The Bombay High Court has passed an interim order on the 2023 Information Technology (IT) Rules Amendment, particularly Rule 3(1)(b)(v), which has significant implications for freedom of expression. This rule empowers the government to establish a Fact Check Unit (FCU) and unilaterally declare online content related to the government’s business as fake, false, or misleading, which has raised concerns about potential censorship and the impact on free speech.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India has told the Supreme Court that Gautam Navlakha, a human rights activist arrested in August 2018 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, must pay 16.4 million rupees for his house arrest expenses, as reported by Scroll.in.

The Supreme Court of India has affirmed the right to free speech, stating that a citizen cannot be prosecuted for criticising government actions or extending good wishes to citizens of another country, such as Pakistan, on their independence day. The division bench, comprising Justices Abhay Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, underlined the fundamental right to free speech under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.

In a surprising turn of events, Arun Goel, an Election Commissioner (EC), has stepped down, leaving the Election Commission of India (ECI) with only the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar, at the helm, just weeks before the general elections. Goel, whose tenure was expected to extend until December 2027, departed without offering a public explanation. This development comes on the heels of the retirement of another EC, Anup Pandey, plunging the ECI into a significant staffing crisis at a pivotal time.

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in India has been without a Chairperson since Harsh Chouhan resigned in June 2023, eight months before his term was due to end. The positions of Vice-Chairperson and three other members are also vacant, leaving all five key posts of the NCST unfilled.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has requested the Supreme Court to extend the deadline to June 30 for providing details of electoral bonds. The request comes after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a fund-raising scheme that allowed political donors to remain anonymous, demanding SBI to disclose the donor details. SBI claims that matching bond buyers with beneficiary political parties is a time-consuming process. Is this claim believable?

Women are often disproportionately affected during communal violence in India; their bodies become battlegrounds for expressing power, domination and revenge among conflicting groups. This not only highlights the gender inequality but also underscores the societal norms that perpetuate violence against women in this country, as we recently witnessed in Manipur.

A think tank in Sri Lanka has published a study suggesting methods to encourage social media platforms to undertake content moderation more responsibly, thus tackling hate speech and disinformation more effectively. The study offers an alternative to stringent legislative measures, which frequently result in excessive government control over content regulation.

A former Delhi University professor and five others, including a journalist and a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, were acquitted by the Bombay High Court on March 5 in a case linking them to Maoist activities, according to media reports. The verdict came after a prolonged legal battle that highlighted significant procedural and evidentiary issues related to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

India’s battle with child malnutrition has reached a critical juncture, positioning the country alongside West African nations notorious for high levels of food deprivation among infants. A recent study, drawing on government data, has placed India’s prevalence of so-called “zero-food” children at an alarming 19.3%. Zero-food children are defined as infants or toddlers aged between six months and 24 months who have not consumed any milk or solid or semi-solid food over a 24-hour period.

A growing number of Indians are embarking on a perilous journey to the United States, driven by economic distress and the pursuit of better prospects, media reports suggest. This migration, often through illegal routes, reflects economic challenges within India, compelling individuals to take extraordinary risks for a chance at a better life.

A Kashmiri journalist, Aasif Sultan, has been rearrested under the stringent “anti-terror” law, merely days after his release from over five years of incarceration, according to media reports. Sultan, 36, a former editor of the now-defunct Kashmir Narrator magazine, found himself back in custody facing charges related to a 2019 case of violence within Srinagar’s central jail.

Dozens of social media accounts on X, previously known as Twitter, have been suspended in India due to their support for farmers’ protests, according to a media report. The censorship is being seen as a crackdown on dissent ahead of the upcoming general elections.

The News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has taken action against three popular news channels – Times Now Navbharat, News 18 India and Aaj Tak – for broadcasting content that promotes hatred and communal disharmony, based on complaints it received against the channels.