Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where I spent a decade studying and researching hi
On their way to independence, the Muhammad Ali Jinnah-led Muslim League chose to create a separate nation on the basis of religion. While Pakistan was conceived under the two-nation theory as a hom
2014 – ghar wapsi; 2015 – cow slaughtering; 2016 – anti-nationalism. This has been the year-wise growth in India under the slogan of ‘achche din’. With the trampling o
The government of India has tabled the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha. The proposed legislation seeks to give a lega
Kanhaiya Kumar has captured the imagination of many with his measured, calm and yet witty words during his speech Thursday night and the press conference on Friday. He was ‘trending’ on
Dear daughter, You asked me about the JNU episode the other day. For
Here is an anecdote of 2007 vintage. A well researched book on the history of Gujarat’s maritime trade with central Asia was being released. The small audience in the hall was largely made up
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has always been a bastion of the left. Decades ago, people in power saw to it that JNU moved on the left beat. Recently, JNU students (and possibly some unidentifi
The Rajya Sabha witnessed the kind of debate it has not seen at least in recent decades as it took up for consideration the Aadhaar bill on Wednesday. Essentially, the opposition in the upper
Right to privacy is one of the hotly debated issues when the matter of Aadhaar comes up. On Wednesday, initiating a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Aadhaar bill, finance minister Arun Jaitley
Close to the World Cultural Festival organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AoL), purportedly, causing damage to the flood plain of river Yamuna in Delhi, the centre is mullin
Of late, we’ve been hearing a lot about the charges of sedition, anti-nationalism, anti-democratic, being levelled against the students of JNU commemorating Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon. The qu
She still remembers that warm day in May in 2011, when the unimaginable happened and the bastion of the left rule came crashing down. One woman almost single-handedly achieved this feat. Sharbani,
The debate over the practice of summer vacations in the Indian judiciary has been reignited after the chief justice of India, Tirath Singh Thakur, stood in a defensive mode against prime minister N
The Shayara Bano case has placed the Muslim personal law under the judicial scanner yet again. The supreme court is set to examine triple talaq, polygamy and other discriminatory practices against
On November 8, the Government of India announced its decision to pull high-value currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination out of circulation, with immediate effect. A detailed procedure
Law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that the interim orders of the supreme court on Aadhaar delivered in 2015 are meant for an "interim arrangement" and "it
Ever since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439 and paved the way for the Industrial Revolution, two new classes of society emerged – the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. Th
1. A worrying phenomenon has become widespread on the political horizon of our country. Extra-legal forces and vigilante groups have emerged under the wings of political parties. Most parties formi
A group of activists on Monday launched a national campaign against mob-lynching and demanded a new law to curb it. The panel comprised JNU student leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Shehla Rashid,
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, many believe, is one of the last few examples of probity in public life, with a spotless career as administrator and governor. But, even for him, it would be too much to expe
It is 10.15 in the morning, and 33-year-old Surabhi is standing inside the court room on the groundfloor of the sub court, Poonamallee, a northwestern neighbourhood of Chennai. It’s is the fi
The year is 2017 and a nine-judge bench of the supreme court of India has unanimously upheld the
The conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a rape case by a CBI court on Friday must be seen as a positive step towards the evolution of a “scientific and rational” s
The Fortune magazine has named three Indians – lawyer Indira Jaising, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and architect Balkrishna V Doshi – among the world’s greatest fifty leaders.
Should adultery be decriminalised?
Indian society is in a stage of rapid transition. In case of social development, we as a nation have made progress in various sectors and have repealed, modified and abolished those laws which were
You will not find God or grace in legal concepts, in formal notions of criminal justice. Certain values and ideals are beyond justice. These include mercy, forgiveness, redemption, dignity. Also lo
Yes, we must stand rock solid with the judiciary and the judges. We must protect the independence of the judiciary too. What does this mean in the present context of a very serious charge of sexual
India tops the list of countries witnessing the highest number of road accidents, and more lives are lost to traffic accidents than to any other cause. The motor vehicle amendment bill, passed by t
When close to five lakh people are killed in road accidents every year in India, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari should have been complimented on his not-so-populist move to impose higher fin
Since the enactment of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, women in India have been legally allowed to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The Act sets a threshold of 12 weeks, based on the
Once a guest hands over the car keys to the valet, the vehicle is under the hotel’s responsibility, and it will have to compensate any damage to it, the supreme court has ruled.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Women has urged the chief justice of India to take suo moto action in the matter of the Bombay high court converting to life imprisonment the death sentence of
Real estate is among the priciest investments around. More so for the common man who has to live with the burden of monthly EMIs. Yet, it is an art to discover the real owner of any property. Gover
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH”) was enacted in 2013. Seven years since then, fears of misuse are rife. Are the fea
Sixteenth March at Hammurabi & Solomon Partners was a usual Monday at work with colleagues starting the week on a turbo-mode. But this Monday was different. It had something unusual about it.
Amid the trend in several countries of granting legal status to marijuana, a team of doctors from the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, have called for more tests to find out its supposed benefits.
Former Supreme Court justice BN Srikrishna believes understanding truth in absolute sense is imperative, and quotes Indian scriptures, western philosophers, the Constitution and case laws in suppor
India has a robust media and if that was not the case news channels and outlets would not be reporting against the government and the ruling parties, BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli has said.
Expressing regret over long trials of court cases in India and acknowledging that the justice delivery system in the country needs reforms, Gaurav Bhatia, BJP national spokesperson, has said that t
The committee of experts appointed by the supreme court to deliberate with the stakeholders on the new farm laws held its first meeting here Tuesday, with one of its members saying that all stakeho
Castigating media for cooking up false stories to push TRPs, top criminal lawyer Satish Maneshinde has said that TV channels try to manipulate and manufacture public opinion but once the story is o
There is a danger in media doing trials of ongoing cases and this must be stopped, says senior advocate Aryama Sundaram. He castigated media trials and said nowadays in media while a
It is grossly improper for Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Mallik to express his opinion and court controversy in the ongoing investigation in the cruise drugs case involving Aryan Khan, son of
Agriculture economist Vijay Sardana has said that middlemen have been siphoning off farmers’ interests, and the repeal of the three farm laws that were brought in to minimise the exploitation
The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. The proposal seeks to increase the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21, bringing it at par with
Speedy trial is an integral and essential part of the fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. However, delay in disposal of cases due to the upsurg
Raphael Lemkin`s discourse on genocide followed by a UN debate on issues like Nazi offences against Jews, the sordid tale of Bosnian Serb aggression against Bosnian Moslems, and details of the Jewi
Justice delayed is justice denied. That is what William British prime minister Ewart Gladstone said two centuries ago. It remains relevant in India today. This principle is held in high regard and
Coming down heavily on Delhi’s Jahangirpuri demolition drive, senior Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde has said that in recent years many bulldozers have been used at various places includi
Does the concept of sedition have a place in modern democracies? This question became more relevant when the apex court recently put the country`s colonial-era sedition law on abeyance stating that
It is believed that Otto von Bismark, the first Chancellor of the German empire from 19th century, was often quoted as saying, “Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made.&
Crediting the citizens of Mumbai for coming forward to help the police in combating the crisis situation due to Covid-19, Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey has said that Mumbai Police lost q
Unbounded: My Experiments with Law, Physics, Policing and Super 30 By Abhayanand
‘A market structure characterized by a single seller, which exerts a stronghold over others in the marketplace.’ Monopolies have existed since markets were created, and they present inh
India is the third largest aviation market in the world, after the UK and China; and the country’s aviation sector is expected to grow tremendously over the next few years. Most of the major
In a judgment with far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court has held that the civil consequences of an account being declared as fraud under the Reserve Bank of India (Frauds Classification and
India has the highest overall bribery rate in the Asian region at 39%, and at 46%, the highest rate of citizens using personal connections to get work done, according to Transparency International.
As Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has completely changed the landscape, AI is impacting every area of human activity and endeavour. For India, the world’s most populous nation, AI ho
Unsealed Covers: A Decade of the Constitution, the Courts and the State By Gautam Bhatia HarperCollins, 496 pages, Rs 699.00
From December 2016, the Indian business community at large, bankers and financial institutions, among other stakeholders, were introduced to a new comprehensive legal and institutional machinery &n
You Must Know Your Constitution By Fali S. Nariman 500 pages, Rs 799 Published by Hay House Publishers India (Distributed by Penguin Random H
With the issue of piracy causing losses of Rs 20,000 crore annually to the Indian film industry, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has now established institutional mechanism of No
In 2024, readers can look forward to selected writings of two of the pre-eminent intellectuals of our times, Sudhir Kakar and Upendra Baxi. Also on offer are essays by S. Jaishankar, a collection o
India is celebrating the reinstating of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, his birthplace, after almost 500 years of politico-legal struggle. At the same time, politics is inevitable in a modern democracy; ironi
When it comes to the internal matters of India, particularly those that have elevated sensitive values, the US, despite being a close ally, has developed a habit of producing sound bites which are
The recent European Union (EU) policy on artificial intelligence (AI) will be a game-changer and likely to become the de-facto standard not only for the conduct of businesses but also for the way c
Of Law and Life Upendra Baxi in Conversation with Arvind Narrain, Lawrence Liang, Sitharamam Kakarala, and Sruti Chaganti Orient BlackSwan, Rs 2,310
Unforgettable Chapters: Memoirs of a Top Cop By Prakash Singh Rupa Publications, Rs 395, 208pages
The Telecommunication Act 2023, which came into effect on Friday, aims to amend and consolidate the law relating to development, expansion and operation of telecommunication services and telecommun
Law and the Economy in India: Before Independence and After By Tirthankar Roy & Anand V. Swamy HarperCollins, pages, Rs. 799
A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai Thursday sentenced Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and editor of party mouthpiece, ‘Saamna’, to 15 days imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2
The Urban Elite v. Union of India: The Unfulfilled Constitutional Promise of Marriage (In)Equality By Rohin Bhatt Penguin, 288 pages, Rs 499
Who Is Equal?: The Equality Code of the Constitution Saurabh Kirpal Penguin/Vintage, 304 pages, Rs 699
Over the last decade, India has initiated a range of progress-driven policies to advance the health sector towards greater overall digitisation. Frontline health workers are now trained to adopt di
As the exponentially growing tech corridors of Mumbai, Delhi, and especially the Silicon Valley of India – Bengaluru, are relaunching the content industry through Artificial Intelligence (AI)
India`s telecom industry stands as a global powerhouse, ranking second in size with a subscriber base of 1.095 billion as of July 2024, including wireline and wireless. With the rapid expansion of
India has faced a significant rise in coordinated threats to airlines, schools, hospitals, five-star hotels this year. These threats were posted on social media or sent through text messages, multi