India’s captain Rohit Sharma and spinner Kuldeep Yadav celebrate a wicket during the semi-final match against England in the ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024, at Providence Stadium in Guyana on June 28, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI

INDIA bloc plans adjournment motions in both Houses of Parliament on NEET issue

Opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc will move adjournment motions in both the Houses of Parliament on June 28 over the alleged irregularities in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) and paper leaks in other public exams. 

Rohit Sharma, spinners guide India to third T20 World Cup final

Skipper Rohit Sharma’s grace was matched by the might of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as India exorcised the ghosts of 2022 by handing defending champions England a 68-run thrashing to enter the final of the T20 World Cup in Georgetown on June 27.

Students protest at Jantar Mantar, want NTA dissolved

While the President addressed the NEET issue in Parliament on Thursday, only a few km away, Jantar Mantar saw back-to-back protests with students and youth leaders demanding the dissolving of the controversy-riddled National Testing Agency (NTA) and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Simultaneously, Congress-affiliated NSUI members marched to the NTA and demanded its closure, attempting to lock the office from outside.

CBI arrests two in Patna in NEET paper leak case

In its first arrests from Patna in the NEET-UG paper leak case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took Manish Prakash and Ashutosh Kumar into custody on Thursday. According to the agency, the accused played a crucial role in arranging to rent the Learn Boys Hostel and Play School in Patna’s Khemnichak locality, where the leaked question papers were allegedly distributed to the 20 to 25 candidates gathered there on the eve of the examination, so that they could memorise the answers overnight.

Plea in Supreme Court to stay implementation of new criminal laws

A petition was moved in the Supreme Court on June 27 seeking a stay on the implementation and operation of three new criminal laws, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, scheduled to come into effect from July 1.

Manipur BJP president meets Amit Shah for ‘permanent solution’ to conflict in State

The chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday urging “immediate attention to bring permanent solution and tranquillity to the State”. A. Sharda Devi met Mr. Shah for “an extensive discussion on the current situation in Manipur”. Her three-year tenure as party president ended on Thursday.

President Murmu flags NEET, Emergency in address to Parliament, says government fully committed to investigating ‘paper leaks’

In her first address to Parliament since the Lok Sabha election results were announced, President Droupadi Murmu asked MPs to rise above “partisan politics” with regard to the row over “paper leaks” in examinations for medical college admissions and government recruitment. The Union government is “fully committed” to investigating the issues and punishing the guilty, she said.

AAP MP’s suspension revoked, six new members take oath in Rajya Sabha

Six newly-elected members of Parliament from Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh took oath as members of the Rajya Sabha on June 27. The Upper House held its first setting after the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha on Thursday and it was first day of the 264th session of the Rajya Sabha. 

Pro-Israel posters pasted, black ink thrown outside Owaisi’s residence in Delhi

A group of five men pasted posters outside the residence of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi in New Delhi on Thursday evening, demanding his suspension from the Lok Sabha, officials said. According to a police officer, four-five men reached Mr. Owaisi’s 34 Ashoka Road residence located in Central Delhi and pasted three posters at the entry gate and wall of the house about 9 p.m.

17 people arrested in attempted coup that shook Bolivia, government says

Bolivia’s government on Thursday announced that a total of 17 people have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the attempted coup that shook the economically troubled country the day before.

Prague-to-Budapest train collides with a bus in Slovakia, killing 5 people and injuring 5

A train travelling from the Czech capital of Prague to the Hungarian capital of Budapest collided with a bus in southern Slovakia on Thursday, leaving at least five people dead and five injured, officials said.

RBI unveils revised Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC countries

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on June 27 said it with the concurrence of the Government of India has decided to put in place a revised Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC countries for the period 2024 to 2027. Under this Framework, the Reserve Bank would enter into bilateral swap agreements with SAARC central banks, who want to avail of the swap facility. 

UltraTech Cement acquires 23% stake in India Cements

Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech Cement Ltd. announced it was making a non-controlling financial investment to pick up 23% equity stake in India Cements Ltd (ICL). Block deal data showed UltraTech initially bought 6.02 crore ICL shares, or 19.4% stake. Earlier in the day, UltraTech’s Board approved the purchase of up to 7.06 crore equity shares of ICL at up to ₹267 apiece.

New Delhi:

A parliamentary committee is likely to recommend re-criminalisation of the adultery law and criminalisation of non-consensual sex between men, women and/or trans members, as part of an overhaul of colonial-era criminal laws, sources said. The panel is studying three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, respectively.

The bills – tabled by Union Home Minister Amit Shah – were sent to the Standing Committee on Home Affairs, which is headed by BJP MP Brij Lal, for further scrutiny in August with a three-month deadline.

On Friday the committee met but did not adopt a draft report on the bills as opposition members sought a three-month extension. The next meeting will be on November 6.

On Adultery

The draft report is expected to recommend that adultery be made a criminal offence again – either by restoring the law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018 or passing a new law.

In 2018 a five-member bench ruled “adultery cannot and should not be a crime”. “It can be a ground for a civil offense… for divorce…” then Chief Justice, Dipak Misra, had said, reasoning also that a 163-year-old, colonial-era law followed the invalidated concept of “husband is master of the wife”.

READ |Adultery Not A Crime, “Husband Not Master of Wife,” Says Supreme Court

The law then said that a man who had sex with a married woman – and without her husband’s consent – could face a five-year sentence if convicted. The woman would not be punished.

The report is likely to recommend that the struck-down provision on adultery, when brought back, be made gender-neutral, meaning the man and the woman could face punishment.

The unpublished draft report states: “For the sake of protecting the institution of marriage, this Section (497 of the IPC) should be retained in the Sanhita by making it gender-neutral.”

On Section 377

Meanwhile, the committee reportedly also discussed Section 377 – a British-era provision that criminalised homosexuality, and which was also struck down by the Supreme Court five years ago.

READ |Love, Equally: Homosexuality No Longer A Crime, Says Supreme Court

The committee is expected to recommend to the government, which opposed decriminalisation of both 377 and 497, that “it is mandatory to re-introduce and retain Section 377 of the IPC”. 

The committee argued that although the court had found this section in violation of Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, provisions of Section 377 “remain applicable in cases of non-consensual carnal intercourse with adults, all acts of carnal intercourse with minors, and acts of bestiality”. 

“However, now, in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, no provision for non-consensual sexual offences against male, female, transgender and for bestiality has been made.”

Other recommendations

Other likely recommendations are to increase punishment for deaths due to negligence from six months to five years, and reduce those for unauthorised protests from two years to 12 months.

The committee is also likely to say that the name Indian Penal Code be retained.