Above the fold: The day's top stories
1. Narendra Modi government offered Italy the freedom of two marines in exchange for evidence linking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to corruption claims a British arms agent.
2. The LGBT community pins hope on Supreme Court hearing a plea against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises homosexuality.
3. Narendra Modi has only Rs 4,700 cash in hand says the Prime Minister’s Office.
4. The Bombay High Court rules that surrogate mothers are also entitled to maternity leave.
5. Three Rajasthan postal employees have been detained for spying for Pakistan.
6. The World Health Organisation has declared the Zika virus an international public health emergency
The Big Story: Protestors versus police
The Delhi Police on Saturday beat up peaceful protesters outside the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Delhi. Consisting mostly of students, the group was protesting the over Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from Hyderabad University who had committed suicide last month. His death followed a chain of events that started with an altercation between his Ambedkar Students Association and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a component of the larger Sangh Parivar presided over by the RSS.
The police action sparked outrage, as a video shot by one of the protestors made clear the brutality of assault. The video shows the police teaming up with men in civilian clothes to beat up protesters. Towards the end of the video, one policeman seems to assault a woman and slams her down to the ground by her hair.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Delhi Police was being used as a “private army” by the BJP and RSS.
The RSS denied that the men in plainclothes involved in the assault were from its organisation but backed the police on the assault. “Police must have done whatever they found was appropriate,” said Rajiv Tuli, in-charge of the RSS media unit in Delhi.
In Mumbai, thousands of students on Monday marched through the heart of the city to protest the institutional bias that led to Rohith Vemula’s suicide. They demanded the removal and arrest of Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Human Resources Minister Smriti Irani, Hyderabad University Vice-Chancellor P Appa Rao and others involved with the suspension of Rohith.
The Big Scroll Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
In two weeks, police action greets student demonstrations across India 10 times as lathi-charges, water cannons and detention become routine strategies.
Politicking and policying
1. Jammu and Kashmir Governor calls for talks on Tuesday as PDP signals that a phone call from Delhi may resolve its alliance with the BJP.
2. Supreme Court pulled up Gujarat for not implementing the Food Security Act.
3. Assam Chief Miister Tarun Gogoi offers Rs 4,400 crore in sops to woo adivasis for the upcoming Assembly elections.
4. Prime minister Manmohan Singh had been informed about the 2G spectrum policy, former communications minister A Raja tells a special court.
5. Aam Aadmi Party’s cleanliness drive in Delhi was a photo-op, says the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Punditry
1. Ashok V Desai writing the Telegraph, summarises why India cannot be the home of the proto-Indo-European language, the ultimate ancestor of Sanskrit.
2. Ten years on, the Rural Employment Guarantee Act requires constant review and consistency in political support, argue Jairam Ramesh and Neelakshi Mann in the Indian Express.
3. It is a casteist mind that sees Rohith’s actions as casteist, says Peter Ronald Desouza in the Hindu.
Don't miss...
As the Supreme Court considers a plea to decriminalise homosexuality, Vivek Divan says that the queer community will do everything it can to gain its liberty.
"Years ago, I’d written with confidence that with truth on our side, we queers will prevail. I am still convinced that chicanery and small-mindedness will only be stumbling blocks on that journey. This is written to once again stake a claim to be a full person in this land. It is also to signal on behalf of queer people that we will not back down in using all the constitutional tools available to us to be liberated. And, in that process, we will continue to stand up and be counted, creating Bollywood moments in courtrooms and anywhere the occasion calls for."
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