This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri and Rinchen Norbu are joined by Supreme Court lawyers Neha Rathi and Shahrukh Alam, along with The News Minute’s executive editor Sudipto Mondal, to discuss the Supreme Court’s handling of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter roll and what it says about the state of India’s judiciary.

The discussion begins with the Supreme Court declining to advance the hearing of a plea involving more than 18,000 appeals against the deletion of names from West Bengal’s voter rolls ahead of by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar. According to Bar and Bench, the Chief Justice of India said, “These are only by-elections, that’s all.” 

The panel discusses whether the apex court has become the destination for matters that should ordinarily be handled by lower courts, and whether the judiciary is taking the right to vote seriously enough.

Neha, who was one of the petitioners challenging discrepancies in the SIR, explains why the matter reached the Supreme Court and argues that the scale of pending cases has made the situation particularly difficult. Shahrukh questions the latitude courts continue to extend to the state, arguing that “the state is given far more leeway” than citizens. The conversation also turns to the larger question of institutional faith, with Rinchen citing recent CSDS-Lokniti survey data showing a decline in public trust in the Election Commission.

The panel then debates whether the judiciary’s problems are merely about individual benches or reflect deeper structural issues. Sudipto argues that the composition and social background of the judiciary need greater scrutiny.

The discussion then shifts to student politics and whether Indian universities are becoming increasingly insulated from political activity. For this segment, Abha Dev Habib, professor at Delhi University’s Miranda House and Joint Secretary of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, joins the conversation.

Abha argues that politics is an integral part of education, while distinguishing it from violence on campuses. She also points to recent student protests as evidence that younger generations are not as politically indifferent as they were assumed to be.

The conversation also includes Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) politics, the role of student unions and the ways governments and university administrations have attempted to discourage student mobilisation. 

As the discussion continues, the panel examines whether recent Gen-Z protests could revive student politics and raise broader questions about the state of public education. 

All this and more.