An Indian legal scholar from Harvard University has been awarded a fellowship by the prestigious King's College in London for a research project on courts in India.
Dr Sandipto Dasgupta will be in London in 2014 for the Newton International Fellowship to study at King's India Institute.
"He brings his superb training and expertise to study a critical issue in India's politics - the growing role of the courts in the country's public life."
"As a Newton International Fellow, he has been recognised by the Royal Society and the British Academy as an outstanding scholar, and we greatly look forward to his engagement with the vibrant intellectual life of the India Institute," said Sunil Khilnani, director of King's India Institute.
Dr Dasgupta, currently a lecturer in social studies at Harvard University, will be arriving at King's College London in March 2014 and will be hosted at King's India Institute - a centre created in 2012 for research and teaching on contemporary India and engagement with Indian research and cultural organisations.
Trained at the National Law School of India in Bangalore and previously worked at the India's Supreme Court, he will start a research project into the nature and scope of judicial activism in India.
He will be examining the increasingly prominent role that the courts play in Indian political and social life and contributing to the wider public debate about what this means for the democratic and political system of the country.
"My primary focus will be on the Indian higher judiciary, which has often acted in ways that are unprecedented in global constitutional history, in the process redefining the traditional understanding of the role of the judiciary in a constitutional system of government," Dr Dasgupta said.
The Newton International Fellowships provide an opportunity for some of the most talented early career post-doctoral researchers working overseas to carry out world-class research in UK institutions across all disciplines of humanities, engineering, and natural and social sciences.
Fellows receive support in the region of 100,000 pounds each for a two-year placement in the UK.
