Election Commission responsible for spreading Covid-19, should probably be booked for murder: Madras HC // Bharat Bhushan on the departing CJI: Good riddance

NB: It is unusual that we be required to thank judges for doing their duty; the reason is that over the recent past, we have become accustomed to the opposite. Spineless behavior has become the norm, broken only occasionally, as in the release order on Disha Ravi, or the Delhi HC’s order to the Delhi… Read More Election Commission responsible for spreading Covid-19, should probably be booked for murder: Madras HC // Bharat Bhushan on the departing CJI: Good riddance

Bharat Bhushan: Burden of bigotry may break Indian democracy's back

Two recent events suggest that the Indian Republic could be hurtling down a slippery slope. Both relate to Uttar Pradesh but have national consequences. One is the Varanasi court judgement opening up the Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque dispute. The other comes from adjoining Allahabad where the High Court has red-flagged the misuse of the National Security Act.… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Burden of bigotry may break Indian democracy's back

SC stands up for voicing disapproval, backs editor Patricia Mukhim

Expressing disapproval of a government’s action “cannot be branded as an attempt to promote hatred between different communities”, the Supreme Court said Thursday while quashing an FIR against Patricia Mukhim, the editor of Shillong Times, over a social media post about an incident of assault on some non-tribal youth in Meghalaya last year. A bench of… Read More SC stands up for voicing disapproval, backs editor Patricia Mukhim

The Modi Government Is a Regime of Low-Intensity Terror. By Ullekh N.P.

Not many academics have studied Hindu nationalism with the intensity of Stanford University anthropologist Thomas Blom Hansen. The 63-year-old’s new book, The Law of Force: The Violent Heart of Indian Politics, argues that anger and brutality have become mainstream in public life and politics in India. The 176-page volume delves into what Hansen calls “the emergence of… Read More The Modi Government Is a Regime of Low-Intensity Terror. By Ullekh N.P.

Nagraj Adve: Coming of Age of India’s Youth Climate Movement

The arrest in February of Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old member of the climate change organisation Fridays for Future (FFF) India, on charges including sedition and criminal conspiracy, and warrants issued against two members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) India, Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk, have severely jolted innumerable climate activists, students, and other young people in… Read More Nagraj Adve: Coming of Age of India’s Youth Climate Movement

BJP MP moves privilege motion against TMC’s Mahua Moitra for comments against former CJI

“The sacred cow that was the judiciary is no longer sacred,” Moitra had said. “It stopped being sacred the day a sitting chief justice of this country was accused of sexual harassment, presided over his own trial, cleared himself and then proceeded to accept a nomination to the Upper House of Parliament within three months… Read More BJP MP moves privilege motion against TMC’s Mahua Moitra for comments against former CJI

Sabah Maharaj, Snehashish Das on Sharjeel Imam: Cultivating Morality In A Broken Democracy

Sharjeel Imam, speaking from the grim trench-lines of the anti-CAA protests, was widely seen to have crossed a line in the sand. But what line? The only answers forthcoming were in the shape of the UAPA and sedition laws. The incident proved to be a pivotal moment for India for two contrary reasons. It was… Read More Sabah Maharaj, Snehashish Das on Sharjeel Imam: Cultivating Morality In A Broken Democracy

Vrinda Grover: CJI Bobde's 'marry the victim' remark to rape accused trivialises sexual violence, denudes survivor of rights and personhood

I am deeply troubled and angry, though not shocked. Any person believing in equality and dignity of women, the right of a girl and woman over her own body, sexual autonomy and right to self-determination over their own lives and futures, will be enraged. Basically, anyone who considers women as human beings will oppose and… Read More Vrinda Grover: CJI Bobde's 'marry the victim' remark to rape accused trivialises sexual violence, denudes survivor of rights and personhood

CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde Must Step Down Now For Asking Rapist to Marry Victim, and Condoning Marital Rape

NB: Newpapers today reported the Chief Justice of India asking an alleged rapist whether he would be willing to marry his victim, a minor girl. Many of us are rendered speechless at the utter depravity of the suggestion that survivors of rape can somehow be compensated for the violence done to them by being married… Read More CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde Must Step Down Now For Asking Rapist to Marry Victim, and Condoning Marital Rape