Author: NitiRiti Bureau

Says power can be misused to wipe out states, bring in a presidential form of govt New Delhi, Aug 8. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, lead counsel for those opposing the Union government’s move to dilute Article 370 of the Constitution, on Tuesday warned the Supreme Court against granting sweeping powers to the executive to wipe out states from existence as was done in the case of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. Under the Constitution, he said, a Union Territory could be carved out of a state. But where does it say that a state shall be divided into…

CBI to continue probing sexual violence cases reported from state New Delhi, Aug 7. The Supreme Court on Monday sent an all-women judges’ team to lend a healing touch and restore faith in rule of law in the strife-torn state of Manipur. The team comprises former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justices Shalini Joshi and Asha Menon. Justice Joshi is from the Bombay High court and Menon is from the Delhi High Court. The shocking sexual assault and gang-rape cases, at least 11 of them, recently reported from the state would continue to be probed by the…

CJI tells mosque management: “What’s frivolous for you, is faith for the other side” New Delhi, Aug 4. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld an Allahabad High Court order directing the ASI to carry out a complete scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The survey will not involve excavation and will not be intrusive, the top court said. The ASI will take care to ensure that all this carried out without any damage the existing structures inside the complex, a bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said. The bench also comprised Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj…

Gandhi got a two-year sentence in the case leading to his disqualification from Parliament New Delhi, Aug 4. The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Gujarat High Court order upholding a two-year jail term awarded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case in connection with his controversial remark that all Modis were chors. The conviction had led to his immediate disqualification from Parliament and his eviction from his official accommodation in Lutyens Delhi. Whether his disqualification would be set aside with equal alacrity so that he can attend Parliament for the rest of the session remains to be…

Parliament works within the Constitution, but if allowed to convert itself into a Constituent Assembly, may breach basic structure New Delhi, Aug 3. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who’s leading arguments against diluting the special status accorded to the former state of JK under Article 370, on Thursday warned the Supreme Court against letting Parliament to step in as a Constituent Assembly to change the Constitution as and when it wished. This would set a wrong precedent for the future and would not bode well for the nation as any future Parliament could then convert itself into a Constituent Assembly and…

Legislature cannot be treated as state legislature, constituent assembly to undo representative democracy, says Kapil Sibal, lead counsel for all those opposed to the change New Delhi, Aug 2. The central government could not have abrogated Article 370, stripping JK overnight of its status as a state with a representative democracy, without taking into account the will of the people, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, lead counsel for those arguing against the move in the Supreme Court, said. Parliamentary elections were held in 2019 in the state, Sibal said, but no state elections have been held since. Article 370 was abrogated…

Police not been filing FIRs, only 7 have been arrested so far, court notes New Delhi, August 1. The Supreme Court on Tuesday sharply criticized the situation in Manipur, lambasting the state government for losing control over the state, not filing FIRs or filing them late and not arresting those responsible for rape and murders in the state. The state has been reeling under sectarian strife for months now. Civil society activists have accused the state government, headed by CM Biren Singh, of doing nothing and sitting tight while the minority Kukis are being attacked. “There is no law and…

New Delhi, July 31. The Supreme Court on Monday asked the central government several searching questions on what it had done so far to stem the sectarian violence in Manipur, why there was a delay in filing an FIR regarding a May incident in which two women were gang-raped and paraded naked in public, and held out hope of the court intervention by way of sending a non-partisan team to the state to “restore faith in the Constitution and rule of law”. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud suggested creating a non-partisan group, including civil…

Says no overt or covert terrorist act attributed to them in any evidence New Delhi, July 28. The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to trade union activist Vernon Gonsalves and human rights activist and lawyer Arun Ferreira, who were arrested and charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, in the wake of the Bhima Koregaon violence. The charges against them were serious but there was nothing in the evidence to attribute any overt or covert acts of terrorism to them, a two-judge bench, comprising Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia said. The contents of the letters through which…

gives time to mosque authorities to appeal to HC against district judge’s order New Delhi, July 24. The Supreme Court on Monday asked the ASI to hold off a survey and excavation of the Gyanvapi mosque complex till July 26 to allow the mosque authorities to challenge this in the Allahabad High Court. A district court had ordered a survey and excavation of the mosque complex on July 21. The mosque authorities, through senior advocate Huzeffa Ahmadi, argued that the district judge had passed the order late on July 21, making it difficult for them to move the High Court.…