Judicial and legal officers are appointed by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission by virtue of sections 85 and 86 of the Constitution. After decades of debate about the need for judicial training prior to appointment as Judge or Magistrate, the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies (IJLS) was finally set up, during my tenure...
There is unanimity across the political spectrum that the conduct of police enquiries should be regulated by legislation as the current system condones abuses and malpractices. In that respect, a lot has been said over the years about the preparation and finalization of a Police and Criminal Evidence Bill (PACE). Under the present Government, two...
Following the formation of government in the aftermath of the 2019 general elections, all eyes were focused on the Prime Minister to announce the name of the person who would occupy the prestigious constitutional post of Speaker of the National Assembly. The press and other opinion leaders mentioned few names of persons who had had...
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...
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...
