Articles by Manisha Sethi

An exploration of the judicial and legislative responses to the claim for minority status by the Jains in post-independence India reveals the state's deep-seated disquiet about the idea of minority rights. Both the state and the courts, notwithstanding their commitment to these rights, viewed the demand of Jains with suspicion and detrimental to "national unity." This article hopes to demonstrate that the case of Jains is in fact quite central to the way in which definitions and understandings of minority and majority have come to be interpreted in our polity.

The order by the Central Bureau of Investigation providing a clean chit to former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah has wiped out the entire slate of the Supreme Court's intervention in various encounter death cases. The discharge of the "lynchpin" of the conspiracy despite voluminous material providing strong grounds for proceeding with the trial will ultimately raise questions about judicial independence.

It appears that the Indian state’s mantra, when it comes to dealing with minorities, Kashmiris and the peoples of northeast is that “justice must not be done, and it must never be seen to be done”.