Venezuela And The Limits Of International Law's Hollow Core

The recent interventionist posture adopted by the United States in Venezuela has laid bare a truth long articulated by critics of international law but seldom confronted with such clarity: when confronted with hegemonic will, international law ceases to function as a constraint and survives only as rhetoric. What is unfolding in Venezuela is not merely a regional crisis or a contested foreign policy decision; it is a case study in the structural futility of international law when power decides...

Beyond The TRC: A Veil-Piercing Moment In International Tax Law

The Supreme Court's judgment in Authority for Advance Rulings (Income Tax) & others v. Tiger Global International Holdings 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 50 marks a moment where the long-standing tension in Indian tax law between form and substance is not merely acknowledged, but decisively addressed. Quietly, and without theatrics, the Court applies to international tax law an instinct long familiar...

Is An Insolvency Professional A 'Public Servant' Under The Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1988?

India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), relies on Insolvency Professionals (IPs) or Resolution Professionals (RPs) as neutral persons for distressed entities and creditors to maximise the output value of stressed assets. IPs' discretion over billions in assets is fuelled with multiple corruption allegations. Hence, to invoke the stringent Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PC...

Order XXI Rule 102 And The Limits Of Pendente Lite Transfers In Execution

The law of execution often reveals the real gap between paper rights and ground reality. A decree may declare who is entitled to property, but its actual value is tested only when possession is sought. Over the years, courts have struggled to prevent decree holders from being dragged into endless litigation by persons who enter the scene only after a suit is filed. In recent months, the Supreme Court revisited this problem through two important rulings on Order XXI Rule 102 of the Code of Civil...

Romeo-Juliet Clause And POCSO

When the State Treats Young Love as a Sexual Crime What is a Romeo and Juliet Clause?A Romeo and Juliet provision is a narrowly tailored statutory exception in sexual offence laws that protects consensual romantic or sexual relationships between adolescents who are close in age from criminal prosecution. It does not dilute the offence of sexual exploitation, abuse, or coercion. Instead, it draws a principled distinction between sexual predation and age-proximate adolescent intimacy, ensuring...

The Snatch-and-Grab of Sovereignty and the Erosion of International Law

If the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the shot heard around the world for the 20th century, the dawn raid on the Miraflores Palace on January 3, 2026, represents the death knell for the Westphalian order of the 21st century. When U.S. Special Forces extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to New York to face "narco-terrorism" charges, they did not merely conduct a military operation, they detonated the "nuclear option" in international diplomacy. While...

Designing Consent Under India's DPDP Act: Why UX Is Now A Legal Compliance

The digital economy in India can no longer rely on 'checkbox' philosophy to obtain user consent. Corporations deliberately minimized friction to obtain maximum information from the user. We as users are accustomed to pop-ups when visiting websites, to be dismissed before it fully loads, a pre-ticked box not to waste time on, or a link to a expertly drafted privacy policy full of Latin maxims. This era is supposed to end with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act) of 2023 and the...

Magistrates And The Duty Of Depth

In the bustling and often chaotic expanse of India's criminal justice system, magistrates stand as the sentinels at the gate. They are empowered to set the formidable machinery of criminal law in motion with a single stroke of their pen. Yet this immense power is too often wielded with a troubling lack of depth or reasoning. The Delhi High Court recently highlighted this perilous trend in the landmark case of Alok Kumar v. Harsh Mandir. The Court quashed a magisterial order directing an...

The Aravalli Verdict and India's Green Constitutionalism: A Watershed Moment in Ecological Jurisprudence”

On December 29, 2025, the Supreme Court of India stayed its own November judgment on the definition and regulatory regime governing the Aravalli Hills and Ranges, holding that “clarification is necessary.” The Vacation Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih, took suo motu cognisance of the controversy that followed its earlier ruling and placed the decision in abeyance (SMW(C) No. 10/2025). This rare act of judicial self-correction...

Sovereignty on Trial: Venezuela, Maduro and the Ghosts of Regime Change

The reported capture and prosecution of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the United States marks a gravely destabilising moment for international law. Projected as a law-enforcement action grounded in criminal accountability, the episode reveals a far more troubling reality: the steady normalisation of regime change cloaked in the language of legality. The real stakes go far beyond one individual. They concern the integrity of sovereignty in an increasingly power-driven global...

Understanding the ED And ECIR

ED, originally known as the Enforcement Unit, was set up under the Department of Economic Affairs for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulations Act 1947(FERA 1947). It was later renamed as Enforcement Directorate in 1957. The ED is mandated with investigation into economic crimes and violation of foreign Exchange laws. ED is under the administrative control of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.The ED operates under Foreign...

Section 193(3) Of The BNSS: Sequence Of Custody

Clause (i) of sub-section (2) of Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'the Code') states the requirements regarding the contents of a police report (charge-sheet) which shall be forwarded to the Magistrate by the officer in charge of the police station, after completing the investigation of a case. This provision now stands replaced by clause (i) of sub-section (3) of Section 193 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'the BNSS'). ...