Publications

Striking Disservice

By Ranjeev C DubeyLegal Profession
For 5000 years, we have believed that the individual is defined, not by his rights, but by his duties. How this has transformed into an environment of rights and entitlements is quite the untold story. On most days of the week, the Supreme Court of India undoubtedly does very brave…

Freedom To Offend

By Ranjeev C DubeyConstitutional Law
Getting rid of 66A doesn’t allow citizens to assume that we’ve lost our criminal laws on defamation or obscenity. This free speech one is unlikely to go much further. The valedictory flag marches around the Supreme Court’s striking down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act greatly exaggerates the immediate…

India’s Silenced Daughters

By Ranjeev C DubeyConstitutional Law
We may not have noticed but India seems to be having a Charlie Hebdo moment. Given the rioting in Rajpath in December 2012 following the horrific Nirbhaya Rape case, the Government has moved to pre-empt public outrage over Leslee Udwin’s documentary “India’s Daughter” by banning it. I dislike bans, be…

AAP And The Endless Land Acquisition Lament

By Ranjeev C DubeyLitigation
Delhi isn’t overrun by poverty stricken subsistence farmers. It is overrun by ex-farmers, their lands long gone, who want better jobs and better opportunity. They would vote for those who look like they mean to deliver on their developmental promises. It seems India will not cease washing its land acquisition…

Home Truths About Home Comings

By Ranjeev C DubeyConstitutional Law
For ten vociferous years, strident Hindutva activists complained bitterly that their brothers were converting to other religions, mainly Christianity. Six states tried to stem this purported tide by legislating against religious conversion. With the change of political dispensation in Delhi last summer, those who complained about conversions commenced conniving with…

Uber Rubbish

By Ranjeev C DubeyCriminal Law
The tragic rape of a girl in an Uber cab triggered the usual tryst with unreality. The Delhi Government’s Transport Department immediately ‘banned’ internet cab aggregators- including Uber, Taxi-for-Sure and Ola- from operating in Delhi. Meanwhile, Delhi Police registered an FIR against Uber for misleading customers by falsely suggesting that…

Black Money Ballyhoo

By Ranjeev C DubeyCompany Law
Of all the doublespeak Indians have been sold at election time since we declared ourselves a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic, the elimination of corruption and black money has remained the all-time bestseller regardless of market sentiment. So why has this eternally winning formula never translated into any effective action…

Judging Judges

By Ranjeev C DubeyLitigation
Freedom of speech is a right that is gaining in value in India. At the same time, restraint in public discourse is confronting a high strung emotionally overblown hysterical form of self-expression When it comes to a conflict between constituted judicial power and conflicting political ideology, the most poignant image…

Commercial Common Sense Justice

By Ranjeev C DubeyLitigation
The judiciary is ambivalent on the sanctity of commercial contracts. All too often, the judge prioritises a quest for what he thinks is justice over the integrity of contracts in the market place. To make India a wealthy country, we don’t need to read Arnold Toynbee’s twelve volume “A Study…