Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 8:30 pm on 11 August 2023

The top news today comes from the Parliament which signalled a complete overhaul of the criminal laws in the country. Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved three new Bills to replace “19th Century Laws" in the Lok Sabha. He introduced the Bharatiya Sanhita Suraksha Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha to replace the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act, and referred the laws to a standing committee. The Bill, besides other things, seeks to reinvent Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises sedition as an offence “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”

AAP MP Raghav Chadha was, meanwhile, suspended from the Rajya Sabha for “gross violation of rule and misconduct” pending a report by the Privileges Committee. Chadha was suspended days after four Rajya Sabha MPs — the BJD’s Sasmit Patra, BJP’s S Phangnon Konyak and Narhari Amin and the AIADMK’s M Thambidurai — complained about breach of their privileges, charging that their names had been included in an amendment moved by Chadha seeking referral of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to a Select Committee without their consent. Chadha has dismissed the allegations against him as the BJP’s “fake propaganda”.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s over two-hour-long speech in the Lok Sabha replying to a no-confidence motion brought about by the Opposition, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the PM, instead of addressing the violence and deaths in Manipur, was cracking jokes and laughing in the Parliament as NDA legislators indulged in sloganeering. Rahul said that he has multiple instruments in his hand to control the situation in Manipur but he is not doing it. While addressing the Lower House on Thursday, PM Modi had accused Congress for being responsible for all problems in the North-East, and had assured the people of Manipur that the country was with them.

The Supreme Court Collegium, in its August 3 meeting, had recommended the transfer of four Gujarat High Court judges, including the judge who had recently delivered the verdict refusing to grant a stay on the conviction for defamation to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and another who recused himself from hearing activist Teesta Setalvad’s bail plea. According to the Collegium, the recommendations for transfer are being made for “better administration of justice”. The recommendations include transfer of Justice A Y Kogje to Allahabad High Court, Justice Gita Gopi to Madras High Court, Justice Hemant Prachchhak to Patna High Court and Justice Samir Dave to Rajasthan High Court.

The Supreme Court today also granted interim bail for two months to former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on medical grounds in a money laundering case.The Opposition Nationalist Congress Party, led by Sharad Pawar welcomed the SC's decision. The Bombay High Court had previously rejected a plea by Malik seeking bail on health grounds in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate. Malik had sought relief from the High Court, claiming he was suffering from a chronic kidney disease apart from various other ailments.

The Borivali magistrate court, meanwhile, rejected the Borivali Railway Police’s application seeking to conduct three scientific analysis tests on RPF constable Chetan Singh – who was arrested for shooting four men dead inside Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express on July 31 – as part of the investigation into the incident after he refused to give his consent. The court also sent the accused constable to judicial custody. The results of these tests cannot be used directly as evidence against an accused in court, but investigators can use the information thus extracted to direct the investigation and collect evidence, a police source said.

India has advised its citizens residing in Niger to leave the violence-hit nation as soon as possible. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated that the government was closely monitoring the situation in Niger. Niger has been reeling under crisis since July 26, when its military ousted former President Mohamed Bazoum, the seventh coup in West and Central Africa in three years. The coup in uranium-rich nation, which is also one of the world’s poorest countries but a keyally for the West in the fight against Islamist militants in the Sahel region, was triggered by internal politics but has repercussions far beyond its borders.

In world news today, Pakistan’s Supreme Court in a unanimous verdict struck down as null and void a recently enacted law modifying the review process of its judgements, dampening former premier Nawaz Sharif’s hopes as he seeks to challenge his lifetime disqualification from holding any public office. The nech called the law enacted by the Pakistan government in May, “aimed at facilitating and strengthening the Supreme Court in exercising its powers to review its judgements and orders”, as "unconstitutional". When asked about the fate of Nawaz Sharif after the law was declared null and void, he said that the verdict would have no impact on the cases of disqualification of the supreme leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party.
 

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