India: LPU suspends classes after violent protests over alleged campus rape

This blog is closed. These were our updates from India on Monday, September 28:

That's all for today! There will be a fresh new India blog on Tuesday.

The regional assembly of India-administered Kashmir on Monday passed a resolution seeking the urgent restoration of full statehood from its current status of a Union Territory, which is federally administered.

The resolution was introduced by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and was passed in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly amid chaos as legislators of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a walkout calling the non-binding resolution "unconstitutional" and "anti-national".

The resolution calls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in New Delhi to ensure "the immediate and urgent restoration of full (federal) statehood to Jammu and Kashmir".

In 2019, a contentious decision by the Modi government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its semiautonomous status.

The region was divided into two federally administered territories, bringing it directly under New Delhi's control.

In 2024, the region elected its first government since being recategorized as a Union Territory with Abdullah's Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party at its helm.

The Modi government has consistently said that statehood for the territory would be granted at an "appropriate time".

On Monday, Abdullah, who said that statehood was the territory's "right," sought a clarification on the timeline and questioned what "appropriate time" means, local Kashmir outlets reported.

The text of Monday's resolution also referred to the constitutionally non-binding resolutions demanding federal autonomy, passed in 2000 and 2024.

Modi's BJP, which is the largest opposition party in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, strongly opposed the resolution with protests and sloganeering as Abdullah spoke ahead of the vote. BJP legislators also tore up copies of the resolution, reports said.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has long been a bone of contention for India and Pakistan, both of whom lay claim to the restive, strategically important Himalayan region.

Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, causing rivers and streams to swell up and leading to flood-like conditions in some parts.

Over 5,000 people were rescued over the weekend from the inundated areas and taken to relief camps and safer locations, according to reports.

The districts of Bastar, Dhamtari, Bilaspur, Durg, Raipur, Balodabazar-Bhatapara and Narayanpur are among the regions affected by the heavy downpour.

On Monday, the Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued 12 people stranded in a village on the northern bank of the Indravati river, which was flowing above the danger mark, news agency ANI quoted a Defense Ministry statement as saying.

The group of people, which included women and children, were reportedly stuck on the roof of a hut which was at risk of collapsing due to the force of the floodwaters.

An IAF commando was lowered on the roof from a helicopter, which hovered above as the people were pulled up, according to the ministry.

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The Supreme Court of India said on Monday that the recent slew of rape cases in the Indian capital of New Delhi and its neighboring districts "starkly underline a systematic failure" by law enforcement and public administrative authorities, legal news websites reported.

The top court made the statement as it opened a "suo motu cognizance" legal review of the latest cases of rape in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), LiveLaw and Bar and Bench reported.

In Indian law, a suo motu cognizance refers to a court taking notice of a matter on its own initiative, without a formal petition or complaint being filed.

The two-judge bench expressed its distress over the news reports of the recurring sexual violence and underpinned the need to fix accountability, LiveLaw reported.

"These incidents considered alongside other recent reports of sexual offences across Delhi-NCR starkly underline a systematic failure on the part of the law enforcement and the public administrative authorities to guarantee basic public safety," LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying.

Last week, Delhi saw hundreds of students protesting and expressing their outrage over the safety of women after a teenage girl was allegedly gang raped by three men at a public park in the capital.

In August, media reports said that a ​17-year-old ‌girl was allegedly gang raped in a bus moving from Noida, a staellite city of the Indian capital, to Delhi by the vehicle's driver and conductor.

The court on Monday said that public spaces, including parks, roads, buses, metro stations, subways and footbridges, cannot be allowed to become "high-risk zones" over inadequate illumination or surveillance, lack of patrolling, or other preventable administrative inadequacies, Bar and Bench reported.

The judges drew parallels with the 2012 fatal Delhi gang rape on a bus that came to be known as the Nirbhaya case.

"One cannot help but draw painful parallels to the Nirbhaya incident of 2012," LiveLaw reported the bench as saying.

The court also observed whether the systematic law enforcement apparatus has made any meaningful advancement since the Nirbhaya case, according to LiveLaw.

The court stressed that "expressions of solidarity" were not a solution to the offences it called "social evil," adding that a "measurable response" was required with fixing "responsibility and accountability" upon the authorities entrusted with crime prevention, maintenance of public order and protection of vulnerable persons, according to local outlets.

Indian badminton star PV Sindhu has voiced her disappointment at losing her Asian Games quarterfinal, also questioning her gruelling schedule that saw her play three matches in less than 24 hours over the weekend.

"My Asian Games campaign is over, and I'm hurting," Sindhu wrote to her roughly 3 million followers on social media. "I had my chance. Letting it slip hurts."

The 31-year-old lost to China's Chen Yufei on Sunday, having played both her second and third round matches on Saturday.

"Three matches in 18 hours. Back at 3 a.m. [on Saturday night], out again at 8:30 a.m. [on Sunday morning]. It took a toll," the former world champion and two-time Olympic medalist wrote.

Sindhu thanked fans who had stayed up to cheer her on and said she also felt a sense of pride at competing her fourth Asian Games, concluding the post by saying, "I'll go again."

Sindhu's India teammate H.S. Prannoy had similarly criticized both the packed schedule and other conditions for players like accommodation and logisticts in the province of Aichi and main city of Nagoya in Japan.

"It's cruel beacuse everybody is aiming for a good Asian Games, which comes once in four years," Prannoy said. "To have two singles games in a day, I haven't seen it like that in ages."

Punjab's Lovely Professional University (LPU) has suspended classes starting Monday and postponed mid-term examinations after a protest over an alleged rape turned violent on Sunday with protesters clashing with the police and vandalism being reported.