Law & Justice

The Supreme Court in 2025: Deference, technicality and the retreat from rights

From citizenship and reservation to encounter accountability, privacy, environmental protection and minority rights, the Court's most contentious judgments of 2025 reveal an increasing preference for institutional deference and procedural compliance over substantive constitutional justice

Delhi violence: Will not take such mishaps leniently: says Court as Delhi police brings “irrelevant witness”

Incorrect date of incident in charges, non-framing of charges in some complaints were the issues that cropped up during the trial court hearing

Gautam Navlakha’s house arrest: Stringent Conditions Apply

The activist while being granted his request for house arrest, has been imposed with restrictions like no use of mobile phones, no contact with outside world and surveillance of his partner’s phone as well as the premises, whenever need be

Elgar Case: 4 Days After SC Order, Navlakha Yet to be Placed Under House Arrest

Formalities of release of the human rights activist, jailed in Mumbai’s Taloja prison, are “still under process,” said his lawyer.

Centre seeks time to respond for ‘detailed consultations’: Plea challenging Places of Worship Act in SC

The CJI-led bench has granted time until December 12 to the Centre to file its response which has been pending since March 2021, in the many petitions filed challenging the Act

Rampant Hate Speech demands debate around definitions: India

Re-defining crimes of hate speech need to factor in the de-humanising and violent impact of its systemic use

‘Scapegoat’, Bail granted to  Muslim woman accused of being Pakistani: Karnataka HC 

In judicial custody for 16 months with fundamental freedoms snatched away, Khatija Mehrin’s is one more example of malafide police action

Six Members in the Supreme Court Collegium until May 13, 2023

The arrangement has been made to make space for Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who will be the successor to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud if seniority is followed.

Gyanvapi case: SC extends interim order; ‘Shivling’ to remain protected without obstructing right to offer namaz

The Supreme Court will has extended the interim order ‘until further orders’

Supreme Court orders release of all six convicts: Rajiv Gandhi assassination 

Nalini, Ravichandran, Jayakumar, Suthenthiraraja @ Santhan, Murugan and Robert Pius: Six convicts in the assassination case

Give report on demolition of Azfal Khan’s Tomb: SC to Maharashtra

While some reports stated the demolitions involved only “illegal encroachments”, this is not entirely clear from what has been stated in the SC

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The Supreme Court in 2025: Deference, technicality and the retreat from rights

From citizenship and reservation to encounter accountability, privacy, environmental protection and minority rights, the Court's most contentious judgments of 2025 reveal an increasing preference for institutional deference and procedural compliance over substantive constitutional justice

Who owns Mumbai’s streets? The Bombay High Court, street vendors and a decade of regulatory failure

What began as a case about encroachments has become a searching inquiry into the State's failure to implement the Street Vendors Act, the rights of pedestrians and informal workers, and the growing role of identification and verification in urban governance

Defectors & Democracy: A critique of the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

The right of voters to recall representatives who defect—as seen in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh—and the requirement of intra-party democracy could form part of a broader institutional redesign. Such measures would deepen democratic values and, above all, signal a refusal by citizens to accept the corruption of their mandate. These may be among the reforms that India's Parliament and democracy most urgently need

A regressive 2026 amendment to rights of Trans persons is under legal challenge even as pride month is celebrated

Unable to stay the statute, High Courts have charted a middle path—protecting petitioners already undergoing hormone therapy while the broader constitutional challenge awaits adjudication by the Supreme Court

The what’s & why’s of Data Centres and how are they hijacking the India Story

While countries such as Singapore and Sweden are curbing the environmental costs of data centres through regulation and innovation, India is actively courting these resource-intensive facilities with little regard for their water and energy demands. From Stockholm's waste-heat recovery systems to zero-water cooling technologies, solutions exist. Yet India continues to trade away land, water and public resources with scant consideration for environmental sustainability or local communities.

Telegram before NEET: When governance fails, censorship takes its place

Invoking exam security to suspend access to a platform used by millions raises serious questions about proportionality, transparency and the growing tendency to restrict communications whenever governance challenges arise

Yes, Savarkar did file 10 Mercy Petitions before the British, revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh refused to Compromise: Grandnephew tells Pune Court

Savarkar’s grandnephew who had lodged a criminal defamation case against LOP Rahul Gandhi, stated and admitted during his testimony that while there were other freedom fighters who refused to file clemency petitions before the British, his uncle Vinayak Savarkar  had filed as many as ten!