National

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant held on 9 September that while it recognised the individual autonomy of married women, courts cannot direct rape prosecutions against husbands while both the Indian Penal Code and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita exempt marital rape from criminal liability.

Civil society members who met Ministry officials in New Delhi on 9 September said the Centre has proposed an elected body for the Union Territory through a new constitutional provision under Article 371, in a proposed Chapter “K”. Ladakh will not get Statehood, the Chief Secretary said separately.

The Election Commission announced on 7 September that byelections would be held in two Assembly constituencies each in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, one in Puducherry, and the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam. Nominations close on 16 September and counting is on 9 October. Nandigram, vacated by Suvendu Adhikari, is among the seats.

Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas told the 60-member Assembly on 7 September that the National Register of Citizens in the State would be updated using 1951 as the base year. The Centre had recently deferred the Census in Manipur, where Meitei and Naga bodies want the NRC completed before enumeration and delimitation.

Seven students died in the Satya Niketan building collapse. The Delhi High Court directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to inspect all paying-guest hostels in the capital; the building owner, his wife and son were arrested and five MCD officials suspended. The Supreme Court is considering pan-India safety norms for student housing.

A special National Investigation Agency court in Jammu issued the warrant against the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder on 12 September in a case concerning the supply of weapons, money and directions to terrorists operating in the Kashmir Valley. The agency says it has traced links between Pakistan-based handlers and local associates.

A government order issued on 10 September provides that only the first two stanzas of the National Song be sung at State functions, while all six stanzas will be played at functions attended by the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister or Governor. The order acknowledges the song’s role in instilling nationalism.

Hearing a plea on 10 September that many eligible candidates — mostly in-service government doctors in rural areas — were awaiting a reduction, the court asked the Centre to revisit its decision on the NEET-SS qualifying percentile, observing that super-speciality seats are precious and should not go vacant.

The government told officials concerned that the map endorsed by the General Assembly under its “Correct the Map” resolution must reflect India’s position on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The version in circulation showed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin between claim lines rather than as Indian territory.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on 1 September invoked Article 142 to close all FIRs over the July NEET-UG paper-leak protests. The court also directed the Centre to frame a pan-India policy to compensate the families of students who died by suicide after the leak.

The Supreme Court held on 3 September that the Bar Council of India and its chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra have no jurisdiction to discipline or penalise law students, and that only the universities where they are enrolled may act. The ruling came over the BCI’s action against NALSAR students who had protested a convocation invitation.

The third phase of the Special Intensive Revision covered 16 States and three Union Territories. Of the 36.08 crore names on their rolls, 29.93 crore were retained and 6.15 crore — 17.04% — were removed in the draft lists published so far. Draft rolls for Nagaland and Tripura follow on 20 September and 21 October.

The Union government on 5 September advanced the Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027 in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa to 16 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, ahead of the nationwide enumeration set for February 2027. The Census in Manipur was formally deferred “till further declaration”.

The Union Territory of Ladakh (Sitting of Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in Ladakh) Regulation, 2026, promulgated by the President on 27 August, came into force on 5 September. Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena called it a historic step towards bringing justice closer to the people.

A special NIA court in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, convicted ten Maoists on 5 September for the 2013 Jheeram Valley attack in Sukma, one of the deadliest Maoist strikes in the country. Twenty-seven people, including senior Congress leaders of the State, were killed when their convoy was ambushed while returning from a rally.

Hearing a petition by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay on 1 September, the court asked the Centre to respond on using totalisers — machines that aggregate votes from several EVM control units without revealing booth-wise trends — as a fall-back option. The Election Commission opposed the move, citing the absence of any legal framework.

The Central Bureau of Investigation searched 89 locations across 20 States on 4 September in three major ‘digital arrest’ cyber-fraud cases, under Operation Chakra-VI, and has arrested three people. In such frauds callers posing as police or investigating officers confine victims on video calls and extort money.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution on 3 September seeking recognition of Tamil as the principal language of the Madras High Court. Under Article 348 of the Constitution, the use of a regional language in a High Court requires the previous consent of the President.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026 on 27 August, making IST the single reference for legal, administrative, commercial and other official purposes across the country. The rules come into force 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette. They stress reducing dependence on foreign satellite-based time sources and enable the use of NavIC, India’s indigenous satellite navigation system.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, published on 23 August, inserts Section 9D barring States from imposing taxes, cesses or other levies on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands without the Centre’s authorisation. The Jharkhand unit of the Congress staged a Statewide protest on 27 August. Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to BJP MPs on 29 August seeking a reversal, saying control over the State’s minerals had been taken away.

The 60-member Meghalaya Assembly adopted a resolution on 26 August opposing uranium mining and the establishment of any uranium ore-processing facility in the State. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma moved the resolution. Local communities in Domiasiat, Lostoin, Mawthabah and Wahkaji in South West Khasi Hills district have resisted exploration since the Atomic Minerals Directorate drilled there in 1993.

The Mizoram Assembly unanimously adopted the Mizo patriotic song “Ro Min Rel Sak Ang Che” as the official State song on 27 August. Chief Minister Lalduhoma moved the resolution.

The Special Intensive Revision in Karnataka removed more than 1.07 crore names from the draft electoral rolls, the largest deletion reported in the exercise so far. The scale of the deletions drew objections from the Opposition, and the Supreme Court sought data on appeals in the parallel West Bengal revision as municipal elections approached.

The Petroleum Ministry has paused the release of new LPG connections, calling it a temporary measure forced by the geopolitical situation. Distributors are pushing 5-kg free-trade cylinders and 10-kg composite cylinders as alternatives. Six months into the war, the Strait of Hormuz remains practically closed: average flows are about 0.25 million barrels a day against 15 million before the conflict.