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UPSC GS-IV · 20 marks · 250 words

You are the District Magistrate during a communal flare-up. A viral video, later found doctored, is inflaming tensions, and a senior political functionary demands the immediate arrest of a named minority youth. Identify the ethical issues involved and the options available to you, and justify your course of action.

आप एक सांप्रदायिक तनाव के दौरान ज़िलाधिकारी हैं। एक वायरल वीडियो, जो बाद में छेड़छाड़ किया हुआ पाया गया, तनाव भड़का रहा है, और एक वरिष्ठ राजनीतिक पदाधिकारी एक नामित अल्पसंख्यक युवक की तत्काल गिरफ़्तारी की माँग कर रहे हैं। इसमें निहित नैतिक मुद्दों और आपके समक्ष उपलब्ध विकल्पों की पहचान कीजिए, तथा अपनी कार्यवाही का औचित्य सिद्ध कीजिए।

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These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Stakeholders: the accused youth, communities, police, political executive, media, DM's own office
  • Ethical tensions: rule of law vs political pressure; due process vs public order; Art 14/21 dimensions
  • Options with trade-offs: immediate arrest, refusal + investigation, S.144/temporary internet restrictions (Anuradha Bhasin proportionality)
  • Action: verify via cyber cell, register FIR against video originator (S.196 BNS), joint peace committee, documented refusal of illegal instruction
  • Ethical vocabulary: moral courage, non-partisanship (Mission Karmayogi values), Weber's ethic of responsibility

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