Alternative Law Forum

July 2015

Creating Authority of Law Over a New Technology: Reflections from Shreya

Singhal
The life of law is built upon the
interpretation of words, terms, phrases in
language, along with the claims of
precision in relevant contexts. More than
ever, analogies are a potent tool in legal
interpretations
understandings
of
technology and technical regulation. The
present post hopes to illustrate this
assertion through bringing out some such
analogies and contemplation on what
underlay the formation of such analogies in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India , and
lastly some speculation on what might be its implications.
Read More

Empathy, Craft and other Lessons to Learn from the US Same-Sex Marriage
Decision
The Court recounts James Obergefell's
struggle to be listed as the surviving
spouse on his partner's death certificate,
the uncertainty that an unmarried status
created in the lives of April DeBoer and
Jayne Rowse with respect to their children,
and the burden endured by Ijpe DeKoe and
Thomas Kostura who lost their marital
status every time they returned to their
home state of Tennessee.
The Court notes these stories to highlight the urgency of the matter, one which can
only be done by putting a human face to the issue. This display of empathy stands in
stark contrast to a different kind of 'landmark' - the much denigrated Suresh Kumar
Koushal judgment of December 2013 that effectively recriminalized intimate lives of
LGBT persons in India. There is much that the Koushal judges - and the judiciary as
whole - could learn from reading the Obergefell decision. Read More

Unearthing the Law during the Canterbury Pilgrimage

ALF Law and Literature Reading Group

The Canterbury Tales, which is a collection

of over 20 stories written by Geoffrey
Chaucer. The tales, which are mostly
written in verse, are presented as a part of
a story telling contest by a group of
twenty- nine pilgrims along with the host
(the narrator) as they travel together on a
journey from Southwark to the shrine of
Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury
Cathedral.
The historical underpinnings of the story take us back to the latter part of the 14th
century where the ecclesiastical law was at loggerheads with the common law, and
there were debates going on about the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical court.
Read More
Join the Law 'n' Lit Reading Group and Read about other sessions that have taken
place.

Karnataka worst in the south in manual scavenging numbers

According to the recently released data, Karnataka has 15,375 manual scavengers in
rural areas. This represents 0.19 per cent of the more than 80 lakh households
enumerated in the survey in 2011. Only Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh
and Tripura fare worse.
The numbers may, in fact, be fundamentally under-reported as the definition of
manual scavengers was amended in 2013 to include any sanitary worker handling
waste manually. The survey was conducted in 2011 when scavengers were defined
only as those who removed night soil.

Read More
Piracy fear-mongering stars of Premam and Papanasam, meet those
who disagree with you
For years now, folks at the Alternative Law Forum in Bengaluru have been trying to
convince the film and music industry, among others, that piracy isn't as economically
destructive as it is perceived and it might not even really be the problem. A hint for
our friends from Kerala and Tamil Nadu who wear socialism as a badge with pride,
their argument runs on the same lines as yours.
The argument against piracy is couched in the virtues of private intellectual property,
the idea that the creations of the minds - like literature, art, design and inventions are the property of the persons who used their minds to create, and that they have
exclusive rights over it. Read More

Sex, sex workers and the city - The double standards of desire and
respectability in Bengaluru

"When a city changes, it changes for some people, and against others. Sex workers are
being seen as dirt, as matter that is out of place in the pre-determined order of things.
(By driving them away from certain areas) you are implicitly saying who the city is for,
but that is against the spirit of a city. Driving away these diverse groups of people hits
at the idea of difference. A city is where you meet difference," says Darshana Mitra, a
lawyer with ALF.
Read More

Two Day Training On Documentation Of Human Rights

Violations Against LGBT Persons
The two day session was facilitated by Gowthaman Ranganathan and took place in Ashir
Bhavan, Cochin, between 25- 26 June, 2015

MY NINE DAYS IN DALTONGANJ JAIL

Exactly 40 years ago, on the evening of 3rd September 1974, I
entered the jail in Daltonganj, headquarters of Palamu district
(then of Bihar, now of Jharkhand state) and was to spend nine
days there.
They were fairly eventless, except for a couple of chats with a
smiling, soft-spoken and clearly very well-read person, jailed
for being a "Naxalite" (extreme leftist) who organised poor,
oppressed-caste rural folk to resist landlords' terror, peacefully
...Read More

Alternative Law Forum with collaborative Networks and

Organisations
KARNATAKA KOMU SOUHARDA VEDIKE - BANGALORE DISTRICT CONFERENCE
INVITATION (2nd August)
This district level conference at Bengaluru will be on 2nd August, 2015 will reiterate
KKSV's commitment to the ideals of secularism and democracy. They wish to appeal to
all democratic forces and individuals to participate in the convention and extend a
helping hand in any manner to make the programme meaningful and successful .
For details contact Hyder Baig (Ph.No. 90084 84724); Robin (Ph No. 8123034361)

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Talks that took place in May 2015

10 July Arpitha Kodiveri- Dynamics of

inclusion and exclusion of Dalit forest
dwelling communities in the making of
the Forests Act

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