Democratic Ideas, Not Just Institutions: Dr Shameek Sen on India’s Constitutional Future

“The democratization of the information and entertainment landscape has become a regulatory nightmare, and that is the reason why Media Law has become so important in today’s days and times”.

1. Could you tell us about your journey as a legal academic and your areas of focus over the years?

As early as in 2004, when I was in my fourth year of law school, I had made up my mind that I would like to join legal academia. One of the primary reasons behind that decision was that I had felt as a student that students of law schools do not require information, that is available aplenty. What they need is conceptual clarity with which they can meaningfully engage with the information. My journey of almost close to two decades now has been towards strengthening the conceptual clarity of my students, such that they can confidently deal with the complexities of their professional endeavours.

My areas of focus as a teacher have varied over the years. As an early-career academic, one does not have too much of a choice in selecting subjects to one’s liking. So, in my early years, I had to deal with commercial law subjects and, let truth be told, I was pretty bad at them. The reason is simple — I did not enjoy teaching them. Then gradually, I migrated to constitutional law and media law, where I felt that I have made some impact.

2. How has your engagement with student mentorship and academic advising shaped your perspective on the evolving needs of legal education?

There are two aspects to student mentorship and academic advising. One is of course the mandatory tick box element as ordained by bodies like National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), where the form becomes more important than the substance. Frankly speaking, meeting randomly allotted twenty students twice for 5-10 minutes over the period of a semester has seemed more like a bureaucratic rigmarole to me.

However, I have in all these years done academic advising to all students who have approached me. Such advising could be in the form of reviewing an academic paper or helping a student out in settling down into the law school ecosystem or in zeroing down to a particular career choice.

3. How has your multidisciplinary academic background influenced your legal research and teaching?

Law is a discipline whose boundaries overlap with not only other social sciences like History, Sociology and Political Science, it is also heavily influenced by natural sciences. Gone are those days when law could have been cabined into straitjacketed approaches. Today, a discipline like technology law demands that one has a nuanced understanding of the technologies to understand the workings and the deficiencies of the law better. Quite naturally therefore, one has to explore the parallel universes to effectively appreciate the universe of law.

4. Can you share your experience of participating in government or public initiatives related to constitutional awareness?

I have been the State Coordinator of a Government of India-led initiative called Kartavya, which was basically aimed at sensitising students on the relevance of the fundamental duties of our Constitution³. The experience was enriching to some extent. Some of the colleges did organise debates and quizzes where some bright minds did show encouraging sparkles. All this before the initiative was brought to a screeching halt by the Covid-19 Pandemic.

5. What motivated your interest in emerging areas of law, such as sports law, and what insights have you gained from your work in the field?

Sports law to me is no longer an emerging area. It has emerged. If one looks at the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025⁴, one realises that the lawmakers are seriously looking at regulations to the sports sector. The spurt of commercialisation has ensured that sports law emerges as a sui generis legal discipline, and not as an offshoot of any existing realm of legal study.

6. In your view, how can young citizens be encouraged to connect with and uphold constitutional values?

First and foremost, the teaching of Constitution should be made mandatory in schools from an early stage. It should not be confined to a perfunctory discussion on the governance structure covered in civics classes. Young students should be made aware of the key role that every individual plays in our democracy. They should be made aware of the importance of rights and duties in the Constitution. Unless you have an informed citizenry, constitutional values will remain confined to mere legalese.

7. Based on your work in media and entertainment law, what are the key challenges facing the Indian media landscape today?

What is the media today? With the organised press gradually dying a slow death, social media and the so-called influencers are becoming the primary vehicles of information delivery. Who regulates them? How do we hold them accountable? How do you ascertain the factual or analytical credibility of their information? The democratisation of the information and entertainment landscape has become a regulatory nightmare, and that is the reason why media law has become so important in today’s days and times.

8. How do you assess the current state of constitutionalism in India, and what strategies can help protect democratic institutions?

Democratic institutions do not require protection, so long democratic ideas are intact. Constitutionalism remains a notion on paper if the judiciary abdicates its primary responsibility of being the sentinel of constitutional values and instead chooses to play to the tunes of the executive branch, then the constitutional edifice shall be in serious peril. Rather, it should create citadels akin to the basic structure doctrine so as to preserve and protect the constitutional edifice.

9. Could you share an instance where a classroom discussion or student project unexpectedly influenced your own research or thinking?

I will not share any particular instance because I do not wish to single out any particular student. But classroom discussions have often triggered my thought processes to the extent that I have gone on to write articles on some of the topics covered in course of such discussions.

10. How do you view the role of storytelling and popular culture in shaping public understanding of legal and constitutional issues?

It is very important. A lot of complex issues can be simplified by using the medium of pop-culture references. For examples, the Web Series Panchayat serves as my principal go-to point when I discuss the issues of decentralised governance or women’s empowerment.

11. What steps can be taken to make legal education more inclusive and socially responsive in India?

The Government should subsidise legal education to ensure that quality law school education is affordable to all. There should be more scholarships. Schemes like One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) should be made more widespread to include more law journals. Most importantly, the Government and the relevant regulators should focus on training more teachers such that even the local law colleges situated in the districts provide credible legal education to its students.

12. What advice would you give to aspiring law students, young lawyers, or early-career legal academics?

Be focused. There will be obstacles in your way, but you should be able to easily circumvent them if you stay determined and committed to your goal.