SC to quash student FIRs; Jharkhand cancels 44 exams: top stories

Here is a round-up of the day's top news from India and around the world, spanning politics, legal decisions, and administrative actions.

In a major relief for students, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to use its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to quash First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against students who took part in nationwide protests over the NEET-UG exam paper leaks. The court has sought a list of FIRs in which only students are named. The protests had led to the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Education Minister and prompted the government to introspect.

The Jharkhand Government on Tuesday night released a list of 44 recruitment exams that have been cancelled due to irregularities, amid ongoing student protests over the issue. The cancelled exams include recruitment for drug inspectors, assistant professors, deputy collectors, dental doctors, assistant engineers, civil judges, additional public prosecutors and forest range officers, among others. The government did not specify a timeline for re-conducting the exams but said action is being taken against those responsible.

In international news, the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles at shipping in the Gulf. The UAE Ministry of Defence said air defences detected the missiles, with one falling outside its territorial waters and the other within. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei categorically rejected the claim, calling it harmful to regional trust and security efforts.

In a significant development in Delhi, former Minister Satyendar Jain and former Delhi Jal Board CEO Udit Prakash Rai are among six persons arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch in connection with an alleged corruption case involving the tendering process for sewage treatment plant projects of the Delhi Jal Board. The other accused include a former contractual consultant and three private individuals.

The Census 2027 questionnaire, which has gone live in Ladakh and snow-bound areas of three other states ahead of the rest of the country, seeks detailed information about parents' religion, date of birth, and place of birth up to the village level. The schedule also includes an option to record the place of birth of parents if they were born outside India. Besides the six major religions, respondents can record any other religion in a separate column.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed 600 experts from its examination team as part of a revamp. Officials said new experts will be onboarded and a four-tier question paper checking system will be introduced. Around 20 to 25 new officials will be inducted in the next two to three weeks, and NTA offices will be shifted to new premises with enhanced security by Central Industrial Security Force teams.

In another legal development, the State of Goa has moved the Supreme Court challenging the quantum of sentence given to former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal in a 2013 rape case. The appeal seeks enhancement of the sentence, arguing that the punishment is inadequate given the nature of the offence.