Kerala to send fresh samples of fruit bats for testing
Kozhikode, May 29: With the source of the Nipah virus outbreak that has caused 14 deaths in Kerala's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts yet to be ascertained, a batch of fresh five samples from fruit bats will be sent on Wednesday to the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, said officials.
"The samples of fruit bats have been taken from the place where four deaths on account of Nipah virus from one family took place near here. These samples are being sent through a special messenger," said an official on Tuesday.
The move comes after 21 samples from bats and pigs were sent to the Bhopal lab last week but all tested negative as per the results which came out on Friday.
Those samples were taken from bats, found in the house of Moosa of Perambara near here. Moosa as well as two of his sons and another relative died after testing positive for Nipah virus.
Both sets of samples have been collected from the same place, but from different varieties of bats that are found in common near Moosa's house.
While the number of fresh fever cases have come down, three more patients who tested positive are under treatment at the Kozhikode Medical college hospital.
In a related development, Kozhikode police have registered a case after the district medical officer filed a complaint that a fake letter under her name and style is being widely circulated indicating that no one should eat chicken, as it has been found to spread Nipah virus.
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Bombay High Court strikes down Centre's plan to set up Fact-Check Unit
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has struck down the central government's plan to establish a fact-checking unit (FCU) under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023. The decision comes in response to a petition filed by standup comedian Kunal Kamra, challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's move.
Justice A.S. Chandurkar, delivering the final verdict, declared that the proposed IT Amendment Rules violated key provisions of the Indian Constitution, namely Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression), and 19(1)(g) (right to profession).
“I have considered the matter extensively. The impugned rules are violative of Articles 14, 19, and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India,” Justice Chandurkar said in his judgment. He further remarked that terms like "fake, false, and misleading" in the IT Rules were "vague" and lacked a clear definition, making them unconstitutional.
This judgment followed a split verdict issued by a division bench of the Bombay High Court in January. The bench, consisting of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, was divided in their opinions. While Justice Patel ruled that the IT Rules amounted to censorship and struck them down, Justice Gokhale upheld the rules, arguing that they did not pose a "chilling effect" on free speech, as the petitioners had claimed.
The matter was then referred to a third judge, leading to today's decision. The Supreme Court had previously stayed the Centre's notification that would have made the fact-checking unit operational, stating that the government could not proceed until the Bombay High Court ruled on the case.
Kunal Kamra and other petitioners had argued that the amendments posed unreasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. They contended that the provisions would lead to government-led censorship, effectively granting the government unchecked powers to determine what constitutes 'truth' online. The petitioners further claimed that such powers would turn the government into "prosecutor, judge, and executioner" in matters of online content.
With the Bombay High Court’s ruling, the Centre's move to create fact-checking units has been effectively halted, reaffirming the importance of protecting freedom of speech and expression in the digital space.
