Endosulfan: Centre told to clear stand by Monday

Luthra said they would need a comprehensive study,which may span over three years,before an unequivocal answer is given to the court.

“Please don’t tell us that. Your committee was appointed more than a year and a half back. We want your committee to come out with answers now,” the Bench said.

It also wanted to know how,in case of a ban,the stock should be disposed and if the case should be dealt by a more appropriate Bench since the issues were essentially about environment and health hazards.

‘Bring Bill to strengthen law against acid attacks’

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday urged the Centre to table in the winter session the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill,which proposes to make the offence of acid attack more stringent in nature.

“No one can imagine the suffering of a victim of acid attack. They undergo trauma every minute of their life. It is a very serious issue and hence measures to alleviate their pain are imminent,” a Bench of of Justices R M Lodha and A R Dave said.

Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran expressed the government’s inability to introduce the Bill in the ongoing session and said they would table it “as soon as possible”.

But the Bench retorted: “Anything that you can do tomorrow,you can also do it today. We understand you cannot table it in the running session but you should do it in the next session.” Parasaran agreed.

The Bill,which was approved by the Cabinet in July,will include new sub-sections to Section 326 of the IPC,which deals with the offence of voluntarily causing grievous hurt. The proposed addition seeks to make acid attack a separate offence and prescribe for enhanced punishment.

Jaitly can visit Fernandes

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday allowed former Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitly to meet party colleague and former defence minister George Fernandes once every fortnight for 15 minutes.

The court,however,said her visits should not interfere with Fernandes’s routine. “The petitioner is not permitted to take personnel from media or party workers inside the house of Fernandes,and the petitioner can’t have physical contact with him,” it said.

Jaitly had moved the SC after the Delhi High Court,in April,refused to allow her to visit Fernandes,82,who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Jaitly had sought the visitation right,saying she has been a confidante of Fernandes for over 30 years and that the ailing leader required aid and assistance from the old friend.

Plea against govt order to ban sites for piracy junked

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday declined to entertain a PIL challenging the decisions of the Centre and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block various websites,including torrent sites and video-sharing sites,to prevent piracy of commercial content. The ISPs had pulled the plug on websites,apparently hosting copyrighted materials,in pursuant to a Madras High Court order.

“Supreme Court is not the only court. If you insist that the ban infringes upon any of your fundamental rights or that it has been wrongly invoked,you should approach the High Court concerned first,” said a Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Deepak Mishra.

The petitioner,Jiten Kumar Jain,then opted to withdraw the plea with a liberty to approach the Delhi HC.

Jain had challenged the “arbitrary and unjustified blanket bans in terms of taking down the entire websites,under the guise of preventing piracy of commercial content”. The ban,he argued,was an “attack on the democratic fibre of the nation”.

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