South Asia

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

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

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

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.

The protests that paralysed Noida’s industrial belt in April 2026 exposed not only worsening labour conditions but also the growing tendency of the state to treat democratic labour mobilisation as a law-and-order problem

A People’s Critique: Expectations and Disillusionments

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

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.