On validity of CBI action

IN Media Watch Briefs | 14/06/2017

More on the CBI action in the NDTV case. This article in Business Line argues that the SC ruling in the Ramesh Gelli case which the CBI cited to justify treating private bank officials as public servants, does not necessarily hold good for the NDTV-ICICI Bank case. A nuanced reading of the court's comments suggest that for a charge of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act to stick, it is necessary to establish that not only was the officer of a bank a ‘public servant’ but also that the specific act which is the subject matter of investigation was in the nature of a ‘public duty’.             

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The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

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