UPSC CSE Current Affairs — 13 September 2026

The Constitutional Conduct Group, an association of retired All India and Central Services officers, has accused Delhi Police of violating constitutional provisions by arresting IPS officer Ashish Joshi. The CCG's statement alleges that the arrest constitutes an unconstitutional exercise of state power against a fellow officer. The case raises core questions about Article 21 protections, police accountability, and whether state action against a public servant can amount to a constitutional tort actionable under Part III.

This episode sits at the intersection of two constitutional doctrines CLAT PG has tested repeatedly: the scope of fundamental rights under Part III against state action, and the emerging concept of constitutional tort.

**Constitutional Tort Doctrine:** The Supreme Court in State of Rajasthan v. Mst. Vidhyawati (1962) and later in Nilabati Behera v. State of Orissa (1993) held that the State is liable for infringement of fundamental rights by its agents. Where a police action violates Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty), the affected person can seek compensation directly under Article 32 or 226 — this is the constitutional tort route. The 2024 CLAT PG paper tested whether a Minister's statement inconsistent with Part III rights constitutes a constitutional tort; this case presents the same question in a police action context.

**Article 21 and Arbitrary Arrest:** Under Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978), any procedure depriving a person of personal liberty must be fair, just, and reasonable. An arrest that does not meet this standard violates Article 21. D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) laid down mandatory safeguards for arrest and detention.

**State Action Requirement:** Fundamental rights under Part III are enforceable only against 'State' as defined in Article 12. Delhi Police, as a Central government force under the Ministry of Home Affairs, unambiguously qualifies as 'State.' Any violation of Part III rights by Delhi Police is therefore directly actionable.

**CCG's Role:** The Constitutional Conduct Group represents retired civil servants who monitor constitutional compliance. Their statements, while not legally binding, signal a narrative of institutional accountability that examiners use as passage material to test application of constitutional principles.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit — their first formal talks in roughly five years, since the Galwan Valley clash of 2020 froze high-level engagement. Xi described India-China ties as 'worth cherishing.' Both leaders sought to consolidate a gradual diplomatic thaw, even as border sensitivities and disagreements over Taiwan and Tibet remain unresolved between the two neighbours.

The Modi–Xi bilateral at BRICS is significant for what it reverses as much as for what it achieves. After the June 2020 Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh, India suspended most high-level political contacts with China, downgraded trade approvals, and tightened FDI screening for Chinese investment. The two leaders had last met formally on the sidelines of multilateral summits — including the G20 in Osaka (2019) — but direct bilateral engagement had collapsed.

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), founded in 2009, provides a non-Western multilateral platform where India and China are co-members, making it a natural venue for managed diplomacy. The 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, was the first after the bloc's expansion to include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Ethiopia, and Egypt — raising the platform's geopolitical weight.

For UPSC, the examiner tests both the static hinterland (BRICS founding, membership, India's role) and the dynamic layer (what changed, who said what, and what it implies for India's strategic autonomy). The 'thaw' framing matters: India has consistently maintained that normalisation requires full disengagement at friction points — Depsang and Demchok — before diplomatic resumption. That the bilateral happened signals some on-ground progress, without a final resolution. The tension between India's 'strategic autonomy' principle and alignment pressures from both Washington and Beijing forms the core geopolitical concept being tested here.

India is set to host the 18th BRICS Summit, a key multilateral event bringing together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Simultaneously, India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations have resumed after a decade-long gap, targeting tariff reduction and market access. The US Federal Reserve's rate decisions are influencing global capital flows affecting emerging markets including India. Perim Island, controlling the Bab el-Mandeb strait, has gained strategic attention amid Red Sea shipping disruptions linked to Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.

These four topics each connect to distinct exam-relevant frameworks.

**BRICS (18th Summit):** BRICS was founded in 2006 as BRIC and South Africa joined in 2010. The bloc represents about 40% of the world's population and over 25% of global GDP. The 2023 Johannesburg Summit saw six new members invited (Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE), with India hosting the 18th edition. Examiners test BRICS membership, summit locations, the New Development Bank (NDB, HQ: Shanghai, founded 2014), and India's position within the bloc.

**India-EU FTA:** The Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations, stalled since 2013, resumed in 2022. The EU is India's largest trading partner bloc. Key issues include intellectual property rights, data localisation, and agriculture market access. The deal would cover goods, services, and investment.

**US Federal Reserve:** The Fed's monetary policy directly affects FPI flows into India. Rate hikes strengthen the dollar, causing capital outflows from emerging markets and rupee depreciation. UPSC and RBI exams test the transmission mechanism between Fed decisions and India's balance of payments.

**Perim Island and Bab el-Mandeb:** Perim (also called Mayyun) is a Yemeni island at the southern end of the Red Sea, controlling the Bab el-Mandeb strait — one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints. About 12% of global trade and significant volumes of oil transit this strait. Houthi attacks have diverted shipping around the Cape of Good Hope, raising freight costs globally and affecting India's exports and energy imports.

Uttar Pradesh will challenge before the Supreme Court an Allahabad High Court order that quashed the National Security Act detention of Akriti Chaudhary, a Noida resident. The HC had also rebuked District Magistrate Medha Roopam for the manner in which the detention was ordered. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Supreme Court of the state's intent to appeal, signalling a direct confrontation between executive preventive detention powers and judicial oversight of those powers.

The National Security Act, 1980 (NSA) allows the Central or State government to detain a person without trial for up to 12 months to prevent threats to national security or public order. A detention order under the NSA is made by the District Magistrate (DM) or the State Government, and the detained person must be informed of the grounds of detention 'as soon as may be' — ordinarily within 5 days, extendable to 10 days in exceptional circumstances.

The critical procedural safeguard is the Advisory Board mechanism under Section 9 of the NSA. The Board, comprising persons qualified to be High Court judges, must confirm the detention within 7 weeks (now 3 weeks under BNSS-aligned reforms). The detained person has the right to make a representation against the order.

High Courts exercise habeas corpus jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to examine whether: (a) the detention order was made by a competent authority, (b) the grounds of detention are relevant and not vague or non-existent, and (c) the procedural safeguards were followed. If any of these fail, the HC quashes the detention.

In this case, the Allahabad HC went further — it rebuked the DM personally, signalling judicial disapproval of executive overreach. The state's decision to escalate to the Supreme Court raises the question of whether the SC will defer to the executive's public-order assessment or affirm the HC's oversight role. This tension between preventive detention and personal liberty under Articles 21 and 22 is a recurring CLAT PG examination theme.