| 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. Nefarious plot defeated in Jammu and Kashmir: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the security forces had defeated a "nefarious plot to target grassroots-level democratic exercises in Jammu and Kashmir" by killing "four terrorists" belonging to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad. The four terrorists, who recently infiltrated from Pakistan, were killed and two policemen injured in a gunfight at the Ban Toll Plaza near Nagrota on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Thursday. The four had huge amount of ammunition and explosive materials on them, he said. The Prime Minister held a detailed review of the Nagrota encounter on Friday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla and top intelligence officials were present in the meeting. A senior government official claimed that the Pakistan-based terrorists were "planning something big on the anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks" on November 26. In a tweet after the meeting, Modi said, "Neutralising of 4 terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed and the presence of large cache of weapons and explosives with them indicate that their efforts to wreak major havoc and destruction have once again been thwarted." In another tweet, he said, "Our security forces have once again displayed utmost bravery and professionalism. Thanks to their alertness, they have defeated a nefarious plot to target grassroots level democratic exercises in Jammu and Kashmir". District Development Council (DDC) polls are to be held in the Union Territory of J&K next week. Siddique Kappan wanted to create 'caste divide', U.P. govt tells SC The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday denied illegally confining Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan and did not object to a lawyer meeting him in jail, but accused him of using the garb of journalism to create a "caste divide" in Hathras, where a 19-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped by four upper-caste men recently. Appearing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that Kappan was arrested and remanded by a competent court. "His bail plea was heard for nine days... His bail was rejected after nine days of hearing... they should approach the High Court. He is in judicial custody in pursuance of a valid judicial order passed by a court," Mehta submitted.  Journalist Siddique Kappan and three others are escorted to a court in Mathura on October 7, 2020. He was responding to a petition filed by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) for the immediate release of Kappan. The union has said Kappan is its secretary. He, according to the KUWJ, was illegally detained while on his way to Hathras in October 5. An 82-page affidavit filed by the senior superintendent of the Mathura District Jail, where Kappan is lodged, said he was "the office secretary of the Popular Front of India (PFI)". The identity card he had shown was of a Kerala-based newspaper, Tejas, which was closed in 2018. "It is revealed during the investigation that he, along with other PFI activists and their student wing [Campus Front of India] leaders were going to Hathras under the garb of journalism with a very determined design to create a caste divide and disturb law and order," the affidavit said. The court gave the KUWJ time to study the affidavit. It scheduled a hearing next week.
Sonia Gandhi shifts to Goa on medical advice
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon moved to Goa following a medical advice to avoid smog and avoid air pollution in Delhi. Accompanied by her son and former Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Gandhi, 73, is likely to be in Goa till the air quality in Delhi improved, a Congress functionary said. "The Congress president has been advised by doctors to shift out of Delhi to a place with cleaner air. The polluted air in Delhi has taken a toll on her health and has aggravated her asthma and chest condition, which has not shown much improvement despite medication", said the functionary. Ms. Gandhi's decision to move out of Delhi comes amid internal rumblings over the party's performance in Bihar as well as crucial bypolls across several States. Attorney General okays fresh contempt action against Kunal Kamra Attorney General K.K. Venugopal on Friday consented to contempt action against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for his "grossly vulgar and obnoxious" tweet with a photograph of two fingers meant to "deliberately insult" the Chief Justice of India. Venugopal said the tweet tended to lower the authority of the Supreme Court and undermined public confidence in it. The tweet was uploaded on November 18. "The depiction of the two fingers, with the legend that he means the middle one, is to deliberately insult the Chief Justice of India, which would equally be an insult to the Supreme Court of India, which the Chief Justice heads", Venugopal reasoned. The consent letter under the Contempt of Court Act of 19750 was in reply to a complaint made by advocate Anuj Singh, a lawyer from Uttar Pradesh. "The tweet is grossly vulgar and obnoxious, and I have no doubt that it would tend to lower the authority of the Supreme Court as well as undermine the confidence that the litigant public have in the institution of the Supreme Court itself," the top law officer and constitutional authority wrote. This is the second consent given by Venugopal for contempt action against Kamra in November. The earlier consent was regarding Kamra's tweets on the decision of the Supreme Court to grant interim bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. Kamra has refused to apologise for, or retract, his tweets. Instead, he tweeted that he wished to "volunteer" the time that may be allotted for hearing his contempt case to others "who have not been as lucky and privileged as I am to jump the queue". Ashok Gehlot slams BJP's love jihad laws Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday slammed the BJP over the "love jihad" controversy, saying it was a term manufactured by the party to divide the nation and disturb communal harmony. With several BJP-ruled states going ahead with moves to bring in legislation on the issue, Gehlot said marriage was a matter of personal liberty and bringing a law to curb it would be "completely unconstitutional". The BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have announced plans to enact a restrictive law.  The senior Congress leader said in a series of tweets that such a legislation would not stand in any court of law and jihad had "no place in love". He said BJP leaders were creating an environment in the country where consenting adults would be at the mercy of the state. "Marriage is a personal decision and they are putting curbs on it, which is like snatching away personal liberty," Gehlot said. He said bringing a law on "love jihad" seemed to be a ploy to disrupt communal harmony, fuel social conflict, and disregard constitutional provisions that mandate that the state cannot discriminate against citizens on the basis of religion. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 90,37,541 at the time of sending this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,32,597. In the wake of rising Covid-19 cases after the Diwali festivities, the Gujarat government on Friday announced that night curfew, from 9 pm to 7 am, will be imposed in Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat everyday. The decision comes a day after Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) announced a weekend curfew in Ahmedabad city, from Friday night till Monday morning, during which only milk and medical shops would be allowed to remain open. Amid fears of a 'second wave', the Madhya Pradesh government has also announced that it will impose night curfew, from 10 pm to 6 am, in five cities — Bhopal, Indore, Ratlam, Vidisham and Gwalior. In Brief: Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to two Sahara firms to pay ₹62,602.90 crore in compliance with the court's earlier orders, failing which the group's chief Subrata Roy be taken into custody. SEBI said the contemnors, Roy and his two firms — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd. (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. (SHICL) — are in gross violation of various orders passed by the court regarding the deposit of entire monies collected. The CBI has taken over two cases alleging illegal sale, purchase and transfer of Waqf properties by the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board. Among those named as accused are the then Shia Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi, its former administrative officer Ghulam Sayyeden Rizvi and Waqf inspector Waqar Raza, besides Naresh Krishna Somani and Vijay Krishna Somani.  Lord Meghnad Desai. File Indian-origin economist and peer Lord Meghnad Desai has resigned as a member of the UK's Opposition Labour Party over its alleged failure to tackle anti-semitic racism within its ranks. The 80-year-old peer said he has only ever been a Labour Party supporter but was forced to take the decision to cancel his membership on Thursday after former party leader Jeremy Corbyn was readmitted after just 19 days of suspension despite findings of "unlawful acts" by the country's human rights watchdog. "It was a very peculiar decision to allow him back without any apology," Lord Desai said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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