SC declines urgent hearing on India-Pakistan Asia Cup match

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to urgently hear petitions seeking the cancellation of the India versus Pakistan Asia Cup match scheduled for September 14 in Dubai, a move that clears the way for the high-profile fixture to proceed as planned this weekend. The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, which refused to prioritise the petitions and said there was no urgency to intervene in what it described as a scheduled sporting event.

Two separate pleas have been filed seeking to stop the match. One was lodged by four law students led by Urvashi Jain, and another by a Pune-based activist, Ketan Tirokdar. The petitioners told the court that staging the game in the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor sent a message inconsistent with national dignity and public sentiment. The students’ petition said playing Pakistan so soon after attacks in which, they said, civilians and soldiers died "sent the opposite message" to national sacrifice and could hurt the sentiments of victims’ families. The activist’s plea argued the fixture contravened Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to...