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X. The Indian legal system places a significant emphasis on protecting the rights and welfare of children. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, is a vital piece of legislation in this regard. It is designed to ensure that children in conflict with the law receive special care, protection, and treatment, with the ultimate goal of their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
One of the key provisions of the Act is the establishment of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) at the district level. These boards consist of a Metropolitan Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate of the first class and two social workers, at least one of whom should be a woman. The primary function of the JJB is to determine the age of the juvenile, the circumstances in which the offense was committed, and whether the juvenile should be sent to a special home or released on probation.
The Act makes a clear distinction between a “child in conflict with the law” and a “child in need of care and protection.” A child in conflict with the law is one who has committed an offense, while a child in need of care and protection is a child who is vulnerable or at risk and requires special care and support.
The Act introduces a unique approach to dealing with children who are in conflict with the law. For children between the ages of 16 and 18 , who have committed heinous offenses, they can be tried as adults, subject to a preliminary assessment by the Juvenile Justice Board. This assessment considers the child’s mental and physical capacity to commit such an offense. If the board determines that the child should be tried as an adult, the case is transferred to the regular criminal courts.
The Act also places restrictions on the publication of information that could lead to the identification of a juvenile offender. This is done to protect the privacy and future prospects of the child.
(A) To punish child offenders.
(B) To rehabilitate and reintegrate children in conflict with the law.
(C) To remove all forms of violence against children.
(D) To increase the age of criminal responsibility.
(A) Two Judges.
(B) A Metropolitan Magistrate and two Lawyers.
(C) A Metropolitan Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate of the first class and two Social Workers.
(D) Three Police Officers.
(A) To determine the punishment for juvenile offenders.
(B) To decide whether a child should be sent to a regular prison.
(C) To assess the age and circumstances of the juvenile, and make decisions on rehabilitation.
(D) To prosecute child offenders.
(A) There is no distinction; both terms mean the same thing.
(B) A “child in conflict with the law” has committed a crime, while a “child in need of care and protection” is vulnerable or at risk.
(C) A “child in need of care and protection” is more likely to commit crimes.
(D) A “child in conflict with the law” is an adolescent offender.
(A) They can always be tried as adults.
(B) After a preliminary assessment by the Juvenile Justice Board.
(C) When they have committed any offense, regardless of the severity.
(D) When they reach the age of 18.
(A) To increase the age of criminal responsibility.
(B) To protect the privacy and future prospects of the child.
(C) To encourage public shaming of juvenile offenders.
(D) To help law enforcement track juvenile offenders.
XI. In India, the legal landscape surrounding online defamation is a subject of significant interest and debate. With the rise of social media, and online platforms, cases of online defamation have become increasingly common. Defamation refers to making false statements about someone that harm their reputation. Online defamation includes defamatory statements made on the internet, including social media, blogs, forums, and other online platforms.
One critical aspect of online defamation is determining the liability of intermediaries, such as social media platforms or websites, for defamatory content posted by users. Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, provides a safe harbor for intermediaries, stating that they are not liable for third-party content if they act as intermediaries and follow due diligence in removing or disabling access to the content once notified.
However, determining whether an intermediary has fulfilled its due diligence obligations can be complex. The Indian judiciary has been actively interpreting this provision. One significant case is the Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, in which the Supreme Court clarified that intermediaries are required to act upon a valid court order or government directive for content removal, not upon private complaints.
The court also emphasized that the intermediaries should not take a proactive role in monitoring content, as this could potentially infringe on free speech. While the law provides a safe harbor, it does not absolve intermediaries from their responsibilities.
Online defamation cases often involve a balancing act between the right to freedom of expression and the right to reputation. The Indian legal system requires a careful examination of the content, context, and intent of the statements to determine whether they qualify as defamatory. Additionally, the plaintiff in an online defamation case must prove that the statement was false, damaging to their reputation, and made with a degree of fault, such as negligence or actual malice.
(A) The rise of social media in India.
(B) The legal aspects of online defamation in India.
(C) The role of intermediaries in online content.
(D) The importance of free speech on the internet.
(A) Making harmful statements about someone in person.
(B) False statements made on the internet that harm someone’s reputation.
(C) Online harassment.
(D) A form of political activism.
(A) It defines defamation laws in India.
(B) It provides safe harbor for intermediaries in cases of online defamation.
(C) It regulates the content on social media platforms.
(D) It allows private complaints against online defamation.
(A) Upon receiving a private complaint.
(B) Upon a valid court order or government directive.
(C) Proactively to monitor content.
(D) Only if the content is found to be defamatory.
(A) By favoring freedom of expression over reputation.
(B) By favoring reputation over freedom of expression.
(C) By carefully examining the content, context, and intent of statements.
(D) By absolving intermediaries of their responsibilities.
(A) That it was political activism.
(B) That it was made with good intentions.
(C) That it was true and intended to inform the public.
(D) That it was false, damaging to their reputation, and made with a degree of fault.
(A) To actively monitor and censor content.
(B) To act upon private complaints for content removal.
(C) To completely absolve themselves of liability.
(D) To encourage online defamation.
XII. The Editors Guild of India has expressed concern over the “draconian provisions” of the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Bill, 2023, that can have an adverse impact on freedom of the press.
The Guild added: “Editors Guild of India would like the proposed bill to ensure that publishing of news in India remains free of encumbrances and intrusive checks on publishers by the Registrar, and that the primary emphasis of the Registrar and the PRP remains ‘registration’ and not ‘regulation’, as the latter has the potential of restricting freedom of the press.”
“In the definitions section, the term ‘specified authority’ gives power to government agencies beyond the Press Registrar, to conduct the functions of the Registrar, which could even include police and other law enforcement agencies. Given the intrusive, expansive, and vague nature of powers that the bill in any case allows to the Press Registrar, the power to further delegate this power to other government agencies including law enforcement agencies is deeply distressing,” the Guild said.
The statement says sections 4(1) and 11(4) allow the Registrar to deny the right to bring out a periodical and cancel the certificate of registration of a periodical to persons convicted of “terrorist act or unlawful activity” or “for having done anything against the security of the State”.
“Interestingly, the PRB Act, 1867, had no such provisions. Given the liberal and arbitrary use of UAPA (which is the basis for defining ’terrorist act’ and ‘unlawful activity’), as well as other criminal laws, including sedition, against journalists and media organisations to suppress freedom of speech, the Guild is deeply concerned by the introduction of these new provisions, and the way they can be misused to deny the right to bring out news publications to persons who are critical of governments,” it said.
Among the other worrisome provisions listed by the Guild is Section 6(b), which gives power to the Press Registrar (as well as any other “specified authority”) to enter the premises of a periodical to “inspect or take copies of the relevant records or documents or ask any questions necessary for obtaining any information required to be furnished”.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions from “Editors Guild of India expresses concern over draconian provisions of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bills, 2023” published in The Telegraph dated 07-08-2023]
(A) Mr. X publishing news content on digital media.
(B) Mr. Y publishing books containing the comments of the public on public news.
(C) Mr. Z publishing news content in print media on weekly basis.
(D) All of the above.
(A) Mr. A convicted of waging war against Government of India.
(B) Mr. B, accused of unlawful activities under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
(C) Mr. C, accused of terrorist activities under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
(A) Liberal use of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against Journalists refrains journalists from tracing, tracking and publishing investigative articles because they apprehend that they might be linked with criminals.
(B) Use of Sedition laws against journalists under the guise that through their articles they are promoting hatred and exciting disaffection against the government.
(C) Levy of GST on newspapers.
(D) Both $(\mathrm{A})$ and (B).
(A) The definition of specified authority is too wide and can include even officers below the level of Collector. The PRP Bill enables the specified authority to perform the functions of Press Registrar General.
(B) The PRP Bill confers various powers on the Press Registrar General including the power to register, deny registration, cancel the registration, etc.
(C) The PRP Bill enables the specified authority to enter the premises of a periodical for inspection
(A) Freedom of press being a fundamental right, no law can be made for registration and denial of registration of newspapers.
(B) Fundamental rights are not absolute rights and reasonable restrictions can be imposed on the exercise of fundamental rights and therefore, laws such as PRP Bill can be enacted.
(C) Freedom of press being a fundamental right, journalists and press is exempt from the operation of general criminal law of the country.
(D) None of the above.
(A) The right to publish a periodical is denied because criminals do not possess any fundamental rights.
(B) The right to publish a periodical is denied because such a person is a threat to the society and nation.
(C) The right to publish a periodical is denied because they may not be neutral in reporting and may incite violence and spread disaffection against the state being themselves involved in terrorist acts.
XIII. There are some advantages of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023. For instance, for the first time, personal data belonging to or identifying children will have to be classified separately, with such data carrying a greater degree of security and privacy. The law also seeks to reduce the rate and impact of data breaches targeting Indian businesses. The Digital Personal Data Protection law, however, goes a step beyond by imposing penalties for cases where data is breached as a result of a lack of implementation of adequate security controls. However, it could be said that the law isn’t balanced, because it provides wide exemptions to the processing of personal data to the government. For instance, data can be processed “in the interest of prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of any offence … in India.” These kinds of exemptions are dangerous as they stand to legitimise widespread and unwarranted collection of data under the guise that such collection and processing may ultimately be useful for preventing or deterring a crime.
Security agencies will have significant authority to collect and retain any data whatsoever, as is typically the case with exemptions relating to the maintenance of sovereignty, integrity, security of the state, preservation of public order, prevention of offences, and incitement to commit offences. The law also exempts processing of personal data held outside of India. The government is also exempt from being required to delete any data that it possesses, regardless of the purpose it may have been collected for, on the request of an individual, or by way of a prescribed data retention period.
The government is not bound by purpose limitations, allowing data collected for one specified purpose be used for a new, incompatible purpose, which stands in contrast to the regulations imposed on businesses.
[Extracted, with edits and revisions from “Digital Personal Data Protection Law Raises Questions About Consistency with Right to Privacy Ruling” published in The Wire dated 22-08-2023]
Which of the following is most appropriate?
(A) The personal data of Mr. Lal can be preserved by the government till the research on rare disease is complete.
(B) The data can only be used for taking any decision regarding Mr. Lal.
(C) The personal data of Mr. Lal’s health conditions and his personal data can be preserved by; the private hospital forever and used for research by them without his consent.
(A) The bank can demand access to and process the personal data of Mr. X relating to family history of ailments from which Mr. X or his family was suffering.
(B) The bank can process the personal data of Mr. X viz., the particulars of the family, wife, children, brothers etc.
(C) The bank can process the data of Mr. X for the purpose of ascertaining the assets and liabilities of the defaulter.
(A) Mr. Y can file an application in India for protection of his digital personal data under the DPDPA if he leaves the job in September 2023, and returns to India.
(B) Mr. Y, being a citizen of India, can claim protection against the MNC for misuse of his personal data even while serving in New Zealand.
(C) The DPDPA 2023 is not applicable since the data is held outside India.
(D) The DPDPA 2023, is not applicable since the data has been obtained before the enactment of DPDPA.
(A) Name of the Person.
(B) Full Residential Address.
(C) Aadhar Number.
(D) All of the Above.
(A) Mr. Z has committed many robberies and police wants to access his Aadhar details and fingerprint data for the purpose of tracing Mr. Z.
(B) It is apprehended that a person identified as Mr. G would spread hatred among various communities which would lead to riots and Police intends to use the mobile number and other personal details of Mr. G for the purpose of preventing such crimes.
(C) Both $(A)$ and $(B)$.
(D) Neither (A) nor (B).
(A) Personal data collected by a health service provider can be sold to an insurance agency by the service provider without the consent of the concerned person.
(B) Personal data collected by the government can be used for whatever purpose.
(C) Personal data collected by the insurance company can be sold to mobile companies for mobile marketing without the consent of the concerned person.
XIV. The Supreme Court on September 1 held that a child born of a void or voidable marriage can inherit the parent’s share in a joint Hindu family property. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud however clarified that such a child would not be entitled to rights in or to the property of any other person in the family. A voidable marriage is one that is made invalid by the husband or wife through a decree. A void marriage is invalid at its very inception.
Chief Justice Chandrachud said the first step to the inheritance of a child from a void or voidable marriage would be to ascertain the exact share of his parent in the ancestral property. This could be done by means of conducting a “notional partition” of the ancestral property and calculating how much of the property the parent would have got immediately before his death. Once the share of the deceased parent in the property is ascertained through such a notional partition, his heirs, including his children by means of void or voidable marriage, would be entitled to their portions in the share.
The Chief Justice said that Section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act has statutorily conferred legitimacy to children born out of void or voidable marriages. In fact, Chief Justice Chandrachud pointed out that Section 16(3) stipulates that children from void and voidable marriages would have a right to their parents’ property. The court said the intent of granting legitimacy to such children in the Hindu Marriage Act should also be reflected in the Hindu Succession Act, which governs inheritance. Children from void or voidable marriages come within the ambit of “legitimate kinship” and cannot be regarded as illegitimate by the Hindu Succession Act when it comes to inheritance.
The case before the three-judge Bench was focused on an amended provision in the Hindu Marriage Act, Section 16(3). The case was referred to a larger Bench in 2011 after a Division Bench of the apex court refused to follow past precedents and championed the cause of children born out of illegitimate marriages.
“With changing social norms of legitimacy in every society, including ours, what was illegitimate in the past may be legitimate today. The concept of legitimacy stems from social consensus, in the shaping of which various social groups play a vital role,” Justice Ganguly, who authored the 2011 judgment, had observed.
During the hearings on the reference, Chief Justice Chandrachud had agreed with the Division Bench’s findings that children from void and voidable marriages had rights over the property, whether self-acquired or ancestral, of their parents.
[Extracted with edits and revisions from “Children from void, voidable marriages entitled to parents’ share in ancestral property: Supreme Court”, by Krishnadas Rajagopal, The Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/children-from-void-voidable-marriages-arelegitimate-can-claim-rights-in-parents-properties-sc/article67259229.ece ]
(A) Gogol could claim the entirety of Ashok’s share of the ancestral property.
(B) Gogol would inherit the entire ancestral property as the only son of Ashok.
(C) Gogol would inherit his share from within Ashok’s share of the full ancestral property without prejudice to the inheritance of other legal heirs, including Arpita.
(D) Only Sushma and Arpita are the rightful legal heirs of Ashok.
(A) Sushma and Ashima.
(B) Sushma, Ashima, Arpita, and Gogol, as they are all his rightful legal heirs.
(C) Sushma, Arpita, and Gogol.
(D) Sushma and Arpita.
(A) The amended provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act grant legitimacy to children from voidable marriages and therefore this logic should be extended to children born of voidable and void marriages under the Hindu Succession Act.
(B) The amended provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act give legitimacy to the second marriage and therefore this should also have an impact on the Hindu Succession Act.
(C) The amended provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act grant legitimate status to children from void or voidable marriages and therefore this should also extend to the Hindu Succession Act.
(D) The Hindu Marriage Act has no bearing on the case in question.
(A) Kausalya’s children cannot inherit Dashrath’s ancestral property but can inherit his self-acquired property.
(B) Both Ram and Lakshman can inherit their father’s share of the ancestral property irrespective of the voidable status of their parent’s marriage.
(C) If Kausalya decides to annul her voidable marriage, she and her sons would lose all rights of inheriting ancestral property from Dashrath.
(D) Ram and Lakshman can only inherit ancestral property from their mother’s side since she decided to annul the voidable marriage.
(A) He would say that her children can still inherit property from Ajay thanks to the Supreme Court judgment.
(B) He would advise her to get her marriage registered so that they can inherit property.
(C) He would advise her to ignore her marriage with Ajay since it is anyway a void marriage.
(D) He would advise her to speak to Diya and sort it out with her so that her children can inherit property since she would have the final say.
(A) No, she cannot inherit property as the judgment merely talks about the rights of children from void marriages.
(B) Yes, she should fight for her rights to inherit property.
(C) Yes, Ajay would have to give her property since he cheated on her.
(D) She would get an equal share of property as Diya, since they are both his wives who got married to him without knowing about each other.
(A) Dhanalakshmi would not have any right in her mother’s share of the property since the right of inheritance pertains only to father’s share of property.
(B) Dhanalakshmi could demand a notional partition and get a share from Srimati’s portion of her ancestral property.
(C) Being a child from a void marriage, Dhanalakshmi has no rights of inheritance.
(D) It is Srimati’s decision as to whom she gives rights in her property.