Internet Shutdowns: The Irony of a Digital Nation?
Between January to May (2018) alone, the Indian government imposed 55 internet shutdowns. An internet shutdown disrupts all electronic communications and services within a geographical location. Often, neither the reason...
New Legislation Promoting the Right to Health in Karnataka, India
After a long standoff between private doctors and the Government of Karnataka, India, The Karnataka Medical Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was passed to amend The Karnataka Medical Establishment Act, 2007...
The Sexist Intestacy Laws Governing Hindu Women In India: Grounds for a successful constitutional challenge?
The vast Hindu population of India of 95 million is subject to sexist and unconstitutional inheritance norms under the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. Several of its provisions are vulnerable...
The Indian Supreme Court Takes a Stand Against Honour Crimes
Despite India’s liberal and secular commitments, honour killing has remained a social reality. A report by the National Crime Records Bureau records at least 288 cases of such violence in...
A Difficult Time for Women’s Autonomy in the Indian Courts
The Kerala High Court judgment annulling the marriage of Hadiya, a 24-year-old homeopathy student from Kerala with a Muslim man, Shafin Jahan, and the Supreme Court of India instigating a...
Indian Supreme Court Waters Down Legislation Protecting Scheduled Castes and Tribes from Unlawful Discrimination
On 20 March, a Two-Judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court diluted the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Act) citing the ‘rampant...
Understanding the Indian Supreme Court Judgment on The Atrocities Act, Against Backward Classes
The Supreme Court of India recently rendered a historic judgment relating to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Act). The Court in the case of...
The Union Government of India Introduces the Death Penalty for Child Rape
When news broke out two weeks ago of the horrors committed in the brutal rape of two girls in the small towns of Kathua and Unnao, all legislative consideration of...
Ms X v Mahmood Farooqi: A Dangerous Precedent for Interpreting Consent in Rape Cases in India
In a recent case before the Indian Supreme Court, Ms X v Mahmood Farooqi, the court refused to overturn a Delhi High Court decision which set a dangerous precedent that...
A Theatre of Death: Challenging the Death Penalty in India (with Anup Surendranath)
The death penalty was written into the colonial penal code in India when the country was under British direct rule, and it stayed on the books after independence. Today India...
Supreme Court of India Prepares to Hear Babri Masjid/Ram Temple Dispute
When the same physical space is seen as sacred to different communities, they can become a point of intercommunal tension, and even violence. The Babri Masjid/Ram Temple dispute in Ayodhya...
The Right to Die with Dignity: The Indian Supreme Court Allows Passive Euthanasia and Living Wills
In a landmark judgment (Common Cause (A Regd. Society) v. Union of India & Anr.) delivered on 9th March, 2018, the Supreme Court of India held that a person in...
