Social Justice Lawyering and the Meaning of Indian Constitutionalism: A Case Study of the Alternative Law Forum
Year: 2013
Type: preprint
Abstract: In this paper, we focus on the work of a single organization of public interest lawyers in India: the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore (“ALF”). The focus on a single institution seeks to tease out some of the challenges and socio-legal strategies adopted to give content to the constitutional idea of India. We recognise that even though our focus is on the work of ALF, this in itself represents only a tiny fragment of a much larger effort by a range of peoples movements and struggles at defining and sustaining a grassroots vision of democracy. Our second purpose is to obtain insights, through a contextual understanding of ALF’s work, into the process by which a public interest law practice can contribute towards a larger democratic vision. In short, can alternative lawyering contribute towards deepening democracy?The scheme of this paper is as follows: we focus in Part II on the origins and methods of ALF. This is followed in Part III by a discussion of three specific case studies from ALF’s work. The case studies address three persisting fault lines - of caste, religion and sexuality - in contemporary Indian society. Through a detailed examination of these cases, we seek to highlight the strategies adopted by ALF lawyers, the dilemmas which confronted them, and the reasoning behind the choices ultimately made by them. In Part IV, we draw insights from the case studies to address broader debates in Indian and comparative public interest law.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Authors: Arvind Narrain, Arun K. Thiruvengadam
Institutions: Alternative Law Forum, Azim Premji University
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2263417553