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

Amid over 17 attacks, Kashmiri Students Abandon Studies or Live in Fear

"There’s no degree worth dying for: We came here for a better future. Now, we only want to survive," say students. The cost of returning is not only giving up career dreams but also safety concerns on the journey back home.

Ram and Hanuman Vs Ravana of anti-waqf (amendment act) agitation

The  massive  scale  on  which  Ram  Navami  (Ram’s legendary...

Echoes of Hate: Online anti-Muslim hate spreads against Muslim businesses and workers after Pahalgam attack

Following the Pahalgam attack, a wave of anti-Muslim incidents reported across the country, from online targeting of Muslim businesses to harassment of shopkeepers and vendors, communal rumours spread like wildfire, igniting fear and fracturing the nation's social fabric, this is the dangerous consequence of unchecked online hate manifesting in real-world violence

Waqf Amendment Act 2025: An erosion of rights under the garb of reform

Renaming the legislation "Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development Act" (UMEED Act), in line with the government’s enthusiasm to rename things; a critical examination of the amended provisions reveals that provisions of the 2025 act represent a significant regression, fundamentally undermining the religious autonomy and property rights of the Muslim minority, thereby challenging constitutional safeguards’ some amendments directly weaken legal protections afforded to Waqf properties, raising fears of systematic dispossession

Amid Waqf Debate, Should Hindu Endowment Boards be Held Responsible for the Sorry Plight of Dalits?

Corruption and illegal encroachment of graveyards, maqbara and masjid land are not only confined to Muslims. Religious bodies of other faiths are too plagued by them.

Waqf Amendment Act 2025: SC grants some time to Centre on condition no non-Muslims appointed to Board, Council & no change in any Waqf...

After the Union government insisted it would bring to the Court’s notice grave violations of the previous law, the Court recorded the Centre’s assurance of any appointment to the Waqf Board or Council, implying a bar on any non-Muslim appointments to the Waqf Boards/Council and stayed any Waqf property de-notifications, including waqf by user, under the 2025 amendment; next hearing on May 5

Protests over Waqf (Amendment) Act escalate into violence in West Bengal; Calcutta HC intervenes

Three reported dead in Murshidabad clashes; court steps in, directs authorities to maintain peace and investigate violence. As political parties trade blame, locals allege involvement of unidentified outsiders, adding new layers to the unfolding crisis. None of the deceased – Ijaz Ahmed, a student, and a father and son of one Das family, Haragovinda and Chandan – were actively instigating violence or part of any political outfit, as their friends and neighbours claimed, and yet they were killed.

From Protectors to Perpetrators? Police assaulted women, Children, Christian priests in Odisha: Fact-finding report

A team of lawyers and activists has found that sections of the Odisha police assaulted children and priests with lathis even as women were ‘beaten and molested’; all inside the Juba Catholic Church in Gajapati district in Odisha on March 22, 2025; the fact-finding team met some of the girls, women and the priests to bring to light the brutalities faced by them.

Why Sayyid Qutb’s Symbolism during a Waqf Protest Was dangerous and self-defeating

Controversial figures like Sayyid Qutb can undermine the legitimacy of the movement and distract from the genuine concerns of the Muslim community in India

22 arrested, internet suspended as Murshidabad recovers from Waqf Act protest violence

Clashes leave nine injured, vehicles torched, and highways blocked as tensions flare over new legislation; prohibitory orders imposed and political blame game begins

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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