logo
Delhi HCs three new judges take oath of office

Delhi HCs three new judges take oath of office

News185 days ago
Agency:
PTI
New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) Three new judges on Thursday took oath of office, taking the strength of the Delhi High Court to 43.
Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya administered oath of office to Justices Vinod Kumar, Shail Jain and Madhu Jain. The swearing-in ceremony was held in the high court premises.
All the three judicial officers, who have been elevated to the high court, took oath in Hindi.
With their swearing-in, the high court's strength has gone up to 43. The sanctioned strength of the high court is 60.
The Centre had on July 22 notified the appointment of three judicial officers of the Delhi district judiciary as judges of the high court.
The three officers, who joined the Delhi Judicial Service in 1992, were serving as principal district and sessions judges at various trial courts prior to their elevation — Vinod Kumar was posted at Karkardooma court, Madhu Jain at Tis Hazari court and Shail Jain at Saket court.
On July 21, six other judges — Justices V Kameswar Rao, Nitin Wasudeo Sambre, Vivek Chaudhary, Anil Kshetrapal, Arun Kumar Monga and Om Prakash Shukla — had taken oath of office of the Delhi High Court. PTI SKV SKV DV DV
view comments
First Published:
July 24, 2025, 10:30 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

New draft drops 3rd language in state schools for Class 3-10
New draft drops 3rd language in state schools for Class 3-10

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

New draft drops 3rd language in state schools for Class 3-10

Pune: The curriculum for Class 3 to 10 in state govt schools in Maharashtra, announced by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) on Sunday, eliminated the third language from the new draft for 2025. This means state govt schools will continue to teach two languages until the Narendra Jadhav committee decides the future of the third language in classrooms. Tamil Nadu is the only state which has a two-language policy in its schools. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai " The third language will be included in the curriculum only after the final recommendations of the committee and a subsequent decision by govt," SCERT director Rahul Rekhawar said. He said that until a formal decision is made, the current curriculum system will continue. "At present, only the first and second language syllabi have been prepared. The third language syllabus will follow once the curriculum is finalised." The exclusion of the third language comes after months of heated public debate, especially around the imposition of Hindi, in Marathi and English medium schools. Education activists demanded that schools be given the autonomy in choosing the third language based on local and cultural relevance. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Struggling With Belly Fat? Try This at Home Home Fitness Hack Shop Now Undo The new curriculum, designed in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, includes 20 subjects. The revised syllabus introduces environmental education, Indian knowledge systems, constitutional values, and entrepreneurship skills across different grades. Among the 20 subjects are Marathi, English, mathematics, science, history, geography, economics, political science, arts, vocational education, physical education, and foundational value education. The draft curriculum has now been uploaded on SCERT's website and feedback from stakeholders—teachers, parents, experts, and institutions—has been invited until Aug 27. SCERT has urged respondents to provide detailed suggestions, citing the subject, grade, original content, proposed changes, and the rationale behind them. However, the absence of a third language from the draft has once again drawn attention to the ongoing controversy around language inclusion in school education. In recent months, several parents' groups and regional political leaders voiced opposition to making Hindi compulsory in non-Hindi speaking states like Maharashtra. Mahendra Ganpule, former vice-president, state headmasters' association, said the new draft published on Sunday is similar to the one published earlier in line with SCF 2024. Other highlights of the draft include a dedicated vocational education curriculum starting from Class 6 and a redesigned environmental studies syllabus for Class 3 to 5, now titled 'The World Around Us'. The curriculum reflects NEP's broader goals, such as promoting sustainable development, social inclusion, and interdisciplinary learning.

New Maharashtra Law Criminalises Expression, Expands State Power
New Maharashtra Law Criminalises Expression, Expands State Power

The Hindu

time3 hours ago

  • The Hindu

New Maharashtra Law Criminalises Expression, Expands State Power

Published : Jul 28, 2025 15:35 IST - 6 MINS READ The Maharashtra government has introduced a new law to deal with what it calls 'urban Maoists'. What is striking—and somewhat ironic—is that the same political party and government that insist so loudly on promoting Hindi, that are committed to the 'Hindi-fication' and 'nationalisation' of everything, have not been able to find a Hindi equivalent for the word 'urban' in the absurd term 'urban Maoist'. Perhaps 'shahari' or 'nagariya' do not carry the same ominous weight. The phrase 'urban Maoist' has a certain spectral ring to it: it signals danger, an enemy within. Such language serves a very specific purpose: it helps the BJP to frighten and confuse its voters. Alongside 'urban Maoist', we also hear the term 'urban Naxal'. But who exactly is a Naxal? Who is a Maoist? These terms are rarely, if ever, defined. They are categories designed for vagueness—elastic enough to fit anyone who dares dissent. Just a few days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of speaking the language of 'urban Naxals', claiming that those who declare war on the Indian state cannot possibly understand the Constitution. If the leader of India's principal opposition party can be branded an 'urban Naxal', then anyone can. This category is so ill-defined that it gives the state the power to arrest or punish anyone simply by invoking the label. Also Read | Can courts protect free speech while designing its boundaries? Maoism bogeyman According to the Maharashtra government, Maoism is such a grave threat that existing laws are no longer sufficient to combat it. Even draconian laws such as the UAPA and the MCOCA are, it seems, inadequate. A reading of the new law's draft reveals that it punishes not just actions, but intentions too. And who will discern these 'Maoist intentions'? That is left to the will of the police. It will be enough for a police officer to say that they have smelt 'Maoist intent' in a person's words. Under this law, not only actual acts but even suggestive expressions can be considered 'unlawful activity'. A cartoon, or a painting, or a poem, or a story, let alone slogans or speeches, can be deemed subversive. All it takes is for the police to claim that these forms of expression may disrupt public order, spread hatred against the state, incite disobedience of governmental institutions, or instil fear among the public. The scope is vast enough that nearly any film, article, or artwork could be declared an 'urban Naxal' act. For instance, Shyam Benegal's Ankur or Satyajit Ray's Hirak Rajar Deshe could easily be labelled Maoist. Anything that the BJP government dislikes can now be designated as 'urban Naxalism' or 'urban Maoism'. And this is not hypothetical. Artists from the Kabir Kala Manch have spent years behind bars after their songs were deemed acts of 'urban Naxalism'. A few days ago, the Uttarakhand government filed a case against Garhwali folk singer Pawan Semwal for a song that asks the government: 'How much more of our mountains will you consume? You've turned them into dens of gambling, liquor, unemployment, and corruption.' Before him, singer Neha Singh Rathore faced sedition charges, while satirical video creator Madri Kakoti (famous on social media as 'Dr Medusa') was booked under sedition and other charges in April. This new law drives another nail into the coffin of Indian democracy by criminalising expression itself. Its goal is clear: to silence all dissenting voices within society. It is, in effect, a conspiracy to dismantle civil society altogether. Activists like Medha Patkar have repeatedly been branded anti-national. Opposition to big dams is framed as opposition to development, and then as opposition to the state itself. By this logic, Medha Patkar or Vandana Shiva can be called 'urban Naxals'. We have heard BJP leaders claiming that human rights is an alien concept and that those advocating it are, in fact, misleading people from the true path of duty towards the nation. Attack on free speech But what exactly counts as 'anti-state'? Is it permissible to criticise the Prime Minister? We used to believe that India was different or better than many countries because it allowed space for criticism of power. That belief rested on the active presence of civil society and the assurance that its voice would be heard. Yet, over the past 11 years, we have seen repeated assaults on members of civil society. In his first year in office, the Prime Minister warned the higher judiciary against being influenced by 'five-star activists'. Then, in 2021, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval declared that fourth-generation warfare would be conducted within the country, with civil society the frontier of the war. Wars, Doval said, have ceased to become an effective instrument for achieving political or military objectives. 'But it is civil society that can be subverted, suborned, divided, manipulated to hurt the interests of a nation. You are there to see that they stand fully protected.' For Doval, civil society is the enemy that has to be policed and disciplined. What Doval wanted was to remove the protection that civil society enjoyed. And that is exactly what the Maharashtra government's new law seeks to do. If one understands this context, the Maharashtra government's intent becomes crystal clear. Protecting democracy Democracy is not sustained by elections and political parties alone. True democracy lives in the belief that even a solitary citizen has the right to critique power. It is the grass-roots organisations working in the areas of land rights, water shortages, or factory pollution that keep democracy alive—not political parties and elections alone. For instance, movements against, say, a Coca-Cola plant that sucks water out of the ground, or against an increase in anti-Muslim violence, have been led not by major political outfits but by small civil society groups. The agitation in Niyamgiri Hills that led to the halt on bauxite mining was led by civil society organisations. The BJP government would like to neutralise all such organisations. What is truly alarming is that this ordinance was passed effortlessly in the Legislative Assembly. The Congress and its allies did not even mount an opposition. Only a single MLA, from the CPI(M), raised a voice against it. The opposition parties did try to correct the mistake in the Legislative Council later, where they staged a walkout. Also Read | Are India's liberal think tanks in trouble? The opposition's silence in the Maharashtra Assembly reveals a larger delusion that all political parties are part of—that democracy can be saved simply by participating in elections. The BJP, meanwhile, wants democracy to be reduced to just that—elections. And how fair even those elections are, we can judge from the recent actions of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Bihar. Again, if not for civil society organisations, concerned individuals, and media houses, the dangers of the special intensive revision (SIR) done by the ECI in Bihar would not have become public knowledge. For elections to be meaningful, democratic consciousness must survive in society. The people should have the confidence and assurance that they can express themselves freely and fearlessly. Maharashtra's new law seeks to extinguish this democratic consciousness. Apoorvanand teaches Hindi at Delhi University and writes literary and cultural criticism.

'Nimisha Priya's death sentence in Yemen cancelled,' says Indian Grand Mufti's office
'Nimisha Priya's death sentence in Yemen cancelled,' says Indian Grand Mufti's office

Hindustan Times

time3 hours ago

  • Hindustan Times

'Nimisha Priya's death sentence in Yemen cancelled,' says Indian Grand Mufti's office

In a big relief for Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, her death sentence by Yemeni authorities on charges of murder has been overturned, according to the office of Indian Grand Mufti Kanthapuram AP Abubakker Muslaiyar, reported news agency ANI. Nimisha Priya was sentenced to death in Yemen for alleged murder of her ex-business partner. (Sourced) This comes after her execution, which was originally scheduled to happen on July 16, was halted temporarily just a day earlier, after Grand Mufti AP Abubakker Muslaiyar intervened and requested Yemeni authorities to reconsider. Now, his office says, that her death sentence has been cancelled completely following a high-level meeting in Yemeni capital Sanaa. 'The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, which was previously suspended, has been overturned. A high-level meeting held in Sanaa decided to completely cancel the death sentence that was temporarily suspended earlier,' ANI quoted his office as saying. Priya's family, including her 13-year-old daughter Mishel and her husband Thomas, reached Yemen to join Indian Christian evangelist KA Paul to appeal Houthi authorities to release Priya. In a video, shared by news agency PTI, Mishel can be heard saying 'I love you, mamma,' as she speaks in Malayalam and English. Her speech is not legible.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store