RGNUL STUDENT RESEARCH REVIEW

Introduction: Juvenile Justice at the Crossroads A 2024 study by the National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (‘NIMHANS’) found that 90.9% of children referred from the juvenile justice system in India had experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (‘ACE’), including abuse, neglect, etc. Similarly, a global study across 13 countries found that nearly 87 per cent of justice-involved youth had experienced at least one traumatic event. The study also fou

Introduction On 17 April 2026 an award debtor applied under Section 36(3) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for a stay and for continuation of a bank guarantee. Seven days later the Supreme Court decided Home Care Retail Marts v Haresh N Sanghavi, holding that an unsuccessful party may invoke Section 9 after an award. Four days after that the debtor abandoned its Section 36(3) prayer, moved under Section 9, and obtained the relief. Counsel argued in both forums th

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 (‘Amendment Act’) received Presidential assent on 6 April 2026. It introduces the most structurally significant change to India’s insolvency framework since the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘Code’) was enacted. Its centrepiece is the Creditor-Initiated Insolvency Resolution Process (‘CIIRP’), a new resolution track under Chapter IV-A (Sections 58A to 58K) that allows specified financial creditors holding at lea

Introduction A decade-old FIR that ended in acquittal. A matrimonial dispute settled years ago. A criminal proceeding in which a person’s name appeared only incidentally. For the petitioners before the Delhi High Court, these were not archival records but live injuries, reopened by every name-based search. On 29 May 2026, Justice Sachin Datta’s ruling in Laksh Vir Singh Yadav v Union of India answered them, consolidating over thirty-five writ petitions and recognising the rig

Introduction Recently, in Liyakat Ali v State of Himachal Pradesh, the Himachal Pradesh High Court acquitted several accused persons after nearly 15 years of incarceration, terming the prosecution’s failure to conduct a Test Identification Parade (‘TIP’) a ‘serious lapse in investigation’. A TIP is a pre-trial identification procedure in which a witness is asked to identify an accused from among other persons. TIPs are ordinarily conducted at the stage of investigation and s

Introduction On 4 May 2026, the Supreme Court of India, in its order in Shaheen Malik v. Union of India (‘Shaheen Malik’), interpreted the meaning of ‘acid attack victims’ under The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (‘RPwD Act’) to include persons to whom acid was forcefully administered, including those who suffer internal injuries irrespective of external disfigurement. This interpretation promotes equality, non-discrimination, and enables affirmative action for