Citizens for Justice and Peace
A look at how Foreigners’ Tribunals have fared since 2015 Observations made by the bench of the Guwahati HC monitoring Foreigners Tribunals in Assam, 2015-2019
07-Nov-2019
A Guwahati High Court bench, which has been holding hearings since March 2015 under the directions of the Supreme Court, has been monitoring and continues to monitor the functioning of the existing Foreigners Tribunals in Assam. During the past 4 years many things have come to light with respect to the hurdles in the day…
Assam: The Curious Case of Phuljan Nessa Declared foreigner Phuljan Nessa’s name appeared in the final draft of the NRC. How did this happen?
04-Nov-2019
Phuljan Nessa, resident of Samaguri in Nagaon district of Assam was declared a foreigner by the Foreigners Tribunal in October 2017, yet her name was included in the final draft of the NRC. NRC issued a clarification on their Facebook page without accepting the blunder. The Gauhati High Court, while entertaining a Writ petition against…
Justice Thipsay on the Indian judiciary, Justice Loya and Sohrabuddin Netizens for Democracy
01-Feb-2019
Retired Judge of Bombay High Court, Justice Abhay Thipsay, renowned for his exceptional judgments that have always favored the powerless, speaks to CJP on the sidelines of the Netizens for Democracy event. Among other things, he touches upon the mysterious death of Justice Loya and the travesty of justice that was the Sohrabuddin case. …
Judgments and Orders that Empowered Citizens in 2018 Decisions by Indian courts that helped strengthen Human Rights
31-Dec-2018
2018 was an important year in the courts for several key human rights issues. Here is the annual round up of 12 such judgments that helped deliver justice and set right several historical wrongs. SC respects Hadiya’s choice On March 8, 2018, the Supreme Court set aside a Kerala High Court judgment that had annulled…
Being a Sycophant and Saffron is a Potent Mix When the Indian Judiciary has, faced with Authoritarian Leaders, Turned Unconstitutional
14-Dec-2018
There have been moments in the past seventy years or so, when the most authoritarian governments have drawn out the most supine responses from India’s higher judiciary. Remember Justice Bhagwati’s actions during ADM Jabalpur when he not just ratified the suspension of fundamental rights by then prime minister, Indira Gandhi (Justice HR Khanna was the…
Judgment Primer: Alimuddin Ansari lynching case Ramgarh Fast Track Court's judgment analysed
07-Aug-2018
Additional Sessions Judge’s Court: Judge Om Prakash Date of Judgement: March 21, 2018 Introduction and Background Lynchistaan, a name that is being increasingly used to call India due to the increase in mob violence in the country. The rise in lynching cases over the past five years have left many shocked. This year there…
Procedure not Privilege, Assigning Cases in the SC Roster Analysing Issues Raised in the Letter of Four Judges of the SC Collegium
12-Jan-2018
Four Judges of Supreme Court, J Chelameshwar, J Ranjan Gogoi, J Madan B. Lokur and J Kurian Joseph wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India addressing their concern about the way allocation of few cases has been done by the Hon’ble Justice of India. In the letter they have said the convention of recognizing…
When the Government tried to browbeat the Judiciary The NJAC Controversy
12-Jan-2018
Close to two years ago, 15 months after the Modi government was sworn to power, an unholy controversy had arisen over the Modi regime’s open moves to influence India’s Supreme Court. Then attorney general, Mukul Rohatgi had made a series of aggressive, even controversial arguments in the Indian Supreme Court arguing for a supremacy of…
India’s Justice League: 4 judges defend democracy, question nepotism in SC ‘Preserve SC, Protect Democracy’ say the Judges in a press conference
12-Jan-2018
Four of the five senior most judges in the Supreme Court –five of whom constitute its Collegium—have in an unprecedented move-challenged the CJI for alleged nepotism in assigning cases to pre-chosen benches in a press conference held in New Delhi. Four of the five senior most judges of the Supreme Court – Justices J Chelameswar,…
India’s Contempt of Court Law Understanding how it works
26-Dec-2017
The hyper nationalism of Indian society is a façade to blind different views and mute different voices. It is now becoming strikingly important for one to pledge allegiance to the motherland and its institutions to be granted his/her rights. The construction of the words “enemy”, “threat” , “terror” are all employed to destroy people who…
The 2004 Best Bakery Judgement and Its Significance Zahira Habibullah Sheikh v/s State of Gujarat, Delivered by the Supreme Court of India, April 12, 2004
01-Dec-2017
Out of the miseries of the Gujarat carnage of 2002, thanks to the courage of the survivors and the tenacious work of the CJP core legal team, has emerged path-breaking jurisprudence on state accountability, victimology and witness protection. Thirteen years after the Supreme Court (SC) delivered the famed Best Bakery verdict, this judgement remains among…
What does it mean to be a Hindu? How the Supreme Court of India has defined Hindus
01-Dec-2017
The term “Hindu” has been defined in the Constitution under Article 25(2)(b) Explanation II as “Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly” and the various codified Hindu Laws such as The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA),…
The Supreme Court, Second and Third Generation Rights Adjudication: Some Ruminations
17-Nov-2017
Many Constitutional Theorists in the Anglo-American World would find Chief Justice Khehar and Justice Nazeer’s dissent in the Shayara Bano Case (which they grounded in ‘Principles of Separation of Powers’ and the ‘Political Question Doctrine’) as the way to proceed in cases underlying policy questions. In fact, their preferred remedy of injuncting the practice of Talaq-E-Biddat (commonly known as Triple…