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Courts, Culture, and Complicity: How Anthropological Knowledge Sustains State Imaginations of Indigeneity
No full textThis review essay explores the themes that emerge from contributions published in the Special Section on Cultural Expertise in the American Anthropologist. The contributions provide relevant insights into the key debates that surround the participation of cultural experts, especially anthropologists, in courtrooms, and the use of anthropology in courts to adjudicate claims. In this review essay, we assess how anthropological knowledge impacts claims made by Indigenous people, building on the experiences of the contributors to the Special Section. The contributors highlight how anthropological knowledge can support Indigenous claims even though it also reinforces culturally essentialist tropes about the Indigenous population. This is because it is the judicial system that sets the terms of how anthropological knowledge is to be incorporated in a courtroom. We provide a conceptual vocabulary to categorise this form of complicity between anthropological knowledge and state legal order, calling it claim-enhancing complicity. We also discuss how the Special Section in American Anthropologist does not capture another form of complicity—which we classify as claim-dismissing complicity. We find examples of claim-dismissing complicity in the Indian context, in two areas—first, in the denial of the Indigenous status of tribal communities, where anthropological knowledge reinforces the Indian state’s position in the international arena, and second, in the use of anthropological knowledge to set a heavy burden on tribal candidates of India’s affirmative action programmes to prove the authenticity of their tribal identity
Anti-Caste Movements, Resistance, and Caste: An Introduction
No full textIntroduction to Special Issue on \u27Anti-Caste Movements and Caste\u27
West Bengal’s Puja Carnival Politics and the Need to Slay All Evil
No full textExcerpt:
\u27Kolkata witnessed two contrasting ‘carnival’ scenes on October 15, barely three kilometres apart. A human chain of the protesters on one side, barricades erected by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government on the other. A display of exasperation versus power-blind arrogance — a figuratively and literally poignant moment as a rebellious carnival of protesters juxtaposed a stark reality against the grand star-studded puja procession by the West Bengal government.\u2
India’s Pride Marches are Important Calls for Justice but Elitist – They Must Be Democratised
No full textDalit, non-English speaking, disabled and Indigenous queer people are still sidelined at these LGBTQIA+ events. This must change
VFS Global Needs to Be Scrutinised by the Competition Regulator
No full textVFS Global performs what used to be a sovereign function of consular, passport and visa services. The law gives it a de-facto monopoly, making it impossible for competition to come up. Given this context, there\u27s a strong case for the competition regulator to investigate the company\u27s practices to see if the consumer is really the king here
Consideration
No full textAbout the book:
This new volume analyses the central doctrines and concepts of Indian contract law and provides guidance on the interpretation of the Indian Contract Act 1872 by examining its historical, philosophical, and comparative foundations.
Featuring contributions from practitioners and academics from around the world, the book follows a methodology carefully calibrated to address the shortcomings in traditional Indian contract law scholarship. The primary presuppositions of this methodology are that: (a) the answers to many difficult questions of Indian contract law can be found in the history of the Contract Act; and (b) while it is difficult to understand the Contract Act other than against the backdrop of the common law, one should not assume that Indian contract law mirrors the common law on all difficult points. Each chapter therefore pays close attention to the legislative history of the relevant provision(s) of the Contract Act.
Based on a holistic analysis of the Contract Act\u27s drafting history and its current interpretation, Foundations of Indian Contract Law is a carefully crafted volume providing the input needed to influence the Indian courts\u27 approach to contract law, inform meaningful legislative reform, and, more broadly, catalyse a culture of critical scholarship on Indian private law.
Formed of 24 chapters and a conclusion by Professor Hugh Beale (former Commercial Law and Common Law Commissioner at the Law Commission of England and Wales), the volume presents an authoritative exposition of a branch of the law that is of considerable interest and great practical importance for practitioners, scholars, and students interested in Indian contract law
Wrongful Convictions, Wrongful Prosecutions and Wrongful Detentions in India
No full textThe first part of this article examines wrongful convictions in India. In part because of the absence of a jury, appellate courts, including the apex court, are more willing to evaluate whether the evidence for a conviction is sufficient than appellate courts in other common law systems. From 2016 to 2022, the High Courts and the Supreme Court have acquitted over two hundred accused in death penalty cases alone. The willingness of appellate courts to acquit is a strength of the Indian system that should be maintained. At the same time, remedied wrongful convictions in India likely represent only the small tip of a larger iceberg. For example, no remedied wrongful convictions involving guilty pleas, DNA exonerations, crimes that were not committed, or that were remedied after appeals were exhausted were discovered in the research for this article, though these types of wrongful convictions are common in other democracies. The Indian record of discovered and remedied wrongful convictions confirms that, as in other countries, terrorism cases are particularly susceptible to wrongful convictions. This suggests the exception for terrorism cases from its proposed abolition of the death penalty by the Law Commission of India in its 2015 report is not justified. The death penalty presents a real risk of executing an innocent person. This article also examines wrongful prosecutions and wrongful pre- trial detention in India. It argues that the Law Commission of India was justified in its 2018 Report on focusing on this phenomenon given that over three-quarters of prisoners in India are subject to pre-trial detention. An exclusive focus on wrongful convictions and claiming innocence may not be appropriate for developing countries where most prisoners are awaiting trial. The Law Commission’s still unimplemented proposals for the creation of a separate court where malicious prosecution would have to be established are critically examined. It is suggested that to increase access to justice, criminal courts should award damages and that only negligent prosecution or detention should have to be established. However, given low conviction rates in India, such an alternative proposal could significantly increase the number of accused who might receive compensation. Although compensation for wrongful pre-trial detention is warranted, other steps to improve access to bail and to allow the accused to challenge the state’s case earlier in the pre-trial process are also required
