The Catch Up: 25 September

3 Things

This is the CatchUp on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I am Flora Swain.
Today is the 25th of September and here are the headlines.
With the second phase of polling for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly kicking off today, a group of diplomats from 16 foreign missions arrived in Srinagar to “observe” the voting. Former CM and senior National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, however, termed them as “guided tourists”. “If diplomats can be brought here, why are foreign journalists not being permitted to come here and cover elections… Diplomats are being brought here as guided tourists,” he said. Second phase of voting is underway across 26 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, including 15 constituencies in the Kashmir division and 11 in Jammu.
The Supreme Court said today calling any part of India “Pakistan” is contrary to the country’s territorial integrity as it heard a matter over the remarks made by a Karnataka High Court judge earlier this month. Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said this while hearing the matter in which it had taken suo motu cognisance of video clips of the comments made by the Karnataka High Court judge. The bench perused the report which said the judge tendered a public apology on September 21. THe court said and I quote, “Bearing in mind the apology which has been tendered by the judge of the high court, in the course of the open court proceedings on September 21, 2024, we consider it in the interest of justice and the dignity of the institution to not pursue these proceedings further."
Kerala Police today arrested Malayalam actor Edavela Babu on rape charges. The actor will be released on bail soon since he had secured anticipatory bail from a district court in Ernakulam earlier this month. The rape allegations against Babu came earlier this year against the backdrop of the release of the Hema Committee report on the working conditions of women in the Malayalam movie industry. Until he resigned in June, Babu had served as the general secretary of Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) for several years.
Hours after she asserted that her statement on the repealed farm laws were her personal views, Himachal Pradesh MP and BJP leader Kangana Ranaut today withdrew her statement, adding that she stands with the party. Ranaut had stirred yet another row with her remarks urging farmers to ask the Prime Minister to reinstate the three repealed farm laws of 2020. In a video posted on X, she said and I quote, “Many people are upset and disappointed by my remarks. When the three farmers laws were proposed, a lot of us supported it. But with a lot of sensitivity and sympathy, our PM repealed these laws. It’s the responsibility of all the party workers to treat his words with dignity. I also have to keep in mind that I am no longer just an actor but also a BJP member. My opinions can’t be personal, they have to reflect the party’s stand."
Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel early Wednesday, including a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group's deepest strike yet and marked a further escalation after Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed hundreds of people.The Israeli military said it intercepted the surface-to-surface missile, which set off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
This was the CatchUp on 3 Things by The Indian Express.