“Ms. Nappinai has brought to the book her extensive legal expertise in drawing from the legislative and judicial pronouncements from different jurisdictions.”

– Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, M.P. Rajya Sabha, Member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT).

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

A strong proponent of civil liberties, Ms. Nappinai has been at the forefront in espousing the cause of liberty and Rule of law. Her focus, be it in handling litigations, writing (including in her book Technology Laws Decoded and articles) and training of judges and police, has been for upholding fundamental rights and principles whilst balancing victim rights. She has helped, opined on and given valuable inputs to Government Authorities at the Centre and State Government level and also for various Law Enforcement Agencies in the interpretation of laws and case laws towards better implementation and enforcement. Ms. Nappinai thereby balances and empathises with the need of Government Authorities whilst ensuring protection of individual rights and constitutional guarantees.

Ms. Nappinai espouses the need for stronger focus on victim rights through effective enforcement mechanisms. She believes that apart from the urgent need for responsible governance and responsible technologies, there is a growing need for focus on victim rights and effective enforcement. Ms. Nappinai’s contribution in several cases handled have resulted in landmark judgments and significant contribution to upholding of individual and victim rights.

Ms. Nappinai has undertaken several complex constitutional matters, apart from the standard statutory detention cases and Writs of Habeas Corpus. Her emphasis has been on protecting individual’s inherent rights and ensuring strict adherence of first principles with respect to fetters thereon.

Ms. Nappinai’s repertoire of cases addressing Constitutional Constructs include:

• Amicus Curiae before the Supreme Court of India, in Re: Prajwala Letter dated 18.2.2015, “Videos Of Sexual Violence And Recommendations” (Suo motu Criminal W.P 3/2015), ((2018) 15 SCC 551), wherein she has championed the use of Artificial Intelligence tools for blocking uploading of heinous content such as child abuse or violent imagery of crimes against women;

• The recent case of Balu Gopalakrishnan v. State of Kerala & Ors., and other Writ Petitions filed therewith, where she successfully represented the Government of Kerala and addressed issues of data protection and privacy;

• Represented / assisted in submissions in support of Petitioners in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India & Ors. ((2019) 1 SCC 1), contesting the vires of the Aadhaar Scheme & Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (“Aadhaar Act, 2016”) (India’s Identity number scheme and enactment), wherein she argued on the risks of unfettered collection and linking of data sets to only result in profiling but “Digital Ghettoization”;

• Represented before the Supreme Court in Krishna Bhatacharjee vs Sarathi Choudhury, ((2016) 2 SCC 705), in defining the interpretation under Domestic Violence Act, 2005, for calculating limitation, thereby helping several victims to seek remedies even after substantial time lapse;

• Represented several cases before Supreme Court of India and High Courts in cases pertaining to Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace including in the case against the Chairman & Managing Director of National Aluminium Corporation (“NALCO”), a Bhubaneshwar based public sector company (https://www.rediff.com/money/2004/feb/13nalco.htm);

• Represented successfully in a public interest litigation initiated against the conduct of television lotteries in violation of the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998;

• Representing in a Public Interest Litigation questioning the conduct of Timeshare Companies and violation of SEBI Act, 1992;

• Represented a Movie Production Company in defending its entry to the Oscar Awards, USA, which resulted in amendments to guidelines for choosing films for Award submissions;

• Successfully represented in several cases initiated and defended by registered societies including the Karate Federation, thereby ensuring effective participation and representation for India at international sporting events;

• Represented in cases contesting release of Movies on grounds of harm to religious beliefs to damage to personalities;

• Successfully representing in a Pro Bono brief, retired Airline employees, many of whom were blue collar workers, in defending their vested right to pensions and contesting retrospective modifications thereto;

• Represented in several Writ Petitions before High Courts, contesting grant of tender and violation of constitutional mandates;

• Represent in several Writ Petitions interpreting / questioning arbitrary actions of Government Authorities including cases against the Securities Exchange Board of India; National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.,; BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd.,), to name a few;

• Represented in several Habeas Corpus Petitions including those pertaining to Statutory Detentions;

Apart from her handling of litigations including public interest litigations, Ms. Nappinai lends her expertise in Constitutional laws, to giving opinions to clients on constitutional; constitution and IPR; Constitution and technology, to name a few. She lends her time and expertise to various social causes and to helping them perform within the parameters of law. Her contributions have helped evolve laws intersecting technology and the Constitution of India.

She has written seminal articles in international and national publications on Constitutional issues ranging from Constitutional guarantees and law enforcement; Criminal jurisprudence and interpretation of laws; opposing death penalty and the need for rehabilitation through prayaschitta and the most importantly on the need for focussing on Victim Rights.

Ms. Nappinai was the pioneer for India, in enumerating the need for data protection and privacy, through her incisive articles, and also on emerging technologies and the need for regulations including for blockchain, cryptocurrencies, AI and Automation and robotics and social media, to name a few.

Some of these articles are listed hereunder:

• “Too Early for Revelry for Crypto Enthusiasts”, N. S. Nappinai (2020) – Published by CNBC TV 18;
(https://www.cnbctv18.com/legal/too-early-for-revelry-for-crypto-enthusiasts-5495701.htm);

• “Rethinking Social Media – Through The Prism Of Freedoms, Liberties & Democracy”, N. S. Nappinai (2020) – Published in the Festschrift Book for Nani Palkivala titled “Essays & Reminiscences”. Published by LexisNexis;

• “Indian Women must get justice and it must be timely. But vigilantism is anathema to both justice and democracy”- Times of India – 2019 (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/indian-women-must-get-justice-and-it-must-be-timely-but-vigilantism-is-anathema-to-both-justice-and-democracy/);

• “Liberty, Democracy and Social Media, Nappinai NS in DemocraShe”- She The People- 2019; (https://www.shethepeople.tv/top-stories/issues/liberty-democracy-and-social-media-nappinai-ns-in-democrashe);

• “Software Piracy” – Manual for Judicial Training – Authored by N. S. Nappinai – 2016;

• “Electronic Evidence – The Great Indian Quagmire” – Supreme Court Cases – 2019 ((2019) 3 SCC J-41);

• “The RBI’s data-related provisions through FAQs appear faulty” – Hindustan Times -2019 (https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/the-rbi-s-data-related-provisions-through-faqs-appear-suspect/story-7f0nINnChr8mrfJdjbFEyO.html);

• “India’s data protection law: Strengthen rules but also follow through to the last mile” – Hindustan Times – 2018; (https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/india-s-data-protection-law-strengthen-rules-but-also-follow-through-to-the-last-mile/story-OL3UbLd78dyN4psWa5S0nL.html);

• “#MeToo for corporate world” – DNA – 2018; (https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-metoo-for-corporate-world-2686760);

• “Rocking the Central Bank” – DNA – 2018; (https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-rocking-the-central-bank-2680325);

• “US flexes its Cyber Muscles” – DNA – 2018; (https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-us-flexes-cyber-muscles-2676092);

• “Tackling Women’s Freedom and Unfreedom online- through law and Technology”- IT For Change – 2018;

• “Bitcoins and the cryptocurrency conundrum; Budget tries to provide an answer but falls short of definitive stand”- The Times of India – 2018; (https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/bitcoins-and-the-cryptocurrency-conundrum-budget-tries-to-provide-an-answer-but-falls-short-of-definitive-stand/);

• “Understanding hacking from a legal point of view”- The Livemint- 2017
(http://www.livemint.com/Technology/niYSp2AfvmF0EKHfzwpIwN/Understanding-hacking-from-a-legal-point-of-view.html);

• “Cyber Laws Part I: How internet has become a crime scene” – The Economic Times – 2017 (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/no-one-is-safe-how-internet-has-become-a-playground-for-cyber-criminals/articleshow/61418856.cms);

• “Cyber Laws Part II: A guide for victims of cybercrime” – The Economic Times – 2017 (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/do-you-know-how-to-report-a-cyber-crime-heres-a-guide-for-victims/articleshow/61464084.cms);

• “Dark Side of IoT” – Computer Law Review International (CRi), Europe – 2017 (https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/cri.2017.18.issue-2/cri-2017-0204/cri-2017-0204.xml);

• “The Midnight Tryst With Tax & Trademarks” – Business Standard – 2017 (http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/story-471654-storydet-GST_The_midnight_tryst_with_tax_and_trademarks.htm#.WXrgWMaB0yA);

• “India Stirred & Shaken” – On Demonetization & Perils of Digital Currencies – 2016 (https://thewire.in/85975/india-digital-payment/);

• “Sedition – Time for new laws to shield free speech” Times of India – 2016 (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sedition-Time-for-new-laws-to-shield-free-speech/articleshow/51017910.cms);

• “Death of Satire: Roasters Roasted” – Times of India – 2016 (http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=COMMENT-Death-of-satire-Roasters-roasted-19012016019025#);

• “Its Time to Herald Changes” – Point of View on the National Herald Case – Times of India – 2015 (http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=POINT-OF-VIEW-ITS-TIME-TO-HERALD-CHANGES-15122015014061#);

• “Privacy as a Fundamental Right – In Grave Peril” – The Wire – 2015 (http://thewire.in/2015/10/07/our-fundamental-right-to-privacy-is-in-grave-peril-12571/);

• “Hate Speech & Holy Cows” – Times of India – 2015 (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hurt-sentiments-no-ground-for-violence/articleshow/49202127.cms);

• “Not just about Porn – Its About Government Acting Responsibly” – Times of India – 2015 (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Not-just-about-porn-its-about-govt-acting-responsibly-in-applying-laws/articleshow/48352622.cms);

• “Civilization Hanging By A Thread” – The Wire – 2015 (http://thewire.in/2015/07/30/civilisation-hanging-by-a-thread-7591/);

• “Gross Misuse of the IT Act” – The Wire – 2015 (http://thewire.in/2015/07/14/mumbai-polices-gross-misuse-of-the-it-act/);

• “Regulate – do not Restrict” – Article on Net Neutrality – The Economic Times – 2015; (http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com//Article.aspx?eid=31815&articlexml=NET-NEUTRALITY-Regulate-Not-Restrict-05052015016042#);

• “Journey of a JV” – Overview of entry level issues in India in the Alternate Energy Resources Sector – Steinbeis – 2014;

• “Of Bails & Bonds” – Perspective in the light of Kejriwal Bail issue – firstpost.com – 2014 (http://m.firstpost.com/india/did-magistrate-errkejriwal-bailbond-case-absolutely-not-1544877.html);

• “Cybercrime Law in India: Has Law kept pace with emerging trends? An Empirical Study”- Hein Online- 2010 (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jcolate5&div=5&id=&page=)

• “Decrypting Encryption Laws of India” – International Association of IT Lawyers – 2010;

• “Information Technology Amendments – Overview” – Manupatra Newsline – 2009;

• “Data Theft – A Persisting Corporate Nemesis” – Manupatra Newsline – 2008;

• “Trademarks – A Virtual Reality”: Bombay Chamber of Commerce – 2008;

• “Data Protection & Privacy – The Indian Paradigm”: published in English & Japanese on the Website e-chishiki.com & in the Japanese publication “Rainbow Bridge” – 2008;

• “Data Protection & the (Indian) Information Technology Act” – published in the World Internet Law Reporter;

• “Is theft a Crime?” – an article on data theft under Indian Cyber Law, published in the Economic Times (a leading Indian Financial Newspaper);

• “Witness Protection & the Law” – published in Manupatra;

• “Gender Justice & the Law” – For a Corporate Publication;

Ms. Nappinai is a frequent speaker and trainer at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and National Police Academy, Hyderabad and also other judicial and police academies. She emphasizes the need to protect fundamental rights and constitutional guarantees in these sessions. She is also a sought-after speaker at international and national seminars. (“Presentations”)