-RuralIndiaOnline.org Maharashtra police detained five traditional herders from Kachchh on January 7 suspecting these semi-nomadic pastoralists were smuggling camels to slaughterhouses in Hyderabad. Also detained: 58 camels “We have not confiscated these 58 camels,” asserts Inspector Ajay Akare, in charge of the Talegaon Dashasar police station in Amravati district. “We don’t have the powers to do so since Maharashtra has no specific law against cruelty to these animals.” “The camels,” he says, “are...

-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...

-Hindustan Times The court sends a former Bajrang Dal leader back to jail for allegedly leading a mob that killed a police officer in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district in December 2018. Lynching because of suspected cow slaughter cannot be permitted, observed the Supreme Court on Monday as it sent a former Bajrang Dal leader back to jail for allegedly leading a mob that killed a police officer in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district...

-The Hindu Does the JPC adopted bill fail to protect individuals against Government agencies? The story so far: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) constituted to examine India’s proposed data protection law, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, released its report on Monday. It contains a number of suggestions that could strengthen the final law, among others, a recognition that promotion of the digital economy cannot take precedence over the protection of citizen...

-The Hindu ‘Only Special Courts can consider plea’ The Supreme Court has held that magistrates cannot favour the probe agency to extend the period of investigation in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) cases at will. Under UAPA, the investigation has to be completed within 90 days. If not, the accused is entitled to default Bail. In so far as “extension of time to complete investigation” is concerned, the “magistrate would not be competent...