Excess Reservation to Gujjars: Is it Costitutionally Valid?

In the land mark case of Indra Sawhney, Supreme Court laid down that reservation should  not be  more than 50%.While the famous case stands to be constitutionally correct, the Rajasthan Government gives 68% reservation to Gujjars by passing two bills [the Rajasthan Economically Backward Classes  Bill, 2015 and and the Rajasthan Special Backward Classes Bill, 2015] in the legislative assembly aiming to provide reservation to this community which are considered to be a backward class by the Rajasthan Government.

HIV Stigma – The Modern Day Apartheid

Though HIV is widespread in almost all spheres of life, this paper will mainly focus on the stigmatization of AIDS victim in the public sphere. Finding a solution to these problems will lay a path to fighting such stigmatization in other areas of life.

A Clipped Bird

Freedom of speech and expression is a double-edged sword you can be offensive with it or you can use it to promote welfare. It’s undernourished of mankind remaining silent when you can identify problems and reflect a range of perspective with the right to freedom of speech and expression. There is confusion regarding the classification of news media. Is it an activity deserving protection under article 19(1)(a) or is it business under Article 19(1)(g) as due to this the Indian press has a two-fold protection. News paper and electronic media have enormous raw power and saying that press is abusing the power with justification of ethics and legal aspect doesn't reflect a confident rebuttal but lowers our confidence in the government.

Constitutionally of Making Casinos Legal

The year 1976 marks a great year despite the emergency issues faced by the country. The Maharashtra Government was able to pass a historic piece of legislation which could make casinos in the state a possibility today. The Maharashtra Casinos Act, 1976 was a visionary bill passed by the Maharshtra Government which was supposed to override the provisions of the age old Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887. However, till date, the Act has not been implemented by the executive.

Battling Transphobia: Providing Healthcare to All

“Inside every man there is a potential woman and inside every woman resides a potential man.”
― John Maxwell Taylor

Gender variant people mark their existence in India since various centuries, these communities have several indigenous identities mostly based on their geographic location they are known as Hijras (north), Shivshakti (Andhra Pradesh) and Arvani’s (Tamil Nadu). Historically, they were considered as a downtrodden class and due to this they have been away from the mainstream employment opportunities. Majority of the community has to resort to begging, dancing and sex work which makes them prone to harassment and subjects to violent assaults. If we look at the current statistics provided by NACO and the research conducted by government STI clinics it can be found that more than 45% of TG population who go for a medical checkup has HIV. Also, other diseases such as syphilis and genital warts were found to be in large number amongst the community. Hence it is necessary that they should be provided with rights with regard to healthcare.

Time to re-think Capital Punishment: A regressive approach

The following article is written by Rashmi Bishnoi, a 3rd year law student of Jindal Global Law School.

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”

..Mahatama Gandhi

At the United Nations where majority of countries said that it was time to abolish the death penalty. India along with several south Asian nations voted against the resolution and argued in favour of death penalty. Till now, death penalty is continued to be imposed in the rarest of the rare cases but I contend that it should be abolished exhaustively for it to not only be barbaric, immoral and unconstitutional but also a regressive approach in a civilized world.

Is Death Penalty discriminatory?

The following article is written by Ms. Barkha Yadav.

Straight after hanging of Yakub Memon the death penalty debate again resurfaced. Everyone is talking about whether it acts as a deterrent or not? Whether it should be abolished and if not then how should it be applied? But very few have actually spoken about the barbaric and discriminatory way in which death penalty is applied in our country? In my opinion death penalty should be abolished because it gives too much discretion to the judges to decide whether a case falls under the rarest of rare provision or not?I think that the judges are not free from the caste and religious biases which are prevelant in our society while awarding death penalty to the convicts. According to a report by National Law University, Delhia vast majority of the prisoners,who are on death row belong to backward castes, economically weaker sections and Muslims. To prove my opinionI will bediscussing two cases that have very similar facts and circumstances but judgments given were very different.

Sedition: An Anarchic Law Used to Suppress Freedom of Speech

"The following article is written by Mr. Rohan Yadav, a 3rd year law student at O.P Jindal University."

(Image taken from here.)

Sedition, defined as inciting of ‘public disorder’ or ‘hatred’ against a lawful authority, acts as a deterrent for the general public to express their views. Sedition laws mostly affect artists, media people, activists etc. The respective elected governments, politicians and ministers seem to enjoy the provisions of the sedition laws to the fullest as it acts as a shield for them. Thus living in the 21st Century there is a need for declaring Sedition as unconstitutional as it violates Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution which gives citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression.