Indian Law is largely derived from English common law. Indian law was first introduced by the British when they ruled India. Various acts and ordinances first introduced by the British are still in effect today. This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, laws from Ireland, USA, Britain and France were all synthesised to get a refined set of Indian laws as it currently stands. Indian laws also adhere to the United Nations guidelines on Human Rights and the environment. Certain international trade laws such as those of intellectual rights etc. are also enforced in India. The Constitution of India, the worlds lengthiest written constitution (with 395 articles and 8 schedules) was passed by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...

Indian Civil Law is complex with each religion having its own specific laws which they adhere to. In most states, registering of marriages and divorces is not compulsory. There are separate laws governing Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other religions. The exception to this rule is in the state of Goa, where a Portuguese Uniform Civil Code is in place, in which all religions have a common law regarding marriages, divorces and adoption. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, referred to as Christ. ... A Sikh (IPA: [siːk] or [sɪk]; Punjabi: , , IPA: [sɪk. ... Two letter code GA Country India Capital — Administrative — Judicial1   — Panaji — Mumbai Location — Latitude — Longitude   — 15° N — 73° E Governor SC Jamir Chief Minister Prataph Sing Rane State language Konkani Liberation Day December 19, 1961 Statehood Day May 30, 1987 Population 1. ...

Jury trials were abolished by the government in 1960 on the grounds they would be susceptible to media and public influence. This decision was based on an 8:1 acquittal of Kawas Nanavati in K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra, which was overturned by higher courts. A jury trial is a trial in which the judge of the facts, as opposed to the judge of the law, is a jury, made up of citizens who are usually randomly selected and are generally not legal professionals. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Holding Appellant Nanavati, a Naval Officer, was put up on trial under sec. ...

Each state drafts it own laws, however all the states have more or less the same laws. Laws directed by the Central government and the Supreme Court of India are binding on all citizens of each state. Each state has its own labour laws and taxation rates. The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. ...

Capital Punishment is present in India and is invoked only in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. The last execution was conducted in 2004, when Dhanonjoy Chatterjee was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year old girl. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the State as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ...

Dual nationality is prohibited under Indian nationality law. The courts of India have taken the view that no citizen shall carry the political burden of dual citizenship with its inevitable consequence of divided loyalties. The Indian Parliament passed on 7 January 2004 a law creating a new form of very limited dual nationality called Overseas citizenship of India. Overseas citizens of India will not enjoy any form of political rights or participation in the government of India. There are no plans to issue to Overseas citizens any form of Indian passport. Indian citizenship/nationality law: The Constitution of India provides for a single citizenship for the entire country. ...

After independence Indian laws have adapted to the changing world. The most recent being the Information Technology Act (2000), which recognises the validity of emails, digital ID’s and laws outlawing hacking, cracking and other malicious online works. A hack in progress in Lobby 7 at MIT. Hack is a term in the slang of the technology JEREMY STEFFAN WAS (X) culture which has come into existence over the past few decades. ... Cracking-divides a group’s voters into other districts, where they will be ineffective minorities; and kidnapping places two incumbents from the same party in the same district. ...

Law Implementation: Record is sad but improving

While Indian laws are well-intentioned, there is a general perception among the population that one can get away with any crime due to various flaws in the execution. Common grievances regarding law implementation include corruption (bribes are given to officials, police and even the judiciary), inadequate protection to witnesses (witnesses are threatened or bribed into silence), inept prosecution, etc. Prominent cases involving blatant miscarriage of justice include

• The Jessica Lal murder, where a politician's son was acquitted after shooting a model in the presence of dozens of witnesses - but public pressure and media revelations may get justice yet
• The BMW case in which an inebriated Sanjeev Nanda, son of Suresh Nanda (owner of international arms trading firm Crown Corporation) and grandson of admiral SM Nanda, drove into a police barrier at recklessly high speeds, killing three policemen and several bystanders on a public road. A number of witnesses initially attested to seeing the incident, and the group was caught red-handed cleaning blood from the car. However, all were eventually acquitted after witnesses turned hostile, some saying that it was probably a truck and not a BMW that they had seen.
• In Priyadarshini Mattoo's rape and murder, a top police officer's son was acquitted owing to what the judgment said were investigation and prosecution failures, including deliberately botched up DNA tests. THE CBI later took over the inquiry after intense media dn public pressure and the culprit was convicted
• Witnesses turned hostile in the Best Bakery Case during the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, leading to a collapse in the prosecution case.
• After nearly a dozen commissions investigating the Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984, in which prominent political leaders have been indicted and a number of police officers identified as culpable, not even a policeman has been even suspended.
• The Tulasa case, where a 12-year old child was abducted from Nepal, sold into a brothel, and her kidnappers were allowed to go free.

More than Indian Law, it is perhaps the strong tradition of a free press in India that serves its citizen's better. It is this force that is bringing the Jessica Lal case to a retrial (see Manu Sharma). Also, occasionally, justice does find its way, as in the tandoor murder case, where political leader Sushil Sharma appears to have shot his wife, chopped up her body and burnt the remains in a restaurant's tandoor oven. He was found guilty and sentenced to death on November 7, 2003. Jessica Lall was a model in New Delhi who was working as a celebrity barmaid at a socialite party when she was shot dead on April 29, 1999. ... The BMW Case refers to a notorious hit-and-run incident in New Delhi, India, where a rich and influential businessmens son in an inebriated condition were alleged to have driven a BMW into a police checkpoint in the wee hours of January 10, 1999. ... Sanjeev Nanda (b. ... Priyadarshini Mattoo (July 23,1973-January 23,1996) was a 23 year old law student when she was found raped and murdered at her house in New Delhi on January 23, 1996. ... The Best Bakery case is the name used to refer to a case involving an incident which occurred on March 1, 2002, at a bakery (called Best Bakery) in Vadodara, India during the 2002 Gujarat violence in which 14 people were murdered, many of them burned to death. ... Islamophobia is a neologism that according to the 2003 edition of the New Oxford Dictionary of English refers to hatred or fear of Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force. ... 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots took place in India after the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. ... Tulasas Father Tulasa Thapa was a 12-year old Nepali girl who was kidnapped from her home village of Thankot near Kathmandu in 1982, smuggled into Mumbai via the border town of Birganj in Parsa District, and sold into prostitution. ... Manu Sharma is an Indian acquitted along with seven other defendants on February 21, 2006 in the charge of the murder of Indian model and documentary filmmaker Jessica Lal at the Tamarind Court restaurant in Delhi on April 29, 1999 due to witnesses turning hostile and no forensic evidence available... An Indian chef places bread into a modern tandoor A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in Punjab northern India and Pakistan in which food is cooked over a hot charcoal fire. ...

See also

• Legal systems of the world
• Supreme Court of India
• Law enforcement in India
• Central Bureau of Investigation
• Immoral Traffic in Persons Act
• Graham Staines
• Tulasa
• Prostitution in India
• Equal under the Law? The Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo cases.

World distribution of major legal traditions The four major legal systems of the world today consist of civil law, common law, customary law, and religious law. ... The Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. ... India has a multitude of Law Enforcement agencies. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Immoral Traffic Persons (Prevention) Act or PITA is a bit of legislation passed in India in 1956 as a result of the India signing the United Nations declaration in 1950 in New York on the suppression of trafficking. ... Graham Stuart Staines (d. ... Tulasas Father Tulasa Thapa was a 12-year old Nepali girl who was kidnapped from her home village of Thankot near Kathmandu in 1982, smuggled into Mumbai via the border town of Birganj in Parsa District, and sold into prostitution. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Jessica Lall was a model in New Delhi who was working as a celebrity barmaid at a socialite party when she was shot dead on April 29, 1999. ... Priyadarshini Mattoo (July 23,1973-January 23,1996) was a 23 year old law student when she was found raped and murdered at her house in New Delhi on January 23, 1996. ...

External links

• Latest in Indian legal news
• News and views from the Indian Supreme Court
• India legislative resources
• Indian Law — HelpLineLaw

References

• News Brief on the execution of Dhananjoy Chatterjee.