Articles
Reassessing Criminalisation Of Cheque Dishonour
Cheque is not merely a piece of paper rather it holds significant importance. It has been defined under section 6 of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (NIA) as a bill of exchange drawn on a specified banker and not expressed to be payable otherwise than on demand and it includes the electronic image of a truncated cheque and a cheque in the electronic form. When the chapter XVII was introduced into the NI Act, the legislative intent was to address the problem of commercial confidence. The object...
Rat Or Tail?
In 1902, the French colonial government in Hanoi had a rat problem. To control the growing population of rodents, the government introduced a bounty of one cent for every rat tail produced. The logic was simple: more tails meant more rats killed, and thus fewer rats meant a cleaner Hanoi. However, soon, officials began finding rats without tails. The Vietnamese rat catchers had understood the incentive better than the government. Instead of killing the rats, they would cut off their tails,...
Right To Protest; Absurdity Of Antiquated Permission System
As thousands of journalists, activists, protestors, and opposition leaders are detained across the capital, you may have heard police or government spokespeople remark that the detainees lacked the proper “permission” to protest. Prima facie, it seems paradoxical that citizens require permission to protest from the very sovereign whose conduct they are protesting. But the incongruity remains a parting gift from the British Raj to any future governing class in India. The Police Act of 1861, in...
Vande Matarm: National Symbolism And Constitutional Limits
A national symbol holds the power of binding a constitutional community through history, memory and a shared national sentiment. The legal situation, however, gets intricate when the State goes from recognising this symbol to prescribing what it must look like, and eventually protecting its performance through criminal law. The current controversy regarding Vande Mataram thus poses a question which goes beyond the song itself i.e. at what point does the protection of a national symbol stop and...
Peaceful Protest And Public Order
India was confronted with a deeply troubling question concerning the survival of its constitutional freedoms. Advocates, students, journalists were reportedly detained by law enforcement personnel while protesting peacefully in the capital of India. The incidents raises concerns that extend far beyond the detention of individuals. It touches the very foundation of our democracy and the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India, The Constitution of India is not merely a compilation of...
When Judges Compare Handwriting: Is Judicial Eyesight Enough?
A disputed signature or handwriting can sometimes determine the fate of an entire case. Whether a person executed a Will, signed a cheque, acknowledged a liability, or wrote a threatening letter may lead to one question: who wrote it?Recently, the Supreme Court in Gopal Pathak vs Nitin Alias Pappu & Anr. (2026 LiveLaw (SC)1018) observed that court must compare signatures themselves, expert evidence cannot be called routinely in handwriting disputes. The law permits courts to compare...
When Paneer Is Not Paneer: Emerging Law On Dairy Analogues In India
Few foods are as familiar in the Indian kitchen as paneer. Yet its familiarity can obscure a legal question of some importance: when may a product be sold under that name?The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has now placed that question squarely in the regulatory domain. A notification dated 22 September 2026, published in the Gazette of India on 23 September and listed by FSSAI on 24 September, contains the draft Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on...
Simplifying Transmission Or Complicating Succession: Critical Analysis Of SEBI's 2026 Framework For Transmission Of Securities
When an investor dies, it leads to a unique regulatory issue. Because the securities markets are based on the principles of speed, standardization and certainty, it does not lend itself well to legal principles such as succession, which is more fact-driven and based on principles such as inheritance, testamentary disposition and beneficial ownership. Thus, transmission of securities is a point of intersection between securities regulation and succession law. As such, the challenge facing a...
Who Decides Who Owns Land? Maharashtra's Proposed Land Titling Bill
Ask a Maharashtra farmer whether the land in his satbara extract is really his, and he will probably say yes. Ask a court, and the answer is more careful. A satbara record who is in possession, and a mutation entry records that a transaction was reported. Neither, in law, proves ownership. That gap underlies a large share of land litigation in the State, and the proposed Maharashtra Land Titling Bill aims to close it by having the State certify ownership rather than merely record possession.The...
When Personality Rights Become Shortcut To Restrain Speech
The Delhi High Court's pending examination in Personality Rights cases raises a question larger than celebrity protection: how should Indian law distinguish identity from expression?A celebrity's face on a product is an easy case. A cloned voice used to solicit money is another. The harder cases are the ones that look ordinary on the internet: a parody video, a meme built from an interview, a news report carrying a photograph, a commentary channel using a public figure's name, or a creator...
Doctrine Of Seat Of Arbitration In Indian Jurisprudence
The distinction between the 'juridical seat' (lex arbitri) and the geographical 'venue' (locus arbitri) represents one of the most foundational yet frequently litigated doctrines in Indian arbitration law. While the 'seat' anchors the arbitration to a specific legal system and confers exclusive supervisory jurisdiction on the courts of that territory, a 'venue' is merely a convenient physical location where hearings, witness examinations, or deliberations may take place.The Arbitration and...
