Justice Lodha's attribution of guilt to the owners of teams, rather than to individuals, has laid out the law of command and responsibility, responsibility by virtue of ownership of shareholding, team membership and holding out to be the face of the team, says Indira Jaising.
'To suggest that activists -- and that too 'five star activists' -- are driving the courts, is to betray an ignorance of the functioning of the legal system of the most gross kind,' says Senior Advocate and former Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising.
'No private citizen can be prevented from holding or propagating in India or abroad, a view contrary to that of the government of the day. The government, it seems is misreading the mandate in the Lok Sabha as being a mandate to crush dissent. In times when ruling parties have brute majorities in Parliament, the true test of safeguarding democracy is its ability to allow dissenting voices to be heard,' says Indira Jaising, the former additional solicitor general.
'I rejoice in the fact that Justice Iyer has left a legacy, after all, legacies no not reside in brick and mortar, but in living humans and there are many of us who have followed in his footsteps and continue to do so.' Former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising salutes the legendary Justice V R Krishna Iyer who passed into the ages last week, the judge who restored her faith in the Supreme Court of India.
One woman president or one woman chief minister does not make or prove the point that women are treated equally, but 33 per cent women in elected bodies do constitute a critical mass to make a difference, writes Additional Solicitor General of India Indira Jaising.
On her very first day in office as additional solicitor general, Indira Jaising pens a column exclusively for rediff.com on what her new assignment, new responsibility and new challenge mean to her
'It is time to acknowledge that the benefits of globalisation have remained in the privileged hands of a few, for whom the world begins and ends with fashion, Bollywood and cricket.'
It is not often understood that foreigners too have constitutional rights, one of most important of them being the right to life and personal liberty. Clearly Taslima's right to life and liberty have been violated by her detention. Unless the government has good reasons to justify her detention, she must be set free
While Justice A K Mathur and Justice Markandey Katju said there have to be limits to judicial activism, Justice S B Sinha retaliates the following day refusing to decide the issue whether women prisoners in jail are being denied their rights. Then, the high court retaliates by refusing to decide a petition relating to beggars, for being chastised by the Supreme Court in entertaining all petitions in public interest. While the judges fight it out, justice suffers.
Indira Jaising says a recent judgment of the apex court curtails the rights of women in a marriage.
'It makes the Supreme Court one of the most powerful courts in the world.'