President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday strongly defended the three new agri laws saying their benefits have begun reaching 10 crore small farmers instantly, and condemned as 'very unfortunate' the Republic Day violence and 'dishonour' to the tricolour during the tractor parade by the protesting farm unions in New Delhi.
Amidst a raging controversy over a ban on a student e-zine by St Stephen's college, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday attended a graduation ceremony at the institute, even as a section of students had urged him to turn down the invite "in support for freedom of speech".
About 200 people were inside the conference centre at the time and were moved to the back of the building before being evacuated using school buses.
The Delhi Police on Thursday said the statements by Twitter on the ongoing enquiry in the 'toolkit' case was mendacious and designed to impede the lawful enquiry.
The government on Wednesday ordered Twitter to immediately take down handles and hashtags that suggested a farmer genocide was being planned, saying such misinformation and inflammatory content will incite passion, and impact public order.
"It is true that (in politics) the fortunes of those who have been winning elections on the basis of surnames are dwindling. But in politics, this disease of dynastic politics is not completely finished. There are still people whose politics is aimed at saving their family," the PM said in an apparent swipe at several opposition parties, including the Congress.
Today, in big cases when bail applications are about to come up for hearing, TV reports are shown which are very "damaging for the accused who has filed the bail application", he said.
The government on Wednesday informed Parliament that there is no proposal with the Information Technology ministry to set up a regulator for social media.
'It is especially discouraging for young people in the development sector. I've noticed that many of them are actively considering other career options to escape this atmosphere.' Geetanjali Krishna reports.
Expressing his concerns about India under Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, India-born author Salman Rushdie said that the attacks on freedom of expression could worsen if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power.
The petition, likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday, sought the court's direction to the Director General of Military Intelligence to withdraw its June 6 policy to the extent that it orders all the members of the Indian Army to delete their accounts from Facebook and Instagram and 87 other applications.
There was no law or autonomous body governing digital content in India so far. Now, OTT and other platforms, including digital news websites, are expected to fall within a governmental framework of rules and regulations.
As entertainment continues to play out from the comfort of our living rooms, Sukanya Verma tells you where you can catch all the Globe winners on OTT.
Events in America have strengthened the hand of those leaders there who wish India well, but think of India as being a collection of Indians.
If Indians are mistreated, they will object, asserts Aakar Patel.
Terming the remarks made by Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer Arundhati Roy at a seminar in New Delhi as 'most unfortunate', Law Minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said freedom of speech cannot violate patriotic sentiments of the people."Yes, there is freedom of speech, but it can't violate the patriotic sentiments of the people," he said.
Referring to the incident, a fresh plea has been filed for urgent hearing of the PIL, pending since March this year, saying "The right to freedom of speech and expression cannot supersede the right to life and if this protest is allowed to go in like this, the nation at large will be at a loss."
The Union minister was arrested on Tuesday afternoon from Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district following his remarks made during his 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' in Raigad on Monday that he would have slapped Chief Minister Thackeray for what he claimed as the latter's ignorance of the year of India's independence.
The president made a special mention of the threat to the environment and asked all citizens to take care of it for future generations.
'India's defining characteristic has been its ability to manage and sustain democratic governance through an accommodation of ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity.'
The minister, however, henceforth, must make statements against Wankhede or his family only after "reasonable verification of facts," the HC said.
I cannot think of another Hindi movie that has, without so much as a hint of cynicism or speechifying, brought out that fundamental fact of Muslims being an integral part of the Indian culture while being at the same time a subculture with its own polite niceties, observes Sreehari Nair.
A company statement said the couple is facing a case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the last two years, and sought to link the action with muzzling of free speech and freedom of the press.
On the 45th year of the imposition of Emergency in the country, Shah claimed leaders are feeling suffocated in the Congress and the party's disconnect with people keeps widening.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
'Nehru's inability to take religion seriously as a category led to serious errors of judgement in his dealings with the Muslim League, and later, also with the Hindu right.'
The Delhi high court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on the issue of criminalisation of marital rape and granted leave to the parties to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
'If the platform is public, then every Indian regardless of his ideology and commitment has got the right to convey his view'
India "routinely" uses vaguely-worded laws like sedition and criminal defamation as "political tools" to "stifle" dissent, a leading rights group said.
While the US omitted China and Russia from the list of invitees, Beijing was furious over the invitation to the self-governing island Taiwan, which China said is a blatant violation of the 'One China' policy that considers Taipei as the integral part of the Chinese mainland.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, which on July 22, had issued show cause notice to Bhushan after initiating the criminal contempt against him for his two alleged derogatory tweets against the judiciary, had reserved the verdict on Wednesday.
He also said that India will send its armed forces to Pakistan in this regard if the need arises.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Saturday attacked Congress over the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, saying it should be "ashamed" of Rahul Gandhi's visit to the campus and questioned whether "anti-national slogans" can be called freedom of speech.
'Jinnah developed a belief that Gandhi had stolen the tag of the leader of the Indian people from him and that he later used religion to reduce Gandhi's idea of a united India to naught was his revenge.'
Queen Elizabeth II used her banquet speech to subtly remind the visiting US President that the international institutions set up after the World War II were designed to ensure the horrors of conflict were not repeated.
State Department's Acting spokesman Robert Wood told media persons at his daily press briefing that the US stand has been that it supports freedom of speech, of expression, and of assembly in Pakistan. With stakes very high, the Obama Administration would closely monitor the situation. "But at this point, we want to see all parties refrain from violence and act in accordance, as I said, with Pakistan's constitution," Wood said.
The apex court, while hearing a plea raising grievance over the programme, said that the manner in which some media houses are conducting debate is a matter of concern as all kind of defamatory things are being said.
The verdict was reserved on August 13 last year after bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant heard the matter spread over a month.
"The free world must embrace its national foundations. It must not attempt to erase them or replace them. Looking around this large magnificent planet, the truth is plain to see. If you want freedom take pride in your country. If you want democracy, hold on to your sovereignty. If you want peace, love your nation," he said.
A Goan youth who had allegedly posted comments against Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi on his Facebook account during the Lok Sabha election campaign, is likely to face arrest after a local court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in Panaji on Friday.
On February 4, Twitter was asked to take down 1,178 accounts with links to Pakistan and Khalistan supporters that were spreading misinformation and provocative content related to farmers' protest.
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