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The Supreme Court on Thursday referred the challenge to the constitutional validity of the May 19 Delhi services ordinance to a five-judge bench but refused to stay the Centre's order, which substantially negated the SC’s May 11 judgment giving legislative and executive control over the bureaucracy to the Delhi government.

After hearing arguments of senior advocate A M Singhvi for a stay on the “unconstitutional” ordinance, and on the order’s legitimacy from senior advocate Harish Salve and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra sent it to a bigger bench.

Muslim activists have slammed Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for stating that he will not chant ‘Vande Mataram’. While taking part in a debate on the recent communal riots in Aurangabad on Wednesday in the legislative assembly, Azmi said as a Muslim he cannot chant the national song. He said as per the Koran a Muslim can bow his head only before Allah and no one else.

Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the incident of women being paraded naked in Manipur, the Congress launched a sharp attack on him, calling the statement "too little, too late" and saying "mere words won't do anymore". Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that "after more than 1800 hours of an incomprehensible and unforgivable silence, the prime minister finally spoke on Manipur for a sum total of 30 seconds".

Veteran Congress leader A K Antony's son Anil Antony who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in April is set to be active in politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP leader met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (July 20) at the Parliament in New Delhi. This is the first time that Anil Antony held a discussion with PM Modi after joining the saffron party. According to reports, he briefed about Kerala's political situation to the Prime Minister. 

Anil quit the position he held in the Congress party in January this year after his Twitter post criticising the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots irked the party. Anil was asked to retract the tweet. However, he did not do so and said, "Intolerant calls to retract a tweet by those fighting for free speech."

In a major breakthrough, the Manipur Police arrested one of the main accused who was seen in the viral video showing two tribal women being paraded naked and molested by a violent mob at a village in Senapati district on May 4. The accused, identified as Huirem Herodas (32), was seen in the 26-second clip that went viral on social media, the Manipur police said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that a case of abduction, gang rape, and murder had been registered at Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal against unknown armed miscreants.

The main culprit was wearing a green t-shirt and holding the woman in the viral video. He was arrested this morning in an operation after proper identification. He is from Pechi Awang Leikai, the police said. The state police said that all-out efforts were on to arrest the other culprits at the earliest.