News Dabba for 05 April 2024: Five stories for a balanced news diet

Indie Journal brings you the daily updates that the internet is talking about through various news websites. Here's a glance through some of the National and International news updates, from Supreme Court staying scrapping on UP Madrassa law, Shoma Sen's bail, to UN resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable of war crimes.

Supreme Court stays order on UP Madrassas impacting lakhs, NDTV reports

The Supreme Court today paused an Allahabad High Court order scrapping the UP Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004. NDTV reports that this allows about 16,000 madrassas in the state to continue functioning under the 2004 law. A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the high court decision was prima facie not correct. The report adds that the court also issued notices to the Madrassa board and the central and UP governments, and posted the matter for further hearing in the second week of July. The high court had last month declared the 2004 law "unconstitutional" for violating the principle of secularism. Read the full report here.

SC grants bail to activist Shoma Sen in Elgar Parishad case: Indian Express

The Supreme Court Friday granted bail to activist Shoma Kanti Sen in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, Indian Express reports. However, it ordered Sen to not leave Maharashtra without informing the special court during the bail period. Sen, a Nagpur-based activist, is in judicial custody for alleged Maoist links. She was arrested by Pune City Police on June 6, 2018, along with others, in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case. Sen was a professor for English at the Nagpur University. Read the full report here.

Finnish minister says now is not the time to discuss gun laws, The Straits Times

Finland already has quite "strict" firearms legislation and The Straits Times reports that Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said, now is not the right time to discuss tightening it. This comes after a school shooting this week in which a 12-year-old boy shot three classmates. A 12-year-old boy on Tuesday brought a relative's revolver to Viertola school near Helsinki, shot dead a fellow sixth-grader and severely injured two others, the report mentions. Finnish interior ministry data show there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 4,30,000 licence holders in the nation of 5.6 million people. Read the full report here.

Live Mint on Congress manifesto for upcoming Lok Sabha polls

Congress party on Friday released the manifesto 'Nyay patra' for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Mint reports. The broad theme of the Congress manifesto is "justice", said P Chidambaram. The former finance minister launched a veiled attack against the BJP government by saying, “Every aspect of justice has been threatened, weakened in the last 10 years, especially in the last five years". Further, he said that the 'Nyay Patra' of the Congress comprises three powerful words in the manifesto--"work" "wealth" and welfare". Read the full report here.

UN rights body demands Israel arms sales halt, Al Jazeera reports

UN Human Rights Council adopted resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip, Al  Jazeer reports. The resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council has also demanded a halt to all arms sales to Israel, highlighting warnings of “genocide” in its war on Gaza. The vote marked the first time the UN’s top rights body has taken a position on the nearly six-month war, the report added. Meanwhile, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it will allow “temporary” aid deliveries via a crossing in the northern Gaza Strip “to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war”. Read the full report here.