Category: Volume 6 and Issue 9 of 2026

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.

THE RIGHT TO FOOD AS A HUMAN RIGHT: AN OVERVIEW OF NUTRITIONAL STANDARDS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

AUTHOR – DR. K.L. CHANDRASHEKHARA, ASST. PROFESSOR OF LAW, VIDYAVARDHAKA LAW COLLEGE, AFFILIATED TO KARNATAKA STATE LAW UNIVERSITY, MYSURU

BEST CITATION – DR. K.L. CHANDRASHEKHARA, THE RIGHT TO FOOD AS A HUMAN RIGHT: AN OVERVIEW OF NUTRITIONAL STANDARDS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 1002-1009, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I9104

Abstract

The right to food finds recognition in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 as well. Article 25 assures the right to a standard of living sufficient for healthy well-being of oneself and one’s family as including food. Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, states that the right to passable food is essential for a standard of living. Hence, being free from hunger is a fundamental right of everyone. The right to adequate food can only be realized when each person by themselves or as part of a community, gains continuous access physically and economically to adequate food or at least access to the means for procuring food. At its core this right seeks to imply that, both quantitatively and qualitatively, sufficient food is made available so as to fulfill all the dietary needs of all people, while ensuring that such food is not only within the cultural context at is also free from adverse substances, besides being accessible and sustainable so as to ensure that the same does not come into conflict with the enjoyment of any of the other human rights.

It is commonly accepted that around the world today, an estimated one hundred and eighty to two hundred million persons between the ages of ten to twenty four years are living with disabilities.1 Also, it is often assumed that responding to the vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities simply requires extending humanitarian aid protection paradigm to them. That paradigm focuses on adherence to humanitarian principles, securing and maintaining access, and developing sophisticated on going food security analysis and programme.

Key Words: Right to Food, Persons with Disability, Human Rights, Nutritional Standards

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS AND FARMER RIGHTS

A REGULATORY CRITIQUE

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

BEST CITATION – PRIYANKA. B, GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS AND FARMER RIGHTS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 989-1001, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

Geographical Indications (GIs) represent one of the most vital yet under-examined tools in India’s intellectual property framework — particularly from the standpoint of farmer rights and agrarian welfare. The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act), enacted to fulfil India’s obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, has created a formal legal architecture for protecting the distinctive character of geographically origin-linked products. With 697 registered GIs as of July 2025 and a government target of 10,000 registrations by 2030, the Indian GI regime presents a facade of dynamism.

Yet beneath this quantitative growth lies a troubling structural gap: the farmers and artisans who are the actual producers and custodians of GI products are systematically sidelined by a regime that favours institutional registrants, intermediaries, and exporting entities. The authorized user framework is under-utilised, enforcement mechanisms are weak, awareness among rural producers is negligible, and the post-registration benefit-sharing structures are absent. International experience — particularly from the European Union and China — demonstrates that GI protection can be a transformative tool for rural income generation. India has thus far failed to replicate this potential.

This paper critically examines the GI Act 1999 from a farmer-rights perspective, analysing its statutory framework, registration architecture, judicial interpretations, enforcement challenges, international obligations under TRIPS, and the structural exclusion of actual producers from GI benefits. It concludes with concrete recommendations for legislative and policy reform.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY AND REGULATORY APPLICATION IN INDIA

A COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL AND POLICY RESEARCH

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

BEST CITATION – PRIYANKA. B, AGRICULTURAL POLICY AND REGULATORY APPLICATION IN INDIA, THE GLOBAL SOUTH, AND NORTH, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 981-988, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

1. Introduction

Agriculture is the backbone of India’s socioeconomic structure. As the world’s second-most populous nation, India’s ability to feed its citizens, generate rural employment, and sustain its economy hinges critically on how agricultural policy is designed and implemented. The sector contributes approximately 17–18% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs nearly 45% of the total workforce. Given this centrality, the regulation and governance of agricultural activities carry profound legal, economic, and social significance.

Agriculture in India is governed by a multi-tiered regulatory architecture that includes constitutional provisions, central legislation, state-level statutes, executive schemes, and administrative orders. The interplay between these layers creates both opportunities for policy innovation and tensions arising from jurisdictional ambiguity. In recent decades, India has attempted to liberalise and modernise its agricultural regulatory environment — efforts that have not been without controversy.

This research examines the structure and application of agricultural policy and regulation in India, tracing the constitutional framework, key legislative instruments, landmark regulatory mechanisms such as the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) system, recent reform attempts including the contentious 2020 Farm Laws, and the current policy trajectory under the New National Agricultural Policy 2025.