-The Indian Express Move to criminalise cyber speech will add impunity to power How to police a cyber space that has acquired the instincts of Frankenstein’s monster? In pursuit of answers, an expert committee submitted an interim report to the Union Home Ministry a couple of weeks ago. The recommended Amendments to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are noteworthy for two reasons. One, they bring within the ambit of IPC (through Amendments...
More »SEARCH RESULT
'A rapist is a rapist' even if husband
-PTI The Supreme Court today referred to the European Commission of Human Rights' observation on sexual assault by relatives that "a rapist remains a rapist regardless of his relationship with the victim", while criminalising sexual intercourse with a wife below 18 years. A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta, however, made it clear that it was not dealing with the question of marital rape of women above the age...
More »SC glare on 'political bonds'
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought the response of the Centre and the Election Commission on a joint petition filed by NGOs challenging Amendments to the 2016 and 2017 Finance Acts that allegedly allow unfettered donations by corporate houses in India and foreign entities to parties in the name of "political bonds". According to advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, appearing for the NGOs Association of Democratic Reforms and...
More »In State-Level Changes to Land Laws, a Return to Land Grabbing in Development's Name -Manju Menon, Kanchi Kohli and Debayan Gupta
-TheWire.in The new state laws, which are in line with the BJP’s land ordinance, undo consent procedures and legitimise land acquisition with terms favourable to investors. One of independent India’s landmark legal reforms has failed. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, (LARR) 2013, which replaced the colonial legislation of 1894, was one of the biggest reforms in the arena of land governance. But following...
More »It's lonely on the ground -Christophe Jaffrelot & Basim U Nissa
-The Indian Express RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable In April, the government of India proposed Amendments to the RTI Act, one of the most empowering pieces of legislation inherited from the UPA era. The most controversial amendment pertained to Rule 12. It would allow the withdrawal of an application in case of the applicant’s death, making the job of...
More »