Kedarnath Judgment: Procedural Lapses There were four appeals before the Supreme Court of India (SCI) in reference to Kedarnath judgment on sedition. C.A. 169 of 1957, which arose from the grant of special leave to appeal, was dismissed. The three other appeals, i.e. C.A. 124-126 of 1958, which arose from the certificate granted by the high courts, were allowed, and the cases were remanded back to the high court. The…
Kashmiri Nationalism The below is a quote from the book “Our Moon Has Blood Clots” by Rahul Pandita, who is a Kashmiri migrant. I have a purpose in quoting the lines below. The lines below juxtapose humanism and nationalism. Further, I have boldened the words “Kashmiri migrant”. That’s because this is how the whole of India, including the author of the book, consider Kashmiris as. In other words, till date,…
What is Akhand Bharat? Akhand Bharat (or less threatning Akhand Hindustan) not only includes India, Pakistan and Bangladesh but also Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Myanmar and even Tibet: basically all the lands where Britishers colonized or tried colonizing. This is different from the RSS concept of Hindu Rashtra. However, they indeed want to identify Akhand Bharat with Hindu Rashtra. This becomes evident from the statements of RSS ideologues,…
Background of the Writers’ Protest Against Sahitya Academy The left leaning writers have started a protest against Sahitya Academy in specific and the government in general. In this writers’ protest against Sahitya Academy, more than 40 writers have either returned their awards or relinquished their statuses. Their protest is against the “terrorism” of the extremist right wingers and against the “subtle” support of the state machinery to the acts of…
Introduction Hardik Patel, a 21 year old young man, has risen into an overnight sensation courtesy the Patidar reservation agitation demanding Patel OBC reservations in India. His main grouse is that Patels have remained poor because of educational backwardness and need to be uplifted through reservation in jobs and educational institutions vide OBC categorization. Of course, this is a shallow political agitation, but the messaging is very loud and clear…
The Phrase “Practicing Advocate” Is an Oxymoron A new debate has arisen in India about practicing advocates. The crux of the matter is that the “guardians” think many advocates leave practice and join other profession without informing the bar; therefore, their name shouldn’t continue to appear in the rolls of advocates prepared by the state bar councils. So, a new concept of “non-practicing advocate” has been introduced in the Bar…
In the past, I have written twice on regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi: wrt legal issues and a general perspective. I am myself a resident of an unauthorized colony in Delhi, so I do have a bias towards their regularisation. However, ironically, every time I hear the news of regularisation, I get goose bumps. There are so many unresolved issues wrt unauthorized colonies in Delhi that there are strong…
Prostitution in India: The Existing Position As per Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956, prostitution in India means “the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes or for consideration in money or in any other kind, and the expression ‘prostitute’ shall be construed accordingly.” However, it is to be noted that the act doesn’t criminalize prostitution in India per se. It only criminalizes the following instances of prostitution in…
Baba Rampal’s Conflict with BJP Baba Rampal’s arrest after a deadly ashram clashes is a very complex issue. Far more complex than any ordinary perception. A direct challenge to judiciary; a private army; a huge following; a business enterprise; a sustained secretive rebellion; alleged maoist links; but still a failure in the end for Baba Rampal. The maoist-link theory has been floated today only, that too through rogue intelligence officers;…
Snoopgate: The Petition The news is that father of the girl, who was allegedly spied upon by Narendra Modi as a love interest while he was Gujarat chief minister, has approached the Supreme Court of India (SCI) as a next friend of the girl to restrain the central government from conducting any enquiry in snoopgate to protect the privacy of the girl, who is now married. The petition claims that…
