Romeo-Juliet Clause And POCSO

When the State Treats Young Love as a Sexual Crime What is a Romeo and Juliet Clause?A Romeo and Juliet provision is a narrowly tailored statutory exception in sexual offence laws that protects consensual romantic or sexual relationships between adolescents who are close in age from criminal prosecution. It does not dilute the offence of sexual exploitation, abuse, or coercion. Instead, it draws a principled distinction between sexual predation and age-proximate adolescent intimacy, ensuring...

The Snatch-and-Grab of Sovereignty and the Erosion of International Law

If the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the shot heard around the world for the 20th century, the dawn raid on the Miraflores Palace on January 3, 2026, represents the death knell for the Westphalian order of the 21st century. When U.S. Special Forces extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to New York to face "narco-terrorism" charges, they did not merely conduct a military operation, they detonated the "nuclear option" in international diplomacy. While...

Designing Consent Under India's DPDP Act: Why UX Is Now A Legal Compliance

The digital economy in India can no longer rely on 'checkbox' philosophy to obtain user consent. Corporations deliberately minimized friction to obtain maximum information from the user. We as users are accustomed to pop-ups when visiting websites, to be dismissed before it fully loads, a pre-ticked box not to waste time on, or a link to a expertly drafted privacy policy full of Latin maxims. This era is supposed to end with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act) of 2023 and the...

Magistrates And The Duty Of Depth

In the bustling and often chaotic expanse of India's criminal justice system, magistrates stand as the sentinels at the gate. They are empowered to set the formidable machinery of criminal law in motion with a single stroke of their pen. Yet this immense power is too often wielded with a troubling lack of depth or reasoning. The Delhi High Court recently highlighted this perilous trend in the landmark case of Alok Kumar v. Harsh Mandir. The Court quashed a magisterial order directing an...

The Aravalli Verdict and India's Green Constitutionalism: A Watershed Moment in Ecological Jurisprudence”

On December 29, 2025, the Supreme Court of India stayed its own November judgment on the definition and regulatory regime governing the Aravalli Hills and Ranges, holding that “clarification is necessary.” The Vacation Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Augustine George Masih, took suo motu cognisance of the controversy that followed its earlier ruling and placed the decision in abeyance (SMW(C) No. 10/2025). This rare act of judicial self-correction...

Sovereignty on Trial: Venezuela, Maduro and the Ghosts of Regime Change

The reported capture and prosecution of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the United States marks a gravely destabilising moment for international law. Projected as a law-enforcement action grounded in criminal accountability, the episode reveals a far more troubling reality: the steady normalisation of regime change cloaked in the language of legality. The real stakes go far beyond one individual. They concern the integrity of sovereignty in an increasingly power-driven global...

Understanding the ED And ECIR

ED, originally known as the Enforcement Unit, was set up under the Department of Economic Affairs for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulations Act 1947(FERA 1947). It was later renamed as Enforcement Directorate in 1957. The ED is mandated with investigation into economic crimes and violation of foreign Exchange laws. ED is under the administrative control of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.The ED operates under Foreign...

Section 193(3) Of The BNSS: Sequence Of Custody

Clause (i) of sub-section (2) of Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'the Code') states the requirements regarding the contents of a police report (charge-sheet) which shall be forwarded to the Magistrate by the officer in charge of the police station, after completing the investigation of a case. This provision now stands replaced by clause (i) of sub-section (3) of Section 193 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'the BNSS'). ...

It Is Too Late To Put The Genie Back In The Bottle

The Indian judiciary through various judgments held that the declaration of a central law as unconstitutional by a High Court is binding all over India and not just within the territorial jurisdiction of that High Court. Despite this, Parliament has, quite incredulously, chosen to bring back a provision which was already declared unconstitutional, not by a constitutional amendment, but by simply changing the label of the identical provision under a new statute. Is it possible for Parliament to...

Writing The Law, Yet Outside The Law: Disability Rights And India's Law Entrance Exams

India has a wide range of national, state, and college-level entrance examinations that regulate access to legal education and determine entry into undergraduate and postgraduate law programmes across the country. These entrance exams provide an intensely competitive environment for law aspirants. For candidates with disabilities, however, this competition is layered with systemic barriers that undermine equal access to a crucial gateway to legal education in India.The Indian Constitution...

HECI And The Fault Lines: A Legal Reckoning

India is at the threshold of a fundamental reconfiguration of its higher and professional education landscape. The government, by proposing a sweeping legislative framework, commonly referred to as the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, is poised to dissolve multiple statutory bodies including the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), consolidating their regulatory powers under a single...

When Digital Evidence Fails: The Corporate Cost Of Ignoring Metadata

Creating document, clicking picture, or sending email leaves behind more than we realise. Each digital action creates a silent layer that records when it was created, who created it, where it came from, and how it is modified. This hidden trail is called metadata, often described as “data about data”.Right from communication and compliance to record keeping and decision-making, technology plays a vital role in the...