The Parliament of India Tuesday passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 for linking electoral roll data and voter identity cards with the government’s digital identity database. The bill authorizes electoral registration officers to demand voters to furnish their unique Aadhaar number for ascertaining their identity and preventing voter fraud. The bill requires all persons [...]

India’s Joint Parliamentary Committee Thursday published its report on the 2019 Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill in both houses of Parliament. The report is a clause-by-clause examination of the proposed law with more than 80 recommendations and 150 drafting changes to allow Members of Parliament to debate and vote on the country’s first data protection [...]

India news organizations Thursday protested restrictions on entry and access to the Parliament building in New Delhi which they claim has obstructed news reporting of the legislature’s proceedings and stifled freedom of the press. The protest was announced by five news organizations, including the Press Club of India and Editors Guild of India, on behalf [...]

A working group constituted by the Reserve Bank of India Thursday released its report on digital lending through online platforms and mobile apps, recommending separate legislation to prevent illegal digital lending, a nodal agency for verification, and a self-regulatory organization for participants in the sector. The group was set up in January this year against [...]

A criminal complaint was registered Friday against Indian politician and former union minister Salman Khurshid over statements made in his recent book ‘Sunrise over Ayodhya-Nationhood in our times.’ The complaint has been filed under Sections 153 and 295A of the Indian Penal Code on the grounds of hurting religious sentiments. The complaint was filed by a [...]

The High Court of Bombay has passed an interim injunction restraining the sale and distribution of industrialist Vijaypat Singhania’s autobiography called ‘Incomplete Life.’ Singhania, the former chairman of the Raymond Group, is being sued by the company for defamatory content and disclosure of confidential information. The Raymond Group, led by Vijaypat’s son Gautam Singhania, filed a [...]

The head of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, Nicholas Koumjian, said Friday that widespread and systematic attacks mounted against civilians amount to crimes against humanity. The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (“Myanmar Mechanism”) was established by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2018 to collect evidence on international crimes and prepare files [...]

The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected an appeal by Future Retail that sought a stay an interim order rejecting the Future Group’s appeal to vacate a stay on the company’s merger and acquisition deal with Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), the retail arm of Reliance Industries. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait also asked for the response of [...]

Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, a member of the Assam legislative assembly, wrote a letter Sunday seeking intervention by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) following a series of violent attacks on the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh during the festival of Durga Puja. Purkayastha is the regional working president of India’s leading opposition party, the Indian [...]

The lead lawyer representing Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government in the several criminal cases initiated against them by the junta said on Friday that a gag order has been issued preventing him from speaking about Suu Kyi’s cases to the media, foreign diplomats or international organizations. Lawyer Khin Maung Zaw [...]