S02E05 - 7:6

Friend of the Court

10-12-2023 • 44 mins

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”--- some judges sign, some do not.

It soon becomes clear which way the bench has ruled: we arrive finally at the basic structure doctrine. Soon after, three senior judges are sidestepped and a more junior judge is appointed. Indira Gandhi’s election petition is heard in the high court.

Matters come to a head shortly after with the imposition of emergency.


Host: Raghu Karnad

Research Manager: Ramya Boddupalli

Research: Bhavya Dore, Ramya Boddupalli

Legal Research: Aishwarya Chaturvedi

Script writing: Bhavya Dore, Ramya Boddupalli

Script Editor: Supriya Nair

Producer: Gaurav Vaz

Sound Design, Score & Title Track: Saachi Rajadhyaksha

Mixing & Mastering: Ayan De

Advisors: Lawrence Liang, Ranvir Singh, Shyam Divan and Vivek Divan

Guests:

AK Ganguli, Ajoy Bose, Arvind Datar, Gautam Bhatia, Lawrence Liang,  Nayantara Sahgal, Prashant Bhushan, Rajiv Khanna, Justice Santosh Hegde and Yazdi Dandiwala
For transcript and more resources go to: https://www.anildivanfoundation.org/season-2