J. Sai Deepak

Jayakumar Sai Deepak
J. Sai Deepak in 2017 on RSTV
Deepak in 2017
Born1985 (age 39–40)
Hyderabad, India
EducationMechanical engineering
Law
Alma materAnna University,
IIT Kharagpur
Occupation(s)Lawyer, writer, columnist
Notable workIndia that is Bharat (2021)
India, Bharat and Pakistan (2022)
Websitejsaideepak.com

Jayakumar Sai Deepak (born 1985) is an Indian activist, lawyer, columnist and author.[1] As a counsel, he practices before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi.[2][3] In 2024, he was designated as Senior Advocate by Delhi High Court along with 70 other advocates.[4]

He writes columns for The Indian Express and The Open Magazine. He has authored two books about decoloniality in relation to India: India That Is Bharat (2021) and India, Bharat and Pakistan (2022) with two mores books to come covering the era of partition.

Education

Deepak attended St. Anthony's High School in Hyderabad. He then graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University and completed law from IIT Kharagpur's Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law.[5]

Career

Deepak has been part of Basmati Geographical Indication litigation, as the Special Counsel for the State Govt of Madhya Pradesh, seeking inclusion of MP as part of the Basmati Geographical Indication. [6]

Deepak argued the case for the entry of women to Sabarimala Temple. He argued against the entry, stating that the Hindu deity Ayyappan observes naishtika brahmacharya ("lifelong celibacy").[7] He was also a counsel in a petition to allow priests of any caste to be priests at Sabarimala, the priesthood at the temple has historically been open to only Malayali Brahmins.[8] The Kerala High Court ruled in favor of the traditional practices.

Deepak represented the Travancore royal family for their right to manage the estates of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.[9] The Supreme Court of India ruled in favor of the family.[10][11]

Deepak was the counsel for Anand Ranganathan in the contempt of court case against the former for endorsing the criticism of Justice S. Muralidhar by S Gurumurthy and Vivek Agnihotri.[12] The Delhi High Court closed the proceedings against Ranganathan.[13]

Views

J. Sai Deepak with Assamese theatre actor Dulal Roy and Assamese Writer-novelist Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bora in an event during Assam Book Fair 2023, Guwahati.

Deepak writes two blogs, one named Yukti on constitutional theory and legal philosophy; and one named The Demanding Mistress on civil, commercial and intellectual property law. An article in the latter blog was cited by the Madras High Court in its decision on the TVS Motor Company vs. Bajaj Auto Limited intellectual property dispute.[14]

Deepak is an activist. He believes that the several good qualities of the knowledge systems of ancient Hindu civilization, mixed with the good qualities of modern education systems, can be a template for modern Indian education systems, which he considers to have multiple drawbacks.[15][16] He opposes the Dravidian movement and Periyarite thought, and claims they are Western interventions in Southern Indian societal faultlines.[17] He has written an article, where he discussed limitations imposed by the Indian Constitution against Hindu majoritarian expression. He had criticized the provisions for Hindu majority authority being subject to judicial review and being overruled if it conflicts with constitutional morality.[15]

Deepak's talks on the Karnataka hijab ban at St. Stephen's College, and on minority rights at Jamia Millia Islamia respectively, were cancelled despite receiving permission in what was termed by some journalists as the advent of cancel culture and deplatforming in India.[18] Deepak's talk on the Uniform Civil Code in Bengaluru at a Karnataka Bar Association event was faced with opposition from a group of lawyers who wanted the event to be cancelled in an attempted case of deplatforming, but it wasn't.[19]

Deepak has participated in multiple debates, the prominent ones being with Saurabh Kirpal on same sex marriage;[20] with S. Y. Quraishi and Manish Tewari on the Uniform Civil Code;[21] with Shashi Tharoor on decoloniality;[22] and with AG Krishna Menon and Sanjay Nirupam on nationalism.[23] Deepak is also a frequent orator, having spoken at multiple universities, as well as at literature and cultural festivals.[24]

Publications

Books

  • India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution. New Delhi: Bloomsbury. 2021. ISBN 978-93-5435-249-2.[25][26][27][28]
  • India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of a Sandwiched Civilisation. New Delhi: Bloomsbury. 2022. ISBN 978-93-5435-301-7.[29][30][31]

References

  1. ^ Kunnummal, Ashraf (2023-08-22). "Islamic Liberation Theology and Decolonial Studies: The Case of Hindutva Extractivism". Religions. 14 (9). MDPI AG: 1080. doi:10.3390/rel14091080. ISSN 2077-1444. Of the Hindutva propagandists who deploy decolonial studies, J. Sai Deepak is the only one who has written substantively on it.
  2. ^ "Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala too has rights under Article 21, SC told". Indo-Asian News Service. 26 July 2018. ProQuest 2076261680.
  3. ^ "Sabarimala case: Deity living person, has right to privacy, women devotees to SC". Indian Express. Mumbai. 27 July 2018. ProQuest 2076507987.
  4. ^ "J. Sai Deepak Among 71 Advocates Designated Senior Advocate By Delhi High Court, Supreme Court Conferrs Designation On Newly Appointed ASG". Verdictum. 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
  5. ^ Iyer, Lakshmi (6 August 2018). "Small talk: The Deity's Advocate". Mumbai Mirror. ProQuest 2083283397.
  6. ^ "The State Government Of Madhya Pradesh vs Union Of India & Ors on 25 April, 2019".
  7. ^ "Written Submissions to the Supreme Court of India in the Sabarimala Temple Entry Case" (PDF). February 2019.
  8. ^ "Written Submissions in the Vishnunarayan vs State of Kerala case" (PDF). 22 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Written Submissions to the Supreme Court of India in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple Administration Case" (PDF). April 2019.
  10. ^ Vishwanath, Apurva (2020-07-13). "Explained: Padmanabhaswamy temple case, and what the verdict means for the Travancore royal family". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  11. ^ "Sri Marthanda Varma vs State of Kerala" (PDF). Supreme Court of India. 13 July 2020.
  12. ^ "'Am a free speech absolutist': Author Anand Ranganathan in contempt case". Indo-Asian News Service. 24 May 2023. ProQuest 2817965951.
  13. ^ Thapliyal, Nupur (2024-01-03). "Delhi High Court Closes Proceedings Against Anand Ranganathan In Criminal Contempt Case For Tweets Against Justice S Muralidhar". www.livelaw.in. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  14. ^ Madras High Court (18 May 2009). "M/S TVS Motor Company Limited vs M/S Bajaj Auto Limited on 18 May, 2009". indiankanoon.org.
  15. ^ a b Sijoria, Siddharth (28 June 2023). "J Sai Deepak is wrong: Indian democracy is not Hindu will". The Indian Express.
  16. ^ Sen, Raj Shekhar (24 July 2023). "Isolation, conservatism and buzzwords: What drives the lucrative market for right-wing influencers". newslaundry.
  17. ^ T. Mayura Priyan (2023-10-08). "Sanatana Dharma and the Dravidian Movement: A response to J. Sai Deepak — 2 – The Leaflet". theleaflet.in. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  18. ^ Kumar, Utpal (2022-02-28). "The issue with St. Stephen's College isn't just confined to cancel culture; its very DNA is a problem". Firstpost. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  19. ^ Shukla, Suchita (2023-09-01). "Karnataka Bar Council Ignores Demand By Lawyers' Organisation To Cancel Sai Deepak's Talk On UCC, Event Witnesses Huge Crowd". www.verdictum.in. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  20. ^ Menon, Vandana (2023-07-20). "Can Parliament be trusted with LGBTQ rights? Star lawyers Sai Deepak, Saurabh Kirpal debate". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  21. ^ Bureau, The Hindu (2023-08-06). "Debate without draft Uniform Civil Code is a non-issue, says ex-CEC S.Y. Quraishi". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-02-14. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  22. ^ Kabilan, Kannalmozhi (2021-09-11). "The reality of the nationalism debate". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  23. ^ "Decolonising India: Is Bharat trying to reinvent itself?". India Today. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  24. ^ "Those in power must be held accountable". Star of Mysore. 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  25. ^ Sen, Anandaroop (2023-05-04). "J Sai Deepak's India that is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution . Bloomsbury 2021". Social Dynamics. 49 (2): 376–385. doi:10.1080/02533952.2023.2236899. ISSN 0253-3952.
  26. ^ Valluvan, Sivamohan; Kapoor, Nisha (June 2023). "Sociology after the postcolonial: Response to Julian Go's 'thinking against empire'". The British Journal of Sociology. 74 (3): 310–323. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12995. ISSN 0007-1315.
  27. ^ Dann, Philipp (2023-12-22). "Southern turn, Northern implications: rethinking the meaning of colonial legacies for Comparative Constitutional Studies". Comparative Constitutional Studies. 1 (2): 174–196. doi:10.4337/ccs.2023.0016. ISSN 2752-9665.
  28. ^ Yadav, Yogendra (2022-05-06). "India needs to challenge colonialism in its own language. But solution isn't Hindu worldview". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  29. ^ Kumar, Utpal (2022-09-06). "How India, a victim of conflicting colonialities, is coming out of slumber to reboot its tampered mind". Firstpost. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  30. ^ Yadav, Yogendra (2022-05-06). "India needs to challenge colonialism in its own language. But solution isn't Hindu worldview". ThePrint. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  31. ^ "Re-Discovering Bharat". Star of Mysore. 16 December 2022. ProQuest 2754825320.
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