Musings on India, the law, and policy
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 25th, 2012
The legal fraternity, and indeed all who knew him, are left poorer by the passing of Vepa Sarathi – a great practitioner, prodigious scholar, versatile teacher, and above all, a man with a terrific sense of humour. For those who may not have had an opportunity to listen to Sarathi in his element, and for [...]
Posted in corruption on Jun 8th, 2011
The Bihar Government’s earlier initiative to have a strict law on corruption has now withstood a legal challenge. The Bihar Special Court’s Act, 2009 had, amongst other things, authorised for the confiscation of property bought with the proceeds of corruption irrespective of whether it exceeded the alleged amount of corruption. In february, this year, the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 30th, 2011
With the President rejecting the mercy petitions of two convicts on death row, time has again come for the debates surrounding the death penalty to be revived. The issue in the present cases seem to be rather political though. One of those convicted was a member of the Khalistan movement and the political parties from [...]
To clarify, ‘Rolling Stone’ in this sense has no reference to Dylan or Mick Jagger’s band but a reference to the Ugandan newspaper that a few months ago published contact details and photographs of gay men who were later targetted by the community there. In or around October 2010, the Rolling Stone in Uganda published [...]
Posted in Court, Democracy, Politics, Speeches on Mar 7th, 2011
Ever heard politicians saying one thing in private (or a private gathering) and saying another in a public forum? Politicians are always under scrutiny and their statements are time and again matched up to the party line. That may be good for party politics but surely not for good democracy and free speech. If one [...]
Posted in Court, Democracy, Rule of Law on Mar 3rd, 2011
A few days ago,the Government of India filed curative petitions (civil and criminal) in the Bhopal Gas leak case. The civil petition deals with enhancement of compensation as the settlement amount of $470 million was not adequate and the damage foreseen then was far lesser than the actual damage to life and property. In this [...]