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In a path-breaking judgment, the Madras High Court recognised the right to marriage of transgender persons, in accordance with the Supreme Court decision in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014) 5 SCC 438 (‘NALSA’). In the present case, the petitioners were a couple, i.e., a cis-man and a transgender woman, who solemnised their marriage in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, as per Hindu rites and ceremonies, and sought to register their marriage under the Tamil Nadu Registration of Marriage Rules, which was denied. The State argued that under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (‘HMA’), a marriage can be solemnised between a ‘bridegroom’ and ‘bride’, wherein the ‘bride’ refers to a woman (‘cis-woman’) and not a transgender person.

The politics over burqa is needless. One, Sri Lanka has taken a decision and it has every reason to. In fact, nearly 300 reasons if the death count in the recent serial bombings in the island nation are counted as reasons. Three hundred is a huge number and if Sri Lanka thinks banning the ‘Niqab’ will help it thwart terrorists, so be it. For the Shiv Sena to ask for a blanket ban on the burqa in India is ridiculous. It has given the BJP one more reason to tom-tom its election slogan of ‘Majboot Sarkar’ and link it with ‘Majboot borders’.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has issued instructions to formulate a detailed action plan for the first one hundred days of the next government, according to some knowledgeable people. Apparently, this set of action plan is meant for the in-coming new government, whichever it is. But the presumption is that the guidelines are to follow the manifesto priorities of the ruling party. The move might reflect the sense of confidence of the current dispensation of the chances of coming back.

Weekly Round-Up of Major Decisions of the Courts in India as also Legal Policy Developments

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets a small contingent of heavily armed troops early Tuesday, calling for the military to rise up and oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.

BHOPAL: Besides Congress almost entire Left, Progressive and liberal forces have rallied round Digvijaya Singh backing his fight against Pragya Thakur. Pragya Thakur has been sponsored by the BJP against Digvijaya Singh, Congress candidate for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat.

After five years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi representing Varanasi, has the constituency changed for the better? Has it become cleaner? Has it been transformed into a Kyoto as Modi had promised? Are the weavers better off? Is the air less polluted? Has the river Ganges become cleaner? Is the infrastructure better? The jury will be out on May 23, when results come. Modi filed his nomination on April 26 to represent Varanasi for the second time. He has stuck to Varanasi and the Modi frenzy was in full swing at the mega road show on April 25.

The ‘Yeti’ did a recce of an Indian Army mountaineering expedition’s base camp at Makalu and then without disturbing the sleep of the olive-uniformed climbers went away silent as a snowfall in the dead of night leaving behind for proof of its night-time incursion and evidence of existence only a footprint of massive size, 32x15”.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The post-election scene in Kerala has heated up with a flaming row erupting over bogus voting allegedly by the CPI(M) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

As the election moves to the last three phases, the turn out during the fourth phase has not been encouraging for the BJP. Like the third phase, the fourfth phase has been quite crucial for the saffron party. In this phase of the 17th Lok Sabha election, 72 constituencies across nine States and including parts of Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir went to the polls. The NDA has won 56 seats out of the 71 seats. This time the polling was around 64 per cent, a net drop of nearly 2 percent from the 2014 turn out.