Your Daily Wrap: SC on sedition law, Santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar passes away; and more

Meanwhile, another bench of the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure over the Centre’s changing stance on minority status for Hindus. The court said the affidavit filed by the BJP-led Union government in response to a prayer seeking minority status for Hindus in certain states and Union territories “seems to an extent to backout of what was stated” in an “earlier” affidavit and that the court doesn’t “appreciate” this.

Santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma passed away on Tuesday at the age of 84. Sharma gave santoor, once a little known instrument from Jammu and Kashmir, a classical status and exalted it along with other, more traditional and famous instruments such as sitar and sarod. Mourning the legendary musician’s demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “our cultural world is poor.”

Hours after a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) was fired at the Punjab Police’s Intelligence headquarters in Mohali, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said those trying to disturb the state’s peace will not be spared. He informed that some arrests have been made and the investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring island country, protests erupted in front of Trincomalee Naval Base after reports that former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and some of his family members were there after leaving the official residence in Colombo. Over 200 people were injured in violence Monday after Rajapaksa’s supporters attacked anti-government protesters demanding his ouster.

Political Pulse

It is a small Union Territory off the Gujarat coast that is known for its liberal liquor policy and tourism industry. On May 7, seven of the nine Congress councillors of Diu Municipal Council (DMC) defected to the BJP. This put the saffron party in the majority just a month before DMC elections are set to be held and ended the Congress’s 15-year rule in the civic body. The saffron party expects the defections to aid it in the DMC general elections next month.

The site of the contested demolition drive carried out by North Delhi Municipal Corporation recently, Jahangirpuri, was born ironically out of a somewhat similar exercise. Here’s how.

Express Explained

Rocket-Propelled Grenade attack on the Punjab Police’s Intelligence headquarters in Mohali has brought the weapon into focus. What exactly is an RPG, what are its origins, and what damage can it cause? The Indian Express explains.

The latest round of excavations at the 5,000-year-old Harappan site of Rakhigarhi in Haryana’s Hisar has revealed the structure of some houses, lanes and a drainage system, and what could possibly be a jewellery-making unit, say Archaeological Survey of India officials. We take a look at these finds and what they mean for our knowledge of the site.