The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza

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In the end, Maneka Gandhi did not in fact get her passport. But we end this year’s introspection into constitutional matters with a landmark case: Menaka Gandhi vs. Union of India, 1977. Gandhi’s passport was impounded in ‘public interest’. While this followed statutory regulations, that’s the Passport Act, 1967, the question was, did this conform to natural justice? The Longest Constitution examines what due process really means, as well as look at why 1971 was a year that set several things into motion, such as the passage of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971, a tool for the government during Emergency, as well as the year when Raj Narain filed a petition challenging Indira Gandhi’s election in the Allahabad High court.

Reading material:

On electoral malpractices and Emergency:

Bhushan, Prashant, 2017, The Case that Shook India: the verdict that led to the Emergency, New Delhi: Penguin Random House.
Austin, Granville, 2003, Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience, (OUP: New Delhi).

On preventive detention laws and MISA:

Singh, Ujjwal Kumar, 2007, The State, Democracy and Anti-Terror Laws in India, (New Delhi: Sage Publications).

On Maneka Gandhi and due process:

Chandrachud, Abhinav, 2016, ‘Due Process’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).
Surendranath, Anup, 2016, ‘Life and Personal Liberty, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

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The fifth parliamentary elections of India in 1971, set into motion a series of events that shaped the nation and the constitution. While campaigning, political parties promised voters that the constitution would be amended, a clear indicator that the Supreme Court’s striking down of parliamentary laws, such as in the Bank Nationalisation case (1970) and the privy purse case (1970) was being seen as an obstacle to a better India. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the constitutional provisions for constitutional amendments. We also look at the fate of thousands of Indians since 1962, when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of sedition. Finally, we look at the expansion of Article 21 - that's the right to personal liberty and life when a convict on a death sentence protested against being placed in solitary confinement.

Further reading:

On Sedition:

https://sedition.article-14.com/
Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

On Article 21:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/162242/
Surendranath, Anup, 2016, ‘Life and Personal Liberty, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

On the 1971 elections and constitutional amendments:

Austin, Granville, 2003, Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience, (OUP: New Delhi).
Khosla, Madhav, 2016, ‘Constitutional Amendment’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

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Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees every person the right to life or personal liberty. But what good is such a right if it means being under surveillance and subjected to domiciliary visits at night? This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at how courts interpreted Article 21. Just as a reminder: in the AK Gopalan case, the state upheld the preventive detention law under which Gopalan was detained. What happened though when Kharak Singh challenged the UP police laws which authorized his surveillance. We also continue in our investigations into the privy purse and what the Supreme Court decided in the matter.

On the privy purse:

Austin, Granville, 2003, Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience, (OUP: New Delhi).

On sedition:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

On Kharak Singh and Article 21:

Surendranath, Anup, 2016, ‘Life and Personal Liberty, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

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Does merely disapproving of the government amount to sedition? In Debi Soren vs State, 1950, the court thought so. What consequences did that have for free speech in India? Plus, in this episode of The Longest Constitution, we look at how the Indira Gandhi government tried every unconstitutional means to abolish the privy purses in 1970 (it was struck down by the Supreme Court anyway). Finally, we look at the famous case of preventive detention, AK Gopalan vs State of Madras (1950) and look at the long dark shadow it casts.

Reading material:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1894387/
http://www.commonlii.org/in/journals/INJlConLaw/2007/2.pdf
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1857950/
https://theleaflet.in/decoding-the-history-of-sedition-law-in-india/
https://www.cam.ac.uk/files/a-tryst-with-destiny/index.html

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The fundamental right to movement under Article 19(1)(d) was carefully worded: (d) to move freely throughout the territory of India. But what about beyond the territory of India? For the first two decades of independent India, obtaining a passport meant being entirely at the mercy of the Ministry of External Affairs. But this changed in 1967. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the expansion of the freedom to movement, as well as the consequences of a majoritarian government driven by a socialist vision in the 1970s, under Indira Gandhi. And yes, we also begin our journey in tracing the history of sedition in India. Tune in!

Reading material:

On flying:

Burman, Anirudh, 2016, ‘Movement and Residence’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1747577/
https://caravanmagazine.in/history/lessons-from-indias-long-journey-to-gain-the-right-to-fly

On the privy purse and constitutional amendments:

Austin, Granville, 2003, Working a Democratic Constitution: A History of the Indian Experience, (New Delhi: OUP).
http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/no-more-pocket-money/493257/2

On sedition:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

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Land conflict is the most enduring form of conflict between the state and individuals. And it is here that the Goondas Act, in place in nine states, allows the state unquestionable and unaccountable power to squash dissent by detaining a person for up to a year. This episode of The Longest Constitution wraps up by looking at the Goondas Act, by discussing the increasing instances in which it is used. We also look at the famous Bank Nationalization case as well, which led to one of the sharpest confrontations between Parliament and the Supreme Court. Finally, we think about the legal tools available to those who feel ‘annoyed’ and ‘insulted’ on religious matters, and the illiberal consequences of Section 295A, IPC.

Further reading:

On the Goonda’s Act

Burman, Anirudh, 2016, ‘Movement and Residence’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).
https://www.landconflictwatch.org/

On Property

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/235-accused-detained-under-goondas-act-in-chennai-so-far-this-year/article35910480.ece
https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/Blasphemy-Law-in-India-An-Overview
https://article-14.com/post/how-dalit-farmer-shyamlal-became-a-goonda-for-seeking-land-rights
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/landowners-along-corridor-may-get-maximum-of-9-cr/article24235712.ece

On Section 295A:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

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Who is a goonda? And what’s the problem with the ‘goondas’ act - in place in many states in India? As we dig deeper into Article 19, we consider the fundamental right to movement. Article 19(1)(d) guarantees all citizens the right to move freely throughout the territory of India. And Article 19(1)(e) guarantees all citizens the right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India. And yet, the goonda laws continue to give the local administration the power to extern people declared as ‘goondas’. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at this act as well as examines the consequences of the Golaknath case (1967). We also look at India’s very own blasphemy law, Section 295A of the IPC, another example of a speech-prohibitive legal provision that shapes the freedom of expression.

On property:

Wahi, Namrata, 2016, “Property”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

On goondas:

Burman, Anirudh, 2016, ‘Movement and Residence’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/goondagiri-of-the-goonda-act/291593

On Section 295A, IPC

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

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What does the Supreme Court do when parliament tries to strike down the collegium system? It strikes it down! This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the most recent effort of the government to control judicial appointments - the 99th amendment, 2014 and its aftermath. We also begin to unravel other dimensions of ‘public order’ by looking at penal clauses which allow clamping down on the freedom of expression, to ensure public order. Lastly, we look at a monumental case in the journey of the fundamental right to property: Golaknath vs. the state of Punjab, 1967.

On property:

Wahi, Namrata, 2016, “Property”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

On public order:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP).

On judicial appointments:

Sengupta, Arghya and Ritwika Sharma, 2018, Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence (Delhi: OUP)
Krishna, Justice B. N (retd.) 2016, “Judicial Independence”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

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Is accessing the Internet a fundamental right? A recent judgment affirmed that since so many essential services depend on the internet, shutting down access to the internet is tantamount to a violation of fundamental rights. We look at a worrying trend in India: a frequent resort to doing precisely this. We also look at the qualification of ‘public purpose’ in the state acquiring property and how this was a contentious matter between the judiciary and parliament in the 1950s. And yes, how a freedom fighter continued to fight for freedom in independent India! Tune in!

On Kashmir and internet shutdowns

-https://scroll.in/latest/1011995/jammu-and-kashmir-93-internet-shutdown-orders-issued-after-sc-order-on-communication-restrictions

-https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49234708

-https://indiankanoon.org/doc/82461587/

On ‘violent words’ and ‘public order’

-https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/UE9YldojhVlWnSI877F4FJ/Violent-words-free-speech-and-the-Indian-Constitution.html

-https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/lohia

On the fundamental right to property

-Wahi, Namrata, 2016, “Property”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

-https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1890860/

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If you use the internet (!), this is the episode you need to tune into!

But first….what does it actually mean? To have a fundamental right to property? This was a huge debate in the Constituent Assembly and Article 31 and 19(1)(g) granted Indian citizens the right to property. This meant that while Article 31 limited how the state could acquire existing property rights, Article 19(1)(g), protected the capacity of individuals to acquire a property as part of their occupation and livelihood. But how did this unravel once India became a republic? And what was the torturous history of Article 31 before it was finally abolished in 1978?

We also look at the Intermediary Rules, 2021 which severely affect our fundamental right to the freedom of expression and digital rights.

Tune in!

Digital rights:

https://internetfreedom.in/5questions-to-ask-before-installing-an-app/
https://internetfreedom.in/intermediaries-rules-2021/
https://www.mondaq.com/india/social-media/1093222/safe-harbour-principle-and-the-information-technology-intermediary-guidelines-and-digital-media-ethics-code-rules-2021
https://www.opindia.com/2021/08/sanjay-hegde-told-to-live-without-twitter-by-delhi-high-court/

On the fundamental right to property:

Wahi, Namrata, 2016, “Property”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

On ‘in the interests of public order’ as a ‘reasonable restriction’:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP). Chapter 3.

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Are private corporations such as Twitter obliged to uphold constitutional freedoms? And why should they? Who constitutes the ‘community’ in the ‘community standards’ used to regulate online speech? Welcome to the evolving jurisprudence on the balance between private firms, constitutional freedoms and the sovereignty of the state! We look at a 2020 case where Twitter arbitrarily suspended an account of a Supreme Court advocate. Plus, starting this week, we also start on a long trek on the short history of the fundamental rights to property, Article 31 and 19(1)(f) which were repealed in 1978.

Tune in!

On Digital Rights:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/india-it-rules-2021-amendments-social-media-explained-7958000/
https://internetfreedom.in/india-75-digital-rights-ka-amrit-mahotsav/

On the Fundamental Right to Property:

Wahi, Namrata, 2016, “Property”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

On ‘in the interests of public order as a ‘reasonable restriction’:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP). Chapter 3.
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/modi-v-uttar-pradesh/

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A series of tweets by Prashant Bhushan seriously threaten the ‘majesty of the courts’? Well, the courts clearly thought so and charged Bhushan with contempt of court. In a case that illustrates the excessive and arbitrary nature of contempt of court, this episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the 2020 case, where Bhushan was fined Rs. 1 for his tweets. We also wrap up the making of New Delhi in the early 2000s, as one with a greater priority of malls on land meant for forests.

On Contempt of Court:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP). Chapter 9.
https://thewire.in/law/prashant-bhushan-supreme-court-contempt-highlights
https://theprint.in/india/photos-of-justice-bobde-astride-a-hunky-harley-davidson-reveal-different-side-to-indias-cji/450849/
https://thewire.in/law/mouse-under-the-throne-the-judicial-legacy-of-sharad-a-bobde
https://www.scobserver.in/cases/in-re-prashant-bhushan-contempt-petition-against-prashant-bhushan-case-background/

On affordable housing and the right to livelihood:

https://www.hlrn.org.in/documents/Indian_Law_and_Policy.htm
Ghertner, Ashner, T., 2015, Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class CIty Making in Delhi (Oxford University Press).
Bhuwania, Anuj, 2016, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press).

You can follow Priya on social media:

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Twitter: (https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )

Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

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How does one make a world-class city? By image management! And dislocating the poor. Between 1995 and the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi in 2010, the PIL went from being used for the poor, to against the poor. The building of malls and flyovers were prioritized over core municipal concerns: sanitation, health and education. How did this happen? By the judiciary turning into the executive and issuing orders. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at slum eviction as well as how contempt of court has widened progressively over the years, severely crippling the freedom of expression.

On Sahara and contempt of court:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP). Chapter 9.
https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/book/story/book-review-sahara-the-untold-story-42920-2013-12-05
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/158887669/

Slum eviction:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/842898/
Ghertner, Ashner, T., 2015, Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class CIty Making in Delhi (Oxford University Press).
Bhuwania, Anuj, 2016, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press).

Judicial independence:

Sengupta, Arghya and Ritwika Sharma, 2018, Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence (Delhi: OUP)
Krishna, Justice B. N (retd.) 2016, “Judicial Independence”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).
https://thewire.in/law/aadhaar-verdict-money-bill-rajya-sabha

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"Let’s send a woman to jail for a day for speaking her mind?"

That’s what the Supreme Court did when Arundhati Roy protested against the court’s verdict on constructing the Narmada Dam.

So can the courts enforce silence? Unfortunately, yes. While in the USA and the UK, freedom of speech is prized above concerns of lowering the dignity of the court, in India, the courts have broadened the grounds under which a person can be criminally prosecuted on the charge of ‘contempt of court’.

We also look at the shift in the interpretation of slum dwellers' right to life and livelihood, which paved the way for the greatest slum demolition drive in New Delhi.

As well as the invention of the ‘collegium’ by the Supreme Court in 1993.

The Slum Demolition Drive in New Delhi

Ghertner, Ashner, T., 2015, Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class CIty Making in Delhi (Oxford University Press).
Bhuwania, Anuj, 2016, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press).
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/re-arundhati-roy/

On judicial independence:

Sengupta, Arghya and Ritwika Sharma, 2018, Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence (Delhi: OUP)
Krishna, Justice B. N (retd.) 2016, “Judicial Independence”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

On Aadhar

https://thewire.in/law/aadhaar-verdict-money-bill-rajya-sabha

On Contempt of Court

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/339109/

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Who is responsible for people shitting and urinating in public? This question shaped the fate of millions of slum dwellers in the capital, New Delhi. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at how nuisance laws were interpreted until the 1990s as actions and objects, not people themselves. The absence of public infrastructures, such as housing and sanitation was seen as a governance failure, not a responsibility of slum dwellers. We also look at ‘contempt of court’ as one of the reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) and what makes it unreasonable. As well as the constitutional balance between the judiciary and parliament. Tune in!

On slum dwellers in New Delhi

Ghertner, Ashner, T., 2015, Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class CIty Making in Delhi (Oxford University Press)
Bhuwania, Anuj, 2016, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press).
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/56090b3de4b01497111742d7

On judicial independence:

Sengupta, Arghya and Ritwika Sharma, 2018, Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence (Delhi: OUP)
Krishna, Justice B. N (retd.) 2016, “Judicial Independence”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).

Contempt of Court

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP). Chapter 9.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/371149/
https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/india0516.pdf

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Other than you, who can talk about your sex life? A right to privacy means determining the boundaries about what can be spoken about, and what cannot be spoken about. In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we progress with our examination of the evolution of privacy rights and look at a case concerning the actress Shilpa Shetty and her private life. We also look at a ‘reasonable’ restriction’ on our fundamental right to the expression: contempt of court. Finally, a little bit about what makes the Aadhar card a violation of our rights.

On privacy:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP). Chapter 8.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1222884/

On contempt of court and the Delhi sealing case:

Roy, Arundhati, ‘Scandal in the Palace’, Available at: https://www.countercurrents.org/roy250907.htm
Bhuwania, Anuj, 2016, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press).
https://www.livemint.com/Politics/KCYobHBh0bp2ODK2IiVFYK/MidDay-staff-held-guilty-of-contempt.html

On judicial independence:

Sengupta, Arghya and Ritwika Sharma, (2018), Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence (Delhi: OUP)
Krishna, Justice B. N (retd.) (2016), “Judicial Independence”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, (OUP: New Delhi).
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1294854/

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What is the balance between privacy rights and freedom of expression? As we mark the progress of privacy rights, we examine an important case which vacated an injunction against the publication of a book, holding the freedom of expression to be greater than that of privacy and observing that questions of defamation can be settled by trial. We also look at why the UIDAI did not consider serious questions of a data leak or how citizens' biometric data is shared. Finally, we look at the darkest dimension of the Delhi sealing case: the profit made by YK Sabharwal’s sons.

Reading material:

On free speech and privacy:

Bhatia, Gautam, ‘Death by a thousand cuts: freedom of speech injunctions and the Ramdev Affair’, https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2018/08/07/death-by-a-thousand-cuts-freedom-of-speech-injunctions-and-the-ramdev-affair/#:~:text=In%20Khushwant%20Singh%20v%20Maneka,that%20dealt%20with%20the%20Gandhis.
Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, (New Delhi: OUP)
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1203848/

On the Delhi sealing case:

Roy, Arundhati, ‘Scandal in the Palace’ https://www.countercurrents.org/roy250907.htm
Bhuwania, Anuj, 2016, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press).

On judicial independence:

Sengupta, Arghya and Ritwika Sharma, (2018), Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India: Transparency, Accountability and Independence (Delhi: OUP)
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1302865/

On UIDAI:

Khera, Reetika, (2019), Dissent on Aadhaar: Big Data meets Big Brother, (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan)
Nilekeni, Nandan and Viral Shah (2015), Rebooting India: Realising a Billion Aspirations, (New Delhi: Penguin)

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This 75th Independence Day is Amrit alright! But there is plenty of vish slushing around in this Amrit. In this special episode, we mark our independence by looking at the loss of our privacy with the insidious Aadhar card, which started without a statutory law. We also look at how the Supreme Court has transformed into an institution that has obstructed justice, rather than provided access to it, and took a good hard look at the role of the amicus curiae.

On the AADHAR card and privacy:

Parker, Ian (2011), “The I.D. Man” Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/the-i-d-man
Khera, Reetika, “The Different Ways in Which Aadhaar Infringes on Privacy”, Available at:
https://thewire.in/government/privacy-aadhaar-supreme-court

On the PIL:

Bhuwania, Anuj, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, Cambridge University Press: New Delhi, Chapter 2.

On Amicus Curiae:

Desai Ashok H. and S. Muralidhar, “Public Interest Litigation:
Potential and Problems” in B.N. Kirpal et al. eds, Supreme but not Infallible – Essays in Honour of the Supreme Court of India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000). Available at: https://www.ielrc.org/content/a0003.pdf.

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Is the word ‘privacy’ in our Constitution? It isn't! Then how did we go from a point where it is not in our constitution to the Puttaswamy judgment (2017) when the Supreme Court unanimously recognised a fundamental right to privacy of every individual guaranteed by the Constitution, within Article 21 in particular and Part III on the whole. We are tracking Indian privacy jurisprudence in this episode of The Longest Constitution as well as looking at how the Supreme Court took on traders and shopkeepers in the MCD sealing case. Plus, a little bit about whether the right to vote is part of our fundamental rights or not.

On privacy:

https://www.scobserver.in/journal/right-to-privacy-court-in-review/#:~:text=Kharak%20Singh%20v%20State%20of%20Uttar%20Pradesh&text=Kharak%20Singh%20then%20challenged%20the,of%20life%20and%20personal%20liberty
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1306519/

On the MCD sealing case:

Bhuwania, Anuj, Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India, Cambridge University Press: New Delhi, Chapter 2.

On the voting case:

Sondhi, Aditya, ‘Elections’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi

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What is the ‘truth’ about ‘us’? Phoolan Devi discovered a movie allegedly based on the ‘truth’ about her, distorted her life completely. This episode of The Longest Constitution progresses in its journey of mapping the constitutional right to privacy. We look at the contest over truth, between Phoolan Devi and Shekhar Kapoor and observe how the Constitution is a living text, interpreted and expanded upon over time. On the question of PIL, we uncover the class conflict in the reshaping of Delhi in the 1990s and take a parting look at electoral bonds.

On Phoolan Devi and privacy:

Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 8.
http://arundhati-roy.blogspot.com/2004/11/great-indian-rape-trick-i.htmlhttps://thewire.in/politics/bjp-congress-electoral-bonds-2019-20-donations-political-parties

On electoral bonds:

https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/electoral-bonds-rti-arun-jaitley-law-ministry_in_5e2eccb1c5b6d6767fd8733f?utm_hp_ref=in-electoral-bonds
Sondhi, Aditya, “Elections”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

On PIL’s reshaping New Delhi:

Baviskar, Amita, 2006, “Rethinking Indian Environmentalism Industrial Pollution in Delhi and Fisheries in Kerala, in (ed), Forging Environmentalism
Justice, Livelihood, and Contested Environments, New York: ME Sharpe.
Divan, Shyam and Armin Rosencraz, (ed) (2001), Environmental law and policy in India, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 13.

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What comes first? Monuments or people’s jobs? In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we take a look at yet another MC Mehta petition (there were several!) and how the PIL went from being a tool for the poor to an unaccountable weapon wielded by the Supreme Court. We also look at a case where a serial killer petitioned for his right to privacy and consent when it came to his autobiography being published. The case raised the question of whether a ‘public figure’ can file for defamation? And lastly, we look into electoral bonds and their unconstitutional nature, more deeply.

On electoral bonds:

https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/electoral-bonds-rti-arun-jaitley-law-ministry_in_5e2eccb1c5b6d6767fd8733f?utm_hp_ref=in-electoral-bonds
Sondhi, Aditya, “Elections”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

On the Taj Mahal and environmental litigation:

Divan, Shyam and Armin Rosencraz, (ed) (2001), Environmental law and policy in India, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 13.

On Auto Shankar and defamation:

https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/r-rajagopal-v-state-of-t-n/
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai//article60429828.ece
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/infosys-slaps-defamation-notice-on-three-newspapers/article6098717.ece
Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 8.

You can follow Priya on social media:

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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured

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It's our 50th episode! And we are looking at a thoroughly unconstitutional affair: electoral bonds! This episode of The Longest Constitution looks into how in the name of transparency, the BJP government introduced unaccountable crores into Indian elections. We also look at other sinister matters, such as 69A of the IT Act which allows the government to block public access to an intermediary. Finally, we continue with our slow and steady study of the PIL and how it led to the Supreme Court turning into an order-passing institution, rather than following its constitutional mandate of interpreting the Constitution.

On electoral bonds:

https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/11/25/electoral-bonds-safeguards-of-indian-democracy-are-crumbling-pub-80428
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/power-to-the-rich-india-needs-to-talk-about-money-in-politics/story-fIX0iZ32V7bzkMlZIP6xlK.html
https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/electoral-bonds-delhi-elections-rti_in_5e44eafcc5b62b85f82eac4d

On 69A, IT Act, 2000

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/dowry-calculator-satirical-website-block-delhi-high-court-centre-7921354/
https://internetfreedom.in/delhi-hc-issues-notice-to-the-government-for-blocking-satirical-dowry-calculator-website/
https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/all-about-section-69a-of-it-act-under-which-twitter-had-withheld-several-posts-accounts/597367/

On PIL and environmental litigation

Baviskar, Amita, 2006, “Rethinking Indian Environmentalism Industrial Pollution in Delhi and Fisheries in Kerala, in (ed), Forging Environmentalism
Justice, Livelihood, and Contested Environments, New York: ME Sharpe.
Divan, Shyam and Armin Rosencraz, (ed) (2001), Environmental law and policy in India, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 13.

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Have you read The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani? Chances are, not! While pirated copies may be in circulation, this episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the Ambani's filed an injunction against the book’s publishers. This is not unusual. Private and powerful corporations and individuals have used the clause of defamation, both under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India, as well as the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to obstruct the publication of a book of public interest, with success. We also look at how much a candidate can spend in an election campaign and the laws related to that. Plus, we examine the growth of the PIL in the 1980s looking at a very pertinent case: air pollution in New Delhi.

Reading material:

On the Ambanis and the injunction against The Polyester Prince:
https://www.rediff.com/money/2000/jul/26dalal.htm
https://theprint.in/features/remembering-dhirubhai-ambani-the-polyester-prince-who-made-himself-king-of-india-inc/169949/
Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 8.
On PIL’s and air pollution:
Baviskar, Amita, 2006, “Rethinking Indian Environmentalism Industrial Pollution in Delhi and Fisheries in Kerala, in (ed), Forging Environmentalism
Justice, Livelihood, and Contested Environments, New York: ME Sharpe.
Divan, Shyam and Armin Rosencraz, (ed) (2001), Environmental law and policy in India, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 13.
On campaign finance laws:
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/680015/
Sondhi, Aditya, “Elections”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

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Considering the number of candidates contesting in elections who have pending criminal cases against them, what if one does not actually want to vote for any of them? This episode looks at the litigation which led the Supreme Court to introduce the option of NOTA - None of the Above in EVMs (electronic voting machines). We also look at the Delhi oleum gas disaster, which was eerily similar to the Bhopal gas tragedy but we note the differences in the litigation and outcome. And finally, we look at how television is also regulated by arbitrary and vague codes which allow prohibition in its transmission.

Listen to the previous episode here: The Longest Constitution

Reading material:

Delhi oleum case:

Divan, Shyam and Armin Rosencraz, (ed) (2001), Environmental law and policy in India, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 15.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1486949/

Freedom of expression and TV:

Chandrachud, Abhinav, 2017, Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India, New Delhi: Viking.
Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 7.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/889663/

The NOTA case:

Sondhi, Aditya, ‘Elections’, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/peoples-union-civil-liberties-v-india/
https://main.sci.gov.in/pdf/SupremeCourtReport/2013_v12_pii.pdf

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Can you be arrested for a Facebook post? What are the laws which govern freedom of expression on the Internet? This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and this provision allowed the arbitrary arrest and prosecution of several writers, artists, and generally, regular people! With this episode, we also wrap up the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and conclude how more than an American company, it was the Indian government that let the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy down. And lastly, we look at how freedom to expression also includes the right to receive information.

Freedom of expression:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-shreya-singhal-case-that-struck-down-section-66a-of-it-act-7408366/
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/sec-66a-21-individuals-who-changed-the-system-2325682/

Bhopal gas tragedy:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/A-traffic-accident-in-Bhopal/article13582174.ece
https://www.india-seminar.com/semframe.html

Divan, Shyam and Armin Rosencraz, (ed) (2001), Environmental law and policy in India, New Delhi: OUP. Chapter 13.

The right to receive information:

https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/peoples-union-of-civil-liberties-pucl-v-union-of-india/
https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha-2019/43-newly-elected-lok-sabha-mps-have-criminal-record-adr/article27253649.ece
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/union-india-uoi-v-respondent-association-democratic-reforms-another-peoples-union-civil-liberties-pucl-another-v-union-india-uoi-another/

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

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Why is Indian cinema regulated by the Censor Board? And what are the archaic mores that regulate it? In this episode of The Longest Constitution we look at how the Censor Board sensibilities shaped the iconic film, Sholay and delve into the concept of parens patriae. We also continue tracking the journey of the Bhopal gas tragedy and the peculiar argument advanced by the Indian government that the USA would be better ground to try the case because of its more sophisticated tort law . And finally, we look at how Article 21 has expanded to reexamine substantive provisions of law.

On the Censor Board:

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/a-sholay-we-dont-know/

Liang, Lawrence, 2016, “Free Speech and Expression”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

Chandrachud, Abhinav, 2017, Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India, New Delhi: Viking.

On the Bhopal gas tragedy:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/A-traffic-accident-in-Bhopal/article13582174.ece

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/union-carbidedow-lawsuit-re-bhopal/#:~:text=In%201989%20the%20Indian%20Supreme,Bhopal%20victims%20and%20their%20survivors.

https://www.india-seminar.com/semframe.html

On due process, Article 21 and the Sunil Batra case:

Chandrachud, Abhibav, (2016), “Due Process”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/162242/

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

You can follow Priya on social media:

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Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )

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It took the world’s worst industrial disaster, the gas leak on 3rd December 1984 Bhopal, for India to wake up to the fact that we did not have the laws to protect people from transnational criminal negligence. This is the first installment of the a three-part account of what followed the tragedy. We also look at the expansion of Article 21 in the famous Menaka Gandhi passport case as well as why we have a film Censor Board.

On the Bhopal gas tragedy:

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/environment/30-years-of-bhopal-gas-tragedy-a-continuing-disaster-47634
Chouhan, T R (ed) (2004), Bhopal: The Inside Story, Apex Press: New Delhi.

3, On the right to fly:

Mirza, Priya, (2021, ‘Lessons from India’s Long Journey to gaining the right to fly’, https://caravanmagazine.in/history/lessons-from-indias-long-journey-to-gain-the-right-to-fly

4. On due process:

CHandrachud, Abhibav, (2016), “Due Process”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram(https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )
Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )
Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

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Finally, we are here. Sixteen months after completing the draft of the Constitution of India, the same bunch of people amended three fundamental rights: Articles 15, 19, and 31. This episode, though, focuses on the litigation and changes to Article 19. We also continue with tracking the journey of freedom of expression as well as the birth of the PIL in India’s constitutional jurisprudence. What happens when the state determines the price and the number of pages of newspapers? Tune in and find out!

Reading material:

On the first amendment:

Menon, Nivedita (2004), “Citizenship and the Passive Revolution: Interpreting the First Amendment”, Economic and Political Weekly,39(18), 1812-1819.
Singh, Tripurdaman (2021), Sixteen Stormy Days: The Story of the First Amendment of the Constitution of India, New Delhi: Penguin.
Liang, Lawrence, 2016, “Free Speech and Expression”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.
Chandrachud, Abhinav, 2017, Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India, New Delhi: Viking.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/243002/

On PIL:

Divan, Shyam, (2016),” Public Interest Litigation”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/243002/

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

You can follow Priya on social media:

Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )
Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )
Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

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What led to the momentous and radical first amendment to the Constitution of India? This episode looks at another case, which compelled our first democratically elected government to reconsider the extent of the Freedom of Expression under Article 19(1)(a). We also wrap up our exploration of the Niyamgiri conflict by looking at the events which led to India’s first environmental referendum. Plus, a few alarming bits about how the President of India is elected!

Reading material:
On free speech:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1187435/

Chandrachud, Abhinav, 2017, Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India, New Delhi: Viking.On the Niyamgiri conflict:

Padel, Felix and Samarendra Das, 2011, Out of this Earth: East India Adivasis and the Aluminum Cartel, New Delhi: Orient Black Swan.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/dongrias-decide-41620

On the President of India:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/334417/

Dam, Shubhankar, 2016, “Executive” in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )
Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )
Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

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What's the big deal about an oath? A lot. And especially when it is to do with the people entrusted with the highest political offices under the Constitution of India. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at a case that clarified the hugely important role of the President of India: upholding the Indian constitution. Apart from that, we carry on with two other journeys we are making: the story of the Dongria Kondhs and their battle against Vedanta, the mining corporation under the PESA Act. And the contested journey of free speech in India.

On free speech:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/43023/ Bhatia, Gautam, 2016, Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution, New Delhi: OUP.

On the Niyamgiri conflict:

https://climate-diplomacy.org/case-studies/mining-conflict-niyamgiri-hills-india Padel, Felix, 2009, Sacrificing People: Invasions of a Tribal Landscape, New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan.

On the President of India:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/648662/ Dam, Shubhankar, 2016, “Executive” in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

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What happens when a million-dollar mining corporation eyes a pristine ecological space protected by constitutional safeguards? Plenty of corruption for sure! This episode unravels the conflict over bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills, Orissa, and looks at the contest between private commercial and constitutional interests. Plus, starting with this episode, The Longest Constitution embarks on a mini-history of free speech in independent India, beginning with the first constitutional challenge on free speech, the Romesh Thapar case, 1950.

On Romesh Thapar:

https://www.india-seminar.com/2017/697/697_arudra_burra.htm
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/thappar-v-madras/#:~:text=Case%20Analysis,-Case%20Summary%20and&text=Romesh%20Thappar%20filed%20a%20petition,public%20safety%E2%80%9D%20was%20too%20broad.

On the Niyamgiri conflict:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-diverging-paths-of-two-young-women-foretell-the-fate-of-a-tribe-in-india
https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/dongria

On parliamentary privileges:

Madhavan, MR, (2016), “Legislature: composition, qualifications, and disqualification”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

You can follow Priya on social media:

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Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Find other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or on any other major podcast app.

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Can you be forced to vote? The Gujarat legislative assembly passed such a bill making it compulsory for voters in the municipality and panchayat elections to vote. Find out in this episode, what happened next. On a constitutional note though, the law raises questions about the process of voting as a fundamental right. What is it? An obligation? Or a right? Apart from this, in this episode of The Longest Constitution, we carry on looking at the constitutional rights of the tribals guaranteed under Schedule V of the Constitution of India, as well as the journey of freedom of press.

On Gujarat:

https://www.firstpost.com/india/gujarat-becomes-first-indian-state-make-voting-compulsory-local-body-polls-2366682.html

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/gujarat-hc-stays-compulsary-voting/article7565684.ece

On parliamentary privileges:

https://scroll.in/article/948304/when-legislators-demanded-high-court-judges-be-arrested-this-1964-case-was-once-a-national-landmark
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/638013/

On tribal land rights

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1969682/
https://sprf.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Mining-and-Tribal-Land-Rights.pdf
https://www.mmpindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/community-resource-guide.pdf

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

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Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )

Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )

Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Find other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or on any other major podcast app.

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On what grounds can a MP be disqualified? Quite a few! In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we look into constitutional provisions on an MP or MLA’s accountability. The Jaya Bachchan case relates to the first ground of disqualification from the government office listed under Article 102 - and that is, office of profit. Under the provisions of Article 102 (1) and Article 191 (1) of the Constitution, an MP or an MLA (or an MLC) is barred from holding any office of profit under the central or state government. We also look at whether a legislator’s privileges can be a ground to restrict a citizen’s fundamental right to expression guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India? And finally, we examine peculiar qualifications - from the number of children one has to defecate in the open - attached as qualifications to contest in panchayat elections - in quite a few states.

Reading material:

On office of profit and the Jaya Bachchan case

https://thewire.in/law/the-curious-case-of-no-profit-in-office-of-profit

Madhavan, MR, (2016), “Legislature: composition, qualifications, and disqualification”, in Choudhry, Sujit (et al), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, OUP: New Delhi.

Qualifications to be a local representative

https://lexforti.com/legal-news/persons-having-more-than-two-children-disqualified-as-candidates-in-panchayat-election/
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/sc-upholds-two-child-norm-for-haryana-sarpanchs/articleshow/102650.cms?from=mdr

On freedom of expression

https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/m-s-m-sharma-v-krishna-sinha/
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1898063/

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You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

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Can the speaker of a legislative assembly issue an arrest warrant? Apparently yes! And it did happen. A few times at least. In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we explore the excesses of parliamentary privileges and the unsavory consequences they can have. We also look at the start of constitutionally defined local bodies, with the passage of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution of India, which aims at the devolution of power through the creation of the Panchayati Raj System and local representative bodies. And finally, we take a look at the inbuilt sexism in the POSH, 2013 which penalizes a woman for filing a false complaint.

Reading material:

On legislative privileges:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3096691

On the POSH Act:

https://poshatwork.com/delhi-high-court-imposes-a-rs-50000-fine-for-filing-a-false-sexual-harassment-complaint/
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/98792027/

Local governance in India:

https://prsindia.org/theprsblog/examining-urban-local-governance-in-india-through-the-case-of-bengalurua
https://www.orfonline.org/research/the-unfinished-business-of-decentralised-urban-governance-in-india-61201/
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Haryana-law-on-minimum-qualification-for-panchayat-polls-valid-says-Supreme-Court/article60274721.ece

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Who are the Baiga people? And why were scheduled tribes like them granted protection in the Indian Constitution? This episode of The Longest Constitution travels around three distinct kinds of work: the work of an MP, the rights of tribals and their livelihood and the constitutional provision for equal pay for equal work. We look at the PVR Narsimha the dismaying judgment which acquitted members of parliament from accepting a bribe in parliament and look at the gradual displacement of scheduled tribes from their forests.

On the Baiga people:

https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/baiga-0

This is Our Homeland: A Collection of Essays on the Betrayal of Adivasi

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=9T3zYvKVF98C&dq=Adivasi+Mahasabha+founder&pg=PA84&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

On the bribery case

https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2020/07/01/guest-post-reconsidering-p-v-narasimha-rao-v-state-bribery-parliamentary-votes-and-parliamentary-immunity/
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/45852197/

On Randhir Singh and equal pay for equal work:

https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/equal-pay-for-equal-work-statute-and-constitution/
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1230349/

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You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

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B.R. Ambedkar. The man who did more than draft the Constitution of India. This special episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the pervasive and insidious nature of the caste system, and how millions of Indians struggle against its dehumanizing ways and fight for equality, across the world. We also look at how the right to convert, a fundamental right enshrined in the Indian Constitution has been watered down by the judiciary’s interpretation of our religious freedoms. And there’s a little bit about cricket too.

On cricket:

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/why-no-dalit-cricketers-in-india-20180531-p4zim6.html
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/reservation-vinod-kambli-dalits-varun-grover-6501257/
https://www.firstpost.com/india/indian-crickets-refusal-to-acknowledge-caste-privilege-cannot-mask-reality-of-its-pervasiveness-8986071.html
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/south-africa-cricket-quota-debate-in-black-and-white-6208846/

On untouchability in India

https://www.ncaer.org/news_details.php?nID=91
https://socy.umd.edu/sites/socy.umd.edu/files/pubs/Thorat%20and%20Joshi%202019_The%20Continuning%20Practice%20of%20Untouchability%20in%20India.pdf

On Indians and caste in the USA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Bhagat_Singh_Thind
https://www.thequint.com/us-nri-news/why-making-caste-a-protected-category-in-the-us-is-a-necessity#read-more
https://thewire.in/caste/cisco-caste-discrimination-silicon-valley-dalit-prejudice

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You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

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What does the fundamental right to livelihood and profession amount to? This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the delicate balance between the moral obligations of the state and the fundamental rights of its citizens, in this case - a group of butchers, cow slaughter, and the question of livelihood. We also look at the wide definition of ‘work’ and the purpose of the Fifth Schedule in protecting the rights of the Scheduled Tribes and ponder upon the idea of a ‘workspace’.
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

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You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from. Find other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or on any other major podcast app.

On butchers:

De, Rohit (2018) A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/93885/

https://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/42058/1/Unit-2.pdf

On Nisha Priya Bhatia:

https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2020/04/25/centre-to-pay-rs-1-lakh-compensation-for-improper-handling-of-sexual-harassment-allegation-by-former-raw-agent-nisha-priya-bhatia/

https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/guest-post-nisha-priya-bhatia-vs-union-of-india-redefining-the-scope-of-sexual-harassment/

On Scheduled Tribes:

Guha, Ramachandra (2013) Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, his tribals and India, New Delhi: Penguin.

Sundar, Nandini (2016) The Scheduled Tribes and Their India

Politics, Identities, Policies, and Work, New Delhi: Oxford University Press

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What brought Gandhians and Muslims together in the Constituent Assembly? Prohibition! Really, why does our otherwise liberal Constitution have a provision on prohibition? And on what grounds can the state regulate the private consumption of alcohol? This episode of The Longest Constitution takes a look at the state’s regulation of the trade, sale, and consumption of Liquor and Bhaang. We also look at the colonial roots of such regulations and round it up with a look at a case of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Reading material:

On prohibition:

De, Rohit, 2018, A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic, Princeton University Press. https://lawtimesjournal.in/state-of-bombay-and-ors-vs-f-n-balsara/#_ftn2
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1258563/

On sexual harassment at the workplace:

https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/11/03/metoo-my-journey-for-justice-and-the-cost-of-due-process

On kendu leaves:

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1258563/
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/forests/kendu-leaves-29-odisha-villages-win-complete-autonomy-but-still-a-long-way-to-go-78269

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What makes men hysterical? The women’s reservation bill! This episode of The Longest Constitution examines why women aren't in Parliament, and how that would help. We also look at the issue of livelihood, which is often determined by everyone but those who lose their livelihood. We look at eggs, surrogacy and orchestra performers - maybe in that order!

Randall, Vicky, “Legislative Gender Quotas and Indian Exceptionalism: The Travails of the Women's Reservation Bill”, Comparative Politics

Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 63-82.

Menon, Nivedita, “Elusive 'Woman': Feminism and Women's Reservation Bill”

Economic and Political Weekly, 35, 43/44, 2000

Bhatia, Gautam, “Direct and Indirect Discrimination: Conceptual Slippages in the Orchestra Bars Case”,

https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2022/02/22/direct-and-indirect-discrimination-conceptual-slippages-in-the-orchestra-bars-case/

https://www.tribuneindia.com/1998/98jul14/head.htm

Legal reading material:

On eggs: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/447905/

On surrogacy: The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, https://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2021/232118.pdf

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")

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Can you use pepper spray on your colleague and get away with it? No. But apparently, a Member of Parliament can…and did! This season is about work and this episode of The Longest Constitution Podcast looks at the Members of Parliament (MPs), how much they work, and how much Parliament members get paid for that. Plus, we look at how women’s labor is either invisible or regulated. We discuss the tensions over commercial surrogacy in India and what’s the problem with the glorification of motherhood. From pregnancy as a ground to deny promotion to MP's salaries, from FIRs to parliamentary immunities - this episode packs in a lot!

Reading material:

Rajagopal case:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/andhra-mps-bring-pepper-spray-knife-to-parliament-disrupt-house-over-telangana-issue/articleshow/30359880.cms?from=mdr

https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/the-delhi-high-court-on-pregnancy-and-sex-discrimination/

Pregnancy as a ground for non-promotion: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/170287517/

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national//article60376346.ece

https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-salary-allowances-and-pension-of-members-of-parliament-amendment-ordinance-2020

https://indiankanoon.org/doc/170287517/

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Throughout history, the biggest fights have been over the one thing which truly matters: property rights. In this Women’s Day Special we have a short look at the long history of how laws and the Indian Constituion on the property are biased against women, and how women have challenged these for their ownership rights. We start with how Mary Roy, Arundhati Roy’s mother took on an outdated succession law for the Syrian Christian community in India. And we broadly look at how religious personal laws create legal islands for men and women but that these affect women more adversely strippling away their rights, freedom and equality. The march to equality is on…tune in! Reading material:Agnes, Flavia, 2011, Family Law Volume 1: Family Laws and Constitutional Claims, New Delhi: OUP. Menon, Nivedita, 2012, Seeing like a feminist, New Delhi: Penguin. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20101108-kerala-sister-mary-gets-her-land-744618-2010-10-30Case laws:https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1651663/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1684706/If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from. Find other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or on any other major podcast app.

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What do the Urdu lyricist Javed Akhtar and his speech in the parliament have to do with the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959? Nothing, really! But on what grounds can a poet or writer claim ownership over her work. And why have beggars, surrogates, and sex workers been criminalized for decades, being denied the right to sing and dance in public spaces? This episode of The Longest Constitution examines, through the lens of The Copyright Law, the kind of work which is ‘visible’ and that which is ‘invisible’ and the overwhelming burden of invisible work on women.Reading material: Reddy, Prashant, T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran, 2017, “Akhtar Rescripts Copyright Law” in, Create, Copy, Disrupt: : India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas, OUP: New Delhi.Kotiswaran, Prabha, 2021, “An Ode to Altruism: How Indian Courts Value Unpaid Domestic Work”, EPW, Vol. 56, Issue No. 36.Ghosh, Jayati, 2013, “Women's Work in India in the Early 21st Century”. Available at: http://www. sundarayya.org/sites/default/files/papers/jayati. pdfBhatia, Gautam, 2018, ‘Something of freedom is yet to come: The significance of the Delhi High Court’s decriminalization of beggary; Available at:https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/something-of-freedom-is-yet-to-come-the-significance-of-the-delhi-high-courts-decriminalisation-of-beggary/
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.Find other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or on any other major podcast app.

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What is the measure of a person’s labour? And why is creativity valued more than physical labour? This episode of The Longest Constitution wades into intellectual property rights and the sexual reproductive autonomy of women, to examine the making of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the beginnings of the commercial surrogacy industry in the early 2000s. We also look at how women’s domestic labour, invisible and unrecognized, was finally evaluated following pleas for compensation following accidents and deaths in road accidents, under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Reading material: Reddy, Prashant, T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran, 2017, Create, Copy, Disrupt: : India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas, OUP: New Delhi.

Kotiswaran, Prabha, 2021, “An Ode to Altruism: How Indian Courts Value Unpaid Domestic Work”, EPW, Vol. 56, Issue No. 36. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/baby-manjis-case-throws-up-need-for-law-on-surrogacy/articleshow/3400842.cms

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

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Who has the right to abortion of a foetus and who does not? And how is that related to rights and even promotion at the workplace? This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at women’s right to their bodies, over making choices about pregnancy, contraception, and motherhood. We look at how Article 21 of the Indian Constitution has been expanded to include reproductive sexual autonomy. And delve into the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 which regulates abortion in India, all about? Finally, what happens if a disability is not recognised by Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016?

Reading material:https://feminisminindia.com/2019/07/30/why-reproductive-rights-must-be-taken-more-seriously-in-india/

Chandra, Aparna, 2019, Securing Reproductive Justice in India: A Casebook, Center for Reproductive Rights & Centre for Constitutional Law, Policy and Governance. https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2021/02/23/vikash-kumar-v-upsc-an-important-judgment-on-disability-and-reasonable-accommodation/https://reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/documents/Reproductive-Rights-In-Indian-Courts.pdf
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Is color-blindness a disability? And what happened when a color-blind bus driver sought relief under the People with Disabilities Act, 1995? And does a mother necessarily mean a biological mother? How does the Indian constituion regulate Pregnancy and Maternity at work? This episode of The Longest Constitution takes a look at how courts interpret laws, often getting it right and sometimes wrong. Tune in to listen to the story of the government school teacher with twins who applied for maternity leave, but was denied it on the grounds that she ‘already’ had two children. But what does the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961 say? And what does mothering mean, legally?

Kannabiran, Kalpana, 2012, Tools of Justice: Non-discrimination and the Indian Constitution, Routeledge: New Delhi.

Menon, Nivedita, 2012, Seeing Like a Feminist, New Delhi: Penguin https://thewire.in/law/sc-has-backtracked-on-its-ruling-on-level-playing-field-for-visually-impaired

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What does menstruation have to do with competence at work? The answer is absolutely nothing! Nonetheless, sexist and invasive policies at the workplace have meant that women and their bodies have been questioned, probed, and regulated, usually at the cost of their job. This episode of The Longest Constitution podcast unravels the biological category known as ‘woman’ and the contestations around menstruation, maternity, pregnancy, periods, employment, and childbirth. We also look at the push to make the PwD Act, 1995.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/disability-rights-is-off-the-rails/article4469686.ece

https://www.law.cornell.edu/women-and-justice/resource/neera_mathur_v_life_insurance_corporation_of_india
Kannabiran, Kalpana, 2012, Tools of Justice: Non-discrimination and the Indian Constitution, Routeledge: New Delhi.

Menon, Nivedita, 2012, Seeing Like a Feminist, New Delhi: Penguin

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What are we celebrating this Republic Day India? Is it enough to celebrate the coming into effect of the Constitution - 73 years ago - while the spirit of the Constitution of India, which is an accountable government and a Parliament which actually discusses and deliberates, is in decline? The pandemic has been a period where an assault on our fundamental rights to movement, speech, and privacy has become the new normal. This special episode of The Longest Constitution raises more questions than it answers, and unravels the new labour codes set to replace over 46 labour regulations and the intrusion of technology in our everyday lives. What would Dr. BR Ambedkar have thought of the democracy?

Reading material: https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/04/01/india-is-in-a-crisis-why-isnt-the-parliament-assembling-online

https://internetshutdowns.in/

https://scroll.in/article/975627/with-shaheen-bagh-ruling-supreme-court-gifts-state-more-powers-to-control-democratic-dissent

https://tclf.in/2021/11/26/gig-economy-a-legal-struggle-for-inclusivity/#:~:text=A%20positive%20step%20towards%20the,The%20Maternity%20Benefit%20Act%2C%20etc.

https://scroll.in/article/973003/the-political-fix-without-question-hour-will-parliaments-role-in-the-bjp-era-shrink-even-further

https://thewire.in/labour/new-labour-codes-after-rushing-them-through-parliament-why-is-the-govt-delaying-implementation

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/show/the-longest-constitution-with-priya-mirza-wr4e-RPFbATJ096CoC6i2" )You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram:
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or any other podcast app.

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What does it take to work? Sometimes a husband’s consent! Work or jobs are not necessarily about competence and ability, but often about what is considered ‘normal’. And who and what is that anyway? Exploring Article 41 of the Indian Constitution, this episode of The Longest Constitution unpacks the assumptions made about the ‘able-bodied’, looks into the history of disability and the movement of the rights of the disabled, which began by the organized blind in the 1970s.

Reading material: Abidi, Javed, (2013), ‘Disability rights is off the rails’, Available at: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/disability-rights-is-off-the-rails/article4469686.ece

Chander, Jagdish, (2011), Movement of the Organized Blind in India: From Passive Recipients of Services to Active Advocates of Their Rights, PhD Thesis, Syracuse University.

Bhatnagar, Gaurav V. (2018), ‘Noted Disability Rights Activist Javed Abidi Dies of Heart Attack at 53’, Available at: https://thewire.in/rights/noted-disability-rights-activist-javed-abidi-dies-heart-attack-53Legal cases: Javed Abidi vs. Union of India, 1998, https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1962463/If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here.

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You can listen to The Longest Constitution and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or any other podcast app.

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Is the word 'affirmative action' in the Indian Constitution? The Indra Sawhney judgement is important for not just the judgement itself but also the questions posed, which ran into ‘several hundreds of pages’. But what did the court say about the constitutionality of the reservation in India for the Other Backward Classes (OBC’s) with respect to the Indian Constitution Book? And how does institutional prejudice work? This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at not only the judgement but also the shocking case about a man who cleared the IAS while he was serving his sentence in jail. But that's not the bit which is shocking!

Reading material:Menon, Nivedita, 2012, Seeing like a feminist, Penguin. Deshpande, Ashwini, 2013, Affirmative Action in India (Oxford India Short Introductions), OUP. Bhatnagar, Rakesh, “Supreme Court paves the way for rape convict to join IAS”, Available at: ( https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-supreme-court-paves-the-way-for-rape-convict-to-join-ias-1413810 )

Case law: Indra Sawhney vs Union Of India 1992, ( https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1363234/ )

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here:
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or any other podcast app.

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In 1990, scores of students set themselves on fire to protest against the implementation of the Mandal Commission by the VP Singh government. Why did they do that and what was at stake? And why is caste often restricted to discussions on reservations? This episode of The Longest Constitution doesn't just talk about reservations but looks at how it is a part of everyday life in India.

Anand Teltumbde, 2010, The Persistence of Caste: The Khairlanji Murders & India’s Hidden Apartheid: The Khairlanji Murders and India’s Hidden Apartheid, Zed Books.
Christophe Jaffrelot, 2003, India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India, Columbia University Press.
Legal Material: The Scheduled Castes and the scheduled tribed (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Available at: https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1989-33_2.pdf
Disclaimer: This episode contains violent and disturbing stories. If you're light-hearted, we advise you to refer to the other episode of The Longest Constitution.
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )
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What happened when KPS Gill, a ‘supercop’ slapped an IAS officer’s derrière, or bottom? For decades, sexual harassment was not seen as a crime and it took Rupen Bajaj Deol seventeen years of struggle to challenge this. But what did the court say? And why has social justice for the Other Backward Classes (OBC’s) differed from state to state and why is this contentious? This episode of The Longest Constitution tackles caste and gender hierarchy at the workplace.

Reading material:Christophe Jaffrelot, 2003, India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India, Columbia University Press.
‘Rupan Deol Bajaj talks about the sexual harassment case she won against KPS Gill’, Available at: ( https://scroll.in/video/839715/watch-rupan-deol-bajaj-talks-about-the-sexual-harassment-case-she-won-against-kps-gill )
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )
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Who determines the truth? The victim or the courts? This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the many ‘sites’ of work, from fields to offices and examines why and how the powerful must be restrained from abusing their position. We look at Bhanwari Devi’s march to justice which led to the framing of India’s first guidelines of sexual harassment at the workplace in 1997. We also look at the state’s obligations and commitments to social justice and how that could have multiple meanings.

Reading material: Anand Teltumbde, 2011, The Persistence of Caste the Khairlanji Murders and India’s Hidden Apartheid, Zed Books.

Radha Kumar, 1993, The history of doing: an illustrated account of movements for women's rights and feminism in India (1800-1990), Verso Books.
Legal cases and laws: Balaji vs State of Mysore, 1962K.C. Vasanth Kumar vs State Of Karnataka, 1985
Vishakha Guidelines against Sexual Harassment at the workplace, 1997, Available at: ( http://www.nitc.ac.in/app/webroot/img/upload/546896605.pdf )
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )
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Equality of opportunity is just one dimension of access to work, but what about dignity at the workplace? Article 17 of the Constitution of India states quite briefly: ‘Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.’ And yet, untouchability was not defined because it was assumed that it is familiar to every citizen. It took another five years though to draft a law to penalize untouchability and its practice. How efficient is this law? And how have courts interpreted caste-based discrimination? All this and more on this episode of The Longest Constitution.

Legal provisions, laws, and cases: Article 17 of the Constitution of IndiaThe Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955SC/ST Atrocities Act, 1989 N M Thomas vs State of Kerala, 1976
Reading material: Shukla, Rakesh, ‘To Remove Caste Bias From the Judicial System, Judges Need to Self-Correct’, Available at ( https://thewire.in/caste/caste-bias-judicial-system )
Bhatia, Gautam, ‘Reservations, Equality and the Constitution – III: State of Kerala v N.M. Thomas and the Transformation of Equality’, Available at: ( https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/reservations-equality-and-the-constitution-iii-state-of-kerala-v-n-m-thomas-and-the-transformation-of-equality/ )
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
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Is discrimination visible? Or just felt?

In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we look into the history of caste-based discrimination and why our constitution is committed to overcoming that. And most importantly how from B.R. Ambedkar’s experiences to questions about the necessity for reservations, we look into how the constitution proposes to undo caste-based discriminations and the journey towards that goal.
Omvedt, Gail, Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anti caste Intellectuals (Navayana, 2008)
Bhatia, Gautam, ‘Reservations, Equality, and the Constitution – I: Origins’, ( https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/reservations-equality-and-the-constitution-i-origins/ )
Biswas, A.K, “The making of the first SC and ST IAS officers” ( https://www.forwardpress.in/2016/06/the-making-of-the-first-sc-and-st-ias-officers%E2%80%A8/ )
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )
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What’s India’s foreign service got to do with an officer's marital status? A lot, apparently! If you are a woman. Laws, regulations and rules are often sexist. But our constitution guarantees us the right against discrimination. This episode of the Longest Constitution looks at gender discrimination in three different areas: diplomacy, aviation and the makeup industry. We look at how women have challenged these regulations using the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.

( https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/the-supreme-courts-make-up-artists-decision-and-its-discontents/ )
( https://fiftytwo.in/story/ambassador/ )
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
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Do you work? What is work anyway! And does the constitution work for you?

In the second season of The Longest Constitution, we are exploring everyday issues of work and rights around work, from maternity leave to casteist slur, disability and harassment at the workplace to defining what the workplace is. We are looking at people’s journeys, collective and individual to assert the fundamental right to a safe workplace. From manual scavenging to air-hostesses, from Members of Parliament to butchers, we are unraveling the rights at the workplace, to what we can do and absolutely must not tolerate.

This season is about finding out what it means to be fair. At the workplace.
Not lovely. This podcast about the Constitution of India isn't about being lovely. It is asking difficult questions. To ourselves, partners, colleagues and boss. Tune in every Wednesday for a new episode!

If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( https://ivm.today/37rWNlY )You can follow Priya on social media:
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Who decides your gender? Your body or your mind? Or the state? This episode follows the NALSA judgment 2014 which recognized the third gender and more importantly affirmed the right to self-affirm one’s gender. But what did the government do? We track the success of Tiruchi Shiva’s bill to protect the rights of transgenders and the disappointment with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and look at the road ahead.

Parul Chandra, “Why Tiruchi Siva moved a Private Member's Bill to ensure rights for transgender people”, ( https://scroll.in/article/723205/why-tiruchi-siva-moved-a-private-members-bill-to-ensure-rights-for-transgender-people )
Gautam Bhatia, “The Constitutional Challenge to the Transgender Act”, ( https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/the-constitutional-challenge-to-the-transgender-act/ )
Susan Ninan, “Love is a Human Right”, ( https://www.espn.in/olympics/story/_/id/32303155/india-sprinter-dutee-chand-tells-coming-story )
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What does a person look like? And what does our Constitution have to say about personhood and sexuality? Personhood legally means a rights-bearing body. But not all bodies have rights unless the law recognizes them as persons. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks into the colonial criminalization and marginalization of the transgender community, and the journey to recognizing their fundamental rights, in the historic NALSA vs. Union of India judgment, 2004.

( https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/no-law-which-prohibits-sex-change-operation-bombay-high-court-says-in-bidhan-barua-case-481081 )
( https://translaw.clpr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Nalsa.pdf )
“5 Questions: Tiruchi Siva, man behind Rights of Transgender Persons Bill” - ( https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/5-questions-tiruchi-siva-man-behind-rights-of-transgender-persons-bill/ )
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What’s wrong with same-sex love? Nothing! Sexual minorities have the same right as everyone else - to love, to marry, and live together with the privacy and dignity guaranteed to all citizens of this country. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at Gandhi, same-sex love, and why a few of our laws need to be changed to accommodate the LGBTQIA. And how we are all on our own journey to discover what swarajya means to us.

Tarunabh Khaitan, “Reading Swaraj into Article 15” - ( http://nujslawreview.org/2016/12/03/reading-swaraj-into-article-15-a-new-deal-for-all-minorities )
- ( https://theprint.in/opinion/have-you-noticed-how-baba-ramdev-went-silent-on-section-377/112824/ )
- ( https://issuu.com/orinamwebber/docs/same-sexmarriageandotherqueerrelationshipsinindia )
- ( https://lawsisto.com/legalnewsread/ODYzMg==/Allahabad-High-Court-orders-police-protection-for-same-sex-couple-under-threat-due-to-sexual-orientation )

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And who invites trolls to a wedding? Nobody! And yet the Special Marriage Act, India’s only civil marriage act adds to the pressure of a young couple marrying out of the bounds of their religion by inviting objections to their marriage, even before it takes place. In this episode of The Longest Constitution, looks into the unconstitutional violations of privacy, liberty and dignity under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and how the recent Allahabad judgment is a step forward towards constitutional freedom.

“30-day notice period not mandatory under Special Marriage Act: Allahabad High Court”, ( https://indianexpress.com/article/india/30-day-notice-period-not-mandatory-under-special-marriage-act-allahabad-high-court-7145476/ )
“30-day prior notice in Special Marriage Act is fair and reasonable, Centre tells Delhi HC”,( https://scroll.in/latest/986478/30-day-prior-notice-in-special-marriage-act-is-fair-and-reasonable-centre-tells-delhi-hc )
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Amar! Akbar! Anthony! Equal sons of India and their mother. But divided by the personal laws of this country.

Religious personal laws shape citizens of India - unequally. Quite the opposite of what the Constitution of India guarantees us. Our rights to marry, divorce, inheritance - are shaped not by constitutional values of equality and liberty, but our religious ones, which far from being divine are inherently gender and caste unjust.

In this episode of The Longest Constitution, listen to the story of the man who argued that making bigamy illegal for Hindus was not fair because his Muslim friends could have four wives. And what the court said and why it matters. As well as, what's unconstitutional about the criminalization of triple talaq.

To find out more about personal laws, marriage and divorce, see the very readableFlavia Agnes, (2011), Law, Justice, and Gender: Family Law and Constitutional Provisions in India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
On the long shadow of the Narasu Appa Mali judgment, see Krishnadas Rajagopal, “With Sabarimala verdict, ‘Ghost of Narasu’ is finally exorcised”, Available at: ( https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/justice-chandrachud-ends-the-unchallenged-reign-of-a-bombay-hc-verdict/article25074175.ece )
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Till death do us part?Or one could file for divorce! But Indian laws of marriage and divorce make it easy to marry, but hard to divorce. Because to the state, the institution of marriage is more important than the people in it!
And that's why laws insist one must have a “ground” or a reason to want a divorce, such as cruelty, adultery and desertion, amongst others. That’s the “fault theory”.

And yet, marital rape is still not one of those grounds.That goes against what the constitution of India guarantees us: of equality, liberty and the right to life.
In this episode of The Longest Constitution, delve into why the divorce “fault theory” needs to go.
To find out more about personal laws, marriage and divorce, see the very readableFlavia Agnes, (2011), Law, Justice, and Gender: Family Law and Constitutional Provisions in India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
On the present status of marital rape, ( https://www.firstpost.com/india/why-it-is-time-for-india-to-join-150-countries-in-criminalising-marital-rape-9876111.html )
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Not everyone. Just bar dancers. Singing and dancing are our fundamental rights to freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of India. And yet at various points, governments have regulated women singing and dancing. Even at the cost of women’s passions, professions and those dependent on them. Every dance is a performance and to make arbitrary moral distinctions is unreasonable. Public morality may be the state’s mandate but what we do with our private lives, is our business!

Tune in and find out more!
Want to read more on this?
Bhatia, Gautam, “A Constitutional Muddle: The Supreme Court’s Bar Dancers Judgment”, Available here: ( https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/a-constitutional-muddle-the-supreme-courts-bar-dancers-judgment/ )
On the Usha Uthup case, see ( https://indiankanoon.org/doc/583552/ )
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If you can make money with the application of your mind, why not your body? Anti-prostitution laws are a problem. In India, that is the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986. Not only because this law criminalizes sex workers and pimps, but not the men who visit sex workers. But also because our Constitution grants us the right to practice our trade. So how come, sex workers, cant work? And how was this challenged in court?

For a general understanding of sex work in India, see Prabha Kotiswaran, 2011, Dangerous Sex, Invisible Labor: Sex Work and the Law in India, Princeton University Press. More interested in Husna Bai? Have a look at Chapter 4, “The Case of the Honest Prostitute: Sex, Work, and Freedom in the Indian Constitution” in Rohit de, 2018, A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of law in the Indian Republic, Harvard University Press.
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What's a judge doing telling a wife to go back home to her husband, even if she doesn’t want to? Unfortunately, that’s what the law says. Under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 the restitution of conjugal rights allows one party to appeal to the court to ‘restore’ his or her conjugal acts. Unsurprisingly, more men have used it than women. This episode of the Longest Constitution is about the long and ongoing struggle to strike section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act down.

( https://indianexpress.com/article/who-is/who-was-rukhmabai-raut-4949058/ )Section 9, HMA Kavitha Rao, Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine, Westland: 2021.
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Bringing the Constitution home? That’s been a difficult journey.

Not the book, but the values and morality the constitution upholds.
Are the great values of our constitution meant to be talked about by great men but not lived? In this episode, we look at why the constitution is meant to transform every space - including the home and redefining family. It has meant asking the question: does being ‘at home’ mean the same thing to everyone, men and women. This has meant recognizing controlling institutions like patriarchy and the many kinds of violence inflicted on women, within marital and natal homes.
Article 14 and 21Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 1) ( https://indiankanoon.org/doc/191703/ )2) ( https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/feb/04/india-no-country-for-women-heres-what-the-national-family-health-survey-reveals-2259593.html )
Indira Jaising and Pinki Mathur Anurag, Conflict in the Shared Household: Domestic Violence and the Law in India, (Oxford University Press: 2019).
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What is pornography and what does our Constitution have to do with it? The right to privacy and to receive information is a fundamental right as much as expressing ourselves. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at how consuming pornography in the privacy of our homes, is constitutional, but sending sleazy messages to other people is not.

Sonali Verma, ‘Route 67: How the IT Act's Section on Obscenity is Being Misused to Violate Digital Freedom’: ( https://thewire.in/gender/victorian-censorship-research-finds-section-67-act-grossly-misused )
Vallishree Chandra & Gayathri Ramachandran, ‘The Right to Pornography in India: An Analysis in Ligh of Individual Liberty and Public Morality’, Available at: ( http://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/B5199E8C-C07E-4E05-A379-30FF49C77B0C.pdf )
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

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Nobody can say for sure! Though Section 292 of the (IPC) which defines obscenity is vague, it has been used against writers and artists like Ismat Chughtai to Saadat Hasan Manto, AIB and more recently, when Milind Soman ran naked on the beach. What is it all about? And what did a man named Cockburn have to do with it? Find out in this episode of The Longest Constitution!

Gautam Bhatia, ‘The Supreme Court discards the Hicklin test’, Available at: ( https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/obscenity-the-supreme-court-discards-the-hicklin-test/ )
Shruti Sundar Ray, ‘Explained: What is the measure of ‘obscenity’ in India?’, ( https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-milind-soman-obscenity-in-india-6998750/ )
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

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Do children have rights? The constitution of India grants equality to every ‘person’, and children are persons and have a right to a safe childhood, free of sexual predators. In this episode of The Longest Constitution listen in to what took so long to draft the first law to penalize child sexual abuse, why this law was made gender-neutral and why just laws are not enough to prevent such crimes.

Pinki Virani, Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse In India, Penguin, 2000. ( https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/bombay-hc-judgement-child-sexual-abuse-pocso-act-7169159/ )
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

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The answer is: quite not!

The word queer or sexual orientation does not exist in the constitution. Does that mean the constitution doesn’t see the queer? And even though Section 377 of the IPC (1860), which criminalized sodomy convicted very few people, does it mean that sexual minorities should be discriminated against? The Constitution grants everyone equality, queer or straight. And everywhere, at home or the streets. Listen in! To the struggle for sexual autonomy and against moral policing in this episode of The Longest Constitution.
Section 377 1) [ https://indiankanoon.org/doc/168671544/ ]2) [ https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/guest-post-navtej-johar-v-union-of-india-what-remains-of-section-377/ ]
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

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What's the difference between an adulterer and an adulteress? Nothing, other than their gender! In India though until 2018, adultery laws treated men and women differently. And it took a PIL to strike this down. This episode looks at Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and why women were thought to be passive partners in adultery. The Longest Constitution takes a quick look at the sexism within Section 497 and why overhauling unfair laws is upto the citizens of this country.

Section 497 (IPC)Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India ( https://indiankanoon.org/doc/921415/ )
You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: ( https://www.instagram.com/naik.priya/ )Twitter: ( https://twitter.com/fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

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What did those three hundred men and a handful of women who drafted our Constitution want India to be? How far or close are we to achieving that radical vision of liberty, equality and freedom. These ideas sound great but what does it really mean to us, as we go about living our lives?

This podcast is about people and the constitution. And that to achieve the Constitutional vision of freedom, equality and dignity, doesn't come without a fight. In each episode, we look at how the Constitution has transformed lives. This show is not about just leaders and prime ministers, but husbands and wives, feminists and forest dwellers, dissidents and lawyers. It has been up to Indians to fight, debate, argue and achieve these visions.

And yet, we have a long way to go. The making of a nation is always a work in progress. Join the journey of the nation. This is one show everyone needs to listen to! Every week, The Longest Constitution, gives a small peek into what the ideals and provisions of our constitution mean. From taxes to language, to food to sanitary napkins, to reservations to religious freedoms. This show looks at the machinery of the constitution and ‘we the people’.

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