Lessons From S. Sushma v. Commissioner of Police: Beyond Judicial Training and Education

Editor’s Note: In this post, Ishika Garg analyses the verdict of the Madras High Court in S. Sushma v. Commissioner of Police. The author argues that Justice Anand Venkatesh’s efforts of sensitisation as well as the progressive character of the judgment, highlight the importance of greater training in the judiciary to decide on cases pertaining [...]

By |2021-09-26T10:25:30+05:30September 26th, 2021|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Revisiting V Surendra Mohan: An Opportunity Seized in Vikash Kumar v. UPSC – Part II

Editor’s Note: The following is Part II of a two-part post on the judiciary and inclusion of differently-abled persons as judges. In Part I, authors Eeshan Sonak and Yash Dodhani criticised the Supreme Court decision in V. Surendra Mohan v. State of Tamil Nadu, which held that a visual impairment or hearing disability above 50% [...]

Revisiting V Surendra Mohan: A Black Spot on the Progressive Growth of Equality for the Differently-Abled – Part I

Editor’s Note: The following is Part I of a two-part post on the judiciary and inclusion of differently-abled persons as judges. In this part, authors Eeshan Sonak and Yash Dodani point out the problems with Supreme Court’s judgment in V. Surendra Mohan v. State of Tamil Nadu, which held that a visual impairment or hearing [...]

Admissibility of Electronic Evidence: A Pandora’s Box

Editor's Note: In this post, the authors analyze the discordant views put forward by the Supreme Court concerning the admissibility of electronic evidence. The authors argue that the position finally adopted is neither tenable nor consistent and there is a need to reconsider the same. The digital revolution and the development in the information technology [...]

How Expert Testimonies Can Help Understand “Battered Women”

Editor's Note: In this post, Moksha Kothari argues for the inclusion of export testimonies in instances of domestic retaliatory violence. It is argued that an expert can help judges better understand the psychological impacts of prolonged domestic violence that often results in retaliatory actions. Introduction When gender was still a binary concept, men and women, [...]

By |2020-09-16T10:01:17+05:30September 16th, 2020|Uncategorized|0 Comments

An Exigency to Revise the Offence of Criminal Contempt

Editor’s Note: In this post, Sahiba Vyas and Varun Litoriya* critically evaluate India’s criminal contempt law against the backdrop of the recent Prashant Bhushan case. They point out that the criminal contempt law is vague, its “scandalising the court” standard needs a relook, and there is danger of criticism of individual judges also being adjudged [...]

Relooking at Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act

Editor’s Note: In this post, Padmini Subhashree* points out several discrepancies in Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act dealing with electronic evidence, and highlights the need to have a re-look at this Section in today’s technology age. The entire system of justice delivery runs point on the presumption of making decisions where the ‘proof’ [...]

An Assessment of Legal Ethics and Morality of Corporate Lawyers vis-à-vis Competitive Benchmarking

Editor’s Note: In the following post, A. Swetha Meenal & Joysheel Shrivastava* explore the ethics and morality of corporate lawyers. They point out that the metric by which success in the corporate world is evaluated itself causes the line between ambition and morality to disappear. While this reduces lawyers to inherently amoral and apathetic professionals, [...]

Ethics in the Profession: The Spine of a Litigator

Editor’s Note: Against the backdrop of the Prashant Bhushan contempt case, Talha Abdul Rahman* asserts that lawyers are ambassadors of rule of law and should courageously point out any wrongdoing or arbitrariness in the conduct of those in authority. A career in litigation is fraught with fresh challenges every day. Lawyers are humiliated by judges [...]

Legally Unanswered: A Few Grey Areas in the Civil Procedure Code

Editor’s Note: In this post, Ananth Kini* writes about two grey areas in the Civil Procedure Code – first, whether an admitted statement can be put forth before a court during final arguments and second, whether averments in the written statement acknowledging a debt have to looked into while determining whether a suit is time-barred. [...]

Defining the Contours of the Right to Legal Counsel in India

Editor’s Note: In this post, Prateek Joinwal* examines the right to legal counsel in India. After drawing parallels with American jurisprudence, he concludes that this right is a “limited right” in India, and proceeds to examine the ramifications of the same.  Introduction In a country like ours, which celebrates H.L. Packer’s ‘due process’ model of [...]

COVID-19 and Indian Courts: The “New Normal” for the Advocates

Editor’s Note: In this post, Roshan Santhalia* writes about the negative and positive implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on advocates in India. The unprecedented pandemic has affected almost everyone across the World. It would be difficult to find a particular set of people or an industry which has not been severely affected by the pandemic. [...]

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on the Structuring of Pleadings – Part II

Editor’s Note: This post (the second part of a two-part series) is a transcript of a webinar conducted by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on the Structuring of Pleadings under the Civil Procedure Code. The webinar is a part of the Nyaya Forum for Courtroom Lawyering’s Webinar Series on Practical Skills [...]

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on the Structuring of Pleadings – Part I

Editor’s Note: This post (the first part of a two-part series) is a transcript of a webinar conducted by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on the Structuring of Pleadings under the Civil Procedure Code. The webinar is a part of the Nyaya Forum for Courtroom Lawyering’s Webinar Series on Practical Skills [...]

The Indian Legal Fraternity is Failing at the Premise of its Own Existence

Editor’s Note: In this blog post, Sanchit Khandelwal highlights the nepotism and favouritism prevalent in appointment procedures of the judiciary, selection of senior counsels, and at the bar. Due to such nepotism and favouritism, young lawyers and subordinate judiciary judges from marginalised communities suffer unduly. This necessitates the need for reform. Introduction Recent findings and [...]

The Supreme Court Registry: A Puppet of the Powerful?

Editor's Note: In this blog post, against the backdrop of limited hearings being taken up by the Supreme Court owing to the pandemic, Abhinand Lagisetti critiques the manner of prioritisation adopted by the Registry of the Supreme Court. The author analyses the present norms being adopted and critiques the Registry's prioritisation of matters that concern [...]

Vacations for the Judiciary : A Necessity or a Luxury?

Editor's Note: In this Article, against the backdrop of recent cancellations of vacations by the judiciary during the Covid-19 crisis, Tanvi Apte highlights the pros and cons of vacations for the judiciary in general, initiating discussions on whether there is a need to modify or do away with the judicial vacation calendar as it stands [...]

Not ‘Distinguished’ enough? The Tale of Article 124(3)(c) of the Constitution

Editor's Note: In this Article, Swapnil Tripathi discusses the appointment of "distinguished jurists" as Judges of the Supreme Court of India under Art 124 of the Constitution. Next month, Professor Andrew Burrows (University of Oxford) shall be sworn in as a Justice/Judge of the United Kingdom Supreme Court. Prof. Burrows is following the footsteps of [...]

The End of Banter

Editor's Note: In this article, Swathi Sukumar analyses how the profession of litigation is likely to undergo massive changes as we move into the world of remote adjudication. In my first month of practice, after a hotly contested matter, I was told that I should be less fidgety, because the court can sense anxiety and [...]

Call me by my name: Lords & Justices

Editor's Note: In this essay, Shreenath A. Khemka* critically assesses the honorary title of ‘Justice’ used as a prefix by judges of various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India. He argues that the usage of the title ‘Justice’ is unsustainable under Article 18 (1) of the Constitution. When it comes to the practice [...]