Creating a website can entail cyber crime: HC

Swati Deshpande TNN 

Mumbai: Creating a website and storing on it information accessible to others can land one in trouble for cyber crime, the Bombay high court (HC) has held. 
    The high court recently dismissed a petition by a Pune resident to quash an FIR lodged in 2011 against him for defamation caused by sending offensive messages through computer resources. The FIR was filed under the Indian Penal Code and Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. 
    A media house had filed a complaint against Manoj Oswal, the petitioner, for distribution of allegedly defamatory pamphlets with references to two websites that had information about the family of the media house owner. 
    Oswal’s contention was that the IT Act could not be invoked since the term ‘website’ was not covered in Section 66A, which punishes a person for ‘sending’ offensive information. 
    He said information merely stored on a website was no offence under the section. “Incorporating some matter about any person in a website does not mean sending it. It remains in the website. A person is not sending anything by merely creating a website,” his lawyer Kushal Mor argued. 
    The high court dismissed these submissions as untenable and fallacious. 
    The legislative intent behind the IT Act was not to exclude ‘website’ as a medium of sending, a high court bench of Justices C S Dharmadhikari and S BShukre held. 
    “It is abundantly clear that the offence under scrutiny was a computer-related offence,” the court said. 

CYBER OFFENCE 
As per section 66 A, IT Act, it is an offence for a person to send by a computer resource or a communication device: Any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character Any information which he knows to be false, but yet sends it ‘persistently’ through such computer resources to cause annoyance, ‘inconvenience’, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will Any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages 


PUNISHMENT | Imprisonment for up to three years and fine 


HIGH COURT ORDER 
Creating a website that may contain false or offensive information and facilitating its access to others would fall under the definition of ‘sending messages’ under section 66A of the IT Act 
‘Inconvenience’ cannot be read in isolation and must be read as a whole under the definition of an offence under the section 
It is only false information that causes inconvenience


Source:::: The Times of India, 19-08-2013, 04, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Man entitled to divorce if wife doesn’t let his parents stay with them, rules HC

Nikunj Soni Ahmedabad

In a significant verdict, the Gujarat high court has said a husband is entitled to divorce if his wife does not allow his parents to stay with them and also prevents him from taking care of the parents. The bench of chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala on Monday granted divorce to a Surat-based doctor saying that the behaviour of his wife, also a doctor, amounted to ‘mental cruelty’. The petition for divorce was filed by the husband who had sought dissolution of their 15-year-old marriage. “The court granted divorce, holding that the wife’s actions amounted to mental cruelty towards the husband,” said AY Kogje, counsel for the husband. “We had sought dissolution of the marriage as the wife did not want her in-laws to stay with them and also prevented her husband from keeping any contact with his parents. The court ruled that such action can be covered under the definition of mental cruelty,” the lawyer said. Milind Dave (name changed) had filed for divorce from Mitali (name changed) on the ground that his wife had not allowed his father and mother to stay with them.  Not only that, the wife had also prevented him from keeping his mother with them after his father died of blood cancer. According to the petition, in 2007 too the husband had filed for divorce in the Surat family court on the ground of mental cruelty caused by his wife by refusing to allow his parents to stay with them at their house in Surat. However, the court in 2012 rejected the husband’s plea. Milind then filed an appeal in the high court. He put several grounds and evidence against his doctor-wife.  According to the petition, the wife had not only objected to his parents staying with them, she had also objected to his going to Ahmedabad to take care of his father who was then suffering from blood cancer. Milind’s parents were then living in Ahmedabad.

Source::::  DNA < 23-04-2013, p.2, http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=44218&boxid=32735&ed_date=2013-4-23&ed_code=820009&ed_page=11

Ex-husband who defaults on maintenance can be arrested: HC

Shibu Thomas TNN 

Mumbai: A non-bailable arrest warrant can be issued against a man who fails to pay maintenance ordered under the Domestic Violence Act, the Bombay high court has ruled. 
    “The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code relating to maintenance as also the Domestic Violence Act, which are beneficial legislations for protection of women such as the wife in this case, are required to be construed so as to benefit those persons for whom they are enacted,” said Justice Roshan Dalvi. The court dismissed a plea filed by a city resident who had challenged the NBW issued against him by a magistrate over his failure to pay maintenance to his wife, despite court orders. 
    “The magistrate issuing NBW seems to have followed the special procedure for the arrest of the husband for non-payment of the maintenance. Such procedural order is within the framework of the Act and hence cannot be faulted as it is not seen to be illegal,’’ the judge said, adding, “The NBW shall be executed unless the husband pays off the entire arrears now due and payable.” 
    Seema Patil had moved court against her estranged husband Ashish under the domestic violence law. The court asked Ashish to pay her monthly maintenance. 
    Ashish failed to pay the maintenance and ran up arrears of Rs 56,000. Seema approached the magistrate, who issued an arrest warrant against Ashish, saying he will be released only if he pays dues at the time of execution of the warrant. Ashish challenged the magistrate’s order. 
    (Names changed to protect the couple’s identity)

Source::: The Times of India, 05-04-2013, p.5, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Bombay high court to go hi-tech with digital records

MUMBAI: All documents that reach the Bombay high court will soon be scanned and stored digitally. In a move that will save time and bring in transparency , the high court will allow litigants and lawyers to submit their petitions on a pen drive along with the hard copy.

Work is already on in the HC building to instal high-speed scanners that can scan 120-160 pages in less than a minute. After March, affidavits and documents pertaining to a case will be copied by these super-fast scanners and stored in a digital format, thus allowing court officers to access the information at the click of a mouse.

On the ground floor of the HC, a room with conveyor belts, computers and scanners is being readied where documents will need to be deposited. These will be scanned, e-filed and circulated amongst the various departments of the judiciary.

Pointing out that the Bombay HC is among the first in the country to get "super tech-savvy" , a senior court officer said the "aim is to bring in transparency in filing and numbering of petitions, their movement and status updates". "The exercise will rule out delays due to misplaced documents," added the officer.

State information and technology secretary Rajesh Agarwal said, "Though the Delhi high court had introduced e-filing of documents, the Bombay high court is going a step further by not only digitizing all the records, but also ensuring that most work is done online. The IT department has decided to release Rs 1.7 crore for the case management information system being implemented by the court." Agarwal added that a similar system will be introduced in Mantralaya once it is renovated . "We, too, will accept documents at the gate, scan and digitize them, before forwarding them to various departments. This will ensure that people do not have to go to various departments ," he said.

 

 

Source:::: The Times of India, 05-02-2013.

Eve-teasing: HC says women’s dignity at stake

Rosy Sequeira TNN 

Mumbai: Exactly a week after a 19-year-old youth was killed in Dombivli by a group of boys after he took them on for passing lewd comments on a girl, the Bombay high court on Monday said eve-teasing needed to be redressed as the question of women’s dignity was at stake. 
    The court’s observation came on a suo motu public interest litigation. Taking note of the need to ensure the safety of women, a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode had recommended the framing of norms for women, especially those working on night shifts, and requested the chief justice to take it up as a PIL. The recommendation from the judges came on September 17, 2012 after they upheld the death rap of two men who raped and killed a 22-year-old Pune BPO staffer on November 1, 2007. 
    On November 8, 2012, the CJ converted the judges’ request into a PIL and assigned it before the same bench. When the matter came up for hearing onMonday, the judges said women’s security was a burning issue. “Apart from security to be provided to women, it has been noticed that of late there have been instances where people rescuing women have been assaulted and murdered,” Justice Kanade said, adding the issue needed to be resolved considering all aspects.


Source:::: The Times of India, 11-12-2012, p.01. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1355204307234

High court seals builders’ conviction for double-selling same flat

Mustafa Plumber

The Bombay high court has upheld the conviction handed down to Vinay Mehta and Nitin Mehta of Anamika Real Estate Pvt Ltd for cheating a home buyer by double-selling a flat.  The sessions court had sentenced the duo to six months’ simple imprisonment and fined them Rs5,000 each. It also directed the firm to pay Rs 5,000 to the complainant, CM Lakhani.  In 1998, Lakhani met the Mehtas and decided to buy a flat in the under-construction Benzer Tower in Borivli (E) for Rs7.5 lakh. He paid Rs50,000 as the booking amount and the balance was to be paid as mentioned in the agreement signed on January 12, 1998.  When the project was not completed, in 2003, Lakhani checked with the sub-registrar of assurances office and found out that the duo had entered into an agreement with Annay and Nitin Kancholiya on June 20, 2000, for the same flat.  Advocate Mohan Tekawade, appearing for Lakhani, argued that the Mehtas deprived his client to be of his property and used the Rs50,000 for personal expenditure. The Mehtas argued that Lakhani neither paid the balance nor credited his demand notice so, they issued a final letter of cancellation of the agreement. They argued the case would amount to breach of contract and not cheating.  But justice KU Chandiwal dismissed the Mehtas’ revision petition and directed them to surrender before the authorities concerned.

Source:::: DNA, 01-11-2012, p.02. http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=30856&boxid=15738&ed_date=2012-11-01&ed_code=820009&ed_page=4

No escaping VAT, high court tells builders

Dismisses clutch of petitions seeking the quashing of govt circulars on the tax

DNA Correspondent l Mumbai

Builders will have to assess their tax liabilities the way the government wants it to and pay VAT (value added tax) by October 31.  Also, they can avail of the option of composite payment for agreements entered after April 2010, the Bombay high court ruled on Tuesday.  While upholding the two sales tax department circulars related to VAT, the court dismissed a clutch of petitions from various builders’ bodies that had sought the quashing of the circulars.  The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry and the Builders Association were among the petitioners. A division bench of justices DY Chandrachud and RG Ketkar directed the developers/builders to register themselves with the sales tax department and pay VAT as per the new Maharashtra Value Added Tax (MVAT) Act, 2002. Under the act, the new definition of “sale” makes it mandatory for developers to pay tax every time they sell a flat/house.  As per the circular, developers were supposed to register by September 15 and pay the taxes by October 31. The earlier deadline was August. The SC had extended it while admitting a petition that challenged the HC order, which had upheld the constitutional validity of an amendment in the MVAT Act (changing the definition of “sale”). Going by the circulars, developers will have to pay 5% of the agreement value as tax for flats built between June 2006 and March 31, 2010. In case of tax liability after April 1, 2010, developers will have to pay 1% of the agreement value as tax without any land deduction and input tax credit.  For the period 2006-2010, input tax credit, with conditions, will be available. Also, deduction for labour and service will be available on actual basis. Deduction of land cost too will be there followed by a 30% standard deduction from the remaining amount.  The petitioners wanted the composite scheme — offered to developers for agreements entered after April 1, 2010 — to be extended to them.  But the bench rejected it saying, “The state is empowered to provide scheme of composition to registered dealers. While providing the scheme the first principle is to encourage voluntary compliance of the law.”  The court went on to add, “The scheme is not a way of amnesty but provisions made by the state acting as a delegate of the legislature.” Source:::: DNA, 31-10-2012, p.01. http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=30776&boxid=23190&ed_date=2012-10-31&ed_code=820009&ed_page=1

HC: Father must support daughter till her marriage

Rosy Sequeira TNN 

Mumbai: An adult, unmarried daughter is entitled to receive maintenance from her father, the Bombay high court has said, coming to the rescue of a 20-year-old who was left in the cold by her Bahrain-based dad who had remarried. A father of three, he had agreed to pay maintenance to his two minor children but not his eldest daughter, saying she was legally not entitled to it as she was a major. 
    The girl’s mother had challenged the family court’s order last year upholding the man’s claim and rejecting maintenance for their eldest daughter who was then 19. Justice K U Chandiwal of the HC recently agreed with her lawyer’s contention that a father is liable to pay maintenance to daughters till they marry and added that though a major, the eldest daughter has no independent income and is entirely dependent on her mother, a homemaker who has studied up to SSC. 
    The woman’s petition said the couple, who married on November 29, 1987, has three children—two daughters and a son. The man worked in Bahrain and would visit his wife and family who stayed in Mumbai every two years. After the death of her father-in-law, the woman went to Mahad in August 2008 to stay with her mother-in-law. On returning to Mumbai two years later, she learned that he had allegedly divorced her through talaq and remarried. 

‘Family court did not cite any reasons’ 
Mumbai: On May 23, 2011 the wife, who was divorced through talaq, moved the family court for maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. She claimed her husband who was working in the finance department of the Bahrain government for over 25 years easily earned over Rs 90,000 per month. However, he claimed he got only Rs 30,000 per month. The family court, taking into consideration his statement, directed him to pay Rs 5,000 to his wife and Rs 2,500 each to the two minor children as interim maintenance. 
    In his October 16 order, Justice Chandiwal noted that family court principal judge U S Iyer did not assign reasons for rejecting maintenance for the couple’s eldest daughter as she had come of age and said the order requires interference. 
    He ordered the man to pay his eldest daughter Rs 1,500 as an interim measure from the date of the petition till the application for maintenance is finally heard. He also directed that an additional Rs 5,000 be paid to the wife. The HC also asked the family court to dispose of the main petition for maintenance within three months.


Source:::: The Times of India, 29-10-2012, p.01, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Gujarat HC gets woman job back after 15 years

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat HC has got a woman her job back in the company that fired her 15 years ago following a complaint against two colleagues for sexual harassment at workplace. 
    An industrial tribunal had earlier ruled in the woman’s favour and ordered the company where she worked — Lyka Labs — to pay her Rs 50,000 towards compensation for sexual harassment, all wages, as well as, Rs 2,500 towards litigation cost. 
    However, the tribunal did not accept her demand to reinstate her in the job, and the company agreed to pay the sum in lieu of reinstatement. Justice S R Brahmbhatt, however, held that fetching her money was not enough, and ordered her reinstatement. 
    The woman had already put in 10 years of service as an operator, when she joined a new union called Gujarat Kamdar Mandal in 1995. She began facing problems after this.


Source:::: The Times of India, 25-10-2012, p.11.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

HC differs on judicial backlog data

Says Those Out On Bail Are Not Undertrials; So Figure Is 13k & Not 28.6L

Rebecca Samervel TNN 

Mumbai: Bombay high court has disagreed strongly with the National Crime Record Bureau’s figures on judicial backlog in Maharashtra. The court said that “strenuous efforts to reduce overall pendency of cases...have achieved great results”, with the “undertrial prisoner” population in the state at 13,425 at the end of September this year. 
    Statistics released by NCRB, and quoted by TOI in a report, had pegged the “undertrial” population at 28.6 lakh. These included those in prison and out on bail. According to NCRB data, 31 lakh undertrials were awaiting verdict in Maharashtra in 2011. Of these, just 2.4 lakh saw their cases conclude during the year. The remaining 28.6 lakh undertrials are waiting for their fates to be decided another day. Compared to rest of the country, the figure was the highest among all states. 
    However, the high court disputes the NCRB’s definition of ‘undertrial’. According to its registrar general, the term applies to only those who are incarcerated and not those out on bail. By this understanding, the undertrial prisoner population in Maharashtra in 2010-end was 15,744. By 2011-end, it diminished to 14,873 and by end of this September to 13,425. S B Shukre, registrar general of the Bombay high court, said, “Undertrial refers to only undertrial prisoners.” 
    He said a letter has been sent to NCRB in Delhi, seeking a correction of the figures. When contacted, NCRB joint director Nasir Kamal said, “We have received a letter from the Bombay high court and are looking into the matter. We will check the figures and get back.” 
    Bombay high court said that disposal rate had increased greatly over the last five years. While in 2007 the number of cases disposed of was 19.67 lakh, in 2011 this number went upto 26.25 lakh. Till September 30 this year, a total 16.88 lakh cases had been disposed of. Over the last five years, there were also periods when the number of cases disposed of surpassed the number of cases instituted. In 2011, 19.96 lakh cases were instituted and 26.25 lakh disposed of. Till September 30 this year, 13.48 lakh cases were instituted and 16.88 lakh disposed of. 
    Shukre said that pendency has drastically dropped from 41.35 lakh in July 2010 to 29.36 lakh on September 30 this year. “All this was done without any major additions to the existing manpower and infrastructural requirements and by only focusing on effective use of existing procedural law and devising new approaches to the way dockets are managed by individual courts,” Shukre said. 
    R N Laddh, registrar, Inspection II, Bombay high court, said that alternate remedies like Lok Adalat have helped bring down the figure. However, legal experts feel the there is a pressing need to increase the number of competent judges. “29 lakh pending cases is still a big number. The courts are short of judges and competent judges need to be appointed soon,” said Justice H Suresh, a retired Bombay high court judge. 
 
FIGURE IT OUT 
    National Crime Records Bureau had pegged the ‘undertrial’ population in Maharashtra at 28.6 lakh, the highest in the country. The figure includes those in jail and those out on bail. But Bombay high court disputed the figure, saying those out on bail cannot be called undertrials 
    By this definition, it said, the undertrial population in Maharashtra at the end of September 30 this year was only 13,425. NCRB authorities admitted they had received a letter from Bombay HC in this regard and were checking the figures.
    HC also said that pendency of cases had drastically dropped from 41.35 lakh in July 2010 to 29.36 lakh on September 30 this year



Source::: The Times of India, 23-10-2012, p.08. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

HC: Can’t deny edu loans due to low marks

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Chennai: Banks cannot deny an educational loan to a student on the grounds that his or her academic record is poor, the Madras high court has ruled. 
    “The bank cannot deny educational loan on the grounds that the academic record of the petitioner at the school level was very poor,” said Justice D Hariparanthaman in a ruling on a writ petition of a scheduled caste girl. He added, “There’s no such provision in the circular of the bank that the loan can be sanctioned only if the academic performance of the student was very good at the school level.” 
    Justice Hariparanthaman further said, “I have noted in my earlier order dated September 15, 2010, that Dr B R Ambedkar obtained only 287 marks out of 750 in the matriculation examinations and his educational need was taken care of by the king of Baroda on the ground that he belongs to scheduled caste.” 
    Noting that the Union government had introduced the educational loan scheme to help the economically weaker sections and not even a third party guarantee was required for disbursement of loans up to Rs 4 lakh, Justice Hariparanthaman asked the Punjab National Bank to sanction educational loan to the student within four weeks.


Source::: The Times of India, 22-10-2012, 09. 
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

HC: 2nd wife no bar to maintaining first

Rosy Sequeira TNN 

Mumbai: A second marriage is no reason to stop maintaining the first wife or to give her low maintenance, the Bombay high court ruled while recently hearing a petition filed by a Muslim woman. 

    The court said it is for the husband to determine whether he is financially able to maintain two wives when marrying. More than doubling the plaintiff ’s maintenance, it pointed out that even Islam entitles a man to remarry if he is capable of maintaining his wives equally and fairly. 

    Justice Roshan Dalvi was hearing a plea filed by 30-year-old Sajida Khan. Sajida married Anwar Khan, a software engineer with a foreign bank, in February 2007. Following marital discord, Anwar, now 32, left her at her parents’ place. He claimed to have given her talaaq in May 2008. 

    In November 2010, however, the family court in Bandra, while hearing thematter, adjudged that there was no documentary evidence to prove the talaaq. It directed Anwar to give Sajida a monthly maintenance of Rs 7,900, which was about one-fourth of his Rs 31,937 salary. 

    The calculation was based on Anwar’s plea that the other three-quarters of the salary were required to sustain himself, his second wife and a child from the marriage. 

    In early 2011, Sajida approached the high court, contending that the maintenance was insufficient.  

Wife’s share of salary must be on equal footing: HC 

Mumbai: Sajida Khan’s advocate Saeed Akhtar argued that Anwar Khan was “duty-bound to maintain his first wife as she has not been divorced”. In her July 24 order, the Bombay HC’s Justice Roshan Dalvi agreed. The judge said the family court had made a “fundamental error” in reasoning that Sajida’s share should be one-fourth of Anwar’s salary. The HC said a husband and wife are equal and have equal rights and obligations. 

    Stating that the wife’s share must be on an equal footing, Justice Dalvi raised Sajida’s maintenance to Rs 18,000 a month. “Each is entitled to an equal share in earnings and properties. If the husband is in a position to earn, the fact that he remarried and has a second wife cannot bring down the maintenance quantum for the first wife, whom he failed and neglected to maintain. It is for the husband to determine if he is in a financial position to have and maintain two wives,” read the order. 

    Justice Dalvi added: “The second marriage is not a reason not to maintain the first wife.... In fact, as per the enjoinment in Islamic law, the respondent would be entitled to marry for the second time if he was capable of maintaining both the wives equally and fairly.” 

    Anwar filed an affidavit in the HC, arguing that his service had been terminated, while Sajida told the court that Anwar earned Rs 60,000 a month. Justice Dalvi ruled there was no documentary evidence to prove Anwar’s claim and added that neither the second marriage nor the service termination absolved him from his “seminal liability, obligation and responsibility of maintaining his wife”. (Names of parties were changed to protect their identity)

Source::::: The Times of India, 27-09-2012, p.01. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW 

Kid can wake up to greet dad late at night, says HC

Shibu Thomas TNN

Mumbai: A father shares a special relationship with his daughter. Even if he comes late at 11pm, the daughter can wake up to greet him,” the Bombay high court observed last week while hearing a matrimonial dispute case between a city resident and his estranged wife. 

    Jonas Noronah and Seema live in a flat with their daughter but live separate lives. During the hearing before a division bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and A R Joshi, Jonas’ lawyer said he had no access to his minor daughter though they live in the same flat as his wife locked the door of her room before he returned home at night. Seema’s advocate said she had never barred access to the child, but since Jonas arrived after 10.30pm, the daughter would have gone to sleep by then. 

    “Don’t be inhumane,” the judges advised Seema. “Be a bit generous. Your husband has offered to even part with half his salary as maintenance. There has to be some give and take from both sides.” The court has given the couple two weeks to resolve their differences. (Names of the couple have been changed to protect the family’s identity).

Source::: The Times of India, 19-07-2012, p.05. epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

HC: Insurers must prove fraud to reject claims

Mahir Haneef TNN 

Kochi: The burden of producing proof for rejecting an insurance claim lies with the insurance company, the Kerala high court has ruled. The court gave the order while quashing the ruling of the insurance ombudsman upholding LIC’s rejection of a claim on the grounds that the policy holder, who died of cervical cancer, had suppressed the fact that she had undergone ayurvedic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis before taking the policy. 

    Hearing a petition by P V Suresh, the husband of the policy holder Lalitha, the court said an insurance company’s duty doesn’t end with proving a claim false. It said the company must prove that the statement of the policy holder was fraudulently made or involved suppression of facts. Suresh had approached the high court after the Kochi insurance ombudsman upheld LIC’s decision to reject the claim on Lalitha’s policy. She had bought the policy for Rs 50,000 in February 2002 but passed away in September 2004. 


HC: Protecting policy holders’ interest crucial 


W hile filling up the policy form, Lalitha had stated she had never been admitted to a hospital or a nursing home. The company rejected the claim saying she had undergone treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and had even taken ayurvedic treatment at a hospital. 

    LIC alleged that this was a deliberate attempt to withhold information at the time of signing of the policy. 
The court, however, put the onus on the insurance company, saying it did not fulfill its burden of proving that Lalitha’s statement was fraudulent or that she had suppressed facts. Stressing on the social aspect of insurance, the judge said the legislature wanted to safeguard the beneficiary of the policy from unreasonable repudiation from the insurer and has consciously cast the burden of proving certain facts squarely on the insurer.


Source::: The Times of India, 13-07-2012, p.01. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW