Shahrukh Alam

The writer is a lawyer practising in the Supreme Court

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More From Shahrukh Alam

On SIR and SC, a question: Did we shortchange constitutional rights in the face of fearmongering?Subscriber Only

October 02,2025 08:17:37 AM

SIR has shifted constitutional balance — from facilitation to suspicion, from inclusion to exclusion

Thu, Oct 02, 2025

Divorce plea, Supreme Court, Omar Abdullah, Payal Abdullah, divorce battle, mediation centre, J&K assembly polls, Indian express news

The Supreme Court wants the state to let people protest peacefullySubscriber Only

August 31,2024 14:21:34 PM

Perhaps this is an opportunity to have new jurisprudence on the law of protest – one that doesn’t judge protests as good or bad on the basis of one’s political preferences, or on the basis of the state’s dismissal of them, or even on public opinion

Mon, Sep 09, 2024

From Israel to India, the making of a ‘terrorist’Subscriber Only

October 30,2023 05:30:39 AM

The law and state have monopoly over meanings. This comes in the way of framing multiple legitimate definitions of violence

Mon, Oct 30, 2023

Proposed Criminal Codes, while trying to break from colonial past, only emulate itSubscriber Only

August 14,2023 07:45:11 AM

The new Bills carry all the marks of an authoritarian and opaque colonial state

Mon, Aug 14, 2023

same-sex marriages, SC plea, jamiat hypocrisy

Same-sex marriage: In attacking notions of love, the Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Hind propagates a narrative that is hostile to changeSubscriber Only

April 17,2023 17:24:20 PM

As an organisation with a history of resistance to imperialism, the Jamiat would know that societal norms are often hegemonic and they do, in fact, keep changing organically, through the efforts of those on the margins

Sat, Apr 22, 2023

Shahrukh Alam writes: A solution to the problem of judicial pendency, posed by the law minister – don’t mechanically arrest a suspectSubscriber Only

November 22,2022 14:36:42 PM

"Arrest" or remand should take place only at the end of the investigative process. By following this principle, judiciary could greatly reduce pendency, help the common citizen.

Wed, Nov 23, 2022

Narrative on hijab, in Iran and India, frames our attitudes towards minoritiesSubscriber Only

October 15,2022 04:10:21 AM

Shahrukh Alam writes: Political minorities organise around their primary identity, and all other inequalities and bigotries within remain suspended in the moment, especially when faced with a “disciplining state”. The hijab case is a good place to ask how individual members of a political minority negotiate their freedoms vis-à-vis their community?

Sat, Oct 15, 2022

Shahrukh Alam writes: Why the recent trend of criminalising journalists is worryingSubscriber Only

July 26,2022 04:30:08 AM

Shahrukh Alam writes: If the state wants to prevent political formations, then, rather than criminalising political mobilisation of some groups, it should quickly intervene so that large parts of the population don’t feel excluded from society

Tue, Jul 26, 2022

There is a growing intolerance to differenceSubscriber Only

April 22,2022 04:20:31 AM

Shahrukh Alam writes: The old grievance against Muslim 'appeasement' is now giving way to the new demand for all to conform.

Fri, Apr 22, 2022

The life and death of Mohammad Nanhe. And the brief flicker afterwardsSubscriber Only

March 03,2022 19:01:44 PM

Orthodoxy, impediments and a repentant spirit — in our Women’s Day Special, a short story by Shahrukh Alam on how Zainab goes back to school

Thu, Mar 03, 2022

Why ‘The Age of Pandemics’, by Chinmay Tumbe, deals with the missing historiography in IndiaSubscriber Only

February 28,2021 06:30:13 AM

The new book opens up both a conversation with the past and a critique of pandemic politics.

Sun, Mar 07, 2021

italy, italy public health, history italian public health, coronavirus, coronavirus italy, black death, plague, Romeo and Juliet, indian express

From Renaissance Italy to now, how epidemics have shaped conversations around the poor and public healthSubscriber Only

May 10,2020 06:07:21 AM

New opinions were encouraged and the Italian health policy of the 14th-15th centuries was quite extraordinary as it linked public health to the lives of the poor and to their access to food.

Sun, May 10, 2020