Articles by A G Noorani

Auditing the Supreme Court The Judge in a Democracy by Aharon Barak; Princeton University Press; A G NOORANI Of the three arms of the state, the government of India and Parliament are subject to a close vigil by the media and intellectuals while the Supreme Court of India is virtually exempt from audit. There is the occasional critical piece by correspondents reporting its work or an occasional edit page article. There is not a single law journal whose voice matters. The Supreme Court Bar, ever a house divided, is quiescent for the most part bar occasional criticism.

Minority Rights and Human Rights The Rights of Minorities: A Commentary on the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities edited by Marc Weller; Oxford University Press; pp 688,

Ethics and the Law The Media and Political Process by Eric Louw; Sage Publications, London; Electronic Media Law by Roger L Sadler; Making News: Handbook of the Media in Contemporary India edited by Uday Sahay; Oxford University Press;

Thus far, the Supreme Court's denunciations of custodial torture have had little effect. The 113th report of the Law Commission had recommended suitable amendments to the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 that would place the onus of proof on the culpable police official. However, to ensure the humane treatment of prisoners in custody, the apex court has simply to adopt an earlier ruling of 1982 that had allowed access to convicted prisoners in jail so that society at large would be apprised of the reasons behind their detention and the conditions in which they served their sentence.

The crackdown on the press in Jammu and Kashmir, of which the harassment faced by Greater Kashmir is only an instance, makes up the latest attempt by security agencies to ?neutralise overground workers? and others it suspects of sympathising with separatists.