Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Iran’s powerful National Security Chief Ali Larijani was “eliminated last night”, along with the commander of the Islamic republic’s Basij paramilitary force.
The killing of Larijani, if confirmed by Tehran, would represent the highest-profile assassination since Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other senior figures were slain during the wave of US-Israeli strikes that started the war on February 28.
Katz said in a televised statement that he had been informed by Israel’s military chief that Larijani and the head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force Gholamreza Soleimani “were eliminated last night”.
He said the two leaders “have joined Khamenei, the head of the annihilation program, along with all those eliminated from the axis of evil in the depths of hell”.
An Israeli military official said that the army had also targeted a top military commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Akram al-Ajouri, in a strike in Iran and was assessing whether he had been killed.
Ajouri was the head of the group’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, which are active in the West Bank and Gaza, and took part in Hamas’ unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The Israeli official described Larijani as “the de facto leader of the Iranian regime, especially in the last two weeks, but also before, he was considered the one who was calling the shots and moving the pieces around”.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released a photo of the premier on the phone, captioned: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders the elimination of senior figures in the Iranian regime.”
Israel’s military had announced earlier that it killed Basij chief Soleimani “in a precise strike in Tehran”.
“Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past six years,” it said.
The Basij, a volunteer force under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, “led the main repression operations” by the authorities during recent mass protests in Iran, the Israeli army said.
The military said that Soleimani was killed along with other Basij commanders by an air strike on a “makeshift headquarters”.
Iran was rocked by unprecedented protests against the clerical establishment that peaked in January. They were met with a crackdown in which, according to rights groups, thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands arrested.
The Israeli military has said in recent days that it was targeting Basij checkpoints set up around Tehran, in a bid to undermine the grip of the authorities on power.
Shortly after the statement by Katz, AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard distant blasts and sirens sounded in the north of Israel following a warning of incoming Iranian missiles.
Benjamin Netanyahu says Larijani killing gives Iranians chance to overthrow rulers
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the killing of Tehran’s national security chief Ali Larijani was part of efforts to give Iranians a chance to remove their rulers.
“This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani, the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.
U.S. top counterterrorism official Kent resigns to protest Iran war
The director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, has announced his resignation, saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war in Iran.
Joe Kent said on social media Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Kent is a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists. Kent was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.
As head of the National Counterterrorism Centre, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.
Before entering President Donald Trump’s administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. He also served in the military, seeing 11 deployments as a Green Beret, followed by work at the CIA.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent’s confirmation, pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. During his 2022 congressional campaign, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, for consulting work. He also worked closely with Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and attracted support from a variety of far-right figures.
Viral video shows crowd in cinema hall pledging to boycott Muslims after ‘Kerala Story 2’ screening, draws flak
A video, purportedly from Maharashtra’s Palghar district, showing people in a cinema hall chanting slogans and pledging to boycott Muslims socially and economically has triggered strong reactions.
Reacting to claims by a Congress MP that the viral video was shot in a cinema hall in Vasai on March 10, 2026, a senior police official from the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar (MBVV) Police Commissionerate told PTI on Tuesday that the veracity of the video is yet to be ascertained.
“We are not sure where it was shot and believe it could be mischief by some unscrupulous elements,” the police official said.
The MP claimed that the video shows a group of people taking the oath to boycott Muslims after watching the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story 2’.
Syed Naseer Hussain, a Rajya Sabha member of the Congress, shared the video on X. “In Vasai, Palghar, after a free screening of the film The Kerala Story on March 10, 2026, participants reportedly took a collective oath calling for the economic and social boycott of Muslims.
“The continued encouragement of propaganda-driven narratives under the BJP Government has increasingly targeted Muslims and deepened communal polarisation. When cinema is deployed as a political instrument to stigmatise an entire community, it risks turning prejudice into organised discrimination and further emboldening anti-Muslim sentiment,” he said on X.
“India’s democratic ethos rests firmly on secularism, equality and fraternity. Calls for economic or social boycotts of any community strike at the very spirit of the Constitution of India and must be firmly rejected to preserve the plural and inclusive character of our Republic,” the MP said.
Since its release in 2023, ‘The Kerala Story’, and its sequel released in February this year, have been at the centre of intense political and cultural debate. Supporters claim the films expose uncomfortable truths, while critics argue that they exaggerate and promote divisive narratives.
Adoptive mothers entitled to maternity leave regardless of child’s age, says Supreme Court
Observing that adoption is part of the right to reproductive autonomy, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a law which said a woman would be eligible for maternity leave if she legally adopts a child below the age of three months.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan held that an adoptive mother should be entitled to maternity leave of 12 weeks, irrespective of the age of the adopted child.
“Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code, insofar as it puts an age limit of three months on the age of the adoptive child for the adoptive mother to avail maternity benefit, is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution,” the Bench said.
The Supreme Court also asked the Centre to come out with a provision recognising paternity leave as a social security benefit.
The Supreme Court’s judgement came on a plea filed by advocate Hamsaanandini Nanduri challenging Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code that allows 12 weeks of maternity leave only if an adoptive mother adopts a child below three months of age.
ECI should start campaigning for BJP: Mamata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday tore into the Election Commission of India for transferring top bureaucrats in the State and said the poll body should “start campaigning for the BJP”.
The Chief Minister said the party will contest 291 seats in the West Bengal polls and will win more than 226 seats.
Hours after the announcement of Assembly election in West Bengal, the Election Commission late on Sunday transferred the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, and the Director-General of Police, among others.
Banerjee said all the transfers were done at “the behest of the BJP”. “EC is playing a game on behalf of the BJP. It should now start campaigning for the party,” the Chief Minister said at a press conference where she announced the party’s candidates for the Assembly elections.
Banerjee alleged that the transfers were done to “distribute cash” ahead of the elections and “trigger riots”. “Why was there so much hurry,” she asked. “The BJP wants to gobble up Bengal. They have become greedy,” she said.
The Chief Minister said the upcoming election was a “fight for survival” for Bengal. “And Bengal will win in this fight. The Modi government is anti-farmer and anti-women. They have insulted the people and polity of Bengal, and I urge the public to teach them a lesson,” she said.
Likening the BJP to migratory birds, Banerjee said that the saffron party knows only to attack with guns and distribute cash. Slamming the Centre for the LPG crisis in the wake of the West Asia conflict, Banerjee said, “They don’t have LPG gas but have cash.”
Just after the transfers, Banerjee had said, “Change everything but you will not be able to change the government in the State.”
‘Not for all LPG consumers’: Govt clarifies on eKYC norms
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, on Tuesday, had clarified that LPG biometric Aadhaar authentication (eKYC) is only required for unauthenticated LPG customers and not for all customers.
The clarification came as some news report have been circulating on the issue of biometric aadhaar authentication for LPG consumers.
In a post by the Ministry is a part of the ongoing efforts of the Government to encourage more LPG consumers to complete biometric aadhaar authentication.
The Ministry clarified that “The requirement of eKYC applies to those LPG consumers who have not done so far. If you are a non-PMUY customer and have done it before, you don’t need to do it.”
In a statement the Ministry further clarified that “PMUY customers need to do it only once every financial year, that too only for receiving targeted DBT subsidies aftger 7 refills i.e. on 8th and 9th refill. It further stated that the supply of refills will not be affected in any case.
NCTP members oppose transgender Act amendments, say not consulted
Members of the National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP) on Tuesday stated that the council was neither consulted nor informed about the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026 introduced in Parliament on Friday.
They said that they are in the process of issuing a joint statement to register their objections to the Bill that seeks to amend the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
Some of these members have already started holding meetings and are trying to seek an appointment with the Social Justice Minister to explain why transgender communities are opposing the Bill.
The Bill, introduced by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar, proposed to withdraw transgender people’s right to a self-perceived gender identity and redefine who a “transgender person” is. The proposed amendments also grant discretionary powers to the District Magistrate and mandate medical institutions performing sex-reassignment surgeries or interventions to report to the government.
The amendments have triggered protests and mobilisation among transgender communities across the country, with many demanding their withdrawal.
On Tuesday, the National Human Rights Commission’s Special Monitor for transgender ights, Gopi Shankar Madurai, issued a statement “rejecting” the Bill, saying that it was “a deeply flawed, unscientific and culturally regressive legislation that perpetuates discrimination rather than protecting the rights and dignity of diverse GIESC (Gender Identity/Expression and Sex Characteristics) communities, including intersex persons and gender non-conforming children in India”.
Kalki Subramaniam, a nominated member of the NCTP representing the transgender community in the southern region, stated that the council was not informed about any amendments to the Act being planned. Another nominated member, representing the north-eastern region, Rituparna Neog, told The Hindu, “We were not informed at all. Is this not what the council is for?”
The NCTP was established under the 2019 Act with the principal purpose of advising the Union Government on matters of forming policies, programmes, legislation, or projects with regard to transgender persons. It is headed by the Minister of Social Justice and a Minister of State for Social Justice. Five representatives of the transgender community from different regions, and expert members, representing NGOs working for transgender people, are mandatorily nominated to the Council. It also has representation from other ministries, State governments, the NHRC, and the National Commission for Women.
Abhina Aher, one of the expert members of the council, said that the amendments were introduced suddenly, “even though we work with the government almost on a daily basis”. She, however, mentioned that the Delhi Government had recently held a consultation meeting, where discussions included identifying transgender persons who have historically been associated with occupations like begging.
“There was a serious discussion about who a real transgender person is, of course, in the context of people often seen begging on the street. And one may argue that there could be some cisgender people, or people who cross-dress, who are on the streets. It could be argued that the government thinks it is trying to provide benefits to the people who really need them. But such thinking to percolate into the Amendment Bill, the way it has, is objectionable,” Aher, Chief Executive of TWEET Foundation, a transgender welfare organisation.
Subramaniam said that meetings are already underway among the nominated representatives and nominated expert members. ”We are also trying to arrange a meeting with the government and convey the objections that transgender communities across India have regarding this Bill,” she said. Neog added that a public statement is also being drafted by members of the NCTP.
On Sunday, Subramaniam wrote to the Social Justice Minister that the NCTP had not been informed or consulted about the amendments, adding, “If the amendment becomes law in its current form, I will resign from my position as a member of the National Council for Transgender Persons.”
“I cannot continue to serve in a body that is sidelined in such critical decisions and that endorses legislation which harms the very community it is meant to protect,” she said in the letter, urging the Minister to reconsider the amendment Bill.
Meanwhile, Madurai said, “By protecting colonial hijra structures at the expense of genuine ancient Indic heritage, by conflating distinct biological and social categories, and by refusing evidence-based reforms, this Bill guarantees continued rights violations and omissive discrimination repeatedly condemned by the Supreme Court.”
In Brief:
The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday directed the Kotdwar police to submit a status update on the investigation related to a First Information Report (FIR) registered against ‘Mohammed’ Deepak, a gym owner who came into national attention after confronting a group of right-wing activists accused of harassing a 71-year-old Muslim shop owner and pressuring him to rename his store. During the hearing, Navnesh Negi, Deepak’s counsel, argued that while the police had lodged an FIR against the mob, without naming any accused despite video evidence identifying individuals, they had registered a specific FIR against Deepak, suggesting he was being unfairly targeted for his actions. The High Court also asked the police to clarify why no case had been registered based on Deepak’s complaint against individuals who were clearly identifiable in the video recordings.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
