January 23, 2 pm update: Jallikattu protests take violent turn, Taslima on uniform civil code, SC on union budget

WATCH VIDEO | Protests To Continue Until ‘Permanent Solution’ Delivered: Jallikattu Supporters

Protests were reported across the state of Tamil Nadu but several instances of violence were reported in Chennai, including the torching of a police station. Follow our LIVE blog here to get the latest updates on what’s happening in Chennai and Tamil Nadu.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Union Budget on February 1, 2017.

Postponment of Union Budget 2017? SC refuses to pass order

The Oppositions demand that the government postpone the presentation of the Union  budget 2017 as elections to the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Goa and Uttarkhand get underway February 4 onwards, failed to convince the apex court as they refused to change the dates stating there was no illustration to support that the presentation of Union Budget would influence voters’ mind in state elections.

The government had, late last year, announced the scrapping of the Railway budget and including its expenditure in the Union budget itself, so as to save costs. You can read more about the Supreme Court order here.

Former CBI director Ranjit Sinha. (Source: PTI photo)

Coal scam – SC asks CBI to probe its former chief Ranjit Sinha

More news from the Supreme Court. A bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur asked the CBI to investigate its former director Ranjit Sinha for allegedly influencing the probe into the coal block allocation scam. Justice Lokur asked newly appointed CBI director Alok Verma to constitute a special investigation team to probe Sinha, who was put in the dock over a logbook that showed his meetings with several accused in the coal block cases. Read more about that case here.

Bangladesh Author Tasleema Nasreen. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal

India urgently needs uniform civil law, says Taslima Nasrin

Throwing her weight behind the uniform civil code, author Taslima Nasrin on Monday said the country was in desperate need of it. Nasrin, who has been living in exile since 1994 after facing the ire of fundamentalists, was speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, where she made the remarks. Her name was not on the scheduled list of sessions and came as a surprise to everyone present. “When I or anyone else criticise Hinduism, Buddhism or other religions nothing happens. But the moment you criticise Islam, people come running after your life. They issue fatwas against you and they want to kill you. But why do they need to do so? If they disagree with me, they can write against me, share their views like we do. They can have conversations rather than fatwas,” the 55-year-old writer contended. Read more about what Taslima Nasrin said, here.