the state and the law

'Naveen Dayal, one of the two accused in the near fatal attack on former JNU scholar, Umar Khalid last year, has been given a Shiv Sena ticket for the upcoming state polls from Bahadurganj in Haryana. Currently, out on bail for the assault, Dayal is a self-proclaimed gau rakshak, Dalal said he joined the Sena six months ago because their ideologies on “nationalism and cow protection” matched. When he shot at Umar Khalid, his gun had jammed, saving Umar’s life.

'A ‘hate speech’ by a Central Reserve Police Force constable during a debate organised by the National Human Rights Commission won a consolation prize on September 27. It also went viral on social media and while many criticised the harsh language used by the officer, some television channels chose to support her. The debate was on ‘terrorism and militancy in the country can be tackled effectively while observing human rights’. Two parts of Constable Khushboo Chauhan’s speech stood out.

'In an indictment of the Central Board of Direct Taxes’s (CBDT) functioning, a top Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official has accused Pramod Chandra Mody, chairman of India’s top tax administration body, of giving an unlawful directive to bury a “sensitive case” involving “serious allegations”. In what is an equally incriminating charge against the Narendra Modi government, the official said that the CBDT chairman tried to entice her to fall in line by claiming that he had secured the top position only because of a “successful search” operation against an opposition leader.

'Ahead of a press conference on October 4, the Indian Air Force released a promotional video about the Balakot airstrike that was carried out in February on a target in Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. However, several media outlets reported the representational video as real footage that offered evidence of the airstrike in Pakistan. At the time of the attack, there had been some scepticism about what targets India had actually struck. While India said its bombs had destroyed a terror training camp, Pakistan claimed that only some trees had been hit.