India: Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam go back to Supreme Court for bail

Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have asked the Supreme Court for bail once more, having spent over six years in jail. Elsewhere, the top court has clarified when the 24-hour clock for producing an arrested person starts. India wants to become one of the world's leading artificial intelligence (AI) powers by 2047.

Both opportunities and challenges lie ahead on the path to achieving that goal. India's Supreme Court has ruled that police must bring a person before a magistrate within 24 hours of first detaining them, not 24 hours from when an arrest is formally recorded, local media reported. The constitution requires anyone held by police to be presented to a magistrate within a day.

Reports suggest that police have often kept people in informal "detention" for hours or even days before logging an arrest, which delays that clock. "An artificial distinction between 'arrest' and 'detention' would be highly problematic," the court said, as reported by Live Law. The case had been brought to the court after four people were detained for some 18 hours before formally being arrested.