A Doctrinal Shift In Judicial Response To Cyber Fraud

The Delhi High Court's judgment in Dabur India Limited v Ashok Kumar on fraudulent domain name registration is best understood as a judicial response to the changing anatomy of digital fraud. The Court was confronted with an ecosystem in which impersonation websites, fake investment portals, and cloned brand identities proliferate at scale, often vanishing and reappearing faster than traditional legal remedies can respond. Against this reality, the judgment, authored by Justice Prathiba M....

Jurisdictional Uncertainty Under Section 18 MSMED Act: Time For Authoritative Clarification

The role of micro, small and medium enterprises has been internationally recognised in reducing levels of poverty through job creation and economic growth. In view of their significance the Indian Parliament provided appropriate frame work for their growth and development by enacting 'the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, of 2006'. It replaced earlier legislation, 'the Interest on Delayed Payment to Small Scale and Ancillary Industries Undertakings Act, 1993'. The new Act of...

Institutional Accountability, Governance Implications And Constitutionalising Mental Health: The Significance Of Sukdeb Saha Verdict

In July 2025, the Supreme Court of India delivered a ruling that reframed the constitutional parameters of mental health significantly. The case was initiated by the petitioner Sukdeb Saha, a bereaved father. He lost his 17-year-old daughter, a NEET aspirant living alone in a hostel in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He alleged that the local police had failed to conduct a critical investigation into her death. Saha approached the Supreme Court, where his petition questioned the accountability of...

Time, Arguments And Justice: Cooperation, Not Compulsion, At The Heart Of New SOP

The Chief Justice of India Surya Kant made several specific public and in-court remarks regarding the restriction of argument time in the weeks leading up to the release of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on December 29, 2025. The CJI's comments cantered on the idea that judicial time is a "limited public resource" and that prolonged oral arguments by senior counsel were unfairly depriving "poor and ordinary litigants" of their day in court.On December 11, 2025, during a hearing involving...

Igniting Flame Of Growth: A New Year's Call To Evolve In Justice

Dear Brother and Sister Judges, Esteemed Young Advocates, and Fellow Legal Minds across India,As 2025 draws to a close, a simple book has quietly reshaped my own approach to our demanding profession. Dr. Carol S. Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success draws a clear line between two ways of seeing ourselves: the fixed mindset, which treats abilities as unchangeable traits, and the growth mindset, which views them as muscles strengthened through effort, challenge, and learning. In the...

Consent At The Crossroads: Reforming POCSO Act For A Changing World

Policing Consent: The Deep-Rooted Control Over Female Sexuality in Indian Society and the Law:Indian society and its legal framework have long been entrenched in a patriarchal mindset that seeks to regulate and control female sexuality under the garb of protection and tradition. This control manifests starkly in the law's treatment of consent, particularly in how it relates to two distinct groups of women: minors and married women. In both cases, the autonomy of women and adolescent girls over...

Sorry State Of Sanitation In Uttar Pradesh's Courts For Women

Beneath the solemn domes and echoing corridors of Uttar Pradesh's district courts and tribunals, where the fundamental rights of citizens are passionately defended, lies a silent, shameful contradiction. While legal minds debate the finer points of Article 21 of the Constitution—the Right to Life and Personal Liberty—a stark violation of those very right festers within the court premises, i.e. the deplorable state of public toilets.For the women who serve and seek justice here—lawyers,...

Funding Visibility Over Justice: Rethinking Budgetary Priorities For India's Courts

One of the four pillars of democracy in India is the judiciary, courts are not merely dispute- resolution forums; they are institutions that give meaning to rights, accountability, and the rule of law. Yet, in India, the judiciary continues to function within a paradox: while judicial pendency rises and court infrastructure remains visibly inadequate, budgetary priorities consistently favour politically visible expenditure such as government advertising, publicity campaigns, and image- building...

Twists And Turns In An Arbitration Proceedings - A Tale Of Drama, Suspense And Resolution

Recently, the Delhi High Court was confronted with an arbitration dispute that unfolded like an endless cinematic labyrinth, where every procedural turn revealed a fresh twist, each development adding a new layer of intrigue, much like a Christopher Nolan narrative that keeps the audience guessing till the very end. The dispute was brought by a beleaguered Indian PSU that found itself trapped in a complex chessboard of procedural manoeuvring at the hands of an international giant, compelling it...

SHANTI And The Paradox Of Peace In Nuclear Law [Part-II]

[This article is the concluding part of a two-piece examination of the SHANTI Act. Part I analysed the law through the lens of liability, justice delivery, institutional trust and the legacy of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. Part II turns to the material realities that shape nuclear policy regardless of ownership—capital costs, timelines, international safeguards, fuel geopolitics and climate imperatives—to assess the limits within which legislative choices...

The Anatomy Of A Cyber Fraud: How A Retired Police Officer Fell Prey To A Sophisticated Investment Scam

The legal architecture of investment scams and the human cost that the criminal law struggles to recordRetired Inspector General of Police (IGP) from the Punjab Police, Amar Singh Chahal, who was hospitalised in a critical condition after attempting suicide following the loss of his life savings to an online investment scam, has survived and is now recovering, turning what first appeared as a personal tragedy into a case with far-reaching legal and institutional implications. As Chahal battled...

Economic Freedom Under Indian Constitution: Beyond Lockean Libertarianism

Economic freedom is often assumed to be an inherent component of capitalism, based on the libertarian belief that individuals possess natural rights against state interference. John Locke expressed his theory of libertarianism, which was in many ways very distinct from Bentham's idea of utilitarianism (maximising happiness). The idea of libertarianism emphasised individual rights. Locke argued that supreme nature has provided individuals with natural rights, which render them free from excessive...