Prof. Kalpana Kannabiran, Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad gave a talk on Utopian Constitutionalism and Democratic Futures: A Plural Reading of Navtej Singh Johar & Ors vs. Union of India on 28 September. She spoke about the recent development related to section 377 of the Indian constitution.

At a critical moment in India’s contemporary history, the constitutional bench decision of the Supreme Court of India on the illegality of Section 377 IPC in matters of sexual relations between consenting adults signposts a dense cluster of democratic rights not limited to the reach of S377 alone. The interpretive strategies of the court likewise present new possibilities for constitutional jurisprudence on fundamental rights. In her presentation Prof. Kalpana Kannabiran reflected on the plural domains/dimensions of this judgement, opening it up for a popular reading.

Prof. Kalpana Kannabiran is an Indian sociologist and lawyer. She is a co-founder of the ASMITA Resource Centre for Women, a women’s rights group.

The talk was organized by Student Life Council.