INDIA

The police in Karnataka have arrested a 52-year-old man on charges of sexually harassing a woman co-passenger on a flight, an official said on Wednesday. The arrested individual has been identified as Sankaranarayanan Renganathan. The woman, 32, had lodged a complaint with the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) police station in this regard. The woman, who hails from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, mentioned in her complaint that on November 6, she was travelling on Lufthansa Airlines from Frankfurt to Bengaluru. "In the midst of the journey, I fell asleep. When I woke up after some time, I noticed that the man (accused co-passenger) had placed his hand on my private parts. I had pushed away his hand and went back to sleep," the complaint read. "When I woke up again ...

A 55-year-old Imam named Maulana Tehzeeb Islam was tragically stabbed to death in a mosque in Assam's Tinsukia district during the early hours of Sunday, according to the police. They also confirmed the arrest of the suspected assailant. Hailing from Bihar's Purnia district, Maulana Tehzeeb Islam served as an Imam at a mosque located in Tinsukia's Makum Kolabari area. The police disclosed that the alleged perpetrator, a 42-year-old local resident named Mohammad Ibrahim Ahmed, entered the mosque during Sunday morning prayers, wielding a machete, and inflicted multiple stab wounds on Maulana Islam. Despite the fatal outcome, the accused managed to escape, leaving behind the murder weapon, and later returned to the scene, pretending to be a mere bystander. Law enforcement swiftly ...

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Delhi High Court, seeking the removal of what is claimed to be inaccurate historical information regarding the construction of the Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan from educational textbooks. The case, brought by Surjit Singh Yadav, President of the NGO Hindu Sena, asserts that there is no historical evidence of the demolition of Raja Man Singh's palace and the subsequent construction of the Taj Mahal on the same site. The respondents in the case include the Central Government, the Archaeological Survey of India, the National Archives of India, and the State of Uttar Pradesh. Yadav is requesting that the Archaeological Survey of India conduct an investigation into the Taj Mahal's age and the existence of Raja Man Singh's palace as of Decem...

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and Rashtriya Sevika Samiti are jointly organising ‘mehendi camps’ at 11 locations in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar to urge people not to allow Muslim men to apply henna on the hands of Hindu women. The ‘camps’ are being organised on the occasion of ‘Karwa Chauth’, a Hindu festival. Describing it as a part of their two-year-old campaign to protect Hindu girls from getting targeted for religious conversion, VHP’s Prant Sah Gau Raksha Pramukh in Muzaffarnagar, Maheshwari, explained that shopkeepers hired Muslims as henna artistes who then used the opportunity to lure Hindu girls and women on the pretext of offering them their services at lower prices. “Muslim boys hide their identities by wearing kalawas (sacred thread Hindus tie to their...

In a significant development, the Central government submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court on October 29, asserting that citizens do not possess a general right to know the sources of electoral bonds. The government's affidavit highlights the need for reasonable restrictions on the "right to know" and emphasizes that it should serve specific purposes rather than being all-encompassing, as this could potentially hinder the functioning of a healthy democracy. This legal challenge comes in response to a series of petitions contesting the electoral bonds scheme, particularly the amendments introduced in the Finance Act of 2017. These amendments paved the way for the introduction of anonymous electoral bonds, allowing donors to contribute to political parties without revealing their ...

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has initiated work on its own ambitious space programme which has been approved by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), working under the Department of Space. The project involves the development of ‘SS AMU SAT’, the first satellite programme named after its founder, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The SS AMU SAT is a Nanosatellite Project which began in November 2021 under the AMU Robo Club. The satellite is a 3U CubeSat with multiple objectives which include the study of economic growth in India’s poorest districts using satellite imagery and the implementation of an in-house developed image compression technology for faster multimedia transmission. In addition to these, the satellite will also test various satellit...

Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing at the International Border, violating the ceasefire in the RS Pura sector on October 26, BSF said. During this violation, a 30-year-old BSF jawan, Basavraj SR, sustained injuries but was safely evacuated. He was stationed at Bikram Post in Arnia. Reports indicate that unprovoked firing by Pakistan Rangers commenced around 8:00 pm on Thursday, targeting Border Security Force (BSF) posts in the Arnia area. According to officials, Pakistan Rangers initiated firing on a BSF battalion situated in RS Pura, and BSF personnel effectively retaliated. The situation has caused panic among the locals in the RS Pura sector, leading them to leave their homes and seek safer locations. This marks the second ceasefire violation at the International Borde...

Rashmi Ranjan Swain, a senior IPS officer from the 1991 batch, is set to assume the role of Director General of Police (DGP) for the J&K Police force on October 31. He will succeed Dilbag Singh, who will retire as the longest-serving Police chief of J&K on the same day. Swain has served as the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in both Srinagar and Jammu, the capital cities. Having spent over 15 years on central deputation, he has held various significant roles, including a foreign posting as a recognition of his exceptional abilities. It is anticipated that the official appointment of Swain as the J&K Police chief will be announced in the coming days, according to reliable sources. Well placed sources informed The Kashmiriyat that his name was the sole one re...

The Delhi High Court has instructed the Delhi Police to defer the issuance of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the 'Mission Save Constitution' organization for their upcoming Muslim Mahapanchayat on October 29 in the national capital. The court cited the period between Navratri and Diwali, encompassing festivals like Karvachauth and Dhanteras, as being highly significant for the Hindu community, Muslim Mirror reported. Although the event is described as an educational effort about people's rights, the nature of the posters suggests potential communal undertones that could escalate tensions in the sensitive Old Delhi area, inhabited by diverse communities. The petitioner was advised to reapply for permission after the conclusion of Hindu festivals, noting that permission was ini...

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday shared the interview of former Jammu Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik in which they discussed Pulwama terror attack, and the statehood of the erstwhile state of Jammu Kashmir among others. Malik in his conversation with Rahul Gandhi, on October 14, said that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir should be returned as the people are unhappy. He also said that the government’s lapses led to the February 14, 2019 Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed. Rahul Gandhi while sharing the post on X, said, “Will this conversation create a stir amid ED-CBI?” On Malik’s tenure as J&K LG, statehood In his conversation with Malik, Rahul Gandhi asked him that during his tenure it was the most complicated time. He said while referrin...