India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat on Friday increased the punishment for cow slaughter from seven years to life imprisonment as Hindu hardliners push for tougher protections for the holy animal. Under the stiffened penalties passed by Gujarat’s state assembly, anyone caught transporting cows for slaughter could also face up to 10 … Read more
India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has promised an “impartial” inquiry into attacks on Nigerian students living in Noida, near Delhi. The attacks were prompted by the death of a local teenager due to a drug overdose. His parents blame Nigerian students for giving him the drugs. Five Nigerian students were attacked on Monday by crowds, … Read more
Indian newspapers have reported that five people have been arrested over the attack Four Nigerian students have been wounded in India following an attack on them in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in the latest violence against Africans in the country. India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Sharawaj said in a tweet that the chief minister … Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing party Saturday picked a controversial firebrand leader to head India’s most populous state, where it won a landslide victory last week. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won an absolute majority in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 220 million people and seen as a bellwether of national … Read more
India’s defence minister resigned Monday to lead the coastal state of Goa after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party secured enough support from minor parties to retain power in the popular tourist region. Manohar Parrikar will be sworn in as Goa’s chief minister on Tuesday — the fourth time he has held the position in his … Read more
Rebounding from a self-inflicted banknote crisis to deliver his party a stunning victory in state polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dominance mirrors that of India’s early independence leaders and bodes well for his re-election in 2019, analysts say. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won a surprise absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh at the weekend, a result … Read more
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked set to tighten his grip on power Saturday with early trends from a string of state elections showing his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leading in the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Polling trends on the Election Commission of India website showed the BJP storming ahead in 221 seats out … Read more
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hoping to tighten his grip on power Saturday when results are announced from a string of state elections, including the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Exit polls show Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning most seats in at least three of the five contests while the beleaguered opposition … Read more
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hoping to tighten his grip on power Saturday when results are announced from a string of state elections, including the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Exit polls show Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning most seats in at least three of the five contests while the beleaguered opposition … Read more
The body of Pausuan Lian has lain in a hospital mortuary for more than 500 days since he was shot dead during a land protest in India’s Manipur state but his family is still refusing to allow his burial. “All nine martyrs, including my son, will stay in the morgue until justice is done,” his … Read more
The head of India’s newest state is facing condemnation after spending $750,000 in public money on gold temple offerings to thank the gods for realising his long-held ambition. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao campaigned for decades for the creation of Telangana state in the south of India and had promised to donate gold to a … Read more
The new chief minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state won a confidence vote in the regional assembly Saturday, hours after legislators came to blows over a bitterly fought leadership contest. Shouting slogans, legislators disrupted the assembly ahead of the vote, ripping out microphones and breaking chairs as Edappadi Palanisamy, who was recently sworn in as … Read more
Edappadi Palanisamy, an ally of jailed and disgraced Indian politician VK Sasikala has been sworn in as the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, ending a week-long tussle over succession marked by bitter infighting. Wearing a crisp white shirt, Palanisamy took the oath of office along with 31 cabinet colleagues in the state capital … Read more
An ally of disgraced Indian politician VK Sasikala was Thursday appointed the next leader of Tamil Nadu state, ending a weeks-long succession war marked by bitter in-fighting and plot twists. Edappadi Palanisamy took the reins of the ruling party after Sasikala, who was on the verge of becoming chief minister of the southern state, was … Read more
Disgraced Indian politician VK Sasikala prepared Wednesday to hand herself over to begin a four-year jail term for corruption, days before she had been due to become chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Sasikala set off by car from her base in the southern state’s capital Chennai to Bangalore where she will serve her sentence, a … Read more
A cabinet minister who claimed to have ordered police to torture rape suspects should be investigated for human rights abuses, Amnesty International has said. Uma Bharti, in charge of water resources, told supporters last week that she used to order rape suspects to be beaten in front of their victims and then have salt and chillies … Read more
Amnesty International called on Tuesday for an Indian cabinet minister to be investigated for human rights abuses after she claimed to have ordered police to torture rape suspects. Water resources minister Uma Bharti caused a storm last week when she told supporters that she used to order rape suspects to be beaten in front of … Read more
India’s Supreme Court handed down a four-year prison sentence Tuesday to the incoming chief minister of Tamil Nadu for corruption in a ruling that prevents her from taking up her post. VK Sasikala was found guilty of possessing “disproportionate assets” in a long-running case that also involved her mentor Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the state’s former chief … Read more
Pakistanis Tuesday mourned the victims of a Taliban-claimed suicide bomb in Lahore, as the death toll rose to 15 and the city’s residents railed at the government for failing to protect them. The chief minister of Punjab state Shahbaz Sharif declared a day of mourning after Monday’s blast on Lahore’s Mall Road, one of the … Read more
An Indian minister says she made rape suspects beg for their lives and ordered police to torture them. Uma Bharti, the water resources minister, claims she told the men’s accusers to watch as they were hung upside down. “Rapists should be tortured in front of victims until they beg for forgiveness,” she said. Ms Bharti … Read more