Categoies
Supreme Court
Supreme Court issues notice to states to implement the SHW Act
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the central government and all state governments to implement the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act, 2013. This was in response to a PIL filed by an NGO highlighting that several state governments had neither constituted Local Committees in each district, nor had they […]
Supreme Court dismisses plea to make sexual assault gender neutral
The Supreme Court refused to admit a Public Interest Litigation filed by a practicing advocate which sought the declaration of all penetrative and non-penetrative sexual assault provisions in the IPC as gender-neutral – both with respect to the victim and the perpetrator. The challenge was based in the premise that these provisions, under which only […]
Petitions challenging constitutionality of IPC provisions on homosexuality and adultery referred to constitutional bench
A three judge bench of the Supreme Court has referred a fresh petition challenging the constitutionality of Sec. 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises same-sex sexual intercourse, to a five judge constitutional bench. The Court noted that its decision in Suresh Kumar Kaushal v. Naz Foundation, which had effectively recriminalized homosexuality in 2014, […]
Supreme Court upholds validity of Hadiya’s marriage
The Supreme Court, in an interim order, has reinstated the marriage of Hadiya, which had been annulled by the High Court of Kerala amidst controversy over her religious conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage. Given that the marriage was annulled in habeas corpus proceedings filed by her father, the Supreme Court cited that such proceedings […]
Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of adultery law
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the government in a petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 497 of the IPC. The three-judge bench noted that only the man with whom adultery is committed is criminally liable under the provision, which exempts the wife from criminal liability. The bench also noted the discrimination between […]
Parsi woman challenges the absence of a mediation process in Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act
A Parsi woman has moved the Supreme Court questioning the validity of several provisions of Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act. The petitioner had moved a Parsi matrimonial suit early last year seeking dissolution of her 11-year-old marriage. She claims that the procedure under the 1938 personal law was exasperatingly cumbersome, involving a system much like […]
Husband’s consent irrelevant for obtaining abortion, holds Supreme Court
The Supreme Court recently concurred with a decision of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, where the court had upheld a woman’s sole and inalienable right to give birth or terminate pregnancy, regardless of her husband’s consent. This was in response to a petition filed by the man seeking damages from his wife for […]
Supreme Court to revisit verdict that put an end to automatic arrest in dowry cases
A three judge bench of the Supreme Court has agreed to revisit the Court’s division bench decision in the case of Rajesh Sharma v. State of U.P which laid down procedural guidelines to restrict arrests for cases of cruelty against a married woman under Sec. 498A IPC. The directions cautioned against arrests for a period […]
Supreme Court directs appearance of Hadiya in Court to assess consent
As reported in the IIIrd edition of this year’s newsletter, the decision of the Kerala High Court to annul the marriage of two adults on the grounds that the husband, a Muslim, had enticed a 24 year old adult woman, a Hindu, into marriage, had been challenged in a special leave petition before the Supreme […]
SC refers Sabrimala case to constitutional bench
The Supreme Court has referred the case on entry of women aged 10 to 50 years to the Ayyappa temple in Sabrimala, Kerala, to a constitutional bench. The constitutional bench has been referred five questions for determination, including whether the practice of excluding the female gender from entry to the temple amounts to violative of […]