A People’s Constitution Histories of Economic Life Jeremy Adelman, Sunil Amrith, and Emma Rothschild, Series Editors Rohit De, A People’s Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic Fei- Hsien Wang, Copyright in Modern China: A Social History Tariq Omar Ali, A Local History of Global Capital: Jute and Peasant Life in the Bengal Delta A People’s Constitution The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic Rohit De Princeton University Press Princeton & Oxford Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR press.princeton.edu All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Control Number: 2018948540 ISBN 978- 0- 691- 17443- 3 British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available Editorial: Amanda Peery Production Editorial: Kathleen Cioffi Jacket Design: Layla MacRory Jacket illustrations by author Production: Erin Suydam Publicity: Jodi Price Copyeditor: Judith Antonelli This book has been composed in Arno Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 The Constitution as Triumph 5 The Constitution as Illusion 7 The Republic of Writs 9 The Supreme Court of India: A Public and Secret Archive 15 Book Schema 18 Rethinking the People’s Constitution: The Constitution 20 Rethinking the People’s Constitution: The People 25 1 The Case of the Constable’s Nose: Policing Prohibition in Bombay 32 Toward the Moral Nation: Prohibition and Nationalism 35 Constitutionalizing Prohibition 39 Creating Sober Citizens: Disciplining Drunkenness 41 The Fundamental Right to Drink: Balsara v. State of Bombay 47 The Test Case for the New Republic 51 Smelling Like a State: Procedural Justice under the Law of Prohibition 58 The Public Interest, Private Interests, and Parsi Interests 63 Prohibition, Law, and the Question of Postcolonial Sovereignty 68 v vi Contents 2 The Case of the Excess Baggage: Commodity Controls, Market Governance, and the Making of Administrative Law 77 The Wartime System of Controls 80 Controls and Freedom in the New Republic 86 The New Economic Criminal 92 “The Marwari Occupants of the Lucknow Bogie”: Caste, Criminality, and Constitutionalism 99 Marwaris and the New Regulatory Order 101 Criminal Law and Constitutional Strategies 106 Separating Powers in the Indian Republic 108 The Delhi Laws Act Problem 112 The Baglas in Court 112 The Arbitrary Administrator: The Shadow of the Bagla Case 114 The Rule of Law in a Planned Society: Controls and the Birth of Administrative Law 117 The Trader as a Constitutional Actor 120 3 The Case of the Invisible Butchers: Economic Rites and Religious Rights 123 From the Queen Empress to the Gau Maharani: Cows, Community, and Sovereignty 125 From the Streets to the Courts: Imperial Constitutionalism and Bovine Litigation 127 Constitutionalizing the Cow 130 Thinking Nationally, Acting Locally: Municipal Management of Cow Slaughter 135 The Shield of Legislation: Cow Protection in the Provincial Assembly 144 Taking Cows to the Supreme Court 148 Religion versus Profession 150 Economy versus Identity 153 Making Economic Policy in the Supreme Court 157 The New Bovine Order 163 Contents vii 4 The Case of the Honest Prostitute: Sex, Work, and Freedom in the Indian Constitution 169 Constituting Women in the New Republic 171 The Birth of SITA: The Making of a Postcolonial Prostitution Law 176 A Representative Prostitute: Husna Bai and Subaltern Legal Mobilization 180 Living with Regulations: Alternatives to Constitutional Litigation 182 Reclassification as Resistance 185 The Prostitute as a Citizen: Disrupting Older Narratives 189 The Right to Practice the “World’s Oldest Profession” 191 The Geography of Freedom: Eviction and the Freedom of Movement 196 From Husna Bai to Kaushalya Devi: The Legacy of a Court Decision 203 Conclusion 209 Epilogue 215 Talking the State’s Language 217 Procedure over Substance 219 Constitutionalism from the Margins 222 A Constitution for Butchers? Markets, Circulation, and the Origin of Rights 224 Acknowledgments 229 Notes 235 Selected Bibliography 277 Index 287 Abbreviations AIR All India Reporter ASMH Association for Social and Moral Hygiene BPA Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 CrLJ Criminal Law Journal CSSAAME Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East CWMG Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi ESA Essential Supplies Act, 1946 ILR India Law Reports IOR India Office Records NAI National Archives of India NMML Nehru Memorial Museum and Library MSA Maharashtra State Archives SC Supreme Court of India SCR Supreme Court Reports SCRR Supreme Court Record Room SITA Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 ix