A look at the headlines right now:

  1. On ongoing Delhi violence, High Court says ‘can’t allow 1984 repeat’, asks police to consider FIRs for hate speech: Both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court pulled up the police for its inaction. The toll reached 24 on Wednesday, one of those dead being an Intelligence Bureau officer whose body was found in a drain.
  2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi breaks silence on Delhi violence, appeals for calm, says ‘normalcy’ should be restored: Sonia Gandhi said Home Minister Amit Shah must resign for ‘colossal failure’ of duty. In response, the BJP accused the Congress of politicising the violence. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Army should be called in as the situation was ‘alarming’. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited the North East district and claimed the situation was ‘totally under control’. The CBSE has postponed tomorrow’s Class 12 English exam at 80 centres.
  3. ‘Let everything cool down first,’ says SC as it defers hearing on Shaheen Bagh protest to March 23: The court said there are ‘too many ifs and buts’ in the report filed by interlocutors on their four-day endeavour to persuade the protestors to move elsewhere.
  4. Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova announces retirement from tennis at 32: The Russian ace burst onto the scene when she won Wimbledon at the age of 17 in 2004 beating favourite Serena Williams in the final.
  5. Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, wife and son sent to judicial custody in forgery case: They were accused of forgery in the birth certificate of Azam Khan’s son.
  6. Ex-IPS officer DG Vanzara, accused in Ishrat Jahan case, gets ‘post-retirement promotion’: Vanzara’s promotion is effective from September 2007, seven years before he retired from service.
  7. UN chief closely following situation in Delhi, says police should show restraint: Meanwhile, US lawmakers voiced concern, and said the ‘deadly surge of religious intolerance’ was horrifying’.
  8. ‘Need to change this discourse,’ says Aaditya Thackeray as he castigates Devendra Fadnavis for ‘bangle’ comment: Fadnavis had targeted the Shiv Sena for their silence on AIMIM leader Waris Pathan’s controversial remark and said they were ‘wearing bangles’.
  9. Balakot airstrike redefined use of air power says former IAF chief on first anniversary of attack: IAF jets had struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp in Balakot, Pakistan, on February 26, in retaliation to the killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama.
  10. Pakistan PM claims all Indian Muslims are being targeted, urges global intervention: Imran Khan warned against attacks on minorities in his own country, asserting that the government would take strict action in such cases.