Bar, Bench & Litigation

US-headquartered NGO Humans Rights Watch has published an analysis of Aadhaar's human rights implications.

Human Rights Watch reported:

India: Identification Project Threatens Rights | Human Rights Watch

A villager goes through the process of a fingerprint scanner for the Unique Identification (UID) database system at an enrollment center at Merta district in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan on February 22, 2013.

The government should order an independent investigation of the concerns raised about Aadhaar, and cease targeting journalists and researchers who expose vulnerabilities in security, privacy, and protection of data, the organizations said.

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For what it's worth, Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra told media today that he and other BCI members met with junior judges and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra in a “congenial atmosphere, everything will be sorted out. Bar council's role is very limited, judges have assured it there will be no problem at all”.

SCBA president Vikas Singh on Sunday evening has met and sided with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, chastising the four next-senior-most judges for holding an “ill-planned” press conference that said “nothing substantial”.

The points raised by judges number 2-5 of the apex court on Friday were extremely important and were a threat to democracy, which should not be politicised by either party (which is presumably directed mostly at the non-BJP parties), said Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra.

The four most senior Supreme Court judges were, in an unprecedented move, “left with no other option” but to call a press conference after their private meeting with the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra earlier today apparently failed to yield desired results for them.

Senior advocate Indu Malhotra and Uttrakhand High Court chief justice KM Joseph have been recommended as new judges of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on Monday referred to a larger Bench a writ petition filed by five petitioners to quash Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality.

The Indian Express has reported that a Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) deputy director has filed an FIR against Tribune reporter Rachna Khaira, who had reported on the sale of administrator usernames and passwords to websites having full access to the Aadhaar database for Rs 500 last week.

An advocate Gurmeet Singh has sent a legal notice to instant message application WhatsApp asking it to remove the 'middle finger' emoticon from its list of emoticons in 15 days while WhatsApp has responded that it wouldn't alter its emoticon list, reported Live Law.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal declared to the media that he had been proven right by the CBI court that acquitted all of the accused in the 2G Spectrum case yesterday after six years since the case was filed, reported The Wire.

Former Calcutta high court justice CS Karnan, the first sitting high court judge to be jailed, finished his six month prison sentence today in Kolkata's presidency prison and was released today, reported the Express.

Snigdha Poonam in the The Hindustan Times reported on the ethical and legal dilemmas faced by lawyers defending those laccused of rape in this excellent read, which also includes this interesting passage on corruption in courts:

The Kerala High Court has upheld a Thiruvananthapuram school’s decision to suspend two Class XII students — a boy and a girl — on charges of public display of affection by hugging during a school festival. The bench of Justice Shaji P Chaly quashed the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights’ order asking St Thomas Central School, a CBSE school in the state capital, to take back the two suspended students. The school management, Mar Thoma Church, had moved the court against the child rights panel. [...]

Chief Justice of India (CJI) _Dipak Misra_ on Monday hinted at possibly allowing journalists to publish news straight from courtrooms on Twitter from their mobile phones, live during case proceedings in the Supreme Court.