Law quotes

Happy Law Day - 2014

Happy Law Day - 2014

SC: NO AGE BAR TO PRACTISE LAW

SC: NO AGE BAR TO PRACTISE LAW

The Supreme Court on 11.11.2014 said an emphatic no to any rule that sets an upper age limit for law graduates to enroll as lawyers and thereby puts brakes on career prospects for those who want to take up legal profession after retirement or resignation.

A bench of Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Justice A K Sikri quashed a batch of appeals by various state bar councils, which had framed rules to fix 45 as the upper age limit for enrollment as advocates.

“How can this be done? Lot of people enroll as lawyers after retirement or after their resignation. In fact, I know about one person in Karnataka who was under suspension and he started practising law. He turned out to be one of the best lawyers in the state. These things do happen,” observed the bench.

Appearing for the Bar Council of India (BCI), advocate Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad sought to convince the bench that the upper age limit of 45 could bring in uniformity in professional practice across the states. Prasad said such a rule would upkeep the professional standards and protect the interests of lawyers.

Similarly, lawyers from bar councils of Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana also pointed out that this restriction would help maintain the standards of education since several candidates used to get a law degree while continuing in other services, without formal or basic education.

The bench, however, remained unimpressed with these contentions and said it was witnessed often that many persons above 45 years in age had excelled in the profession and the young lawyers had a lot to learn from them.

The court also took note of the fact that Parliament had fixed no upper age limit for pursuing law course and, therefore, the state bar councils appeared to create a distinction between two similarly placed persons without any authority to do so.

The court was examining the constitutional validity of the rules framed by state bar councils, which virtually prevented several law graduates, who take up employment, to enroll themselves as lawyers either after retirement or on resignation.





 LAWTELLER - A Legal Awareness Magazine

ఇండియన్ పీనల్ కోడ్ 1860

• ఛాప్టర్ I     - సెక్షన్లు 1 నుంచి 5     

పరిచయం

• ఛాప్టర్ II     సెక్షన్లు 6 నుంచి 52     

న్యాయ శాస్త్రం లోని పదాల అర్ధాల వివరణ

• ఛాప్టర్ III     సెక్షన్లు 53 నుంచి 75    

శిక్షలు గురించిన వివరణ

• ఛాప్టర్ IV     సెక్షన్లు 76 నుంచి 106   

స్వీయ రక్షణ హక్కు నుంచి సాధారణమైన మినహాయింపులు

• ఛాప్టర్ V     సెక్షన్లు 107 నుంచి 120    

అబెట్‌మెంట్, (నేరానికి సహకరించుట)

• ఛాప్టర్ VA     సెక్షన్లు 120ఎ నుంచి 120బి    

నేరపూరితమైన కుట్ర, చట్టము అతిక్రమించు కుట్ర
1913 లో చేర్చారు

• ఛాప్టర్ VI     సెక్షన్లు 121 నుంచి 130    

దేశానికి వ్యతిరేకంగా (దేశ ద్రోహం) చేసే నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ VII   సెక్షన్లు 131 నుంచి 140    

పదాతి దళం (ఆర్మీ), నౌకాదళం (నేవీ), వాయుసేనా దళం (ఏర్ ఫోర్స్),
ఈ మూడు దళాలకి సంబదించిన నేరాలు.
("1917 లో నేవీ (నౌకాదళం), ఏర్ ఫోర్స్ (వాయుసేనా దళం) చేర్చారు")
(సైన్య వ్యతిరేక నేరములు)

• ఛాప్టర్ VIII సెక్షన్లు 141 నుంచి 160    

ప్రజల శాంతి, భద్రతలకు భంగం కలిగించే నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ IX     సెక్షన్లు 161 నుంచి 171

ప్రజా సేవకులైన ప్రభుత్వ ఉద్యోగులకు సంబంధించిన నేరాలు.
ప్రభుత్వ ఉద్యోగులు చేసే నేరాలు. (సెక్షన్ 161 నుండి 165A వరకు తొలగించబడినవి)

• ఛాప్టర్ IXA సెక్షన్లు 171A నుంచి 171I    

ఎన్నికలు వాటికి సంబంధించిన నేరములు

• ఛాప్టర్ X     సెక్షన్లు 172 నుంచి 190

కోర్టు ధిక్కరణ నేరాలు (కంటెంప్ట్స్ ఆఫ్ లాఫుల్ అథారిటి ఆఫ్ పబ్లిక్ సర్వెంట్స

• ఛాప్టర్ XI     సెక్షన్లు 191 నుంచి 229    

తప్పుడు సాక్ష్యాలు, పబ్లిక్ జస్టిస్ కి వ్యతిరేకంగా చేసే నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ XII సెక్షన్లు 230 నుంచి 263    

నాణెములు (ప్రభుత్వ ధనము), ప్రభుత్వము ముద్రించే స్టాంపులు.

• ఛాప్టర్ XIII సెక్షన్లు 264 నుంచి 267    

తూనికలు మరియు కొలతలు - సంబంధించిన నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ XIV సెక్షన్లు 268 నుంచి 294    

ప్రజల ఆరోగ్యము, భద్రత, సౌకర్యము, మర్యాద, నీతి కి సంబంధించిన నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ XV     సెక్షన్లు 295 నుంచి 298    

మతానికి సంబంధమైన నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ XVI 
•  సెక్షన్లు -  299 నుంచి 377    

మానవ శరీరానికి హాని కలిగించే నేరాలు .

• (సెక్షన్లు 299 నుంచి 311)

.ప్రాణ హాని (హత్య తో కలిసి), కల్పబుల్ హోమిసైడ్

•  (సెక్షన్లు 312 నుంచి 318)

గర్భస్రావం కలిగించటం,
పుట్టబోయే (ఇంకా పుట్టని) బిడ్డలకు హాని చేయటం ( గాయ పరచటం),
ఎక్స్‌పోజర్ ఆఫ్ ఇన్‌ఫేంట్స్,
కన్సీల్‌మెంట్ ఆఫ్ బర్త్స్ (పిల్లల పుట్టుకను వెల్లడించకుండా దాచటం).

• (సెక్షన్లు 319 నుంచి 338)

గాయపరచటం

• (సెక్షన్లు 339 నుంచి 348) 

అనధికారకంగా అడ్డుకోవటం,
బందించటం (నిర్బంధించటం)

• (సెక్షన్లు 349 నుంచి 358)

నేరపూరితంగా దాడి చేయటం,
గాయ పరచటం

• (సెక్షన్లు 359 నుంచి 374)

కిడ్నాపింగ్ (మనిషిని బలవంతంగా గాని, మోసపూరితంగా గాని ఎత్తుకుపోవటం),
అబ్‌డక్షన్, బానిసత్వం, వెట్టి చాకిరి (బలవంతంగా, బలప్రయోగంతో పని చేయించుకోవటం)

• (సెక్షన్లు 375 నుంచి 376).

లైంగిక వేధింపులు (అత్యాచారం లేదా మానభంగం (రేప్) తో సహా)
 - సంబంధించిన నేరాలు

• (సెక్షన్ 377).

అసహజమైన నేరాలు

• ఛాప్టర్ XVII సెక్షన్లు 378 నుంచి 462

ఆస్తులకు సంబందించిన నేరాలు.

• (సెక్షన్లు 378 నుంచి 382).

దొంగతనం
   

• (సెక్షన్లు 383 నుంచి 389).

ఎక్స్‌టార్షన్
   

• (సెక్షన్లు 390 నుంచి 402).

రోబరీ, దోపిడీలు
   

• (సెక్షన్లు 403 నుంచి 404).

ఆస్తులకు సంబందించిన విషయాలను తారు మారు చేయటం
(క్రిమినల్ మిస్‌అప్రోప్రియేషన్ ఆఫ్ ప్రాపర్టీ)

• (సెక్షన్లు 405 నుంచి 409).

నమ్మకం వమ్ము చేయటం (నమ్మించి మోసం చేయటం)
(క్రిమినల్ బ్రీచ్ ఆఫ్ ట్రస్ట్)

• (సెక్షన్లు 410 నుంచి 414).

దొంగతనం చేసిన సొమ్ముని, వస్తువులను (దొంగసొత్తు), కొనటం, స్వీకరించటం

• (సెక్షన్లు 415 నుంచి 420).

మోసం చేయటం

•  (సెక్షన్లు 421 నుంచి 424).

తప్పుడు పనుల (తప్పుడు పత్రాల ) ద్వారా ఆస్తులను అమ్మటం
 (ఫ్రాడ్యులెంట్ డీడ్స్ అండ్ డిస్పొజిషన్ ఆఫ్ ప్రాపర్టీ)

• (సెక్షన్లు 425 నుంచి 440).

అల్లర్లు, అల్లరి పనులు చేయటం

•  (సెక్షన్లు 441 నుంచి 462).

హక్కు (అనుమతి)లేకుండా, ఇతరుల ఇళ్ళలోకి, భూములలోకి ప్రవేశించటం

• ఛాప్టర్ XVIII     
• సెక్షన్లు 463 నుంచి 489     

•  (సెక్షన్లు 478 to 489)

ఆస్తిపత్రాలకు సంబంధించిన నేరాలు, ఆస్తుల (భూములు, ఇళ్ళు)
హద్దులకు సంబంధించిన నేరాలు.

• (సెక్షన్లు 489ఎ నుంచి 489ఇ)

ఆస్తులు (భూములు, ఇళ్ళు), ఇతర హద్దులకు సంబంధించిన నేరాలు
 కరెన్సీ నోట్లు, బాంక్ నోట్లు - సంబంధించిన నేరాలు.  1958 లో చేర్చారు

• ఛాప్టర్ XIX     సెక్షన్లు 490 నుంచి 492     

క్రిమినల్ బ్రీచ్ ఆఫ్ కంట్రాక్ట్స్ ఆఫ్ సర్వీస్.

• ఛాప్టర్ XX     సెక్షన్లు 493 నుంచి 498     

పెళ్ళి (వివాహం) కి సంబంధించిన నేరాలు.

• ఛాప్టర్ XXA     సెక్షన్ 498ఎ     

భర్త, భర్త తాలూకు బందువుల హింస (కౄరత్వం). గృహ హింస.1983 లో చేర్చారు

• ఛాప్టర్ XXI     సెక్షన్లు 499 నుంచి 502     

డిఫమేషన్.

• ఛాప్టర్ XXII     సెక్షన్లు 503 నుంచి 510     

క్రిమినల్ ఇంటిమిడేషన్, ఇన్‌సల్ట్ (అవమానించటం),

• ఛాప్టర్ XXIII     సెక్షన్లు 511     

నేరాలు చేయటానికి ప్రయత్నింఛటం.

న్యాయ బుద్ధి

నిజమే కదా న్యాయం చెప్పటం.న్యాయం చెయ్యటం అనుకున్నంత  తేలికైన పనేమీ కాదు .. న్యాయాధీశుల గురించి ప్రస్తావిస్తూ ఈ రోజు సాక్షి పేపర్ జ్యోతిర్మయం లో "నీలం రాజు లక్ష్మీప్రసాద్" గారు రాసిన ఆర్టికల్ చాలా బాగుంది .

మహిళా చట్టాలు - విడాకులు

మహిళా చట్టాలు 498 (ఎ )

SC: CHANGE IN GROUND RULE UNDER SECTION 138 OF N.I. ACT

Recovering money if a cheque bounces will now be a lot more tedious and costly.
In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has changed the ground rule under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act to prosecute a person who had presented the cheque which bounced for insufficiency of funds. 

Earlier, a case under Section 138 could be initiated by the holder of the cheque at his place of business or residence. But, a bench of justices TS Thakur, Vikramjit Sen and C Nagappan ruled that the case has to be initiated at the place where the branch of the bank on which the cheque was drawn is located.

This means, if a man from Delhi gave a cheque drawn on a Delhi bank for buying something in Chennai and it bounced for insufficiency of funds, then the aggrieved person will have to travel all the way from Chennai to Delhi to initiate prosecution under Section 138.

And the judgment would apply retrospectively. This means, lakhs of cases pending in various courts across the country would witness a interstate transfer of cheque bouncing cases.

Writing the judgment for the 3-judge bench, Justice Sen said: "We are quite alive to the magnitude of the impact that the present decision shall have to possibly lakhs of cases pending in various courts spanning across the country." However, the court said that in those cases where recording of evidence has started after issuance of summons to the accused, would continue to be tried at the place they were instituted.

"To clarify, regardless of whether evidence has been led before the Magistrate at the pre-summoning stage, either by affidavit or by oral statement, the complaint will be maintainable only at the place where the cheque stands dishonoured," the bench said.

The bench said: "In this analysis, we hold that the place, situs or venue of judicial inquiry and trial of the offence must logically be restricted to where the drawee bank is located."

"An interpretation should not be imparted to Section 138 which will render it as a device of harassment, that is, by sending notices (about the bouncing of cheque under Section 138) from a place which has no casual connection with the transaction itself, and/or by presenting cheques at any of the banks where the payee may have an account," the bench said.

"It is also now manifest that traders and businessmen have become reckless and incautious in extending credit where they would heretofore have been extremely hesitant, solely because of the availability of redress by criminal proceedings," the bench said referring to the rapid increase in institution of cases under Section 138 of NI Act after it was made a criminal offence.

"Today's reality is that every magistracy is inundated with prosecutions under Section 138 of the NI Act, so much so that the burden is becoming unbearable and detrimental to the disposal of other equally pressing litigation," the court said.

The court said for filing a criminal case under Section 138 NI Act, the holder of the cheque must have to travel to the place where the branch of the bank on which the cheque was drawn is located. In the alternative, he could institute a case under Section 420 (cheating) at the place of his residence or where he ordinarily carries out business.

"If the payee succeeds in establishing that the inducement for accepting a cheque which subsequently bounced had occurred where he resides or ordinarily transacts business, he will not have to suffer the travails of journeying to the place where the cheque has been dishonoured," it said.

"All remedies under the IPC and Crpc are available to such a payee if he chooses to pursue this course of action, rather than a complaint under Section 138 of NI Act. And of course, he can file a suit for recovery wherever the cause of action arises dependent on his choosing," the court said.

498 ( ఎ ) మరో కోణం ..

కట్నం వేధింపుల పేరుతో  తమ కుటుంబాలను భార్యలు వేధిస్తున్నారంటున్న భర్తలు .. ఇలాంటి కేసులను ఆపటానికి కోర్టులు కొన్ని మార్గదర్శకాలను సూచిస్తున్నాయి.  

మహిళల కోసం ప్రత్యేక సంరక్షణ చట్టాలు

NO ARRESTS UNDER ANTI-DOWRY LAW (498A) WITHOUT MAGISTRATE’S NOD: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (02.07.2014) said women were increasingly using the anti-dowry law to harass in-laws and restrained police from mechanically arresting the husband and his relatives on mere lodging of a complaint under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.

Citing very low conviction rate in such cases, it directed the state governments to instruct police "not to automatically arrest when a case under Section 498A of IPC is registered but to satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest under the parameters (check list) provided under Section 41 of criminal procedure code".

Section 41 lays down a 9-point check list police to weigh the need to arrest after examining the conduct of the accused, including possibility of his absconding.

Expressing exasperation over rampant misuse of Section 498A, a bench of Justices C K Prasad and P C Ghose said if police arrested the accused, the magistrate should weigh the preliminary evidence against the Section 41 checklist before allowing further detention.

"The magistrate, while authorising detention of the accused shall peruse the report furnished by the police officer in terms of Section 41 and only after recording its satisfaction, the magistrate will authorize detention," the bench said.

It also said that this check-list for arrest and detention would apply to all offences, which are punished with a prison term less than 7 years. Punishment under Section 498A is a maximum of three years but it had been made a cognizable and non-bailable offence, which made grant of bail to the accused a rarity in courts.

But the court singled out the dowry harassment cases as the most abused and misused provision, though the legislature had enacted it with the laudable object to prevent harassment of women in matrimonial homes.

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Prasad said there had been a phenomenal increase in dowry harassment cases in India in the last few years. "The fact that Section 498A is a cognizable and non-bailable offence has lent it a dubious place of pride amongst the provisions that are used as weapons rather than shield by disgruntled wives," he said.

"The simplest way to harass is to get the husband and his relatives arrested under this provision. In a quite number of cases, bed-ridden grand-fathers and grand-mothers of the husbands, their sisters living abroad for decades are arrested," he said.

The bench quoted "Crime in India 2012 Statistics" published by National Crime Records Bureau to say that nearly 2 lakh people were arrested in India in 2012 under Section 498-A, which was 9.4% more than in 2011.

"Nearly a quarter of those arrested under this provision in 2012 were women i.e. 47,951 which depicts that others and sisters of the husbands were liberally included in their arrest net. Its share is 6% out of the total persons arrested under the crimes committed under Indian Penal Code. It accounts for 4.5% of total crimes committed under different sections of penal code, more than any other crimes excepting theft and hurt," it said.

"The rate of charge-sheeting in cases under Section 498A is as high as 93.6%, while the conviction rate is only 15%, which is lowest across all heads. As many as 3,72,706 cases are pending trial of which on current estimate, nearly 3,17,000 are likely to result in acquittal," the bench said illustrating the misuse of Section 498A as a tool to harass husband and his relatives.

Describing arrest as a humiliating experience apart from curtailing the freedom, the bench said police have not shed their colonial hangover despite six decades of independence and were still considered "as a tool of harassment, oppression, and surely not considered a friend of public".

The need for caution in exercising the drastic power of arrest had been emphasized time and again by courts but has not yielded results, the court said and tasked the magistrates to check illegal arrests.

OBJECTING TO WIFE WEARING JEANS, KURTA IS GROUND FOR DIVORCE

Mumbai: Objecting to wife wearing Kurta and Jeans and forcing her to wear saree amounts to cruelty inflicted by husband and can be a ground to seek divorce, a family court here has ruled.

The wife pleaded that after marriage in December 2010, her husband did not buy her any clothes and therefore she had purchased Kurta and Jeans from her salary earnings. However, the husband did not allow her to wear them, saying she should wear only sarees.

In her order was passed on June 24, Principal Judge of Family Court, Dr Laxmi Rao, granted divorce to the wife on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27(1)(d) of Special Marriage Act, 1954.

“In view of the averments made in the petition which have gone unchallenged, it can be said that the petitioner has proved her case, hence, she can be granted divorce as prayed by her. Her plea that she was restrained from wearing jeans and Kurta amounts to cruelty as defined under the Act”, the judge held.

The wife further alleged that her husband and in-laws had asked her to bring Rs one lakh from her house or face dire consequences. They also asked her to quit her job but she had refused to toe their line.

The wife alleged that she was tortured and humiliated as a result of which she suffered mental depression and her life became miserable. She also alleged that her in-laws harassed her on one pretext or the other and warned that if she failed to bring dowry she would face dire consequences.

The wife told the court that on March 15, 2011, she was thrown out of her matrimonial house as she failed to bring the money. Since then till date she is compelled to stay at her parents house at their mercy as she is now jobless.

The petitioner said that her husband had never made attempts to bring her back home in Ambarnath town of Thane district where the couple lived. On the contrary, he sent vulgar SMS messages to her and her parents on their mobile phones in a bid to harass them and damage their reputation.

The wife said she had lodged a police complaint against her husband who worked in a BPO in suburban Malad and earned Rs 28,000 per month

BLOCKING PORN SITES WOULD CAUSE GREATER HARM - CENTRE TELLS SUPREME COURT

Blocking all websites with pornographic content in the country is not possible and it would cause more harm as literary content containing such words would also not be available for public on internet, the Centre told the Supreme Court.

Appearing before a bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan, additional solicitor general KV Vishwanathan submitted that blocking all such websites would cause greater harm. "Everything would be blocked and even good literature would be blocked and it would cause more greater harm," he said.

He submitted that a software has to be installed in every computer for blocking such websites and a direction has to be passed for all computer manufacturers to install software. The court was hearing a petition filed by Indore-based advocate Kamlesh Vaswani who pleaded that although watching obscene videos was not an offence, pornographic sites should be banned as they were one of the major causes behind crime against women.

The petition filed through advocate Vijay Panjwani says that the absence of internet laws encourages people to watch porn videos and over 20 crore porn videos or clippings are freely available in the market, which have been directly downloaded from the internet or copied from video CDs.

The petition states, "The sexual content that kids are accessing today is far more graphic, violent, brutal, deviant and destructive and has put entire society in danger and also poses threat to public order in India. "Most offences committed against women/girls/children are fuelled by pornography. The worrying issue is that the severity and gravity of such images is increasing. It is a matter of serious concern that prepubescent children are being raped," the petition added.

The apex court had on November 18 issued notice to the department of telecommunication (DoT) seeking its response as to how to block websites with pornographic content in the country, particularly those featuring child pornography.

Legal Doctrines & Maxims

Legal Doctrines & Maxims 

photos : Supreme Court Cases

JUSTICE RM LODHA SWORN IN AS THE 41st CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha was today (27.04.2014) sworn in as the .41st Chief Justice of India He was administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukharjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

At 64, Justice Lodha is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court after Justice Sathasivam. He will have a brief tenure of five months as the Chief Justice as he is scheduled to retire on September 27.

On Friday, Justice Lodha said the top court represented no caste - minority or majority - and that his task was to maintain the balance.

He has handled sensitive cases in the Supreme Court and is presently heading the bench monitoring the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the coal scam.

Justice Lodha's judgement on regulating sale of acid to prevent attacks is an important one - he had banned over-the-counter sale of acid and awarded compensation to victims of acid attacks.

He had also recently allowed army personnel to vote in their places of posting. He headed the panel which examined sexual harassment allegations by an intern against former Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Ganguly, and had termed his behavior as "unwelcome".

He also dismissed General VK Singh's plea to change his date of birth in a case which saw the country's first serving Army Chief dragging the government to court over his age.

SC: CHILDREN BORN OF LIVE-IN RELATIONSHIPS ARE LEGITIMATE

Giving an important clarification on live-in relationships, the Supreme Court has said that if a man and woman "lived like husband and wife" for a long period and had children, the judiciary would presume that the two were married.

A bench of Justices B S Chauhan and J Chelameswar on Monday (21.04.2014) issued the clarification on a petition filed by advocate Uday Gupta, who had questioned certain sweeping observations made by the Madras high court while dealing with the issue of live-in relationships. Importantly, the SC said children born out of prolonged live-in relationships could not be termed illegitimate.

Gupta had challenged the HC's observation that "a valid marriage does not necessarily mean that all the customary rights pertaining to the married couple are to be followed and subsequently solemnized".

His counsel, M R Calla, sought deletion of the HC's observations terming them as untenable in law. He apprehended that these remarks could demolish the very institution of marriage.

The bench went through the judgment and said the HC's observations could not be construed as a precedent for other cases and would be confined to the case in which these were made.

Justices Chauhan and Chelameswar said,"In fact, what the HC wanted to say is that if a man and woman are living together for a long time as husband and wife, though never married, there would a presumption of marriage and their children could not be called illegitimate."

In 2010, the apex court had in Madan Mohan Singh vs Rajni Kant case said, "The courts have consistently held that the law presumes in favour of marriage and against concubinage, when a man and woman have cohabited continuously for a number of years. However, such presumption can be rebutted by leading unimpeachable evidence."

The same year, the court had in another judgment hinted at the legitimacy of children born out of such relations. "It is evident that Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act intends to bring about social reforms, conferment of social status of legitimacy on a group of children, otherwise treated as illegitimate, as its prime object."

Section 16 of Hindu Mariage Act provides,"Notwithstanding that a marriage is null and void under Section 11, any child of such marriage who would have been legitimate if the marriage had been valid, shall be legitimate, whether such a child is born before or after the commencement of the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 1976, and whether or not a decree of nullity is granted in respect of the marriage under this Act and whether or not the marriage is held to be void otherwise than on a petition under this Act."



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