oppn parties Fact-Check Unit Notification: Bad In Law, Will Suppress Freedom Of Media

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Tiranga Rally Is Excellent. Breaking The Law Was Not

October 17, 2026

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Fact-Check Unit Notification: Bad In Law, Will Suppress Freedom Of Media

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-04-08 03:35:21

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Editor’s Guild has rightly condemned the government notification on amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules. These amendments have been termed draconian by the Guild as they seek to arm the government with powers to establish a fact-check unit that will flag any news item related to the central government that it considers "fake or false or misleading". The powers and jurisdiction of the fact-check unit are wide, the terms have not been well-defined and it has also not been notified what is the remedy against the unit's decision. This makes the unit all-powerful and once it flags a news item as fake, false or misleading (which terms are open to mischievous interpretations), digital media will have to take it down immediately. This will become a handy tool for the government to suppress unpalatable news (which can always be flagged as 'misleading') and will amount to putting fetters on the media.

The government had come out with the draft rules that were almost similar to the amendments now affected in January this year. At that time, all media organizations had criticized the those rules and had advised the government to consult with media bodies before bringing in the law. But the government has gone ahead with the same rules without having any discussion with media bodies. This is autocratic and an assault on media freedom.

The fact-check unit has been made all-powerful and its word will be the last. There is no defined mechanism to appeal against its decision. This is bad in law. It is also against the principle that a person cannot be the judge in his or her own case. The government alone cannot decide what is published is fake, false and especially misleading as being an interested party, it will likely suppress news that it does not want to come out in public domain. In any case, it always has the right to deny such news and media outlets are duty bound to publish the denial with the same prominence as they published the original news. Even if the government feels the need for a fact-check unit, it has to be broad-based (with representations from media), its powers need to be well defined and there must be a mechanism to appeal against its orders. 

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