Arushi Garg

Dr Arushi Garg

BA LLB-BCL MPhil DPhil FHEA

  • Position Governing Body Fellow
  • School Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Department Institute of Criminology
  • Email ag779@cam.ac.uk
  • X Profile @arushigarg90
  • Department link Law

Arushi is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge.

Arushi Garg

Prior to taking up the Assistant Professorship at Cambridge, Arushi held a lectureship at the University of Sheffield, and a series of fixed-term teaching positions at the University of Oxford, including a Stipendiary Lectureship in Law at St Hilda’s College. Before that, she read for the DPhil, MPhil and BCL at the University of Oxford (Hertford and Magdalen) as a Rhodes Scholar and a Mann Senior Scholar. Arushi completed her undergraduate degree in Law at NALSAR University and graduated with several gold medals and a mention on the Vice Chancellor’s merit list.

Arushi has published her research in a range of peer-reviewed journals, including Social and Legal Studies, the International Journal of Constitutional Law and the Socio-Legal Review. Her journal article on ‘deceptive sex’ cases [(2019) 28(6) Social & Legal Studies 737] won a research award from the Asian Law and Society Association. She is currently completing a manuscript based on her work in relation to rape and criminal justice, to be published as part of OUP’s Clarendon Studies in Criminology series. Her research projects have received generous support through internal and external grant funding – among others, from the British Society of Criminology.

Arushi is on the editorial board of the Indian Law Review and the Criminal Law Forum and on the Board of Trustees for the Asian Law and Society Association. She has served as a peer reviewer for a range of regional and international journals, book publishers, and research councils, including the Economic and Social Research Council.

Arushi’s research deploys feminist and postcolonial theory to analyse the operation of the criminal justice system, particularly in India and other South Asian jurisdictions. She is especially interested in empirical analyses of law, and in what qualitative methods can teach us about the context and enforcement of the law.

She is currently focusing on three projects. First, Arushi is working on a monograph that analyses factors associated with acquittal and conviction in rape prosecutions in Delhi. Based on extensive qualitative fieldwork in Delhi trial courts, this will be the first published book-length manuscript to analyse the implementation of the wide-ranging rape law reform introduced in India in 2013.

Secondly, Arushi is working on a chapter that analyses the Indian Penal Code 1837 (‘IPC’), to be published as part of a larger book project [Chloë Kennedy and Lindsay Farmer (eds), Analysing Leading Works in Criminal Law (Routledge 2022)] The Indian Penal Code was drafted primarily by Thomas Macaulay as part of the British colonial apparatus for implementation across the former colonies. In many postcolonial countries, amended versions of the IPC remain in force. The IPC is thus remarkable in its longevity and geographical spread across the common law world. Accordingly, this chapter will analyse the IPC’s significance and legacy.

Thirdly, Arushi has a nascent but growing interest in the attitudinal and institutional factors that prosecutorial action in adversarial criminal justice systems. She is in the process of cleaning and analysing some data relating to prosecutorial action in India to develop this interest. If you are a prosecutor working in Indian trial courts and are interested in contributing to the development of these research plans, please do not hesitate to reach out to Arushi.

What's on

A triptych of abstract images: a smooth round stone nestled in a curved rock, distorted eyeglass frames scattered on a white background, and a high-contrast black and white microscopic image resembling organic or cellular structures.

Art Exhibition: Wolfson at 60

19/07/2025 at 10.00

Celebrating Wolfson’s 60th anniversary year, this exhibition highlights the range of artistic disciplines and styles that have made up our exhibitions over the years.

person takes a photo of a graduand wearing a black gown along with family members.

Graduation Ceremony

26/07/2025 at 09.00

Graduation ceremonies are the culmination of students’ hard work and commitment, and a moment to celebrate the completion of their Cambridge degree.

A diverse group of people sits in rows of chairs, attentively listening during an indoor event or lecture.

Research Appetisers

05/08/2025 at 18.00

Come and hear our part-time students talk about their research at this informal evening of short presentations and friendly discussion.

Wolfson College main drive in Autumn

Open Cambridge - Tree Trail

06/09/2025 at 10.00

A self-guided Tree Trail around the beautiful and varied garden 'rooms' of the grounds at Wolfson College.

A handwritten poem on a black sign is mounted to a tree trunk, inviting readers to embrace the mysterious calm of evening dew.

Open Cambridge - Poetry Trail

12/09/2025 at 10.00

Follow our self-guided trail through the College gardens which feature extracts of poetry written by Wolfson members from our latest WolfWords poetry anthology, press play

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