International Journal of Law Management & Humanities
Equality Before the Law and the Reality of Unequal Justice in India’s Criminal Justice System
Equality before the law is one of the foundational guarantees of the Indian Constitution, yet its practical realisation within the criminal justice system remains deeply contested. Although Articles 14, 21 and 39A collectively establish a constitutional framework of equality, due process and meaningful access to justice, the operation of criminal law frequently produces unequal outcomes for individuals situated in different social and economic circumstances. Formal legal equality does not necessarily translate into substantive equality when access to rights depends upon financial capacity, quality of legal representation, social location and institutional responsiveness. Across every stage of the criminal process, from arrest and investigation to bail, legal aid, trial and adjudication, structural disadvantages significantly influence an accused person's ability to exercise constitutionally guaranteed protections. Empirical indicators, including undertrial incarceration, legal aid coverage, judicial capacity and the representation of marginalised communities within prisons, reveal persistent disparities that cannot be explained solely through the language of formally neutral legal rules. These patterns suggest that unequal justice often arises from structural and institutional conditions rather than from explicit legal discrimination. The constitutional jurisprudence developed by the Supreme Court has progressively expanded the meaning of equality, personal liberty and fair procedure; the effectiveness of these principles, however, continues to depend upon institutional capacity and implementation. Achieving genuine equality therefore requires moving beyond procedural uniformity towards a model of substantive justice that enables all individuals, irrespective of wealth, caste, gender or geography, to exercise legal rights on equal terms. Strengthening arrest safeguards, reforming bail practice, improving the quality of legal aid, enhancing judicial capacity and promoting transparent, technology-enabled accountability are essential steps towards narrowing the enduring gap between constitutional promise and lived reality within India's criminal justice system.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sakshi Pandey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Exploring the Dark Side of Leadership: The Impact of CEO Narcissism on Corporate Misgovernance
This paper examines the relationship between chief executive narcissism and corporate misgovernance, with particular emphasis on the Indian corporate governance framework. Charismatic and visionary leadership is widely celebrated, yet pronounced narcissistic traits in a chief executive officer can undermine ethical decision-making, weaken institutional accountability and raise the likelihood of corporate misconduct. The study explores how grandiosity, excessive risk-taking, limited empathy, resistance to oversight and the pursuit of personal recognition bear adversely on corporate governance, stakeholder interests and organisational sustainability. It adopts a doctrinal and qualitative approach, analysing the existing literature, the Companies Act, 2013 and significant instances of corporate misconduct. It further employs case study analysis of the Kingfisher Airlines and Punjab National Bank matters, associated respectively with Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, to examine how leadership traits of this kind, combined with weak governance mechanisms, have featured in the financial irregularities, regulatory proceedings and corporate collapses alleged in each case. The comparative examination highlights recurring behavioural patterns, including aggressive expansion, resistance to accountability, the deployment of corporate resources for personal ends and the erosion of stakeholder trust. The paper also analyses the legal position of chief executive officers under the Companies Act, 2013 by examining their roles, responsibilities and governance obligations. Building on these findings, it proposes a range of corporate governance reforms, including stronger board independence, transparent executive compensation, enhanced shareholder participation, robust whistleblower protection, periodic performance evaluation, ethical leadership standards and greater regulatory oversight. The study concludes that although chief executive narcissism alone cannot explain every instance of corporate misgovernance, it is a significant behavioural risk factor capable of amplifying governance failures where institutional safeguards are weak. Strengthening corporate governance structures and reinforcing executive accountability are therefore essential to promoting ethical leadership, protecting stakeholder interests and securing the long-term sustainability of corporations in India.
Copyright (c) 2026 Manisha, Shraddha S.S. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Pride and Prejudice: A Causative Factor of Crime
Prejudice consists in holding negative attitudes or stereotypes about individuals or groups on grounds such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender or social class. It is a principal cause of hate crime, in which offences are committed against individuals for belonging to a particular group, caste or community, and which may range from verbal harassment to physical violence and even murder. Pride is a sense of superiority or entitlement which, when felt in excess, leads to the undermining and disregard of the rights of others. In order to assert their superiority over others, people tend to offend when something obstructs them or wounds their pride. This article examines the correlation between pride, prejudice and the commission of crime, and the effect each of the two has upon the other. Criminological theories bearing on offences committed out of pride or prejudice are also considered, so as to offer a study of the relationship between pride, prejudice and crime with reference to criminological theory.
Copyright (c) 2026 L. Sahaya Sweetlin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Impact of Geopolitical Tensions on International Trade
International trade has long been regarded as the engine of global economic development, allowing nations to exchange goods, services, capital, and technology in ways that raise productivity and living standards. Over the past decade, however, the steady march of globalization has been interrupted by a wave of geopolitical tensions: trade wars, military conflicts, sanctions regimes, and diplomatic disputes have introduced new frictions into the world trading system. This paper examines the impact of geopolitical tensions on international trade, with particular attention to supply chain disruption, tariff escalation, price inflation, and the reconfiguration of trade partnerships. Adopting a descriptive and analytical approach grounded in secondary data drawn from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and other authoritative sources, the study traces how recent shocks, from the United States-China trade rivalry to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the recalibration of Indo-United States and Indo-European Union trade relations in 2026, have reshaped global commerce. The analysis shows that while geopolitical tensions consistently raise costs and uncertainty for firms and consumers, they simultaneously act as a catalyst for diversification, regional integration, and industrial self-reliance. It also shows that the legal foundations of unilateral trade measures have themselves become a source of volatility, as the invalidation and successive statutory replacement of the United States reciprocal tariff programme during 2026 demonstrates. The paper concludes with policy suggestions aimed at building more resilient, AI-enabled, and geopolitically agile supply chains, and outlines directions for future research based on primary data and sector-specific investigation.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Tamanna Bansal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Adjudicating Workplace Harassment: Internal Complaints Committees as Quasi-Judicial Bodies under the POSH Framework
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 places the Internal Committee at the centre of its redressal architecture. This article argues that the Internal Committee satisfies the established markers of quasi-judicial status, namely statutory origin, the powers of a civil court under section 11(3), an express obligation of natural justice under Rule 7(4) of the POSH Rules, and recommendations that the employer is bound to act upon, but that the quasi-judicial label conceals structural pathologies that frustrate genuine adjudication: employer domination of the forum, the absence of any requirement of legal expertise, and under-powered enforcement. Drawing on the decision of the Supreme Court in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa and on the High Court jurisprudence that has followed it, the article identifies five legislative reforms, namely independent district tribunals, a centralised external-member panel, a statutory positive duty on employers, mandatory certification of committee members, and a reasoned-decision requirement, as necessary to honour the constitutional commitments underlying the Act.
Copyright (c) 2026 Meenakshi Agarwal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Beyond Trademark: The Case for Statutory Recognition of Personality Rights in India
Indian courts have been protecting the commercial and dignitary interests that a person holds in his own identity for more than two decades, from ICC Development (International) Ltd. v. Arvee Enterprises through D.M. Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v. Baby Gift House to the recent line of injunctions granted in favour of well-known performers, yet the legislature has said nothing. This article argues that the borrowed protection currently available under trade mark law is structurally inadequate, because the object of a trade mark is to indicate commercial origin rather than to control the use of a persona, because registration presupposes a trade connection and a graphically representable sign, because the definition of "mark" in Section 2(1)(m) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 omits voice, image and likeness, and because liability turns on a likelihood of consumer confusion that will be absent in most cases of persona misuse. It situates that argument against two recent developments, the acceptance of India's first olfactory mark by the Trade Marks Registry and Denmark's proposed amendment to its Copyright Act conferring a likeness right on every individual, and against the constitutional recognition of privacy in R. Rajagopal v. State of Tamil Nadu and Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, which supplies both the foundation of the right and its limits. It concludes that statutory recognition is now required, whether by amendment of the existing intellectual property statutes or by a standalone enactment, and that any such measure must define the protectable attributes, address AI-generated content, and preserve adequate space for satire, journalism and comment on matters of public record.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vinay Shankar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Juvenile Delinquency and Cybercrime: Emerging Challenges in the Digital Age
Digital technology has reordered the conditions of adolescence. It has widened access to learning, creativity and friendship, and it has at the same time made juvenile delinquency a substantially harder phenomenon to define, detect and answer. This article offers a critical narrative review of the legal, sociological and policy literature on juvenile cyber-delinquency, centred on India but drawing on comparative material. Its central claim is that cyber-delinquency cannot be treated as ordinary adolescent mischief that happens to occur online. Young people move between victimisation, experimentation, status-seeking and offending within the same digital environments, often within a single episode. Platform architecture compounds the difficulty: perceived anonymity lowers inhibition, recommendation systems surface harmful material, and gaming, messaging, generative artificial intelligence and crime-as-a-service markets shorten the distance between curiosity and serious harm, while mediated interaction dulls the perception of wrongfulness. The institutional response remains fragmented. Substantive law addresses discrete offences rather than the ecosystem that produces them; schools rely on episodic awareness activity; parental understanding of children's online lives is limited; and juvenile justice institutions lack digital-forensic and mental-health expertise. The article argues for a reorientation that places the child at the centre and pairs accountability with early help, safety-by-design obligations on intermediaries, specialist investigative capacity, mental-health provision, restorative options and legitimate pathways into ethical cybersecurity practice. It proposes a layered model integrating digital literacy, youth wellbeing and cybersecurity into a juvenile justice system fit for a networked society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Surinder Kalyan, Ashwini Kishori Yadav https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Reassessing the Doctrine of Good Faith in Contract Performance under the United Arab Emirates Civil Transactions Law
The doctrine of good faith in contract performance under the United Arab Emirates Civil Transactions Law has attracted increasing scholarly attention within contemporary debates on contractual justice, legislative reform and judicial interpretation. Although the doctrine has been widely examined from comparative and theoretical perspectives, the existing literature has not sufficiently evaluated the adequacy of the legislative and judicial framework governing its application, particularly following the enactment of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, which repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 and entered into force on 1 June 2026. This study addresses that gap by examining the conceptual and legal foundations of the doctrine of good faith and by assessing the adequacy of the current legislative and judicial framework governing its application in contractual performance. The study adopts a qualitative doctrinal legal research methodology drawing on statutory provisions, judicial decisions, comparative legal materials and peer-reviewed scholarly literature, all of which were subjected to rigorous thematic analysis guided by the Theory of Contractual Justice in its distributive and corrective dimensions. The findings reveal that the 2025 reforms have strengthened the statutory regulation of good faith by extending its application to pre-contractual negotiations and disclosure obligations while reinforcing fairness and contractual accountability. The study recommends clearer legislative guidelines, more consistent judicial interpretation and greater harmonisation of contractual principles in order to enhance legal certainty and equitable contractual performance. It contributes to UAE contract law scholarship by advancing a contemporary understanding of the doctrine and by informing future legislative reform, judicial practice and comparative contract law research.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Jasim Mohamed Khamis Hamza https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Evolution of Finfluencer Regulation in India
India's retail investing boom has produced a new class of unregulated intermediaries: financial influencers, or finfluencers, who distribute investment tips and claims about returns to audiences of millions without registration or accountability. This paper traces how the Securities and Exchange Board of India moved from an ill-fitting pre-existing framework, built on the Investment Advisers Regulations 2013, the Research Analysts Regulations 2014 and the PFUTP Regulations 2003, to a purpose-built regime assembled between 2023 and 2026. Using a qualitative, doctrinal analysis of SEBI's consultation papers, Board decisions, amendment regulations, circulars and enforcement orders, the paper reconstructs that sequence and links each rule-making step to the enforcement matters that preceded it, namely P.R. Sundar, Ravindra Bharti, 'Baap of Chart' and Asmita Patel. It argues that the resulting regime is best understood as a three-pillar, association-based model: starving the unregistered revenue model by severing links with regulated entities, drawing a testable bright line between education and advice through a price-data lag, and deterring through escalating enforcement, with Specified Digital Platforms as an enabling layer. The paper then identifies the model's limits at the edges of SEBI's jurisdiction, in the calibration of free expression and in the recovery of disgorged sums, and sets out recommendations.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anubha Saxena, Naziya Arif https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Reproductive Rights and Maternity Protection
Reproductive rights and maternity protection are inseparable elements of the human rights of women and are bound up with the constitutional guarantees of equality, dignity, health and personal liberty. The Constitution of India, together with a body of legislation, seeks to safeguard the reproductive autonomy of women and safe childbirth. The statutory framework for maternity and reproductive health comprises the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (as amended in 2021), the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, and judicial interpretation has carried these rights further by treating reproductive choice, privacy and bodily autonomy as facets of Article 21. In spite of these developments, the effective implementation of reproductive and maternity rights remains difficult. Workers in the informal sector are frequently beyond the reach of statutory maternity benefits, and weak healthcare infrastructure, discrimination at the workplace and a lack of awareness prevent the exercise of these rights in practice, most acutely for socially and economically disadvantaged women. This paper offers a critical analysis of the constitutional and statutory provisions governing reproductive rights and maternity protection in India. It assesses the part played by the courts in enlarging the reproductive autonomy of women through landmark decisions, and it examines the obstacles to enforcement. The paper argues that constitutional guarantees can be realised only through effective enforcement, inclusive labour policies, better healthcare services and greater awareness among women of their legal rights, and it closes with a set of legal and policy recommendations designed to strengthen maternity protection and reproductive justice for every woman in India.
Copyright (c) 2026 Neeraj Kumar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
From Wife to Spouse: Reimagining Consent and Criminal Liability under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
The retention of the marital rape exception under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 presents a constitutional anomaly within Indian criminal jurisprudence. Modern constitutional law treats dignity, privacy and bodily autonomy as fundamental guarantees under Article 21, yet the penal law continues to presume irrevocable consent within marriage. This paper evaluates the constitutional, empirical and comparative dimensions of marital sexual violence in India. It argues that the present doctrine is inconsistent with Articles 14 and 21 in denying protection to married women, and that it is further inadequate in excluding male, transgender and non-binary spouses from any legal remedy. Moving beyond a gender-binary frame, the paper argues for the repeal of Exception 2 to Section 63 of the Sanhita and for a gender-neutral framework of spousal sexual violence, substituting "spouse" for "wife", which treats free and continuing consent as an indispensable precondition irrespective of gender or marital status.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sneha Pai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Working Conditions of Indian Ship Workers: An Analysis under Maritime Labour Laws
The maritime sector occupies a central place in India's economy, both because it sustains international trade and because it creates livelihoods for thousands of seafarers. Despite the national and international legal arrangements already in place, Indian ship workers continue to encounter difficulties connected with wages, excessive working hours, workplace safety, medical support, social security and contract-based employment. The nature of maritime work, which involves long periods at sea and restricted access to legal remedies, leaves workers exposed to unfair treatment and to violations of their labour rights. This study examines the working conditions of Indian ship workers through the lens of maritime labour law, and in particular the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 and the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, together with related domestic and international instruments. It considers how far Indian maritime law corresponds to international labour norms and what legal and practical obstacles arise in implementation, with particular attention to occupational health and safety, living conditions on board, welfare measures, grievance redressal routes and the role of regulatory authorities in safeguarding seafarers' rights. India has incorporated a number of international standards into its own legal framework, but enforcement and monitoring remain weak in practice. The study argues for stronger regulatory oversight, improved inspection mechanisms, stricter compliance by shipowners, better access to legal remedies for workers, and greater awareness among seafarers of the rights they hold. It is intended to contribute to the current discussion on maritime labour reform by advancing proposals that would secure decent working conditions and stronger protection for the rights and wellbeing of Indian ship workers, consistently with international labour standards.
Copyright (c) 2026 Shivani P S, Thrisha S https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Smells like Consumer Protection: Advocates as Service Providers under the Consumer Protection Regime
Courts in India and in many other jurisdictions have repeatedly been asked whether the services rendered by advocates fall within the purview of consumer protection. The Supreme Court of India had earlier held, in Indian Medical Association v. V.P. Shantha, that the medical profession, and by extension other professions such as the legal profession, came within the reach of consumer protection law. The Court reached a different conclusion in Bar of Indian Lawyers v. D.K. Gandhi PS National Institute of Communicable Diseases, where the question arose directly as to whether advocates are service providers for the purposes of consumer protection law. This article examines the findings and observations of the Court on that question and explores the longstanding debate as to whether the clients of advocates may claim remedies under consumer protection law.
Copyright (c) 2026 Saima Akther, Afroza Perveen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
A Critical Analysis of the Punishment Clauses of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances severely impair the life and wellbeing of human beings. Recognising their detrimental effects, countries across the globe have enacted legislation to regulate and criminalise these substances. In India they are controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, which represents the commitment of the nation to anchor the Indian legal system in the international legal regime. The Act makes detailed provision for the prohibition, control and regulation of drugs, and is coherent and rational in its treatment of them. One of its important characteristics is the punishment clause, which prescribes different forms of punishment for first-time and repeated offences. Despite the profound merits of these punishment clauses, the Act has been criticised for disproportionate punishment, overcrowded prisons and prolonged incarceration. The purpose of this article is to analyse critically the efficacy of the punishment provisions of the Act. The researchers have adopted a doctrinal study and a thematic analysis of the penal provisions. The paper argues that the stringent penal provisions of the NDPS Act need to be balanced with constitutional values by integrating the doctrine of proportionality, rehabilitation, and the basic rights of offenders as well as of victims.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yogeesh J, Dr. Rangaswamy D https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Sovereignty, Intervention and International Law: Evaluating United States Military Action against Venezuela under the Jus ad Bellum
On 3 January 2026 the United States launched Operation Absolute Resolve, a multi-domain military operation against Venezuela that combined precision air strikes on Venezuelan military installations with a special-operations raid that seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and transported them to the United States to face narco-terrorism indictments. The operation followed months of lethal United States strikes against vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific allegedly linked to drug trafficking. Washington offered a shifting justification for the Venezuela operation, invoking self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter against an asserted 'narco-terrorist' armed attack, while simultaneously describing the raid as a law-enforcement arrest of indicted fugitives. This article subjects both rationales to sustained doctrinal scrutiny using a black-letter method grounded in the United Nations Charter, the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, General Assembly resolutions and leading scholarly commentary. It argues that the operation constitutes an unlawful use of force under Article 2(4) of the Charter; that transnational drug trafficking, however serious, does not meet the gravity threshold of an 'armed attack' recognised in Nicaragua and Oil Platforms; that the law-enforcement characterisation cannot cure a use of force conducted without territorial consent; that no Security Council authorisation existed; and that the forcible removal of a sitting head of state violated the customary rule of personal immunity confirmed in the Arrest Warrant case. The article further situates the episode within a wider pattern of executive practice, including sustained lethal strikes on suspected smuggling vessels, that collectively strains the Charter's prohibition on force, and it assesses the international response, dominated by condemnation from United Nations officials, human rights bodies and international law scholars, as evidence that the prohibition retains normative force even where enforcement against a veto-holding power remains structurally impossible. The article concludes that reasserting the primacy of Article 2(4) and strengthening accountability mechanisms outside the Security Council are essential to preventing the operation from calcifying into precedent.
Copyright (c) 2026 Md Maraz Miah, Fahim https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Legal Ambiguities in the Enforcement of Maritime Claims
Insolvency law addresses the position of corporate persons who are unable to meet their financial obligations, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 supplies a body of legal principles and procedures relating to reorganisation and insolvency resolution. The maritime industry plays a crucial role in the national and international economy, and in recent years the shipping industry has faced many challenges, including insolvency proceedings under the Code, while admiralty matters attract a special jurisdiction under the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017. This paper studies the conflict between insolvency law and maritime law, which arises at the point of recovery of assets and priority among creditors of the debtor. These regimes provide a structured framework for managing the financial affairs of an insolvent entity, aiming to maximise the recovery of assets for creditors while ensuring a fair and equitable resolution for all stakeholders. Key aspects include defining insolvency criteria, outlining specific insolvency procedures such as bankruptcy and liquidation, protecting the rights of creditors, providing some level of protection for the insolvent entity, and establishing the role of the adjudicating authority in overseeing the process. Insolvency laws vary across jurisdictions but generally aim to promote economic efficiency, ensure fairness and equity among stakeholders, and encourage responsible borrowing and lending practices.
Copyright (c) 2026 C. Maruthapandi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Humour and Criminal Contempt in India: Reconciling Free Speech and the Dignity of the Court
Humour has long been a vehicle for democratic criticism in India, from the verse of Kabir to political cartooning and, more recently, stand-up comedy and digital satire. This article asks whether Indian criminal contempt jurisprudence adequately accommodates humorous expression directed at the judiciary. It locates satire, parody and caricature within the protection of Article 19(1)(a), and then examines the constitutional and statutory architecture of contempt: Articles 129 and 215, the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, the open-textured first limb of Section 2(c), and the qualified defence of truth introduced by the 2006 amendment to Section 13. Reading E.M.S. Namboodiripad, In re S. Mulgaokar, P.N. Duda and In re Prashant Bhushan alongside the pending proceedings concerning Rachita Taneja and Kunal Kamra, the article argues that the courts have accepted the legitimacy of fair criticism without developing any principled test for humorous speech. Drawing on the abolition of scandalising the court in England and Wales by Section 33 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, it proposes that criminal contempt be confined to expression posing a real and substantial threat to the administration of justice, so that the dignity of the court and the democratic promise of Article 19(1)(a) are preserved together.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pushpita Dutta, Dr. Saroj Sharma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Victims’ Rights in the Era of Restorative Justice and its Impact on the Legal System and Social Cohesion
Restorative justice has become an important component of contemporary debates concerning the treatment of victims, offender accountability and the future direction of criminal justice. In contrast to approaches that concentrate primarily on punishment, restorative justice places greater emphasis on the consequences of offending, the participation of affected persons, reparation and the restoration of damaged relationships. This article examines the position of victims within restorative justice and considers the consequences of restorative approaches for legal institutions and social cohesion. The study uses a qualitative, doctrinal and literature-based design. It draws on academic scholarship, empirical evaluations, policy materials and relevant legal sources rather than original interviews or other primary fieldwork. The literature indicates that restorative processes may enhance victims' participation, recognition and sense of procedural inclusion when participation is voluntary, informed and supported by appropriate safeguards. At the same time, the approach raises concerns regarding unequal power relationships, emotional harm, unequal access and the suitability of restorative processes in particular cases, especially those involving serious violence. The review further indicates that restorative practices may support community responsibility and reintegration, although their relationship with formal criminal justice requires clear institutional safeguards. The article concludes that restorative justice should be developed through a victim-centred framework based on autonomy, safety, informed consent, procedural fairness and access to support.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ruchi Sharma, Dr. Suresh Kumar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Timely Justice, Restored Faith: Can India Eliminate Systemic Delay?
Long-standing court delay in India, evidenced by a district-court backlog exceeding 5 crore cases, undermines timely justice and imposes heavy costs on undertrials, victims and public confidence in the legal system. To confront this institutional crisis, India brought a landmark legislative reform into force on 1 July 2024, replacing its colonial-era criminal statutes with modern frameworks, chief among them the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Designed to dismantle procedural bottlenecks, the BNSS fixes statutory timelines across the phases of a criminal proceeding, providing for electronic registration of information, a time-bound preliminary enquiry, mandatory forensic involvement in serious cases, restricted adjournments and fixed deadlines for framing charges and pronouncing judgment. When proceedings extend indefinitely, the formal legal system ceases to be a site of resolution and becomes itself a source of harm, eroding confidence in the rule of law and compromising the guarantee of a speedy trial under Article 21. Enforcing the BNSS timelines faces immediate structural barriers, principally judicial vacancies and gaps in physical and technological infrastructure; without capital investment to expand forensic facilities and train specialised staff, evidence-processing backlogs will stall investigations long before trials commence. This doctrinal study evaluates the systemic and social effects of the new framework, compares the legacy procedural code with the enacted statutes, traces the constitutional evolution of the right to a speedy trial as articulated by the Supreme Court of India, identifies the infrastructure and operational bottlenecks that threaten enforcement of the statutory timelines, and proposes measures for effective implementation, including separation of police investigative functions, real-time digital monitoring and adequate resourcing of the subordinate judiciary.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anushka Agarwal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Rishi Yajnavalkya and H.L.A. Hart: The Rule of Recognition and the Recognition of Dharma, A Comparative Jurisprudential Study
This paper compares two frameworks of ultimate recognition drawn from civilisations far apart in time and in outlook: H.L.A. Hart's Rule of Recognition in The Concept of Law, and the mechanisms that implicitly allow dharma to be recognised in the Yajnavalkya Smriti and in the Dharmasastric tradition more broadly. Despite the temporal and metaphysical distance between them, Hart and Yajnavalkya each offer an intricate theory of legal validity, of authority, and of the social foundations of norms. Hart's framework is descriptive and positivist, explaining how legal systems identify their valid norms through an ultimate, socially accepted rule that secures the stability of institutional practice. Yajnavalkya, by contrast, elaborates a layered normative epistemology in which law draws its authority from the mutual dependence of scriptural revelation (sruti), traditional jurisprudence (smriti), ethical teleology, practical reasoning, and socially embedded custom (acara). The paper sets these two recognition frameworks side by side, first identifying what they share, notably the dependence of normative authority on shared practice and collective acceptance, and then marking the significant differences. In particular it argues that Hart's morally neutral framework, which separates the legal from the ethical, is counterbalanced by Yajnavalkya's linking of law to cosmological order and moral purpose, which makes dharma inseparable from virtue and social harmony. Finding common ground between them makes the divergences clearer, and shows how different civilisations solve the universal problem of recognising authoritative norms while embedding that solution in culturally particular worldviews. The study concludes that, against Hart's position that legal validity is a social fact, Yajnavalkya offers a richer model in which law, morality and the metaphysical order are intertwined and together constitute the foundation of normative life.
Copyright (c) 2026 Tiyas Mondal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Granularity of Consent under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
This paper offers a doctrinal, comparative, and constitutional analysis of Section 6 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which requires consent to be free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous. It asks whether a single, bundled “accept all” consent mechanism satisfies these requirements. Drawing on textual statutory interpretation, comparative EU materials (the GDPR and European Data Protection Board guidance), and India’s constitutional privacy jurisprudence, the paper argues that bundled consent is doctrinally inconsistent with Section 6. It proposes a bright-line interpretive standard that treats “specific” as purpose-segmented consent, and sets operational criteria (necessity, conditionality, granularity, affirmative action, and ease of withdrawal) for regulators and courts. The paper concludes with practical compliance and enforcement recommendations for platforms and the Data Protection Board.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pratyush Pandey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Taxing the Digital Economy in Vietnam: Legal Challenges and Reform
The digital economy has fundamentally transformed global commerce, yet domestic tax systems have struggled to keep pace with value creation that occurs without physical presence. The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework's Two-Pillar Solution, under which Pillar One reallocates taxing rights over the largest digital enterprises and Pillar Two establishes a 15 per cent global minimum tax, constitutes the most ambitious reform of international tax law in a century. Vietnam, a rapidly digitalising emerging economy that hosts major foreign direct investment from multinational enterprises, faces distinct legal challenges in implementing both pillars within its domestic legal order. This paper examines Vietnam's legal framework for taxing the digital economy, with particular focus on Resolution 107/2023/QH15 and Decree 236/2025/NĐ-CP implementing Pillar Two, and the notable absence of domestic legislation on Pillar One. Through doctrinal legal analysis of Vietnamese legislation, OECD model rules, and comparative reference to implementation in India, Indonesia, and Singapore, the paper identifies three categories of legal challenge: (i) constitutional and jurisdictional obstacles to Amount A allocation without a multilateral convention; (ii) the structural tension between Vietnam's long-standing tax incentive regime and the global minimum tax's anti-base erosion mechanism; and (iii) gaps in enforcement infrastructure that limit effective taxation of foreign digital service providers beyond VAT collection. The paper argues that while Vietnam has moved swiftly and effectively on Pillar Two, the lack of progress on Pillar One leaves a significant portion of digital economy value untaxed, and proposes a sequenced reform agenda spanning amendments to the Law on Enterprise Income Tax, the introduction of significant economic presence rules, and targeted administrative capacity-building.
Copyright (c) 2026 Hoang Thi Hai Yen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Synthetic Media and Gendered Harm: Balancing Free Speech and Dignity
This paper examines synthetic media and the harm it causes women in constitutional democracies. Deepfake video, AI-generated voice and synthetic avatars now spread rapidly across social media and other platforms. The law protects rights, but it struggles to balance them against free speech. The TAKE IT DOWN Act 2025 in the United States and the Digital Services Act 2022 in the European Union show legislative effort, yet enforcement remains difficult. In India, the Information Technology Act 2000, as amended in 2008, provides criminal remedies for non-consensual content, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules 2026 now regulate synthetically generated information directly, but implementation remains slow. Decisions such as Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) show the courts attempting to address harm while respecting expression. Women in politics, in the media and in the private sector face disproportionate harassment through AI-generated content, and the psychological harm, reputational damage and social silencing that follow are serious. The law permits limited restriction of speech under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights while giving weight to dignity and privacy. Technology evolves faster than legal responses, so corporate responsibility and platform moderation become necessary alongside regulation, and transparency measures, consent requirements and watermarking offer further protection. The paper argues for a balanced approach in which law, ethics and social norms work together, and concludes that international cooperation and gender-sensitive policy are needed to reduce harm while maintaining free expression.
Copyright (c) 2026 Rajasree R.S. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
ESG Disclosure and Corporate Accountability in India
This paper traces the development of India's ESG disclosure and assurance system and asks whether it functions as an adequate instrument of corporate accountability. Moving from the National Voluntary Guidelines and the NGRBC to SEBI's BRSR and BRSR Core regimes, it examines the emergence of mandatory, assurance-backed sustainability reporting across securities, corporate and financial-sector regulation. As comparators it considers the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, as amended by the Omnibus I simplification package adopted in February 2026, and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule, which the Commission has proposed to rescind. The paper identifies the structural advantages of the Indian approach, including its India-specific ESG indicators and its graduated move towards reasonable assurance. It then sets out three weaknesses: the absence of a statutory definition of greenwashing, a fragmented multi-regulator architecture, and underdeveloped enforcement mechanisms. Finally, it addresses the widening gap between the disclosure and assurance mandate on the one hand and the capacity of the assurance ecosystem on the other, particularly for the micro, small and medium enterprises drawn in through value-chain cascades.
Copyright (c) 2026 Amritanshu Upadhyay https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
When the Machine Errs, Who Bleeds? Reconstructing Civil Liability for AI-Generated Harm in India
AI systems are moving out of laboratories and into hospitals, courts and financial markets, yet Indian law remains largely silent on civil liability for the harm they cause. This article contends that the doctrinal gap is neither temporary nor curable by analogy to existing tort principles: it is a structural failure traceable to three intertwined features of advanced AI, namely opacity in decision-making, causal indeterminacy and distributed agency. It examines the inadequacies of negligence, of product liability and of the intermediary safe harbour in the context of AI harm, and proposes a three-tiered liability framework consisting of a rebuttable presumption of deployer liability, mandatory audit and disclosure obligations on developers, and a no-fault compensation fund for victims of high-risk autonomous systems, grounded in the constitutional obligations flowing from Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The proposal draws on the EU Artificial Intelligence Act and on the proposed AI Liability Directive, since withdrawn, and requires calibration for Indian conditions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ayush Kumar Upadhyay https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
The Legal Status of Brothels in India and Its Implications
Brothels are illegal in India, and any person or group operating a brothel may be charged under Section 3 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. Yet several well-known brothels continue to operate. The critical question that arises is how these brothels remain in operation when the law of the land categorically prohibits them. Sex work carried on independently by an individual is not itself an offence in India, whereas brothel-based or commercialised prostitution has been made illegal. The Indian approach appears to be to phase out prostitution gradually while at the same time protecting the interests of sex workers, an approach that entails the shutting down of brothels. Despite substantial evidence of the operation of well-established brothels in metropolitan cities, brothels in India continue to exist. The Indian government needs to take a clear stand on the issue of commercialised prostitution. If the aim of the government is to phase out prostitution gradually, then brothels should not exist in India; if the aim is to regulate commercial prostitution, then steps to regulate brothels cannot be delayed. Whichever policy objective is pursued, it is time for the government to take steps in one direction or the other, rather than continuing to postpone the question of commercial prostitution. Sex work is not like any other work and can seriously affect the mental and physical health of sex workers. Against this background, this paper analyses the status of brothels in India, the allied issues of commercial prostitution and their corresponding effect on the sexual health of sex workers in India. The paper primarily employs a doctrinal research methodology based on an analysis of primary and secondary legal sources. It is supplemented by a limited content analysis of the first three pages of Google search results, conducted to assess the operational status of temporary and permanent brothels.
Copyright (c) 2026 Shaunak Sharma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Understanding Disability in India: Social Perception, Legal Frameworks and Related Issues
According to the Census of India 2011, approximately 26.8 million persons in India, or 2.21 per cent of the total population, were recorded as living with disabilities. Despite constitutional guarantees and a growing statutory framework, disability in India continues to be shaped by stigma, exclusion and deeply rooted social prejudice. Persons with disabilities often encounter discriminatory language, barriers to education and employment, inaccessible infrastructure, and inadequate access to social security entitlements. This paper examines disability in India through three interrelated lenses: social perceptions, legal protections and social security mechanisms. It reviews the constitutional basis for disability rights, traces the shift from the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and discusses the significance of accessibility, inclusion and dignity in public policy. The paper argues that although India has developed a stronger rights-based legal regime, effective implementation remains uneven. Greater institutional accountability, awareness and accessible delivery systems are necessary to ensure that statutory guarantees translate into substantive equality for persons with disabilities.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Naeem Ahmed, Kaushik Bhar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Arbitrary Freezing of Bank Accounts in Cyber Crime Investigations: A Critical Analysis of Section 106 BNSS and the Plight of the Innocent
With the rapid acceleration of digital transactions in India, driven by the Unified Payments Interface, immediate payment services and e-commerce ecosystems, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal has become a frontline mechanism for law enforcement agencies seeking to contain online financial fraud. The operationalisation of cyber fraud reporting, and in particular the automated and unverified issue of debit-freeze instructions, has nevertheless produced severe procedural irregularity and serious rights concerns. Under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, formerly Section 102 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, police officers routinely instruct banks to freeze operational accounts, and those instructions frequently extend to distant, multi-layered downstream transactions at Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 without prior verification, notice or judicial oversight. This paper critically evaluates the statutory, procedural and constitutional mechanisms governing the freezing of bank accounts during cybercrime investigations. It shows how automated portal complaints are increasingly used to settle private commercial disputes, contractual disagreements and service delivery conflicts, effectively criminalising routine civil transactions. It subjects these administrative actions to constitutional scrutiny under Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India, emphasising the systemic violation of the cardinal principle of natural justice, audi alteram partem, and it analyses the precedents of the High Courts and the Supreme Court that press for a balanced investigative protocol. The paper closes with legislative and administrative recommendations, arguing for a mandatory preliminary inquiry, the strict enforcement of lien-marking restricted to the disputed quantum of funds, time-bound portal mechanisms and deterrent penalties for frivolous complaints.
Copyright (c) 2026 Bhawna Sharma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Trial in Absentia under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 permits a criminal trial to be commenced, concluded and a conviction recorded entirely in the absence of a proclaimed offender whom the court is satisfied cannot presently be arrested. This article argues that the constitutional question is not whether trials in absentia are inherently permissible, but whether the statutory architecture preserves the minimum conditions of meaningful participation when the accused is absent. It develops the Participatory Fairness Framework, a cumulative test of five minimum elements: knowledge, deliberate abscondment, effective representation, evidentiary participation and corrective remedy. Applying that framework, the article accepts that Section 356 already supplies a partial architecture for each element, since sub-section (1) requires reasons recorded in writing, sub-section (2) prescribes a four-step pre-trial notice procedure, sub-section (3) guarantees an advocate at the expense of the State, and sub-sections (4) and (7) address reappearance and appeal. Its argument is that each safeguard falls short in substance: notice without verified receipt, abscondment without a defined evidentiary threshold, representation without instructions, evidentiary participation subject to unguided judicial discretion, and a corrective remedy that is conditional and time-barred. The article further isolates the distinction between a trial that continues after voluntary absence and one that begins in complete absence, a boundary preserved in United States practice under Rule 43 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Crosby v. United States and abandoned by Section 356. Situating the provision against Articles 14 and 21, the Strasbourg jurisprudence in Colozza and Sejdovic, and Article 14(3)(d) of the ICCPR, it concludes that Section 356 is susceptible to constitutional challenge rather than unconstitutional on its face, and proposes interpretive and legislative reforms directed at making the enacted safeguards substantively adequate.
Copyright (c) 2026 Divya Ranganatha, Deepika https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Formula 1 Cartel Constructors’ Championship: FIA Regulations and Their Aid to Anti-Competitiveness
Formula One has been contested for close to 80 years and has held its audiences from the outset. The championship commands a following that extends beyond other categories of motorsport and, arguably, beyond most other sports. Part of that standing comes from the identity of the competitors: well-known manufacturers such as Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Red Bull and McLaren race against one another outside the market for accessible and road-legally engineered vehicles, while luxury houses such as Rolex and Louis Vuitton appear as sponsors and official brand partners of the sport. The result is a conspicuously flashy and attractive presentation that draws not only the typical petrol-head but a crowd of the elite as well. Although competition between sports cars generally exists across a broad field of brands and car manufacturers, the relevant market of Formula One consists only of a narrow set of such manufacturers, and it includes an energy-drink company that has competed for and won world championships. On paper, 10 to 12 teams contest the Constructors' Championship each season; on closer inspection, the sport turns on about four principal team players, the remaining entrants operating as mere extensions or sister companies of the same. This paper strives to understand how the regulations of a sport that presents itself as competitive turn their back on competition and antitrust law and on the core value of fair play those laws exist to protect.
Copyright (c) 2026 Madhumitha Kirubakaran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/