Srinagar:  Two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists arrested in Kashmir. The army has seized two Chinese grenades from them. The terrorists were caught during the search at Bandipora.

The terrorists were arrested in a joint search conducted by the Army, CRPF and Bandipora Police. The police stated that a case has been registered under UAPA at Bandipora police station.

New Delhi: A special bench was constituted to hear pleas against the release of the accused in the Bilkis Bano case. The bench will consist of Justice KM Joseph and Justice BV Nagarathna. The Supreme Court will consider the petition on Monday.

Bilkis Bano’s petitions will be considered by a bench comprising of Justice KM Joseph and Justice B V Nagarathna, who have criticized the central government at various stages including the appointment of judges.

During the 2002 Gujarat riots, 11 accused in the case of gang-raping Bilkil Bano and killing her family members, including a three-year-old child, were released on August 15 last year.

The action was based on the recommendation of a committee formed by the Gujarat government. The move was in the context of the Supreme Court verdict of May 13, 2022 that the state government has the authority to decide whether to release the accused.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud accepted Bilkis Bano’s lawyer Shobha Gupta’s demand for constitution of a special bench to consider the petitions filed against the action, after several adjournments.

Apart from the petition questioning the release of the convicts, a separate petition was also filed seeking review of the Supreme Court order dated 13 May 2002. On January 4, Justice Bela M Trivedi had withdrawn from the bench hearing the petition against the release of the accused.

Bela M Trivedi was the Law Secretary to the Government of Gujarat from 2004-2006 and stepped down in this context.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the central government’s decision to cancel Lok Sabha membership of India’s young leader Rahul Gandhi is a threat.  Stalin added that the extent of BJP’s fear of Rahul was clear.

 Disqualification of the post of MP in a hurry when the court gave 30 days to go for appeal is a violation of the democratic right.  Disqualifying a member of the Lok Sabha the next day after the district court verdict is condemned.  Appeal is a fundamental right of anyone convicted.  Stalin said that the Supreme Court should give the final verdict in the case.

 So far no BJP leader is ready to answer the questions raised by Rahul in Parliament.  BJP is afraid that if Rahul comes back to Parliament, it will backfire.  By taking action against Rahul, BJP has lost the right to even say democracy.  Stalin severely criticized the action of the central government saying that it was cowardly to disqualify the questioner without answering the questions.

New Delhi: Congress has planned a nationwide protest program against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi.  The Congress has formed the ‘Save Democracy’ movement.  The decision was made in a meeting led by party president Mallikarjun Kharge and including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and P Chitambaram. 

 Discussed the political strategy of Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification process.  Abhishek Manu Singhvi explained the legal aspect.  Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the move is to organize a nationwide protest in the coming days.

 The Congress welcomed the statements made by other opposition leaders in favor of Rahul Gandhi.  The Congress has stated that it needs an orderly opposition unity against the BJP.  Leaders such as Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, MK Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray, KCR and Akhilek Yadav came forward against the fascist action of the BJP government.

 But the BJP claims that there is no politics in the process of disqualifying Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family cannot be given special treatment.