(This is a guest post by Aadi Belhe)The President gave assent to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 (‘BNSS’) on the 25th of December, 2023. This Act is intended to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘Code’) due to its “colonial” nature. Section 187 of the BNSS deals with pre-trial
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Guest Post: The judgment in S. Harish and the CSAM Conundrum in India
(This is a guest post by Aaditi Sinha)IntroductionThe case of S. Harish v. Inspector of Police (2024) (“S. Harish”) brings to light critical questions regarding the interpretation and application of Indian law concerning possession of child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”). I will primarily use the term CSAM to mean…
Guest Post: Legal Pitfalls in Combating Manual Scavenging
(This is a guest post by Nachiketh Patil)On 20 October 2023, the Supreme Court in Balram Singh v. Union of India issued various directions to ensure the proper enactment of provisions in laws to eradicate manual scavenging in India. The judgement highlighted various issues, such as inaccuracies in surveys conducted to establish the…
Guest Post: On the Decision in Javed Ahmad Hajam v. Maharashtra
(This is a guest post by Prabash Pandey)A Bench of the Supreme Court recently delivered the judgment in Javed Ahmad Hajam v. State of Maharashtra [2024 INSC 187, decided on 07.03.2024 (‘Javed Hajam‘)] – in an appeal from the Division Bench of Bombay High Court for refusing to quash FIR under …
Jail is Not the Rule – Restrictive Bail Conditions, After Independence (Part 1)
(This is the third post in a series on restrictive bail regimes)The previous post considered restrictive bail regimes in India’s pre-independence context. In the first of two posts, we travel through independent India’s history to look at such regimes.Partition and Post-War ScarcityIt appears that the earliest instance of a restrictive bail…
Jail is Not the Rule — A History of Restrictive Bail Regimes Pre-Independence
(This is the second post in a series discussing restrictive bail regimes)This post looks at restrictive bail provisions through Indian legal history, drawing the line at India’s independence. The next post will look at post-independence history. A similar exercise was attempted several years ago on the Blog, and a gradual increase in digitisation…
Jail is not the Rule – Contesting Restrictive Bail Regimes (new series)
Growing up, the soundtrack of Amar Prem was very popular in my house. I never understood it much, but as I grew older, I came to love it too. Why such a random start? Because it is a few lines from one of its songs, called Chingari Koi Bhadke, that I have been stuck…
Call for Submissions: NLSIR Vol. 36(2)
(This is a call for submissions for the National Law School of India Review)NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA REVIEW (NLSIR)VOL. 36(2): DEMOCRACY, FREE EXPRESSION, AND PRESS CENSORSHIPINTRODUCTIONThe freedom of expression finds expression in the world’s largest democracy in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. In any democratic polity,…
Guest Post: The Supreme Court, Default Bail, and the Question of ‘Incomplete’ Chargesheets
(This is a guest post by Kartik Kalra)The Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Central Bureau of Investigation v. Kapil Wadhawan on January 24 (‘Wadhawan‘). It held that the Respondent-accused’s previous release on default bail sanctioned by the trial court, and affirmed by the Delhi High Court, was incorrect, as these findings…
Guest Post: The Curious Case of Last Seen Evidence
(This is a guest post by Manya Gupta)The doctrine of last seen evidence “LS” is one of the major kinds of evidence under the IEA “Act” which provides for an inference of guilt on the accused if they are last seen with the deceased, and subsequently the victim is found dead.It is deduced…