SUB THEMES
E-Courts : The Future
For decades, the Judiciary across the globe has faced numerous obstacles while working. And, the recent takedown of pandemic E-courts has proved to be a blessing in disguise. The immense growth of the Technology and Information Sector in the country has paved a path for E-Courts to flourish.
Judges and staff seem to find online courtrooms convenient and advantageous and are opting for the same extensively. Speedy trials and a healthy courtroom environment have been a dream of many and online courts are reducing these hassles swiftly. Though a complete shift to E-Courts might be a threat to the traditional systems, it might lead to the modern era of judiciary.
The aim of the session is to discuss the importance of the future of judiciary and the impact of adopting the E-Court system.
DNA Profiling – The way forward
DNA profiling is the profiling of people on the basis of DNA material that is harvested from a person or a sample of bodily tissue. Although for the most part, DNA of humans is majorly similar, a small part of our DNA is unique to all people just like our fingerprints.
DNA profiling has been an emerging field and has been greatly helpful in criminal investigations, discovering family and even victim identification in times of natural disasters. DNA profiling is greatly being used in criminal investigations with DNA databases now being merged across jurisdiction for investigative agencies to access and do quick identifications of victims or suspects.
DNA profiling has now advanced to MPS (Massively Parallel Sequencing) technologies which even helps in identifying genetic material which runs thousands of sequences at once to ensure quick identification. DNA Profiling has varied and great usage mainly in forensic and medical fields with newer and faster technologies coming up every day.
The aim of the session is to discuss the functioning and legal applications of DNA profiling.
Changing dimensions of Competition Law/Antitrust Law
Competition is the best means of ensuring that the ‘Common Man’ gets access to a variety of goods and services at a competitive rate. Increased competition is healthy for an economy, which will help in maximizing incentives for innovation and creating new products in the market. The Competition Act primarily seeks to regulate three types of conduct: anti-competitive agreements, abuse of a dominant position, and combinations (i.e., mergers, acquisitions, and amalgamations). The Competition Act monitors any economic activity that monopolizes competition within the market; it aims to protect consumers and small enterprises and ensures freedom of trade.
This session will help us to unpack the various dimensions of Competition law and its implementation in the country.
Youth to Youth Connect: Unlocking Fake news by Regulation
Fake news generally refers to journalistic articles that intentionally or unintentionally confirm false or inaccurate information. False information can spread like wildfire without counteracting the investigation and fact-checking that journalists traditionally carry out. Often written with an emotional appeal - to be disseminated based on vitality rather than truthfulness - and there are clear financial incentives to maximize the production and distribution of this information.
And this is one of the key challenges of our time. Misinformation erodes trust in institutions and undermines democratic processes. In an online world of misinformation, trust is a powerful weapon for retaining audiences and advertisers and standing apart from the noise.
This session will shed light upon this phenomenon of Unlocking Fake News by Regulation that will briefly give an insight on the importance of this issue, as it is not just a technical problem, but also a social and economic one.
The truth behind the Testimony
The role of witness is very crucial in determining the outcome of a case. The party producing the witness in the court tends to give a favourable testimony on behalf of the party that has produced him and the testimony of such a witness is negated by the adverse party.
A tough situation arises when the favourable witness turns hostile. The credibility of the testimony of such a witness and the impeachment of the credibility of his testimony unnecessarily leads to the prolonged trial of a case, which in turn vitiates the direction of the Court in its quest for truth.
In case if a prime witness in a case turns hostile, the Court in that case will have to search for other circumstantial evidence in reaching a conclusion for the case. The fate of a case will be doomed if, on a crucial aspect of the case, the Court will have to dispense with the testimony of the witness and depend on circumstantial evidence.
The aim of the session is to discuss issues like, what leads to a witness turning hostile; What is the truth behind the testimony of the witness so on and so forth.
IPR and Competition Law: Poles Apart
Intellectual property rights and competition law are two distinct fields of law that have become of paramount importance especially in the ever-growing corporate industry with upcoming entrepreneurs, established businessmen and innovators competing in cut throat competition in a bid to win over the consumers in all fields ranging from agriculture to information technology. Competition law governs the companies and establishes standards to be followed so that cut throat competition doesn’t lead to consumers being affected by unfair trade qualities and under quality goods. IPR protects the businessmen and innovators by safeguarding their unique business creations from being copied or misused by anyone. While in theory these laws may not seem related to each other in reality, they have led to one big common incentive for the final consumer - a competitive and innovative developing market.
These laws have become the perfect recipe to ensure innovation in compliance with ethical and legal standards combined with the legal protection to protect the efforts that go behind them.
The aim of the session is to discuss the Interface between Intellectual property rights and Competition Law.
Human rights law and artificial intelligence: The road map
It has now become a well-accepted fact that Artificial Intelligence is changing human society as a whole. It is an instrumental part in all tangents of life whether it is to open a lock on your phone or help track and analyze various types of diseases.
AI is being used everywhere. But is it available for everyone? Human rights as we all know, are universally protected and are the most intrinsic rights that cannot be denied to anyone. Society is seeing a shift where robots and machines are evolving social systems.
But is Artificial Intelligence doing so without any social, racial, and economic bias? Is AI going to be another tool of discrimination? Would AI lead to a new form of oppression? These questions need to be answered. The session would help find these answers and shed light on a topic that needs everyone’s attention.
The aim of the session is to discuss the various aspects about Human rights law and artificial intelligence.
Legal education in 21st century
Many elements of legal education are influenced by the new dynamics and changes that have emerged in society. As a result, legal education needs to broaden in order for law, law students, and practitioners to have a beneficial impact on today's world.
In India, legal education is undergoing significant changes. Success currently appears to be different than it did in the past.
Giving students the skills, they need to succeed in this new environment, as well as helping them gain the confidence to use those skills, is at the core of a 21st-century education. In recent years, legal education and development have become intertwined notions. Many changes have occurred in the field of legal education as a result of the digital age. The digital age presents an opportunity to revitalise and modernise legal education by making it more individualised, relevant, humanistic, and accessible.
The aim of the session is to discuss the scope and evolution of legal education in the twenty-first century.