
Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking direction to Parliament to abolish BNS sections
A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Anish Dayal said issuing such a direction would amount to legislating, which was not within its domain. It added that such an abolition could only take place by the enactment of a law amending the BNS. 'Abolition is only permissible by enacting an amendment act. It is an act of Parliament. We cannot direct the Parliament to do so. It will amount to legislating. It is not under our realm,' the bench told the counsel representing the petitioner, Upendra Nath Dalai.
'If we peruse the prayers, what we find is that the petitioner is asking to give direction to the Parliament to legislate an amending act. The prayers made in this PIL [public interest litigation] cannot be granted by the court by exercising its jurisdiction. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed.'
Dalai's petition argued that the provisions in question grant the government the right to suppress the voices of citizens and are thus violative of the fundamental rights to equality, life, and personal liberty. He added they act as a 'key tool for opposition-free governance.' Dalai said the same also undermines the basic structure of the Constitution and creates an arbitrary attitude in government officials.
The court in May rapped Dalai for filing another petition alleging that the BNS is a criminal act. 'What kind of language is used? What is the prayer? There has to be some limit of frivolity,' the court said.
The BNS replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and came into effect on July 1 last year. Sections 147 to 158 deal with the offences against the state, such as waging war or attempting and abetting to wage war against the government of India, committing acts endangering the country's sovereignty, unity, and integrity, etc. Sections 189 to 197 deal with the offences against public tranquillity. They include offences of unlawful assembly, rioting, etc.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- Indian Express
To issue manual for new Income Tax Bill's digital searches, seizures, says CBDT Chief
Even as Parliament's Select Committee on the new Income Tax Bill retained the digital search and seizure provisions without any significant changes in its report this week, the Income Tax Department is in the process of defining tighter procedures to protect the privacy of the taxpayer after concerns were raised by digital rights activists. In an interview with The Indian Express, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Ravi Agrawal said the Tax Department is going to issue a manual that will outline the procedure for the analysis of digital evidence. 'From a regulatory point of view, statutory permissions are there which mandate the Tax Department to actually not part with the data in an unauthorised manner. It's a legal obligation…we have come out with the search and seizure manual. We are also coming up with the digital manual for analysis of digital evidence. There also we would be actually taking care of it. So, we will address it,' he said. Stating that it is a 'genuine concern' of the taxpayers, Agrawal said there is a mechanism wherein such information would be scrutinised in a sanitised environment by authorised people only. 'We are in the process of defining procedures wherein these things could be made more tight to take care of a taxpayer. It is a genuine concern of the taxpayer,' he said. The tax authorities, however, may face an issue during investigations as digital records would also include personal communications. For this, Agrawal said it would be the responsibility of the Tax Department to analyse just the relevant data and redact the rest. 'How do you investigate? There's a mobile, there is a personal chat also here, there's a financial transaction also. So, say, it's WhatsApp, it's both (personal and financial). You got to maintain the evidentiary value of this mobile also. It cannot be that at that point in time, you say I'll take this but I'll not take the other part. There would be continuity. So, therefore, to maintain the evidentiary value, you have got to capture the data in toto. But then once you have captured the data, it's the responsibility of the Tax Department to ensure that whatever investigation is done, only the relevant data is actually analysed, and the other data is redacted,' he said. Apart from the key concern of an infringement upon the right to privacy, stakeholders, in their suggestions to the Select Committee on the new Income Tax Bill, had flagged the need to define clear guidelines for the use of personal data obtained during searches; removal of the power to cover any person who is present in the premises of the search operation; and introduction of restrictions for protecting privileged communication such as those between husband and wife, with doctors/ lawyers etc. The Income Tax Bill, which was tabled in Lok Sabha in February this year, had defined 'virtual digital space' – in the powers to call for information during surveys, searches and seizures – as 'any digital realm that allows users to interact, communicate and perform activities' through computer technology. It had also allowed tax authorities to break open, or 'override' access controls, such as passwords, set up by users for digital communication on social media platforms, email services, and other communication on encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp. Aanchal Magazine is Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and reports on the macro economy and fiscal policy, with a special focus on economic science, labour trends, taxation and revenue metrics. With over 13 years of newsroom experience, she has also reported in detail on macroeconomic data such as trends and policy actions related to inflation, GDP growth and fiscal arithmetic. Interested in the history of her homeland, Kashmir, she likes to read about its culture and tradition in her spare time, along with trying to map the journeys of displacement from there. ... Read More


The Hindu
23 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Secretly recorded conversations may be evidence, but erode spousal trust
In a landmark judgment in a divorce case (Vibhor Garg vs Neha), the Supreme Court has accepted the admissibility of secretly recorded conversations between a married couple as reliable evidence. Vibhor Garg had filed a divorce petition under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 in a family court at Bathinda in Punjab on the grounds of mental cruelty by his wife, Neha. The petitioner adduced conversations between him and his wife recorded by him over a period of time without her consent and knowledge to buttress his allegations of mental cruelty. The evidence was admitted by the family court. However, on appeal against its decision, the Punjab & Haryana High Court took an opposing view, holding the secretly recorded calls violative of the fundamental right to privacy as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. Justice Lisa Gill held that the conversations were in clear breach of the privacy rights, and set aside the decision of the family court. Aggrieved by this decision, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court, which on July 14 ruled in favour of the husband by accepting the recorded conversations, though they were made without the consent and knowledge of the spouse. Complete lack of trust The Supreme Court Bench, comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma, used the recorded conversations to conclude that the marriage in question had reached a point of a broken relationship, where one spouse was actively snooping on the other, denoting a complete lack of trust between them, the very bedrock of a marriage. In essence, the Supreme Court admitted the recorded conversations to decide on the broken marriage rather than as an absolute question of privacy laws. The court also relied on the exception provided in Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act, which permits the disclosure of recorded marital communications in suits between married persons or proceedings in which one married person is prosecuted for any crime committed against the other. The Bench observed: 'We do not think there is any breach of privacy in this case. Section 122 of the Evidence Act does not recognise any such right. On the other hand, it carves out an exception to the right to privacy between spouses and therefore cannot be applied horizontally at all.' The Family Courts Act, 1984 grants a family court discretion to admit evidence, including reports, statements, documents, information, or other matters, that, in its opinion, will assist in effectively handling a dispute, even if that evidence might not meet the admissibility benchmark under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. This provision allows the family courts to consider a broader range of evidence, including recorded conversations, in deciding matrimonial disputes. The court recognised that instances of mental suffering were very private and recorded conversations assisted the family court in deciding the matter appropriately. It reaffirmed its commitment to a fair trial, an inalienable right provided by Article 21 of the Constitution. Important form of evidence Call recordings have become an important form of evidence in legal proceedings. The Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 are the primary laws related to electronic records and the admissibility of these records. The admissibility of call recordings in Indian courts has been a matter of debate and controversy for several years. The K.S. Puttaswamy judgment (2017) established privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court, in this case, has interpreted the right to privacy in the specific context of matrimonial discord, the exception provided in the Evidence Act, and the admissibility of relevant evidence in a family court proceeding to decide a case. The judgment reaffirms the admissibility of secretly recorded conversations, based on the precedent set in R.M. Malkani vs State of Maharashtra. The admissibility of recorded electronic evidence was also examined in S. Pratap Singh vs State of Punjab, in which the Supreme Court accepted an unauthorisedly obtained tape-recorded conversation between two parties. The court evaluated the evidentiary value of the tape-recorded conversation and accepted it as evidence only because it was essential to resolving the case. Some believe the judgment will promote spousal surveillance and abuse of privacy laws to be used against an unsuspecting partner in future. Research established that women are generally at the receiving end in a family or a live-in relationship. The male counterpart enjoys greater coercive control. Admission of recorded conversations between spouses will create a greater atmosphere of suspicion, a trust deficit, and an abuse of privacy laws. The admissibility of call recordings in Indian courts depends on several factors, including the authenticity, accuracy, and reliability of the recordings, the relevance and probative value of the recordings to the issue at hand, and the circumstances under which the recordings were made. As technology continues to evolve, the admissibility of electronic evidence, including call recordings, will likely remain a subject of judicial scrutiny and interpretation. The admissibility of electronic evidence, such as recorded telephone or mobile conversations and video clips, often raises concerns regarding the right to privacy. While electronic evidence is accepted in a court of law, it is not generally legal for individuals to record conversations without authorisation due to the violation of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution. However, in Vibhor Garg vs Neha, the Supreme Court has emphasised that the use of recorded conversations as evidence is admissible only in cases involving matrimonial or family discord. Only time will tell if the courts in India will be liberal in accepting such evidence in other cases also. (The writer is a former Director-General of Police, Himachal Pradesh; view are personal)


India Today
44 minutes ago
- India Today
School assembly news headlines today- July 24: Top national, sports and world news curated for you
Here is the school assembly news update for July 24, 2025. It covers important national, international, and sports events to help students stay informed and develop a daily news-reading habit. On July 24, 2025, many school students are preparing to present the news during their morning assembly. This daily routine helps them stay informed about major events in India and across the world, while also boosting their public speaking confidence. To support their efforts, here are 10 important headlines covering national, international, and sports news. National News Parliament to hold 16-hour discussion on Op Sindoor from July 29 A discussion on Operation Sindoor is likely to be held in the Parliament next Tuesday, with the govt allotting 16 hours for a special discussion in both the houses in the ongoing Monsoon Session India announces resumption of tourist visas for Chinese citizens This marks another step in the normalisation of bilateral ties that were taken to their lowest point in six decades by a military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Myntra under ED scanner, accused of Rs 1,654 cr violation of FDI rules The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the Bengaluru-based company, which is backed by Flipkart, violated existing FDI norms governing e-commerce operations in India. World News World Court hearing says climate change is 'urgent and existential threat' The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world's highest court, has started giving its important opinion on climate change, calling it a serious and urgent global threat. Speaking at the Peace Palace in The Hague on Wednesday, ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa said that greenhouse gas emissions are clearly caused by human actions and their impact goes beyond national borders. More than 100 agencies say mass starvation spreading across Gaza, accusing Israel of aid 'siege' Israel said there were 950 trucks' worth of aid waiting in Gaza - but the aid agencies accused Israel of blocking access to it. 23-year-old Indian student brutally assaulted in Australia A 23-year-old Indian student, was brutally assaulted and left unconscious on a street in Adelaide after a group of men allegedly hurled racist abuse and attacked him over a car parking dispute. Sports News Women's Euro 2025: England fight back to down Italy in extra time and reach final Chloe Kelly scored in the 119th minute by kicking in the rebound from her missed penalty, helping defending champions England make a strong comeback to beat Italy 2-1 in extra time and reach the Women's European Championship final on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Sindhu downs Miyazaki, Satwik-Chirag duo advances at China Open Two-time Olympic medalist and former world champion P.V. Sindhu defeated Japan's sixth seed Tomoka Miyazaki 21-15, 8-21, 21-17 on Wednesday to enter the round of 16 at the China Open Super 1000 tournament. Gill accuses England of not playing in the 'spirit of the game' India captain Shubman Gill said England did not play in the 'spirit of the game' after their openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, came out late to bat on the third evening of the third Test at Lord's. Venus Williams becomes 2nd-oldest to win tour-level singles match Venus Williams beat Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-4 in the Round of 32 at the Washington Open, becoming the second-oldest woman to win a WTA tour-level match. Martina Navratilova holds the record, having won at 47. Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, made her comeback after a 16-month break and won the match at the age of 45. Students are advised to keep checking this page for the latest updates.