Articles
Four Years Of Navtej Singh Johar Judgment : The Road Ahead After De-criminalization Of Consensual Homosexuality
Four years back, on this day a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, to the extent that it criminalised same-sex relations between consenting adults. The judgment in Navtej Johar v. Union of India & Ors, was a landmark constitutional reform with regard to rights of sexual minorities. Justice DY Chandrachud, who was one of the authors in Navtej Johar Case (Supra) began his opinion by the following lines: "A hundred and...
A Distinct Bail Legislation In India: A Desideratum
Understanding the concept of Bail in India The Black's Law Dictionary defines Bail as a form of security that is required by a court for ensuring the release of a prisoner based on the rule that he/she must appear before the court in the future.The concept of Bail is neither punitive nor preventive in nature, rather has an underlying object of ensuring the attendance of an accused, by imposing a 'reasonable amount', at the time of the Trial (Sanjay Chandra v. CBI, 2012). In the...
NFTs And Intellectual Property
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been around since 2014, but in 2021 they gained new hype owing to very high-profile technological stories covered in the media. Quentin Tarantino, a renowned Hollywood filmmaker, was sued by Miramax LLC, a production company, to block an auction of NFTs related to the screenplay of the movie 'Pulp Fiction'. Twitter's former CEO, Jack Dorsey, sold an NFT of his first tweet for approximately USD 2.5 million. A digital artist, known by the handle Beplee, sold NFT of...
Pharmaceutical Patents: Moderna Vs. Pfizer and BioNTech
In a recent turn of events, Moderna Inc. sued the US-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. and the German-based pharmaceutical company BioNTech SE for infringing its patent while developing the first COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna filed two suits in the US District Court based in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Dusseldorf based in Germany, alleging that the other two companies copied its patented messenger ā RNA ("mRNA") technology and, thus, are seeking monetary damages. During the...
To Bail or Not to Bail?
There are 4,88,511 prisoners lodged in a total of 1,306 prisons in India, as per a 2020 report by the National Crimes Bureau. The occupancy rate of prisons in the year 2020 was 118%. The Law Commission in its 268th Report noted that nearly 67% of the prison population is undertrials. Notably, the global median for undertrials is only 27%.[1] This makes the need for restructuring the law on bails very pressing. Any practising advocate on the criminal side will tell you that whether bail...
A Lean Compromise Is Always Better Than A Fat Law Suit
A Critical analysis of the Mediation Bill 2021 Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional. To quote the Dalai Lama: "The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds." Mediators can be the best peacemakers and restorers of fractured relationships as mediation is a process which provides peace with satisfaction and peace with honor. With over 4.70 crore cases pending in various...
Putting A Price Tag On The Environment
Climate change is no more an illusory phenomenon of the future. Extreme weather conditions, erratic rainfall, floods, and droughts are a few of the events observed across the globe, which reveal that the crisis is actively engulfing the earth. India is one of the most vulnerable countries, which according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report, is set to be exposed not just to natural disasters but also economic shocks. However, its performance in mitigating an...
Promising Beginning : Expectations From Justice UU Lalit, The New Chief Justice Of India
A day before being sworn-in as the 49th Chief Justice of India, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit made three notable announcements regarding the reforms which he proposed to undertake during his term. They are : Will bring more transparency in the listing system. Will have a system for freely mentioning urgent matters before respective benches. Will strive to have one Constitution Bench functioning throughout the year. Now, the causelist published for August 29 - the first...
India @ 75 : Promises to keep
The 75th year of our Independence is an occasion for celebration and also introspection that does not shirk from its conclusions. The Har Ghar Tiranga sentiment is a proud reminder of the defining moment in India's history 75 years ago, when the nation found its soul in the freedom of its people. Since then, tireless exertions of the torch bearers of our founding fathers' vision has catapulted the nation to a leadership role on the global high table in the shaping of a new world. But even...
Law Clerkship With Supreme Court Of India- How It Works
The Supreme Court of India law clerkship program is a prestigious program which throws open the door for young law graduates to the functionalities of court. The program, however has been marred in controversy due to the lack of transparency in its recruitment process. Every year, the Supreme Court of India through its registry advertises with respect to engagement of "Law Clerk-cum-Research Assistant" on short term contractual assignment. The term "Law Clerk" is distinguishable from...
Social Stock Exchange: Decoding Regulatory Framework And Its Challenges
The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI)has recently introduced a broad framework for the formation of the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) as a new segment of the existing stock exchange(s), i.e., Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. (BSE) or National stock Exchange Ltd. (NSE), aiming to provide Social Enterprises (SEs) in India with an additional avenue to raise funds. While years were spent in other nations to create an ecology for SSE (or its equivalents), all of this transpired...