On 25th September 2020, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment notified the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020 which removed the mandatory medical examination requirement that the previous draft of these rules (issued in July 2020) had created. The earlier draft was heavily criticized by the transgender community for taking away their [...]
“The goal is to dominate the street.” – US President Donald J. Trump, June 1, 2020 There are disturbing connections. Before openly embracing the “Proud Boys” during his first debate with Democrat opponent Joe Biden, Donald J. Trump praised the value of “good genes” in Minnesota. Though such a seemingly “positive” evocation might not normally [...]
In the 1970s, the federal government passed the Controlled Substance Act (“CSA”), outlawing a plethora of psychedelic substances. Many of these now illegal psychedelic plants have been used for sacramental purposes for eons. Over the following decades, a number of regulatory, statutory, and judicial exemptions were carved out of the CSA for religious use of [...]
“Representation matters. I wore my father’s prayer hat, and stood at the steps of the Supreme Court, waving our flag.” – Ibrahim “Ibby” Baig On June 15th, 2020, Ibrahim “Ibby” Baig awaited, like many others, for a decision of paramount importance to the lives of gay Americans to come down from a court which has [...]
Around two years back, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its historical judgement of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India decriminalised homosexuality in the country. However, despite this progressive judgement, certain questions incidental to the homosexual relationships remained unaddressed by both the Apex Court and the Government. One such question pertains to ‘same-sex [...]
A democracy is balanced mainly on the supremacy of law as no one is above law. The recent development in this month raising a serious threat towards the doom of democracy. The loggerhead battle and the shuffle up of the whole country was witnessed by the whole world in the last two years. Now, a [...]
Breonna Taylor’s killing is not only a tragedy, but a great injustice. The Kentucky Attorney General, despite having the power to contribute to repairing this unconscionable wrong, has failed. The Kentucky attorney general announced that no criminal charges will be filed for Breonna Taylor’s death against the individual officers who were responsible. Beyond the failure [...]
“Somalia is a land that has descended so deeply into misery that “failed state” is too generous a description for the country.” –TIME Magazine In August 2020, three Iranian hostages who had been held for five years were freed by Somalian pirates, as contradictory news emerged that another ship had been intercepted after a three-year [...]
The nation has watched aghast as, over and over again, police have killed or maimed unarmed persons of color. Each time, the police have acted with impunity under a quiescent criminal justice system. The charges filed against officers involved in the death of George Floyd are the exception, not the rule, and the charges just [...]
What is common between Rhodes, Rushmore, and Robert E. Lee? At first glance, the initial consonants, yes. However, what is more, common and conspicuous is their contemporaneousness today owing to the resurfacing of their racial pasts. Their troubling legacies have triggered vehement calls for the removal and/or destruction of their monumental statues and sculptures, among [...]
