Beyond Procedural Relief: The Case for Systemic Constitutional Review of India’s Anti-Conversion Laws
On 17 October 2025, the Supreme Court of India in Rajendra Bihari Lal v. State of Uttar Pradesh, quashed multiple FIRs under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of...
The Indian Supreme Court’s New Report on Caste: What Is It About and Why It Matters?
The Indian Supreme Court’s in-house think tank, the Centre for Research and Planning, recently released its ‘Report on Judicial Conceptions of Caste’ in November this year. This first-of-its-kind study examines...
In Re Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary: Forests v. Forest Dwellers?
On 13 November 2025, the Supreme Court of India in In Re Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary ordered the State of Jharkhand to declare 31,468.25 hectares (approximately 314 sq. kms) of the...
Probing the Normative Limits of Criminalizing ‘Choice’ under the Indian Anti-Conversion Laws
A familiar yet urgent question stands before the Indian Supreme Court. Rajasthan is the most recent addition to the list of Indian states that have enacted anti-conversion laws, targeting “unlawful...
The Kerala High Court’s Sex Work Ruling: A Human Rights Crisis in the Making
When courts rule on the lives of vulnerable communities without grounding their decisions in lived realities, the result is often not protection but harm. In July 2025, the Kerala High...
Saving Time, Saving Lives: The Golden Hour as a Constitutional Guarantee in India
In trauma medicine, the “golden hour” is the first sixty minutes after a serious injury—the period when rapid intervention can make the difference between life and death. Countries have built...
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India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (“UAPA”) was originally enacted to regulate “unlawful associations”.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...
Presumed Misuse, Denied Rights: Invisible Disabilities and the Structural Effects of Suspicion under Indian Law
Public controversies in India reignited longstanding anxieties around the integrity of affirmative action frameworks. The case of a probationary civil servant misrepresenting herself as disabled to avail disability quota, has...
Need for a Benignant View for Women’s Protection vis-a-vis Sexual Harassment in Advocacy
Recently, UNS Women Advocates’ Association filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition in Bombay High Court seeking a direction to the Bar Council of India as well as Bar Council...
Queering Marriage Law in India (Part 6 of 6)
Marriage in India is a fraught issue, arranged between families and plagued by questions of caste, class and religion. Religious personal laws govern marriage, a remnant of British colonial rule,...
The Curious Case of Bhagwati Pathwar: What has love got to do with it? (Part 5 of 6)
In the Indian context, eloping and marrying outside of one’s faith or caste is a common occurrence but made socially and legally difficult, and as a result couples often approach...
