Draft Rules On e – Pharmacies: Not the Right Prescription

The increasing popularity of e-commerce, including e-pharmacies, is undeniable. E-pharmacies offer the comfort of shopping from home, privacy, and price discounts. It also allows access to drugs, not available locally.However, risks exist in buying drugs online. Supply of fake and illegal drugs; abuse on account of fake or forged or no prescriptions; lack of verification of the ultimate user; unhealthy competition; abuse of critical health data generated online; and mishandling during transport;...

Justice Ranjan Gogoi : A Judge Mindful Of Our Times

“Mr. Counsel, you addressed our hearts the entire afternoon yesterday. Kindly address our heads today”. This remark came from the then junior most Judge of a three Judges Special Bench of the Supreme Court, Justice Ranjan Gogoi during a hearing in 2013 in the Samaj Parivartana case pertaining to encroachment and other illegalities committed by miners in Karnataka. Known for his few and firm words, Justice Gogoi will take charge as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India with effect from...

Patents Vs. Farmers Rights TRIPS Obligations

Efforts of Multinational Corporations (MNC’s) to expand their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR’s), beyond the scope of the existing laws, received a jolt. A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd. & Ors. Vs Monsanto Technologies LLC & Ors.[1] (The Monsanto Judgment) rejected the patents claim of Monsanto Technologies (Monsanto) in respect of genetically modified Cotton Seeds. The court held that exercising option under Article 27(3) (b) of the ‘Trade-Related...

Triple Talaq Ordinance: Another Failure Of Govt To Build Consensus

Among Muslims, instant triple talaq is the practice under which man can divorce his wife by simply uttering “talaq” thrice. It is followed by few sections of Indian Muslims, majority of whom are followers of the Hanafi school of Islamic Law. A frowned upon practice is neither a universal nor followed by most muslim-majority countries. It’s misuse by men then breaks the idea of gender justice, dignity and, equality, therefore last year the Supreme Court of India banned the practice calling it...

When Brecht Speaks As Ambedkar

Citing literary sources, turning to parables, prose, plays, poetry is the wherewithal of political discoursePolicemen and policewomen are not mindless digits in khaki. They have all been to school. Many of them are MAs, some PhDs. And they have families, friends just like anyone else who has not been clad in hide-tough uniforms the whole day. When at end of duty hours they return home, get back to home-clothes, settle down to a tired day’s evening, like anyone else, they talk of all they went...

India’s Arbitration/Alternate Dispute Redressal Mechanism – Is It A Trap Or A Genuine Redressal Mechanism ?

Undoubtedly, the Indian Arbitration Act of 1940 had failed. Barring Government / PWD / DDA Contracts, that imposed arbitration Clause(s) upon Private Contractor(s), India’s alternate dispute resolution mechanism convinced or attracted none. In writing it’s epitaph, Justice D.A. Desai lamented -“Interminable, time consuming, complex and expensive court procedures impelled jurists to search for an alternative forum, less formal, more effective and speedy for resolution of disputes avoiding...

Legal Education : Looking Beyond National Law Schools

India is such a vast country with a population of more than 1.3 billion. Out of the total number of seats available for people to study law, national law schools and high profile private law universities constitute only a small fraction. Merely improving the quality of education in top Indian law colleges will not be sufficient. Further, national law schools and popular private colleges are very expensive, with their fees running into a few lakhs every year. Such fees are outside the reach of a...

Navtej Singh Johar : A Progressive Verdict Which Discards Societal Prejudice

For long, criminality, marginality and entrenched stigma were the attributes that defined LGBTs in India. They were the most degraded lot who were considered physically, religiously, morally, socially, medically and legally untouchables. But in the last two and half decades, the discourse on sexual orientations started changing to the favour of LGBTs. They organised and gave a sustainable legal challenge to the generalised norms of heteronormative prejudice enshrined in Section 377 of the Indian...

Seat Of Arbitration: Have We Been Unseated

The critical significance of “Seat”, particularly in International Commercial Arbitration in the present prevalent regime of “localized arbitration”, is more or less settled.Even the test resorted to, i.e., the “closest and most intimate connection” test, for the purpose of determining the “Seat” in International Commercial Arbitration, when parties to the lis have not expressly agreed to one, has also been uniformly recognized globally. In fact, most of the statute in the world, including the...

The Impact Of Section 377 Judgment On Heterosexual Relations

This week shall forever be entrenched as historic, given the verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India,[1] wherein it partially struck down the draconian Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, thereby upholding the rights of the LGBTQ community. However, post the verdict of the Court, there seems to be a lack of clarity on certain issues. For instance, the question of whether this judgment allows people to engage in acts of sodomy, which includes coitus...

The Tuesday Column: Right To Equality From The Prism Of The Third Gender

Socio-economic rights under our Constitution have been relegated to the non-justiciable category of the Directive Principle of State Policy. And yet, the harsh reality is that freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed under Article 19 of our Constitution, which though technically justiciable, remains purely theoretical unless you have the social and economic means to truly express yourself with dignity and security.This is as true for persons of the third gender as it is for any other...

Welcome The Post-Sec. 377 Era! What About Conversion Therapies?

The flow of inexplicable emotions and energy cannot be defined in words. India has transitioned into an era where the rainbow is sprightlier than ever before!My friends and colleagues from the bar and beyond have done an excellent job in identifying the key takeaways from the 6th September verdict, so I won’t get into that aspect. For the past two years, I, along with colleague Dr. Bhuchitra Singh, who is situated at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, have made some...