NLSIU Scholarship Repository
Not a member yet
2002 research outputs found
Sort by
Law Enforcement Access to Data in India: Considering the Past, Present, and Future of Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
No full textDevelopments in modern technology and the Internet have resulted in vastly greater quantities of information being stored in electronic form. In addition to gains for convenience, innovation, and the economy, this trend also means that law enforcement and other government agencies are required to increasingly turn to the digital domain to gather evidence for investigative or enforcement purposes. In the Indian context, this usually means having to rely on pre-digital era procedural powers such as Section 91 the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Drawing from existing literature, case law, and developments in policy, this article seeks to conduct an analysis of Section 91 with a view towards adding to the discourse surrounding calls for its reform. It concludes that, in its current form, the provision neither adequately accounts for privacy concerns nor provides clear and certain procedures for law enforcement agencies to compel production of evidence stored in electronic form. Several principles which have developed around the provision are no longer relevant in the digital age, others have the potential to excessively invade privacy, while several others internally conflict. It would be in the interests of both individuals and law enforcement agencies to seek timely review and reform of this provision to account for modern realities
In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v UoI [2024] INSC 997
No full textThis Case Comment reflects on the contributions of the judiciary to forest governance and management through the use of continuous mandamus in the landmark case T.N. Godavarman v UoI. It offers insights into these contributions, particularly an expansion of the understanding of ‘forests’, by examining the latest judicial decision in the Godavarman series, which was on the protection of sacred groves in Rajasthan. The expansion of the definition of ‘forests’ to include sacred groves can help accord the protection and ensure the preservation of these small forest lands with rich biodiversity and religious and cultural significance
A Cess for Two Disparate Ends is Unconvincing
No full textThe Health Security se National Security Bill leaves room for the Centre to adjust revenue sharing with States
Operation and Termination of Sunset Clauses in Bilateral Investment Treaties
No full textSunset clauses in bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) extend treaty protections for investments made prior to a BIT’s termination for a certain period thereafter. Although almost all BITs contain sunset clauses, their operation and termination remain unexplored in several respects. Sunset clauses have recently been put into the spotlight as a number of States, including, for example, India, Indonesia, Australia, and the Member States of the European Union, have terminated or renegotiated numerous BITs in the context of the investment treaty reform process. While it is relatively uncontroversial that sunset clauses apply when a contracting State unilaterally terminates a BIT, the application of sunset clauses in the event of mutually agreed BIT terminations raises complex issues and is largely untested. In light of the uncertainties regarding the effects of sunset clauses following consensual BIT termination, several States have sought to expressly terminate or amend sunset clauses. This article explores the operation of sunset clauses in the event of unilateral and mutual BIT terminations. It analyses emerging investment treaty jurisprudence on the application of sunset clauses following mutual BIT terminations or replacements of BITs. The article further examines the question whether under the law of treaties, contracting States may revoke sunset clauses with immediate effect and discusses potential restraints on the revocation of sunset clauses resulting from general principles of law, such as the principles of acquired rights and legal certainty. It also addresses recent State practice that seeks to neutralize the effects of sunset clauses. The article then elaborates on the impact of mutual BIT terminations and revocations of sunset clauses on pending investment treaty arbitrations
Tying, Self-preferencing and the Digital Competition Bill: A changing landscape for competition intervention?
No full textThe dominance of a few major entities in digital markets has led to stricter enforcement under competition law. Many jurisdictions have developed an ex-ante regulatory framework, such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the EU. The need for an ex-ante regulation has also been highlighted in India, where the Committee on Digital Competition Law has issued the Draft Digital Competition Bill (“DDCB”). Some of the prohibitions included in the bill are tying, bundling, self-preferencing, restricting third-party applications, and steering. There have been opinions by various scholars on the impact of such legislation on the Indian economy, comparing the same with the effects of the DMA on the EU. However, this article attempts to anticipate the potential application of these obligations in light of the past decisional practice of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). On a preliminary analysis, the DDCB seems to exercise more restraint and caution in its approach than the DMA. The article attempts to look at how the CCI’s intervention could potentially change (or not change) with reference to these obligations compared to the analysis done prior to DDCB. The article is divided into four parts. Part I of the article lays down briefly the various obligations imposed under the DDCB. Part II discusses the CCI’s decisional practice on these obligations so far and analyses if the CCI approach differs from the EU approach, especially in the cases relating to the designated gatekeepers under the DMA. Part III evaluates the scope of the change in the CCI’s approach based on the proposed ex-ante regulation. Part IV concludes the work
Deepfakes and Shallow Laws: Regulating Distorted Narratives in the Political Cyberspace
No full textWith a sizable section of the global population witnessing electoral churn, protests, and resistance movements in the past couple of years, this is clearly a watershed moment for modern democracies vis-à-vis technological advancements. Electoral canvassing in these democracies has expanded its footprint in the digital space, be it through social media or navigating the general contours of anonymity, engagement, and misinformation that govern our online worlds. In this context, the advent of deepfakes in the recent past, and the exponential evolution of the technology both for outreach and disruption, has invited acute regulatory attention and intervention. However, traditional policy design has proven to be inadequate to respond to such a novel, ever-changing problem—necessitating a more contemporaneous reimagination of technological regulation.In this paper, we endeavour to advance one such perspective on the regulation of deepfakes. First, we discuss the extant industry and regulatory solutions (or lack thereof) that have emerged to tackle the proliferation of altered digital media and deepfakes around the world. Next, we assess proposed legislations to combat deepfakes and identify the pitfalls of a pure regulatory solution in this space in India and beyond. Finally, we attempt to reframe deepfakes as a communication-governance problem as opposed to a platform-regulation problem, to advance a hybrid co-regulatory model to address deepfakes in India
Bulldozers in the City Economies of Excess and Repair
No full textBulldozers have been ubiquitous machines on the Indian landscape in the last two decades, but of late have been violently deployed by the majoritarian state to dispossess Muslims. This article brings together two very different lives of the machine—one in which the machine becomes the adjudicator of justice through the extrajudicial exercise of power and the other, that circulates in the construction industry, its repair and refurbishment. It puts science and technological studies in conversation with urban political economy to argue how machines actively shape urban lives through construction and demolition and by being in circulation. By looking more closely at the history of the machine globally and in India, its deployment at sites of demolitions, and its end point in Delhi’s scrap markets, this article uncovers the diverse relationship the machine has with the city and its people. These machines redraw the relationship between state, law, and people on one hand, and buyers, sellers, owners, drivers, and spare-parts businessowners on the other, to show that the political lives of these actors collide and converge but do not remain the same
Uneven Land: Territorial Differentiation in Citizenship Law in India
No full textCitizenship as a legal status grants you membership and therefore access to the territory of the modern nation-state. It therefore follows that within the nation-state, laws granting citizenship should flow uniformly––flooding every square inch of the territory. In India, the Citizenship Act, 1955, governs the acquisition, termination, deprivation, and revocation of citizenship in India, and it applies to the entirety of India’s territory. Unitary citizenship in principle means that at any given point of time, the laws governing the gain and loss of Indian citizenship should apply uniformly across the nation-state’s territory. However, the Citizenship Act does not flow through India’s territory uniformly. On the one hand, the incorporation of territories such as Goa, Sikkim, and Daman and Diu years after India’s independence resulted in not only a delayed application of citizenship rules to these territories but also the creation of state-specific citizenship orders that allowed for the granting of citizenship to persons domiciled in these territories. For these territories, the Citizenship Act floods in at the moment of incorporation. On the other hand, in the state of Assam, the creation of Assam-specific citizenship provisions has created a distinctive (and exclusionary) citizenship regime, where the provisions of the Citizenship Act are refracted at the state boundary, with some rules (such as birthright citizenship) reflected away. This has interesting consequences for a country which has many internal migrants, a quasi-federal form of governance, and which is carved out of a subcontinent where racial, religious, and ethnic identities do not neatly map onto national borders. In this article, I will explore the impact of territorialisation on the experience of Indian citizenship, and how this has created a varied topography of inclusion and exclusion across this nation-state