Maharashtra has witnessed 823 incidents of communal unrest since January this year, with demands for the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb and the spread of distorted facts on social media fomenting fresh trouble. Districts like Nandurbar, Pune (Rural), Ratnagiri, Sangli, Beed, and Satara have seen communal unrest in recent days due to right-wing organizations' demands for the demolition of the Mughal emperor's tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The state witnessed 4,836 Hindu-Muslim related communal crimes in 2024, with 170 incidents classified as cognisable and 3,106 as non-cognisable cases. The violence in Nagpur, triggered by protests demanding the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb, highlights the role of social media in spreading inflammatory content and instigating people. While the state has taken measures to curb the spread of misinformation, concerns remain over the impact on communities and the need for promoting peace and understanding.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Law Commission to look into the issue of hate speeches being made by leaders of political, social and religious outfits and consider framing guidelines to regulate such provocative statements.
While Rizvi has been arrested, notices for appearance under Section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been sent to Yati Narasimhanand and Sadhvi Annapurna, Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar told PTI.
In an interview to a private news channel on March 31, Munirathna, Horticulture Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government, had purportedly said, "Christians are converting people in this moment also. Conversion is maximum in the slums. In places where 1,400 people are there, 400 have been converted. If they come (for conversion) then kick them out or give complaint at the police station."
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva overcame world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final on Sunday, to win a second WTA 1000-level event in a row.
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.
'What is happening in the process of getting this cheap popularity for our younger generation?'
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP D N V Senthil Kumar on Wednesday apologised in the Lok Sabha for his controversial 'north-south divide' remark which had sparked a backlash.
Justice N Seshasayee said in his order on September 15 that the court is conscious of 'the very vociferous, and at time noisy debates on pro and anti Sanatan Dharma' and the court could not help pondering over with genuine concern for what is going around.
A controversy erupted on Tuesday after the opposition parties tagged a video of DMK leader A Raja purportedly showing him making remarks that India has never been a nation, but a subcontinent with diverse practices and cultures, prompting strong response from the BJP which described the comments as a call for 'balkanisation' of the the country and demanded for his arrest.
Showing total disregard for the US constitution, Trump has said that this could be the last election to be held in the country. A Trump presidency could lead to mass deportation of undocumented migrants and harsh family separation, warns Aseem Chhabra.
Alleging that Sanatana Dharma is against equality and social justice, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said it should be eradicated.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that as the Centre is responsible for maintaining law and order in Delhi, it be made a party in the matter, which was allowed by the court.
The latest report showed that between October and December 2023, over 2.25 million videos (2,254,902) were removed in India for violating YouTube's community guidelines. India topped the list of 30 countries in video removals.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to file a report on alleged attacks on Christian institutions and priests across the country as well as on the implementation of its earlier guidelines to curb hate crimes.
'Why can't the Supreme Court say that secularism is part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and therefore, steps must be taken to operationalise it?'
While replying to a user on Twitter, Elon Musk said, "Thank you. A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues."
Two days after violence broke out during a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, life is gradually returning to normal with schools reopening and shops resuming operations. Internet services remain suspended and authorities continue to monitor the situation closely with restrictions in place on entry of outsiders and public representatives. The area around the Shahi Jama Masjid remains deserted, while the police investigate the violence and make arrests.
The Rajasthan unit of the Aam Aadmi Party has written to Election Commission seeking action against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for her controversial remarks at an election rally.
Shah said "a bitter display of spite", Kharge unnecessarily dragged the prime minister into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing Modi from power.
Facebook -- which counts India among its largest markets with over 300 million users -- has been in the eye of a storm after a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report alleged that the social media platform's content policies favoured the ruling party in India. The report had accused Facebook of ignoring posts containing hate speech by BJP MLA Raja Singh. Since then, the ruling BJP and Congress have been trading barbs over the social media giant's alleged political bias.
'This silence is an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage'
A week after her hate speech that triggered widespread outrage, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on Monday addressed two rallies in the capital including one at Trilokpuri of East Delhi which had witnessed communal clashes last month.
According to the analysis, there has been a 55 percent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
Kumar, whose NDA-allied Janata Dal-United has won 12 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, has emerged as a key player in government formation
BJP leaders hit back at the DMK and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he agreed with the insulting remarks of its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner against the north Indians.
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Parvesh Verma, who is accused of making hate speeches, on Saturday said he would give his one-month salary each to the families of the policeman and Intelligence Bureau employee who were killed in the communal violence in northeast Delhi.
Left or Right, governments at the Centre and in the states want to curb free speech, sighs Dominic Xavier.
The Congress on Wednesday questioned the Election Commission's move to get a post on electoral bonds scheme deleted from social media platform X and said that the issue raised in the post makes the government 'extremely uncomfortable'.
'In a bid to polarise the people of India, the BJP govt went all out in promoting the movie, resulting in a huge embarrassment for India on the international scale'
The complainant, Ajay Agrawal, a Supreme Court advocate and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, alleged that Suranya Aiyar made objectionable remarks on different social media platforms on January 20, 2024, and other dates.
Hours after Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje's assertion that the suspect involved in the March 1 blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe was from Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader issued a retraction and offered an apology.
Designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has released a new video asking Sikhs not to fly in Air India aircraft after November 19, as their lives can be under threat.
Political instability and hate speeches are worsening the situation in Andhra Pradesh, reports Vicky Nanjappa
The move assumes significance as a series of reports recently citing internal documents showed "a struggle with misinformation, hate speech and celebrations of violence" in India - Facebook's biggest market with over 40 crore users.
However, there is no restriction on the movement of people anywhere in the valley, the officials said.
They said there was "genuine concern" that if the present ruling dispensation loses people's mandate, the transition of power may not be smooth and there could be a constitutional crisis.
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi also said that the OIC continues to be 'hijacked' by 'vested interests' to further their 'nefarious propaganda' against India, seen as a thinly veiled reference to Pakistan.
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