The Persistence of Witch Hunting in India: A Crisis of Legal Enforcement and State Responsibility
In July 2025, a mob in Bihar’s Purnea district hacked to death and burned five members of a Scheduled Tribe family, including three women, on accusations of witchcraft. The incident...
Amnesty and conventionality control: the case of the events of January 8, 2023, in Brazil
On January 8, 2023, radical groups invaded and ransacked the main seats of power of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the National Congress, the Planalto Palace (seat of the executive...
Punitive Use of Preventive Powers in India
On 24th September 2025, four people were killed in police firing after protests for statehood in Ladakh turned violent. On the heels of this unfortunate incident, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk...
When Presumption of Guilt Meets Indefinite Detention: India’s Anti-Terror Law Dilemma
Can a constitutional democracy legitimise exceptional liberty burdens by declaration? India’s Supreme Court recently grappled with this question in a landmark ruling that exposes fault lines between counter-terrorism imperatives and...
Is There Any Scope to be an Approver under International Criminal Law?
‘Approver’ is a common phenomenon in many jurisdictions where domestic criminal law allows an individual who is believed to be implicated in a crime, whether directly or as an accomplice,...
Hostage Justice? Pre-charge Detention and Defence Rights in Japan
The right to a fair trial is a foundational principle of global criminal justice systems. Japan boasts a conviction rate that often surpasses 99%. This figure is often misinterpreted internationally...
Balancing the Protection of Witnesses in English Criminal Law with the Right to a Fair Trial
Like other national and international criminal justice systems, English criminal law has incorporated measures to protect witnesses in adversarial criminal proceedings. While these measures are necessary to keep witness safety/privacy...
Maharashtra’s Special Public Security Bill: Vague Law, Clear Danger
The Maharashtra State Assembly in India recently passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill (MSPS) with the stated objective of combating left-wing extremism, including what it terms the urban “frontal...
Constitutional Liberty under UAPA: Pre-Trial Punishment and the Criminalisation of Dissent in India
India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (“UAPA”) was originally enacted to regulate “unlawful associations”. Later amendments included a definition of “terrorist act” (2004), created the restrictive bail bar in Section...
Mob Justice, State Failure: The Right to Life Betrayed in Bangladesh
On 18 September 2024, a man named Tofazzal Hossain was seized inside Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall at the University of Dhaka, beaten repeatedly by a group of students who accused...
Overlapping Sabotage Provisions in Hong Kong’s National Security Laws: Risks and Implications on Prosecution Decisions
In response to the widespread public unrests that engulfed Hong Kong in 2019, the Central Authorities of the PRC enacted the Hong Kong National Security Law (“HKNSL”) to explicitly criminalise...
Weaponizing Vagueness: The Chilling Effect of Karnataka’s Fake News Bill on Free Speech and Democratic Pluralism
In March 2025, the Government of Karnataka introduced the draft Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Bill, currently under cabinet review. At first glance, the Bill seems to respond to a...
