to disqualify the legislators, who have been jailed, from voting in the recently concluded presidential polls.  (Satvir Singh v Union of India and Anr)
  22. On Thursday A man accused of raping an allegedly schizophrenic woman was acquitted by the Bombay High Court after the police failed to bring on record medical evidence to prove that the survivor was a schizophrenic.  (Nandlal Zagadu Yadav vs The State of Maharashtra & Anr.)

Legal Prudent Fraternity