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SC: Article 142, Mass Amnesties, and the Panchayatisation of the Rule of Law
Within a month of youth-led protests in Delhi and at least half a dozen other locations, the Supreme Court’s September 1 Order invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to quash criminal cases registered across at least five states. This examines the limitations of this ad hoc jurisprudence, arguing that while protection from abusive state prosecution is welcome, linking it to the cancellation of the September 5 march sets a troubling precedent. Constitutional scrutiny demanded a rigorous examination of alleged executive and police overreach, including blanket prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS and the shutdown of metro stations and internet services. Instead, the alleged excesses of Delhi and other police forces remain unadjudicated.
Arunachal’s anti-dam protests intensify as arrests, militarisation and threats to press freedom fail to silence resistance
Communities resisting the proposed 11,200 MW project fear the loss of ancestral land, livelihoods and cultural heritage, with activists detained under the APUAPA
Food Security during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Need for a shift from food security to nutrition justice.
In Karnataka, during the pandemic and lockdown, mid-day meals in government schools and anganwadis under the National Food Security Act (2013) [1], shut down indefinitely [2,3] amidst growing concerns about how this would affect vulnerable communities. In spite of demands, the state government has not yet undertaken a detailed post pandemic and lockdown survey to identify the immediate and long-term interventions to address and prevent malnutrition. Several visits have been made by civil society organisations, students, nutritionists and academics to different districts of Karnataka, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic and this commentary gives a broad overview of the observations made. There is a need for an in-depth quantitative and qualitative study.
Jamia’s Answer to Student Protest: Online exams, hostel closures and police detentions
As the hunger strike enters its third week, students allege that the administration is using disciplinary action and restrictions on campus life to weaken a movement demanding elected representation
EXCLUSIVE – SIR: The total disenfranchisement of the Indian Voter is 16 crores, not 13.60 Crores?
An analysis of the figures supplied alleges that SIR exclusions, combined with an estimated shortfall in the opening (base count) of the country’s electorate coupled with what seems like a deliberate failure to account adequately for new (first-time) voters, take the figure of nationwide exclusions to approximately 16 crore electors
Jamia students reject conditional election assurance, two continue hunger strike
After 14 days of agitation, the university has promised polls 15 days after the approval of a union constitution, but offers no deadline for that approval and demands a public apology from protesters
7,000 farmers and workers rally in Maharashtra as drought deepens agrarian crisis
With 265 of Maharashtra’s 358 talukas declared drought-affected, protesters in Akole demand immediate crop-loss compensation, insurance payouts and loan waivers
Assam must resist sir, defend voting rights, says Guwahati Citizens’ Forum
At a protest meeting organised by the Forum for Social Harmony, speakers criticise the Election Commission and demand a time-bound completion of the NRC; police prevent demonstrators from marching out of the Press Club
People take to the streets to defend the right to vote and protest against SIR
From Delhi to Bengaluru and Mumbai, farmers, workers, students, women’s groups and citizens’ organisations came together on October 23 to demand the scrapping of the SIR of electoral rolls and the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar
Bikaner House censors 75 photographs of Delhi protests from Raihan Vadra’s exhibition, leaving empty walls behind
The photographs documenting youth-led protests were removed hours before the exhibition opened, with the venue reportedly threatening cancellation
CJP leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka released on ₹50,000 bonds, undertake not to call protests at Jantar Mantar
Special Executive Magistrate rejects Delhi Police plea for three more days of custody after Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka submit written undertakings to maintain peace; preventive proceedings to continue
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SC: Article 142, Mass Amnesties, and the Panchayatisation of the Rule of Law
Within a month of youth-led protests in Delhi and at least half a dozen other locations, the Supreme Court’s September 1 Order invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to quash criminal cases registered across at least five states. This examines the limitations of this ad hoc jurisprudence, arguing that while protection from abusive state prosecution is welcome, linking it to the cancellation of the September 5 march sets a troubling precedent. Constitutional scrutiny demanded a rigorous examination of alleged executive and police overreach, including blanket prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS and the shutdown of metro stations and internet services. Instead, the alleged excesses of Delhi and other police forces remain unadjudicated.
India
Need for Clarity on the SIR: An Open Letter to the Congress Leaders of Karnataka
While the national leadership of the party, leads and articulates the national campaign for the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, the state leadership of Karnataka, a state governed by the party, gives conflicting statements almost endorsing a process that has disenfranchised close to 10 million there
Environment
From Arunachal to Delhi, anti-dam protesters face state crackdown; detained allege sexual assault
Around 40 protesters from Arunachal Pradesh were detained during a solidarity demonstration, as the crackdown on indigenous resistance to the proposed mega dam intensifies
India
Beyond Appropriation: Vidya Bhushan Rawat’s recovery of Bose’s inclusive nationalism
Rawat’s book emerges from a unique perspective that argues –among other things – that Bose and Nehru must be understood through their competing strategies, and historical circumstances— not recruited retrospectively into opposing political camps; neither does the book place Bose beyond criticism, affirming however his intrinsic secular outlook while stressing on diverse networks that helped sustain the struggle for independence’ not a biography of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose but a chronicle of Indian National Army as well as India’s freedom Movement.
Minorities
After 22 years under suspicion, Assam’s Kashem Ali declared Indian by Foreigners Tribunal
With 18 years passing between the registration of the case and service of notice, and nearly a year spent fighting to prove his citizenship, Kashem Ali finally wins legal relief with CJP’s assistance
Dalit Bahujan Adivasi
From treating Adivasi communities to being branded an instigator: Odisha jails doctor Randall Sequeira
Arrested in a case in which his name did not figure in the original FIR, Dr Randall Sequeira faces serious criminal charges amid an intensifying crackdown on Adivasi communities resisting bauxite mining in Odisha