Justice Financial News

Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday asked Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray to withdraw his «anti-reservation» remarks or else Dalits and backward classes will boycott MNS candidates in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. Athawale said Thackeray's remarks on reservations were uncalled for. Speaking to reporters in Pandharpur town, Thackeray on Monday said local people should be given priority in job opportunities. «My stance is that locals should be given priority in job opportunities. Why should caste be a factor in this? If the private sector continues to create jobs, we should think about how many people will benefit from reservation in government jobs,» the MNS chief had said.

Federal prosecutors in Switzerland say they have found Glencore’s international unit “criminally liable” and ordered the commodities giant to pay over $150 million in fines and compensation after ending a probe of bribery involving Congo’s mining industry

Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by the state of Missouri to halt Donald Trump's upcoming sentencing for his conviction in New York on felony charges involving hush money paid to a porn star and left a related gag order until after the Nov. 5 presidential election. The decision by the justices came in response to Missouri's lawsuit claiming that the case against Trump infringed on the right of voters under the U.S. Constitution to hear from the Republican presidential nominee as he seeks to regain the White House. The Supreme Court's order was unsigned. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito indicated they would have taken up Missouri's case but added that they «would not grant other relief.»

A judge has ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation

Antitrust tensions are heating up in the chipmaking industry

Enforcement Directorate told Supreme Court that the two prime accused senior bureaucrats in the Nagrik Apurti Nigam (PDS) scam of Chhattisgarh, were in contact with the judge who granted bail to one of the two. According to ED, Anil Kumar Tuteja and Alok Shukla were speaking to the High Court judge who «granted bail to Shukla in October, 2019.» ED claims that the two accused were in contact with the judge through Satish Chandra Verma, the then advocate general. While the probe agency has not named the judge in the affidavit filed on August 1, contents from WhatsApp chat details linked to the case found in annexures state that Justice Arvind Kumar Chandel was the judge in question, who was reached through former state chief secretary Ajay Singh. Justice Chandel was tranferred to Patna High Court this year.

Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the deaths of three civil services aspirants in the basement of a coaching centre here and sought responses from the Centre and the Delhi government. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said the recent incident in the national capital was an eye-opener for all. «These places (coaching centres) have become death chambers. Coaching institutes can operate online unless there is full compliance of the safety norms and basic norms for a dignified life. Coaching centres are playing with the lives of aspirants who come from different parts of the country,» the bench said. On Friday, the Delhi High Court transferred the probe into the deaths of the three students at Rau's IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar from the city police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) «to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation».

Supreme Court will next week hear pleas on the intensely discussed legal question of whether a husband should enjoy immunity from prosecution for the offence of rape if he forces his wife, who is not a minor, to have sex. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on Monday took note of the submissions of senior advocate Karuna Nandy, appearing for one of the parties, that the petitions on the issue of marital rape be heard. The CJI said the pleas will be heard next week. The bench, he added, would be busy this week in dealing with a batch of matters on taxation laws. On July 16, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for one of the parties, had mentioned the petitions and said they be accorded «some priority».

Unrest related to misinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls last week spread to multiple towns and cities on Saturday as anti-immigration demonstrators clashed with police. The violence is posing a major test for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected only a month ago after leading Labour to a landslide win over the Conservatives.

Delays in justice deliver are among the biggest barriers in India to making it easier to do business and improving people’s ease of living. In a recent response, Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal informed Parliament that more than 50 million cases are pending in various courts across India, of which nearly 90% are in district and subordinate courts. This backlog not only burdens the judicial system, but also denies timely justice to millions of citizens, and the cost of it is borne not just by the economy, but by all of us.

Ayodhya gang-rape victim has alleged that some people are asking her to reach a compromise in the case, a Bahujan Samaj Party leader has claimed. Vishwanath Pal said that the woman made the allegation after a delegation of the party visited her house. «A delegation of the BSP met the family of the girl in her village on Saturday. The mother of the girl told the delegation that some people were asking her to make a compromise in the case. We assured her that justice will be done and she should not come under pressure or threat of anyone,» Pal, the BSP state president, told PTI Videos in Ayodhya. He said that the delegation also visited the women's hospital where the 12-year-old girl is undergoing treatment and talked to the hospital superintendent regarding her health.

Kejriwal's close aide Bibhav Kumar in a case concerning alleged assault on AAP MP Swati Maliwal was «necessary» and police strictly followed the law while doing so, the Delhi High Court has said. The court, which on Friday dismissed Kumar's petition that claimed his arrest was illegal, said in its written judgment that there was no merit in his plea. Kumar, currently in judicial custody, allegedly assaulted Maliwal at Kejriwal's official residence on May 13. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on May 18. In his plea, Kumar had sought a direction to declare his arrest as illegal and in gross violation of the provisions of section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and against the mandate of the law.

Delhi High Court has upheld an order accepting cancellation report filed by the police in a complaint filed against BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain alleging rape and criminal intimidation. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said there was no infirmity in the order passed by the additional sessions judge (ASJ) and dismissed the revision petition filed by the complainant challenging the December 2023 order. «In the present case, the overwhelming independent ocular, documentary and scientific evidence collected during the investigations, whereby the presence of the respondent no.2 (Hussain) and complainant on the date of the alleged incident at the place of alleged incident… is completely ruled out, the possibility of the commission of alleged offence is rendered zilch. »Hence, the conclusion of the ASJ in accepting the cancellation report has to be upheld. In view of the foregoing discussions, there is no infirmity in the impugned order dated December 16, 2023 and the revision petition is hereby dismissed," the high court said in the order which was passed on Friday and made available on Saturday.

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency

TikTok and parent company ByteDance for failing to protect children's privacy on the social media app as the Biden administration continues its crackdown on the social media site. The government said TikTok violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act that requires services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13. The Chinese-owned short-video platform boasts around 170 million U.S. users, and is currently fighting a new law that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.

Rau's IAS Study Circle has offered compensation of Rs 50 lakh each to the families of three UPSC aspirants who died after rainwater gushed inside the institute's basement in Old Rajinder Nagar last week. The institute announced the compensation on Thursday, five days after the incident occurred. «We are offering Rs 50 lakh compensation to the family of each student who has lost their lives. Half the money will be given now. While the remaining portion will be given once Abhishek Gupta, CEO of the organisation, comes out or within six months, whichever is earlier», Rau's IAS advocate Mohit Saraf told PTI videos. On July 27, three UPSC aspirants drowned in the basement library of Rau's coaching centre. The Delhi Police has arrested seven people in connection with the case, including Rau's CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh.

civil services exam but was declared «temporarily unfit» to be a civil servant due to obesity, the Supreme Court came to his rescue on Friday by ordering the UPSC to conduct his medical examination afresh. The top court used its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, directing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to conduct a fresh physical fitness test for Rakshit Shivam Prakash, who ranked 93 in the civil services exam held in 2014 but lost out due to «unacceptable» Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI of the candidate was at 31.75, which is higher than the prescribed standard of 30. He was declared «temporarily unfit» and consequently, denied employment. He could not take part in the second medical test scheduled on July 14, 2015. Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the top court to pass «any decree or order necessary for doing complete justice in any case or matter pending before it».

pre-arrest bail grantable, especially in cases that are off-shoots of matrimonial discordance, it should exercise caution while imposing bail conditions, the Supreme Court said on Friday. The apex court also said it was pained to see that despite a catena of verdicts deprecating the practice of putting onerous conditions for pre-arrest bail, such orders were being passed without giving due regard to the binding precedents. These observations by the Supreme Court came in a verdict that set aside a condition imposed by the Patna High Court while granting provisional pre-arrest bail to a man in a case lodged for offences, including those under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. A top court bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and P K Mishra stressed the need to put compliable conditions while granting bail, «recognising the human right to live with dignity and with a view to secure the presence of the accused as also unhindered course of investigation, ultimately to ensure a fair trial».

Supreme Court said on Friday while wondering why public interest litigations (PILs) are filed when infrastructure projects like highways are launched. The apex court's observation came while dealing with a petition over construction work for doubling of the railway tracks on the Vasco Da Gama-Kulem section of Tinaighat-Vasco Da Gama route in Goa. «We are only wondering why this happens only in this country that when you start constructing a road in Himachal (Pradesh), the PILs come. When you start constructing a highway, national highways, the PILs come,» a bench of Justices Surya Kant and R Mahadevan observed. «You tell us a single internationally famed tourist resort where the railway facility is not there,» the bench told the petitioner's counsel, adding, «Go to the Alps mountains and they take you through the snow in train.»

Delhi High Court has appointed an arbitrator to resolve the dispute between PVR INOX and Ansal Plaza Mall in Greater Noida. PVR INOX claims that its four-screen multiplex at Ansal Plaza Mall was sealed due to unpaid government dues by the lessor, Sheetal Ansal. PVR INOX has filed a claim of approximately Rs 4.5 crore in the Delhi High Court, seeking arbitration to address the issue. In an order passed by Justice C Hari Shankar, he said, «Prima facie, an arbitrable dispute has arisen between the parties, which is amenable to arbitration in terms of the arbitration clause extracted. As the parties have not been able to come to a consensus regarding the arbitrator to arbitrate on the disputes, this Court has to intervene. Accordingly, this Court appoints the arbitrator to arbitrate on the disputes between the parties. Court noted that the Counsel for Respondent/lessor also be permitted for counter-claim to be agitated in the arbitration proceedings.»

Families of some of the people killed in Boeing Max crashes are asking a judge to reject a plea agreement that the aircraft maker struck with the prosecutors