They, the People

Even though jury trials were suspended for many nationalist leaders, there were still moments when jurors exerted their power, as we see with the acquittal of Communist organizer, Philip Spratt, a focus of the episode. The threat of a jury undermining the prosecution in the sprawling Meerut Conspiracy Trial also led the colonial government to take drastic action. Lastly, this episode also looks at the drafting of the 1950 Indian Constitution and asks, “Why did a country that committed to universal suffrage decide that the jury trial was not worth fighting for?”

Further reading

• Naresh, Vatsal. “‘Problems of an Other’s Making’: B. R. Ambedkar, Caste, and Majoritarian Domination.” American Political Science Review 119, no. 4 (2025): 1634–48.doi.org ↗
• Ramesh, Hari. Harnessing the State: Oppressed Groups and the Pursuit of Radical Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2026.hup.harvard.edu ↗
• De, Rohit, and Ornit Shani. Assembling India’s Constitution: A New Democratic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.cambridge.org ↗
• Dasgupta, Sandipto. Legalizing the Revolution: India and the Constitution of the Postcolony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.cambridge.org ↗