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Gautam Bhatia

@gautambhatia88153k followers

Constitutional law. Science fiction. Co-ordinating editor @strangehorizons. Pre-order The Sentence here:

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1Jan 2, '23Utterly gobsmacked at these six words in the demonetisation judgment.20.8×445k2.5k674108
2Jan 25, '24These “areas” exist because (a) people refuse to rent their properties on the grounds of religion, (b) laws such as the Disturbed Areas Act are designed to place barriers to sellin18.8×402k2.7k657166
3Mar 24, '23Today, the SC has given one of the worst and most damaging civil rights judgments in its history. The 2011 judgment in Arup Bhuyan’s case was one of the only checks against executi18.7×401k1.9k808145
4Mar 23, '23Boggled by this. Defamation law 101 is that references to a generic class of persons are not actionable unless an individual can show a direct reference to *themselves.* It’s one o17.3×370k2.1k60274
5Jul 11, '23“Not all battles are fought for victory. Some are fought simply to tell the world that someone was there on the battlefield.”10.6×225k2k635131
6Sep 2, '25One of the worst judicial injustices in recent times, now perpetuated for indefinitely longer. The cases against these people are built on foundations of smoke; to justify their im8.7×186k2.4k892174
7Apr 22, '24The Election Commission is a constitutional body, with a constitutional mandate to conduct democratic elections. It can’t “decline to comment” as if it is the PR arm of some privat8.6×184k4.7k1.6k106
8Jun 9, '23Today is 1000 days that @UmarKhalidJNU has been in jail without trial. The primary responsibility for this lies with the judiciary, which has acted as a stenographer for the State.8.5×182k1.8k78158
9May 9, '23Some news. Coming soon:7.3×157k1.7k15486
10Jan 8, '20Good morning. In a democracy, anyone can hold up a sign saying "Free Kashmir". If it bothers you that much, make your own sign saying "Don't free Kashmir", and parade with it. You 6.8×09.5k2.7k24
11Oct 17, '23Solidarity to everyone on a very difficult day. No legal setback is forever. We’ll all need to study the judgment(s) very carefully, and find spaces in the interstices to rebuild, 6.1×131k2k29922
12Oct 4, '23Courts in functioning systems: “Mr Police Officer, explain why you need these people’s custody for your investigation. You can’t? Okay, release them.” Indian courts: “Come tomorrow6.0×128k2.1k67242
13Nov 11, '25Very normal thing to hear from a constitutional court...5.7×122k2.1k35078
14Dec 19, '19Next date for the constitutional challenge to the CAA: January 20. Next date for the hearing on police action in AMU: February 4. Next date for hearing on PIL about recognising tre5.5×06.8k2.6k35
15Dec 27, '19Good morning. Please remember that in country where the top 10% own 78% of wealth, the narrative that "illegal immigrants" are grabbing resources meant for Indians is a fraud, spun5.3×05.6k2.9k57
16Oct 13, '25Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.5.3×112k2.1k64131
17Dec 18, '19The imposition of Section 144 in Bangalore - without any well-founded apprehension of violence - is a blatant abuse of power and a violation of fundamental rights.4.8×05.5k2.5k18
18Dec 28, '19Good morning. To solve a crime, you don't drag everyone in the area to the police thana and force them to prove they didn't do it To detect some undocumented migrants, you don't dr4.7×05.5k2.4k38
19Aug 13, '25Wow, the Supreme Court is so efficient when it doesn’t involve someone’s home getting bulldozed or someone being in jail for five years without a trial.4.6×98k3.1k86974
20Oct 5, '25She’s talking like an Indian Supreme Court judge.3.7×80k2.6k370111
21Mar 16, '20It took a while for what was implicit to become evident, but the independent judiciary is now - officially - dead.3.6×04.9k1.5k22
22Sep 13, '20It's crystal clear that the arrest of @UmarKhalidJNU has nothing to do with investigating riots, and everything to do with abuse of State power. This extends to people cheering it:3.6×04.8k1.5k14
23Aug 23, '24I wonder why the Supreme Court hasn’t taken suo motu cognisance of “bulldozer justice”, now into its third year. Is it because the Court thinks it’s powerless to stop it? Or, more 3.3×71k1.7k65358
24Apr 22, '21The High Courts were upholding the citizens' right to life and holding government to account. The Supreme Court has decided that it absolutely cannot be having that.3.3×04.4k1.4k35
25Aug 24, '17The nine judge bench of the Supreme Court has unanimusly held that privacy is a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution.3.3×02.9k1.8k3
26Sep 7, '20As the Kafeel Khan case showed, imprisoning people is a costless enterprise for the State, because even when a Court finds the imprisonment was illegal, no consequences follow. A p3.2×04.1k1.4k74
27Mar 7, '20Wow. The SC stays a detailed and reasoned bail order of the Karnataka High Court with respect to the Mangalore CAA protests, ex parte. It truly has become the anti-liberty court, i3.1×03.3k1.6k39
28Aug 14, '20By the way, the constitutional challenge to electoral bonds is still awaiting a hearing, after two and a half years.3.1×04.3k1.2k16
29Jul 19, '21Suddenly, all that happened during the Chief Justiceship of Ranjan Gogoi MP makes a lot more sense.3.1×05k90030
30Mar 19, '20The death penalty is always wrong.2.8×03.3k49129
31Jan 29, '21This you?2.8×03.6k1.2k44
32Jul 23, '20hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha2.7×04.7k6369
33Apr 19, '21First wave: impose the National Disaster Management Act, run things by executive decree for many months, put into place centralised systems of procurement and control. Second wave:2.7×03.7k1.1k31
34Apr 19, '22This week marks one year since the elevation of the present CJI. Not a single significant pending constitutional case has been decided. Many seminars have been given on the rule of2.6×03.7k97039
35Apr 29, '17“I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.” - Churchill2.5×02.3k1.6k0
36Mar 6, '20Justice Arun Mishra (heading a 5J bench) upholds the judgement of Justice Arun Mishra (heading a 3J bench), in a case that had been referred to it by Justice Arun Mishra (heading a2.5×02.8k1.2k37
37Mar 20, '20In other countries, governments are coming up with relief packages of this kind. In India, the Supreme Court steps in to stop it from happening. Sums up the state of the SC.2.5×02.7k1.3k18
38Jan 5, '20Words have consequences. The consequences of the normalisation of "anti-national", "tukde-tukde gang", and "naxal" on TV screens, official discourse, and daily speech is Brownshirt2.4×02.5k1.4k16
39Aug 28, '20Today marks two years since Sudha Bharadwaj was jailed without trial. Five bail applications have been rejected in that time. Sharing (once again) this profile about her life and h2.4×02.6k1.2k76
40Feb 1, '21. @TwitterIndia has withheld access to multiple accounts such as @thecaravanindia and @Kisanektamorcha, on the basis of unspecified "legal demands". @TwitterIndia, do get your act 2.4×02.9k1.1k6
41Aug 14, '20Supreme Court is such an excellent an independent protector of democracy, that anyone who dares suggest the contrary will be punished for it.2.3×03.4k86419
42Feb 28, '20Sedition specifically requires the sanction of the government before the prosecution can go ahead. The @AamAadmiParty cannot spin this as a regular policy of "non-interference" wit2.3×02.8k1.1k21
43Aug 4, '20As it is 5th August once again, three fundamentals: 1. The unilateral alteration of 370 - while the elected assembly was dissolved - was undemocratic. 2. The mass detentions and in2.3×03k96642
44Dec 19, '19Finally, a court stands up.2.3×03.1k9445
45Nov 16, '20Moment of silence for everyone who tweeted last week in the fond hope that "personal liberty" had returned to the Supreme Court after its long sabbatical.2.1×03.4k65713
46Oct 6, '20Reminder that the electoral bonds case has been pending unheard for... two and a half years.2.1×03.1k83522
47Dec 25, '19Good morning. Remember that after the NRC is drawn up on the basis of the NPR, even if your name is on it, literally anyone can *object* to your citizenship status, and send you ru2.1×01.9k1.3k54
48Feb 22, '20No, they aren't.2.1×03k70514
49Oct 23, '19Can't wait to read Justice Arun Mishra's judgment today explaining why Justice Arun Mishra is justified in hearing the case about the correctness of Justice Arun Mishra's judgment 2.0×02.4k97031
50Sep 30, '19The Supreme Court of India has thirty-four sitting judges.2.0×02.4k9537
51Nov 12, '20There was a book written about the US Supreme Court once. It was called "Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted." I think about that title a lot these days. Apropo2.0×03.4k47556
52Aug 14, '20View post on X2.0×02.7k85934
53Jul 1, '22Okay, I can’t be believe people are cheering on what happened here. She has a right under law to get those FIRs clubbed. It’s a basic procedural safeguard to ensure that someone is2.0×02.7k66158
54Apr 20, '19For the CJI to react to a sexual harassment complaint by convening a special bench on the spot, terming it an high-level conspiracy against the judiciary, and where the AG and the 2.0×02.2k1k9
55Apr 22, '21Looks like the SC is now going to stop the High Courts from doing their job.1.9×02.7k69618
56Dec 20, '19When life gives you a Chief, make it the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, not the Chief Justice of India.1.9×02.4k95113
57Aug 15, '19Imposing a communication blackout upon an entire population is no different from starving a city into submission, or poisoning wells before a siege. Whether such tactics are compat1.9×02k83626
59Jan 29, '20What is that word for a society where government, private corporations, and media are all fused at the hip?1.8×02.6k64612
60Sep 29, '22Ok wow.1.8×02.3k540166
61Aug 19, '20In the Loya case, SC went into every fact and every piece of evidence, and refused CBI investigation: In this case: SC goes out of its way, invokes inherent powers to direct CBI in1.8×02k87839
62Mar 6, '20*Even if* these individuals were convicted of a crime, putting up their names and personal details on billboard would be a gross violation of rights. The fact that they haven't eve1.8×01.9k98825
63Jun 25, '22Indian SC's contribution to global jurisprudence is to decide an individual vs State case by telling the State to arrest the individual. A remarkable constitutional innovation.1.8×02.5k68947
64Dec 31, '19Good morning. Mr. S. Guru is in charge of four kids. He checks their religion, takes three kids to the cinema, leaving the fourth behind. Mr. Guru says that he's extending "compass1.8×02.5k7299
65Aug 18, '20Worth noting: the only government action that the SC found fault with during the pandemic was an order requiring employers to pay workers' wages for 54 days during lockdown. That t1.8×02.3k80524
66May 11, '20Reminded of the Emergency-era judgments: the executive will decide whether the executive violated fundamental rights, and whether the executive will grant a remedy for the rights v1.8×02.1k85018
67Dec 1, '20Under what law? Oh wait...1.7×02.9k4266
68Jan 29, '22The New York Times, doing what the Supreme Court should have done seven months ago.1.7×02.6k54216
69Dec 30, '19Good morning. Expenditure on Aadhaar: 9055 crores (2017). Stated purpose: Welfare benefits. Expenditure cleared for NPR: 3900 crores. Stated purpose: Welfare benefits. Govt ministe1.7×02k82117
70Mar 24, '25Some real courage here.1.7×35k1.8k14729
71Dec 23, '19Well done to the High Courts in both Karnataka and TN, for quick and firm orders enabling the constitutional right to free assembly.1.7×02.2k7275
72Oct 14, '21State's legal playbook on keeping people in jail without trial: 1. We have no evidence against them. 2. But that doesn't matter because there is a "larger conspiracy." 3. This "con1.6×01.9k81339
73Nov 22, '19At a time when the top 1% of Indians control 73% of the nation's wealth, to attribute the travails of poor citizens to "illegal migrants" - and pit two struggling groups against on1.6×02k75022
74Apr 17, '20Independent judiciary touching new heights every day.1.6×02.1k68311
75Jul 8, '22If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If both facts and law are against you, argue that it's all the work of the lobby and/or the1.6×02.2k56869
76Feb 28, '20Electoral bonds case disappeared from the Supreme Court list again?1.5×02k69213
77Mar 9, '20See how quickly the State's claims fall apart when a court asks the most basic of questions. It doesn't take an activist court to protect people's rights. It just takes a court doi1.4×01.8k63114
78Nov 12, '20Must be a rather sad life to scroll through Twitter looking for who is tweeting mean things about the Supreme Court and then sending letters to the AG. Like that kid in Class IV wh1.4×02.4k29715
79Jul 25, '19The RTI amendments will now go to court. If there was ever a time for the "constitutional court" to live up to that name, it is now.1.4×01.7k6936
80Jan 9, '20So, SC to deliver judgment on the longest internet shut-down in any democratic country, tomorrow at 10.30.1.4×01.9k5325
81Dec 27, '19"Please understand the chronology." On the link between NPR and NRC --1.4×01.6k69436
82Jun 29, '22In cricket terms: Two balls left, four to win. There’s a stumping appeal. The umpire sends it upstairs. While the third umpire is still looking, the umpire orders the bowler to bow1.4×01.8k51435
83Mar 17, '20If the only shield against coronavirus is home-quarantining, then the internet is of paramount importance to life (to get information, to work, to access supplies etc.) This makes 1.3×01.8k54111
84Oct 6, '20Extending judicial custody repeatedly of an individual who has cooperated with the investigation, is not a flight risk, and will hardly be going around influencing "witnesses", is 1.3×01.9k4637
85Jan 7, '22No time to hear habeas corpus cases or the petition on the lynching guidelines or electoral bonds or Article 370 or... All the time in the world to get into political dogfights abo1.3×01.9k43412
86Sep 30, '20Courts seem to have an interesting and ever-changing understanding of "criminal conspiracy." For example, some lines from the recent court order that denied bail to Safoora Zargar.1.3×01.7k55231
87Mar 12, '21General reminder. Judges should not be glorified. They should be critiqued - civilly but unsparingly - just like all other individuals who wield tremendous power in a democratic re1.3×02.1k35019
88Oct 4, '21There is no "legal question" here. SC is, as always, making things up because it doesn't like the idea of people having fundamental rights very much.1.2×01.7k44919
89Dec 10, '19Whether the Supreme Court will - or will not - do anything about the CAB, I cannot say. What can be said, however, is that there are strong constitutional arguments against the CAB1.2×01.7k41910
90Apr 22, '20View post on X1.2×02k25811
91Jul 2, '22You know, one characteristic feature of an Executive Court is that the Executive knows what the Court is going to do before the Court knows it.1.2×01.7k40418
92Jan 25, '21I guess we should be grateful to this judge for making it explicitly clear that there's no difference between the Indian courts and a khap.1.2×01.7k44412
93Jul 21, '20Seen the so-called "petition" on the basis of which the SC has allegedly initiated contempt proceedings against Prashant Bhushan. There is no point in dignifying it with a substant1.2×01.7k4106
94Oct 7, '20"Dissent, but only in designated places" is a strikingly accurate summary of the Supreme Court's understanding of and attitude towards civil rights over the last seven decades.1.1×01.7k38220
95Sep 9, '22Whatever else he may do or not do, do well or do badly, at the end of CJI Lalit’s tenure, there will be two fewer political prisoners in India than when he began. And just that muc1.1×01.8k29714
96Mar 5, '20😭1.0×01.8k2232
97Oct 1, '22Not entirely sure of the provenance of this image (dad sent it and we both can’t find the source), but this Van Gogh-inspired pandal looks stunning.1.0×01.8k13324
98May 24, '22As some people have expressed an interest in this over the years, putting the question out there: would folks be interested in a monthly podcast put up on the Indian Const Law and 1.0×01.7k5917
99Feb 21, '20This could be a Renaissance painting, heh.1.0×01.6k23412
100Jul 26, '20Setting up a new desk always feels like the beginning of an adventure.0.9×01.8k3829

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