By Raj Krishna and Alivya Sahay INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND "Human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized." - Judge Michael Leburu On 11th June, Botswana’s High Court in the case of Letsweletse Motshidiemang v Attorney General struck down the colonial law which criminalized homosexual acts between two consenting adults with up to seven years … Continue reading Letsweletse Motshidiemang v Attorney General: Botswana High Court Decriminalizes Homosexuality

By Abhinav Sekhri On 19 September, 2019, there was a big strike organised by public transport workers across Delhi and other parts of India, to protest against the amendments recently made to India's Motor Vehicles Act [MV Act]. The main cause for the protests, I am led to understand after speaking to several cab and auto drivers … Continue reading What the Protests over the Motor Vehicles Act Amendments tell us about Criminal Law

By Teresa Dhar and Raj Krishna Introduction On April 1, 2019, in a significant decision, the United States Supreme Court by a majority of 5-4 reiterated the fact that the Eighth amendment of the US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment altogether, but it did not guarantee any right to painless death. In this case … Continue reading US Supreme Court Denies Right to Painless Death: A Critical Analysis of Bucklew v Precythe Judgment

By Abhinav Sekhri Recently, the Home Minister made an interesting public speech where he reportedly lamented the poor conviction rates. An official report of his comments also notes that the Minister suggested that wholesale changes to the Indian Penal Code of 1860, and Criminal Procedure Code of 1973 were on the cards to help make things better on the conviction … Continue reading Science in Policing: The New Old Thing

By Mr. Abhinav Sekhri  This week saw the arrest of a former Union Minister, P. Chidambaram, in connection with allegations of corruption and money laundering in what has popularly been called the "INX Media" case. In this post, I'm not interested in the arrest itself — the pageantry of which has already attracted much discussion … Continue reading The Delhi High Court Order in P. Chidambaram v. ED: Three Thoughts

By Bhaskar Kumar and Prannv Dhawan   The legal and political commentariat has been buzzing with the controversy over the reasons and methods regarding the arrest of former Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram. While many have been critical of the unusual haste in the arrest of Mr. Chidambaram, several analysts have suspected that this could … Continue reading The Question of Justice: Fair Trial, Approver Witnesses and Accused’s Rights