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Category: Context

Why India needs to introduce the concept of federal offences

Why India needs to introduce the concept of federal offences


Campaign poster, 2019

Scroll.in / by Kevin James

Without legal changes, the National Investigation Agency is bound to cause Centre-state friction.
On January 24, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh alleged that the Centre had transferred the investigation of the Bhima Koregaon case from the Pune police to the National Investigation Agency without the state government’s consent.
In recent years, significant Centre-state tensions have arisen over the powers of central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and National Investigation vis-a-vis state police.
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Was the Centre Right in Taking Over the Case?

Was the Centre Right in Taking Over the Case?

The Quint / by Chitranshul Sinha

The mutiny of 1857 led to the transfer of the government of British India from the East India Company to the monarch of England. The events of 1857 also spurred the British into enacting the Indian Penal Code of 1860 which had been lying in draft form for the previous almost three decades. Upon creating a code of offences applicable to the territories of British India, it was imperative for the crown to regulate law enforcement.
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STATE SEEKS LEGAL VIEW ON CHALLENGING CENTRE

26/01/2020

Mumbai Mirror / by Makarand Gadgil

Experts feel Sharad Pawar’s insistence on SIT probe is aimed at regaining turf in Western Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra government has sought legal opinion on whether to challenge the central government’s decision to hand over the investigation into cases related to Bhima-Koregaon violence and the Elgar Parishad conclave to the NIA.
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Republic Day 2020

Republic Day 2020

The Leaflet / by Anand Teltumbde

The Republic Day symbolized aspirational metamorphosis of India, into a sovereign, democratic republic as the Constitution proclaimed. It conjured up images of Indian people who were self-governing, who decided to give themselves a democratic republic.
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Anand Teltumbde: These are dangerous people with state power, no option but to fight

Anand Teltumbde: These are dangerous people with state power, no option but to fight

The News Minute / interview by Nandini Nair

Scholar, writer and activist Anand Teltumbde’s voice cracks unnoticeably when he speaks about his mother, the woman who worked hard with her husband to raise their children in a village in Maharashtra. Anand was answering journalist Nandini Nair’s question on his mother and daughters at a session at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode, where the two were in conversation on the subject ‘Annihilation of caste’.
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Poor Medical Care for Prisoners Explains Why Number of Custodial Deaths Is Only Rising

Poor Medical Care for Prisoners Explains Why Number of Custodial Deaths Is Only Rising


Drawing by Arun Ferreire

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

In 2018, 1,845 people died while incarcerated. That’s the highest number India has seen so far.
Mumbai: “I would see this one prison inmate being brought to the hospital every day for an entire week, and each time turned away. The escort police would invariably walk in around 2:30-3 pm, over an hour after the OPD (out-patient department) hours, and no doctor would be available to treat patients then. The inmate went untreated for over a week,” recalls a young doctor at Maharashtra’s state-run JJ hospital.
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All the Times the Supreme Court Turned a Nelson’s Eye to Injustice

All the Times the Supreme Court Turned a Nelson’s Eye to Injustice

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Wire / by Markandey Katju and Janhvi Prakash

It must be regrettably said that the judiciary has largely surrendered before the political executive.
The words ‘Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting’, from the Bible (Daniel:5:27), were used by Sir Winston Churchill in 1938 to criticise Neville Chamberlain, the then British prime minister, for signing the shameful Munich Pact with Hitler. The same words could aptly be used for the Indian Supreme Court too, for its recent dismal, distressing, disheartening and discomfiting performances in repeatedly failing to protect the fundamental rights of the Indian people – which is its sacred and solemn duty under the constitution.
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Bombay High Court: 2019 Highlights

Bombay High Court: 2019 Highlights

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

Like every year, the Bombay High Court in 2019 witnessed a flurry of fresh PILs and petitions filed and pronounced orders/judgements in plenty of old cases. Here is a look at the some of the most significant judgements/orders of the Bombay High Court in the past year.
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Historians’ silence on Bhima Koregaon allowed BJP to brand it as ‘urban Naxalism’

Historians’ silence on Bhima Koregaon allowed BJP to brand it as ‘urban Naxalism’

The Print / by Dilip Mandal

Mainstream Indian historiography has a problem dealing with the battle of Bhima Koregaon. It doesn’t fit into the narrative of Hindu nationalism or the classic anti-colonialism frame. This historical dilemma is the reason why it is easy for the BJP and the Narendra Modi government to dub an anti-caste battle commemoration as the handiwork of ‘Urban Naxals’ and dangerous.
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CAA-NRC-NPR Modi and Shah’s trishul against people: Brinda Karat

CAA-NRC-NPR Modi and Shah’s trishul against people: Brinda Karat

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Addressing the 12th conclave of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) at Byculla, Karat accused the Centre of undermining the Constitution and dividing the people in name of caste, creed and religion to serve its “devious larger agenda of (setting up) a theocratic state”. …
“The basic principle of a secular country must be separation of religion from politics… Even today, men and women who fought for the rights of the oppressed and marginalised, like (activist) Sudha Bharadwaj, are in jail in the name of being urban naxals. The state government should withdraw all (Elgaar Parishad) cases,” she added.
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6 Legislations Passed in 2019 That Are A Blot On India’s Democracy

6 Legislations Passed in 2019 That Are A Blot On India’s Democracy

Pic: Pawanjot Kaur, Nov 2019, ‘Mela Ghadari Babian Da’/ The Wire

Feminsm India / by Guest Writer (posted by Maduli T.)

The BJP Government, within the first few months of its re-election, passed several legislations that are detrimental to Indian constitutional values and federal structure. India’s democracy has only weakened since the BJP’s coming to power, as they’ve relentlessly worked to consolidate power, weaken regional autonomy, and suppress dissent.
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