Preliminary And Final Decree In Partition Of Agricultural Land

When the owner of a property dies, disputes often arise among the heirs regarding their respective shares—particularly over which portion of land belongs to whom. To resolve such issues, a partition suit is filed. In cases involving immovable property (other than agricultural land), a preliminary decree is passed, and after the commissioner's report, a final decree is drawn accordingly. However, the process differs in the partition of revenue-paying land (agricultural land). In most cases,...

Dog Dilemma In The Supreme Court's Arena

Lex non cogit ad impossibilia — the law does not compel the impossible. A court's authority does not lie in the sharpness of its words or the stature of its institution, but in a single working assumption: that its orders can be executed in the real world. A judicial order is not advice; it is the Constitution speaking in command. When such a command meets silence because the executive machinery charged with its implementation remains inert, judicial concern is not only natural but warranted....

Can Legal Expense Insurance Bridge India's Justice Gap?

Access to justice occupies a central place in India's constitutional imagination. The right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 has long been interpreted to include meaningful access to courts, while Article 39A directs the State to ensure equal justice and free legal aid so that economic disability does not become a barrier to legal remedies. Yet, despite this normative clarity, the lived reality of litigation in India continues to remain deeply unequal.For a vast section of citizens,...

Freezing Of Bank Accounts And The Mandate Of Section 106 BNSS

Freezing of Bank Accounts and the Mandate of Section 106 BNSSIn recent years, the indiscriminate freezing of bank accounts by cyber police across the country has emerged as a serious procedural and constitutional concern. In numerous cases, innocent account holders find their accounts frozen merely because a small amount of money has been credited to their accounts as part of a cyber fraud trail. Such persons are neither accused nor suspects, yet they are deprived of access to their own money...

Trump Tariffs And The Challenge Before The Supreme Court Of The United States

On April 2, 2025 US President Donald Trump calling it a 'Liberation Day', unveiled a reciprocal tariff chart to be imposed on countries across the globe, with the ostensible objective of reducing crippling American trade deficit. For achieving this objective, the Trump administration invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 that confers the Federal Executive with a broad range of authority to regulate international economic transactions, subject only to a declaration of a...

Law On Reels- Haq (2025): Faith, Feminism And The Fight For Haq

Haq (2025) is an Indian Hindi-language film directed by Suparn Varma. It features Yami Gautam Dhar (as Shazia Bano) and Emraan Hashmi (as Abbas Khan) in the lead roles. In its end credits, the film acknowledges that though the makers have taken creative liberties to fictionalize the narrative, it is predominantly inspired by the landmark Supreme Court judgment in Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum 1985 INSC 97. This was an important decision in which Shah Bano succeeded to claimed maintenance...

Has Supreme Court's Interpretation Of S 175(4) BNSS Made Complaints Against Public Servants Harder? A Critical Analysis

The Supreme Court recently held in XXX versus State of Kerala and others that Section 175(4) BNSS is not a standalone provision and must be read with Section 175(3), requiring a complainant to first approach the police and the Superintendent of Police through a written, affidavit-supported complaint before moving the Magistrate against a public servant. While aimed at procedural discipline, the ruling raises concerns that it may unduly shield public servants and make the complaint process...

Beyond The Banner: Designing DPDPA-Compliant Consent Interfaces For E-Commerce Platforms

With the operationalisation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (hereinafter “DPDPA”), the digital economy of India is going to witness a drastic revamp. This revamp will pertinently change the perception of digital business as well as e-commerce operators (“operators”) as to how they collect and process data of their customers without intruding on their privacy. DPDPA will now transform e-commerce operators as to how they design their user interfaces (“UI-UX”), collect and process...

Anticipatory Bail for Proclaimed Offenders: The Evolution of Law

For a considerable period of time, the law relating to anticipatory bail in cases where an accused had been declared a proclaimed offender appeared to be settled—almost rigidly so. Courts across the country routinely dismissed applications under Section 438 CrPC once proclamation proceedings were brought to their notice. The declaration of an accused as a proclaimed offender came to be treated as a near-absolute bar to the exercise of anticipatory bail jurisdiction. The focus of judicial...

The Flaws In India's Approach To Copyright Reform For AI

Recently, the Government of India announced having constituted an eight-member committee to undertake a reassessment of the Copyright Act, 1957 in light of developments in the field of Generative Artificial Intelligence (“GenAI”) and Artificial General Intelligence (“AGI”). Meanwhile, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (“DPIIT”) also released a detailed working paper addressing two major policy gaps: a licensing framework for use of copyrighted material to train AI (also...

Supreme Court's Denial Of Bail Under UAPA And The Constitutional Criminalisation Of Dissent

On 5 Jan 2026, the Supreme Court of India (SC) denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, while granting bail to the other five co-accused. They were booked for the conspiracy linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots during the Citizenship Amendment Act Protests that led to 53 fatalities and widespread destruction of property. They were charged under Sections 13 and 16-18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, as well as multiple offences under the Indian Penal Code. The UAPA was...

New FEMA Compliance Framework for Service Exports

Currently, service exports from India (excluding software) are largely exempt from EDF/SOFTEX filings and related FEMA compliances. Service Exporters (including software) have generally been proactive in realizing proceeds because their GST refunds are strictly linked to the export realizations. If not realized, such exporters face the burden of GST and interest under Rule 96A of the...