Kill Rape Culture, Not Rapists

Knee-jerk reactions demanding harsher punishments for rape are patriarchal in principle and harmful in practice.

Fake Encounter Killings : An Anathema To Rule Of Law

'Short-cut' justice may give a momentary sense of relief to the public who felt outraged by the crime; but it will deflect attention from major structural issues which allow the culture of impunity and lawlessness to prevail.

Rape & Murder - Speedy Justice: Challenges Before Judiciary & Society

One of the major reasons for increase of the incidents of rape is that our judicial system takes extremely long time in punishing the perpetrator.

[On Death Anniversary]Ambedkar's Internationalism And Anti-Discrimination Discourse

Few months after the demise of B.R. Ambedkar on 6th December 1956, Ram Manohar Lohia wrote to one of his closest associates (Madhu Limaye) that Ambedkar could be shown to the outside world as "a symbol of upright India". While Lohia would have said this because of Ambedkar's enormous contributions in reforming India, the latter's works and efforts provide us with a platform to build a global anti-discrimination discourse. Ambedkar developed his ideas for the Indian Constitution by...

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill Is Unconstitutional

The BJP-led Union government is determined to table the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in this parliamentary session, after it lapsed earlier in the year. The bill proposes to amend Section 2 (b) of the Citizenship Act – which defines 'illegal immigrants' – by excluding "persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan" from the ambit of "illegal immigrants". The bill also reduces the period of...

Cruelty Against Disha; Shall We Hang All The Criminals?

Some want instant killing. Others propose lynching. MPs were emotionally demanding public lynching or castration. It is fact that civil society is rattled at the cruelty of accused against the young lady in Hyderabad. Every crime, including this, is result of combination of various factors including the bloody crime of a cruel inhuman being. Whenever a ghastly crime is committed, the society feels hurt and reacts emotionally to demand the severe punishment to the criminal. Even in...

Governor's Discretion And The Cascading Effects On Constitutional Balance

Constitutions across the world, by their inherent nature, do not provide for an isolated functioning of any organ of the government and provide for a holistic system of governance with corresponding inter-play between different organs of the State. So thus the Constitution of India. Whereas the essence of checks and balances must be imbibed in the functioning of every organ, it comes with certain limitations, mostly emanating from the doctrine of separation of powers and judicial principle of...

What's Wrong With The Sexual Harassment Complaints Redressal Committees? – Ground Level Perspective

July 2019 saw the Delhi High Court impose financial penalty on a woman complainant for having registered false case[1] of sexual harassment against her senior. Judgment reveals that during the inquiry the complainant was unable to recollect names of witnesses and articulate her complaint with details. Much space remains to discuss behaviour of the Internal Committee (IC)[2] and inquiry procedure followed by the Committee that could have created fear and hesitation in the complainant. ...

'Black Warrant: Confessions Of A Tihar Jailer' - A Gripping Account Of Prison Life

One word that can be used to describe "Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jail" by Sunil Gupta and Sunetra Choudhury is – gripping. An absolute page-turner, the non-fiction novel recounts the experiences of Mr. Sunil Gupta who spent 35 years as a jailer at the infamous Tihar jail and then as the Legal Advisor to the Director Of Prisons. What struck me right off the bat was the simplistic language employed in the book. As journalist and co-author, Sunetra Choudhury stated at the book...

Why Won't Judges Agree to Disclose Details of Their Assets?

All other public servants are held to a higher standard of transparency – including by the Supreme Court itself.

The Curious Case Of Demolition And Restoration Of Guru Ravidas Temple

In its initial years, the judiciary undertook a very principled interference with the decisions taken by the legislature or the executive. Due to failures of successive governments, and more particularly after attempts were made to develop a 'committed judiciary', it was coerced to expand the sweep of its jurisdiction and adopt an activist/governing approach. The perception of the public therefore gradually strengthened towards the judiciary and in a sense it came to be largely believed that the...

Going Beyond Disaster Preparedness To Disaster Resilience- Role Of Disaster Management Act, 2005

As the 2019 floods in Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra revealed, extreme weather events is the 'new 'normal' and causes damage to both life and material assets. The mentioned states are especially vulnerable because they are situated in the Western Ghats, which is considered as an extremely ecologically fragile region. With the protection status of the Ghats in limbo due to vested interests, the damage caused to these areas, especially in Kerala and Karnataka, are all the more pronounced.In...