Settlement Without Closure: Section 138 As Leverage In Commercial Lease Defaults

In commercial leasing, a settlement rarely brings genuine closure. A tenant may clear outstanding rent, vacate the premises, and sign a compromise deed, yet the landlord's Section 138 complaint may continue unless it is compounded or otherwise terminated by the court. Conversely, a landlord issuing a cheque to refund a security deposit may face criminal proceedings if that cheque bounces. The reason is a built-in structural asymmetry: under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881,...

Scope Of Challenge To An Order Under Section 175(3) BNSS

Section 175(3) of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) which corresponds to section 154(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), empowers the magistrate to direct the police to register and investigate an incident of a cognizable offence when police fail to do so. The provision is a crucial safeguard for the victims in situations where police officers, under the influence, selectively or otherwise, disregard registering an FIR despite disclosure of a cognizable offence....

Algorithmic Masquerade: Personality Rights And Deceptive Horizon Of AI Safe Harbor

The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has created a major challenge for India's digital liability laws. Instead of simply hosting user data, generative AI systems actively recreate human identity. This shift disrupts the core assumptions of Section 79 of the The Information Technology Act, 2000, which protects online platforms from being held liable for user-generated content.[1] While the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code)...

2026 FCRA Amendments: Where Regulation Ends And Restriction Begins

I have sat with enough small trusts and societies to know the file before I know the people. A thick folder of bank letters, audit reports, board resolutions, and returns filed year after year, and under it a quiet worry each time a renewal comes due. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 22 June 2026, add several pages to that folder. At first sight this is one more round of compliance. Read with some care, it is a larger...

SARFAESI-IBC Deadlock: A System At War With Itself

The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) have had an uneasy interface since the initiation of IBC in India and has recently come into sharp focus. The recent judgements of Bombay High Court including Arrow Business Development Consultants Pvt. Ltd. v. Union Bank of India & Ors have exposed a critical gap in the statutory framework. This inconsistency allows insolvency...

From Post To Platform: Section 69A After Telegram Order

The holding that an entire platform can be switched off is defensible on the statute's text. What the judgment does not supply is a limiting principle. On 19 June 2026, the Delhi High Court dismissed Telegram's challenge to the temporary block imposed on the platform ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination. Most of the attention has understandably gone to the block itself: a widely used messaging service with more than 150 million Indian users, made unavailable across India, even if only for a few...

Beyond Modicum Of Creativity: Human Agency And Future Of Copyright Authorship

The existence of the idea-expression dichotomy under copyright is a prerequisite for linking the other core concept of originality. It is not merely a technical requirement but a tool to balance the creators' incentive with the right of the public to access information. It could be said that protectability of an idea could be achieved if it is expressed and fixed in a certain form having originality. The word 'originality' requires creativity, not 'just' an output of certain prompt but...

AI And IPR : Rethinking Ownership And Innovation

The concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the process of knowledge creation and innovation. In such areas as art, music, writing articles, and conducting scientific research, machines have shown themselves to be highly adept at producing output which resembles human creativity. Though such progress provides great prospects for future economic development, it creates many issues related to IPR, including ownership and authorship of AI products.The creation of intellectual...

Lapses In Extending Compensation To Victims

Justice is often perceived as complete once court delivers its verdict. Yet, the true measure of Justice lies in its ability to address the harm suffered by the victim through meaningful restitution, rehabilitation, and support. In this regard, Victim Compensation has become an Integral component of contemporary Criminal Justice Systems, marking a transition from offender-centric models to victim-oriented frameworks that acknowledge and address the rights, needs, and rehabilitation of...

Diluted Spirit: Kerala's Low-Alcohol Tax And What Law Permits

A single line in the revised Kerala Budget has reopened the oldest argument this State has with itself. The line cuts the tax on a class of drink the law calls low alcoholic beverages, and it now sits inside a Finance Bill due before the Assembly on July 1. Most of the conversation around it has been about who gains and who is embarrassed. I want to set that aside and ask the two questions a lawyer is trained to ask. What does the law allow the State to do here, and what should it choose to do....

Crypto's Regulatory Vacuum: India's ₹2,500 Crore Problem

On 17 June 2026, officers of the Enforcement Directorate descended on six premises across Bengaluru linked to five cryptocurrency payment companies. The alleged offence is routing over ₹2,500 crore (roughly $300 million) abroad through stablecoin transfers, without the RBI's authorisation. 6 crore in bank assets were frozen. No arrests have been made. Significantly, the action was not under India's money laundering law. It was under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, a 1999 statute designed...

Revisiting Section 56 CPC: Does Article 15(3) Still Justify Civil Arrest Immunity For Women?

More than a century after its enactment, Section 56 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 continues to occupy an unusual place in Indian procedural law. The provision declares in unequivocal terms that no woman shall be arrested or detained in civil prison in execution of a decree for payment of money. While the remainder of the execution framework under the Code permits arrest and detention of a judgment-debtor in specified circumstances, women remain completely exempt from such coercive...