Justice, Judocracy and Democracy in India Boundaries and Breaches

This book offers an innovative approach to studying ‘judicial activism’ in the Indian context in tracing its history and relevance since 1773. While discussing the varying roles of the judiciary, it delineates the boundaries of different organs of the State — judiciary, executive and legislature — and highlights the points where these boundaries have been breached, especially through judicial interventions in parliamentary affairs and their role in governance and policy. Including a fascinating range of sources such as legal cases, books, newspapers, periodicals, lectures, historical texts and records, the author presents the complex sides of the arguments persuasively, and contributes to new ways of understanding the functioning of the judiciary in India. This paperback edition, with a new Afterword, updates the debates around the raging questions facing the Indian judiciary. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of law, political science and history, as well as legal practitioners and the general reader.

List of Abbreviations. Table of Cases. Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction 1. Judicial Activism: Making Justice Accessible or a Power Game? 2. Balance of Powers between the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary 3. Appointment of Judges to the Higher Judiciary 4. Truth is above Contempt: People’s Right to Criticise Judges 5. Legislature’s Privileges and the Power to Expel its Members. Bibliography. About the Author. Index

Sudhanshu Ranjan is a seniortelevision journalist based in New Delhi, India.