Categoies
National Judgments/ Orders
Set up care centre for children who face sexual abuse: SC
A Supreme Court bench has said that the definition of the expression “child in need of care and protection” under Section 2(14) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 is not exhaustive. Although a child victim of sexual abuse under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012is a child in […]
Compassionate appointment cannot be denied on the ground of marriage of the daughter of the deceased
A cooperative bank refused to grant compassionate appointment to a woman on the ground that she was married at the time of her father’s death. This order of the Bank was challenged by the Petitioner as being violative of several fundamental rights, including the right to equality. Holding in favour of the Petitioner, the High […]
Eating food of choice, be it meat, is an aspect of the Right to Food
The Allahabad High Court has held that the right to choice of food falls within the fundamental right to food. This observation was made by the Court while granting relief to the petitioner, whose application for renewal of license for selling goat meat was not reviewed by the municipality. Criticising the lack of response to […]
Allahabad High Court holds Anti-Romeo Squads valid
Two separate public interest litigations sought intervention of the Allahabad High Court in restraining the Anti Romeo Squads of the UP government from ‘moral policing,’ in face of reports and videos showing an over-reach of powers in the way they targeted and humiliated young couples in public places. The first PIL was dismissed on the […]
Supreme Court takes note of Law Commissions recommendations on death penalty, commutes sentence
In a case of double murder of the accused person’s wife and child, the Supreme Court overturned the judgment of acquittal of the High Court. However, given the possibility of human error in investigation and appreciation of evidence, the Court refused to impose the death penalty upon the accused. The Court also noted that the […]
Divorced wife can claim maintenance despite desertion
The Supreme Court, upholding an order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, granted maintenance to a divorced wife who had deserted her husband. Her husband had obtained divorce on the ground of desertion, and opposed her maintenance petition on the strength of an exception under Sec. 125(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code. This subsection states […]
Court refuses permission to abort 27 week old foetus
Developing a confusing jurisprudence on the right of women to terminate a pregnancy after 20 weeks, the Supreme Court refused to allow a woman who had been pregnant for 27 weeks to abort the foetus. The woman had petitioned to the Court seeking exemption from the 20 week rule under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy […]
High Courts directed to Implement the POCSO Act
Noting the non-implementation of Section 32 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), the Supreme Court has directed High Courts of 12 states and two Union territories to take suo motu action and appoint special public prosecutors to deal with cases of child sexual abuse. Section 32 of the POCSO Act requires […]
Punjab and Haryana HC decrees that a husband cannot deny maintenance to wife on the basis that she earns more
In a case where a husband petitioned the High Court to reduce the maintenance he was required to pay his wife by a lower court, the grounds were that the wife was already earning more than him. The High Court however found that the wife was entitled to enjoy the same amenities of life as […]
‘Desertion’ cannot itself be a valid ground of divorce, ‘constructive desertion’ a better indicator, holds Delhi HC
In a case where the legality of a divorce decree was being scrutinized, the judges noted that desertion by itself was not enough reason to grant divorce because many times one spouse is forced to leave by the conduct of the other. The Delhi High Court set aside the decree of a lower court which […]