Daily Briefing: SC questions police crackdown on student protesters; the long shadow of gangland murder

With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:

• CJP warns of fresh protests
• A tale of loss and revenge
• Sharmila Dhankar turns hell into a CWG victory

🚨 Big Story

SC order: The Supreme Court on Tuesday considered setting up a Special Investigation Team for a “completely independent, transparent, fair probe” into allegations of police excesses on those protesting against exam paper leaks in Delhi and other states. It ordered the release of children under the age of 18, who have been “reported to be arrested or detained in connection with the ongoing protests, and who do not possess any criminal antecedents”. The bench said, “The NCT of Delhi and other States may proceed with the investigation of the FIRs registered; however, no coercive measures shall be taken against the protesting students. Such protection, nonetheless, shall not be extended to the persons with criminal antecedents.”

After the Supreme Court’s order, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled (BJP) Maharashtra and West Bengal took first steps on the cases lodged by them. Expressing “alarm” over the SC order that allowed the FIRs to stay, the Cockroach Janta Party warned that it may restart its protest if cases were not withdrawn. On Monday, Assam and Bihar had announced withdrawal of FIRs connected with the protests. The Maharashtra government began the process to withdraw the cases Tuesday. In West Bengal too, the government said it would not take “coercive action” against students.

Oppn targets PM: Participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government over the police crackdown on student protesters in Delhi and other places, saying that the “Prime Minister will have to change the angle of his heart rather than that of the cameras” if he wants to win over the Gen Z. She also took strong objection to BJP MPs garlanding Dharmendra Pradhan in the Parliament complex after his resignation as the Union education minister, saying they behaved as if a “superstar” had arrived

⚡ Only in Express

“He was a fair man. He was the kind who would beat someone up but also ensure he was given money to go to a hospital. He was my idol. Being here, doing this was never my choice. Life just happened to be this way.”

When gangster Krishna Pillai was shot dead in 1989, one of the many underworld killings that rocked Bombay, his son Kumar was accused of setting off a cycle of revenge attacks and a murder. Now, following an extradition from Singapore, acquittals in India and a rare judicial repatriation, Kumar recalls his 20-year-old self standing in the city’s civic-run Rajawadi Hospital, surrounded by his father’s men, many who owed their underworld careers to Krishna Pillai. Inside, the man lay dead, his body pumped with bullets. Before flying out to Hong Kong on June 20, 2026, at his home in Vikhroli, a working-class suburb in Mumbai’s eastern corridor, Kumar sits down to tell his story — of loss, ‘revenge’, and a cat-and-mouse game with the police that lasted decades.

📰 From the Front Page

Acquittal: A Madhya Pradesh sessions court acquitted 11 men accused in the 2022 Ram Navami violence case in Khargone after the prosecution’s case collapsed with eight of its 11 eyewitnesses failing to identify any of the accused. The laboratory findings also failed to establish the alleged use of petrol bombs or any explosive substance. The court concluded that “the involvement of the accused persons in the offence is neither disclosed nor proved in any manner”. The case arose from the communal violence that erupted in Khargone on April 10, 2022 during Ram Navami processions. A day after the violence, the district administration had carried out a demolition drive, razing 16 houses and 29 shops in five localities of the town.

Express Impact: Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Bhagirath Choudhary, who availed a Rs 99-lakh subsidy for his cucumber farm through a scheme under his own ministry, has refunded the subsidy, the Centre told Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This comes exactly a month after The Indian Express published an investigation, detailing how Choudhary received the Rs 99-lakh subsidy through a horticulture scheme under his ministry. The scheme aimed to promote “commercial farming” — on a large scale for profit — of select vegetables and flowers comes under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, which was launched in 2014-15 and is administered by the National Horticulture Board.

📌 Must Read

In our Opinion section today, C Raja Mohan delves into the possibility of India emerging as a great-power in the near future, even as skepticism persists. Highlighting that the gap between India’s geopolitical ambitions and economic foundations are widening, Mohan writes: “The challenge is larger than economics. Deepening political polarisation, the resurgence of feudal and pre-modern forces, and growing strains on democratic institutions at home will weaken India’s ability to deal with a rapidly changing world marked by sharpening geopolitical rivalry, less open markets, and the rise of disruptive technologies.”

Rupee’s journey: The hardening of global oil prices as the hostilities between the US and Iran resumed, saw the Indian rupee breach the 96-to-the-dollar mark afresh on July 14 and remain at those levels till Friday (July 24). This clarifies one important detail for us: The rupee is no longer an overvalued currency. However, as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Sanjay Malhotra told The Hindu businessline in an interview, “one could argue that the rupee has become undervalued… Once the situation in West Asia stabilises, one could very well see the rupee appreciate as one has seen during similar past periods and episodes of external shock-driven volatility”. My colleague Harish Damodaran takes you on a journey of how the rupee has fared against other global currencies so far.

⏳ And Finally…

Turning hell into a medal: In Glasgow on Monday, 40-year-old Sharmila Dhankar won India’s first-ever Commonwealth Games gold medal in para athletics – a season-best throw of 9.81m in the women’s shot put F57 final – that ended a 20-year wait for the country in the discipline. She called her mother, her daughters, and her husband Ajit Singh to celebrate. Recalling the day in 2012 when her then husband, a drug addict, stripped her naked and threw her, and her two young daughters, out of their home in Gurkawas village, Rewari, Sharmila said: “As I hold this gold medal in Glasgow, my message to every woman and daughter in India is to fight back against abuse.” She suffered polio in one leg at the age of two.

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the ANI vs OpenAI copyrights case in the Delhi High Court; India’s success in placing satellites into orbit using privately-established rockets such as Vikram-1.

That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Until next time,
Ariba

Business As Usual by E P Unny