Justice Kannan's Legal speak

We use conjunctions between words and/or phrases to denote opposites or of things belonging to the same   genre. Day and Night ,hot and cold, Good and bad are examples of   expressions when an antonym follows the fist word. Fair and lovely, pith and substance, accord and satisfaction are some of the expressions where the first word and the word that follows it mean the same but it is still used that way to lay emphasis on the quality of the first word. Dharma and the Rule of law do not conform to either of the two examples only because the first word 'dharma' literally subsumes the adjunctive 'rule of law'. In such a situation, we normally do not use the conjunction 'and'. Summer is hot; winter is cold; Summer is so much else apart from being hot, the same way that winter is so much else apart from denoting cold. We are going to see how Dharma transcends the rule of law and if our striving for dharma is earnest, if we must make dharma a way of life, the...

Concept of minorities relatively new In a country that believed in the precept of the whole world as a family, there was no place for differential treatment of the peoples that populated the world to be distinguished on the basis of race or religion. It is also the   country that offered refuge to countless persecuted communities, including the Jews and Zoroastrians as also the religious groups who came to India on the avowed objective of proselytisation but met with no resistance and instead given lands and other financial grants to build places of worship having distinct rituals and gods; indeed, even if the new churches and mosques were constructed after demolishing their own temples, beyond a few murmurs, there was no organised resistance or retaliations. Of course, we are no unique but there are other examples also, such as, the fascinating account of a communication at the turn of the century to the UN Sub Commission   on the prevention of disc...

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/where-the-law-needs-to-change-track/article23805541.ece Where the law needs to change track: on the Railways Act K. Kannan MAY 08, 2018 00:02 IST UPDATED:  MAY 07, 2018 23:37 IST SHARE ARTICLE   138   24 PRINT A   A   A The recent deaths of schoolchildren at an unmanned rail crossing highlight why the Railways Act must be amended In late April, a  bus with schoolchildren collided with a train  at an unmanned railway level crossing, near Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. Thirteen of them died. This is not the first time that an incident of this nature has occurred, so some questions need to be asked. Is there any mandate for manning all level crossings? In an incident such as this, where the bus driver was reportedly negligent, is the railway administration liable even if the train engine driver cannot be faulted? Legal issues We can look for some answers in a 1997 Supreme Court jud...

https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com 

It is not unusual that the decisions of the Supreme Court are counter-majoritarian in that they hold views against what are popular or what could pander to mass sentiments. The recent conflagration is a symptom of how we are slowly allowing populism to judge the quality of judgments and give no heed to the legal underpinnings justifying the conclusions in the judgment. The recent one in Dr. Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v The State of Maharashtra in Crl App No 416 of 2018 dt 20th March 2018 that has sent the country in to a frenzy, even if not popular, is driven through sound legal principles and not very easy to dislodge. It has examined the protection sought by a person claiming to be innocent but against whom proceedings were initiated under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The focus was therefore required to examine within the framework of law the manner of how the Atrocities Act could be enforced punishing the persons guilty with the vigour that the Act expounds with...

The injured victims and representatives of the deceased in Mumbai's Wellington bridge stampede in September 2017 got compensation, subject to a maximum of 8 lacs, as per the scales provided under the Railway Claims Tribunal Act. The Railway Administration got a shot on its arm by praises from the press and the public in its stand not to contest the claims before the Tribunal. The Tribunal at Mumbai did a quick work at it awarding compensation of 8 lacs to next of kin of dead victims and lesser sums to persons injured, all in a day’s sitting. The status of victims as passengers was assumed, particularly in view of the fact that the bridge was exclusive for train commuters connecting the Parle Central Railway platform and West Wellington Railway platform to the flower market nearby. In all this, it was made to appear that the Railways did a charitable act of leaving the decision- making to the Claims Tribunal without at the same time admitting liability.   The assumption is wrong,...