[Reader-list] Human Rights and the Judicial Imagination- Justice A P Shah and Prof. Upendra Baxi

[Lawrence Liang]

Dear all, 
It was in 2000 that we began a small law collective with the idea that there was a need for a space in Bangalore to engage in an alternative practice of law. It seems hard to believe that it’s been ten years since that idea germinated and today ALF has grown from being a legal service provider to becoming a space that integrates alternative lawyering with inter-disciplinary research, alternative dispute resolution, pedagogic interventions and more generally sustains legal interventions in various social issues.
To mark the tenth year of Alf’s existence we thought it would be appropriate to have a discussion between two people who have broadened the legal imagination through their creative work as a judge and as a legal academic respectively. We present to you a public discussion between Chief Justice Shah and Dr. Upendra Baxi titled:



Courage, Craft and Contention: Human Rights and the Judicial Imagination
Speakers: C.J. Ajit Prakash Shah
Dr. Upendra Baxi
Date and Time:12 June: 5pm
Venue: United Theological College, 63 Millers Road, Benson Town.

C.J. Shah (as he then was) during his tenure as a judge of the Bombay High Court and Chief Justice of Chennai and Delhi High Court is known for a series of bold rulings which have deepened the meaning of the Constitution as a charter of Rights. C.J. Shah has during his tenure, made many landmark rulings on LGBT rights, slum dwellers rights, the rights of rickshaw pullers , rights of the disabled, freedom of speech and expression and on public accountability.


Prof. Upendra Baxi is the Emeritus Professor of Law in Development, University of Warwick. He was the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University (1990-94) and taught at many universities around the world. Prof Baxi is best known for his scholarship on all areas of law as well as his pioneering role in initiating social action litigation in India. Prof. Baxi has combined the role of a human rights activist, legal academic as well as a teacher of law in his prolific career.