'The Madhya Pradesh police has booked five persons, including three minors, for posting a Facebook comment on Union agriculture and farmers welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar mocking the incorrect way in which he was wearing a face mask. All the accused – Ajay Pratap Singh Sikarwar, Aman Singh, and minors AB, XX and YY* – are residents of Jaura village in Morena, which the Union minister represents in the Lok Sabha...'
'The world has never seen anything quite like Aarogya Setu. Two months ago, India’s app for coronavirus contact tracing didn’t exist; now it has nearly 100 million users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi boosted it on release by urging every one of the country’s 1.3 billion people to download it, and the result was that within two weeks of launch it became the fastest app ever to reach 50 million downloads... But although the app’s growth is unprecedented, it is extraordinary in an even more important way: if you don’t install it, you might lose your job, get fined, or go to jail.
'Hours after Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa met leading property developers of the state, the government has decided to cancel all trains that were to ferry migrant workers to their home town from Wednesday, 6 May. The state government has written to Indian Railways cancelling all trains scheduled from Wednesday. This decision comes even as several migrant workers are struggling to find a train to return home. The Quint has accessed a letter written by N Manjunath Prasad, nodal officer for inter-state travel from the state, claiming that no more trains are required.
'The Delhi Police Wednesday invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Jawaharlal Nehru University PhD scholar Sharjeel Imam, months after arresting him in connection with the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019. The development comes two weeks after the police accused Imam, 31, of allegedly instigating riots at the university on December 13 and 15 through “seditious” speeches outside campus, during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) last year...'
'Zubair Ahmed, a journalist working in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has been arrested allegedly for a tweet asking why a family was put under quarantine for speaking over phone to a COVID-19 patient.
'A assistant sub-inspector deputed at Mumbai’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has tested positive for COVID-19, the department informed the special NIA court on Saturday, April 25, while opposing the interim bail application filed by academic and civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde who was arrested on April 14 amid the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus in the country. Despite the NIA’s disclosure that an officer was infected, a special NIA court rejected Teltumbde’s interim bail application and sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.
'Fifty IRS officers in a report suggested raising the tax rate to 40% for those with income above Rs 1 crore and levy of wealth tax for those with over Rs 5 crore annual income... The CBDT on Sunday said an inquiry is being initiated against 50 IRS officers of the I-T department who have penned an unsolicited report on revenue mobilisation to fund COVID-19 relief measures and made it public without permission.
'The Coimbatore police have arrested the founder of SimpliCity, a hyperlocal news portal, for two reports that highlighted shortcomings faced by government healthcare professionals and alleged corruption by some employees of the public distribution system (PDS), making this the first documented case of a media head being jailed during the COVID-19 and lockdown crisis by the authorities for critical reportage. Andrew Sam Raja Pandian was charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Epidemic Diseases Act after a complaint was filed by M.
'Yesterday, police in Srinagar summoned and questioned Ashiq, a correspondent with daily newspaper The Hindu, over a story he published that day on tensions between Kashmiris and the police, according to a statement by the Kashmir Press Club, an elected, representative body of journalists in Kashmir. The same day, he was asked to travel to a police station in South Kashmir, where he was further questioned about the article, according to that statement. He was released after each interrogation, he told CPJ in a phone interview.
'Employees from a number of government departments and agencies have donated a day’s salary toward the PM-CARES fund. While the donations, meant for COVID-19 relief, were said to be “voluntary”, government circulars show that the deductions were made directly from salaries. Those unwilling to donate were asked to submit their refusal in writing...'
