-The Telegraph Rights activists say the provisions can be used to suppress dissent and intimidate political protesters New Delhi: The Centre on Monday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha that authorises law-enforcing agencies to collect a wide spectrum of physical and biological samples from people convicted, arrested or merely held in preventive detention, without having to seek a magistrate’s permission. Rights activists said the provisions could be used to suppress dissent and...

-The Hindu It focuses on security, law and order  The Union Government has approved the continuation of a police modernisation scheme for five years up to 2025-26 with a financial outlay of ₹26,275 crore. The Union Home Ministry said the scheme includes security-related expenditure in Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern States and Maoist-affected areas, for raising new battalions, developing high-tech forensic laboratories and other investigation tools. The scheme has been approved for the period from...

-The Hindu Smriti Irani warns against condemning every man as a rapist; clarify stand on criminalising marital rape, say Left parties. The government has started the process of comprehensive amendments to Criminal laws, Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani told Parliament on Wednesday in response to a question on marital rape, but warned against condemning every man as a rapist and every marriage as a violent one. "The Government of India...

-The Telegraph The police as the arbiters of communication For a country with serious challenges to tackle, the amount of time and energy of government agencies and courts that is now spent on offence-taking and conspiracy-chasing borders on the ludicrous. Through 2021, the police in various parts of the country sought to criminalize news gathering as well as social media expressions, registering first information reports indiscriminately under various sections of the Criminal...

-Newsclick.in Farmer leaders cut up as Centre has not yet tried to open up dialogue on remaining demands with the 5-member committee. New Delhi: After a day-long meeting at the Singhu Border, the core committee of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday said that farmers’ leaders had so far received only verbal assurances from the Union government and it remained non-committal on any written statement for withdrawal of criminal cases and...