India imposed 84 internet shutdowns in 2024, the second-highest globally after Myanmar’s 85, digital rights organisation Access Now has said in a new report. While India was not the worst offender for the first time since 2018, it still saw widespread blackouts, with Manipur recording the most at 21, followed by Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir with 12 each.

Of these, 41 were linked to protests and 23 to communal violence. Internet suspensions were also enforced during exams and elections. Globally, 296 shutdowns were reported across 54 countries, marking a record high. Shutdowns continued into 2025 in 47 instances, with 35 lasting over a year. Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, Palestine and Bangladesh also imposed several internet shutdowns in 2024, the report said. Read on.

The Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Halal Trust has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court challenging Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s remarks on halal certification during a hearing in a case pertaining to Uttar Pradesh’s ban on halal-certified products. The trust argued that Mehta’s claim of halal certifiers making “few lakh crores” was misleading and had fueled negative media narratives.

It asserted that halal certification is a matter of religious freedom under the Constitution and is not limited to non-vegetarian products. The trust also provided financial records disproving claims of exorbitant profits. On Mehta’s remarks about halal certification for cement and iron bars, the trust stated that it had never certified such products and demanded strict proof of this claim.

The petitioner has sought a direction from the Supreme Court for the Centre to disclose which official instructed Mehta to make these statements, calling them “without any basis, inconsistent with the record and the pleadings sworn on oath by public officials”. Read on.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader PC George had been remanded to 14-day judicial custody in a hate speech case concerning derogatory remarks he made about Muslims during a televised debate. Earlier in the day, police found George missing from his residence, though he later arrived at the Kottayam court with party workers and family members and surrendered.

This followed the Kerala High Court’s rejection of his anticipatory bail plea, citing his history of making communal remarks. The court noted that the BJP leader had been implicated in an earlier case for making statements targeting Muslims in 2022.

George has been booked under Section 196(1)(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for promoting enmity between groups. The High Court, while hearing his bail plea, flagged gaps in India’s hate speech laws, noting that penalties for repeat offenders remain weak. The court urged Parliament and the Law Commission to review the provisions. Read on.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of removing photographs of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the Delhi chief minister’s office and replacing them with images of Mahatma Gandhi, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP denied the allegations, calling them a diversion from AAP’s “corruption and misdeeds”.

AAP leader Atishi said the BJP had revealed its “anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh face,” while Chief Minister Rekha Gupta asked why the portraits of government leaders should not be displayed in her office.

BJP leader Amit Malviya later shared images showing Ambedkar and Singh’s photos placed on a different wall instead of behind the chief minister’s desks, where they had been placed when Atishi was chief minister. The row erupted days after the BJP unseated AAP in the Delhi elections, securing 48 of 70 Assembly seats. Gupta became the Hindutva party’s first chief minister in Delhi in 26 years. Read on.

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