Ratio decidendi at halt
There are three main sources of law, i.e., legislatio n, custom and judicial precedent. The legislation comes into force the moment its enforcement is notified by the legislature. The custom takes a long and immemorial time to mature into law, but the judicial precedent takes the shape of law when it is consistently followed by the future courts. The million dollar question is that which portion of the judgment is binding on the future courts? Is it the ratio decidendi, i.e., reason for the decision, which takes the shape of law or obitur dictum, i.e., things said by the way by the judges while deciding a case? Obviously, it is the ratio decidendi, which is binding on future courts. Delhi High Court on 15-6-2021 granted bail to three activists students, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha in the north-east Delhi riot cases. Supreme Court has on the appeal of Delhi Police, ordered that “ the order of High Court of Delhi would not be cited as judicial p...