India is deploying thousands of riot police and shutting down internet services in two northern states, as it prepares for the sentencing tomorrow of a self-styled 'godman' whose followers went on the rampage after he was convicted of rape on Friday.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's cult Dera Sacha Sauda has a vast rural following in Punjab and Haryana, where frenzied mobs burned down gas stations and train stations and torched vehicles after a local court found him guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case.

At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the violence in Haryana, officials said, drawing sharp criticism for the state government run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The case has also highlighted the Indian heartland's fascination with spiritual gurus, who enjoy immense political clout for their ability to mobilise millions of followers frustrated by the shortcomings of the state.

Security forces have cordoned off a jail in Rohtak, 70 km from New Delhi, where Singh — also known as the guru of bling for the clothes he wears in the movies he has starred in — is being held.

The judge who convicted Singh will hold a special hearing inside the prison in Rohtak around 2.30 pm local time on Monday to decide the punishment, in a move that officials hope will prevent his followers from gathering in the streets like they did on Friday.

Singh faces a minimum of seven years in prison.

The town of Sirsa, home to Dera's headquarters, is already under lockdown, BS Sandhu, Haryana's police chief, told Reuters. School and colleges have been ordered shut, the government said.

"We're fully prepared, we have a contingency plan in place,"

Sandhu said, adding that more than 10,000 police would patrol the state as it awaits Singh's sentencing.

Neighbouring Punjab, where violence was sporadic, has summoned more than 8,000 paramilitary and police, banned large gatherings and switched off mobile internet connections across the state until Tuesday, its top administrator said.

"Our intelligence reports caution that there could be arson and some other incidents," Karan Avtar Singh, the chief secretary to Punjab government, told Reuters.

In godman Singh's two films, "Messenger of God" and its sequel, there are sequences in which he fights off villains and tosses burning motorbikes into the air.

In his spiritual avatar, Singh dresses in plain white traditional clothes, giving sermons or planting trees. In the movies he dons bejewelled costumes, rides motorbikes and sends bad guys flying.

MODI PROMISES TOUGH RESPONSE

The Haryana government has faced severe criticism from opposition Congress and a state court for failing to stop the rioting and vandalism.

Singh, whose verified Twitter profile calls him a saint, philanthropist, sportsman, actor, singer, movie director, writer, lyricist, and autobiographer, has been photographed with senior BJP leaders including Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Last year a Haryana minister announced the state would donate 5 million rupees to Singh's Dera to promote sports.

Bir Kumar Yadav, BJP's Haryana spokesman, said the party had been associated with Singh only in his capacity as a social worker who had spread awareness about public sanitation and cleanliness.

Modi also weighed in on Sunday, vowing tough action against anyone trying to break the law.

"I want to assure my countrymen that people who take the law into their own hands and are on the path of violent suppression — whether it is a person or a group — neither this country nor any government will tolerate it," he said in his monthly radio address, without directly mentioning the recent violence.

Singh's conviction in a rape case is the latest in a series of cases involving spiritual leaders who have been accused of sexually abusing followers, amassing untaxed money and finding favour with politicians.

Besides the rape charges, he is also under investigation over allegations that he convinced 400 of his male followers to undergo castration, allegations he denies.

MUMBAI -- A non-profit organisation has sent a letter to the Cyber Police to file an FIR against actor Rishi Kapoor for posting "pornographic material" on his Twitter account.

The president of 'Jai Ho Foundation' NGO, Afroz Malik, in the letter said, "We would request you to immediately register an FIR against actor Rishi Kapoor under relevant sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and the IT Act for posting indecent, nude and vulgar picture of a minor child on his Twitter account @chintskap."

Malik further said that Rishi Kapoor has more than 2.6 million followers on his Twitter account, and added, "This means that this child's pornographic image got circulated to more than 2.6 Million people."

"There are more than 62 retweets and 376 likes as of now on his indecent image and this will increase manifold," Malik stated.

Afroz Malik then requested the Senior Inspector of Police, Cyber Police Station to henceforth file an FIR against the actor and "set an example that rule of law is above all."

Actor Rishi Kapoor had tweeted a picture of a child, which was later deleted.

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CHANDIGARH -- Sedition and attempt to murder charges have been slapped against seven persons, including five Haryana police personnel, who were part of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief's security paraphernalia when he had arrived at Panchkula to appear in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on 25 August.

"Sedition charge has been slapped against seven persons, including five Haryana police personnel," Karambir Singh, Inspector, Panchkula Police (Sector-5), said on Sunday.

They had also been charged with attempt to murder, he added.

The seven security personnel of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had allegedly tried to free him when the self-styled godman was brought outside the Panchkula Court complex on Friday after the special CBI court convicted him in a 15-year-old rape case, the police said.

They allegedly got into a scuffle with the Haryana police when the Dera chief was being taken to the Western Command, from where he was to be taken to the Rohtak jail in a chopper.

However, the security men of the Dera chief were overpowered by the policemen.

They were produced before the court on Saturday which sent them to a seven-day police remand, said Singh.

The Haryana police personnel, who were arrested, were in the ranks of sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector, head constable and constable, he added.

Panchkula's Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Manbir Singh, who assumed charge on Sunday, said a number of vehicles, including a fire engine, part of the Dera chief's cavalcade, were impounded on Friday.

Asked if any inflammable chemical was recovered from the fire engine, the DCP said, "There are two large tanks in the fire engine, which belongs to the Dera. A foul smell was emanating from the tanks. We have sent the substance recovered from the tanks to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory."

The Dera chief, who enjoyed a "Z plus" security cover which was withdrawn after his conviction, had traveled from Sirsa to Panchkula in a convoy of vehicles on Friday.

He was convicted in a 15-year-old rape case by the CBI court. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on Monday.

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There was a time when we needed to escape the realities of India on celluloid. Yash Chopra built an empire taking us to Switzerland, and the country still thanks us for the endless supply of tourists we send there to see those mountains that Sridevi lip-synced her way around. But in times of relative economic prosperity and now with access to global cinema and television, maybe it's time our filmmakers stopped selling the same escapist fantasies.

If you turn on the television and attempt to watch some previews of new films, you'll see a wide array of party songs (mostly remakes and remixes), foreign locales and designer brands. Almost all of it is heavily influenced by western culture, be it the sound and style of the music, the clothing or even the physical location.

In the first six months of the year, five Indian stories that were made in India were actually the most successful.

But now that all of this exists inside of India, does sending our stars and crew units abroad really add any new value? Seeing Siddharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez showing off their abs as they gallivant around sunny foreign locales—is this really what we want to see? Filmmakers will say yes. But another set of people matters more: the audience.

This year, five of the most successful Hindi releases (dubbed or otherwise) were prominently made in India: the blockbuster to beat all other blockbusters Baahubali—The Conclusion, Jolly LLB, Hindi Medium, Raees and Badrinath Ki Dulhania. The latter film was the only film partially shot overseas, but keep in mind, much of it was filmed in India too and with a storyline and plotline that was so quintessentially (arguably backwards thinking) Indian you barely remembered it was shot outside this country!

So, in the first six months of the year, five Indian stories that were made in India were actually the most successful. But are our filmmakers in general aware that what's selling these days is Made In India? With our government pushing this nationalist leaning agenda successfully to the masses, why isn't the film industry?

Is it out of protest? Is it because we are daring to tell stories that can't exist in India? Well frankly, it seems just the opposite. Indian-shot films like Lipstick Under My Burkha (which garnered critical acclaim and box office success) and Indu Sarkaar actually stirred far more controversy than films shot in foreign locales simply because they hit a bit too close to home.

Isn't it strange then to think that stories and concepts about Indians in India are the ones that are being scrutinised? While those that depict an unrealistic fantasy overseas filled with opulence and excess are accepted unquestioningly?

Given the way the box office has reacted this year so far, it's not a surprise that Toilet-Ek Prem Katha has trumped Jab Harry Met Sejal at the box office.

I don't really use the word "hypocrisy" in India because it's a given. With such a large population and segments of it segregated into such vastly contrasting lives and lifestyles, there is no way that everyone will agree and see things the same way. Yet while it is documented year in and year out that Sunny Leone is India's most searched for star online, people have objections to her adopting a girl child from India with her husband. Wasn't their daughter made in India?

I don't understand the fascination that still exists with selling the West to India when the metros and now even the smaller towns have become their own versions of it. Words like "mall" and "multiplex" are part of the mainstream vernacular. And now with access to the entire planet's film and television catalogue, are Indians really interested in seeing Hrithik Roshan turning himself Brazilian for an Indian film when they can actually watch Brazilian films with their stars?

After all, the majority of Hindi films shot overseas have English or Hinglish dialogues. They are as comprehendible as foreign films.

I used to wonder when I'd go to see an English film in the theatre, what exactly were the audience members understanding? Recently as I've been watching Hindi films, I've asked myself that same question.

My story that I chronicled in my book Holy Cancer: How A Cow Saved My Life is very Indian. In fact it's so Indian that most Indians are unwilling to explore or try the lifestyle I chose to save my own life. After my recovery, some friends of mine connected with the film industry suggested that I sell my book and turn it into a film.

For me, the integrity of my story getting even remotely compromised would change the entire narrative of my book. I can't be seen singing to a Jersey cow in Switzerland!

I'll admit I got a lot of interest in the material by producers and studios. But when they started to inform me that my story might change or that the integrity of the project would be better maintained if I took it to a Hollywood producer, I wondered—how exactly have we become so far removed from our own culture and traditions that parallel cinema/independent films are the only ones actually sharing Indian stories and the majority of big commercial films are spewing out stories that actually the majority of people can't relate to.

For me, the integrity of my story getting even remotely compromised would change the entire narrative of my book. I can't be seen singing to a Jersey cow in Switzerland!

All of this begs the question, when will the box office actually resonate well enough with the studios and production houses to create more Indian stories that aren't just made for the NRI star-obsessed crowd or for the metro multiplex crowds. Are they the only ones that matter?

It's a tell-tale sign when the most successful Hindi film of the year is a dubbed South Indian movie with a cast that's little known in the north. Now more than ever, content drives sales. Indian stories drive sales. In the next two weekends we will see how two very different films engage the audience. Given the way the box office has reacted this year so far, it's not a surprise that Toilet-Ek Prem Katha has trumped Jab Harry Met Sejal at the box office. But then again, who am I to question our top brand ambassador to the world Shah Rukh Khan and say what is "made in India?"

ROHTAK -- Ahead of the court proceedings against rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Monday, Rohtak District Collector (DC) Atul Kumar confirmed that shoot at sight will be imposed on any miscreants trying to harm innocent natives.

"We have discussed our plan of action in a meeting today, and have clarity on what needs to be done. If any person is seen as a threat to the peace of the region or tries to harm anybody or himself, shoot at sight orders will be passed immediately. We are maintaining strict vigil and will not tolerate carelessness of any kind," Atul told ANI.

Ensuring thorough compliance with the orders of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Kumar stated that the Army has been alerted ahead of the sentencing of the Dera Chief, and if any form of uprising is witnessed, they will be brought in within an hour of being notified.

"We currently have 23 factions of paramilitary forces who have been deployed. The Army has also been alerted about the situation. The minute we get to know anything, they will be summoned in an hour. So far everything is functioning normally. However, we are keeping our patrolling constant throughout the night as well," he said.

In order to avoid unnecessary movement of vehicles, Kumar said schools and colleges would remain closed in the area.

In an appeal to the media and others, Kumar stated that any unnecessary movement around Sunaria jail must be avoided, keeping the intensity of the situation in mind.

"I would like to tell the media and others to try and restrict movement around Sunaria jail. We have beefed up security arrangements, and if a person is not able to validate the reason for his presence in the area, he could be detained by the police. Also, any unlawful entry into the jail or unnecessary mob formation in the area could lead to immediate arrests," said Kumar.

The past few days in Panchkula, Sirsa and the neighboring areas have witnessed a volatile situation after the Dera Chief Ram Rahim was convicted of rape charges levied on him.

The court proceedings against the rape convict are scheduled to take place around 2:30 pm on Monday.

Earlier, Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu had revealed that 52 cases were registered so far and 926 arrests were made.

"At least 52 cases have been registered so far and 926 people have been arrested. As for casualties, 38 people have died in the violence. 6 casualties are from Sirsa and 32 are from Panchkula. All bodies in Sirsa have been identified, but in Panchkula, 24 have been identified through post-mortem, the rest are yet to be identified. Of the 250 injured," he said.

Following the instances of violence, arrangements were made for the sitting of a CBI Court in Sunaria District Jail for the pronouncement of quantum of sentence against Ram Rahim Singh.

People vacated the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram in Bajenka village and the whole premises are being inspected by Police and Army in located in Sirsa district of Haryana.

Also on HuffPost India:

On 27 July, Vasundhara Raje wrote quite a weak op-ed—"The notion that anybody or any political party supports lynchings is prejudice"—that sought the intellectual shelter of Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon. Worryingly, she sought to appropriate Kurosawa's message to justify her party's shortcomings.

She argued that many crimes that have occurred in the state of Rajasthan, particularly those relating to the harassment of minorities and lynching of Muslim cattle owners, have been viewed with a biased lens and should not be attributed to the BJP and RSS. She also argues that no single aspect should be attributed to be the cause of the crime, and it's usually a mixture of individual motivation, circumstances and delayed police action.

Raje suggests that because multiple perspectives exist, one cannot be entirely sure about the present fact-based narrative about violence against minorities... [she tries to] justify her administration's failure in appropriately addressing such crimes.

Kurosawa, against the backdrop of a grotesque crime, imparted a vastly important philosophical idea—that it is impossible to achieve complete objectivity, and at best, we could strive for a collective universal subjectivity. This phenomenon has come to be known as the "Rashomon effect", and many social scientists regard overcoming it as a goal in their academic work.

The arduous task in academia, particularly in areas relating to human affairs, is to navigate through the obstacles of ethnocentrism and cognitive biases to reach a fact-based narrative. Vasundhara Raje, in her op-ed, attempted to misappropriate this very effect to adulterate the discourse regarding the rise of Hindutva-hued fascism. She suggests that because multiple perspectives exist, one cannot be entirely sure about the present fact-based narrative about violence against minorities, and to perversely justify her administration's failure in appropriately addressing such crimes.

Besides, the mere possibility of a different perspective doesn't give it legitimacy. Further examination of Vasundhara Raje's bogus claims in the article only proves the point. She argues that it is prejudiced to extrapolate an individual's action to the whole group, but that argument fails as one learns that Rajasthan's Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria made excuses for the murderers of Pehlu Khan and insinuated that the victim was somehow to be blamed even though there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on his part. In such a scenario, how can one not hold the BJP accountable at least to a degree?

Instead of crafting disingenuous essays, perhaps BJP leaders such as Vasundhara Raje can take tangible action to show their bonafides and rectify their errors.

In the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995, there are two problematic clauses that must be removed.

Instead of crafting disingenuous essays, perhaps BJP leaders such as Vasundhara Raje can take tangible action to show their bonafides and rectify their errors.

Clause 11 puts the burden of proof on the accused, and hence increases the chances of harassment and blackmail of the cattle-owner. Now, most cattle- owners live hand to mouth—the hassle of a criminal case, the possible legal costs and the cost of losing out on a day's employment together can cripple their life. Furthermore, it must be the responsibility of the prosecution to prove that accused is guilty and not the other way around. Vasundhara Raje herself noted the ideal of "innocent until proved guilty" in her op-ed.

Clause 14 calls for protection of persons acting in good faith. This devious clause empowers so-called cow vigilantes to wreak havoc on cattle-owners, and get away scot free after harassing, beating or even robbing them. The use of citizen-watchdogs in this law has allowed for nefarious parties to bully the weaker sections of the society. The government must insert a clause that brings about criminal proceedings against "vigilantes" that take the law into their own hands, and cause harm.

Nigel Farage, the racist UKIP leader, who railed for Brexit and has on many occasions demonised Islam was apparently shocked at the Charlottesville incident. The irony of this escaped no one. There is not much difference between his hypocrisy and that of Vasundhara Raje and other BJP leaders who subtly and not-so-subtly encourage communal polarisation and then express faux neutrality and condemnation when lives are lost and the media trains its lens on them.

Mr. N R Narayana Murthy has been under some criticism for having raised some questions that remain unanswered by the erstwhile CEO Vishal Sikka or the present Infosys board. The refrain of "founders go away—leave the company alone" has been echoing in the present boardrooms of Infosys.

In line with this was a scathing attack by Omkar Goswami in an open letter to Mr. Murthy. When I read this tirade, I thought, by jove, he must be one hell of a fellow; maybe he's even founded bigger and better companies than Mr. Murthy. But well, not quite. While Goswami has been on numerous boards, he doesn't have to his credit an iota of what Mr. Murthy has achieved in his lifetime.

While Goswami has been on numerous boards, he doesn't have to his credit an iota of what Mr. Murthy has achieved in his lifetime.

When I wrote about Vishal Sikka in HuffPost this January, I thought I had crossed a bit of a line in making some assumptions. But it's a great feeling to be proved right now and then and that too in the public domain.

But I digress—let's go back to Omkar Goswami.

According to the Wikipedia page about him, he is an economist by education, having earned a PhD from Oxford by writing a dissertation on the pre-independence (1900-1947) jute economy of Bengal. My first impression upon reading his profile: a well educated economist, academician, and a columnist of repute with a doctorate on a defunct topic in today's world.

So, now let me ask him a few questions since the season of open letters and editorials is in full swing. Here goes.

Dear Omkar Goswami:

• Have you managed a P&L ever in your life?
• Have you ever founded a company?
• Have you ever been regarded as the father of any industry?
• Have you ever held been in a position where an ocean of investors have remained vested on your credibility?
• Have you ever taken a decision that has created immense value for yourself or for any company and its shareholders?
• Have you set a precedent for transparency and compliance, such as quarterly reporting and guidance, far before it became a statutory norm for listed companies?
• Do you have any claim to fame being beyond a consultant? (A consultant is popularly an analyst/advisor who has all the opinion and authority in the world without any direct responsibility.)

And lastly

• Does anyone know you or respect you as an epitome of corporate governance in any circle whatsoever?

Mr. Goswami, if the answer to any of the above questions were yes, I wouldn't have had to look up who you are on Wikipedia.

And if the same questions were to be put to Mr. Murthy, the answer to each one would be a resounding yes.

It surprises me that people who have their skin in the game, who have founded companies and then nurtured them for a major part of their life, and have earned and commanded (through their deeds, hard work and thought leadership) respect and adulation are being questioned by people who have nothing even approximating these credentials. Most of the present board members of Infosys are retired professionals /executives who are now playing an extended innings (I am sure) for some remuneration.

Mr. Murthy—the world (India and beyond) has looked up to your values and admires what you have preached and practiced all your life.

If a company is to survive beyond the global average of 33-35 years, decision makers and opinionists must have their skin in the game. Else it takes just a few quarters of bad decision-making to bring down companies.

Mr. Murthy—the world (India and beyond) has looked up to your values and admires what you have preached and practiced all your life.

So what if you asked a few pertinent questions or for a few documents of a deal to be made public or raised a doubt on the remuneration of someone who has little evidence of achievement in your opinion?

You founded Infosys. It's is in your right to do so and I am sure millions like me stand by you for your ideology and spirit.

KOLKATA -- A professor of IIT Kharagpur got drowned in a large water filled ditch on Sunday while trying to rescue his 4-year-old child who had fallen into the waterbody near the IIT campus in Kharagpur Rural area of West Midnapore district yesterday, police said.

Local people took Joydip Bhattacharjee, a faculty member of Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, and his son out of the water and took them to the hospital where the professor was declared brought dead.

IIT sources said the 40-year-old professor was taking a stroll with his two children outside the campus when one child fell into the ditch while trying to take a selfie.

Bhattacharjee tried to pull out his son from the water but lost balance and fell into the ditch.

Registrar Pradip Ghosh said, "He went outside to spend the Sunday with his two children. We are shocked to hear the news about his death."

"IIT-KGP mourns the loss of its faculty Prof Joydip Bhattacharjee. It is unfortunate we have lost such a young, talented soul," Dean faculty Prof Subhasis Tripathy said.

Also on HuffPost India:

NEW DELHI -- Justice Dipak Misra, who was part of the bench that confirmed the death sentence of the four convicts in the December 16 gang rape case and passed the order for the mandatory singing of the national anthem in cinema halls, was today sworn in as the 45th Chief Justice of India.

Justice Dipak Misra takes oath as the Chief Justice of India (CJI). pic.twitter.com/r4aeTlftsd

— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2017

At a brief ceremony in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan, President Ramnath Kovind administered the oath of office to Misra.

Justice Misra took the oath in English in the name of God.

Justice Misra, 64, assumes office following the retirement of Justice J S Khehar yesterday.

Justice Misra will remain in office until 2 October, 2018.

As per the established practice, Justice Khehar had named Misra as the next CJI last month.

He was the chief justice of the Patna High Court and the Delhi high court before being elevated to the apex court in October 2011.

After his enrolment as an advocate in 1977, Justice Misra practiced in constitutional, civil, criminal, revenue, service, and sales tax matters in the Orissa High Court.

He was appointed as an additional judge of the Orissa High Court on January 17, 1996, before his transfer to the Madhya Pradesh High Court. He became a permanent judge on December 19, 1997.

Justice Misra is currently presiding over a bench hearing the Cauvery and Krishna river water disputes, BCCI reforms and Sahara case among others. He headed the bench that passed the order for mandatory singing of the national anthem in cinema halls across the country.

He was also part of the bench that upheld the death sentence given to the convicts in the December 16, 2012 gangrape case.

Justice Misra, along with Justice P C Pant, had in May, declined to de-criminalize defamation an offence punishable with two years in jail apart from fine saying the right to free speech cannot mean that a citizen can defame anybody.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several union ministers were present at the ceremony.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also attended the oath ceremony.

Also on HuffPost India:

The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Essential HuffPost

As Haryana burns in the wake of the conviction of spiritual guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for rape, with the Dera Sacha Sauda followers running amok, TS Sudhir revisits the violent 1980s, when another people's leader from Punjab, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, left behind a trail of destruction as well.

The Punjab & Haryana High Court came down on the BJP government of Haryana and at the Centre for its failure to control the marauding mob that broke into a riot as soon as Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of rape by a special CBI court. Read more.

Technology is breeding a new type of sex offender and lowering the bar for men looking to commit crimes against women, leading experts in online harassment have warned.

Main News

On the eve of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's sentencing by a CBI special court, at least 9,000 cops and paramilitary troops have been deployed, and the Army is kept on standby to ensure security in Rohtak since Sunday.

Two persons were lynched at a village in the Dhupguri block of West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district in the early hours of 27 August, under suspicion of stealing cows. Police has lodged a murder case but no one has been arrested so far.

Several arrested Dera Sacha Sauda protesters have claimed their local leaders bribed or coerced them into assembling in Panchkula ahead of the rape verdict against sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. A few said they were paid ₹1,000-2,000 for each day they spent in Panchkula.

Off The Front Page

India's PV Sindhu had to settle for a silver in the badminton World Championships, after an epic battle with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara. The match saw the ace shuttler getting to the brink of victory, before losing it by a whisker.

Thousands of people assembled at Lalu Prasad's 'BJP Bhagao, Desh Bachao' rally in Patna as 18 parties took a pledge to declare war on the ruling party at the Centre and in several other states across India.

A rat on board a San Francisco flight from New Delhi, run by the national carrier Air India, caused havoc, delaying its departure by 9 hours.

Opinion

The Supreme Court's ruling against the Muslim practice of triple talaq is a lost opportunity of sorts, argues Chintan Chandrachud in The Indian Express, especially since it sets a troubling precedent with its emphasis on religious texts.

How did the Dera Sacha Sauda exert such a mass appeal on its followers so that they unleashed a cycle of havoc after their leader was convicted of rape? Political scientist Shiv Visvanathan explains the mysterious appeal of the sect in The Hindu.

In The Telegraph, Manini Chatterjee explains why the Supreme Court's historic ruling on the right to privacy comes across as a flood of sunshine in the dark times that are upon us.

Also on HuffPost

SIRSA -- Security has been beefed up to prevent any untoward incident in Sirsa, hours before the pronouncement of quantum of sentence against convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Monday.

Though the exodus of Dera followers from the sect's headquarters in Sirsa started Saturday, several supporters of the self-styled godman are still present in and around the sprawling premises.

Locals have been asked to stay indoors as a preventive measure.

"We have made appropriate arrangements to maintain law and order in the district," a senior police official said.

The district administration is also providing buses to facilitate the departure of Dera followers.

A multi-layer security cordon has been thrown around the Rohtak district jail where the CBI special court judge will be flown to pronounce the quantum of sentence against convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today.

50-year-old Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been lodged in the Sunaira jail in Rohtak after being convicted of raping his two women followers by a special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday.

Also on HuffPost India:

JALPAIGURI -- Two persons were allegedly lynched by a mob, which dragged them out of a pick-up van carrying cows, at Barhoria village in Jalpaiguri district on Sunday, the police said.

Anwar Hussain (19) and Hafizul Sheikh (19) were beaten to death by the mob, which intercepted their vehicle and pulled them out of it in the early hours, the police said, adding that the pick-up van was also badly damaged by the mob.

Police took Hussain and Sheikh to the Dhupguri hospital where they were declared brought dead. The police also took charge of the animals in the vehicle. A large contingent of police was deployed in the area.

The victims were identified as Hafizul Sheikh, a resident of Dhubri, Assam, and Anwar Hussain, a resident of Patlahawa village in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal.

This the second case of cow-related lynching in West Bengal in the last two months after three Muslim youth were beaten to death in June.

Also on HuffPost India:

LUCKNOW -- The fatal online Blue Whale game has claimed its first victim in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district, police said on Monday.

Parth Singh, 13, was found hanging in his bedroom in Maudaha village on Sunday night.

The police said the class sixth student had his father's phone in his hand in which the game, that directs the player to commit suicide after 50 challenges, was on when the body was taken down.

According to the family, Parth had been playing Blue Whale game from the past few days.

When he was asked not to play, he started using his father's mobile phone when he was not around or sleeping.

On Sunday evening, Parth was supposed to attend a friend's birthday party but instead locked himself in the room.

The only child, when he did not open the door, his father Vikram Singh, broke open the door and found him hanging.

Maudaha circle officer (CO) Abhishek Yadav told IANS the suicide seems to have been triggered by the blue whale game and a probe is underway.

"We are sending IT experts to go through the mobile records and history," he added.

The Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh, in a letter to all district police chiefs, had asked for complete compliance with the order of the Union Government banning the dangerous game.

Also on HuffPost India:

19-year-old Arpan Sardar has been fighting acute lymphoblastic leukaemia for the last five years. He is now taking steps to ensure he gets to study at the renowned West Bengal government's Art College.

Shongbad Protidin, a Bengali daily, reported how Sardar, from his hospital bed in Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute in Thakurpukur, is busy building idols of Durga. Just a month before Durga Puja, the 19-year-old has been able to sell one small idol for Rs 6,000.

The hospital's art therapist Papri Saha is the one who first made Sardar pick up a brush.

In 2012, when Sardar's cancer was first detected, his parents didn't know how to fund the treatment. The teenager's father, a gardener by profession, and his mother, a housewife, arranged for Rs 1.5 lakh by selling his mother's jewellery and their only asset, a bigha of land in Budge Budge.

The doctors at the hospital helped collect another Rs 3 lakh through some NGOs.

But that wasn't enough. Sardar needed more chemotherapy and more medicines--which translated to more expenses.

With the encouragement from doctors and the art therapist, Sardar picked up a paintbrush. A painting of his Lord Buddha was sold to a private company in Delhi for Rs 1 lakh.

"I didn't know how to properly hold a paintbrush. But painting is my only hope now," Sardar had told The Telegraph.

Sardar passed his board exams this year and now wants to go to the government's art school. And now, he is trying to fulfil that dream one idol at a time.

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PANAJI -- The former union defence minister and current Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, has registered a landmark victory in the Panaji by-polls by a margin of 4,803 votes.

The by-polls in Panaji were necessitated after Parrikar's return to state politics in March this year, as the Chief Minister.

Parrikar, after winning the by-polls, said that he would resign from the Rajya Sabha in the coming week.

"Winning by such margin is great. The people are wise," he added.

I will resign from Rajya Sabha next week: #Goa CM Manohar Parrikar after winning Panaji by-poll. pic.twitter.com/QkogIlJFSF

— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2017

Parrikar came back to state politics after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), despite not being the single-largest party in the state, went on to form the government with the help and alliance of Independents and other small parties.

Meanwhile, Vishwajit Rane, a former Congress leader who is now a minister in the state Cabinet, has also on the Valpoi seat for the BJP. He has won by a huge margin of 10,066 votes.

While Girish Chodankar of the Congress and Anand Shirodkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch were the other significant candidates in the Panaji by-polls, Rane's key opponent in Valpoi was Roy Naik of the Congress.

Earlier, Parrikar was condemned over an alleged video circulated on the social media, which quoted him saying that he may go back to the Centre if he loses the by-polls in Goa.

It was also said that Parrikar, by making such statements, was insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had appointed him as the defence minister.

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