Sinking A Warship, Testing A Charter: Lessons From The Iris Dena Incident

The sinking of the Iranian warship Iris Dena by an American submarine in the Indian Ocean is not merely a dramatic naval episode, rather it represents a classic case of contemporary use of force. A sovereign immune warship of Iran, returning from a multilateral naval exercise hosted by India, was destroyed in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka by forces of the United States. That combination of facts — interstate violence outside a declared theatre of war, directed against a naval...

Dear Gujarat, My Marriage Is Not Meant To Be Notified

Picture this: you are eligible to vote the moment you turn eighteen. You can choose your government, influence public policy, and shape the destiny of the nation. Yet, when it comes to choosing your life partner, the State now proposes that you must first submit proof that you have informed your parents and thereafter, the authorities will independently notify them about your marriage.This is what has been proposed in Gujarat. The Deputy Chief Minister, Harsh Sanghavi, stated that the State...

Injunctions Vs Infrastructure: A Constitutional Critique

The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 is widely described as a reform aimed at strengthening contractual enforcement and improving India's investment climate. By recalibrating specific performance from a discretionary remedy to a general rule, the amendment sought to enhance commercial certainty. Yet embedded within this reform lies a provision that deserves far greater constitutional scrutiny than it has thus far received — Section 41(ha) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963.Section 41(ha)...

Reimagining India's Dispute Resolution Framework

India's colonial past bestowed upon it a justice delivery system that operates within an adversarial paradigm inherited from the Common Law traditions of Britain. This model of dispute resolution operates on binaries of legally defined rights and wrongs and works in a fault-finding framework that does not factor in the cultural diversity and the history of dialogic systems prevalent in the pre-colonial era. The present system is based on a binary system of adversarial determination rather than a...

Beyond Rituals Of Recognition: The Real Promise Of Women's Day

International Women's Day, observed every year on 8 March, is widely recognised as a moment to celebrate the achievements of women across political, economic, and social spheres. Yet the significance of this day extends far beyond ceremonial acknowledgment or symbolic gestures. It is, more importantly, an occasion that compels societies to confront uncomfortable truths about the persistent inequalities that continue to shape women's lives across the globe. While evolution in women's rights has...

How To Produce WhatsApp Evidence In Court Proceedings?

Read about how to present and file WhatsApp Chats as evidence in court proceedings? Should you export the entire chat or just file screenshots? What are the practical and legal limitations of filing just screenshots? What kind of evidentiary legal objections can be taken to filing of WhatsApp chats and how to pre-emptively avoid them? In today's era, WhatsApp has largely replaced traditional texting and has become the most widely used mode of communication. We communicate with our spouses,...

Tariffs, Trust And Tectonics: Strategic Undercurrents In US–India Trade

Trade agreements are rarely just about trade. They are instruments of leverage, alignment and hierarchy. The recent interim framework between the United States and India must therefore be read not as a tariff adjustment, but as a test of India's strategic autonomy. At first glance, the reduction of U.S. tariffs on Indian goods from punitive levels to 18 per cent appears to be a diplomatic gain. Exporters gain breathing space. Market sentiment stabilises. Yet beneath the arithmetic lies a...

US Sinking Of Iranian Warship IRIS Dena Raises International Law Questions

Recently, an Iranian warship identified as Frigate IRIS Dena was torpedoed by a United States submarine near the coast of Galle in Sri Lanka. Reportedly, the Sri Lankan Navy received a distress call and rescued 32 injured sailors within their search and rescue zone, while more than 80 bodies were discovered.After the incident, the United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, in a press...

Fixed-Term Employment Paradox: Workers' Security Vis-a-Vis Employers' Flexibility Under New Labour Code

With the four new Labour Codes, India's labour law framework has introduced one of the most significant reforms by formally recognizing the Fixed-Term Employees (“FTEs”). They are one of the most relied workforce categories under the flexible staffing models.As per Section 2(34) of the new Code on Social Security, 2020 (“CSS”), an FTE is any employee who has been engaged directly by the employer through a written contract, for a pre-determined period. Therefore, the employment of the FTE...

Union Budget 2026-27 And Access To Medicines

The Union Budget 2026-27 made two major announcements regarding medicines. First, it removed basic customs duty (BCD) on 17 cancer medicines. Second, it extended import duty exemptions to seven additional rare diseases for personal imports of drugs, medicines, and Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP). This is the third consecutive budget announcing BCD exemptions. In 2024, the BCD...

Judicial Overreach

Making a final evaluation of the U.S. Supreme Court, Willis in his Constitutional Law said that 'the final judgment of the American people will be that their constitutional rights are safe in the hands of the judiciary.' He paraphrased William Wirt that if the judiciary were struck from our system, there would be little of value that would remain. And that it would be as rational to talk of a solar system without a sun as to talk of a government in the U.S. without the Supreme Court. This...

Controlling Love Marriages Under The Pretext Of 'Love-Jihad'

In 1999, the Supreme Court had said in a famous case of noted writer Githa Hariharan[1] that: mother of a minor cannot be relegated to an inferior position on the ground of sex alone since her right as a natural guardian is equal like a father. It was a case under a Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act of 1956. After 26 years, recently Bombay High Court[2] has again – while recognising the right of single mother as a 'complete parent' said in a very strong words; acknowledging the rights of...