Legal News for Judiciary and Legal Exams (22-28 December 2019)

  • Telangana HC orders second autopsy of 4 accused killed in encounter
    • High Court directed re-post-mortem of the bodies of the four accused in the gangrape and murder of a woman veterinarian.
    • The four accused were killed in an encounter on December 6 in Telangana.
  • Pakistan court sentences Muslim professor to death for ‘blasphemy’
    • Junaid Hafeez was a visiting lecturer in a university in Multan city of Punjab province.
    • He was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for a blasphemous Facebook post.

  • Delhi HC asks RIL, British Gas to disclose assets on Centre plea
    • The High Court has asked Reliance Industries (RIL) and British Gas (BG) to disclose their assets on the central government’s plea for directions to both companies not to dispose of their assets.
    • The government has sought to restrain the two companies from disposing of their assets as they have allegedly failed to pay $3,856,734,582 as per an arbitral award in favour of the centre in relation to the Panna-Mukta and Tapti (PMT) production-sharing contracts.
    • Justice J.R. Midha has directed the two companies to file an affidavit of their assets in accordance with the new format of form 16A under the Civil Procedure Code that the high court has drafted in a recent judgement.
  • NCLAT gives nod to demerger of Reliance Jio; dismisses objections by I-T on ‘avoidance and evasion’
    • The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has dismissed objections on avoidance and evasion of taxes raised by the Income Tax (I-T) department against a scheme of the demerger of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
    • The Mukesh Ambani-led company had sought to hive off its tower and fibre assets into two different companies, namely, Jio Digital Fibre Private and Reliance Jio Infratel Private.
  • Calcutta HC: Remove anti-CAA, anti-NRC ads
    • The High Court, in an interim order, directed the West Bengal government to remove anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and anti-National Register of Citizens (NRC) advertisements from public platforms.
  • Saudi court sentences five to death in Khashoggi murder
    • A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five men to death and three to prison terms over the killing of Khashoggi.
    • Those given death penalty had ‘direct’ involvement in killing.
    • Three others get 24 years in jail for cover up.
    • Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi dissident journalist who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
  • Mistry reinstatement: RoC seeks modification in NCLAT judgment
    • The Registrar of Companies (RoC) moved a plea that the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) delete from its judgment the part which casts aspersions “made regarding any hurried help” to Tata Sons.
    • The NCLAT had on December 18 restored Cyrus Pallonji Mistry as the executive chairman of Tata Sons and director in the Tata Group for the rest of his tenure.
  • Cabinet clears NPR update, Census; no need for biometrics
    • The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Modi approved over Rs 3,941.35 crore for updating the National Population Register (NPR) across the country, barring Assam.
    • Rs 8,754.23 crore were approved for conducting the Census of India, 2021.
  • Chief of Defence Staff gets Cabinet nod, to head DMA
    • The Union Cabinet approved the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
    • It will function as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister and also as the Permanent Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC).
    • The Post of CDS will be above the three Service Chiefs.
  • CBI books ex-Maruti MD for cheating bank of Rs 110 crore
    • Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Udyog Limited and Carnation Auto India, was booked by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)for allegedly cheating the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 110 crore.
    • Director of CBI: Rishi Kumar Shukla
    • MD & CEO of PNB: S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao
  • PIL filed in SC to implement CAA “aggressively”
    • Writ petition filed in the Supreme Court by Mumbai-based woman, Puneet Kaur Dhanda.
    • It asked the court to direct the Election Commission to take “strict action” against poitical parties which were “spreading false rumours and violence in the country”.
  • Citing insufficient evidence, SC acquits woman in case of newborn girl’s death
    • A woman, serving life term for allegedly strangulating her newborn baby girl, was acquitted by the Supreme Court (SC) as the evidence on record was not sufficient to establish her guilt.
    • The apex court also noted that her “family was not orthodox” and “not averse to having a female child”.
    • The SC order came on the mother’s appeal against the Delhi HC’s March 2010 verdict, which convicted her and sentenced her to life imprisonment.
  • CBI takes over probe, YEIDA ex-CEO booked
    • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe into the Rs 126 crore Yamuna Expressway Land scam case.
    • It has booked former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial development Authority (YEIDA), PC Gupta, and 20 others in connection.
    • According to the CBI FIR, the accused purchased 57 acres of land around expressway in 2012-13 and sold it to YEIDA at double the price.
  • Puducherry CM writes to Kovind, seeks Bedi’s recall
    • Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayansamy has written to President Ram Nath Kovind, demanding that Lieutenant Governor (LG) Kiran Bedi, be recalled.
    • Besides accusing Bedi of interference and running a parallel government, Narayansamy has cited her presence at a function in a Karnataka school where students were made to re-enact the demolition of Babri Masjid.
  • Egypt: Publisher gets 5 years in jail over Israeli novel
    • Khaled Lotfi was sentenced to five years in prison for distributing an Arabic version of a controversial Israeli novel.
    • The novel entitled The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel, by Israeli writer Uri Bar-Joseph, portrays Ashraf Marwan, the son-in-law of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, as a spy for the Jewish state (Israel).
  • One acquitted in Jaipur blasts case arrested again in another case
    • The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has re-arrested five persons in the 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts case – including Shahbaz Hussain, who was acquitted last week in connection with all other cases linked to the blasts.
    • The latest arrests are linked to the recovery of a live bomb, which was defused in the same area that day.
  • NIA court remands Akhil Gogoi in 14-day judicial custody
    • The special court turned down the NIA’s plea to extend his custody by 10 days.
    • Gogoi was arrested by the agency under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act when protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were rocking Assam.
    • The Gogoi-led Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) has been one of the organisations instrumental in organising the protests against CAA in Assam.
    • Gogoi has been accused in working in close coordination with the Maoists.
  • Calcutta HC issues interim stay on deportation of Rohingya couple
    • The Calcutta High Court ordered an interim stay on the deportation of a Rohingya couple to Myanmar.
    • It also said that in order to “uphold the spirit of humanity”, the state government should provide basic amenities to the couple to help them live with dignity.
    • Abdur Sukur and his wife Anowara Begam are lodged in Dum Dum jail for the last two years. They had entered India in 2017.
  • Pak govt files review petition in Army Chief extension case
    • The Pakistan government has filed review petition against the Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision about legislation on the extension of service of Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
    • The Supreme Court had cut down the 3-year extension to 6 months.