Uttam Ghosh offers his take on these contrasting images of Freedom of Speech that exists in our great land.
The warring factions of the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday have shown signs of putting aside their differences with Delhi Chief Minister and party chief Arvind Kejriwal agreeing to meet his estranged colleagues Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav.
The plea came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it cannot 'control the elections' or issue directions simply because doubts have been raised about the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), as it reserved its judgment on a clutch of petitions claiming the polling devices can be tinkered with to manipulate the results.
'Young people say they know all this emphasis on Hindu-Muslim differences is politically motivated.' 'If you stop watching TV and turn off social media, you'll find the situation on the ground different.'
The apex court orally observed that if FIRs are given to those unrelated to the case like busybodies and NGOs, they might be misused.
A day ahead of a meeting called by dissidents Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday spelled out its warning to party members that its top-decision making panels would determine what action would be taken against those found accepting the rebel camp's invitation.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday dismissed reports of crisis within the Aam Aadmi Party, saying everything is 'fine'.
Dissident Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav on Saturday labelled the show-cause notice issued to him by the party as a joke and a travesty of justice.
'No one would be allowed to impure the stream of justice,' declared the top court.
The top court said it cannot order a roving inquiry into purchase of electoral bonds on the assumption that it was quid pro quo for award of contract.
The AAP on Sunday removed party's internal Lokpal Admiral L Ramdas and Prashant Bhushan as the chief of the National Disciplinary Committee
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
The Gujarat government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the petitioners who have sought a probe into the alleged fake encounters in the state from 2002 to 2006 need to explain the reasons for their "selective public interest" in raising the issue.
Sounding a reconciliatory tone even as his fate in the party hangs in the balance, senior leader Yogendra Yadav said the crisis was an "opportunity" and that he will not quit.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the Centre on a plea filed by an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, and listed the matter along with other pending petitions on the issue for hearing in April.
Senior lawyer and Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan was attacked by three youths on Wednesday at around 4.15 pm when he was getting ready for an interview with a TV channel. Bhushan is fighting scores of cases against the United Progressive Alliance, and also the petitioner of the case related to 2G scam.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
Robert Vadra dismissed as "utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory" allegations over his property dealings with DLF and said he was saddened by attempt of activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan to malign him and his family to "gain cheap publicity".
Former telecommunication minister A Raja has been arrested because the Central Bureau of Investigation has got some evidence of money changing hands involving the minister, says Prashant Bhushan, lawyer whose public interest petition before Supreme Court in the 2G spectrum scam has led, ultimately, to Raja's arrest.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said Indian firms, involved in the export of arms and equipment to Israel, may be sued for breach of contractual obligations if they are stopped by it from supplying.
The apex court was hearing separate pleas filed in 2007 by senior journalist BG Verghese, and noted lyricist Javed Akhtar and Shabnam Hashmi, seeking a probe into the alleged fake encounters.
The bench refused to entertain the plea filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and dismissed it.
The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Delhi high court to decide within two weeks the plea pending before it challenging the appointment of senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi police commissioner.
'The BJP was supporting him from behind in order to bring down the Congress government.'
Anti-corruption activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan are planning to launch a television channel, which, they say, will be non-profit and will focus on public issues. "We are starting a channel which will focus on public issues," said Bhushan.
"No fundamental right has been violated. Section 144 was already in place and anyone who breaks the law can be taken into preventive custody," Noted constituional expert Fali Nariman told rediff.com.
The Supreme Court Registry is learnt to have refused to accept the Centre's plea seeking modification of its 2012 verdict in the 2G spectrum case which had said the State was duty bound to adopt the auction route while transferring or alienating the country's natural resources.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
Briefing mediapersons about Saturday's first Lok Pal joint draft committee meeting after a three-hour closed door meeting between Anna Hazare, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Justice N Santosh Hegde on Friday, the members declared their assets to the press, claiming they had nothing to hide.
The Supreme Court Wednesday said the new system of mentioning cases for urgent hearing before apex court officials instead of its benches directly has been put in place to ensure that senior lawyers are not given "special priority" over their junior colleagues.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGOs 'Common Cause' and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, that the plea needed to be listed for hearing at the earliest.
Aiming at devising a strategy for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament, the two-day meeting of the core committee of Team Anna began in Ralegan Siddhi on Saturday.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it has no reason to "discredit" SEBI, which probed allegations against the Adani group, as there was no material before it to doubt what the market regulator has done and the court does not have to treat what was set out in the Hindenburg report as a "true state of affairs".
Activist Anna Hazare started his one-day fast at Rajghat in Delhi to protest against the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters during their agitation against corruption.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday attacked social activist Anna Hazare for agreeing to include the father and son duo of Shashi Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan in the committee to draft an effective Lok Pal bill and questioned whether exclusion of a representative of opposition was good for democracy.
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to commence hearing from October 31 a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding of parties.
The Sena said given what has been happening within his party, Kejriwal should cease to preach others about politics.
Alleging that Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have joined hands to stall Jan Lokpal bill, Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday said its government would ensure passage of the proposed legislation in the assembly's special session without prior approval of the Centre.
Prashant Bhushan is a lawyer and one of the senior leaders and brains behind the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement for a stronger Lokpal bill. The movement is set to add a historic, new chapter in India's parliamentary democracy.
