Legal briefs

Case against BJP MLA for using derogatory language

• A case was registered against BJP MLA Babanrao Lonikar for allegedly using derogatory language against Maharashtra Health Minister and NCP leader Rajesh Tope during a protest, police said on Sunday
• Lonikar had staged a demonstration at the Jalna district collectorate in Maharashtra on Thursday alleging unequal distribution of District Planning Committee Development funds 
• Local leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party had lodged complaints against Lonikar at various police stations
• On a similar complaint lodged by NCP activist Shivprasad Changle in Ambad police station in Jalna, a case was registered against Lonikar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for insulting and hurting sentiments

Uniform Civil Code not suitable for India: AIMPLB

• The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday said the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is neither suitable nor useful for a vast multi-religious country like India
• The Muslim board said the UCC was antithetical to the fundamental right to practise religion as enshrined in the Constitution
• The govt should not attempt to impose the Uniform Civil Code directly or indirectly, partially or fully, the board said in a statement, adding doing so would be totally unacceptable

Helplessness can't be considered as consent: Kerala HC

• Helplessness in the face of inevitable compulsion cannot be considered as consent, Kerala High Court has said while considering an appeal filed by a rape convict
• The judge, in his order, said merely because the victim was in love with the accused, it cannot be presumed that she had given consent for sexual intercourse
• Court said there is a gulf of difference between consent and submission and every consent involves a submission but the converse does not follow
• The court was hearing an appeal by 26-year-old man against his conviction and subsequent sentencing by the trial court under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 376, which deals with rape

HC seeks GNIDA stand on non-supply of water to industries

• The Allahabad High Court has asked the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA)  to explain what provisions it has made for the supply of water to various industries in its area
• A Lucknow bench of the high court also asked the GNIDA to explain by Nov 23 how the industrial units in Greater Noida have been obtaining water for them
• A bench put the poser to GNIDA on a plea by Supertech Precast Technologies Private Limited, challenging the civic body's order to recover the rent of the land leased out to the firm for running its industrial unit
• The petitioner also pleaded that it has complained even to the state govt against non-supply of water but to no avail

Attack on Bihar Judge: Independent probe demanded

• The Bihar Police Association (BPA) on Saturday demanded a high-level independent probe into the alleged attack on additional district and sessions judge (ADJ-1) of subdivisional court at Jhanjharpur by two policemen inside his chamber
• The BPA had called a meeting of all Station House Officers (SHOs) of Madhubani district in this regard on Friday
• A resolution was unanimously adopted in the meeting demanding a high-level independent probe into the incident
• Within hours of the incident on Thursday, the Patna High Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and asked the state's director general of police to file a status report

No evidence to show Aryan conspired to commit drug-related offences: HC

• The Bombay HC, in its detailed order granting bail to actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan and two others in the drugs-on-cruise case, has said that prima facie it has not found any positive evidence against the accused to show that they had conspired to commit an offence
• A single bench had on Oct 28 granted bail to Aryan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and a fashion model Munmun Dhamecha in the case on a personal bond of Rs one lakh each
• The court said that perusal of the WhatsApp chats extracted from the phone of Aryan shows that nothing objectionable was noticed to suggest that he, Merchant and Dhamecha along with other accused in the case have hatched a conspiracy of committing the offence in question

Amazon officials in trouble over online ganja sale racket

• Police in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district on Saturday registered a case against executive directors of  Amazon India after busting a racket which allegedly sold ganja (cannabis) under the guise of selling a sweetener through the e-commerce platform
• Amazon had said in a statement earlier that it does not allow sale of illegal products through its platform, and it was cooperating with the probe into the matter
• A case under section 38 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against executive directors of Amazon India, Bhind Superintendent of Police said