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Introduction: Strengthening the Shield of Liberty In a landmark judgment delivered in Vihaan Kumar v. State of Haryana (2025 INSC 162), the Supreme Court of India reaffirmed one of the most vital constitutional guarantees — the right of every person to be informed of the grounds of arrest . Authored by Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, the judgment reinforces Article 22(1) of the Constitution and clarifies the procedural obligations of law enforcement agencies during arrest. Case Background The petitioner, Vihaan Kumar , challenged his arrest by the Haryana Police, alleging that he was not informed of the reasons for his detention. He argued that such omission violated his fundamental right under Article 22(1) of the Constitution and Section 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) , which together safeguard a person’s liberty during the process of arrest. The respondent State maintained that the arrest was legally conducted and that the petitio...

As the Right to Information (RTI) Act completes 20 years on October 12, 2025 , its promise of transparency, accountability, and citizen empowerment appears to be under severe strain. A new report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) has revealed that several Information Commissions (ICs) — the institutions responsible for ensuring citizens’ access to information — are either defunct or operating without leadership , resulting in massive delays and weakened implementation. The Current State of Information Commissions According to the SNS report, two states — Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh — have completely defunct Information Commissions , while three others , including the Central Information Commission (CIC) , and the commissions in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh , are functioning without a Chief Information Commissioner . The situation is alarming at the central level, where the CIC — which handles appeals related to the Union Government and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) ...