Supreme Court puts 152-year-old colonial-era sedition law on hold, India refutes speculative media reports on sending troops to Lanka: Indian mission, China’s zero-Covid strategy unsustainable; need an urgent shift in policy: WHO, and other top news in this bulletin. The Supreme Court on Wednesday put on hold the 152-year-old colonial-era penal provision of sedition while emphasising the need to preserve the civil liberty of the citizens. This came a day after the court set a 24-hour deadline for the Centre to decide if the Indian Penal Code (IPC)’s Section 124A can be put on hold “to protect people” from arrests until the government reviews the law. In an interim order, a Chief Justice of India NV Ramana-led bench said it would be appropriate to put the provision in abeyance until the Centre reviews the non bailable section punishable with jail term ranging from three years to the life term. “It will be appropriate not to use this provision of law till further re-examination is over. We hope and expect the Centre and states will desist from registering any FIR [First Information Report] under Section 124A or initiate proceedings under the same till the re-examination is over,” said the bench, which also comprised justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. The court said those jailed under the penal provision or being prosecuted can approach the trial courts to adjudicate their grievances expeditiously. It rejected the Centre’s request against staying the operation of the provision. The court said it must balance civil liberty and sovereignty of the state in the wake of several instances of abuse of the law. The Indian High Commission on Wednesday categorically dismissed speculative media reports about New Delhi sending its troops to Colombo, saying India is fully supportive of Sri Lanka’s democracy, stability and economic recovery. The denial from the Indian mission came a day after it refuted as “fake and blatantly false” local social media speculation that former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family members have fled to India. The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa has been speculated since his resignation on Monday. It was reported that Mahinda had left his office-cum-official residence, Temple Trees. In its first reaction to the situation in Sri Lanka, India on Tuesday said that it is “fully supportive” of the island nation’s democracy, stability and economic recovery. “The High Commission would like to categorically deny speculative reports in sections of media and social media about #India sending her troops to Sri Lanka. These reports and such views are also not in keeping with the position of the Government of #India,” the Indian mission said on Twitter. Santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma died on Tuesday following a heart attack. Several film and music celebrities paid their last respects to him on Wednesday. Among them were Amitabh Bachchan and wife Jaya Bachchan, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi who were seen at his funeral. Pandit Shivkumar Sharma’s body was kept at his Pali Hill home on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the body was shifted to the Abhijit Cooperative Housing Society in Juhu for “public darshan” till 1 pm. His last rites will be held at Pawan Hans Crematorium in Vile Parle on Wednesday. Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, along with Hariprasad Chaurasia, gave music to Amitabh and Jaya’s movie, Silsila. The santoor legend had been active till the end and was due to perform in Bhopal next week. He was also suffering from renal ailments. “He had a severe heart attack in the morning… He was active and was to perform in Bhopal next week. He was on regular dialysis but was still active,” a family source said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday said that China’s ‘zero-Covid’ strategy to defeat the Covid-19 outbreak is unsustainable, and that it has asked Beijing to initiate a policy shift in order to tackle the surging caseload. “We don’t think that it is sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing in Geneva late on Tuesday. The WHO’s statement comes amid belligerent Covid-19 outbreaks in Shanghai, Beijing and other provinces, which China has been attempting to control through lockdowns and mass tests. Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents have been locked in at home for weeks and several strict Covid-19 control measures have been implemented across Beijing, including the shutting down of public spaces, banning dine-ins and suspension of scores of subway stations and bus routes. While Shanghai has logged hundreds of thousands of cases and over 500 deaths since March, Beijing’s caseload – at around 900 – remains low. An Al-Jazeera journalist was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin early Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said. It said Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known Palestinian reporter for the broadcaster’s Arabic language channel, was shot and died soon afterward. Another Palestinian journalist working for the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper was wounded but in stable condition. The health ministry said the reporters were hit by Israeli fire. In video footage of the incident, Abu Akleh can be seen wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word “PRESS.” The Israeli military said its forces came under attack with heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they fired back. The military said it is “investigating the event and looking into the possibility that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen.” Israel has carried out near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, many of them carried out by Palestinians from in and around Jenin. The town, and particularly its refugee camp, has long been known as a militant bastion.
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