The Supreme Court declined to entertain petitions seeking that a first information report be filed against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for hate speech against Muslims. The bench told the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court.

It also declined a request to move the matter to another High Court, warning against “convenience forum shopping”.

The petitioners had pointed to several instances of hate speech by Sarma, and to a now-deleted social media post by the BJP’s Assam unit, containing a video depicting Sarma symbolically firing at images of two Muslim men at point-blank range. Read on.

Himanta Sarma’s remarks about ‘Miyas’ make a mockery of the Constitution, writes Amrita Dutta

The National Green Tribunal disposed of challenges to the Great Nicobar Project. A six-member special bench said that it found no grounds to interfere as there are “adequate safeguards” in the environmental clearance.

The panel had been tasked by the tribunal to revisit the environmental clearance granted to the project. It noted that the project was of “strategic importance”.

Concerns have been raised about the impact of the Great Nicobar Project on the Shompen, a vulnerable tribal group, and the Nicobarese community. The project has also faced criticism for its potential impact on the island’s biodiversity, rainforests and endemic species. Read on.

Experts fear the Great Nicober Project could wipe out species newly discovered on the island, writes Vaishnavi Rathore

Congress’ former Assam unit chief Bhupen Borah withdrew his resignation from the party hours after stepping down. In his resignation letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge ahead of the Assembly elections, Borah had claimed that he was being “ignored” by the party leadership.

By afternoon, Jitendra Singh, who is in charge of the party’s campaign in Assam, announced that Borah had taken back his resignation.

Borah was the president of the Congress’ Assam unit between 2021 and 2025. He was replaced by Gaurav Gogoi in June. Assembly elections in the state will be held in March or April. Read on.

The Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging a Chhattisgarh High Court judgement that said that hoardings restricting the entry of pastors and “converted Christians”, which had been put up in eight villages of the state’s Kanker district, were not “unconstitutional”. In October, the High Court ruled that the hoarding appeared to have been installed “as a precautionary measure to protect the interest of indigenous tribes”.

The top court said that the High Court order granted liberty to the petitioners to approach the statutory authority under the state Panchayat Upbandh Anusuchit Kshetron par Vistar Niyam, or PESA Rules. Read on.

Pastors say house churches in Chhattisgarh face an informal ban, writes Nolina Minj

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has said that the presence of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in India will not deter Dhaka from pursuing its broader relations with New Delhi. Dhaka’s ties with New Delhi will not be “captive” of one matter, said BNP general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

His comments come a day before the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is set to form the next government in the country. Tarique Rahman, the chairperson of the party, will be sworn in as the country’s prime minister on Tuesday. Read on.

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