Article in the Indian Express dated January 3, 2019 regarding the amendment in the POCSO Act, 2012 by Arundhati Katju. Link to this article:
http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/35442130
http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/35442130
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Thursday, January 3, 2019
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Govt plans IT Act changes to allow shutdown of apps, sites
Source: Times of India dated 02.01.2018
Pankaj.Doval@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:
The government plans to amend the IT law to increase penalty on apps and websites that are unable to control fake news and child pornography. Amendments will include an extreme provision of taking down apps and websites in violation.
Pankaj.Doval@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:
The government plans to amend the IT law to increase penalty on apps and websites that are unable to control fake news and child pornography. Amendments will include an extreme provision of taking down apps and websites in violation.
The move comes days after senior officials of the IT ministry met representatives from top social-media and internet companies and sought views on proposed rules that would help trace the origin of unlawful content. This is one of the key areas of dispute between the government and companies.
“We need accountability and power to heavily penalise the companies in case of violations, or refusal to cooperate,” a senior government official told TOI. The amendments could potentially impact the operations of popular services like WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Telegram. Some of these services have had differences with the government over the issue of tracing origins of content that is fake, scope of encryption, content deemed interfering with politics and elections, spread of child abuse and revenge porn.
The Centre had carried out an exercise last year to determine whether blocking websites and apps was technically feasible, if telecom companies and online service providers were asked to do so. The issue is still being discussed. “Even the penalties we have under the IT Act are not sufficient,” another official said. “These need to be revised. Many global companies have high turnovers and relatively-small penalties may not be a sufficient deterrence. We are taking a cue from the penalty proposals in the data protection bill,” the official added.
Very little in IT law to tackle fake news, say experts
The data protection bill, finalised by the government, proposes the maximum penalty at Rs 15 crore or 4% of the worldwide turnover of the violator, whichever is higher.
Cyber law experts say that there is very little in the IT law to tackle the fake news phenomenon. “We do not have any law to take the companies to task on this issue. They can be proceeded against only under the Indian Penal Code provisions, and not as per the IT Act,” says Puneet Bhasin, a cyber law expert. “We do require stricter laws and effective enforcement, including having data localisation,” Bhasin adds.
Law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told the Rajya Sabha in July last year that rules are required to ensure that internet platforms do not become vehicles to commit crime, incite hatred, provoke terrorism, extremism and promote moneylaundering.
The minister also said the government was looking at regulating the services of foreign internet companies operating in India to make them accountable to Indian laws and
The SC’s offer to poor litigants is long overdue
Source: DNA dated 02.01.2018
It can be called a fine piece of judicial activism at the start of a New Year, one that was long overdue. An in-house study conducted by the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC), has concluded that poor litigants on the death row or those facing harsh punishments are not getting quality legal aid. In two recent judgments in December last month, the apex court, while commuting two capital punishments to life terms, took note of the poor socio-economic conditions of the two convicts. That the law is tilted heavily in favour of the rich, would be to state the obvious. The court, taking cognisance of this truism, quoted from the SCLSC report, which pointed out to “enormous delays in attending to cases of the poor and the needy.” Therefore, it makes 2019 a good year for such litigants, who need legal assistance, not just because they are poor, but also because they are not educated enough to know the pros and cons of their case. Quite correctly, the court observed that quality legal aid to the disadvantaged and weaker sections of society is an area that requires great and urgent attention. It needs no rocket science to know that the cost of litigation has been rising in India and as such, justice remains inaccessible for the underprivileged who are in no position to approach the courts. The National Legal Services Authority or NALSA was set up in 1987 precisely for this purpose, of providing free legal services to the weaker sections. Successive law ministers have flagged concerns about the high cost of litigation. Equally well known is the fact that leading advocates in the Supreme Court, high courts and district courts charge such exorbitant fees that it is beyond the reach of the underclass litigants. It makes the situation even more pronounced when a poor litigant is pitted against a rich opponent. It has generally been observed that in such cases, the result of the adjudication has gone against the lesser privileged litigant. The problem persists because big lawyers - many of them money spinning machines - rarely, if ever, offer their services for such voluntary work. On occasions when they do, their performances are not as professional as when they charge their fat fees to appear in cases. The tragedy is that despite such awareness about the plight of poor litigants, not much has been done in this direction, apart from setting up the NALSA that has done commendable work, but falls far short of what is needed given the enormity of the problem. To that extent, the latest Supreme Court initiative needs to be applauded. Statistics compiled by the National Law University, Delhi, in its Death Penalty India Report based on interviews with 373 death row prisoners across the country, found that three-fourths of prisoners were economically vulnerable, with most of them being the sole or primary earners in their families. Even though Article 39 A of the Constitution promises free legal aid, its practical implications have proved to be something else.
It can be called a fine piece of judicial activism at the start of a New Year, one that was long overdue. An in-house study conducted by the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee (SCLSC), has concluded that poor litigants on the death row or those facing harsh punishments are not getting quality legal aid. In two recent judgments in December last month, the apex court, while commuting two capital punishments to life terms, took note of the poor socio-economic conditions of the two convicts. That the law is tilted heavily in favour of the rich, would be to state the obvious. The court, taking cognisance of this truism, quoted from the SCLSC report, which pointed out to “enormous delays in attending to cases of the poor and the needy.” Therefore, it makes 2019 a good year for such litigants, who need legal assistance, not just because they are poor, but also because they are not educated enough to know the pros and cons of their case. Quite correctly, the court observed that quality legal aid to the disadvantaged and weaker sections of society is an area that requires great and urgent attention. It needs no rocket science to know that the cost of litigation has been rising in India and as such, justice remains inaccessible for the underprivileged who are in no position to approach the courts. The National Legal Services Authority or NALSA was set up in 1987 precisely for this purpose, of providing free legal services to the weaker sections. Successive law ministers have flagged concerns about the high cost of litigation. Equally well known is the fact that leading advocates in the Supreme Court, high courts and district courts charge such exorbitant fees that it is beyond the reach of the underclass litigants. It makes the situation even more pronounced when a poor litigant is pitted against a rich opponent. It has generally been observed that in such cases, the result of the adjudication has gone against the lesser privileged litigant. The problem persists because big lawyers - many of them money spinning machines - rarely, if ever, offer their services for such voluntary work. On occasions when they do, their performances are not as professional as when they charge their fat fees to appear in cases. The tragedy is that despite such awareness about the plight of poor litigants, not much has been done in this direction, apart from setting up the NALSA that has done commendable work, but falls far short of what is needed given the enormity of the problem. To that extent, the latest Supreme Court initiative needs to be applauded. Statistics compiled by the National Law University, Delhi, in its Death Penalty India Report based on interviews with 373 death row prisoners across the country, found that three-fourths of prisoners were economically vulnerable, with most of them being the sole or primary earners in their families. Even though Article 39 A of the Constitution promises free legal aid, its practical implications have proved to be something else.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Animals and the Law: do they have rights?
Article in the Indian Express dated December 31, 2018 regarding the Recognition of Rights of Animals. Link to this article:
http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/35347963
http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/35347963
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