1. Right to Privacy Can’t be Absolute, May be Regulated: Supreme Court
A rare 9-judge bench of the Supreme Court said the right to privacy is not absolute, making its first observations on Wednesday as it began hearing on an issue that could have a sweeping impact on issues such as the Aadhaar scheme and the law criminalising homosexuality.
Led by the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, the Constitution bench said that if right to privacy is defined as a fundamental right, the top court’s 2013 ruling upholding Section 377 – which criminalises homosexuality – “falls”.
The bench began the process to decide if privacy can be regarded as a fundamental right guaranteed to all Indians, a question that arose from the legal challenge to the Aadhaar programme that activists say impinges on the right to privacy.
“If privacy is about right to make a choice, then choice in what areas? Family, sexual orientation, gender identity, surveillance, what all?” it observed.
Source: Hindustan Times
2. Lynchings a Plot Against Development, Says Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that incidents such as lynchings and atrocities against minorities and Dalits are part of a conspiracy to take the discourse away from the government’s development agenda.
Earlier in the day, the issue of cow vigilantism triggered protests during question hour in the House by Opposition members, who accused the government of not taking any concrete counter measures and sought to hold the BJP and organisations linked to it, responsible for such incidents.
The government said law and order was a State subject and that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not keep a separate record of such incidents. However, it had issued an advisory to the State governments for necessary legal action, which was being taken in all the cases.
Source: The Telegraph
3. Case Back to Haunt Gurung
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the city sessions judge to frame by 17 August charges against Bimal Gurung and 47 others in the Madan Tamang murder case.
The order, read with a separate directive by another division bench in December, could mean that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader now spearheading the agitation in the hills might find himself preoccupied in Calcutta from the middle of next month till the trial is over.
The order in December by the division bench headed by Justice Asim Roy had said that Gurung and the other accused would have to be present in Calcutta a day before the framing of the charges and they would have to stay in the city till the disposal of the trial by the sessions court.
Source: The Telegraph
4. No Resolution After Nitish-Tejashwi Meet, JD(U) Insists Deputy CM ‘Come Clean’
The much-talked about meeting between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy, Tejashwi Yadav, doesn’t seem to have resolved the crisis facing the ruling alliance in Bihar.
The 45-minute meeting was being watched closely as Tejashwi was supposed to explain the corruption charges against him, which have worsened the ties between Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal led by Lalu Prasad, the deputy chief minister’s father.
Both the parties are silent on the outcome but the JD(U) on Wednesday said the RJD would have to come clean. “The RJD would have to clear itself in public domain. Our stand has not changed,” party spokesperson Ajay Alok said, suggesting the crisis was far from over.
Source: Hindustan Times
5. Sasikala was Allowed 23 Visits Instead of 8, During Four Months in Prison: RTI
Even as a controversy over undue privileges accorded to AIADMK leader VK Sasikala at the Bengaluru Central Prison continues to rage on, a Right to Information (RTI) response has revealed that she was allowed a whopping 23 visits from 16 February – the date of her incarceration – to 16 June.
She met as many as 48 visitors during these visits.
This is in violation of prison rules, which clearly stipulate that a convict is allowed just one visit in a fortnight. Ideally, Sasikala should have benefited from just eight visits till 15 June.
Source: Hindustan Times
6. ‘No Troop Mobilisation by China on the Border’
China has not done any major troop mobilisation close to the border, senior sources in the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
In the last two days, a couple of videos circulated in the media showing massive exercises by the People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese media reported a huge mobilisation of resources amid the stand-off in Doklam.
PLA Daily, the official mouthpiece of Chinese military, reported on Wednesday that the Chinese Army had moved tens of thousands of tonnes of military vehicles and hardware to a region south of the Kunlun Mountains in northern Tibet late last month.
The Indian Defence Ministry sources said there was a general state of alert, but no major movement of troops. “The exercise in the video is a routine annual exercise that took place in early June... It took place near Lhasa in Tibet, 700 km from the border...,” a source said.
Source: The Hindu
7. Noida Slum Demolition Strains Ties Between 2 Sets of Migrants – from UP and Bengal
Their homes razed and livelihoods destroyed, residents of the predominantly Purvanchali settlement across the road from Mahagun Moderne society, demolished on Monday, have just one question: Why target us when your problem is with migrants from Bengal?
After the society witnessed violence over the ‘disappearance’ of a domestic help, RWAs issued diktats vowing to keep ‘Bangladeshis out’. A majority of those who had pelted stones were from a settlement of migrants from Cooch Behar in West Bengal. But while their homes are intact, those in the Purvanchali settlement have been razed – raising tension between the two communities.
Noida Authority CEO Amit Mohan Prasad had, however, told The Indian Express that “no settlements” had been bulldozed, adding that the demolition was “routine” and unlinked to the violence.
Source: The Indian Express
8. Pitch for Two Time Zones
Like an unpredictable weather phenomenon that makes its presence felt from time to time, eastern India has made another valiant attempt to place on the national agenda its loss of precious daylight.
BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab told the Lok Sabha that the Centre should consider a suggestion for a separate time zone for the northeastern states.
The sun rises in Arunachal Pradesh at 4am but offices open only at 10am, he pointed out.
Mahtab said the department of science and technology was conducting a study to find out how much energy could be saved if there were two times zones and asked the government to make public the report and implement it at the earliest.
Source: The Telegraph
9. Centre Set to Study Feasibility of Bidding for 2032 Olympics
Is India keen on hosting the 2032 Olympic Games? The country hasn't even taken the first step yet but indications are that an effort is underway to consider bringing the sports extravaganza to the country .
If the ambitious move takes concrete shape and passes muster with the political leadership, the National Capital Region would be the automatic choice as the venue.
The sports ministry is about to undertake an exercise to evaluate the implications of hosting the 35th Olympics as well as its impact on various sectors associated with the event. Once it is convinced of the feasibility of hosting the Games and its potential upshots, it may submit a non-paper or a concept note to the government for further discussions.
Source: Times of India
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