There were just a handful of women involved in writing a Constitution for a new India, and one of them was Hansa Mehta.

Mehta was extraordinary in many ways; she was born into a progressive family that educated her, she faced social opprobrium by choosing to marry outside her caste, and she was among the few active Congress leaders.

Mehta emerged as one of the key figures in the nascent women’s movement in India, and forged a career as a dynamic politician and later representative from India to the United Nations.

Guests: Achyut Chetan, Mrinalini Sinha, Radha Vatsal

Credits:

Host: Supriya Nair

(Supriya Nair is Head, Research and Media at Godrej DEI Lab)

Executive Producer: Ramya Boddupalli

Producer: Gaurav Vaz

Scriptwriting and research: Bhavya Dore and Ramya Boddupalli

Script editor: Sukhada Tatke

Fact checking: Mallika Dandekar

Audio and sound design: Saachi Rajadhyaksha

Mastering: Ayan De

Recording Studio: Stitch Audio, Mumbai

Advisors: Gouri Divan, Lawrence Liang, Ranvir Singh, Shyam Divan and Vivek Divan advised the show.

Special thanks to Alok Prasanna Kumar, Justice Gautam Patel, Jaydev Mehta, Kiran Mehta and Reetika Subramanian

How do you deploy the principles of justice and fairness day in and day out? What does it mean to work the Constitution “insurgently”? Through his life and work the lawyer and civil rights activist KG Kannabiran showed us exactly how. Sometimes known as the “Naxalite lawyer”, with a reputation for representing poor and downtrodden prisoners, Kannabiran was tireless in his efforts towards preserving human rights and fighting state impunity.

In this episode we explore how this lawyer from Andhra Pradesh was at the forefront of India’s civil liberties movement.

Guests: Kalpana Kannabiran, D Nagasaila, Nikhileshwar, V Suresh

Special thanks to Justice Gautam Patel, Arun Thiruvengadam, Alok Prasanna Kumar, Deepa Dhanraj and Reetika Subramanian

Credits:

Host: Raghu Karnad

Executive Producer: Ramya Boddupalli

Producer: Gaurav Vaz

Scriptwriting and research: Bhavya Dore and Ramya Boddupalli

Script editing: Sukhada Tatke

Fact checking: Mallika Dandekar

Audio and sound design: Saachi Rajadhyaksha

Mastering: Ayan De

Recording Studio: Stitch Audio, Mumbai

Advisors: Gouri Divan, Lawrence Liang, Ranvir Singh, Shyam Divan and Vivek Divan

In 1950, the newly-formed Supreme Court had to decide on its first case concerning civil liberties. Should the government be allowed to preventively detain citizens, mostly political dissidents? In AK Gopalan vs State of Madras four out of five judges sided with the government. Only one judge differed. His name was Justice Saiyid Fazl Ali and he wrote the court’s first, and one of its most important dissents.

What is the historic and legal value of a dissenting judgement, and how did this one come about? In this episode we delve into the life and work of Justice Fazl Ali and the afterlife of his AK Gopalan judgement.

Guests: Abhinav Sekhri, Alok Prasanna Kumar and Seher Ali

Credits:

Host: Supriya Nair

(Supriya Nair is Head, Research and Media at Godrej DEI Lab)

Executive Producer: Ramya Boddupalli

Producer: Gaurav Vaz

Scriptwriting and research: Bhavya Dore and Ramya Boddupalli

Fact checking: Mallika Dandekar

Audio and sound design: Saachi Rajadhyaksha

Mastering: Ayan De

Recording Studio: Stitch Audio, Mumbai

Special thanks to Justice Gautam Patel, Arun Thiruvengadam and Reetika Subramanian

Thank you to Sukhada Tatke for editing support

Advisors: Gouri Divan, Lawrence Liang, Ranvir Singh, Shyam Divan and Vivek Divan advised the show.