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Gautam Bhatia

Articles by Gautam Bhatia

The importance of being the Speaker

Constitutional reform that guarantees the independence of the office– and removes some of its contentious roles – is of utmost importance to ensure the sanctity of parliamentary democracy

The Parliament House in New Delhi, India, on Monday, June 24, 2024. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vast domestic agenda is in jeopardy after his party failed to win an outright majority in parliament for the first time in a decade, forcing it to work with a coalition of parties and grapple with an expanded opposition bench. Photographer: Prakash Singh/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

Opinion

Published on Jun 24, 2024 08:10 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

The Bombay high court strikes a blow for liberty

The Bombay high court’s judgment on April 23 marks an important judicial pushback against what we can call LOC impunity.

Opinion

Published on May 03, 2024 10:53 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Apex court muzzles a media silencing tool

In its ruling against interim injunctions in defamation, the Supreme Court has restated basic principles with respect to the freedom of speech and expression

Opinion

Published on Apr 15, 2024 10:00 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

A restatement of the basic law on obscenity

It is important that the law be restated by the Supreme Court from time to time, to prevent the frivolous weaponisation of the obscenity law in cases like this.

Opinion

Published on Apr 01, 2024 10:00 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Code that is neither uniform nor lawful

Uttarakhand UCC is only the latest of the State’s attempts to control intimate relationships. It should be consigned to the dustbin of illegality

The Uttarakhand UCC is best understood as a continuation of an existing legal framework, rather than something new and unprecedented (PTI Photo)

Opinion

Published on Feb 25, 2024 01:19 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Heed the advice of justices on evictions

Allahabad HC order on resettlement and rehabilitation can help in crafting a meaningful, humane jurisprudence on evictions and constitutional rights

A recent order of the Allahabad high court (HC) is important in its reaffirmation of the progressive ethos of the Constitution.. (HT Archive)

Opinion

Published on Jan 31, 2024 10:00 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

In Bilkis Bano order, the rule of law is upheld

The SC has resisted the temptation to issue a sweeping moral condemnation or to undermine the law on remission while addressing the plea for justice in the case

A protest rally in support of Bilkis Bano in Kolkata in August 2022. (AFP/File)

Opinion

Published on Jan 09, 2024 10:15 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

New Bill casts a cloud over EC appointments

It has missed the spirit of the Supreme Court order that sought to protect the autonomy of the Election Commission

Election Commission of India (Representative Photo)

Opinion

Published on Dec 22, 2023 10:17 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Will Big Brother be watching?

The Broadcasting Bill aims to provide a modern legislative framework, but there are concerns because its framework replicates a command-and-control model

One hopes that as the Bill progresses through Parliament, the focus will shift from control to regulation (PTI)

Opinion

Published on Nov 28, 2023 10:11 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

State regulation of film reviews is a risky business

‘Review bombing’ is distasteful and unethical, but government intervention can have a chilling effect on free speech

Between a nuanced critique of a film, and a crude and intentional attempt to blackmail or extort money from a director, there is an entire spectrum that belongs in a grey area.(HT Archive)

opinion

Published on Nov 03, 2023 10:40 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Gig workers law deepens industrial democracy

Rajasthan's gig workers law mandates transparency in gig companies' transactions and creates a welfare board for gig workers

The term gig workers refers to those who are engaged in any income-generating activity as freelancers or on a temporary basis. (Shutterstock)

opinion

Published on Oct 17, 2023 10:22 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Safeguard the election panel’s independence

A new bill to select the CEC and ECs has sparked a row. But the real issue with the legislation is that it cedes control of the body to the executive

A few months ago, the Supreme Court held that the selection of the CEC must be done by a three-member committee comprising the Prime Minister (PM), the Leader of Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) (Representative Photo)

opinion

Published on Aug 17, 2023 09:55 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Bhima Koregaon bail curbs State impunity

The SC’s decision to grant bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira attempts to infuse some measure of due process into the stringent provisions of UAPA

opinion

Published on Aug 02, 2023 10:06 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Bail hearings in Delhi riots cases can be a test for liberty under UAPA

Delhi Riots cases have tested the commitment of the judiciary to upholding personal liberty. The SC can clarify on the law and protect personal liberty.

A prominent case is that of Umar Khalid, whose denial of bail by the trial court and the Delhi high court was on flimsy grounds, resting primarily on his being part of a WhatsApp group whose stated task was to coordinate protests, and a speech that he gave(ANI)

opinion

Published on Jul 11, 2023 09:09 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Courts and law enforcement must combat hate together

The Uttarakhand saga revealed a gap between the law on hate speech, and what happens on the ground. Here, law enforcement and higher courts must play joint role

In Uttarakhand, reports said the doors of the homes of some Muslim residents were marked with identifying signs by fringe groups, which also pasted posters and held rallies asking Muslims to leave the area. it is evident that what happened constitutes hate speech(ANI)

opinion

Published on Jun 27, 2023 09:46 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Top court must strike down the sedition law

The Law Commission has recommended that sedition be retained in the statute books. But it fails proportionality and incitement tests, making it unconstitutional

Regardless of whether the government accepts or rejects the Law Commission’s proposed changes, it is long overdue for the Supreme Court to take up this case again, and strike down sedition once and for all. (AP File )

opinion

Updated on Jun 06, 2023 01:22 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Andhra HC’s model for shielding citizens’ rights

The HC’s judgment, which reaffirmed the right to protest, is an excellent example of the judicial safeguarding of rights against executive impunity

opinion

Updated on May 28, 2023 08:06 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

The real bite of SC’s MediaOne ruling

It provides lessons in how the judiciary should respond when faced with invocations of national security and sealed covers by the State. The real test, however, will be when the next case comes before a court somewhere in India

The Supreme Court invalidated the government’s ban on MediaOne for failing to respect the channel’s due process rights (HT PHOTO)

opinion

Updated on Apr 09, 2023 08:29 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

A desolation Called Peace: Finality of Bhopal gas leak case is another tragedy

The curative hearings were an opportunity for the victims of the tragedy to have their day in court. It was incumbent upon the SC to parse their claims with care and rigour. Instead, however, the SC did the opposite.

What the SC failed to adequately consider was the argument that the settlement amount had been arrived at on the basis of the suppression of crucial facts. (ANI)

opinion

Updated on Mar 24, 2023 09:36 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

A new deal to protect India’s gig workers?

Rajasthan announced that the state will enact a law for the protection of gig workers. Why is this necessary? Because, at present, gig work exists in a legal vacuum.

While gig work does not resemble the employment relationship of the factory owner and the worker, it exhibits all the hallmarks of institutionalised power differences and subordination that make labour laws important in the first place. (PTI)

opinion

Published on Mar 18, 2023 07:18 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

SC order on ECI will bolster democracy

The judgment is neither activism nor judicial overreach. Parliament can take up alternative appointment processes for ECI but will have to secure institutional independence

A look at the debates around the framing of the Constitution reveals that its drafters were keenly aware of the need for an independent ECI, which — specifically — they understood to be a commission outside the sole control of the executive in the matter of appointments (HT PHOTO)

opinion

Published on Mar 05, 2023 06:34 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Trial courts need to act as first line of defence

A recent order passed by additional sessions judge Arul Varma on February 4 is an excellent illustration of how trial courts can serve as that first line of defence

A person may join a peaceful protest, which might later turn violent. To then hold this person liable for those acts of violence would amount to criminalising protest itself (AP)

opinion

Published on Feb 07, 2023 07:47 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Haldwani case: SC ruling is laudable

Its observations — evictions cannot be done without a rehabilitation plan, and there must be proper consultation with the people — stem from a fundamental realisat-ion that ‘encroachments’ are a result of the State’s failure to provide shelter to all citizens

People from Haldwani celebrate after the Supreme Court order (Sanjay Sharma/JHTPhoto)

opinion

Updated on Jan 09, 2023 06:53 AM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Uniform Civil Code: Reframe the debate

The starting point of the discussion should not be whether India needs a UCC, but how to ensure every Indian is governed by a gender-just civil code of their choice

At the time the Constitution was being framed, there was a 150-year-long history of communities being governed by their personal laws. Realising that the overhaul of such structures was impossible in one go, the framers of the Constitution left UCC as an aspirational goal (Shutterstock)

opinion

Published on Dec 27, 2022 08:23 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Preventive detention cannot be normalised

The Madras high court’s judgment, thus, strikes an important blow for individual freedom against State impunity. It reminds us that, for all our criticism of the courts, an independent judiciary is the surest bulwark against authoritarianism

It is crucial to remember that preventive detention is meant to be used only in the most exceptional of circumstances. As a general rule, we do not curtail the liberty of individuals for things that they might do in the future, but have not yet. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

opinion

Updated on Dec 12, 2022 08:41 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Why the new draft data bill must be reconsidered

A closer look at the provisions reveals some serious shortcomings within the proposed legal framework.

The bill presents an inadequate and problematic legal framework for data protection in India. It is to be hoped that the government will take constructive critique on board, and modify the bill. (Shutterstock)

opinion

Published on Nov 29, 2022 08:09 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

Criticism of judiciary needs more nuance

The Centre criticised the Supreme Court’s system of picking judges and accused it of judicial activism. Such criticism is fair to an extent, but it requires more nuanced deliberation than what is being offered at present

The collegium system has been criticised for being opaque, but it benefits all parties. The so-called judicial activism has faced disapproval, but in our constitutional system, it is the central obligation of the courts to review and test laws for compliance with the Constitution (PTI)

opinion

Published on Nov 16, 2022 06:52 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

SC’s Saibaba order raises doubts about safeguards in UAPA, authority of HCs

Apart from depriving the accused of the liberty they were entitled to by virtue of the HC’s reasoned judgment, the order sends a signal across the judiciary, ie, that the sanctity of procedural safeguards under UAPA is negotiable, at best.

When we notice that one of the accused — professor Saibaba — is 90% disabled, the SC’S action grows even more concerning. (PTI)

opinion

Published on Oct 18, 2022 07:16 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

SC move to live-stream proceedings is good, but more needs to be done

It is important to note that while some courts across the world do live-stream proceedings, a great many don’t: In taking this decision, therefore, the SC is one of the judiciaries that has provided global leadership on this significant issue

The SC is not the first Indian court to live-stream its proceedings. During the pandemic, the Gujarat high court (HC) made its proceedings available to watch online. (REUTERS)

opinion

Updated on Oct 05, 2022 07:54 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

The SC’s final ruling in the hijab case will have broader implications

The hijab case raises several issues about Muslim women students’ right to education, the meanings of secularism, tolerance, and accommodation under the Constitution, fostering diversity and pluralism in classrooms, and the limits of State power

Thus, the final judgment of the SC will be important, not only for what it holds but also for how it holds. (Amit Sharma)

opinion

Published on Sep 21, 2022 07:58 PM IST

ByGautam Bhatia

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Gautam Bhatia

Constitutional reform that guarantees the independence of the office– and removes some of its contentious roles – is of utmost importance to ensure the sanctity of parliamentary democracy

The Bombay high court’s judgment on April 23 marks an important judicial pushback against what we can call LOC impunity.

In its ruling against interim injunctions in defamation, the Supreme Court has restated basic principles with respect to the freedom of speech and expression

It is important that the law be restated by the Supreme Court from time to time, to prevent the frivolous weaponisation of the obscenity law in cases like this.

Uttarakhand UCC is only the latest of the State’s attempts to control intimate relationships. It should be consigned to the dustbin of illegality

Allahabad HC order on resettlement and rehabilitation can help in crafting a meaningful, humane jurisprudence on evictions and constitutional rights

The SC has resisted the temptation to issue a sweeping moral condemnation or to undermine the law on remission while addressing the plea for justice in the case

It has missed the spirit of the Supreme Court order that sought to protect the autonomy of the Election Commission

The Broadcasting Bill aims to provide a modern legislative framework, but there are concerns because its framework replicates a command-and-control model

‘Review bombing’ is distasteful and unethical, but government intervention can have a chilling effect on free speech

Rajasthan's gig workers law mandates transparency in gig companies' transactions and creates a welfare board for gig workers

A new bill to select the CEC and ECs has sparked a row. But the real issue with the legislation is that it cedes control of the body to the executive

The SC’s decision to grant bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira attempts to infuse some measure of due process into the stringent provisions of UAPA

Delhi Riots cases have tested the commitment of the judiciary to upholding personal liberty. The SC can clarify on the law and protect personal liberty.

The Uttarakhand saga revealed a gap between the law on hate speech, and what happens on the ground. Here, law enforcement and higher courts must play joint role

The Law Commission has recommended that sedition be retained in the statute books. But it fails proportionality and incitement tests, making it unconstitutional

The HC’s judgment, which reaffirmed the right to protest, is an excellent example of the judicial safeguarding of rights against executive impunity

It provides lessons in how the judiciary should respond when faced with invocations of national security and sealed covers by the State. The real test, however, will be when the next case comes before a court somewhere in India

The curative hearings were an opportunity for the victims of the tragedy to have their day in court. It was incumbent upon the SC to parse their claims with care and rigour. Instead, however, the SC did the opposite.

Rajasthan announced that the state will enact a law for the protection of gig workers. Why is this necessary? Because, at present, gig work exists in a legal vacuum.

The judgment is neither activism nor judicial overreach. Parliament can take up alternative appointment processes for ECI but will have to secure institutional independence

A recent order passed by additional sessions judge Arul Varma on February 4 is an excellent illustration of how trial courts can serve as that first line of defence

Its observations — evictions cannot be done without a rehabilitation plan, and there must be proper consultation with the people — stem from a fundamental realisat-ion that ‘encroachments’ are a result of the State’s failure to provide shelter to all citizens

The starting point of the discussion should not be whether India needs a UCC, but how to ensure every Indian is governed by a gender-just civil code of their choice

The Madras high court’s judgment, thus, strikes an important blow for individual freedom against State impunity. It reminds us that, for all our criticism of the courts, an independent judiciary is the surest bulwark against authoritarianism

A closer look at the provisions reveals some serious shortcomings within the proposed legal framework.

The Centre criticised the Supreme Court’s system of picking judges and accused it of judicial activism. Such criticism is fair to an extent, but it requires more nuanced deliberation than what is being offered at present

Apart from depriving the accused of the liberty they were entitled to by virtue of the HC’s reasoned judgment, the order sends a signal across the judiciary, ie, that the sanctity of procedural safeguards under UAPA is negotiable, at best.

It is important to note that while some courts across the world do live-stream proceedings, a great many don’t: In taking this decision, therefore, the SC is one of the judiciaries that has provided global leadership on this significant issue

The hijab case raises several issues about Muslim women students’ right to education, the meanings of secularism, tolerance, and accommodation under the Constitution, fostering diversity and pluralism in classrooms, and the limits of State power

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