News Type: Event

NLS Faculty Seminar | Presentations by Siddharth Saxena and Radhika Chitkara

There will be two presentations by NLS Faculty at this week’s seminar by Siddharth Saxena and Radhika Chitkara.

Presentation 1

Title: “Instrumentalising the University: The Principles underlying Higher Education Regulation at India’s Founding” by Siddharth Saxena.

Discussant: Sidharth Chauhan

Abstract

The contemporary literature on Indian universities is rife with discontent about academic freedom. Apart from attacks within and outside the university on the production and dissemination of knowledge, the state has systematically undermined institutional autonomy using the University Grants Commission (‘UGC’) regulatory powers. This literature has grounded the crisis in developments post the election of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, particularly after their re-election in 2019. This article argues, instead, that it ought to be situated in a context predating the current regime. It can be traced to the instrumentalist idea of the university’s role in the postcolonial nation-state that was reified at its founding, and was expressed in the constitutional and statutory scheme created under Jawaharlal Nehru’s Indian National Congress. It explicates this through an analysis of the thought of political elites as revealed in the constitutional and legislative material associated with the creation of the UGC.

Presentation 2

Title: “Policing Per Se” by Radhika Chitkara.

Abstract

What is the character of police power? What is its relationship with law? And what makes it exceptional and extraordinary? A key intervention of this research is the attempt to study ‘police’- policing, police powers, police functions- on its own terms, or, ‘policing per se’. In this chapter, I do not attempt a common unifying theory of policing that both, captures its essence, and empirically addresses all that the police do in society. My approach accepts that different sites of police action reveal some facets of police power more than others. My attempt delineates coercion, discretion, knowledge-production and law as discrete facets of police authority that, in variable permutations, constitute police powers. These offer units of analysis through which I study norms and empirical data relating to counter-terror policing in this and subsequent chapters. I conclude the chapter by identifying a typology of three kinds of police powers based on the permutations generated by these discrete units in their interface with law, and read the UAPA within this typology: criminal police powers, administrative police powers, and inherent/ uncodified police powers.

This chapter proceeds in three parts. The first part cleaves apart policing from the law, through a careful excavation of discretion as a constitutive characteristic of police authority. It does so through a review of literature in anthropology, history and comparative law attempting to define the police. The second part studies police powers as epistemic authority creating knowledge about crime and society. The final part enlists the typology identified above as a menu of police powers through which to study UAPA. I do not study the capacity for coercion in meticulous detail since this paradigm already dominates studies of policing. I am sharing here only the first part of this chapter, on police discretion, which I identify at two registers: as gatekeepers and as sovereigns. The third part I have already presented at an earlier faculty seminar in 2023. This is the first draft, and is thus excessively lengthy and verbose. I will edit as I go along so that the first chapter, holistically, is of a manageable length.

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Dalit Fest 2025 | Savitri Phule Ambedkar Caravan (SPAC)

The Savitri Phule Ambedkar Caravan (SPAC), a student collective at NLSIU, is organising the Dalit Fest ‘25 to observe Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s Jayanti in April.

April marks Dalit History Month—a time to remember, reflect on, and honour the contributions, struggles, and lived realities of Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi (DBA) communities. In continuation of previous years, Savitri Phule Ambedkar Caravan (SPAC) is proud to bring to the NLSIU campus Dalit Fest ’25, a month-long series of events designed to commemorate this crucial history and to foreground the voices, expressions and experiences of DBA identities. In collaboration with student bodies and collectives, we have curated a range of events to open space for conversation, celebration, and critical engagement. Here’s a glimpse of what’s happening this month:

Pub Pool | April 9, 2025 | 3.30-6.30 PM | Amphitheatre

(in collaboration with Ka’law’kriti)

The fest will begin with a pub pool to initiate the celebrations of Dalit Fest’25 and start conversations about Dalit History Month. SPAC, in collaboration with Ka’law’kriti, will aim to raise awareness and engage the student body on the matter of DBA identities. Students at NLS are welcome to join, express, and engage with their own and others’ thoughts on DBA identities and Dalit History Month via poster-making. With the artists’ permission, these posters will be featured on social media platforms and displayed in Velivada: the Art Exhibition.

Reading Circle | April 9, 2025 | 3-4 PM | OAB Quad

(in collaboration with LAWSOC)

The Bhagat Singh Reading Circle, an initiative of Law and Society Committee will conduct a reading circle in memory of Dr Ambedkar and the larger Anti Caste Movement in the country. In this session, the Dalit Panther Manifesto and Dr. Ambedkar’s speech at the GIP Railway Depressed Class Workmen’s conference, Nashik will be discussed. The aim of the session is to bring forth the worker’s-oriented nature of the Anti-Caste Movement which sought to unite the working class against the larger Brahminical patriarchal capitalist structure and bring forth a larger discussion on the many faces of the Anti-Caste Movement.

Film Screening on Phule Jayanti | April 11, 2025 | 8.30 PM | NAB 103

The movie Sadgati (1981) [dir. Satyajit Ray] will be screened on the occasion of Phule Jayanti. This immersive film, dedicated to Dalit presence and the struggles against caste stigma and discrimination, will be screened to celebrate the birth anniversary of Jyotirao Phule, popularly known as Mahatma.

Velivada: Art Exhibition  | April 14-19, 2025 | Shri Narayan Rao Melgiri Memorial National Law Library

In this year’s edition of Velivada: the Art Exhibition, SPAC is collaborating with the Shri Narayan Rao Melgiri National Law Library to showcase artworks by various Bahujan artists. SPAC is also inviting artists based in Bengaluru to present their work in person on the inaugural day. A few stalls will also be set up to sell anti-caste stickers, craft products, and similar items. This event will aim to engage viewers and initiate conversations about caste identity and lived experiences through the non-academic medium of art. Additionally there will be a display of books focusing on the life, works, and contributions of Dr. Ambedkar. This collection will include works authored by Dr. Ambedkar, as well as scholarly publications and resources exploring various facets of his legacy.

Ambedkar Jayanti Celebration | April 14, 2025 | 5.30 PM | Amphitheatre

Dalit folk artists from Karnataka, Durga Buddideepa and Narayanswami, will present a cultural performance. They will sing Ambedkarite songs in Kannada to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The event will also feature an open mic night, where students and faculty will sing, recite poetry, and perform on themes of caste and discrimination. Ravi Gaikwad, founder of ‘The Blue Jam’ and co-founder of ‘Blue Material’, which celebrates and gives a platform to Dalit artists, will also be invited as the stand-up comic for the night. The event will end with poets on campus from the NLS Poets Society giving a tribute to Dalit Poets all around India.

1st NLSIU Annual Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Quiz | April 16, 2025 | 4.30 PM | NAB 102

(in collaboration with NLSQC)

This quiz will be organised for the NLS student community in collaboration with the NLSQC to engage with Dalit history and its icons, as part of the Dalit History Month celebrations. The quiz will be hosted by Dr. Ashna Singh (Assistant Professor of Law, NLSIU), Apul (I Year LLB), Asmi (II Year BALLB), Saif (IV Year BALLB), and Siddharth (IV Year BALLB).

Reading Circle | April 16, 2025 | 3-4 PM | OAB Quad

(in collaboration with LAWSOC)

In the second iteration on the theme of caste, the Bhagat Singh Reading Circle in collaboration with SPAC will host a reading circle on the Chapter titled, “Assertion not Annihilation: The BSP Enigma” from Republic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal Hindutva written by Anand Teltumbde to discuss the failure of assertion caste politics in Uttar Pradesh with a special emphasis on the Bahujan Samaj Party. The aim of the session is to discuss the Assertion Politics ignited in states like Uttar Pradesh whose ineffectiveness has shown that caste as a social structure has strengthened and emboldened caste violence in the State.

Workshop on SC/ST Act | April 19, 2025 | 11 AM-4.30 PM | NAB 101

(in collaboration with Law and Society Committee)

SPAC, in collaboration with LawSoc, will organise a workshop on the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The workshop will serve as a platform for students to learn about it—by engaging with contemporary issues and gaining practical legal training on related cases. The workshop will begin with a keynote lecture by Senior Advocate, Jayna Kothari, followed by a session on the history of the Act, its rationale, and key provisions, led by Dr. Ashna Singh (Assistant Professor of Law, NLSIU). SPAC will also invite Adv. Basava (Alumnus of the NLSIU LLM Batch of 2024), who works with the Alternative Law Forum and deals with cases related to the Act. He will guide participants through day-to-day legal work—drafting, filing complaints, and other practical aspects of legal practice.

NLS Faculty Seminar | Three Genres of India at the Limit: The Obsolete, The Ruinous, The Unfinished

In this week’s faculty seminar, Dr. Atreyee Majumder, Associate Professor, Social Science, NLSIU and Kundan Sen, Senior Writing Instructor, Undergraduate Writing Programme, Ashoka University, presented their essay titled “Three Genres of India at the Limit: The Obsolete, The Ruinous, The Unfinished.” The seminar was held on April 9, 2025, at 3:45 pm, in the Ground Floor Conference Hall at NLSIU’s Training Centre.

Abstract

This essay studies India as a conceptual limit. Taking contemporary India as its starting point, it asks: what is the India-concept? We go to some limit-zones to find the answer. To analyse its location at the limit-zones of a concept, we focus on those narratives that develop when the vantage point is from the margins and not the dominant centres of the Indian experience. This essay posits that the India-concept can be understood through three distinct genres: the obsolete, the ruinous, and the unfinished. The obsolete unpacks India in its becoming-modern condition as constant acts of moving out of and maneuvering at the peripheries of circuits of value and motion. The ruinous looks at genres of living and being that are completely out-of-sync with dominant forms of living and being and attendant hierarchies of values. The unfinished looks at those futures that were never heralded, within the larger embrace of neoliberal modernity, but remain within horizons of expectation for groups of people. Collectively, these three genres, we argue, give us a sense of the limit-zones of the dominant versions of the India-concept.

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Writing Urban India Workshop | April 7-11, 2025

The HUPA Chair for Urban Poor and the Law at NLSIU, in collaboration with Writing Urban India Collective and the Urban Studies Foundation (UK), is hosting a workshop from April 7 to 11, 2025, as part of the Writing Urban India Fellowship 3.0. The workshop will be held in sessions between 10 am to 5 pm at the Conference Room, Training Centre, NLSIU.

About the Workshop

The WUI Fellowship 3.0 Workshop is an intensive, writing-focused boot camp designed to enhance academic writing skills. Specifically tailored for fellows, the workshop emphasizes critical thinking, crafting persuasive arguments, working with evidence, and applying theoretical frameworks. Participants will set long-term writing goals for the next six months, aimed at transforming their research into polished, publishable work. Through hands-on sessions, expert mentorship in urban studies, and a focus on continuous improvement, this workshop will equip fellows with the tools and support needed to refine their writing and achieve academic excellence.

View the full schedule

Mentors

The mentors that will facilitate this workshop are:

  1. Anwesha Ghosh (NLSIU)
  2. Champaka Rajagopal(Centre for Policy Research)
  3. Dhivya Janarthanan (NLSIU)
  4. Gautam Bhan (Indian Institute for Human Settlements)
  5. J Devika (Centre for Development Studies)
  6. Mukta Naik (National Institute for Urban Affairs)
  7. Neha Sami (Indian Institute for Human Settlements)
  8. Partha Mukhopadhyay (Centre for Policy Research)
  9. Sushmita Pati (NLSIU)

Contact Us

For any queries regarding the fellowship, contact .

NLSIU-SIAC Annual Arbitration Lecture 2025 | ‘Five Things You Think You Know About Arbitration, But You Don’t’

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) are organising the second edition of the Annual Arbitration Lecture on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 9.30 to 10.30 am. The venue of the lecture is Bangalore International Centre.

This year, we have Ms. Lucy Reed, a preeminent arbitrator and scholar speaking on: “Five Things You Think You Know About Arbitration, But You Don’t.”

This event is open to the public. Please note if you are outside of the NLS community, it is mandatory to register for the event. Kindly RSVP here.

About the Speaker

Lucy Reed is the President of the Court of Arbitration, Singapore International Arbitration Centre. Reed, an independent arbitrator with Arbitration Chambers (New York), is also the immediate past President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). She retired in 2016 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she led the global international arbitration group from the New York, Hong Kong and Singapore offices, and then was Professor of Practice and Director of the Centre for International Law at NUS through 2019.

In addition to practicing international commercial and investment treaty arbitration, she served as an arbitrator on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission (a humanitarian law/Geneva Convention claims commission), co-director of the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland (a Holocaust claims tribunal) and, while with the US State Department, the US Agent to the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.

Reed, a member of the US Council on Foreign Relations, is a former President of the American Society of International Law. She was educated at the University of Chicago Law School and Brown University.

Please note:

  • All press/media invitees who are interested to cover the talk are requested to please carry their ID cards.

Conversation on ‘Spies, Lies and Allies’ | NLS Alumna Kavitha Rao with NLS Faculty Dr. Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav

NLS alumna, author and journalist Kavitha Rao (NLS BA LLB ’94) spoke about her new book, ‘Spies, Lies and Allies,’ with Dr. Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav, Assistant Professor, Social Science, NLSIU. The event was held at Bangalore International Centre on April 2, 2025, at 6:30 pm.

About the book

Spies, Lies and Allies is a thrilling tale about two forgotten revolutionaries who led lives that defy belief. It takes the reader on a wild ride through Kolkata, Hyderabad, London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Mexico City and Moscow. One was Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, the brother of Sarojini Naidu. The other was M.N. Roy, the founder of Indian communism.

Chatto and Roy met spies, dictators, femme fatales, assassins, revolutionaries and bomb-makers. They encountered Lala Lajpat Rai, Veer Savarkar, Vladimir Lenin, Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Joseph Stalin, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. They travelled in disguise and survived assassination attempts by the British secret service. They had tumultuous love affairs with suspected Communist spies. They flirted with anarchism, then became communists, and Roy would eventually end up founding his own philosophy: humanism. Chatto’s sister Sarojini would distance herself from his journey, and his friend Nehru would eventually follow the Gandhian path. Roy would be ignored in newly independent India. But if Chatto and Roy were failures, they were magnificent ones. They battled for their ideas, and their ideas lived on, even if the pair died mostly forgotten.

Watch the Video

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NLS Faculty Seminar | Religion, Culture, and Human Rights in India: With God as our Witness

In this week’s faculty seminar, Dr. Surabhi Shukla, Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, and an alumna of the NLSIU (2011). Surabhi will be presenting her upcoming book titled “With God as our Witness.” The seminar will be held on April 2, 2025, at 4 pm, in the Ground Floor Conference Hall at NLSIU’s Training Centre.

Abstract

In secular, constitutional democracies, religion and culture are assumed to be of legal importance only for deciding the scope of religious and cultural freedom, maintaining communal harmony, and determining the scope of minority protection laws. However, across jurisdictions, courts have been influenced by religion and culture in determining other human rights as well. This phenomenon is especially observed in, but is not restricted to, gender and sexuality cases: abortion, sexual orientation and gender identity, marital rape, sex work, euthanasia, bar dancing, etc.

This book examines the limits of religious and cultural influence on fundamental rights questions under secular and liberal constitutions and proposes a judicial framework to determine the same. Using intensity sampling, I select the population of cases (31 in number) pertaining to the abovementioned themes. I then perform a systematic content analysis to extract religious and cultural claims and examine their various attributes. I find that, even though the law has mandated no role for them, such claims determine the outcome in 29% of the cases; 78.5% of those claims are judicially noticed, i.e., admitted without proof. This makes it imperative to investigate the institutional limits upon the judiciary when dealing with religious and cultural claims. The judicial framework that I propose has three pillars:

1. A theory of constitutional interpretation which discusses constitutional restrictions on the judge when considering religious and cultural arguments in fundamental rights cases;

2. A theory of judicial notice to determine when such claims can be admitted without proof; and

3. A theory of secularism and public reason which argues that once a religious or cultural claim has been admitted, it should be given weight in the final decision only if it matches defensible conceptions of constitutional values.

About the Author

Dr. Surabhi Shukla is Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Sheffield, and an alumna of the NLSIU (2011). Surabhi is also Deputy Director of Employability and Enrichment Activities (Legal Tech) at the University. Read her complete profile here.

Reflections from the Author

“The most controversial human rights issues of our time, like abortion and surrogacy, LGBTQ + rights, sex work, euthanasia, etc., all invite passionate religious and cultural debate posing a classic question of constitutional law — to what extent can religious and cultural views shape human rights in secular democracies? For example, can the religious and cultural sentiments of the general populace determine whether there is a right to abortion in a country? This is the question that I answer in my upcoming book ‘With God as our Witness.’ Having learnt how to read constitutional law at NLSIU, it was a special pleasure and privilege to debate this question with a room full of engaged colleagues and teachers turned colleagues. The feedback is extremely valuable in finalising this work in progress. Hoping to be back again when the book is published in 2026!”

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Music Showcase | NLS Music Society

The NLS Music Society is organinsing a ‘Showcase’ – their first official ensemble spanning genres, vocals and instruments. This event will feature a musical performance of 15 sets by 29 students.

About the NLS Music Society

The NLS Music Society is a student society constituted in December 2024, following a vibrant and competitive audition process that saw participation from over 100 talented musicians across cohorts and programmes at NLSIU. After careful selection, 43 passionate and skilled members were inducted into the Society, representing a wide range of musical styles—including Hindustani, Carnatic, Western Classical, Rock, and Indian Semi-Classical vocals—as well as instruments such as the drums, acoustic and electric guitar, tabla, saxophone, harmonica, and flute.

The NLS Music Society is committed to nurturing a thriving musical ecosystem on campus. It aims to celebrate diversity in musical expression, foster collaboration, and promote performance across genres. The Society also plans to host workshops and performances by renowned artists and actively collaborate with faculty, staff, and researchers who are trained in various musical traditions, thereby building an inclusive and enduring musical community at NLS.

About the Showcase

The NLS Music Society is thrilled to present their very first ensemble performance—an inclusive and vibrant showcase of talent that spans genres, instruments, and vocals. Featuring 29 members of the Society, this two-hour event will bring to life 15 thoughtfully curated sets, including a Tabla-Mridangam-Flute ensemble, Hindustani vocals, performances by the NLS band Glorified Soundcheck, rock, bollywood as well as Indian Semi-Classical and Western music.

This inaugural showcase is more than just a performance—it’s a celebration of the rich musical talent at NLSIU and the beginning of a new chapter in our campus’s cultural life. Over the past year, music at NLSIU has been shaped by ad-hoc open mics and occasional performances. With the formation of the Music Society, we now take our first official step toward building a sustained and inclusive musical community.

This event is called a ‘showcase’ because it brings together the broadest range of musical forms, styles, and artists in a single evening. While future performances will explore genre-specific themes and focused collaborations, this ensemble is meant to be a comprehensive and heartfelt introduction to what the Music Society stands for.

The Music Society looks forward to welcoming you to an evening of energy, emotion, and extraordinary performances!

NLS Faculty Seminar | Accommodating Disability ‘Reasonably’: The Indian Supreme Court and the Shifting Contours of ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ Under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016

In this week’s faculty seminar, Ishita Ghosh, Academic Fellow, will be presenting her paper titled “Accommodating Disability ‘Reasonably’: The Indian Supreme Court and the Shifting Contours of ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.” The seminar will be held on March 26, 2025, at 3:45 pm, in the Ground Floor Conference Hall at NLSIU’s Training Centre.

Abstract

The principle of reasonable accommodation (RA) for persons with disabilities forms an indispensable component of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016. Largely mirroring Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006, the principle is considered to be an elucidation of the doctrines of ‘equality before the law’ and ‘equal protection under the law’ contained in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

Considered to be an innovative, progressive and inclusive principle that exemplifies the right  of the disabled to be treated equally, and afforded equal opportunity, while placing a corresponding obligation or duty on the State to ensure the realisation of these core rights. An enquiry into its constituent elements reveals three main components, firstly, the requirement to make ‘necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments” secondly, that ensures equal enjoyment of rights by the disabled as all others; thirdly, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden on the authority in a particular case”. Yet, the application of the principles itself, alongside its very contents, has seen widespread conflict between the State and the disabled beneficiaries, and has required innovative-albeit inconsistent and piecemeal-approaches and arguments to be adopted by the higher judiciary to further the cause of the disabled, almost bordering on altruism. This raises concerns regarding the nature of RA, and elicits the need to dig deeper to locate what kind of norm is RA, and it is meant to serve as a vehicle to realise the right to equality and equal opportunity, or does it have an independent existence of its own?

In this paper, I argue that RA exists as a ‘duty-based norm’, rather than a ‘right-based norm’ or a ‘goal-based norm. More accurately, RA exists as a duty-based norm embedded with a goal-based framework of each particular legislation or precedent. In the context of RPwD, RA serves to provide an avenue or conduit for the realization of goals such as non-discrimination, equality, inclusivity and accessibility for disabled individuals. Through an exploration of the jurisprudential treatment of RA by the Indian Supreme Court, revealed a conceptual puzzle at the heart of the Court’s attempts to grant relief to disabled claimant(s) under the principle of RA due to a misreading of RA as a ‘right-based norm’ under the RPWD, as opposed to a ‘duty based norm’. This means that as opposed to being simply a pre-existing justiciable right which the individual/group can seek to enforce before a Court of law, reasonable accommodation creates a conditional duty on the State to make provisions even in the absence of a right, so far as the State can realistically and ‘reasonably’ accommodate.

The Silenced Voices: Caste and Sexual Violence Against Women | SPAC & AOW

The Savitribai Phule Ambedkar Caravan (SPAC) & Alliance of Oversensitive Women (AOW) are organising a lecture on ‘Silenced Voices: Caste and Sexual Violence Against Women.’ The lecture will be delivered by V. Geetha, an Indian feminist campaigner, historian, and writer.

About the Lecture

Discussions of sexual violence in India tend to be incomplete without due consideration to the role of caste. While legal and social systems have attempted to tackle gender-based violence, the underlying caste dynamics of these problems are seldom considered in mainstream discussions. ‘The Silenced Voices: Caste and Sexual Violence Against Women’ seeks to place this important intersection at the centre, challenging hegemonic narratives and investigating the entrenched impunity facilitated by caste-based hierarchies.

We are privileged to welcome V. Geetha whose scholarship has shed light on how caste and patriarchy converge in constructing experiences of violence, justice, and resistance. Her groundbreaking book, ‘Undoing Impunity: Speech After Sexual Violence’, critically analyses how legal and social frameworks perpetuate impunity in sexual violence, especially when caste is a deciding factor. Through this lecture, we hope to spur a much-needed debate regarding how caste works within legal discourses and public discourses around sexual violence. This session is also part of an ongoing effort by LawSoc, SPAC and AOW to critically explore institutional policy around sexual violence, especially in educational institutions.

As per UGC guidelines and the report of the SAKSHAM Committee, we hope to raise voices for reforms that recognise caste as a determining factor in judicial and institutional reactions to sexual violence explicitly. This conversation will provide a chance to reflect on resources, judicial precedents, and potential reforms challenging the caste-blind nature of gender justice. This lecture is a call to critically address the silences regarding caste and sexual violence in legal and social discourse. By placing this discussion within larger feminist and anti-caste movements, we seek to open a space for substantial dialogue and action toward a more equitable and inclusive paradigm for confronting sexual violence in India.

About the Speaker

V. Geetha is an Indian feminist campaigner, historian, and writer living in Chennai. She writes widely on gender, caste, education, and civil rights and has critically approached the intersectionality of caste and patriarchy within Indian s ociety. As an editorial director at Tara Books, she has made substantive contributions to alternative publishing, and notably in areas of literature, history, and visual culture.

She has played a leading role in the Tamil Nadu Women’s Coordination Committee, which arranged milestone conferences on women’s violence, politics, and autonomy. Working with the women’s group ‘Snehidi’, she has worked among survivors of domestic violence and also worked with the Tamil Nadu State Legal-Aid Board. Together with S. V. Rajadurai, she has published a great deal of work on Tamil non-Brahmin movements and the revolutionary Self-Respect Movement of Periyar.

Her other notable works are ‘Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar’, which relooks at the historical changes of the Dravidian movements and how they are still pertinent in politics today. An English translator of novels of Perumal Murugan, Geetha’s intellectual inspirations are Ambedkar’s writings, Periyar’s works, Fanon’s writings, and K. Balagopal’s works. She continues to study and write about Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s legacy, as well as the intersections of law, violence, and social justice in India.