JUSTICE SYSTEM

Right to Equality is the first fundamental right assured to the people of India and a cornerstone of Indian democracy. The Constitution promotes both formal equality, which mandates equal treatment, and substantive equality, which necessitates preferential treatment for disadvantaged groups. While Articles 14, 15, and 16 ensure equal treatment before the law, reservations introduce differential treatment to uplift historically marginalized communities. This paper explores the meaning and evolution of both rights, tracing their development through constitutional debates and judicial decisions, and examines the necessity for reservations as intelligible differentia within equality, highlighting how courts have interpreted this balance.

By - Prathibha Madagouni, Law & Justice Department , CoS

This article explores the evolution and implications of India’s emergency provisions under the Constitution, examining how extraordinary powers designed for national security can sometimes lead to constitutional overreach. Through an analysis of the 1975 Emergency, landmark judicial decisions, and post-1977 reforms, it highlights the tension between executive necessity and democratic accountability. The piece also compares global constitutional practices and reflects on the need for constitutional morality in times of crisis.

Author: Amita Prasad, Law & Justice Department , CoS

The protection of digital privacy has become a crucial issue in today’s technology-driven world. With rapid digital advancements and data sharing, the need to safeguard personal information is greater than ever. The landmark judgment Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India (2017) recognized the Right to Privacy as a Fundamental Right under Article 21 of the Constitution. Further supported by the IT Act, 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, this right ensures that individuals’ personal data and digital information remain protected from unauthorized access, misuse, or infringement in the evolving digital environment.

Author - Y.S.Shivani Law and Justice Dept COS

The recognition of LGBTQIA+ rights in India has undergone a historic transformation over the last two decades. From the criminalization of homosexuality under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to the Supreme Court’s affirmation of equality and dignity in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, the legal landscape has evolved to acknowledge the constitutional rights of sexual minorities. This article explores the constitutional framework protecting LGBTQIA+ persons, judicial precedents shaping their rights, and the challenges that remain in realizing substantive equality.

By - Saraswati Gupta, Law & Justice Department , CoS

Transformative constitutionalism takes the Constitution to be a fluid and intentional instrument towards causing a powerful, long-term social change, not merely a governmental instrument. The given concept gains specific importance in the Indian context because of the history of colonial rule, the strong influence of caste systems, male chauvinism, and religious intolerance, as well as the constant economic disparities in the country. The authors of the Indian Constitution deliberately planned it to be a revolution tool, which will destroy all the historical injustices and reshape the society based on the tenets of justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, and dignity.

By -Hanshika Singh, Law & Justice Department , CoS

One of the cornerstones of criminal law is a rule known as mens rea, Latin for guilty mind. Traditional jurisprudence has always maintained that one cannot be found criminally liable unless such a person was in a blameworthy state of mind at the time they committed the unlawful act. This principle is the underlying justification or moral foundation of criminal law and provides that only the morally guilty should be punished. 

Strict liability offenses, however, in which the mens rea requirement is completely abrogated, have been increasing during the modern times, exponentially. Such development has generated considerable controversy in both the theory and practice of criminal law, an issue that raises profound questions about the concept of justice and fairness, and the scope of criminal punishment just and fair. A tension between the two principles is considered one of the biggest problems of the modern criminal law systems of the whole world.

By -Moubeethi Chakraborty, Law & Justice Department ,CoS

The Indian constitution protects the freedom of religion as a fundamental right, but this right is subject to reasonable restriction. The Constitution also allows the State to regulate or restrict religious practices when it comes to economic or secular activities associated with religion, or for social welfare and reform purposes. Religions freedom cannot be used as protection against acts dangerous to the public order, health and morality.

Anti-conversion laws in India exist primarily at the state level and aim to regulate or restrict religious conversions, especially to prevent forced, deceitful, or forced conversions. These laws must still conform to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion under Article 25. Anti-conversion laws are intended to regulate and prevent unethical conversions, but their implementation and impact remain subjects of significant debate.

By: Roshani H: Law & Justice Department ,CoS