Indian Supreme Court rejects bid for panel to be established to regulate soft drinks

This paper primarily provides a descriptive comment on the developments leading to the decision in BALCO from the passing of the 1996 Act and briefly analyses the effect of BALCO on arbitration in India. It provides a contextual background to the Indian Supreme Court’s decision in BALCO which has received wide acclamation in the international arbitration community. It discusses on the historical background of the 1996 (Indian) Arbitration and Reconciliation Act, the case regarding Bhatia International and developments subsequent to Bhatia International and proceeds towards a descriptive comment on BALCO and its effects on Indian arbitration.

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A Secular Failure: Sectarianism and Communalism in Shayara Bano v. Union of India

Asian Journal of Law and Society ◽

10.1017/als.2020.47 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 56-71

Author(s):

Jeffrey A. Redding

Keyword(s):

Supreme Court ◽

Religious Freedom ◽

Family Law ◽

High Profile ◽

The Social ◽

Legal Legitimacy ◽

Indian Supreme Court ◽

Religious Systems ◽

Muslim Family ◽

Secular State

AbstractProponents of secularism often describe their support for this form of governance in terms of the protections it provides against the excesses, dangers, and coercions of religious governance. In reality, however, the differences between secular and religious systems of governance are often overstated, with secularism’s promises being in conversation with secularism’s failures. This article explores one recent and important instance of such secular failure, namely the high-profile Indian case of Shayara Bano v. Union of India deciding the legal legitimacy of “triple talaq,” a common Indian Muslim divorce practice. During the litigation of this case, a prominent Indian Muslim organization ended up engaging in sectarian modes of argumentation, whereby aspersions were cast on the Muslim bona fides of certain persons and communities. Further, in the course of deciding Shayara Bano, a religiously diverse set of Indian Supreme Court justices found themselves disagreeing along communal lines about either the necessity or ability of the secular state to “reform” Muslim family law. In all this, sectarian and communitarian divisions in India were heightened, and the social peace and religious freedom promised by secularism were severely undermined.

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