Religion and the Courts (India, Nepal), 18-19 June, 2012

Programme

For more details see the full programme

Session 1: Ascetics and the Law

Monday, June 18, Morning

Discussant: Monika BOEHM-TETTELBACH (SAI, University of Heidelberg)

• France BHATTACHARYA (Emeritus Professor INALCO, Centre for South Asian Studies), British Colonial Justice and the Lustful Mohunt.
• Raphaël VOIX (ANR Just-India / Centre for South Asian Studies), Defining and Reforming Hinduism through Court Jurisdiction. Understanding the Tandava Case in its Context (1979-2004).
• Catherine CLEMENTIN-OJHA (EHESS, Centre for South Asian Studies), Does the Habit make the Monk? The Juridical Definition of the Religious State in a Judgment of the District Court of Allahabad in 1968 Concerning Devolution of Shebaitship.
• Malavika KASTURI (University of Toronto), ‘This Land is Mine’: Mahants, Devotional ‘Publics’ and Civil Courts in 20th Century North India.

Session 2: How Personal is Personal Law?

Monday, June 18, Afternoon

Discussants: Pratiksha BAXI (JNU) & Jeff REDDING (Saint-Louis University School of Law)

• Srimati BASU (University of Kentucky), Unfair Advantage?: Polygyny and Adultery in Indian Personal Law.
• Jean Louis HALPÉRIN (École Normale Supérieure, Paris), Recent Evolutions in Case Law Concerning Hindu Marriage.
• Marc GALANTER (University of Wisconsin & LSE)& Alexander FISCHER (School of Law, SOAS), Caste, Courts and the De-Sanskritization of Hindu Law.

Session 3: Gods’ Affairs

Tuesday June 19, Morning

Discussant: Christopher J. FULLER (LSE)

• Daniela BERTI (CNRS, Centre for Himalayan Studies), Filing Religion. The Judicialisation of a Religious Conflict in Himachal Pradesh.
• Deepa DAS ACEVEDO (University of Chicago), Divine Bachelors, Female Devotees, and Constitutional Protections at Sabarimala, 2006-2011.
• Ute HÜSKEN (University of Oslo), Slaves and Sons: The Court Dynamics of a Religious Dispute in South India.
• Gilles TARABOUT (CNRS, Laboratoire d’Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative), Birth vs. Merit: Courts and Changes in Temple Practice.

Session 4 : Implementing Secularism

Tuesday June 19, Afternoon

Discussant : Christophe JAFFRELOT (CNRS, Centre d’Études et de Relations Internationales)

• Chiara LETIZIA (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca), Defining Nepali Secularism through the Judiciary: Two Case Studies from the Nepal Supreme Court.
• Justin JONES (University of Exeter), Courts Outside the State – the Debate on Dar-ul-qaza’s in Modern India.
• Marc GALANTER (University of Wisconsin & LSE) & Alexander FISCHER (School of Law, SOAS), Compensatory Discrimination Policies and the Identification of Beneficiaries: Religious, Required and Forbidden Categories in Indian Courts.