Delhi HC on the Plea for Legislation on Genocide

The Delhi High Court disposed of a Petition for a legislation on the offence of genocide. The Petitioner by the name of Manjit Singh Butalia approached the Court without making any representation to the Centre and had demanded a direction to the Centre to fulfil its obligations under the Genocide Convention and Treaty Laws 1948.

A bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar noted that the Petitioner had approached the Court without any representation to the Centre and directed that the petition be treated as a representation.

The Court went on to observe – “In any case, the writ would otherwise be not maintainable as this court does not have the power to issue directions to the respondent to effect any legislation.”

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Mattel sues film starring Sunny Leone ; Delhi HC asks Mattel to “chill”

Toy giant and creator of the now legendary Barbie doll, Mattel approached the Delhi High Court with an injunction against the upcoming Bollywood movie Tera Intezaar. The movie has a song titled “Barbie Girl”, featuring Sunny Leone and Mattel has alleged that the film has used the company’s trademark “in a manner antagonistic to the values and interests of the customers target base, the plaintiffs cater to.” It is further reported that Mattel thinks that the very presence of Sunny Leone renders it unsuitable for children.

However, the Delhi High Court has asked the toy giant to “chill” and has refused to grant ex-parte injunction. It has also been stated that, that the very presence of Sunny Leone sends across a wrongful message cannot be a valid argument.

There has been a similar case in the year 1997 when Mattel decided to sue the yesteryear music band Aqua for their song Barbie Girl which had lyrics tagged unsuitable for Mattel’s customers. They had lost the case there as well.

Let’s hope that the iconic fashion doll retains its glamour and everything pink, without getting entangled in such legal hassles.

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Delhi HC dismissed plea against “Padmavati”

The Delhi High Court dismissed a plea against the most “controversial” movie of the year- “Padmavati” and observed that petitions of such manner were actually adding fuel to the already existing agitations against the movie.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Geeta Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar called the petition “hopeless” and “misconceived”. The petition, brought by Akhand Rashtrawadi Party( which claims to be a political party) sought that a committee be set up before the release of the movie so as to check for any distortion of historical facts.

“Have you (counsel for the petitioner) seen the film? Have the people, who are burning cinema halls seen the film? By this kind of petitions, you are encouraging the people who are agitating,” the bench observed.

The court further directed the petitioner to approach the Censor Board as the Court is not supposed to entertain the same.

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Killer Fog Blankets Delhi: HC asks Delhi Government to consider odd-even, cloud-seeding, watering of roads and construction regulations

The Delhi High Court has said there indeed has arisen an “emergency situation” with respect to the pollution in the Delhi-NCR region and has asked the Delhi Government to consider the much-talked about and previously implemented vehicular odd-even scheme and even cloud seeding to artificially induce rain.

The “pea soup fog”, which is basically a combination of soot and poisonous gases continues to blanket the city and a bench comprising of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sanjeev Sachdeva has asked the Government to actually consider cloud seeding because the same can act as an immediate step to bring down the dust from the atmosphere.

The Delhi HC has also directed the Delhi government to seriously consider implementation of the vehicular odd-even rule for a short time.

Quoting the bench- “What we are facing today has already been faced by London. They call it a pea soup fog. It is a killer. Stubble burning is the visible villain in it, but there are other elephants in the room.”

Amongst other measures, the Court directed banning the felling of trees, ordered sprinkling of water on roads and strict enforcement of construction codes to ensure that the pollution levels don’t go another notch up because of these activities.

Apart from this, the bench has also directed the Chief Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Control to fix up an emergency meeting with his counterparts in the neighbouring states of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh and other pollution control agencies to discuss ways for curbing pollution. The time period allotted for the meeting is 3 days and a report is to be submitted on the 16^th of November, i.e, the next date of hearing.

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Silence does not amount to consent in sexual relations: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that silence cannot be constructed as proof of consensual sexual relations, while upholding the conviction and jail term of a man for raping a minor for a period of six months.

Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal trashed the defence taken by the convict who mentioned in his appeal that silence of the victim does not imply that the victim was consenting to the entire act. Also, the victim has claimed that she had been in an inebriated state and she had been threatened of grave consequences time and again.

Justice Sehgal said that-

“The defence taken by the accused that the prosecutrix had consensual sexual relations with him which is pointed out from her silence about the incident, holds no ground as mere silence cannot be taken as proof of consensual sexual relations as she has also stated that she was being threatened by the accused. “Thus, any act of sexual intercourse in the absence of consent would amount to an act of rape,”

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Delhi HC issues a notice for removal of loudspeakers around religious shrines

While the cracker sale ban did not get an ambiguous nod from everyone around, the Indian Judiciary is tackling environmental issues and how!

The use of loudspeakers, apart from contributing heavily to sound pollution, are also said to be an infringement on a person’s privacy.

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Union of India on a PIL for the removal of loudspeakers around all religious shrines because they are necessarily an infringement on an individual’s “right to be left alone and spatial control”. The PIL had been filed by social activist Sanjjiiv Kkumaar and the decision on the same had been passed by Acting Chief Justice Geeta Mittal.

Sanjjiiv opined that while every religion practised in India is aeons old, the loudspeakers aren’t even a century old and this makes these loudspeakers totally non-relate to any religion. The Supreme Court’s verdict in Forum, Prevention of Envn. and Sound Pollution, reads as: “No religion ever says to force the unwilling to listen to expressions of religious beliefs.”

The petitioner also drew from the privacy judgement and opined that the use of loudspeakers cause breach of the right to privacy of an individual. He went on to add that loudspeakers have severe health hazards and adverse effect on patients and kids.

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Tackling Monkey Menace in the capital: Delhi HC collaborates with Wildlife Conservation Organisation

In what is being touted as a unique way to tackle conflicts between humans and monkeys in the city of Delhi, the Delhi High Court is collaborating with Wildlife Conservation Organisation and carrying out the first-ever monkey sterilization and vaccination project.

The capital has been teeming with the rhesus macaques and the only humane way to control their progressing population and thus minimize their conflict with humans, is by vaccination and laparoscopic surgical intervention.

A release issued by Wildlife SOS mentioned that relocating these animals cannot be a probable solution because monkeys have an innate capability of finding back their way to the hometown. Also, because of the strong religious sentiments attached to monkeys in India, their homing instincts have been affected. Therefore, sterilizing them is the only viable solution to the monkey menace Delhi is presently facing.

Here’s hoping that this collaboration between the Delhi High Court and the Wildlife Conservation Organisation proves to be a humane and practical solution to the city’s monkey woes!

The PILs of The Blue Whale Challenge: PILs filed at Delhi and Bombay High Court

A lethal and apparently life taking game has been doing the rounds on the internet lately. It’s called the Blue Whale Challenge and is arguably a list of eerie things which one is asked to do, the final one being committing suicide.

The popularity of the game increased manifolds in a short span of time and the Ministry of Electronics and IT had to ask internet giants like Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Yahoo to remove such links.

It is also reported that the game has allegedly led several children in India in the age group of 12-19 and elsewhere to commit suicide.

A PIL was filed at the Delhi High Court against this disturbing “game” in the month of August and it was mentioned by advocate Gurmeet Singh before Acting Chief Justice Geeta Mittal and Justice C Hari Shanker, seeking directions to internet companies to take down the same.

In another PIL filed by an NGO called Citizen Circle for Social Welfare and Education before the High Court of Bombay, it has sought directions to Google, Yahoo and Facebook to ensure that such links do not float around the internet through them. Directions have also been sought from Cyber Cell, Maharashtra for the removal of such links.

The PIL mentions how several deaths have allegedly been linked to this so called game, including that of a teenager from Andheri, whose friend has claimed that he had taken up the “challenge”. It is also mentioned in the PIL as to how this deadly game had claimed as many as 130 lives in Russia and how a law enacted by President Vladimir Putin fixed the same by criminalising pro-suicidial groups on social media.

A 24 hour helpline has also been proposed to tackle incidents arising out of the game.

Here’s hoping that this so called challenged named after the giant of the sea doesn’t claim more lives!

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Defacement of Delhi ahead of DUSU Polls: DElhi HC and NGT issue notices

The Delhi High Court and The National Green Tribunal expressed shock at the extensive use of pamphlets, posters, flyers and plastering of the walls of Delhi University ahead of the DUSU polls. Even classrooms have ample amounts of spray paint sprayed on their walls as part of the campaign. Not just DU, the walls of metro stations are defaced with posters. Apart from the utter defacement of Delhi because of the DUSU polls, there is an extensive wastage of paper in the entire process.

Advocate Prashant Manchanda approached the Delhi High Court in the form of a PIL. A bench headed by acting Chief Justice Geeta Mittal issued a notice to the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Delhi Police and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The National Green Tribunal issued a notice of contempt when Piyush Singh, on behalf of a DU student, pointed out how contestants have been violating the 2016 order pertaining to paperless canvassing.

The High Court said- “The details of the defacement would show the persons on whose behalf the posters are being pasted and defacement affected. There is, therefore, a warrant as to why appropriate action under the statute should not be taken for such illegal conduct.”

The bench has ordered -“The petitioner complains that even classrooms in the Delhi University and its colleges have been spray painted by persons contesting polls and seeking votes. In view of the above, it is directed that the respondent shall cause physical inspection of different areas of Delhi and file status report on the action taken with regard to the defacement of public property within one week from today”, and added that the respondents will ensure that action be taken so that no incidents of defacement occur in future.

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