Category Archives: Current Affairs

Only the Central government can conduct a census under the Census Act enacted in 1948, the Union Home Ministry told the Supreme Court on Monday [Ek Soch Ek Prayas v. Union of India and ors]. The subject of census falls under the Union List as per Entry 69 in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, […]

The Supreme Court recently cautioned against placing undue reliance on dying declarations to convict a person in a criminal case, particularly when there are doubts about the correctness of the dying declaration. [Irfan @ Naka vs. State of Uttar Pradesh] A dying declaration is a statement made by a person explaining the cause and/or circumstances leading to […]

If every speech part of the Constituent Assembly Debates were to be accepted as a binding national commitment, the same would have ramifications for constitutional interpretation, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday while hearing the Article 370 abrogation case [In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution]. A Constitution Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay […]

The Supreme Court recently reduced the punishment awarded to two persons convicted for causing a bus accident that led to 5 deaths and 63 injuries [Jinu Sebastian and Anr. vs State of Kerala] One of the convicts, who was driving the bus, had a deformity on his left wrist. The owner of the bus, the second […]

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a slew of guidelines on the selection, functioning, and pay of “support persons” to assist victims and their families in cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences  Act (OPOCSP Act). [ Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India and ors] The guidelines laid down by a bench […]

The Gujarat High Court on Friday held that a woman can file a complaint alleging cruelty under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after divorce, but only for incidents that took place while the marriage was subsisting [Rameshbhai DanjiBhai Solanki vs State of Gujarat]. Justice Jitendra Doshi held that such cases cannot be […]

The Supreme Court, in a special Saturday sitting, objected to the Gujarat High Court’s handling of a case where a 26-week pregnant rape survivor sought termination of her pregnancy. [XYZ vs the State of Gujarat] A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that a lot of time had been lost with the […]

While the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) aims to overhaul the colonial-era Indian Penal Code (IPC), “sex on false promise of marriage” has been criminalised for the first time. Although the intent seems to be a novel one, it needs more clarity to avoid confusion. Here, we examine the similarities between Section 69 of the BNS, […]

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh recently upheld the conviction and life imprisonment awarded to a man for the rape his one-year-old granddaughter in 2011 [Bodh Raj V/s State of Jammu and Kashmir & Ors]. The case also led Justices Sanjay Dhar and Rajesh Sekhri to express anguish that respect for women is on a steep decline. Nothing […]

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court recently observe that article 14 of the Constitution, which provides for equality before law, applies not only to citizens but also to ‘non-citizens’ in India [Olga Rosnina vs the Foreigners Regional Registration Office]. A division bench of Justices Mahesh Sonak and Bharat Deshpande made the observation while ordering the authorities not […]