'The government should immediately enact an Act to make caste discrimination a criminal offence and lay down a procedure similar to that of the Anti-Ragging Act.' 'Ragging has nearly been eliminated because it is treated as a criminal offence.' 'Similar procedure should be used in case of caste discrimination.'
A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Prashant Kumar Mishra, which heard the matter in a special hearing, urged the Chief Justice of India to assign the matter to a larger bench.
The analysis of five candidates could not be completed as their affidavits are either badly scanned or complete affidavits are not uploaded on the Election Commission of India website, they said.
Universally practiced forms of discrimination and exclusion include social and cultural segregation, expressed in various forms of refusal to have any social interaction; endogamy, expressed through the universal prohibitions on Dalit-non-Dalit marriages and through severe social sanctions on both Dalits and non-Dalits, who break this taboo.'In short, in most social contexts, Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are Dalits first and Muslims and Christians only second,' it said.
The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the Centre and West Bengal government to respond to a plea seeking directions to prevent the alleged exodus due to 'state-sponsored' violence after the assembly polls, constituting a Special Investigating Team to probe the issue and take action against culprits.
The PIL said the independent expert committee should be asked to submit its report within four weeks and direction be issued for action against state agencies for dereliction of duty.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal said this was not a matter to be mentioned before it since the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women were looking into it.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked a petitioner, who has sought the constitution of an independent committee under a retired apex court judge to inquire into the incidents of sexual assault and violence in Manipur, to mention his plea for listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
Constituencies that are going to the polls in the first phase, slated for April 19, have just 19 days for campaigning. Contrast that with those going to polls in the 7th phase, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court Friday granted the 'last opportunity' to the Centre to file its reply on a public interest litigation seeking directions for framing of guidelines identifying minorities at the state level as Hindus are in a minority in 10 states and are not able to avail the benefits of schemes meant for minorities.
BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on Monday held a protest against Kamal Nath, while the National Commission for Women sought an explanation from the Congress leader for his 'item' jibe against state minister Imarti Devi.
Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari and Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are among the seven BJP parliamentarians who will contest the Rajasthan Assembly polls, according to the first list of 41 candidates issued by the party on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Indian medical students who have returned from Ukraine, China and Philippines due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war, to clear the MBBS final examination in two attempts in accordance with existing National Medical Commission (NMC) syllabus and guidelines without being enrolled in any medical college in India.
In a response to the August 3 order, the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said till the time either the legislature or the poll panel steps in, the top court must lay down "dos and don'ts" for political parties in the 'larger national interest.'
Right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nation-wide caste census and scrapping of Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released on Friday.
The National Human Rights Commission sent notices to the police heads of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh after an alleged victim of sexual assault and police apathy set herself afire outside the Supreme Court in August, officials said Wednesday.
A special bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, in an interim order uploaded Wednesday night, also directed the Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and Adjoining Areas to 'commission a scientific study of air quality based on available data of previous years bearing upon recorded levels of air pollution'.
The Supreme Court on Thursday awarded life sentence to four convicts in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case for the remainder of their lives without remission, citing the severity of the offence. Thirteen people were killed and nearly 40 injured in the explosion.
The national scheduled castes panel on Tuesday issued notices to Union human resource development secretary and IIT-Madras Director asking them to appear before it on June 8 amid a political row over de-recognition of a students' body comprising mostly dalits.
With the appointment of the five judges, the total number of judges in the apex court has risen to 32, two short of the full strength.
Leaders of several opposition parties on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court verdict striking down the electoral bonds scheme and termed it an important step in ensuring transparency in electoral funding.
Former chairperson of the National Commission of SC/ST, B D Sharma, told rediff.com that he has not been approached by the Chhattisgarh government to mediate in the release of the abducted Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon.
The Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre assist the medical students who had returned to the country from Ukraine in view of the war with Russia by creating a web portal giving details of the foreign universities, where they could complete their courses as per the government's academic mobility programme.
In a virtual snub to the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes on Thursday said the state had the "worst track record" across the country in terms of atrocities on Dalits.
Justice Chandrachud also dealt with questions about criticism by eminent lawyers on the allocation of cases to particular judges and 'bench hunting', and said the allocation of cases is not "lawyer-driven" and vowed to maintain the credibility of the institution of the Supreme Court.
'In 2013, Modi said his government would be of Dalits and OBCs.' 'During his tenure, the highest number of atrocities have taken place.' 'What they want is that this Ambedkar Constitution must not be practised in India in the future.'
The Allahabad high court had in January 2006 struck down the provision of the 1981 amendment Act by which the university was accorded the minority status.
The four accused were shot dead on NH-44 near Hyderabad -- the same highway-- where the charred body of a 27-year-old veterinarian was found.
Two top Muslim organisations -- All India Milli Council and Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind (Mahmood Madni) -- on Tuesday backed National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Chairman Wajahat Habibullah's call for scheduled caste status to Muslim and Christian Dalits.
The court had warned a "very difficult situation" will emerge if proselytisation through deception, allurement and intimidation is not stopped.
A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar granted liberty to the petitioner to serve the advance copy of the plea to the standing counsel for the respondents.
Forced religious conversion may pose a danger to national security and impinge on the religious freedom of citizens, the top court had said recently and asked the Centre to step in and make sincere efforts to tackle the "very serious" issue.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by undergraduate medical students of first to fourth-year batches in their respective foreign medical colleges/universities.
A person availing the services of a bank for 'commercial purpose' is not a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, the Supreme Court has said. The apex court stated that to come within the ambit of the consumer, a person will have to establish that the services were availed exclusively for earning his livelihood by means of self employment. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said there cannot be any straitjacket formula and such a question will have to be decided in the facts of each case, depending upon the evidence placed on record.
The top court asked state governments to understand the agony of children starving on the streets and directed the district authorities that they be immediately taken care of without waiting for any further orders from the courts.
The judgment came on a batch of pleas challenging the Bombay high court verdict which had upheld the grant of reservation to Marathas in admissions and government jobs in the state.
The Right to Education Act that came into operation from this academic session prohibits screening of students and parents for admissions in schools, but it has been flouted by not only by many private schools but even by the Navodaya schools run by the Centre in Andhra Pradesh and many other states.
The apex court's five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said Aadhaar is meant to help benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society and takes into account the dignity of people not only from personal but also from community point of view.
If it is opaque, then who else will speak up against it if not the concerned minister, Rijiju said.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said the State Election Commission has already issued a notification and it will remain unchanged.
