Law Commons^™

Fear Of Love And Loving In India, Sarasu Esther Thomas

Popular Media

Excerpt:

It is unthinkable that marriages and live-in relationships between adults should become so regimented by the State. This is a violation of constitutional and human rights to have adult agency appropriated by the state and non-state actors. This insidious creeping of the paternalistic State into romantic and intimate relationships of consenting adults does not show any signs of ebbing. It reflects increased polarisation and merges moral policing with the law.

The Role Of A Judge In An Electoral Autocracy, Aparna Chandra

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In a year where 64 countries are holding elections, courts around the world must engage with a range of questions around electoral integrity and dysfunction, i.e., with the judicialization of electoral processes. How should democratically inclined judges respond to attempts by incumbent autocrats at leveraging laws to hold on to power?

Mapping Land Ownership As Part Of The Caste Census Could Uncover Key Patterns About Power, Resources, Sudheesh Rc

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Extract:

Land remains the most important asset for Indians, but at the same time, ownership is highly skewed by caste.... Caste censuses can reveal crucial patterns in how power in India is enmeshed in land. Most importantly, the caste census has the potential to bring land reform back to political agendas.

Govt Publications Must Give Credit Where Due, Aparajita Lath

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Extract:

...[The] concept of moral rights applies not only to highly creative works of art or fiction but also to any original work, including original policy and academic writing, whether legal, economic, political, or any other. This concept of moral rights applies not only to highly creative works of art or fiction but also to any original work, including original policy and academic writing, whether legal, economic, political, or any other. In the recent past, several government bodies have borrowed from research published by individuals in newspapers in their reports and policy decisions.... While the government has benefited from individual …

Uttarakhand Ucc Pits Vulnerable Young Couples Against The Might Of The State, Sarasu Esther Thomas

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On 7 February 2024, the Uttarakhand Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill. In this article, Prof. (Dr.) Sarasu Esther Thomas unpacks its provisions along with their legal and social implications.

The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023: A New And Unimproved Evidence Act, Kunal Ambasta

Popular Media

The secrecy in drafting the bill to replace the Evidence Act is reminiscent of colonial legislation by committee. The lack of consultation has meant that the interpretative confusions in existing law remain unresolved.

Ai And The Issue Of Human-Centricity In Copyright Law, Arul George Scaria

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This article urges Indian policymakers and courts to be cautious in extending existing IP protections to work generated by Artificial Intelligence. Reflecting on the concept of human-centricity in copyright law, it draws upon a recent US District Court judgement in Stephen Thaler v. Shira Perlmutter, which deals with the question of whether a work autonomously generated by AI should be copyrightable. It goes on to examine the Indian copyright regime in light of changing attitudes to AI regulation across the world.

Same-Sex Marriage Judgment Asks Queer Citizens To Wait For True Equality At A Future Time That May Never Arrive, Kunal Ambasta

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Excerpt:

"For about the last 15 years, the queer rights movement has enriched the constitutional law of this country. Some of the most cherished constitutional values and rights have been fleshed out with the movement as its springboards at the Supreme Court.... The Court fully acknowledges, in abstract, the rights of queer couples to equal treatment before the law, dignity, and of the numerous tangible and intangible benefits of the institution of marriage, but refuses to ensure any of these rights to a clear case of legal discrimination or to craft a suitable remedy."

Marriage Equality Judgment: The Missing Case Of International Covenants, Nanditta Batra, Naveen Batra

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This article analyses the judgement on marriage equality delivered by a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India on 17 October 2o23. The authors argue that, in holding that there is no fundamental right to marry under the Indian Constitution, the court has not taken into account binding international human rights treatises that categorically state the right to marry as a human right.

Does Today's India Need 'Decolonisation' Speak?, Salmoli Choudhuri, Moiz Tundawala

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This article analyses the introduction of three new Bills to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the updated Criminal Procedure Code of 1973—the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya Bill and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, respectively—in light of Indian and global discourse on decoloniality.

Excerpt:

"The proposed exercise of indigenising laws – insincere at best and dangerous at worst – would only bring about a surface-level change of the imaginary through a spectacular show of rejecting the colonial inheritance while harbouring no aspirations for freedom at the structural and systemic level of the symbolic order …