Friend of the Court

There were just a handful of women involved in writing a Constitution for a new India, and one of them was Hansa Mehta. Mehta was extraordinary in many ways; she was born into a progressive family that educated her, she faced social opprobrium by choosing to marry outside her caste, and she was among the few active Congress leaders. Mehta emerged as one of the key figures in the nascent women’s mo...

How do you deploy the principles of justice and fairness day in and day out? What does it mean to work the Constitution “insurgently”? Through his life and work the lawyer and civil rights activist KG Kannabiran showed us exactly how. Sometimes known as the “Naxalite lawyer”, with a reputation for representing poor and downtrodden prisoners, Kannabiran was tireless in his efforts towards preservin...

In 1950, the newly-formed Supreme Court had to decide on its first case concerning civil liberties. Should the government be allowed to preventively detain citizens, mostly political dissidents? In AK Gopalan vs State of Madras four out of five judges sided with the government. Only one judge differed. His name was Justice Saiyid Fazl Ali and he wrote the court’s first, and one of its most importa...

Few political thinkers have had as varied and storied a career as the star of this episode: MN Roy. Did he contribute to the fundamental rights we enjoy today? How did he envision the constitution for a free India? And why did he switch from violent nationalism to communism to mainstream Congress politics? Wanted by the police, chased across continents, a charismatic speaker and thinker, Roy might...

How did filmmakers participate in the nation building project in the early years of independence? What role did films play in popularising our constitutional ideals? Tune in as host Supriya Nair takes you through the life and work of writer KA Abbas and actor-director Raj Kapoor. This episode explores the socio-political commentary in their films and how they touched upon some of the most urgent q...

The Indian constitution is one of the few, if only, illustrated constitutions in the world. Twenty two panels open each of the chapters, featuring characters and scenes from Indian history and myth. Who was the person who spearheaded the project of bringing our constitution to life visually? Nandalal Bose, a pioneer of modernism in Indian art, and the favoured artist of both Rabindranath Tagore an...

Hosts Raghu Karnad and Supriya Nair give us a sneak peek into season 3. They introduce the people who inspired this season and discuss the idea of constitutional culture and how it is shaped. Episodes start rolling out on 26 March 2025.

The team behind Friend of the Court sits down for a chat with writer and editor Vikram Shah. They talk about what went into the making of the show, including the research, writing and sound design. Featuring writers Ramya Boddupalli and Bhavya Dore, producer Gaurav Vaz and advisor Lawrence Liang

The new Janata government is keen to roll back the excesses of the emergency. Law minister Shanti Bhushan has to undo the constitutional damage of the emergency years. Legislation doesn't solve all the problems—one final battle remains. And Nani Palkhivala returns to fight for the basic structure. The Minerva Mills case becomes the final phase of this battle between the court and the governmen...

The emergency brings in a series of draconian measures including mass sterilisation drives, slum demolitions and press censorship. The conflict between the court and the government seems to have abated for now. Even the basic structure judgement has been dormant for two years. But suddenly, a bench is constituted to review the judgement. A fresh phase of courtroom drama unfolds as Nani Palkhivala...

Judgement day finally arrives after 66 days of arguments. Chief Justice Sikri is also set to retire the next day. But the government has yet to announce his successor. When the judges assemble, and start to read their judgements one by one, at first there is no clarity on which way the bench has ruled. Then something unexpected happens: Sikri issues an unusual statement called “View of Majority”--...

It's now the government’s turn to argue. Who will lead arguments? The advocate general of Maharashtra, HM Seervai, or the attorney general for India, Niren De? Typically, the attorney general, the country’s law officer, leads arguments in major cases. But Indira Gandhi’s ministers have assured HM Seervai that he will lead. For many weeks a tension has been palpable between the two, and it fina...

A 13-judge bench is constituted for the very first time in the Supreme court. The government attempts to pack the court with government-leaning judges to obtain a favourable verdict. We hear about the divisions and backgrounds of judges on the bench. Yazdi Dandiwala, a former article clerk, takes us through the petitioners’ preparations. On October 31, 1972 Nani Palkhivala opens arguments for the...

The government has just lost three important battles in court: Golak Nath, bank nationalisation and privy purses. Indira Gandhi, newly re-elected, is determined to implement her socialist vision, even if this means trampling on the fundamental rights. Three of her most trusted ministers get to work—SS Ray, HR Gokhale and Mohan Kumaramangalam. They plot to undo the Golak Nath ruling, which prevents...

India is newly independent, with a path breaking new Constitution in place. The Nehru government is eager to implement land reforms to tackle poverty and inequality. But the fundamental rights provision of the Constitution is coming in the way, particularly the right to property. The government needs to circumvent this. It brings in constitutional amendments to protect its pet policies from court...

Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala is India’s most important legal judgement. In 2023, fifty years since it was pronounced, it continues to guide the country’s constitutional values and jurisprudence.  Season 2 pieces together the events in the run-up to the case, the verdict, and the events that followed from in-person interviews with surviving participants and family members, Anil Divan’s me...

Family and friends share memories of Anil Divan, who passed away in 2017. We hear from his wife Smita Divan about their courtship and marriage, their years in Bombay, and Divan’s shift to Delhi in the 1970s. We hear from his youngest son Vivek Divan, his long-time junior Ranvir Singh, and his other colleagues including sitting and former judges such as Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice S Vazifdar and...

The Narendra Modi-led NDA comes to power in 2014 and immediately sets its sights on judicial reforms. A new NJAC act is passed in Parliament. A constitutional amendment paving the way for the Act is also passed. Troubled lawyers move the courts opposing the new laws, objecting to the role of the executive that the Act outlines. A vacation bench hears the matter in the summer of 2015. The fate of j...

The first major judgement concerning judicial appointments, known as the First Judges case is pronounced. The judgement says that the executive has an upper hand in making appointments. This question is reopened a few years later, in what becomes known as the Second Judges case. A new system is born, in which judges appoint judges. They have the upper hand in making appointments. It is called the...

The Constitution spells out the procedure for appointing judges as a consultative process between the government and the judiciary. In the early years of independence, conventions evolve to give the judiciary the upper hand, which the government accepts. But not all is well between the government and the courts. Right from the Nehru years, the government’s social reform agenda puts it on a collisi...

For years the central government delays setting up a tribunal to resolve the water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, bad monsoons exacerbate issues for farmers on both sides. In 1990, the Supreme Court finally directs the centre to set up a tribunal, a quasi-judicial body to deal with the dispute. Both sides lay their claims before the tribunal and marshall expert witnes...

The Cauvery river, which flows through the Southern peninsula has long been the site of disagreements and negotiations. The dispute initially takes off in the 1800s when the princely state of Mysore and Presidency of Madras both lay claim to the river. With new dam building technologies, each side tries to best harness the waters to their ends. Eventually the two sides reach agreements—first in 18...

The 1996 elections loom, and a beleaguered Congress party struggles to win back power. In the meantime, the Hawala PIL is clubbed with other similar anti-corruption petitions in the Supreme court. In the lower court, LK Advani and other prominent figures, find themselves facing a trial in the Hawala corruption-related cases. As action builds inside and outside the courts, an anti-corruption campai...

The CBI’s investigation into the mysterious set of diaries has stalled, despite evidence of widespread corruption among top politicians and bureaucrats. Public-spirited citizens decide it is time to act. Journalist Vineet Narain picks up the story again and makes it a national issue through his video platform. Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani joins the crusade. Anil Divan, a formidable lawyer is appro...

It’s 1991. Rajiv Gandhi has been assassinated and PV Narasimha Rao has just been sworn in. Militancy is on the rise in Kashmir. The CBI discovers a mysterious set of diaries while investigating terror financing networks. The trail leads to the Jains, a powerful business family that in turn points to Rs 65 crore being paid to various prominent figures, including politicians and bureaucrats. The tab...