Publications

It was the cult classic TV show Star Trek that first helped the public imagine a “communicator” that could fit in one’s pocket. This later inspired the design of the flip phone and the wireless bluetooth speaker. History has demonstrated that science fiction and real life eventually collide. The metaverse is a testament to this. The earliest references to it are found in science fiction, with popular media like film and video-games contributing significantly to its conception and popularity.

Web3 is a set of emerging technologies comprising blockchain, cryptographic protocols, digital assets, decentralised finance, NFTs, etc. The term is also used in the sense of a new Internet era – following on from Web2 which was characterised by centralised platforms and proprietary protocols, leading to so-called ‘walled gardens’. The umbrella term is best understood as a reference to new paradigms in the online world, that transitions from one set of core technologies to another gradually.

Is a model of a theory of Indian corporate jurisprudence effable? This paper posits that jurisprudence of Indian corporate law is desirable and possible. Given the relative nascence of the Companies Act 2013, Insolvency &…

This study analyses the implementation of the cartel leniency program by the Competition Commission of India using comprehensive data and finds a distinct lack of a ‘race’ to the agency. It specifically focuses on why…

This study is a contribution to the understanding of jobs in platform economy or gig economy. It attempts to examine the earnings of platform workers and explores their experiences on the job in Bengaluru. The study documented below the minimum wage earnings despite long work hours well beyond 8 hours on average per day for most platform workers engaged in various food delivery platforms in Karnataka.

The Mental Health Care Act, 2017 is a recent legislation, repealing the earlier law on the topic, that is, the Mental Health Act, 1987. The 2017 Act is a legislation introduced to upgrade the legal…

Gender morality is explored in “The Hindu Widow” by Ananya Hassan Satish as well as rights of sex workers by Himani Chauhan Areas of family law are explored through succession laws, Muslim personal law reforms…

The article authored by Aparna Chandra, Mrinal Satish, Shreya Shree and Mini Saxena, is a result of a collaborative exercise between Center for Reproductive Rights, National Law University, Delhi and NLSIU. The report documents legal barriers faced by women in accessing safe abortion services, and the harm caused to women due to such barriers. Based on its findings, the report suggests measures for rights-oriented law reform.

The article aims to enrich reflections on the impact that labour law and the combination of sectoral policies can have on sustainable economic growth. Against a formalist approach, the intent is understanding how labour law can contribute to preserving and raising living standards and the planet’s health by introducing environmental issues (which are still conceived exclusively as universal) into local and corporate labour policies.

More than 95% of working women are engaged in informal work. There is a similar over-representation of socially and economically marginalized groups – Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, and OBCs. In the light of the recent presidential grant to three acts – the Code on Social Security, Industrial Relations Code and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, this article seeks to understand its impact.

Mapping the responses of feminist groups to the J. S. Verma Committee, this article underscores inconsistencies between the positions on defining sexual offences on the one hand and suggesting appropriate punishments on the other. It argues that the absence of engagement around complex issues of criminal law and sentencing not only left feminists divided on the outcome in Mahmood Farooqui’s case but also revealed unintended consequences of the newly introduced law on rape.

When the Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab in 1980, it also laid down a sentencing framework for subsequent sentencing courts. This article argues that it is not within the mandate of sentencing judges to invoke penological theories as separate sentencing factors in individual cases when deciding between life imprisonment and the death sentence.