Making reckless remarks or comments against the judiciary would weaken the institution, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday. During the resumed hearing of a contempt case against advocate Prashant Bhushan and Tehelka , Justice Altamas Kabir, who was on a three-judge Bench, told counsel: “The judiciary has withstood all kinds of pressure and has remained a strong pillar of democracy. No one stands for this institution. If this institution is corroded,...

A report of the National People's Tribunal on the 2008 riots in Kandhamal, Orissa, is out. The report that runs into 197 pages points out that the brutality of the violence falls within the definition of 'torture' under international law, particularly the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.   According to the tribunal, headed by Justice A P Shah, communal forces used religious conversions as an issue for political mobilisation...

The arbitrary deletion of A.K. Ramanujan’s ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation’ from the syllabus of a concurrent course taught by the History Department by the Academic Council of the University of Delhi has understandably sparked off a major debate. The prehistory of this step is to be traced to early 2008 when ABVP activists attacked and vandalised the office of the History Department in the...

The Goa government has moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of Bombay High Court's Goa bench bringing governor's report to the Centre about the political situation in a state under the ambit of Right to Information Act, a decision that created major legal discomfort in the corridors of power. The appeal by Goa government, which has also sought a stay on the November 14 HC verdict, is listed for mentioning...

-EPW   Will the blatant discrimination against Muslims in the administration of justice ever end? The word secular was inserted into the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd amendment in 1976; later on, the Supreme Court, in S R Bommai vs Union of India, held (in 1994) that secularism was an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution. And yet, it has been a long time coming – Indian...