The time when a sitting President deposed before the Supreme Court

The last week of April holds a very special place in the chapters of Indian legal history. On 24th April 1973, the Supreme Court delivered the judgment in Kesavananda Bharti v. State of Kerala (the lengthiest and arguably its most important till date), wherein it held that the parliament while amending the Constitution cannot change...

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...

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...

Indian or Canadian? Understanding India’s law on citizenship, in light of Bollywood Star Akshay Kumar’s citizenship row

It has been rightly said that citizenship is the chance to make a difference to the place where you belong. Being citizen of a country entitles an individual to several privileges and rights, which she/he can exercise to contribute to the nation’s building. For instance, in India only citizens have freedom of speech and expression...

The Sabarimala Verdict: Praise and Criticism

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, this Friday passed a verdict which has been hailed as a judgment in the right direction contributing significantly to the jurisprudence related to equality and dignity in India. The Court by a 4:1 majority struck down the prohibition on women from entering the Sabarimala temple. The judgment running over...

[Part I] Fundamental? Constitutional? Statutory? Understanding the nature of the Right to Vote in India

[In this two part post series, I shall be discussing the nature of the Right to Vote in India. In this part I shall provide an overview of the nature of rights in India and where does the Right to Vote fit.] Elections are extremely important for any democracy as they allow the voters an...