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Snapshot of the day
September 1, 2026
Sidharth Bhatia
Russian President Vladimir Putin had his own response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for the ‘end of war’ for the benefit of humanity: Russian forces struck a residential building in Kyiv and the surrounding region. At least 12 civilians were killed, including an Indian citizen and 21 wounded in the overnight attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the strikes as “Russian terror” and called on allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.
Nor is it the only Indian casualty of Russia’s war. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says 227 Indian nationals have been recruited into the Russian military so far, of whom 51 have been killed and 139 discharged. New Delhi says it has repeatedly pressed Moscow for the release, discharge and repatriation of Indians still serving with Russian forces. The diplomatic appeals to ‘end the war’ now sit alongside a grimmer ledger.
Invoking its plenary powers under Article 142, the Supreme Court today deemed that FIRs lodged against youth protesters for the agitations they held across the country between July 20 and 25 stand quashed (the Delhi police’s cases against close to 3,000 individuals with ‘serious criminal antecedents will remain in place). The bench also forbade fresh cases against protesters for these agitations. For its part the Modi government said it will formulate within three months a policy for compensating the families of students who died after the NEET-UG leak in May. In response the Cockroach Janata Party called off its September 5 march from India Gate to the Delhi police’s headquarters, which it had announced because of the government’s delay in cancelling cases against protesters.
All this comes less than two weeks before the BRICS summit in Delhi on September 12, with the Modi government hardly eager for images of another youth protest in the capital to travel around the world.
Speaking of which, remember the 15-year-old from Noida who became the target of a Hindutva hate campaign and state action after a video of her criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Jantar Mantar protests went viral, and was subsequently shamed to apologise? She has now
