Rule of Law

Encounters in custody are shockingly common in India and can be said to be a result of the slow and dysfunctional judicial system of India. Often cases are seen to get delayed, evidence is destroyed or lost, witnesses turn hostile, and the defendants buy their freedom. But the response of the police by taking the law into their own hands is even more threatening for the judicial system in India. Encounters usually end with dead criminals and not at all scathed police, raising multiple questions as to the necessity of use of such force by the police.

After the Maharashtra Cabinet granted CM Fadnavis sole authority to appoint the new SEC days ago, Dinesh Waghmare, a 1994-batch IAS officer, takes charge as SEC on January 21. Waghmare served as the Principal Secretary of Medical Education and Drugs department with additional charge of Employment Guarantee Scheme in Maharashtra and resigned only after this appointment, a development that raises serious questions of a conflict of interest: the SC in 2021 has held that SECs have to be "independent persons" not occupying a post under the Centre or state governments

The recent Supreme Court judgement brings to attention the attempts made by the Centre over the past few years to dilute the powers of the one law that has the power to hold the Government accountable

SC reiterates suggestions to Union Government to ensure and secure right of survivorship for female tribals

A judgment upholding dignity: Attempting, again, to end manual scavenging, and restoring justice for the most marginalised

The Supreme Court, in a recent case, — Just Rights for Children Alliance & Anr. v. S. Harish & Ors. Has recommended the establishment and creation of an expert committee for the comprehensive health, sex education, and POCSO awareness among children

In the face of growing tensions, the Court has paused actions related to the contested well near the mosque, underscoring its role in preventing the legal process from inflaming communal passions and disrupting the region’s fragile peace

A 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising of...

After over six years in custody without charges being framed, the High Court cites prolonged detention and trial delays as grounds for bail, imposing strict conditions on the accused.

The principle of religious neutrality plays out in the public sphere. Hence, the construction of religious structures within public institutions has repeatedly come in for judicial scrutiny; the balance between religious freedom and the state's obligation to maintain neutrality and equidistance from all faiths (secularism) has been a recurring theme in India’s legal landscape.