The Longest Constitution examines what due process really means, as well as look at why 1971 was a year that set several things into motion, such as the passage of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971, a tool for the government during Emergency, as well as the year when Raj Narain filed a petition challenging Indira Gandhi’s election in the Allahabad High court.

This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the constitutional provisions for constitutional amendments. We also look at the fate of thousands of Indians since 1962, when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of sedition. Finally, we look at the expansion of Article 21 - that's the right to personal liberty and life when a convict on a death sentence protested against being placed in solitary confinement.

This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at how courts interpreted Article 21. Just as a reminder: in the AK Gopalan case, the state upheld the preventive detention law under which Gopalan was detained.

In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we look at how the Indira Gandhi government tried every unconstitutional means to abolish the privy purses in 1970.

This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the expansion of the freedom to movement, as well as the consequences of a majoritarian government driven by a socialist vision in the 1970s, under Indira Gandhi. And yes, we also begin our journey in tracing the history of sedition in India. Tune in!

This episode of The Longest Constitution wraps up by looking at the Goondas Act, by discussing the increasing instances in which it is used.

This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at this act as well as examines the consequences of the Golaknath case (1967).

This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the most recent effort of the government to control judicial appointments - the 99th amendment, 2014 and its aftermath

Is accessing the Internet a fundamental right? A recent judgment affirmed that since so many essential services depend on the internet, shutting down access to the internet is tantamount to a violation of fundamental rights.

If you use the internet (!), this is the episode you need to tune into! But first….what does it actually mean? To have a fundamental right to property? This was a huge debate in the Constituent Assembly and Article 31 and 19(1)(g) granted Indian citizens the right to property. This meant that while Article 31 limited how the state could acquire existing property rights, Article 19(1)(g), protected the capacity of individuals to acquire a property as part of their occupation and livelihood....

Are private corporations such as Twitter obliged to uphold constitutional freedoms? And why should they? Who constitutes the ‘community’ in the ‘community standards’ used to regulate online speech? Welcome to the evolving jurisprudence on the balance between private firms, constitutional freedoms and the sovereignty of the state! We look at a 2020 case where Twitter arbitrarily suspended an account of a Supreme Court advocate. Plus, starting this week, we also start on a long trek on the...

A series of tweets by Prashant Bhushan seriously threaten the ‘majesty of the courts’? Well, the courts clearly thought so and charged Bhushan with contempt of court. In a case that illustrates the excessive and arbitrary nature of contempt of court, this episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the 2020 case, where Bhushan was fined Rs. 1 for his tweets. We also wrap up the making of New Delhi in the early 2000s, as one with a greater priority of malls on land meant for forests. On...

How does one make a world-class city? By image management! And dislocating the poor. Between 1995 and the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi in 2010, the PIL went from being used for the poor, to against the poor. The building of malls and flyovers were prioritized over core municipal concerns: sanitation, health and education. How did this happen? By the judiciary turning into the executive and issuing orders. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at slum eviction as well as how...

"Let’s send a woman to jail for a day for speaking her mind?" That’s what the Supreme Court did when Arundhati Roy protested against the court’s verdict on constructing the Narmada Dam. So can the courts enforce silence? Unfortunately, yes. While in the USA and the UK, freedom of speech is prized above concerns of lowering the dignity of the court, in India, the courts have broadened the grounds under which a person can be criminally prosecuted on the charge of ‘contempt of court’. We also...

Who is responsible for people shitting and urinating in public? This question shaped the fate of millions of slum dwellers in the capital, New Delhi. This episode of The Longest Constitution looks at how nuisance laws were interpreted until the 1990s as actions and objects, not people themselves. The absence of public infrastructures, such as housing and sanitation was seen as a governance failure, not a responsibility of slum dwellers. We also look at ‘contempt of court’ as one of the...

Other than you, who can talk about your sex life? A right to privacy means determining the boundaries about what can be spoken about, and what cannot be spoken about. In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we progress with our examination of the evolution of privacy rights and look at a case concerning the actress Shilpa Shetty and her private life. We also look at a ‘reasonable’ restriction’ on our fundamental right to the expression: contempt of court. Finally, a little bit about what...

What is the balance between privacy rights and freedom of expression? As we mark the progress of privacy rights, we examine an important case which vacated an injunction against the publication of a book, holding the freedom of expression to be greater than that of privacy and observing that questions of defamation can be settled by trial. We also look at why the UIDAI did not consider serious questions of a data leak or how citizens' biometric data is shared. Finally, we look at the darkest...

This 75th Independence Day is Amrit alright! But there is plenty of vish slushing around in this Amrit. In this special episode, we mark our independence by looking at the loss of our privacy with the insidious Aadhar card, which started without a statutory law. We also look at how the Supreme Court has transformed into an institution that has obstructed justice, rather than provided access to it, and took a good hard look at the role of the amicus curiae. On the AADHAR card and privacy:...

Is the word ‘privacy’ in our Constitution? It isn't! Then how did we go from a point where it is not in our constitution to the Puttaswamy judgment (2017) when the Supreme Court unanimously recognised a fundamental right to privacy of every individual guaranteed by the Constitution, within Article 21 in particular and Part III on the whole. We are tracking Indian privacy jurisprudence in this episode of The Longest Constitution as well as looking at how the Supreme Court took on traders and...

What is the ‘truth’ about ‘us’? Phoolan Devi discovered a movie allegedly based on the ‘truth’ about her, distorted her life completely. This episode of The Longest Constitution progresses in its journey of mapping the constitutional right to privacy. We look at the contest over truth, between Phoolan Devi and Shekhar Kapoor and observe how the Constitution is a living text, interpreted and expanded upon over time. On the question of PIL, we uncover the class conflict in the reshaping of...

What comes first? Monuments or people’s jobs? In this episode of The Longest Constitution, we take a look at yet another MC Mehta petition (there were several!) and how the PIL went from being a tool for the poor to an unaccountable weapon wielded by the Supreme Court. We also look at a case where a serial killer petitioned for his right to privacy and consent when it came to his autobiography being published. The case raised the question of whether a ‘public figure’ can file for defamation?...

It's our 50th episode! And we are looking at a thoroughly unconstitutional affair: electoral bonds! This episode of The Longest Constitution looks into how in the name of transparency, the BJP government introduced unaccountable crores into Indian elections. We also look at other sinister matters, such as 69A of the IT Act which allows the government to block public access to an intermediary. Finally, we continue with our slow and steady study of the PIL and how it led to the Supreme Court...

Have you read The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani? Chances are, not! While pirated copies may be in circulation, this episode of The Longest Constitution looks at the Ambani's filed an injunction against the book’s publishers. This is not unusual. Private and powerful corporations and individuals have used the clause of defamation, both under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India, as well as the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to obstruct the publication of a book of public...

Considering the number of candidates contesting in elections who have pending criminal cases against them, what if one does not actually want to vote for any of them? This episode looks at the litigation which led the Supreme Court to introduce the option of NOTA - None of the Above in EVMs (electronic voting machines). We also look at the Delhi oleum gas disaster, which was eerily similar to the Bhopal gas tragedy but we note the differences in the litigation and outcome. And finally, we...