Rush Hour: SC dismisses plea against invite to Banu Mushtaq, e-KYC mandatory for Ladki Bahin & more

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The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition challenging a Karnataka High Court order that upheld the state government’s decision to invite writer and activist Banu Mushtaq to inaugurate the Mysuru Dasara celebrations. Mushtaq was the winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize.

The bench pointed out that the preamble to the Constitution speaks about secularism and that the Mysuru Dasara was a state event.

A row had erupted in Karnataka in August after Mushtaq was invited to inaugurate the celebrations, with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders claiming that the Congress government in the state had chosen a woman from a community that did not believe in Hinduism, referring to the author being a Muslim. Read more.

Opposition MPs have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the arrest of several African refugees in Delhi. In a letter, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, stated that the detained persons were not undocumented migrants but recognised refugees holding identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Delhi Police has arrested nearly 30 African refugees and sent them to a detention...

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