Sushovan Patnaik

Our Constitution First newsletter this week looks at a progressive order from the Allahabad High Court.

A deep dive into two recent demolitions in Delhi - in Madrasi camp and Wazirpur - and the ongoing litigations around them reveal that the government’s reasoning and the manner of demolitions were neither scientifically nor logically justified, and distorted the truth of Delhi’s urban planning collapse.

Our Constitution Day Special Issue poses one simple question: Without morally conceding to executive primacy in appointments, is there a way to imagine a more democratic future to how our judges are appointed?

Marked by dignity and deferral, Chief Justice Khanna’s term came amidst communally tense times and an institutional crisis of faith, and at the end raised the question: Was enough done?

Proponents of the NJAC across the political spectrum have relied on Dr Ambedkar’s quotes in the Constituent Assembly to highlight his disgruntlement with granting primacy to the judiciary on appointments. But before concluding whether Dr Ambedkar would have preferred the NJAC or the Collegium, we need a patient and nuanced scrutiny of the Constitution’s revolutionary framer.

The assault on a woman student in South Asia's only international varsity over serving of non-vegetarian food on campus, and its uncanny fallout, reveals a systematic flouting of norms and procedures

In MNLU Nagpur, a survivor received no justice despite two consecutive findings that she was sexually harassed on her college grounds. Across India’s NLUs, patterns of anti-sexual harassment law non-compliance and retraumatisation of survivors repeat over and over.

Our Independence Day 2025 special issue urges us to look at how the battle for universal adult franchise is now being fought along new frontlines.