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The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on Lok Sabha MP Navneet Kaur Rana's plea challenging the Bombay High Court verdict cancelling her caste certificate. On June 8, 2021, the high court had said the 'Mochi' caste certificate was obtained fraudulently using fabricated documents. It had also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the Amravati MP. It said the records indicated that she belonged to the 'Sikh-Chamar' caste. A bench comprising justices JK Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol reserved its judgement on the plea of the independent lawmaker who represents Maharashtra's Amravati constituency that is reserved for scheduled castes. The top court had earlier stayed the high court verdict cancelling Rana's caste certificate. Rana, backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), won from Amravati in 2019 while claiming she was a member of the 'Mochi' caste. A division bench of the high court had asked Rana to surrender the certificate within six

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government will build 11 lakh houses for the state's poor if the Centre does not clear the "dues" of the PM Awas Yojana by April 1. Addressing an official programme in Purulia, she attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre for holding back funds of central schemes for the state. "We will wait till April 1 and if the Centre does not release the funds for the Awas Yojana, our government will build the 11 lakh houses for the beneficiaries. There is no need to beg the Centre. Remember we are not beggars. We are demanding our rights," Ms Banerjee said. She said her government will pay around 50 lakh MGNREGA workers whose "dues" are pending with the Centre. "We are paying 50 lakh MGNREGA workers, and not 21 lakh. We took this number (21 lahks) from the Centre's portal. But now we are seeing that it is 50 lakh. In another couple of days, the transfer (of money) will be complete. We will ask the B

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested 16 persons for "conspiring and carrying out a communal attack" during a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal last year, an official said on Monday. The arrests have been made on the basis of revelations that came to light during the probe, and the identification of the accused from video footage of the violence seized in the course of the investigations, a spokesperson of the federal agency said. The incident had taken place on March 30 last year during a procession to celebrate Ram Navami in Dalkhola in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal. "The accused were among the perpetrators of the attack on members of a particular community participating in the procession," the spokesperson said, terming their arrest as a "major breakthrough". The state police had initially registered a case against 162 people in the wake of the communal violence triggered by the attack at Tajamul Chawk, Uttar Dalkhola. Su

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Monday offered prayers at the Golden Temple here and performed 'sewa' (voluntary service). His wife Amy Wakeland and another family member also accompanied him. Later, he went to 'Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib' to pay obeisance. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami honoured Garcetti and his family members with a golden model of Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib, books and shawls at the information centre of the Golden Temple. -US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti pays obeisance at Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib -Advocate Dhami honoured him, requests to start direct flights to US from Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, Amritsar Amritsar, February 26- Ambassador of United States of America (USA)… pic.twitter.com/XRufsy88Rr — Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) February 26, 2024 Earlier, Mr Dhami and Mr Garcetti discussed various topics during a meeting. Mr D

The INDIA "janbandhan" is locked and loaded, ready to dispel the "darkness of the anyay kaal", the Congress said on Sunday after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav joined Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Agra. The coming together of Gandhi and Yadav put days of uncertainty on the latter's participation in the yatra to an end and came as a boost to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which has sealed key seat-sharing deals of late. The AAP and the Congress on Saturday sealed a seat-sharing deal for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana but decided to contest separately in Punjab, considering the "special circumstances" in the state. With this, the Congress finalised its seat adjustments for 125 constituencies with INDIA bloc constituents, after recently striking an arrangement with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. However, challenges still remain as the INDIA bloc has to work out seat-sharing

In a veiled attack on Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, after attending the inauguration of AIIMS Bathinda, on Sunday said that "seasoned politicians" should resist the temptation of injecting their own "political frustration" in these type of occasions. This comes after Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal raised the issue of protesting farmers after the virtual inauguration of AIIMS Bathinda by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "In this function that I attended virtually, I heard one particular person made a highly political speech. I don't think an occasion like the dedication of a medical facility..... They take an oath and they are totally committed to human life and they're apolitical...Look, the government of the Prime Minister is dealing with those problems in a manner no government has done before," Mr Puri told news agency ANI. He further said that the event was not the right tim

Amid a deadlock in talks between farmers and the central government, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda appealed to the citizens to maintain peace and has invited suggestions. Speaking to ANI, Agriculture Minister Munda said, "We should try to maintain peace in the country. We have always conversed and held talks in order to find a solution and will continue to do so. We welcome all the suggestions, too. I hope we will discuss the issue further. The Government of India is dedicated to the development of the agriculture sector. The protesting farmers, whose demands include a legal guarantee for minimum support price, had earlier rejected the government's offer after the fourth round of talks. The Centre however expressed readiness for the fifth round of talks with the farmers while urging them to find a solution through 'dialogue'. "After the fourth round, the government is ready to discuss all the issues like MSP, crop diversification, stubble issue, FIR i

Two people died while another person was injured in a wall collapse incident near Film City in suburban Goregaon on Saturday evening, a civic official said. The incident took place near gate number 2 of Film City on Aarey Colony Road. A wall, around 60 feet long and 20 feet tall, collapsed, trapping at least three men underneath, said the Fire Brigade official. They were rescued before a Fire Brigade team arrived on the spot, he said, adding that two of them were declared dead by the doctor accompanying the 108 ambulance. The other injured person was undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital, and search was underway with the help of Percussive Rescue Tool (PRT) kit to check if any more persons were trapped under the debris, the official added. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Patiala House Court of Delhi on Friday granted 20 more days to Delhi Police to complete the investigation against Prabir Purkayastha, founder and Editor-in-Chief and Amit Chakravarty, HR Head of the news portal in the case registered under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, following allegations that News Portal NewsClick received huge money for pro-China propaganda. Additional sessions judge Pawan Kumar, while extending the investigation period, also pulled up Delhi Police for taking a long time to complete the investigation and asked what they have done in the 150 days of investigation; if they had utilised these days, they would not have needed an extension. Delhi Police through Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Akhand Pratap Singh submitted that it has taken prompt steps to conduct the probe and a large number of data has been retrieved which is being checked, there are nearly four lakh emails and more than 100 digital documents and one of the

A 23-year-old man was allegedly stabbed to death at a restaurant in a mall in outer Delhi's Pitampura area while he was celebrating his birthday with his friends, police said on Thursday. According to the police, they have procured the CCTV footage of the incident and have detained six people, including the owner of the restaurant. The man has been identified as Jatin, a resident of Budh Vihar area, they said, adding that his friends also suffered injuries while trying to save him. "It all started due to some misunderstanding with the restaurant workers. A quarrel broke out between the workers and Jatin, who was later stabbed in the chest, and two of his friends, identified as Varad and Prashan, also suffered injuries when they intervened," a senior police officer said. According to the police, they got a PCR call on Wednesday at 6.30 am from B M Hospital about a man who was admitted there with serious injuries. "Soon after getting the call, a police team includ

A 27-year-old attendant of a private bus was arrested on the charge of sexually harassing students during their excursion in a Mumbai suburb, police said on Wednesday. The incident took place on Tuesday when students of a private school from Thane city had gone to a theme park in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai in a private bus, they said. Taking serious cognizance of the crime, the school management terminated the services of three teachers who accompanied the students to the excursion. "During the bus journey, the accused touched some girls as well as boys inappropriately on the pretext of serving them snacks. Following this, some students raised an objection and later told their parents about it. After that, they approached the police and filed a complaint," J P Patil, an official of the Kapurbawdi police station, said. A case was registered against the bus attendant under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force to any woman), 354A (sexual h

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has indicated that India was open to considering playing the role of a mediator to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict if approached but noted that New Delhi does not believe it should initiate anything on its own. In an interview with German economic daily Handelsblatt, he also said that following the Ukraine conflict, India's energy suppliers in the Middle East gave priority to supplying petroleum products to Europe that paid higher prices and New Delhi did not have any option but to procure Russian crude oil. Mr Jaishankar asserted that just as India does not expect Europe to have a view of China that is identical to New Delhi's, Europe should understand that India cannot have a view of Russia that is identical to the European one. He said India has had a "stable" and "very friendly" relationship with Russia, and that Moscow never hurt New Delhi's interests. "We, on the other hand, had a politically and mili

The protesting farmers' groups in Noida and Greater Noida today said they will march to Delhi on February 23 to press for the resolution of their issues, including developed plots and increased compensation for their land acquired in the past. Thousands of these villagers, including women, unsuccessfully tried to enter Delhi on February 8 amid tightened security along Noida's borders with the national capital, choking traffic movement in the city. The protestors called off the march that day and were pacified after the police's assurance of a high-level meeting with representatives of local authorities and the Uttar Pradesh government. Scores of farmers on Monday gathered outside the office of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) in protest where the Bharatiya Kisan Parishad (BKP), a key local group, gave the call for February 23 march to Delhi. "A meeting was held by government authorities on February 13 and it was decided that a high-power c

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha will gherao the residences of BJP leaders in Punjab for three days from Tuesday to press the Centre into accepting the farmers' demands including a legal guarantee to minimum support price on crops, a leader of the outfit has said. Several farmer outfits, which are part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), have extended their support to the "Delhi Chalo" call given by SKM (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha. The march was stopped by security forces at Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab's border with Haryana which led to clashes. Protesting farmers have stayed put at Shambhu and Khanauri for the sixth day after their march to the national capital was halted. A group of Union ministers and farmer leaders held a fresh round of talks with farm leaders on Sunday evening in Chandigarh. The two sides met on February 8, 12 and 15 as well but those talks remained inconclusive. Balbir Singh Rajewal, a leader of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM

Actor Suhani Bhatnagar, who played young Babita Phogat in Aamir Khan-starrer wrestling drama 'Dangal', died in Delhi yesterday. Her family today revealed that she was suffering from Dermatomyositis, a rare inflammatory disease that causes skin rash and muscle weakness. The 19-year-old was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences on February 7 and died on February 16 after medical complications. The family said that the symptoms showed two months ago while she was diagnosed with the disease only ten days back. "She developed a red spot on her hands about two months ago. We consulted with doctors in different hospitals but it couldn't be diagnosed, said Suhani's mother Puja Bhatnagar. She was admitted to AIIMS after her health started deteriorating. Suhani's father Sumit Bhatnagar said there was no improvement in her health and eventually her "lungs got damaged due to an infection and accumulation of excess fluid". "She was put on

The Agra railway division on Friday successfully tested an automatic braking system installed in eight-car Vande Bharat trains as part of the indigenously developed anti-collision device 'Kavach', an official said. "In the first-ever trial, the loco pilot did not apply the brakes and still the train, running at a speed of 160 kmph, automatically stopped 10 metres before the red signal. This parameter will now be freezed for all eight-car Vande Bharat trains across the country," Agra Railway Division PRO Prashasti Srivastava told PTI. All Vande Bharat trains are fitted with a 'Kavach' system which can apply brakes on its own in case the loco pilot fails to do it due to any reason. Since this system needs several other components such as station Kavach, RFID tags throughout the track length and Kavach towers along the tracks to work simultaneously, the Indian Railways is in the process of implementing these components across its network to enhance operational

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker called his order recognising Ajit Pawar's faction as the real NCP tenable, sustainable, and based on the principles established by the Supreme Court. Talking to reporters after delivering the verdict, Mr Narwekar said all the guidelines of the top court were adhered to. “A reasoned and justifiable order has been delivered today. This verdict is tenable, sustainable, and justified. It has been given on the basis of the sound principles established in accordance with the guidelines given by the top court and disqualification rules,” Mr Narwekar said. Reacting to the criticism by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP group and Shiv Sena (UBT), he said those who don't know about the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with anti-defection provisions, can make such a statement. MP Supriya Sule from the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) termed Mr Narwekar's ruling "laughable and copy-paste" of what he had done in the Shiv Sena case where the facti

Popular film actress Gautami Tadimalla on Wednesday called on All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and formally got inducted into the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu. The 55-year-old actress, who acted in over 120 films and was paired with top stars such as Rajinikanth and actor-politician Kamal Hassan, quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in October 2023 after serving it for more than 25 years. On Wednesday, Gautami, who was born in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, called on former chief minister Palaniswami at his residence in Chennai and formally joined the AIADMK, a press release said. The AIADMK chief handed over a copy of the book 'Maaperum Tamilkanavu (The Great Tamil Dream)' with an image of former Chief Minister C N Annadurai to Gautami on the occasion. "I was impressed by Annan (elder brother in Tamil) for his ability to unite everyone to fight for the welfare of the people. Today I am very happy to join

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole on Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is scared and departure of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan will not have any impact on Congress. "Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi belong to the common people. The exit of a leader makes no difference. BJP in Maharashtra is scared in their survey also. That is why, they are making small attempts but as a result, people's sympathy for Congress has increased. I think Congress' seats will increase. The departure of Ashok Chavan will not have any impact on Congress," he said. Former Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Tuesday announced his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party asserting to work for the "constructive development of Maharashtra". Nana Patole further said that Central government mentioned the 'Adarsh Scam' during a discussion on white paper in the Parliament and everybody knows who is associated with that scam. "Our in-charge has told you

There is increasing demand for overseas education from tier 2 cities in India due to higher incomes and improved access to information. The limited capacity of Indian education to meet this demand results in significant foreign exchange losses. The availability of post-study work visas plays a crucial role in attracting Indian students to the UK.

Payments through India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will now be accepted in seven countries after its launch in Sri Lanka and Mauritius on Monday. After the announcement, MyGovIndia, a citizen engagement platform of the Government of India, shared a world map, highlighting the countries where Indians can use UPI to make payments. France, UAE, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Bhutan, and Nepal are the countries that accept UPI payments, according to the government.  ''UPI goes Global! India's Unified Payments Interface goes International with launches in Sri Lanka and Mauritius!  An instant, one-stop payment interface showcases 'Make in India, Make for the World,'' the tweet read.  Here's the tweet: UPI goes Global!? India's Unified Payments Interface goes International with launches in Sri Lanka and Mauritius! An instant, one-stop payment interface showcases 'Make in India, Make for the World'. #DigitalPayment #RuPay pic.twitte

Sudhir Chadha, who was accused of beating and torturing two labourers, was arrested on Sunday, according to Delhi Police. He was arrested after two labourers, registered an FIR against the accused for allegedly beating and torturing them over the issue of billing discrepancies. The FIR was registered on February 9 against Sudhir Chadha at Gandhi Nagar Police Station. Both of them used to work for the accused. They supplied him with stitched clothes. The two labourers further stated that there were some discrepancies in the bill and Sudhir Chadha punished them. "He and his employees confined them to one room and beat them," the police added. "After a medical examination was conducted, it revealed blunt injuries on the buttocks and rectum of the labourers," police said. Taking the statement given by the labourers and the medical reports into consideration, an FIR was registered and the accused was arrested. Further investigations into the matter are underway. M

A "close aide" of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was questioned by Assam Police in Jorhat district on Saturday over his alleged role in deviation from the permitted route of the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in the northeastern state last month, an officer said. KB Byju, a former SPG personnel and now a close aide of Mr Gandhi, was questioned for over three hours, and he may be called again although no date has been fixed yet, the police officer said. "The 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' had passed through Jorhat town on January 18, during which there were some problems and a case was registered at Jorhat Sadar police station. We had issued a notice to the accused in the case, and one of them was KB Byju, who appeared before us today," he said. Mr Bjyu reached the police station around 10.20 am and was there till 2 pm. "We have conducted our interrogation for now. If needed, we will call him again during the course of investigation," he said, adding

Ahead of farmers' proposed 'Delhi Chalo' march on February 13, Haryana Police has deployed 50 companies of central paramilitary forces to maintain law and order in the state with the authorities on Friday asserting that nobody will be allowed to disturb peace and harmony. Haryana Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur warned of taking strict action if anybody disrupts peace and also appealed to people to maintain peace in the wake of farmers' Delhi march. The police have asked the farmers not to participate without permission in a planned march next week and have also warned of strict action if they damage public property, police said. Meanwhile, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher criticized the Haryana government, alleging that police was "raiding" the houses of farmer leaders and allegedly threatening them. He further said the Punjab-Haryana border was being sealed like an international border. The Samyukta Kis

The Delhi government on Thursday directed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to constitute a committee of experts to look into the wall collapse incident at the Gokulpuri metro station that claimed the life of a man and left four others injured, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said. A 53-year-old man died on Thursday when a portion of the Gokulpuri metro station on the Pink Line in northeast Delhi collapsed, police said. The man was on his scooter when he came under the debris of the collapsed wall of the elevated platform. "I have already told MD, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to constitute a committee of experts to examine the incident from all angles," Mr Gahlot told PTI. Later in a post on X, he called the incident "deeply regrettable". "I've instructed @OfficialDMRC to form a Committee of Experts to investigate the matter, with a report due in two weeks, provide compensation  compensation within 24 hours and extend full support to the in

The police found the bodies of two people who died allegedly after slipping and falling in the snow in Himachal Pradesh's Billing Valley. A pet dog stood guard over them for almost two days, officials said. The two tourists, including a woman, went missing on Sunday. The rescue teams searching for the two on Tuesday heard the barks of the German Shepherd, the police said. On following the sound, they reached the bodies that were lying on the side of a walking trail, three kilometres below the take-off point for paragliders, they added. For almost two days, the dog, named Alpha, guarded the bodies, which bore marks of attack by wild animals, according to the police. When the rescue teams removed the bodies, the dog accompanied them to Bir on foot from where the man's family took him, the police said. The victims, identified as Abhinandan Gupta (30), a resident of Pathankot, and his friend Pranita Wala (26) from Pune, had arrived in Bir Billing, a famous paragliding destinati

Sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday reached the residence of a businessman in West Bengal's Hooghly district, while it actually wanted to go to another person's place. The aggrieved family threatened legal action against the central agency if such an incident is recurred. A team of ED officers, accompanied by central forces personnel, raided the house of Subhadeep Sadhukha at Chinsurah on Tuesday morning, mistaking him for Sandip Sadhukha. The raid was in connection with their investigation into the alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds. "Initially, the ED officers did not listen to us. We repeatedly told them that my son is Subhadeep and not Sandip but they continued to harass us. Ten officers of the ED came to conduct the raid," Subhadeep's father said. Subhadeep looks after the family business of lozenge and they have been residents of Chinsurah for several decades. "We are shocked. This is a big insult to our family. we will seek

The Delhi government will offer free travel to people belonging to transgenders in  Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and cluster buses, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday. He said a proposal for this will soon be passed by the Cabinet and the scheme implemented. "In our society, people belonging to the third gender are subjected to humiliation. This should not happen as they too are human beings and have the right to equality," the Chief Minister said in a post in Hindi on 'X'. "The Delhi government has decided that they will get to travel for free in state-run buses. Soon, this will be passed by the Cabinet and implemented. I have full faith that people of the transgender community will be greatly benefitted by this move," he added. Women are already provided free travel on these buses in the national capital. The free travel scheme for women began in October 2019. Earlier in the day, a senior Delhi transport department official s

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday accused the Centre of destroying India's democratic institutions and said the country is turning into an "electoral dictatorship". He also took an apparent dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said there has been talk of only one person in the last 10 years and that the country now needs an alternative leadership that will understand people's needs and find solutions to their problems. Mr Tharoor, also an author, made the remarks during a discussion on the book titled "Audacious Hope: How to Save a Democracy" by Indrajit Roy, at the 17th Jaipur Literature Festival here. "We have a parliamentary system which is run by the President. And we should remember the Congress' slogan of 2014 -- 'Not I, We'," the Congress leader said. "However, we have heard a lot of I, my, myself in the last 10 years. There has been talk of only one person," he said without taking any name. Mr Tharoor sa

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra was appointed the Health Secretary as part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Saturday. Mr Chandra is a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Maharashtra cadre. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved Chandra's appointment as the Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Senior bureaucrat Sanjay Jaju has been appointed as the new Information and Broadcasting Secretary in place of Mr Chandra. Mr Jaju, a 1992-batch IAS officer, is currently serving in his cadre state of Telangana. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, a 1988-batch (retired) IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre, has been named Secretary to the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal on contract basis for a period of one year, it said. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, a 1992-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, will be Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation. Senior bu

A transgender person in Kerala, who transitioned through sex affirmation surgery into male, has biologically fathered a child with his female partner, using fertility preservation services at a private hospital. The remarkable event was made possible by Dr Jisha Varghese and her team at Renai Centre for Fertility and Reproductive Health, who successfully assisted in the complex fertility preservation treatment. "This is the first time that such a success has been reported in transgenders in India, " Dr Jisha is quoted as saying in a release issued by the hospital on Friday. The journey began when the transgender individual, before undergoing sex affirmation surgery, approached Renai Medicity in 2021 seeking to preserve the eggs. Eggs were retrieved and cryopreserved for future use. Following the surgery, and legally marrying his female partner, the person and his spouse opted to proceed with fertilisation of the preserved embryos, a hospital spokesman said. With meticulo

The newly formed NDA government in Bihar, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will seek the trust vote on February 12, the inaugural day of the budget session, according to a revised notification issued on the matter on Thursday. Earlier, the less-than-a-week-old government was scheduled to seek the vote of confidence on February 10. However, according to a fresh notification, the session will now commence on February 12 which will also witness the governor's address to a joint session of members of both Houses. JD(U) president Nitish Kumar on January 28 took oath as Chief Minister of Bihar for a record ninth time, ditching the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc INDIA and forming a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago. The election of a new Speaker, who would succeed Awadh Bihari Choudhary of the RJD, is also scheduled on February 12 and so is tabling of the state Economic Survey. The budget which was earlier slated for tabling on Fe

In a split judgement on petitions challenging the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules on fake news, one judge of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday held that they amounted to censorship, while the other judge said the Rules do not have any chilling effect on free speech. A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale delivered different judgements, necessitating the placing of the petitions before a third judge. Patel struck down the Rules in question, terming them as unconstitutional, while Gokhale dismissed the petitions. The matter would be put before the Chief Justice of the HC to be assigned to a third judge, the division bench said. "There is a disagreement between us. I have held for the petitions and Justice Gokhale has held for the government. So now the matter will be heard afresh by a third judge," Justice Patel said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta agreed to extend for ten days an earlier assurance that until the judgment was delivered, the g