Promiscuous character of woman irrelevant in rape cases: SC New Delhi: Promiscuous character of a woman is irrelevant in rape cases and a rapist cannot take it as ground of defence for his henious act, the Supreme Court has ruled saying even a female of easy virtue has a right to life.

Holding that rape is not only an offence against a woman, but a crime against the entire society, the apex court said that courts should deal with such cases sternly and severely.

"Even if the victim had lost her virginity earlier, it can certainly not give a licence to any person to rape her. It is the accused who was on trial and not the victim. So as to whether the victim is of a promiscuous character is totally an irrelevant issue altogether in a case of rape," a bench of justices BS Chauhan and FMI Kalifulla said.

The bench passed the order on an appeal filed by a rape convict challenging his conviction on the ground that the victim was of promiscuous character and had been habitual to sexual activities. It, however, refused to grant relief to the accused saying that it is not material that the rape victim was accustomed to sexual intercourse....more    
05:51 PM, May 17, 2013

Non-bailable warrant issued against Zaibunissa Mumbai: A TADA court on Friday issued a non-bailable warrant against 1993 Bombay blasts co-accused Zaibunissa Kazi after she failed to surrender in the court on Friday, as per scheduled. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will execute this warrant. The daughter of 70-year-old Zaibunissa was likely to seek a day more for her mother to surrender citing health reasons. The Supreme Court had earlier granted four weeks time to...  
04:43 PM, May 17, 2013

Aarushi-Hemraj murder: Talwar couple to record statement today Ghaziabad: A special Ghaziabad CBI court is likely to record statements of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar in the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case on Friday. The statements could not be recorded on Tuesday, as scheduled, because the petition of the Talwar couple to summon 14 'crucial' witnesses in the case was pending in the Allahabad High Court. While the special CBI court on Tuesday slammed the "delaying tactics" allegedly being adopted...  
09:39 AM, May 17, 2013

Prior approval must to arrest under Section 66A: SC
by IANS
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said no person would be arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act for posting objectionable comments on social networking websites without prior approval from an officer not below the rank of inspector general of police. A vacation bench of Justice BS Chauhan and Justice Dipak Misra passed the order after hearing a plea by Shreya Singhal, who had petitioned the court against...  
04:20 AM, May 17, 2013

Sanjay Dutt likely to file curative petition in SC Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who surrendered on Thursday before a special TADA court here, is planning to file a curative petition before the Supreme Court, his lawyer said. "We are planning to file a curative petition in the apex court soon," Dutt's advocate Rizwan Merchant told special TADA Judge GA Sanap when the proceedings were on to take the 53-year-old actor into custody. Dutt had earlier filed a review...  
06:22 PM, May 16, 2013

Delhi HC verdict on nursery admissions challenged in SC New Delhi: The Delhi High Court verdict that the Right to Education (RTE) Act is not applicable to nursery admission in unaided private schools has been challenged in the Supreme Court. An NGO, Social Jurist, has approached the apex court, saying that the high court erred in law in holding that the Act applied only in the matter of admission of children between the age of 6 years to 14...  
04:46 PM, May 16, 2013

Only top officers can order arrest for offensive posts on web: SC New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that no arrests could be made for objectionable comments on social networking websites without prior permission of senior police officers. The apex court, which refused to pass an order for a blanket ban on the arrest of a person for making objectionable comments on websites, said state governments should ensure strict compliance of the Centre's January 9 advisory which said that a...  
12:24 PM, May 16, 2013

The Last Word: Can the GoM convert the CBI into a free bird?

Karan Thapar discusses the future of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), called a caged parrot by the Supreme Court of India, with a panel of experts. ...
09:55 PM, May 15, 2013

Daughter-in-law should not be treated as domestic help: SC New Delhi: A daughter-in-law should be treated as a family member and not the domestic help, and she cannot be "thrown out of her matrimonial home at any time", the Supreme Court has said, while expressing concern over instances of brides being burnt and tortured in the country. The top court said a bride must be respected in her matrimonial home as it "reflects the sensitivity of a civilised society."...  
07:59 PM, May 15, 2013

Mumbai jail receives letter about threat to Sanjay Dutt's life Mumbai: Actor Sanjay Dutt on Wednesday told a court here that he will surrender before it on Thursday to undergo the prison term in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, even as a jail official said he would be provided adequate security in the wake of an anonymous letter alleging threat to his life. Dutt's lawyer Subhash Yadav submitted before the special TADA court that the 53-year-old actor wanted to withdraw...  
06:30 PM, May 15, 2013

Online censorship: SC to hear plea against govt action New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking to restrain government authorities from taking any coercive action against anyone for posting alleged objectionable comments on social networking sites. An application was filed before the apex court seeking its direction to the authorities not to take action for posting such comments during the pendency of a case before it pertaining to constitutional validity of section 66A...  
01:01 PM, May 15, 2013

1993 blasts: Sanjay Dutt to surrender at TADA court tomorrow Mumbai: Actor Sanjay Dutt will surrender at TADA court in Mumbai on Thursday in the 1993 Bombay blasts case. Dutt has withdrawn his application to surrender at Yerwada Jail in Pune which he had filed on Tuesday. Dutt's lawyer Subhash Jadhav informed the court that he wants to withdraw the application and he will surrender on Thursday. Dutt had expressed fears of being chased by the media and that he...  
12:07 PM, May 15, 2013

1993 Bombay blasts case: Sanjay Dutt to surrender today Mumbai: Four weeks after the Supreme court granted actor Sanjay Dutt time to surrender before the TADA court in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, the deadline ends on Wednesday. But there are doubts over whether he will surrender at the TADA court after Dutt filed an application seeking to surrender directly at Mumbai's Arthur Road prison or Pune's Yerawada jail. Dutt has claimed that he fears being chased by the...  
07:33 AM, May 15, 2013

Digvijaya gets legal notice for 'contempt of apex court' Jabalpur: The city-based Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, a local consumer organisation sent a legal notice to Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday, terming his statement against the Supreme Court's "caged parrot" comment about the CBI, as "contempt of apex court". The consumer body has also demanded a public apology from him on the issue within a month. Manch patron PG Najpande who is known to take up public causes...  
01:06 AM, May 15, 2013

Commissioning of Kudankulam N-plant likely to get delayed
by IANS
Chennai: India's atomic power plant operator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has shifted the commissioning of the first 1,000 MW unit at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) to June 2013. According to NPCIL's website, the first unit, whose physical progress is at 99.66 per cent, will be commissioned next month, not in May as earlier announced. Soon after the Supreme Court gave its nod to the project...  
10:57 PM, May 14, 2013

BJP slams Digvijaya's comments on judiciary New Delhi: Criticising Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's "unwarranted advice" to the judiciary, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the motivation behind his criticism was the "frustration of a loser". Jaitley said the "ill-advised" suggestion made to the judiciary by Digvijaya has come when corruption of UPA government is being investigated by CBI and monitored by the Supreme Court and did not come when the...  
08:30 PM, May 14, 2013

Govt forms GoM to review SC directives on CBI autonomy

A week after the Supreme Court pulled up the Government over its control on the functioning of the CBI, the Prime Minister on Tuesday constituted a Group of Ministers to review the SC's directives on CBI autonomy. The GoM is headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and will include V Narayanasamy, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari. ...
07:14 PM, May 14, 2013

SEBI begins repayment process in Sahara case New Delhi: In the high profile Sahara case involving over Rs 24,000 crore raised through "various illegalities", market regulator SEBI has begun the process of refund to individual investors who have been verified by it. The money is being refunded only in those cases where SEBI has not found any multiplicity during its verification process. Refund for others will have to wait till the next direction from the Supreme Court,...  
05:17 PM, May 14, 2013

Sanjay Dutt urges court to allow him to surrender before jail Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted in 1993 bomb blasts case, on Tuesday urged a designated TADA court in Mumbai to allow him to surrender before Yerwada jail in Pune instead of giving himself up before the special court. Judge GA Sanap, hearing the actor's application, asked CBI to file a reply and posted the hearing on Dutt's plea on Wednesday. Public prosecutor Deepak Salvi appeared for the Government and...  
03:29 PM, May 14, 2013

SC no to plea seeking more time for Sanjay Dutt New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a petition by a Bollywood production house who sought an extension of time for actor Sanjay Dutt to surrender so that he could finish the shoot for its films. The two films that Dutt is currently shooting for are 'Policegiri' and 'Vasooli'. Dutt is to surrender on May 15 in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case. Dutt was held guilty by...  
11:36 AM, May 14, 2013