The Lived Experience of the Law in India

Kalpana Kannabiran’s latest volume titled Law, Justice and Human Rights in India: Short Reflections brings toge­ther 67 pieces of public writing authored by her between 2000 and 2020. The volume contains opinion pieces written for newspapers, online news portals, and academic venues, such as this journal.

Given that the volume contains 20 years’ worth of writing by one of the foremost thinkers on law, justice, and human rights in India, we should not be surprised by the depth and breadth of topics dealt with in the book. The first part of the volume covers a compendious range of issues relating to law, violence, and discrimination in contemporary India. These include articles on the Adivasi experience of the law, how courts have dealt with violence and disc­rimination against Dalits, and relating to the rights of religious, sexual, and gender minorities. It also contains ess­ays on the relationship between legal and bureaucratic structures and human rights: on the idea of free speech, of the relationship between lawyers’ associati­ons and civil liberties, on judging judges, on democratic rights in university campuses, and on development of human rights cultures.