Despite of the mounting pressure from the Supreme Court, the Centre is unlikely to reveal any information about any Indian having stashed the black money abroad in its affidavit to be filed before nex

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a petition seeking to amendment in the top court rules to make hearing of all the appeals in death sentence cases mandatory by a bench of five judges as it involves a vital constitutional question of the right to life and ensuring that no innocent person is hanged.

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government what it was doing about Indians with large amounts of black money in Swiss banks and other tax havens as it sought to broaden the ambit of its probing queries and demanded an “action taken” report on all “faceless” Indians who had moved their ill-gotten money overseas.

Despite the government toughening its stand on disclosure of the names of 26 Indians with “black accounts” in Liechetenstein’s LGT Bank made known to New Delhi by Germany, the focus of Thursday’s hearing in the Supreme Court is likely to be on how the United States managed to get data about its 4,500 citizens’ secret accounts from Switzerland and why India should not follow the same route.

Facing a petition for “mercy killing” of a former nurse of Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial Hospital reduced to vegetable existence for the past 36 years following a brutal sexual assault, the Supreme Court on Monday appointed a team of three expert doctors to examine her before any such plea could be considered.

As the decision of Karnataka governor H.R. Bhardwaj sanctioning the prosecution of state chief minister B.S.

Communications minister Kapil Sibal on Friday came in for sharp criticism from the Supreme Court for his assertion that the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s projection of a `1.76 lakh crore loss in the sale of 2G spectrum licences was erroneous, with the court describing his statement as “unfortunate and irresponsible” while the matter was being investigated by the CBI.

The Supreme Court on Friday confirmed the life sentence to the two killers of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons in Orissa 11 years ago, but upheld the acquittal of 11 others while finding the CBI investigation “shoddy”.

NGO activist Teesta Setalvad, who found herself virtually on the wrong side of the law for writing about the Supreme Court proceedings in Gujarat riot cases to an international human rights body, was let off the hook by the top court on Thursday after she furnished an undertaking not to repeat the mistake in future.

The Centre on Wednesday submitted to the Supreme Court the names of 26 Indians with “black accounts” in Germany’s Liechtenstein Bank in a “sealed cover”, with a rider that these cannot be made public, but the court disapproved of such a stand and repeatedly asked the government why it was so “sensitive” about disclosure of the names.