Saptarshi Mandal

Prof. Saptarshi’s research and teaching spans family law, disability law, sexual violence and sociology of law. In a previous professional life, he has worked in various capacities in a number of NGOs in New Delhi, such as the Lawyers Collective, Multiple Action Research Group and Partners for Law in Development. He has consulted with international NGOs like the Amnesty International and CREA and continues to conduct legal literacy trainings for a range of constituencies. He was a member of a sub-committee (2014-2015) constituted under the Twentieth Law Commission of India that recommended large scale reforms to child custody and guardianship laws.

Saptarshi’s current research revolves around three themes: (a) intercaste marriage as the object of law in modern India; (b) the legal and constitutional dimensions of social reproduction by and in the family; and (c) conceptualizing legal change in group- and region-specific family law in India. He has been a TLSI Fellow at the inaugural Transnational Law Summer Institute, King’s College, London (2015) and has held visiting fellowships at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati, Spain (2015), and the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2012).