This paper looks at Public Interest Litigation (PIL) as a judicial tool for the enforcement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India. The paper seeks to examine the ways through which PIL links constitutional duties under Articles 14, 21 and 32 with India’s obligations as per the SDGs under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The paper also seeks to assess the role of the judiciary in transforming the principles of sustainable development into legal action through PIL jurisprudence. The study applies a legal research method. It employs constitutional provisions, judgments from the Indian Supreme Court cases of M.C. Mehta v. Union of India and Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum v. Union of India, as well as international instruments such as UN Sustainable Development Goals and international environmental treaties. Secondary sources include peer-reviewed articles, policy papers, and legal resources like ResearchGate, IJIRT, IJCRT, and Manupatra. The main findings show that PIL has been used as a judicial tool for the inclusion of sustainable development principles in the Indian Constitution. This is evident in environmental jurisprudence where Article 21 has been interpreted to include the right to a clean and healthy environment. In addition to that, PIL has contributed positively towards environmental governance and justice through various judgments. Nonetheless, some issues still remain with regard to implementing judicial directives in practice, especially owing to administrative and organizational limitations. These consequences reveal that PIL is an essential constitutional tool towards achieving the goals of SDGs in India. PIL’s potential may be increased through coordinated efforts between constitutional bodies and systematic application of SDG concepts in judicial decision-making. It would guarantee coherence in the interpretation of constitutional law, governance and international sustainable development standards.
#Public Interest Litigation#Sustainable Development Goals#Constitutional Law
The Constitution of India is introduced with four important words, i.e. Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Therefore, all laws in India are to be introduced and implemented with respect to these four concepts. And hence, criminal liability in India can only be established if both actus reus and mens rea are proven in the court of law. To determine the involvement of an accused in a criminal offense, it is essential to prove or disprove their intention of committing that offense.
By incorporating science into the legal field, Indian Evidence Act of 1872, and now Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 establish that neuroscientific evidence is admissible in the court of law. Among the various types of neuroscientific evidence, this research paper will focus on the latest and the most used neuroscientific evidence, viz. Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling, or BEOS. It will include the development and scientific mechanism of BEOS, as well as include other similar technologies. The paper will focus on the reliability of BEOS in criminal proceedings, and discuss the ethical concerns behind the usage of this technology with respect to Articles 20 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
The judiciary plays a pivotal role when admissibility of any evidence is concerned. It is essential to allow or deny any type of evidence that is or is not relevant to the case at hand. It is necessary to recognize the role of judiciary in determining the application and relevance of neuroscientific evidence (particularly BEOS) in various cases.
Furthermore, Section 63 of Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 governs the admissibility of electronic records and digital evidence in the court of law. BEOS data outputs are included in electronic and digital evidence, although Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling (BEOS) is treated as corroborative evidence.
White-collar crime, particularly tax evasion and corruption, poses a significant threat to economic stability, governance, and public trust in an increasingly globalised economy. Despite the presence of stringent statutory frameworks in India, such as the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the Income Tax Act, 1961, enforcement mechanisms continue to be largely punitive and reactive. The persistence of corporate misconduct highlights the limitations of traditional criminal law approaches in addressing structurally embedded economic offences.
This dissertation examines the effectiveness of corporate compliance mechanisms as a preventive legal response to white-collar crime. It analyses the extent to which internal governance measures—such as compliance programmes, risk management systems, whistle-blower protections, and ethical codes—can complement statutory enforcement in curbing tax evasion and corruption. The study adopts a doctrinal and comparative methodology, examining Indian legal frameworks alongside international standards, including the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting framework. Selected judicial decisions and corporate case studies are analysed to identify enforcement gaps and compliance failures.
The research argues that integrating mandatory corporate compliance obligations within the legal framework can shift the regulatory approach from post-offence punishment to proactive prevention. It concludes by recommending targeted legal and policy reforms to strengthen compliance culture in India while maintaining a balance between regulatory control and economic growth. The study seeks to contribute to contemporary discourse on corporate criminal liability and the development of effective preventive strategies against white-collar crime.
The growing role of social media as a primary space of political communications has changed the nature of radicalisation and political violence. Organizations and ideologies that used to depend on close physical networks, material resources, and geographic proximity to recruit and mobilize supporters can now be global actors at little or no cost. They do this by exploiting the very design features that make digital platforms commercially successful in maximizing engagement. States, intergovernmental organizations and technology companies have responded with expanding counter-radicalization architectures. Yet such responses often create sharp tensions between state security and democratic freedoms of individuals and communities.
The author(s) examine the governance of online radicalization in the digital age using a multi-level framework informed by securitization theory, multi-level governance theory, network theory, and the human security approach. It explores the dynamics and processes of radicalization that occurs digitally, critically scrutinizes the policy reactions from India, the UK, and the USA. It elaborates a normative structure for counter-radicalization governance that respects rights. The evaluation of the study will be qualitative, exploratory in nature, using content analysis and comparative policy analysis based on some literature, primary policy documents, reports of think-tanks and publications of international organizations.
The paper finds that the existing solutions are mostly security-focused surveillance initiatives and content regulations for platforms, as well as counter-terrorism regulation while preventive, community-based, and structural responses are neglected. The author asserts that the standard framing of counter radicalization as a security vs liberty trade-off is fundamentally mistaken. Effective counter radicalization depends on the social trust, democratic legitimacy, and community cooperation that intrusive and discriminatory security measures erode. A democratic and rights-based model of digital counter-radicalization governance is operationally superior and normatively needed, the paper argues.
This paper aims to analyse how Muslim women and patriarchal societies are represented in A Woman Is No Man using the theory of Islamic feminism. Feminist ideology has been dominated by the West and has ignored the role and experience of women who are deeply embedded in religious culture and traditions. Islamic feminism acts as a counter discourse to Western feminism that advocates gender justice by reinterpreting scriptures and challenging patriarchal interpretations of religion. This study is based on the works of various scholars such as Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, Fatima Mernissi, and others.
A close reading of the novel exposes themes such as trauma, diasporic identity, patriarchal power, and the resistance of women. Through the characters of Isra, Deya, and Fareeda, the paper examines how silence and tradition affect the lives of women. However, the paper also argues how women can resist oppression through education, self-reflection, and a new understanding of their religious beliefs. By contextualizing the novel within the debate surrounding Orientalism and Western perceptions of Muslim women, the paper examines the role of literature in subverting stereotypes and representations of Muslim women’s agency. Ultimately, the paper aims to show that Islamic feminism offers a different perspective of the agency of Muslim women in literature.
#Islamic Feminism#Muslim Women's Agency#A Woman Is No Man
This paper examines how gender pay disparities and labour force composition are linked in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Liberia. The study assesses the impact of wage disparities between men and women on women's labour force participation, as well as other labour force determinants, including education levels, informal employment, and broader market forces. It is analyzed using secondary time-series data from 2010 to 2024, employing descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression to examine the relationships among the selected variables. The findings show that although women in Liberia are actively engaged in the labour market, a wage gap between men and women persists.
After correcting for severe multicollinearity in the original four predictor specification, the estimated regression shows that a wider gender wage gap is significantly associated with lower female labour force participation, and male labour force participation is also significantly and positively associated. The respecified two predictor model explains just under half of the variance in female labour force participation and a first differenced robustness check confirms that the wage gap effect persists even after removing the shared time trend among the study variables. The small sample size (N = 15) nonetheless limits the precision and generalizability of these estimates. Female education advances are associated with greater involvement at the bivariate level, whereas informal employment levels are high and associated with lower female involvement in the labour market. These findings point to concrete policy priorities; minimizing wage disparities, expanding women's access to education, and facilitating the transition from informal to formal employment as complementary levers for improving gender equality in Liberia's labour market.
#Female Labour Force Participation#Informal Sector#Gender Wage Gap
The rapid growth of social media has transformed digital creators into influential voices capable of shaping consumer behaviour[1] on an unprecedented scale. Unlike traditional advertisements, creator-generated content often appears personal, relatable, and trustworthy, making it significantly more persuasive. This influence is particularly evident in the health and beauty sector, where creators routinely promote skincare products, nutritional supplements, cosmetic treatments, weight-loss solutions, and wellness products through videos, reels, and personal testimonials. While such content may appear to be genuine recommendations, it frequently contains exaggerated or unverified claims that can mislead consumers and influence important health-related decisions.[2]
Recognising these risks, India has gradually strengthened its regulatory framework through the Consumer Protection Act, 2019[3], the Consumer Protection (Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements) Guidelines, 2022[4], the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)[5] Guidelines for Influencer Advertising, and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulations[6] governing health and nutrition claims. Despite these developments, the existing legal framework continues to face challenges in addressing the unique nature of influencer-driven marketing, where the distinction between personal opinion and commercial endorsement is often blurred.
This article critically examines whether digital creators should be viewed merely as content creators or as legally accountable endorsers when they promote health and beauty products with misleading claims. It analyses the existing legal framework, identifies regulatory gaps, and argues that influencer accountability must extend beyond simple disclosure requirements. As digital creators increasingly profit from consumer trust, they must also bear a corresponding responsibility to ensure that the claims they communicate are accurate, transparent, and capable of verification. The article concludes that effective regulation should strike a balance between encouraging creative expression and safeguarding consumers from deceptive commercial practices in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace.
[1]Consumer Protection Act 2019.
[2]World Health Organization, health communication source.
[3]Consumer Protection Act 2019.
[4]Consumer Protection (Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements) Guidelines 2022 (CCPA Guidelines 2022).
[5]Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media.
[6]Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations 2018.
#Influencer Marketing#Digital Creator Accountability#Misleading Health Claims
The most severe form of intimate partner violence (IPV) is known as intimate partner homicide (IPH), sometimes known as domestic murder. This kind of violence is becoming more seen as a huge concern in India, despite the fact that it is not widely acknowledged. There have been recent high-profile incidents that have brought to light the potentially fatal confluence of cultural traditions, psychological vulnerabilities, and economical constraints inside intimate settings. These cases have been magnified by electronic media and social platforms that are available around the clock. Dowry conflicts, the shame associated with infertility, caste hierarchies, accusations of adultery, and financial hardship are among the fundamental underlying causes that often create conditions in which coercive control, humiliation, and dominance end in lethal violence. Despite the fact that legal frameworks such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provide some degree of protection, the efficiency of these frameworks continues to be made more difficult by concerns around abuse and delayed justice. As opposed to being the result of an outburst of rage, the killing of an intimate partner in India is more of a predicted consequence of institutional failures and deeply ingrained cultural inconsistencies. As a result of the complexity and delays that are inherent in the existing divorce rules, people are often trapped in unhealthy relationships, which further increases the likelihood of fatal results. Reimagining marriage as a consensual contract, simplifying access to no-fault divorce, improving survivor-centered legal and social assistance, and cultivating a cultural tolerance of human fragility are all necessary steps in the prevention of violence of this kind. The only way for India to have any chance of reducing the number of killings committed by intimate partners and transforming homes from potential battlegrounds into safe sanctuaries is for the country to overcome these structural and legal hurdles.
Green criminology addresses the growing concern of environmental crimes that threaten ecosystems and public health. This research delves into the definition, scope, and significance of green criminology, emphasizing its role in studying both legal and illegal environmental harms. Environmental crimes, including illegal fishing, illegal logging, pollution, illegal mining, and hazardous waste dumping, have far-reaching consequences for biodiversity, climate change, and human well-being.
The study explores key factors contributing to environmental crimes, such as economic motives, weak law enforcement, corruption, lack of awareness, and increasing demand for natural resources. The legal framework governing environmental protection, particularly the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and international efforts to combat environmental crimes, are examined in detail.
Through case studies like the destruction of mangroves in Mira Bhayander and the deforestation for metro projects, the research highlights real-life instances of environmental offenses and the challenges faced in ensuring environmental justice. The role of judicial interventions, such as landmark cases led by M.C. Mehta, is also discussed to demonstrate the legal battles fought for environmental protection in India.
The study concludes that addressing environmental crimes requires stronger enforcement of laws, corporate accountability, public awareness, and sustainable urban planning. Policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and civil society must collaborate to implement stricter regulations and promote environmental conservation to secure a sustainable future.
In the constitutional context, one of the most significant issues in defining the development of constitutional governance in India is judicial creativity. A constitution, unlike ordinary statutes, is intended to last over centuries and to keep up with the changing social realities, political expectations, and moral values. The interpretation of such a document, therefore, cannot remain static. In this regard, judicial creativity has followed a Darwinian model of evolution, gradually evolving the substantive meaning of the constitution over time to meet the needs of a transforming society. Since an early development characterized by caution and textual rigidity, constitutional interpretation has progressively matured through judicial craftsmanship, enabling the Constitution to function as a living and dynamic instrument.
The judiciary was relatively conservative during the early years of independence as far as the interpretation of the constitution is concerned, especially the Fundamental Rights. It placed more emphasis on literal readings and formal limits, which implied institutional restraint and respect towards legislative power. But with time this approach was replaced by a more purposive and value-based method of interpretation. Courts began to acknowledge that the abstract guarantees contained in Part III of the Constitution were not mere legal promises but binding commitments that were intended to guarantee human dignity, equality, and liberty in a real and substantive manner. This shift marks the emergence of judicial creativity as a defining feature of Indian constitutional adjudication.
However, judicial creativity has always been a deeply contested issue since its very beginning. Although it has been praised for expanding the scope and content of Fundamental Rights, it was also criticized on grounds of democratic legitimacy and separation of powers. Critics have contended that too much judicial innovation can lead to interpretation being a law-making exercise and that will undermine the authority of elected institutions. This conflict leads to two fundamental questions: whether judicial creativity is constitutionally valid, and if yes, what are the permissible limits within which judges may interpret constitutional provisions creatively.
This paper aims to discuss the role of judicial creativity in the interpretation of Part III, the methods through which it has been exercised, and the extent to which it has strengthened or strained constitutional balance.
#Judicial Creativity#Fundamental Rights (part Iii)#Constitutional Interpretation
This article examines the legal framework governing voluntary liquidation of solvent companies under Section 59 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and the IBBI (Voluntary Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2017. It traces the shift from the Companies Act regime to the IBC, outlines the procedural stages and timelines, discusses recent regulatory amendments (2022, 2024, 2025), and evaluates the practical challenges that continue to affect solvent corporate exits in India.
#Voluntary Liquidation#Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code (ibc)#2016
The rapid advancement of wearable artificial intelligence technologies has transformed the manner in which individuals interact with digital information and their surrounding environment. AI-powered smart glasses, equipped with features such as real-time image recognition, facial identification, voice assistance, cloud-based processing, and continuous recording capabilities, have emerged as a significant innovation in the field of consumer technology. While these devices offer substantial benefits in communication, accessibility, navigation, and productivity, they simultaneously raise profound concerns regarding privacy, autonomy, and informed consent. Unlike traditional recording devices, smart glasses possess a discreet form factor that allows users to capture, process, and transmit personal data with minimal visibility, often without the knowledge or consent of individuals in proximity.
This paper examines the legal and ethical implications of AI-powered smart glasses through the lens of privacy rights and bystander consent. It critically analyses how existing legal frameworks struggle to address the unique challenges posed by wearable AI technologies, particularly concerning covert data collection, facial recognition, biometric surveillance, and cloud-based processing of personal information. The study further explores the concept of “bystander privacy,” emphasizing the inadequacy of conventional consent mechanisms in public and semi-public spaces where individuals may unknowingly become subjects of data collection.
By evaluating contemporary data protection regimes, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), emerging AI governance models, and relevant privacy jurisprudence, this research identifies significant regulatory blind spots that permit the erosion of informational privacy. The paper argues that existing legal protections are insufficient to address the unprecedented surveillance capabilities of AI-enabled wearables and proposes a rights-based regulatory framework emphasizing transparency, informed consent, accountability, privacy-by-design, and technological safeguards. Ultimately, the study seeks to contribute to the evolving discourse on balancing technological innovation with the protection of fundamental privacy rights in the age of pervasive artificial intelligence.
#Artificial Intelligence#Smart Glasses#Privacy Rights
The twenty-first century has been characterized by the unprecedented expansion of digital technologies, including the internet, smartphones, biometric systems, and artificial intelligence. These technologies have become essential for governance, commerce, and social interaction, but they also present novel threats to personal autonomy and privacy. The collection, processing, and transfer of personal data have reached unparalleled scales, often beyond the comprehension or control of the individuals concerned. Consequently, the discourse on privacy and data protection has moved from the periphery of constitutional law to its very center, engaging courts, legislatures, and international organizations alike.
Privacy, as a constitutional and human right, was historically conceived as a protection against arbitrary state intrusion into the home. The famous articulation of the “right to be let alone” in Samuel D. Warren & Louis D. Brandeis, The Right to Privacy (1890) reflected this traditional understanding of spatial privacy.[1]Over time, however, courts and scholars have recognized that privacy is not limited to physical seclusion but also encompasses control over personal information, decisional autonomy, and dignity.[1] The emergence of the information society has thus reframed privacy as a multidimensional right with both negative and positive obligations upon the state.
In India, the jurisprudence on privacy culminated in the landmark Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India case, where a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court recognized privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.[2]The Court emphasized that privacy is intrinsic to dignity and liberty, thereby aligning Indian constitutional law with international human rights standards. This recognition came at a critical juncture when the state was expanding biometric identification through Aadhaar and when private corporations were increasingly commodifying personal data.
[1] Samuel D. Warren & Louis D. Brandeis, The Right to Privacy, 4 Harv. L. Rev. 193 (1890).
[2] Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1 (India).
In this paper, we get eluded about the role of AI in the law classroom. Here in this paper, in a
very detailed manner, the various efficacies of AI, which have modeled the entire plethora of law
classroom, into a new shape. There entire contribution of the AI has been found to have been
divided into various phases. Thus the various sectors, of education of law, which has been
influenced by AI has been discussed. They are namely as the legal research, learning process
which appeared as more adaptive as well as personalized from the perspective of students,
interactive, dialogue simulation as well as drafting, and continuous process of feed backing to
legal writing, and drafting. Apart from that focus upon the role of AI as the teaching assistant,
and also the inclusion of legal ethics within the chapter has been dealt here. For all the sectors, a
detailed over view has been given relation to it’s significance, and along with that an analytical
study has been also made regarding the impact of the same put over the students. Followed by
that a comparative study has been made regarding the structure of legal education, within the
periphery of AI, and to that effect, what are the positive as well as negative effects, which has
put through the same, has been discussed there. Apart from that an analysis has been also made
regarding the future probabilities of it’s effect upon the academics of law. At the end of
The Phenomenon of Rainbow washing refers to the use by corporations of Pride symbols and other LGBTQ+ icons (usually during the month of June) for marketing purposes or as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, while still practicing the opposite of what they portray regarding LGBTQ+ rights through employee hiring practices, donations for political purposes, and other negative actions towards these communities. In examining this issue, the authors of this paper adopted both Business Ethics and HRM as theoretical frameworks through which to analyze the literature, conduct an analysis of secondhand or tertiary sources, and analyze CSR reports, investigative journalism, and advocacy organisation’s analysis of various companies or brands regarding Rainbow Washers. The research exposes three fundamental gaps: (a) there is a lack of an executable definition or guideline for authentic corporate LGBTQ+ allyship; (b) there is insufficient research on the link between the process of delivering signals of diversity in the workplace (i.e., through processes and/or policies) and mental wellbeing for employees; and (c) there is limited literature examining the intersection of queer advocacy through procurement/supplier-diversity processes and policies, and human resource management (HRM) policies related to LGBTQ+ employees. The research emphasizes the importance of filling these gaps because engage in performative allyship creates a lack of trust among stakeholders by undermining meaningful efforts toward equity, and represents an unethical action/inaction within multiple normative frameworks (e.g., stakeholder theory; social contract theory; virtue ethical theory). Additionally, the research synthesizes evidence from firms in the United States, UK, and India to provide a set of normative recommendations for an ethically based HRM policy regarding LGBTQ+ employees.[1]
[1]Michael Norton and Elizabeth Keenan, 'The Problem with Pride Month' (Harvard Business Review, 27 June 2019) <https://hbr.org/2019/06/the-problem-with-pride-month> accessed 20 July 2026.
#Rainbow Washing#Lgbtq+ Allyship#Corporate Social Responsibility (csr)
One of the interesting risks of reading a book such as Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is that you're not only reading a book about the book, you're reading a book about the bookwriter. The risk is that it may not disappoint, but that a reviewer, humored by the topic, will lapse into eulogy and never read the book as a book: as an argument, structure, a series of literary and rhetorical choices that do particular work. The temptation to eulogize its substance over its art would be a disservice to Bryan Stevenson's memoir, which is all three of these things. What follows is a vain attempt to follow both seriously.
The stakes of reading Just Mercy well are heightened by how far the book has travelled beyond the readers of legal memoirs. First published in 2014, it became a sustained bestseller and was adapted into a feature film released in 2019, carrying Stevenson's account of the McMillian case to audiences who would never otherwise encounter a work of legal non-fiction.[1]
[1] Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Bryan Stevenson' (Britannica) <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bryan-Stevenson> accessed 18 July 2026; 'Just Mercy and the Heartbreaking True Story of Walter McMillian' (E! News, 13 January 2020) <https://www.eonline.com/news/1110139/just-mercy-and-the-heartbreaking-true-story-of-walter-mcmillian> accessed 18 July 2026.
The rise of dupe culture has fundamentally changed how consumers think about luxury goods. In the context of social media, online shopping sites, and even online influencers, an entire new generation of consumers and merchants have embraced the basic concept that as long as a product does not feature a counterfeit logo or imitation packaging, but rather states that it was "inspired by" the original, then the product can be marketed without any issues. It is obvious. Contrary to fake products, dupes do not hide the fact that they are alternatives. Buyers are seldom in doubt that they are buying the original product. Transparency, therefore, is often assumed to place these products beyond the reach of trademark law.
However, the legal basis and origin of this assumption is quite precarious. Although the lack of deception will probably minimize the risk of trademark infringement, it cannot settle the question of trademark dilution, unfair competition, passing off, and using the reputation of the other brand. In other words, honesty about imitation is not always synonymous with legality. The legal response to such cases becomes highly complicated when companies use the identity, reputation and success of luxury brands in marketing products that replicate their commercial success and name but not the trademarks.
It has never been more clear than in the case of the booming dupe perfume market in India. Dupes are marketed with independent brand labels, but the goods are advertised as "inspired by" famous designer perfumes, providing customers with an olfactory experience at a fraction of the cost. This sector has become one of the most rapidly growing segments of the Indian personal care and beauty e- commerce industry operating on the Internet. However, despite the economic importance of the dupe business, no Indian court decision has ever analysed whether marketing of this kind constitutes trademark infringement, passing off, or some other unfair competitive activity. The lack of court cases has usually been treated as an informal approval of the practice. This Article argues that such a conclusion is misplaced.
In addition to not reflecting legal certainty, the absence of judicial pronouncements can be seen as the result of three structural features of Indian intellectual property laws working together at once. Firstly, the requirement for graphical representation in Section 2(1)(zb) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 made it practically impossible to register scents as trademarks for decades, thus keeping the fragrances themselves out of the traditional trademark regime. Secondly, Section 13 of the Copyright Act, 1957 provides that unfixed sensory creation cannot be protected by copyright, preventing the fragrance compositions from having another means of intellectual property protection. Lastly, the law in India concerning comparison-advertising was formed on the basis of the law of commercial disparagement. The article traces the Trademark Registry’s unprecedented acceptance, in November 2025, Of India’s first olfactory trademark, filed by Sumitomo Rubber Industries for a rose fragrance applied to tyres, marks an important doctrinal development. However, the significance of this development for the perfumery industry is negligible. In essence, the trademarked scent is merely an arbitrary source identifier for tyres but not the very quality which the consumer seeks when buying a fragrance product. Therefore, the above registration has not helped to clarify the issue of whether the scent of a perfume product or marketing referencing it is capable of trademark protection.
Against this backdrop, this paper examines how Indian courts are likely to respond when confronted with the first major dispute involving dupe perfumes. It situates the issue within comparative jurisprudence, drawing on decisions such as Coty, Inc. v. Excell Brands, LLC in the United States and L'Oréal SA v. Bellure NV in the European Union, while analysing India's evolving jurisprudence on comparative advertising through cases including Reckitt & Colman, Pepsi Co. v. Hindustan Coca Cola, and Dabur India Ltd. v. Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd. In light of these authorities, this article proposes a predictive model that would help determine whether or not the "inspired by" perfume marketing falls under the scope of legality in India. The paper concludes that despite the fact that the law is still uncertain in this regard, the remedies of passing off and infringement provided by Section 29(8) of the Trade Marks Act of 1999 constitute more plausible ways of protection than the current doctrine of commercial disparagement. It is in this context that the paper attempts to bridge a widening gap between the development of consumer markets and the legal system.
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The right of private defence in Indian criminal law is not a modern construct; it is a direct descendent of the Indian Penal Code 1860 drafted under Macaulay’s Law Commission, shaped and influenced by English Common Law assumptions about the violence and self defence in the mid nineteenth century. An act done in the exercise of Private defence is not an offence, provided sudden, visible danger by stranger, imminent threat to bodily harm, the utilization of reasonable force in reaction of that danger and absence of a safe opportunity to withdraw. Section 96 to 106 of the Indian Penal corresponding with Section 34 to 44 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 codified this logic This becomes far less clean and debatable in case of Battered Women Syndrome when the “stranger” is a husband and the danger has been present for years rather than seconds where it describes a psychological reality shaped by cumulative, cyclic trauma ,one in which a woman's perception of danger is calibrated not to the moment of attack but to a pattern learned overs years of abuse and mental, physical trauma for women.
Empirical data underscore the scale of this doctrinal blind spot: the National Family Health Survey (2019–21) found that more than one in four Indian women aged eighteen to forty-nine has experienced some form of domestic violence, with husbands consistently identified as the most frequent perpetrators of such violence within marriage.[1] Because Battered Women Syndrome is theorised as a response to precisely this kind of sustained, intimate violence, the gap between the statutory imminence requirement and the lived experience of a significant proportion of Indian women is not a marginal doctrinal curiosity but a recurring feature of the criminal justice system.
The architectural stability of India’s retail credit ecosystem has been profoundly disrupted by the intersection of smartphone ubiquity, data-driven underwriting, and regulatory arbitrage. While traditional credit delivery mechanisms—ranging from scheduled commercial banks to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)—operate within a highly codified, risk-averse supervisory matrix managed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), an expansive, shadow parallel economy has flourished. This shadow network comprises unregulated entities that leverage digital infrastructure to extend credit outside the perimeter of prudential oversight[1]. The proposed Banning of Unregulated Lending Activities (BULA) Bill represents the state’s ultimate legislative counter-offensive. It aims to establish an absolute statutory prohibition on any credit-extending activity that lacks the explicit imprimatur of an official regulator. However, by choosing a sweeping prohibitory mechanism rather than a nuanced regulatory or licensing framework, the draft bill risks colliding with fundamental constitutional guarantees, disrupting federal legislative competence, and aggravating the very socio-economic vulnerabilities it seeks to cure.
The BULA Bill remains, at the time of writing, in draft form. The Department of Financial Services released it for stakeholder comment on 13 December 2024 and kept the initial comment window open until 13 February 2025, and it has not yet been formally introduced as a Bill in Parliament.[2] This procedural posture matters for the analysis that follows: because the text remains open to revision before formal introduction, the constitutional and federal vulnerabilities identified in this paper are not academic post-mortems on a settled statute but live drafting choices that Parliament retains a genuine opportunity to correct.
Today traditional arranged marriages in India, which was historically a sacred and indissoluble union between families rather than just individuals, is now undergoing a significant transformation. This Research paper addresses the question to what extent have demographic imbalances, economic transformations, educational expansion, and technological disruptions contributed to the major decline of traditional arranged marriage in India as a universal institution, and how do these factors vary across class, region, and gender. Synthesizing data from the National Family Health Survey-5, National Sample Survey, Census records (1971–2011), and ethnographic studies, the paper identifies four primary drivers: Structural demographic imbalance creating 39 million surplus grooms, Economic liberalisation producing urban-rural divergence in marriage timing, Female educational expansion altering assortative mating and delaying marriage among educated women, and Dating applications enabling partner selection beyond caste boundaries. This paper argues that rather than uniform decline, India is experiencing polarised restructuring among disadvantaged populations that is rural, less-educated, lower-caste, marriage remains nearly universal but increasingly distressed (bride shortage, dowry inflation, cross-region migration) among privileged populations (urban, highly educated, wealthy), marriage is becoming selective, delayed, and increasingly questioned. This divergence has significant implications for gender relations, family policy, and social welfare in the world’s most populous nation.
#Marriage Decline#Demographic Transition#Delayed Marriage
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