The Evening Wrap: Supreme Court grants interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal

The Supreme Court on May 10 granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case till June 1, 2024 to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. “There is no gainsaying that General Elections to Lok Sabha is the most significant and an important event this year, as it should be in a national election year. Between 650-700 million voters out of an electorate of about 970 million will cast their votes to elect the government of this country for the next five years. General Elections supply the vis viva to a democracy,” a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed in its order. The court barred Kejriwal from visiting the Chief Minister’s office or the Delhi Secretariat. He would not sign any official files unless it was required and necessary for obtaining clearance or approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The order prohibited him from making any comments with regard to his role in the liquor policy case. He would not interact with witnesses or have access to official files connected with the case. He should furnish bail bonds for ₹50,000 with one surety to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent. Kejriwal has to surrender on June 2. The court made it clear that the grant of bail was not a comment on the merits of the case or on the pending appeal filed by Kejriwal against his arrest on March 21. On May 7, a trial court had remanded him to judicial custody till May 20. The eight-page order rejected an argument by the prosecution agency, Directorate of Enforcement (ED), that releasing Kejriwal on interim bail to canvas votes would create an impression among the public, worse still, a judicial precedent, that politicians were a separate class, higher in status than the ordinary citizen and immune from arrest. Every criminal would vie to be a politician, the ED had rued. During the short pronouncement of the order which lasted a little over four minutes after the lunch break, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Central agency, said the ball has already started rolling with Amritpal Singh, who is detained under the National Security Act over Khalistani activities, approaching court for bail to contest in the elections. “That is a different concern,” Justice Khanna said. “It is the concern of the nation,” Mehta replied. “We cannot compare that with this case… Let us not put it in such simple straitjacket terms like that,” Justice Khanna said. In its order, the Bench reasoned that interim bail was granted on the facts of each individual case. In Kejriwal’s case, to ignore the “prodigious importance” of the Lok Sabha polls would be “iniquitous and wrong”. It highlighted elections as the “barometer and lifeline of the parliamentary system and its setup”. The two-judge Bench agreed with the ED that Kejriwal avoided nine summons was a “negative factor”, but there were still other facets which had to be considered. “Arvind Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi and a leader of one of the national parties. No doubt, serious accusations have been made, but he has not been convicted. He does not have any criminal antecedents. He is not a threat to society,” the court listed points in favour of Kejriwal. The court said ED had filed the Enforcement Case Information Report in August 2022. The case had been pending since then, but Kejriwal was arrested only on March 21, a few days after the Model Code of Conduct came into force. Justice Khanna said 22 days of liberty for Kejriwal to campaign for Aam Aadmi Party would “not make a difference now”. The order dismissed ED’s logic that if a politician could get interim bail to campaign, then a farmer or a company director was entitled to the same relief to attend his crops or a board meeting, respectively. All vocations were equal in stature, the ED had argued. However, the court said granting a political leader interim bail to campaign for the General Elections cannot be compared to either a farmer seeking bail to tend to his harvest or a businessman wanting to attend a board meeting. Besides, Kejriwal’s petition challenging the legality and validity of his arrest on March 21 was itself pending in the court. “Once the matter is sub judice and the questions relating to legality of arrest are under consideration, a more holistic and libertarian view is justified in the background that the 18th Lok Sabha General Elections are being held,” the Bench noted. The court said it intended to wrap up arguments on Kejriwal’s plea to quash his arrest in the case next week and pronounce a judgment shortly. Hours after the Supreme Court order, Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar Jail after spending 50 days in judicial custody. He thanked the Supreme Court judges for granting him interim bail and the people for their blessings. “We have to save the country from dictatorship, I will fight with all my might but need the support of 140 crore people,” he told the media. Wrestlers’ sexual harassment case: Delhi court orders framing of charges against Brij Bhushan Singh A Delhi court on May 10 framed charges of sexual harassment and outraging modesty against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kaisarganj and former Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan Singh. Singh will now face trial for allegedly harassing five women wrestlers. The charges against Singh were framed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot of the Rouse Avenue Court. The detailed order is awaited. In an open court, the judge said that there is sufficient material on record to frame the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), with respect to five wrestlers who were named as victim No 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, by the court. The court further observed there is sufficient material on record to frame charges against Singh for the offence punishable under Section 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC with respect to two wrestlers. The court, however, discharged Singh for offences alleged by the victim No 6. Charges were also framed against Vinod Tomar, suspended assistant secretary at WFI who is also an accused in this case for the offence of criminal intimidation against Victim No 1. The court has discharged him from the offence of abetment with regard to all the accused. Many renowned wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, had protested for months in New Delhi, last year, demanding the arrest of the BJP lawmaker for allegedly sexually harassing several women grapplers, including a minor. The harassment took place between 2016 and 2019 at the WFI office, at Singh’s official residence and also abroad, the victims have alleged. As the protest of the grapplers continued for weeks, the Sports Ministry constituted an oversight committee to investigate the matter internally. The police filed an FIR against the BJP MP after the intervention of the Supreme Court in May 2023. In June, a 1,000-page chargesheet was filed at the Rouse Avenue court. A minor wrestler, who too had protested against Bhushan, later withdrew her complaint and changed the statement. During the hearing on framing of charges, Singh maintained that the case is “false and motivated”. Plea in Supreme Court questions Election Commission’s delay in publishing voter turnout data A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on May 10 highlighting the inordinate delay in the publication of voter turnout data coupled with unusually high revisions after the first two phases of polling in the Lok Sabha elections. Association for Democratic Reforms, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan, Neha Rathi and Cheryl D’Souza, said the delay in publishing the voter turnout details and a sharp spike in figures from the initial percentages released by the Election Commission have raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the accuracy of the data. The plea urged the court to direct the EC to disclose authenticated record of voter turnout by uploading on its website scanned legible copies of account of votes recorded at polling stations after each phase of voting in the on-going Lok Sabha elections. Rule 49S and Rule 56C (2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 require the presiding officer to prepare an account of votes recorded in form 17C (Part I) and the returning officer to record the number of votes in favour of each candidate. Further, it sought the publication of a constituency and polling station wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers and in percentage form. The petition also urged the court to direct the ECI to disclose the candidate-wise result of counting after the compilation of results. The petition said the voter turnout data for the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections were published by the EC on April 30, after 11 days of the first phase of polling held on April 19 and four days after the second phase of polling held on April 26. The data published by the ECI in its April 30 press release showed a sharp increase (by about 5-6%) from the initial percentages announced by it on the polling day. Initially, on April 19, after the first phase of polling, the EC had issued a press note stating that the tentative figure of voter turnout across 21 States/UTs reported was over 60% as of 7 p.m. Similarly, after the second phase on April 26, the ECI had said the turnout was at 60.96% “The inordinate delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision (of over 5%) in the EC press note of April 30 and the absence of disaggregated constituency and polling station figures in absolute numbers, has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the data… These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest,” the petition said. India fully withdraws soldiers from Maldives: Presidential spokesperson India has withdrawn all its soldiers from the Maldives, the government in Male has said, ahead of the May 10 deadline set by President Mohamed Muizzu for the complete withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. President Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, had set May 10 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the Indian military personnel from his country. Repatriation of some 90 Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives was a key pledge of Muizzu during his presidential campaign last year. The last batch of Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives have been repatriated, confirmed Heena Waleed, President’s Office Chief Spokesperson, without giving the number of Indian soldiers. She added that details about the number of the soldiers stationed would be disclosed later. The Indian military personnel were stationed in the Maldives to operate and maintain two helicopters and Dornier aircraft India gifted earlier. Earlier, the Maldives government announced that 51 of these soldiers were repatriated to India on May 6. The government earlier announced the presence of 89 Indian soldiers in the Maldives, citing official documents. India and the Maldives had agreed to withdraw the remaining Indian troops before May 10. At a media briefing in New Delhi on May 9, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the first and the second batches of the Indian personnel returned to India and “now deputation of competent Indian technical personnel has taken place” to operate the three Indian aviation platforms. The development came as Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer visited India. He met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on May 9. They had “extensive discussions” on bilateral ties and regional security issues. The relations between the two countries came under severe strain after Muizzu insisted on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation. Poll roundup: Launching a withering broadside against the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 10 accused the Opposition party of hatching conspiracy to erase Hindu faith from the country. Addressing a campaign rally in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency, the Prime Minister lashed out at the Congress, dubbing it “anti-Hindu” while claiming the party was spreading lies against the ruling BJP by alleging that the saffron party would change the constitution and do away with reservation. He accused the Congress of attempting to divide India along religious lines while reiterating that it planned to snatch the reservation of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs and give it to the Muslims. “I asked the Congress to give it in writing that they will not divide the reservation given to the SCs, STs and OBCs and give it to Muslims. But they are not answering. They are silent. It means they have a hidden agenda,” the PM said. A senior journalist and two former judges have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to participate in a public debate on the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Former Editor of The Hindu N. Ram, former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur and former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A.P. Shah urged the two leaders to participate in a public debate on a non-commercial and non-partisan platform. “A public debate such as this would, therefore, set a great precedent, not just by educating the public, but also in projecting the true image of a healthy and vibrant democracy,” the letter said. The three urged Modi and Gandhi to nominate a representative for the debate if either of them is unavailable to participate. In brief:DoT directs telcos to block 28,200 mobile handsets, re-verify 20 lakh mobile numbers The Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed telecom operators to block 28,200 mobile handsets and carry out immediate reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections for their alleged link with cyber crimes, according to an official statement on May 10. DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and State police have joined hands for curbing the misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds and aim to dismantle networks of fraudsters and protect citizens from digital threats, it said. “Analysis carried out by MHA and state police has revealed that 28,200 mobile handsets were misused in cybercrimes. The DoT further analysed and found that a staggering 20 lakh numbers were used with these mobile handsets. Industrial output growth eased to 4.9% in March; rose 5.8% through 2023-24 India’s industrial output growth slowed to 4.9% in March from 5.6% in February, as per the National Statistical Office, with base effects from last March when output had tanked 1.9%, boosting the uptick. Mining output slid to a 19-month low growth of 1.2%, while electricity generation rose 8.6% from a 1.6% contraction in March 2023. Heavy fighting in Gaza’s Rafah keeps aid crossings closed, sends 100,000 civilians fleeing Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said May 10. Israel’s plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah appear to be on hold for now, with the United States deeply opposed and stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms. But even the more limited incursion launched earlier this week threatens to worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe. The Evening wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 10 May 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Supreme Court grants interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1; bars him from visiting CMO or sign any official files The Supreme Court on May 10 [granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal]( in the liquor policy case till June 1, 2024 to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. “There is no gainsaying that General Elections to Lok Sabha is the most significant and an important event this year, as it should be in a national election year. Between 650-700 million voters out of an electorate of about 970 million will cast their votes to elect the government of this country for the next five years. General Elections supply the vis viva to a democracy,” a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed in its order. The court barred Kejriwal from visiting the Chief Minister’s office or the Delhi Secretariat. He would not sign any official files unless it was required and necessary for obtaining clearance or approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The order prohibited him from making any comments with regard to his role in the liquor policy case. He would not interact with witnesses or have access to official files connected with the case. He should furnish bail bonds for ₹50,000 with one surety to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent. Kejriwal has to surrender on June 2. The court made it clear that the grant of bail was not a comment on the merits of the case or on the pending appeal filed by Kejriwal against his arrest on March 21. On May 7, a trial court had remanded him to judicial custody till May 20. The eight-page order rejected an argument by the prosecution agency, Directorate of Enforcement (ED), that releasing Kejriwal on interim bail to canvas votes would create an impression among the public, worse still, a judicial precedent, that politicians were a separate class, higher in status than the ordinary citizen and immune from arrest. Every criminal would vie to be a politician, the ED had rued. During the short pronouncement of the order which lasted a little over four minutes after the lunch break, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Central agency, said the ball has already started rolling with Amritpal Singh, who is detained under the National Security Act over Khalistani activities, approaching court for bail to contest in the elections. “That is a different concern,” Justice Khanna said. “It is the concern of the nation,” Mehta replied. “We cannot compare that with this case… Let us not put it in such simple straitjacket terms like that,” Justice Khanna said. In its order, the Bench reasoned that interim bail was granted on the facts of each individual case. In Kejriwal’s case, to ignore the “prodigious importance” of the Lok Sabha polls would be “iniquitous and wrong”. It highlighted elections as the “barometer and lifeline of the parliamentary system and its setup”. The two-judge Bench agreed with the ED that Kejriwal avoided nine summons was a “negative factor”, but there were still other facets which had to be considered. “Arvind Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi and a leader of one of the national parties. No doubt, serious accusations have been made, but he has not been convicted. He does not have any criminal antecedents. He is not a threat to society,” the court listed points in favour of Kejriwal. The court said ED had filed the Enforcement Case Information Report in August 2022. The case had been pending since then, but Kejriwal was arrested only on March 21, a few days after the Model Code of Conduct came into force. Justice Khanna said 22 days of liberty for Kejriwal to campaign for Aam Aadmi Party would “not make a difference now”. The order dismissed ED’s logic that if a politician could get interim bail to campaign, then a farmer or a company director was entitled to the same relief to attend his crops or a board meeting, respectively. All vocations were equal in stature, the ED had argued. However, the court said granting a political leader interim bail to campaign for the General Elections cannot be compared to either a farmer seeking bail to tend to his harvest or a businessman wanting to attend a board meeting. Besides, Kejriwal’s petition challenging the legality and validity of his arrest on March 21 was itself pending in the court. “Once the matter is sub judice and the questions relating to legality of arrest are under consideration, a more holistic and libertarian view is justified in the background that the 18th Lok Sabha General Elections are being held,” the Bench noted. The court said it intended to wrap up arguments on Kejriwal’s plea to quash his arrest in the case next week and pronounce a judgment shortly. Hours after the Supreme Court order, [Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar Jail]( after spending 50 days in judicial custody. He thanked the Supreme Court judges for granting him interim bail and the people for their blessings. “We have to save the country from dictatorship, I will fight with all my might but need the support of 140 crore people,” he told the media. Wrestlers’ sexual harassment case: Delhi court orders framing of charges against Brij Bhushan Singh A Delhi court on May 10 [framed charges of sexual harassment and outraging modesty]( against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kaisarganj and former Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan Singh. Singh will now face trial for allegedly harassing five women wrestlers. The charges against Singh were framed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot of the Rouse Avenue Court. The detailed order is awaited. In an open court, the judge said that there is sufficient material on record to frame the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), with respect to five wrestlers who were named as victim No 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, by the court. The court further observed there is sufficient material on record to frame charges against Singh for the offence punishable under Section 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC with respect to two wrestlers. The court, however, discharged Singh for offences alleged by the victim No 6. Charges were also framed against Vinod Tomar, suspended assistant secretary at WFI who is also an accused in this case for the offence of criminal intimidation against Victim No 1. The court has discharged him from the offence of abetment with regard to all the accused. Many renowned wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, had protested for months in New Delhi, last year, demanding the arrest of the BJP lawmaker for allegedly sexually harassing several women grapplers, including a minor. The harassment took place between 2016 and 2019 at the WFI office, at Singh’s official residence and also abroad, the victims have alleged. As the protest of the grapplers continued for weeks, the Sports Ministry constituted an oversight committee to investigate the matter internally. The police filed an FIR against the BJP MP after the intervention of the Supreme Court in May 2023. In June, a 1,000-page chargesheet was filed at the Rouse Avenue court. A minor wrestler, who too had protested against Bhushan, later withdrew her complaint and changed the statement. During the hearing on framing of charges, Singh maintained that the case is “false and motivated”. Plea in Supreme Court questions Election Commission’s delay in publishing voter turnout data A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on May 10[highlighting the inordinate delay in the publication of voter turnout data]( coupled with unusually high revisions after the first two phases of polling in the Lok Sabha elections. Association for Democratic Reforms, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan, Neha Rathi and Cheryl D’Souza, said the delay in publishing the voter turnout details and a sharp spike in figures from the initial percentages released by the Election Commission have raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the accuracy of the data. The plea urged the court to direct the EC to disclose authenticated record of voter turnout by uploading on its website scanned legible copies of account of votes recorded at polling stations after each phase of voting in the on-going Lok Sabha elections. Rule 49S and Rule 56C (2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 require the presiding officer to prepare an account of votes recorded in form 17C (Part I) and the returning officer to record the number of votes in favour of each candidate. Further, it sought the publication of a constituency and polling station wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers and in percentage form. The petition also urged the court to direct the ECI to disclose the candidate-wise result of counting after the compilation of results. The petition said the voter turnout data for the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections were published by the EC on April 30, after 11 days of the first phase of polling held on April 19 and four days after the second phase of polling held on April 26. The data published by the ECI in its April 30 press release showed a sharp increase (by about 5-6%) from the initial percentages announced by it on the polling day. Initially, on April 19, after the first phase of polling, the EC had issued a press note stating that the tentative figure of voter turnout across 21 States/UTs reported was over 60% as of 7 p.m. Similarly, after the second phase on April 26, the ECI had said the turnout was at 60.96% “The inordinate delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision (of over 5%) in the EC press note of April 30 and the absence of disaggregated constituency and polling station figures in absolute numbers, has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the data… These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest,” the petition said. India fully withdraws soldiers from Maldives: Presidential spokesperson India has [withdrawn all its soldiers from the Maldives]( the government in Male has said, ahead of the May 10 deadline set by President Mohamed Muizzu for the complete withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. President Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, had set May 10 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the Indian military personnel from his country. Repatriation of some 90 Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives was a key pledge of Muizzu during his presidential campaign last year. The last batch of Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives have been repatriated, confirmed Heena Waleed, President’s Office Chief Spokesperson, without giving the number of Indian soldiers. She added that details about the number of the soldiers stationed would be disclosed later. The Indian military personnel were stationed in the Maldives to operate and maintain two helicopters and Dornier aircraft India gifted earlier. Earlier, the Maldives government announced that 51 of these soldiers were repatriated to India on May 6. The government earlier announced the presence of 89 Indian soldiers in the Maldives, citing official documents. India and the Maldives had agreed to withdraw the remaining Indian troops before May 10. At a media briefing in New Delhi on May 9, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the first and the second batches of the Indian personnel returned to India and “now deputation of competent Indian technical personnel has taken place” to operate the three Indian aviation platforms. The development came as Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer visited India. He met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on May 9. They had “extensive discussions” on bilateral ties and regional security issues. The relations between the two countries came under severe strain after Muizzu insisted on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation. Poll roundup: - Launching a withering broadside against the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 10 [accused the Opposition party of hatching conspiracy to erase Hindu faith]( from the country. Addressing a campaign rally in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency, the Prime Minister lashed out at the Congress, dubbing it “anti-Hindu” while claiming the party was spreading lies against the ruling BJP by alleging that the saffron party would change the constitution and do away with reservation. He accused the Congress of attempting to divide India along religious lines while reiterating that it planned to snatch the reservation of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs and give it to the Muslims. “I asked the Congress to give it in writing that they will not divide the reservation given to the SCs, STs and OBCs and give it to Muslims. But they are not answering. They are silent. It means they have a hidden agenda,” the PM said. - A senior journalist and two former judges have [written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi]( to participate in a public debate on the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Former Editor of The Hindu N. Ram, former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur and former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A.P. Shah urged the two leaders to participate in a public debate on a non-commercial and non-partisan platform. “A public debate such as this would, therefore, set a great precedent, not just by educating the public, but also in projecting the true image of a healthy and vibrant democracy,” the letter said. The three urged Modi and Gandhi to nominate a representative for the debate if either of them is unavailable to participate. In brief: DoT directs telcos to block 28,200 mobile handsets, re-verify 20 lakh mobile numbers The Department of Telecom (DoT) has [directed telecom operators to block 28,200 mobile handsets]( and carry out immediate reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections for their alleged link with cyber crimes, according to an official statement on May 10. DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and State police have joined hands for curbing the misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds and aim to dismantle networks of fraudsters and protect citizens from digital threats, it said. “Analysis carried out by MHA and state police has revealed that 28,200 mobile handsets were misused in cybercrimes. The DoT further analysed and found that a staggering 20 lakh numbers were used with these mobile handsets. Industrial output growth eased to 4.9% in March; rose 5.8% through 2023-24 India’s industrial output growth [slowed to 4.9% in March]( from 5.6% in February, as per the National Statistical Office, with base effects from last March when output had tanked 1.9%, boosting the uptick. Mining output slid to a 19-month low growth of 1.2%, while electricity generation rose 8.6% from a 1.6% contraction in March 2023. Heavy fighting in Gaza’s Rafah keeps aid crossings closed, sends 100,000 civilians fleeing [Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants]( on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said May 10. Israel’s plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah appear to be on hold for now, with the United States deeply opposed and stepping up pressure by threatening to withhold arms. But even the more limited incursion launched earlier this week threatens to worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe. The Evening wrap will return tomorrow [Sign up for free]( Today’s Top Picks [[Watch | Why N.T. Rama Rao the politician remains relevant even today] Watch | Why N.T. Rama Rao the politician remains relevant even today]( [[12 Naxalites killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district] 12 Naxalites killed in encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district]( [[Karnataka High Court’s verdict cancelling EPF benefits for international workers and its implications | Explained] Karnataka High Court’s verdict cancelling EPF benefits for international workers and its implications | Explained]( [[Catch Nandita Das and Deepa Mehta at Kashish Pride Film Festival] Catch Nandita Das and Deepa Mehta at Kashish Pride Film Festival]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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