Sedition, defamation charges cannot be invoked for criticising govt: SC

Sedition or defamation cases cannot be slapped on anyone criticising the government, the Supreme Court on Monday said in a clear message.

"Someone making a statement to criticise the government does not invoke an offence under sedition or defamation law. We have made it clear that invoking of section 124(A) of IPC (sedition) requires certain guidelines to be followed as per the earlier judgement of the apex court," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit said while refraining from saying anything further on the issue.

The observation came as Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO, said sedition was a serious offence and the law on it was being grossly misused for stifling dissent.

He cited the examples of sedition charges being slapped on agitators protesting against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project and cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, among others.

To this, the bench said "we don't have to explain the sedition law. It's already there in the five-judges constitution bench judgement in Kedar Nath Singh vs state of Bihar of 1962".

The court, while disposing of a petition filed by NGO Common Cause alleging misuse of the sedition law, refused to pass a direction on the plea that a copy of this order be sent to all Chief Secretaries of states and the read more..

Marital rape: Sexual intercourse by man with wife not rape, Centre to HC

The Union government on Monday defended, before the Delhi High Court, the Indian Penal Code provision that says sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, who is not under 15 years of age, is not rape.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhigra Sehgal was told by the government, through an affidavit, that "exception 2 (to Section 375 IPC) deals exclusively with private affairs of husband-wife based on traditional social structure and hence can't be said to be unconstitutional and in violation of Articles 14 to 21 of the Constitution".

Section 375, which defines "rape" also contains the exception provision which states that the rape law would not apply to assault or sexual intercourse by a husband on his wife who is above 15 years.

The government admitted before the court that "although the age of consent is 18 years and child marriage is discouraged, marriage below the permissible age is avoidable but not void in law on account of social realities. It is submitted that the social, economic and educational development in the country is still uneven and child marriages are read more..

Woman set on fire for allegedly rejecting marriage proposal in Delhi

In a shocking incident, a 25-year old woman was set ablaze by a man for allegedly turning down his wedding proposal.

The incident took place at the victim's home in northwest Delhi's Bhalswa Dairy area, when the accused, Abhishek along with his friends Vijay, Karan and few others went there and started beating the woman's relatives.

A relative of the victim, Gita said that whenever the girl used to go out, the boys used to harass her.

"It had been seven-ten days since they began troubling her. Still she used to ignore them. When she could not tolerate further, she told this to her brother, who asked him to stay away from her. The harassing stopped for a few days, but then it started again," she added.

Gita said the accused's name is Abhishek and that he stays in the neighbourhood.

"20-25 men came and started beating us with rods. Abhishek's four-five uncles were also there and with his friends as well. Abhishek started threatening the girl but she refused to marry him. He then poured kerosene on her, set her on fire and ran away," she added.

Gita further stated that there is no hope for the girl's survival, as 95 percent of her read more..