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SC: Article 142, Mass Amnesties, and the Panchayatisation of the Rule of Law
Within a month of youth-led protests in Delhi and at least half a dozen other locations, the Supreme Court’s September 1 Order invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to quash criminal cases registered across at least five states. This examines the limitations of this ad hoc jurisprudence, arguing that while protection from abusive state prosecution is welcome, linking it to the cancellation of the September 5 march sets a troubling precedent. Constitutional scrutiny demanded a rigorous examination of alleged executive and police overreach, including blanket prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS and the shutdown of metro stations and internet services. Instead, the alleged excesses of Delhi and other police forces remain unadjudicated.
Gauhati High Court treats documentary inconsistencies as fatal, upholds Foreigner Tribunal opinion
CJP Team -
Ruling underscores how Foreigners Tribunal cases in Assam continue to operate under a reverse burden framework that places the entire obligation of proving citizenship upon the proceedee
SC greenlights SIR, upholds ECI’s power to revise electoral rolls
The SC has upheld the ECI’s power to conduct SIR expressly stating that the contested process does not violate either election law nor rules; Court however directs that cases of voter exclusion should be provided routes and methods of adjudication
Himalayan Courts: Young folds & new cracks in environmental jurisprudence
This third part of a careful and exhaustive legal analysis looks at the environmental jurisprudence of the Himalayan High Courts over the last decade that reveals an unsettling paradox: the vocabulary of ecological protection has never been richer, yet the physical landscape has never been more legally vulnerable. The courts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have masterfully preserved the text of environmental law while pronouncing judgements that blunt its teeth.
Bhodu Sekh Case: Union agrees before Supreme Court to repatriate deported Bengali-speaking individuals pending citizenship inquiry
Union tells Court those sent to Bangladesh will be brought back and their citizenship claims examined in India; clarifies decision is confined to the exceptional facts of the case
J&K High Court quashes preventive detention in cattle transport case, says PSA cannot substitute ordinary criminal law
Court holds allegations relating to cattle transportation and offences under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act concern “law and order” at best, and do not justify preventive detention under the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act
Supreme Court refers UAPA bail jurisprudence to larger bench; grants interim bail to Tasleem Ahmed and Khalid Saifi in Delhi riots conspiracy case
Court says K.A. Najeeb cannot be reduced either to a “mathematical formula” mandating bail solely due to delay or to a hollow constitutional safeguard overridden entirely by Section 43D(5) of the UAPA
Andrabi Judgment: Section 43D(5) UAPA cannot override right to speedy trial, restores primacy of Article 21 in UAPA cases
CJP Team -
The judgment restores the constitutional framework laid down in KA Najeeb and cautions against treating anti-terror bail restrictions as a basis for indefinite pre-trial detention
Environmental Jurisprudence: The Bombay High Court’s shifting language
Part II turns its attention to Western India: Mumbai, the rest of Maharashtra, and the long shadow of the Western Ghats where from sound coastal-zone jurisprudence, the High Court has been asked to, and has, permitted successive ‘infrastructure’ projects that have touched coasts, mangroves and the urban forest.
Bhojshala Judgment: MP High Court declares Dhar site a Saraswati Temple, ends Namaz rights at complex
Relying on ASI findings, historical records and the Ayodhya framework, the Court held the structure was built over a pre-existing temple and Sanskrit learning centre linked to Raja Bhoj
Cracks in Indian Environment Jurisprudence: An examination of High Courts of central India
Given the flip-flops by India’s constitutional courts on protection of the environment, this three part legal investigation delves deep: In Part 1, we look at how High Courts across different regions of India are contributing to, or departing from, the trajectory of environmental jurisprudence. This part looks at Central India: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand. A region that is home to some of the country’s richest forests, its most significant mineral reserves, and its most vulnerable tribal populations.
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Rights
SC: Article 142, Mass Amnesties, and the Panchayatisation of the Rule of Law
Within a month of youth-led protests in Delhi and at least half a dozen other locations, the Supreme Court’s September 1 Order invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to quash criminal cases registered across at least five states. This examines the limitations of this ad hoc jurisprudence, arguing that while protection from abusive state prosecution is welcome, linking it to the cancellation of the September 5 march sets a troubling precedent. Constitutional scrutiny demanded a rigorous examination of alleged executive and police overreach, including blanket prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS and the shutdown of metro stations and internet services. Instead, the alleged excesses of Delhi and other police forces remain unadjudicated.
India
Need for Clarity on the SIR: An Open Letter to the Congress Leaders of Karnataka
While the national leadership of the party, leads and articulates the national campaign for the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, the state leadership of Karnataka, a state governed by the party, gives conflicting statements almost endorsing a process that has disenfranchised close to 10 million there
Environment
From Arunachal to Delhi, anti-dam protesters face state crackdown; detained allege sexual assault
Around 40 protesters from Arunachal Pradesh were detained during a solidarity demonstration, as the crackdown on indigenous resistance to the proposed mega dam intensifies
India
Beyond Appropriation: Vidya Bhushan Rawat’s recovery of Bose’s inclusive nationalism
Rawat’s book emerges from a unique perspective that argues –among other things – that Bose and Nehru must be understood through their competing strategies, and historical circumstances— not recruited retrospectively into opposing political camps; neither does the book place Bose beyond criticism, affirming however his intrinsic secular outlook while stressing on diverse networks that helped sustain the struggle for independence’ not a biography of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose but a chronicle of Indian National Army as well as India’s freedom Movement.
Minorities
After 22 years under suspicion, Assam’s Kashem Ali declared Indian by Foreigners Tribunal
With 18 years passing between the registration of the case and service of notice, and nearly a year spent fighting to prove his citizenship, Kashem Ali finally wins legal relief with CJP’s assistance
Dalit Bahujan Adivasi
From treating Adivasi communities to being branded an instigator: Odisha jails doctor Randall Sequeira
Arrested in a case in which his name did not figure in the original FIR, Dr Randall Sequeira faces serious criminal charges amid an intensifying crackdown on Adivasi communities resisting bauxite mining in Odisha