India

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - A grenade attack on Saturday in Kashmir’s southern city of Anantnag injured 10 people, including a traffic policeman and a journalist, police said on Twitter, blaming “terrorists”.

Many people in Kashmir have been seething since India stripped its portion of the Muslim-majority region of autonomy on Aug. 5, shutting off phone networks and imposing curfew-like restrictions in some areas to dampen discontent.

Some of those curbs have been slowly relaxed, but mobile and internet communications in the Kashmir valley are largely still blocked.

Hyderabad, Oct 5 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav has said leaders who have been placed under house arrest in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre, will be released soon and they can resume their "normal" political activity.

Speaking at 'Jana Jagaran Sabha' on the Centre's decision to revoke special status of J&K granted under Article 370 on Friday, the BJP general secretary said once Governors rule is lifted and legislature takes over, constitutional entities such as Commissions for SC, Women and Minorities will be set up in the region.

New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday said it would wrap up hearing in the politically sensitive Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya by October 17, a day sooner than the earlier schedule.

A 5-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, on the conclusion of 37th day of the hearing, fixed the schedule for the final leg of the lengthy arguments.

The Muslim side would complete the arguments on October 14, it said, adding that thereafter, two days would be granted to the Hindu parties to sum up their rejoinders -- October 16.

Mumbai, Oct 4 (PTI) Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who is among the 49 celebrities against whom an FIR has been lodged for alleged sedition, on Friday said the case makes "no sense" as their open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing concern over growing incidents of mob lynching was just an appeal and not any threat.

The FIR was lodged in Muzaffarpur against the celebrities that also included Anurag Kashyap, Aparna Sen, Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shubha Mudgal and historian Ramchandra Guha.

Chandigarh, Oct 4 (PTI) Two-time former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala, his mother Naina Chautala, sportsmen Sandeep Singh and Yogeshwar Dutt were among the 1,263 candidates who filed their nominations on Friday, the last day of filing of papers for the Assembly polls in Haryana.

The total number of nominations filed for 90 assembly seats are 1,846, an election office spokesman said here.

New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) In a blow to Congress ahead of Haryana Assembly polls, its former state unit chief Ashok Tanwar resigned from the primary membership of the party on Saturday.

Tanwar announced his resignation on Twitter and posted a four-page resignation letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in which he said "Congress is going through existential crises, not because of its political opponents but because of serious internal contradiction.

Kanpur: It is great to try new things in order to extend one's reach to the common people. The contestants fighting the byelection àt Govindnagar assembly seat are applying the distinct ploys to catch voters' support.

The Congress party candidate Karishma Thakur in order to show her extreme love for the area people holds a spade to fill up the pit. She was seen engaged in covering the pit with the clay. She wanted to prove her dedication towards the people's good.

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen has been refused permission to visit Kashmir by the Government of India. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Home Affairs did not respond to a query about Van Hollen’s inability to visit Kashmir.

About 50 members of the US Congress, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, have expressed concern over the situation in Kashmir. Van Hollen, a Democrat who represents Maryland, said he asked to go to Kashmir so he could see the reality on the ground for himself.

New Delhi; GANASHAKTI: Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria on Friday admitted that the Mi-17 IAF helicopter that crashed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam on February 27, the day Indian and Pakistani air forces were engaged in a fierce dogfight, was hit by an Indian missile.

MUZAFFARPUR (BIHAR), OCTOBER 4; GANASHAKTI: An FIR has been filed against the 49 celebrities who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2019, expressing concern over the rising incidence of communal violence in the country. According to PTI, the FIR has been filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including sedition, public nuisance, hurting religious feelings and insulting with an intent to provoke breach of peace.