Rule of Law

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

Equality Behind Bars: Why Local Surety Requirements Are Unconstitutional

Punjab & Haryana HC reaffirms the principles of bail jurisprudence by quashing the local surety mandate, protecting the fundamental rights of prisoners and prioritising liberty over geography.

How the Supreme Court built a binding legal framework to protect student mental heath

In a case where the father of a NEET aspirant sought fair investigation into the suspicious death of his daughter, the SC in a pivotal July 2025 ruling, apart from intervening on that question went further: in establishing a comprehensive, binding legal framework to protect student mental health across India. An analysis of the Supreme Court judgment in Sukdeb Saha v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors.

“Your Helplessness feels in the garb of Protection”: SC rebukes CBI for failure to arrest officers in custodial death case of Deva Pardhi

Bench warns of contempt against top officials, demands arrests of absconding officers, and cautions against a “second custodial death” of key eyewitness

Time-Barred Justice? The Supreme Court’s Dismissal of NUJS Sexual Harassment Complaint

The NUJS sexual harassment ruling reveals how rigid limitation rules can silence survivors while branding the accused without trial.

Banu Mushtaq Inaugurates Mysuru Dasara Amid Controversy: A triumph of secularism and Constitutional values

International Booker Prize-winning author Banu Mushtaq’s participation in the 415th Mysuru Dasara celebrations sparks political debate, but Karnataka government, judiciary, and public uphold the festival’s inclusive, secular ethos

Shubha case: Reformative Justice meets Gendered Realities

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Shubha reflects a shift towards reformative justice that considers the social and psychological pressures affecting women offenders; while upholding the woman’s conviction for murder, the Court directed that she should be allowed to apply for pardon

Adani Gag Orders Face Judicial Scrutiny: Four journalists secure relief, Guha’s appeal still pending

Judicial intervention restores publication rights for some, but fragmented outcomes leave others gagged, underscoring the high stakes for investigative reporting

Defamation, Dissent, and Democracy: The Bombay High Court’s transfer of Sanatan Sanstha suits

The Bombay High Court’s transfer of Sanatan Sanstha’s defamation suits reveals how free expression, fair trial rights, and accountability for ideological violence collide in India’s courts

The Word is the World: How the Delhi riots conspiracy case ritualises silence

After five years, the Delhi High Court was able to look the people of India in the eye and declare that the trial is “progressing at a natural pace”

Allahabad HC grants bail in UAPA case over WhatsApp video; raises questions on overuse of stringent national security laws

Accused Savej, charged with ‘waging war’ and serious BNS offences for circulating a Pakistan-made video critical of PM Modi, released on bail; Court cites lack of criminal history, procedural lapses, and Article 21 right to speedy trial, raising concerns about misuse of stringent anti-terror provisions

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A test for the Forest Rights Act in Assam

Eviction notices issued to four Taungya villages in Nagaon district have reignited questions about historical injustice, forest governance and the state's obligation to recognise forest rights before displacement

Delhi: Between Protection & Prayer: Stories of revered sites now under the protection of ASI

In Delhi, some monuments are not just remnants of the past. They continue to function as places of prayer, remain part of neighbourhood life, and exist within an ongoing struggle over who owns them, who maintains them, and who decides how they may be used. The authors examine the layered complexities involved

Three decades after the PoA Act, justice remains elusive

A comprehensive 30-year review of the SC/ST Atrocities Act reveals a persistent gap between the law's transformative promise and the lived realities of Dalits and Adivasis confronting violence, discrimination, and impunity

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