-The Hindu The government's refrain that it would resort to all procedures, including a joint sitting of Parliament, to legislate a spate of ordinances into Acts of legislature, may come to nothing if the Rajya Sabha is stalled in the next session. For one, a pre-condition for a joint sitting is that a Bill, along with a statement of reasons for promulgating the ordinance, should have been first defeated in one...
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Modi intervenes, govt tells SC it’s ready to take relook at Sec 66A -Utkarsh Anand
-The Indian Express Adopting a fresh stance, the government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it was willing to take a re-look at Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which empowers police to make arrests over social media messages, and to put in necessary safeguards for allaying apprehensions against its misuse. The government assured the court that it was for the complete freedom of expression on the social media and...
More »Destigmatising suicide
-The Hindu Business Line Suicide is principally a mental health issue. This is why we must welcome its decriminalisation Our lawmakers need to be congratulated for setting aside their differences and acting in concert to remove one of the big colonial era blots on our statute books - Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which treated attempted suicide as a crime. Since law and order is a State subject, a mere...
More »Sec 66A of IT act lacks guidelines, arrests made over social media posts prone to abuse: SC -Utkarsh Anand
-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which empowers police to make arrests over social media posts, apparently lacked guidelines on when such power can be exercised and that somebody's "annoyance" was enough in certain cases for invoking the law. "Section 66A does not give any specific guidance on when to invoke it, unlike the provisions in the Indian Penal Code (IPC)....
More »A case for whistle-blower anonymity -Suhrith Parthasarathy
-The Hindu Business Line Anonymity can protect unpopular individuals from retaliation - and their ideas from suppression - at the hand of an intolerant society The Supreme Court of India has, thankfully, decided to reconsider an earlier order calling for revealing the identity of the whistle-blower while hearing a petition alleging gross misconduct against the Director of the country's foremost police agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On September 15, a...
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