LAW, POLITICS AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Background : Law, as an autonomous field of study as taught in schools of law, is centrally

concerned with the substance of law and the practices of legal professionals. However, since law

is deeply implicated in our economic, political, and social worlds, the study of law cannot be

isolated from the disciplines of politics and society. Law, which is generally regarded as an

instrument of social change, has often been used as a medium of social oppression. Therefore, law

is not just about what it is, but is also defined by the processes though which it came. Moreover,

law has the capability to shape the discourse after it has been enacted.

Specifically, the study of law as an instrument of social transformation, as a separate discipline, is

not merely intertwined with the democratic political process, exercise of state power, and the

institutional structure of government. The collective mobilization and the multiple scales of social

action, including court litigation, that were bundled together to influence political process, also

need to be taken into account.

This course emphasizes that the pursuit of social transformation invariably involves an

engagement with law and politics. Using select themes, this course examines how social

movements, strategic action, politics and courts have intersected to shape law. Drawing from

history of other countries, this course also discusses the role of social and political movements in

undoing the impact of law, when it has been used as a system of oppression. Students who seek to

understand how law can be harnessed for social change, or who wish to pursue careers as social

change agents, are encouraged to take this course.

This course will be covered in 12 different sessions.

Session 1 — Birth of a Nation : Constitution, a Social and Moral Document?

In this session, we will be doing an alternate reading of the Indian Constitution. Differentiating the

textual and structural approach of interpreting the Constitution, we will try to analyze how the

social and political movements during colonial regime shaped the values of the Constitution. This

session will also respond to contentions that the Indian Constitution is a document created by elite

consensus or that it has had little influence on India’s greater population.

Suggested Material:
- Granville Austin, The Indian Constitution : Cornerstone of a Nation, Oxford
University Press (1966)
- KG Kannabiran, The Wages of Impunity, Orient Longman (2004) Rohit De, A People’s
Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic, Princeton University
Press (2018)
- Gautam Bhatia, The Transformative Constitution: A Radical Biography in Nine Acts,
HarperCollins India (2019)

Session 2 — Civil Rights Movement in the United States

This session will begin by discussing the different stands taken by the United States Supreme Court

in its decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This

session will then analyze the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the approach of the Court

in Brown v. Board of Education, as well as conduct an assessment of that decision’s historical

significance. This session will also draw linkages between the Civil Rights Movement and the

election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

Suggested Material:
- Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857)
- Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
- Brown v. Board of Education II, 349 U.S. 294 (1955)
- Michael Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle
for Racial Equality, Oxford University Press (2006)
- Michael Klarman, Unfinished Business : Racial Equality in American History, Oxford
University Press (2007)
 - Ta-Nehisi Coates, “My President was Black”, The Atlantic (Jan/Feb 2017), available
at https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/my-president-was-
black/508793/
- Peniel Joseph, “Obama’s effort to heal racial divisions and uplift black America”, The
Washington Post (April 22, 2016), available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/racism-during-
presidency.html

Session 3 — Anti Apartheid Movement in South Africa & Conceptualizing a Comparative

Framework for Social Reform Campaigns

This session will include discussion on the laws, which were enacted to create Apartheid in South

Africa, and how social and political movements led to downfall of Apartheid. This session will

also emphasize on the need of studying social reform movements in a comparative perspective by

drawing a short parallel between social movements in USA, South Africa and India.

Suggested Material:
- Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Black Bay Books (1995)
- Nancy L. Clark and William H. Worger, South Africa : The Rise and Fall of Apartheid,
Routledge (2011)
- Kevin D. Brown, “African-Americans Within the Context of International
Oppression”, available at
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.goo
gle.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1209&context=facpub

Session 4 — Dalit Rights Movement & the Contemporary Challenges

Continuing from the analysis in the previous session, the Dalit Rights Movement in India will be

discussed. This session aims to identify the challenges faced by Dalits in the 21st century as well

as explore strategies to address these challenges.

Suggested Material:
- “Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India’s ‘Untouchables’”, Human
Rights Watch (2007), available at
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/india0207/india0207webwcover.pdf

Session 5 — Mass Incarceration : Reflections from the United States for India
This session will include discussion on the documentary “13th” (available on on Netflix). The

documentary, titled after the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which officially

abolished slavery in 1865, argues how mass incarceration of the African Americans is an extension

of slavery. The session will further deal with the politics around mass incarceration in the United

States. The session will also draw a comparison with the political discourse on the reforms required

in the criminal justice system in India.

Suggested Material:
- Michelle Alexander & Cornel West, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the
Age of Colorblindness, The New Press (2012)
- Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Spiegel & Grau
(2015)
- Mohammad Aamir Khan & Nandita Haksar, Framed As a Terrorist: My 14-Year
Struggle to Prove My Innocence, Speaking Tiger Books (2015)
- Mahtab Alam, “Nashik–Bhusawal Acquittal and Beyond”, Economic & Political
Weekly (6 April 2019), Vol 54, Issue 14, available at
https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/14/commentary/nashik%E2%80%93bhusawal-
acquittal-and-beyond.html
- Aakash Hassan, “Broken Spirit, Lost Words: Returning Home to Kashmir After 23
Years of Wrongful Imprisonment”, News18 (25 July 2019), available at
https://www.news18.com/news/india/broken-spirit-lost-words-returning-home-to-
kashmir-after-23-years-of-wrongful-imprisonment-2245035.html

Session 6 — The Right to Information (RTI) Movement

This session will cover the rural people’s movement against corruption and injustice, which

ultimately led to the enactment of a powerful law, The Right to Information, 2005. The session

will discuss how RTI law became an influential people’s weapon for transparency and unearthing

massive scale of corruption. The session will also include a discussion on the contemporary

developments around the RTI law.

Suggested Material:
- Aruna Roy, The RTI Story : Power to the People, Roli Books (2018)

Session 7 — Making a Better World for our Children

In this session, we will be covering campaigns, judgments, political discourse and policy initiatives

that created the road for the enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

(RTE) Act, 2009. Further, we will be discussing the impact of RTE Act, and the consistent

challenges it has faced from the private actors, governments and courts. The session will also

include a discussion on the lack of political will to eliminate child labour.

Suggested Material:
- Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka, AIR 1992 SC 1858
- Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1993 SC 2178
- Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, (1997) 10 SCC 549
- P. Sainath, Everybody Loves a Good Drought, Penguin (2000)
- Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen, An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, Penguin
(2014)

Session 8 — The Campaigns for the Right to Food

In this session, we will be covering the social campaigns for the right to food, the intervention by

the Supreme Court of India, and subsequent passage of the National Food Security Act (NFSA),

2013.

Guest : Mr. Aditya Shrivastava (Advocate, Supreme Court of India & Former Legal Advisor,

Supreme Court Commissioners’ Office on Right to Food)

Session 9 — LGBTQ Rights Movement in India

This session will deal with the LGBTQ movement in India. It will include analysis of the change

in the approach of the Supreme Court from its 2013 decision in Suresh Koushal v. Naz Foundation

to its judgment in 2018 in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India. In the session, we will also discuss

the legacy of Navtej Singh Johar judgment.

Suggested Material:
- Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, (2018) 10 SCALE 386
Session 10 — Sabarimala Judgment, Social Reform & Constitutional Courts

The session will cover the issue whether social reform can be brought through court judgments, in

light of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of

Kerala, (2018) SCC OnLine SC 1690. We will also draw a comparison with the judgment of the

United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the backlash that it had

generated.

Session 11 — Mob Lynching

The session will deal with the contemporary discourse on the challenge of mob lynching in India.

Guest : Mr. Anas Tanwir Siddiqui (Advocate, Supreme Court of India)

Suggested Material:
- Tehseen Poonawala v. Union of India (2018). Also available at
https://www.livelaw.in/lynching-parliament-may-create-a-special-law-read-supreme-
court-guidelines/

Session 12 — Lawyers as Change-makers

In this last session, our guest speaker will emphasize on the role of lawyers as agents of social

change.

Guest : Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud (Judge, Supreme Court of India)

Suggested Material:

- Rohit De, “Lawyering as Politics: The Legal Practice of Dr. Ambedkar, Bar at Law”,
in Suraj Yengde and Anand Teltumbe edited, The Radical in Ambedkar, (Penguin
2019). Also available at
https://www.academia.edu/34592004/Lawyering_as_Politics_The_Legal_Practice_of
_Dr._Ambedkar_Bar-at-Law
- “A Conversation with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the United States
Supreme Court”, The Tanner Lectures in Human Values (University of Michigan,
February 2015), available at
https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/Ginsburg%20manuscript.pdf
 - RBG on Netflix, available at https://www.netflix.com/title/80240086
- Mark Tushnet, Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court,
1936-1961

Method of Assessment

50 marks : Each student will be required weekly to submit an informal 1-2 pages write-up (12

Times New Roman, and 1.5 line spacing) on any thought arising out of class discussion.

50 marks: Each student will be required to submit a legal essay on any topic related to the themes

covered in different sessions. The student are also free to choose a current social problem facing a

particular country, region, or the world, and then propose a theoretical framework or strategy to

address this issue. The legal essay needs to be more normative/analytical rather than purely

descriptive. This part must demonstrate originality and a profound understanding of the issue. The

paper should be around 1500- 4000 words (12 Times New Roman, and 2 line spacing).

Background of the Instructor

Anurag Bhaskar is LLM (Batch of 2018-19) postgraduate from Harvard Law School. Before this,

he clerked for Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud (Judge, Supreme Court of India) during July 2017-18,

where he worked on a number of landmark constitutional law cases. He has pursued his B.A. LLB

(Hons.) from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU), Lucknow during

2012-17. Besides, Anurag is a prolific commentator and has several academic articles and opinion

pieces to his credit in Economic & Political Weekly and The Wire, Live Law and The Print

respectively. He was also the second most read writer on TheWire in 2017.