Live update: Mamata demands Modi government’s ouster for failing to prevent terror attack 

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would look into the plea seeking urgent hearing of a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir and limits Parliament's power to make laws for the state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submission of lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay that his plea was of "extreme national importance" and needed to be listed for urgent hearing.

The plea also seeks a declaration from the apex court that the separate Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir was "arbitrary" and "unconstitutional" on various grounds, including that it was against the "supremacy of the Constitution of India and contrary to dictum of 'One Nation, One Constitution, One National Anthem and One National Flag'".

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti Monday expressed condolences to the families of soldiers killed in the Pulwama encounter, saying the bloodshed will only stop when the Centre overhauls its approach to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Deepest condolences to the families. This bloodshed will only stop when GoI (Government of India) overhauls its approach (rather lack of it) towards J&K," the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in a tweet.

India on Monday said the trial of its national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court "hopelessly failed" to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process and requested the International Court of Justice to declare it "unlawful".

India's plea came as the top UN court began a four-day public hearing in the case of Jadhav, 48, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage.

India, during the first day of the hearing, based its case on two broad issues -- breach of Vienna Convention on consular access and the process of resolution.

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved order on a plea by a Manipur student activist challenging his arrest and transit remand here in a sedition case lodged against him for making remarks over the citizenship bill on social media.

The order is expected later in the day.

Justice Sunil Gaur heard the submissions of the counsel for activist Veewon Thokchom, Manipur and Delhi police during which his advocate argued that the transit remand order suffered from non-application of mind.

The high court had earlier in the day, transferred the petition to another bench for hearing it today itself due to some technical issues.

TMC leader Mamata Banerjee on the Pulwama attack said, “The Govt had inputs from intelligence agencies on Feb 8 that such attacks might happen before elections. Why no action was taken? Why 78 convoys were still allowed?...I also have intelligence reports that my phone is always taped, as you all know.”

Pakistan offered to allow Jadhav's family to visit him, the terms were agreed and the meeting was held on 25th December, 2017. India was dismayed at the manner the meeting with Jadhav's family was conducted and wrote a letter on 27 December marking its protest,” said Harish Salve in the International Court of Justice.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday demanded statehood for both the national capital and Puducherry, saying people in these two union territories should not be discriminated against.

Kejriwal, who was here en route to Puducherry to express solidarity with Chief Minister V Narayanasamy -locked in a turf war with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi- alleged that the situation in the two union territories was the same.

Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues and MLAs of both Congress and DMK have been staging a dharna against Bedi in front of the Raj Nivas in Puducherry since February 13 in protest against the her "negative stand" towards various proposals of the territorial government.

Harish Salve representing India and Kulbhushan Jadhav in ICJ said, “On 19th June, 2017, India responded to the request for assistance in investigation and pointed that not only Jadhav had been denied consular access but no credible evidence have been provided by Pakistan to show his involvement in any act of terrorism and his (Jadhav's) purported confession clearly appears to be coaxed. India reminded Pakistan that it's Pakistan government which hasn't ratified SAARC convention on legal assistance in criminal matters.”

The Bihar Assembly plunged into turmoil on Monday, forcing adjournment till 2 pm within minutes of commencement of proceedings, as the opposition MLAs kicked up a ruckus demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal.

The court had forwarded to CBI an application filed by one of the accused in the scandal seeking investigation into the role of Kumar and a number of top bureaucrats in the release of funds to the shelter home from 2013 to 2018.

A student activist from Manipur approached the Delhi High Court on Monday challenging his arrest and transit remand order of a magistrate here in a sedition case lodged against him for making remarks over the citizenship bill on social media.

Veewon Thokchom, who was arrested by Manipur police in Delhi on February 15, has filed the petition through his brother seeking quashing of the transit remand claiming it to be defective.

A Border Security Force (BSF) constable drowned in river Padma while chasing cow smugglers near the Indo-Bangla border in West Bengal's Murshidabd district, an official said.

A BSF patrol party noticed miscreants along with cattle heads trying to cross over to Bangladesh on Thursday night, a BSF official.

The BSF troops challenged them to stop but they did not pay any heed and continued to move with cattle heads with intention to smuggle them to Bangladesh. The smugglers were armed with sticks and other sharp edged weapons, a BSF release said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav sought to corner the Narendra Modi government on Monday over the death of soldiers, asking "why the government is waiting and watching".

"Till when will the three day period of mourning keep getting extended? Everyday we get news of the brave martyrdom of our jawans while smiling BJP politicians accompany their funeral processions. Why is the govt waiting and watching?," he said in a tweet.

Yadav had, on February 15, visited the house of slain CRPF personnel Pradeep, one of the 40 victims of the Pulwama terror attack, in Kannauj and paid condolences.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has undergone a surgery for hernia at a hospital in Mumbai.

Gehlot, 67, who was operated upon on Sunday, appealed to people to be tab of their health issues and get timely treatment for it.

"Happy to know about the successful operation. Best wishes for your good health Ashok Ji," PM Modi said in a tweet.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking quashing of the February 1 interim Budget on the alleged ground that there was no constitutional provision for an interim Budget.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said it was not inclined to entertain the petition by lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma, filed in his personal capacity.

In a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan on Monday called back its High Commissioner from India for "consultations" amid heightened bilateral tensions after the Pulwama terror attack, days after New Delhi asked its envoy in Islamabad to return.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said envoy Sohail Mahmood left New Delhi on Monday morning.

"We have called back our High Commissioner in India for consultations. He left New Delhi this morning," he said on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear as to how many days he will stay in Pakistan.

Mahmood was on Friday summoned in New Delhi by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale who lodged strong protest over the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers in Pulwama.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition challenging Centre's notification advising the media to not use the term "Dalit" to describe members of Scheduled Castes.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said it was not interested in entertaining a petition that challenged the 2018 advisory of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry asking private satellite television channels to use Scheduled Caste instead of Dalit.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioner V A Ramesh Nathan, questioned the legality of the circular and said, "How can the Government of India issue such a circular questioning my identity".

Roads and national highways were blocked in various places and state-owned buses were stoned as the flash hartal called by the Youth Congress, to protest the killing of two of its activists allegedly by ruling CPI(M) workers, began in Kerala on Monday.

The state-wide dawn-to-dusk hartal was called past midnight by the Youth Congress leadership through social media, hours after its workers -Sarath Lal and Kripesh - were hacked to death in northern Kasaragod district.

Normal life was not affected much in the initial hours of the hartal as it was announced late night and common people came to know about it very late.

Youth Congress activists blocked vehicles in various districts including Kozhikode, Kollam, Idukki and Ernakulam.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow reopening of Vedanta's Sterlite plant in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu but granted it liberty to approach the high court.

A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman said it is allowing Tamil Nadu's appeal against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order only on grounds of maintainability.

It said NGT has no jurisdiction to order reopening of the plant.

The court was hearing a plea by Vedanta group seeking a direction to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to implement the NGT order which had set aside the government's decision to close the plant.

At least 13 people were killed and several injured on May 22 last year when police opened fire on people protesting against the environment pollution being caused by the unit.

Six days later, the Tamil Nadu government had ordered the state pollution control board to seal and "permanently" close the plant.

President of Argentina Mauricio Macri received a ceremonial reception on the first day of his state visit to India at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He was accompanied by his wife Juliana Awada on the 3-day state visit to India. They also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.

A Kashmiri doctor, who has been living in Kolkata for 22 years, has claimed that he has been asked to leave the city or face "dire consequences" following the Pulwama terror strike that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF men.

The doctor, however, has decided to stay put after the West Bengal government came to his rescue.

The doctor, who did not wish to be named, said he was heckled but he had not paid much heed to the threats he had received initially. However, his concern grew when some men gathered outside his residence and threatened to harm his daughter unless he "returned to Pakistan".

On February 15, a day after the Pulwama attack, five men aged between 20 and 25 years came to his house after he returned home from his chamber, the doctor said, adding that they asked him to leave the city immediately and "go back to Pakistan as Kashmiris have no place in this country".

"I was heckled by those men and threatened with dire consequences. Initially, I ignored those threats as I had never faced such a situation here in 22 years. The next morning, while I was leaving for my hospital, I again saw those men standing outside my house. They threatened me and said If I did not leave the city, my daughter would pay a heavy price," he said.

The doctor admitted that this time the threats sounded more serious and he even made up his mind to leave. However, before preparing to leave the city that he grew so fond of, the doctor tried reaching the West Bengal government as a last resort.

"I decided to inform Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee regarding the incident through social media platforms and posted a message on Facebook. I also left a message on the chief minister's Facebook page," he said.

The next day, the doctor received a call from the chairperson of the West Bengal State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

The official assured him of all help, he said.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the "brutal murder" of two Youth Congress workers in Kerala as "shocking" and said the party will not rest till the murderers are brought to justice.

Two Indian Youth Congress workers were hacked to death by unidentified assailants in the northern district of Kasargod on Sunday night, according to police.

"The brutal murder of two members of our Youth Congress family in Kasargod, Kerala is shocking. The Congress Party stands in solidarity with the families of these two young men & I send them my deepest condolences," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

"We will not rest till the murderers are brought to justice," he said.

The incident took place at around 8 pm Sunday and the deceased were identified as Kripesh and Sarath Lal (24).

The curfew in Jammu continued on Monday for the fourth consecutive day with authorities likely to take a decision on its relaxation later.

"The curfew that was imposed on February 15 in Jammu city will continue today," the police said.

"A decision on its relaxation will be taken later in the day."

Four army personnel including a major killed in action during an encounter between terrorists and security forces in Pinglan area of Pulwama district in South Kashmir, according to news agency ANI. The four personnel belonged to 55 Rashtriya Rifles and have been identified as Major VS Dhoundiyal, Havaldar Sheo Ram, Sepoy Ajay Kumar and Sepoy Hari Singh

The gunfight started late Sunday night after security forces, including the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), surrounded Pinglena village upon receiving a tip off that Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM)militants were hiding in the area.