THE HINDU DATED 29th SEP 2026

Summary of Important News Items and Editorials- 329

THE HINDU DATED 29th SEP 2026

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1. Supreme Court on Women’s Safety in Delhi — Right to Live Without Fear

The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of recent sexual-assault incidents in Delhi-NCR and criticised persistent deficiencies in women’s safety. The Bench stressed that the constitutional right to life and dignity under Article 21 includes the ability to use public spaces without fear of violence. The Court sought responses from Delhi Police and other authorities and emphasised better patrolling, functional CCTV cameras, lighting, surveillance around vulnerable locations and time-bound investigation of sexual offences. Importantly, women’s safety cannot be achieved by restricting women’s movement or asking them to avoid public spaces; the burden lies on the State to make those spaces safe. The issue therefore goes beyond criminal punishment to preventive policing, urban design, transport security and institutional accountability. Technology can assist but cannot substitute trained personnel and responsive policing. Gist: women’s safety is fundamentally a constitutional-governance issue requiring prevention, effective investigation and gender-sensitive public infrastructure rather than restrictions on women’s freedom.

2. Supreme Court Questions Government’s Power to Levy UPI Merchant Fees

The Supreme Court has questioned the legal basis and character of charges on specified commercial UPI transactions above ₹2,000, asking the Centre to clarify who ultimately receives the payment and under what statutory authority it operates. India Gazette The issue follows the government’s attempt to introduce a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for certain higher-value merchant transactions while keeping person-to-person and most smaller merchant payments unaffected. The policy problem is economic as well as legal. UPI has grown rapidly partly because users and small merchants face little or no transaction cost, but banks and payment-service providers incur infrastructure, cybersecurity and processing expenses. A sustainable system therefore requires someone to bear these costs—government, banks, merchants or consumers. Any levy also needs a clear legal foundation and transparent incidence. Gist: India must reconcile UPI’s public-good characteristics with financial sustainability; payment charges should be legally authorised, transparent and designed so they do not undermine financial inclusion or digital-payment adoption.

3. Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Passes Resolution Seeking Restoration of Statehood