On 06 August 2018, following the landmark judgment in the case of Navtej Singh Johar & Ors v Union of India & Ors article 377 of the Indian Penal Code was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of India. That provision of the law criminalized homosexual sex and transgender sex between consenting adults. This judgment...
The National Human Rights Commission came into existence with the Protection of Human Rights Act 1999 which was subsequently amended in 2012. Human Rights have been defined therein as rights and freedoms referred to in Chapter II of the Constitution which include protection of right to personal liberty, protection from inhuman treatment, provisions to secure...
In the wake of the Commission of Inquiry report on drugs: Is the Prime Minister acting as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? The commitment to set up a Commission of Inquiry on Drugs was among the twelve pledges taken by the defunct L’Alliance Lepep, led by the Mouvement Socialiste Militant(MSM) prior to the 2014 general...
Trade unions and workers in general have over the years made representations, in vain, to review the way disciplinary committees are conducted.. A Disciplinary Committee (DC) is usually set up by the employer who selects and remunerates the chairperson. The recommendation of the DC does not bind the employer, who is as such always free...
Order for Second Reading read. The Attorney General (Mr Y. Varma): Mr Speaker, Sir, I move that the Assets Recovery Bill (No. II of 2011) be read a second time. Mr Speaker, Sir, as Members of the House will be aware, the Government Programme 2010-2015 provides for the establishment of “an independent law enforcement agency...
Mauritius has recently been reviewed by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In its concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of Mauritius on 09 November, 2018, the Committee stated it remained concerned at the gaps in national legislation on some...
Rights and obligations in a marriage are contained in our French inspired 1808 Civil Code by virtue of which a concubin has no legal status in a relationship. The Code Napoleon saw concubinage as “puisque les concubins se désintéressent du droit, le droit n’aqu’à se désintéresser d’eux”. Contrary to Mauritius, the law in France has...
Sections 1 and 5 of the Constitution guarantee the right to personal liberty, precluding any automatic denial of bail even when the suspect is charged with the most serious offences. Paradoxically, Magistrates show reluctance to grant bail in complex cases especially when the police enquiry is at an embryonic stage. Therefore, as investigations are becoming...
Not much has been written on this thorny issue. I have mustered the courage to write this article which in no way targets anyone but reveals lacunae in a system perpetuated over decades, with the legal profession remaining as silent bystander. Many in the profession talk about the topic, but for the fear of getting...
On 21 September 2018, the ruling coalition came forward with its proposals, emanating from a governmental committee, for electoral reform. This again demonstrates an autocratic way of governing. On such an issue, the opposition should have been roped in but the MSM-ML government preferred to sit on its hands rather than join the drive to...
