Columnists

Soli J. Sorabjee

The writer is a former attorney general of India.

When humour and banter enlivened proceedings

Mon, May 18, 2020

There are judges and judges and lawyers and lawyers, and as Charles Dickens wrote, “if the law supposes that, the law is a ass”. I wonder what would be Dickens’ reaction to this incident.

Supreme Court’s recent judgments reaffirm its role as a vigilant monitor

Wed, Dec 04, 2019

Ordinarily, the Supreme Court judgment should finally settle any controversial issue, but not in our country. This is evident from the heated debates on the issue on TV channels and in public meetings.

Babasaheb’s warning: In politics, hero-worship is a path to degradation and eventual dictatorship

Tue, Oct 15, 2019

Ambedkar emphasised that this caution is far more necessary in the case of India. For in India, bhakti, or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in politics, unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country.

Court’s in-house procedure, by which allegations against CJI were examined, has stood the test of time

Tue, May 14, 2019

If we do not trust judges of the Supreme Court, then God save the country. We must put a lid upon the unfortunate controversy and save the institution, the office of the Chief Justice of India, from further damage.

Ambedkar’s ideas of social justice still haunt country’s constitutional apparatus. How much have we achieved?

Thu, Apr 18, 2019

Ambedkar believed that unless the moral values of a constitution are upheld, the grandiloquent words in it will not protect the freedom and democratic values of the people.

A labour of law

Thu, Feb 07, 2019

Constituent Assembly debates were full of disagreement, humour and hope. Will the dreams of the founding fathers come true?

Slogans, critical of govt, are not anti-national and do not amount to sedition

Thu, Jan 17, 2019

Invocation of the section (on sedition) should only be in cases of slogans which incite violence and have a tendency to create public disorder. Our state rests on solid foundations which cannot be disturbed by ill-tempered or pungent or stupid slogans.

A duty to curb intolerance

Mon, Dec 17, 2018

The movie Kedarnath, which depicts the love story, has sparked a controversy. There are shrill demands for banning its exhibition. The Uttarakhand High Court observed that those who do not like the movie need not watch it.

The noble dissenters

Sat, Oct 06, 2018

Dissenting judgments on Sabarimala and Bhima Koregaon speak to the future.

Amazing Grace

Wed, Aug 22, 2018

Atalji made friends and disarmed his opponents

The Constitution was founded on these

Sat, Apr 21, 2018

Our founding fathers were driven by the learnings of the past, the turmoil of the present and the possibilities of the future.

The Limits Of Freedom

Tue, Jan 30, 2018

Sedition law has been misused by over-zealous agencies. That’s no reason to scrap it

When a PM gave me counsel

Thu, Jan 04, 2018

And other memories starring leaders and lawyers

Be intolerant of intolerance

Wed, Nov 22, 2017

Why the Supreme Court judgment in the case of ‘An Insignificant Man’ shows the way.

A duty to be tolerant

Wed, Nov 01, 2017

The rise of intolerance is alarming. Dissent is smothered and self-censorship takes its place, endangering democracy itself.

Protect the dissenter

Sat, Sep 09, 2017

That is the state’s responsibility. It must punish those who violently target dissent

This thing called privacy

Sat, Aug 26, 2017

One salutary consequence is that the right to privacy cannot be curtailed or abrogated by merely enacting a statute but can be done only by a constitutional amendment after complying with certain constitutional prerequisites.