Bombay High Court directs Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale to clear maintenance arrears due to wife

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While granting time to Nagrale to respond to the application, the Bench ordered,

“It is expected of the Respondent- husband to clear the arrears of maintenance by the next date.”

The Nagrale couple had dissolved their marriage in 2011 through an order of the Family Court and directed Nagrale to pay ₹20,000 each month as maintenance.

Appeal was filed against the same before Bombay High Court which had stayed the order dissolving the marriage but refused to grant a stay on the maintenance payable to the wife.

Cannot charge citizens for questioning authority of police in plain clothes: Kerala High Court

If a police officer on duty is not wearing his/ her uniform, individuals who question the said officer's authority cannot be booked for obstruction, the Kerala High Court recently ruled (Avinash v State of Kerala).

"The uniform of a police man is his direct identification. A policeman in uniform is visible and a citizen immediately knows that he is a police man which will inform that the said individual is in charge of his protection and prevention of offences. It carries an undeniable symbolic value besides representing the State authority. The police uniform also symbolises pride, respect and authority over the citizens," the order stated.

District Magistrate of a district can revoke arms license issued by District Magistrate of another district: Gauhati High Court

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District Magistrate as the ‘licensing authority’ under Section 17 of Arms Act has the power to cancel arms licenses in any district, Justice Robin Phukan said.

"There is nothing in the provisions of the Arms Act and the Arms Rules, which may restrict the power of revocation or suspension in the same authority who has granted the arm license. Being the ‘licensing authority’, under Section 17 of the Arms Act District Magistrate of one district can cancel/suspend a license issued by District Magistrate of another district," the Court held.

Section 125 CrPC- Defaulter cannot be given composite civil imprisonment for more than 1 month: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday held that a magistrate court in exercise of its powers under Section 125(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) cannot impose composite civil imprisonment for default on the 

The Court was of the view that a magistrate court can impose a maximum sentence of one month only unless the payment of the arrears is made sooner. Reliance was placed on the decision of the Supreme Court in Shahada Khatoon and others v. Amjad Ali and Others, wherein it was held,

"...no sentence exceeding the maximum i.e. one month, can be imposed for default, and if at all the default persists even after the expiry of one month the only remedy available to the aggrieved party would be to approach the Magistrate concerned again after the expiry of one month for enforcing her claim of maintenance for sending the delinquent husband to civil imprisonment." payment of maintenance arrears for more than a month at a time (Bal Raj v. Priya and Others).

Bar Council of India suspends 28 advocates alleged to have filed fake compensation claim cases - Read press release

Twenty-eight advocates whose names are listed in FIRs or chargesheets for allegedly filing fake claims before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal and under the Workmen Compensation Act, have been suspended by the Bar Council of India (BCI)

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Consideration the romantic relationship between a minor victim and a man accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) while granting the latter bail in a sexual assault case lodged-The Meghalaya High Court

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"On perusal of the records, particularly the statement of the victim and the accused, prima facie it is apparent that there is a romantic relationship between the two and that the sexual act involved between them was one of consensual, notwithstanding the fact that in the case of an alleged victim being a minor, consent has no legal validity, however, this aspect of the matter cannot be lost sight of while a plea for grant of bail is being considered by the court."

The Court passed the order in a bail plea filed on behalf of the accused in relation to a case registered against him under Sections 5 and 6 (penetrative and aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of POCSO Act. The accused and the victim were stated to be in a romantic relationship with each other.

Relay up on and cited the Madras High Court decision in Vijayalakshmi and Anr. v. State represented by the Inspector of Police and Another, in which it was held that the POSCO Act did not intend to penalise teenagers in a relationship who consented to sexual acts between them.

SMS Intimation To Candidate's Mobile Number Sufficient Communication For Selection Process : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has rejected the argument of a candidate that the intimation given through SMS about physical fitness tests and document verification is not sufficient. The Court noted that the SMS intimation was given in the mobile number furnished by the candidate. "When a requirement is stated is stated in the application to provide the mobile number, it is with a purpose to communicate and in the instant case, the appellants have sent the SMS to the very number which had been furnished by the appellant", the Court said.

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Ramnagesh Akubathini granted bail who tweeted rape threats to Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma's daughter

Ramnagesh Akubathini, the 23-year-old software engineer, booked for allegedly posting rape threats on Twitter against the infant child of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma has been granted bail by a Mumbai court on 20/11/2021.

The accused Ramnagesh Akubathini, a State topper and a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad had allegedly posted objectionable tweets against the 10-month-old daughter of Kohli and Sharma after the Indian cricket team lost the T20 world cup match on October 24 against Pakistan.

Mumbai Police had intercepted Akubathini in Hyderabad and arrested him after the cyber wing of Mumbai Police had registered a case based on a complaint by Kohli's manager on November 8, 2021.
Akubathini was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Bandra on November 11, 2021 when the public prosecutor informed the Court that Akubathini had constantly altered his profile on social media to troll the cricketer before he could be tracked down.

On 20/11/2021, the Magistrate at Bandra granted bail to Akubathini on a bail bond of ₹50,000 with one or two sureties, out of which one has to be a local surety.

Motor Accident Cases-Future rise in income applicable even if deceased wasn't earning at time of death: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday held that future rise in income should be considered while determining future income for calculating compensation in motor accident claims, even with respect to a deceased who was not earning, working or self-employed at the time of death (Smt. Meena Pawaia vs. Ashraf Ali). (Read Judgment)

"We are of the opinion that even in case of a deceased who was not serving at the time of death and had no income at the time of death, their legal heirs shall also be entitled to future prospects by adding future rise in income as held by this court in the case of Pranay Sethi i.e. addition of 40% of the income determined on guesswork considering the educational qualification, family background etc., where the deceased was below the age of 40 years," the Court held.

The Court placed reliance on several Supreme Court decisions, income for future economic loss is to be done through guesswork while considering circumstances such as educational qualification, family background etc.
Further, it was not expected that the income of a deceased who was not serving would remain stagnant.
".. to have the perception that he is likely to remain static and his income to remain stagnant is contrary to the fundamental concept of human attitude which always intends to live with dynamism and move and change with the time.”
Therefore, the Bench stated, “We are of the opinion that the income of the deceased at least ought to have been considered at least ₹10,000­ per month, more particularly considering the fact that the labourers/skilled labourers were getting ₹5,000­ per month even under the Minimum Wages Act in the year 2012.”

In this regard, the Court adverted to a Constitution Bench decision in the case of National Insurance Company Limited vs. Pranay Sethi in which it was held that in case the deceased was self­-employed or on a fixed salary, an addition of 40% of the established income should be the warrant where the deceased was below the age of 40 years.

The same principle should apply even to a deceased who was not serving and/or was not having any income at the time of the accident, the Court held.

Supreme Court comes to the aid of Dalit student who cracked IIT JEE but missed out on seat due to non-payment of fees

The Supreme Court on 18/11/2021 came to the rescue of a 17-year-old boy from a Dalit community who had qualified for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay but missed out on a seat because of failure to remit seat acceptance fees on time due to technical glitches.

"Can't we do something? We can show him the door on five different points of law. But this is a humanitarian thing. Sometimes we must rise above the law," 

"This is a dalit boy who has cracked IIT Bombay. For all we know he could be a leader of the nation 10 years down the line," Justice Chandrachud remarked.

"We will say, we are using our special powers under Article 142 for this particular case," 

No new colleges to be set up using temple funds, existing ones must have course on Hinduism: Madras High Court

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Four colleges set up from these funds, for which admissions are completed, will have to start courses on the Hindu religion within a month.

The Madras High Court recently barred the setting up of colleges out of surplus funds from temples in terms of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, without the leave of the Court (TR Ramesh v. State Of Tamil Nadu And Ors).

The order passed by now-transferred Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu further directed that four colleges set up from these funds, for which admissions are completed, will have to start courses on the Hindu religion within a month.

"It will be a condition precedent to the four colleges opening that a stream of religious instructions in Hindu religion be introduced. If such a course is not introduced within a month of the college starting, the further functioning of the college cannot continue. It must be appreciated that however pious the intention may be to use perceived surplus funds for the purpose of education, these funds are out of offerings for a particular cause and, ordinarily, the cause must not be forgotten and the same must be espoused with a part of the funds, even though the larger sphere of education may also be addressed," the order stated.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by the president of the ‘Temple Worshippers Society’ challenging a government order dated October 6, 2021 that paved the way for setting up of colleges using funds from temples.

Supreme Court stays reinstatement of college lecturer accused of raping student

The accused who was already married with children, had entered into a second marriage with the rape victim.

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The Supreme Court has stayed a Kerala High Court order which had upheld the reinstatement to service of a rape accused college lecturer who had married the victim [The Manager, Ansar Arabic College v. P Shamsudheen].

The lecturer who was already married with children was accused of raping a student. Subsequently, he had contracted a second marriage with that student.

In a separate proceeding, the rape case against him was quashed by the Kerala High Court on the ground that he had married the victim.

Meanwhile, the management of the college initiated action against him on charges including the rape allegations, tarnishing the image of the college and entering into second marriage without permission from the government.

Abusive content on social media lowering majesty of the court: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court observed on Friday while directing YouTube to block a channel named Punch Prabhakar run by a man based in the US (The High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amravati v State of Andhra Pradesh and ors).

The Court also asked its Registrar General to forward all URLs/IDs of other derogatory content to the intermediaries which have to remove the same within 36 hours.

The directions came from the bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Lalitha Kanneganti while hearing a suo motu contempt petition initiated last year to deal with the wild, defamatory, baseless and untenable statements being made against the judges.

“The CBI is considered to be a premier investigating agency of the country. The Courts in India hold CBI as an organization in high esteem. It is important that it should never give the impression that its working is lopsided. In spite of orders passed by this Court on a number of occasions, neither there is development in the investigation nor efforts are made to remove the abusive content. We feel attention from the top level is warranted. Hence, an affidavit shall be filed by the Director, CBI as to what has transpired from December 2020, what are the efforts made by CBI and the future course of action.” 

“Judge bashing and using derogatory and contemptuous language against Judges has become a favourite pastime of some people. These statements tend to scandalize and lower the authority of the Courts and cannot be permitted because, for the function of democracy, an independent judiciary to dispense justice without fear and favour is paramount… Judiciary should not be reduced to the position of flies in the hands of wanton boys. Judge bashing is not and cannot be a substitute for constructive criticism."