Important cases heard by Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 23:

It ordered the listing of petitions before the constitution bench on August 25 and directed the poll panel not to pass any orders on Shinde factions plea that it be considered the real Shiv Sena and granted the partys poll symbol. SC said it would interpret Medical Termination of Pregnancy MTP Act and the related rules in such a manner that discrimination between married and unmarried women is removed to allow abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Important cases heard by Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 23: * SC agreed to consider listing of a plea challenging the grant of remission by the Gujarat government to 11 life convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. The remission and consequent release of 11 convicts on August 15 this year from Godhra sub-jail under the Gujarat government's remission policy has sparked a debate on the issue of such relief in heinous cases. * SC orders alleged 'conman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar and his wife to be shifted from Tihar jail to Mandoli jail in the city. The alleged conman, arrested on charges of money laundering, extortion and duping several people, has claimed that he and his wife are facing a threat to their lives and had sought a transfer to a prison outside Delhi.

* SC says all political parties including BJP are in favour of freebies and due to this a judicial attempt has been made to deal with it, while deliberating on a PIL opposing promises of such handouts by parties during polls. It also rapped DMK and some of its leaders for making statements on the issue of freebies and the judicial intervention on the ground that welfare measures are for uplifting marginalised people and cannot be held as ''freebies''. * SC referred to a five-judge bench the petitions filed by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde raising several constitutional questions related to defection, merger and disqualification. It ordered the listing of petitions before the constitution bench on August 25 and directed the poll panel not to pass any orders on Shinde faction's plea that it be considered the real Shiv Sena and granted the party's poll symbol.

* SC said it would interpret Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and the related rules in such a manner that discrimination between married and unmarried women is removed to allow abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy. * SC strikes down one of the provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act of 1988, which provides for the punishment of a maximum jail term of three years or a fine or both for those indulging in 'benami' transactions. It termed the provision as ''unconstitutional'' on the ground of being ''manifestly arbitrary''.