Publications

Decriminalising Defamation

By Ranjeev C DubeyCriminal Law
When the inimitable Subramanian Swamy added his name to a gallery of eminent Indian politicians who have been sued for criminal defamation, he could at least demand that he be taken seriously because he had suffered the mandatory rite of passage! I am not being facetious. An allegation you make…

Justice for All

By Ranjeev C DubeyLitigation
ABOUT: Some of India’s landmark legislations such as MGNREGA, insurance for all, direct benefit transfer, education for all and health for all, have been instruments of bringing social equilibrium. But with crores of cases pending in Courts across the country, delayed justice continues to deny justice to the common man. How could…

My Human and other Animal Rights

By Ranjeev C DubeyConstitutional Law
Is this just the dawn of acche din or are Indians beginning to have too much of a sense of entitlement? Why do we think we deserve highways like America, public behaviour like Japan or politicians like Scandinavia? Indeed, why is it our birth right to have a house, a…

Transforming the Judicial Club

By Ranjeev C DubeyLegal Profession
It is with a great sense of privilege, not exasperation, that I find myself witness to the great ideological battles being waged in India today. In an attempt to radically re-engineer a society that changes slowly, progressive forces are fighting to transform our patriarchal carpet bagging ‘sometimes democracy’ into a…

Why deny an individual’s right to die?

By Ranjeev C DubeyConstitutional Law
India is currently witnessing a great battle seeking to redefine the idea of ‘being Indian’. How we regard life itself is a very good example. Thus, suicide, euthanasia and Santhara — the very heart of any society’s ideological construct — are being debated as never before. Trying to find a…

The trouble with privatised justice

By Ranjeev C DubeyArbitration Law
Consider the irony: many lawyers agree that India’s justice machine has all but collapsed but Indians generally believe deeply in Indian courts. Similarly, many lawyers agree that privatised justice (also known as arbitration) has all but collapsed in India but clients generally believe they provide an exciting opportunity to transcend…

Persecuting victims: Justice for the emotionally overblown

By Ranjeev C DubeyCriminal Law
Long before Tarun Tejpal’s legendary libido unfairly dented her credibility; Tehelka’s Shoma Chaudhury devastatingly demolished CBI’s case against Arushi Talwar’s parents back in June 2013. Avirook Sen’s recent book on the subject expands substantially on her critique without necessarily unearthing a great deal of new data. What neither Chaudhury nor…

Law And Living-in

By Ranjeev C DubeyFamily Law
Here’s a confusing contradiction for the connoisseur: Indian courts are very slow to decide anything at all, but they are exceedingly quick to evolve laws to respond to ever-changing social mores. The battle over the rights of homosexuals may not be the best example of this, but in most departments…

Reimagining India’s Legal System

By Ranjeev C DubeyCriminal Law
There comes a time in everyone’s life when they must stop to radically rethink their priorities. For nations, we call them inflection points, sometimes cultural transformations. For mature managers, we call them midlife crises! In every case, it’s about testing basic ideological assumptions about what we believe we want, or…

What really hurts about Vyapam

By Ranjeev C DubeyCriminal Law
It is that those uncovering such scams cannot actually be protected, notwithstanding the Whistleblower Protection Act Notwithstanding the flak directed at the Madhya Pradesh home minister, Babulal Gaur, for commenting that he could not secure the safety of Vyapam witnesses any more than Indira Gandhi could be protected, the fact…