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Asian News International has filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against YouTuber Mohak Mangal for posting an allegedly defamatory video accusing the news agency of extortion and blackmail. Comedian Kunal Kamra and AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair, among others, were also listed as defendants in the suit for allegedly sharing Mangal’s claims on social media.

Mangal in his video uploaded on May 25 had accused ANI of extortion and blackmail after the news agency initiated copyright strikes against his YouTube channel for using its footage in his material. He contended that he had used the footage under the “fair use” principle.

The court is expected to hear the matter on Thursday. Read on.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Assam Human Rights Commission to investigate the alleged “fake encounters” by the state police since 2021. The court passed the direction in response to a petition claiming that more than 80 staged gunfights had taken place in Assam since May 2021, when Bharatiya Janata Party leader Himanta Biswa Sarma became the chief minister.

The bench said that while a mere compilation of cases could not lead to blanket judicial orders, allegations of staged gunfights were serious. It said that the allegations, if proven, would amount to grave violations of the right to life. Read on.

A delegation of 10 Manipur MLAs, including seven from the Bharatiya Janata Party, met Governor Ajay Bhalla to urge the formation of a “popular government” in the state. President’s Rule was imposed on February 13 after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned earlier that day. Bhalla has been administering the strife-torn state since then.

A BJP MLA has claimed that 44 MLAs support the formation of the government. Read on.

The Supreme Court has stated that the Special Investigation Team’s probe into comments made by Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad about the press briefings on Operation Sindoor should be limited to the two first information reports filed against him. The bench said that the interim protection granted to the professor would continue till further orders.

It also said that the investigation report should be produced before the court before being filed in the jurisdictional court.

One of the cases was filed based on a complaint by Yogesh Jatheri, general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yuva Morcha unit in Haryana. The second case was filed on the basis of a complaint by Renu Bhatia, the chairperson of the Haryana State Women’s Commission. Read on.

A Chennai court has convicted a man for the sexual assault of a student on the Anna University campus. He was found guilty on all 11 charges filed against him, including rape and sexual harassment. The court will deliver the sentence on June 2.

In December, the man had filmed the student and her partner on the campus and threatened to leak the footage to the dean and the couple’s parents if they did not comply with his demands. He allegedly took the complainant to a remote location where he blackmailed her and sexually assaulted her.

The case had sparked a controversy after the FIR was leaked online, revealing the identity of the student. Read on.

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