Right to Life of Migrant Workers.
Writ petition in public interest under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for the enforcement of the fundamental right under article 21 of the Constitution of India, of migrant workers who are severely affected by the 21 day nation-wide lockdown ordered by the government on the 24b of March 2O2O to take effect from the 25ft of March 2020to contain the spread of COVID- 19 epidemic in the country.
Decriminalize Beggary .
The petition filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi challenged the constitutional validity of the Beggary Act on the following grounds. The definition of “begging” violated the Right to Equality envisaged under Article 14 as no distinction was made between “persons who solicit or receive money for authorized purposes” and “those who are singing, dancing, or engaged in similar activities”. Further, “pretence” is a very vague terms for the police to take action on beggary.
The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi favoring the petitioner struck down and declared as unconstitutional the provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 that criminalized beggary and made it a punishable offence. This progressive decision is grounded in a firm understanding of poverty, social justice and equity.
Addressing Homelessness – Three Letters from the Commissioners of the Indian Supreme Court, to the Court
Dr. NC Saxena and Harsh Mander write to the Supreme court of India, drawing the attention to starvation deaths of homeless person and seeking protection under basic fundamental right – Right to Life and recognition and support from the court of law and the state under principles of state policy
Jharkhand Mob Lynching
On June 18, 2019, Tabrez Ansari, a 24-year-old individual, was subjected to an assault by a mob in the Kharsawan district of Jharkhand on suspicion of theft. This assault endured for over 18 hours before Ansari was turned over to law enforcement authorities. Regrettably, Ansari succumbed to his injuries at a local medical facility on June 22. Videos capturing the incident circulated widely on social media platforms, depicting the perpetrators coercing Ansari to recite religious slogans. In response to this appalling incident of mob violence, Mr Mander lodged a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition before the Jharkhand High Court. He sought judicial intervention to mitigate the recurrence of such incidents, urging the implementation of directives issued by the Supreme Court in the matter of Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India, aimed at curbing incidents of mob lynching.
PDF of the petition can be found on this page
Delhi Riots – FIRs against Hate Speech delivery
He filed a writ petition (Writ Petition 565 of 2020) in the Delhi HC which sought registration of FIR against politicians such as Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma etc., over the issue of hate speech delivery that incited the Delhi riots.
He then later withdrew his petition expressing that he was seeking to approach the jurisdictional Magistrate under Section 156(3) of Code of Criminal Procedure for the same relief.
The petition and following developments can be accessed here.
Sohrabuddin fake-encounter case
He had intervened in the Sohrabuddin encounter case upon the ground that there was an attempt to scuttle the case in which the CBI had filed the charge sheet. The Supreme Court later dismissed his petition on ground of lack of locus in the trial.
The order of the court can be found here.
Detention Centres in Assam
He filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a direction to the authorities to ensure humane treatment of those detained in the detention centres in Assam. He sought enforcement of fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, of those people who were being held in such detention centers in the state. He also sought redress for violations of fundamental rights and internationally recognized human rights of detainees held at that time in six such centres. They had been detained either because they were declared as foreigners by one of the one-hundred Foreigners Tribunals in Assam or after serving out their sentence for illegally entering India, pending deportation.
The detailed prayer and subsequent developments can be accessed from here and here respectively.
Reopening of investigation of over 2000 criminal cases related to Gujarat carnage of 2002
“Harsh Mander filed an affidavit in 2003 with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) highlighting the number of case closures. Subsequently, the Supreme Court issued an order in which it said that it would monitor all the proceedings related to the communal violence cases and appointed an amicus curiae. In August 2004, the Supreme Court further ordered the reopening of the 2,108 cases which had been closed by the state government on the basis that those responsible could not be found or that the police did not have enough evidence to file a charge sheet. Following protests from the Gujarat authorities, human rights activists engaged in a protracted legal battle to force the Government of Gujarat to reopen the cases. The cases were finally reopened in February 2006.”
The paragraph above is an extract from an Amnesty International Report 2007, which can be referred to for further reading on the issue.