-Outlook India Justice Madan B Lokur cited a recent incident in UP involving a man who tweeted for help-seeking oxygen for his 88-year-old grandfather and the Amethi police booked him. Former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur on Friday said that sedition cases against people seeking help during the pandemic, and blocking of news and social media channels reporting failure of authorities, is curtailment of freedom of speech and expression. Speaking at...

-TheWire.in From books being banned to students and faculty facing criminal charges and being jailed, the past few years have been especially tough on India's universities. These tables – under six broad heads but disaggregated to record the separate experiences of faculty and students – are an updated, expanded version of the annexures first prepared in June 2020 by Nandini Sundar and Gowhar Fazli as part of a status report in response...

-The Hindu Notes several instances of govt pressure on media outlets Washington DC: In its 2020 Human Rights Report, the U.S. State Department said the harassment and detention of journalists critical of the (Indian) government in their reporting and on social media, has continued, although the government generally respected the Freedom of expression. It also said government’s requests for user data from Internet companies had increased “dramatically.” The report, which is submitted each...

-The Hindu It violates the basic tenets of India’s democracy by keeping the knowledge of the ‘right to know’ from citizens and voters The Supreme Court, after a brief hearing on March 24, reserved orders on the question of whether or not to stay the electoral bond scheme, ahead of the upcoming State elections. For the last three years, electoral bonds have been the dominant method of political party funding in India....

-The Hindu Justice Ramana, as Supreme Court judge, has been part of various decisions ranging from electoral issues to rights of women to bringing the Chief Justice of India’s office under the ambit of the Right to Information. Several years before he began his journey, which will eventually see him being sworn in as the 48th Chief Justice of India, Nuthalapti Venkata Ramana undertook an arduous journey by truck with ₹10 in...