Minorities

No Hearing, No Notice, Just Deletion: How Bengal’s SIR Erased a Decorated IAF Officer

The removal of Wing Commander Md Shamim Akhtar, who served the nation for 17 years, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) highlights a systemic lack of due process that threatens the voting rights of even the most distinguished citizens

Allahabad High Court orders 24/7 armed protection for Bareilly Muslim man allegedly prevented from offering namaz at home

Summoning the district magistrate and SSP of Bareilly, the Allahabad High Court said any violence against the petitioner or his property would be presumed to have occurred at the instance of the State, as the case raises serious concerns over interference with religious prayers inside private property

Bail for Monu Manesar, along with his grand welcome, rekindles fear and grief in Junaid–Nasir Lynching case

Two years after the brutal killing of the Rajasthan cousins allegedly by cow vigilantes, the bail granted to Bajrang Dal-linked accused Monu Manesar has intensified fears of witness intimidation and renewed debate over delayed trials in mob violence cases

Sambhal, UP: ASI has no records to prove that Shahi Jama Masjid was built after demolishing earlier structure

Belying the majoritarian hysteria and attacks on Sambhal’s Mosque and the Muslim minority living in the western UP town, the Archaeological Survey of India has told the Central Information Commission that it does not have any records indicating whether the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal was constructed after demolishing any earlier structure or on vacant land, nor does it have documents identifying the landowner at the time of its construction. Previously, a “commission” appointed by the Sambhal district court has reportedly said in its 2024 report that symbols associated with Hinduism had been found at Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid, protected by the ASI since 1920!

The Erosion of Equal Protection: Constitutional attrition and State apathy in targeted attacks on Kashmiri vendors across the states

Systemic 2025 and early 2026 vigilantism and attacks against Kashmiri sellers, fuelled by religious profiling and hateful propaganda, dismantles the constitutional "bedrock" of Articles 19(1)(d) and (g), by substituting "reasonable restrictions" with mob-enforced exoduses, these acts subvert state authority and corrode public morality

SCs, Muslims both live in highly segregated neighbourhoods with poorer public services: International Study

The international working paper found that government services – like secondary schools, clinics and hospitals, electricity, water and sewerage – were all “systematically worse” in marginalised neighbourhoods

How defending a 70-year-old Muslim shopkeeper triggered FIRs, highway blockades, and a law-and-order crisis in Uttarakhand

What began as a local intervention against alleged intimidation over a shop’s name spiralled into right-wing mobilisation, multiple FIRs, and a national debate on selective policing, free speech, and communal harmony in Kotdwar

Form-7 and the Politics of Exclusion: How Assam’s voter revision has become a battleground

From mass objections in Sribhumi to legal notices by affected voters, the Special Revision has triggered alarm over the misuse of electoral procedures

From Purola to Nainital: APCR report details pattern of communal violence in Uttarakhand

Based on field investigations and testimonies, the report documents violence, intimidation, and displacement of Muslim families across the state over four years

Flip and then a Flop: 50 students of the Vaishno Devi MBBS institute will now be admitted to 7 medical colleges in Jammu, Kashmir

Hours after saying it cannot conduct fresh counselling, the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) had a change of heart and called students for counselling on January 24; Following nationwide outrage on the original move to cancel admissions, these students will now be adjusted in seven government-run medical colleges across J&K based on NEET-UG merit, their preferences

Publicly Tortured, Forced to Eat Cow Dung: No arrests in Odisha Pastor assault case

More than two weeks after a Hindutva mob assaulted and humiliated Pastor Bipin Bihari Naik in Dhenkanal, police inaction and a counter-FIR against the victim raise serious questions about justice and religious freedom

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“Inside the SIR”: Booklet flags ‘mechanical disenfranchisement’ in electoral roll revision

CJP–VFD publication combines training manual and ground documentation to question ongoing voter verification exercise

Censorship and the Drumbeats of Hate: Mapping the state of free speech ahead of the 2026 polls

A new report by Free Speech Collective traces five years of censorship, criminalisation of dissent, and the rise of hate-driven political discourse across Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry—raising urgent questions about the conditions for free and fair elections

AERO dies by suicide in Kolkata, family alleges extreme election duty pressure and humiliation

A 48-year-old Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) died by suicide in South Kolkata’s Bansdroni area after consuming pesticide, the tragic death of Malabika Roy Bhattacharyya has sparked serious concerns regarding the immense pressure placed on government officials tasked with SIR/Election duties, with her family explicitly blaming the ECI for the extreme workload

UP’s syncretic warrior cults facing Hindutva challenge

Be it the attack on the Gogamedi shrine in the Hanumangarh district of northern Rajasthan or the Neja Mela in the Sambhal district of western Uttar Pradesh, Hindutva’s systemic attack on India’s syncretic traditions, past and present, reveals its rigid and Brahmanical ideological orientation: imposition of a strictly hierarchical, exclusionary and structured notion of faith and practice

No Hearing, No Notice, Just Deletion: How Bengal’s SIR Erased a Decorated IAF Officer

The removal of Wing Commander Md Shamim Akhtar, who served the nation for 17 years, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) highlights a systemic lack of due process that threatens the voting rights of even the most distinguished citizens

An Adivasi woman once in bonded labour now serves her village as a Sarpanch

As India marks 50 years of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, cases of bonded labour still surface in states like Telangana where many workers in sectors such as agriculture, brick kilns, fishing and construction remain trapped in debt and coercion; here the author reflects on a transformative journey of an Adivasi woman who serves as a Sarpanch.

Abdul Sheikh Citizenship Case: Deportation stayed as Gauhati High Court Hears challenge to ex parte foreigner declaration, state to raise maintainability issue

Court allows preliminary objection while continuing stay on deportation; petitioner explains delay to challenge FT order through prolonged detention, lack of access to the detenue, financial constraints, and absence of legal aid