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Thursday 26 April 2007

E-contract

Definition: E-contract is a contract modeled, specified, executed and deployed by a software system. E-contracts are conceptually very similar to traditional (paper based) commercial contracts. Vendors present their products, prices and terms to prospective buyers. Buyers consider their options, negotiate prices and terms (where possible), place orders and make payments. Then, the vendors deliver the purchased products. Nevertheless, because of the ways in which it differs from traditional commerce, electronic commerce raises some new and interesting technical and legal challenges. For recognition of e-contracts following questions are needed to be considered:

# Whether e-contract is a valid contract?
# Would a supplier making details of goods and services with prices available on a website be deemed to have made an offer?
# Whether e-contracts satisfy the legal requirements of reduction of agreements to signed documents.
# Whether e-contracts interpret, adopt and compile the other existing legal standards in the context of electronic transactions?

Recognition E-contracts
Offer: The law already recognizes contracts formed using facsimile, telex and other similar technology. An agreement between parties is legally valid if it satisfies the requirements of the law regarding its formation, i.e. that the parties intended to create a contract primarily. This intention is evidenced by their compliance with 3 classical cornerstones i.e. offer, acceptance and consideration. One of the early steps in the formation of a contract lies in arriving at an agreement between the contracting parties by means of an offer and acceptance. Advertisement on website may or may not constitute an offer as offer and invitation to treat are two distinct concepts. Being an offer to unspecified person, it is probably an invitation to treat, unless a contrary intention is clearly expressed. The test is of intention whether by supplying the information, the person intends to be legally bound or not. When consumers respond through an e-mail or by filling in an online form, built into the web page, they make an Offer. The seller can accept this offer either by express confirmation or by conduct.

Acceptance: Unequivocal unconditional communication of acceptance is required to be made in terms of the offer, to create a valid e-contract. The critical issue is when acceptance takes effect, to determine where and when the contract comes into existence. The general receipt rule is that acceptance is effective when received. For contracting no conclusive rule is settled. The applicable rule of communication depends upon reasonable certainty of the message being received. When parties connect directly, without a server, they will be aware of failure or partial receipt of a message. Such party realizing the fault must request re-transmission, as acceptance is only effective when received. When there is a common server, the actual point of receipt of the acceptance is crucial in deciding the jurisdiction in which the e-contract is concluded. If the server is trusted, the postal rule may apply, if however, the server is not trusted or there is uncertainty concerning the e-mail’s route, it is best not to apply the postal rule. When arrival at the server is presumed insufficient, the ‘receipt at the mail box’ rule is preferred.

Consideration and Performance: Contracts result only when one promise is made in exchange for something in return. This something in return is called ‘consideration’. The present rules of consideration apply to e-contracts. There is concern among consumers regarding Transitional Security over the Internet. The e-directive on Distance Selling tries to generate confidence by minimizing abuse by purchasers and suppliers. It specifies---

# A list of key points, must be supplied to the consumer in ‘a clear and comprehensible manner.’
# Written confirmation, or confirmation in another durable medium available and accessible to the consumer, of the principle points.
# The right of withdrawal enabling consumers to avoid deals entered into inadvertently or without sufficient knowledge, providing for seven-day cooling-off period free from penalty or reason to return the goods or reimburse the cost of services.
# Performance should be delivered within thirty days of order unless otherwise expressly agreed.
# Reimbursement of sums lost to fraudulent use of credit cards. It places the risk of fraud on the credit card Company, requiring them to take steps to protect their position.
# On the other hand, there is also need to protect sellers from rogue purchasers. For this, the provision of ‘charge-back clauses’ and encouragement of pre-payment by buyers is recommended.
# Thus, this Directive adequately protects rights of consumers against unknown sellers and sellers against unknown buyers.

Liability And Damages: A party that commits breach of an agreement may face various types of liability under contract law. Due to the nature of the systems and the networks that business employ to conduct e-commerce, parties may find themselves liable for contracts which technically originated with them but, due to programming error, employee mistake or deliberate misconduct were executed, released without the actual intent or authority of the party. Sound policies dictate that parties receiving messages be able to rely on the legal expressions of the authority from the sender’s computer and this legally be able to attribute these messages to the sender. In addition to employing information security mechanisms and other controls, techniques for limiting exposure to liability include: -

1. Trading partner and legal technical arguments
2. Compliance with recognized procedures, guidelines and practices
3. Audit and control programmers and reviews
4. Technical competence and accreditation
5. Proper human resource management
6. Insurance
7. Enhance notice and disclosure mechanisms and
8. Legislation and regulation addressing relevant secure electronic commerce issuing.

Digital Signatures: Section 2(p) of The Information Technology Act, 2000 defines digital signatures as authentication of any electronic record by a subscriber by means of an electronic method or procedure. A digital signature functions for electronic documents like a handwritten signature does for printed documents. The signature is an unforgeable piece of data that asserts that a named person wrote or otherwise agreed to the document to which the signature is attached. A digital signature actually provides a greater degree of security than a handwritten signature. The recipient of a digitally signed message can verify both that the message originated from the person whose signature is attached and that the message has not been altered either intentionally or accidentally since it was signed. Furthermore, secure digital signatures cannot be repudiated; the signer of a document cannot later disown it by claiming the signature was forged. In other words, digital signatures enable "authentication" of digital messages, assuring the recipient of a digital message of both the identity of the sender and the integrity of the message. The fundamental drawback of online contracts is that if there is no alternate means of identifying a person on the other side than digital signatures or a public key, it is possible to misrepresent one’s identity and try to pass of as somebody else.

Conclusion:
E-contracts are well suited to facilitate the re-engineering of business processes occurring at many firms involving a composite of technologies, processes, and business strategies that aids the instant exchange of information. The e-contracts have their own merits and demerits. On the one hand they reduce costs, saves time, fasten customer response and improve service quality by reducing paper work, thus increasing automation. With this, E-commerce is expected to improve the productivity and competitiveness of participating businesses by providing unprecedented access to an on-line global market place with millions of customers and thousands of products and services. On the other hand, since in electronic contract, the proposal focuses not on humans who make decisions on specific transactions, but on how risk should be structured in an automated environment. Therefore the object is to create default rules for attributing a message to a party so as to avoid any fraud and discrepancy in the contract.

Saturday 21 April 2007

Treat all kidney related problems free of cost

Vision

A World that ensures good healthcare and right to medical facilities to all.

Mission

To detect, prevent and raise awareness on kidney ailments and to provide quality, affordable treatment to underprivileged people.

The TANKER (an acronym for Tamilnad Kidney Research)Foundation is a registered, non - profit charitable trust, founded on 30th June 1993. TANKER aims to provide health care and financial assistance to those who have kidney problems and do not have the wherewithal to seek medical attention.

TANKER cares for those, the underprivileged, who suffer kidney problems of any kind, reversible or terminal, regardless of caste, creed, sex or religion.

TANKER along with our goodwill ambassador actor Suriya intends setting up dialysis units in other parts of Tamil Nadu, like Thirunelveli and Thanjavur.

TANKER with actor Suriya's help aims to take the awareness and screening programme to schools and colleges all over Tamil Nadu.
http://www.tankerfoundation.com/

Suicide attempt outside the Bachchan residence - Prateeksha'

Introducing a bizarre element into the high-profile Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai wedding this evening, a struggling actress cut her wrist outside the Bachchan residence, describing herself as the actor's girlfriend and making claims he had married her.
Janhavi Kapoor, who had done a minor role in Abhishek starrer 'Dus', created a furore outside the Bachchan residence 'Prateeksha' in suburban Juhu by slashing her wrist early this morning, claiming that she was married to the junior Bachchan.

Thursday 19 April 2007

Mid day in Mumbai (17-04-2007)





Like others , this man too, had a dream.

Like others , he too pushed his way into the crowded train

Like others, he too wanted to get going before he got delayed

Unlike others, he slipped and fell in the gap between the train and the platform at Kandivli station.

And eight bogies went over him



Find out what happened to this man on



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The man obviously has a guardian angel and supportive bystanders who told him exactly what he shouldn't do — move. And so, the man lay absolutely still as eight bogies of the train passed over him — centimeters from his head. Within seconds the 12-coach train passed and the man clambered out, unaided, unhurt, but too shocked to speak to us after his near-death experience

Bigest Wedding of the year


Ash Abishek Wedding

IT’S A MARRIAGE that will be remembered for faces. The ceremonies for the hush wedding — billed as a “close family affair” — would begin on April 18 and the wedding is on April 20 th. Interestingly, Amitabh and Amar Singh visited Shahrukh Khan’s house and invited him to the wedding. Among the handful of invitees to the glittering wedding are Kajol, Esha Deol, Hema Malini, Preity Zinta and Shahrukh Khan. But the most important invite has gone to 10 Janpath, seeking Sonia and Priyanka’s attendance

Tuesday 17 April 2007

music legend K J Yesudas to worship at Guruvayur temple


The Guruvayur temple managing committee has said it would discuss at its meeting the issue of allowing music legend K J Yesudas to worship at the temple

Reacting to the development, Yesudas said his personal opinion was that all devotees should be allowed to pray at all places of worship.

Gurvayur temple managing committee, meeting on April 26 and 27, will discuss this issue

However, the particular matter depended on the collective decision of those on the temple committee.

Yesudas, a Christian, has rendered hundreds of Hindu devotional songs, many of them dedicated to Lord Guruvayurappan.

Richard Gere's Conterversial kiss to silpa shetty


Richard Gere kissing incident
Shetty was kissed several times by Richard Gere during an AIDS-awareness event. The pair had appeared at a press conference in New Delhi as part of a campaign to preach safe sex to truck drivers in India, the country with the world's largest number of HIV sufferers. However, following the kiss, members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks. However, most people preferred to set fire to the glamorous shots of Shetty. People demanded an apology from her and threatened to ban her movies in the state.

Similar protests broke out in other cities, including Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city, and in the northern town of Meerut, where crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted "Down with Shilpa Shetty!" Star News Office was also attacked.

Sunday 15 April 2007

Criminalizing Homosexuality


India's Law Criminalizing Homosexuality Hinders HIV Prevention, Violates Human Rights Of MSM, UNAIDS Official Says

India's law criminalizing homosexuality is undermining the fight against HIV/AIDS and violates the human rights of men who have sex with men, Denis Broun, UNAIDS India coordinator, said on Thursday, Reuters UK reports (Zaheer, Reuters UK, 11/30). The law, enacted in 1861 and known as Section 377, makes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman or animal" punishable by up to 10 years in prison and, when strictly interpreted, makes it illegal to distribute condoms to gay men and men in prison. The law -- which seldom is used to prosecute gay adults in consensual relationships -- is most often used to arrest offenders in cases of sexual abuse of children. Some people warn that if the law is repealed, efforts to prosecute people who commit sexual abuses against children could be negatively affected (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 9/18). According to India's National AIDS Control Organization, there are about 2.5 million MSM in the country. However, UNAIDS says the number could be anywhere between five million and 15 million. "People are being harassed by section 377 and men having sex with men do not come forward and receive adequate prevention information," Broun said. He added that most Indian MSM are bisexual and that they risk transmitting the virus to their female partners. The law "puts gay activists under great pressure in their fight against AIDS," K.K. Abraham, general secretary of the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS, said, adding, "The government needs a reality check and (has) to do away with this law if it is serious about fighting HIV/AIDS" (Reuters UK, 11/30). The statute is being challenged under a 2001 lawsuit brought by the Naz Foundation India Trust. The Delhi High Court initially threw out the case, but the Supreme Court of India earlier this year instructed the high court to review the case again

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Grounds for Divorce



Grounds for divorce



In most Western nations, there are approximately 16 distinct reasons for which divorces are granted। In India, however, only five main reasons are generally accepted as sufficient grounds for divorce (Choudhary 90)।Adultery। While no formal definition of adultery exists, it does have "a fairly established meaning in matrimonial law" (Diwan 171), namely "the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married man or woman with a person other than the offender's wife or husband" (Choudhary 91). While the law considers it valid grounds for either sex, adulterous women are "judged more harshly" than men (Kapur and Cossman 102). The various religious regulations a e not unanimous on this issue. The law regarding Hindus allows divorce to be granted on the grounds of infidelity of either husband or wife. The Christian law, however, would traditionally not have granted a divorce to a woman solely on the grounds of adultery. She would have had to prove another violation, such as cruelty (Kapur and Cossman 102-4). A recent Bombay High Court decision "recognised cruelty and desertion as independent grounds for the dissolution of a Christian marriage," striking down a section of the law that allowed for an unconstitutional distinction between the sexes (Raiker-Mhatre 1). Desertion. The three main components of desertion are the "disruption of cohabitation, absence of just or reasonable cause and their combination throughout three years" before the abandoned spouse may petition for a divorce (Virdi 71). There also must be an obvious intent on the part of the offending spouse to remain permanently apart from the other. This statute also applies to cases in which a spouse has been heard from for at least seven years (Choudhary 91). Cruelty. As with adultery, "the definition of the type of behavior that constitutes cruelty varies according to the gender of the petitioner" of the divorce. "Despite the fact that cruelty is often equally available to husbands and wives, the way in which the law is interpreted and applied suggests that women and men are evaluated by rather different standards" (Kapur and Cossman 105). This category includes both physical and mental abuse and neglect (Choudhary 91). A court decision made in early May 1997 made cruelty sufficient grounds for a Christian woman to obtain a; previously, the law required both adultery and cruelty to be proven. The national Indian Christian community seems to have embraced this judgment (Raikar-Mhatre 1-2.Impotency. This refers to the physical inability of the couple to consummate the marriage (Choudhary 91) or the refusal by one spouse to do so (Diwan 136). Some cases have established that sterility can be construed to mean non-consummation if the other partner is not aware of the condition before the marriage (Diwan 139). Chronic Disease. Both mental and physical illnesses are included in this category, as well as sexually transmitted diseases (Choudhary 92). Not all religions recognize identical diseases as grounds for divorce. Christians and Parsis do not allow divorce for a sexually transmitted disease or leprosy while the other communities do (Diwan 204-5).


Monday 9 April 2007

Consequences of Divorce

Consequences of Divorce







Economic There is great disparity between the economic ramifications of divorce between men and women। Men remain relatively unaffected while women, especially those with children, have difficulty "providing food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their children।" The government in urban areas usually provides some form of public assistance to single mothers, but this service is not fully taken advantage of because most do not know of its existence (Amato 210)। Often a woman is not able to rely on her family for support because many parents "feel they have discharged their obligations to a daughter by arranging her marriage and providing a dowry।" Dowries are not returned after a divorce। Also, due to the social stigma of divorce, women find it difficult to remarry and usually attempt to establish an independent household (Amato 211)Social। While India feels that one should have the right to divorce, it is still a highly stigmatizing action। Women are looked upon more harshly than men in this regard. There continue to be segments of Indian society that feel divorce is never an option, regardless of how abusive or adulterous the husband may be which adds to the greater disapproval for women. A divorced woman often will return to her family, but may not be wholeheartedly welcomed. She puts, especially if she has children, an economic burden on her family and is often given lowly household tasks to perform. There is also the risk that a divorced woman's presence would ward off possible marriages for other daughters within the household. Unavoidably, the overall status of the family and household are lowered by having a divorcee living with amongst them. A woman's class and caste are a major factor in her acceptance back into society. Women from higher classes tend to have an easier time than middle or lower class women in returning to the social order after a divorce. An exception to this model is the extreme bottom of the society who have experienced little rebuff from peers after a divorce. This results from their already atypical status in society





Sunday 8 April 2007

maritial rape

maritial rape

What is marital rape?

Recently, the Rajasthan high court granted divorce to a woman on the ground that her husband has not consumated the marriage। What if the wife refuses sex? Can the husband demand it, or will the wife then shout marital rape? in this case, we have been married for over 12 years and have two children? Wife allows sex only when she wants .It can become a grounds as cruelty agaisnt the wife to obtain divorce by the husband. Not allowing the husband to have physical relation will defeat the purpose of marriage but in your case its not permanent refusal. Permanent refusal of physical relation amounts to cruelty.

As desired the concept of Marital rape is as follws:When one mentions the word rape, the tendency is to think of someone who is a stranger, an evil, malicious person. No one ever thinks of rape in the context of marriage. Women themselves find it difficult to believe that a husband can rape his wife. After all, how can a man be accused of rape if he is only availing of his conjugal rights?
Despite the unwillingness to recognize marital rape as a crime, the fact remains that marital rape is prevalent throughout society। Women’s bodies are outraged, regardless of their educational qualifications, class or status. Women themselves don’t make a noise about it or talk about their experiences. This is because cultures worldwide discourage their women from openly discussing sexual matters, let alone within marriage. Most women don’t even think of rape by their husbands as marital rape.

Various subliminal messages across the media and through society encourage young boys to believe in the sexual availability of women। Men begin to believe that decision-making is their sole prerogative that their wives do not have any rights in most matters that their wives are subject to them in every respect. Even educated persons, who would otherwise treat women with the utmost respect, would think nothing of having sex with their wives, against their wives’ wishes.

Social beliefs are only reinforced by the lacunae in the law। As of now, Indian law contains no provisions for helping abused wives and penalizing guilty husbands. Women have no legal recourse. What is worse, women are not even aware that they don’t have to meekly give in to their husband’s demands.

According to section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, "sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, not being under 15 years of age, is not rape।" On the other hand, the Criminal Procedure Code states that `it is rape if the girl is not the wife of the man involved and is below 16!’ Which means that if the girl is not the wife of the man involved and is below 16, it is rape even if she consents. Whereas if she is a wife and below 15 years of age, it is not rape even if she does not consent.

A woman who has been raped by her husband cannot count on the legal system coming to her aid. Not only are there no laws to protect her interests, the large number of loopholes make it difficult for her to seek protection under the law. These include:Though protection of the dignity of women is a fundamental duty under the Constitution, domestic violence and rape do not come under the definition of dignity।

A husband cannot be prosecuted for raping his wife because consent to matrimony presupposes consent to sexual intercourse. Though women's rights advocates secured a legal clause in 1983 under which it is unlawful for a man to have sexual intercourse with his separated wife, pending divorce, the courts are reluctant to sentence husbands in spite of the law।

Indian rape legislation (Penal Code 375) specifically exempts marital rape. This allows husbands to have complete sexual control over their wives, in direct contravention to Human Rights regulations. Only those married women who are separated from their husbands are covered by the rape legislation. The law simply echoes what social mores often take for granted: that women have no right to their own bodies; their will is subject to that of their husband.
A faint hope was raised by the Law Commission in its 42nd report। This report advocated the inclusion of sexual intercourse by a man with his minor wife as an offence. But a joint committee reviewing the proposal dismissed it.

More recently, the National Commission for Women released a report, "Rape: a legal study," which stated that marital rape should be recognised as a criminal offence.
All over the world, steps are being taken to ensure that marital rape is regarded as an offence. In however, we haven’t even begun to admit that marital rape is a reality, let alone an unpleasant one. Unfortunately, a mere amendment in the law will not ensure that women get their due. Before marital rape is made an offence, the police and the judiciary must be sensitised to deal with rape cases. Sadly, in marriage is considered the definitive experience in an adult woman’s life. Consciously or otherwise, a woman is given to understand that her desires and dreams must henceforth be subject to those of her husband. Under such conditions, women find it difficult to talk about the physical violence that takes place under the guise of conjugal relations in the marriage. Any mention of rape or sex fills them with shame.
The prevalent viewpoint is that when a woman marries, she is willing to fulfilling her husband’s conjugal rights। Once she has made this commitment, she cannot back out of it. Since sexual relations are part of the marriage set-up, a woman cannot refuse to have sex with her husband. By the same token, a husband cannot be said to have raped his wife.

In marriage remains the only route to social acceptance of adult womanhood: there are strong social incentives on women to enter into marriage. The same reasons act as a negative motivator, prompting women to stay in abusive marriages, simply because life outside marriage is not regarded very highly.
Accepting that women go through the most heinous forms of abuse under the name of marriage may be the first step towards protecting women. Until then women will continue to be abused and raped by the one person they trusted enough to want to spend the next seven lifetimes with.

Saturday 7 April 2007

Indian Stocks Market: Small is 'Big' for car makers this summer

http://indianlegalhelp.blogspot.com/

Racist bullying of Shilpa Shetty



India outraged by racist bullying of Shilpa Shetty -


Reports of the alleged mistreatment of Shetty, 31, were splashed on the front pages of several Indian dailies and was also the top story on television news, which repeatedly showed clips from the show of the weeping actress."We are awaiting a report about the show. The government will take appropriate measures once it gets to know the full details," Anand Sharma, India's junior Minister for External Affairs told journalists in New Delhi yesterday."The world knows that India has always rejected all forms of discrimination and racism," Sharma added. Shetty, a former model, who has acted in over 40 movies since her 1993 debut, was repeatedly reduced to tears by a fellow contestant Jade Goody at the reality TV show, who has called the actress "cooking untrustworthy," and mocked her accent. Producers of the reality TV show too have vowed to clamp down on racist abuse on the programme, following the row over the treatment meted out to the Indian actress. However, Indian officials believe that if the situation was so serious that it made the Bollywood starlet burst into tears, then she should have spoken out against it rather than choosing to keep quiet. AP adds: Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday was drawn into a growing furore over the television reality show, saying he opposes racism but had not seen the programme.Keith Vaz, a member of the House of Commons, asked Blair whether broadcasters should take care not to transmit such material."I have not seen the particular programme in question and cannot comment on it,” Blair said.However, he added, "We should oppose racism in all its forms.”The Indian government has raised concerns about the programme.A surge in complaints Tuesday followed a programme in which another contestant, former member of the band S Club 7 Jo O’Meara, said Indians were thin because they undercooked their food. Reports of Shetty’s treatment ran on front pages of several Indian papers Wednesday and was the top story on the television news, which repeatedly showed clips from the show of the weeping actress.In London, the Foreign Office said it had not received any communication from the Indian government about the programme, nor had the British High Commission in New Delhi. It may be noted that Big Brother pits contestants against each other in a battle to stay on the set, a specially constructed house peppered with microphones and cameras.Celebrities taking part in the show include pop star Michael Jackson's brother, Jermaine.
American H1 B visa shortage causes panic
Applicants for American Work Visa H1-B are facing an unusually tough situation this year.That is because the Congressionally mandated visa quota of 65,000 has already been exhausted with more than 200-thousand applicants filing their petitions in record time

The phones are ringing off the hook at the law offices of Joe Nesari. It is a nervous time for H1 B hopefuls. Around 2,50,000 H1 B applicants are fighting for a small visa quota that is just one fourth that number. Even seasoned attorneys like Jennifer Verghese are surprised at how quickly the quota filled up this year. Immigration Attorney Jennifer Verghese, says, "Never seen anything like this before. To give you a perspective, last year it took under eight weeks for the cap to be reached, this year one day. This was shocking to immigration experts all over the country".

So what triggered the sudden rush? Experts say, anticipating a shortage of visas for potential, it hires, many big companies like Microsoft and Oracle filed tens of thousands of applications. Calling for an increase in the Congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 visas, Oracle issued a statement saying.

For now the US Center for Immigration Services, or USCIS will use a random lottery system to pick visa recipients from a pool of applications received by Tuesday this week. The rest will be rejected.

Nobody knows for sure, but it could take the CIS weeks just to figure out how to draw the lottery. For now all that applicants can do is hope that they are one of the lucky ones.