Rights

Who owns Mumbai’s streets? The Bombay High Court, street vendors and a decade of regulatory failure

What began as a case about encroachments has become a searching inquiry into the State's failure to implement the Street Vendors Act, the rights of pedestrians and informal workers, and the growing role of identification and verification in urban governance

Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent

Their freedom comes after years of judicial neglect and the systemic abuse of laws to silence opposition; highlights the weaponisation of anti-terror laws to crush dissent and derail justice.

Sambhal Custodial Death: A systemic failure exposed

The tragic events in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, have once again spotlighted the issue of custodial deaths, communal tensions, and state accountability in India. This narrative meticulously examines the incidents, the aftermath, and their broader implications by analysing evidence and testimonials taken from all relevant sources, including media reports from main stream media, and ground-level observations by independent reporters.

Maharashtra’s Descent into Hate: Six incidents reported in January 2025 highlight Maharashtra’s rising communal and caste-based violence

A surge in hate crimes and divisive rhetoric under the new government reveals a growing threat to Maharashtra’s secular and pluralistic identity, with minorities and marginalised communities bearing the brunt of the assault

Meta’s policy shift: Fuelling hate in an era of LGBTQIA+ inclusion

Meta’s new hate speech policies allowing dehumanising rhetoric against LGBTQIA+ individuals mark a troubling regression, undermining global strides toward equality, dignity, and inclusivity

From fact-checking to chaos: How meta’s new moderation model risks eroding trust and democracy

Meta’s shift to community-driven moderation under the "community notes" model raises alarms, risking manipulation, misinformation, and further eroding trust in a rapidly polarizing digital landscape.

Open Letter to an Imaginary Supreme Leader of a country of billions

An Open Public Letter to an imaginary Supreme Leader of an imaginary country of a billion suffering fools. 

BHU students granted bail 17 days after Manusmriti protest arrests

Advocates and activists condemn unlawful detentions and underscore their fight for justice and democratic rights at the Bhagat Singh Students Morcha

Why health and sex education for young is crucial: Supreme Court

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

Targeting human rights activism, comments by NIA Court shocking: PUCL

Issuing the statement on January 9, PUCL has expressed the hope that these prejudiced and invidious observations are suo moto expunged from the reported judgment. The NIA Court, Lucknow had, reportedly in a 136-page judgement delivered in early January actually pulled up organisations “for promoting the constitutional values of ‘spirit of harmony’ and ‘brotherhood’.”

Religious structures inside the public institution are invalid, what the constitutional courts say

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.

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Three decades after the PoA Act, justice remains elusive

A comprehensive 30-year review of the SC/ST Atrocities Act reveals a persistent gap between the law's transformative promise and the lived realities of Dalits and Adivasis confronting violence, discrimination, and impunity

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

Who owns Mumbai’s streets? The Bombay High Court, street vendors and a decade of regulatory failure

What began as a case about encroachments has become a searching inquiry into the State's failure to implement the Street Vendors Act, the rights of pedestrians and informal workers, and the growing role of identification and verification in urban governance

Defectors & Democracy: A critique of the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

The right of voters to recall representatives who defect—as seen in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh—and the requirement of intra-party democracy could form part of a broader institutional redesign. Such measures would deepen democratic values and, above all, signal a refusal by citizens to accept the corruption of their mandate. These may be among the reforms that India's Parliament and democracy most urgently need

A regressive 2026 amendment to rights of Trans persons is under legal challenge even as pride month is celebrated

Unable to stay the statute, High Courts have charted a middle path—protecting petitioners already undergoing hormone therapy while the broader constitutional challenge awaits adjudication by the Supreme Court

The what’s & why’s of Data Centres and how are they hijacking the India Story

While countries such as Singapore and Sweden are curbing the environmental costs of data centres through regulation and innovation, India is actively courting these resource-intensive facilities with little regard for their water and energy demands. From Stockholm's waste-heat recovery systems to zero-water cooling technologies, solutions exist. Yet India continues to trade away land, water and public resources with scant consideration for environmental sustainability or local communities.

Telegram before NEET: When governance fails, censorship takes its place

Invoking exam security to suspend access to a platform used by millions raises serious questions about proportionality, transparency and the growing tendency to restrict communications whenever governance challenges arise