Daily News Capsules
1. Written grounds of arrest must in all cases: Top court
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the grounds of arrest must be furnished in writing to every accused in all cases, including offences under the Indian Penal Code (now the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023), marking a significant expansion of the constitutional safeguard and ending the perception that such protection was limited only to special laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) or the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A bench of Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai and justice AG Masih held that the obligation to inform a person why they are being arrested “is not a mere procedural formality but a mandatory constitutional safeguard” flowing from the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, and mandated under Article 22(1). It underlined that an arrest carries an inherent stigma that “undermines a person’s social dignity” and impacts not only the individual but also their family and social circle. Rejecting the argument that the requirement of written grounds was confined to special statutes, the court said Article 22(1) “cannot be read in a restrictive manner” and applies equally to arrests under ordinary criminal law.
Possible Question
How does the Supreme Court’s insistence on written grounds of arrest reinforce constitutionalism and due process in India’s criminal justice system? Examine its implications for police accountability and citizens’ rights.
2. ‘AI label’ rule triggers unease, govt extends deadline for feedback
The government has extended the deadline for public consultation on draft rules for labelling AI-generated content by one week to November 13,responding to requests from industry stakeholders seeking more time to assess the proposals’ technical and operational implications. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) released the draft amendments on October 22, requiring all artificial intelligence (AI) tools and major social media platforms to embed permanent watermarks on synthetic content. A number of think tanks, industry bodies and at least two Big Tech companies have pressed for more deliberation time to formulate detailed responses to rules they say could impose significant operational burdens, according to documents seen by HT. The draft framework requires companies offering AI generation tools to embed permanent watermarks or metadata identifiers on all synthetic content, with visible labels on at least 10% of images and videos and audio identifiers during the first 10% of playback. Industry executives and legal experts have flagged several concerns about the draft framework, particularly Rule 3(3), which places labelling obligations on intermediaries offering AI tools. The provision could make platforms responsible for proving whether every piece of content is “authentic”—a burden industry representatives described as heavy and unclear.
Possible Question
Propose alternative ways to tackle the problems that the draft AI rules seek to target.
3. 7-yr absence: SC says date of disappearance can’t be date of death
The Supreme Court has held that a person who has gone missing cannot be presumed to be dead on the date of disappearance, and that the presumption of death arises only after the expiry of seven years . The statutory presumption, the court said, may be rebutted only by producing concrete evidence to prove an earlier date of death. A bench of justices Pankaj Mithal and PB Varale emphasised that Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (which allows presumption of death if a person has not been heard of for seven years) merely permits the inference of death after this period, but does not fix the date of death as the date of disappearance. The provision has been retained as Section 108 in the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. The bench was hearing an appeal filed by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation challenging a direction by the Bombay High Court to grant compassionate employment to the son of an employee, Gulab Mahagu Bawankule, who went missing on September 1, 2012. The high court had treated the date of disappearance as the date of death and directed that an appointment be issued. The Supreme Court found this reasoning to be erroneous. It said that in the absence of evidence proving when the missing person actually died, only the statutory presumption could operate, and such presumption arises only after seven years, i.e., in this case, from September 1, 2019. Furthermore, since Bawankule was treated as being in continuous service until his retirement on January 31, 2015, and his family had received all retirement benefits amounting to ₹6.49 lakh and a monthly pension of ₹12,000, the Court held that his son could not now claim compassionate appointment on the footing that the death occurred in 2012.
Possible Question
Discuss the rationale behind statutory presumptions in Indian evidence law. How does the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Section 108 of the Evidence Act reconcile legal certainty with humanitarian considerations for families of missing persons?
4. Waiver for stalled projects in green nod validity
The Union environment ministry has decided to waive the period during which projects are stalled on account of litigation from the period of validity of the environmental clearance (EC) already granted to them, a move that will benefit infrastructure projects facing court cases. Several significant infrastructure projects such as the Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project are likely to benefit from this relaxation by the Centre that was announced in an office memorandum dated October 30. The ministry said in the memo, which has been seen by HT, that it has been brought to its notice that the implementation of some projects for which ECs have been granted has been stalled due to proceedings before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) or courts. “These proceedings often take significant time to get resolved and are not in the control of the project proponent. As a result of these proceedings, either the validity of the ECs expire or the project proponent is left with a reduced duration for commencement of production operations in the project or activity, or completion of all construction operations in case of construction before the said EC expires. Such a duration is insufficient to start production operations, or completion of all construction operations in case of construction projects,” the ministry added. As per the provisions of EIA Notification 2006, in the event of the project or activity not starting production operations, or all construction operations not being completed, within the validity of the EC granted, then the developer has to apply for a new EC, “which results in further delay for no fault on the part of the project proponent,” the ministry said.
Possible Question
How can India’s environmental clearance framework balance the twin goals of facilitating infrastructure growth and ensuring ecological integrity? Evaluate recent administrative reforms in this context.
5. Canada to reduce intake of temporary residents by 43%
:Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue – or $16 billion – from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show. A cache of previously unreported documents reviewed by Reuters also shows that the social-media giant for at least three years failed to identify and stop an avalanche of ads that exposed Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s billions of users to fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products. On average, one December 2024 document notes, the company shows its platforms’ users an estimated 15 billion “higher risk” scam advertisements – those that show clear signs of being fraudulent – every day. Meta earns about $7 billion in annualised revenue from this category of scam ads each year, another late 2024 document states. Much of the fraud came from marketers acting suspiciously enough to be flagged by Meta’s internal warning systems. But the company only bans advertisers if its automated systems predict the marketers are at least 95% certain to be committing fraud, the documents show. If the company is less certain – but still believes the advertiser is a likely scammer – Meta charges higher ad rates as a penalty, according to the documents. The idea is to dissuade suspect advertisers from placing ads. The documents further note that users who click on scam ads are likely to see more of them because of Meta’s ad personalisation system, which tries to deliver ads based on a user’s interests. The details of Meta’s confidential self-appraisal are drawn from documents created between 2021 and this year across Meta’s finance, lobbying, engineering and safety divisions.
Possible Question
What regulatory and ethical challenges arise from digital platforms profiting from misinformation and fraudulent content? How can governments and international institutions enforce accountability in the global digital economy?
Editorial Snapshots
A. Building politics of hope in NY
The election of Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist of South Asian and Muslim origin, as the mayor of New York will resonate beyond that city and even the US. Mamdani’s spectacular success, merely six months after he joined the mayoral race, in defiance of the Democratic establishment, and against a concerted campaign by President Donald Trump who called him “my little Communist mayor” and threatened to cut federal funds in the event of his election, suggests a pushback to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda that has roiled the US since last December. There are multiple takeaways from his win. One, Mamdani, 34, built his success around a new political coalition that includes the working class, ethnic minorities, and people disgruntled with the old guard in politics. This coalition of dissenters warmed up to Mamdani as he privileged a moral politics that offered hope, equity, and justice. It was successful because New York is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities and has, historically, warmed up to inclusive political agendas. Two, his campaign, which promised a freeze on rent, universal childcare, and free public transport, reimagined the urban geography as a shared, class-agnostic space, where people are more important than the market. Three, young voters were key to Mamdani’s success; his critics railed about his age and inexperience, and he turned both into an appeal for endorsement from the youth, whom he courted through targeted social media campaigns and Indian-style padayatra politics. In short, the Gen Z character in this result is unmistakable. The basket of his political views — pro-immigrant, pro-Palestine, pro-poor, anti-dynasty, anti-rich — endeared him to younger voters and won over many niche segments of the electorate. Now, can Mamdani — and Gen Z politics — stay the course, and deliver?
Possible Question
How does the rise of leaders such as Zohran Mamdani illustrate the changing nature of diaspora politics and generational shifts in Western democracies?
B. Light touch AI regulation path
The India AI Governance Guidelines report, drafted by a government-appointed committee, attempts to strike a balance between the potential and the pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the Indian context, this is singularly important — given that unprecedented opportunities exist alongside the possibilities of significant harm and unforeseen risks. The report advocates light-touch regulation to encourage innovation, while emphasising on final human oversight, to ensure that chances of harm are maximally mitigated. It calls for relying on existing legislation to address risks, amending these over the medium term to fill gaps, and enacting new laws if required over the long term. The report also calls for graded liability for AI systems where “responsibility is proportional to the function performed, the level of risk anticipated, and the degree to which due diligence is undertaken”. While allowing innovation is the aim, whether such a system can be effective — especially with both Big Tech and boutique start-ups competing and collaborating in similar spaces of AI development and deployment — remains to be seen. In terms of accountability for unexpected outcomes that cause harm despite reasonable precautions, while the report upholds the prerogative of sectoral regulators on enforcement strategies, it does well to advise prevention and pre-emptive harm control. The institutional model the report proposes for AI governance — an overarching group with representation from key ministries and departments, along with several sectoral regulators — suggests a centralised approach. While a certain degree of uniformity in policy is perhaps desirable, given the inter-sectoral opportunities for AI development and deployment, the question is if this will impede AI innovation.
Possible Question
Critically assess the idea of “light-touch regulation” in the context of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. Can such an approach ensure innovation without compromising on accountability and ethical safeguards?
Fact of the day
Services PMI slows to five-month low in October:
Growth in India’s services activity, as measured by the Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), slowed to a five-month low in October as the pace of expansion for orders, exports, and employment eased, according to a release by S&P Global on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services Business Activity Index came in at 58.9, falling from 60.9 in September. To be sure, the reading was above the 50-mark, which indicates expansion over the previous month. The index has remained above 50 for four years now. “Competitive pressures and heavy rains were cited as contributors to the sequential slowdown. That said, the services PMI is still running well above the neutral level of 50.0 and its long run average,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC. New business intakes rose at the slowest pace since May, with firms attributing this to heightened competition, floods, and landslides, as per the release. International demand weakened significantly, rising at the slowest pace since March. Input costs continued to increase at a slow rate, with the October rise being the slowest in 14 months. As a result, prices for services also increased at the weakest pace in seven months. Less than 5% of surveyed panellists reported higher charges, while remaining firms indicated no changes in cost since September, said the release. Job creation also continued to remain muted in October, with services firms seeing the joint-softest rate of hiring in a year and a half, along with July.
