Kalpana Kannabiran

Sociologist | Legal scholar | Rights Educator

About: Indian sociologist, lawyer, human rights columnist, writer and editor Kalpana Kannabiran works extensively to help us understand the evolution of jurisprudence in India. Her areas of expertise are the sociology of law, historical sociology, social movements, disability rights, violence and gender studies, caste, indigenous/Adivasi rights, jurisprudence, equality and anti-discrimination law. After a decade-long tenure, she retired as Professor and Regional Director of the Council for Social Development, Southern Regional Centre. She is amongst the founding faculty of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, and is a co-founder of the women's rights group, Asmita Resource Centre for Women.

BOOK

Name: The Speaking Constitution : A Sisyphean Life in Law

Description:

The Speaking Constitution takes a close look at the functioning of the Constitution and the development of the idea of justice through the courts, mapping in the process a legal geography of civil liberties in India through the work of one of its most committed campaigners.

An edited translation of the oral memoir narrated by advocate and human rights activist K.G. Kannabiran (1929-2010), this book is reflective of Kannabiran's lifelong battle with the state and his work in the civil liberties movement in India.

From Ansari Begum's deportation case in the aftermath of Partition to encounter deaths and custodial killings, the work of citizens' tribunals in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat massacre, the peace talks and negotiations between Naxalites and the Andhra Pradesh government, the highly polarizing trial of Afzal Guru and the question of the death penalty, Kannabiran shines light on human rights violations in courts across the country and the radical possibilities the Constitution offers citizens today. In the process, he maps a legal geography of the civil liberties movement in India.