The Kerala High Court has quashed a case under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act against a man who shared a photo holding the National Flag with the saffron colour facing down, holding that intention is essential and that a mistake is no offence, while ruling that a private WhatsApp group with many members is a place within public view.
The Kerala High Court has declined to grant interim relief to the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy over seven documentaries withheld from its documentary festival, observing that, prima facie, there is no arbitrariness or unreasonableness in withholding seven of 346 films, and has listed the case for November 13.
The Kerala High Court has dismissed a plea by the accused in the Shuhaib murder case to transfer the trial out of the Additional Sessions Court-III, Thalassery, while directing the trial court to ensure that both sides get a full and effective opportunity to participate, including cross-examination of witnesses.
The Kerala High Court has directed the Bar Council of Kerala to update, within eight weeks, its list of advocates who have not cleared the All India Bar Examination, extending it to enrolments from 2021 onwards, and to publish the list and continue reviewing defaults. The direction follows a PIL flagging an RTI reply that disclosed over 1,150 advocates in Kerala who had not passed the AIBE. District Judges are to be intimated and act accordingly.
The Rs 17 lakh loss at the Sabarimala Adiyashishtam Ghee sales counter was the result of serious carelessness in handling, not proven intentional misappropriation, the Kerala High Court noted, accepting the vigilance report closing the criminal case while ordering sweeping systemic reforms and urging the Devaswom Board to bring in professional managers. Kochi: The Kerala […]
The Kerala High Court has granted the State four weeks to fill the post of Chief Investigating Officer in the State Police Complaints Authority, an independent body constituted under the Kerala Police Act to examine complaints against police officers. The direction came in a PIL over the Authority’s effective functioning and the long-pending non-appointment of an independent investigator, despite earlier directions to do so within 60 days back in 2022.
The Kerala High Court has granted the State two days to file its objection to former DGP Tomin J. Thachankary’s plea to suspend his four-year sentence, imposed on his conviction in a disproportionate assets case, pending his appeal against the conviction. The State described the matter as an exceptional case given the high office he held; the Court observed that there is no absolute right to object where the sentence is under ten years. The conviction is under appeal.
The Kerala High Court has closed a writ petition challenging a State Police Chief circular said to prohibit police participation in temple ceremonies, after recording the State’s affidavit clarifying that the circular bars only participation in religious rituals while in police uniform, except on official duty, and does not curtail policing functions at festivals or the religious rights of any devotee or denomination. The petition was disposed of on that clarification, without a ruling on the circular’s validity.
Monitoring compliance with the Supreme Court’s May 2026 directions on stray dogs, the Kerala High Court took note of the State’s Standard Operating Procedure for Animal Birth Control and euthanasia of rabid and dangerous dogs, and of a High-Level Monitoring Committee, and directed that committee to file monthly compliance reports from every local body in a prescribed format. The matter will be listed monthly.
A hospital refused to release a deceased man’s cryopreserved embryos to his widow, citing the absence of the specific written consent the ART Act requires. The Kerala High Court held that the hospital’s own failure to use the prescribed consent form could not defeat the widow’s request, and that the husband’s choice to have the embryos actually used pointed to his intention that they not be wasted. It allowed her to proceed.