New Delhi, Sep 1: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek reports from States including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand on attacks on Christian institutions as alleged in a PIL.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said an attack on individuals does not mean it is an attack on the community but it needs to verify the claims of any such incident if it is made in the public interest litigation (PIL).

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that on verification it has been found the majority of the alleged cases mentioned in the PIL are false and based on "self-serving articles" published on a web portal.

He said that the court should not pass an order in such a PIL, otherwise it will open Pandora's box.

The bench gave two months to the MHA to seek reports from the States.

It said that the court is only concerned that its earlier verdicts on the appointment of nodal officers for reporting and monitoring of such incidents are complied with by the States.

The court's order came on a PIL filed by Rev. Dr. Peter Machado of National Solidarity Forum, Rev. Vijayesh Lal of Evangelical Fellowship of India, and others claiming violence against the members of the Christian community in the country.

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Varanasi: Comedian Shyam Rangeela has finally filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency on Tuesday, May 14, the last day of filing papers.

Rangeela, who intended to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged on Monday that he was being denied a nomination from the seat, as he along with several other candidates were reportedly made to wait for filling papers on May 10th and May 13th.

Shyam Rangeela, taking to his official ‘X’ handle, wrote, "With your love and support, I have completed all the requirements as per the rules and submitted the nomination. I also have full faith in the democracy of this country. Now the next two-three days are crucial. Thank you all very much for your cooperation. My electoral future rests in the hands of all election officials who are the custodians of our democracy. With the hope that they all strengthen our faith, Yours Shyam Rangeela.”

Alongside, Shyam, BJP candidate Narendra Modi, Log Party's Vinay Kumar Tripathi, BJP's Surendra Narayan Singh, independent candidates Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Reena Rai, Neha Jaiswal, Ajit Kumar Jaiswal, Ashok Kumar Pandey, Sandeep Tripathi filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.

According to the Election Commision of India, a total of 41 candidates have filed nomination papers from the Varanasi constituency.