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The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad for his comments about the press briefings on Operation Sindoor. The court also instructed the Haryana Police to form a special investigation team to look into the meaning of the words used by Mahmudabad.

The associate professor, who heads the political science department at the university, was arrested on Sunday after being booked in two cases for his social media posts highlighting the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who represented the Army during the media briefings about the Indian military operation.

Mahmudabad suggested that they should also call for justice for victims of mob lynching and “others who are victims of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hate mongering”. The top court has barred him from posting or publishing any content related to the social media posts under scrutiny. Read on.

Why Ashoka University professor’s arrest has no legal basis

After being reprimanded by the Delhi High Court, commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra has said that he will take down social media posts in which he made allegedly sexually abusive remarks about women employees of digital news outlet Newslaundry. The court warned that it would order a first information report against Iyer-Mitra if he failed to remove the posts.

The women employees of Newslaundry have filed a defamation suit against Iyer-Mitra, a columnist at pro-Narendra Modi outlet OpIndia. They have sought a public apology and Rs 2 crore in damages, alleging that Iyer-Mitra had “falsely and maliciously” targeted the news outlet’s women employees using derogatory language and slurs through a series of social media posts between February and April. Read on.

The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court, accusing the Union government of blocking funds under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme for the financial year 2024-’25.

In its petition, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led state government alleged that the Centre’s move was linked to its refusal to implement the 2020 National Education Policy, the PM SHRI Schools scheme and its opposition to the three-language formula, which includes Hindi.

The state has argued that the Union government’s actions violate constitutional principles on the right to equality, right to life and the right to free and compulsory education, among others, as well as the statutory framework of the Right to Education Act. Read on.

Twenty-seven suspected Maoists were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad region, the police said. A member of the District Reserve Guard was also killed in the exchange of fire.

The gunfight took place near Boter village in the hilly Abujhmad forest, which spans the Narayanpur, Bijapur and Dantewada districts. According to the police, several senior Maoist leaders are believed to be among those killed or seriously injured.

This pushes the toll of suspected Maoists killed in security operations this year to over 185. In 2024, 217 suspected Maoists were killed by security forces. Read on.

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