National News
Asking girls to take off hijab invasion of privacy, attack on dignity: Justice Dhulia
Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, in the split verdict on Karnataka hijab ban, on Thursday said by asking girls to take off their hijab before they enter school gates is an invasion of privacy, attack on dignity, and denial of secular education.
He said this is the time when children should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this, and also this is the time when they must realise that diversity is our strength.
Justice Dhulia said: “By asking the girls to take off their hijab before they enter the school gates, is first an invasion of their privacy, then it is an attack on their dignity, and then ultimately it is a denial to them of secular education. These are clearly violative of Article 19(1)(a), Article 21 and Article 25(1) of the Constitution”.
The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Dhulia. While Justice Gupta dismissed the appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment, Justice Dhulia set aside the high court judgment and quashed the Karnataka government order dated February 5.
The petitioners had moved the apex court, challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict refusing to lift the ban on hijab in educational institutions of the state.
Justice Dhulia said there shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in schools and colleges in Karnataka. He added that the unfortunate fallout of the hijab restriction would be that they would have denied education to a girl child.
“A girl child for whom it is still not easy to reach her school gate. This case here, therefore, has also to be seen in the perspective of the challenges already faced by a girl child in reaching her school. The question this court would put before itself is also whether we are making the life of a girl child any better by denying her education merely because she wears a hijab!” he said.
He added that the constitutional scheme, wearing a hijab should be simply a matter of choice and it may or may not be a matter of essential religious practice, but it still is, a matter of conscience, belief, and expression.
Justice Dhulia said if a girl wants to wear hijab, even inside her class room, she cannot be stopped, if it is worn as a matter of her choice, as it may be the only way her conservative family will permit her to go to school, and in those cases, her hijab is her ticket to education.
In a 73-page judgment, he said, “fraternity, which is our constitutional value, would therefore require us to be tolerant, and as some of the counsel would argue to be, reasonably accommodating, towards the belief and religious practices of others. We should remember the appeal made by Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy in Bijoe Emmanuel — our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practices tolerance; let us not dilute it.”
He emphasised that the Government Order dated 5 February, 2022, and the restrictions on the wearing of hijab, also goes against constitutional values of fraternity and human dignity.
Justice Dhulia said: “Liberty, equality, fraternity, the triptych of the French Revolution is also a part of our Preamble. It is true that whereas liberty and equality are well established, properly understood, and recognised concepts in politics and law, fraternity for some reasons has largely remained incognito. The framers of our Constitution though had a different vision. Fraternity had a different, and in many ways a much larger meaning with the main architect of our Constitution, Dr Ambedkar”.
He added that schools, in particular our pre-university colleges are the perfect institutions where children, who are now at an impressionable age, and are just waking up to the rich diversity of this nation, need to be counselled and guided, so that they imbibe our constitutional values of tolerance and accommodation, towards those who may speak a different language, eat different food, or even wear different clothes or apparel!
“This is the time to foster in them sensitivity, empathy and understanding towards different religions, languages and cultures. This is the time when they should learn not to be alarmed by our diversity but to rejoice and celebrate this diversity. This is the time when they must realise that in diversity is our strength,” he said.
Crime
CBI arrests proclaimed offender in Bengal gold trader’s murder in 2007

New Delhi, July 14: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested proclaimed offender Shibu Kumar Singh, one of the accused in the 2007 Sukanta Ghosh murder case, an official said.
He was arrested from his hideout at Raiganj Road in Gorakhpur’s South Gandhi Ashram, where he was living under the assumed name Akhilesh Kumar Shahi, the CBI official said in a statement.
The case was registered on the order of Calcutta High Court delivered on August 27, 2009.
After investigation, the CBI filed charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet on December 31, 2010, and November 14,2011, respectively, against Shibu Kumar Singh and three others, the statement said.
Absconding for several years, Shibu Kumar Singh was declared a proclaimed offender on September 15, 2016.
The accused was apprehended using human intelligence and technical inputs, the CBI said.
After obtaining a transit warrant, the accused will be taken to Kolkata for production before the competent court on Wednesday, the CBI added.
Barrackpore-based gold merchant Sukanta Ghosh was murdered on July 6, 2007.
The police found his body lying in a pool of blood with 18 stab wounds in Jawahar Kunja of Latbagan.
The police, after initial investigation, found that there was suspicion of the involvement of some goons allegedly working under the patronage of a Left legislator and his brothers.
The investigators found that the victim was murdered for refusing to pay protection or extortion money to the local mafia linked to the MLA.
During the investigation, the High Court had even directed the CBI to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the murder.
Justice Samapti Chatterjee had instructed the CBI to frame the SIT to reinvestigate the case that had initially been probed by the state police.
The High Court had directed that the SIT should be led by a CBI officer of the rank of Joint Director who would be responsible for providing updates to facilitate a court-monitored probe.
National News
NIA chargesheets 6th accused in CPI-Maoist Magadh zone revival, extortion case

New Delhi, July 14: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed its third chargesheet in a major conspiracy case, naming Chandan Kumar as the sixth accused in the revival of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit’s activities in the Magadh zone of Jharkhand and the systematic extortion of funds from contractors to procure arms and ammunition.
The chargesheet was submitted before the NIA Special Court in Ranchi, Jharkhand, in connection with a case, which the anti-terror agency had registered suo motu in December 2021.
Chandan Kumar, arrested by the NIA from Mumbai in January 2026, is described as a key figure in the operation.
According to the NIA’s investigation, Chandan Kumar played an active role in raising funds for the CPI (Maoist) through extortion from contractors working in the region.
The agency’s probe revealed that these illicit funds were channelled through multiple routes to support the terror outfit’s activities, including the purchase of arms and ammunition.
Further investigations established that Chandan Kumar was also involved in efforts to revive the CPI (Maoist)’s Magadh Zone by mobilising and encouraging former cadres to re-join the organisation.
His alleged objective was to strengthen the group’s presence and propagate its ideology through violent means.
The chargesheet highlights that prominent SAC Member of CPI (Maoist), Pradyuman Sharma, along with other accused persons including Abhinav and Chandan Kumar, were part of the larger conspiracy to resurrect the banned organisation’s operational capabilities in the area.
The NIA’s findings point to a well-planned strategy by the Maoist group to regain influence in the Magadh region through financial extortion and cadre mobilisation.
The agency has gathered substantial evidence linking the accused to these terror-related activities.
This is the third charge-sheet filed by the NIA in the case so far, with six accused now formally charge-sheeted.
The central probe agency is continuing its investigation to uncover the full extent of the conspiracy, identify additional operatives, and trace the complete money trail.
The development underscores the NIA’s ongoing commitment to dismantling the financial and operational networks of Left-Wing Extremist organisations operating in the country. Officials indicated that further arrests and chargesheets may follow as the investigation progresses.
Crime
Delhi Cyber Police bust mule bank account racket, arrest four in courier scam case

New Delhi, July 14: The Cyber Police Station of North-East District, Delhi, has busted a mule bank account racket and arrested four persons in connection with a fraud case involving cheating of Rs 2.47 lakh on the pretext of a courier delivery company.
The arrested accused have been identified as Md. Arbaz Daniyal alias Labbu (20), Jimmy Bathla (41), Abdul Wadood (27), and Aniket Verma (25). Police said the accused were allegedly involved in operating and supplying mule bank accounts used to receive and transfer money obtained through cyber fraud.
According to the police, a case vide e-FIR No. 00194/2026 dated 16.06.2026 under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at Cyber Police Station, North-East District, on the complaint of Satender, a resident of Babarpur, North-East Delhi, who works as Deputy General Manager (DGM) at Delhi Transco Limited (DTL).
Police said the complainant received a call from a fraudster impersonating a courier executive regarding the delivery of a parcel. The caller allegedly convinced him to dial a number and activate call and message forwarding on his mobile phone. As a result, incoming calls and SMSs, including banking OTPs, were diverted to numbers controlled by the fraudsters, allowing them to fraudulently withdraw Rs 2.47 lakh from his bank account.
During the investigation, police analysed financial transactions, technical evidence and field intelligence to trace the money trail. Investigators found that Rs 80,000 of the cheated amount had been transferred to a Nainital Bank account belonging to the accused Md. Arbaz Daniyal alias Labbu.
Police said further investigation revealed that the account was allegedly opened and operated as a mule account for receiving proceeds of cyber fraud. A dedicated team conducted raids in Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand and Lucknow, Mirzapur and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, leading to the arrest of all four accused.
“Investigation has exposed a well-organised network engaged in procuring and supplying mule bank accounts to cyber fraudsters for laundering cheated money,” Delhi Police said.
During interrogation, police said Md. Arbaz disclosed that he had opened the bank account on the instructions of Jimmy Bathla in exchange for Rs 50,000. Jimmy allegedly handed over the account to Abdul Wadood for Rs 1 lakh.
Police further said Abdul Wadood allegedly supplied the Nainital Bank account details to Aniket Verma, who then provided the account information to cyber fraudsters operating through Telegram for use in online financial frauds.
Four mobile phones, one from each accused, have been recovered during the investigation. Police said analysis of the seized devices revealed transaction details linked to the alleged cyber fraud network.
The arrests have provided important leads about the larger interstate cyber fraud syndicate, and efforts are underway to identify other members, trace additional fraudulent transactions and recover the remaining proceeds of crime.
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