The Leaflet
Comprehensive coverage, analysis, and breaking news on freedom.
From missionary hospitals to research institutes, tens of thousands of organisations depend on foreign contributions. A sweeping new amendment could put their assets, and futures, in the government's hands.
Tanishka Shah
Staff Writer
From courtroom to classroom, the debate over a banned NCERT textbook raises urgent questions about the constitutional limits of banning school textbooks, and the tension between judicial authority, pedagogical autonomy, and the freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a).
Far from being a political afterthought, India's secular character is deeply rooted in the freedom struggle, Constituent Assembly debates, and the Constitution's core guarantees of equality and religious freedom
Eight years after the Modi government repealed the colonial era Dramatic Performances Act, remnants of the law in Maharashtra and Gujarat continue to uphold a regime of censorship for theatre artists.
While SICs/CIC may reject particular applications if they fall under the exceptions catalogued in the RTI Act, they cannot impose overarching bans on citizens' right to information.
The HC’s order reflects a conspicuous judicial attempt to dilute the settled precedent in Shreya Singhal (2015), privileging restriction over the enhancement of free expression.
Bihar’s new gig workers law goes one step ahead of similar state laws when it comes to recognising workers’ welfare rights. But a weak funding framework for welfare entitlements and restriction on trade unions make this a law mired with internal inconsistencies.
Going forward, reimagining migrant safety as a constitutional and human rights obligation, rather than a matter of state discretion, is essential, achievable only through co-operative federalism.
Justice Sundresh questioned whether defamation involving private individuals can legitimately be classified as a crime when it serves no broader public purpose. In 2016, the Court had upheld the constitutionality of the criminal defamation law.