
You know he will become PM? Court berates petitioner over Rahul Gandhi plea
To this, the petitioner replied, "He is LOP (Leader of the Opposition) and he is creating confusion. If he becomes Prime Minister, then he will create havoc."The court shot back, "We don't know. You know he will become Prime Minister?"However, the bench noted that the petitioner had the legal remedy to file a defamation case against Gandhi.The bench also noted that Veer Savarkar's grandnephew had already approached a magistrate court in Pune with a defamation complaint and a trial was already underway on the same issue.The bench also noted that the petitioner had approached the Supreme Court earlier this year, which had dismissed his petition.In the Supreme Court, Phadnis sought the inclusion of Savarkar's name in the schedule of Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 - a law intended to prevent the improper use of certain emblems and names for professional and commercial purposes.In April, the Supreme Court came down heavily on Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remarks against Savarkar, saying that the court won't allow such comments against freedom fighters.During his Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022, Gandhi allegedly referred to Savarkar as a "British servant" who received a pension from the colonial government.- EndsMust Watch
Hashtags

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


The Hindu
25 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Bombay High Court upholds constitutional validity of UAPA, rejects sedition challenge
The Bombay High Court on Thursday (July 17, 2025) dismissed the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and also of section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Neela Gokhale held that the UAPA, in its current form, is constitutionally sound. The Court rejected the 2021 petition filed by Anil Baburao Baile, 46, a Mumbai resident, who was issued a notice by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in July 2020. Mr. Baile had challenged the validity of the UAPA and amended it up-to-date, and section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, and prayed for a declaration of these laws as ultra vires and unconstitutional; and to quash and set aside the NIA notice issued to him. He said that the meaning of 'unlawful activists', 'terrorist', and 'sedition' needs to be examined. 'Nowhere in Chapter IV of UAPA 'Terrorist' is defined; what is defined is Terrorist Act in section 15. The word 'Unlawful Activities' is defined in section 2(o) of the said act, and 'Sedition' is defined in section 124A of the IPC,' the petition said. Mr. Baile further argued that the amendments made to UAPA—especially those incorporating the 2001 UN Security Council resolution on international terrorism—enabled the government to arbitrarily designate Indian citizens or organisations as terrorists without adequate safeguards or definitions. 'Nowhere does the Constitution authorise a blanket power to the executive in deciding, and Parliament cannot be granted blanket power to declare an organisation as unlawful,' the petition contended. The Bench found no merit in the arguments and concluded that the provisions of the Act met constitutional muster and dismissed the petition. A detailed order is yet to be uploaded.

The Hindu
25 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Congress to organise protest at Parliament demanding Statehood for Jammu and Kashmir
The Congress on Thursday (July 17, 2025) announced it was intensifying its demand for the restoration of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The J&K unit of the party threatened to 'symbolically gherao' the Parliament in New Delhi during the monsoon session. 'The J&K Congress will hold a protest in Kashmir on July 19, and in Jammu on July 20, so that our message on Statehood reaches the government. After that, we have the 'Chalo Delhi Chalo' campaign on July 21,' J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra said. The fresh Congress campaign comes a day after the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, respectively, wrote a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought restoration of Statehood. Mr. Karra urged the party's supporters to join the 'Chalo Delhi Chalo' campaign on July 21. 'The goal is to raise our voice in Delhi so that it reaches all Members of Parliament, among whom 233 are members of the INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance) bloc supporting our cause. This is a significant step,' the Congress leader said.


The Hindu
25 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Plea in SC says Bhopal gas victims are ‘misclassified'
A petition filed by the Bhopal gas disaster victims' rights groups claiming that survivors with lasting, severe injuries and illnesses have been wrongly classified under 'temporary disablement' and 'minor injury' and under-compensated for years has been lined up for hearing in the Supreme Court. The petition filed by organisations such as the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha urged the top court to direct the Centre to identify these 'misclassified' victims and classify them correctly under the provisions of the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985 so that they receive adequate compensation to cover their medical treatment. The Centre has termed the Bhopal gas leak tragedy 'the world's largest industrial disaster'. Both the government and the Supreme Court have agreed the loss of innocent lives in the aftermath of the fatal escape of Methyl Isocynate (MIC) gas from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984 was 'horrific' in every sense. Centre's responsibility 'A long history of litigation attempting to recover damages from the U.S.-headquartered Union Carbide Corporation (now part of Dow Chemicals Corporation) ended with the dismissal by the Supreme Court of the curative petitions in July 2023 wherein it was made clear that any shortfall in compensation to be paid to the victims were a responsibility of the Union government,' the petition said. The organisations said they had data to show that survivors suffering from cancer and kidney failure as a result of toxic gas exposure were classified under the category of 'minor/temporary injury'. 'All these cases ought to have been added as a permanent disability category. Even as far back as in 1974, Union Carbide's internal document, titled MIC Plant Safety Considerations Report, had very clearly stated that in cases of inhalation of MIC 'major residual injury is likely in spite of prompt treatment'... This petition seeks to enforce that responsibility of the Union government, pointing out a certain category of cases in which the damages awarded and paid to be manifestly unjust and arbitrary,' the organisation submitted. The case was listed for hearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai on July 14. However, the Bench did not assemble due to the inavailability of the Chief Justice. The case status shows the next date as July 18. The petitioners are represented by senior advocate S. Muralidhar and advocate Prasanna S. Focusing the extent of the disaster's impact on public health even decades later, the petition said records of the hospitals run by the government show that 'more than 30 years after the disaster, 95% of the population officially acknowledged to have been exposed to the toxic gas required hospital visits for their medical needs'. 'Data from the Central government-run hospital show that the incidence of heart ailments, neurology disorders, gastro and kidney ailments, psychiatric disorders and other chronic diseases is very high among gas-exposed patients. Records from eight community health units of the ICMR-run Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre [BMHRC] in Bhopal from 1998 to 2016 show that 50.4% of gas-affected patients suffer from cardiovascular problems and 59.6% suffer from pulmonary problems… In 2023 alone 2,06,016 gas victims visited the BMHRC,' the plea submitted.