“It’s 100 per cent case of dismissal,” the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while hearing the second bail plea of suspended Punjab Police DIG Harcharan Singh Bhullar who was arrested by the CBI in October last year in connection with a corruption case.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana posted the matter for hearing after four weeks, and also indicated that it would examine the bail plea after certain material witnesses had been examined.

“It’s 100 per cent case of dismissal! You want dismissal now or later?” the CJI asked.

Bhullar’s counsel submitted that the complainant and some material witnesses had not yet been examined, while statements of some were recorded.

Bhullar has challenged the dismissal of his bail plea by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 10.

On April 10, the top court refused to entertain his bail plea in the case. It granted Bhullar the liberty to approach the high court for bail if the trial in the case did not begin within two months.

A complaint was filed in October last year. It alleged that Bhullar, who was posted as DIG of Ropar range, demanded illegal gratification through a private intermediary to secure favourable treatment in an FIR registered at Sirhind police station.

An FIR was registered and a trap was laid on October 16 last year in Chandigarh where a co-accused was apprehended while allegedly accepting Rs 5 lakh as part of the demanded bribe.

Bhullar was arrested in the case. Later in January, a special CBI court in Chandigarh dismissed his plea seeking bail. (Agencies)

Observing that tribunals should not become defunct owing to vacancies, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to consider extending the tenure of retiring presiding officers and members of such quasi-judicial bodies for a month or so till fresh appointments are made.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was urged by the Centre through Attorney General R Venkataramani that the process for fresh appointments has been set in motion and no such pleas for ad hoc extensions should be considered.

The top law officer was responding to the submissions of a lawyer pertaining to vacancies in various tribunals, including the DRAT (Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal where some members are retiring soon.

“Now that everything is set in motion. These IAs (interim applications) may not be entertained any longer. A month or two should not make a difference,” the attorney general said.

“Can you make a decision at your end that you will increase ad hoc arrangement for a month or so,” the CJI asked, adding, “You need to give us a definite response that the posts will be filled. The moment we dispose of these petitions, and a fresh appointment is not made, another round will start.”

The law officer said now the new Tribunal Reforms Act has come into being and it provides for the appointment process.

We don’t want tribunals to become defunct. Current arrangement may continue on ad hoc,” the CJI said and listed the plea for hearing on Wednesday.

On September 8, the Centre informed the bench that 248 members of different tribunals have been found eligible for extension under the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2026 and their services were being extended.

The government said that eligible tribunal members would continue in office until they completed the five-year tenure prescribed under the new law or attained the applicable maximum age limit.

The bench also took note of the submissions that three members, two judicial and one technical, of the National Green Tribunal are demitting offices and it will have adverse impact on the functioning of the green tribunal.

The bench, as an interim measure, extended the tenure of three NGT members till appointments are made to their posts.

With regard to other tribunals, the bench asked the Centre to take up the issue of appointment in accordance with the 2026 Act without any delay.

The attorney general had informed the bench that 248 members of different tribunals had been found eligible for extension under Section 24 of the new law.

The bench recorded that eligible members would continue in office until they completed the five-year tenure prescribed under the new regime or attained the applicable maximum age limit.

The issue had arisen against the backdrop of the earlier order of May 19, when the top court had extended until September 8 the tenure of tribunal chairpersons, presidents and members whose terms were due to expire before that date to ensure that the functioning of tribunals was not disrupted. (Agencies)

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has agreed to report child safety-related matters directly to the cybercrime portal managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), as the government pushes social media platforms for stronger safeguards and greater accountability amid a crackdown on child sexual abuse material and other harmful content online.

Protecting children on the platforms is a priority for the company, a Meta spokesperson said, adding, “We’re committed to working with the government to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are held responsible.

“To collectively strengthen our efforts to combat this harm, Meta will now report child safety matters directly to the cybercrime portal managed by I4C,” the spokesperson said.

Meta, headquartered in the United States, is the first major tech intermediary to commit to establishing a direct reporting pipeline to Indian law enforcement. Until now, Meta has reported child safety cases to the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Earlier on Tuesday, Government sources said Meta had agreed to report child safety-related matters to appropriate law enforcement agencies. The sources said the online safety of children is a “fundamental principle” for any social media platform operating in India and is absolutely “non-negotiable.”

The Government will take action against platforms that fail to take proactive steps to ensure children’s safety online, the sources said, underscoring its tough stance on platforms’ responsibility to protect minors from harmful content and activity. The government remains engaged with other online platforms to ensure they proactively identify and remove such content, the sources added.

According to the sources, Meta’s pledge to report child sexual abuse material cases to law enforcement agencies is a first step towards making the platforms safer for children, and much more needs to be done. The government is continuously engaging with social media platforms to curb harmful content, with efforts underway to ensure all platforms proactively identify and remove such material, the sources said.

The Government has stepped up scrutiny of social media platforms over harmful and illegal online content, including child sexual abuse material and deepfakes. It has issued notices to Meta over its handling of such content and recently summoned the company’s global executives to India, as the Centre pressed platforms for faster takedown of harmful content, stronger safeguards and greater accountability – warning them that failure to comply with Indian law will not be tolerated.

In July, the Government issued a notice to Meta on Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM, and demanded a detailed explanation. Multiple rounds of discussions with Meta’s top executives followed, in which the IT Ministry made it unequivocally clear that such content constitutes a violation and cannot be covered by safe-harbour protection.

Earlier this month, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) summoned the Managing Director and Head of Meta India in connection with its inquiry into alleged CSEAM-related advertisements on the platform. The child rights body had taken suo motu cognisance of a BBC Eye media report on the alleged advertisements and sought an explanation from Meta.

BBC Eye investigation, published in early July, alleged that Instagram had carried paid advertisements promoting CSAM, some of which directed users to Telegram channels hosting sexually explicit content involving children. The investigation also found that Meta’s recommendation systems were amplifying videos containing such material.

India’s IT Ministry (MeitY) responded by ordering Instagram to disable the advertisements and demanded a detailed explanation within seven days. The National Human Rights Commission separately directed Delhi Police to investigate whether Meta had complied with mandatory reporting obligations under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and issued a follow-up notice in early August seeking action-taken reports from MeitY, police authorities and Meta.

The I4C, set up by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, operates the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) with a special focus on crimes against women and children. The I4C has separately built the Sahyog portal to route content takedown requests to social media platforms, and has earlier directed intermediaries to nominate nodal officers for child sexual abuse material reporting and deploy AI tools to detect and remove such material.

Direct reporting to the I4C portal would mark a shift for Meta, which has until now routed child safety reports primarily through NCMEC in the United States, under a system that has drawn criticism in India for adding extra steps between platforms and domestic law enforcement. (PTI)