A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Union minister Anurag Thakur gets EC notice for ‘shoot the traitors’ slogan, say reports: The poll body also sought a reply from BJP MP Parvesh Verma for his remarks on Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protestors.  
  2. MEA seeks China’s help to evacuate stranded Indians amid coronavirus outbreak, 13 more airports begin screening: Evacuated persons will be kept in quarantine for 14 days, said the health ministry. Meanwhile, Germany confirmed the first human transmission in Europe.
  3. JNU student Sharjeel Imam arrested in Bihar on sedition charges: Police in five states have filed sedition cases against the PhD scholar for an alleged remark that was interpreted as a call to ‘cut off Assam’ from India.
  4. Inducted Prashant Kishor in JD(U) on Amit Shah’s request, claims Nitish Kumar: The relationship between the two have been strained since Kishor questioned the Bihar chief minister’s stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
  5. ‘Nation is watching,’ PM Modi hits out at those ‘giving communal colour’ to his decisions: The prime minister said the Citizenship Amendment Act was meant to ‘correct historical injustice’.
  6. In Sabarimala review case, SC sets 10-day timeline to decide on matters related to religious discrimination: Chief Justice SA Bobde said the questions to be dealt in the cases will be purely legal in nature.
  7. Supreme Court reserves verdict on Delhi gangrape convict’s petition for review of mercy plea: Mukesh Singh’s advocate claimed the trial court judgement was not placed before the president when the mercy plea was filed, and that Singh was abused in jail.
  8. Sedition case against Karnataka school after students perform play criticising CAA: A school official accused the police of ‘mentally harassing’ children and staff, and interrogating Class 4 and Class 5 students.
  9. Shaheen Bagh protestors will ‘rape your sisters and daughters’, says BJP MP on women-led protest: Parvesh Verma’s comments come after a series of statements by the BJP characterising the peaceful protests as violent and treasonous.
  10. Law ministry allowed Centre to pass electoral bonds scheme illegally, bypassing Rajya Sabha, says report: In a two-page note, the ministry said this illegal strategy was a ‘one-off exception’, documents accessed by a Right to Information activist showed.