India – Verfassungsblog

07 Juni 2021

Maximilian Beyer, Sangeeta Mahapatra, Matthias C. Kettemann

Fighting Platforms and the People, not the Pandemic

To control social media-driven criticism against its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can now take advantage of new powers via the Information Technology Rules 2021. These Rules empower the Modi government to counter disinformation, whose definition seems to have been stretched to include content that portrays the government negatively. How Big Tech platforms react will have a domino effect on users’ freedom of expression and right to privacy across the world. Continue reading >>

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01 Juni 2021

Tanmay Singh, Abhinav Sekhri

India’s New Intermediary Guidelines

On 26 May, the Indian Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code 2021 (IT Rules) took effect. These new rules vest more power over speech online with the executive, who may misuse these powers to quell dissent. Continue reading >>

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19 Mai 2021

Yaniv Roznai

The Basic Structure Doctrine arrives in Kenya

On 13 May 2021, a panel of five High Court justices ruled that the so-called Basic Structure Doctrine applies in Kenya. The judgment is not only a milestone from the perspective of comparative constitutional law; it might also change the future landscape of constitutionalism in Africa. Continue reading >>

26 Februar 2021

COVID-19 and the Crisis in Indian Democracy

In the recent global history of constitutional democracies, it is difficult to name a single crisis that has plagued them simultaneously, until the COVID-19 pandemic. The calamity brought in by the virus was universal. For governments, it presented an opportunity for crisis management without compromising rights guarantees. Some countries have marginally succeeded in this test while in others, concerns of democratic decline were amplified. Three features defined the Indian response to COVID-19: lack of transparency, executive monopoly and suppression of dissent. Continue reading >>

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24 Februar 2021

Sangeeta Mahapatra, Martin Fertmann, Matthias C. Kettemann

Twitter’s Modi Operandi

India is not only the world’s largest democracy, it also accounts for the largest number of internet shutdowns and take down requests to social media companies globally. The recent stand-off between Twitter and the Government of India (GoI) over suspending more than a thousand accounts supportive of farmers’ protests ended with Twitter falling in line with the GoI’s demands. This may set a dangerous precedent for digital platforms enabling other democratic governments to stifle online dissent. Continue reading >>

13 April 2020

An Executive Emergency: India’s Response to Covid-19

India’s response to Covid-19 has been large in scale, and far-reaching. The country is, at present, under a twenty-one day national “lockdown”, with a near-complete restriction upon the movement of people, the closure of all establishments except those providing “essential services”, and the regular “sealing” of neighbourhoods and areas that are suspected to be Covid-19 hotspots. To understand the legal framework underpinning all of this, it is important to first note that India is a federal republic, with a parliamentary democracy that operates under the framework of a written Constitution, and whose Courts formally exercise powers of judicial review over legislative and executive action. The response to Covid-19, therefore, involves multiple levels of government, and multiple institutional actors. Continue reading >>

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