Supreme Court

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Karnataka government, contended before a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna that the state government would require more time to file its affidavit in the matter. Last week, the state government had sought time till Monday to file its response. After hearing Mehta's.

Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju vehemently opposed Gokhale's bail application before a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath, but they noted that a charge sheet has already been filed in the matter. Taking into consideration the nature of the allegation and that the charge sheet has already been filed, we are inclined to grant.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari moved the apex court on Sunday seeking an independent expert committee and also sought an inquiry into the 183 encounters that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since 2017. Ahmad and his brother were shot dead by three assailants, posing as journalists, while they were being escorted by police personnel to a medical college in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj for a checkup on Saturday night.

The Supreme Court has recently observed that the ruling BJP government's decision to withdraw four per cent reservation under the OBC category for Muslims appears to be "based on fallacious assumptions" and "was on a shaky foundation". The reservation quota has been increased for the influential Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities by two per cent each. The Muslim community has been brought under the 10 per cent reservation provided for the economically weaker sections (EWS).

A bench of Justices K.M. Joseph, Krishna Murari, and B.V. Nagarathna asked the state government counsel: "Do you know how many bail applications are coming from Bihar to this court? A lion's share of these bail applications is of the state's prohibition act." "Is there any study or any empirical data to show that due to the prohibition act, the graph of liquor consumption in the state is coming down?" it also asked.

"The chart provided by the state government shows that the members of the respondent organisation (RSS) were the victims in many of those cases and that they were not the perpetrators. Therefore, it is not possible for us to find fault with the order passed by the learned judge either in the main writ petitions or in the review applications. Hence all the special leave petitions are liable to be dismissed," said the bench.

In an affidavit, citing its "Proposed Electoral Reforms, 2016", the EC said it had reiterated its 2004 recommendation that persons charged with cognisable offences, which are punishable with imprisonment of at least five years, where charges have been framed and where the cases have been filed at least six months prior to the election, should be debarred from contesting elections.

Issuing notice to the Election Commissions and the State Election Commission (SEC), the bench, in its order, noted that the the order of this court dated March 14, 2023 had made it clear that any endeavour, either by the Election Commission or the state government, to tinker with the local elections now would be in breach of the orders of the court.

Late on Friday night, at a high-level meeting, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot reviewed the acquittal of the four accused. He decided to remove Additional Advocate General (AAG) Rajendra Yadav for the weak prosecution in the case with immediate effect. Also, Chief Minister Gehlot ordered a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court at the earliest against the acquitted accused.

"The Shinde government has given a big blow to the image of Maharashtra in the past nine months. Communal clashes are on the increase due to the inflammatory speeches made by certain organisations, but no action is taken against them," said state Congress President Nana Patole. Now, even the apex court has.