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According to the complaint, Padmini Jagat, a woman from the Dalit community, was appointed as the Anganwadi cook nearly two months ago. She alleged that some villagers have been urging parents not to send their children to the centre or consume the meals, eggs, and nutritional supplements prepared by her because of her caste.

The complainants alleged that a group of villagers locked the Anganwadi centre on Wednesday, disrupting its functioning. As a result, children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers were reportedly deprived of supplementary nutrition and other essential services provided through the centre.

"I think it's (the Qur'an) the best of the four books; for one thing, it's a bold statement in the 600s. It's also very difficult for the author; if a new idea comes to mind, too bad, we've said, 'This is the last book...'"

This was the joke that got a popular Turkish comedian, Deniz Goktas, arrested on arrival at Istanbul airport on Thursday for allegedly insulting Islam and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It is not yet clear which part of his 90-minute stand-up performance, published on YouTube, constitutes an insult to the president of the republic, which is a criminal offence under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. However, he openly called him a "dictator" who is finally "at peace with his desires".

In early June, Taliban authorities detained at least 30 women in the western city of Herat over alleged violations of dress-code rules, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

The arrests triggered rare protests in Injil district, a predominantly Shiite area of Herat, a community already facing insecurity and discrimination at the hands of the extremist Sunni regime.

Taliban forces responded with violence, shooting at protesters, according to UNAMA and human rights groups. At least two people were killed, including a child, and more than 20 others were injured.

The crackdown in Herat coincided with another draconian measure: Taliban officials and government employees were ordered to stop using smartphones. Videos circulating online appeared to show Taliban members destroying their phones in compliance with the order.

Many Afghans now fear that the same restrictions could eventually be extended to the entire population.

>Residents of Nagrasu in Rudraprayag district are baffled by the way the Pushkar Singh Dhami government dealt with the seven Nihangs who had stormed the gurudwara, terrorised people, hurled stones at police and issued open threats, calling for strict action against the “violence mongers”.

>“How can the government allow such violence mongers to happily leave the place after capturing the Damdama Sahib Gurudwara for three days, damaging it and forcing the government to make unlawful promises to them,” local social worker Mohit Dimri said in Rudraprayag on Wednesday.

>When Indians on social media speak of a "Chinese caste system", they are often referring to two very different phenomena. One is the ancient Chinese social hierarchy known as Shi-Nong-Gong-Shang, and the modern hukou household registration system. While the Shi-Nong-Gong-Shang belongs to China's imperial past, the hukou continues to shape the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens even now.

>Long before the rise of the Communist Party, Chinese society was organised around a social framework known as Shi-Nong-Gong-Shang. This was a hierarchy-based occupation system that classified people into four broad groups known as Shi (scholars and officials), Nong (farmers), Gong (artisans and craftsmen), and Shang (merchants and traders).

>According to historical records, this hierarchy emerged during the late Zhou dynasty and the Warring States period and was later formalised by Han dynasty historian Ban Gu in the Book of Han (111 CE).

>The hierarchy placed scholars and officials (Shi) at the top because they were seen as guardians of morality and governance. Farmers (Nong) came next because agriculture was considered essential to the survival of the state. Artisans (Gong), who produced goods and tools through skilled labour, occupied the third position, while merchants (Shang) were placed last because Chinese Confucian thinkers often viewed profit-seeking with suspicion.

>Hukou is China's household registration system, introduced in the 1950s, that classifies Chinese citizens as rural or urban residents based on their registered place of residence. The hukou is often described as an internal passport system, and it determines access to public services such as education, healthcare, housing, and social welfare, while historically restricting large-scale migration from rural areas to cities.

>Zhang Yiwu, a professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, dismissed the comparison of the hukou and Shi-Nong-Gong-Shang as "caste system" by Indians.

>"They are entirely different concepts. It is hilarious to see the arguments as if they've discovered some devastating secret," Zhang, told The Global Times, a Beijing-based daily newspaper. "The ancient concept of Shi, Nong, Gong, and Shang was simply an occupational order, not a hereditary caste system. Apparently, some Indians lack basic knowledge about China's historical culture," he added.