Gautam Bhatia is a lawyer who has been involved in several important contemporary constitutional cases. He is the author of Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Freedom of Speech under the Indian Constitution (2015), The Transformative Constitution: A Radical Biography in Nine Acts (2019), and the science fiction books The Wall (2020) and The Horizon (2021).
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In Unsealed Covers, Gautam Bhatia provides a snapshot of the Indian judiciary between 2014 and 2023. The 2014 general election saw the installation of the first majority non-coalition government in many decades (the NDA). The 2019 general election saw its return with a greater majority. It is commonly accepted that the NDA years have generated significant conflict within and around various democratic institutions meant to act as checks and balances against majoritarian power.
One of the most important theatres of conflict has been the judiciary-in particular, the Supreme Court. Critics have distinguished the Supreme Court’s past assertive record with its quiescent and sometimes facilitative attitude towards the NDA government(s). Unsealed Covers provides a unique terrain where the actions of the judiciary and its relationship with the government are examined in terms of evolution and chronology. It also comments on some of the most important judgments of the past decade.
