Legal Circles 24-12-2023

OLD IS NOT ALWAYS GOLD; ATLEAST OUR LEGAL STRUCTURE!

With the passing of three criminal laws namely Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, the way for the rejuvenation of criminal law regime has been cleared. The passing of these bills have been welcomed not only by a overwhelming majority of parliamentarians but it has received the loud applause from legal fraternity and teaching community also.

After these bills receive the assent of the President of India, the criminal law in the country would stand amended from the date to be notified. Indeed, it was a herculean task of the Law Ministry and the Home Ministry to revamp the most contentious criminal legal frame work. According to the Home Minister, all the stake holders were consulted and their suggestions have been considered pragmatically. The colonial law which aimed at preserving the authority of British rule, now has been replaced with the focus shifting on the protection and welfare of the people. It is a step towards right direction which will make justice available to the common man within a time bound frame.

No doubt, there will be some teething trouble in the initial stages of the enforcement of new criminal laws. All the old cases will continue to be governed by the repealed laws such as IPC, Cr.P.C and IEA because the new laws will be applicable with prospective effect. This situation will certainly cause some inconvenience both to the advocates as well as judges. Further, in order to ensure the time bound disposal of cases, an arrangement of additional forensic staff, police men and magistrates will have to be made. But this is certainly not a big issue because with the firm determination of the government of the day, it is possible to create the mechanism for the effective and timely enforcement of the newly passed laws.

Any legal frame work to be effective has to keep pace with the changing times. A law which is non-elastic and rigid like a wood loses its importance and effectiveness. Therefore, the new laws have also incorporated the newly emerged situations like mob lynching, cyber crimes and terrorism. In order to deal with heinous crime like Jehadism , extremism, terrorism etc; diligent provisions like life imprisonment and penalty of death have also been incorporated in new laws. A welcome innovation of awarding the punishment of community service for petty offences will certainly reduce the pressure on already overcrowded prisons in the country.

However, the laws have failed to decriminalise the cheque bouncing cases which have more the nuisance value than punishing the ‘criminal’.

Most of the cheques bounce cases pertain to business community and putting it on par with the criminals seem to be illogical. The new criminal legal dispensation also lacks in the sting by not restoring the age-old proven method of flogging of criminals in public. Similarly, for the hardened criminals and self proclaimed anti nationals, the new law should have adopted a ‘shortcut’ method of trial to ensure the fear of law amongst such incorrigible elements.

Last but not the least, the lone wolf cry by the AIMIM President that the amended laws will deprive the freedom of the citizens, is totally misplaced because the people who refused to give preference to the law of the land over their misconceived religious dogmas and those who refuse to be faithful to this great land called ‘Bharat’, have no right what so ever to demand the protection of laws. Hence, even now it is not too late to incorporate by way of an amendment the provision for stripping off the citizens’ rights from the people who are habitually disloyal to the country.

WIFE’S WIDOW BEHAVIOUR, A CRUELTY: DELHI HC

A division bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Meena Bansal Krishna by its judgment dt. December 18, while rejecting an appeal filed by the wife against the family court’s judgment of granting divorce on the ground of cruelty hailed that the factors such as leaving the matrimonial home by the wife barely within about one year, filing complaints against husband and his parents, acting like a widow during the life time of husband and that too when he was seriously injured and non-confirming with the prevalent rituals of Hindu culture like observing Karvachauth etc, were considered in totality to amount to cruelty by the wife.

FORMER BOMBAY HC CJ BECOMES VICTIM OF CYBER FRUAD

In a rare incident, the former Bombay High Court Chief Justice R.D.Dhanuka became the victim of a cyber fraud wherein he lost about Rs. 50,000/-.

According to the FIR registered with the Cyber cell of the Mumbai police under Sections 419, 420 of the IPC and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, the retired Chief Justice had responded to a mobile call from an unknown number on November 27. The caller had sent a link wherein he was required to enter his PAN Card details. To his surprise, the former CJ immediately got a call from his bank inquiring whether he had made a transaction of Rs.49,998/-. Subsequently, he filed a complaint with the police who registered an FIR.

HP-HC ON THE SENTENCE FOR SERIOUS OFFENCES

Justice Rakesh Kainthal of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, in a case titled State of Himachal Pradesh v/s Shaul Borov, observed that when an accused is convicted of the lesser offences even when the serious offences are charged against him, then it is clear that such an accused is not found to be guilty of the serious offences and the appellant court cannot reverse the sentence and convict the accused for the serious offences in an appeal for enhancement of imprisonment.

FAMILY COURT CANNOT ORDER EXPARTY MAINTENANCE: ALLAHABAD-HC

Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Misra of the Allahabad High Court while dismissing the Review Petition filed by one Lalit Singh has held that u/s 125 of Cr.P.C, the Family Court cannot pass the ex-party order of Maintenance. The court after making this observation cancelled the warrant of recovery of arrears of maintenance.

OU LAW COLLEGES ADMISSIONS STAYED

Justice S. Nanda of the Telangana High Court stayed the LLM admission process for several courses at Osmania University’s University College of Law and PG College of Law pending disposal of a writ petition. The judge was dealing with a writ plea filed by Y. Soma Srinath Reddy challenging the action of the Lawcet convener, who had failed to allot a seat to the petitioner in accordance with the web options selected during the counseling stage. Earlier, the court had directed the authorities to reserve a seat at the PG College in Basheerbagh. But, in the second phase of counselling, the convener allotted all the seats in the PG College for the constitutional law course without regard to the interim directions given by the court. Counsel for the petitioner E. Venkata Siddhartha referring to the counter affidavit filed by the University pointed out that the statement "there is no seat available in the constitutional law under general category for unreserved quota. Therefore, it is not possible to keep one seat vacant" was in clear violation of court orders. The judge after perusing the records faulted the respondent authorities and accordingly stayed the admission process for the courses of constitutional law, criminology, and criminal justice system in the University College of Law and constitutional law and crime and torts in the PG College of Law, pending the disposal of the writ petition.