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B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) (NLSIU Bangalore)

LL.M. (London School of Economics)

S.J.D. (University of California, Los Angeles)

 

Prof. (Dr.) Sumit Baudh

Professor and Executive Director, Centre on Public Law and Jurisprudence

Email sbaudh@jgu.edu.in
Connect with me
ORCID ID 0009-0009-3761-1298
Key Expertise Constitutional Law Criminal Law Public International Law Human Rights Law Jurisprudence Critical Race Theory South Asian studies race, caste,religion, sex, gender and sexuality.

B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) (NLSIU Bangalore)

LL.M. (London School of Economics)

S.J.D. (University of California, Los Angeles)

 

Biography

Sumit Baudh (they/he) is Professor and Executive Director of the Centre on Public Law and Jurisprudence at 91̽ (JGU). A former British Chevening Scholar and the inaugural Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair in Civil and Human Rights at Emory University, Baudh has held several prestigious fellowships, including the University of California Human Rights Fellowship (Berkeley), the Michael D. Palm Fellowship at the Williams Institute (UCLA School of Law), a Fellowship at the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (Columbia Law School), and the Transnational Law Institute Fellowship (King’s College London). 

Qualified to practice law as an Advocate in India and enrolled as a Solicitor (n.p.) with The Law Society of England & Wales, Baudh has also worked as an independent consultant, advising organizations such as the Arcus Foundation (U.S.), the United Nations Development Programme (India), the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and LLH (Norway). 

Baudh is currently completing a monograph titled Law at the Intersection of Caste, Class, and Sex.

At the JGU /JGLS (2017-present)

Core courses: 

  • Constitutional Law 1/2 Fundamental Rights
  • Constitutional Law 2/2 Federalism and Separation of Powers
  • Law and Social Transformation

Elective courses:

  • Critical Race Theory and Caste
  • Intersectionality, Application and Analyses
  • Caste, Law and Representation
  • Ambedkar Summer School, 2024, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) in collaboration with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, South Asia, Lake Resort, Nainital, Uttarakhand, June 2-5.
  • Faculty, Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute (SGRI), various dates annually. Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (CREA). Delhi, India (2008 – 2012)
  • Faculty, Training Course for Capacity Building of NGOs engaged in Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS (February 3). Department of Social Sciences, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare. Delhi, India (2009)
  • Faculty, Regional Training on Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (February 15). South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality. Manesar, Haryana, India (2008)
  • Law Module, Pedagogy for Social Peace and Civic Restraint, Teaching Assistant, Peace Course, Aman Trust. Delhi, India (2004)
  • Visiting Scholar, School of Law, the Center for International and Comparative Law (2023-24)
  • Fulbright-Nehru Chair on Civil and Human Rights, Emory University, Atlanta (2022 – 23)
  • Dean’s Tuition Fellowship financial aid award, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of law (2013 – 16)
  • Transnational Law Institute Fellow, King’s College London (2016)
  • Fellow, Center for Intersectionality & Social Policy Studies, Columbia Law School, New York (2015 – 16)
  • Grant award from Human Capability Foundation, United Kingdom for doctoral research at UCLA (2015)
  • University of California Human Rights Fellowship award, Human Rights Center, Berkeley School of Law (2014)
  • Michael D. Palm fellowship award, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law (2013 – 14 )
  • British Chevening Scholarship for one year of Masters study in the UK (2001 – 02)
  • Merit-cum-Means Scholarship, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru (1994-95, 1995-96 and 1997-98)

Isolate or Reckon With Opposition? What Ambedkar Said To His Opponents (2016), The Ambedkarian Chronicle, Aug. 28 (available at )

Imagined Belonging: A Judicial Fiction in Three Parts (2026), The India Forum, Aug. 28 (available at )

For the bar and the bench, why is the Constitution inadequate? (2026), Scroll, Jul 20 (available at )

A slip of tongue in 2022 and NEET protests (2026), Opinion, Deccan Herald, Aug 10 (available at )

Why Atticus Finch Doesn’t Belong in the Supreme Court’s Faizabad Bar Resolution (2026), Opinion, The Wire, Jul 10 (available at )

Who is ‘Honourable’ in the Indian republic? High Court order sparks a question (2026), Opinion, Hindustan Times, Jul 1(available at )  

Clothe the law, not the statue: Why 'Modesty of a Woman' must go (2026), Opinion, Deccan Herald, Jun 27 (available at )

Sexual harassment, modesty and the gender assumptions of criminal law (2026), Column, Bar & Bench, Jun 25 (available at )

Fraternity: The Constitutional Promise, The Constitutional Peril (2026), The India Forum, Jun. 18 (available at )

Caste abuse: The limits of ‘public view’ (2026), Opinion, Deccan Herald, Jun. 6 (available at )

Time For NLSIU to Change Its 'Dharma Rakshati Rakshataha' Motto (2026), Opinion, Law, The Wire, Jun. 3 (available at )

Fraternity and caste society: The prospects and risks of a Madras High Court order (2026), Legal Issues, Scroll, Jun. 3 (available at )

From bail to governance: Who speaks for transgender persons in court? (2026), Column, Bar and Bench, May 21 (available at ) 

‘Children of god’: Madras HC infantilises transgender persons rather than speak of their rights (2026), Article, Scroll, May 20 (available at ) 

What Does it Mean to Claim an Identity in a World Where Not All Identities are Equally Liveable? (2026), Opinion, The Wire, May 19 (available at ) 

Protected categories and the problem of self-identification in transgender law (2026), Column, Bar and Bench, May 9 (available at )

Safety Or Control? Women’s Dress Policing In Indian Educational Institutes And Its False Grounds (2026). Society, Feminism In India, Apr. 23 (available at )

The paradox of making gender-fluid lives legible to the law (2026). Scroll, Apr. 18 (available at )

How India's laws still struggle to dismantle caste system (2026), Deutsche Welle, Apr. 14 (available at ); also carried on Dailyhunt (news aggregation platform) 

Twenty years of coming out as Dalit (2026), Frontline, Apr. 9 (available at ) 

Self-identification and the transgender law: An Ambedkarite view (2026). The News Minute, Apr. 9 (available at ). Republished by Newslaundry, Apr. 10 (available at ). Also featured on inkle (news aggregation platform)

Recognition without protection: The flaw in India’s anti-discrimination logic (2026), Opinion Column, Indian Express, Mar. 30. (available at /)       

Who Gets To Be “Unlimited”? Feminism, Caste, And The Politics Of Limit-Breaking (2026). Culture, Feminism In India, Mar. 2 (available at )  

Seen, then forgotten: The limits of queer visibility in India (2026). The News Minute, Feb. 26 (available at ) 

Ten years after Rohith Vemula’s death, why campus reforms still fall short (2026). All That Matters, Sunday Times of India, Jan. 18 (available at ) 

Slurs hurt too: Review the blind spots in anti-caste law (2025). All That Matters, The Sunday Times of India, Feb. 2 (available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/slurs-hurt-too-review-the-blind-spots-in-anti-caste-law/)

UGC's Latest Caste Rules: When The Cure Worsens A Disease (2025). Opinion, NDTV, Mar. 25 (available at https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/ugcs-latest-caste-rules-when-the-cure-worsens-a-disease-8005118)

The Pride And The Expectations Of Coming Out As Dalit (2024). Intersectionality, Feminism In India, Nov. 22 (available at https://feminisminindia.com/2024/11/22/the-pride-and-the-expectations-of-coming-out-as-dalit/)

Pocketbook Constitution: The Optics Of Parliament's Most-Loved Book (2024). Opinion, NDTV, Jul. 5 (available at https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/optics-of-pocketbook-constitution-oppositions-current-favourite-book-6039988)

Caste Pride and Gender: Why You Cannot Use One Kind of Abuse to Justify Another (2024), Opinion, The Wire, Jun. 22 (available at https://thewire.in/society/caste-pride-and-gender-sexuality-pride)

Dahaad vs Them: Lessons In Representing Caste - In Full (2024). Opinion, NDTV, May 21 (available at https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/dahaad-vs-them-lessons-in-representing-caste-in-full-5710718)

Rohith Vemula And His 'Dalit' Identity: Reality vs Fiction (2024). Opinion, NDTV, May 9 (available at https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/rohith-vemula-and-his-dalit-identity-reality-vs-fiction-5622717)

Ashoka University Protests: On Casteism And Appeals Against It (2024). Opinion, NDTV, Mar. 30 (available at https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/ashoka-university-protests-on-casteism-and-appeals-to-anti-casteism-5337726)

Sub-Grouping SCs | 'Prioritise', Not Prefer, Treating More Injured (2024). Opinion, NDTV, Feb. 12 (available at https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/india-supreme-court-sub-classifying-scs-scheduled-castes-lets-prioritise-not-prefer-treating-the-more-injured-first-5041896)

The invisibilising of queer Dalits in Yashica Dutt’s 2019 memoir (2024), Frontline, Jan. 12 (available at https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/essay-sumit-baudh-invisibilising-of-queer-dalits-in-yashica-dutt-2019-memoir-coming-out-as-dalit-made-in-heaven-radhika-apte/article67733977.ece)

A Passing of the Past, An Epistolary Rumination 1/n Caste and Legal Education (2023), ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY (EPW) ENGAGE, 58:52 (available at https://www.epw.in/engage/article/passing-past-epistolary-rumination-1n-caste-and)

This Constitution Day, Consider the Queer Dalit (2023), Opinion, The Wire, Nov. 26. (available at https://thewire.in/rights/queer-dalit-constitution-day-delhi-pride)

Marginalities Aren’t Hermetically Sealed. The Decade-Old ‘NALSA’ Judgment Ignores This (2023), Opinion, The Wire, Oct. 10. (available at https://thewire.in/caste/caste-gender-queer-nalsa-judgment-transgender)

Made in Heaven appropriated queer ‘coming out’ and so did Yashica Dutt, writes Sumit Baudh (2023), Opinion, ThePrint, Sep. 21. (available at https://theprint.in/opinion/made-in-heaven-appropriated-queer-coming-out-and-so-did-yashica-dutt-writes-sumit-baudh/1771206/)

‘Bahujan’, not ‘backward’- How to fix regressive legal language related to caste and class (2023), Opinion Column, Indian Express, Sep. 6. (available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/how-to-fix-regressive-legal-language-related-to-caste-and-class-8926915/)

“I felt like an outcaste in more than one way,” (2023), Hindustan Times, Sep 6. (available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/18YW0-KCeqz8Le0TSUKu8_eO1U34aBvBQ/view?usp=sharing)

Hindi cinema has been woefully inadequate in representation of Dalit, Adivasi, Bahujan characters, says Professor Sumit Baudh (2023), Times of India, Aug. 30. (available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/hindi-cinema-has-been-woefully-inadequate-in-representation-of-dalit-adivasi-bahujan-characters-says-professor-sumit-baudh/articleshow/103212553.cms?from=mdr)

Union of Trinity: Equality, Liberty and Fraternity (2022), Features, The Satysahodhak, Aug. 3. (available at https://thesatyashodhak.com/union-of-trinity-equality-liberty-and-fraternity/)

Demarginalizing the Intersection of Caste, Class, and Sex (2021), JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS. 20:1, 127-142. (available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14754835.2020.1858402?journalCode=cjhr20)

Transcript – XIII NLSIR Symposium – Session 1 (2020), NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA REVIEW. 32:2 (co-authored with Sudhir Krishnaswamy & Sukumar N., available at https://repository.nls.ac.in/nlsir/vol32/iss2/9)

Invisibility of “Other” Dalits and Silence in the Law (2019). Shankar, S. and Gupta, C. (Ed.), CASTE AND LIFE NARRATIVES. New Delhi: Primus Books. Pp. 228-249

Invisibility of “Other” Dalits and Silence in the Law (2017), Shankar, S. and Gupta, C. (Eds). Caste and Life Narratives. BIOGRAPHY, 40:1, 222-243 (available at https://muse.jhu.edu/article/666058)

I am Dalit, not SC (2016), Op-Ed, The Indian Express, Aug. 27. (available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rohith-vemula-dalit-scheduled-caste-treatment-suicide-opinion-2998129/)

Roll call of shame (2016), Op-Ed, The Indian Express, Jan. 25. (available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rohith-vemula-suicide-discrimination-against-dalit-students/)

Dalit and LGBTQ Identities and Citizenship, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, Oxford Department of International Development and The Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme, South Asia Day: Political Thought in South Asia, May 20, 2016.

Invisibility of queer Dalits in the law and social movements in India, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Centre for Gender Studies, May 18, 2016.

Use of Personal Narrative in Critical Race Theory and the Silence of Legal Theory on Caste, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, KINGS COLLEGE LONDON (KCL) SCHOOL OF LAW, Transnational Law Institute Methods Lab., May 17, 2016.

Groom For Groom (2015), Editorial, The Indian Express, May 25. (available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/groom-for-groom/)

In the conversion noise, the silence (2015), Op-Ed, The Indian Express, Jan. 21. (available at https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/in-the-conversion-noise-the-silence/)

Intersectionality: Knowing and Doing, panel discussion co-organized by JAGORI and SANGAT (women’s NGOs), India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi, Aug. 17, 2015.

Creating collaborative spaces and partnership opportunities to address the issue of sexual harassment: legal erasure of Dalit women, BREAKTHROUGH (human rights NGO), India Islamic Centre, New Delhi, Mar. 12, 2015.

Legal Invisibility of Other Dalits, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, University of California Human Rights Fellowship Conference, Nov. 7, 2014.

Law at the Intersection of Caste, Gender and Sexuality: Legal Invisibility of Other Dalits, UCLA, SCHOOL OF LAW, The Williams Institute, Los Angeles, Oct. 14, 2014.

Beyond Sochi: A Conversation on the State of LGBTQ International Human Rights, UCLA, SCHOOL OF LAW, OUTLaw and International Human Rights Law Association, Los Angeles, Apr. 14, 2014.

Decriminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual acts in the South Asian Commonwealth: struggles in contexts (2013). Lennox C, Waites M (Eds). HUMAN RIGHTS, SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY IN THE COMMONWEALTH. London: School of Advanced Study. Pp 287-311 (available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv512st2.14?seq=1)

‘Etch it upon your hearts, this is what I am.’ Life at an intersection: caste, gender, and sexuality (2011). STATE OF WORLD MINORITIES. London: Minority Right Groups International. Pp 145-146

Dalit Castes and Queer Sexualities in India, HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE, 2nd Asia-Pacific Outgames, Wellington, New Zealand, Mar. 17, 2011.

Working Paper: Criminalisation of Consensual Same-Sex Sexual Acts in the Commonwealth, South and Southeast Asia, INSTITUTE OF COMMONWEALTH STUDIES (ICS) and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), LGBT rights in the Commonwealth, London, Jan. 17, 2011

Documenting the Growth of Community Action Among Sexual Minority Groups in India (2009), lead author, UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, India, available at http://orinam.net/content/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Documenting-the-Growth-of-Community-Action-among-Sexual-Minority-Groups-in-India.pdf

Working Paper: Criminalisation of Consensual Same-Sex Sexual Acts in the Commonwealth, South and Southeast Asia, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LGBT HUMAN RIGHTS, 2nd World Outgames, Copenhagen, Denmark, Jul. 28, 2009.

Human Rights Interrupted (2008) Cornwall A, Corrêa S, Jolly S (Eds). DEVELOPMENT WITH A BODY. New York: Zed Book. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Pp 93-103 (available at https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/development-with-a-body-sexuality-human-rights-and-development/ch8-human-rights-interrupted-an-illustration-from-india)

Human Rights and the Criminalisation of Consensual Same-Sex Sexual Acts in the Commonwealth, South and Southeast Asia (2008). New Delhi: THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA RESOURCE CENTRE ON SEXUALITY (available at http://bibliobase.sermais.pt:8008/BiblioNET/Upload/PDF4/002996.pdf)

Working Paper: Transgender Issues in South and Southeast Asia, NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE, Beginning a Global Dialogue on Transgender Rights, A Meeting of The Global Dialogue on Sexual Health and Well Being, New York, Apr. 17, 2008.

Working Paper: Criminalisation of Consensual Same-Sex Sexual Acts in the Commonwealth, South and Southeast Asia, HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE, 1st Asia-Pacific Outgames. Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 31, 2008.

Reflections of a Queer Dalit (2007). InPlainspeak. Issue 3. New Delhi: The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality.

Reel Review Babel (2007), InPlainspeak. Issue 1. New Delhi: The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality.

Human rights and the criminalisation of consensual sex in India, BRAC UNIVERSITY, JAMES P. GRANT SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, International Conference on Gender & Sexuality, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jul. 28, 2007.

Reflections of a Queer Dalit, KEELE UNIVERSITY, Gender unbound: an international conference on law, gender and sexuality, Keele, UK, Jul. 10, 2007.

Sodomy in India: Sex Crime or Human Right? (2006) SEXUALITY MATTERS. Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Bulletin: 37/5. University of Sussex (available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2006.tb00303.x)

Book Review of Because I Have A Voice (2006). InPlainspeak. Issue 1. New Delhi: The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality.

Human rights and the criminalisation of consensual sex in India, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LGBT HUMAN RIGHTS, 1st World Outgames, Montreal, Canada, Jul. 28, 2006.

Realizing Sexual Rights: Human rights and the criminalisation of consensual sex in India, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton-Hove, UK, Sep. 29, 2005.

Police as a service organisation – an agenda for change: Report of international conference on police reform in East Africa (2003) with co-author, Joshua Aurbach. COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE, New Delhi.

A Gay God? (2003) South Africa: Behind the Mask

Corporate Criminal Liability – A Review in light of TATA-ULFA Nexus (1998) The Student Advocate: 10. Bangalore: NLSIU. Pp 44-51.

In Bad Company – Corporate Culture & Criminal Responsibility (1998), Op-Ed, The Corporate Counsel, The Economic Times, Jan. 10
Email sbaudh@jgu.edu.in
ORCID ID 0009-0009-3761-1298
Key Expertise Constitutional Law Criminal Law Public International Law Human Rights Law Jurisprudence Critical Race Theory South Asian studies race, caste,religion, sex, gender and sexuality.