Alternative Law Forum

June 2015

A carriage of injustice
The recent judgment of the Madras High
Court raises serious concerns on how the
crime of rape is perceived by the judiciary.
A single judge Bench of the High Court has
granted interim bail to a person convicted
by the lower court for rape of a minor, and
has referred the case to mediation.
Read The Full Article

Reading Literature in the Law

ALF Law and Literature Reading Group
Charles Dickens stands as a prominent figure
for scholars interested in representations of
law in literature. The Dickens novel that most
strongly foregrounds the law is Bleak House,
centered as it is around the Chancery Court.
Little surprise then to find it referenced in
Indian Court decisions. The novel is deployed
as a metaphor for the legal system in the
context of judicial delays where the judge
notes:
"Unfortunately it is the Bleak House image of the judiciary that has stuck and many regard
the Court as a place which exhausts finances, patience, courage and hope, overthrows the
brain and breaks the heart."
Where a judge wanted to express his sympathies towards sex workers in illegal
detention...
Read More
Join the Law 'n' Lit Reading Group and Read about other sessions that have taken place.

Law's Role in Development of the Internet

As the internet begins to pervade our lives in
increasing ways, the clamour to regulate it has
heightened. Be it viral posts on social
media urging violence, the easy availability of
sexual content on the internet, or sharing of
pirated media over peer to peer networksthere is a growing concern about the
governance and regulation of the internet
from different and sometimes opposing, social groups. Read More

The Old Testament as both Law and Literature

ALF Law and Literature Reading Group
Ian Ward says that in light of the controversy over
the political ambitions of law and literature,
perhaps the least controversial area in which it can
be suggested that literature is of value in legal
studies is that of legal history. And so, what we
decided to do, while not quite hewing to legal
history, was to take out law and literature reading
chronologically, and start from the very beginning.
The beginning in particular, of one particular
tradition, a piece of writing that constitutes one of
our foundational civilizational documents, a text
that is at once a piece of law as well as literature the
Bible
Read More
Join the Law 'n' Lit Reading Group and Read about other sessions that have taken place.

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Maggi Stirs up Star Power Row

Since Maggi came under the scanner after tests reportedly discovered high MSG and lead
content in it, celebrities are being called to account for the products they endorse.
Brand ambassadors use their appeal to sell products that are not safe, consumer activists
say, and that is ethically wrong.
Gowthaman Ranganathan, a lawyer with the Alternative Law Forum, feels blaming brand
ambassadors is a 'little ridiculous..Read More

Bengaluru Father's Day event draws ire of women's groups for

advancing 'patriarchal agenda'
The stage for the showdown was set on Friday, when some women's groups sent out a
press release to city media houses urging them to think hard about the manner in which
they cover the annual event Father's Day event organised by father's rights groups.
"It would be gratifying if media houses could be sensitive, restrained and balanced in their
coverage of such events this year," said the release sent out on Friday to media houses by
groups such as All India Progressive Women's Association, the Alternative Law Forum,
Aneka, Karnataka Sex Workers' Union and Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum. "Greater
awareness of issues related to gender equality is not only desirable in itself, it would
enhance journalistic professionalism."
Read More
Indian techie who exposed Airtel's malicious code injection may defend
notice received from Flash Networks legally

Software professional Thejesh GN, who was served a warning letter by Flash Networks for
revealing that it was injecting a software code in a telecom service provider's network to
serve advertisements to users, has decided to defend himself legally.Israeli company Flash
Networks had earlier alleged that Bengaluru-based Thejesh had infringed on its copyright
by publishing the code on GitHub which the company claims is proprietary but was
publicly available until last week. Read More
The Right to Education- Post 2015

The fundamental right to education must include quality education - and standardised
measures of outcomes must be introduced to ensure equality, quality and accountability.
The future development agenda should be committed to its enforceability.
Ramya Jawahar and Gowthaman Ranganathan of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) spoke
of the various methods employed by ALF to enforce socio-economic rights. They use an
inter-disciplinary approach combining research and the law to achieve the greatest effect.
They also highlighted the wider issue of the government's tightening of funds in the nonprofit sector.. Read More
Indian techie who exposed Airtel's malicious code injection may defend
notice received from Flash Networks legally
Software professional Thejesh GN, who was served a warning letter by Flash Networks for
revealing that it was injecting a software code in a telecom service provider's network to
serve advertisements to users, has decided to defend himself legally.Israeli company Flash
Networks had earlier alleged that Bengaluru-based Thejesh had infringed on its copyright
by publishing the code on GitHub which the company claims is proprietary but was
publicly available until last week. Read More

Is India Making Progress In The LGBT Movement?

"There is no word in our language that can describe us. How we feel for each other,"
protests Sita, with great remorse, to her lover Radha in Deepa Mehta's controversial
1998 film "Fire." A December 2014 report by the activist law collective Alternative
Law Forum titled "Dignity First" concludes, "The violence faced by the LGBT
community has complex social roots that find legitimacy and sanction in certain
repressive laws. Countering this marginalization requires a combination of
dismantling the apparatus of state oppression as well as building up the capabilities
of all LGBT people live as equal citizens with dignity in our country." Read More

Salzburg Global Seminar

Danish Sheikh participated in the Salzburg Global Seminar, Session 551, "Global LGBT
Forum - Strengthening Communities: LGBT Rights & Social Cohesion", convened at Salzburg
Austria from June 14 - 19, 2015. Presented strategies on narrowing the scope of
discriminatory laws relating to LGBT individuals and locating LGBT rights in a broader
antidiscrimination framework.
Globalisation and Inequality: An India-Canada Comparison Symposium
Smarika presented her draft paper on "Hurdles to Inclusive Media Access in India: An
Analysis of the Law Concerning Democratic Use of the Media", at Globalisation and
Inequality: An India-Canada Comparison Symposium organised by Department of Sociology,
York University, Toronto and Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi on June 8-9, 2015.

The Orestia
Lawrence Liang discussing why reading The Orestia is
interesting to the agenda of law and literature. Start
listening here

Alternative Law Forum with collaborative Networks and Organisations

Talk on South African Anti-Death Penalty Jurisprudence
The talk dealt with the background to the case, the day when in the post-Apartheid and
newly democratic Republic of South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled on it as the framers
of the constitution had not expressly proscribed capital punishment. The arguments
forwarded to establish that the death penalty were unconstitutional, extensive quotations
as also its references to judgements in Indian courts (including the Supreme Court's 'Bachan
Singh Vs State of Punjab' of 1980 setting out the "rarest of rare" doctrine, alas observed
more in the breach, including by the SCI itself. Read More

Acche Dina Da Katu Sathya

On the occasion of the completion of 1 year of the NDA government, a group of
organisations and individuals, including Central Trade Unions, NGOs, Human Rights groups
have come together to expose the bitter truths of the promised 'Acche din'. The group has
decided to have a series of programmes 'Acche Dina da Katu Sathya' over the next 10 days
to expose the Modi led NDA governments anti-people steps. Read More

She is not asleep

ALF was a host to Maraa's travelling theater. 'Spirit of the Beehive' (1973) is set in a small
Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country's devastating civil war, six year old Ana
attends a travelling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes possessed by the memory of
it. Read More

Protest March
In the last few months, Bangalore's police (Law and Order and Traffic) and BBMP officials
are illegally and with impunity evictinging street vendors. In addition to being evicted, we
are treated with abusive words coupled with our goods and hand-carts being illegally
confiscated or destroyed. Many officials abuse us with derogatory terms and physically
abuse us. Just because we are on the streets, we are treated with disrespect and addressed
in harsh singular terms. Many a time we are evicted without being informed of any reason.
As a result of these evictions we are facing several problems, making it difficult for us to live.
This is the story of more than a lakh citizens of this city.

Screening of 'Unfreedom' with post movie discussions

UNFREEDOM, directed by Raj Amit Kumar, deals with questions of religious
fundamentalism, homophobia, Islamophobia and violent extremism. Issues that are
important to Indians and demands to be highlighted and discussed openly. A searing
indictment of human rights violations, Unfreedom is a film that demands to be seen and
discussed by people who support cinema that is both moving and motivating. Read More

Want your research, activism and strategic

experience to reach a dynamic audience?
Would you like to exhibit your latest performance
piece in an intimate space?
We are your Alternative!
Write to us at contact@altlawforum.org with the

subject line 'Friday Forums'

Talks that took place in May 2015

6 June - N. Jayaram- Talk on South African

Anti-Death Penalty Jurisprudence

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Alternative Law Forum 2015

122/4 Infantry Road, Next to Balaji Art Gallery, Bangalore, India 560001 (Nearest bus stop: Shivajinagar
Phone: +91 80 2286 8757
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Alternative Law Forum | 122/4 Infantry Road, Next to Balaji Art Gallery | Bangalore 560001 | Bangalore | India