Jayakumar Sai Deepak (born 1985) is an Indian Hindutva proponent, lawyer, columnist and author. As a counsel, he practices before the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

and the

High Court of Delhi The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...

. In 2024, along with 70 other advocates, he was designated as ''Senior Advocate'' by

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...

. He writes columns for

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

and The Open Magazine. He has authored two books about

decoloniality Decoloniality () is a school of thought that aims to Delinking, delink from Eurocentrism, Eurocentric Episteme, knowledge hierarchies and Being, ways of being in the world in order to enable other forms of existence on Earth. It critiques the p ...

in relation to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

: ''India That Is Bharat'' (2021) and ''India, Bharat and Pakistan'' (2022) with two more books to come covering the era of partition.

Education and Early Life

Deepak was born in the Tamil Brahmin community and attended St. Anthony's High School,

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. He then graduated in Mechanical Engineering from

Anna University Anna University is a public state university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The main campus is in Guindy. It was originally established on 4 September 1978 and is named after C. N. Annadurai, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Histor ...

and completed law from

IIT Kharagpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Founded in 1951, the in ...

Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur (RGSOIPL or IIT Kgp Law School) is a law school located in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. An academic unit of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, it is the first law school ...

Career

Deepak has been part of Basmati Geographical Indication litigation, as the Special Counsel for the State Govt of Madhya Pradesh, seeking inclusion of MP as part of the Basmati Geographical Indication. Deepak argued the case against the entry of women to

Sabarimala Temple The Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple () is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ayyappan, who is also known as Shasta (deity), Dharma Shasta and is the son of the deities Shiva and Mohini (female avatar of the god Vishnu). The temple is sit ...

and had supported 'ready to wait' campaign. He argued against the entry, stating that the Hindu deity

Ayyappan Ayyappan, also known as Dharmasastha and Manikandan, is the Hindu deity of truth and righteousness. According to Hindu theology, he is described as the son of Shiva and Mohini (the female avatar of Vishnu), thus representing a bridge between S ...

observes ''naishtika

brahmacharya ''Brahmacharya'' (; Sanskrit: Devanagari: ब्रह्मचर्य) is the concept within Indian religions that literally means "conduct consistent with Brahman" or "on the path of Brahman". Brahmacharya, a discipline of controlling ...

'' ("lifelong celibacy"). He was also a counsel in a petition to allow priests of any caste to be priests at Sabarimala, the priesthood at the temple has historically been open to only

Malayali Brahmin Malayali Brahmins (; also known as Malayala Brahmanar) or Kerala Brahmins are the group of Brahmins from the Indian state of Kerala. The proper Malayali brahmin castes are the Nambudiri, and the Potti. Pushpaka Brahmin, Nambeeshan, Nambidi, ...

s. The

Kerala High Court The High Court of Kerala is the List of high courts in India, highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Hig ...

ruled in favor of the traditional practices. Deepak represented the

Travancore royal family The Travancore royal family was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Travancore. They signed a treaty with the British in 1788, thereby adopting British dominance. Later, in 1805, they revised the treaty, leading to a diminution of royal authorit ...

for their right to manage the estates of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

. The Supreme Court of India ruled in favor of the family. Deepak was the counsel for Anand Ranganathan in the

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...

case against the latter for endorsing the criticism of Justice S. Muralidhar by S Gurumurthy and

Vivek Agnihotri Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (born 10 November 1973) is an Indian director, producer, and writer who works in Hindi cinema. He is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification and a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at ...

. The Delhi High Court closed the proceedings against Ranganathan.

Views

Deepak writes two blogs, one named ''Yukti'' on

constitutional theory Constitutional theory is an area of constitutional law that focuses on the underpinnings of constitutional government. It overlaps with legal theory, constitutionalism, philosophy of law and democratic theory. It is not limited by country or juri ...

and

legal philosophy Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

; and one named ''The Demanding Mistress'' on

civil Civil may refer to: *Civility, orderly behavior and politeness *Civic virtue, the cultivation of habits important for the success of a society *Civil (journalism) ''The Colorado Sun'' is an online news outlet based in Denver, Colorado. It lau ...

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

and

intellectual property law Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, ...

. An article in the latter blog was cited by the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

in its decision on the

TVS Motor Company TVS Motor Company is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Chennai. It is the third-largest motorcycle company in India by revenue. The company has annual sales of three million units and an ...

vs.

Bajaj Auto Bajaj Auto Limited ( ) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company based in Pune. It manufactures motorcycles, scooters and auto rickshaws. Bajaj Auto is a part of the Bajaj Group. It was founded by Jamnalal Bajaj (1889–19 ...

Limited intellectual property dispute. Deepak is a

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

activist. He believes that the several good qualities of the

knowledge systems A knowledge-based system (KBS) is a computer program that reasons and uses a knowledge base to solve complex problems. Knowledge-based systems were the focus of early artificial intelligence researchers in the 1980s. The term can refer to a b ...

of ancient Hindu civilization, mixed with the good qualities of

modern education Modern Education (), formerly Intel Education, is a Hong Kong cram school. It was founded in 1988 by Ken Ng Kam-Lun. According to the Education Bureau, there were at its peak 14 branches across Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories ...

systems, can be a template for modern Indian education systems, which he considers to have multiple drawbacks. He opposes the

Dravidian movement Dravidian politics is the main political ideology in Tamil Nadu that seeks to safeguard the rights of the Dravidian peoples. Dravidian politics started in British India with the formation of the Justice Party on 20 November 1916 in Victoria ...

and

Periyar Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 187924 December 1973), commonly known as Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician. He was the organizer of the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam and is considered the architect o ...

ite thought, and claims they are Western interventions in Southern Indian societal faultlines. He has written an article, where he discussed limitations imposed by the Indian Constitution against Hindu majoritarian expression. He had criticized the provisions for Hindu majority authority being subject to judicial review and being overruled if it conflicts with constitutional morality. Deepak's talks on the Karnataka hijab ban at St. Stephen's College, and on minority rights at

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

respectively, were cancelled despite receiving permission in what was termed by some journalists as the advent of

cancel culture Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professio ...

and

deplatforming Deplatforming, also known as no-platforming, is a boycott on an individual or group by removing the platforms used to share their information or ideas. The term is commonly associated with social media. As early as 2015, platforms such as Red ...

in India. Deepak's talk on the Uniform Civil Code in

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

at a Karnataka Bar Association event was faced with opposition from a group of lawyers who wanted the event to be cancelled in an attempted case of deplatforming, but it wasn't. Deepak has participated in multiple debates, the prominent ones being with Saurabh Kirpal on same sex marriage; with S. Y. Quraishi and

Manish Tewari Manish Tewari (born 8 December 1965) is an Indian lawyer and politician. He is a member of the Indian National Congress and represents Chandigarh in the current 18th Lok Sabha. He represented Anandpur Sahib in the 17th Lok Sabha. He was Minist ...

on the Uniform Civil Code; with

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; born 9 March 1956) is an Indian politician, author, and former diplomat, who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is currently the Chairman of Committee on External Affairs. ...

on decoloniality; and with AG Krishna Menon and

Sanjay Nirupam Sanjay Nirupam (born 6 February 1965) is a former member of the Indian Parliament from Indian National Congress party, and former President of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee. Nirupam served two terms as an MP in the Rajya Sabha first ...

on nationalism. Deepak is also a frequent orator, having spoken at multiple universities, as well as at literature and cultural festivals.

Publications

Books

* ''India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution''.

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

. 2021. . * ''India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of a Sandwiched Civilisation''. New Delhi: Bloomsbury. 2022. .

References

External links

Deepak's articles at SpicyIP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deepak, J. Sai Living people 21st-century Indian non-fiction writers Indian lawyers Supreme Court of India lawyers Anna University alumni People from Hyderabad, India Indian male bloggers Indian columnists 1985 births Hindutva IIT Kharagpur alumni Intellectual property lawyers