NEW DELHI — NSUI national president Fairoz Khan has stepped down from his post following charges of sexual harassment, sources in the Congress said on Tuesday.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has accepted his resignation, the sources told PTI.

Khan, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, submitted his resignation on Monday evening, saying he quit keeping in mind the party's interests.

According to sources, Khan said in his resignation letter that he has decided to step down since the charges against him are hurting the party's image.

He, however, has denied the charges against him.

The Congress had set up a three-member committee to look into the issue after a woman, a party worker from Chhattisgarh, levelled charges of sexual harassment against the chief of its students' wing.

The panel, which is talking to all the concerned parties, is yet to give its report, the sources said.

The woman had first complained against Khan in June. She had then met Gandhi and other senior leaders of the party demanding action against the NSUI president, who, she alleged, had sexually harassed her and her sister and some other women from the party.

She also lodged a complaint against him at the Parliament Street police station in September, saying that she feared for her life and security.

The allegations against Khan have come in the midst of the #MeToo movement gathering pace in the country.

The Congress was under pressure to act against the NSUI chief as the party is seeking action against Union minister M J Akbar, who has been accused by several former women colleagues of sexual harassment when he served as editor at various media organisations.

The opposition party has attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for keeping quiet about the allegations against Akbar and has demanded the latter's resignation.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — Ahead of the opening of the Lord Ayyappa Temple on Wednesday for the monthly pooja, tension looms large at Nilackal — the main gateway to Sabarimala — as devotees on Tuesday stopped vehicles and prevented women of the "banned" age group from trekking to the holy hill.

The shrine located on the mountain ranges of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats opens tomorrow for the first time after the recent Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups there.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, however, told reporters that no one would be allowed to block devotees from proceeding to Sabarimala.

Groups of women devotees including senior citizens, clad in traditional sarees, could be seen stopping each and every vehicle at Nilackal, the base camp located about 20 kms away from Sabarimala hill top.

Besides private vehicles, devotees even stopped and inspected Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses and asked young women to get out of it.

Very few police personnel were present when the incidents happened.

One of the woman agitator said, "No woman belonging to the banned age group of 10-50 will be allowed to travel further from Nilackal and offer worship at the shrine" when it opens for the monthly pooja tomorrow evening.

The temple would be closed on 22 October after the five-day monthly puja during the Malayalam month of Thulam.

Local television channels reported that some college students, who were sporting black colour dresses, were asked to get out of a bus they were traveling in, by devotees alleging that they were on their way to Sabarimala.

Chanting 'swamiya saranam Ayyappa' matras aloud and clapping their hands, women devotees have been inspecting vehicles at various points en route to Sabarimala since Monday evening.

Local television channels reported that some college students, who were sporting black colour dresses, were asked to get out of a bus they were traveling in, by devotees alleging that they were on their way to Sabarimala.

Ayyappa devotees wear black clothes and a bead chain during the pilgrimage.

Women journalists who tried to reach the hill temple as part of their official assignments were also stopped at the base camp.

Vijayan, however, warned of stern action against those who prevent devotees.

"Stern action will be taken against anyone who prevents devotees from going to Sabarimala," Vijayan told reporters here.

Vijayan also made it clear that the government has no intention to file a review petition and would implement the apex court order.

The chief minister said the government has taken a stand on the issue that there should not be any discrimination on the basis of gender.

However, the government has clarified that it would not bring in any law to put its policy into practice.

"But, will go by what the Supreme Court says," Vijayan said.

Referring to the statement of BJP President P S Sreedharan Pillai that government would be responsible for any law and order situation on the issue, Vijayan said it was the saffron party that was trying to create problem in the state.

The chief minister also condemned the remark of a BJP supporter and actor Kollam Thulasi that "women who go to Sabarimala temple defying the custom should be ripped apart".

A group of devotees continued their sit-in dharna in front of secretariat here to protest the government's decision to implement the top court order.

A 32-year-old woman, hailing from Kannur, had o Monday complained that she was being slut-shamed and subjected to threats and abuses on social media after she announced her decision to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

Kerala has been witnessing intense protests including prayer marches and mass rallies by Lord Ayyappa devotees and right wing outfits against the implementation of the Apex court verdict.

All protest rallies had witnessed mass participation of women especially that of senior citizens.

The Shiv Sena's state unit recently warned of "mass suicides" if women of the "banned" age group visits Sabarimala.Police have booked actor-turned-BJP supporter, Kollam Thulashi for his controversial remarks.

A 32-year-old woman, hailing from Kannur, had o Monday complained that she was being slut-shamed and subjected to threats and abuses on social media after she announced her decision to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

Though the government had earlier considered to deploy women police personnel at Sannidhanam, the temple complex and the 'pathinettam padi,' the sacred 18 steps leading to the sanctum sanctorum, the plan was dropped later following protests of devotees.

The entry of menstruating women had been restricted in the hillock shrine as, according to the traditions, the principal deity Lord Ayyappa is considered to be the 'Naishtika Brahmachari' or the perennial celibate.

On 8 October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report that noted that the effects of global warming are already clearly visible in the world—extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels and melting arctic ice caps are all examples.

The report, which received global attention, said that "limiting global warming to 1.5º C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society".

It also said that only a dozen years remain for "global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5º C". Beyond that, the risks of droughts, floods, forest fires and other extreme weather events would significantly worsen.

Reading such reports can usually leave one with a sense of dejection—after all, how much can one person do? And then there are reports about government administrations around the world failing to limit greenhouse gas emissions and the repercussions of powerful nations like the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.

But there is hope—a study released last year had shown that individual action can, indeed, help combat climate change.

In July 2017, Seth Wynes of the University of British Columbia and Kimberly Nicholas of Sweden's Lund University published a paper which recommended certain actions that individuals could take to mitigate the impact of climate change—having fewer children was the most impactful. The others were simpler, like living without a car, avoiding air travel and eating a plant-based diet.

At the time of its publication, the paper was seen as being radical for emphasising seemingly simple steps that individuals could take at a personal or household level.

More than a year on, this writer spoke to Wynes, co-author of the paper, about whether his views have changed since the time the paper was published.

What made you suggest individual-level actions to combat climate change?

I worked as a high school science teacher before I started this research and so I had many opportunities to speak with students about climate change. Students want to know how their learning impacts their lives, and my students also wanted to know what they could do about climate change. Unfortunately, I didn't have a very clear list of the most important actions they could take, so part of this research was driven by that question. If we're going to be talking to students about how they can participate in solving this problem, it was important to me that we provide information that is based on sound evidence.

When the paper was published, it caused quite a stir, both for suggesting that people should have fewer children and also for its individual-driven recommendations to deal with climate change. Do you think the suggestions you put forth were radical?

I don't think most of these suggestions are very radical in the scientific community. Climate researchers already understood that personal transportation—both flying and driving cars—as well as meat consumption contribute substantially to climate change. In terms of choices regarding family size, scientists also understand that population is a driver of climate change, but not all scientists think that it should be addressed either because it's too controversial or because it takes us away from focusing on changing levels of consumption.

We think government documents titled, "Top 10 Things You Can Do to Help" should actually contain the top ten things an individual can do for the climate.

I think a lot of the greater controversy comes from people assuming that our paper says things that it doesn't say. We don't demand policy change, but we do suggest that education should line up with science. We think government documents titled, "Top 10 Things You Can Do to Help" should actually contain the top ten things an individual can do for the climate. So in that way, it wasn't terribly radical.

I'm glad you clarified the 'we don't demand policy change' part. This adds context to the fact that your paper merely offers suggestions to those who are willing to make some changes in their personal lives. And this is what distinguishes the tone of the paper from the Chinese Communist Party's one-child policy. Any further thoughts on this?

I think you've summed it up. Our results are not policy prescriptive. As we noted in a reply to a recent comment on our paper: "This relates to a final suggestion from Laycock and Lam, who recommend that communicators recognize the extent to which they understand family planning to be a human right. We do not by any means wish for our results to be used as justification to infringe on anyone's rights to family planning (a right specified in the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all nations, as we noted in our reply to van Busshuysen and Branstedt (Wynes and Nicholas 2018))".

Now, a year on, have the thoughts you expressed in the paper undergone any changes?

Great question. I've learned a lot since writing the paper, but if anything, I have just seen more evidence build up regarding the importance of addressing these high-impact actions. I think that any changes I would make would be to how we communicate over these issues. I would emphasize even more clearly that in terms of choices regarding family size, I believe that the climate impact of choosing to have an additional child is just one of many things that parents might choose to think about when making this decision. We wanted this information to be available and to be comparable to other actions. What is more important than addressing population is to find ways to live healthy, fulfilling lives that result in low levels of carbon so that our children can enjoy the planet the same way that we have.

The UN Climate Conference is coming up this December. One of its most important tasks at the conference will be "to work out and adopt a package of decisions ensuring the full implementation of the Paris Agreement". But the United States recently pulled out of the Paris Agreement and this has far-reaching repercussions. What are your views on globally-structured efforts at combating climate change and how they seem rather delicate, considering how dynamic the world of policy is today?

International climate negotiations are complicated to understand and I would not want to speak beyond my own expertise. Because climate change is such a difficult and far-reaching problem, I believe it will require decisive action from nations, institutions and individual members of society if humanity is to avoid dangerous levels of planetary warming. Everyone has a role to play.

I think a large percentage of the global population would agree with your statement that international climate negotiations are too complex to understand; no wonder most of us feel a need to work at the community or household levels to do our bit for the environment. What's next for you on your agenda to allow individuals to act on climate change by providing simple, high-impact suggestions?

There's a growing field of research on ways to "nudge" people into more sustainable behaviours. Examples of this include giving households better information on their own energy usage compared to their neighbours, or finding ways to increase recycling rates by making public recycling more visible, accessible and straightforward to use. But we know less about nudging people in domains like diet or air travel—which is something I'd like to explore.

SHAHJAHANPUR — Hours after a mechanised harvester chugged through the rice paddy, flames and a thick plume of black smoke rose into the twilight sky in India's northern Haryana state as farmers burned the residue to prepare for the next season's planting.

Similar fires seen by a Reuters reporter last week in the nation's farm states of Haryana and neighbouring Punjab suggest that efforts by authorities to stave off a massive spike in pollution in nearby New Delhi in the next few weeks may fail.

Late last year, Delhi and a large part of northern India were covered in a dangerous toxic smog that forced authorities to shut schools, ban diesel-run generators, construction, burning of garbage and non-essential truck deliveries.

The World Health Organisation said earlier this year India was home to the world's 14 most polluted cities, with Delhi ranked the sixth most polluted.

As pollution levels climbed to 12 times the recommended limit and the Indian Medical Association declared a public health emergency in the capital last year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the city a "gas chamber." On Friday, he warned the city may face the same fate this year because of the unrestrained stubble burning.

A spokesman of the federal environment ministry declined to comment. A spokesman for the Haryana government was not available for comment.

Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, a spokesman for the Punjab government, said the state administration had formed a committee of senior officials which was working to ensure that incidents of stubble burning drastically come down this year. He did not elaborate.

An official at the prime minister's office, which is coordinating efforts to bring down pollution in the capital, declined comment.

The smog worsens when the heavy smoke from crop burning combines with vehicle and industrial emissions at a time of year when wind speeds drop significantly. Fireworks set off to celebrate the major Hindu festival of Diwali, that fell on Oct. 19 last year and will be on Nov. 7 this year, exacerbated the problem.

After last year's crisis, the Indian government introduced some measures aimed at curbing the crop fires, in particular offering to pay up to 80 percent of certain farm equipment, such as a Straw Management System (SMS) that attaches to a harvester and shreds the residue.

The plan was for the shredded material to be mulched using another machine and irrigated at least twice to get it to decompose. All this would be done without any crops being burned.

The only problem is that 14 farmers Reuters spoke to on a visit last week to six villages in the rice and wheat growing areas of Haryana and Punjab, said the plan wasn't working.

Cheaper to burn

They say that was largely because the subsidy for SMS and mulching machines wasn't covering the costs of the equipment and the labour involved. It was still much cheaper and easier to burn the residue.

"Farmers know about the repercussions of burning crop stubble and that's why you won't come across a single farmer who really wants to continue with the practice," said Hardev Singh, 58, who grows rice and wheat in the village of Shahjahanpur, which is part of Haryana's Karnal district.

But the cost of disposing of crop residue is so prohibitive that most farmers are forced to set the stubble on fire, Singh said.

It is also time consuming, and the farmers do not have a lot of time. After harvesting rice, farmers get a short window to plant winter crops such as wheat and rapeseed, and late sowing means lower yields.

"The fact that government officials want us to use expensive machines like SMS clearly shows that they are far removed from reality."

The farmers also complained about the lengthy bureaucratic processes to claim the subsidies for the machines.

"The fact that government officials want us to use expensive machines like SMS clearly shows that they are far removed from reality," said Sandeep Pannu, who leases his farms to small growers in Phulak village in Haryana state.

For most farmers, burning the residue does not cost more than 2,000 rupees ($27.20) per acre but using the machines raises the cost to 6,000 rupees despite an 80 percent subsidy from the government, Pannu said.

Three other farmers standing in the shade under a tree with Pannu also complained about a sharp fall in the prices of their produce and the rising cost of diesel, widely used in tractors and farm equipment. With their incomes under strain, they said they have less capacity, and enthusiasm, to address environmental issues.

Heads could roll

The message from Haryana and Punjab could be disconcerting for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose office has been actively involved in framing policies and taking initiatives to help avoid the repeat of last year's dangerous spike in pollution levels.

"The message from the top office is to take steps to avoid the repeat of 2017. Otherwise heads will roll," said a senior Indian government official who declined to be identified in line with government policy.

Other measures by the authorities to combat air pollution this year include pressing road sweeping machines and water sprinklers into service in an attempt to reduce dust in Delhi, and the large-scale planting of saplings to eventually act as a shield against pollution, said the official.

"We'll also ensure that no one gets to burn dry leaves, garbage and other solid waste and we'll see to it that all construction sites get covered," he said, conceding that the first two weeks of November, when crop residue burning peaks, would be critical.

That is also when India's majority Hindu community will celebrate the Diwali festival, traditionally ushered in with the setting off of firecrackers. Last year, the Supreme Court banned the sale of fireworks in the capital until after Diwali, but many residents bought them in neighbouring states.

"After taking a number of steps, we're just keeping our fingers crossed."

The various steps taken by authorities could be meaningless if the crop stubble burning continues.

"What is happening right now is that we are looking at the satellite data and we can see a little bit of crop burning which could increase and intensify by the first week of November," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of the New Delhi-based think-tank, the Centre for Science and Environment.

Satellite images from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S. confirm the burning has started across the two states.

Last year 40,000 and 25,000 crop residue burning incidents were recorded in Punjab and Haryana respectively, said the Indian government official.

The stubble burning issue has become more acute in recent years because mechanised harvesters leave more of a residue than when crops are plucked by hand. Such harvesters are increasingly popular in the two relatively prosperous states, where farmer lobbies are also politically powerful.

Although the National Green Tribunal, India's main environmental court, has banned crop residue burning, the decree rarely gets reinforced.

A lot may depend on whether the winds slow as much as they did last year.

"Let's hope for the best," said the government official. "After taking a number of steps, we're just keeping our fingers crossed."

NEW DELHI—It didn't take long for the first defamation suit to land.

On Monday, MJ Akbar, the former editor who is now India's minister of state for external affairs, sued journalist Priya Ramani, the first woman to publicly accuse him of sexually harassing her.

On the same day, actor Alok Nath filed a defamation suit against producer-director Vinta Nanda, who said last week that he had raped her decades ago.

Over the past two weeks, Indian women have been speaking out against men who have sexually harassed or assaulted them in the workplace and outside. The unprecedented outpouring of anger and solidarity, dubbed by many as India's #MeToo moment, has taken many forms, the most prominent being naming and shaming the perpetrator on social media.

During this time, a small group of people—mostly journalists and lawyers—had been curating publicly accessible lists with contact details of lawyers who were offering their services pro bono, mostly to survivors who wanted to sue their harassers.

HuffPost India reached out to some lawyers on one of the lists—which, though not fully verified for accuracy by those compiling it, continues to serve as a public database of sorts—to understand why they decided to participate in the movement and where they see it going, now that defamation suits are likely to stack up.

Lawyer Rutuja Shinde, based in Mumbai, has been actively working to help survivors of sexual harassment and is one of the people involved in curating the list mentioned earlier.

"What inspired me to help the survivors was that this movement needs to be taken from the computer screens to the courts and that requires legal assistance. Financial costs incurred for getting this legal assistance further burdens the survivors who've gone through enough trauma already. I wanted to make legal resources more accessible to them so that they are more aware and do not feel remedy-less," Shinde told HuffPost India.

Shinde, who graduated from the National Law University in Jodhpur in 2016, has been working with a Mumbai-based counsel since January 2017. She also practises independently and has worked on cases specific to workplace harassment earlier.

Since she became actively involved in the current movement, the young lawyer says that about 40-45 women have approached her through multiple channels: social media, email and "word of mouth". With her guidance, she says, "some of them have filed complaints with the ICC/police. Some have approached me wanting help in defending themselves in defamation suits".

ICC stands for Internal Complaints Committee, which is compulsory in all workplaces under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The ICCs in many media organisations are currently investigating the sexual harassment allegations raised against their journalists.

"I think all women have experienced harassment at some point in time. There is poor representation of women in law also. Creating a safe working environment for them is a necessity and this realisation made me take this up," added Shinde.

Another Mumbai-based lawyer whose name was recently added to the list is Lakshmi Raman. Raman, who has been a lawyer for five years, mainly works on cases related to sexual abuse of children. Currently working with a senior advocate who practises in the High Court as well as the Supreme Court, Raman also takes up cases independently. At the time of speaking to HuffPost India, she had not received any request for help from a survivor.

Raman said she hopes that women would use the list of lawyers instead of first resorting to social media and being slapped with defamation cases.

"Apart from encouraging women to come out and talk about their experiences, it is more important that they (women) use the right outlet to express themselves after obtaining proper legal guidance as to how to go about the entire process. A lot of women are approaching social media and thereafter not proceeding with the legal recourse, which defeats the entire purpose as it results in a 'he said, she said' and things being taken out of context."

The Symbiosis Law School graduate, however, had a word of caution about the potential for "media trial" by vested interests who may not care about tarnishing the movement for their own agenda.

"I am hopeful that women approach us lawyers and recount their experience so that we can advise them as to whether a certain line spoken or gesture made constitutes an offence under the law rather than resorting to media trial, which just waters down the entire movement," she said.

Harshad Pathak, a Delhi-based commercial lawyer, is not on any social media lists, but has communicated his willingness through lawyers' groups to help survivors pro bono.

"The social utility of the #MeToo movement, the courage shown by women to revisit their traumatic experiences for a greater good, and the opportunity to contribute to the gradual dismantling of patriarchal structures were sufficient reasons for me to offer my limited services on a pro-bono basis. Even though this is not my area of expertise, the possibility of even one person benefiting from my assistance makes the commitment worthwhile."

Pathak also said that since commercial law "does not have any social significance", he rarely got a chance to use his learning for a common good.

"Moments like these provide an opportunity to make some amends," he said.

Accused Someone Of Sexual Harassment? Lawyer Rutuja Shinde Tells You How To Proceed If You Have...

1) Named someone from, say, 10-20 years ago, before social media existed

Gather as much evidence as possible (correspondence/eye witness accounts etc) to make sure it adds credibility to the statements.

2) Named an organisation where the person works/worked

Get in touch with the HR of the organisation in order for them to conduct an internal inquiry

3) Named someone on behalf of someone else, keeping the primary accuser anonymous

If someone is acting as a body blocker, then he/she must do due diligence to ascertain the truth before posting accounts on social media.

4) Named someone but not lodged an official complaint against him

Lodging an official complaint is purely the choice of the survivor. However, the person who is named has the option of suing for defamation

NILACKAL, Kerala — Tension prevailed on Wednesday morning in Kerala's Nilackal, the main gateway to Sabarimala, after the police used force to disperse devotees opposing the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the hill shrine.

Acting tough, the police, deployed in large numbers in Nilackal, some 20 kms away from the Sabarimala hilltop, also removed a makeshift shelter erected by a protesting group Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samiti.

The protesting group of devotees had been staging a sit-in chanting Ayyappa mantra in the shelter in protest against the Supreme Court order permitting women of all age groups to enter the shrine.

The protesting people, who were less in numbers, ran from the spot when the police initiated action in the early hours Wednesday when they tried to block the buses from the key entry point to the temple.

Hours ahead of opening of the hill shrine for the monthly prayer, the police said they would not let anyone to block the movement of the people.

Some activists of the Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samiti, who had stayed back at Nilackal, also allegedly prevented the media persons from carrying out their professional duty.

Taking stock of the situation, police also warned against those who create hurdles in the ways of pilgrims to the hill shrine.

The police took strong action against the protesters after some of them checked the vehicles heading to Pamba and prevented the women in the age group of 10 and 50 from entering the hill shrine.

A couple from Tamil Nadu, aged 45 and 40, on their way to Pamba, were forced to get down from the KSRTC bus Monday night allegedly by some activists of the Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samiti.

Although the couple had said that they would go only up to Pamba and not climb Sabarimala, the activists prevented them.

The police later took them to safety.

Some activists of the Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samiti, who had stayed back at Nilackal, also allegedly prevented the media persons from carrying out their professional duty.

Crew of various TV news channels were asked to leave the place. They could return the spot after more policemen were deployed in the area.

Around 500 police personnel, including women, have been deployed in Nilackal to ensure a safe passage to the pilgrims to the Lord Ayyappa temple.

Around 500 police personnel, including women, have been deployed in Nilackal to ensure a safe passage to the pilgrims to the Lord Ayyappa temple.

Meanwhile, another group of devotees said they would stage a Gandhian style peaceful protest in Pamba.

The shrine located on the mountain ranges of the ecologically fragile Western Ghats opens later in the evening for the first time after the recent Supreme Court.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said no one would be allowed to block devotees from proceeding to Sabarimala.

Groups of women devotees including senior citizens, clad in traditional sarees, had stopped each and every vehicle at Nilackal Tuesday.

Besides private vehicles, devotees even stopped and inspected Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses and asked young women to get out of them Tuesday.

Very few police personnel were present when the incidents happened.

Protesting women had said no women belonging to the banned age group of 10-50 will be allowed to travel further from Nilackal and offer worship at the shrine.

LONDON—Irish writer Anna Burns won the 2018 Man Booker Prize on Tuesday for Milkman, her third full-length novel.

Set in an unnamed city during the bloody "Troubles" of Northern Ireland, Milkman tells the coming-of-age story of a young, bookish girl, who begins an affair with the Milkman—an older paramilitary figure.

The 56-year-old writer, who was born in Belfast, received the award from Prince Charles' wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as £50,000 ($65,900).

"None of us has ever read anything like this before. Anna Burns' utterly distinctive voice challenges conventional thinking and form in surprising and immersive prose," philosopher and novelist Kwame Anthony Appiah, who chaired the prize's panel of judges, said in a statement.

"It is a story of brutality, sexual encroachment and resistance threaded with mordant humour. Set in a society divided against itself, 'Milkman' explores the insidious forms oppression can take in everyday life."

Established in 1969, the annual literary prize recognises the judges' choice of "the best original novel written in English and published in the UK".

This year's shortlist was made up of writers from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

The Irish Times reported that Burns almost did not finish the novel because of the physical pain she suffers caused by complications during surgery.

Burns is the first woman writer to win the prize since Eleanor Catton won for The Luminaries in 2013.

The other books on the shortlist were The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner, The Long Take by Robin Robertson, Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, Washington by Esi Edugyan and The Overstory by Richard Powers.

A day after Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar filed a defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani, 19 former and current employees of The Asian Age wrote a petition asking New Delhi's Patiala House Court to consider their testimonies against the minister. The 20th woman who has signed the petition worked for Deccan Chronicle.

Akbar, a former journalist and editor, had launched The Asian Age in 1994. He filed a case against Ramani, who was one of the first women to call out Akbar on Twitter for his predatory behaviour during the #MeToo movement.

Firstpost.com quoted the petition as saying:

When Ms. Ramani spoke out against him in public, she spoke not only about her personal experience but also lifted the lid on the culture of casual misogyny, entitlement and sexual predation that Mr. Akbar engendered and presided over at The Asian Age.

Ms. Ramani is not alone in her fight. We would request the honourable court hearing the defamation case to also consider testimonies of sexual harassment of some of us at the hands of the petitioner, as also of the other signatories who bore witness to this harassment.

The women said in their petition that Akbar continued to enjoy power and "demonstrated through his legal actions... his refusal to introspect, acknowledge or atone for his actions".

According to a News18 report, this is the list of women who signed the petition:

1) Meenal Baghel (Asian Age 1993-1996)

2) Manisha Pande (Asian Age 1993-1998)

3) Tushita Patel (Asian Age 1993-2000)

4) Kanika Gahlaut (Asian Age 1995-1998)

5) Suparna Sharma (Asian Age 1993-1996)

6) Ramola Talwar Badam (Asian Age 1994-1995)

7) Kaniza Gazari (Asian Age 1995-1997)

8) Malavika Banerjee (Asian Age 1995-1998)

9) A.T. Jayanthi (Asian Age 1995-1996)

10) Hamida Parkar (Asian Age 1996-1999)

11) Jonali Buragohain (Asian Age)

12) Sanjari Chatterjee (Asian Age)

13) Meenakshi Kumar (Asian Age 1996-2000)

14) Sujata Dutta Sachdeva (Asian Age 1999-2000)

15) Hoihnu Hauzel (Asian Age 1999-2000)

16) Reshmi Chakraborty (Asian Age Mumbai staff 1996-1998)

17) Kushalrani Gulab (Asian age 1993-1997)

18) Aisha khan (Asian Age 1995-1998)

19) Kiran Manral (Asian Age 1993-1996)

20) Christina Francis (Deccan Chronicle 2004-2011)

Akbar on Monday filed a defamation suit against journalist Ramani after dismissing multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him on Sunday.

Akbar said that the "scandalous allegations leveled" by Ramani were "ex facie defamatory and have not only damaged his goodwill and reputation ...in his social circles and on the political stage, established after years of toil and hard work." The defamation plea said it also ruined Akbar's "personal reputation in the community, friends, family and colleagues, thereby causing him irreparable loss and tremendous distress".

Ramani stood by her allegations and said in a statement on the same day, "I am deeply disappointed that a union minister should dismiss the detailed allegations of several women as a political conspiracy," Ramani said.

"By instituting a case of criminal defamation against me, Mr Akbar has made it clear, rather than engage with the serious allegations that many women have made against him, he seeks to silence them through intimidation and harassment," she added.

NEW DELHI--Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told his ministers in a closed-door cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency, was planning to assassinate him, The Hindureported.

The report, based on accounts from sources present at the meeting, said that Sirisena told his ministers that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "may not be aware of the plan".

As per the report, Sirisena made the allegation when he raised concerns over the government's "indifference" to an assassination plot targeting him. He reportedly said at Tuesday's meeting that an Indian national caught recently by Sri Lankan agencies "must be a RAW agent trying to kill me. The Indian PM may not be aware. That is often the case. Trump may not be aware of CIA's similar moves".

Read the full report from The Hinduhere.

NEW DELHI--Yashraj Films on Tuesday sacked its creative and business head Ashish Patil following allegations of sexual harassment against him by anonymous women and made public by activist Japleen Pasricha, The Hindu reported.

An official statement issued by the production house said, "Yash Raj Films terminates the services of Mr Ashish Patil: Vice President- Brand Partnerships and Talent Management and Business and Creative Head- Y-Films, with immediate effect."

According to the newspaper report, activist Japleen Pasricha shared a screenshot on 10 October which had the survivor's accusations against Patil. She accused him of forcibly kissing her on a drive and seeking sexual favours along with a promise of giving her an acting assignment. "After this I left the industry and gave up dreams of becoming an actress," she wrote.

Soon after the allegations surfaced, Patil had said in a statement, "They are untrue, fabricated, extremely defamatory and agenda driven." The production house had sent him on an "administrative leave" soon after.

A spokesperson of Yashraj Films had told News18, "YRF has earnestly requested the survivor to kindly step forward and share her account of the incidents to the Presiding Officer of our Internal Complaints Committee who would maintain utmost confidentiality. We seek her kind cooperation in the investigation so that we can appropriately address this issue. We are more than willing to extend our full support and cooperation to address this serious allegation. YRF has zero tolerance towards any form of sexual exploitation or harassment of women and we shall take the strictest necessary action against the alleged perpetrator, if the allegations of sexual harassment are found to be true."

Whether a person is a hard worker, a good friend or a nice neighbor has no bearing on what he is capable of alone in a hotel bathroom with a woman who says, 'No. Don’t do it.'

If we ― as fans, media, society ―are ever going to begin to fix the problems of gendered violence, we must kill the Nice Guy narrative.

An actual Nice Guy does not harm or assault another person.

Three women journalists were attacked in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district on Wednesday as protesters continued to demand that women of menstruation age must not enter the Sabarimala temple.

Libi CS, a journalist who had announced some hours ago that she would trek up to Sabarimala along with a few others, was reportedly stopped at the Pathanamthitta bus stand after protesters read her Facebook post.

NDTV reported that protesters had surrounded her and threatened to burn the bus she came in if she was allowed to trek up from the base camp to the Sabarimala temple.

The News Minute reported that police had to surround Libi to keep the protesters from hurting her.

Hours before her trek, Libi had said on Facebook, "We will win, the police are with us, we will climb Sabarimala this afternoon."

Another journalist, The News Minute reporter Saritha S Balan, was surrounded by a mob of over 20 people while she was on a KSRTC bus to Sabarimala to report on the event.

A report on The News Minute said that one of the protesters kicked Balan in the spine, others called her derogatory names even as the police tried to take her out of the bus safely.

Balan, the report said, was currently at the police station, but The News Minute said the station was also surrounded by "goons claiming to be devotees".

A few minutes before the attack on Balan, Republic TV South bureau chief Pooja Prasanna and her crew were also attacked.

The news channel published a video showing a huge, angry mob that has surrounded the car Prasanna was in. They can be seen banging on the windshield and the windows of the car while chanting slogans about Ayyappan, the deity at Sabarimala.

At one point, a man is seen waving his finger at Prasanna and violently banging the window.

Another woman, Madhavi from Andhra Pradesh, who was trying to go to the temple with her family was forced to return.

Nilakkal: A woman Madhavi on her way to #SabarimalaTemple returned mid-way along with her relatives after facing protests. #Keralapic.twitter.com/OUCbOqa1aO

— ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2018

Madhavi and her family claimed that the police asked them to proceed on their own to the temple.

News18 reported that its crew was also attacked in the area.

The Kerala unit of the Shiv Sena had also threatened to commit mass suicide if women were allowed to step into the temple.

Peringammala Aji of Shiv Sena in Kerala had told ANI, "Our women activists will gather near the Pamba river on October 17 and 18 as part of a suicide group. When any young woman tries to enter Sabarimala, our activists will commit suicide."

The Sabarimala shrine will open for the first time on Wednesday evening after the Supreme Court verdict, which allowed women of all age groups to enter. The temple, which is open to men of all ages and religions, opens for devotees on the first five days of every Malayalam month, apart from the 41-day-long Mandala Kalam, beginning mid-November.

On Monday, people protesting against the verdict concluded their 'long march', which lasted days, in Trivandrum.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Tuesday said that the state would ensure the safety of women who wanted to visit the Sabarimala temple.

LUCKNOW — Private security guard Ajit Singh Rana says he supports a police crackdown on gangsters in Uttar Pradesh, even after cops gunned down an Apple executive at a road stop in what human rights activists say was the latest in a series of extra-judicial killings.

Police have said the shooting was an accident, but are adamant there will be no let-up in the anti-crime campaign, which is popular with many people in India's most politically important state.

"Goons and criminals have held back the state for years," said Rana, 31, who guards a river-front park in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow in the evening and is the supervisor of a group of street cleaners in the morning.

"The government is right in killing them and everyone here appreciates it," he said.

Uttar Pradesh is home to 220 million people and sends more lawmakers to the lower house of parliament than any other state.

It is run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a saffron robe-wearing Hindu priest, launched a "zero-tolerance" fight against criminals months after taking office in March last year.

Since then police have killed 67 suspected criminals in more than 2,700 "engagements", wounded 700 and arrested 6,500, according to the draft of a government report reviewed by Reuters. Four policemen died and about 500 officers were injured in the incidents.

Adityanath's state government has been boasting about the success of the crackdown and claims it has reduced major crimes significantly.

In the first nine months of this year, reported cases of murder fell 4%, rape 8%, burglary 11%, extortion 35 percent and robbery 40 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters.

"This will benefit Modi and Yogi, 100 percent. I will vote for them again, 100 percent," said Rana.

Rana's colleague Damodar Singh, 34, said he also approved of the tough stance but added crime won't end as long as there's a big jobless problem.

Opposition parties and rights activists say that as farm distress and high unemployment dent the BJP's popularity in the country, the Adityanath government is playing to the basest fears of the electorate about their safety and security.

Fired accidentally

The Apple executive, Vivek Tiwari, was stopped by two police constables on motorcycle patrol near Lucknow early on the morning of Sept. 29, and shot dead. One of the constables told reporters he fired accidentally at Tiwari, who was driving back from an iPhone store launch.

In an attempt to defuse the wave of criticism, Uttar Pradesh offered the widow a state government job and compensation for the death of her husband. Police also issued a rare public apology.

But that hasn't stopped activists and opposition politicians from demanding the state government rein in "trigger-happy" police. They say Tiwari's killing garnered attention because he was a high-caste Hindu and worked for a high-profile company but the deaths of minority Muslims and poor people at the hands of the police rarely get a public airing.

Adityanath's aides and police officers, however, told Reuters that security forces would continue to operate without fear or political interference as they needed to improve the law and order situation to attract more investment.

"The Lucknow incident has given us a setback, made us hang our heads in shame," Anand Kumar, the second highest police official in Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters. "But it really was an aberration and we are resilient enough to bounce back. In this state we can't let our guard down."

He said that courts in the state had cleared police of any wrongdoing in more than half of the so-called "encounter" deaths; that investigations were ongoing in other cases; and that 95 percent of the dead criminals had a bounty on their heads. Kumar said the perception of the state was changing from "no go" to "go go".

It is difficult to estimate the impact of the hardline strategy on next year's national election, due to be held by May, given law and order will be only one of the issues amid concerns about weak farm incomes and job creation.

An opinion poll by Times Now TV channel in August said Modi's BJP would see its parliamentary seats from Uttar Pradesh fall to 49 from 73 in 2014. There are 80 seats altogether from the state.

State BJP leaders say they will win more seats than in 2014. Sanjeev Singh, a BJP politician who is now in the state government as an officer on special duty to Adityanath, said "change is visible" to the common man and that should benefit the party politically.

No bias

Ten Hindu voters Reuters spoke with during visits to Lucknow and Shamli, a district near the site of several of the killings, said they backed the clampdown while half a dozen Muslims - who make up just 19 percent of the state's population - said they felt it was mainly targeting them.

Kumar, an additional director general of police, said there was no bias against any community or caste. He said 22 of the suspected criminals killed were Muslims, while the other 45 were Hindus.

But rights activists say the BJP government is allowing police to take the law into its own hands.

"Evidence points to use of encounters as a means to instil fear in the minds of criminals, and to raise the image of the state government and the police, in the public eye, as being tough on crime and criminals."

"Evidence points to use of encounters as a means to instil fear in the minds of criminals, and to raise the image of the state government and the police, in the public eye, as being tough on crime and criminals," said Citizens Against Hate, a civil society alliance, in a report in May.

The report said the alliance had found at least 17 cases of suspected extra-judicial executions, based on interviews with victims' families and analyses of police complaints and medical reports.

Showing a stamp size photo of his son's body stitched up from the front after a post-mortem examination, Meer Hasan said he hoped trouble for his family would end with the police killing of the eldest of his nine sons, Furquan.

Hasan, a Muslim, said in an affidavit to a court in western Uttar Pradesh that 37-year-old Furquan was with his cousin and a friend on the evening of Oct. 22 last year when police officers seized and beat them. Furquan, his father told Reuters, had been out on bail in connection with a village land dispute case.

He said the same night they were taken away to a jungle where Furquan was shot dead in a "fake encounter" - a deliberately staged police shootout - while his two companions were wounded in the legs and taken into custody. Hasan said his court statement was based on what his son's two companions said happened.

Police told the court that Furquan was a "dreaded" criminal with a bounty of 50,000 rupees on his head for offences including rioting, carrying deadly weapons without a licence and unlawful assembly.

According to the police version of events, a group of five men on two motorcycles fired at officers when asked to stop at a checkpoint. In the ensuing shootout, two policemen were wounded and Furquan was killed.

In January, the court dismissed Hasan's petition seeking an investigation into the killing.

Hasan said he would not pursue the case any further.

"Whatever had to happen with Furquan happened," Hasan, 68, said sitting outside his run-down red brick house in his village in Shamli. "I hope my other boys stay safe. I hope they live."