Top India events

In the month of June, Chinese army entered the Doklam plateau situated at the India-China-Bhutan trijunction and started extending a road southward in Bhutan, following which the Indian Army intercepted and stopped the road laying efforts by the Chinese, leading to a 70-day standoff between the People’s Liberation Army of China and Indian Army. Given the tense atmosphere, no meeting took place between the leaders of the countries on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg. In late August, both countries arrived at a resolution after prolonged diplomatic efforts.

In August this year, a five-judge Supreme Court bench of five different faiths struck down the controversial Islamic practice of instant divorce or triple talaq by a 3:2 majority and held it unconstitutional. Following the landmark verdict, the Centre proposed a draft bill under which the practice would be made illegal and void and attract a jail term of three years for violators. On December 28, the draft bill, officially known as Muslim Woman (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, was passed by Lok Sabha without any amendments. (PTI photo)

NDA candidate Ramnath Kovind became the 14th President of India on July 20, defeating joint Opposition’s candidate Meira Kumar. He was sworn in on July 25. M Venkaiah Naidu of the BJP-led NDA was elected as the Vice-President of India on August 5 after he defeated the Opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi by a margin of 272 votes.

The nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court on August 24 unanimously ruled that the 'Right to Privacy is an integral part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution.” This led to overruling of previous two judgments which had ruled that privacy is not a fundamental right.

The extradition trial of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya continued to hog the limelight in 2017. The trial, to determine if the 61-year-old businessman can be forced to return to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore, is currently under way with the verdict expected in January 2018. Indian authorities are leaving no stone unturned in bringing the embattled businessman back to India and believe they have a "prima facie very strong case of fraud" against him.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made history on February 15 by launching 104 satellites in one go by ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Out of the total 104 satellites placed in orbit by PSLV-C37, 101 satellites belonged to six foreign countries. They included 96 from the US and one each from Israel, the UAE, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Kazakhstan.

A CBI special court on August 25 sentenced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to 20 years in prison in 15-year-old rape and exploitation cases filed by two women. After the verdict was announced, Dera followers went on a rampage, and the resulting violence led to the death of 40 people and destruction of crores of rupees worth of public property. A Special Investigation Team later revealed that the violence was plotted by Honeypreet Insan, the closest aide and probable successor of Ram Rahim. Honeypreet, who had gone into hiding after the sentencing, was nabbed by the Haryana police over a month later and is currently behind bars.

Hadiya alias Akhila Ashokan from Kerala married Shafin Jahan in 2016. The Kerala High Court annulled the marriage stating that the woman has been forcefully converted to Islam. Shafin Jahan was allegedly in contact with members of Islamic State before marrying Hadia. The Supreme Court freed Hadiya on November 28 from the custody of her parents and sent her to college to pursue her studies, even as she pleaded that she should be allowed to go with her husband.