Supreme Court Observer

☀️Good morning! 🧑🏻‍⚖️ Did you know that since 1950, a CJI has dissented only 13 times in a Constitution Bench case! 15% of these dissents took place in just the last two years. What does this mean for diversity of views in the Supreme Court!? https://bit.ly/471iQgc 📹 in 2022, a judge of the Delhi High Court allowed an convict sentenced to life imprisonment in the Tihar Jail to appear in court via video conferencing. This may have been a positive step towards ensuring better access to justice to undertrials languishing in jail. https://bit.ly/3s4mDKO 📄 Justice S. R. Bhat retired last week after a four year long tenure at the Supreme Court. Here are some of the judgements that highlight his career. https://bit.ly/3MdsILX

🌄 Good Morning! 💸 Yesterday, the Court heard a batch of petitions seeking a review of the 2022 decision which upheld the wide investigative powers of the the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. 🗣️ The petitioners argued that the decision was unconstitutional. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asserted that the petitioners abused the process of law. Find out why: https://bit.ly/3QkV21i 🏳️‍🌈 Recently, the Supreme Court rejected the plea for queer persons right to marry. However, the bench issued several directions to obviate violence and discrimination faced by the queer community in India. Read more: https://bit.ly/3M2usYk

☀️Good morning! 🌈 Yesterday the Supreme Court *rejected the plea for queer persons’ right to marry in India.* 📝 All five judges held that there is no fundamental right to marry, that queer persons’ right to marry cannot be read into the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and that transgender persons in heterosexual relationships can marry as per existing laws. https://bit.ly/3S3HM29 👶🏻 In a 3:2 majority, the court held that queer persons do not have a right to civil unions, and that unmarried queer persons cannot adopt. SCO’s Matrix breaks down what each judge held on the central questions in the case. https://bit.ly/490pc1g 🏳️‍🌈 The judgement comes as a great disappointment to many, after years of social and legal battles, and several key judgements that upheld the rights of queer persons to live a life with dignity. SCO’s video explainer traces the key decisions that preceded this judgement. https://bit.ly/45yn6ma

🚨Judgement alert! 📝 The Supreme Court is all set to deliver its judgement in the *plea for marriage equality today*. The petitioners in the case argue that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage violates the rights to equality, freedom of expression and dignity. https://bit.ly/45ys02z 🌈 Today the Court will decide whether non-heterosexual marriages can be legally recognised under Indian laws—specifically, under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. 🧑🏻‍⚖️ 5 judges of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice heard the case over 10 days in April and May this year. SCO’s arguments matrix breaks down all the key issues discussed in Court: https://bit.ly/46PUoOO Stay tuned to SCObserver.in for judgement explainers, matrices and more!

☀️Good Morning! 📖 Last week, SCO hosted a book talk on “Court on Trial: A Data-Driven Account of the Supreme Court of India” with co-author Dr. Aparna Chandra. Hosted by SCO’s Editor-in-Chief Leena Gita Reghunath, this talk focused on truly making the Supreme Court a "people's Court". Watch the conversation here! https://bit.ly/3tHjHE8 🏛️ On 12 October the Supreme Court listed six 7-Judge and four 9-Judge bench matters for further directions. These cases deal with defection by members of legislature, freedom of press, rights of landowners, taxation, and a lot more. Our explainers cover the facts of each case in brief: 1) 7-Judge cases: https://bit.ly/3tyEytw 2) 9-Judge cases: https://bit.ly/3tEnmCI

Hello! SCO will be going live on YouTube today for a *Book Talk with Dr Aparna Chandra*, on her latest book “Court on Trial”! Join us for an engaging discussion on the Supreme Court being a "people’s court", hosted by SCO’s Editor-in-Chief Leena Gita Reghunath, from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM TODAY. Watch the event live, ask questions and be part of this insightful conversation. See you there! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTR9gVbP7bM&ab_channel=SupremeCourtObserver

✨ Good Morning! 🤱In an abortion plea for a 26-week old pregnancy, the CJI’s bench has to decide between stopping the heart of a viable foetus or delivering the child prematurely, exposing it to the risk of deformities. https://bit.ly/3PRAgEV 7️⃣ A 7-judge bench examining the validity of an unstamped arbitration agreement reserved judgement yesterday. https://bit.ly/45sPMNw ⚖️ After 14 days of hearings, arguments in the challenge to the early release of Bilkis Bano’s gang rape convicts concluded yesterday. The Court reserved judgement. https://bit.ly/46tcDcT 🚨Event Alert! Dr. Aparna Chandra will be in conversation with our Editor-in-Chief Leena Reghunath on the SC being a "people’s court." Tune in to *SCO’s YouTube* channel at 5pm today! https://bit.ly/3ZVD34P

🚨 *LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!* We’re thrilled to announce SC Observer’s book talk on "Court on Trial" with Dr. Aparna Chandra held this Friday (Oct 13th), with SCO’s Editor-in-Chief Leena Gita Reghunath! 📖 “Court on Trial" is a data-driven account of the Supreme Court, written by Dr. Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry, and William H.J. Hubbard. 🔢 Through extensive empirical research, the authors explore the Supreme Court case backlog, diversity in judicial appointments, tenures and retirement age of judges and the challenges and possible solutions to truly making the Supreme Court a "People's Court”. 📍 Venue: Dona Cynthia Apartments, 35, Primrose Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru. 📝 Limited Seats! *Register today by 11:59 PM* https://forms.gle/7KcyponBKw4Xvkzj9

🌄 Good Morning! ⁉️ *Is an arbitration agreement invalid if it it is unstamped?* 5️⃣ In April 2023, a five- judge bench of the Supreme Court in a 3:2 majority, answered in the affirmative while delivering the judgement in _NN Global Mercantile v Indo Unique Flame Ltd_ https://bit.ly/3PNtEHD 🗣️ The desision however, paved way to immediate criticism as many practitioners claimed that it posed practical difficulties in resolving urgent matters. https://bit.ly/3tkrGqC ⚖️ Today, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court is all set to reconsider the controversial judgement considering the "ramifications" it has on arbitration contracts. 🌐 Stay tuned scobserver.in for information from the day's hearing.

🚨 EVENT ALERT! We’re thrilled to announce SC Observer’s book talk on "Court on Trial" with Dr. Aparna Chandra held this Friday (Oct 13th), with SCO’s Editor-in-Chief Leena Gita Reghunath! 📖 “Court on Trial" is a data-driven account of the Supreme Court, written by Dr. Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry, and William H.J. Hubbard. 🔢 Through extensive empirical research, the authors explore the Supreme Court case backlog, diversity in judicial appointments, tenures and retirement age of judges and the challenges and possible solutions to truly making the Supreme Court a "People's Court”. 📍 Venue: Dona Cynthia Apartments, 35, Primrose Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru. 📝 Limited Seats! Register by Thursday 11:59 PM https://forms.gle/7KcyponBKw4Xvkzj9

☀️Good Morning! 👩‍⚖️👨‍⚖️ Today, a 2-judge bench of the Supreme Court will continue hearing rejoinder arguments from petitioners against the remission granted to the Bilkis Bano gang rape convicts: https://bit.ly/45O2RBV 🏛️On 20 September, counsels appearing for the convicts argued that the remission order cannot be challenged in the Supreme Court, prompting Justice B.V. Nagarathna to ask: "If the victim cannot approach then who can approach?" More: https://bit.ly/3rAgm9u ❓The proceedings in the Bilkis Bano convict remission case have opened up some vital questions about subjectivity and standards. Read our analysis on wider questions around remission policy: https://bit.ly/469Cu9E

🌤️ Good Morning! 🏛️ Did you know that Assam has had a register of its citizens since 1951? 📇The Assam register, which is now based on the conditions laid down in Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, underwent an "updation exercise" from 2013-19. ⚖️ As a Constitution Bench of the Court gears up to decide if Section 6A is unconstitutional later this month, we outline the legal questions at stake in our latest explainer: https://bit.ly/45e5XOw 👨‍⚖️ In other Constitution Bench news, a 7-judge bench reserved judgement in a matter to decide if a legislator enjoys constitutional immunity from prosecution for accepting a bribe to vote in the House. Read the full hearing report: https://bit.ly/3LQyH93

☀️ Good Morning! 7️⃣ Yesterday, a seven-judge Constitution Bench sat for the first time since 2017. The Bench was convened to reconsider a 25-year-old judgement. https://bit.ly/3RAxoyH 👨‍⚖️The judgement in question is _P.V Narasimha Rao v State_ (1998) in which a five-judge bench held that parliamentarians enjoyed constitutional immunity against criminal prosecution in connection with their speeches and votes in the House. 🗣️ So far, Senior Advocates Raju Ramachandran, P.S. Patwalia and Gopal Sankaranarayanan have argued on the correctness of the decision in _Narasimha Rao_. Read their detailed arguments here: https://bit.ly/3rCbpwL 💻 Hearings in the case will continue today. Watch the live proceedings on scobserver.in

🌄 Good Morning! 💸💵 In 1998, in P.V. Narasimha Rao v. State, a five-judge bench held that elected officials who are bribed to vote in a certain way in Parliament or state legislatures are protected by constitutional immunity. ⚖️Today, a seven-judge bench is set to re-examine the controversial judgement. What is the case from 1998 about? What is its relevance to an incident involving Sita Soren in 2012? What does the JMM party have to do with these cases? Read our detailed piece: https://bit.ly/3RAxoyH ⌛ The proceedings in the Bilkis Bano convict remission case have opened up some vital questions about subjectivity and standards. Read our analysis on wider questions around remission policy: https://bit.ly/469Cu9E

🌻Good Morning! ♀️ Last week, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Women's Reservation Bill, 2023 making it an Act. This law reserves 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women. 📰 The Bill was first introduced in 1996 and lapsed several times after that. In 2021, the National Federation of Indian Women filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking reintroduction of the bill. 📜 The Act is the culmination of a long conversation whose history begins in the Constituent Assembly in which only 15 of 389 members were women. Many of them were opposed to the Bill. Read more here: https://bit.ly/46pVwbO

☀️Good Morning! Here’s a list of platforms where you can find SCO: 📱Big on Twitter and Instagram? Follow us now! We post quick updates, posts and videos on all the important cases! 💬Twitter: https://bit.ly/3dXuuCU 📸 IG: https://bit.ly/3Rnjzjr 📹 Our videos are also on YouTube! Subscribe to our channel, and tell us what kind of content you would like to see on the Supreme Court! https://bit.ly/3RkL39u 📧 If you enjoy sitting back on a Sunday morning and reading a crisp newsletter on the highlight of the week, SCO Desk Briefs are for you. This weekly newsletter tells our 12k subscribers the full story in the simplest way. https://bit.ly/3rvqmRa 🙏🏽 Thank you for following our daily updates. We’d love to hear from you. Write to us at admin@scobserver.in! See you tomorrow!

☀️ Good morning! 💵To what extent is a lawmaker protected from criminal prosecution when facing bribery charges? 👨‍⚖️ In 1998, while examining the P.V. Narasimha Rao v. State case, a 5-judge bench held that elected officials who are bribed to vote in a certain way in the Parliament are protected by the Constitution. ⚖️ Now, a 7-judge bench is set to re-examine thecontroversial judgement. What is the case from 1998 about? What is the case’s relevance to the Sita Soren case in 2012? Read our detailed piece. https://bit.ly/3RAxoyH

🌄 Good Morning! ⚖️ The Supreme Court's decision in _Sampat Prakash v State of J&K (1968)_ has long justified executive creep in J&K by giving the President a wide latitude to modify the provisions of the Indian Constitution while applying them to J&K. 📰 In SCO's latest feature, Burhan Majid argues that this decision conveniently forgets the judgement in _Prem Nath Kaul v State of J&K (1959)_ which squarely aligns with the constitutional founding of the State. Read his detailed arguments here: https://bit.ly/3t76HHP 📜 What to know more about these two cases and other precedents cited in the Article 370 hearings? Our explainer distils the key issue and conclusions in four prominent cases. Read here: https://bit.ly/453ym9S

☀️ Good morning! Yesterday, the Supreme Court referred a recent 5-judge bench arbitration judgement to a 7-judge constitution bench. This 7-judge bench will reconsider the Court’s decision from April 2023, where it held that an unstamped arbitration agreement cannot be enforced until the stamp duty has been paid. More: https://bit.ly/3ZyTtjh Experts say that declaring unstamped arbitration agreements as invalid poses practical difficulties in resolving urgent matters and makes arbitration a lengthier affair: https://bit.ly/3LDK7gn

☀️Good Morning! 📣 With new Constitution Bench cases concerning Assam's NRC, immunity for MLAs in cases of bribery and the challenge to the extension of reservations under Article 334 of the Constitution, big stories are expected from the Supreme Court in the coming days! Want to stay updated on all the latest developments? We've got you covered! 💬 Big on Twitter and Instagram? Follow us now! We post quick updates, posts and videos on all the important cases! Twitter: https://bit.ly/3dXuuCU IG: https://bit.ly/3Rnjzjr 📹 Our videos are also on YouTube! Subscribe to our channel for updates and explainers! https://bit.ly/3RkL39u 📧 If you enjoy sitting back on a Sunday morning and reading a crisp newsletter on the highlight of the week, SCO’s Desk Briefs are for you. Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/3rvqmRa 🙏🏽 Thank you for following our daily updates. Tell us what you would like to hear about next. Write to us at admin@scobserver.in.