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National Updates
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 […]
Kerala High Court warns against branding all inter-religious marriages as ‘love jihad,’ sets girl at liberty to join husband
A division bench of the Kerala High Court has warned against the branding of every inter-faith marriage as ‘love jihad.’ In this case the love marriage of a Hindu woman and a Muslim man, which was staunchly opposed by the girl’s parents, resulted in the lower courts handing over the custody of the woman to […]
Delhi High Court issues notice to JNU, UGC in GS CASH case
The Delhi High Court has issued notice to Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University Grants Commission in a petition filed by some teachers of JNU against the disbanding of GS CASH. GS CASH, the University’s Committee for entertaining complaints of sexual harassment, was replaced with an Internal Complaints Committee vide an administrative decision. As students […]
Jharkhand and Bombay High Courts adopt opposing views on second and third trimester abortions
The Jharkhand High Court has held that medical termination of pregnancy after the statutorily stipulated twenty week period is permissible in cases where carrying the pregnancy to term would harm the mental health of the pregnant woman. In doing so, the Court has adopted a wide interpretation of Sec. 5 of the Medical Termination of […]
Vodafone fined for violation of Supreme Court’s Vishakha guidelines
The Bombay High Court has imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 on the company Vodafone for failing to constitute a complaints committee in accordance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the case of Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan in the year 1997. The quantum of the fine is analogous to the amount that the company […]
Punjab and Haryana High Court suspends sentence for rape on the grounds of promiscuity of the victim, grants bail to 3 convicts
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has suspended the sentence of three persons convicted of aggravated rape, gang rape, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation, and obscenity, and has granted them bail, on the grounds that the facts of the case spoke to an alternative story of a casual relationship with friends, which had taken an unfortunate […]
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 […]