text:
Background: Hyperkalemia is a critical condition, especially in intensive care units. So far, there have been no accurate and noninvasive methods for recognizing hyperkalemia events on ambulatory electrocardiogram monitors.
Objective: This study aimed to improve the accuracy of hyperkalemia predictions from ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors using a personalized transfer learning method; this would be done by training a generic model and refining it with personal data.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study used open source data from the Waveform Database Matched Subset of the Medical Information Mart From Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III). We included patients with multiple serum potassium test results and matched ECG data from the MIMIC-III database. A 1D convolutional neural network–based deep learning model was first developed to predict hyperkalemia in a generic population. Once the model achieved a state-of-the-art performance, it was used in an active transfer learning process to perform patient-adaptive heartbeat classification tasks.
Results: The results show that by acquiring data from each new patient, the personalized model can improve the accuracy of hyperkalemia detection significantly, from an average of 0.604 (SD 0.211) to 0.980 (SD 0.078), when compared with the generic model. Moreover, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve level improved from 0.729 (SD 0.240) to 0.945 (SD 0.094).
Conclusions: By using the deep transfer learning method, we were able to build a clinical standard model for hyperkalemia detection using ambulatory ECG monitors. These findings could potentially be extended to applications that continuously monitor one’s ECGs for early alerts of hyperkalemia and help avoid unnecessary blood tests.
Hyperkalemia is a metabolic condition that contributes to more than 800,000 emergency department visits in the United States annually . It is associated with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac arrest, and it is especially common among patients with chronic kidney disease due to their impaired renal potassium homeostasis and long-term use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors [ , ].
Patients under critical care may receive regular blood tests for electrolytes every few hours or days . Many potential factors can affect potassium levels in between monitoring periods, such as diets, metabolic acidosis, and alterations in the intracellular/extracellular potassium distribution. Therefore, noninvasive monitoring techniques of potassium levels can help fill the gap between blood tests for early detection of this potentially deadly condition.
It is well known that a variety of changes on the electrocardiogram (ECG) can be associated with hyperkalemia, including but not limited to peaked T waves, shortened QT interval, lengthening of PR interval, and QRS duration . Accurate human interpretations of these ECG patterns requires a steep learning curve, and the sensitivity of physician diagnoses has been estimated to be as low as 34% to 43% [ ], not to mention the impossibility of self-detection of hyperkalemia using only symptoms and signs. There have been several successes in leveraging deep learning models to detect electrolyte abnormalities on ECGs [ - ], and previous studies have proven the feasibility of this approach for detecting subtle signals from ECGs. However, low specificity and a high false-positive rate could cause alert fatigue among physicians and anxiety in patients.
A recent study exploring a personalized deep learning–based system to detect hypoglycemia via ECG data has yielded promising results . The study collected dozens of personal blood glucose and corresponding ECG data and adopted a convolution neural network to develop a personalized deep learning model to predict the hypoglycemia event. Since it is nearly impossible to gather enough personal data in a real-world setting, our study proposes a personalized transfer learning method by first training a general model and then refining it with personal data to improve the accuracy of hyperkalemia predictions, diminish the intersubject heterogeneity, and advance toward personalized medicines.
The data collection and study protocols were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Chang Gung Medical Foundation (202001217B0; date of approval July 21, 2020). The study was conducted following the standards issued by the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Medical Information Mart From Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) Waveform Database Matched Subset [, ].
Data Set Collection
This study used data from the Waveform Database Matched Subset. The data set contains 22,317 waveform records and 22,247 numeric records for 10,282 distinct intensive care unit (ICU) patients who were admitted to critical care units of medical centers in the United States between 2001 and 2012. These recordings typically include digitized signals, such as ECG, arterial blood pressure, and respiration; additionally, they include periodic measurements such as heart rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure. The data set’s ECG signals were usually of leads I, II, or V. This subset represents records for which the patients have been identified and whose corresponding clinical records are available in its matched clinical database.
All patients with a plasma potassium level during admission, from the MIMIC-III data set, were included. However, patients without lead II ECG signals at the time of the potassium level test and patients with atrial fibrillation, pacing rhythm, or other medical conditions for which a complete heartbeat cycle could not be distinctly identified in the ECG were excluded.
This study aimed to distinguish hyperkalemia from a normal level based on ECG features. Patients with at least 8 records of hyperkalemia and normokalemia each were adopted for personalized transfer learning. The others were selected for generic model training.
ECG excerpts from 10 minutes before the time of serum potassium tests were annotated as corresponding to hyperkalemia or normokalemia according to the test results. Hyperkalemia was defined as serum potassium concentration values above 5.5 mEq/L and normokalemia as serum concentration between 3.5 mEq/L and 5 mEq/L. We excluded serum potassium levels between 5 and 5.5 mEq/L to ensure that no consecutive heartbeats would be considered as both hyper and normal, therefore reducing overfitting of the model.
After collection, ECG excerpts were filtered using finite impulse response techniques and underwent manual inspection to exclude those containing too much ECG signal noise. This process helps to reduce overfitting of the model and deviating to noisy data.
After retrieving the corresponding ECG signals, each ECG record was segmented into heartbeats of 120 samplings based on the fiducial point, which was the R peak. Each heartbeat segment contained 40 samples preceding the R peak and 80 samples after, in which the R peak was the 41st sample.
Generic Model Training
The goal was to train a generic model using a large set of heartbeats and to leverage a transfer learning algorithm that could refine the generalized model into a subject-specific model. The purpose of training the deep learning model during this step was to obtain a pretrained weight for transfer learning, as it helps the model to learn the shape of the ECG features for hyperkalemia.
All the data were randomly split into a training set, validation set, and test data set in a 6:2:2 ratio. This study used the ResNet architecture as the baseline architecture . ResNet stands for residual network; it is an innovative neural network first introduced in 2015 that won the top position at the ImageNet classification competition, with an error of only 3.57%. The ResNet structure is widely used in ECG classification tasks since the residual block component allows the model to add more layers that help to detect the complex pattern of ECG morphology. In 2019, a study demonstrated a cardiologist-level arrhythmia detection task in ambulatory ECGs using a 1D ResNet model [ ]. Since ECG data in the MIMIC-III database is 1D, we substituted the 2D convolution layers with 1D for detailed feature extraction. Besides that, we did not change the size of the convolutional block, stride, and number of filters. After training, model weights for the best performance in the validation set were saved as pretrained for personal transfer learning.
Personalized Transfer Learning
Transfer learning applies knowledge obtained by solving one problem to a related problem. The general procedure for transfer learning is to pretrain a deep learning model with a large data set (eg, generic population for hyperkalemia), then refine it using a much smaller target data set (eg, personal data for hyperkalemia).
In personalized training steps, we adopted the same architecture of the 1D ResNet model in the general population for allowing the weight to be preserved . Before refining it with personal data, we replaced its classification layer with a fully connected layer, the weights of which were randomly initialized. We froze the pretrained weights in the first few blocks of the convolution layers and trained the last few blocks of layers for 5 epochs using personal ECG data.
For each patient in the personalized group, 25% of potassium records and their corresponding ECG data were preserved as the test data set. During the training process, ECG data representing one record each of hyperkalemia and normokalemia were used as inputs. The training process continued for five rounds at most, depending on the total number of potassium records for each patient. The model performance after each training process was assessed to measure the performance changes. The deep learning models were trained with the TensorFlow application programming interface on the Google Colab platform.
Continuous variables with normal distribution were presented either as means (SDs) or medians (IQRs). Continuous variables were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, and the final model was validated using a majority voting scheme that runs through all the single heartbeats in a 10-minute ECG strip to determine the prediction result. All performance predictions were assessed using accuracy, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. All statistical analyses were performed on SPSS 26 for Mac (IBM Corp).
Characteristics of Data Sets
In this study, of the 41,291 patients in the MIMIC-III database, 5385 who fulfilled the criteria were included for analysis; 16 were chosen for personalized model development and validation and 5369 for pretrained general model development. To avoid deviation of general model prediction toward normokalemia, balanced ECG samples of hyperkalemia and normokalemia retrieved from 1439 patients were used. These included 1341 hyperkalemia records of 721 patients and 1325 normokalemia records of 718 patients. The inclusion flowchart is shown in. Demographics and clinical characteristics of the two development populations are shown in . For the personal model development, patients’ median age was 50 (IQR 43-60) years, and 13 (81%) of them were male. Concerning ethnic groups, 7 (44%) patients and 3 (19%) patients were White and African American, respectively. The mean serum potassium levels of hyperkalemia and normokalemia were 6.3 (SD 0.64) mEq/L and 4.3 (SD0.40) mEq/L and 6.2 (SD 0.70) mEq/L and 4.1 (SD 0.44) mEq/L in the general and personalized groups, respectively.
|Variables||Generic population (n=1439)||Personal population (n=16)|
|Age (years), median (IQR)||64 (52-76)||50 (43-60)|
|Gender, n (%)|
|Male||610 (59.6)||13 (81.2)|
|Female||413 (40.4)||3 (18.8)|
|Ethnicity, n (%)|
|White||907 (63.0)||7 (43.8)|
|African American||176 (12.2)||3 (18.8)|
|Hispanic||71 (4.6)||0 (0.0)|
|Asian||45 (3.1)||1 (6.2)|
|American Indian||6 (0.4)||0 (0.0)|
|Other||50 (3.5)||1 (6.2)|
|Unknown||184 (12.8)||4 (25.0)|
|Body index, median (IQR)|
|Height (cm)||170.0 (160.2-178.0)||176.5 (169.2-186.8)|
|Weight (kg)||79.2 (66.9-94.6)||89.2 (71.4-108.3)|
|Serum level (mEq/L), mean (SD)|
|Normokalemia||4.3 (0.40)||4.1 (0.44)|
|Hyperkalemia||6.3 (0.64)||6.2 (0.70)|
Development of a Generic Model
The proposed transfer learning method is depicted in. For generic model development, in the training set, 152,322 and 172,388 normokalemic and hyperkalemic heartbeats, respectively, were contributed by 881 patients. In the validation set, 51,468 normokalemic and 53,488 hyperkalemic heartbeats were segmented from 280 patients. In the test set, 52,134 normokalemic and 53,412 hyperkalemic heartbeats were present in 278 patients.
This study adopted the ResNet-50 model for training the classification task. ResNet-50 is a network that has 50 layers in depth. Rather than its shallow version, ResNet-18 or ResNet-34, ResNet-50 combines the structure of residual and bottleneck blocks in the convolutional layer to reduce computing resources. Before each convolutional layer, we applied batch normalization and a rectified linear activation, adopting the original design of the preactivation block. The network was trained with random initialization of the weights. We used the Adam optimizer with the default parameters and a mini-batch size of 1024. We initialized the learning rate to 5 × 10–5 and reduced it by a factor of 2 when the developmentally set loss stopped improving for 3 consecutive epochs. The model was trained for 50 epochs using the training set. We saved the model that achieved minimal loss in the validation set during training as the generic, or the so-called pretrained, model. The final pretrained model’s prediction accuracy was 0.724, 0.639, and 0.627 in the training, validation, and test sets, respectively.
Development of a Personalized Model
The complete list of patients included for personalized model development is shown in. Before starting the personalized training process, the performance of the pretrained model was assessed on each patient to obtain baseline metrics. The same convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture as ResNet-50 was used, the pretrained weight in the first several layers were frozen, and the model was fine-tuned in each training round. The improvement in predictions after each training round for all personalized group patients are shown in .
On average, accuracy improved from 0.604 (SD 0.211) to 0.895 (SD 0.189; P<.001) after the first round of training () and achieved a plateau at 0.942 (SD 0.104) after the second round of training. In addition, the AUC level improved from an average of 0.729 (SD 0.240) to 0.918 (SD 0.149) after the first round of training and continued to increase after the second round to 0.945 (SD 0.094), being maintained at that level thereafter. After five rounds of training, the personalized model was able to predict hyperkalemia with an average accuracy of 0.980 (SD 0.078). Moreover, the sensitivity and specificity of model prediction improved after personalized transfer learning. There was a significant increase in average sensitivity after the second round of personalized transfer learning (0.674, SD 0.456 vs 0.953, SD 0.160; P=.03) and improvement in average specificity after the first round of personalized transfer learning (0.628, SD 0.417 vs 0.907, SD 0.321; P=.03; ).
Model Interpretation and Visualization
After refining the model for each candidate, we generated the gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad Cam) for obtaining visual explanations from the model . We selected one patient for demonstration ( ). The blue and orange lines represented the average plot of segmented heartbeats from hyperkalemia and normokalemia in the test set of that patient, respectively. Grad Cam uses the gradients of the final convolutional layer to produce a coarse localization map, highlighting important regions in the image for predicting the concept. We overlapped the activation maps on the original ECG reading to highlight the emphasized areas in the CNN. In this patient, the region of interest was dispersed before transfer learning and thereafter became more focused over the QRS segment.
To further address the effect of personalized transfer learning and to visualize the learned embeddings , we used the t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) method that extracted features from the last convolutional layer and converted these high-dimension features to 2D features, which we could analyze using the scatter plot.
This study presents a visualization of the same patient’s heartbeats using a t-SNE scatter plot and Grad Cam (). In the figure, the light blue dot represents the hyperkalemia ECG data and the red dot the normokalemia data. It can be observed that the dots presenting each heartbeat corresponding to the hyperkalemia and normokalemia were quite muddled at the beginning and gradually organized into two clusters that were easier to separate by a straight line in a 2D space after personalized transfer learning. The t-SNE plots imply that after transfer learning, it is easier to distinguish the two classes clearly through the CNN model.
Our study showed the feasibility of detecting hyperkalemia by using transfer learning on personalized single-lead ECG readings. In previous research, one of the biggest challenges of deep learning for ECG classification was the scalability of a single model in different populations. The reasons for this generalization problem included individually varying ECG signal properties that depended on various factors such as weight, height, age, and physical conditions , not to mention data collected from different institutions and by other technicians. Therefore, expecting a generalized framework to be functional for the general population can be problematic [ ]. The novelty of this study is that it considers the same classification task in the generic and personal predictions as different domains, which is a novel area in dyskalemia prediction using ECGs. Since other medical conditions may affect patients’ ECG, the ECG signal of hyperkalemia is not specific. Patients’ different medical diseases contribute to how their ECGs manifest. Due to large interpersonal variation, we believe that one generic model cannot cover a variety of illnesses that affect ECG signals. By using personalized transfer learning, we can load personal information into the model and make it better fit the personal ECG change.
In our study, when comparing the results with our pretrained model, transfer learning on personalized data showed a considerable increase in accuracy and AUC, and significantly boosted both sensitivity (mean 0.674, SD 0.456 vs mean 0.953, SD 0.160; P=.03) and specificity (mean 0.628, SD 0.417 vs mean 0.907, SD 0.321; P=.03), which demonstrated a good precision by ambulatory ECG monitors.
Previous studies applying deep learning to ECG classification focused on arrhythmia detection [- ]. One of the reasons may be the availability of benchmark data sets that have reliable annotations that are mostly limited to arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation. Within the deep learning arrhythmia detection domain, transfer learning had been extensively explored to enhance the performance of CNNs; in a study, Weimann and Conrad [ ] showed that transfer learning effectively reduces the number of annotations required to achieve the same performance as CNNs that are not pretrained. However, apart from arrhythmias, many other metabolic conditions such as hyperkalemia, hypokalemia, and hypomagnesemia can also be manifested in ECG readings [ ]; hence, successes in arrhythmia detection should be expandable for detection of metabolic diseases through ECGs. In 2019, a study by Galloway et al [ ] used 2 to 4 leads of the 12 leads of an ECG to develop a deep learning model to predict hyperkalemia and demonstrated a sensitivity of 88.9%-91.3% and a specificity of 54.7%-63.2%. The study proved that screening for hyperkalemia in patients with chronic kidney disease was feasible. A recent study using all 12 leads from complete ECGs to predict both hyperkalemia and hypokalemia showed better results with a balanced accuracy of around 79.9%-82.8% [ ]. Nevertheless, a higher standard of prediction performance may be desired to aid in clinical practice.
Personalized medicine, mostly discussed in genomic research, refers to the application of specific patient information to make a more informed choice regarding their optimal therapeutic treatments or precise diagnoses, rather than relying on population-based trends . Recent studies have shown that a personalized medicine approach could benefit disease diagnosis with ECGs. A 2018 study proved that by acquiring about 5% of personal ECG data from each new patient, the personalized deep learning model was able to substantially improve the precision of disease detection in contrast with the generic model [ ]. Another study using a personalized deep learning system to detect hypoglycemic events from ECG rhythms found that the model overcame the limitations of intersubject variability in conventional systems [ ]. The concept of adopting a personalized approach on ECG interpretation could improve specificity, which could prevent alert fatigue and overinterventions in a real-world setting. Our study demonstrated that transfer learning through a personalized approach required fewer ECG data queries and could bring about substantial improvements on sensitivity and specificity, which are useful in minimizing false alerts.
To enhance the interpretability of our model, we applied the Grad Cam method that allows one to easily scrutinize the areas the model is relying on (). Between our generalized model and personalized model trained from transfer learning, the former focuses more on broad characteristics such as the P, QRS, and T segments that were considered as a well-defined series of changes by previous literature [ ]; the latter focused more on a few localized areas that we believe are related to interpersonal differences. In each patient in the personalized group, the highlighted area of the ECG section from the Grad Cam visualization was different from the others. This explains how the personalized model performed better than the generic model and the interpersonal variation of ECGs occurred according to the level of hyperkalemia.
We used the t-SNE method for visualizing our learned embeddings in a lower dimension. This particular approach finds a joint probability distribution in a low dimension that closely represents the data points in the original high dimension by using gradient descent . From our t-SNE results regarding the last convolution layer of the deep learning model, the personalized model showed two discrete groups compared to a more heterogeneous appearance in the generalized model ( ). This shows that learned embedding can better separate the heartbeats according to potassium levels.
The study results demonstrate the potential of leveraging transfer learning on a personalized data set with fewer data while producing comparable results. Even in an individual participant, by using only four sets of data, the AUC increased significantly and many even plateaued. However, our study did have limitations that warrant future investigations and validations. First, since its database came from ICU records, only 16 patients who had multiple potassium drawings and corresponding ECG readings were included. However, in reality, it is difficult for a single patient to undergo so many blood tests, the results of each having its own corresponding ECG data. Second, by extending the framework to be multimodal, including other physiological signals such as blood pressure, age, gender, underlying disease, and weight, we could further enhance our model’s performance, and this should, therefore, be the future research goal.
Using personalized transfer learning on single-lead ECG readings is sufficient to yield high AUC and accurate results for hyperkalemia detection. The visualization of the model interpretation demonstrated the interpersonal differences on ECG change according to hyperkalemia. This finding could potentially be extended to applications that continuously monitor one’s ECGs, thus serving as a surveillance system for patients at high risk of hyperkalemia and avoiding unnecessary blood tests.
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (grant MOST 109-2314-B-182A-174).
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Medical Information Mart From Intensive Care III Waveform Database Matched Subset .
IMC devised the project and main conceptual ideas, worked out most of the technical details, and drafted the manuscript. JYC drafted the manuscript and performed the numerical calculations. JYC and TYC verified and edited the article. YMW performed the graphic interpretation. CYC performed the statistical analysis. CTK, FJC, and FFFY contributed to the data collection and preparation. CHRL supervised the findings of this study. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest
Complete list of patients included for the personalized model development.PDF File (Adobe PDF File), 72 KB
The improvement in predictions after each training round for all patients in the personalized group.PDF File (Adobe PDF File), 70 KB
- Rafique Z, Peacock F, Armstead T, Bischof JJ, Hudson J, Weir MR, et al. Hyperkalemia management in the emergency department: An expert panel consensus. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open 2021 Oct;2(5):e12572 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Luo J, Brunelli SM, Jensen DE, Yang A. Association between serum potassium and outcomes in patients with reduced kidney function. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2016 Jan 07;11(1):90-100 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Clase CM, Carrero J, Ellison DH, Grams ME, Hemmelgarn BR, Jardine MJ, Conference Participants. Potassium homeostasis and management of dyskalemia in kidney diseases: conclusions from a Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Controversies Conference. Kidney Int 2020 Jan;97(1):42-61 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Thomas A, Silver SA, Perl J, Freeman M, Slater JJ, Nash DM, et al. The frequency of routine blood sampling and patient outcomes among maintenance hemodialysis recipients. Am J Kidney Dis 2020 Apr;75(4):471-479. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Surawicz B. Relationship between electrocardiogram and electrolytes. Am Heart J 1967 Jun;73(6):814-834. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Wrenn KD, Slovis CM, Slovis BS. The ability of physicians to predict hyperkalemia from the ECG. Ann Emerg Med 1991 Nov;20(11):1229-1232. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Kwon J, Jung M, Kim K, Jo Y, Shin J, Cho Y, et al. Artificial intelligence for detecting electrolyte imbalance using electrocardiography. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol 2021 May;26(3):e12839 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Attia ZI, DeSimone CV, Dillon JJ, Sapir Y, Somers VK, Dugan JL, et al. Novel bloodless potassium determination using a signal-processed single-lead ECG. J Am Heart Assoc 2016 Jan 25;5(1):e002746 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Yasin OZ, Attia Z, Dillon JJ, DeSimone CV, Sapir Y, Dugan J, et al. Noninvasive blood potassium measurement using signal-processed, single-lead ecg acquired from a handheld smartphone. J Electrocardiol 2017;50(5):620-625 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Galloway CD, Valys AV, Shreibati JB, Treiman DL, Petterson FL, Gundotra VP, et al. Development and validation of a deep-learning model to screen for hyperkalemia from the electrocardiogram. JAMA Cardiol 2019 May 01;4(5):428-436 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Porumb M, Stranges S, Pescapè A, Pecchia L. Precision medicine and artificial intelligence: a pilot study on deep learning for hypoglycemic events detection based on ECG. Sci Rep 2020 Jan 13;10(1):170. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Johnson AE, Pollard TJ, Shen L, Lehman LH, Feng M, Ghassemi M, et al. MIMIC-III, a freely accessible critical care database. Sci Data 2016 May 24;3:160035. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Moody B, Moody G, Villarroel M, Clifford GD, Silva I. MIMIC-III Waveform Database Matched Subset. PhysioNet 2020:1. [CrossRef]
- He K, Zhang X, Ren S, Sun J. Deep residual learning for image recognition. 2016 Presented at: 2016 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; June 27-30, 2016; Las Vegas, NV. [CrossRef]
- Hannun AY, Rajpurkar P, Haghpanahi M, Tison GH, Bourn C, Turakhia MP, et al. Cardiologist-level arrhythmia detection and classification in ambulatory electrocardiograms using a deep neural network. Nat Med 2019 Jan;25(1):65-69 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- He K, Zhang X, Ren S, Sun J. Deep residual learning for image recognition. 2016 Presented at: IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; June 26, 2016; Las Vegas, NV p. 770-778.
- Selvaraju R, Cogswell M, Das A, Vedantam R, Parikh D, Batra D. Grad-CAM: visual explanations from deep networks via gradient-based localization. 2017 Presented at: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision; October 22-29, 2017; Venice, Italy. [CrossRef]
- van der Maaten L, Hinton G. Visualizing data using t-SNE. J Machine Learning Res 2008;9(11):2579-2605.
- Hoekema R, Uijen G, van Oosterom A. Geometrical aspects of the interindividual variability of multilead ECG recordings. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2001 May;48(5):551-559. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Ebrahimi Z, Loni M, Daneshtalab M, Gharehbaghi A. A review on deep learning methods for ECG arrhythmia classification. Expert Syst Applications X 2020 Sep;7:100033. [CrossRef]
- Mohebbanaaz, Kumar LVR, Sai YP. A new transfer learning approach to detect cardiac arrhythmia from ECG signals. Signal Image Video Processing 2022 Feb 18;16(7):1945-1953. [CrossRef]
- Pal A, Srivastva R, Singh Y. CardioNet: an efficient ECG arrhythmia classification system using transfer learning. Big Data Res 2021 Nov;26:100271. [CrossRef]
- Salem M, Taheri S, Shiun-Yuan J. ECG arrhythmia classification using transfer learning from 2-dimensional deep CNN features. arXiv. Preprint posted online on December 11, 2018. [FREE Full text]
- Weimann K, Conrad TOF. Transfer learning for ECG classification. Sci Rep 2021 Mar 04;11(1):5251. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Wald DA. ECG manifestations of selected metabolic and endocrine disorders. Emerg Med Clin North Am 2006 Feb;24(1):145-57, vii. [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Lin C, Lin C, Fang W, Hsu C, Chen S, Huang K, et al. A deep-learning algorithm (ECG12Net) for detecting hypokalemia and hyperkalemia by electrocardiography: algorithm development. JMIR Med Inform 2020 Mar 05;8(3):e15931 [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]
- Stone A, Bornhorst J. An introduction to personalized medicine. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring 2012:121-143. [CrossRef]
- Wu MH, Chang EJ, Chu TH. Personalizing a generic ECG heartbeat classification for arrhythmia detection: a deep learning approach. 2018 Presented at: 2018 IEEE Conference on Multimedia Information Processing and Retrieval; April 10-12, 2018; Miami, FL. [CrossRef]
- Dittrich K, Walls R. Hyperkalemia: ECG manifestations and clinical considerations. J Emerg Med 1986;4(6):449-455. [CrossRef] [Medline]
|AUC: area under the receiver operating characteristic curve|
|CNN: convolutional neural network|
|Grad Cam: gradient-weighted class activation mapping|
|ICU: intensive care unit|
|MIMIC-III: Medical Information Mart From Intensive Care III|
|t-SNE: t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding|
Edited by G Eysenbach; submitted 17.07.22; peer-reviewed by Z Li, M Kapsetaki, Y Wang; comments to author 19.10.22; revised version received 07.11.22; accepted 17.11.22; published 05.12.22Copyright
©I-Min Chiu, Jhu-Yin Cheng, Tien-Yu Chen, Yi-Min Wang, Chi-Yung Cheng, Chia-Te Kung, Fu-Jen Cheng, Fei-Fei Flora Yau, Chun-Hung Richard Lin. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 05.12.2022.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.


Beginning and established farmers alike have long sought out assistance from the Center for Rural Affairs. With a variety of programs directed at starting and maintaining small family farms, the Center continues that longstanding tradition by introducing a series of workshops to kick off the new year.
Consisting of four separate courses, the “Passing the Torch” series builds on a previous set of workshops offered through the Center. “Managing for the Future” focused on land transition.
“Passing the Torch” takes the topic of land transition and amplifies it, launching it in new directions that cater to both beginning and established farmers.
Dave Goeller, retired deputy director of North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and resource provider at Nebraska Rural Response Hotline, acts as facilitator of both sets of workshops.
“I try to allow the audience to ask as many questions as possible and go the direction the questions lead us,” he said. “Folks seem to appreciate that the workshops aren’t like a regular lecture.”
The four courses set for 2021 will take place online, which may provide a different atmosphere than meeting in person, but Dave is hopeful that it will still offer similar outcomes as last year’s workshops.
“The benefit of an online platform is that it allows access from farther distances without traveling or time constraints,” he said. “That may attract people who wouldn’t be able to attend if we were doing these events in person.”
Last year, Jami Thoene attended one of the initial “Managing for the Future” workshops. As a resource conservationist, and beginning farmer and rancher state coordinator with the Saunders County Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office in Wahoo, Nebraska, she participated to gain perspective for her job.
“The original reason I decided to attend was in part due to my new role as the beginning farmer and rancher coordinator,” she said. “My hope was to expand on my knowledge in this area to help other beginning farmers and ranchers who may have questions about current and future succession planning.”
Besides being enlightened by Dave’s explanation of different scenarios, as well as hearing about the individual situations of others who attended, Jami was surprised at how much she benefited personally by being able to reflect upon her own past situation.
“Through this association, I was able to really hone in on what other attendees were asking and think about how things could have been different for my own family if we had had a better understanding of succession planning, and I hope I can utilize my experience as a tool to help others,” Jami said.
With topics providing a closer, in-depth look at land transition, the Nebraska Beginning Farmer Tax Credit, financing for farm businesses, and the best approaches to making decisions during hard times, Jami is hoping she can attend one or more of the “Passing the Torch” series of workshops.
“I definitely would recommend these courses—everyone has the capacity to learn, and there is always new information evolving as people, especially in the farming community, are continuing to grow,” she said. “We learn from each other’s stories, so it’s important they are shared and those struggling or looking for direction feel embraced so they also know they do not have to struggle alone. Or, maybe they just need a second unbiased opinion.”
Dave agrees, and feels there’s great potential in assisting and educating people on the important topics discussed in the upcoming workshops.
“If you have information, then you’re able to make better choices,” he said. “Management is the key to making things work. Management basically is just a way of organizing and thinking about how you’re going to make your decisions. I hope these workshops help people know what it is that they need to do, what they need to get together to make better decisions and be better managers and ultimately be successful. And, I think in large part that does occur.”
“Passing the Torch” workshops will be on Thursdays, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.:
- Jan. 28, “Land Transition Conversations”
- Feb. 25, “The NextGen Tax Credit”
- March 11, “Financing the Farm Business”
- March 25, “Decision Making in Tough Times”
This project is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Beginning Farmer and Rancher Grant.


Source: Syfy Wire
Last week, humanity caught its historic, first-ever look at the event horizon surrounding a black hole in outer space.
Interested in how science was able to achieve such a massive feat?
The Smithsonian Channel has you covered with a new documentary, “Black Hole Hunters,” which follows astronomer Dr. Shep Doeleman and his team as they set out to challenge the theories of Albert Einstein.
After ten years, millions of dollars sunk into research installations, and a coalition of more than 200 scientists from around the world, they accomplished their goal.
Read the story at Syfy Wire.
Watch “Black Hole Hunters” at the Smithsonian Channel.
Receive the day’s documentary news every morning. Sign up for DocumentaryNews Daily.


text:
Recent moves by the Education Department leaves us to wonder if there is a wolf loose among the chicken coop aimed at disrupting the gains and the potential of the educational system being developed.
I speak of the apparent unjustified sacking or the non-renewal of contracts of a number of our teachers without even as much as a reason being given. This is in stark contrast to the banner of openness and fairness, which was paraded during the campaign of the present government (which they should have been trying to maintain). Let me hasten to say that I do not think this was a government policy but a reflection of what some wolf can do within a government department.
Many of the teachers involved including some known by me personally have had consistently good appraisals throughout their service up until and including their most recent appraisal. They are teachers with no record of misconduct or undue absences. They are teachers who have struggled with our students, who we as parents having one or two to deal with at home have but a glimpse of what the teachers endure when they are all gathered at school. They are teachers who have been encouraging, motivating, disciplining and educating our children.
They are teachers to which Sections 5.12 to 5.18 of the General Orders (2005 Revision), which deals with the disciplining and dismissal of salaried staff, cannot be applied. They are teachers for which no suitable Caymanian has been found. If any of these were so then reasons would be readily forthcoming, there would be justification and there would be no foul stench.
Clearly these teachers are not being dismissed due to poor performance. We must therefore question if it is a case of not performance based results but instead who you know? Is it a case of who likes who? Is it a case of making space for friends? Is it vindictiveness? Why are we replacing the good teachers we have for the unknown? Is it a case of wanting to have more of the ‘right’ people? Is it a case of personal prejudices being unleashed? Is it new found power? Are reasons now going to be manufactured?
Is it an unofficial introduction of the rollover policy in the civil service? Implementing the rollover without true Caymanianisation is futile. From the 40s, the days of Mr. Goring we have been importing teachers into this country and the practice still continues today. Why have we not created a teachers training college? We have imported many teachers from Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. Has there been a change to this policy as well and if so, when and why?
These are teachers who have gone beyond the call of duty by opening up their homes to offer free tutoring to their students. These are teachers who have mentored their students and at times even acted like parents to these young impressionable minds that we consider to be the future of the Cayman Is lands. It is my opinion and in the opinion of many other parents who interact with teachers that teachers from the Caribbean seem to have a greater genuine interest in our children’s well being. There may be some who try to paint a picture that teachers in general are here to earn a salary just like many other expatriate professionals. But to generally want to make a difference, to leave a positive indelible mark on a child’s life is truly priceless and selfless. There are teachers amongst us who have been asked to leave who possess those qualities. There is an old saying that one bird in hand is worth two in the bush. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
But let us look further down the road at what the short sighted wolf and the influenced have failed to see. What is the message that this is sending? What will be the long term effects on the system and the children of the Cayman Islands?
The answers lie in another question. What must be the thinking of the teachers whose contracts will be up for renewal soon and in the future? If they be worth any salt, if they encourage their students to be prepared then they must take their own advice and seek to get themselves prepared for the wolf loose in the chicken coop. Teachers can no longer feel secured in their job here in the Cayman Islands even when they fulfil and exceed their requirements and have good performance appraisals by supervisors. How will this affect their commitment and effort given to the brighter future?
Teachers must be thinking that what has happened to my co-workers may very well happen to me and must make the necessary adjustments and seek alternative employment before they receive their letter, which incidentally came after the usual recruitment period. In other words the present teachers, whose contract will be up for renewal, must place themselves on the job market because in spite of good performance their contract may not be renewed.
This is the greater evil because it leaves the education system in a most unstable position where staffing is concerned. This is even more precarious in light of the diminishing financial returns and the ever increasing appetite of other islands, the United States, Canada, England and other European countries for the Caribbean teachers.
Some positive actions must be taken to rectify this situation and re-stabilise our teaching staff so that we can indeed look towards brighter futures for our children.

domain: politics


text:
Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke scored the winning goal in the first-half against Tottenham to earn a valuable win for the relegation-threatened side, while manager Tim Sherwood beat his former employers on his first return back to White Hart Lane as a coach, reports BBC
Aston Villa took the lead in the 35th minute through the in-form Belgian, who headed home a Leandro Bacuna cross. The Villans could have had a second when Gabby Agbonlahor hit the post after latching on to a Benteke flick-on, but they went into the break with their slim lead.
The likes of Harry Kane was quiet largely for Tottenham all afternoon, while Christian Eriksen made little impact too. It wasn’t a vintage showing by the Londoners by any means, and as the second-half ticked on, Villa grew more and more in confidence and looked the more likely to score.
Fabian Delph will feel he should have put the game beyond doubt after being put through on goal, but Spurs goalkeeper Michel Vorm was on hand to thwart him.
Nevertheless, Villa ran out worth winners at full-time, while Tottenham’s sombre end to the season continued with a lacklustre showing at home to a side fighting relegation.
Think you know your football? Share your knowledge, tips and comments to win cash prizes in OLBG’s tipster competition – £11,000 to be won monthly!

domain: news


text:
Far more entertaining than it has any right to be, this is a big, messy blockbuster retelling of the Greek myth that thankfully has a sharp sense of humour and some surprising twists up its sleeve. The cast is also packed with veteran performers who know how to make the most of some eyebrow-raising innuendo, generating intrigue while keeping the audience laughing with them rather than at them.
The premise takes a revisionist approach, grounding the legend of the demigod Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) in real stories that have been exaggerated by his nephew Iolaus (Reece Ritchie), who travels with him as a kind of toga-era marketing expert. Their team of mercenaries includes wryly fatalistic seer Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), quick-witted blade-thrower Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), bow-wielding amazon Atalanta (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) and loyal mute warrior Tydeus (Aksel Hennie). When they're offered a fortune by Lord Cotys (John Hurt) to quell a rebellion, they find themselves in the middle of a massive battle that doesn't go the way they expected. And as events take unforeseen turns, Hercules and his gang have to dig deep to turn the tide in their favour.
Johnson is a natural in the role, so massively pumped up that he looks like he could be popped with a pin. His hulking physique and just enough back-story give the character's reputation some weight, both literally and figuratively, so even if he's not half-god his achievements are still pretty impressive. (There are also plenty of hints that he may turn out to be a god after all.) And the surrounding characters add to this with cleverly written roles that are expertly played by British scene-stealers Hurt, McShane, Sewell, Mullan and Fiennes. McShane is so good that he essentially walks off with the whole movie. But relative newcomers Ritchie, Hennie and Berdal more than hold their own.
Continue reading: Hercules Review

domain: artistic


text:
CIRAD – a grain of hope for rice growers?
A large number of crops currently rely on using first-generation hybrid varieties, obtained by crossing two genetically different varieties. These so-called “F1” hybrids are highly vigorous and sought after by farmers. However, that vigour is not sustained in the next generation. This obstacle obliges farmers to use new seeds every year, making them dependent on seed firms. What if it were possible to overcome this, to sustain the properties of hybrid plants from generation to generation?
For the time being, matters are still in the experimental stage, but the results are there. A team from the French research institute CIRAD in Montpellier, in association with researchers from UC Davis in California/USA, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding in Cologne/Germany, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in France and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Ghana, recently demonstrated that it was possible to reproduce a hybrid rice variety identically from seed. This means that the variety could be cloned infinitely while retaining its original properties.
This cloning mechanism already exists naturally in a large number of plant families. It is called "apomixis", referring to asexual reproduction without fertilisation, in which seeds are produced that are genetically identical to the mother plant. In rice, however, the phenomenon does not exist in the wild. The research team managed to create synthetic apomixis, using genome editing techniques.
Emmanuel Guiderdoni, a rice genome specialist from CIRAD who supervised the study published in Nature Communications, sets out the results: "Ninety-five per cent of the grains obtained are clones; in other words they have the same properties as the initial F1 hybrid, including grain quality. The progenies retain the same genome over several generations. In practice, this means that farmers will no longer need to buy new seeds every year; they will simply be able to sow some of the grains they harvest.”
Such an advance would be of particular benefit to the poorest rice growers, who could keep seeds of hybrid plants without losing their high yield potential. Matilda Ntowa Bissah, a geneticist at CSIR Ghana and co-author of the study, says: "If the technique were applied on a large scale, it would improve access to good seeds for resource-poor farmers and boost productivity and incomes.”
However, the researchers stress that the work is far from finished. "For instance, for the moment, the hybrids obtained are less fertile. In other words, they produce fewer grains than the original hybrid,” they explain. “We therefore need to correct this defect before we can think about field trials. This will take years.”
Synthetic apomixis using genome editing techniques
Wild and cultivated rice species naturally reproduce sexually, which results in genetic mixing and progenies that differ from their parents. To conserve the vigour of an F1 hybrid, the researchers therefore sought to trigger embryo formation artificially, without either genetic mixing or fertilisation, what is known as apomixis, a type of cloning.
To do so, they called upon genome editing techniques, using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. "We inactivated three genes and added a modified gene from the rice itself,” Emmanuel Guiderdoni explains.
Objectives: access to seeds and diversification
F1 hybrids are known to remain more productive and more stable in the event of environmental fluctuations. However, at present, such hybrids are highly complex and costly to produce in the case of rice, which makes them inaccessible to small-scale rice farmers.
Synthetic apomixis would allow two things. First, it paves the way for diversifying F1 hybrids much more easily, for instance to create varieties tailored to local demand and to different climate situations. Secondly, provided national research systems take the technique on board, synthetic apoximis could give farmers a degree of independence from seed firms, since they could reproduce these improved varieties themselves.
Aurore Vernet, Donaldo Meynard, Qichao Lian, Delphine Mieulet, Olivier Gibert, Matilda Bissah, Ronan Rivallan, Daphné Autran, Olivier Leblanc, Anne Cécile Meunier, Julien Frouin, James Taillebois, Kyle Shankle, Imtiyaz Khanday, Raphael Mercier, Venkatesan Sundaresan, Emmanuel Guiderdoni. 2022. High-frequency synthetic apomixis in hybrid rice. Nature Communications

domain: agronomy


text:
Court procedures: India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.
Audio/ video deposition by experts
2019/ HC connects with forensics via video
Abhinav Garg, HC connects with forensics via video to discuss proof, April 11, 2019: The Times of India
For the very first time, Delhi high court experimented with live video conferencing in a courtroom during regular proceedings and discussed evidence related to a cybercrime case. Until now, courts mostly resorted to video conferencing in cases of rape or sexual abuse against children, where a make-shift arrangement was made for the judge to sit in a separate room, suspending court work. The judge then heard the survivor’s testimony while the accused was produced from judicial custody via a screen and camera in jail.
Taking the next step in use of technology in courts, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva on Wednesday conducted video conferencing with the chief of Forensic Science Laboratory, Rohini, from the court room itself when the case came up for hearing as per the roster.
The striking aspect was that, instead of the FSL director being present in person, she answered queries of the court from a TV screen, even as the judge conducted the hearing when he sought to know facets of a cybercrime case where FSL has been found wanting in technical expertise to retrieve data and evidence from mobile phones and computers.
With cameras fixed inside the courtroom at different angles and a huge screen mirroring it back to FSL Rohini, the director responded to the court questions on software and hardware upgrade needed to crack cases.
TOI has learnt that technical teams of the high court and FSL were both pressed into service to ensure the live video exchange went along without any glitches. Sauces said MTNL was pressed upon to provide continuous increased bandwidth for a sustained period of time to enable the video conferencing.
The exercise took place after HC found that FSL lacked forensic tools to retrieve crucial evidence from CCTV camera hard disks, smart phones and new age computer drives. It asked the director of FSL to apprise the court on what is required “in terms of hardware and software in achieving international-standard analysis laboratory.”
Audio-video recordings, live- streaming
2016: govt reminds CJI
The Times of India, Jan 30 2016
Start audio-video recordings, govt reminds CJI
For the second time in less than a year, the government has reminded the Chief Justice of India about starting audio-video recording of court proceedings which is meant to bring transparency in the justice delivery system and accountability in conduct of judges who allow too many adjournments. In his letter to CJI T S Thakur, law minister Sadananda Gowda requested him to allow the government to begin audio-video recording on a pilot basis in a few district courts -indicating that the Supreme Court and high courts could remain out of the ambit of such transpa rency measures for now.
In July 2015, the law mini ster too had made the demand for audio-video recordings to the then CJI on the basis of a strong recommen dation by the then law commission chairman Justice A P Shah who did not see any reason in opposing such a proposal as it would only help in “bringing more accountability to the judiciary“.
The apex court since 2014 has always opposed the need to introduce audio-video recordings, with a judgment in January 2015 rejecting the idea. In view of SC's reluctance, the government even considered bringing in amendments to introduce audio-video recordings.
The SC secretary general, in the advisory council meeting, had mentioned the SC's dismissal of petitions seeking approval for audiovideo recording of judicial proceedings. “The view was that our court system has not reached the level where video recording of court proceedings can be permitted,“ he had said.
The minister's letter to the CJI comes ahead of the next advisory council meeting on February 16. The plan for audio-video recording was included in PhaseII of the e-court project where the government has allocated Rs 1,670 crore for its implementation.
2018: Streaming of proceedings gets SC nod
AmitAnand Choudhary, Courts to go live: Streaming of proceedings gets SC nod, September 27, 2018: The Times of India
Pilot Project To Start From Apex Court, HCs To Follow Suit
You can now watch court-room proceedings live after the Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to allow live-streaming of courtroom proceedings to put them under public glare and bring in transparency and accountability in judicial functioning.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said that livestreaming of court proceedings is manifestly in public interest and it will help bring the work of the judiciary to the lives of citizens.
“... sunlight is the best disinfectant. Live-streaming, as an extension of the principle of open courts, will ensure that the interface between a court hearing with virtual reality will result in the dissemination of information in the widest possible sense, imparting transparency and accountability to the judicial process,” said Justice Chandrachud in a separate concurring verdict.
The pilot project for livestreaming would be initiated from the apex court and later extended to high courts and lower courts. To begin with, only a specified category of cases (those of national importance being argued before the Constitution Bench) would be be live-streamed as a pilot project but the mechanism would be set up in all courtrooms for live-streaming of proceedings.
The bench asked the Supreme Court to frame rules for permitting live broadcast of proceedings and put in place equipment, including cameras, in courtrooms. The court framed guidelines on live-streaming and said cases pertaining to sexual offences and matrimonial disputes be excluded. In a separate but concurring verdict, Justices Khanwilkar and Chandrachud said many developed countries have allowed livestreaming of court proceedings and judiciary in India should adopt it to enable people to have first-hand experience of proceedings.
“Live-streaming of courtroom proceedings will reduce the public’s reliance on second-hand narratives to obtain information about important judgements and the course of judicial hearings. Society will be able to view court proceedings first-hand and form reasoned and educated opinion about the functioning of courts. This will help reduce misinformation and misunderstanding about the judicial process. It will enhance the rule of law and promote better understanding of legal governance as part of the functioning of democracy,” the bench said.
Coverage of court proceedings
SC, 2021: Media has right to report exchanges during hearings
Dhananjay Mahapatra, May 7, 2021: The Times of India
Moving away from a nine-yearold judgment putting curbs on coverage of court proceedings to protect the rights of the accused, the Supreme Court said the media had an unfettered right to report exchanges during hearings as it rejected the Election Commission’s plea that the media be restricted to publishing only court orders and judgments.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said, “This court stands as a staunch proponent of the freedom of the media to report court proceedings. This, we believe, is integral to the freedom of speech and expression of those who speak, of those who wish to hear and to be heard and above all, in holding the judiciary accountable to the values which justify its existence as a constitutional institution.”
The bench cited the fillip the freedom struggle got from the reportage of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s sedition trial.
‘Social media extension of open court’
The heart of the matter, which is the first prayer that the EC has raised — is that of seeking a restraint on the media on reporting court proceedings.
“The basis of its application was that nothing apart from what forms a part of the official judicial record should be reported. This prayer of the Election Commission strikes at two fundamental principles guaranteed under the Constitution — open court proceedings, and the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression,” the bench said.
Importantly, the court brought up the issue of livestreaming of court proceedings, as is the practice in the supreme courts of the US and the UK.
Justice Chandrachud said that though the apex court three years ago in the Swapnil Tripathi case had in principle approved the live telecast of SC hearings and suggested the modalities, it is yet to implement the same in letter and spirit.
“Unless livestreaming and archival of court proceedings sees the light of day (three years have elapsed since the decision in Swapnil Tripathi), the absence of records of oral proceedings will continue to bedevil the system,” Justice Chandrachud said while ruing the absence of material to confirm Madras HC’s purported hurtful remarks against the poll panel, which was widely reported in the media, causing consternations to the constitutional body mandated to conduct free and fair elections.
“With the advent of technology, we are seeing reporting proliferate through social media forums which provide real-time updates to a much wider audience. This is an extension of the freedom of speech and expression that the media possesses. This constitutes a virtual extension of the open court. This phenomenon is not a cause of apprehension, but a celebration of our constitutional ethos which bolsters the integrity of the judiciary by focusing attention on its functions,” the bench said.
SC/ HCs seeking should stop seeking original records from lower courts
AmitAnand Choudhary, SC: Higher courts needn’t be given original docus, April 29, 2018: The Times of India
‘SC/HCs Can Do With Copies Of Trial Court Records’
A month after ruling that stay on trial proceedings, particularly in corruption cases, must not exceed six months, the Supreme Court has taken another significant step to ensure speedy completion of trials, holding that the present practice of higher courts seeking original records of a case from lower courts must be done away with.
Original records are sought by the Supreme Court and high courts while hearing a plea of an accused challenging interim order of a trial court. The proceedings in the lower court get stalled till the documents are sent back to it from the SC or HC.
Now a bench of Justices A K Goel and R F Nariman has ruled the present practice must be done away with and the SC and HCs should get photocopies or scanned copies of the trial court records to decide the case and the original documents should remain with the trial court to ensure uninterrupted proceedings.
“We direct that if, in future, the trial court records are summoned, the trial courts may send photocopy/scanned copy of the record and retain the original so the proceedings are not held up. In cases where specifically original record is required by holding that photocopy will not serve the purpose, the appellate/revisional court may call for the record only for perusal and the same be returned while keeping a photocopy/scanned copy of the same,” the bench said.
The bench said its order was in continuation of the apex court’s March 28 verdict, in which it ruled that higher courts should not stay trial proceedings for more than six months. It had said lower courts could proceed after a six-month period, preventing the accused from dragging on the trial.
“To give effect to directions in judgment of this court dated March 28, we direct that wherever original record has been summoned by an appellate/revisional court, photocopy/scanned copy of the same may be kept for its reference and original returned to the trial courts forthwith,” the apex court said.
The court said the right of the accused has to be considered vis-a-vis the interest of society. Larger societal interests get affected due to delay in trial proceedings after the original records are sent to higher courts.
The apex court in its March 28 verdict said, “It is well accepted that delay in a criminal trial, particularly in the Prevention of Corruption Act cases, has deleterious effect on the administration of justice. Delay in trials affects the faith in Rule of Law and efficacy of the legal system. It affects social welfare and development. ”
SC ruled that courts should get photocopies of the records to decide the case and original documents should remain with the trial court to ensure uninterrupted proceedings
Delhi HC annuls Court Fees Amendment
PTI, HC verdict finds place in Yale journal Sep 19 2016
A landmark judgement of the Delhi high court, which had struck down an 1870 law on court fees, has found place, along with four others from around the world, in a prestigious international journal published by the Yale Law School.
The judgement penned in 2013 by Justice Gita Mittal had struck down The Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act 2012 after declaring it “invalid and ultra vires the Constitution.“
The judge, who was heading the bench along with Justice J R Midha, had held that Delhi Legislative Assembly did not have the legislative competence to amend the Court Fees Act, 1870 and directed government to refund the higher amount collected from litigants as the amendment came in 2012.
In its publication `Global Constitutionalism 2015', which is part of the Gruber Program for global justice and human rights, the law school has incorporated the landmark judgement along with two from the European Court of Human Rights, one each from the Supreme Courts of the United States and Canada.
Judgements delivered through WhatsApp
Lower court initiates, SC disapproves
'Is this a joke?': SC blasts lower court for delivering order through WhatsApp, September 9, 2018: The Times of India
Have you ever heard of a trial in a criminal case being conducted through instant messaging app WhatsApp?
Bizzare but true.
This peculiar case has reached the Supreme Court, which was left wondering as to how this kind of a "joke" was allowed to happen in a court of law in India.
The case, involving a former minister of Jharkhand and his MLA wife, saw the lower court judge in Hazaribagh putting these accused on trial by pronouncing the order framing charges against them through a 'WhatsApp' call.
Former Jharkhand minister Yogendra Sao and his wife Nirmala Devi, who are accused in a rioting case of 2016, were granted bail last year by the top court which had imposed a condition that they shall stay in Bhopal and not enter Jharkhand except for attending the court proceedings.
Both the accused have now told the apex court that the trial judge had on April 19 this year framed charges against them through a 'WhatsApp' call despite they raising objections to it.
A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L N Rao took serious note of the submissions and said, "What is happening in Jharkhand. This process cannot be allowed, and we cannot allow administration of justice to be brought into disrepute".
"We are here on the way of trial being conducted through WhatsApp. This can not be done. What kind of a trial is this? Is this a kind of joke?" the bench asked the counsel appearing for Jharkhand.
The bench issued notice to Jharkhand on the plea by both the accused, who have sought transfer of their cases from Hazaribagh to New Delhi, and asked the state to respond to it within two weeks.
Jharkhand's counsel told the top court that Sao has been violating the bail condition and had been out of Bhopal most of the time due to which proceedings in the case were delayed.
To this, the bench observed, "That is a different thing. If you have a problem with violation of bail conditions by the accused, you can file a separate application seeking cancellation of bail. We make it clear that we have no sympathy with those who have violated bail condition."
Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for the couple, said that the accused were granted bail on December 15, 2017 by the apex court in the case and they were directed to stay in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh as a bail condition.
"The trial was directed to be conducted through video conferencing from district court in Bhopal and district court in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand," he said.
Tankha said that video conferencing connectivity was most of the times "very low" in Bhopal and Hazaribagh district courts and the April 19 order was pronounced by the trial judge through 'WhatsApp' call.
The bench asked Tankha as to how many cases were pending against both the accused.
Tankha said that 21 cases were pending against Sao, while nine cases were pending against his wife.
"They are both politicians and have led various protests against land acquisition done by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Jharkhand and most of these cases relate to those agitations," he said.
Tankha said that since both the them were lawmakers at the time of filing of these cases, the trial in these matters should be transferred to the special court in Delhi which is exclusively dealing with cases involving politicians.
Both Devi and Sao were accused in the case relating to violent clashes between villagers and police in 2016 in which four persons were killed. Sao had become a minister in the Hemant Soren government in August 2013.
According to police, Devi had led an agitation against NTPC authorities for their alleged attempt to forcefully evacuate villagers from Barkagaon without giving them due compensation or rehabilitation.
’Off the cuff remarks’ by judges
Supreme Court :High Courts should Avoid 'Off The Cuff' Oral Remarks
Mehal Jain, April 30, 2021: Live Law
Supreme Court Advises High Courts To Avoid 'Off The Cuff' Oral Remarks Which Can Be Damaging To Persons
"No no no! I am not talking about Your Lordships at all! I only wanted to say, since Your lordships have assumed the role of the Karta of our HUF, some high courts have made some very strong observations. The courts' concern is shared by everybody, but in these times of crisis, we must be very circumspect. Even as lawyers, we must be very circumspect", clarified the SG.
"I got your point. I even know the context in which you are talking. We have all been members of the bar and we all know that when judges say something in court, it is only to elicit information from the lawyers, to elicit a response from the lawyers, so as to enable an open dialogue. It is not the conclusion on anything- it is only to test the hypothesis of the lawyer and the other side", explained Justice Chandrachud.
"We are not against any lawyer. Just like when Mr Mehra (Rahul Mehra for the GNCTD) argues, we are at his back telling him on what counts he is wrong. It is not that we will hold him to be wrong at the end. Same is the case with the Solicitor General – we test and critique his arguments also", continued the judge.
"Of course, as judges, we must also confront that this is a new time that we are living in and every word that we say becomes part of the social media, or Twitter. All we can say that we expect a degree of respect restraint", expressed Justice Chandrachud.
"Particularly, in sensitive matters, we tend to exercise some caution and restraint. It is not because we are fearful of our remarks! Of course, we are independent! It is only because of the serious ramifications which off-the-cuff remarks about private citizens may have", continued the judge.
"Even when we are criticising a judgement of a High Court, we don't say exactly what is in our heart and we exercise a degree of restraint. We would only expect that as freedom has been given to the High Courts to deal with these issues, certain of-the-cuff remarks, which are not necessary maybe avoided", noted Justice Chandrachud.
"That will be enough, Your Lordships...As they say, a diplomat is a person who helps people who have differing points of view find common ground...that is the need of the hour", advanced the SG. "High Court judges are stressed about local conditions. So, at times, they may get emotional and make strong remarks. But we must not be so fragile as to get offended by them", added Justice Ravindra Bhat. "When we took up the suo motu case, there was an apprehension that we were going to withdraw the matters from the High Courts to ourselves and the bar attacked us. And now the tables have turned and the bar seems to have issues with the High Courts", quipped Justice Bhat in a lighter vein.
Justice Bhat was referring to the criticism from the bar against the Supreme Court's suo moto cognizance on COVID issues based on the apprehension that it was trying to take over the cases from High Courts. Yesterday, the High Courts of Madras and Delhi had made strong oral observations against the Central Government while hearing cases related to COVID19. The Madras High Court had raised questions at the preparedness of the Central Government in dealing with COVID second wave and had asked what the Centre had been doing for the past 14 months.
The Delhi High Court had questioned the Centre's oxygen allocation policy for the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
While dealing with the suo moto case on COVID-19 issues, the Supreme Court had recently clarified that it had no intention to stop the High Courts from dealing with such matters in their respective jurisdictions.
Today, the Election Commission had filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking to stop media from reporting oral comments made by judges.
HC ‘murder charge’ remarks against EC were harsh: SC
Dhananjay Mahapatra , May 7, 2021: The Times of India
The Supreme Court termed the Madras High Court’s “murder charge” remarks against the Election Commission as “harsh” and the “metaphor inappropriate” as it walked a tightrope between praising the role of HCs during the pandemic and advising judges against making off-the-cuff remarks during hearings.
In a 31-page judgment on the EC’s plea against HC’s remarks, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah achieved three objectives — assuaged the EC’s hurt, ensured that judges did not feel restrained from questioning the actions of constitutional bodies and the executive during the pandemic, and expanded the media’s right to cover court proceedings. Writing the judgment, Justice Chandrachud said, “The remarks of the high court were harsh. The metaphor inappropriate.”
HC observations did not seek to attribute culpability to EC: SC
However, it was quick to clarify that it was not blaming the HC for remarks that could have been made during the flow of dialogue process intrinsic to judicial scrutiny of actions of constitutional bodies and the executive during the pandemic. “The HC, if indeed it did make the oral observations which have been alluded to, did not seek to attribute culpability for the Covid-19 pandemic in the country to the EC. What it would have instead intended to do was to urge the EC to ensure stricter compliance of Covid-19 related protocols during elections,” the bench said.
It clarified that oral observations by judges of superior courts did not form part of court records and were at best meant to elicit a studied response from the authorities for reaching a just conclusion. “These oral remarks are not a part of the official judicial record and, therefore, the question of expunging them does not arise. It is trite to say that a formal opinion of a judicial institution is reflected through its judgments and orders, and not its oral observations during the hearing,” it said.
However, the bench appeared worried about an emerging trend of judges making caustic observations against litigants during hearings, be it constitutional bodies, governments or individual litigants. “We must emphasise the need for judges to exercise caution in off-the-cuff remarks in open court, which may be susceptible to misinterpretation,” Justice Chandrachud said.
Doctor’s statement needed even if his report exhibited/ SC
AmitAnand Choudhary, Indian killed abroad, SC says examine doc who did post-mortem, April 19, 2019: The Times of India
The Supreme Court has said that geographical distance should not come in the way of examining a witness in a criminal case and courts must take all steps to record the statement of a witness who resides in a foreign country and video-conferencing facilities must be used.
A bench of Justices A M Sapre and Dinesh Maheshwari directed a trial court in Rajasthan to take all necessary measures to ensure the examination of a Nigeriabased doctor in the case of a woman who died in mysterious circumstances in the African country. The woman’s parents have accused her husband of murdering her. The woman was found hanging in her room in 2010.
SC overrules HC order, says doc’s testimony is necessary
The first post-mortem examination of the body was conducted by Dr I Yusuf who stated that the cause of death was “asphyxia secondary to strangulation”. Thereafter, the body was brought to India where a medical board was constituted for further postmortem examination but the board said no definite opinion could be formed regarding the time and cause of death. The woman’s parents then filed a criminal complaint against the husband and alleged that she was being tortured for dowry. After investigation, a chargesheet was filed against the husband for the offences of murder and cruelty. The parents thereafter filed an application to summon Dr Yusuf and said his testimony was essential to find the cause of death. The trial court and the Rajasthan high court dismissed their plea and said it was not necessary to record the doctor’s statement as a copy of the postmortem examination report prepared by him had already been exhibited.
The Supreme Court, however, quashed the orders of the trial court and the high court and said the doctor’s testimony was necessary to decide the case.
Protests against court orders
2016: SC cites 2009 judgment
Dhananjay Mahapatra, Cannot protest or call bandhs against court orders: SC, Sep 16 2016 : The Times of India (Delhi)
`Duty Of K'Taka, TN To Quell Cauvery Stir'
The Supreme Court said in Sepy 2016 that no one could agitate on the streets or call bandhs to protest against a court order and once again rebuked the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments for failing to curb mob violence over the Cauvery water dispute.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit said, “The people cannot become a law unto themselves and, therefore, it is obligatory on the part of the authorities of both states, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to prevent such actions. We are compelled and constrained to say that it is the duty of the states to see that no agitation, damage or destruction takes place.“ The bench's September 12 order reducing the daily release of Cauvery water by Karnataka from 15,000 cusecs to 12,000 cusecs did not quell violent protests in both states, despite the court warning the governments and the protesters of dire consequences.
On a PIL by social activist P Sivakumar from Kanyakumari seeking a direction to the authorities in both states to take preventive measures to quell violent protests, the bench said, “The fundamental purpose is that there can not be any agitation when it relates to an order passed by the court. It (a court order) is to be complied with and, in any case, if there is difficulty, the concerned parties can approach the court.“
After asking both state counsels to be prepared to answer questions on their failure to maintain law and order, the bench said, “We sincerely hope that wisdom shall prevail over the competent authorities of both states to maintain peace.“ Shivakumar's counsel Adish Agrawala said inhabitants of both states were resorting to competitive protests against the SC order directing Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu. “If one party resorts to `rail roko' (stopping train services) on one day , the other party emulates it the next day ,“ he said.
The court said it felt the situation was returning to normal. However, Agrawala said there were fresh inci dents of violence and the `rail roko' agitation was on in Karnataka on Thursday , while Tamil Nadu protesters have decided to do the same on Friday .
The bench extracted guidelines laid down by the apex court in its 2009 judgment for the police in handling violent protests. “The state government shall prepare a report on the police reports and other information that may be available to it and shall file a petition including its report in the high court or the Supreme Court as the case may be for the court in question to take suo motu action,“ the SC had said in 2009.
Can SC shut right to protest its orders?
Dhananjay Mahapatra, Can SC shut citizens' right to protest against its order?, Sep 19 2016 : The Times of India
Right to freedom of speech and expression guarantees individuals the liberty to express themselves, criticise others and comment on issues. All these must necessarily be peaceful. But can any court shut an individual's right to protest against judgments and orders?
The Supreme Court did just that in the contentious Cauvery water issue. Escalating protests coupled with violence in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu made the SC say , “There cannot be any agitation when it relates to an order passed by the court.“
The SC was right in asking the authorities to clamp down on violence. But the anxiety to see return of normalcy cannot be a ground to convey that even peaceful protests and agitations against SC orders would not be tolerated.
We are witness to public protests against orders of the highest courts world over, including India.On June 2015, the US Supreme Court by a slender five to four majority declared gay marriages con stitutionally valid, mandating all 50 states of the federal republic to recognise same sex unions (Obergefell vs Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health).
The LGBT community celebrated. But the church erupted in protest. Billy Graham Evangelist Association, Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and US Bishops Conference virtually rebelled against the judgment. Some of the churches said they would not conduct same-sex marriages.
In India, too, we witnessed this.An SC judgment closed a small window opened for the LGBT community by the Delhi High Court, which decriminalised Section 377 to exempt consensual relations between adults of the same sex in private from penal consequences.
The rainbow community protested, albeit peacefully, against the SC judgment.
The SC's decision to limit the height of `dahi handi' and bar participation of minors in Janmashtami celebrations in Maharashtra saw 500 `dahi handi mandals' congregate at Shiva ji Park on August 22 to protest against the court or der. In May , several hundred Kosovo Albanians protested against a ruling of the Kosovo Constitutional Court for confirming the rights of Serbian Orthodox Visoki Decani monastery to 24 hectares of land.“The constitutional court trespassed on justice,“ read the banners with protesters.
A person may militate against a perfectly valid and legitimate court order because in his perception it was an unjust judgment. Can we deny him the right to protest against the court order? Are court orders infallible?
Even the SC cannot claim infallibility. More than 70 years ago, US SC judge Robert H Jackson had said judges, despite being addressed as Lords, shared the human susceptibility to err.
In Brown vs Allen, (1944 US 443 at 540), he had said, “Reversal by a higher court is no proof that justice is thereby better done. There is no doubt that if there were a super-Supreme Court, a substantial proportion of our reversals of state courts would also be reversed. We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.“
True, Indian Constitution under Article 144 mandates “all authorities, civil and judicial, in the territory of India to act in aid of the Supreme Court“. But it does not even remotely suggest that while implementing an SC order, one must wholeheartedly subscribe to it. A five-judge bench of the SC in Bihar Legal Support Society vs Chief Justice of India (1986 SCC (4) 767) had in a short and crisp judgment told judges that they were neither infallible nor their words the last. Legally may be, but not in the perception of a common man.
The society's petition had protested against a midnight sitting of the SC to grant bail to two industrialists -Lalit Mohan Thapar and Shyam Sundar Lal -and asked the CJI why similar expeditious hearing was not accorded to bail petitions of poor men languishing in jails? This question is ironic and bound to inspire a feeling of deja vu in those who have been following the SC for some time.
The SC had conceded that it would not be possible for it to right all wrongs because it was not immune from making mistakes. To make judges realise that they did not possess the panacea for all ills, it had said, “The apex court must interfere only in limited class of cases where there is a substantial question of law involved which needs to be finally laid at rest by the apex court for the entire country or where there is grave, blatant and atrocious miscarriage of justice.
“Sometimes, we judges feel that when a case comes before us and we find that injustice has been done, how can we shut our eyes to it. But the answer to this anguished query is that the judges of the apex court may not shut their eyes to injustice but they must equally not keep their eyes too wide open, otherwise the apex court would not be able to perform the high and noble role which it was intended to perform according to the faith of the Constitution makers.“
The 30-year-old judgment needs to be put up in bold big font in the inner chambers of the SC, which has forayed into unimaginably diverse fields from constitutionality of jokes on Sikh community to mushrooming of NGOs.
Reasons behind judgments
‘Delays in giving reasons a violation of right to life’
Dhananjay Mahapatra, November 2, 2020: The Times of India
SC says rehear case as HC delays verdict’s reason
Breach of a 19-year-old guideline laid down by the Supreme Court to high courts and trial courts to be prompt in providing reasons behind judgments led the SC to observe that inordinate delay in giving reasons for a verdict violated litigants’ right to life, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court had given a cryptic judgment in a case on January 21, saying “reasons will follow”, meaning that the detailed verdict would be given later.
‘Delays in giving reasons behind verdicts violation of right to life’ The litigant filed an appeal in March against the HC judgment well within the 90-day limitation period. The appeal could not be listed as the litigant had not provided the detailed judgment giving reasons behind the verdict.
Finally, the appeal got listed before a bench of Justices Sanjay K Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy in the SC. The bench was informed by the appellant that the reasoned order has not yet followed, even after almost nine months of the cryptic order deciding his case.
When the SC sought an explanation from the registrar of the Aurangabad bench of the HC, the reasoned order was given on October 9, almost nine months later.
Speaking for the bench, Justice Kaul said, “We must note with regret that the counsel extended through various judicial pronouncements, including the one referred to aforesaid, appear to have been ignored, more importantly where oral orders are pronounced. In case of such orders, it is expected that they are either dictated in the court or at least must follow immediately thereafter, to facilitate any aggrieved party to seek redressal from the higher court.”
Terming delays in giving reasons behind judgments as violation of right to life of a litigant, the bench said, “The problem gets aggravated when the operative portion is made available early and the reasons follow much later. It cannot be countenanced that between the date of the operative portion of the order and the reasons disclosed, there is a hiatus period of nine months.” The SC set aside the HC order and asked the Aurangabad bench, which does not comprise the earlier judges, to hear the case afresh while giving protection against coercive action from Maharashtra government to the litigant.
The SC in its 2001 judgment in the Anil Rai case had said that pronouncement of a judgment must not exceed two months after a bench reserves verdict. It had said that if the judgment was not given even after expiry of three months, then the parties could move the chief justice concerned for a direction for early pronouncement of judgment. If no judgment was given even after six months of reserving the verdict, the parties concerned could move the chief justice for a fresh hearing in the case.
‘Sealed cover jurisprudence’
2019/ SC disapproves of the practice
Amit Anand Chowdhary, Dec 5, 2019 Times of India
The Supreme Court disapproved of the practice of courts forming opinion and passing observations against accused on the basis of probe reports filed in sealed envelopes by probe agencies and said it was against fair trial and courts should refrain from recording any findings about offences while deciding bail pleas.
While setting aside a Delhi HC verdict rejecting former finance minister P Chidambaram’s bail plea, a bench of Justices R Banumathi, A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy objected to the HC judge giving his findings on the merit of the case on the basis of a confidential report filed in a sealed envelope by ED.
It said there was nothing wrong in the HC judge perusing the probe report to satisfy his conscience while deciding on the bail plea but he should have refrained from recording the findings on the merit of the case. “It would be against the concept of fair trial if in every case the prosecution presents documents in a sealed cover and the findings on the same are recorded as if the offence is (sic) committed and the same is treated as having a bearing for denial or grant of bail,” the bench said.
On the basis of ED’s confidential report, HC judge Suresh Kait had, while denying bail to Chidambaram, said “he appeared to be kingpin” in the case. Objecting to the observations, the bench said, “Hence in our opinion, the finding recorded by the learned judge of the high court based on the material in sealed cover is not justified.”
This was the second time that the SC had frowned upon Justice Kait for making observations on the basis of contents of a sealed envelope, apparently containing details of investigation, submitted to him by probe agencies. The judge had passed similar observations while rejecting Chidambaram’s bail plea in the CBI case and the SC had said such practice of recording findings on merit of the case should have been avoided.
The SC’s indulgence of evidence submitted to it in sealed envelopes by agencies is not new. It had entertained “sealed envelopes” in important cases — the Gujarat riots, coalgate and 2G scams which were monitored by it. However, of late the SC has drawn criticism for what has been referred to as “sealed envelope jurisprudence”. The court said it had “consciously refrained from opening the sealed envelope” filed by CBI while deciding Chidmabaram’s bail plea. But it had to peruse the confidential report in the ED case as the HC had relied on it.
Courts can’t ‘stay’ civil, criminal case trials for over six months: SC
April 29, 2018: The Indian Express
If there is no such speaking order, the trial courts may, on expiry of the six months resume the proceedings without further wait, the court said.
The Supreme Court ruled that stay orders on the proceedings in any pending trial — civil or criminal cases — would automatically lapse after six months, unless extended by a speaking order that explain the need for the stay order.
If there is no such speaking order, the trial courts may, on expiry of the six months resume the proceedings without further wait, the court said.
“Situation of proceedings remaining pending for long on account of stay needs to be remedied. Remedy is required not only for corruption cases, but for all civil and criminal cases where on account of stay, civil and criminal proceedings are held up. At times, proceedings are adjourned sine die on account of stay. Even after stay is vacated, intimation is not received and proceedings are not taken up,” a bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel, Rohington Nariman and Navin Sinha noted while disposing a batch of appeals.
Laying down the contours of the “speaking order,” the bench said: “The speaking order must show that the case was of such exceptional nature that continuing the stay was more important than having the trial finalised. The trial court where order of stay of civil or criminal proceedings is produced, may fix a date not beyond six months of the order of stay, so that on expiry of the period of the stay, proceedings can commence unless order of extension of stay is produced.”
To buttress the point about cases getting delayed on account of stay orders, the bench referred to an earlier order of the court where it had referred to statistics. “Average pendency per case (counted from the date of stay order till 26-7-2010) works out to be around 7.4 years. Charge sheet was found to be the most prominent stage where the cases were stayed with almost 32 per cent of the cases falling under this category. The next two prominent stages are found to be ‘appearance’ and ‘summons’, with each comprising 19% of the total number of cases,” the bench said.
The issue came up during the hearing of an appeal against a Delhi High Court order in a corruption case against some officials of the Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The top court said though high courts could entertain review petitions, it should do so “consistent with the legislative policy to ensure expeditious disposal of a trial without the same being in any manner hampered” and in “rarest of rare case only to correct a patent error of jurisdiction and not to re-appreciate the matter.”
Where the high court entertains challenge to an order framing charge, “decision of such a petition should not be delayed,” the apex court said. It said that though no mandatory time limit could be fixed, “normally it should not exceed two-three months.”
Use of particular expressions
'Separatist': can't use that term in court
Dhananjay Mahapatra & Shailaja Neelakantan, SC rejects plea to stop central funds for Kashmiri 'separatists', Sep 14, 2016: The Times of India
The Supreme Court not only dismissed a PIL that sought to stop Central funds and security being given to 'separatists' in Kashmir, it also slammed a lawyer for calling Hurriyat leaders 'separatists' and refused to use that term in its order.
"It's a matter of perception. Has the government declared them separatists? The conduct of a man may not be to the liking of others and (so) they call him separatist, but you can't use that term in court," a Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit said.
’Judiciary cannot examine what funds are given to whom’
The PIL filed on September 8 said that more than Rs 100 crore is spent - for foreign travel, security and other expenses - on separatists by the government. On top of that, the PIL said, the separatists then misuse the money for anti-India activities .
To that, the apex court today said the judiciary cannot examine what funds are given to whom+ , when it comes to managing the situation in a sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir. It added that any security cover given by a government to a citizen who faces threats, is completely within the domain of the executive.
"Security issues cannot be handled through judicial proceedings and courts must desist (from) entertaining such issues," the bench chastised ML Sharma, a lawyer who filed the plea in his personal capacity.
The court's comments seem like an about-turn from the ones it made on September 8 2016 when it decided on which date to hear the PIL. At the time, the court said it felt the same as the petitioner who filed the PIL to stop funding the so-called separatists+ .
"We also share the same feeling. Everybody sitting here feels the same" the country's top court said, according to ANI, to the petitioner ML Sharma.
Cannot be deferred at accused’s request: SC
Dhananjay Mahapatra, SC: Can’t defer witness deposition at accused’s request, November 7, 2018: The Times of India
The Supreme Court has ruled against deferring witness deposition in a criminal case at the mere request of an accused and said courts of law had a duty to protect both the right of an accused for fair trial and the prosecution’s endeavour to prove its case. It also laid down a nine-point guideline for courts for conduct of criminal trials.
Reversing a Kerala High Court decision quashing a sessions court verdict against murder accused and Youth Congress leader Rasheed, an SC bench of Justices A M Sapre and Indu Malhotra said “a balance must be struck between the rights of the accused and the prerogative of the prosecution to lead evidence”.
During trial of the case relating to murder of one Satheesan in Thrissur, Rasheed had sought adjournment of cross-examination (interrogation by opposite party) of a witness, Narayanan, till the examination-in-chief (examination by the party which has cited him/her as a witness to elicit evidence in his favour) of other witnesses. The sessions judge refused and said the accused were “highly influential political leaders” and there was a possibility of threats to witnesses after their examination-in-chief. The HC had reversed this order and deferred Narayanan’s cross-examination.
Setting aside the HC order and disallowing deferment of deposition by Narayanan, the bench said though discretion has been conferred on trial judges to grant deferment of deposition or examination of a witness, the same has to be exercised in exceptional circumstances and when the accused put forth a “very strong ground”.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Malhotra laid down a nine-point guideline and said it “should be followed by trial courts in the conduct of criminal trials as far as possible.

domain: law


text:
FOR MAKING THE 2017 LA FETE DES BAYOUS SUCH A GREAT SUCCESS!
Thursday, October 26 - 7:00 p.m.
We are excited to announce our winners:
1st Place - Jolie Pruitt
2nd Place - Emma Cason & Riley Richard
3rd Place - Maci Marse
Most Creative - Jolie Pruitt
Best Audience Response - Mckenzie Nassar
People's Choice - Emma Cason & Riley Richard
Thank you to our panel of judges Allison Collins, Pat Sanchez, and Alyssa Babin!


text:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
HD available on all devices. 4K limited to select SmartTVs. Learn more at cinplx.co/4k
In this epic and romantic new version of the classic film, The Creature is driven to revenge when his master rejects him after giving him life. ...
You have 30 days from the date of purchase to start watching your rental, and 48 hours to finish it once you've started watching