Fundamental Rights

US calls on Pakistani govt to respect human rights, fundamental freedoms

As thousands in Pakistan defied a crackdown to rally for the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, the United States called on Pakistani authorities to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and to ensure respect for the country's laws. At least one policeman was killed and dozens injured in clashes on Monday as thousands of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf protesters entered the territorial jurisdiction of the national capital on the call of the party founder Khan. The 72-year-old former premier, who has been in jail since August last year, issued a "final call" on November 13 for nationwide protests on November 24, denouncing what he termed as the stolen mandate, the unjust arrests of people and the passage of the 26th amendment, which he said has strengthened a "dictatorial regime". "In Pakistan and around the world, we support freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. We call on protesters to demonstrate peacefully and refrain from violence," State ...

Even single day's delay in deciding bail affects citizens' rights: SC

Deprecating the practice of courts keeping bail applications pending for years, the Supreme Court has said that even a single day's delay in deciding such matters adversely affects the fundamental rights of citizens. The apex court has time and again emphasised the importance of personal liberty, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said in an order passed on Friday. "It has been observed by this court (that) even a single day('s) delay in deciding the bail application adversely affects the fundamental rights of the citizens," it said. "We do not appreciate the practice of keeping bail application pending for years together," it said. The top court's observation came while hearing a plea filed by a man who said his bail application was pending before the Allahabad High Court since August last year and there was no progress in the matter. The petitioner said the matter was adjourned repeatedly before the high court without any effective hearing. The SC noted that it h

Issuance of LOCs at instance of PSBs violation of fundamental rights: HC

The court made the observation on April 23 while quashing the Centre's decision empowering such banks to seek issuance of LOCs

As SC highlights climate change, lawyers draw attention towards attribution

Amid the likelihood of a rise in litigations following the Supreme Court's observation that climate change impacts the constitutional guarantee of the right to equality, scientists have urged for fixing inadequacies in data and modelling for attribution in such lawsuits. Attribution science determines the likelihood of an extreme weather event due to climate change. Environment lawyers and field experts agree that being evidence-based, attribution science will be crucial to climate litigation and play a key role in limiting baseless lawsuits. "Attribution data has been important in litigation as it is scientific and evidentiary in nature. It definitely will help support a case," said Prachi Pratap, a Supreme Court advocate. The Supreme Court on April 18 said that by impacting clean environment and health, climate change impacts the constitutional guarantee of the right to equality. "Without a clean environment which is stable and unimpacted by the vagaries of climate change, the r

Politicians can't be restrained from participating in political acts: SC

Granting of bail preconditioned on the premise of politicians not participating in political activities would be violative of fundamental rights, said the apex court

Article 21 soul of Constitution, liberty of citizen most important: SC

The Supreme Court has said that Article 21 is the soul of the Constitution as the liberty of a citizen is of paramount importance and the high court not expeditiously adjudicating matters related to it would deprive a person of this precious right. A bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta made the observation after noting that the Bombay High Court has granted bail to one Amol Vithal Vahile, a prime accused in the murder of a corporator in Maharashtra, after a nudge from the apex court on January 29. The bench, in its recent order, said it is thus clear that before the order was passed by this court on January 29, 2024, the high court instead of deciding the application for bail on merits shunted it on one or the other ground. "Needless to state that Article 21 of the Constitution of India is the soul of the Constitution as the liberty of a citizen is of paramount importance. Not deciding the matter pertaining to liberty of a citizen expeditiously and shunting away the

Citizens' constitutional rights are under attack, says Sharad Pawar

Rights of citizens enshrined in the Constitution are under attack and this poses a significant threat to the democratic fabric of the nation, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar said on Monday. Addressing an 'Elgar Parishad' gathering in Ulhasnagar in Thane district, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks in Parliament were superficial and trivial and decried attacks on Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first PM, and Babasaheb Ambedkar, principal architect of the Constitution. "Two days ago in Parliament, we heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech. In the entire speech, he criticised and attacked Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who had spent six to seven years in jail before Independence. After Independence, he took Dr Ambedkar along and built a democratic country. The attack was made on the policies and decisions taken by that person," Pawar claimed. Such attacks are not merely directed at individuals but represent a broader assault on the ...

Parl security case: HC dismisses Neelam Azad's plea against police remand

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition by Neelam Azad, an accused arrested in the December 13 Parliament security breach case, seeking her release on ground that her police remand was illegal. A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said the petition was not maintainable. "Petitioner has already moved bail application before the trial court.Present petition is not maintainable and is dismissed accordingly," the bench, also comprising Justice Manoj Jain said. Azad's lawyer argued that the police custody was in violation of the provisions of the Constitution as she was not allowed to consult a legal practitioner of her choice to defend her during the trial court proceedings. During the hearing, the high court said no such grounds of violation of her fundamental rights was made out. In her petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus directing her production before the high court as well as an order to "set her at liberty", Azad said not allowing her to consult a lawy

Freedom of speech & expression can't go beyond limits of reasonableness: HC

Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to go beyond the limits of reasonableness otherwise it could lead to disastrous consequences, the Bombay High Court has said. A single bench of Justice Milind Jadhav made the observation on Tuesday while upholding the termination of service of an employee with Hitachi Astemo Fie, an auto parts manufacturing company. The employee was terminated after he uploaded two posts of Facebook against the company. The company had approached the HC challenging an order of a labour court reversing the termination of the employee for putting provocative posts against Hitachi. Justice Jadhav in the order said the posts were directed against the company with a clear intent to incite hatred and were provocative. "A strong message needs to be sent out against such acts," the court said adding such acts should be nipped in the bud. "Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to be transgressed beyond reasonableness. If that is allowed, it c

Citizens don't have right to know source of electoral bond funds: Centre

Attorney General R Venkataramani said that the Constitution has not conferred citizens with a fundamental right to know the source of electoral bond funds

Article 35A took away fundamental rights of non-residents of J&K, says CJI

Article 35A, which was scrapped in August 2019, allowed the legislature of the erstwhile state to define "permanent residents" and provide them with special rights and privileges

Safety to life and property of citizens is state's responsibility: SC

The Supreme Court has said that it is the bounden duty of any State to ensure that the lives and properties of its citizens and other persons are at all times protected. It said that every attempt which succeeds at the hands of anyone "whereby the efficacy of criminal law is diluted, will remove the very edifice of the rule of law fatally". A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna made these observations while deciding a petition seeking to transfer a criminal case pending before a Jhajjar court in Haryana to a court in Delhi. The transfer petition has been filed by 38 people of Jhajjar, whose properties were allegedly vandalized during 2016 agitation by members of the Jat community who were seeking reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. It is the case of the petitioners that during this agitation, the members of Jat community vandalized and committed acts of arson which allegedly caused huge irreparable damage to them by setting their houses, godowns

J-K can't develop until democratic rights are guaranteed: Farooq Abdullah

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has said the idea of all-round development of the people of Jammu and Kashmir will remain elusive until their basic democratic rights are guaranteed and respected. Abdullah said human rights are indispensable and inherent to the dignity of every human being. "The ruling dispensation is using J-K to climb the political ladder nationally by employing a narrative that is not corroborated by ground realities," said the Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar in his message on International Human Rights Day. Far from providing jobs to the youth, the incumbent ruling dispensation at the Centre, which is in direct control of J-K's affairs, has shown the door to hundreds of employed youth, Abdullah alleged. "There is not even a single selection process that hasn't ended in a scam. Our government employees are working under tremendous pressure. The sweeping takeover of labour rights by this government is a major concern for all of us. This trend needs to be

Right to freedom of religion not fundamental right to convert: Centre to SC

The Centre told the Supreme Court that the right to freedom of religion does not include a fundamental right to convert people to a particular religion.

Protection of citizens' Constitutional rights a must: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar while speaking on the amendments to the IT intermediary Rules 2021 said protection of Constitutional rights of Indian citizens is a must

Supreme Court rejects plea seeking declaration of cow as national animal

'It is not the job of the court to decide on such matters,' the SC bench commented while enquiring which fundamental right of the petitioner was affected

Every prisoner has right to apply for bail; access legal aid: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has said that every prisoner has a fundamental right to file the bail application without delay

Right to contest election neither fundamental nor common law right, says SC

The right to contest an election is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right, the Supreme Court has said while dismissing with a cost of Rs one lakh a petition which raised the issue regarding the filing of nomination for Rajya Sabha elections. Observing that an individual cannot claim that he has a right to contest an election, the apex court noted that the Representation of People Act, 1950, read with the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, has contemplated the name of a candidate has to be proposed while filling the nomination form. A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia passed the order while hearing a plea challenging the June 10 order of the Delhi High Court which had dismissed a petition about deciding the candidature of the petitioner to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, 2022. The petitioner had said that a notification for election to Rajya Sabha was issued on May 12, 2022, to fill up the seats of members retiring from June 21, 2022,

New data protection Bill must consider all criticism: Justice Srikrishna

Former judge headed panel that drafted the legislation which the government withdrew yesterday

Power of RTI Act: How, where to use the right to question your govt

What is RTI Act? Indian citizens can seek any information that the government can disclose to the Parliament of India. From application to fees, here's how to use RTI Act to question your government