A look at the top headlines of the day:

  1. Danish Siddiqui, three other Reuters photographers win Pulitzers for images of India’s Covid crisis: The late Siddiqui, Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo and Amit Dave won the prestigious prize for feature photography. The jury said that the prize was awarded to the four photographers for their images of the crisis that “balanced intimacy and devastation, while offering viewers a heightened sense of place”.
  2. ‘The Kashmir Files’ banned in Singapore for ‘provocative’ and ‘one-sided portrayal of Muslims’: The film could cause enmity between different communities, the authorities said. The movie has been endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Several BJP-ruled states had exempted the movie from entertainment tax.
  3. Sri Lankan military gets power to open fire at rioters, arrest citizens without warrant: Under the order, military personnel can detain citizens for up to 24 hours before handing them over to the police. The order came a day after eight persons were killed and more than 200 were injured in protests against the government’s handling of the economic crisis.
  4. CBI raids 40 sites on graft charges against home ministry officials to clear foreign funding of NGOs: The searches were carried out in Delhi, Rajasthan, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, and Mysuru, among other places. The agency is questioning six home ministry officials in connection with the matter.
  5. Delhi HC to pass verdict on criminalisation of marital rape on Wednesday: The court had reserved its judgement on February 21 on a batch of pleas seeking to remove an exception in the law that decriminalises marital rape. Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to stay a Karnataka High Court order that allowed the trial of a man for allegedly raping his wife.
  6. Santoor maestro Shivkumar Sharma dies at 84: He had been suffering from kidney-related ailments for the past six months. He died due to a cardiac arrest. Sharma was recognised for using the santoor to play Hindustani classical music, popularising the instrument that was that had largely been used to play folk music in Kashmir.
  7. Can no cases be filed under sedition law while it is being reviewed, Supreme Court asks Centre: The court also asked the Centre if it could direct states to keep all pending sedition cases in abeyance till the law is being re-examined. On Tuesday, the solicitor general had asked the judges to defer hearing of the case sought till the Centre re-examines the law.
  8. ASI expresses concern about religious event attended by J&K LG at protected temple, say reports: The event, held on Sunday, was attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. He had described his visit to the temple as “divine” and had said that he was committed to protecting and developing ancient sites of culture and spiritual significance.
  9. University student booked in Gujarat after Hindutva outfits protest against art installation: The artwork at a Vadodara college used clippings of newspaper reports about rape to create cutouts of Hindu deities. Another design was a photo collage, in which protestors alleged that the Ashoka pillar had been positioned in an obscene manner.
  10. Delhi BJP wants six roads with ‘Mughal era names’ to be changed: These roads are Tughlaq Road, Akbar Road, Aurangzeb Lane, Humayun Road, Shahjahan Road and Babar Lane. He has suggested that the roads should be named after Sikh preacher Guru Gobind Singh, Hindu ruler Maharana Pratap, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Sanskrit poet Valmiki, former Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and freedom fighter Khudiram Bose.