{"id":44220,"date":"2024-12-26T10:06:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T04:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=44220"},"modified":"2025-05-06T09:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T03:59:20","slug":"legal-landscape-of-india-in-2024-and-challenges-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/legal-landscape-of-india-in-2024-and-challenges-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Landscape of India in 2024 and Challenges Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Key Verdicts and Interventions in 2024<\/li>\n<li>Challenges Ahead for 2025<\/li>\n<li>Major Cases to Watch in 2025<\/li>\n<li>Contentious Legislative Reforms<\/li>\n<li>Conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>2024 marked a significant shift in India\u2019s judiciary, with the Supreme Court taking decisive stances on politically sensitive issues, <strong>addressing long-standing criticisms of &#8220;judicial evasion.&#8221;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Landmark rulings, major institutional reforms, and debates on contentious laws defined the year, setting the stage for critical developments in 2025.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Key Verdicts and Interventions in 2024:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Landmark judgments:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Electoral Bonds scheme:<\/strong> Declared unconstitutional, addressing concerns of transparency in political funding.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bilkis Bano case: <\/strong>Reversed the Gujarat government\u2019s remission for convicts in a high-profile gangrape case.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bulldozer demolitions:<\/strong> Issued guidelines to curb illegal practices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Opposition leaders:<\/strong> Granted bail in politically charged cases, signaling judicial independence.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mandir-Masjid disputes:<\/strong> Barred fresh district court cases on ownership of religious sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Long-pending issues addressed: <\/strong>Constitution Benches took up key cases, including:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Aligarh Muslim University\u2019s minority status.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Taxation of industrial alcohol.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance of these verdicts and interventions:<\/strong> These efforts continued reforms initiated during former Chief Justice U U Lalit\u2019s tenure and advanced under Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Challenges Ahead for 2025:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Transition in leadership:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Three Chief Justices will preside in 2025:\n<ul>\n<li>CJI Sanjiv Khanna (until May).<\/li>\n<li>Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai (194-day tenure).<\/li>\n<li>Justice Surya Kant (November 2025\u2013February 2027).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Short tenures of CJIs mean the composition of the Collegium, which makes recommendations for the appointment of judges, sees frequent changes.<\/li>\n<li>Short tenures also pose <strong>challenges to continuity in addressing institutional reforms and pendency.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Institutional reforms: <\/strong>Digital advancements under Justice Chandrachud have <strong>increased public scrutiny<\/strong> of the judiciary, requiring further adaptation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Major Cases to Watch in 2025:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Religious and cultural issues:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Places of Worship Act:<\/strong> Constitutional challenges to the 1991 law freezing religious character as of 1947 are pending.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hijab ban:<\/strong> A 3-judge bench will reexamine the legality of Karnataka\u2019s ban on headscarves in schools.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Essential religious practices:<\/strong> Re-evaluation of doctrines affecting cases like women\u2019s entry into religious sites, which was decided in the <strong>Sabarimala <\/strong>verdict (2018).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Citizenship and secularism <\/strong>(The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019): Challenges on grounds of exclusion of Muslims and violation of secularism will test the Court\u2019s interpretation of equality and fraternity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gender rights <\/strong>(Marital rape): Debate over criminalising marital rape continues, with concerns of disproportionate consequences.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enforcement Directorate\u2019s powers:<\/strong> Judicial scrutiny of the ED\u2019s arrest powers and procedural safeguards could redefine the scope of investigative agencies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Contentious Legislative Reforms:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>One Nation, One Election: <\/strong>Among key legislative reforms in the pipeline, the Bills to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha, and state and Union Territory Assemblies, will likely be most significant.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New criminal laws: <\/strong>Replacement of colonial-era laws with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and related statutes has introduced progressive changes but also contentious provisions, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Rebranding sedition as &#8220;deshdroh&#8221; (treason).<\/li>\n<li>Extending detention periods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Uniform Civil Code (UCC):<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Uttarakhand\u2019s UCC, effective January 2025, mandates registration of live-in relationships and introduces penalties for non-compliance.<\/li>\n<li>Similar codes in BJP-ruled states face scrutiny for encroaching on personal freedoms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sub-classification of Scheduled Castes: <\/strong>States can now create sub-quotas within Scheduled Caste reservations, potentially reshaping affirmative action policies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>2024 underscored the Supreme Court&#8217;s evolving role in addressing critical legal and social issues.<\/li>\n<li>With high-stakes cases and legislative reforms on the horizon, 2025 promises to be another pivotal year for India\u2019s judiciary.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The challenge lies in balancing judicial intervention <\/strong>with respect for legislative intent, ensuring justice and constitutional values prevail.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What was the Sabarimala verdict?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In 2018, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the practice of excluding women from the Sabarimala Temple was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is the One Nation, One Election Bill?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Law Minister introduced two Bills in Lok Sabha &#8211; a Constitution Amendment Bill to sync the terms of Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, and a consequential Bill to amend the relevant Acts for UTs and the NCT of Delhi to enable simultaneous polls there as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/looking-at-2025-law-key-questions-of-religion-society-law-9744396\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2024 marked a significant shift in India\u2019s judiciary, with the Supreme Court taking decisive stances on politically sensitive issues, addressing long-standing criticisms of &#8220;judicial evasion&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}