Education
Colin Gonsalves, is a BTech (1975) from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay. He began working as a civil engineer, but was drawn to the law through union work and concerns over labour issues and exploitation. He then started studying law at night school in 1979. [2] Upon graduation in 1983, he co-founded the India Centre for Human Rights and Law in Mumbai (Bombay) and developed it into a national network of over 200 lawyers and paralegals, activists under the auspices of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN). [3]
Gonsalves strives to use the law as a shield to protect the human rights of the poor and of the marginalized communities in India. [8] [9] Over last two decades, he has played a prominent role in investigating, monitoring, and documenting human rights violations, generating "know your rights" material, and conducting training seminars and workshops for lawyers, activists, judges, and government officials including police and civic administrators. [10]
The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial authority of India and the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the highest constitutional court and has the final decision in all legal matters. It also has the power of judicial review. The Chief Justice of India is the Head of the Supreme Court, which consists of a maximum of 34 judges, and has extensive powers in the form of original, appellate and advisory jurisdictions.
The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). It refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and demonstrates the availability of justice to socially-disadvantaged parties and was introduced by Justice P. N. Bhagwati. It is a relaxation on the traditional rule of locus standi. Before 1980s the judiciary and the Supreme Court of India entertained litigation only from parties affected directly or indirectly by the defendant. It heard and decided cases only under its original and appellate jurisdictions. However, the Supreme Court began permitting cases on the grounds of public interest litigation, which means that even people who are not directly involved in the case may bring matters of public interest to the court. It is the court's privilege to entertain the application for the PIL.
Capital punishment in India is a legal penalty for some crimes under the country's main substantive penal legislation, the Indian Penal Code, as well as other laws. Executions are carried out by hanging as the primary method of execution as given under Section 354(5) of the Criminal Code of Procedure, 1973 is "Hanging by the neck until dead", and is awarded only in the 'rarest of cases'.
The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the span of recorded Indian history. Their position in society deteriorated early in India's ancient period, especially in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordination continued to be reified well into India's early modern period.
Indira Jaising is an Indian lawyer and activist. In 2018, she was ranked 20th on the list of 50 Greatest Leaders of the World by Fortune magazine. She also runs Lawyers' Collective, a non-governmental organization (NGO), the license of which was permanently cancelled by the Home Ministry for violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The central government of India accused the NGO of using foreign funds in a manner not mentioned in the objectives of the NGO. The Bombay High Court later passed the order to de-freeze the domestic accounts of her NGO. The case is ongoing in the Supreme Court of India.
Konakuppakatil Gopinathan Balakrishnan is an Indian judge who has been the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India. He is a former Chief Justice of India. He was the first judge from Kerala to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His tenure lasting more than three years has been one of the longest in the Supreme Court of India. While being Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court, he was appointed as the Acting Governor of Gujarat from 16th January 1999 to 18th March 1999.In 2010, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate by Cochin University of Science and Technology.
The Fundamental Rights in India enshrined in part III of the Constitution of India guarantee civil liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace and harmony as citizens of India. These rights are known as "fundamental" as they are most essential for all-round development i.e., material, intellectual, moral and spiritual and protected by fundamental law of the land i.e. constitution.If the rights provided by Constitution i.e., The Fundamental rights have been damaged The Parliament can take strict actions, according to Article 32.
Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is an Indian judge who is serving as the 50th and current Chief Justice of India.. He is a former chief justice of the Allahabad High Court and a former judge of the Bombay High Court. He is also a former executive chairperson (ex officio) of the National Legal Services Authority.
The Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) is an Indian non-profit organisation founded in 1989 to protect the fundamental human rights and civil liberties of the most marginalised and vulnerable members of society. Working on the intersection of law, advocacy, policy, and education, HRLN is organised as a collective of lawyers and social activists dedicated to providing legal assistance to vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals, advocating for the implementation of structures to safeguard human rights and fight systemic oppression, and educating the public on their rights and remedies. HRLN provides pro bono legal services to marginalised groups, conducts investigations into human rights violations, and undertakes high-stakes impact litigation in service of the public interest. The organisation operates across the spectrum of public interest law, focusing specifically on children’s rights, rights of disabled persons, rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, prisoners' rights, refugee rights, rights of indigenous people, workers' rights, rights of minorities, and the protection of victims of sexual violence or trafficking.
A private attorney general is an informal term originating in common law jurisdictions for a private attorney who brings a lawsuit claiming it to be in the public interest, i.e., benefiting the general public and not just the plaintiff, on behalf of a citizen or group of citizens. The attorney may, at the equitable discretion of the court, be entitled to recover attorney's fees if they prevail. The rationale behind this principle is to provide extra incentive to private attorneys to pursue suits that may be of benefit to society at large. Private attorney general suits are commonly, though not always, brought as class actions in jurisdictions that permit the certification of class action lawsuits.
Tort law in India is primarily governed by judicial precedent as in other common law jurisdictions, supplemented by statutes governing damages, civil procedure, and codifying common law torts. As in other common law jurisdictions, a tort is breach of a non-contractual duty which has caused damage to the plaintiff giving rise to a civil cause of action and for which remedy is available. If a remedy does not exist, a tort has not been committed since the rationale of tort law is to provide a remedy to the person who has been wronged.
The Indian People's Tribunal (IPT), also called the Indian People's Tribunal on Environmental and Human Rights or Independent People's Tribunal, was a People's Tribunal set up by the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) on 5 June 1993. The IPT is an unofficial body led by retired judges who form a panel that conducts public enquiries into human rights and environmental abuses. It provides an alternative outlet for the victims faced with official obstruction and delays. Since being founded the IPT has conducted numerous investigations into cases of relocation of rural people to make way for dams or parks, eviction of slum dwellers, industrial pollution and communal or state-sponsored violence.
Mihir Desai is a human rights lawyer in cases of mass murders & riots, fake encounter & custodial deaths by the police, police brutality, freedom of speech & journalists, political activists & prisoners of conscience, excesses by the state, mass disappearances & deaths and genocide probes. A senior counsel, he has been practicing criminal matters in Bombay High Court, Mumbai and the Supreme Court of India.
Anil B. Divan was a senior advocate in India. He has been described as an eminent constitutional expert.
Child sexual abuse laws in India have been enacted as part of the child protection policies of India. The Parliament of India passed the 'Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill (POCSO), 2011' regarding child sexual abuse on 22 May 2012, making it an Act. A guideline was passed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, India. The rules formulated by the government in accordance with the law had also been notified on the November 2012 and the law had become ready for implementation. There have been many calls for more stringent laws.
Laxmi Agarwal is an Indian acid attack survivor, a campaigner for rights of acid attack victims, and a TV host. She was attacked in 2005 in New Delhi at the age of 15.
Recognized by The Guardian (UK) as one of the "World's Top 100 Inspiring Women," Jayshree Satpute is a human rights lawyer and co-founder of Nazdeek. Satpute is a legal advocate in human rights pursuing cases in the Supreme Court and High Courts of India related to injustices to slum dwellers, refugees, women labourers, care of orphaned children, juveniles, Right to Information (RTI), and related issue areas.
P. P. Chaudhary is a Senior Advocate and an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and represents Pali Lok Sabha constituency (Rajasthan) in the 17th Lok Sabha. Currently Chaudhary is Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and Joint Committee on Jan Vishwas Bill 2022. He is also a member of the Estimates Committee, Business Advisory Committee, General Purposes Committee of Lok Sabha and Consultative Committee of Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India.
Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) &Anr.vs Union Of India &Ors. (2017), also known as Right to Privacy verdict is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India, which holds that the right to privacy is protected as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
S. Muralidhar is an Indian Judge. Presently, he is Chief Justice of Orissa High Court. He is former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was initially appointed as a Judge to the High Court of Delhi in May 2006. He assumed the office of Judge at the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on 6 March 2020.
