Between 2009 and February 2011, at least 14 people were charged with sedition in India London: The typical citizen could be forgiven for fearing that the world’s largest democracy is hurtling towards George Orwell’s 1984 rather than 2013. In late August the government’s department of telecommunications, citing the “communal tensions” around Assam, blocked more than 300 individual web addresses, including the Twitter profile pages of some journalists. It also ordered a limit...

-The Business Standard SC's order on trial coverage is prone to misuse The Supreme Court has ruled that if publishing news concerning a trial creates “a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice or to the fairness of trial”, the court could allow a postponement of its publication through an appropriate order. The order was passed on complaints that had alleged breach of confidentiality during the...

-PTI Pharma firm Biological E Limited (BEL) today launched the country's first indigenous vaccine to tackle Japanese encephalitis (JE), a deadly viral disease. The vaccine, JEEV, is priced at Rs. 985. This is a one-time vaccine to be taken in two doses and will soon be available in the domestic market, Mahima Datla, senior vice-president of the city-based company, said at the launch here. "The vaccine, which will also be exported, has good...

-Live Mint Court says aggrieved party can seek temporary postponement of a matter by moving the appropriate court  Mumbai/New Delhi: The good news for those who deal in news is that the Supreme Court decided against framing guidelines for covering so-called sub judice matters, or those before the courts. The bad news is that by delivering what some analysts are calling an ambiguous judgement, the apex court may have well made it easier...

-The Hindu We live in a legal environment where the rule of sub judice is regarded as an anachronism, emanating from a time when all trials were decided by jurors susceptible to influence by what was published in the press. By and large, the law of sub judice, which regulates the dissemination of matter under the consideration of the court, is a dead letter. In such a context, the Supreme Court’s...