Author: PRASANNASRI26092001

“THINK ABOUT YOUR FUTURE”: POLICE DISCOURAGEMENT AND VICTIM-BLAMING IN SEXUAL OFFENCE CASES

AUTHOR – SAMIKSHAA, STUDENT AT PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BANGALORE

BEST CITATION – SAMIKSHAA, “THINK ABOUT YOUR FUTURE”: POLICE DISCOURAGEMENT AND VICTIM-BLAMING IN SEXUAL OFFENCE CASES, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (10) OF 2026, PG. 19-26, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I103

Abstract

For countless women, the first battle after sexual violence is not fought in a courtroom. It is fought at the police station. It begins when a survivor, already carrying the weight of trauma, gathers the courage to speak, only to be met with doubt, moral scrutiny, discouragement, or questions that quietly place her conduct on trial. Although Indian law mandates the registration of First Information Reports in cognizable offences, the lived realities of many survivors reveal a troubling gap between legal guarantees and institutional practice.

This paper examines victim-blaming at the FIR stage as a form of institutional violence that often precedes formal legal proceedings. Drawing upon statutory provisions, judicial pronouncements, empirical studies, and feminist legal scholarship, it argues that survivors are frequently compelled to defend their choices, movements, relationships, and respectability before their complaints are even taken seriously. In doing so, institutions shift attention away from the perpetrator and towards the survivor, reinforcing deeply embedded patriarchal norms that continue to shape responses to sexual violence.

The paper contends that such practices are not merely instances of individual insensitivity, but manifestations of structural inequality within the criminal justice system. When survivors are advised to “think about their future,” protect family honour, or compromise rather than pursue legal remedies, access to justice becomes conditional upon conformity with patriarchal expectations of womanhood.

A woman reporting sexual violence is not seeking moral approval. She is invoking a constitutional right. This paper therefore advocates for trauma-informed policing, sustained gender sensitisation, and greater institutional accountability, while emphasizing a simple yet often forgotten principle: survivors need justice, not judgment; empathy, not suspicion; and institutions that listen before they lecture.

Keywords: Access to Justice, Feminist Jurisprudence, Gender Sensitisation, Institutional Patriarchy, Police Discouragement, Sexual Violence, Survivor-Centric Justice, Victim-Blaming.

LEGAL ISSUES IN OWNERSHIP AND PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: A CASE STUDY ON TAJ MAHAL

AUTHOR – GOWTHAM BK, STUDENT AT ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF LAW

BEST CITATION – GOWTHAM BK, LEGAL ISSUES IN OWNERSHIP AND PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: A CASE STUDY ON TAJ MAHAL, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (10) OF 2026, PG. 13-18, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

The Taj Mahal is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites that is legally protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act), and is under the state custodianship. But the ownership of the Taj Mahal has been in conflict between the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Uttar Pradesh Waqf Board, and the issue was contested in the courts. The UP Waqf Board claims that the monument is a waqf property (Islamic religious endowment), but the courts have strongly emphasized and held that a monument of national importance, without having provided clear and credible evidence, cannot be handed over to any religious or private entity. This is to stress that the Taj Mahal belongs to the nation and not to any private or religious entity.

Along with the ownership issues, preservation issues, including air pollution, industrial emissions, and climate impacts, surrounding Taj Mahal led to the landmark public interest case of MC Mehta vs UOI (Taj Trapezium case), which addressed industrial pollution affecting the monument, leading to strict regulatory controls around the monument and the creation of the Taj Mahal Trapezium zone (TTZ).

This Research paper analyzes the legal conflicts surrounding ownership and preservation of cultural heritage in India using the Taj Mahal as a case study. This synopsis hypothesizes that there is a thin evolving line between religious property claims and the state’s heritage preservation of the Taj Mahal under property and constitutional law. It formulates research questions on ownership disputes, statutory protection, and judicial-environmental interventions. The research adopts a doctrinal and qualitative methodology, with its sources primarily from articles and journals available online.

Keywords – Taj Mahal, Waqf Board, TTZ, AMASR Act, ASI, NMA.

CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION IN INDIA

AUTHOR – G R RADHIKA, B.COM.,LL.B (HONS)., LLM (CRIMINAL LAW), THE TAMILNADU DR. AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EXECLLENCE IN LAW

BEST CITATION – G R RADHIKA, CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (10) OF 2026, PG. 01-12, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive socio-legal analysis of caste-based discrimination in India, tracing its origins in ancient religious texts through its contemporary manifestations in education, employment, criminal justice, and digital spaces. It examines the constitutional and statutory architecture constructed to combat caste oppression — including Articles 14, 15, 16, and 17 of the Constitution, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and its 2015 Amendment, the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013, and the recently enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023. Drawing on documented empirical research, NCRB data, judicial pronouncements, and socio-historical scholarship, the article identifies seven overlapping forms of caste-based deviance — untouchability, educational discrimination, occupational bondage, economic exclusion, physical and sexual violence, honour killings, and digital harassment — and analyses the structural causes that sustain them despite formal prohibition. Key judicial decisions from Indra Sawhney (1992) to Sukanya Shantha (2024) are examined for their contribution to, and occasional retreat from, the constitutional promise of substantive equality. The article concludes that the persistence of caste discrimination is not a failure of law alone but of institutional composition, enforcement culture, and political will, and that genuine transformation requires reform of the very agencies charged with implementing the law.

Keywords: caste-based discrimination, Dalits, untouchability, SC/ST Atrocities Act, reservation policy, caste violence, manual scavenging, social exclusion, constitutional equality, India

OWNERSHIP OF LAND ON MARS: PROPERTY LAW PERSPECTIVE

AUTHOR – OWAIZ AHMED KHAN SHIRANI, STUDENT AT ST, JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF LAW, BANGALORE

BEST CITATION – OWAIZ AHMED KHAN SHIRANI, OWNERSHIP OF LAND ON MARS: PROPERTY LAW PERSPECTIVE, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1074-1079, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I9111

ABSTRACT

As human settlement and commercial activities on Mars become increasingly possible, the question of land ownership on Mars raises significant challenges from a property law perspective. With the increased likelihood of settlement and commercial activities taking place on Mars, many legal questions arise in relation to Mars land ownership. This paper looks at how the property law doctrines can be applied to the ownership and use of Martian lands. Property law has various ways of recognizing rights to property, such as possession, occupation, control, transfer, and the exclusive use of land. The problem that arises is the lack of any sovereign body on Mars that will enable the creation and recognition of these rights.One of the major doctrines studied in this research work is res nullius, which involves property belonging to nobody that may be acquired through occupation. The res nullius doctrine has played an important role in shaping property laws by offering an ability to establish the right to ownership of property that was previously unowned. It is analyzed whether the Martian lands can be classified as res nullius and if acquisition of Martian land through occupation, development or control will allow one to acquire title to the land.This study also discusses some of the basic property law doctrines such as first possession, labor theory of property, adverse possession and bundle of rights.The study further analyses key property law principles, including first possession, labor theory of property, adverse possession, and the bundle of rights concept, to assess their relevance to future Martian settlements. These theories are used to examine how ownership, use rights, and resource exploitation might be structured in the absence of a traditional legal system.The paper argues that existing legal rules are insufficient to address property claims on Mars and that a specialized framework is required. Such a framework should balance private interests, economic development, legal certainty, and the collective interests of humanity while promoting peaceful and sustainable settlement of Mars.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DIGITAL GAMING: BALANCING INNOVATION WITH LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY

AUTHOR – PRADEEP.U, LL.M STUDENT AT THE TAMIL NADU DR. AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY

BEST CITATION – PRADEEP.U, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DIGITAL GAMING: BALANCING INNOVATION WITH LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1064-1073, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

INTRODUCTION

            The gaming sector has undergone a remarkable transformation with the rapid development of digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI), making gaming more interactive, realistic, and user-oriented than ever before. AI has become a vital component of modern gaming platforms by enabling intelligent gameplay, adaptive virtual environments, personalized user experiences, and advanced game development techniques. Technologies such as machine learning, Non-Playable Characters (NPCs), procedural content generation, predictive analytics, virtual reality, and automated gaming systems have significantly enhanced the quality and efficiency of digital gaming experiences. The gaming industry has evolved from traditional arcade and console games into a large-scale digital ecosystem involving online multiplayer gaming, esports, mobile gaming, cloud gaming, and immersive virtual platforms, with AI playing a central role in shaping this transformation. In India, the rapid growth of internet accessibility, smartphones, and digital platforms has accelerated the expansion of AI-based gaming technologies and created significant economic and technological opportunities. This research paper critically examines the role of Artificial Intelligence in the gaming sector by analyzing its applications, legal implications, ethical challenges, and regulatory concerns while emphasizing the need for balanced legal safeguards that promote technological innovation alongside fairness, accountability, and protection of user rights.

MEDICO-LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE OF INJURIES AND THE DEATH INVESTIGATION PROCESS

AUTHOR – R.N. VEDHA GEETHAN, LLM, CRIMINALOGY STUDENT AT TAMIL NADU DR AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW

BEST CITATION – R.N. VEDHA GEETHAN, MEDICO-LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE OF INJURIES AND THE DEATH INVESTIGATION PROCESS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1049-1063, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

Forensic science plays a vital role within the criminal justice system. Technical support is provided to criminal investigations to determine whether a crime had been committed, when, how and by whom. In many cases of death, it is important to determine the time, cause and form of death. The postmortem investigation report serves as the most important evidence on which the whole case relies. The judicial approach has a tendency to accept medical evidence only where it is consistent with the prosecution’s argument as an evidentiary rule. Forensic medicine has made significant advancement and has considerably increased the accuracy and reliability of injury assessments and investigations of death. Through detailed medico-legal examination, autopsies, toxicological analyses and forensic documentation experts have the ability to reconstruct the events leading to injury or death and provide objective evidence in courts of law. Such enquiries provide information vital to the resolution of disputes, the detection of crime, prevention of wrongful convictions and the provision of accountability.

The medico-legal significance of injuries is discussed in relation to their classification, characteristics and evidential value in legal proceedings. It also covers death investigation procedures and protocols, scene examination, post-mortem examination, determining the cause and manner of death, and the role of forensic experts in the justice system. Injuries may occur from a variety of circumstances such as accidents, assaults, suicides, occupational hazards and other criminal acts.The medico-legal assessment of injuries helps not only in recognizing the perpetrators and fixing criminal liability, but also in safeguarding the victims and in the dispensation of justice. The medico-legal importance of injuries is examined in terms of their classification, characteristics and evidential value in legal proceedings. The medico-legal evaluation of injuries is important, not only for the recognition of offenders and the attribution of criminal culpability, but also for the protection of victims and the administration of justice.

KEYWORDS – Medico-legal cases, Autopsy, Post-Mortem, Assaults, Occupational Hazards, Forensic Experts

BIG TECH MERGERS AND MODERN ANTITRUST LAW: RETHINKING COMPETITION IN DIGITAL MARKETS

AUTHOR – PRIYAM PRATIK, STUDENT AT FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD

BEST CITATION – PRIYAM PRATIK, BIG TECH MERGERS AND MODERN ANTITRUST LAW: RETHINKING COMPETITION IN DIGITAL MARKETS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1038-1048, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I9108

Abstract

Acquisition has become a defining instrument of strategy for the small group of firms collectively termed as ‘Big Tech’, raising the question of whether merger control regimes built around 20^th century industrial markets remain capable of constraining digital consolidation. This article examines this question through the distinctive economics of platform markets, including network effects, multi-sided pricing and the compounding value of proprietary data, before tracing the doctrinal shift from the structuralist presumptions of Brown Shoe to the consumer welfare standard associated with the Chicago School, and the subsequent challenge to that standard mounted by the New Brandeis movement. It then undertakes a detailed comparative examination of recent litigation involving Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, including the Federal Trade Commission’s unsuccessful retrospective challenge to Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, decided in November 2025, the remedies judgment concluding the United States’ search monopolization case against Google, the Ninth Circuit’s 2025 affirmation of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and the pending structural litigation against Amazon. The article compares the ex-ante gatekeeper model adopted under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act with the conduct-based approaches retained in the United States, the United Kingdom’s strategic market status regime, and India’s newly introduced deal value notification threshold. It concludes that conventional retrospective enforcement is structurally ill-suited to markets capable of transformation within a single product cycle, and proposes calibrated procedural reforms, including deal value thresholds, presumptive burden-shifting for dominant acquirers, and interim behavioral conditions, capable of being adopted without abandoning the existing doctrinal architecture of competition law.

Keywords: Big Tech; mergers and acquisitions; antitrust regulation; competition law; Digital Markets Act; killer acquisitions; platform dominance.

GIG & PLATFORM WORKERS UNDER THE CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020

AUTHOR – PRIYANKA. B, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW, TAMILNADU DR. AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI

BEST CITATION – PRIYANKA. B, GIG & PLATFORM WORKERS UNDER THE CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1031-1037, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Code on Social Security, 2020 (SS Code) constitutes the most significant reform in India’s labour welfare architecture in decades, consolidating nine pre-existing statutes into a single framework. Its most consequential and contested innovation is the formal inclusion of gig workers and platform workers as distinct statutory categories. This brief examines three interlocking research dimensions: (1) the scope and limits of coverage under the SS Code; (2) the architecture, funding, and operationalisation of the dedicated Social Security Fund; and (3) the definitional ambiguities and structural gaps that threaten the Code’s protective intent — in particular, the unresolved problem of multi-platform workers who remain legally invisible despite the Code’s ambitions.

CRYPTOCURRENCY REGULATION IN INDIA

BETWEEN THE VIRTUAL DIGITAL ASSETS FRAMEWORK AND LEGISLATIVE VACUUM

AUTHOR – PRIYANKA. B, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW, TAMILNADU DR. AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI

BEST CITATION – PRIYANKA. B, CRYPTOCURRENCY REGULATION IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1022-1030, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India stands at a critical crossroads in its approach to cryptocurrency and virtual digital assets (VDAs). As the second-largest crypto market by user base globally, with over 107 million active participants and $6.6 billion in retail investments in 2024, the country operates without a dedicated regulatory statute — a paradox that the Supreme Court of India itself has called “completely obsolete.”

The current landscape is defined by a patchwork of partial frameworks: VDAs are formally defined under the Income Tax Act, 1961; exchanges are designated as “reporting entities” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; and the CERT-In cybersecurity directions apply to crypto platforms. Yet there is no licensing regime, no investor protection law, no token classification system, and no dedicated regulatory authority.

This research paper examines the historical arc of Indian crypto regulation, the architecture of the existing VDA framework, the constitutional and legal tensions it creates, the positions of key regulatory actors, and the emerging legislative proposals — including the landmark COINS Act 2025 — that seek to end India’s prolonged regulatory vacuum.

CONDONATION OF DELAY IN CONSUMER DISPUTES

DIVERGENCE BETWEEN NCDRC AND HIGH COURT APPROACHES

AUTHOR – PRIYANKA. B, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW, TAMILNADU DR. AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI

BEST CITATION – PRIYANKA. B, CONDONATION OF DELAY IN CONSUMER DISPUTES, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1010-1021, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Executive Summary

The law of condonation of delay in consumer disputes sits at the intersection of two powerful but competing principles: the special, consumer-protective character of the Consumer Protection Act, and the overriding constitutional imperative of substantial justice. The result has been a sustained and consequential divergence in approach between the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) — which applies a strict, purposive reading of the special limitation framework — and the High Courts, which exercise supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 and frequently adopt a more liberal, substantive-justice-oriented posture.

This research paper examines the statutory architecture governing limitation in consumer disputes under both the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (CPA 1986) and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (CPA 2019); the Supreme Court jurisprudence that defines the parameters of ‘sufficient cause’; the structural reasons for the NCDRC’s strict approach; the High Courts’ corrective jurisdiction and its contrasting philosophy; and the practical consequences of the divergence for litigants, institutions, and the consumer justice system.