I graduated from law school in 1982, joined the bar in Delhi, India and have been practicing law since then. I am an independent lawyer, not affiliated to any firm. Along with a bread and butter practice I have always worked on issues of concern to me. Over the last 20 years my focus has been on issues of accountability and State impunity. In 1995 I filed a petition in the Indian Supreme Court seeking a comprehensive enquiry into allegations of enforced disappearances in the north-western Indian State of Punjab during the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, when the state was wracked by an armed insurrection. This case was decided in October 2006. The final order fell woefully short of expectations but it did result in the grant of minimal compensation to the families of over 1200 persons who had been disappeared (and then killed) by the Punjab police and other security forces. This is a first in independent Indian history. Between 2002 and 2005 I conducted a study of the effectiveness of the writ of habeas corpus in the northern most Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, which has also been in the throes of a violent insurrection since 1990. My report of the findings of the study are on this site. A paper based on this research, titled 'In Search of Vanished Blood', is shortly to be published by SAFHR, a Kathmandu, Nepal based human rights organisation. This too can be downloaded from this site. Currently I balance my time between practice and research. Among my recent works is a monograph on law and social justice, in which I have analysed the Indian Supreme Court's stand on the issue of affirmative action for the Dalits. The monograph is titled 'Trivialising Justice: Reservation Under The Rule Of Law'. It is shortly to be published (early 2009) by SAGE (India). Another paper, titled 'Law's Autonomy: A Paradigm of State Power', explores the ambivalence of law in the context of individual and social autonomy. Both these papers can also be downloaded from this site.
Accountability
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Armed Forces Special Powers Act
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
Colonial Studies
Enforced Disappearances
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Nazir Gojar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Habeas Corpus
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Nazir Gojar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Human Rights
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Humanities
Trivialising Justice: Reservation Under The Rule Of Law, The State of Justice in India : Volume - II; Justice and Law: The Limits of the Deliverables of Law (2009)
The idea for the paper was born out of a consultation called by the Calcutta...
Sustainable Futures, Unpublished Papers (2008)
Impunity
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
India
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Judicial Accountability
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Justice
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Sustainable Futures, Unpublished Papers (2008)
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Kashmir
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Nazir Gojar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Philosophy
Sustainable Futures, Unpublished Papers (2008)
Right to Life
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Sustainable Futures, Unpublished Papers (2008)
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Rule of Law
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Security Forces
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
Social Justice, Affirmative Action, Supreme Court, India, Law
Trivialising Justice: Reservation Under The Rule Of Law, The State of Justice in India : Volume - II; Justice and Law: The Limits of the Deliverables of Law (2009)
The idea for the paper was born out of a consultation called by the Calcutta...
State Criminality
In Search of Vanished Blood (2008)
Deaths in custody/ disappearance from custody are endemic in India and, have been so throughout...
Law's Autonomy, Autonomy, Beyond Kant And Hermenutics (2007)
The Case of Abdul Gani Najar (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Ghulam Qadir Pandith (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...
The Case of Khizir Mohammad Bhat (2007)
The case discussed here is part of the Kashmir report. I have pasted it here...