VAKALATGIRI

The Madurai bench of Madras High Court recently granted relief to an administrator of a WhatsApp group in an FIR registered over offensive messages posted in the group by a member.  The High Court has reiterated that WhatsApp group admin cannot be held liable for objectionable content posted by members.  The court added, however, that if additional evidence is collected that demonstrates the administrator was engaged in the crime, he can be convicted according to the law.  The Madurai Bench referred to the Kishore v. State Maharashtra of the Bombay High Court which ruled that a WhatsApp group admin must be deleted from the list of accused if he did not play any part in the crime committed by group members other than being an admin. However, the Court also held that if another material is gathered that shows the admin being involved in the crime, he may be tried according to the law. In Kishor v. State of Maharashtra an application under Section 482 of the Code of Crimin...

  EVERY PERSON HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE CONSUMING : DELHI HIGH COURT In a recent ruling, the Delhi High Court observed that every person has a right to be informed about what he is consuming. The division bench, comprising Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, was hearing a plea moved by a trust comprising members following a strict vegetarian lifestyle. They were aggrieved by the fact that manufacturers of a plethora of products, including eatables, were keeping consumers in the dark by not disclosing the real source of the ingredients. The bench noted that it has found that several food articles which have ingredients sourced from animals are shown as “vegetarian” by affixing a green dot on the packaging. The  Delhi high court has ruled that there should be complete disclosure of all ingredients used to manufacture any food article so that people can determine if they are truly “vegetarian” or “non-vegetarian”, adding that “every person has a right to know what t...

DAUGHTERS HAVE EQUAL BIRTHRIGHT TO INHERIT PROPERTY The amendment to the  Section 6 of Hindu Succession Act ,  1956 , which came into force from September 9, 2005 as  Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 , conferred the status of  “ coparcener ”  to a daughter born before or after the amendment in the same manner as a son.  After this, an issue was raised regarding the retrospective effect of the amendment, means, whether this amendment is effective if the parent/father died before it has come into force. In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court ruled that as per the Hindu Succession (Amendment)Act, 2005  daughters would have equal Coparcenary rights in Hindu Undivided Family properties even if they were born before the 2005 amendment to the  Hindu Succession Act, 1956   and regardless of whether their father coparcener had died before the amendment,  i.e. it would have  retrospective effect . Before the amendment, daughters wer...

CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019 On 11 December 2019, the Citizenship ( Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing Indian Citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian religious minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, that had entered India by 31 December 2014, and had suffered  "religious persecution or fear of religious persecution" in their country of origin were made eligible for citizenship. As per Citizenship Amendment Bill, 1955 there are 5 ways in which Indian Citizenship can be acquired, such as : 1. Citizenship by Birth 2. Citizenship by Descent 3. Citizenship by Registration 4. Citizenship by Naturalisation 5. Citizenship by incorporation of territory The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 1955 made it mandatory for a person to stay in India for at least 11 years to acquire citizenship naturally, which was later reduced to 6 years, but in the...

The  National Register of Citizens (NRC)  is a register maintained by the Government of India containing names & certain relevant information for identification of Indian citizens of Assam state. The register was initially, specifically made for Assam state. However, on 20th November 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah declared during a Parliamentary Session that the register would be extended to the entire country. The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently. Assam has become the first state in India where the updating of the NRC is being taken up to include the names of those persons whose names appeared in the NRC of 1951 and is still alive; and/or of their presently living descendants who have permanent residence within the state. The updated final NRC was released on August 31, 2019 with over 1.9 million applicants failing to make it to the list. PURPOSE OF NRC The purpose of NRC update i...

In  Taj Mahal Hotel vs United India Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors. , Supreme Court held that when it comes to valet parking, hotel owners can’t not simply use a paper tag stating “parking at owners’ risk” as a way to escape liability. The Supreme Court upheld an order passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (‘National Commission’) to pay compensation of Rs 2.8 lakh to an individual whose Maruti Zen car was stolen in 1998 from its parking area holding that there was deficiency in services rendered by the hotel management. The hotel had argued that the valet parking ticket clearly states that the vehicle will be parked at the guest’s own risk and responsibility and that the management will not be responsible for any loss, theft or damage.  Bench of Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar and Justice Ajay Rastogi held that the    hotel-owner cannot contract out of liability for its negligence or that of its servants in respect of a vehicle of...