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The Morning Wrap: Death Of Dadri Case Accused Sparks Tension; Authorities Stop Jayalalithaa's Niece From Visiting Her

Our selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers.
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The Indian Army has reportedly handed over several videos and other evidence of the surgical strikes to the Indian government and top Army officers are reportedly keen that they should be made public by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The veracity of the attack, carried out by the Indian Army at alleged terrorist camps at the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on 29 September, has been questioned by foreign media, as well as some Indian political leaders.

Nipun Malhotra, a disability rights activist has started an online portal called 'Wheels For Life,' a website that connects people who need wheelchairs with people who can gift them. Their portal has also tied up with a couple of Delhi NGOs so that they can list the disabled people who can't afford wheelchairs.

Political discourse took a nosedive yesterday after disparaging remarks by two BJP leaders in connection with the controversy surrounding Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam asking for proof of the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army on 29 September. BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma added fuel to the controversy with his remark that people who ask for proof from the army 'would need evidence of their conception from their parents'.

After Ravin Sisodia, who was accused in the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, was found dead in jail on Wednesday, the village has been simmering with tension. After the 21-year-old's body was returned to his family, they refused to cremate it, claiming that he was murdered in jail. Many villagers remained confined to their houses while others took to the streets, organising rallies and burning effigies of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in protest.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly told his ministers in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to stop "chest thumping" over the Indian Army's surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC). He is reportedly concerned that this will lead to "unnecessary political escalation" within the country.

Police arrested 70 call-centre workers on Wednesday on suspicion of tricking American citizens into sending them money by posing as US tax officials. A total of 772 workers were detained earlier on Wednesday in raids on nine call centres in a Mumbai suburb. Seventy were placed under formal arrest, 630 were released pending questioning over the coming days, and 72 were freed without further investigation.

Government study has found five different toxins in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) of cold drinks produced by two major multinational companies — PepsiCo and Coca Cola. The toxins found were heavy metals antimony, lead, chromium and cadmium and the compound DEHP or Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. The health hazards of these toxins range from coma to death; and some of them even fall under the 'carcinogenic' category.

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's niece tried to visit her aunt at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, but was reportedly denied access. "My aunt is so dear to me. I want to hold her hand and say she will be fine, but they wouldn't allow me anywhere near," said Deepa, daughter of Jayalalithaa's brother Jayakumar. Ever since Jayalalithaa was hospitalised on 22 September, her followers have been monitoring the condition of her health obsessively.

A daily workers' 11-year-old son recently wrestled with a full-grown, five-feet-long python to save his and his older cousin's life. The python accosted them on their way to school in Bantwal, near Mangalore. The boy fought bravely with the python, and only sustained a cut on his hand and bruises on his legs and body.

Freedom to hold contrary views seems disallowed in the current times, writes Shailaja Bajpai in The Indian Express. "It has become commonplace for some English TV news anchors to claim that they speak for the nation (the nation wants to know. remember?). Who conferred this right on them? No one knows: Yes, English news TV does reach approximately 16 million people a week cumulatively, but that does that mean TV anchors represent the nation and the diversity of its people's views," she asks.

The politics of alcohol consumption and cow slaughter have, of late, run roughshod over issues of constitutional law and philosophy, says an editorial in Mint. "The Patna high court's recent judgement on prohibition in Bihar—especially when read together with the Bombay high court's earlier beef ban verdict — is a necessary redressal of the balance. These judgements are a nuanced look at how the relationship between the republic and the citizen is being renegotiated within the constitutional framework. The fundamental question at the heart of both cases is this: Do Indian citizens have the right to drink and eat what they want," it says.

The Cauvery Management Board (CMB) was conceived as a body that would monitor the storage position in the Cauvery basin and the trend of rainfall, and assess the likely inflows for distribution among the States, says an editorial in The Hindu. "The Supreme Court's direction to the Centre to constitute the CMB was in keeping with the tribunal order, and not in contravention of it, as the government was trying to make it appear. The fact that the Centre did such a hasty U-turn on the CMB while making its submission in the Supreme Court suggests that political factors may have been at play. The Assembly election in Karnataka, where the BJP has high stakes, is less than two years away. In contrast, Tamil Nadu, where the BJP has no real base, has recently concluded its election," it says.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.