The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that religious freedom does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion and that it certainly does not embrace the right to convert an individual through fraud, deception, coercion or allurement.
"Everyday fringe elements are making speeches to vilify others including on TV and public forums," the bench said.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad granted two weeks' time to the petitioners to respond to the Centre's stand on the matter.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Saturday Maharashtra's plea for a stay on the Bombay high court order acquitting G N Saibaba, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's persistent pitch that the acquittal was not on merit but for want of appropriate sanction to prosecute him under the anti-terror law UAPA.
The apex court said it cannot pass an omnibus order preventing authorities from taking action.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a batch of cross-petitions of Uddhav Thackeray and CM Eknath Shinde factions pertaining to the Maharashtra political crisis.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that it will not go into the personal laws governing marriages while deciding the pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages, and asked the lawyers to advance arguments on the Special Marriage Act.
Calling for a trust vote merely on the ground of differences between MLAs of a ruling party can topple an elected government, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday, adding that the governor of a state cannot lend his office to effectuate a particular result.
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.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Wednesday a plea related to the economically weaker section quota in NEET-PG admissions, after the Centre sought urgent hearing in the matter.
Political parties and individuals cannot be prevented from making poll promises aimed at fulfilling the constitutional mandate and the term 'freebie' should not be confused with genuine welfare measures, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections (EWS) persons in admissions and government jobs.
The Supreme Court Wednesday lauded the efforts of Maharashtra authorities in ensuring oxygen supply to Covid patients in Mumbai and asked the Centre and the Delhi government to talk with the civic body officials of that city to learn about augmenting and managing the supply.
I would say, unhappiness of the Government of the fact that NJAC does not pass the muster, Justice Kaul observed.
The bench said it is not inclined to show any indulgence in this application.
Mehta said some bushes were there on the ground which have been cleared and some branches were trimmed so that vehicles could pass on an approach road there.
The former IAS officer was illegally detained at Delhi airport on August 14 and taken back to Srinagar where he has been kept under house arrest.
Amid a tussle with the Aam Aadmi Party government, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that he has summoned the assembly for the budget session on March 3, even as the top court told both sides that constitutional discourse has to be conducted with a sense of decorum and mature statesmanship.
The BJP has nothing to lose after a point. For the DMK it is a difficult choice, as it would not want to give too much of space to a 'national party' lest the 'Dravidian duel' of the past decades should be lost forever, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said that as a division bench headed by the Gujarat high court Chief Justice has already taken a suo motu note of the incident and has passed several orders, it will not hear the petitions as of now.
Is Governor Ravi acting without informing/consulting the Centre, or is the BJP leadership unsure of what to do with the DMK in Tamil Nadu? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tejpal's lawyer said his client might have to say something which might expose certain facts in relation which should not be published in the media.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday the issues related to the Maharashtra political crisis, triggered by the differences in the Shiv Sena, are "tough" constitutional questions to decide as they have "very serious" ramifications for the polity.
The apex court issued notice to the Centre on the plea seeking re-examination of its verdict which upheld the ED's powers relating to arrest, attachment of property involved in money laundering, search, and seizure under the PMLA.
The Supreme Court on Monday awarded a four-month sentence to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, in a contempt case.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said there must be a "debate" on the "serious" issue relating to the practice of political parties promising freebies and asked why cannot the Centre call for an all-party meeting on it.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea for interim bail of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh who along with others is accused of misappropriating Rs 2,397 crore of Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) funds. Singh had sought interim bail for a short period on "humanitarian grounds" for helping his ailing mother to take part in the last rituals of his maternal uncle, who died on March 8 in Haryana. "We are of the opinion that the presence of the accused was not a must...," said a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna while dismissing the plea.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd to pursue its plea with the relevant authority for felling 84 trees at Mumbai's Aarey Colony for constructing train ramps at its car shed project, saying it cannot be "oblivious of serious dislocation" which may be caused in projects involving "large public funds".
The Delhi high court on Monday refused to stay the Centre's order dismissing Satish Chandra Verma, a senior IPS officer who had assisted the CBI in its probe in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, a month before his scheduled retirement.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea filed by the Maharashtra government seeking a direction to the Centre and other authorities to disclose to the state the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 raw caste data of the Other Backward Classes.
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.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed modification of BCCI's constitution and paved the way for its president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to continue in office without having to serve the mandatory cooling-off period.
The Supreme Court Monday declined the plea of jailed Nationalist Congress Party leaders and MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary release from prison to cast their votes in the Maharashtra legislative council election.
The SC said the "messy state of affairs" has "the propensity of unnecessarily shaking confidence of people in police system".
A Supreme Court bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice Bela M Trivedi in a special sitting on Saturday upheld the Maharashtra government's plea and suspended the Bombay high court order acquitting former Delhi University Professor G N Saibaba in a case relating to his alleged Maoist links.
A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar was hearing the pleas, including those challenging the orders blacklisting several citizens of 35 countries from travelling to India for 10 years for alleged involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities.
A person has a right to practise religion but the question is whether it can be taken to a school which has a prescribed uniform, the Supreme Court observed on Monday while hearing the Karnataka hijab ban row.
The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Centre and the NCR states to continue implementing for few days the measures to ensure improvement in air quality, saying that preventive actions are needed in anticipation to curb pollution even as it wondered what signals are being sent to the world.
Outgoing Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit turned nostalgic on Monday as he recalled his journey of nearly 37 years in the Supreme Court, saying he enjoyed his stint both as a lawyer and a judge.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said an attack on individuals does not mean it is an attack on the community but it needs to verify the claims of any such incident if it is made in the public interest litigation.
