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Life And Liberty

Comprehensive coverage, analysis, and breaking news on life and liberty.

Judgment Summary: Supreme Court’s decision denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam

Judgment Summary: Supreme Court’s decision denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam

Editor's Pick•9 Jan 2026

Judgment Summary: Supreme Court’s decision denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam

In its over 140 page judgment, summarised here, the Court distinguished two sets of reliefs based on the alleged roles assigned to each of the seven individuals in the 2020 Delhi riots.

Sadeeq Sherwani

Staff Writer

Latest in Life And Liberty

The Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam case: An international campaign within the realm of possibility

Life and Liberty•7 Jan 2026

The Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam case: An international campaign within the realm of possibility

India’s refusal to accept individual complaints under the ICCPR leaves political prisoners without international recourse, unless civil society chooses to act.

‘Ultimate aim was regime change’: Summarising 3 days of Delhi police’s arguments in 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case

Leaflet Reports•24 Nov 2025

‘Ultimate aim was regime change’: Summarising 3 days of Delhi police’s arguments in 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case

As petitioners gear up for rejoinder arguments, we bring to you the complete rundown of the arguments advanced by the Delhi Police to oppose the grant of bail to the Petitioners.

Surendra Koli and Memories of a Midnight Intervention

Life and Liberty•13 Nov 2025

Surendra Koli and Memories of a Midnight Intervention

On the midnight of September 8, 2014, I waited on the pavement outside Justice H.L. Dattu’s residence, as the jailers in Meerut Jail made preparations for Surendra Koli’s hanging. It was a race against time, a struggle against an irreversible miscarriage of justice.

The Supreme Court’s ‘grounds of arrest’ ruling and the Grammar of Due Process

Life and Liberty•12 Nov 2025

The Supreme Court’s ‘grounds of arrest’ ruling and the Grammar of Due Process

In practical terms, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mihir Rajesh Shah (2025) may slow down the mechanical pace of arrest - but that is the price of constitutionalism.

Judgment Summary: Surendra Koli’s acquittal in Nithari killings after 16 years on death row, and why curative jurisdiction remains crucial

Supreme Court•12 Nov 2025

Judgment Summary: Surendra Koli’s acquittal in Nithari killings after 16 years on death row, and why curative jurisdiction remains crucial

The acquittal brings to fore the immense significance of the Supreme Court-innovated extraordinary jurisdiction of curative, specifically in cases concerning life and liberty and death penalty.

Delhi riots larger conspiracy: Accused conclude arguments; Delhi police commences on November 11

Leaflet Reports•7 Nov 2025

Delhi riots larger conspiracy: Accused conclude arguments; Delhi police commences on November 11

The Delhi Police, in its affidavit opposing the bail pleas, described the February 2020 violence as a “deep-rooted, premeditated and orchestrated conspiracy.”

Delhi riots larger conspiracy: “Where must we draw the line on the right to protest?”, accused ask, in second day of hearings

Leaflet Reports•4 Nov 2025

Delhi riots larger conspiracy: “Where must we draw the line on the right to protest?”, accused ask, in second day of hearings

The Court will continue hearing the case on November 6, Thursday.

Delhi riots larger conspiracy case: Delhi Police oppose bail for Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam; call riots a pre-planned attempt to destabilise the State

Leaflet Reports•30 Oct 2025

Delhi riots larger conspiracy case: Delhi Police oppose bail for Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam; call riots a pre-planned attempt to destabilise the State

In its affidavit, the police described the violence as a “deep-rooted, premeditated and orchestrated conspiracy.”

‘A case of silencing dissent under the garb of national security’: Sonam Wangchuk’s wife tells SC in amended plea challenging his detention

Leaflet Reports•30 Oct 2025

‘A case of silencing dissent under the garb of national security’: Sonam Wangchuk’s wife tells SC in amended plea challenging his detention

The petition notes that Wangchuk’s decades of contributions to education, innovation, and green technology have strengthened, not undermined, India’s interests.

75 years on, India’s long standing silence on preventive detention is echoing loudly today

Life and Liberty•23 Oct 2025

75 years on, India’s long standing silence on preventive detention is echoing loudly today

More than seven decades after independence, the State and its institutions appear strikingly detached from the ethos of transformative constitutionalism—nowhere more evident than in their continued reliance on and justification of the preventive detention regime.

Sonam Wangchuk’s detention: Unpacking detention under the NSA and the jurisprudence on grounds of detention

Explainer•9 Oct 2025

Sonam Wangchuk’s detention: Unpacking detention under the NSA and the jurisprudence on grounds of detention

Detaining a person under preventive detention laws is an exception to the usual process of taking a person into custody under the relevant law for an alleged crime. As Sonam Wangchuk’s wife - Gitanjali Angmo - is supplied with a copy of his detention order, we do a deep dive on grounds of detention under preventive detention laws.

In Nagpur’s national law university, a sexual harassment survivor refuses to forget

Leaflet Reports•9 Oct 2025

In Nagpur’s national law university, a sexual harassment survivor refuses to forget

In MNLU Nagpur, a survivor received no justice despite two consecutive findings that she was sexually harassed on her college grounds. Across India’s NLUs, patterns of anti-sexual harassment law non-compliance and retraumatisation of survivors repeat over and over.

Supreme Court issues notice to Union on Sonam Wangchuk’s wife’s plea against detention

Leaflet Reports•7 Oct 2025

Supreme Court issues notice to Union on Sonam Wangchuk’s wife’s plea against detention

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, argued that the detention was illegal under Article 22 of the Constitution as the grounds of detention had not been furnished to the family.

How West Bengal’s resolution on Bengali migrant safety underscores the constitutional acrimony against India’s interstate migrants

Explainer•4 Oct 2025

How West Bengal’s resolution on Bengali migrant safety underscores the constitutional acrimony against India’s interstate migrants

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.

‘The weight of a false confession’: Abdul Wahid Shaikh on the regime of horrors of Maharashtra’s Organised Crime Act

Criminal Justice•3 Oct 2025

‘The weight of a false confession’: Abdul Wahid Shaikh on the regime of horrors of Maharashtra’s Organised Crime Act

Acquitted after nine years in prison in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, a prison rights activist reflects on the one piece of evidence that stood above all else: confession under Section 18 of MCOCA, and all that was taken from him.

Supreme Court questions delay in trial of Surendra Gadling in 2016 Surjagarh mine arson case

Leaflet Reports•25 Sept 2025

Supreme Court questions delay in trial of Surendra Gadling in 2016 Surjagarh mine arson case

“Why is the trial not going on, and for how many years can a person be kept in custody without trial?” the bench asked.

How the Social Justice Ministry’s retrospective rules jeopardise PhD fellowships of Scheduled Caste students

Equality•20 Sept 2025

How the Social Justice Ministry’s retrospective rules jeopardise PhD fellowships of Scheduled Caste students

A November 2024 office memorandum of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment makes NFSC eligibility conditional upon NAAC accreditation of the student’s previous university. The SC formed National Task Force must recognise this as a glaring violation of the Court’s own precedents.

The Supreme Court has muted POSH in the very place it came alive - the political arena

Women and Children•17 Sept 2025

The Supreme Court has muted POSH in the very place it came alive - the political arena

The Court’s dismissal of a plea to include women workers in political parties under the POSH law, relegating it to the legislature, starkly contrasts the disruptive legacy of the Vishakha judgement.

Delhi riots larger conspiracy case: SC to hear on September 19 pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima for bail

Leaflet Reports•12 Sept 2025

Delhi riots larger conspiracy case: SC to hear on September 19 pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima for bail

The Delhi High Court on September 2 had rejected the bail pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, and seven others in an order that has been widely critiqued, provided the prolonged period of incarceration.

Supreme Court’s Samay Raina order: Reflecting on disability justice in the era of precarious liberties

Life and Liberty•8 Sept 2025

Supreme Court’s Samay Raina order: Reflecting on disability justice in the era of precarious liberties

The Court’s directive to the Union government, in the Samay Raina case, to have a guideline to regulate ‘commercial speech’ can have a chilling effect on speech, which is inconvenient for the political establishment. For the disability movement, this is a moment to reflect on the limits of carceral disability justice.

No interim bail from SC for Kashmiri leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in terror funding case

Leaflet Reports•4 Sept 2025

No interim bail from SC for Kashmiri leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in terror funding case

The Court has issued notice in Shah’s appeal to a June 12 order of the Delhi HC which had refused to grant bail to the Kashmiri leader noting the possibility of re-engaging in unlawful activities and influencing witnesses.

How Long is Too Long? Umar, Gulfisha, Sharjeel and the Crisis of Credibility in Indian Courts

Life and Liberty•3 Sept 2025

How Long is Too Long? Umar, Gulfisha, Sharjeel and the Crisis of Credibility in Indian Courts

Release of the Delhi riots conspiracy prisoners, who continue to face incarceration for five plus years without a trial, is no longer a legal issue. It is a test of this nation's moral conscience.

“When you make fun of people with disabilities, there’s breach of sensitivity”: Why did the SC order Samay Raina and comedians to issue apology?

Life and Liberty•25 Aug 2025

“When you make fun of people with disabilities, there’s breach of sensitivity”: Why did the SC order Samay Raina and comedians to issue apology?

The Court also asked the Union government to place before it the draft guidelines to regulate online content and ensure that the dignity of all communities is safeguarded.

Demolish, delete, deport: Bulldozing workers’ suffrage

Independence Day 2025•15 Aug 2025

Demolish, delete, deport: Bulldozing workers’ suffrage

Who are the residents, and who are the encroachers? Across informal settlements in India’s urban centres, ceaseless demolitions, combined with judicial complicity, have emerged as means of engineering working class populations out of the electoral process. In response, the affected have invoked their suffrage.

Demolish, then disenfranchise: Urban planning as the new instrument of political engineering

Independence Day 2025•15 Aug 2025

Demolish, then disenfranchise: Urban planning as the new instrument of political engineering

Theoretically, adult suffrage under Article 326 of the Constitution is decoupled from housing status, ensuring that the right to vote cuts across social divisions. But the recent spate of demolitions without rehabilitation and the corresponding weaponisation of Form 7 has birthed a mechanism to purge the poor from democratic participation.

This week at the Supreme Court: Notice issued in constitutional challenge to India’s re-introduced sedition law

Leaflet Reports•10 Aug 2025

This week at the Supreme Court: Notice issued in constitutional challenge to India’s re-introduced sedition law

The petition argues that under the BNS even as the language has been altered, the substantive content of the infamous Section 124A of the IPC remains intact.

Innocent until forgotten: How India’s POCSO Act is criminalising young love

Criminal Justice•30 Jul 2025

Innocent until forgotten: How India’s POCSO Act is criminalising young love

Thirteen years since its enactment, the POCSO Act has emerged as a double-edged sword, punishing young men for consensual relationships. Now a Supreme Court challenge has ushered a chance for reform.

‘More than 97 percent ‘untouchability’ cases remain pending, majority result in acquittal’, claims Social Justice Ministry’s data

Leaflet Reports•23 Jul 2025

‘More than 97 percent ‘untouchability’ cases remain pending, majority result in acquittal’, claims Social Justice Ministry’s data

A recent central government report finds, abysmally, that registration of cases under the Protection of Civil Rights Act fell down to only 13 in 2022, as several states said they had ‘NIL’ information of the law’s implementation.

A Delhi district court’s ‘modesty’ verdict goes one step ahead in de-normalising misogynist slurs

Life and Liberty•19 Jul 2025

A Delhi district court’s ‘modesty’ verdict goes one step ahead in de-normalising misogynist slurs

Tackling the perils of digital misogyny head on, the court’s decision acknowledges that gendered-abusive words, such as ‘r***i’, are a way to reassert male dominance.

Legal, but out of reach: Medical termination of pregnancy remains arduous for India’s young people

Health•18 Jul 2025

Legal, but out of reach: Medical termination of pregnancy remains arduous for India’s young people

Despite progressive changes introduced by the MTP Act, procedural rigmarole and biases remain obstacles to access. A case study by CEHAT raises the most important questions.

Bombay HC’s ruling that POSH does not apply to women advocates shows independence of legal profession should not become loophole

Life and Liberty•10 Jul 2025

Bombay HC’s ruling that POSH does not apply to women advocates shows independence of legal profession should not become loophole

The High Court’s decision, while noting the non-existence of employer-employee relationships, fails to take account of the changing nature of the workplace.

“Struggle will go on. Repression is doomed!”: On Fr. Stan Swamy’s fourth martyrdom day, a declaration of a hunger strike

Leaflet Reports•5 Jul 2025

“Struggle will go on. Repression is doomed!”: On Fr. Stan Swamy’s fourth martyrdom day, a declaration of a hunger strike

Editor’s note: Exactly four years ago today, Fr. Stan Swamy died in judicial custody due to medical negligence in what many objectively term as an ‘institutional killing.’ Recalling his life and legacy dedicated to the Dalit and Adivasi rights movements, fifteen friends, warped themselves in the Bhima Koregaon case, some released, some still incarcerated, are today observing a one day hunger strike. Activist and poet P. Varavara Rao, ailing through ill health, also stands in solidarity and spirit. Below are their reasons.

A Muslim ragpicker’s lynching in Karnataka post-Pahalgam raises questions on laxity, delays in investigation: New PUCL, ACPR, AILAJ report calls to enforce Tehseen Poonawalla directive

Leaflet Reports•4 Jul 2025

A Muslim ragpicker’s lynching in Karnataka post-Pahalgam raises questions on laxity, delays in investigation: New PUCL, ACPR, AILAJ report calls to enforce Tehseen Poonawalla directive

A new fact-finding report by PUCL, ACPR and AILAJ Karnataka finds crucial lapses in investigation into the mob lynching of Mohd Ashraf. In Dakshin Kannada’s communally volatile atmosphere, the demand for a fair enforcement of the SC’s mob-lynching guidelines becomes crucial.

Trapped in a disguised employment relationship, India’s platform workers deserve a new lease on social security

Labour Law•13 Jun 2025

Trapped in a disguised employment relationship, India’s platform workers deserve a new lease on social security

With its enactment, the Code on Social Security formalised the exploitative disguised employment relationship between digital platforms and platform workers. Despite Section 114 of the Code, which provided for framing “suitable welfare schemes”, and the e-Shram portal, the promise of social security for India’s platform workers remains unfulfilled.

What RTI data reveals about custodial torture, lack of CCTV facilities in Tamil Nadu’s police stations

Due Process•12 Jun 2025

What RTI data reveals about custodial torture, lack of CCTV facilities in Tamil Nadu’s police stations

While the Tamil Nadu police has been consistently lauded as among the best in the country, recent RTI information revealed that in 2024, three hundred inmates entered prison with broken limbs, petty offenders were more vulnerable to custodial torture and police stations rarely had CCTV facilities.

Prison overcrowding in India is truly the story of overwhelming systemic apathy

Criminal Justice•11 Jun 2025

Prison overcrowding in India is truly the story of overwhelming systemic apathy

The India Justice Report, 2025 notes that more than half the jails in India are overcrowded, with nearly 176 prisons housing as many inmates as four times their sanctioned capacity. At the base of the issue are abuse of arrest powers in disregard of the criminal laws, delayed investigations and a government push for decongestion that is only rhetorical.

Madhya Pradesh’s death penalty proposal for forced conversions shuns the judiciary’s principled stand on both capital punishment and conversions

Due Process•4 Jun 2025

Madhya Pradesh’s death penalty proposal for forced conversions shuns the judiciary’s principled stand on both capital punishment and conversions

In March, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister proposed to amend MP’s existing anti conversion law to include the death penalty. The proposal not only belittles the high threshold of the rarest of rare doctrine, but also further emboldens the constitutionally contested anti-conversion laws.

In the age of algorithm, we must revitalise the conversation on the ‘freedom of thought’

Digital Rights•2 Jun 2025

In the age of algorithm, we must revitalise the conversation on the ‘freedom of thought’

Despite its critical importance, the right to freedom of thought (‘FoT’) remains underdeveloped in both law and discourse. As social media and advertising groups exploit the limits of our regulations around mental autonomy, a revival of debate and discourse on FoT is crucial.

Justice A.S. Oka: The judge known for taking suffering seriously

Supreme Court•23 May 2025

Justice A.S. Oka: The judge known for taking suffering seriously

Editor’s note: Today was the final working day of Justice Abhay Sreeniwas Oka, as he sets in to retire following a tenure of 3 years and 9 months at the Supreme Court. On this event, we reproduce this ode to Justice Oka, authored between advocates Mohammed Afeef and Basawa Prasad Kunale with inputs from Arvind Narrain, on the eve of his elevation to the top Court, originally published in August 2021.