CONTENTS
PART ONE — THE FIRST DOOR OF THE COURT
Chapter 1 — The Magistrate’s Courtroom 2
Darbhanga, July 2000
Chapter 2 — The Seizure List 18
Darbhanga, July–October 2000
Chapter 3 — The Shadow of Parliament 34
Delhi and Darbhanga, December 2001
Chapter 4 — The Land of Marudhar 51
Jodhpur, January 2002; recollections of 2001
Chapter 5 — The House That Burned 67
Ahmedabad, February–December 2002; parallel events in Marudhar and Delhi
Chapter 6 — The House of the Silent Witness 83
Darbhanga and Jodhpur, January–December 2003
Chapter 7 — The Sea’s Devastation 99
Little Andaman, December 2004–January 2005
Chapter 8 — The First Judgment 115
Darbhanga, December 2004 — Parallel Events
PART TWO — RECORDS, RIGHTS AND THE HIGH COURT
Chapter 9 — The First Right to Information 132
Darbhanga and Kamalpur, 2005
Chapter 10 — The New Law Against Money Laundering 148
Darbhanga, Kamalpur and Mumbai, 2005–2006
Chapter 11 — The Second Record of Marudhar 165
Jodhpur, 2006–2007
Chapter 12 — Chandrayaan and the Accused 181
2008: Ludhiana, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Darbhanga
Chapter 13 — The Workers’ Unpaid Wages 199
2009–2010: Ludhiana
Chapter 14 — The Platform of the People’s Movement 217
2010–2011: Delhi, Sonpura and Ludhiana
Chapter 15 — The Woman Who Became a Witness 234
2012: Delhi, Darbhanga and Ludhiana
Chapter 16 — The High Court’s Questions 251
Jodhpur and the Rajasthan High Court, December 2012–January 2013
PART THREE — DIGITAL MONEY AND A CHANGING COUNTRY
Chapter 17 — The Deal Within the Game 268
Delhi, Darbhanga and Ludhiana; May–November 2013
Chapter 18 — The Road to Mars and the Right to Identity 285
2014: Jodhpur, Bengaluru, Delhi and Darbhanga
Chapter 19 — The Sentence Written on the Screen 302
2015: Jodhpur, Jaipur, Delhi and Darbhanga
Chapter 20 — The Last Night of Cash 321
2016: Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Darbhanga and Jodhpur
Chapter 21 — The Name of Privacy 338
2017: Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Darbhanga
Chapter 22 — The Many Meanings of Dignity 356
2018: Jodhpur, Darbhanga, Delhi, Ludhiana and Chandigarh
Chapter 23 — The Moon’s Darkness, the Valley’s Questions 373
2019: Sriharikota, Jodhpur, Srinagar, Delhi and Darbhanga
Chapter 24 — Closed Courtrooms, Open Suffering 391
2020: Ludhiana, Jodhpur, Delhi, Darbhanga, Chandigarh and the Andamans
PART FOUR — STATE, CITIZENS AND NEW LAWS
Chapter 25 — The Price of Breath 411
Ludhiana, Darbhanga, Jodhpur and Delhi; 2021
Chapter 26 — A Voice in the Name of the Fields 429
2021: Harnampur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and the farmers’ movement on Delhi’s borders
Chapter 27 — The Test of Crime and Bail 447
Delhi, Darbhanga and Chandigarh, 2022
Chapter 28 — The Light of Chandrayaan 466
Bengaluru, Jodhpur and Darbhanga, 2023
Chapter 29 — The Records of Electoral Funding 484
2024: Jodhpur, Delhi, Ludhiana and Darbhanga
Chapter 30 — Who Stole the Examination Questions? 503
Jodhpur, Bengaluru and Delhi; 2024
Chapter 31 — New Codes, Old Charges 523
Delhi, Jodhpur and Ludhiana; July–December 2024
Chapter 32 — The University’s Locked Room 541
Jodhpur and Kota; parallel events of 2024
PART FIVE — THE RECKONING OF TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS
Chapter 33 — The New Law on Gambling 561
2025: Darbhanga, Jodhpur and Delhi
Chapter 34 — The Ledger of Five Hundred Names 579
Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Kharar and Mohali; December 2025–March 2026
Chapter 35 — The Accounts Were Frozen 598
Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Kharar and Darbhanga; April–September 2026
Chapter 36 — The Special Court's Hard Questions 619
Jodhpur, Mumbai, Darbhanga and Dubai; September–October 2026
Chapter 37 — Twenty-Seven Years in the High Court 638
Jodhpur and Darbhanga; October–December 2026
Chapter 38 — The Price of Falsehood 658
Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Darbhanga, Mumbai and Dubai; November–December 2026
Chapter 39 — Before the Supreme Court 677
Delhi, Jodhpur, Darbhanga, Ludhiana, Mumbai and the Andamans; January–February 2027
Chapter 40 — The District Court Veranda 696
Darbhanga, Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Bengaluru and the Andamans; March–April 2027