Legal Current Affairs for 7 April 2026

It refers to death of a person in custody due to torture and inhuman treatment.
In 2024, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported 2,739 custodial deaths.
Key Issues with Custodial Deaths
Against Constitutional Values: Custodial torture represent a reprehensible abuse of power given vulnerability of detainees and unequal power dynamics.
Challenges To Accountability: Due lack of independent investigation as investigation of custodial deaths is conducted by same police department where incident occurred.
Breach of Human Rights and Dignity: Torture is a grave violation of human rights. E.g. 1972 rape case, involving a tribal woman raped in Police custody in Maharashtra.
Erosion of Police as an Institution: Use of torture has been linked to perpetuation of a culture of violence within the police force.

Genesis: DFC Project was conceived in 2005 and aims at building dedicated freight-only railway lines.
Two DFCs: Eastern DFC (EDFC) and Western DFC (WDFC) were approved in 2008.
EDFC runs from Ludhiana (Punjab) to Sonnagar (Bihar) with a length of 1337 Km.
Along with these two, Ministry of Railways has undertaken work towards Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for three new DFCs (currently under examination):
East-Coast Corridor: Kharagpur to Vijayawada.
East-West corridor:
Palghar-Bhusawal-Nagpur-Kharagpur-Dankuni.
Rajkharsawan – Kalipahari – Andal.
North-South Sub-corridor: Vijayawada-Nagpur–Itarsi.
DFCCIL: Established in 2006, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is a Special Purpose Vehicle set under administrative control of Ministry of Railways.
It undertakes planning & development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of DFCs.

First annual survey covering incorporated service enterprises across all States/UTs (FY 2024-25 reference).
Coverage: Incorporated service sector enterprises registered under the Companies Act, 1956, or Companies Act, 2013, or Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008.
Covers sectors like trade, transport, IT, health, education, hospitality.
Aim: To build a reliable database for policymaking and economic analysis.
Uses Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) database; ~1.21 lakh enterprises surveyed.
Complements ASI (Annual Survey of Industries) and ASUSE (Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises) for holistic non-agricultural economy data.

Definition: It is a financial derivative instrument that allows an investor to swap or offset their credit risk with that of another investor.
Working Mechanism: It works like an insurance on bonds, where the buyer pays regular premiums and the seller pays if a default or restructuring occurs.
Uses: Used for hedging, speculation, and arbitrage, credit risk management.
Risks: Counterparty risk, complexity.