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1. [400 Trees plantation] While dealing with a case of enmity between two families, the Delhi High Court recently directed the members of the families to plant 400 trees in order to put an end to the "negative energy" by contributing to society. Both the families were involved in a fight on a trivial issue that was subsequently settled. The court was hearing an application seeking quashing of the proceedings, after the two parties had reached a settlement in January 2023. The court said, “I consider that the negative energy of the parties should be put to an end by directing them to contribute to the society. Hence, the petitioners in both cases are directed to plant 200 trees each in their areas. The place shall be identified by the IO with the consultation of the Horticulture Department and shall inform the petitioners in 15 days advance”. The single-judge bench also directed them to water the plants and take care of them for five years. “IO shall ensure compliance of the same. IO shall also explore the possibility of Geo-Tagging the trees planted with the coordination of the SDC of the concerned area for the proper monitoring by the appropriate authority”, it said.
Bench: Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma
Case Title: Shri Narender Jha & Ors. v. State of NCT of Delhi & Ors.
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2. [Vandalism during protest in 2006] The Delhi High Court has discharged the show cause notices issued in contempt proceedings against 12 lawyers accused of involvement in an incident of vandalism at Tis Hazari Courts during a protest by advocates in 2006. A three-judge bench said that there was “no material” to provide any direct evidence connecting the damage allegedly caused to courtrooms with the protest. “It is relevant to highlight that the present contempt proceedings are pending adjudication since 2006; and the Sword of Damocles‟ has been hanging for the past 17 years, on the alleged Contemnor/Respondents. Additionally, during the course of the present proceedings all the alleged Contemnors/Respondents have also expressed their deep remorse and have stated that they have utmost respect for the institution of judiciary and that it was never their intention to cause any distress or to do anything that could be construed as undermining the majesty and dignity of the Court of Law”, it said. The three-judge bench said, “We discharge the Show Cause Notices issued to the remaining alleged Contemnors/Respondents in the present criminal contempt proceedings. Resultantly, the notice to show cause as to why criminal contempt be not drawn against the alleged Contemnors/Respondents, are hereby discharged”. The criminal contempt proceedings emanated from the incident that occurred on February 24, 2006, at the Tis Hazari Courts where advocates went on a strike to oppose the establishment of the Rohini Court complex. The notices about contempt proceedings were initially issued to 25 people. Subsequently, 13 were either discharged or removed from the criminal contempt proceedings.
Bench: Justice Siddharth Mridul, Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar and Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta
Case Title: Re: To Consider Suo Motu contempt of court v. Proceedings against the Tis Hazari court lawyers
3. [Appeal on pre-screening Netflix's Bad Boy Billionaries] The Delhi High Court has directed fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, to deposit Rs 2 lakh with the court before proceeding further with his appeal challenging the dismissal of his plea to pre-screen the Netflix docuseries 'Bad Boy Billionaires'. The division bench said, “This court considers it apposite to direct, before this proceedings are taken, the appellant (Choksi) to deposit a sum of ₹2,00,000/- within a period of one week from today with the registry of this Court to secure the costs of the present proceeding”. Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further hearing on August 8. The court was hearing an appeal filed by Choksi against a single-judge bench order dismissing his plea seeking a preview of the series- Bad Boy Billionaires, apprehending that it would infringe his right to fair investigation and trial. Court noted that Choksi is neither a citizen of India nor a resident of India. Court was apprised that several other proceedings are pending against him, including payment of dues that have not been discharged. “This Court is of the view that, in the event, the appellant does not prevail in the present appeal and costs are awarded to the respondent, there perhaps would be no method of recovering”, the court said in its order dated July 24.
Bench: Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan
Case Title: Mehul Choksi v. Union of India & Ors.
4. [Cattle Smuggling] The Delhi High Court posted the bail plea filed by Enamul Haque accused in the case related to cattle smuggling across India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal for hearing on August 8. During the hearing, the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma was apprised by Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal appearing for Haque that the bail plea had been transferred after the change in the roster. The single-judge bench directed both the parties to file their written submissions and accordingly, listed the matter for detailed hearing on August 8.The single judge bench was dealing with the bail plea filed by Mohd. Emanuel Haque who has been arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement in a case related to cattle smuggling across the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.
Case Title: Mohd. Enamul Haque v. Directorate of Enforcement
5. [Pleas challenging suspension of social media accounts] Justice Subramonium Prasad of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday "recused" from hearing a batch of pleas challenging suspension of social media accounts of several users. The judge mentioned that petitioner counsel, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde is a "good friend" of his and directed the pleas to be listed before some other bench, subject to the instructions of the Chief Justice. The court fixed the matter for further hearing before another judge on August 7. Twitter accounts @Wokeflix, @Bharadwajspeaks and others have challenged the suspension of their user handles by Twitter Inc before the high court and vide their written submissions, they contended that the same had been done arbitrarily and that the political persuasion of these handles was what led to the same.
Bench: Justice Subramonium Prasad
Case Title: Wokeflix through Megha Choubey v. Union Of India & Ors.
6. [Committee to examine All Bar Elections in the capital] The Delhi High Court has recently formed a committee headed by one of its judges to examine the feasibility of holding elections to all bar associations in the national capital on a single day. The bench asked the committee to submit a report on the issues of preparation of ID cards for lawyers and radio frequency tag/stickers for their vehicles. “… a committee is being constituted by this court under Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva as the Chairperson, Justice Jasmeet Singh, Justice Manoj Jain, K K Manan, Chairman Bar Council of Delhi, Mohit Mathur, President of Delhi High Court Bar Association and Chairman of Coordination Committee of All District Bar Associations of Delhi, as its members”, the bench said in its order dated July 28. The court was hearing plea filed by advocates relating to holding of a “uniform election” in one day for all the Bar Associations in the national capital.
Bench: Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula
Case Title: Lalit Sharma and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. (another connected matter)
7. [Bail in POCSO Case] In a recent development, the Delhi High Court granted bail to a man accused under Section 8 of the POCSO Act, 2012 along with Sections 323/354 IPC, 1860. The FIR was allegedly filed by the complainant due to personal enmity between the parties. The Delhi High Court while dealing with the facts of the case observed that the perusal of the FIR indicated that allegedly on the date of the incident, two persons came to the house of the prosecutrix and called her mother, the mother of the prosecutrix objected to the same, and thereafter those two persons started beating the mother of the prosecutrix. The complainant specifically stated that one of them was one Ramesh and she did not know the name of the other person. It had further been stated in the complaint that one of them was wearing a white T-shirt. It was further alleged that when the complainant tried to intervene, the person wearing the white shirt molested her and pressed her breasts and also gave a fist blow on her eyes. The complainant also alleged that they also gave beatings to her father.
Case Title: G Arun v. State NCT of Delhi
8. [Delhi riots 2020] The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Tahir Hussain to approach the trial court for bail in a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case, in view of the change in circumstances. Advocate Tara Narula, on behalf of Hussain, submitted, “This is a fresh bail application. I have been in custody for 3 years and 4 months. After the dismissal of bail by the trial court, a co-ordinate bench of this court has granted me bail in 5 matters, two of those are exactly the same as before my lord today!” The counsel contended that the matter pertains to gunshot injury to one person during the Delhi riots on February 25, 2020, wherein a case was registered at Dayalpur police station. The Court asked the counsel, “Why didn’t you approach the trial court after the changed circumstances?” To this, the counsel wished to withdraw the present plea with liberty to approach the trial court. The single-judge bench allowed withdrawal of the plea and directed the trial court to consider the plea in view of the change in circumstances. “Learned counsel for petitioner seeks permission to withdraw the present bail application with liberty to file the fresh bail application before the learned trial court, in view of the order passed by this court dated 12.07.2023. Liberty granted. Learned Trial court is directed to consider the bail application in accordance with law”, the court ordered.
Case Title: Mohd. Tahir Hussain v. State of NCT Delhi
9. [Plea seeking Elimination of Child Beggary] The Delhi High Court has directed the Aam Aadmi Party government and the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) to file their respective status reports in a plea seeking direction to take requisite steps to eradicate child begging and related problems in and around Delhi. A division bench noted that the order dated May 10, 2023 had not been complied with. “The learned counsel for GNCTD as well as learned counsel for Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights are granted four weeks’ time to file the status report/comply with the order passed by this court. List the matter after four weeks”, the court ordered. During the hearing, the petitioner-in-person, Ajay Gautam submitted, "Kindly see Annexure P2 of my petition. If my lordships may visit these places, then will find the same situation. There is no change in the ground reality despite that they have filed lots of documents...but the pictures and the places mentioned in my writ petition show the same beggars. Same child begging is being performed in the particular area". The matter has been posted for further consideration on September 6.
Case Title: Ajay Gautam v. DCPCR & Ors.
10. [PIL restricting cash transactions] The Delhi High Court has 'refused' to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Centre and State to restrict cash transactions of the goods, products, and services, purchased through online shopping platforms like Amazon Flipkart, etc. The division bench said, "After arguing at length, learned counsel for Petitioner, prays for withdrawal of the present petition with liberty to take recourse to other remedies, as are available under law". "Dismissed as withdrawn, with liberty as aforesaid", the bench ordered. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay appeared in person, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma appeared for the Union of India and Additional Standing Counsel (ASC) Santosh Kumar Tripathi appeared for the Delhi Government.
Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. UOI & Ors.
11. [Litigation in Tendering Process] The Delhi High Court has observed that engaging in “opportunistic litigation” undermines the fairness and credibility of the tendering process, creating an environment of unpredictability. The bench said that such practices must be “strongly discouraged” to ensure integrity of the tendering system of procurement. “Engaging in opportunistic litigation undermines the fairness and credibility of the tendering process, creating an environment of unpredictability. Such practices must be strongly discouraged to ensure the integrity of the tendering system of procurement”, the division bench said in its order dated August 1, 2023. The court was dealing with a plea filed by a company challenging a tender issued by the Northern Railways to operate additional trains on a certain route.
Case Title: M/S D.G. Raj Commercial Pvt. Ltd. And Anr. v. The General Manager, Northern Railways and Ors.
12. [Plea to bar opposition parties from using I.N.D.I.A. acronym] The Delhi High Court has issued notice in the plea seeking direction to opposition parties to prohibit from using the acronym I.N.D.I.A. (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance). The division bench issued notice to the Centre, Election Commission of India (ECI) and several political parties in the PIL. CJ Sharma said orally, "This matter needs to be heard". "Issue notice. Notice accepted. List after 6 weeks", the court ordered. The counsel appearing for the petitioner sought a stay on the use of the national flag and the acronym I.N.D.I.A. To this, the court said, "This needs to be heard", and directed the counsel to file an application for an interim stay. The matter will be next heard on October 31, 2023. The plea filed by Girish Bharadwaj through Advocate Vaibhav Singh stated that several political parties using the country's national flag as the logo of their alliance is a further strategic move to attract and gain sympathy and votes of the innocent citizen and as a tool to give nudge and spark which may lead to political hatred which eventually will lead to political violence.
Bench: Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Amit Mahajan
Case Title: Girish Bharadwaj v. Union of India Ministry of Home Affairs & Ors.
13. [Mother's apprehension of psychological trauma can't be an obstacle in children's education] The Delhi High Court recently observed that a mother's anxiety for her children's well-being can't be overemphasised but her apprehension of "psychological trauma" to them need not be made an obstacle in their education. The division bench said, “…the apprehension of the appellant mother that they may suffer from psychological trauma, seems to be borne out of her own fear and anxiety which need not be transmitted to the children or be made an obstacle in the future educational path of the children”. The court was dealing with an appeal by a woman against a trial court order refusing to interfere with a "joint decision" taken by her and her estranged husband to send their children to schools in the United Kingdom (UK). She argued that the two children may suffer “psychological trauma” because of separation and should therefore be admitted in British School here or be sent to the same school in the UK.
Bench: Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna
Case Title: Sara Carriere Dubey v. Ashish Dubey
14. [Jail Supretendent's plea to produce Yasin Malik through VC] The Jail Superintendent of Tihar Jail on Thursday last week moved the Delhi High Court seeking permission to produce Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorist Yasin Malik from jail through video conferencing in a plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking the death penalty for him. Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with a terror funding case. The division bench will hear the application filed by the Jail Superintendent of Tihar Jail on August 7. “Furthermore, it is submitted that the Respondent/Convict Yasin Malik has been lodged in the Tihar Jail, New Delhi under the category of very high risk prisoners and thus, the present Application is in relation to a heavy security issue. Therefore, it is imperative that the Respondent/Convict Yasin Malik is not physically produced before this Hon’ble Court in order to maintain public order and safety," the Jail Superintendent said in the application.
Bench: Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anish Dayal
Case Title: State (National Investigation Agency) v. Mohd. Yasin Malik
15. [Terror Funding Case; Yasin Malik to appear through VC] The Delhi High Court has "allowed" the Jail Superintendent of Tihar Jail's application seeking permission to produce Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorist Yasin Malik from jail through video conferencing in a plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking the death penalty for him. Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with a terror funding case. The division bench said, "....vide order dated 29.05.2023, this court had directed the issuance of warrant against Yasin Malik before this court on 09.08.2023, at that stage-it is an admitted position that the order annexed as 03.02.2022 in the present application issued by the Hon'ble President of India had not been brought to the notice of the court". On perusal of the aforesaid letter of October 3, 2022, the court said, "It clearly reflects that the Hon'ble President of India has in the exercise of power conferred under S. 268(1) of the CPC r/w......and after carefully examining the materials on the record and having regard to the nature of offences of which Mohd. Yasin Malik@ Aslam.....has been accused; ordered that he shall not be moved from the Tihar Jail, New Delhi, and taken out of the jurisdiction of NCT of Delhi". "In that view of the matter, the order dated May 29, 2023 is necessarily modified to the extent that the Jail Superintendent is directed to produce Yasin Malik@ Aslam the respondent in the present appeal through Video Conferencing alone on August 9, and not in person", the court ordered.
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