The Basic Structure is Two Years Old

Picture Credits - Indian Express On 06 September 2018, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India. The judgment partly struck down the archaic Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised carnal intercourse against the order of the nature with any man, woman or...

Law and India’s National Anthem- Learning from K3G

Actor Shahrukh Khan has been in the news recently. His son Aryan Khan is accused of possessing contraband substances and was in jail for over a month. News channels are abuzz with this news and questions over Khan’s parenting and patriotism are constantly being raised, given his surname. This gave me the idea to discuss...

In Defence of the Canadian Supreme Court’s Majority – Responding to Arvind Datar and Rahul Unnikrishnan

Recently, the Canadian Supreme Court delivered a significant verdict on the issue of whether unwritten principles of the Constitution can be used to strike down legislations [Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2021 SCC 34]. While the minority ruled in the affirmative, the majority in a close 5:4 verdict held to the contrary.    In...

Telangana High Court’s progressive decision on Law of Abortion

Image Credits - Scroll Earlier this week, the Telangana High Court delivered a significant judgment dealing with the law on abortion. The Court was approached by a 16-year-old minor girl (through her guardian) seeking a direction for termination of her 26 week long pregnancy. In a surprisingly, pro-choice or pro-mother verdict (if we may call...

Dear Arjuna, I am everywhere, but not on your screen?

Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in Delhi (Source - Punnawit Suwuttananu / Getty Images) Lord Krishna in the holy Hindu scripture Bhagvad Gita, tells his disciple Arjun ‘हे अर्जुन।  मैं समस्त जीवों के हृदय में स्थित परमात्मा हूँ।  मैं ही समस्त जीवों का आदि, मध्य तथा अंत हूँ।  (Dear Arjun, I am the god residing in the heart...

Learning from Nayak – Can you become the Chief Minister for a Day?

Last week the Anil Kapoor starrer ‘Nayak- The Real Hero’ completed twenty years of its theatrical release. The movie is considered a classic across generations. It shows the story of a news reporter named Shivaji Rao (played by Anil Kapoor) who gets the opportunity to interview the Chief Minister of Maharashtra (‘CM’) named Balraj Chauhan...

Sidhartha Shukla’s funeral exposes the media’s lack of respect for the dead, again!

Picture Credits - Indian Express In a recent post on his Instagram, comedian Zakir Khan wrote, ‘Wo tumhe insaan nahi samajhte. Isliye nahi hai koi line, na koi boundaries hain. Tumhari laash unke liye koi rooh nikla hua jism nahi. Bas tasveer lene ka ek aur mauka hai. Jitni ho sake utni. Ye waise hai...

Fukrey Returns and Live in Relationships in India

In my opinion, the Fukrey franchise is underrated and does not get due credit for tickling our funny bones. The franchise has not only given us stars like Ali Fazal, Varun Sharma and Pankaj Tripathi, if viewed with sincerity it can also teach us the law on live-in relationships in India. To give some context,...

Tirangaa and Contempt of Court

(An abridged version of this discussion appeared in the Quint before) Independence Day and Republic Day in India are incomplete without a re-run of the movie ‘Tirangaa’ on Zee Cinema. This classic is the perfect recipe for a patriotic Bollywood film i.e., heroic patriotic protagonists (played by the late Raaj Kumar and Nana Patekar) and...

Law governing the usage of India’s National Flag

Recently the Madras High Court delivered a judgment concerning the Indian National Flag, which has garnered significant applause. The judgment has been lauded for its progressive observations on patriotism and national symbols. At a time, when there is a rise in hyper nationalism and every government is trying to portray itself as a patriot, the...

Appointing the Chief Justice of India–What criteria does the Collegium consider?

[The current Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, is due to retire in April. He shall be succeeded by Justice Ramanna, the next senior most Judge. The Constitution is silent on the procedure for appointment of the CJI and the matter is governed purely by Convention. (Picture Credits - The Indian Express)] The Supreme Court...