Retired judge slams Centre, moves SC for Justice KM Joseph's elevation

A retired district Judge from Solapur, Maharashtra, G D Inamdar has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph's immediate elevation to the apex court.

The PIL filed by the retired district judge has also sought a direction to the Centre to issue warrants of appointment for Justice Joseph with consequential seniority.

He approached the Supreme Court seeking urgent action on the quashing of the "illegal and unconstitutional" move of the Central government by segregating Justice Joseph's name whose name for elevation had been recommended by the apex court collegium.

"The petitioner is aggrieved by the shocking manner in which the Central Government has unilaterally and capriciously segregated and rejected the name of Hon'ble Justice K M Joseph - recommended by the Collegium for appointment as a Judge of this Hon'ble Court, while at the same time accepting the recommendation for elevation of Ms Indu Malhotra, Senior Advocate, as a Judge of this Hon'ble Court," the petition said.

Elevation to the SC on impression rather than performance: J Chelameswar

Stressing on the need to bring more transparency in the appointment process of Supreme Court judges, Justice J Chelameswar on Monday said the elevation of the High Court judge to the apex court is done on their impression rather than on their performance.

Speaking during a panel discussion titled 'The Indian Higher Judiciary: Issues and Prospects', the apex court judge said the one responsible for the selection process must put "assessment on record", which would "eliminate most of the problems".

"An assessment of the performance of a high court judge, I am talking about elevation to the Supreme Court, is hardly done. Generally, the assessment goes by impression," Justice Chelameswar said.

During the discussion, Justice Chelameswar, while speaking on reforms required in the apex court, said if it happens then as the sanctioned strength of the top court is 31 judges, each state will stake its claim for a seat.

SC/ST Act dilution: Over a decade, crime rate against Dalits rose by 746%

Over the decade to 2016, the rate of crime against dalits rose more than eight times (746%); there were 2.4 crimes per 100,000 dalits in 2006, rising to 20.3 in 2016, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of 2016 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the latest available.

The rate of crime against adivasis or scheduled tribes grew by over 12 times (1,160%)–from 0.5 in 2006 to 6.3 in 2016.

However, cases pending police investigation for both marginalised groups has risen by 99% and 55% respectively, while the pendency in courts has risen by 50% and 28%, respectively. The conviction rates for crime against SCs and STs have fallen by 2 percentage points and 7 percentage points, respectively, to 26% and 21%, from 2006 to 2016.

On March 20, 2018, the Supreme Court expressing concern over the misuse of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, ruled there shall be no immediate arrest of a citizen or public servant without prior permissions for crimes registered under the Act. It also introduced the provision of anticipatory bail if the complaint was found to be malafide.

SC seeks AG view on video recording of proceedings on key matters

The Supreme Court today sought the opinion of the attorney general on the issue of video recording or live streaming of judicial proceedings of cases, like that of Aadhaar, which have constitutional and national importance.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said it will first hear the top law officer and the bar before passing any order on the issue which has been raised by senior advocate Indira Jaising and advocate Mathews J Nedumpara in their respective pleas.

Jaising said that the matter was of extreme importance and should be referred to the Constitution bench to ensure that the proceedings in matters of national importance can be video-graphed.

She contended that matters being heard by the Constitutional bench of the apex court are those which the whole country should be able to watch.

Pakistan police arrests suspect in student's slaying over blasphemy rumors

Pakistani police say they have arrested a key suspect sought for inciting the lynching of a university student who was falsely accused of blasphemy in the country's northwest.

District police chief Saeed Khan said today that the man, identified as Arif Khan, had been in hiding since April 2016, after a mob killed 23-year-old Mohammad Mashal Khan at his university campus in the town of Mardan over unfounded rumors that he shared blasphemous content on social media.

The arrest came after an appellate court suspended three-year prison terms handed down last month to 25 suspects over the student's slaying.

In February, an anti-terrorism court sentenced one man to death and five others to life imprisonment. Those sentences are still unchanged.
Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death in Pakistan..

Brexit will work not just for citizens but for animals too: Britain

Brexit must work for animals too, Britain's Environment Secretary Michael Gove said today, promising that welfare standards would improve after leaving the European Union.

"We are a nation of animal lovers so we will make Brexit work not just for citizens but for the animals we love and cherish too," said Gove, a leading pro-Brexit campaigner for the 2016 EU referendum.

Gove was presenting a draft law that would enshrine the concept of animal sentience into British law and introduce new jail sentences for animal abusers.

"Britain outside the European Union can have higher standards on the environment and indeed on animal welfare," he said.

The move follows a social media storm after MPs last month during a heated Brexit debate voted against transposing an EU protocol recognising animals as sentient beings into British law.

Commentators took that to mean MPs had voted to say animals did not have feelings.

"As we leave the EU we will deliver a green Brexit, not only maintaining but enhancing animal welfare standards," Gove said.
READ MORE

Law, not faith, runs country: Oppn on Mohan Bhagwat's 'Ram Mandir' remarks

The opposition parties criticised Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat statement over his remarks on Ram Temple, saying that the chief is not above the Supreme Court and that the country is run by the Constitution and not faith.

"Mr Bhagwat is not above the Supreme Court and the country is run by the constitution and not by faith," Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik told ANI.

Criticising the RSS chief and BJP Malik said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is losing his grip in the country, while the BJP is losing the faith of the public.

"BJP Is losing public faith and that is why the Ram Mandir issue has been raised by BJP and Sangh parivar," he added.

He further stated that the matter is before the Supreme Court and the verdict of the highest court should be binding on everybody.

Echoing the same thoughts, Congress leader Virendra Kumar Madan said that the web of lies created by the BJP and RSS has been broken.

"The people of Uttar Pradesh and the whole nation have understood their false promises. Both RSS and BJP think that their land is slipping from their hands and hence are giving such controversial statements," he added.
READ MORE

Govt may soon be able to seize assets of economic offenders who flee India

The law ministry has given its concurrence to a draft bill that will give powers to the government to confiscate property of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India, albeit with a new provision, official sources said.

It wants a "Saving Clause" to be incorporated in the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2017 before it is introduced in the Lok Sabha in the ensuing winter session of Parliament, they said.

A saving clause provides for certain exception(s) in a statute. It enables the repealed law to be in force with respect to some existing rights.

The proposed law will be applicable in cases where the value of offences is over Rs 100 crore.

The bill flows from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's 2017 -18 Budget speech promising legislative changes or even a new law to confiscate the assets of such fugitives. It seeks to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by fleeing the country.

The bill proposes to allow the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the premier technical snoop wing under the finance ministry, to file an application for the declaration of fugitive economic offender for confiscation of their assets.

READ MORE

Centre bars JNU, Delhi University, IIT-D from receiving foreign funds

Prominent academic institutions like JNU, Delhi University, IIT Delhi, ICAR besides Supreme Court Bar Association are among several hundred organisations barred by the Centre from receiving foreign funds.

The registration of these institutions under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) has been cancelled by the Union Home Ministry as these have failed to file their annual returns for five consecutive years.

No organisation is allowed to receive funds from abroad unless it is registered under the FCRA. It is mandatory under the law for such organisations to submit income and expenditure statement to the government annually else their registration is cancelled.

Among the institutions whose FCRA licence have been cancelled include Jawaharlal Nehru University, University Of Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi, Panjab University, Indian Council Of Agricultural Research, Gargi College, Delhi and Lady Irwin College, Delhi, according to the documents accessed by PTI.
READ MORE

Thai man handed 20 years over 'anti-monarchy' podcasts

A Thai man was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday for uploading audio clips that insulted royal family members, his lawyer said, the latest harsh verdict under a defamation law that shields the monarchy from scrutiny.

Tara, whose last name was withheld to protect his relatives, was convicted on six counts of lese majeste, according to his lawyer Yaowalak Anuphan and iLaw, a group that tracks royal defamation cases.

He was detained in January 2015 for posting audio clips produced by 'DJ Banpodj', an underground podcast host known for fiery criticism of the powerful monarchy.

Later that year police claimed to arrest the DJ and nearly a dozen others allegedly linked to the 'Banpodj Network'.

"Tara would take the links and upload the clips to his own website," said Yingcheep Atchanont from iLaw, adding that most of the content concerned the late king and queen.

A Bangkok military court official confirmed the sentencing.
READ MORE

Russia signs deal to use Syria air base for 49 years

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a protocol to an agreement with Syria to deploy a Russian Air Force group at a Syrian military base.

The protocol was signed into law on Wednesday and ratifies the agreement signed by Russia and Syria which allows the Russian air group to use Syria's Hmeymim air base free of charge for 49 years with possible extension for another 25-year period, Xinhua news agency reported.

The document was posted on the Russian government's legal information portal.

The protocol to the 2015 Russian-Syrian agreement "aimed at establishing the international legal framework governing the conditions for the location of the Russian air force group" was signed in Damascus on January 18, 2017.

Prior to being signed into law by Putin, the protocol was ratified by both chambers of the Russian Parliament.

The Russian air group was deployed at Hmeymim from the end of September 2015 to help Syria fight the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
READ MORE

Trump Jr, former campaign manager to testify before Russia probe panel

President Donald Trump's eldest son and a former campaign manager will testify before Congress next week as part of US investigations into the Trump team's alleged contacts with Russia, a Senate panel has announced.

Donald Trump Jr and Paul Manafort are scheduled to testify in an open hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at 10 am (local time).

Both men attended a controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer last year in which they were expecting to receive dirt from Moscow on Donald Trump's 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton.

Adding to the political drama in Washington next week, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, albeit in a closed- door session, CNN reported, citing Kushner's lawyer.

Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, also attended the June 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Trump Jr sent shockwaves through Washington when he confirmed the meeting by releasing a series of emails in which the now-president's son was told the campaign could get "very high level and sensitive information" that was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr Trump."
READ MORE

Corporate manslaughter: Could it bring justice for London fire victims?

The disaster at Grenfell Tower has been described by David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, as a case of “corporate manslaughter”. According to English law, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures, resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care.
Amid calls for arrests, it’s time to consider whether the failings that led to the Grenfell disaster could possibly justify the use of the label “corporate manslaughter” – and what this would mean for victims who seek justice.

Prosecutions for this offence are of a corporate body (defined broadly enough to include public authorities) and not individuals – so we probably won’t see any pictures of executives being led away in handcuffs. That said, directors, board members and others may still be liable to prosecution under health and safety law or general criminal law. The offence also covers contractors and sub-contractors, so long as they owe a duty of care to the victims.

A duty of care is an obligation, whereby an organisation must take reasonable steps to protect a person’s safety. Legally, it is broadly understood as avoiding negligence by not placing people in danger. These duties also exist in relation to workplaces and equipment, as well as to products or services supplied to customers. This suggests that when an entity exercises control over people and spaces it has a responsibility to protect them.

The corporate manslaughter offence uses the same definitions of duty of care as the common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter. This means that the threshold for the offence is high – the way that activities were managed or organised must have fallen seriously far below reasonable standards.
READ MORE

China censors entertainment news outlets, cites 'socialist values'

Major social media platform operators including Weibo, WeChat, Youku, Baidu and Netease shut down a large number of social media entertainment news outlets after a June 7 meeting with Beijing's Office of Cyberspace Affairs.

The crackdown has been justified under China's newly implemented Cybersecurity Law, which emphasises ideological control as a core component of maintaining state security.

More than 60 outlets have been shuttered in less than a week, some of which are commercial news outlets funded by private capital investments, while others are entertainment sections of newspapers such as “Entertainment weekly of Southern Metropolis”. Other examples include “Care about gossip association”, which has a market value of up to RMB 100 million (approximately US $15 million) and “Movie Lambaste” with a market value of up to RMB 300 millions (approximately US $40 million dollars).

According to a report from state-run Xinhua news, Beijing's Office of Cyberspace Affairs cited China's Cybersecurity Law, enacted on June 1 2017, as impetus for the crackdown. They implored content platform operators to enforce the law:

Individuals and organisations cannot infringe on other people’s reputation, privacy, intellectual properties and other rights using the Internet. Operators should reinforce the management of their users and the distribution of user content. Once [the operators] find that information has violated related laws and administrative rules, they have to stop transmitting the information, eliminate the sources and prevent the information from spreading. The record should be preserved and reported back to the authorities.

China’s Cybersecurity Law went into effect despite deep concerns about the powers that it gives to law enforcement to obtain sensitive information, including encryption keys, from network operators. The law has also triggered major concerns among foreign companies, over its requirement that local data be stored within China.
READ MORE

From bridesmaid to bride for Prince William's sister-in-law Pippa

After turning heads at her sister Kate's wedding to Prince William, Pippa Middleton graduated from bridesmaid to bride on Saturday at a star-studded wedding in an English country church.

The 33-year-old married financier James Matthews, 41, at a ceremony attended by the royal couple and tennis star Roger Federer, as she wore a couture dress by British designer Giles Deacon.

Middleton made headlines around the world in a figure- hugging bridesmaid's dress at William and Kate's wedding in 2011.

William, the second in line to the throne, arrived with his brother Prince Harry at St Mark's Church in Englefield, a quiet rural village west of London near the Middleton family home.

William's wife, now Duchess of Cambridge, took charge of their two children, three-year-old Prince George and two- year-old Princess Charlotte, who were among eight young page boys and bridesmaids.

William's cousin Princess Beatrice also attended, as did 18-time Grand Slam winner Federer and his wife Mirka, reflecting Middleton's keen interest in tennis.

The bride arrived with her father Michael in a Jaguar Mark V open-top car, wearing a high-necked, capped-sleeved dress with a corseted bodice and sweeping skirt, worn with a veil by milliner Stephen Jones.

She received a cheer from around 100 local residents and well-wishers from the village who were invited to watch the event from the green in front of the church.

The presence of so many senior royals means security around the village was tight, and no-fly zones banning aircraft including drones were imposed around the area.

READ MORE

Budget 2017: Centre may scrap Rs 4,500-cr PDS sugar subsidy

Latest News - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley might not offer Rs 18.50 per kg subsidy for purchase of sugar to states for selling at a subsidised rate via ration shops in his February 1 Budget and save about Rs 4,500 crore.

The Centre's contention is that there is no demarcation for BPL families in the new Food Law and there are apprehensions that state governments may divert subsidised sugar, which explains the current line of thinking, sources said.

At present, the scheme has a target of 40 crore beneficiaries of BPL (below poverty line) families. About 2.7 million tonnes of sugar per annum are required for PDS sale.

According to the existing scheme, states purchase sugar to be supplied through the public distribution system (PDS), popularly known as ration shops, from the open market at wholesale rates and sell at a subsidised rate of (Read More)