Who Speaks For The Indian Bar?

On 23 July, a press release went out on the letterhead of the Bar Council of India. It carried the Council's insignia, its address on Rouse Avenue, its telephone and its fax number. It was addressed to the "intellectuals of the country". It said that the students protesting in Delhi are not students at all.I want to set the politics aside for a moment and ask the question that comes before the politics. By what authority was this document issued?The Bar Council of India is not a club and its...

Is India's Data Protection Board Independent Enough To Protect You?

Most people believe that once laws are enacted establishing regulatory oversight, regulator independence is a done deal. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is set to become the exception to this rule, and the arena in which this contest is playing out is the Supreme Court of India itself.The DPDP Act 2023 and the DPDP Rules 2025 notified on 13th November 2025, are currently before the Supreme Court, challenged in a clutch of writ petitions by journalist Geeta Seshu, the Software...

Should MSP Become A Legal Right? Constitutional Debate Around C2 Formula

The Supreme Court's recent notice on a petition challenging the Union Government's Minimum Support Price (MSP) framework has reopened a question that lies at the intersection of agrarian economics and constitutional welfare obligations: should MSP, calculated on the comprehensive C2 cost formula, be an enforceable legal right? The petition, drawing on the Swaminathan Commission's recommendation of MSP at C2+50%, reflects genuine and long-standing farmer distress. But converting this aspiration...

Rethinking Section 350 BNSS: Ensuring Payment Of Reasonable Expenses To Complainants And Witnesses

While the discourse on the Witness Protection Scheme has evolved following the enactment of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, there is hardly any discussion on an equally important aspect, the payment of reasonable expenses to complainants and witnesses, despite courts repeatedly emphasising its significance. The financial burden of attending court continues to fall disproportionately on those least able to bear it. Section 350 of the BNSS seeks to address this concern, yet its...

Court Lets GenZ Down : Writes Dushyant Dave

The Supreme Court of India has an extraordinary role and duty under the Constitution of India. It is a Constitutional Court and protector of the Fundamental Rights of the Citizens. Article 32 obliges the Court to intervene and grant relief in case citizens' fundamental rights are violated . During Constituent Assembly debates,Dr Ambedkar emphasised its importance saying," If I was asked to name any particular article in this Constitution as the most important -an article without which this...

Passport Paradox: Why India Needs Settled Answer On Citizenship Proof

Few statements by the government have generated as much public disquiet in recent months as the Ministry of External Affairs' clarification, issued around Passport Seva Divas in June, that an Indian passport is fundamentally a travel document and not conclusive proof of citizenship. For a country where the passport has long functioned, in the public imagination, as the gold standard of state-verified identity obtained only after police verification and scrutiny that many other documents do not...

Constitution Does Not End At The Barricade

The police action at the "Sansad Chalo" protest shows how quickly a political assembly can be transformed into a dangerous "crowd"—and how easily that transformation is made to justify collective force.Power has a peculiar affection for collective nouns. The criminal courts teach this early.A stone is thrown by an individual. A barricade is pushed by identifiable persons. A police officer is struck by somebody who can, and must, be investigated. Yet when the police acts, the individual...

Cross-Border Transfer Of Healthcare Data: Reconciling India's DPDPA With GDPR

After the world was hit by the pandemic, the use of technology saw a paradigm shift, especially in the field of healthcare as patients quickly realized that adoption of technological communications was much more convenient than physical visits at hospitals. As the healthcare industry underwent a profound digital transformation, it accelerated a widespread reliance on remote medical expertise. Today, digital consultations, virtual diagnostics and cross-border medical opinions have become...

One Court, Two Eras : Judicial Approaches To Ramlila Maidan Incident & Student Protest Crackdown

The Courts' approach to the State's suppression of protests over the last half-decade has been quite dismal.

When State Tracks Your Every Coordinate But Denies Your Belonging

​For the modern Indian, an existential fracture has opened at the intersection of civil identity and state power. In late June 2026, on the heels of Passport Seva Divas, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued an administrative clarification that delivered a profound shock to the national psyche. The Indian passport, the Ministry declared, is fundamentally a "travel document" meant to facilitate international transit; it cannot be treated as conclusive, standalone proof of...

Bombay High Court's Autorickshaw Ruling Reopens Gap PoSH Act Was Built To Close

On 24 March 2023, a State Bank of India employee finished his usual train ride from Navi Mumbai to Kurla and took a shared autorickshaw for the last leg to his branch at the Bandra Kurla Complex, as he had for fourteen years. The driver seated three passengers in the back, as shared autos do. On the account recorded in the judgment, which comes from the petition since the complainant did not appear before the High Court, what happened next between the employee and a female co-passenger, a chef...

Realising Constitutional Promise Of Speedy Justice

The constitutional promise of speedy justice can only be realised through effective implementation. Without institutional capacity and accountability, even the best legal reforms remain ineffective.We, the people of India, resolved to secure justice for all citizens, a promise enshrined in the Preamble of our Constitution. The preamble represents the will of the people of India[1], and it is only because of this will that all institutions acquire their authority and they are only allowed to...