Indira Jaising

Granting relief to Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai, who was stopped from flying to London in January, the Delhi High Court on Thursday quashed the 'look out' circular issued against her.

Scroll.in lists nine, mostly compelling, reasons for why convicted serial murdered Surendra Koli should not be hanged, including a lack of evidence, his apparent psychopathy, iffy confession and oher circumstances. Worth a read, at Scroll.in.

Senior counsel Indira Jaising had obtained a stay on Koli’s execution in the early hours of Monday, 7 September morning, from Supreme Court Justice HL Dattu. The Supreme Court has now stayed his execution until the end of October.

In a pre-dawn order at the residence of future CJI HL Dattu with Justice AR Dave, the Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Surinder Koli, who was convicted of the so-called Nithari serial murders and rapes that took place in Noida from 2005.

Senior counsel Indira Jaising obtained the one-week stay order hours before Koli was due to be hanged, in order to allow a fresh review petition against the sentence to be heard in an open court, reported The Hindu, in line with an earlier constitution bench judgment that it is mandatory to allow oral hearings in death penalty review cases.

Jaising told The Hindu: “We approached Justice Dattu at 1.30 am. There was a sitting of a Bench of Justices Dattu and Dave, which ordered that the execution be stayed for a period of a week until Koli’s fresh review be heard by a Bench comprising three judges of the Supreme Court in an open courtroom, where his counsel will be allowed to submit limited oral arguments on his behalf pleading for reversal of his reversal of death penalty.”

Delhi law min under bar council lens: The Delhi Bar Council decided to meet today to discuss disciplinary action against Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti against whom reports of “tampering with evidence” as an advocate last year, emerged last week. Bharti meanwhile also faces an FIR relating to an alleged assault of a Ugandan women by unnamed persons in a Delhi basti, and the National Human Rights Council has also taken cognisance of the matter [Zee News]

AAP vs Delhi police: Delhi may see the arrest of its chief minister (CM) as newly elected CM Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP party stage protests at the home ministry today to press for the suspension of five policemen who disobeyed Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti’s orders to arrest Ugandan women suspected of drug trafficking. AAP has demanded that the Delhi police be brought under the Delhi government [IBN Live / NDTV’s live blog]

Delayed MP bar council polls: The delayed Madhya Pradesh state bar council elections pushed a contestant – advocate Dwarkadhish Chowdhary – to write to the Bar Council of India (BCI) requesting for a special committee to to take charge of the elections in the state bar “to save and maintain fairness” [Free Press Journal]

Additional judges in Kerala HC: Justices Alexander Thomas, Muhamed Mustaque Ayumantakath, Ala Kunnil Jayasankaran Nambiar and Anil Kalavampara Narendran were appointed additional judges of the Kerala high court on Friday [PTI]

Editors Guild on Swatanter gag: The Editors Guild has taken exception to the Delhi high court’s “gag order” restricting media reporting news of the sexual harassment case against former SC justice Swatanter Kumar, calling it “a mockery of the rule of law” [TOI]

Indira Jaising, by Outlook: Outlook profiles Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising as the staunch supporter of women’s rights who is due to retire in April. “I’d rather be remembered as a woman who raised the issue of integrity in the highest court of the land,” says Jaising

The Women’s Rights Initiative of the Lawyers Collective NGO has filed a petition as amicus curiae (friend of the court), requesting the Supreme Court bring its internal sexual harassment guidelines into compliance with the rules laid down in its own Vishaka judgment, to regulate court internships, invite a notice requesting other victims to come forward confidentially, and more.

Since the allegation early this month that a “recently-retired” Supreme Court judge sexually harassed at least one intern (“SJ”), print, online and TV media news have been reporting the story’s twists and turns avidly.

Jaising slams progress on sexual violence: ASG Indira Jaising, in a personal capacity, writes how women remain as vulnerable under the system as they were before December 2012, despite protests and promises of reform in the Delhi gang rape: “Bias is embedded in the practice and procedure of trials… The patronising attitudes of law enforcement agencies are truly dangerous… The problem is that we have fostered an environment of impunity for the act and that is why we have not succeeded in changing the attitude.”  [Indian Express]

DoT to revise telecoms M&A norms, upping max merged market share to 50%: The Department of Telecommunications is considering allowing a 50 per cent market share to merged telecoms entities, instead of the earlier 35 per cent, as well as permitting retention of two blocks of 3G spectrum in its new M&A guidelines to be discussed on Tuesday [Zee News]

India’s first woman additional solicitor general Indira Jaising wrote to the law minister Ashwini Kumar criticising the government’s decision to drop several “competent” woman lawyers from the panel of advocates for handling government litigation in the Supreme Court.

She also wrote to chief justice of India Altamas Kabir requesting for the provision of crèche facilities in the Supreme Court for the toddlers of practicing women lawyers.

Excerpts from Jaising’s letter to Kumar:

This can only send a very wrong message to the (legal) profession as a whole and to women in particular that there is no place for them in the profession. Even otherwise, the perception among people is that only those with powerful godfathers or godmothers (of which there may be very few) can progress in the profession

Several women I know who have assisted me competently have been dropped from the panels with no notice or appreciable reason

I recognize that 'merit' and 'competence' must be the guiding principles in making appointments and selection, but it is a matter of common knowledge that 'merit' itself is not a neutral word but a social construct, which tends to entrench the privilege of the privileged. [TOI]