This Week in Explainers: Why thousands of Indian pilgrims won’t be able to perform Hajj this year

The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions filed against the Waqf Act, 2025, which was recently passed by Parliament. The top court has barred the Centre from implementing certain provisions of the legislation until the next date of hearing.

Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in India in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, has been taken into custody in Belgium. The fugitive diamantaire’s arrest came following an extradition request by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

BluSmart, a popular electric ride-hailing startup, has suspended its services. A rival of Uber, the cab service operated in Delhi-National Capital Region, Mumbai and Bengaluru. But what has put a break on its wheels?

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Here’s all this and more in our weekly wrap from India.

1. The Supreme Court has indicated it could put a stay on three key aspects of the Waqf Act, 2025. The top court has flagged provisions of the law related to waqf-by-user, the inclusion of non-Muslims in the Waqf Boards and Council, and the powers granted to the District Collector to change the status of a disputed waqf property.

“We do not stay a legislation normally at this stage of the challenge unless in exceptional circumstances. This appears to be an exception,” a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna noted after a day’s hearing. The contentious Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, passed by Parliament earlier this month, has sparked protests in several parts of the country. In this report, we explain the key points of the legislation that could be stayed by the Supreme Court.

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2. India is awaiting diamond trader Mehul Choksi’s extradition from Belgium. However, it could be a long process before he finally returns to his homeland to face justice in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank loan fraud case.

Choksi fled India in 2018, weeks before the alleged scam came to light. Reports surfaced last month that Choksi is living in Belgium’s port city of Antwerp along with his wife, Preeti Choksi, a Belgian citizen. Now, India is seeking his extradition from the European country.  But one of the factors that could complicate his extradition to India from Belgium is the businessman’s Antiguan citizenship. We explain in detail why Choksi is unlikely to be in India soon.

3. The Supreme Court has ruled that Urdu can be used on the signboard of a municipal council building in Maharashtra. Upholding the verdict of the Bombay High Court, the top court allowed the use of Urdu, along with Marathi, on the signage of the Patur Municipal Council building in Akola district.

“Language is not religion. Language does not even represent religion. Language belongs to a community, to a region, to a people; and not to a religion,” a Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran stated, lamenting that colonial powers, despite the Indian origin of Urdu, associated the language with Muslims and Hindi with Hindus. Read our report on the apex court’s ruling here.

4. Over 42,000 pilgrims in India would miss the sacred Hajj pilgrimage this year. This comes after the Combined Haj Group Operators (CHGOs) missed the deadline of the Saudi authorities to fill more than 52,000 slots.

However, after the Indian government’s intervention, Saudi Arabia has allowed private operators to send 10,000 Indian pilgrims for the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. What are CHGOs? How many Indians were supposed to visit the Hajj this year? Read this story to know more.

5. BluSmart, an electric ride-hailing startup, has stopped its services after the securities market regulator’s order against its promoters in an alleged loan fraud case. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) launched an investigation into Gensol Engineering, a solar energy company, which procured electric vehicles and leases them to BluSmart.

Gensol Engineering’s founders, Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, are also promoters of BluSmart. Sebi has accused the Jaggi brothers of directing substantial loan amounts for personal use, including buying a luxury apartment in Gurgaon. How has the controversy impacted BluSmart? What does the cab service’s future look like? We explain in this report.

6. Akshay Kumar’s Kesari Chapter 2 has brought Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair to the limelight. The movie depicts Nair’s notable legal battle against the British Empire in the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also recently showered praise on Nair, an Indian jurist and nationalist born in Kerala. What is the courtroom battle featuring Kumar as Nair that Kesari has shown? Who was Sankaran Nair? Read our story to find out.

7. Is the paneer you are relishing real? Or is it fake paneer that you are clearing off the plate? Indians were forced to wonder after an influencer and YouTuber, Sarthak Sachdeva, accused Gauri Khan’s Mumbai restaurant, Torii, of serving “fake paneer.”

In a viral video, he can be seen carrying out an iodine test, which turned the paneer blue — presumably a sign of starch, meaning adulteration. But is this a sure-shot method of identifying fake paneer? And how harmful can such paneer be? We dig into it in this report.

This is all we have for you this week. If you like the way we explain things, you can bookmark this page.