Fresh cracks in India, US ties? President Biden says talks on Russia ‘unresolved’

A high-ranking official with the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says the six Israeli captives found dead in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli airstrikes against the besieged coastal territory.

“The ones who kill our people daily are the Israeli colonizers with American weapons. The captives found in Gaza were not killed by us but by the relentless Zionist bombardment,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, said in a statement on Sunday.

He further criticized the United States, saying, “If President [Joe] Biden truly cares about the lives of Israeli hostages, he should cease his support for this enemy with money and weapons and pressure Israel to end its aggression immediately.”

Rishq emphasized that Hamas had been more concerned about the lives of the hostages than Biden himself, citing Hamas’s agreement to a ceasefire proposal and the UN Security Council’s resolution, both of which were rejected by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier on Sunday, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, alleged that Hamas murdered the six captives, whose bodies were found inside a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The Israeli army identified them as 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.

Hamas has offered to release Israeli captives in return for an end to the genocidal war on Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu has taken a tough line in Gaza ceasefire negotiations, and repeatedly said that military pressure is needed to bring home the captives.

According to Israeli media, he has feuded with the regime’s high-profile officials who have said a deal should be struck urgently.

Hamas has said that dozens of captives were killed by Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 last year after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

So far, the regime has killed at least 40,691 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 94,060 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well. 

New Delhi, Sep 12: Madrasas are "unsuitable" places for children to receive "proper education" and the education imparted there is "not comprehensive" and is against the provisions of the Right to Education Act, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Supreme Court.

The child rights body told the top court that children, who are not in formal schooling system, are deprived of their fundamental right to elementary education, including entitlements such as midday meal, uniform etc.

The NCPCR said madrassas merely teaching from a few NCERT books in the curriculum is a "mere guise" in the name of imparting education and does not ensure that the children are receiving formal and quality education.

"A madrassa is not only a unsuitable/unfit place to receive 'proper' education but also in absence of entitlements as provided under Sections 19, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, and 29 of the RTE Act," it said.

"Further, madrasas do not only render an unsatisfactory and insufficient model for education but also have an arbitrary mode of working which is wholly in absence of a standardised curriculum and functioning," the NCPCR said in its written submissions filed before the top court.

The child rights body stated that due to the absence of provisions of the RTE Act, 2009, the madrassas are also deprived of entitlement as in Section 21 of the Act of 2009.

"A madrassa works in an arbitrary manner and runs in an overall violation of the Constitutional mandate, RTE Act and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. It cannot be overlooked that a child getting education in such an Institution will be devoid of basic knowledge of school curriculum which is provided in a school.

"A school is defined under Section 2(n) of the RTE Act, 2009, which means any recognised school imparting elementary education. A madrassa being out of this definition has no right to compel children or their families to receive madrassa education," the NCPCR said.

It said most of the madrassas fail to provide a holistic environment to students, including planning social events, or extracurricular activities for 'experiential learning.

In a breather to about 17 lakh madrassa students, the apex court on April 5 had stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court that scrapped the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 calling it "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism.

Observing that the issues raised in the petitions merit closer reflection, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had issued notices to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government and others on the pleas against the high court order.

The top court said had the high court "prima facie" misconstrued the provisions of the Act, which does not provide for any religious instruction.

The high court had on March 22 declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism, and asked the state government to accommodate students in the formal schooling system.

The high court had declared the law ultra vires on a writ petition filed by advocate Anshuman Singh Rathore.

It had said the state has "no power to create a board for religious education or to establish a board for school education only for a particular religion and philosophy associated with it."

"We hold that the Madarsa Act, 2004, is violative of the principle of secularism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution," the high court had said.

The petitioner had challenged the constitutionality of the UP Madarsa Board as well as objected to the management of madrassas by the Minority Welfare Department instead of the education department.

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru City police have apprehended two individuals in connection with the recent stone-pelting incident at the residence of MLC Ivan D'Souza.

City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal identified the suspects as Bharat, also known as Yakshith, aged 24, and Dinesh Kurthamogeru, aged 20. Bharat, a driver from Bolantoor village in Bantwal taluk, has a history of three previous assault cases. Dinesh, who works in finance collection in Kanyana, hails from Kolnadu village in Bantwal taluk and has one prior assault case.

Following the incident, an FIR was lodged at the Mangaluru South police station. A special investigation team, led by ACP Central Sub-Division Pratap Singh Thorat, was formed to track down the culprits. The team conducted a thorough investigation, meticulously reviewing CCTV footage, verifying vehicle information, and gathering statements from eyewitnesses.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime, citing anger over statements made by MLC D'Souza as their motive. They admitted that, after dining at Fish Crown Hotel around 9:30 pm, they impulsively decided to throw stones at D'Souza's residence.