Dharmasthala mass burial case: SIT produces complainant witness in Belthangady court
Mangaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday produced the complainant witness in the Dharmasthala mass burial case before the Belthangady court after taking him into custody.
According to sources, the witness had earlier claimed to have exhumed one of the buried bodies and produced a human skull, allegedly belonging to it. However, during interrogation, he failed to clarify where the skull had been recovered from.
After prolonged questioning on Friday night, the witness reportedly admitted that the skull he submitted did not belong to the body he had buried. Following this revelation, SIT officials placed him under custody, unlike in previous instances when he was allowed to leave with his legal team.
The witness underwent a medical examination on Saturday morning before being produced in court.
Meanwhile, the SIT has so far carried out exhumations in 17 of the 18 sites identified in Dharmasthala village. Human remains were recovered from one site and skeletal fragments from the surface of another. These have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for analysis, with the report awaited.
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Bill to regulate deepfakes tabled in Lok Sabha
New Delhi (PTI): A Private Member's Bill seeking a clear legal framework for regulation of deepfakes has been introduced in the Lok Sabha.
The Regulation of Deepfake Bill, introduced by Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde in the House on Friday, aims to protect citizens by mandating prior consent from individuals depicted in deepfake content.
"Misuse of deepfakes for harassment, deception and misinformation has escalated, creating an urgent need for regulatory safeguards," Shinde said.
The Bill also lists penalties for offenders creating or disseminating deepfake content with malicious intent.
"With advancements in artificial intelligence and deep learning, deepfake technology has emerged as a significant tool for media manipulation. While the technology has potential applications in education, entertainment and creative fields, it also poses severe risks when misused, threatening individual privacy, national security and public trust," Shinde said in the statement of objects and reasons in the Bill.
The proposed Bill seeks to establish a clear legal framework to govern the creation, distribution and application of deepfakes in India, said Shinde, a three-term Lok Sabha member from Kalyan.
The Bill also seeks to establish the Deepfake Task Force, a dedicated body to combat national security implications and evaluate the influence of deepfakes on privacy, civic participation, and potential election interference.
The task force will collaborate with academic and private sector institutions to develop technologies that detect manipulated content, thereby promoting credibility in digital media.
The Bill also proposes to establish a fund to support public and private sector initiatives in the detection and deterrence of advanced image manipulation.
A Private Member's Bill is a procedure of Parliament that enables lawmakers, who are not ministers, to draw attention to issues that might not be represented in Government Bills or to highlight the issues and gaps in the existing legal framework that require legislative intervention.
