'India’s Courts have developed an enviable human rights jurisprudence admired throughout the world. At the same time, it has a questionable human rights record on ground realities. This is not a dichotomy but, like so many nations, India has a bi-focal ability, to perceive the ground realities as a state of ‘being’ and its normative jurisprudence as a state of ‘becoming.’ This anthology does not seek to expose but remind us of this mighty dissonance. Perhaps, some but, not all courts, were more vigilant in their concerns to evolve a masterly jurisprudence despite the compromises inherent in India’s Constitution. Even so cruel human rights absurdities persist. These essays take us to national security massively trumping rights, the parallel ‘legal’ system of khap panchayats (caste communities) severely punishing people, the legal mimicry of the Gujarat and other riots, the increasing lawlessness, acid attacks, forest rights, the wayward law on death penalty, the water crisis and the shadow of the World Bank on India’s economy. I put this book down with a sadness that I had reached the end, but spirited by the hope that more books like this will be written.'- Dr Rajeev Dhavan, supreme court lawyer, New Delhi
