Daily Bulletin: SC verdict on Section 377 likely today, protests in MP against ST/SC Act, India-US 2+2 dialogue; day's top stories

SC verdict on Section 377 likely today

The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Thursday its much-awaited verdict on a clutch of petitions seeking amendment in Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises consensual gay sex. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had reserved its verdict on 17 July after hearing various stakeholders for four days, including gay rights activists. The apex court had asserted that courts cannot wait for a “majoritarian government” to decide on enacting, amending or striking down a law if it violates fundamental rights. It had made clear that it may not strike down the law completely and deal with it to the extent it relates to consensual acts between two adults.

Upper caste groups to protest against SC/ST Act in Madhya Pradesh

Security has been stepped up, school holiday has been declared in one district, and petrol pumps will remain closed across Madhya Pradesh on Thursday in view of ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by some groups against the amendment to the SC/ST Act.

The Madhya Pradesh Police has tightened security across the state in view of ongoing protests against the amendment to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) Makrand Deuskar said orders prohibiting the gathering of people in large numbers have been imposed. Brahma Samagam Sawarna Jankalyan Sangathan’s national president Dharmendra Sharma said about 150 organisations of upper castes and OBCs would participate in the Bharat Bandh against the amendment.

KCR to decide on Telangana Assembly dissolution today, decision will pave way for early elections

The Telangana Cabinet is likely to meet in Hyderabad on Thursday, the second time in five days, amid indications that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao may take a call on the dissolution of the state Assembly to pave the way for early elections. Sources in the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Wednesday claimed the government has more-or-less made up its mind on the dissolution of the Assembly, whose term ends next year. The Assembly elections in Telangana are originally scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls next year, but the chief minister sees an advantage for TRS in delinking the two polls.

Supreme Court to hear plea challenging arrest of activists in Bhima Koregaon violence

Days after five activists were arrested over alleged links to Maoists in connection to the Bhima-Koregaon violence, the Supreme Court on Thursday, will hear the plea challenging their arrest. The apex court on 29 August had issued a notice to the Maharashtra Government and ordered that the five accused activists be under house arrest till 6 September. Maharashtra Police had arrested the five left-wing activists — Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira — on 28 August.

India-US 2+2 dialogue today

India and US aim to solidify their strategic partnership in the inaugural two-plus-two dialogue on Thursday with a focus on boosting military ties and ironing out differences over India’s defence and trade engagement with Iran and Russia.US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and US secretary of defence James Mattis, who arrived on Wednesday evening for the dialogue with their counterparts Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman, will head their respective teams for the talks. Speaking to the travelling US media, Pompeo on Wednesday had said that issues like India buying Russian missile defence system and Iranian oil export to India will “certainly come up, but I don’t think they’ll be the primary focus of what it is we’re trying to accomplish here”.

Battered rupee’s fall continues

The rupee’s unabated fall continued for the sixth straight session on Wednesday, hitting yet another closing low of 71.75, down 17 paise against the US currency as surging oil prices and weak trend in emerging market currencies weighed on sentiments. Intra-day, the domestic unit plummeted to a historic low of 71.97 a dollar before finding some respite, staging some recovery towards the tail-end. The battered currency has lost 165 paise in the last six trading sessions. However, the Reserve Bank swung into action to put a floor under the sliding currency and stave off a full-blown meltdown.

Facebook, Twitter face US Senate

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey faced several questions from members of the US Senate Intelligence Committee. Members of the Senate questioned the executives on Facebook’s and Twitter’s failure to respond to respond to foreign interference in the US election process. The two executives were supposed to be joined by a senior executive from Google, but Google could not or would not make one of its senior executives available for the hearing, much to the dismay of the committee. Sandberg and Dorsey both acknowledged failings on the part of their respective companies and attempted to defend their subsequent actions. They also had to defend against allegations of inherent political bias of their respective platforms and explain the steps that were being taken to handle such unwanted interference.

Dilip Kumar hospitalised due to chest infection

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar, 95, was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday due to a chest infection, but he is recuperating. The actor is at the Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre in Bandra. Faisal Farooqui, who tweets on behalf of the actor, gave a health update on the ailing actor via Twitter. “Saab has been admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital as he was bit uneasy due to a chest infection. He is recuperating. Requesting your duas and prayers,” Farooqui tweeted.