OpIndia @OpIndia_com has published an article written by its Chief Editor Nupur Sharma @UnSubtleDesi targeting LiveLaw @LiveLawIndia. The article is malicious, factually wrong & a blatant misrepresentation of the court proceedings, which can amount to contempt of court. Thread The summary of the mischievous article is that LiveLaw, in its ‘X’ handle, posted misinformation about a petition filed by Sharjeel Imam.

The thread below will explain how the OpIndia article is terribly wrong.

#Thread on the South African Constitutional Court judgment allowing a Tamil Hindu girl to wear nose-stud in school as a cultural practice, which was cited by Sr Adv Kamat in #HijabBan case. Remarkable the manner in which SA court upheld minority rights & cultural diversity. An interesting aspect from the South African judgment was that it did not go into whether wearing of the nose-stud was an essential or mandatory practice. What matters is if it is a "sincere belief".

Some highlights from #HijabBan case hearing.

Petitioner : Kannada word used in GO means "public order". Same word used for "public order" in Kannada translation of Constitution.

Bench : GO can't be interpreted like statute or Constitution. Petitioner cites a South African ruling which allowed a Hindu girl to wear nose ring in school as cultural practice.

Bench : How is this relevant to present issue? We follow our own Constitution.

#HijabBan #KarnatakaHC

A good judgement to read on #MayDay is the 2020 SC judgment which quashed the Gujarat Govt order exempting Factories from paying overtime wages to workers. The Court emphatically said that " a workers’ right to life cannot be contingent on the mercy of employer
or the State" Notably, the judgment acknowledged that labour rights are "hard won" rights which cannot be diluted citing the excuse of pandemic.

State cannot permit exploitation of workers making their "hard won" rights illusory, SC said.
#MayDay2021

Scenes from a court after fundamental rights have been linked to fundamental duties.

Lawyer : My client has been jailed for writing against the government.

Judge : Why would anyone write against the govt? Is it something expected of a good citizen? Lawyer : No my lord. But it may be seen that my client is a dutiful citizen. He has donated to the PMCARES . Has installed all apps of govt. He signs national anthem before movies. Regularly watches republic day parades and the channels of the Republic.

So on this #ConstitutionDay what do we see :
1. Nearly 10 lakh people in JK denied rights to access 4G internet despite SC pronouncements on proportionality principle.
2. Discussions about bringing State monitoring over citizens' decisions to choose life partner and religion. 3. A Supreme Court which is getting increasingly wary of holding the executive to account to the constitution.
4. Increased state intolerance towards citizen movements and protests. Use of sedition, NSA, UAPA to crack down dissent.
#ConstitutionDay

It makes me proud to note that many important High Court judgments are brought to the public domain FIRST by LiveLaw @LiveLawIndia. The latest one is the recent Allahabad HC order on inter faith marriages. This important order, which had been lying obscure, was traced out by @ISparshUpadhyay. Another recent example is the CIC's damning order in the Aarogya Seri RTI issue, which was discovered by Akshita @_Akshita_Saxena.

Studying some provisions of Indian Evidence Act in the light of #BabriVerdict

"A is tried for a riot and is proved to have marched at the head of a mob. The cries of the mob are relevant as explanatory to the nature of the transaction" - illustration (f) of Section 9. For example, if Advani & Co were heading the mob at Babri site, the cries of mob calling for demolition ("mandir waheen banaeenge" etc) are relevant facts to prove incitement.
#BabriDemolitionCase
#BabriMasjidDemolition

From #BabriVerdict :
Court says :
1. No evidence that accused incited the mob on the day of demolition.
2. As to speeches, slogans etc., made earlier by accused, court refused to accept press reports, video tapes, photos as authentic. Newspaper reports hearsay evidence.

https://twitter.com/manuvichar/status/1311338934010552321

3. Court adopts a conspiracy theory in the form of an unverified intelligence report that anti social/anti-national elements could have assembled in the area under the garb of kar sewaks and surmises that they might have created trouble. (Quite astonishing!)
#BabriMasjid

For legal recognition of same-sex marriages, better hope lies in the petition filed in Kerala HC than in the PIL before Delhi HC. The petitioners in the Kerala HC petition filed through @ManuSrinath are a gay couple, who seek registration under Special Marriage Act. They are personally aggrieved & raise a constitutional challenge to provisions of the SMA. On the other hand, the Delhi HC plea is a PIL, with no personally aggrieved petitioners, who seek a declaration under Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) without raising any constitutional challenge.

An impressively analytical order, which is quite rare in a UAPA case.

Books, Slogans, Diary Entries Etc, Not Evidence For UAPA Charges Without Overt Acts Of Violence Or Instigation :NIA Court

livelaw.in/news-updates/b… A notable point in the order is that it gave effect to the phrase "further the activities" in Section 38/39 UAPA.
So a mere ideological leaning is not sufficient but there should be at least prima facie evidence to show some overt acts or instigation of violence.

In a case related to pollution control, SC ordered removal of 48000 slum dwellings around rail tracks. This was after court noted Railway's failure in solid waste management. While ordering removal of solid garbage, court also ordered slum removal.

livelaw.in/top-stories/sc… @anujbhuwania in his book "Courting the People" shows how Courts' concerns with urban cleanliness ends up affecting the basic rights of people in the lower strata, without necessarily following due process. This case is another example.

Many people, who were disgusted at the @BloomsburyIndia move to publish the Delhi Riots book, are also equally disappointed at the publisher's withdrawal from publication. While I understand the free speech concerns, I feel it comes out of a superficial understanding of ... free speech & also a failure to see the power dynamics in the issue. Before elaborating on that, sharing a principle I firmly believe.

'Freedom doesn't mean freedom to monger hate based on distorted facts & one-sided narrative to push the oppressed to further margins'

The reasoning of the SC in holding that Bihar had jurisdiction to register FIR in #SushantSingRajputDeathCase is disappointing. Firstly, the Court ought not to have gone into that issue after holding that Rhea's petition under Sec 406 CrPC to transfer FIR was not maintainable.

https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1296042672843419648

2. The Court says police can and should register FIR on receiving information about cognizable offence, regardless of territorial jurisdiction. True. But the power to investigate is with the police officer having jurisdiction. So such FIR registered without jurisdiction to be...

Summarising some areas of concerns on #EIADraft2020.
1. Post facto Enviromental Clearance - This allows regularisation of projects started without prior EC on payment of fine.
The SC has repeatedly said that post facto EC is impermissible.

livelaw.in/environment/ex… 2. Relaxation for mining projects : In 2012, the SC held in 'Deepak Kumar' case that mining projects of even less than 5 hectares require prior EC. Attempts to dilute this subsequently were stopped by NGT. As per #EIADraft2020, mining projects less than 5Ha are in B2 category.

Though Anand Patwardhan's @anandverite "Ram Ke Nam" points to a depressing reality, there are some scenes which reassure one's faith in human goodness. Many ordinary villagers & devotees were opposed to mosque demolition and understood the communal agenda.Sharing some of them. A villager near Ayodhya says Hindu-Muslims have been praying together and it should be continued.

The issue of Delhi police citing "Hindu resentment" in its direction to be careful with arrests in riots cases deserved a serious consideration. The HC, unfortunately, closed the matter without deeper examination. The HC's reasoning that police order did not cause prejudice...

https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1292111099223871489

...as it was issued after filing charge sheets in many cases is shallow IMHO.The very fact that such an order was issued means there could be cases where further arrests would be required. Also, filing of charge sheet is not the end of the matter.There could be further ...

In the wake of impending #AyodhyaBhoomipoojan, I happened to come across some comments that the Supreme Court has accepted the claim that the Babri Masjid was built after demolishing an existing temple.

Replugging a piece to clear the air on that.

livelaw.in/columns/ayodhy… 1. SC did not hold that the Babri mosque was built over a temple.
2. The verdict was not based on ASI reports.
3. It referred to the ASI report which suggested the existence of a structure of 12th century of Hindu origin under the mosque.
#AyodhyaRamMandir

"To leash legitimate protests the state often formulates a vague and inchoate conspiracy charge incapable of precise definition"

"The charge of conspiracy is a convenient tool to target political movements. The British used it effectively during the freedom struggle". Quotes from K G Kannabiran's "Wages of Immunity".

Seeing the same trick being employed in Delhi riots cases, where several leaders of anti-CAA movements are trapped with wide speculative conspiracy charges.

I could read this wonderful book 'Jasmine Days' only recently, though I was planning to do it for long. But reading it now was quite apposite, as the book seemed more relatable. The protests against CAA-NRC, Shaheen Bagh, the state crackdown etc gave a new context to the novel. The novel - inspired from the Arab Spring Revolution of 2010 - takes place in an unnamed Arab nation, where a minority, officially treated as second class citizens, revolt against an oppressive regime( There is a protest venue "Square of Pearls", which seemed very relatable to...

Twitter India @TwitterIndia take note of this absolutely vile, hate-spewing thread of @vishnuguptuvach against inter-religious couples intending to get married under secular law. The handle has unauthorizedly taken the private details of the couples and have published them. This is totally sickening, revealing an incurable bigoted mindset. I don't want to amplify that by RT. @TheKeralaPolice also take note of this thread. It is to prevent such misuse that Kerala govt decided to stop practise of uploading notice in website.
livelaw.in/news-updates/n…