Police Who Made Facebook Arrests Suspended

Shaheen Dhada, right, and Renu Srinivas, the women who were arrested for a Facebook post, speaking to the media in Mumbai, Maharashtra, on Nov. 20.

Two police officers in the state of Maharashtra who recently arrested two young women over a Facebook post were suspended from duty on Tuesday, while the state changed the way it would enforce a controversial law.

The moves were praised as a victory by free speech advocates, who have been sharply critical of the arrests and of India’s loosely defined Internet law.

Shweta Bhatt... Who is She?

Shweta Bhatt is 48 today. She spent a better part of her birthday rushing to file nomination papers since her party, the Congress, announced her candidacy for the Gujarat elections only at the last minute.

Even Mrs Bhatt will not give herself much of a chance as a giant-slayer. In her first election ever, the neophyte takes on the mighty Narendra Modi, who is widely expected to win Gujarat for a third time, in Maninagar, the constituency that has sent him to the state Assembly twice with huge margins.