Dr. Sumit Sonkar is an Assistant Professor at the Law School. Dr. Sonkar specializes in socio-legal aspects of constitutional law, administrative law, and democratic theory & institutions. He holds a PhD in Law from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and completed his Postdoctoral Research at Tel Aviv University. Recently, his book ‘Gender, Freedom of Religion and Progressive Constitutionalism: The Impact of the Sabarimala Decision in India’ has been published by Routledge (2025). His scholarship has appeared in the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, the Journal of Law and Religion (Cambridge University Press), the Australian Journal of Asian Law, and the Journal of Comparative Law. With the support of research grants from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), Dr. Sonkar held visiting positions at the Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology and the University of Vienna. He also received the SUPRA Nordic Scholarship, 2022 (visiting residency fellowship) from the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Sonkar completed his LLB from the Campus Law Center, University of Delhi, and LLM from South Asian University. He also completed a Specialized Course in IP Management and Valuation from LUISS Business School, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Italy, funded by the World Intellectual Property Organization. He is the recipient of a Junior Research Fellowship (NET-JRF) from the University Grant Commission, India.

Professional Education

• PhD, The Chinese University of Hong Kong - 2023
• LLM, South Asian University - 2015
• LLB, University of Delhi - 2013

Teaching Courses

• Constitutional Law
• Administrative Law
• Law & Society

Research Interests

• Constitutional Law
• Administrative Law
• Democratic Theory & Institutions

Selected Publications

• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Gender, Freedom of Religion and Progressive Constitutionalism: the Impact of the Sabarimala Decision in India,’ (Routledge UK, 2005).
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Balancing Acts: The Impact of Bilateral Investment Treaties on TRIPS Flexibility. Dundee Student Law Review, 11 (2025)
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Empowering Rural Communities: The Impact of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment on Panchayats in India’ (co-author Anurag Ojha), Australian Journal of Asian Law, volume 5 (1) (2024).
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Balancing Faith and Equality: Examining the Adequacy of the Doctrine of Essential Religious Practice from Gender Perspectives in India’ Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 12(1) (2023).
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Policing Interfaith Marriages: Constitutional Infidelity of the Love Jihad Ordinance,’ Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 37(6) 2022.
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Quelling Social Justice in India: Rhetoric Discourses in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v The State of Maharashtra,’ Journal of Comparative Law, Volume 15(2), 2021.
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Challenging Absolute Executive Powers in Times of Corona: Re- Examining Constitutional Courts and the Collective Right to Public Contestation as Instruments of Institutional Control’ (co-author Jessika Eichler), Review of Economics and Political Science, Volume 6(1), 2021.
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Judges of the Supreme Court of India 1950-89, George H Gadbois, Jr., New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2011,’ The Asia Pacific Law Review, Volume 28(2), 2021.
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Outlawing Ordinance Raj in Krishna Kumar v State of Bihar: A Saga from Permissibility to Constitutional Fraud in India’ (co-author Anurag Ojha), Opinio Juris in Comparatione, Volume 1(1), 2019.
• Sumit Sonkar, ‘Regulating Unfair Trade Practices: An Analysis of the Past and Present Indian Legislative Model’ India’ (co-authors Raman Mittal Parineet Kaur), Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer [Online], 2015.
• ¨Sumit Sonkar, ‘Conflicts between Foreign Investment and Environment Protection: Examining the Role of Bilateral Investment Treaties’, Journal of Law and Public Policy (NLSIU), Volume II (1), 2015.