The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and 12 states on a PIL challenging the validity of their anti-conversion laws. The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) filed the PIL, seeking a stay on the operation of these laws.
The Supreme Court has declined to urgently hear pleas seeking a stay on anti-conversion laws enacted by several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. The matter is now scheduled for hearing in December.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear on February 3 a batch of pleas challenging controversial state laws regulating religious conversions due to interfaith marriages.
Alleging that the NGO allows its name to be used "at the behest of some selected political interest", the Union of India told the top court that it is guilty of collecting huge funds by exploiting the agonies of riot-affected people.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the CBI and the Gujarat government as to why they want to send social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand back in jail after they have been out for over seven years on anticipatory bail.
Terming as "infructuous", the Supreme Court on Tuesday closed as many as 11 petitions, including the one filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), almost 20 years ago seeking an independent probe into the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
After her detention on Saturday, she had been taken to the Santacruz police station in Mumbai for informing the local police about her detention.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde refused, however, to stay the controversial provisions of the laws and issued notices to both state governments on two different petitions.
'We are losing the battle of secularism, but we have not lost.'
The home ministry also ordered a probe by the Computer Emergency Response Team-India to ascertain whether there was hacking of government software systems as there have been several instances where licences of NGOs under scrutiny were renewed automatically.
The pleas, filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others and an NGO 'Citizens for Justice and Peace', have challenged the Constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions of interfaith marriages.
'It's like the BJP is mocking people: Do what you want, we'll still win.'
A former aide of activist Teesta Setalvad has moved the Bombay high court seeking retrial of the 2002 Best Bakery case alleging that the latter not only fabricated evidence and falsely implicated innocent persons but also "managed" the witnesses.
The victims of the 2002 post-Godhra violence criticised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, for not appearing before the Special Investigation Team in Ahmedabad in connection with a riots case and asked him to come clean.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the appointment of P C Pande as the Director General of Police of Gujarat. An NGO -- Citizens for Justice and Peace -- had in 2006 challenged the appointment of Pande as DGP, alleging that several complaints relating to post-Godhra riots were pending against him. However, a bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and V S Sirpurkar said the petition has become redundant.
The Citizens for Justice and Peace through its secretary Teesta Setalvad has filed an intervention application in the pending cases before the Supreme Court on Saturday asking for the recent Telekha sting operation 'Gujarat Ka Kalank' to be summoned, examined as evidence.
An FIR has been lodged against social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, Zakia Jafri's son Tanvir Jafri and two others for allegedly usurping Rs 1.51 crore collected by them for turning Gulbarg Society into a museum, police said.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the circulation of Justice G T Nanavati's report about the Godhra carnage in Gujarat.The NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace, approached the apex court contending that a report by Justice U C Banerjee Committee on the same carnage has been stayed and a similar step should be taken for the Justice Nanavati Commission Report, which was tabled in the Gujarat assembly on Thursday.
Villagers from Pandharwada and Lunavada were also among the co-accused for participating in the matter.
The samples will be sent to the forensic laboratory at Red Hill in Hyderabad for DNA testing.
The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Thursday.
Relatives of victims of the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat Tuesday claimed to have exhumed skeletal remains from a mass grave in Panchamahal district of those believed to have been killed in the post-Godhra riots.
'You change the guard in Gujarat with President's rule for six months and you will see a sea change. The only reason we are seeing this day is because the VHP men are not dealt with strictly,' says Teesta Setalvad, campaigner against communalism.
Additional CBI Director P C Pande is under scrutiny in connection with his role as Ahmedabad police commissioner during the post-Godhra riots.
An NGO - Citizens for Justice and Peace - wants the cases pertaining to the massacre of 110 people in Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya to be transferred outside the state.\n\n
The Gujarat government, which sought a probe into the role of activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO, is now targeting her main funding source, the US-based NGO, Ford Foundation.
The key witness in the Best Bakery case alleged that witnesses were coerced to change their statement.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Deepak Gupta said the matter will be heard on November 19, as the court has not gone through the petition in detail.
She is accused of having a role in illegal exhumation of bodies of some victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Religious tolerance in India is "deteriorating" while religious freedom violations are "increasing", a rights expert has told American lawmakers.
The court said that the petitioner can approach a higher court for further investigation in the case.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Barack Obama wrote a joint editorial in The Washington Post, which appeared on its website.
Two non-government organisations run by social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband have been served notice by the home ministry for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and asked to reply within 15 days.
"Whose money is this? From where did the money in these bank accounts have come," a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asked the counsel for Setalvad.
The CBI on Wednesday registered a case against social activist Teesta Setalvad and her organisation for alleged violation of FCRA in recieving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the home ministry.
Social activist Teesta Setalvad, who has been fighting for the victims of Gulberg Society, said they will study the judgement in depth and appeal in a higher court.
The Apex court, however, said that the interim order providing protection from arrest to Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand shall be extended till the larger bench takes up the matter.
The order said the NGO has transferred an amount of Rs 2.46 lakh from its foreign contribution designated account to Sabrang Trust domestic account, thus mixing of domestic and foreign funds and violating the rules.
Gujarat police opposed in the Supreme Court the anticipatory bail plea of Teesta Setalvad.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances