INDIA – Under The Domestic Violence Act, Brother-In-Law Is Also Entitled To Pay Alimony, SC Rules

The Supreme Court (SC) held that under the domestic violence law, even a brother-in-law might be ordered to pay woman maintenance. According to a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, if he happens to be in a domestic relationship with the grieved complainant, there is no immunity for any “adult male person.” This follows as the court dismissed the appeal moved against a Punjab and Haryana High Court interim order that had directed the brother-in-law to pay Rs 4,000 to the wife of his deceased brother and Rs 2,000 to his niece as monthly maintenance. However, the brother-in-law contended that there was no legal basis for the appellant, who is the brother of the deceased spouse, to be held liable under the provisions of the Act.

 

INDIA – Surat’s Fire Disaster: NGO Writes To PM, Requests Strict Legislation On Fire Safety

An NGO, the United Human Rights Federation (UHRF) working in the field of fire safety and prevention, wrote to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi calling for the enactment of a strong law to prevent fire disasters. This demand was made in the wake of a fire that led to the death of 22 students attending coaching classes in Gujarat’s Surat district on Friday 24 May 2019. Also, the UHRF president Santosh Bagla said, “Unfortunately, so far no political party has shown a strong willingness to bring in stringent laws despite the direction of the Supreme Court in this regard.”

 

USA – Colorado Is The First State In Which Insulin Is Co-Paid

Colorado has capped the insulin co-paid price, making it the first state to enact a law that combats the rising drug costs that have doubled over the past seven years. According to the Denver Post, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill in law earlier this week limiting the price of insured patients to co-paid $ 100 a month. In January 2019, the law will come into force.

 

INDIA – Cristiano Ronaldo ‘To Be Summoned To Face Allegations Of Rape’ After Lawyers Have Finally Tracked His Address In Italy

Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo will receive a summons from the court to appear in person to face charges of rape after his address in Italy has been tracked by the alleged victim’s lawyers. The hunt for Ronaldo’s address had started last year in October after the US police reopened the inquiry. Ronaldo had previously refused to share his address as his lawyers in the past half year or so tried to get the case dismissed at any opportunity. The complainant filed a civil suit against Ronaldo, accusing the athlete of raping her in a penthouse suite in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, and then paying her $ 375,000 in hush money, according to other media reports. Ronaldo, however, took to social media to deny any wrongdoing after the reports surfaced and said that anything that happened between the two was mutual.

 

INDIA – Senior Advocate: ‘It Is Impossible To Alter The Essence Of The Constitution’

Highlighting the role of lawyers and the judiciary in creating an environment that encouraged debate and enabled people to criticize and question the government, senior advocate of Karnataka high court  Gurudas S Kannur said on Saturday, 25 May 2019, citing a verdict of the Supreme Court, that the Constitution’s basic structure cannot be altered. This statement was made at the Vidyavardhaka Law College’s one-day national seminar on ‘Judiciary Role in Protecting Human Rights in India: Issues and Challenges.’ Kannur recalled the 1973 Kesavananda Bharathi case landmark in which the central government imposed restrictions on fundamental rights and sought to amend the Constitution.”However, the Supreme Court decreed that it was not possible to change or dilute the fundamental essence of the Constitution. But any government with a majority would have been able to amend the Constitution for this verdict.”

 

USA – How Alabama’s Law On Abortion Rocks Democratic And Republican Politics Before The Elections In 2020

In addition to widening the gulf between Democrats and Republicans, the divisive issue of abortion is also sowing division within the parties. Democrats, for their part, are struggling with whether anti-abortion Democrats still have a place in the party as abortion rights activists vow to defeat lawmakers standing in their way. The intraparty struggles are emerging as both sides are expecting to use the issue of abortion to launch their 2020 base.

 

INDIA – Adivasi Professor Arrested For Posting On Facebook ‘Asserting His Community’s Right To Eat Beef’

On Saturday, May 25, 2019, Jeetrai Hansda, a professor at the Government School and Women’s College in Jharkhand, Sakchi, was arrested. A team lawyer handling Hansda’s case said in June 2017, based on a Facebook post he had written, a complaint was filed against him. In 2017, a diary was filed against Hansda’s Facebook post, and inspector Anil Kumar Singh of Sakchi Police Station lodged the FIR after ‘investigating’ the complaint. Hansda’s lawyer said he wasn’t arrested back then, although he was asked to appear in the police station. Only on Saturday he was arrested and remains in police custody. Hansda had also moved for a rejected anticipatory bail which was denied. Hansda is a prominent Adivasi activist and theatre artist, and his post on Facebook affirmed the right to eat beef from his community.

 

INDIA – Center Approaching SC; Requests That All Petitions For Review Be Dismissed

With written submissions, the government approached the Supreme Court (SC), saying that all petitions for review in the controversial Rafale deal should be dismissed. These applications were filed on Friday, May 24, 2019. Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, one of the petitioners, told the SC that India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had no precedent in writing pricing details from their official report. Based on some reports in the press and incomplete private information leaked to the media, the Center said the petitioner could not seek to reopen the whole matter.

 

UNITED KINGDOM – NHS Bosses Charged With Violating Cancer Scanning Privatization

Councilors from Oxfordshire have warned that Thames Valley cancer patients will receive a more poor service because NHS England has decided to take over from Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) a contract for PET-CT scanning and hand it over to the private company InHealth. Oxfordshire councilors have warned that Thames Valley cancer patients will receive more inferior service because NHS England has decided to take a PET-CT scanning contract away from the trust of Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) and hand it over to the private company InHealth.

 

INDIA – Delhi High Court Continues Trial Of Bank Executives

In a case triggered by the multi-crore scam perpetrated by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in January 2018, the Delhi High Court stayed the trial court proceedings against Punjab National Bank (PNB), its former managing director and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian and Eleven (11) other senior PNB officials. Therefore, On the basis of the petition lodged by the Punjab National Bank, the Delhi High Court on 20 May stayed the trial court’s proceedings and posted the following hearing on the matter on 17 July, sources said.

 

INDIA – ED Moves HC To Cancel Robert Vadra’s Anticipatory Bail For Money Laundering

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) requested that the Delhi High Court cancel the anticipatory bail of Robert Vadra on Friday, May 24 2019. Vadra, Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law, was granted protection from arrest by a lower court on April 1 in a money laundering case. Fearing to tamper with evidence, ED said in the case that Vadra might influence witnesses. Seeking Vadra’s custody to question him, the ED said that to bring the probe to its logical conclusion, he needed to be confronted with evidence. Today, Monday, May 27, 2019, High Court to Hear Plea.

 

MALAYSIA – Malaysian Minister Denies Interference With The Death Row Inmate In Singapore

On Sunday 26 May 2019, a Malaysian minister denied that he had interfered with Singapore’s decision to grant a death row stay to a Malaysian citizen. Minister in the Department of Prime Minister Liew Vui Keong said such allegations were “totally unfounded and unfounded” and were “on the part of someone purely a figment of the imagination.”

 

INDIA – Deprivation Of Finances Amounts To Violence in the Home, Says Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court (HC) recently held that economic abuse or financial deprivation also amounts to domestic violence under provisions of the Domestic Violence Protection of Women (DV) Act, 2005. In his order, justice MG Giratkar stated that, besides, the applications under the provisions of the DV Act are not in derogation from any other legislation in force. The judge also said that the complaint of the woman could not be dismissed simply because the marriage hall was a joint family property and the woman had an alternative remedy to seek partition of the typical family properties.

 

INDIA – Bombay HC Holds The Building Owner Guilty Of Criminal Liability As He Stops Demolition

Bombay High Court ruled that owners of a dilapidated building in Bhendi Bazaar will be liable not only for civil but also for criminal liability in the event of any unfair incident concerning their structure, but also for two adjacent buildings resulting in loss of human life or property. Vapra chawl owners are opposed to the demolition of the claim that it can be repaired. Mhada and Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which is undertaking area redevelopment, had approached the court to pull down Vapra and adjacent buildings of Furniturewala and Khatija before the monsoon, saying their condition was precarious. The court bench restrained Mhada and SBUT from pulling down the structures until the next June 12 hearing but said it was holding Vapra’s owners to be responsible for any mishap.

 

IRELAND – Ireland Overwhelmingly Votes To Relax Stringent Divorce Legislation

Ireland voted to relax its constitutional restriction on divorce by an overwhelming majority, the results showed Sunday, the latest in a series of reforms to modernize the once devoted Catholic nation’s charter. The Irish Government has indicated that it will introduce new legislation that will shorten the requirement to two out of the previous three years. Currently, Irish divorce law is considered one of Europe’s most restrictive.

 

INDIA – Making Profit Legitimate, Profiteering  Isn’t: Madras High Court

How does ‘ profit making ‘ and ‘ Profiteering ‘ differ? The former is accepted as a legitimate exercise, necessary for the support of all institutions, according to the Madras High Court. However, ‘Profiteering’ means making the most of unusual or exceptional circumstances to make excessive profits that are to be frowned upon. In allowing a written petition from the management of Sathyabama University in Semmenchery, Justice Anita Sumanth challenged the Industrial Tribunal’s orders dated 24 March 2017 here, which held that the university was liable to pay bonuses to members of Pudhiya Jananayaga Vagana Ottunargal Mattrum Techniciangal Union in Kodambakkam under the Bonus Act. The union’s case, which includes drivers and technical staff, is that they are entitled to a bonus under the Bonus Act provisions.

 

INDIA – Order To Limit Scholarships Set Aside By The High Court Of Madras

A Government Order (GO) of 11 August 2017 stating that scholarships will only be granted to the extent of the fee structure panel rates, that was also set aside by the Madras High Court for students admitted under free seats under government quota with effect from 2017-2018. Vacation judge RMT Teekaa Raman, who quashed the GO, also argued that students studying under the management quota in private colleges are also entitled to the scholarship granted by the state government to students of the Adi-Dravidar community studying engineering in government and government-aided colleges. The judge issued orders to quash the Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department’s August 2017 GO on a written petition from 114 students at the Bharathiyar Institute of Women’s Engineering in Salem.

 

UNITED KINGDOM – UK Report: More Serious About Pakistan’s Dirty Money Flight Abroad

A new report by the Royal United Services Institute of Britain (RUSI) identified a “mismatch in Pakistani and international illicit financing-related priorities” where the priorities of the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF) were counter-terrorism financing, while Pakistani policymakers felt that the proceeds of corruption siphoned outside the country should be more relevant. The think tank’s report identified Pakistan’s opportunities to drive its financial system’s integrity, allowing the country’s leadership to address decades of illicit economic activity by taking steps to curb the flow of corruption proceeds siphoned off outside Pakistan.

 

INDIA – Madras HC Directs District Officials From Perambalur To Ensure That All Communities Participate In The Temple Festival

The high court of the Madras ordered the administration of the Perambalur district to ensure that people from all communities are allowed to worship the deity during the Selliyamma Temple festival in the village of Padalur. In two separate pleas moved by village residents, Justice R M T Teekaa Rama, a vacation judge, passed the standard order.