ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the Supreme Court of India has navigated this dilemma. It focuses primarily on two cases where the Supreme Court reviewed security policies pursued by central and state governments. The first of these cases, Nandini Sundar versus State of Chhattisgarh involved grave, indiscriminate violence by police in response to radical-left insurgency in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The second case, Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association versus Union of India (“EEVFAM”), involves extra-judicial killings by the armed forces and police in the north-eastern state of Manipur. The chapter considers how the Supreme Court has reviewed the constitutionality of major national security laws. It compares the Supreme Court’s response to these different types of security-related petitions. The chapter shows that the Supreme Court has been assertive when it considers quite closely the content of fundamental rights and the ground-level effects of the challenged law or policy.
