Section 32A's Clean Slate: A Promise That Rarely Materializes

Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, was introduced through the IBC (Amendment) Act, 2019, to assure resolution applicants that, once a compliant plan is approved and control shifts to a new management, the corporate debtor and its property would begin on a clean slate, being free from liability for offences committed before the commencement of CIRP. The constitutional validity of this provision was upheld by the Supreme Court in Manish Kumar v. Union of India, which...

Identity On Trial: Constitutional Debate On Transgender Rights In India

In recent weeks, a familiar yet unsettled question has returned to discussion: who has the authority to define identity? For transgender people, it is not merely a discussion, but one that shapes their access to education, employment, and ultimately, dignity. The marginalisation of transgender persons has been consistent, as society confines them to roles of entertainment and cultural bridges. Moreover, the recent amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 have raised...

Constitutional Morality Vs Public Health: Blood Safety, Scientific Evidence And Exclusion Of Queer Donors

Indian constitutionalism today is characterized by a sharp divide between the forward-looking and right interpretation of the Constitution by the Supreme Court on the one hand, and the on-going sluggishness of the executive on the other. The Supreme Court of India continues to be the venue of an intense debate over the Guidelines for Blood Donor Selection and Blood Donor Referral, 2017. While the judiciary has spent the last decade in progressive interpretation of legislation and coming out in...

Myth Of Formalisation: Economic Survey Projections And Governance Challenges In India's Labour Codes

India's new labour codes have been promoted as reforms with the potential to bring major change whose draft rule was issued in December 2025. The Economic Survey 2025–26 presents an optimistic outlook: the codes are expected to raise formalisation from 60.4% to 75.5%, create 77 lakh jobs, lower unemployment, increase female labour force participation, and add 1.25% to GDP by 2029–30. These projections are based on the assumption that simplifying compliance for firms will encourage formalisation...

Illusion Of Protection: How Transgender Amendment Bill, 2026 Risks Failing Those It Claims To Protect

Transgender basically refers to a person whose gender identity differs from that of the gender which is assigned to them at birth, and it also includes the identities based on self-perception rather than only biological traits. It basically recognises the important aspect that gender is a deeply personal and self-determined aspect of a person's identity, unlike a narrower biological term such as “transsexual”. The same understanding has been constituted and affirmed in the case of National Legal...

Diluting Identity: The New Transgender Amendment

The amendment to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 [the 2019 Act], introduced on March 13, 2026 by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, and passed by Parliament on March 25, marks a troubling shift in India's legal approach to gender identity. The bill is presented as addressing implementation challenges, but in substance undermines transgender rights. The new transgender bill risks undoing years of constitutional progress. The move raises the question that is...

Myth Of Formalisation: Economic Survey Projections And Governance Challenges In India's Labour Codes

India's new labour codes have been promoted as reforms with the potential to bring major change whose draft rule was issued in December 2025. The Economic Survey 2025–26 presents an optimistic outlook: the codes are expected to raise formalisation from 60.4% to 75.5%, create 77 lakh jobs, lower unemployment, increase female labour force participation, and add 1.25% to GDP by 2029–30. These projections are based on the assumption that simplifying compliance for firms will encourage formalisation...

Beyond Words - Why Chhattisgarh High Court's Approach To Victim Testimony Matters

The history of criminal law in India has had a long history of being plagued by an extremely tedious criminal process, right from filing a complaint or FIR to the passing of the final order. The intermediate stages are long and exhausting1, and given the adversarial functioning of the Indian judicial machinery, a lot depends on the judge's interpretation and how evidence presented is perceived. The role of the court becomes particularly important in sensitive cases, like those involving sexual...

End The Linguistic Apartheid

Justice is frequently conceptualized as a procedural outcome, yet its true essence is communicative. In the Indian Republic, a profound ontological chasm exists between the "Law of the State" and the "Life of the Citizen." This divide is primarily linguistic. When English remains the language of legal education and the highest courts, it is a 'structural injustice' that enables what theorist Miranda Fricker calls "Epistemic Injustice", the silencing of a subject's ability to convey lived...

A Constitutional Critique Of Rajasthan's Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026

Imagine you own a house and want to sell it. You have a willing buyer. You have agreed on a price. Both of you are acting freely, with full knowledge of what you are doing. And yet, a government officer can step in and say no — not because there is anything fraudulent about your transaction, not because either of you is being coerced, but because the officer has formed an opinion that your sale might affect the demographic composition of the neighbourhood. If you proceed with the transaction...

When The Law Looks Away

On March 6, 2026, ten police officers in plain clothes arrived in Krishnarajapuram in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu and took away a 26-year-old Dalit engineering graduate, R. Akash Delison. He had been accused of attacking two men, a serious allegation that required investigation and trial. Instead, within forty-eight hours, he was dead.In his dying declaration, Akash described how he was blindfolded, his legs placed on stones, covered with a wet sack, and beaten repeatedly with an iron rod....

Extension Of Arbitral Tribunal Under Section 29A Of The Arbitration & Conciliation Act

The Dispute Resolution process through Arbitration has always been appealing due to its efficiency and quick resolution. However, over time, the reality of Arbitral proceedings became similar to Court Proceedings due to the long delays in pronouncing Arbitral Awards. Hence, to resolve this, the Indian Legislature in 2015 introduced Section 29A in the Arbitration & Conciliation Act of 1996 ('1996 Act'). Section 29A of the 1996 Act imposes a deadline on the Arbitral Tribunal by requiring it to...