Flag, Faith, And The Fading Constitutional Boundaries

Recently, the Prime Minister of our state presided and hoisted the dhwaja atop the newly constructed Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. I believe it marks a moment, while emotionally resonant for many, that deserves sober constitutional reflection. While the event holds cultural significance for many citizens, the involvement of the head of government in explicitly religious rituals marks a disquieting...

India's Air Pollution Emergency Underscores How Special Legal Protections For Coal Do Not Serve Public Interest

Despite the AQI crossing 500 every year, and the staggering reality that air pollution is responsible for 9% of all under-5 deaths, coal, which is a major contributor, has legal protections and exemptions for its use due to a legacy law written almost 70 years ago, in 1957.Coal accounts for 75% of India's power generation and production has grown by 35% in the last ten years. Yet one in...

Beyond Polygamy: A Bill Too Far

India has long had a legal prohibition on bigamy. What the new Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill attempts to criminalise is not a fresh offence. A secular bar already exists in the form of the former Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code and its successor, Section 82 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The Special Marriage Act also prohibits more than one subsisting marriage. The State...

Documenting The Undocumented In Electoral Roll Revision

India is currently witnessing a large-scale verification of its electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), provided under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The aim is legitimate: strengthen the voter list by eliminating fraudulent entries and those who are no longer alive. However, in the process of purifying democracy, a grave injustice is unfolding at the margins of society where people who were historically denied...

Sandesara Settlement and Constitutional Perimeter Of Closure Of Criminal Cases

The Supreme Court's order dated 19 November 2025 in Hemant S. Hathi v. Central Bureau of Investigation [2025 Livelaw (SC) 1139] represents an extraordinary culmination of multiple criminal, regulatory and attachment proceedings arising from the affairs of the Sterling group. Acting on what it repeatedly describes as the “peculiar facts” of the case, the Court directed that all such proceedings be quashed upon deposit of a consolidated sum of ₹5100 crore.This belongs to a small category of cases...

Expat PF Rules: Balanced in Law, Unbalanced in Effect

The Delhi High Court in SpiceJet vs Union of India, upheld the constitutional validity of Paragraph 83 of the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as "the Scheme"). This judgment upholds Paragraph 83 of the Scheme, which continues to obligate international workers to contribute EPF on their entire salary without any wage ceiling. This provision raises serious constitutional and practical concerns despite the Court's validation. Under Para 26 of the Scheme, Indian...

Anchoring The Intangible: Madras High Court's Landmark Ruling On Cryptocurrency As Property And Trust

The judgment delivered by the Madras High Court in Rhutikumari v. Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. is a decisive step in India's journey towards legal clarity with respect to virtual digital assets. The dispute involved Rhutikumari, an investor in the WazirX cryptocurrency exchange platform run by Zanmai Labs, whose portfolio account held 3,532.30 XRP coins valued at approximately Rs. 9,55,148.20. The controversy emerged in the wake of a devastating cyberattack in July 2024, which caused the...

Breaking Platform Lock-In: A Legal Analysis Of Why India Needs Messaging Interoperability

Recently, Meta announced that under the mandate of Europe's Digital Markets Act, it has built third-party interoperable features within WhatsApp to maintain equivalent privacy guarantees. Against this backdrop, by primarily using the examples of Arattai, Hike Messenger and WhatsApp, it is worth exploring India's stance on platform interoperability and whether a platform interoperability law on established players affects their market control and dominance, leading to fair competition and...

Enforcement As A Backdoor Challenge: India's Arbitration Finality Dilemma

India's Enforcement ConundrumAn arbitral award (“award”) attains finality once it withstands scrutiny under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”), which prescribes the limited grounds on which an award may be set aside. After attaining such finality, the award is meant to be enforced under Section 36 of the Act. However, this provision, though intended to streamline enforcement, has instead created uncertainty over whether it allows fresh challenges to an award that...

A Constitutional Blueprint For Protecting Third-Party Victims Under Motor Vehicles Act

Apropos the proceedings dated 30.10.2025 in National Insurance Company Limited v.Thungala Dhana Laxmi & Ors., the Supreme Court expressed “shock” at the disclosure that over 50 per cent of the vehicles plying on Indian roads are uninsured. The matter arose from an appeal by the insurer challenging a High Court award (of about ₹10 lakh plus interest) in a 1996 fatal accident case. In open court, the Bench (Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra) directed the insurer, the ...

Romanticising Caste System-Institutional Complicities

It appeared in news reports from last few weeks that the Government of Madhya Pradesh in an affidavit to the Supreme Court has endorsed a statement that “India's caste system was originally founded on social harmony, equality, and fraternity during the Vedic period, but was gradually altered due to contact with foreign powers”. As per reports, the claim has been submitted as part of the state's plea to raise Other Backward Class (OBC) reservations from 14% to 27%.The statement and a detailed...

Dancing In The Shadows: The Dark Underbelly Of Bihar's Orchestra System

Flashy vibrant lights, sparkled-tight-fitted costumes and the teenage girls swaying their bodies to the rhythm of the music playing in the background, audience cheering, hooting and uttering vulgar words, this is something not depiction of a Bollywood movie rather it is a reality in the state of Bihar. This particular event is infamously known as an orchestra and it is attended by good amount of audience with majority of them being men. An orchestra being held is so common that it serves as an...