EC asks political parties to desist from displaying photos of defence personnel

New Delhi, Jan 13: The Supreme Court on Monday commenced hearing on issues related to discrimination against women in various religions and at religious places including Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.

A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said that it was not considering review pleas in the Sabarimala case.

“We are not hearing review pleas of Sabarimala case. We are considering issues referred to by a 5-judge bench earlier,” the bench said.

The apex court had on November 14 asked a larger bench to re-examine various religious issues, including the entry of women into the Sabarimala Temple and mosques and the practice of female genital mutilation in the Dawoodi Bohra community.

While the five-judge bench unanimously agreed to refer religious issues to a larger bench, it gave a 3:2 split decision on petitions seeking a review of the apex court's September 2018 decision allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala.

A majority verdict by then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra decided to keep pending pleas seeking a review of its decision regarding entry of women into the shrine, and said restrictions on women in religious places was not restricted to Sabarimala alone and was prevalent in other religions as well.

The minority verdict by Justices R F Nariman and D Y Chandrachud gave a dissenting view by dismissing all review pleas and directing compliance of its September 28 decision.

Gwalior, Jul 23: As India's daily infections of coronavirus keep rising, the country is fighting a pandemic which is getting bigger by the day.

A vaccine, according to the World Health Organization, may not be coming until early 2021 despite good progress on the font. There is also, so far, no definitive cure for the virus, yet.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Protem Speaker and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Rameshwar Sharma, however, feels that the end of the coronavirus pandemic will begin with the start of the construction work for Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"He (Lord Ram) had reincarnated for the welfare of mankind and to kill demons at that time. As soon as the construction of Ram Temple begins the destruction of the COVID pandemic will begin too," said Sharma, reports ANI.

"Not only India, but the entire world is suffering due to coronavirus. We are not only maintaining social distancing but also remembering our holy figures. The Supreme Court has ordered that Ram Temple will be built," he further added.

The treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust, Swami Govind Dev Giri had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Ram Temple on August 5.

He said that social-distancing norms would be ensured at the program, and not more than 200 people will be attending the ceremony.

"The Prime Minister will visit Hanuman Garhi, Ram Lalla Temple, plant a tree and later do the 'bhoomi pujan'," he told ANI.

Ram Mandir trust spokesperson Nritya Gopal Das said five silver bricks will be placed inside the sanctum sanctorum during the ceremony.

The bricks are believed to symbolise five planets as per the Hindu mythology, he said, adding that the design and the architecture of the temple is the same as the one proposed.

According to the trust sources, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat , Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also on the list of invitees.

India so far has recorded 1.19 million coronavirus positive cases, and 28,732 deaths.

New Delhi, Jun 10: India on Wednesday reported a spike of 9,985 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's COVID-19 count to 2,76,583, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

279 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours taking the total death toll to 7,745.

The total number of active cases has reached 1,33,632 while 1,35,205 patients have recovered. While one person has migrated.

With 90,787 cases, Maharashtra reported the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country followed by Tamil Nadu with 34,914 cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,45,216 samples were tested in the last 24 hours while overall 50,61,332 samples have been tested so far.