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</h1> </div> <div class="attachment attachment-before"> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view-header view view-epw-category-page view-id-epw_category_page view-display-id-attachment_1 js-view-dom-id-3391b3156ef9279e04c15e92e237823dc94b989bff20d01429996e2aa0e1cd7d"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row"><div class="views-field views-field-field-cover-image"><div class="field-content"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/di_top_650x400/public/images/2024/02/09/alok.png?itok=BISYViBS" width="650" height="400" /> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-name"><span class="field-content">Law and Society</span></div><div class="views-field views-field-description__value"><span class="field-content"></span></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-view-grid horizontal cols-3 clearfix"> <div class="views-row clearfix row-1"> <div class="views-col col-1"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2025/6/law-and-society/assault-privacy-and-dignity.html" hreflang="en">An Assault on Privacy and Dignity</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>The recently notified Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code and the rules made to implement it are yet another unwarranted attack on the dignity and privacy of individuals. The Uttarakhand UCC seems less about ensuring uniformity and more about controlling the choices and bodies of young people. This is a clear violation of the constitutional guarantees of privacy and dignity of the individual.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2025/6" hreflang="en">Vol. 60, Issue No. 6, 08 Feb, 2025</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-2"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/law-and-society/digital-personal-data-protection-board.html" hreflang="en">The Digital Personal Data Protection Board</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 does not provide adequate clarity on how the DPDP board, which is responsible for the implementation of the act, is supposed to work. Given that it is the sole agency empowered and responsible to adjudicate the rights and liabilities of individuals, questions can also be raised on the constitutionality of the act and the rules in this respect.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2025/3" hreflang="en">Vol. 60, Issue No. 3, 18 Jan, 2025</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-3"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/51/law-and-society/banning-children-social-media.html" hreflang="en">Banning Children from Social Media</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>Australia’s new legislation banning social media access to children below the age of 16 is the first legislative attempt in the world to do so. It comes after years of research on the harmful effects of social media on chi ldren’s mental health, development, and well-being. Implementation concerns notwithstanding, it is still a necessary and welcome move, worthy of consideration and emulation in other jurisdictions as well.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/51" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 51, 21 Dec, 2024</a></div></div></div> </div> <div class="views-row clearfix row-2"> <div class="views-col col-1"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/47/law-and-society/excavating-minority-character-institution.html" hreflang="en">Excavating the ‘Minority Character’ of an Institution</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>Though the constitution bench judgment in S Azeez Basha v Union of India (1968), which held that the Aligarh Muslim University was not a “minority institution,” has been set aside, the Supreme Court in Aligarh Muslim University v Naresh Agarwal (2024) has not yet decisively affirmed the status of AMU. Rather, it has left the task to a future bench to “excavate” its true nature.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/47" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 47, 23 Nov, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-2"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/42/law-and-society/gig-workers-under-posh-act.html" hreflang="en">Gig Workers under the POSH Act</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>In the prevailing legal uncertainty over whether gig workers are “employees” of the platform they work on, a recent High Court of Karnataka’s judgment has provided much clarity in the context of the applicability of the POSH Act to gig workers. This marks perhaps the first judicial intervention in India, firmly putting gig workers in the category of “employees” in any labour legislation. Though currently stayed, it has large implications for the coverage of gig workers in labour laws.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/42" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 42, 19 Oct, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-3"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/38/law-and-society/sub-classification-and-future-reservations.html" hreflang="en">Sub-classification and the Future of Reservations</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>Although the majority of judges in Davinder Singh v State of Punjab held that sub-classification among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for reservations in jobs is constitutionally permissible, even within the majority, there is a difference in how the judges view reservations. One finds them as an essential tool for inclusivity and social justice whereas the other sees them as a societal pacifier. The latter might become the dominant one soon.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/38" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 38, 21 Sep, 2024</a></div></div></div> </div> <div class="views-row clearfix row-3"> <div class="views-col col-1"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/34/law-and-society/judicial-discipline-and-judicial-authority.html" hreflang="en">Judicial Discipline and Judicial Authority</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>Recent instances of lower courts and tribunals outright ignoring the orders of the Supreme Court point to a worrying breakdown of judicial discipline across the country. This phenomenon can be attributed to the Supreme Court’s own loss of moral authority and credibility over the last few years. Reversing the trend requires the Supreme Court to assert itself with the political executive on behalf of the judiciary as a whole.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/34" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 34, 24 Aug, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-2"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/29/law-and-society/breaking-50-barrier-reservations.html" hreflang="en">Breaking the 50% Barrier in Reservations</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>A division bench of the Patna High Court in Gaurav Kumar v State of Bihar (2024) recently held the Bihar government’s attempt to increase reservation quotas across the board to be unconstitutional. While ostensibly following the Supreme Court’s binding precedent in the Indra Sawhney case, the Court’s judgment throws up the unsatisfactory and contradictory state of reservation jurisprudence in India.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/29" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 29, 20 Jul, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-3"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/25/law-and-society/state-debt-and-constitution.html" hreflang="en">State Debt and the Constitution</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>The recent legal dispute between the Kerala government and the union over finances is not only a political tug-of-war between governments ruled by different parties but also an indication of a coming constitutional crisis over the union’s control of subnational debt. A constitutional vacuum needs to be addressed through appropriate amendments to the Constitution.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/25" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 25, 22 Jun, 2024</a></div></div></div> </div> <div class="views-row clearfix row-4"> <div class="views-col col-1"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/20/law-and-society/consumer-protection-and-professionals.html" hreflang="en">Consumer Protection and Professionals</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>In holding that advocates and lawyers cannot be sued in consumer courts, the Supreme Court has offered three reasons—the law was not intended to apply to professionals, lawyers are sui generis professionals, and lawyers actually are in a contract of service with their clients. This column brings attention to the contradictory approach of the Court on this matter.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/20" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 20, 18 May, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-2"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/law-and-society/party-manifestos-and-urban-governance.html" hreflang="en">Party Manifestos and Urban Governance</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>India’s urban areas have grown manifold over the years and continue to attract migrants and economic investments. However, governance has not kept pace with the changing needs. The promises of three major national political parties on urban governance and cities are examined to compare the different promises of change being made in this context.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/16" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 16, 20 Apr, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-3"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/12/law-and-society/many-mutinies-maamla-legal-hai.html" hreflang="en">The Many Mutinies of Maamla Legal Hai</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>Maamla Legal Hai is perhaps the first show in India to sympathetically represent the lives of lawyers, judges, and staff at the district court level in India. In doing so, it makes us question some of the established narratives of the legal profession and the justice delivery system, showing characters who rebel in quiet and not-so-quiet ways.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/12" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 12, 23 Mar, 2024</a></div></div></div> </div> <div class="views-row clearfix row-5"> <div class="views-col col-1"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/8/law-and-society/too-late-social-justice.html" hreflang="en">Too Late for Social Justice</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>The Supreme Court’s flawed and jurisprudentially unsound judgment in E V Chinnaiah (2005), which prohibited inter se reservations among Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, looks likely to be overturned by a seven-judge bench in State of Punjab v Davinder Singh. However, this may turn out to be too late to have any transformational effect on social justice, given the shrinking of the state.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/8" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 8, 24 Feb, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-2"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/3/law-and-society/powerful-internal-critique.html" hreflang="en">A Powerful Internal Critique</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>The Supreme Court’s judgment cancelling the remission of the convicts in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano, while being a resounding victory for the rule of law, civil liberties, and basic decency, is also an internal rebuke of the Court itself. The bench is unafraid to not only overtly criticise previous benches, which had paved the way for remission, but also other benches which pay mere lip service to constitutional values while acting contrary to the same.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2024/3" hreflang="en">Vol. 59, Issue No. 3, 20 Jan, 2024</a></div></div></div> <div class="views-col col-3"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2023/51/law-and-society/selective-misinterpretation-article-370.html" hreflang="en">The Selective Misinterpretation of Article 370</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-authors"><div class="field-content"><a href="/author/alok-prasanna-kumar" hreflang="en">Alok Prasanna Kumar</a></div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-summary"><div class="field-content views-field-body"> <p>In its judgment upholding the constitutional validity of the abrogation of Article 370, the Supreme Court makes two claims: a historical one arguing that Article 370 was meant to be “temporary” and an interpretive one arguing that Article 370’s text allowed its unilateral abrogation by the President of India. This column examines the two claims made in the judgment, looking to see if a firm basis for either is made out.</p> </div></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-journal"><div class="field-content"><a href="/journal/2023/51" hreflang="en">Vol. 58, Issue No. 51, 23 Dec, 2023</a></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="pager" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="pagination-heading"> <h4 id="pagination-heading" class="visually-hidden">Pagination</h4> <ul class="pager__items js-pager__items"> <li class="pager__item is-active"> <a href="?page=0" title="Current page" aria-current="page"> <span class="visually-hidden"> Current page </span>1</a> </li> <li class="pager__item"> <a href="?page=1" title="Go to page 2"> <span class="visually-hidden"> Page </span>2</a> </li> <li class="pager__item"> <a href="?page=2" title="Go to page 3"> <span class="visually-hidden"> Page </span>3</a> </li> <li class="pager__item"> <a href="?page=3" title="Go to page 4"> <span 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