Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protests not acceptable, says Supreme Court The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests, where scores of mothers, children and senior citizens of Shaheen Bagh blockaded a public road in the national capital, were "not acceptable". A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said public places and spaces could not be occupied indefinitely. The court recognised that peaceful protests were indeed a constitutional right, but said the right was not absolute. An indeterminable number of people cannot block public roads, restrict public movement and cause inconvenience, said Justice Kaul, reading out the verdict. The court referred to how the Internet and social media could be "highly polarising". It said the administration should take care to keep the public area clear of obstructions and encroachments. It is entirely the responsibility of the administration to prevent encroachments into public spaces. They should do so without waiting for courts to pass suitable orders. Public places cannot be occupied indefinitely, protests must be held in designated areas. Dissent cannot be expressed by blocking public places and spaces, the court said, hoping that it does not come to such a scenario in the future. The judgment came on a petition filed by advocate Amit Sahni several months ago for a direction to shift the anti-CAA protesters of Shaheen Bagh, mostly mothers and their children, to an alternative site as they had been "blocking" public movement and causing traffic snarls in the area. The protesters were later removed by the police on March 24, with the advent of the pandemic and the resultant national lockdown. UP police slaps UAPA, sedition charges on Malayalam journalist arrested near Hathras Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan and three others arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on their way to Hathras have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 and sedition, according to an FIR registered in Mathura on Wednesday. The four were produced before a local court, which sent them in judicial remand. "Further action will be taken after collection of evidence in the investigation," said Gaurav Grover, SSP, Mathura. The four were taken into custody at a toll plaza in Mathura on Monday when they were travelling in a car from Delhi to Hathras, said police. An FIR lodged against them charges them under section 124A (sedition) of the IPC, sections 14 and 17 of the UAPA, and sections 65, 72 and 76 of the Information Technology Act, for promoting enmity between groups and outraging religious feelings. Section 17 of the UAPA deals with raising funds for terrorist acts. Apart from Kappan, a journalist working with a Malayalam portal based in Delhi, the other three were identified as Ateeq-ur-Rehman of Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed of Bahraich and Alam of Rampur. In the FIR, sub-inspector Prabal Singh accused the four of carrying pamphlets titled 'Justice for Hathras Victim' and moving towards the district to disrupt peace as part of a "big conspiracy". Bombay HC grants bail to Rhea Chakraborty Actor Rhea Chakraborty, 28, was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. She has been in Byculla jail since being arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau on September 8 in a drug case following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She was directed to be released from jail on furnishing a bond of ₹1 lakh, with one or two sureties in the amount. Justice SV Kotwal said, "The investigation did not reveal any recovery either from Rhea or from the house of Sushant Singh Rajput. It is their own case that the drugs were already consumed and hence there was no recovery. In that case there is nothing at this stage to show that Rhea had committed any offence involving commercial quantity of contraband." Actor Rhea Chakraborty leaves Byculla jail in Mumbai on October 7, 2020 after she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in a drugs case. The court added, "Therefore, I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the applicant, that is Rhea, is not guilty of any offence punishable under sections 19 [punishment for embezzlement of opium by cultivator], 24 [punishment for external dealings in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances] or 27A [punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders] [of the Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act] or any other offence involving commercial quantity... Since she has no criminal antecedents, there are reasonable grounds for believing that she is not likely to commit any offence while on bail." Rahul quotes Nobel laureate Stiglitz to target Modi govt over "politics of division" Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday quoted economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz to target the Narendra Modi government for pursuing "politics of division" and asserted that his life's mission was to bring people of all faiths together. "I agree. My life's purpose is to bring people of all faiths together in this land," Gandhi tweeted, and tagged a news report that had reported Professor Stiglitz's advice to the Modi government to get rid of its "politics of division". "I will start by trying to create an inclusive society. Politics of division is an antithesis of what needs to be done. Modi has tried to divide your country, Muslims against Hindus, and that is going to undermine your society and economy no matter what else happens. This fundamental division will weaken India forever," Prof Stiglitz had said in a webinar hosted by the business chamber, FICCI, on Tuesday, in response to a question on India's strategy for tackling economic woes amid a pandemic. UGC declares 24 universities as fake; maximum from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi The University Grants Commission (UGC) on October 7 announced a list of 24 "self-styled, unrecognised institutions" in the country, terming them as "fake". Most these fake universities were operating from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Delhi. "Students and public are informed that currently 24 self-styled, unrecognised institutions are functioning in contravention of the UGC Act, which have been declared as fake universities and these are not empowered to confer any degree," UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain said. While eight of these universities are from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi has seven, and Odisha and West Bengal two each. Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Maharashtra have one such fake university each. U.S.-French duo win Nobel Chemistry Prize for gene-editing tool Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the U.S. have won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for the gene-editing technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping "scissors", the first time a Nobel science prize has gone to a women's only team. "Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision," the Nobel jury said. "This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies, and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true." Emmanuelle Charpentier of France (left) and Jennifer Doudna of the U.S. who won the 2020 Nobel Chemistry Prize on October 7, 2020. It's the first time a Nobel science prize has gone to a women-only team. The technique has been tipped for a Nobel nod several times in the past, but speaking to reporters in Stockholm via telephone link, Prof. Charpentier said the call was still a surprise. Edappadi K. Palaniswami to be AIADMK's CM candidate for 2021 TN elections Edappadi K. Palaniswami will be the ruling AIADMK's candidate for the post of Chief Minister for the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly election. The decision was announced today by Deputy Chief Minister and party coordinator O. Panneerselvam. For now, this ends the unease between the Deputy CM and CM over this issue. Prior to Panneerselvam's announcement, the Chief Minister, as an indication of agreeing to the former's principal demand for a eleven-member steering committee, made public the composition of the panel, which would guide the party on all matters. The formation of the panel was one of the points of agreement at the time of merger of groups led by Palaniswami and Pannerselvam in August 2017. Study finds high levels of child stunting among poor with access to PDS, calls for widening food basket A first-ever study on linkages between availability of PDS ration and prevalence of malnutrition has found that the poorest households most in need of free food grains are often left out of the scheme. The study, authored by Basat K Panda, Sanjay K Mohanty, Itishree Nayak, and Vishal Dev Shastri from the International Institute of Population Science in Mumbai and Subramanian SV from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, is titled 'Malnutrition and poverty in India: Does the use of public distribution system matter'. It was published in BioMed Central's Nutrition Journal last week. The study, based on National Family Health Survey-4 (NHFS-4) data, found skewed distribution of the BPL cards that determine access to various welfare schemes, including food ration. It found high prevalence of stunting and malnutrition among poor families that used the PDS, as well as the poor who were excluded from the PDS. "Reduction of child nutrition was not in the gambit of PDS. In many states, the odds of stunting among excluded poor are higher than real poor. Since the PDS cards are given largely to poor people, it is no surprise to see high stunting and underweight among these real poor," Panda said, in response to a question on why there was high prevalence of malnutrition even among poor households which were provided PDS ration. The study concludes that the poorest of the poor, most in need of welfare schemes, are not being covered by them. It recommends improved coverage to ensure poor households are given priority. It also calls for improvement in the quality of nutritious food under the PDS, and a widening of the food basket to help reduce malnutrition. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 68,27,171 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,05,529. In Brief: The Cabinet approved the signing of an agreement with Japan that is aimed at enhancing cooperation in emerging technologies, protection of critical infrastructure, cyberspace, and to mitigate threats to communication networks. A long-pending Metro project in Kolkata has been cleared and the Cabinet has also approved a standardized e-bidding system for natural gas. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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