POLITY Current Affairs for Prelims 2026: Jul - Dec '25 | Sarmad Mehraj | UPSC Prelims Crash Course

Hello, good evening and welcome to ANA

Academy. Welcome to Conquer Prelims 2026

stage 1 and in stage one we will discuss

current affairs of the period January

till December 2025.

In yesterday's session, we covered

important current affairs topics from

Indian polity which appeared in various

newspapers between January to June 2025.

And in this session, we will discuss

current affairs topics which appear in

different newspapers during this period

July to December 2025.

Please do not forget to like this video

and subscribe to our channel if you

haven't yet. Let's get started and let's

look at topic number one. delisting of

political parties.

There is one law which deals with the

entire conduct of elections in India and

that is representation of the people act

1951.

In this law there is section 29 capital

A and it is this section which talks

about registration of political parties.

Now listen to me carefully.

What is a political party? A group of

people who come together with the

primary intention of capturing power.

With the primary intention of contesting

elections and through democratic means

form the government, capture the power.

Which means for a group to be called a

political party, they should contest

elections. They should not be against

elections. Now is it necessary and you

tell me in the comment section is it

necessary for a political party to be

registered with the election commission

of India and then this political party

can contest elections no but if you want

the benefits then you have to register

with the election commission of India

and what are these benefits tax-free

donations

long story short for a political party

to receive the benefits it has to

register ister with the election

commission of India under section 29

capital A and all these political

parties we say these are registered

political parties. Now over a period of

time once you fulfill various conditions

then some of these registered political

parties

will be designated as recognized

political

recognized as the state political

parties or the national political

parties

but that is the static part of your

syllabus. My point is please revise what

are the criteria in order to be

designated as a recognized political

party whether at the state level or at

the national level. But listen to me

carefully. Why is this important?

Election commission of India has the

power to register a political party.

Does election commission of India

also

have a power to deregister a political

party? No. Yes, there are some

conditions which we will discuss but

mostly election commission does not have

the power to dregister a political

party. Now when a political party wants

to be registered with the election

commission of India, it has to also

submit a declaration and the declaration

should say that we will abide by the

principles of socialism, secularism and

democracy and we will uphold

sovereignity, unity and integrity of

India. So once you submit your

application that I want to be registered

as a political party with the election

commission of India, you also have to

declare that I will uphold democracy,

socialism, secularism in India and that

I will uphold unity, integrity,

sovereignity of India and then you may

be registered with the election

commission of India and all these

political parties which are registered

with election commission of India, we

call them registered political parties.

But then some of these political parties

may be recognized as national or state

political parties and we call them

recognized political parties. Now the

point is important facts.

Can government companies donate money to

political parties? No. So political

parties can receive donations from

individuals from corporates. But can

government companies donate to the

political party? No. Can a political

party receive donation from a foreign

company from a foreign source? No. That

would be violation of FC foreign

contribution regulation act. But listen

to me carefully. If there is a foreign

company but this foreign company has

subsidiary in India. Can this subsidiary

of a foreign company donate money to

political parties? Yes. Although

initially it was not allowed but later

on the laws were amended to allow the

subsidiary of a foreign company to

donate money to political parties. Now

as soon as you are registered as a

political party you can receive

donations.

Every political party also needs to

appoint a treasurer and it will be the

responsibility of this treasurer that

you have to disclose the details the

particulars of those individuals and

those companies which have donated in

excess of 20,000 rupees to political

parties in one financial year.

And if you have received these

donations, no matter what donations you

have received, all these donations are

tax-free. You don't have to pay tax as a

political party. But there is a

condition.

Just like individuals, you and me, we

file income tax returns. Similarly,

these political parties also will have

to file their returns. Now if a

political party fails to file this

return with the income tax authorities

then they will have to pay tax and this

is why it was in the news when Congress

party was slapped with tax notices by

the income tax authorities because the

treasurer of the Congress party failed

to submit income tax returns with the

income tax authorities. So these are

facts which are very important for your

examination.

But why else was this in the news?

Election Commission of India in its

notification said that there are close

to 2800

registered but unrecognized political

parties. These are registered but

unrecognized political parties and more

than 750 of them contested the 2024

elections which means majority of these

political parties they are not

contesting elections. I told you the

definition of a political party that a

group of people who come together with

this intention of contesting elections

and forming the government capturing

political power. Now majority of these

registered unrecognized political

parties they don't contest elections

then why is it that they don't contest

elections? We call them letter pad

parties. So maybe their primary

intention is to receive donations not

contest elections. So maybe you are used

as money laundering tools

and to track them to have a crackdown on

these political parties election

commission of India started a campaign

known as delllisting of political

parties. But please keep this in mind

dlisting is different. Dregister is

different. Can an election commission of

India dregister a political party if the

political party is not contesting

elections? No. Can election commission

of India dregister a political party if

there is no inner party democracy in

that political party? No. Can election

commission of India dregister a

political party if it has failed to

lodge the returns with the income tax

authority? No. Election Commission of

India has the power according to the

Supreme Court judgment that you can

dregister a political party only under

extreme circumstances.

If you have obtained registration

through fraud

or the political party declares that we

don't owe allegiance to the constitution

of India or my political party was

declared unlawful by the central

government under unlawful activities

prevention act under these circumstances

the court has said election commission

of India has the power to dregister a

political party. So if there is a

question in your examination according

to the representation of the people act

election commission of India has the

power to dregister a political party if

the political party has not contested

elections in the last 10 years. This

statement is incorrect.

Election commission of India does not

have the power to dregister a political

party only because that political party

is not contesting elections. Election

Commission of India can dregister a

political party according to the Supreme

Court because of these reasons. Clear?

But what Election Commission of India

has done? It has started dellisting

these political parties. Now what is

this D-listing? Now listen to me

carefully.

345. You don't have to remember this

number but just for the explanation so

that it remains in your mind. Election

Commission of India has identified that

there are 345 registered unrecognized

political parties but we could not

locate their physical address anywhere.

So we want to get in touch with them ask

them why are you not filing election

income tax returns or why you are not

contesting elections. We want to send

them notice but their physical addresses

are not found. Now till the time they

will come to us that this is our

physical address we will delist them.

When we say we will delist them that

means now if they are not listed as

political parties they will not get the

symbol.

Now when they are not delisted as

political parties, they will not have

access to free symbols which is gi given

by the election commission of India

which primarily also then means that

maybe they will not be in a position to

raise donations because they have been

delisted by polit election commission of

India. So long story short, this topic

is in the news under section 29 capital

A of the representation of the people

act 1951 election commission of India

registers political parties and after

your registration if you are unable to

contest elections if you don't contest

elections you don't file returns can the

election commissioner of India dregister

you? No, but you can be delisted. That

means you're no longer in the list of

the political parties, which means you

will not be given symbol. You can't

raise donations.

Law Commission of India has said in its

255th report way back in 2015 that if a

political party fails to contest

elections for the last 10 consecutive

years, they should be dregistered. But

it is only a recommendation. That is why

I told you if there is a statement in

the examination that ECI can dregister a

political party if it has not contested

elections in last 10 years, this

statement is incorrect because it was

only a recommendation of the law

commission of India. In fact, election

commission of India in its memorandum of

on electoral reforms way back in 2016

had suggested that there should be an

amendment to the representation of

people act. Explicitly power should be

given to us to dregister a political

party. But representation of the people

act explicitly does not give the power

to the election commission of India to

dregister a political party. That is

topic number one. Any doubts please let

me know and then we can continue.

Okay. Then we have topic number two

limbs

which is the biggest litigant

in the courts the union government

which files the highest number of cases

and against whom the highest number of

cases are also filed.

There are crows and cres of cases

pending in the courts and if the biggest

litigant is the union government, we

need to effectively control the

government litigation.

Normally what is happening? One

department of the government files a

case against another department of the

government. One department of the

government files a case against you or

if you have won a case they will file an

appeal. Mechanically they keep on

dragging these cases and hence law

ministry has said issued a directive for

the efficient and effective management

of litigation by government of India.

The proposal is the intention is that we

want less number of cases to reach the

court. We need to find other

alternatives to resolve the disputes and

mechanically we should not be filing

appeal after appeal because then the

pendency of the cases increase and there

are cres of cases pending before

different courts in this country.

What the law ministry has done?

It has decided for example I'm a lawyer.

I have been impanled by the department

of a government and the department has

lost a case. I will advise the

government that we will go for a review.

Let's approach the high court. Let's

approach the appallet tribunal. Let's

approach the supreme court because I

will get more money if more cases are

assigned to me. law ministry has done

and said that we are going to review

these lawyers who have been impanled by

us. We will evaluate their performances

whether they are winning the cases or

not or whether they are mechanically

suggesting us that we should file an

appeal. This is how we can restrict the

government litigation and pendency of

the cases will reduce [clears throat]

and for that there is an important tool

known as limbs. What is limbs?

The Department of Legal Affairs,

Ministry of Law and Justice in

association with National Informatics

Center together with NIC. They have

implemented limbs in all the ministries

of government of India, all their

departments, their attached offices,

autonomous bodies as well. So this is

what we call limbs.

It is a basically a tool a online portal

which gives us visibility of what is the

stage at which this present case is

running. So full visibility of the cases

filed by the union government and their

departments against the union government

and their departments so that we can

know at what stage is this particular

case. Full visibility is given to all

the ministries, all the departments of

the central government and for that

there is this limbs initiative and this

is used to monitor the cases 247

so that there is more transparency. This

is limbs and for prelims examination it

has been implemented in all the

departments. It is an initiative of the

department of legal affairs ministry of

law and justice. Clear? That's topic

number two. Topic number three, central

board of film certification in the news

because of tag life, because of

homebound, so many issues and this topic

becomes important and there are some

controversial things also which have

happened over the last one year that

makes this a potential question for your

prelims examination. What is CBFC?

It's a statutory body

created under the cinematograph act of

1952

and it works under the ministry of

information and broadcasting. This fact

you have to keep in mind in India films

can be streamed or films can be

exhibited only if the CBFC has approved

its release

and this has been vetted by a Supreme

Court judgment KA Abbas

and that is relevant for Maine. So we

will not touch that aspect. You have to

keep in mind CBFC is a statutory body

under the Ministry of Information and

Broadcasting. When we say a statutory

body that means it is created by the law

enacted by the parliament and which is

that law cinematograph act of 1952.

Without the certification issued by CBFC

no film can be released in India. But

what is the composition of CBFC?

It consists of nonofficial members and a

chairman. Mr. Prussoon Jooshi is the

chairman of CBFC. All of them are

appointed by central government. Where

is the headquarter? The headquarter is

in Mumbai but this CBFC has nine

regional centers as well. These facts

are important. Regional offices, nine

regional offices.

These regional offices are assisted in

the examination of the films by advisory

panels. For example, there is a Canada

movie which needs permission which needs

certificate to be exhibited in Karnataka

and in other parts of the country. For

that you have to approach the CBFC.

Instead of approaching Mumbai, you can

approach the regional office of CBFC in

Bangalore and then this office will be

assisted by advisory panels. Those

people who will watch this movie and

then decide what certificate to give to

this movie. And these members of the

advisory panel also they are appointed

nominated by the central government for

what period for a period of two years.

These facts are very very important. But

now let's look at most important facts

related to CBFC.

Under the cinematograph rules

this board CBFC must meet every quarter.

If this is a statement in your

examination it is a correct statement.

But the existing CBFC board that we have

last met in 2019. That's why it is

controversial.

The last annual report of the CBFC dates

back to 2016 2017. But the rules mandate

that CBFC has to submit annual report

with the government annually every year.

But the last annual report if you can

check the CBFC website dates back to

2016 2017. Hence it is in the

controversy.

The board needs to be constituted for a

period of 3 years or until further

orders whichever is earlier.

That means the board CBFC once it is

constituted its tenure is 3 years or

until the further orders whichever is

earlier that means the maximum term of a

board is 3 years but Mr. Prasoon Jooshi,

Vidya Balan, Vive Agnihotri and others

who have been nominated and appointed to

the CBFC. They were appointed in 2017

and we are in 2026 and that is why

Indian Express came up with a detailed

expose on CBFC and said we are raising

serious doubts about CBFC's legal status

whether it is legally valid or not

because the term is 3 years and new

members have not been appointed new

chairman has not been appointed. Hence

it is in the controversy. So keep these

statements in mind. But in 2024

major changes were made to CBFC. CBFC

rules. Online certification process

started.

So you can apply for CBFC certificate

online and when you do it online without

any manual interaction the process is

transparent.

Previously we would have four

certificates

universal for all age groups. A for

adults, S for specialized category. Now

in 2024

they said let's introduce agebased

certification categories that this is

not valid for less than seven 13 plus

people only can watch 16 plus people

only can watch. So these category based

age based certification categories were

provided in 2014 2024. Before that it

was not available. It was universal

adult specialized and where parental

guidance is necessary below the age of

18.

Mandating greater representation for

women. 2024 rule said we need to ensure

gender parity in the composition. Hence

at least onethird of the members of the

CBFC shall be women.

There was a time when CBFC license or

certificate was given for 10 years. Now

they give certificate for perpetual

validity. That means you don't have to

renew your certificate.

And if you want your movie to be

screened earlier on priority for that

you have to give an additional fee and

on priority we will watch your movie and

then decide what category certificate to

give to your movie. These 2024 changes

are very very important. That completes

our topic three CBFC. Any questions

anyone?

Is CBFC mandatory for OTT? No, CBFC does

not deal with OTTs.

Good question.

Reservation in the Supreme Court. Now

you tell me is there reservation amongst

the judges in high court and supreme

court? No.

Appointment to high court and supreme

court judges is done by the president of

India based on the recommendations of

the collegium system.

That is something that you miss that you

all must be aware of right. But in

Supreme Court specifically Supreme Court

there are non-judicial posts apart from

judges there are other officers for

example librarian court assistants

court attendants for these posts for the

first time reservation has been proposed

by the Supreme Court because Supreme

Court has the power that it can decide

your own rules when it comes to your

recruitment.

If we have to recruit, if you have to

recruit members to the Supreme Court for

that you decide your own rules. Supreme

Court will decide and when Justice Gavay

was the Chief Justice of India rules

were made and for the first time

reservation was provided to these

Supreme Court posts for SC's and STS

not just in recruitment but also in

promotion

but only for SC's and STS not for the

OBC's why let's not get into that just

keep this fact in mind or maybe if you

want to know that the Supreme Court

Chief Justice said we have a clarity

because this is the central list of

SC's. This is the central list of STS.

But when it comes to OBC's there is no

common central list of OBC's there may

be some OBC's who will be part of the

central list but some OBC's will be part

of the state list.

That is why unless and until we have a

clarity on the class of OBC's we will

not extend reservation to OBC's in

Supreme Court posts but we will have

reservation in the recruitment as well

as in promotion for the members

belonging to SC and SD community. This

is topic number four very important.

Topic number five NALSA.

There was a doctor in Manipur born

as a man but then because of the change

of gender you decided to change your

gender she became a woman a doctor but

now she had to get her gender changed in

the certificates

given by the medical university given by

the school higher secondary school they

all dillydally and ultimately matter

went to the Manipur high court and a

landmark judgment was given for the

first time where on the directions of

the court these authorities were told

change the gender of this individual

because self-identification of a gender

is something that we have guaranteed in

2013

because in Nalsa v Union of India 2013

case the Supreme Court recognized

transgender

as the third gender

and for that Supreme Court said

self-identification.

You don't have to necessarily go through

sex change surgeries or gender change

surgeries and then you can decide to

change your gender. No, you identify

yourself with a gender

selfidentification is the key. That is

part of your rights. And in the same

judgment the Supreme Court had directed

that the members of the transgender

community they are socially

and educationally backward.

And when they are socially and

educationally backward that means the

Supreme Court directed that affirmative

action policy should be created for

them.

And what do we mean by affirmative

action policy? Reservation in government

jobs, reservation in educational

institutions. And for that transgenders

act was enacted by the parliament in

2019. But the reservation which was

directed by the Supreme Court was not

provided to them.

And in fact this law of 2019 makes it

difficult for these transgenders to

identify themselves as a transgender

because for that it necessarily means

that you need to go to a district

collected and get the certificate of

change of gender. Long story short,

NALSA vun of India 2013 judgment

recognized transgender as a third gender

in India. The Supreme Court recognized

that these are socially and

educationally backward classes of

citizens and as such deserving of the

affirmative action policy. Now because

of this judgment transgenders act was

passed in 2019. But according to this

law selfidentification also is not

enough. Court judgment says

selfidentification. You identify with a

gender that's your gender even without

resorting to gender uh surgeries or

gender corrective surgeries.

But here according to this law you need

to get the certificate from the district

collector and petition the district

collector from where you can get the

certificate. Selfidentification alone is

not necessary. You need to get the

approval of the government

for that. Let's look at this question on

your screen. You tell me what is the

right answer. Which of the following

statements correctly describe the

constitutional, statutory and supreme

court provided rights of transgender

persons in India?

The Supreme Court of India in NALSA

judgment recognized transgender persons

as third gender and affirm their right

to selfidentification of gender

independent of any medical or surgical

procedure. You don't have to necessarily

resort to gender corrective surgeries to

identify with yourself with a gender.

No, even without that selfidentification

is the key. Transgender Persons

Protection of Rights Act 2019 prohibits

discrimination against transgender

persons in educational institutions and

employment, but it does not recognize

the right to reside in one's household.

No, you have a right. If you're a

transgender person, the one drawback

that you frequently encounter is that

your family disowns you and you are

thrown outside of your outside of your

house. The Supreme Court recognized this

that this is the torture that they will

have to face. So you have a right to

reside in your own household. That's

your right.

So this law it recognizes the right to

reside in one's home. So this statement

is incorrect. Under the Indian

constitution only articles 15 and 16

expressly guarantee transgender rights.

Article 14 does not apply to them.

Transgenders are explicitly not given

protection under the constitution.

But that does not mean that article 14

will not apply to them. Article 14

applies to anyone who is residing within

the territory of India regardless of sex

or sexual orientation.

That's why the statement is incorrect.

The Supreme Court has held that freedom

of expression under article 1918 does

not extend to transgender persons attire

or self-presentation.

The attire of transgender persons, the

dress that they wear is different.

Including that is protected by the law,

protected by the constitution. That is

considered to be part of your

expressions. How you express yourself,

the kind of dress that you wear, that's

protected by the constitution. So this

statement is wrong. So first statement A

is the right answer.

Clear? Good.

Topic number six, removal of judges.

Now, Justice Yashwan WHMA may become the

first judge in the history of

independent India to be removed by the

president based on the resolution passed

by both houses of the parliament that we

all know. So, this topic becomes

important also because this matter is

before the court. Why? Listen to me

carefully.

Who will remove a judge?

Whether the judge is of a high court or

a Supreme Court president

on what grounds

prude

misbehavior

or incapacity.

Misbehavior can be corruption

allegations such as against Justice

Yashwant VMA. Incapacity maybe you have

turned insane. We have two sympathies

with you but we cannot entrust you with

the responsibility of granting justice

to others because now you don't have

that mental capacity or capability to

function as a judge. But are these terms

prude misbehavior or incapacity defined

in the constitution? No, not defined

in the constitution.

But the procedure is defined where in a

law known as judges inquiry act 1968.

And this is where it becomes important.

Listen to me carefully.

How can a judge be removed? The process

may initiate in Lok Sabha or the Rajya

Sabha. If 100 members of the Lok Sabha

write to the speaker or if 50 members of

the Rajya Sabha write to the chairman

that we want to remove a particular

judge because of prude misbehavior or

incapacity,

there has to be an investigation by a

committee. But who will constitute this

committee? Listen to me carefully. If

this motion has been accepted by in this

Lok Sabha by the speaker, speaker will

set up this committee. If this motion

was introduced in Rajya Sabha, accepted

by the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the

vice president, so this committee will

have to be set up by the chairman of the

Rajya Sabha, the vice president of

India. But now listen to me carefully.

WHAT IF ON THE SAME day

both in Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha

a motion is introduced and in both and

on the same day both chairman as well as

the speaker accepts this motion that in

that case who will set up this

committee? This committee will have to

be jointly set up.

Jointly set up

and that is what happened with the

removal of justice Yashwan Bharma. It is

argued that on the same day motion was

introduced in Lok Sabha as well. motion

was introduced in Rajya Sabha as well

and somehow the Rajya Sabha chairman he

was not supposed to accept this motion

because the government wanted this

process to initiate in Lok Sabha

and that became the trigger and vice

president of India Mr. Tanker suddenly

resigned citing health grounds.

But keep this in mind if the mo and

later on the government said Lok Sabha

said that this motion was not accepted

by the chairman. So when it was not

accepted by the chairman on the same day

it was accepted only by the speaker of

the Lok Sabha. So now the speaker of the

Lok Sabha has set up this investigation

committee

and this investigation committee will

have three members. There will be a

judge from the Supreme Court. There will

be one chief justice of a high court and

there will be one eminent jurist.

Together they will decide whether the

charges leveled against a judge of prude

misbehavior and incapacity whether these

charges are correct or incorrect.

But is the speaker or the chairman

bound to accept this motion? No. In 2017

when chief justice of India Deepak Misra

was sought to be removed by the

opposition more than 50 MPs of Rajya

Sabha wrote to the chairman of the Rajya

Sabha that we want to remove the chief

justice of India. The chairman Mr. M.

Wanker Naidu who is the vice president

of India did not accept this motion. So

there is the discretion of the speaker

or the chairman. He may or may not

accept this motion. But once you accept

the motion then you have to get these

charges investigated by this committee

and then whatever report is presented by

this committee both house of the

parliament will have to act. But is the

report of this committee binding?

The report of this committee is not

binding. It's for the parliament to

decide whether this is to be acted upon

or not. Whether we will vote or not.

whether we will vote in favor or vote

against that's something that you have

to keep in mind and justice yashwan warm

through his lawyer Mr. Mul Rohad Gi and

others they have approached the Supreme

Court they have challenged the very

constitution of this investigation

committee on whatever grounds that we

don't have to cater to irrelevant for

your exam but what is relevant is

removal of a judge who removes on what

grounds what is the procedure and

whether the report is binding or not

these are the facts that you have to

keep in mind extremely relevant for your

upcoming films examination

Now let's come to topic number seven

section 152 of the BNS.

There used to be

section 14 124 capital A of Indian Penal

Court which dealt with sedition.

Matter was before the court. Long story

short, the court said stay.

No further arrest under sedition because

we have to decide whether sedition law

is constitutional or not.

And when the matter was pending in the

court, IPC was replaced by the Barata

Nyita. And now Barha na Sanita does not

have any provision for sition. Instead,

what is there in BNS? Section 152 of the

Baratya Nyanita. And what is this

section? Whosoever

through words whether spoken or

otherwise

if you are promoting

secession armed rebellion subversive

activities separatist activities or

through the use of financial means

whatever you're doing if you are

using counterfeed currency to excite

separatism from India that is also a

crime under section 152 of the BNS.

So section 150 of BNS some people say is

equivalent to the sedition law of the

URST by Indian Penal Code and there is a

challenge before the Supreme Court

against this section as well. But you

may be asked to identify what are the

specifics of section 152. If you promote

or if you attempt to excite secession,

armed rebellion, subversive activities

going against the sovereignity,

integrity of India. So previously

sedition was against if you promote

disaection against the government.

Section 152 does not criminalize

disaection against the government but

disaection against the nation. So

previously it was rajro

offense against the government now it is

desro

offense against the nation that's the

difference between the two but be that

as it may

supreme court also has clarified in

numerous verdicts whether kedar nat

balwan singh shria singal that no matter

how inflammatory the speech is how

radical ical the speeches.

Unless and until you are inciting people

to violence,

unless and until you incite people to

violence, you're not a criminal. So

there has to be violence after the

speech that you have given. Unless and

until there is violence, you will not be

booked under sedition. You should not be

booked under section 152 either.

But now the important matter over breath

doctrine.

Listen to me carefully why we are

discussing this.

If there is an ordinary law and what do

we mean by an ordinary lawy

is an ordinary law. Right or wrong?

Right. Can this ordinary law be

challenged in the courts?

Yes. On what grounds? Two grounds.

Ground number one,

if this law

is a violation of fundamental rights.

Second,

if it is beyond

the legislative competence

of the authority

which enacted such a law. So can an

ordinary law be challenged to the court

of law? Yes. On what grounds? If this

law violates fundamental rights. Second,

if the body which has enacted this law

does not have the legislative

competence. For example, Karnataka

Legislative Assembly enacting a law on

currency but currency is in the union

list. How can Karnataka legislature

enact a law on an item which is there in

the union list or parliament enacting a

law on let's say police but police is

within the domain of the states. How can

parliament enact a law on the state

list? On these grounds and the fact that

a law or the allegation that a law

violates fundamental rights on these

grounds ordinary laws can be challenged.

There can be a question a statement in

your exam. Can an ordinary law be

challenged on the grounds of misuse?

A law is being misused? A law is being

weaponized.

Whether the law is prevention of money

laundering act, unlawful activities

prevention act, NIA act, whatever. Can

an ordinary law be challenged in the

courts on the grounds that these laws

have been misused, overused, hyperused,

abused? No.

Only on these grounds ordinary laws can

be challenged. And sir, what about

ordinary laws? And what about

constitutional

amendment acts?

These constitutional amendment acts can

be challenged in the courts on the

grounds of violating

basic structure.

Can an ordinary law be challenged on the

grounds of violating basic structure?

No.

Now there is something called over

breath doctrine. This is where it

becomes interesting.

For example, I want to my company wants

to enact a law. Let's assume my company

is the parliament and my company wants

to protect my dignity.

And what is that dignity?

You can't be leveling allegations

against me that sir takes money to

evaluate the answer

or sir takes money to teach separately.

I don't do that. So if you are making

these statements, my company legislature

will enact a law and you are a criminal.

And what is that law? Law says you

should not as a student say anything

which goes against the dignity of a

teacher.

So the phrase used by this law is don't

say anything which affects the dignity

of a teacher. Because if you're saying

sir is taking money, it affects my

dignity. This should not be allowed. But

what if you say sir never comes on time

sir wastes our time sir teaches only for

prelims and not for mains or teaches

only for mains and not for prelims or

does not teach at all teaches irrelevant

stuff company may say this allegation

against this teacher also affects my

dignity but this is your right you

should say this if I'm wasting your time

if I'm not teaching according to the

requirements of this exam so if there is

a law listen to me careful if there is a

law which criminalizes protect protected

as well as unprotected free speech. This

is a protected free speech where you can

criticize me if I'm wasting your time.

This is unprotected free speech if you

are leveling false allegations against

me. If a law's language is so vague

dignity of a teacher that it can

criminalize protected as well as

unprotected activity, this law can be

declared unconstitutional.

The law is vague

and for its vagueness the law will be

declared unconstitutional and this is

what we call chilling effect.

So can an ordinary law be challenged on

the grounds of its vagueness?

Yes.

Because if it is vague it means it is

arbitrary

and if it is arbitrary it violates

article 14 and article 14 is a

fundamental right

clear these are the facts that you have

to keep in mind very good

topic eight free speech now what Mr. Sam

Rana said on his

uh

India's got latent or what Reanir

Alabadia said or what others have said

free speech has been in the news but for

the prelims examination you may not be

asked about the controversy

what you may be asked about what are the

reasonable restrictions on your free

speech

how many restrictions are there

article 191A which talks about freedom

of speech and expression Question is not

absolute. There are reasonable

restrictions. How many reasonable

restrictions? Eight. But are you aware

that there weren't these eight

reasonable restrictions in the original

constitution?

Originally, these were the four

reasonable restrictions, just four.

Security of the state, decency or

morality, contempt of court, defamation.

These were the only four reasonable

restrictions on your free speech.

Others got added later. So when first

amendment of the constitution took place

in 1951, three more grounds were added

under article 19 clause 2.

Public order,

friendly relations with foreign states,

incitement to an effects

and the eighth reasonable restriction

16th amendment in 1963 added

sovereignity and integrity of India. So

these facts are important can be

important for your exam. Originally

there were four reasonable restrictions.

Four got added later through

constitutional amendments. Three via

first constitutional amendment.

Sovereignity and integrity of India were

added in 1963 16th amendment.

That's topic number eight. Topic number

nine. Corrupt NATA bill

130th

constitutional amendment bill.

Let's quickly go through what this bill

is all about and you're done. We don't

have to overanalyze this bill. Whether

this bill is good, bad, ugly, so on and

so forth. That is the remmit for the

mains examination. For prelims, let's

look at the specifics and be done with

this.

What this constitutional amendment bill

tries to do? It tries to amend few

articles of the constitution

with regards to union council of

ministers with regards to state council

of ministers with regards to council of

ministers in union territories

because we have a parliamentary system

at the union level, state level. So at

union level we have prime minister and

council of ministers. At state level we

have chief minister and councel of

ministers. at union territories level.

Those union territories three of them

Delhi, Pudhucher, JNK which have a

legislative assembly and they have their

chief ministers and the council of

ministers it is for them that we have

130th constitutional amendment bill. Now

what is this bill? If I am a minister

but as a minister I have been arrested

on what charges? any charge for which

the imprisonment is 5 years or more

I am a minister now I have been arrested

for example Mr. Khal was arrested Mr.

Santal Balaji was arrested Mr. Manisha

Sodia was arrested Mr. Satyam Jane was

Satendra Jane was arrested. So many

individuals were arrested, ministers

were arrested. Now for that the law was

the bill was brought. If there is a

minister who has been arrested

by the agencies by the police for an

offense for which if you are convicted

you will have to serve five or more

years in jail, you have to resign.

Once you have stayed 30 days in jail,

you have to resign.

Now if you don't resign

on the 31 31st day,

prime minister will have to recommend to

the president please remove him. Now on

the 31st day if prime minister does not

recommend to the president remove him on

the next day which is the 32nd day the

president will remove that minister.

This is this bill.

I'll summarize again, repeat again. I am

a minister but now I have been arrested

and I am in the jail. And if I remain in

jail for 30 days, under what allegation?

If the allegation is that I have

committed a crime for which if I am

convicted, when I am convicted, I will

have to serve five or more years in

jail, then I have to resign after the

30th day.

If I don't resign then prime minister

will have to advise the president please

remove this minister because there is

doctrine of pleasure

and what is this doctrine of pleasure

that a minister holds office during the

pleasure of the president individual

responsibility

and which ideally means

the pleasure of the prime minister. But

if the prime minister is not advising

the president to remove this minister

who is in jail for the last 30 days on

the next day the president will remove

that minister. That is 130th

constitutional amendment bill known as

corrupt na bill.

clear

whether this 30-day is arbitrary or

non-arbitrary

that is the analysis of this we will

discuss it in the mains examination

topic 10 saha guidelines can anyone tell

me in the comment section saha

guidelines deals with What

posh mental health very good mental

health in Sukdev Saha v state of Andhra

Pradesh 2025 Supreme Court said mental

health is an integral component of right

to life which means it is a fundamental

right under article 21 of the

constitution.

So for the first time explicitly supreme

court has said right to mental health is

a fundamental right under article 21 of

the constitution and if you look at the

pyq's right to privacy multiple times

asked in the prelims examination is

under which of the following articles of

the constitution article 21

similarly prohibition of untouchability

deals with which of the following

fundamental rights right to equality

So such questions are asked in the

examination. So right to mental health

or once the question was asked right to

marry immediately after the prelim uh in

the prelims 2020 examination. Right to

marry comes under which of the following

articles? Article 21. Similarly right to

mental health there are some

straightforward questions. Right to

mental health comes under which of the

following articles? That is article 21.

Previously for example in Chhatroan

Chawan Nav Johar Supreme Court had

recognized mental integrity

psychological autonomy.

For example in

Chhatraan Chawan case 2014 Supreme Court

said if there is somebody who is on

death row

who is to be hanged but this person is

suffering from mental illness for

example schizophrenia. This person

should not be hanged. His death sentence

should be commuted to life imprisonment.

Similarly, in Na Jar Supreme Court spoke

of autonomy and if somebody is suffering

from mental illness, mental sickness,

you don't have psychological autonomy.

So, psychological autonomy is an

integral part of your mental health. And

now Supreme Court has went a step

further, expanded the scope of article

21 and has said right to mental health

is a fundamental right under article 21

of the constitution.

But with regards to mental health, what

are the steps taken by the government?

These can be important statements in

your prelims examination. For example,

at the school level, we have Umid.

What is Umid? Understand,

motivate, manage, empathize, empower and

develop.

What are these guidelines for? To

prevent student suicide.

Who released these guidelines? Ministry

of Education. What are these guidelines

aimed at? We need to sensitize schools.

We need to identify those students who

are at the risk of committing suicides

because these SAHA guidelines were

released by the Supreme Court in this

case to ensure that there is a decrease

or eradication of the rising incidents

of suicides amongst the students.

And how do we sensitize the schools? We

have to identify those children who are

at the risk. For example, somebody who

has been bullied into school, he or she

is at the higher risk of committing

suicide.

And for that omi, the draft guidelines

were released. Understand,

motivate, empower, empathize, manage.

Similarly, Ministry of Education has

launched a portal called Mano Darpan.

So, Manodarpan portal deals with which

of the following you need to know. It's

about prevention of student suicides. Um

draft guidelines is for providing loan

tomemes

is providing concessional treatment to

bread and breakfast uh uh breakfast and

bed uh scheme. So you have to be

absolutely sure what are these schemes

and guidelines all about. Manodarpan

portal was launched to ensure health and

mental well-being of students during

COVID 19.

So this is where you can book counseling

sessions with the mental health care

professionals. So trained professionals

will be able to guide you. Emotional

well-being is to be

encouraged because people felt lonely.

Students felt lonely during the coid9

lockdown and for that there was

manodarpan portal.

We have some international commitments

as well. For example, international

covenant on economic, social and

cultural rights.

It talks about that right to highest

attainable standard of physical and

mental health. It's the obligation on

the states,

obligation on the countries. You have to

recognize and for that we need laws,

interventions.

United Nations Committee on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights. It has

affirmed that this right includes timely

access to mental health services

including suicide.

We are a signary to convention on the

rights of person with disability.

Disability may not only be physical

disability but psychological disability

as well. And we need to protect our

children from such issues and that is

why we have a mental health care act

2017 which we were discussing yesterday

as well. It has explicitly

decriminalized suicide

arguing that those who attempt suicide

they are vulnerable and they need care

and protection support rather than

punishment. So Saha guidelines deal with

prevention of suicides among students.

What are these SAHA guidelines? Maybe

can be relevant can be asked in your

exam.

All educational institutions will have

to adopt guidelines to encourage mental

health amongst the students and for that

all educational institutions are

encouraged that you need to adopt the

Umid draft guidelines and Manodarpan

initiative

and every year you will have to review

and update this mental health policy and

you have to give it a prominent space in

your notice boards and on the websites.

But this will be applicable on those

educational institutions with 100 or

more on all educational institutions.

But those educational institutions which

will have 100 or more enrolled students

they need at least one qualified

counselor.

And if the number of students increase

corresponding to that the number of

qualified counselors should also

increase. Those who can counsel the

students why you should not commit

suicides.

And at the same time coaching institutes

maybe a statement is asked in the

examination that SA guidelines are

directed at established educational

institutions and exclude coaching

centers. No, coaching centers are

brought within the ambit of these

guidelines because we see in coaching

centers that there is a segregation of

students. Those who are scoring well in

some tests they are given star batch

some are given China batch some are

given another batch. So if you segregate

students on the basis of academic

targets on the basis of the marks that

they obtain in the test this is fueling

them into committing suicides and

affecting their mental health being you

should not as far as possible you should

refrain from engaging the bad

segregation in the schools and in the

coaching institutes. For that we have

Saha guidelines

and any guideline which is issued by the

court under article 141 we say it is the

law of the land.

Any order any judgment any verdict given

by the court under article 141 becomes

the law of the land.

Okay.

Also all the teaching as well as

non-eing staff they will have to undergo

mandatory training at least twice a year

so that they know how to deal with those

students who are at risk

how to counsel them.

Topic 11 article 17. Article 17 says

untouchability is abolished and its

practice in any form is forbidden.

But one important thing that you have to

keep in mind this term untouchability

is not defined in the constitution.

When it is not defined in the

constitution that means we are not

looking into the literal interpretation

of this word meaning of this word

untouchability. We're looking at the

historic practice of untouchability

practiced in India after later vic

period which means untouchability on the

grounds of cast and for that we have

vulnerable sections of the society SC's

and STS and for them we have a law

called atrocities act scheduled cast and

scheduled tribes prevention of

atrocities act 1989 you would have

discussed this this is part of your uh

static syllabus

But an important judgment had come in

2018

in Subash Kashinat Bahajan.

It was argued before the court that this

law is being misused

because under this law

there is immediate arrest

filing of charge sheet FIR

no bail.

So it was argued before the court that

this law is being misused

and the process becomes a punishment. If

this law is misused against me

automatically FIR would be filed I will

be arrested by the police and it is a

nonbailable offense which means unless

and until the court decides that I'm

innocent till that time I won't be

released. Maybe

if this law is being misused in Subhash

Kashidat Mahajan Supreme Court said no

we need to prevent this misuse and how

do we prevent this misuse? No immediate

arrest,

no automatic registration of the FIR.

First there has to be a preliminary

inquiry.

An inquiry has to be conducted by the

police to see whether this is a case of

untouchability or not or whether it is

that there is one section one person

from Dalith community one person from

upperccast community and they are

fighting with each other and the real

person who responsible for this fight is

a dalit. So it is not a case of

untouchability. It's a case of property

dispute between them or maybe a marital

dispute whatever it is. So police will

have to first conduct a preliminary

inquiry and decide whether this is a fit

case for untouchability. Only after that

there should be a written approval

permission given by the DSP or SP then

arrest can take place.

Long story short there was a huge hu and

cry and finally parliament amended this

law added section 18 capital A and

ultimately restored the status quo.

What is the status quo? That means right

now if somebody is found is alleged to

have committed atrocity under this act

immediately he will be arrested. F will

be filed no bail and there is no need

for any preliminary inquiry.

And here the burden of proof is on the

accused.

Which means if I am accused

of committing atrocity under this act, I

have to prove before the court of law

that I'm not guilty. Otherwise in

criminal cases, it is the prosecution

which have to prove whether I have

committed this crime or not. But be that

as it may, why this topic becomes

important for this exam is because of

this judgment. Kiran v. Raj Kumar Jaraj

Jane 2025.

Why is this important? Listen to me

carefully. Untouchability can be

practiced in various forms. For example,

I'm a Dalith. Uppercast men and women,

they tell me that you should vote for

this candidate in the election, but I

want to vote for somebody of my choice.

Maybe I want to vote for somebody who

belongs to my cast, but they're forcing

me to vote for someone else. And if I

don't abide by their directive, they

assault me. Isn't this untouchability?

Isn't this cast atrocity? And this is

exactly what happened in this case. I

was a complainant Dalith. I was attacked

outside my home. I was assaulted in full

public view. Why? Because I did not

resort to the blackmail of the upper

class. I decided to vote as per my own

conscience which was not acceptable to

them and as such I was assaulted when I

approached the police. The accused

person was arrested but then the court

released him on bail despite the fact

that this is a non- bailable offense. He

was released on bail. Why? Because the

court said that this seems to be

politically motivated case. The

allegations that you have leveled in

this case these are exaggerated.

We will grant the bail and when the bail

was granted matter reached the Supreme

Court Supreme Court said you should not

have done this honorable high court

you can't apply primmaaside test when it

comes to atrocities act what is

primmaaside test primmaasai at the face

of it the Bombay high court is saying

maybe the allegations are exaggerated

inconsistent fabricated

you should not go into the merits of

these allegations

because it is a nonbailable offense and

when somebody is being assaulted because

of the voter choices voting choices that

you have made this is the fit case of

untouchability.

So primmai test

does not apply to atrocities act. It is

a nonbailable offense

and these

requirements that there should be no

immediate arrest, no immediate filing of

the FIR, preliminary inquiry by the

police and the written permission of the

DSP or the DYP before arrest can be

made. All these are no longer valid.

Clear?

>> [snorts]

>> Okay,

topic number 12. Vak was in the news

throughout last year, but we will

specifically focus on some provisions

because there was an interim judgment

given by the court and then leave the

controversy aside.

First you need to understand when this

law was challenged before the court and

the argument was that this law should be

stayed. Supreme Court did not stay the

entire law. Why? Because the Supreme

Court said we are bound by presumption

of constitutionality of the legislation.

And this is what we call doctrine of the

presumption of constitutionality.

What does that mean? That means if a law

is enacted by the parliament, listen to

me carefully and this law is challenged

before the court, the courts will assume

that this law is constitutional.

It is for the petitioner to prove that

the law is unconstitutional.

Keep that in mind. Why? Because the

argument is who has made and enacted

this law? Legislature. Legislature

consists of elected members of the

people. These elected members are

accountable to the people. Why would

elected representatives enact a law

against the people against their

fundamental rights? So we will presume

and assume that whenever a law is

challenged before the court, we will

assume that the law is constitutional.

It is for the petitioner to prove that

the law is unconstitutional. And since

this work law was enacted by the

parliament, you have to convince us that

the law is unconstitutional. We are not

going to state it. But some provisions

were indeed stayed. State stayed in the

sense which were these provisions.

For example, if this is a land which is

a wak land. On this land there is a

dispute whether this belongs to

government or this belongs to Wak.

Immediately district collector is

empowered to inquire into whether this

property is a work property or a

government property and district

collector will decide accordingly. So

who has the power to decide whether a

property is work property or a

government property? District collector

but district collector is part of the

state is part of the government. So it

is like you are empowering executive

whereas this decision should have been

taken by the judiciary

because there is something called

separation of powers.

You cannot be taking judicial decisions

if you're part of the executive. There

is separation of powers which is part of

the basic structure. Number one. Number

two,

as soon as an allegation is leveled that

this property is work property,

is not a work property. It's a

government property. It will be

denotified from the work property. Then

we will decide whether it is work

property or not. But till the time we

decide it will be removed from the

status of a work property. Who will

decide that? District collector. The

court said this is arbitrary.

This is arbitrary and as such violation

of article 14 and we are going to stay

this.

There was a requirement that those who

want to donate their property to vak

they should be practicing Muslims for

the last 5 years.

person has to show or demonstrate that

he is a practicing Muslim for the last 5

years.

Court partially stated it did not

completely state partially. Court said

there is no procedure right now which

can currently verify whether a person is

a practicing Muslim or not. Since such a

procedure does not exist till the time

the government comes up with a procedure

that this is how we will evaluate and

decide whether this person is practicing

Islam for the last 5 years or not. Till

that time we will stay this rule.

Another

issue was having more non-Muslim members

in the VA board which the petitioners

argued violates article 26 of the

constitution because article 26 says

if you are as of any religious

denomination

you have a fundamental right to

establish

institutions

manage institutions

administer institutions whether these

are for charitable purposes or for

religious purposes

but if non-Muslims will start managing

vak properties it would violate article

26 which is a violation of fundamental

right

supreme court said but managing the

property is a secular activity

you don't have to necessarily be a

Muslim to manage a secular property but

yes since it deals with religion what we

will ensure is that of all the 22

members who are part of the central vak

council

not more than four should be non-Muslims

others should be Muslims in state work

boards if they have 11 members

only three non-Muslim members can be

appointed rest can be Muslims and as

much as possible as far as practicable

the chief executive officer should also

be a Muslim

but what the court did it recognized

ized the VA by user properties which was

mentioned in the law the amendment to

this law. What is Vak by user? I have to

donate my land property to the Vak.

Ideally what happens is I should donate

it legally with proper documentation

that now I'm transferring this property

to the VA and now who is the owner of

this property? It's the God because I

have shifted the ownership as well. I

have transferred the ownership as well.

There are instances where there are

hundreds and hundreds of properties for

which this deed is not present

where an individual has donated property

to the VA but documentation is missing

and in those cases since these

properties were used as VA properties

for many decades for many years we call

them VA properties by user that means

long story short if this is a property

whose Whose property is it? My property

I donated it to the Vak through proper

deed agreement through proper agreement.

It's a Vak property but there were 1 2 3

four properties which we were using as

Vak properties for which there is no

documentation who donated it, how

donated but since we have been using

these properties for eternally this is

Vaka user. The law said vaka user will

not be applicable now. There has to be

proper registration of these V

properties and proper documentation who

donated to whom

and at the same time limitation act.

This is the last point that we need to

discuss.

There is a property and this property is

owned by an unknown. We don't know who

is the owner of this property.

Can you claim this or for that matter

you are the owner of this property but

you left this country. You assume that

this property is safe because you have

the documents

but somebody has acquired this property

illegally

and now there's a school set up in that

property.

For how long till what time can you

claim this property? There is something

called limitation act. You have to claim

this property back within 12 years. So

there is a 12-ear limitation period.

After that limitation period is over.

You can't claim this property again.

Work properties were exempt under

limitation act.

That means if there is a property which

is being controlled by someone else even

for the last 30 40 years you can still

as vak board petition that we want this

property back because limitation act

does not apply to vak properties. So we

don't have to necessarily wait only for

12 we don't have to necessarily act

within 12 years. We can act even after

the expiry of this limitation period of

12 years. But now limitation act will

apply to vak properties. You can claim

these properties back only within 12

years. After that no that's the end of

this topic.

Okay. Great. Supreme Court sites topic

number 13. Preamble to reject plea

against Banu Mushtar opening Dasara in

Mysuru.

Now preamble and the objectives that are

mentioned in the preamble they are part

the basic structure.

So please revise preamble topic is again

important this year. What is the

controversy here? What is the issue

here? Bananu Mishtak who was the winner

of international booker prize

international ban book international

booker prize she had to inaugurate the

Sara festival and against that a

petition was filed in the court that

since the Sara festival is a Hindu

religious festival how can a Muslim

inaugurate this will affect my religious

rights

court struck down this dismissed this

petition saying Dasara is a public event

when it is a public event

organized by the state and the state is

secular how can the state discriminate

on the grounds of religion.

So if this Dasara festival is to be

inaugurated by a Muslim

that does not mean that we will have to

stop it. Why? Because the festival is a

state festival, a public festival

organized by this government which is

secular and as such we cannot

discriminate on the grounds of religion.

And Supreme Court cited preamble.

Supreme Court said look at the preamble

of the constitution. It talks about

liberty of thought, belief, worship. It

talks about secularism. And if the

preamble talks about secularism, we

cannot be discriminating people on the

grounds of religion. And in a

pluralistic society such as India, we

cannot be discriminating against the

citizens. So preamble topic is in the

news. Preamble topic you need to revise.

Topic number 14, defamation.

Defamation case against Sri Rahul Gandhi

and various other individuals.

Is defamation

Let me ask you a few questions. Is

defamation

a reasonable restriction

on your freedom of speech and

expression? Yes. But is this defamation

only a criminal offense

or is it also a civil offense?

Defamation is both civil as well as

criminal offense in India. In

Subramanyam Swami case 2016, Subramanyam

Swami and others they had challenged the

criminal defamation laws in this

country. Basically what is a criminal

law? What is a criminal wrong?

You are one party, the state is the

other party. So a wrong that you commit

against the state is a criminal wrong.

This criminal defamation law has a

colonial history. If the public

officials

they were defamed by people, it was the

responsibility of the crown, the state

to protect their reputation.

And as such, if you are defaming him, I

will come to the rescue of this

individual because he is my public

official. I as a crown has the response

have the responsibility to protect his

reputation. That's how criminal

defamation laws originated in India. A

civil wrong is a dispute between one and

the other individual.

Ideally, defamation, if I am defaming

you, it should be a matter of dispute

between you and me, which basically

means a civil wrong. Why should state

get involved to protect my reputation?

That's why Subramanyam Swami approached

the court and the court said no. The

petitioner had argued that please

declare that defamation should only be a

civil wrong not a criminal wrong in

India. Supreme Court said no because

right to reputation is an integral part

of right to life and it is the

responsibility of the state to protect

right to life and as such right to

reputation and as such criminal

defamation is a crime and you would know

that in a criminal case you will be

serving time in the jail. you'll be

imprisoned.

But in civil disputes, you only have to

pay compensation.

So, defamation is in the news.

Defamation becomes an important topic

for your examination. Topic number 15,

personality rights. Again, in the news,

what are these personality rights? What

is their legal backing? That is

something that you have to keep in mind.

The Supreme Court has said because these

personality rights you have to keep in

mind have evolved through judicial

decisions

otherwise not explicitly provided by the

constitution.

These personality rights have evolved

through judicial decisions. But what are

these personality rights?

There are two dimensions of these

personality rights. Publicity rights and

privacy rights.

For example, there is a celebrity Shah

Ru Khan, Virat Kohli, so on and so

forth.

Can I display that Shah Ru Khan has

endorsed an academyy's platinum program

and you should also enroll in the

platinum program.

I am using the personality of Shah Ruk

Khan to campaign for my classes which

leads to monetary loss for Shah Ruk Khan

because otherwise he would have be he

would have asked for cres of rupees to

endorse this program. So if you are

using one's name or likeness or image

and unauthorizedly without his approval

exploiting it for commercial gain you're

violating his publicity rights.

Similarly, privacy rights.

For example, can I take out the image of

an Now you see what is happening because

of Grock.

Now you are using the images of

celebrities distorting them.

You are invading into their privacy.

So publicity rights are a mix of

personality rights are a mix of

publicity rights and privacy rights. I

need to protect my own image, my

persona, and I should not be humiliated.

My images should not be misused because

if you do that, you're violating my

right to life and dignity, which is a

fundamental right under article 21 of

the constitution.

Let's look at the legal backing.

We have copyright act. For example, I

have written a song. I have composed

music.

Can you use this music without my

authorization? No, because I have a

copyright on this on this product.

Intellectual property rights.

I have sung a song. Can you use it on

your YouTube channel without attributing

it to me, without my approval? No, you

can't do that. So, copyrights, copyright

act in India, they grant performers

exclusive rights

over my content. Similarly, there is a

trademark act which permits individuals,

celebrities

that distinctive persona about my

identity such as my name, my signature,

even my catchphrases, trademarks, they

are protected under the trademarks act.

So for woolen products there is a

trademark. For silk products there is a

trademark. So this trademark is

protected and as such you are protecting

the personality rights.

But listen to me carefully.

What if there is an unregistered mark?

For example,

Mr. Jackie Schro approached the Delhi

High Court and had said I have a

trademark over

my catchphrase.

So the mannerisms in which Sanju Baba

walks or Jakishrov speaks or Anil Kapoor

says Jakass

although these are unregistered they

have not registered these catchphrases

as trademarks

but under the trademarks act there is

something called passing off harm.

So you are using these catchphrases

to tell the people as if these people

have endorsed your product. For example,

you are listening to an advertisement on

FM

and somebody is mimicking Amitab Bachan

or Jackie Shrov or Anil Kapoor. You will

get a sense that Anil Kapoor, Jackie

Shrov, Amitab Bachan have endorsed this

product and we we are a gullible

audience. we will buy this product

or somebody is using Jakas in this way.

You will also get a sense that Anil

Kapoor has endorsed this despite the

fact that Jakas or Bidu these are not

registered trademarks. The court has

said trademarks act also protects

passing of harm. Which means if you are

using these catchphrases in such a

manner that audience gets to get the

sense that it is these celebrities which

have endorsed this program we will

protect your trademark and that is how

Anil Kapoor's Jakas Jagis Bidu was

protected under the personality rights.

Asha Bonlay Ashwar Aliyah but various

other celebrities have approached the

court today bhwan bomb has approached

the court. So personality rights become

very very important and what is their

legal backing? The origin is the

judgment of the court are Raja Gopal v

state of Tamil Nadu. So through this

judgment the Supreme Court has come up

with an idea that there are personality

rights

and these personality rights which means

your name uh your image, your signature,

your voice or the catchphrases that you

use or your images. It should not be

subjected to unauthorized use and should

not be subjected to intrusion as well.

So thereby you're violating publicity

rights and privacy rights. So

personality rights are a mix of

publicity rights and privacy rights and

these are safeguarded by the courts

although there is no one common law

which protects them evolved through

judiciary's judgment and are rajagal v

state of Tamil Nadu 1994 and there are

other laws which protect few aspects of

personality copyright trademark so on

and so forth

Sir, can I go to the Supreme Court

saying the ordinary law passed by the

parliament violates any other article of

the constitution but not fundamental

right? Can you give me an example which

right which article

topic 17 bail in PMLA cases? So there is

one principle law against money

laundering called prevention of money

laundering act 2012

and the agency which is responsible for

all these cases is the enforcement

directorate. Enforcement directorate

works under the ministry of finance.

To be more specific, it works under the

department of revenue

under the Ministry of Finance.

Now, if I am accused of money laundering

and I'm applying for bail, bail is very

difficult. Bail is very strict and bail

can be granted to me if I satisfy what

is known as a twin test.

What is this twin test? If I'm accused

of PMLA, I cannot be granted bail by the

court unless and until the court hears

the public prosecutor. So without

hearing him, I cannot be released on

bail. And after hearing him, the court

can grant me bail only if I satisfy two

conditions. Condition number one, the

court thinks, the judges think, the

judges assume that I'm not guilty

and the judges are confident that I will

not reoffend.

If there are reasonable grounds for the

judges to believe that I am innocent, I

am not guilty.

And if the judges are convinced, there

are reasonable grounds for judges to be

convinced that I will not commit any

offense if I'm on bail, then only can I

be released on bail. Now you tell me,

why would a judge release me on bail?

And why would he or she believe that I

will not commit any offense. They don't

know me. Which means getting bail is

difficult.

You are asking for bail maybe before the

trial starts.

It is only after the trial starts that

the judges will be presented with the

evidence. There will be

cross-examination of the witnesses. Only

then the judges will be convinced

whether I'm guilty or innocent.

Now when the trial has not yet begun,

when the witnesses have not been

cross-examined, when evidences have not

been sifted through, how can the judges

have reasonable grounds to believe that

I'm innocent?

That is why it's very difficult to get a

bail in money laundering cases. But

there are exceptions.

Bail can be given easily

to a person if you are less than 16

years of age

or if you're a woman or if you're sick

or infirm you can be released on bail

even if you don't satisfy the twin test.

These are the things that you have to

keep in mind. Are there similar tough

provisions to get the bail in other

laws? Yes. Which are these laws? Drugs

and cosmetics act 1940. NDPS narcotic

drugs and psychotrophic substances in

which Shah Rukhan's son was arrested.

That is why he found it very difficult

to get the bail. Also unlawful

activities prevention act 1961.

I have discussed the denial of bail to

Omar Khaled and Sharil. Imam in one of

the video. Please watch that video. That

is why it is very difficult in these

cases as well as in PMLA cases to be

granted bail.

But important thing is

Vijay Madanal Chri V. Union of India

2022

matter reached the court

and the matter was how can you equate

money laundering with terrorism?

The maximum punishment for money

laundering is 7 years for terrorism it

can be death.

It is very difficult to get bail in

terrorism cases. But how can you equate

moneyaundering with terrorism

which means it is arbitrary and as such

violative of article 14 of the

constitution.

Supreme Court upheld

this law and said no financial terrorism

through money laundering can be equated

to terrorism

and these changes were made to

prevention of money laundering act

through money bill. So money bill

becomes an important topic for your

exam. How the money bill can be

introduced. Can a private member

introduce a money bill

or can money bill be introduced only by

a minister? Private member can also

introduce a money bill or minister can

also introduce a money bill. So revised

money bill topic can also be relevant

again in this year's examination.

There is no limit in the constitution

regarding money bill whether it can be

introduced only by a minister or a

private member. Anyone any member of the

parliament can introduce money bill in

Lok Sabha.

Okay.

But what Supreme Court has said recently

in granting bail to Manis Codia and

others. Supreme Court has said if you

have spent more time in jail and the

trial has not concluded

which means long years of custody, if

you have spent considerable time in

custody and there is no likelihood that

the trial would end very soon, that's

also a ground for bail.

So normally what is the ground for bail

in PMLA cases? If the court is convinced

that there are reasonable grounds for us

to believe that you are not guilty, we

will release you on bail and you will

not commit any other offense. If we

release you on bail, that's when we can

grant you bail. But the court has said

that we will include one more provision.

If there is a long incarceration, if you

have been in jail for many many years,

for a considerable period of time

and the trial is not there is no

likelihood of the trial ending very

soon. This is a ground for bail as well

and that is how Kavita was also granted

bail because she was a woman. Although

the Delhi High Court had rejected her

bail application saying you are a woman

but you are a different woman. different

woman in the sense you have been a

member of the parliament you're

sophisticated

the Supreme Court came down heavily on

the Delhi High Court saying a woman is a

woman you can't be labeling women as

sophisticated woman or educated woman or

uneducated women if there is explicit

provision in the law that if a person is

woman or is sick or less than 16 years

of age the court can grant the bail the

court should have granted the bail

This is topic number 17. Now topic

number 18, contempt of court.

You have freedom of speech and

expression but there are reasonable

restrictions. You can't be committing

contempt of court and contempt is of two

types. Civil contempt

and criminal contempt.

Can you file a criminal contempt case in

the court? Yes.

But what are the ways of filing it?

Three things.

The court

can act so

for example in this lecture I am

criticizing the Supreme Court. I am

scandalizing the Supreme Court. I am

saying the judges are brutally corrupt.

The judges are upper casts. They are

derogatory towards the dalits or the

judges take money to deliver verdicts or

the judges are incompetent.

And maybe a judge is hearing this

lecture and tomorrow when the court

opens. So moto on his own the court will

say produce this individual before us.

We want to proceed with criminal

defamation against him because he's

scandalizing the judiciary or he tends

to scandalize the judiciary. That's one

way. Second,

if attorney general for India or

solicitor general for India approaches

the court, now attorney general or the

solicitor general will approach the

Supreme Court. My lord, look at the

lecture given by Sarmat Maharaj on an

academy is English YouTube channel. He

is scandalizing the judiciary. If yes,

content proceedings can be initiated

against me. Third, any third person.

Now you have watched this lecture. You

go to the court

that this person has committed contempt.

We want you to take action against him.

The court will not accept your petition.

The court will ask you go to attorney

general for India or solicitor general

of India and ask for their written

approval.

You will have to go to attorney general

or solicitor general. They will look at

this video and then they will decide

whether this is a fit case for contempt

or not. If it is not a fit case of

contempt, I will not give the approval.

If it is a fit case of contempt, I will

give you the approval and then you can

approach the court. Why is this

provision third provision there? It is

to

save

the time of the court. Otherwise any

random Tom, Dick and Harry will approach

the court and file contempt petitions.

We need to trust attorney general for

India. Only if you vet these petitions

and tell us whether these are fit cases

for contempt or not only then we will

accept

contempt of court cases filed against

numerous individuals in the last one and

a half years. That is why this topic is

important relevant for your examination.

Now there are two more important topics

that we need to discuss. Please stay

with me. Two very important topics.

Who is a lawyer and who is an advocate?

Anyone who has the knowledge of the law,

who has completed the law course is a

lawyer.

But only those lawyers

who are enrolled in the bar under the

advocates act of 1961,

they are called advocates.

So whoever has the knowledge of the law

has completed LLB course for that matter

is a lawyer but maybe you have completed

LLB course but you're not practicing law

you are doing your business or you're

preparing for the civil services

examination you're only a lawyer you're

not an advocate but if you register

under the advocates act of 1961 now you

can plead before the court you are an

advocate that's the difference between

the two but listen to me carefully.

There is something called privileged

communication.

You are an individual.

You have a case and you want my

assistance. I am the advocate that

please file my case, fight my case.

Maybe you have committed murder or you

are accused of murder or you're accused

of rape or you're accused of

moneyaundering. Now whatever you will

share with me it is a privileged

communication.

What has happened recently is that ED or

police is asking lawyers to be present

advocates to be present and participate

in the investigation cooperate in the

investigation. What legal advice have

you given him?

Matter went to the court. My lord this

is a privileged communication. Why are

investigative agencies asking advocates

to appear before them and reveal what is

the advice that they have given to their

clients?

There is something called privileged

communication. This privileged

communication is part of some protected

relationships. For example, attorney

client spousal relationship.

How? For example, section 128,

communications during marriage,

husband and wife, they're discussing a

lot with each other. And now the police

is investigating the husband. Can the

police compel this wife to give evidence

against this husband? Whatever you have

shared with each other, no. Because this

is part of their spousal relationship

and as such protected.

So whatever has been communicated to

each other during the course of marriage

that is all protected. You cannot be

revealing this unless and until of

course you want to divorce each other or

you have committed a criminal offense

then you have to reveal this information

otherwise no.

Similar protection is available to

lawyers and clients.

lawyers, advocates and clients. Can an

advocate be compelled to reveal what

advice you have given to the client? No.

But there are some exceptions.

Bharata Saksha Adinium which replaced

Indian

evidence act.

It prohibits an advocate from disclosing

any communication made to him in the

course of professional engagement. even

after the employment has seized.

So I was your advocate two years ago.

Now I'm not your advocate. Even now I

cannot reveal it to anybody what we

communicate with the with each other

because this is part of privilege

protected communication except

if you consent to it. If you say okay

reveal it to the police, I will reveal

it. Or if this communication is related

to illegal purpose,

something illegal was done, I have to

reveal it. Or if the advocate observes

that when I was advising you, you

resorted to criminal activity. You

laundered money. I will have to tell the

police or ED that you laundered money

and I have the evidence of that.

Otherwise, what advice I gave you? How

to resolve your disputes? How do we

tackle these cases? These are part of

protected privilege communications.

Matter went to the court. Supreme Court

took it on sumoto.

That means on its own when lawyers were

being asked by investigative agencies to

appear before them and reveal what

communication you have had with the

client, Supreme Court took the matter

onto itself. Supreme Court said see on

one side there is section 132 of the BSA

Baratya Sakshai Adinium the Indian

evidence act on the other hand we have

article 20 clause 3 no person shall be

compelled to become a witness against

himself.

So if we marry the two protections

this protects the client attorney

relationship.

Attorney cannot be forced to become an

evidence to become a witness against the

client.

So if you're forcing the lawyer to

disclose confidential communication that

would violate fundamental rights as

well. But in this case look at the

question on your screen. All advocates

or lawyers but not all lawyers are

advocates.

Both advocates as well as in-house

councils enjoy client attorney privilege

of the same type. What is the answer?

All advocates are lawyers but not all

lawyers are advocates. Correct?

Advocates have the knowledge of the law

they are lawyers but only those lawyers

who are registered with the bar council

under the advocates act only they can

practice before the court. So not all

lawyers are advocates. Both advocates as

well as in-house councils enjoy client

attorney privilege of the same type. A

only one sir who is an in-house council.

Listen to me carefully. We know who is a

lawyer.

We know who is an advocate. Now who is

an in-house council?

Companies. For example, an academy. We

have a group council

GC

advocate

has a law degree as well

but he is an employee of an academy.

Clear? Now the communication between

employer anac academy and this employee

group council will it also come under

attorney client privilege? No. Why?

Listen to me carefully.

You are my client. I am your advocate.

If you ask me to do anything illegal, I

will not do it. I say go find a

different lawyer because I have

independence to either accept your case

or reject your case. But you are my

employer.

I am your employee.

Can an employee say no to an employer?

No.

For example, I am told by my employer

that you have to promote an academy

revision test series which is available

for one triple 9 for all the students.

Can I say no, I don't want to do this?

No, I can't say that. I have to promote

it.

So there is no degree of independence

for an employee and that is why if an

in-house council who is a group council

he does not enjoy the same attorney

client privilege as is

for an attorney and a client.

That's the key difference that you have

to keep in mind. So this time what the

court clarified the court clarified who

is a lawyer who is an advocate and this

attorney client privilege is for an

advocate and the client but in-house

councils they don't enjoy the same

privilege which means inhouse councils

whatever

communication that they give to their

employer can be investigated and can be

called into action as well.

Now comes an important case.

Who is an advocate on record?

These are the people

who can list cases before the Supreme

Court.

They have to take a special examination

of Supreme Court and only those who are

the advocates on records who qualify

this exam. They can list cases before

the Supreme Court. Then who are the

senior advocates?

They plead before the court.

But can they directly talk to the

clients?

No.

Who is directly interacting with a

client? Advocate on record. So advocate

on record is directly in touch with the

client. Gets all the papers ready listed

before the court. But who argues before

the court? Senior advocate. But can any

case be filed in the Supreme Court

without advocates on record? No.

Does a senior advocate lies on with the

client? No. It's not allowed. So senior

advocates, they plead before the court,

but they do not interact with the

clients.

They can't solicit the clients. It is

the advocate on record who presents all

the papers, all the case files before

the Supreme Court and without him no

case can be filed in the Supreme Court.

This is another important matter which

you need to keep in mind.

And now the last topic, National Human

Rights Commission.

There was some guideline issued by

National Human Rights Commission uh I

think recommended 10 lakhs or 20 lakhs

for for someone who was tortured to

death in custody in Uttar Pradesh. So

NHRC becomes important. NHRC is a

statutory body. Statutory body means it

is a body which is enacted based on the

law passed by the parliament. And which

is that law? Protection of human rights

act 1993.

And this body was established in 1993.

And this national human rights

commission provides for national human

rights. This act protection of human

rights act it provides for the creation

of NHRC, state human rights commission

and human rights courts. These three

things you have to keep in mind. So this

law which was enacted by the parliament

in 1993, it is based on Paris

principles. Paris principles were

adopted by the United Nations saying we

need national institutions in different

countries which can promote protect

human rights of the people otherwise the

state can violate human rights of the

people. We need independent institutions

autonomous institutions to uphold

protect human rights of the people.

These principles were adopted by the

United Nations General Assembly and

ultimately a law was passed in India in

1993. This law provides for National

Human Rights Commission at the national

level, state human rights commission for

every state and human rights courts.

Who is the chairman of the NHRC?

Previously, the chairperson of the NHRC

could only have been an ex-chief justice

of India. But in 2019 the law was

changed and the law said now the

chairperson of the NHRC can be an

ex-chief justice of India or a judge of

the Supreme Court or an exjudge of the

Supreme Court. So not necessarily a

retired chief justice of India.

What is the composition? We have

the National Human Rights Commission's

chairman who is the former Chief Justice

or former judge. One member is the judge

of the Supreme Court.

One member is a former chief justice of

a high court and there are three members

at least one member should be a woman

but then there are exofficial members

that means by virtue of you holding that

office you automatically become part of

the NHRC as well if you are the chairman

of the national commission of schedule

cast national commission of scheduleled

tribes national commission for women

national commission for backward classes

national commission for minorities

national commission for the protection

of child rights chief commission ister

of persons with disabilities. Whoever is

holding these positions, you are

automatically part of the NHRC.

These details you have to keep in mind.

Originally that means before 2019

the chairperson and members of NHRC as

well as state human rights commission

would hold office for five years or till

the age of 70 whichever is earlier.

So they would be holding office for 5

years or till the age of 70 whichever is

earlier. Now in 2019 their term was

reduced to 3 years.

The original act before 2019 said if

these members were appointed to NHRC for

example these are the members of NHRC

they are appointed for let's say 5

years.

Can they be reappointed? They can be

reappointed for a period of 5 years. In

2019, the law changed and Lord said the

law the change law the amended law said

can they be reappointed? Yes.

But removes the 5-year limit which means

can these members be reappointed? Yes.

But previously they could be reappointed

for 5 years. Now they can be reappointed

for 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, four year.

So this five year limit has been

removed.

What are the key functions of the NHRC?

It has the power to investigate.

It can even ask police to assist them in

investigating a human rights case. It

will advise the government on policies

related to human rights related to

effective implementation of human

rights. It can monitor jails, prisons

and other bodies to ensure that human

rights are not violated.

It has promotional role. It will promote

research in the field of human rights

and that's how NHRC organizes seminars,

workshops to promote

human rights, popularize human rights.

An annual report of NHRC is presented to

the central government. It is not

presented to the president. It is

submitted to the central government. It

is sent submitted to the Ministry of Law

and Justice and if required this report

of NHRC is acted upon. But whatever

recommendation of NHRC is this

recommendation of NHRC

is not binding.

These are the facts that you have to

keep in mind. So today in less than 2

hours we discussed 20 important topics

of current affairs relevant for your

prelims examination. But I also

understand that a major chunk of

questions asked in the prelims

examination may sometimes be from

current affairs of January 2026 onwards

and for that in the last stage the fifth

stage we will cover current affairs of

the period January till April 2026.

So today as well as yesterday we

discussed important current affairs

topics which appeared in news during the

period January till December 2025. And

if you got benefited from these sessions

do let me know in the comment section

and do not forget to subscribe to our

channel. Thank you for watching. I'll

see you again next time. Till then have

a great time. All the best. Good night.