The Supreme Court on Jan 8  quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case of the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in the state.

The SC has now directed all 11 convicts of the Bilkis Bano rape case to surrender before jail authorities within two weeks.

The Apex Court in its judgement held that the State of Gujarat was not competent to pass the remission orders. It also said that Bilkis Bano's petition challenging the remission is maintainable.

The court refused to answer the point regarding the maintainability of the PILs since Bilkis Bano's petition is already held to be maintainable.

The Top Court also said that its previous judgement by a separate bench on May 13, 2022, allowed the Gujarat govt to decide on the remission plea of one of the convicts, as a nullity.

The SC also questioned why the convicts serving life imprisonment be released after just 14 years.

The SC had also noted that the judgemnet of May 13,2022 was obtained through fraud pratices as the accused had sought it by suppressing material facts.

The Gujarat govt had granted remission of all these 11 convicts following a May 2022 judgment in which the top court held that an application of remission should be considered in line with the policy of the State where the crime was committed and not where the trial was held.

The Gujarat government's remission to all the 11 convicts of Bilkis and freeing them created a huge public outrage and social activists, lawyers, and civil society termed it a "miscarriage of justice."

The Maldivian envoy to India was on Jan 8   summoned to the external affairs ministry and was conveyed strong concern over remarks posted on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by several ministers of the Maldives.

The government of the Maldives on Jan 7 suspended three deputy ministers for derogatory social media posts against Modi.

The three deputy ministers criticised Modi for his post on 'X' following his visit to Lakshadweep, inferring that it was an attempt to project the Union Territory as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives.

According to Maldivian media reports, deputy ministers in the youth ministry, Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid, have been suspended over their posts.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a lookout notice for Shahjahan Sheikh, suspecting that the Trinamool leader might cross the international border into Bangladesh after Jan 5  attack on the agency’s officials by his supporters, when the sleuths tried to search his house in connection with the foodgrain scam.

Sheikh is local leader of the Trinamool Congress. His house in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas is close to the Bangladesh border. The central agency alerted airports and Border Security Force (BSF) authorities by circulating his photographs.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose instructed authorities to arrest Sheikh and investigate his alleged connection with terrorists, which drew sharp criticism from the ruling TMC.

Central Reserve Police Force personnel who accompanied the ED team during the raid were also attacked by Sheikh’s men. Inspector General of CRPF, Birendra Kumar Singh held a 30-minute meeting with the governor.

In a demonstration of its expanding operational capabilities, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said it has successfully conducted a night-landing of C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft at the high-altitude Kargil airstrip.

It is a significant achievement given that Kargil airstrip is situated at an altitude of 2,927 metres above sea level and is surrounded by hills and has a unidirectional approach.

To land the aircraft on the dark airstrip, the crew used night vision goggles. They also employed terrain masking en route, a technique used to avoid detection by enemy radars. The airstrip lies close to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Union Territory of Ladakh.  It is situated near the Srinagar-Leh Highway, which was the focus of the Pakistan troops during the 1999 Kargil War.

Garud commandos on board

The transport aircraft carried elite Garud commandos on board who were on a training mission. 

India’s first health food street, Prasadam, was launched by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in the city of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. The food street at Neelkanth Van, Mahakal Lok in Ujjain, will be the first of 100 food streets that will come up in as many districts across the country. Housing the world-famous Mahakal Temple, Ujjain is also the home city of MP’s new Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

Mandaviya, who opened the food street, along with the Chief Minister, stated that the launch marks a significant stride in the country’s journey towards healthy eating habits.   The two leaders also launched several other projects, including a 30-bed additional ward under the emergency COVID response package. To achieve the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’, the citizens of the nation must be healthy, the health minister said.

Later, Mandaviya launched the official website for the Healthy and Hygienic Food Street initiative and unveiled a brochure outlining the standard operating procedures for these food hubs. According to officials, the financial assistance for the initiative to the states and UTs is being provided in the form of Rs 1 crore per food street under the National Health Mission in the ratio of 60:40 or 90:10 to fill up critical gaps, with the condition that standard branding of these food streets will be done as per FSSAI guidelines, they added.

Spread over an area of 939 square metres, Prasadam, which will house 19 shops, has been developed at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore and will reportedly become fully functional by February first week. Besides, it will offer convenient and culturally rich dining options for the 1-1.5 lakh devotees who visit the Mahakaleshwar temple daily.

The newly launched food street is designed to provide various facilities including a kids’ play area, drinking water facility, CCTV surveillance, parking, public conveniences and seating spaces, officials said.

Prasadam will also contribute to economic growth and community engagement, the officials added.

Three First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered against NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad for allegedly outraging religious feelings with his "Lord Ram was a non-vegetarian" remark in Mumbai and Palghar districts.

While police in Mumbai registered two cases, another case was registered at Navghar police station in Thane district.

Before that, Pune city police had registered an FIR against Awhad, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party faction.

An FIR on similar charges was also registered at Ghatkopar police station based on a complaint lodged by local BJP MLA Ram Kadam

Further, an FIR was registered at Navghar police station in neighbouring Thane under the same section on the complaint of a local businessman.

Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, and Minister of State for Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs, Smriti Irani will be in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia along with a delegation ahead of signing and exchange of a bilateral Haj Agreement 2024.

The Haj Quota for this year is likely to be 175000, which will be significant.

Irani is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the Minister of Haj and Umrah Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al Rabiah. Discussions will be based on areas of mutual interest primarily for the forthcoming Haj this year.

It may be recalled that Dr Tawfiq was in Delhi in December and had reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to enable more Indians to undertake the Haj pilgrimage.

India and Saudi Arabia are also considering enhancing air services including low cost carriers from Saudi Arabia like Flynas and Flyadeal.

Meanwhile, the Indian delegation is also slated to meet the Indian business community and Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia.

On 8th January, the minister will attend the opening ceremony of the 3rd Edition of ‘Haj and Umrah Conference’ in Jeddah being organized by the Saudi Ministry of Haj and Umrah Affairs.

A recent tweet by a Maldives Minister about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Lakshadweep has sparked a row on social media.

Earlier this month, the PM visited the Union territory to promote tourism and to flag-off several projects on the island.

Following this, the Maldives minister has tweeted that India is targeting Maldives, further adding that India will face challenges in competing with the Maldives when it comes to beach tourism.

This tweet came after the recent posts on  promoting beach tourism in Lakshadweep.

In the past few months, since the new President Mohamed Muizzu came to power, India-Maldives relations have been strained.

According to different media reports, the President, during his election pledge said he would remove a small contingent of the 75 Indian military personnel in Maldives and would change the island's "India first" policy.

Meanwhile, the Maldivian government distanced itself from a minister's "derogatory remarks" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said these opinions are "personal and do not represent the views of the Government" after opposition leaders slammed the "appalling language" used by the senior official.