Articles by Gautam Bhatia
Top court must strike down the sedition law
The Law Commission has recommended that sedition be retained in the statute books. But it fails proportionality and incitement tests, making it unconstitutional

Updated on Jun 06, 2023 01:22 PM IST
Andhra HC’s model for shielding citizens’ rights
The HC’s judgment, which reaffirmed the right to protest, is an excellent example of the judicial safeguarding of rights against executive impunity

Updated on May 28, 2023 08:06 PM IST
The real bite of SC’s MediaOne ruling
It provides lessons in how the judiciary should respond when faced with invocations of national security and sealed covers by the State. The real test, however, will be when the next case comes before a court somewhere in India

Updated on Apr 09, 2023 08:29 PM IST
A desolation Called Peace: Finality of Bhopal gas leak case is another tragedy
The curative hearings were an opportunity for the victims of the tragedy to have their day in court. It was incumbent upon the SC to parse their claims with care and rigour. Instead, however, the SC did the opposite.

Updated on Mar 24, 2023 09:36 PM IST
A new deal to protect India’s gig workers?
Rajasthan announced that the state will enact a law for the protection of gig workers. Why is this necessary? Because, at present, gig work exists in a legal vacuum.

Published on Mar 18, 2023 07:18 PM IST
SC order on ECI will bolster democracy
The judgment is neither activism nor judicial overreach. Parliament can take up alternative appointment processes for ECI but will have to secure institutional independence

Published on Mar 05, 2023 06:34 PM IST
Trial courts need to act as first line of defence
A recent order passed by additional sessions judge Arul Varma on February 4 is an excellent illustration of how trial courts can serve as that first line of defence

Published on Feb 07, 2023 07:47 PM IST
Haldwani case: SC ruling is laudable
Its observations — evictions cannot be done without a rehabilitation plan, and there must be proper consultation with the people — stem from a fundamental realisat-ion that ‘encroachments’ are a result of the State’s failure to provide shelter to all citizens

Updated on Jan 09, 2023 06:53 AM IST
Uniform Civil Code: Reframe the debate
The starting point of the discussion should not be whether India needs a UCC, but how to ensure every Indian is governed by a gender-just civil code of their choice

Published on Dec 27, 2022 08:23 PM IST
Preventive detention cannot be normalised
The Madras high court’s judgment, thus, strikes an important blow for individual freedom against State impunity. It reminds us that, for all our criticism of the courts, an independent judiciary is the surest bulwark against authoritarianism

Updated on Dec 12, 2022 08:41 PM IST
Why the new draft data bill must be reconsidered
A closer look at the provisions reveals some serious shortcomings within the proposed legal framework.

Published on Nov 29, 2022 08:09 PM IST
Criticism of judiciary needs more nuance
The Centre criticised the Supreme Court’s system of picking judges and accused it of judicial activism. Such criticism is fair to an extent, but it requires more nuanced deliberation than what is being offered at present

Published on Nov 16, 2022 06:52 PM IST
SC’s Saibaba order raises doubts about safeguards in UAPA, authority of HCs
Apart from depriving the accused of the liberty they were entitled to by virtue of the HC’s reasoned judgment, the order sends a signal across the judiciary, ie, that the sanctity of procedural safeguards under UAPA is negotiable, at best.

Published on Oct 18, 2022 07:16 PM IST
SC move to live-stream proceedings is good, but more needs to be done
It is important to note that while some courts across the world do live-stream proceedings, a great many don’t: In taking this decision, therefore, the SC is one of the judiciaries that has provided global leadership on this significant issue

Updated on Oct 05, 2022 07:54 PM IST
The SC’s final ruling in the hijab case will have broader implications
The hijab case raises several issues about Muslim women students’ right to education, the meanings of secularism, tolerance, and accommodation under the Constitution, fostering diversity and pluralism in classrooms, and the limits of State power

Published on Sep 21, 2022 07:58 PM IST
SC’s decision on Pegasus raises troubling questions
Several issues regarding the spyware case need to be addressed, including why the SC sealed the report and why the State chose not to cooperate during the committee’s pursuit of the truth. As a matter of public interest, accountability and action must be non-negotiable

Updated on Aug 30, 2022 07:30 PM IST
Decoding the problems with the ‘freebie’ debate
The fundamental issue lies in the word freebie, which has no clear definition, making it susceptible to misuse and selective targeting of welfare measures
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Updated on Aug 17, 2022 08:40 PM IST
Extend the 24-week limit for abortion to all
In its present form, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not adequately respect bodily autonomy and reproductive choice

Updated on Jul 24, 2022 07:57 PM IST
India’s laws on hate speech need change
Anti-blasphemy statutes and the legal bar on hate speech are clumsily worded, can’t distinguish between the dissenter and the hatemonger or between speech that is uncivil and illegal

Updated on Jun 22, 2022 10:15 PM IST
It is crucial to reform foreigners’ tribunals
There are several outstanding issues with the regime of foreigners’ tribunals: Extens-ive State control over members, dubious use of evidence, and declaring thousands of people foreigners ex parte

Published on May 19, 2022 07:10 PM IST
Jahangirpuri: Demolition, as vigilante justice, is illegal
Home demolition in response to allegations of rioting is akin to medieval wars where armies would poison wells of villages that were suspected of harbouring enemy soldiers, so that soldiers and innocent civilians would be deprived of water

Updated on Apr 22, 2022 11:24 PM IST
Hopepunk, grimdark, noblebright: Gautam Bhatia on new genres of storytelling
Where does speculative fiction go in a dystopia? New genres suggest that the most likely directions are upward and onward, through stories that champion hope and optimism, collective action, and the promise, at least, of a future less bleak.

Updated on Apr 08, 2022 02:29 PM IST
Rethink the criminal identification bill
It places the privacy of individuals at the mercy of the State; allows for the retention of personal data of convicted individuals for lifetime; and goes against the best practices of data protection

Updated on Apr 03, 2022 07:50 PM IST
Are India’s courts going the Star Chamber way?
The two judgments in the MediaOne case set a disturbing precedent. Effectively, the government can ban a TV channel on the basis of secret evidence, that is then secretly given to the court

Updated on Mar 14, 2022 10:58 PM IST
In India, the dangers of a homogenous public culture
To the extent that the hijab does not communicate a message of discrimination, inequality, or violence, what grounds allow the State, and State institutions, to ban it?

Updated on Feb 07, 2022 07:34 PM IST
The marital rape exception must go
As an expression of the nation’s criminal law, it publicly says that consent is irrelevant to the question of rape in a marriage. For that reason alone, the court should strike it down

Updated on Jan 19, 2022 09:32 PM IST
Reforming the Foreigners Tribunals
A 2021 Gauhati High Court judgment is significant because it infused a modicum of procedural fairness into the tribunals process in Assam. But much more is needed

Published on Jan 02, 2022 08:18 PM IST
AFSPA has no place in a constitutional democracy
It is now past time to repeal AFSPA and restore a semblance of the rule of law to the landscape of our constitutional democracy

Updated on Dec 15, 2021 08:25 PM IST
Pegasus, SC and the idea of ‘national security’
There can be no genuine accountability, or an end to impunity, as long as the concept of “national security” fails to place the people — rather than the government — at its heart

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 01:44 PM IST
HIV Act: When a law fails to change social attitudes
A judgment by a sessions judge at Dindoshi shows us that the passing of progressive legislation is just the beginning. There is still much struggle ahead before HIV-affected persons can be welcomed into society as equal members

Updated on Oct 18, 2021 05:49 PM IST