Admissibility of Scientific Evidence: Judicial Trends in India

--Syed Maswood

Changes are inevitable and are bound to happen. Changes in the society are complementary to various law reforms. There have been many changes in criminal investigation system wherein new technology and new gadgets are used by the investigating personnel to arrive at a conclusion. Many mysterious cases have been resolved based on the scientific/forensic reports. Depending on the gravity of such evidence, gradually the courts, with proper justification, started to rely on such reports. Keeping this in view, the paper deals with the pros and cons of the admissibility of scientific/forensic evidence. The ongoing judicial trends in India have been compared with the trends in the United States and the United Kingdom.

© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Towards Recognition of Environmental Refugees: Exploring Various Options

--Sairam Bhat and Kaiser Manzoor

Environmental refugees are not recognized in the international law and are posing an open challenge to the current international legal system. There are some possible solutions proposed by many scholars which could lend international protection to environmental refugees. This paper deals with the possible solutions in international law to lend protection to environmental refugees.

© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Judiciary as a Change Agent for Gender Justice: A Study of PIL Cases in India

--Iftikhar Hussain Bhat

Judiciary can be a powerful agent of social change when it works without gender bias and supports gender equality, as its pronouncements carry the backing of the State and may thus be enforced or become a norm across a broad range of citizens through established channels of state-citizen engagement. In India, the judiciary has made immense contribution by acting as a change agent for gender equality. The Supreme Court of India has responded to the issue of gender justice in a positive manner. Through Public Interest Litigation (PIL) mechanism, the Indian Supreme Court is well poised in terms of its constitutional and procedural powers to redress violations against women who would otherwise have little or no access to the justice system. Some of the recent decisions given by the apex court significantly advance the cause and the dignity of women. However, there are significant limitations to the PIL mechanism and some broader challenges in enforcing gender equality in a patriarchal society in which women are not sufficiently politically mobilized. Against this background, this paper attempts to examine the performance of Indian judiciary’s PIL mechanism as a catalyst of change for gender justice.

© 2014 IUP All Rights Reserved.

Evolution of the Relationship Between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles Under the Constitution of India

--Achyutananda Mishra

The Constitution of India contains provisions combining both the individual freedoms and social welfare. Individual freedoms are represented in Part III as Fundamental Rights (FR) and social welfare in Part IV as Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). There have been curious developments as to their relationship or so to say the predominance of one over the other. The Supreme Court of India was initially reluctant to give any value to Directive Principles (DP) vis-à-vis FR. Compelled by such a situation, the Parliament brought successive amendments to further the goal of welfarism. This led to an unpleasant situation of virtual tussle between legislature and judiciary. Of late, the judiciary has woken up to the reality of socioeconomic justice and interpreted both, i.e., FR and DP as integrated ones. They constitute the negative and positive aspects of human rights, respectively. This development has helped in the growth of the ambit of FR and specifically Article 21. The integrative approach has enriched the growth of constitutional jurisprudence.

© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Evolution of Farmers’ Rights in Intellectual Property Regime: International and Indian Perspective

--Showkat Hussain

Ever since the homo-sapiens began to use land for creating means of sustenance like food, clothing and shelter, the importance of land as a crucial input in the development of human civilization was realized. Besides, the settlement of people, after nomadic life, also brought into focus the relevance of agricultural land for their survival and development. With the passage of time, the position of the farmer became most vulnerable and pitiable which needed protection at the societal level through the instrument of law. After the Second World War, with the growth of international trade, many new doctrines and concepts were evolved and propagated. Among these, the concept of Intellectual Property, though evolved in the 19th century, witnessed increased recognition and acceptance in the global community. One of the aspects of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) was the protection of breeders’ rights. The plant breeders were given protection and many international conventions were convened for this purpose. The International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources (IU), the Convention on Biological Diversity, TRIPs Agreement and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, 2001 are four important international conventions that are relevant to the construction of ownership and control of plant genetic resources in global debates on plant variety protection. After according protection to plant breeders, it was soon realized that the rights of the breeders were in conflict with those of farmers. As a result, the concept of farmer’s rights was put forth both at international and national levels.

© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Protecting the Performers’ Rights: An Analysis of the Relevant Law in the Indian Copyright Regime

--Aftab Jeelani Wani

In the traditional copyright regime, performers had no specific rights as those granted to an author or a creator of a work, since they were considered only as intermediaries between the author and the communication of his work to the public and hence not capable of possessing rights like an author or a copyright owner. With the advent of copying technology in the 20th century, the copyright system was at stake, and performers could not protect themselves from exploitation of their works. However, subsequent protection against unauthorized exploitation was granted to performers under ‘neighboring rights’ or ‘related rights’. Only economic rights were granted to them initially under the international agreements, and subsequently, moral rights were granted for the first time at the international level through World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) in 1996. Though the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 recognized the performers’ economic rights in 1994, it did not provide for any moral rights until the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 came into effect. This paper attempts to analyze the development of law relating to the performers’ rights in the Indian copyright regime under the influence of different international agreements, and how far the provisions of the Copyright Amendment Act 2012 in India with respect to performers’ rights have made the Indian Law compatible with different international instruments.

© 2014 IUP. All Rights Reserved.