A three-judge bench of the High Court in Malé ordered police to release former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen on Thursday. The court ruled that there was not enough reason to hold Yameen beyond a month under the law, finding that the prosecution had not provided sufficient reason to extend his remand in custody. Yameen was [...]
Authorities in the Maldives transferred former vice president Ahmed Adeeb to house arrest on Tuesday. Adeeb, who is serving out a 33-year prison sentence, underwent surgery to remove kidney stones and was being treated at Malé’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital. While the Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) confirmed that Adeeb was being placed under house arrest, [...]
The UN said on Monday that it “appreciates” the Bangladeshi government’s plan to relocate Rohingya refugees from camps in and around the south-eastern city of Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char, a remote island off the country’s coast. In a press statement issued by its office in Dhaka, the UN said that the Bangladeshi government’s efforts [...]
India’s federal anti-corruption ombudsman, the Lokpal, officially commenced functioning on Tuesday with the country’s president appointing former Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the body’s first chairperson, along with eight other members. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which mandates the setting up of anti-corruption ombudsman bodies at the federal and state levels, was enacted [...]
India’s environment tribunal, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has suspended an environmental clearance issued by the government of the state of Karnataka for the expansion of an existing coal-based power plant in Udupi district. The state government had issued its environmental clearance for the proposed expansion in 2017. Friday’s decision saw the NGT take cognizance [...]
India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted three men who had been given a death sentence and three others who had been awarded life imprisonment for the alleged murder of five members of a family and the rape of a woman and a minor. A trial court in the state of Maharashtra had convicted all six [...]
The High Court of the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Monday rejected a bail plea on medical grounds filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently serving a jail term for corruption. A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court comprising judges Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the decision in front of [...]
India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday found billionaire businessman and Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court for not honoring an undertaking given to the court promising to pay dues to Ericsson India. Ericsson entered into a managed service agreement with RCom in January 2013 under which it was [...]
India’s Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, passed a bill to protect investors from Ponzi schemes on Wednesday. It will become law once it is passed by the upper house of parliament (Rajya Sabha) and receives presidential assent. The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill aims to establish a statutory mechanism to ban Ponzi [...]
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), a judicial body that adjudicates environmental matters in India, has dismissed a petition filed by the Karnataka state government to review its earlier order penalizing the state for damage to lakes. The impugned order directed the government to deposit 5 billion Indian Rupees (approximately USD 70 million) in an escrow [...]
