Can a state Legislature imprison a critic and summon a high Court judge to appear before it? Are religion-based personal laws above fundamental Rights? Why did the Punjab police organize a band to celebrate the defeat of the state in a case of sexual harassment? Is it legal for the government to arm untrained private citizens to participate in counter-insurgency operations? How did Parliament come to pass the first Amendment to the Constitution allowing for caste-based reservations? And why did the Supreme Court acquit a rape accused on the basis of the victims sexual history? In this book, constitutional expert chintan chandrachud takes us behind the scenes and tells us the stories of ten extraordinary and dramatic legal cases from the 1950s to the present day that have all but faded from public memory. Written in a lively, riveting style, this book has a cast of characters that includes the who s who of the Indian legal system. It also paints an unexpected picture of the Indian judiciary: the Courts are not always on the right side of history or justice, and they don t always have the last word on the matters before them. This entertaining book is an incisive look into the functioning of Indian institutions.

Who was Shah Bano and why was her alimony pertinent to India’s Secularism? Does the fundamental right to life include the right to livelihood and shelter? Where there is the right to live, is there also the right to die? How did Bhanwari Devi’s Rape help define sexual harassment at the workplace? Here are the Supreme Court's ten pivotal judgements that have transformed Indian democracy and redefined our daily, lives. Exploring vital themes such as custodial deaths, reservations and environmental jurisprudence, this book contextualizes the judgements, explains key concepts and maps their impacts. Written by one of India's most respected lawyers, Ten Judgements That Changed India is an authoritative yet accessible read for anyone keen to understand India's legal system and the foundations of our democracy.

30 April 1924. At the Court of the King's Bench in London, the highest court in the Empire, an English judge and jury heard the case that would change the course of India's history: Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab – and architect of the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre – had filed a defamation case against Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair for having published a book in which he referred to the atrocities committed by the Raj in Punjab. The widely-reported trial – one of the longest in history – stunned a world that finally recognized some of the horrors being committed by the British in India. Through reports of court proceedings along with a nuanced portrait of a complicated nationalist who believed in his principles above all else, The Case That Shook the Empire reveals, for the very first time, the real details of the fateful case that marked the defining moment in India's struggle for Independence.

Here is the first volume of a magisterial biography of Mohandas Gandhi that gives us the most illuminating portrait we have had of the life, the work and the historical context of one of the most abidingly influential—and controversial—men in modern history. Ramachandra Guha—hailed by Time as “Indian democracy’s preeminent chronicler”—takes us from Gandhi’s birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi’s contemporaries and co-workers; contemporary newspapers and court documents; the writings of Gandhi’s children; and secret files kept by British Empire functionaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: “Great Soul.” And, more clearly than ever before, he elucidates how Gandhi’s work in South Africa—far from being a mere prelude to his accomplishments in India—was profoundly influential in his evolution as a family man, political thinker, social reformer and, ultimately, beloved leader. In 1893, when Gandhi set sail for South Africa, he was a twenty-three-year-old lawyer who had failed to establish himself in India. In this remarkable biography, the author makes clear the fundamental ways in which Gandhi’s ideas were shaped before his return to India in 1915. It was during his years in England and South Africa, Guha shows us, that Gandhi came to understand the nature of imperialism and racism; and in South Africa that he forged the philosophy and techniques that would undermine and eventually overthrow the British Raj. Gandhi Before India gives us equally vivid portraits of the man and the world he lived in: a world of sharp contrasts among the coastal culture of his birthplace, High Victorian London, and colonial South Africa. It explores in abundant detail Gandhi’s experiments with dissident cults such as the Tolstoyans; his friendships with radical Jews, heterodox Christians and devout Muslims; his enmities and rivalries; and his often overlooked failures as a husband and father. It tells the dramatic, profoundly moving story of how Gandhi inspired the devotion of thousands of followers in South Africa as he mobilized a cross-class and inter-religious coalition, pledged to non-violence in their battle against a brutally racist regime. Researched with unequaled depth and breadth, and written with extraordinary grace and clarity, Gandhi Before India is, on every level, fully commensurate with its subject. It will radically alter our understanding and appreciation of twentieth-century India’s greatest man.

Kashmir is one of the most protracted and bloody occupations in the world—and one of the most ignored. Under an Indian military rule that, at half a million strong, exceeds the total number of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, freedom of speech is non-existent, and human- rights abuses and atrocities are routinely visited on its Muslim-majority population. In the last two decades alone, over seventy thousand people have died. Ignored by its own corrupt politicians, abandoned by Pakistan and the West, which refuses to bring pressure to bear on its regional ally, India, the Kashmiri people’s ongoing quest for justice and self- determination continues to be brutally suppressed. Exploring the causes and consequences of the occupation, Kashmir: The Case for Freedom is a passionate call for the end of occupation, and for the right of self- determination for the Kashmiri people.

Democracies are in danger. Around the world, a rising wave of populist leaders threatens to erode the core structures of democratic self-rule. In the United States, the tenure of Donald Trump has seemed decisive turning point for many. What kind of president intimidates jurors, calls the news media the “enemy of the American people,” and seeks foreign assistance investigating domestic political rivals? Whatever one thinks of President Trump, many think the Constitution will safeguard us from lasting damage. But is that assumption justified? How to Save a Constitutional Democracy mounts an urgent argument that we can no longer afford to be complacent. Drawing on a rich array of other countries’ experiences with democratic backsliding, Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Z. Huq show how constitutional rules can both hinder and hasten the decline of democratic institutions. The checks and balances of the federal government, a robust civil society and media, and individual rights—such as those enshrined in the First Amendment—often fail as bulwarks against democratic decline. The sobering reality for the United States, Ginsburg and Huq contend, is that the Constitution’s design makes democratic erosion more, not less, likely. Its structural rigidity has had unforeseen consequence—leaving the presidency weakly regulated and empowering the Supreme Court conjure up doctrines that ultimately facilitate rather than inhibit rights violations. Even the bright spots in the Constitution—the First Amendment, for example—may have perverse consequences in the hands of a deft communicator who can degrade the public sphere by wielding hateful language banned in many other democracies. We—and the rest of the world—can do better. The authors conclude by laying out practical steps for how laws and constitutional design can play a more positive role in managing the risk of democratic decline.

On 12 June 1975, for the first time in independent India's history, the election of a prime minister was set aside by a high court judgment. The watershed case, Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain, acted as the catalyst for the imposition of the Emergency. Based on detailed notes of the court proceedings, The Case That Shook India is both a significant legal and a historical document. The author, advocate Prashant Bhushan, provides a blow-by-blow account of the goings-on inside the courtroom as well as the manoeuvrings outside it, including threats, bribes and deceit. As the case goes to the Supreme Court, we see how a ruling government can misuse legislative power to save the PM's election. Through his forceful and gripping narrative, Bhushan vividly recreates the legal drama that decisively shaped India's political destiny.

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