The Death Penalty: In Defence of the Abolitionists

"As if one crime of such nature, done by a single man, acting individually, can be expiated by a similar crime done by all men, acting collectively."

-       Lewis Lawes,

(Warden of Sing Sing prison in New York in the 1920s and 30s)

Introduction

Do away with the Death Penalty?

On the dais of the District Court at Ratnagiri, one will find the statue of Late Shri Mancharje Pestanji Khareghat, who served in that Court as District Judge from 1895 to 1900 and again from 1904 to 1910. During his time the death sentence could only be awarded by a judge of the High Court. When Shri Khareghat was offered an elevation to the High Court, he declined on the ground that he could not, and would never be, a party to the death sentence. It is for this reason that the Ld. District Court Judge is still well known among Judges and senior members of the Bar.

Value of FSI and TDR not to be included in Land Value u/s 50C of IT Act

Generally, the provisions of Indian tax laws provide that transfers of immovable property must be at a fair valuation. However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘ITAT’), Mumbai Bench, has ruled, in Income-tax Officer v. Shri Prem Rattan Gupta, that the value of TDR and FSI cannot be the subject mattter of section 50C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The Judiciary is Independent, But Are We?

(Also read one of our previous article on 'Homosexuality In Legality' written by Shashank Sahay )

The newspapers and social networking sites are overflowing with criticism of the Supreme Court's decision Suresh Kumar Koushal & Anr. v. NAZ Foundation & Ors., which has upheld the constitutional validity of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and upheld the illegality of homosexual intercourse.

I am reminded an incident which took place in my first year of law school. I was attending a guest lecture on 'Constitutional Jurisprudence' by the then sitting  Hon'ble Supreme Court Judge, Justice Markandey Katju. During the Q&A session, one of my professors asked the Hon'ble Judge why the judiciary was not doing anything substantial to tackle the problem of the corrupt politicians and MPs. Justice Katju shot him down immediately (not literally), "It is you who vote for these people, it is you who put them in power, and then you come crying to the courts!", Justice Katju shouted.

Section 50C of ITA not applicable to transfer of Immovable Property held through Co.

In Irfan Abdul Kader Fazlani vs. ACIT (ITAT Mumbai) (Entire order available here) the assessee was the shareholder of a company called Kamala Mansion Pvt. Ltd (KMPL). KMPL owned flats in a building known as Om Vikas Apartments, located at Walkeshwar Road, Mumbai- 400 026. The assessee sold the shares for a sum of approximately  Rupees Thirty Seven Lakhs and Fifty One Thousand Only and capital gains were offered on that basis. The AO & CIT(A) held that by the sale of shares in the company, the assessee had in actual fact transferred the immovable property belonging to him, and it was merely an indirect way of transferring the flats, for lesser consideration

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013

A Social worker on her way to fulfill her duty, following the path of humanity, saving an infant from getting married at her early age was Bhavridevi- the same woman who was brutally raped and harassed just because of the nature of her work. Popularly known as Vishaka Vs State of Rajasthan[1] is considered as the basic structure of this Act. 1997 saw Vishaka, 1999 witnessed Apparel Export Vs A.K Chopra[2] where harassment was distinguished from an attempt to sexual harassment.

Costs / Compensation in Contempt Proceedings

Pakistan SC dismissed the contempt
charges against Imran Khan,
who criticized the role of the judiciary and
the election commission terming it shameful

Under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 contempt has been classified into (1) civil contempt and (2) criminal contempt. Civil contempt includes “wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court”, whereas criminal contempt covers cases in which a persons does anything which scandalises, lowers the authority of or interferes with the functioning of the Court. (Image taken from here.)

When we hear the word ‘civil’ we think of ‘remedy’, ‘compensation’ or ‘damages’. Interestingly the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 does not provide for any of these. 

SC: Execution of Will excluding certain Legal Heirs does not render it Invalid

 (Also read on Validity of Unregistered Wills and How to make a WIll.)

The Hon’ble Supreme Court, (Division Bench of Mr. Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr. Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya) in the case of Mahesh Kumar (D) By Lrs. vs Vinod Kumar & Ors  (read entire judgement here.) has held that that active participation of the propounder / beneficiary in the execution of the Will or exclusion of the natural heirs cannot lead to an inference that the Will was not genuine. 

The Hon’ble Supreme Court set aside a judgement of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which disbelieved the validity of a will executed by one Shri Harishankar to the exclusion of two of his sons.

The D.B. observed that: 

Impact of Natco v Bayer: A Giant Step Towards Reasonably Priced Healthcare

(Also read the article 'Game Changer In The Generic Industry' by Jasmine  Kaur)

Introduction

In March 2012, the Indian Controller of Patents granted India’s first compulsory license under Section 84 of the Patents Act, 1970 to M/s Natco Pharma Ltd[1]. The order was in relation to Bayer Corporation’s patented anti cancer drug Sorafenib tosylate [2], marketed as Nexavar, which was made for the treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma-RCC (kidney cancer) and also for the treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma-HCC (liver cancer)[3].

Compulsory licensing is 

The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012: A Landmark in Indian Copyright Legislation

"It is a step in the right direction in protecting the interest of the lyricists, who create wonderful songs,"[1]                                   

Introduction

Prior to 2012, the Copyright Act, 1957 has been amended five times. Of these, the amendment of 1994 is perhaps the most significant because it partially dealt with issues relating to digitisation of copyrighted works.

The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 (‘the Amendment Act’) is popularly concerned a boon, due to progressive amendments such as ‘right to royalty’ and exceptions for persons with disabilities, which received large media coverage. However, there are also a few

Surrogacy in India - Get a Womb!

Introduction

In ancient times surrogacy cases were rarely spoken about and were never documented. Traces and hints of surrogacy can be found in Mahabharata[1], in relation to the birth of Balaram, the brother of Krishna[2]. The earliest clear record of surrogacy can be found in the bible in which the story of Abraham and Sarah[3] mentions that Sarah had experienced infertility, and asked her handmaiden, Hagar, to carry a child for her and Abraham[4]. Since biblical times, there have probably been many such surrogate pregnancies. But it is not until the late 1970s that anything is recorded again[5]. In 1976, lawyer Noel Keane brokered the first legal agreement between a set of intended parents and a traditional surrogate mother[6]. The surrogate mother did not receive compensation for this. Commercial surrogacy was first recorded in 1980 when Elizabeth Kane received compensation for surrogacy.[7]

The Basics of Surrogacy

Surrogacy is the practice whereby