social justice

The Social Justice bench of the Supreme Court has agreed to examine the existing administrative and judicial guidelines relating to dowry cases, allegedly biased against females, reported The Indian Express.

A petition by NGO ‘Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar’ (SAFMA), through advocate Jyotika Kalra, has alleged that the high courts have diluted the anti dowry harassment law by changing the conditions of mandatory FIR and arrest provisions in the law and compelling women to settle such cases.

SAFMA submitted a draft guideline related to FIR, arrest and grant of bail in cases lodged under Section 498-A to the bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Uday U Lalit for review. The court issued notice to the government and sought its reply in the matter.

Focusing on the unequal bargaining capacity of women in India who fear societal pressure and depend on others for financial stability, the draft regulations vouch for not forcing the woman to compromise and helping her to form a uniformed decision. It has also sought police be made to give written reasons for not arresting accused in such cases.

In a significant order, the social justice bench of the Supreme Court Justice Madan Lokur and Justice UU Lalit on Monday, 28 September, dismissed an application filed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) / Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) seeking a ‘modification / clarification’ of the apex court’s previous judgements of 2000 and 2005, thereby denying right to land of a few thousand adult sons of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) affected farmers.

The social justice bench of the Supreme Court comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Uday Umesh Lalit heard six cases on Friday, September 11, and made significant interventions in at least two.

Despite suffering from adjournments and not having been able to close a single case since starting nearly a year ago, as reported last week by SCOI Reports, on Friday (September 4) the social justice bench continued its work with justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit hearing six cases in 40 minutes after 2 pm.

The Supreme Court’s social justice bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit heard seven cases between 2 and 4.15 p.m on Friday, August 28 but has failed to dispose of a single petition since it was set up in 2014.

The recently constituted social justice bench of the Supreme Court, to be presided over by Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit, will sit today at 2pm for the first time.

Today will kick off what is intended as a weekly session, reported India TV News According to a statement from the Supreme Court:

In Supreme Court several cases relating to the domain of ‘social justice’ are pending for several years. Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India is of the view that these cases shall be given a specialized approach for their early disposal so that the masses will realize the fruits of the rights provided to them by the constitutional text.