India Archive

On the morning of Friday, June 14, a significant number of parents gathered in protest at the Raghunathganj Higher Girls School located in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. The cause of their uproar? A school policy reportedly enforced by one of the teachers that barred Hindu students from wearing traditional religious symbols, specifically the tilak and the tulsi mala, while attending school.

In a recent crackdown by the Ghaziabad Police, “Gamer Shikha Metray who promoted child sex abuse on her YouTube channel ‘Kuwari Begum’ was taken into custody on 13th June.” Despite the severity of the charges, she was later released on bail. Prior to her arrest, Shikha Metray took precautionary measures by setting all her social media profiles to private and deleting a significant number of videos from her channel. Her YouTube account, known as ‘Kuwari Begum’, has been disabled and is no longer accessible, suggesting that she either deleted her channel altogether or altered its privacy settings significantly.

The BJP-led Maharashtra government has recently found itself at the center of a heated debate. This controversy stems from its decision to strengthen the State Waqf Board by allocating a substantial sum of ₹10 crores. Specifically, the Minority Development Department of the government has taken steps to ensure that this financial support reaches its intended recipients by issuing an order to distribute ₹2 crores to the Waqf Board located in Aurangabad, with this disbursement occurring on Monday, the 10th of June.

An escalating situation in Manipur's Jiribam district is drawing concern as armed Kuki militants from various locations continue their determined effort to take over the district, which lies on the border with Assam. These militants, who initiated their aggressive push on May 3rd of the previous year, paused their operations during the Lok Sabha elections only to resume with increased intensity.

On a tense Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court issued a sharp rebuke to the government of Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi, focusing on their handling of the ongoing water crisis that has gripped the national capital. In its critical assessment, the apex court highlighted a significant failure by the local government to address the issues perpetuated by the notorious 'tanker mafia', which has been a persistent problem in the city.

On June 11th, a significant shift in the admissions process for Indian universities was announced by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Starting from the 2024-25 academic year, universities and higher education institutions across India will be permitted to conduct admissions twice annually. This change aligns India's admission procedures more closely with those observed in many international universities.

Just one day following the BJP-led NDA's victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, controversy erupted as Avani Dias, a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News, made questionable statements on Wednesday, 5th June, about the Indian constitution.

In a recent judgment, the Rajasthan High Court addressed a sensitive issue involving a six-year-old minor girl and an adult male accused. The court concluded that the specific actions of the accused—removing the girl's innerwear and undressing himself—did not meet the legal criteria for an 'attempt to rape' as defined under Section 376 read with Section 511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Instead, these actions were reclassified as 'outraging the modesty of a woman,' an offense under Section 354 of the IPC.

In a recent unfolding of events, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell Chief, Amit Malviya, has taken legal action against Santanu Sinha, a resident of West Bengal, for allegations of sexual misconduct. The controversy gained public attention after Congress leader and IT Cell Chief, Supriya Shrinate, highlighted these allegations in a press conference.

In a significant development on Monday, June 10th, the Patna Police made two arrests in the Gopalganj district related to the tragic death of 17-year-old Aryan Raj, who was the son of a police officer. The two individuals apprehended, Piyush Raj and Vikas Kumar, also known as Ayush Raj, have been linked to a prominent political family in Bihar. These young men are reported to be the grandsons of Mangroo Yadav, brother of the influential Rashtriya Janata Dal President, Lalu Prasad Yadav.