Sheikh Rayees 
The Supreme Court has upheld a Madras High Court Division Bench decision condoning a delay of 423 days in filing an application to set aside an ex-parte decree, ruling that the defendant should be given an opportunity to contest the case on merits. However, the Court modified the condition attached to the relief. Instead of … Read more
A litigant who diligently tracked her case but was repeatedly misled by her advocate cannot be penalised for her counsel’s negligence, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled, restoring her opportunity to defend a civil suit and referring the advocate’s conduct to the State Bar Council for scrutiny. The Court set aside an ex-parte order … Read more
The Supreme Court has made it clear that rescuing a person from bonded labour is only the beginning of the State’s responsibility. Financial assistance promised under the rehabilitation scheme must ordinarily reach rescued workers within seven days of the issuance of their release certificates, the Court has ruled. Emphasising the urgency of rehabilitation, the Court … Read more
The right to secure one’s home does not extend to keeping a neighbour’s private life under surveillance. The Allahabad High Court has made it clear that privately installed CCTV cameras cannot be positioned in a way that intrudes into the privacy of adjoining residential premises. The observation came in Yogendra Maurya v. State of UP, … Read more
The prolonged pendency of criminal appeals cannot, by itself, become a reason to suspend the sentence of a convict involved in a heinous offence, the Supreme Court has ruled, cautioning courts against granting relief without a careful assessment of the evidence and the period of incarceration already undergone. A Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and … Read more
The Delhi High Court has ruled that users seeking to challenge the blocking or restriction of their LinkedIn accounts must pursue a civil suit rather than invoke the Court’s writ jurisdiction against the professional networking platform. In Mayank Jain v. Union of India & Ors., Justice Amit Mahajan held that LinkedIn does not discharge a … Read more
The Supreme Court has clarified that employees of government companies and public sector undertakings do not automatically enjoy protection under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) from prosecution without prior sanction. A bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Shree Chandrashekhar held that being designated as a public servant is not … Read more
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has quashed a criminal case against a journalist accused of promoting communal enmity through a report on violence during a Ganesh Visarjan procession, holding that reporting an actual incident of violence cannot, by itself, amount to an offence. Justice Himanshu Joshi ruled that a news report must be examined in … Read more
The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay ₹1.25 lakh in compensation to a man who was unlawfully kept in police custody for five days, while warning that the investigating officer responsible could face the strictest departmental punishment. A division bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev came down … Read more
The Madras High Court has ruled that litigants who settle a civil dispute privately after evidence has been recorded during trial cannot claim a refund of court fees under the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955. The Court also raised concerns over the existing law, which allows a full refund when a … Read more
