Comments on social media: SC grants anticipatory bail to folk singer Neha Singh Rathore
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to folk singer Neha Singh Rathore in a case filed against her over a social media post on last year's Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.
A bench of justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar granted the relief to her after noting that she had appeared before the authorities and recorded her statements in connection with the case.
The top court asked her to continue cooperating in the investigation.
Rathore has challenged Allahabad High Court order of last year rejecting her plea for anticipatory bail in the case.
On January 7, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Rathore in a case filed against her over the social media post.
The said comments allegedly targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP in connection with the killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.
The top court had issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case, and said no coercive steps shall be taken against her.
It had directed Rathore to appear before the investigating officer and cooperate in the probe.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on December 5 last year had rejected the anticipatory bail plea filed by the folk singer.
It had observed that Rathore had not cooperated with the investigation despite directions issued by an earlier bench that had dismissed her petition seeking quashing of the FIR.
The FIR against Rathore was registered at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on April 27, and the investigation is underway.
The FIR accused Rathore of targeting a particular religious community and threatening the unity of the country. She challenged the FIR filed against her by one Abhay Pratap Singh at the Hazratganj Police Station in the last week of April. Singh accused Rathore of having "repeatedly attempted to incite one community against another on religious grounds".
Rathore contended in her plea that she had been wrongfully implicated under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including promoting communal hatred, disturbing public peace, and endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.
She also faces charges under the Information Technology Act.
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
