Rule of Law

From Protest to Petition: Maharashtra’s Public Safety Act in the dock

After months of state-wide protests, thousands of objections and sustained civil society opposition, Maharashtra's controversial security law now faces a constitutional challenge before the Bombay High Court

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

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.

UAPA: ‘99% Possibility of Acquittal’: What the SC said on Conviction Rates

While granting bail to Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, the Supreme Court on Monday, May 19, observed that UAPA conviction rates stand between 1.5% and 4% nationally, while remaining below 1% in Jammu and Kashmir.

Supreme Court reasserts KA Najeeb, warns against “hollowing out” constitutional protections in UAPA cases; questions Umar Khalid bail verdict

Granting bail to a J&K man jailed for nearly six years in a narco-terror case, the Supreme Court cited abysmally low UAPA conviction rates, and warned that prolonged incarceration under anti-terror laws cannot override Article 21 protections

Gauhati High Court issues notice in Abdul Sheikh Citizenship case, continues protection from deportation

Petitioner attributes delay in challenging 2018 ex parte FT opinion to financial incapacity, and absence of legal aid; Court says if a case for fresh hearing is made out, it should be considered “immediately”

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Sanitation accused their supervisor of coercion, wage manipulation and caste-based abuse, alleging that workers are being pressured to surrender a recently approved ₹2,000 wage increase while being denied entitled leave. The allegations reflect the broader vulnerabilities faced by sanitation workers in Uttar Pradesh, which has recorded the highest number of sewer and septic tank deaths in India since 2017

From Protest to Petition: Maharashtra’s Public Safety Act in the dock

After months of state-wide protests, thousands of objections and sustained civil society opposition, Maharashtra's controversial security law now faces a constitutional challenge before the Bombay High Court

51st Anniversary of Emergency in India: While the RSS supported the Emergency, it now ruthlessly presides over an ‘undeclared Emergency’

The RSS shakha, well documented for its recounting of a manipulated history has, over past decades laid claims to being part of the wider democratic struggle against the Emergency; archival documents from independent sources, civil servants and writers, as also its own archive clearly document otherwise.

When the State Valued a Desecrated Grave at Rs 100: The Mathura cemetery controversy

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To Karnataka’s Anti-SIR Movement: A note of caution and concern

While efforts have been afoot in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by civil rights groups and people’s movements to ensure inclusion of the maximum number of eligible voters under the ongoing, expanded, SIR process. The author argues how these efforts may come to naught, given the structural issues involved: a compromised ECI, rushed timelines and the unlawful and rigid document-test for citizenship. In fact, robust efforts in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu where similar efforts were made also came to naught.

After Akbar Ali Mondal’s Killing, Pani Sol’s Hawkers Ask: How Will We Survive?

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The BEST Strike: Years of unfulfilled promises, structural neglect and the future of public transport in Mumbai

From unpaid employee dues and stalled budget reforms to controversial depot monetisation and the expansion of the wet-lease model, the strike has reopened fundamental questions about the future of public transport in Mumbai

Declared Foreigners, Facing Deportation: Supreme Court grants interim relief

Women detained after being declared foreigners argue that tribunals disregarded substantial evidence and relied on minor inconsistencies to reject their citizenship claims