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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
CJP Team -
Supreme Court restores Article 21 safeguards, calls 24-month UAPA custody without charge sheet illegal; sets aside Gauhati HC’s reliance on Sec 43D(7)
Bench rules that default bail is an indefeasible right and cannot be denied on grounds of nationality or alleged illegal entry
SC secures return of pregnant woman and child deported to Bangladesh, says ‘law must bend to humanity’
Union concedes to humanitarian repatriation; Supreme Court questions due process, sets next hearing on status of four remaining deportees
From Suspected Foreigner to Recognised Citizen: Aklima’s fight for dignity and Indian citizenship
CJP Team -
Widowed, landless, and displaced, Aklima Sarkar fought three years to reclaim her citizenship in Assam
Punjab & Haryana High Court refuses anticipatory bail to journalist accused of provocative, communal statements against Purvanchal community
Justice Sumeet Goel cites prima facie digital evidence, seriousness of hate-motivated speech, and the need for custodial interrogation
Six Days Behind Bars After Bail: Patna High Court orders ₹2 lakh relief, flags state-wide pattern of illegal detention
Court rejects “festival holiday” defence, directs IG Prisons to fix systemic lapses and ensure jail superintendents comply with court orders
Washed Away by Floods, Targeted by the State: Hamela Khatun’s fight for citizenship
CJP Team -
CJP’s team helped Hamela piece together a lifetime of evidence — from 1950s land documents to contemporary electoral rolls — to establish beyond doubt that she is, and always has been, an Indian citizen
‘They Have a Right to Be Heard’: Supreme Court suggests Union brings back alleged deportees from Bangladesh “at least as a temporary measure”
Top Court questions the Union’s resistance to repatriation, stressing that individuals asserting Indian citizenship cannot be expelled without enquiry, hearing, or due process — as both Indian and Bangladeshi courts find the June 2025 deportations unconstitutional and improperly executed
A New Silence: The Supreme Court’s turn toward non-interference in hate-speech cases
The Court’s refusal to monitor rising hate-speech incidents marks a decisive shift from its earlier activist stance, exposing contradictions between judicial pronouncements, institutional capacity, and the lived realities of targeted communities
A Terror Case Without Evidence: Allahabad High Court’s ‘heavy heart’ acquittal After 28 Years
A devastating judicial analysis reveals how a mass-casualty blast, a collapsed investigation, and an inadmissible police confession led to the undoing of a decades-old conviction
Clarity Without Cure: The Supreme Court’s reinterpretation of Articles 200 and 201 and the future of federal governance
The opinion restores textual fidelity to Article 200, but its institutional hesitations risk enabling executive obstruction of democratically enacted State legislation
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