Beyond the Ranking: What India’s Fall in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index Reveals About the Limits of Constitutional Protection
India’s fall from 151st to 157th place in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index has reignited debate about the state of media freedom in the world’s largest democracy. Reporters Without...
What We Get Wrong About Consent: India’s ‘Promise-to-Marry’ Rape Jurisprudence
Indian criminal law, under s 69 of India’s new Penal Code (BNS), classifies ‘promise-to-marry’ sexual intercourse as a special offence. The offence is committed where a man promises marriage to...
Can Transparency in India survive the DPDP Amendment?
In 2011, David Banisar, in a working paper for the World Bank observed that the right of access to information and the right to protection of personal privacy may appear...
India’s “Right Against Climate Change” Meets the 2026 Heatwave: From Aspiration to Enforceable Standard
When Delhi’s India Meteorological Department yellow alert ran through 24 May 2026 with Safdarjung crossing 43.4°C, the constitutional question the heatwave forced into view was no longer whether climate change...
Restitution of Sacred Artefacts and the Right to Religio-Cultural Identity: A Human Rights Case for an Exception-Based Regime
In March 2026, Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum, returned (also here) a 16th century bronze icon of Saint Thirumankai Alvar to the Indian Government. The museum had acquired the idol in...
When NEET Fails: Educational Equality and the Constitutional Obligations of the Indian State
On 12 May 2026, India’s National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled NEET-UG 2026 — the country’s sole entrance examination for undergraduate medical admissions — after investigations reportedly revealed that examination papers...
When Protection Becomes Punishment: India’s POCSO Act, Adolescent Autonomy, and the Limits of the Bright Line
On 16 April 2026, the Delhi High Court in Harmeet Singh v. State (GNCT of Delhi) quashed a criminal case against a young man whose only “victim” – the seventeen-year-old...
Death Penalty in India and The Perils of Sentencing Exceptionalism
Death penalty exceptionalism, the idea that the irreversible nature of death penalty warrants the highest degree of procedural protection, has led to heightened constitutional scrutiny in capital cases in India....
Conversion, Surveillance, and the Erosion of Fundamental Rights in Maharashtra
On 17 March 2026, the State Assembly of Maharashtra, India, passed the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill (FRB). The stated objective of the bill is to regulate religious conversions and...
A Renewed Push for Stringent Funding Restrictions on NGOs: India’s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2026, introduced in India’s Lok Sabha (House of the People), which is the part of the Lower House of the Legislature of the Union...
The Problem with Defining Voyeurism Too Narrowly
India stands on an uncharted terrain of privacy jurisprudence, where, on one hand, a normative framework of privacy has taken shape, yet, on the other, the law continues to grapple...
Gender Justice Entanglement in India’s Electoral Politics
On 17th April 2026, India’s Parliament witnessed a significant constitutional development when the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026, commonly referred to as the Women’s Reservation Bill, failed to secure the...
