National Law University Odisha

COURSE OUTLINE

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW II – CIVIL LIBERTIES

SEMESTER – III

COURSE: B.A., LL.B./ B.B.A. LL.B.

July 2022 to December 2022

Course Credit: 4

Course Outline Prepared By:

Rangin Pallav Tripathy

Nanditta Batra

Rishika Khare

1
COURSE OBJECTIVES:

This course aims to introduce students to the constitutional framework on civil liberties and

a critical appraisal of how this framework has been in operation for the last 72 years. This

course will seek to facilitate a discussion on the social context inherent in how the substance

of the civil liberties have been conceptualized and in how such liberties have been

interpreted. We will also examine how our imagination of specific civil liberties have been

adjusted with changing times. Students will be required to reflect on the chequered history

of how civil liberties have been interpreted and enforced.

LEARNING OUTCOMES OF THE COURSE

At the end of the course the students will be able to:

1. Assess the significance of the guaranteed civil liberties in modern constitutional
democracies
2. Deconstruct the social context in relation to which the civil liberties have been
conceptualized
3. Assess how civil liberties address the interests of the vulnerable sections of the society,
including, but not limited to the sections affected due to their gender, caste, class,
minority, religion and sexuality.
4. Determine the scope and nature of protections provided by the different civil liberties
incorporated in the Indian Constitution
5. Distinguish different judicial approaches to the interpretation of civil liberties
6. Identify possible violations of fundamental rights in various factual contexts

TEACHING METHODOLOGY

The course teaching methodology will consist of Socratic Method of thinking to ignite
critical thinking in students; lecture and discussion method; case study method; and flipped
classroom to encourage self-learning in students. Reading material for every lecture is
supplied with the lecture plan. Students are required to study the reading material before
appearing for the class.

2
SCHEME OF EVALUATION

Assessment will aim at continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Evaluation will be spread
across the following components –

Mid- Term Examination 25 Marks

Project and Viva 30

End Term Examination 45 Marks

Total 100 Marks

COURSE STRUCTURE
Module No. Module title Hours

Module I Citizenship under the Indian Constitution 6

Module II Locating the 'State' and the Boundaries of Fundamental Rights 12

Module III Equality Jurisprudence 10

Module IV Citizens’ Freedoms 8

Module V Right to Life and Personal Liberty 10

Module VI Freedom of Religion 8

Module VII Constitutional Protection for the Minorities 4

Module VIII Constitutional Remedies, DPSPs and Review of the Course 6

Total Hours 64

3
 COURSE OUTLINE AND TEACHING PLAN

Module I – Citizenship under the Indian Constitution

LECTURE 1 – Citizenship under the Indian Constitution - Citizenship, Nationality,

Domicile, Partition and Citizenship
Readings

● “Blood and Soil: Birthright Citizenship in the Domestic Arena.” In Ayelet

Shachar The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality, (Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England, 2009) pp. 111–
133 (Access the Reading Material)
● “Citizens of the Nation” in Haimanti Roy, Partitioned Lives: Migrants, Refugee,
Citizens in India and Pakistan, 1947-65(Oxford University Press, 2013) (Access
the Reading Material)

LECTURE 2 - Citizenship under the Indian Constitution - India's Legal Framework on

Citizenship, Assam Accord, Dual Citizenship, OCI
Reading
● Rangin Pallav Tripathy, ‘So far, OCI card holders have enjoyed benefits. With
CAA, India has put a price on the scheme’ (Scroll, 27 January 2020) Access Here
● Gautam Bhatia, “Chapter 3: Citizenship and the Constitution” in Romila
Thapar, N. Ram, Gautam Bhatia, Gautam Patel, On Citizenship (Aleph, 2021)
(Access the Reading Material)
● Abhinav Chandrachud, ‘The Origins of Indian Citizenship’ (Bloomberg Prime,
26 December 2019) Access Here

LECTURE 3- Citizenship under the Indian Constitution - Validity of Citizenship

Amendment Act 2019
Reading
● Rangin Pallav Tripathy, ‘Constitutional Questions on India’s Citizenship
Amendment Act’ (twocirclesTV, 17 January 2020) Access Here

MODULE II - Locating the State and the Boundaries of Fundamental Rights

4
LECTURE 4- Locating the 'State' - Defining the State, Changing Scope in initial years
Readings

● Rajasthan State Electricity Board v. Mohan Lal & Ors., AIR 1967 SC 1857
(Access Here)
● Sabhajit Tewary v. Union of India, AIR 1975 SC 1329 (Access Here)

● Sukhdev Singh v. Bhagat Ram, AIR 1975 SC 1331 (Access Here)

LECTURE 5- Locating the 'State' - Evolving Tests, BCCI and Multinational Agencies,
Social Media Companies
Readings
● Pradeep Kumar Biswas v Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, (2002) 5 SCC 111
(Access Here)
● Zee Telefilms v. Union of India, AIR 2005 SC 2677 (Access Here); Additional
Reading - Board of Control for Cricket Vs. Cricket Association of Bihar (2016) 8
SCC 535) (Access Here)
● Praharsh Johorey, ‘Social Media, Public Forums and the Freedom of Speech –
II’ Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy Blog (Access Here)

LECTURE 6 - Locating the 'State' and the Boundaries of Fundamental Rights - Private
Actors and Public Interest, 'Law' in article 13
Reading
● Gautam Bhatia, ‘The Supreme Court’s Triple Talaq Judgment’ (Indian
Constitutional Law and Philosophy, 22 August 2017) (Access Here)

LECTURE 7- Boundaries of Fundamental Rights - Doctrine of Eclipse, Doctrine of

Waiver, Doctrine of Severability, Personal Law and Article 13
Reading
● The State of Bombay v. Narasu Appa Malli, AIR 1952 Bom. 84 (Access Here)

● J. Chandrachud’s Judgement in Indian Young Lawyers Association v State of

Kerala (2019) 11 SCC 1 (Access Here)

LECTURE 8 - Boundaries of Fundamental Rights - The Story of Amending Power and

Amendability of the Indian Constitution and Supremacy of the Parliament

5
 ● Raksha Kumar, ‘Should India’s Parliament have the authority to amendment even the
“basic structure” of the Constitution’, (Scroll 28 April, 2018) (Access Here)

LECTURE 9– Boundaries of Fundamental Rights - Right to property and Exceptions to the

Fundamental Right
Readings
● Rashmi Venkatesan, ‘The Evolution of the Right to Property in India: From a Law
and Development Perspective, 14(1) The Law and Development Review, 2021, 273-
308 (Access the Reading Material)
● Alok Prasanna Kumar, ‘The right to property and its ironies’ (Deccan Herald, 30
April 2022) (Access Here)

Module III - Equality Jurisprudence

LECTURE 10 – General Principles of Equality - Rule of Law, Reasonable Classification

and Discrimination, Rule against Arbitrariness, Presumption of Constitutionality, Equality in
Social Context
Reading
● Paul Craig, ‘Formal and Substantive Conceptions of the Rule of Law: An analytical
framework’ in Richard Bellamy (ed.) The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers
(1 edn., Routledge, 2005) Ch 4. (Access the Reading Material)

LECTURE 11 - Affirmative Action - Overall Scheme, Identification of Marginalized

Communities
Readings

● Alok Prasanna Kumar, ‘On Maratha Reservation Judgement-Part 1’ LVI (21) EPW
2021, 10 (Access Here)

LECTURE 12 - Affirmative Action - Identification of Marginalized Communities,

Procedural Requirements, Relaxation of Standards, Upper Ceiling, Creamy Layer
● Murali T., ‘The Woman who cut off her breasts to protest breat tax’ (BBC News 28
July 2016) (Access Here); Additionally - Mulakaram - The Breast Tax (Short Film)
(Access Here)
● Hari Bapuji & Dr. Dolly Kikon, ‘Caste and Cricket: How Celebrities Enable
Inequality’ (Access Here)

6
 ● Indicators of Social and Economic Backwardness - Mandal Commission Report
Summary (Access from the Reading Material)

LECTURE 13 – Affirmative Action - Reservation and Merit, Reservation as a Fundamental

Right
Readings

● Rangin Tripathy, ‘Reservation as a Right: The Supreme Court is both wrong and right
on the government’s discretion to implement quota’ (Bar and Bench 12 February
2020) (Access Here)
● Kailash Jeenger, ‘The Supreme Court Must Note That Reservation Is a Fundamental
Rights’, (The Wire 13 July 2020) (Access Here)
● Anurag Bhaskar, ‘Reservation Efficiency and the Making of the Indian Constitution’
LVI (19) EPW 2021, 42 (Access Here)
● ‘Testing Merit’ in the Caste of Merit by Ajantha Subramanian (Harvard University
Press, 2019) (Access from the Reading Material)
● Kiran Kumbhar, ‘The Myth of the Mysterious Doctor’ (The Indian Forum 2nd
December 2021) (Access Here)
LECTURE 14 - Abolishing Untouchability - SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989
Readings

● Jesús Francisco Cháirez-Garza, ‘B.R. Ambedkar, Franz Boas and the Rejection of
Racial Theories of Untouchability’ 41(2) J. of South Asian Studies 281 (Access from
the Reading Material)
● Neerad Pandharipande, ‘SC verdict upholding Centre’s amendments to SC/ST
Atrocities Act restores law’s original intent, corrects flawed 2018 judgement’
(Firstpost 13 February 2020) (Access Here)
● J. Chandrachud’s Judgement in Indian Young Lawyers Association v State of Kerala
(2019) 11 SCC 1 (Access Here)

Module IV – Citizens’ Freedoms

LECTURE 15– Freedom of Speech and Expression - Foundations of Free Speech and and
Protected Speech in India
● Bijoe Emmanuel and Ors. v. State of Kerala, 1987 AIR 748 (Access Here)

LECTURE 16 – Freedom of Speech and Expression - Regulating free speech

7
 ● Rangin Pallav Tripathy, ‘Why the Supreme Court’s assault on the right to protest is
fundamentally undemocratic’ (Scroll, 7 October, 2021) (Access Here)
● Agij Promotions of Nineteenonea Media Pvt Ltd. v Union of India, WP Np. 14172 of
2021 (Access Here)

LECTURE 17 – Freedom of Speech and Expression - Criminalization of Speech

Readings

● Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, AIR 2015 SC 1523 (Access Here)

● Aveek Sarkar v. State of West Bengal, (2014) 4 SCC 257 (Access Here)

● Sri Baragpur Ramchandrappa v. State of Karnataka, (2007) 5 SCC 11 (Access Here)

● Shweta Venkatesan & Priyesh Mishra, ‘Bombay HC order on IT Rules is a start. But
its critical eye has missed a greater threat’ (The Print 27 August 2021) (Access Here)
● Kedar Nath Singh v State of Bihar , 1962 AIR 955 (Access Here)

● Ashish Goel, ‘The Cost of Regulating fake news’ (Times of India 25 June 2021)
(Access Here)

LECTURE 18 - Freedom of Movement, Residence and Profession - Right of Citizens versus

non-citizens; Right of assembly, association, protest and strike; Right to trade, commerce and
Profession; State monopoly
Reading
● Rangin Pallav Tripathy, ‘With Shaheen Bagh ruling, Supreme Court gifts state more
power to control democratic dissent’ (Scroll, 13 October, 2020) (Access Here)
● Rangin Pallav Tripathy, ‘UP Migrant Commission seems to imagine that its workers
are the absolute property of the state’ (Scroll, 2 June, 2020) (Access Here)
● Rohit De, “Chapter 4: The Case of the Honest Prostitute Sex, Work, and Freedom in
he Indian Constitution” in A People’s Constitution The Everyday Life of Law in the
Indian Republic(Princeton University Press, 2018) (Access from the Reading
Material)

Module V – Right to Life and Personal Liberty

LECTURE 19 - Fundamental Rights and Criminal Justice Process (Art. 20 & 22) - Ex-Post
Facto Laws, Self-Incrimination, Double Jeopardy, Preventive Detention
Readings

8
 ● “Privacy and Criminal Process: Selvi v. State of Karnataka” in Gautam Bhatia,
Transformative Constitution (Harper Collings, 2019) 299 (Access from the Reading
Material)
● Gautam Bhatia, ‘Preventive detention must be used judiciously’ (Hindustan Times 3
July 2018) (Access Here)
● Hathisingh Manufacturing Co. v. Union of India, AIR 1960 SC 923 (Access Here)

● S.A. Venkataraman v. Union of India, AIR 1954 SC 375 (Access Here)

LECTURE 20 – Right to Life and Personal Liberty – ‘Life’ and ‘Procedure Established by
Law’
Readings

● Abhinav Chandrachud, ‘A tale of two judgements’(The Hindu 12 May 2016) (Access

Here)
● Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, AIR 2018 SC 4321 (Access Here)

● Joseph Shine v. Union of India, 2018 SCC OnLine SC 1676(Access Here)

● Gautam Bhatia, Under a Humane Constitution (The Hindu, 13 March 2018) (Access
Here)

LECTURE 21 – Specific manifestations of Article 21

Reading
● Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1 (Access
Here)
● Gautam Bhatia, ‘The Marital Rape Exception Case’ (Indian Constitutional Law and
Philosophy January 2022) (Access Here)
● Snehil Kunwar Singh, ‘Retitution of Conjugal Rights has outlived his founding
rationale, undesirable for social transformation (The Firstpost 24 March 2022)
(Access Here)
● Sohini Chowdhury, Nobody can be forced to get vaccinated; vaccine mandates not
propotionate: SC (Live Law 2 May 2022) (Access Here)
● Live-in Relationships - Suman Dash Bhattamishra & Rangin Pallav Tripathy, ‘Some
Gain, Some Pain’ (Orissa Post 2nd Sept. 2020) (Access Here)

LECTURE 22 – Right to Life and Personal Liberty - New frontiers of Article 21- Data
protection, Mass surveillance and Facial Recognition, Right to be Forgotten, Rights animals,
9
 Readings
 Apoorva Mandhani, ‘Do you have a ‘right to be forgotten’? Here’s what it means and
how Indian courts view it’ (The Print 27 May 2021) (Access Here)
 Seema Chishti, ‘Beyond Pegasus: The story of State Surveillance in India’ (The
Bastion 15 March 2022) (Access Here)
 Rights of Animals - Suhrith Parthasarathi, The jallikattu challenge (The Hindu 13
February 2018) (Access Here)

LECTURE 23 – Right Against Exploitation - Protection against forced labour, bonded

labour, begar and child labour; right to education
Readings
● Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, AIR 1984 SC 802 (Access Here)

● People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 1473 (Access
Here)
● Association of Medical Super Speciality Aspirants and Doctors v Union of India,
(2019) 8 SCC 607 (Access Here)

Module VI – Freedom of Religion

LECTURE 24 - Freedom of Religion - The Right to Practice, Profess and Propagate, Testing
Religiosity (Essential and Non-Essential Practices)
Reading
● Shayara Bano v. Union of India, (2017) 9 SCC 1 (Access Here)

● Resham v. State of Karnataka, March 2022 (Access Here)

● Dilip Mandal, The real issue in Karnataka Hijab row is how secularism is defined
wrongly - Nehru to Modi’, (The Print 11 Feb., 2022) (Access Here)

LECTURE 25 – Freedom of Religion - Managing Religious Institutions, Apostacy,

Conversions
Readings
● Indian Young Lawyers Association v. The State of Kerala, (2019) 11 SCC 1
(Access Here)
● Uman Poddar, ‘How have legal challenges against India’s anti-conversion laws
fared?’ (Scroll 4 Jan 2022) (Access Here)

10
LECTURE 26– Freedom of Religion – An Experiment with Secularism
Reading
● Pritam Singh, ‘Hindu Bias in India's ‘Secular’ Constitution: probing flaws in the
instruments of governance’, 26(6) Third World Quarterly 2005, 909 DOI:
10.1080/01436590500089281 (Access from the Reading Material)

LECTURE 27 - Freedom of Religion – Secularism and Popular Culture

Reading
● Shyam Benegal, ‘Secularism and Popular Indian Cinema’ in Anuradha Dingwaney
Needham, Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, The Crisis of Secularism in India (Duke
University Press 2007) 225. (Access from the Reading Material)
● Ratna Kapur, ‘Gender and the “faith” in law: equality, secularism, and the rise of the
Hindu Nation’, 5(3) Journal of Law and Religion 1-25 (2020);
doi:10.1017/jlr.2020.42. (Access Here)

Module VII – Constitutional Protection for the Minorities

LECTURE 28 - Rights of the Minorities - Determination of Minority, Right to establish

institution
Readings
● V. Venkatesan, Turning the Clock Back (Frontline 9 September 2005) (Access Here)

● In Re: Kerala Education Bill, 1959 1 SCR 995 (Access Here)

● Apoorva Mandhani, ‘Private Schools to decide fees, but state can’t interfere in the
name of COVID, SC tells Rajasthan’, (The Print, 4 March 2021 (Access Here)

LECTURE 29- Rights of the Minorities – Governance and Reservations in Minority

Institutions; Minority Status of AMU
Readings
● Faizan Mustafa, ‘The Modi Government is Wrong to Contest the Minority Character
of AMU’ (The Wire 22 August 2018) (Access Here)

LECTURE 30– Constitutional Remedies - Epistolary Jurisdiction, Writ jurisdiction of

Supreme Court in comparison to High Court's jurisdiction under 226

11
 ● Anuj Bhuwania, The Case that Felled a City: Examining the Politics of Indian Public
Interest Litigation through One Case (Access Here)
LECTURE 31 – The Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties

● Faizan Mustafa, ‘Piecemeal reforms the way for Uniform Civil Code’ (Deccan
Herald 8 May 2022) (Access Here)
● Komal Deol, ‘Cow protection was a sensitive subject in India even when the
Constitution was being framed’ (The Scroll, 7 July 2021) (Access Here)

LECTURE 32 – Review of the Course

12