With this issue, we enter into the 18th year of publication. Three issues short, of the 200th mark. The journey is going on, it is both enjoyable as also educative. The cover photo of this issue sort of sums it all.
We have, in this issue, featured the Central Information Commission and its various aspects. 
In an earlier issue, we had covered Kashmir and the legal issues around it, it was widely appreciated by the readers, so we revisit the subject at page 26.
In the next issue, we hope to start a new feature titled Law Laugh, this will cover the lighter side of the law world.
I must thank all our readers for the past 18 years of the loving and continued patronage that this magazine has been receiving.
Grateful.

Reproductive responsibility has been given the status of a cardinal duty of a woman since time immemorial, however, with liberalisation of culture and with the recent interest in curtailing population there have been positive steps taken towards reproductive autonomy. A motley of incongruous contentions including staunch religious viewpoints have made an effective effort in shaping the modern law of reproductive autonomy. In spite of consistent progress towards ‘autonomisation des femmes’ since decades, there has been a recent growing consensus toward the focus on reproductive responsibility, perhaps due to the unperceptive influence of the projected acute drop in Global Fertility Rates. In light of the recent focus on police, both globally and within India, a deep analysis to the effect of Custodial Death and its shortcomings is elaborated. 

LawZ wishes its readers a safe read.

With the prolonged spread of the virus, we are all in safer conditions by staying at home, as and when we are able to reserve the luxury. Understanding the work from home concept of productivity and if it is here to stay.

Another feature is the impact that the RTI Act had on the rural grassroots of the country. As we know the future of India lies in its villages, and so, an understanding of the legal system prevalent is indispensable.

Censorship has aroused a fair magnitude of controversy in the recent past, however a view describing its necessity is featured.

Hope we all keep safe and keep healthy.

There is a great value attached to tradition in our country, which fuels our nationalistic fervor and boosts the esteem in our heritage. However, lying obscure within this ardor, there remain persisting evils of a remnant past. Women who are dedicated to serving God are known as Devadasis. Many states in India have abolished this concept. However, within some temples of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharasthra, this irreligious belief continues to take place. Although there is a provision of maintenance allowance to Devadasis, it cannot compensate for their vastly lower life expectancy. 

Mental Retardation has been underrepresented and underemphasized in legal frameworks across the globe. A brief overview of Indian laws (which include mental retardation in its purview), as well as, the role of non-state actors (who are at the vanguard of change in this domain), is explicated.

Legal aid as a field of practice has grown manifold in the past few years, and it is a welcome change. The thought often comes to mind that since the adversarial method of justice is so capital intensive, one not only positions the rich against the poor but even hands over the power of justice within the hands of the oppressor.

In these testing times, perhaps we should reflect on our actions and how they impact our social environment. Keep safe.

In times of such a public health crisis, LawZ wishes its readers a safe journey forward.
As we bear witness to a unparalleled migrant exodus, we go through an analysis of a parallel shift in the dynamic of the labourer - employer relationship.
We must also understand the importance of Carbon Credits, and take time to understand the repercussions of our actions.
Lastly, we go through, an article that highlights Police Violence, under the backdrop of the ongoing U.S. protests.

The Coronavirus outbreak has tested the tenacity of the fabric that holds our lives together. In these unprecedented and unfortunate times, we have the ability to introspect our actions and resolve to make a change in our life. When this issue of LawZ is published, we will be awaiting the decision whether the national lockdown in India is going to be extended; we hope whatever the decision that will arise in these unsettling times, we will find our way but not to the life we lived earlier, but to a better and more sustainable one.

Kindly keep safe in this ongoing battle that tests our strengths and our moments of weakness. 
In this issue, the cover article referred legislation was made to prevent money laundering in India, to provide for confiscation and seizure of property obtained from laundered money and to deal with connected issues.
Recently, in a Judgment of The Deputy Director Vs. Axis Bank dated 2nd April 2019, the Delhi High Court held that a property mortgaged with the Banks giving right to the Bank to enforce the property mortgaged as a security is over-ridden by
the application of the Act.
The position of law is not clear yet, as the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India is still seized of the matters, however, the general view is that the properties of the accused cannot be attached as alternate attachable properties under the Act when the same
are mortgaged to the Bank much prior to the commission of any offense.
The rights of the Journalists / Media for free and fair reporting are on the one hand and national interest of integrity and sovereignty on the other.
It should work for making a balance between the two and for the purpose of preserving freedom of Press, maintaining and improving the standards of the newspapers and news agencies in the Country. It is in this context, the Press Council of India assumes great significance.

The greatest change this millennium has witnessed is the gradual and exponential exposure to the internet by the world. Among its many proliferating strides, we see many investment management firms have funds that are completely managed by algorithms known as quant-funds, and despite opposition, their approval. Similarly, e-commerce giants have been quietly adopting algorithms to combat the massive price fluctuations, in such a way to economically fix prices without an army of personnel, thereby leveraging profits and turnover. However, does this place the companies with the option of availing the algorithms at a steep and unfair position vis-a-vis the other firms in the market. Will the marketplace remains fair and what should be the standpoint of the Indian Legal System.
Another impact of digital acceptance is its effect on consumer protection. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 has been at the vanguard to an otherwise dilapidated and obsolete consumer law in the face of the digital age. The grounds of appeal and the procedural flaws in the previous legislation have been regulated and gives way for a flexible future-friendly law.
The digitization of the nation has led the way to a host of new opportunities and the corollary threats. It is on our shoulders to identify and assess these winds of change.


Mental Health is a heavily underreported area of concern in India. Despite numerous and compelling evidence to the contrary, there is a general unseen consensus attributing it to a similar pedestal as to a ‘lifestyle disease’. It is an issue that not only covers the socio-economic but also very much so is included in the legal scenario.
With the budget-making on its way, in the hope to revitalize the economy, we need to scrutinize whether the economic slowdown is in root from the supply side i.e from a decline in production and thereby lesser wages, or the decreasing disposable income because of excess demand. 
We also look into a brief perspective on gambling laws in the country and view its transformation with the advent and proliferation of internet gambling.

LawZ wishes its readers a successful new decade and the completion of all the resolutions we set for ourselves. LawZ hopes to launch a Video Learning Platform available for everyone without any cost on Youtube during this year. We hope winds to divert from the sardonic to the empowering and for each of us to focus and act on issues we truly care to fully enact roles of societal participants.
An area subject to focus is of Pharmaceutical Patents, where, especially in India, there is lack of access to affordable medical drugs, perhaps due to a scarcity in the quantum and diversity of production of generic drugs. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled on ever greening of pharmaceutical drugs which is patenting similar strains of drugs, consequently preventing production of generic drugs.
Another important matter of great importance we face is of the autonomy of the election commission and the seemingly impending termination of India's status of the world's largest democracy. It is before the Election Commission to fairly evaluate the issues before themselves to judge the growing criminalisation of politics in the country.
However, apart from whatever we are in perception of, it is the issues that are closest to us at heart, that we should resolve to make a difference for over the course this decade if not for this year. Let's make and be part of change.

As we prepare ourselves to venture upon the avenues of the forthcoming decade,
we should opine on the challenges we collectively faced in this decade and set upon an
ambition for its subsequent prevention.
 LawZ adopting this perspective to its core, wishes all its readers season’s greetings and success for the next decade.
A deep analysis at the Code of Wages, 2019 is featured. The code, ambitious in its process, has repealed 4 major previous legislations thereby changing the very fundamental structure of Labor Law in India. It has included under its purview a far greater number of workers than what was provided for under previous legislations. It also allows for a facilitator cum inspector, with the aim to ease business and to enforce legislation, thereby providing justice to workers and employers alike.
We hope for greater gender equality and faster dispensation of justice; what are your thoughts of primary concern for the Indian Judicial System?

In this issue we carry a short profile of Zhou Qiang. He is the current Chief Justice and President of the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC). Speaking at a Supreme People’s Court meeting on January 14, Zhou warned the courts against the ‘idea of judicial independence’. 
He said “China’s courts must firmly resist the western idea of “constitutional democracy”, “separation of powers” and “judicial independence”. As we can see, the Legal concepts of
the West and China are completely at loggerheads. It may be of some interest for the readers to, therefore, study Chinese Jurisprudence and the ideas of judicial mechanism and law in China vis-a-vis the Western notions.
We also carry a profile of Karl Renner who was an eminent Jurist and a politician of Austria. He wrote the treatise Österreichs Erneuerung in three volumes in 1916, and, An
der Wende zweier Zeiten in 1946. He was instrumental in the formation of the present day Austria. Renner is remembered for having controversially signed away territories to Italy,
Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia in successive peace treaties. He was also part of the signing of the Treaty of Saint- Germain, which contained a clause forbidding Austria’s union
with Germany. He later became the first chancellor of reborn Austria in April 1945. On 20 December 1945, parliament unanimously elected him president of the Second Republic.
Such was the role and impact of this Jurist Politician.

The important of ecology cannot be overstated. In contemporary times, we have stranded the layman on crossroads on questioning existence of global warming. We see globalist children actively protesting the standing of all powerful nationalist leaders. The efforts we see to repath the rapid movement of the misanthropic development is ostensibly defeating. Putatively, we have seen the pace of the debate growing over the years, to fair avail.
Animals are the sanguine vestige of pristine ecology. We have developed laws to conduct our social sphere ie interse humans, but as the experts determine is our unsacrificable relationship with animals we need to govern our actions amongst them. The Indian tiger population has witnessed a growth after a terrifying low in 2011 and poaching has seen a general decline over the years. The omnipresent question however undyingly looms, is this enough?
Tzachi Zamir, a distinguished author and activist for animal rights, explains in his thought stimulating book, Ethics and the Beast, that perhaps the proponents of animal liberation see the understanding of speciesism as analogous to slavery and untouchability as their denouncers did at their time. The understanding required is that we don’t necessarily have to identify speciesism to promote animal liberation since the benefit of the cause, from a utilitarian perspective, far outweighs it’s cost. So perhaps it is time we should forego our species' identification as morally superior, for that definition shall view itself in malaise as long as we are opportune to introspect our actions.

Upon the unfortunate demise of Shri Arun Jaitley, LawZ takes its readers back to its issue of July of 2002, where we had interviewed Mr Jaitley, and we now republish the same from our archives. It is a sense of great loss to the nation, for the loss of a legal luminary who only improved the multiple ministries and positions he helmed for the country.
This issue also delves into issues plaguing our socio economic fabric such as Child Labour and Solicitation of Prostitution.
We cover a perspective into the recent Act of approval on the ban on Triple Talaq.

The scope of human rights in the international context and of that pertaining to India is always perhaps interpreted as what fits the need of the day, this can rob the civilian of his right to access and understand the law to which he is subject to. We see that with time, human rights have grown in the social and economic sphere as well apart from political rights.
Apart from there social and medical indicators, interestingly, HIV has been linked to access to law as a fundamental indicator of its growth. For combating these STDs, we see that the judicial mechanism is of paramount importance, to understand access to basic healthcare and its dutiful enforcement.
With the rise of radical neo-nationalism, we see an upswing in the use of acid as a weapon of torture. Maybe we should have the laws revisited to see its applicability in the present day.
With the publication of this issue, LawZ completes 18 years of uninterrupted publication. We thank all readers for their constant support.

We talk about how essential it is to protect the interest of the consumer and to help the advertiser to desist from using deceptive advertising practices. With the widespread use of advertising, came many of the typical advertising abuses such as false claims, where the advertisers claim that their product does something that other products fail to do. Such deceptive practices often find consumers stranded at the mercy of the advertisers.
We also try to talk about the complaint of sexual harassment against the Hon’ble Mr. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Disregarding the request for a ‘special inquiry committee’, the Supreme Court had instead set up an in-house Committee comprising three judges who are junior to the Chief Justice, namely Justice Bobde, and Justice Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee as additional members. Was the legal principle inter alia audi aultrem partem violated and justice denied.
Finally, we discuss about the litigation that is usual in matrimonial disputes. The husbands often charge against his wives that she is not leading a moral life and she is living in adultery. One husband alleged that as such his wife have illicit relations and the child doesn’t belong to the husband and demanded a DNA test of the child to prove that she has an illicit relation and child is the result of that relations. Can such a case be generalized through out the nation, think about it.

On BJP’s landmark win, it is observed the slight but significant rise in the popularity of NOTA; in perception and quantified vote count. These elections, tired by the accusations against the election commission and validity of the EVM vote counts, does show that the NOTA vote exists and will emerge to portray a showcase of voter dissatisfaction across the country.
We also discuss the perceived to be an unsafe step that allows the government to nationalize personal data instead of safeguarding it. This will further irritate the international superpowers who have upstretched worries over increasing trade barriers in India.
We also talk about the pattern of NRI wife abandonment which falls into three types: (a) a woman who is residing with her husband in a foreign country suddenly finds her husband has disappeared leaving her in the lurch; (b) a woman who has been residing abroad with her husband is either deceptively and/or coercively taken back to India. And what are the recourses available in the case of International Divorces.

In this issue, Labour laws are enacted for improving the conditions of workers and the employers cannot be allowed to buy off immunity against violation of labour laws by paying a paltry fine.
We will discuss the the status of prisoners of war only applies in international armed conflict. POWs are usually members of the armed forces of one of the parties to a conflict who fall into the hands of the adverse party.
The government should not make RBI as scapegoat for its inefficiency to take advantage of low oil prices, fix the power sector dilemma, stabilize the rupee etc. The government should be receptive and quick enough to apprehend the suggestions from financial sector champions.

In this issue, we present that how the Supreme Court of India has brought reforms to ensure that the death penalty is given in cases of ‘rarest of rare nature’and thus it has switched to a completely different path by granting life term to offenders who do not fall under this category.
The Objective of the Bill is to make amendments in the existing Citizenship Act, 1955. The existing Act provides for acquisition and determination of Citizenship.
Fake news in India has had a deleterious effect on our nation’s unity and integrity leading to several episodes of violence between castes and religions and has interfered with public policies .

In this issue, we discuss that ‘woman is not to be considered as an adulteress’ needs to change in the society, the change is the need of the hour in sexual harassment laws. The topic also deals with extra- marital relations between two married people.
The protection of Environment is not only the duty of the State alone. All the members of the society have to take part in this effort The role of each person in protecting the environment is of great importance. In Rafale Deal, the Intergovernmental agreement
between France and India did not come with a sovereign guarantee.

In this issue, we are carrying an article on “National Food Security Act” which has always been of significant importance to India. Inspite of India achieving a high growth rate, hunger still exists in India due to shortage and misdistribution of food. The obtaining limit /purchasing capacity of the family for nutritious and quality sustenance is another basic factor that adds to extensive scale hunger in India.
Is there a difference between merger, amalgamation and acquisition! To get a peep into these terms, we are carrying an article. Interestingly, there has been an issue from a long time, as to whether there is any difference between Merger and Amalgamation. Pertinently, the word “amalgamation” or “merger” is not defined in the Companies Act, 2013.
Indian Law Association (ILA) was launched in India on January 1, 2018. It had its first Annual Conference at Taj Palace, New Delhi. May be it is worth the while, to closely follow the growth of this organization.

As we enter into the 19th volume of LawZ, we evade reminiscing about the various events that took place during the years, rather attempt to look into the future of the legal field. It has been a decade-long belief, further strengthened by failed technological entries in the legal field, that machine couldn’t foray in legal work. However, silently machines
have become an indispensable fragment of the legal profession , from replacing All India Reporters with a query on the internet, and the cloud for storing otherwise kilos heavy files. Such technology has broken otherwise capital-intensive practices, and now pose
the question of absolute substitution of lawyers with artificially intelligent machines. Change rarely comes in the form we expect it to, however acceptance and symbiosis of change keeps us alive as individuals and as members of society. Law is an evolving body, multiple amendments to the constitution have kept its beliefs in lieu of the modern
environment. The first amendment had introduced schedule 9 of the Constitution, which attempted to safeguard land reforms. However, with the test of time, it has been referenced in unintended purposes and recoursed by various amendments.May the year’s resolutions bring hope and accolades.

Eco-feminism was a term coined in the 70s that often is perceived to link patriarchy to diminution of the status of women and the environment. It is observed in wide culture that women are wedded to the environmental elements. Of late eco-feminism has garnered great criticism from anti-essentialist ideologies. However, the movement has played a great role in realising ecological movement support. LawZ wishes a Merry Christmas to you and all of the LawZ family.

The amendments of the new law toward debt recovery has been in great focus, particularly for its inclusion of listed bonds. However, under critical evaluation, the need of many other institutions to resort to traditional court proceedings remain a perplexity.
As India aims to decrease poverty, the rights and economic status of the poverty stricken when transited out of the vicious loop remain fairly ambiguous. Many hold the view that those in transition, if and when social security not provided, makes all the past schemes of the government for poverty completely redundant, due to the incapacity of sustainance out of the security sphere. However, we find that this issue is not limited to India.
Caveat Venditor has been in predominant use of late rather than the traditional counterpart of caveat emptor. This is attributed to the information explosion and subsequent rise in consumer awareness. However, in the cut throat competition market vendors are often found, resorting to inappropriate practices edging illegaloties, an analysis understanding the divide and resolution is featured.

Quoting Goethe, “I am what I am, so take me as I am,” the Chief Justice of India, Deepak Misra and a panel of judges excised Section 377 responding to a bundle of six petitions. In an arduous and rock ladden path to decriminalise the punishment of retaining individuality, the activists had to pursue whilst living in fear of the law drafted in 1861 by the hot air of Victorians and the its modern day mascots, veiled or explicit.
Although many argue that homophobia was a foreign influence to Indian culture, many incumbent political leaders have openly excercised their right of opinion, dangerously resonating with their supporters.
With legal sanctum, the animosity to the already marginally supported interest groups, will hopefully reduce and the nation will gain movement in decolonising itself.October

Sedition is an action in contempt of the state violating the social contract that we as citizens partake. The act of sedition has taken different interpretation since the course of time, from encompassing and enforcing restrictions to human liberties under its purview from the British rule to being alleged to of so today. The Supreme Court has however limited its scope and application as being the dutiful watchdog of the constitution, to prevent misuse by the legislature.
The legislature, ever embroiled in debate and doubt, has though given way for an excellent scheme of recognition of prior learning which enables formalisation of unorganised workforce and thereby increasing their competencies.
Lastly, a feature on estimation of medical negligence claims describes the implication of various contract doctrines and the fallouts in calculation of unquantifiable value.

The members of the constituent assembly envisaged a great separation of power however, attacks and threatened are seeming increasingly commonplace and duly justified as a form of checks and balances. What cannot however be morphed is the spirit of law and the societal moral compass that is the foundation of the judicial body.

As the silent market has been revisiting the possibility of reinvesting in bitcoin, a perspective to legality in Indian investment is featured in the cover article. The block chain technology has also had a great leap in momentum and implementation of it on legal grounds has been debated on legal ambiguity.

In the composite and concurrent rise of the frequency and volume of Economic Offenders and Offences with the Non Performing Asset Crisis, a introspection to its insistence despite multiple economic reforms including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the Asset Reconstruction Companies, is delved into.

The looming silent crisis is perhaps one of India’s greatest current economic problems, but the cohesive effort of the nation can put the crisis to a rest.

On comparison to the current status of women to that during the independence, we may come to a conclusion that the situation with regard to the rights and powers of women has improved. This has been achieved both by an international social revolution and a subsequent economic independence. Women have, however, implicitly played a perhaps greater role than men however the recollection of so has faded over time.
Our legal justice framework has aspired to partake in the progression of culture and gender equality by granting safeguards to women whence under accusation and victimization under the CrPC, such as not arresting women after sunset.
Right to Life is a fundamental right and is also interestingly interpreted as to guard the right to a rightful death. We hear horrors of the brutality of edging mortality however what does not find its way to our ears is the misapplication of the legally backed procedure to take away one’s life. 
Hence, when our society evolves it evolves with its problems, fortunately our judiciary runs in equivalence.

Law is both consequential and concurrent to interaction; although much has changed during the course of the centennial, this fact remains all purposive. What has changed, pertinently, is the global climate, and it is the failure in following the path of this primordial direction. Administrators of today, being so constant, in obtaining a blithely unconcerned attitude of an inconsistent perspective of the ecological concern, that the recent environmental damage was unquestionably inevitable. Reports of new highest recordings in temperature strike fear of impending doom, but are quickly forgotten by reading the next news ticker in the bundled ‘top news’ notifications on the smartphone. 
Environment Law has arisen to an increasingly important status over the past few years, with global agencies such as the UNFCCC providing guidelines of legislation. However, mankind’s insistence on its myopic approach to economic development, will prove to be its greatest challenge.

This issue celebrates the two hundred months of uninterrupted legal reporting by the magazine. The journey of the dual centennial gives an opportunity to reminisce the various events that took place during this time. Many from our Editorial Panel were elevated as High Court Judges and went on to receive various accolades and global accomplishments.
In this issue, there is focus on the need of a bill that would attempt to, in hopeful entirety, prevent the seemingly recursive commission of economic offences.
The SEBI regulations of 2015 are analysed for its realized effect on the current market schematics. The TRIPS Agreement which attempts to solve the conflict of IP successive over Competition equality, has also been a highlight.The magazine has actively partaken the responsibility of reporting the various legal reforms and introduction of new laws along with the incidents and facts which have molded them in their present shape, over the course of its journey. We continue to maintain this responsibility for all our readers.

Abduction by the parent is a case which has grown increased prevalence, statistically, over the last decade. As through constitutional fundamental right mandate, the right of child welfare remains paramount; in the case where the child's own guardians, de-facto or de-jure, harm the interest of the child, the judiciary considers the favor of the child. The article describes the validity, plausibility, and the governing principles in such context.
Even though the High Court set aside the disqualification of the legislators in question, the issues and intra-party turmoil continues to remain adrift amid the anti-institution and socio-libertarian beliefs of the party. As the case is now under Election Commission scrutiny, the possibilities of the result is fairly unascertainable.
With rising in unemployment, there is a subsequent decrease for employee demands, thus creating greater readiness in the contractual employment sector; further popularised by the 'freshers' or college graduates. With facilitating technology and more convenient job structure, its legal relevance is compared to its prevalent one.
As LawZ celebrates its 200th issue, the team aspires to further cement its commitment, of serving the summit of quality legal information, to its readers.

September 2020

August 2020

July 2020

June 2020

May 2020

April 2020

March 2020

February 2020

January 2020

December 2019

November 2019

October 2019

September 2019

August 2019

July 2019

June 2019

LawZ released its first issue in August, 2001. The intent was to create a magazine about the law and the legal field, but with a difference. LawZ is India s first comprehensive monthly law magazine for all.The magazine not only covers events relating to the Indian legal system but also makes an effort in comparing it with the legal systems across the globe.

Instead of being of interest only to lawyers and others involved in the legal profession, the aim was to create something that could be read, understood, and even enjoyed by those who do not have formal knowledge of law. In short, it was to be more than a dry, ponderous collection of articles written in the oft arcane language of the court. Nor was it to focus solely on India, because today no news is complete unless it touches on the world at large.

The magazine reaches to all the judges of the Supreme Court, High Courts, Bar Council of India, Lawyers, Law Colleges and Institutions, top Indian and foreign Law Firms, Indian Corporates and Multinational Companies and Legal departments of government and Semi-government agencies, Corporate houses and several Embassies.

The magazine is presently in its 15th year of publication and is receiving tremendous response and appreciation from all the sections of the society and today is the only legal magazine, which has attained its present status in such a short span of time.

We’ve come a long way since our first issue. Today, it is regarded as a benchmark and a trailblazer in legal journalism.

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LawZ Magazine - January 2018

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