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  • The Pioneer · 2019. 7. 11. · Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya and said a day-to-day hearing may commence from July 25 if the court decides to conclude those ... ern States
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U nder heavy police protec- tion, 10 rebel Congress MLAs flew in a chartered flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru on Thursday evening and sub- mitted their resignations to the Karnataka Assembly Speaker, who seemed in no hurry to end the political drama any sooner. In a Press conference after the meeting with MLAs, Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar said, “The rebel MLAs have come and submitted their res- ignations. The resignations are in prescribed format. As per the rules I have to ascertain the genuineness of the resigna- tions. I can’t be expected to act on lightning speed.” The Speaker put off taking the decision on the resignation of the MLAs despite a Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asking him to decide on the issue dur- ing the course of the day. The Bench, also compris- ing Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said the deci- sion taken by the Speaker has to be intimated on Friday when the court takes up the matter again. The apex court also direct- ed the Karnataka DGP to pro- vide protection to the 10 MLAs from Bengaluru airport to the Assembly after their arrival from Mumbai. The Speaker said, “I have to respect the Constitution and rules. I am not under anybody’s obligation. I am working under the Constitution. It is just not (the case of) accepting or rejecting resignation”. The Speaker spoke about anti-defection law and the 10th Schedule and said he would strictly go by the Constitution. “The honourable mem- bers approached me on July 6. There was no need for them to go to the SC. They could have come and approached me. Please reproduce my words. They have resigned. But I have not accepted. I have to convince myself,” the Speaker said. “I don’t violate rules. They have asked me to take a deci- sion. I have video recorded the entire proceedings,” he said, adding, “I confess I am whol- ly dependent on media to reach out to the people on my stand”. On the disqualification petition against Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathahalli, the Speaker said though resignation and dis- qualification are similar, in case of disqualification they cannot enter the House for the rest of the term of the House. “Therefore, if I hurriedly decide on this I will not do justice. I am in a fix, I want to go by my conscience,” he added. The Speaker, according to analysts, was unhappy with the MLAs and was buying time for the JD(S)-Congress coalition Government. Meanwhile, the Congress has issued the whip to its MLAs to attend the Assembly session starting on Friday. If they abstain from the session they might lose their member- ship under the anti-defection Bill. Analysts say if they don’t vote on the Finance Bill, the Government will fall on its own. The 10-day Assembly ses- sion is crucial and the coalition Government is certainly taking legal route and buying time to save the Government. Despite mounting trouble, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy refused to resign. On Thursday he said, “Why should I resign? We have no problem. What is the necessity for me to resign?” Kumaraswamy also cited the example of the former BJP Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa. “In 2009-10, when Yeddyurappa was Chief Minister, at that time 18 MLAs (legislators) including eight Ministers opposed him. Ultimately what happened,” Kumaraswamy said. Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Anand Sharma, protested in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament on Wednesday against Karnataka and Goa political crisis. The 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) Government slumped into crisis following the resignation of 10 MLAs from the membership of the State Assembly last week. Congress’ Roshan Baig and independent H Nagesh have also deserted the HD Kumaraswamy Government. Continued on Page 7 T he Supreme Court on Thursday sought a report on the “progress of media- tion” in the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya and said a day-to-day hearing may commence from July 25 if the court decides to conclude those proceedings. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi requested former apex court judge Justice (Retd) FMI Kalifulla, chairperson of the three-member mediation panel, to apprise it by July 18 the progress of mediation till date and its present stage. “It will be convenient to have the said report latest by July 18, on which date further orders will be passed by this court,” said the Bench, also comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer. “We also make it clear that if this court comes to a con- clusion that, having regard to the report of Justice FMI Kalifulla, the mediation pro- ceedings should be ordered to be concluded, the court will do so and order for commence- ment of the hearing of the appeals before it, tentatively, on and from July 25, which hear- ings, if required, will be con- ducted on day-to-day basis,” the bench said. It passed the order while hearing an application filed by a legal heir of one of the original litigants, Gopal Singh Visharad, seeking a judicial decision on the dispute and conclusion of the mediation process, alleging that nothing much was happening there. “Taking into account the earlier orders passed by this court; the fact that mediation was suggested by this court during the period of time which was otherwise required to make cases/appeals ready for hearing and the contents of I.A (interim appliction)..., we deem it proper to request Justice FMI Kalifulla to inform this court the progress of mediation till date and the stage at which the said process is presently at,” the court said and posted the matter for hearing on July 18 for passing appropriate orders. The panel, also comprising spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living foundation Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and renowned medi- ator Sriram Panchu, was grant- ed time till August 15 by the apex court for completion of mediation after its earlier report had said that the medi- ators were “optimistic” about an amicable solution. During the hearing on Thursday, senior advocate K Parasaran, appearing for the applicant, said it was probably very difficult to settle a dispute of this nature through media- tion and sought judicial deci- sion on the vexatious dispute. “As the highest court, your lordships have the authority to dispose of the matter if you so intend,” Parasaran told the Bench. He was supported by senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for deity ‘Ram Lalla Virajman’, who said that they had earlier also opposed the reference of the matter to a mediation panel. Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party, opposed the plea for annulment of media- tion process, saying it should be allowed to continue and asked whether the fresh plea has been filed to “intimidate” them. “I do not think it is fair at this point of the time to criti- cise the methodology of the committee,” he said, adding, “Our understanding is that the committee has met people jointly and then also individu- ally.” At this juncture, the bench said, “We will call for a report Continued on Page 7 B JP MLA from Bithari Chainpur in Bareilly Rajesh Mishra’s daughter Sakshi and her husband Ajitesh on Thursday filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court, seeking protection to “live a peaceful life” as a married couple a day after the woman appeared on social media alleging that she faced a threat to life from her father for marrying a Dalit. The MLA has, however, said he posed no threat to any- one and his daughter has the right to take her own decisions. Justice YK Srivastava fixed July 15 for the hearing as Sakshi Mishra (23) and her husband Ajitesh Kumar (29) were not present in the court on Thursday. Sakshi had uploaded a video on a social media platform last week, mak- ing her marriage with Ajitesh public. In another video, she alleged there was a threat to her life from her father, brother and an associate. In the video, the woman warned that if anything hap- pens to her or her husband, she would do something that would put him behind bars. In a second video, her hus- band Ajitesh talked about nar- rowly escaping goons sent by Mishra. The couple asked for security, contending that there was a threat to their life from the BJP MLA, who was “unhappy” with their marriage as Sakshi is a Brahmin and Ajitesh a Dalit. The petitioners prayed that police or Rajesh Mishra do not disturb them in “heir peaceful living as both petitioners were major and had entered into marriage with a free will. In the petition filed in court, the cou- ple has repeated the allegation and sought security. However, the MLA has rejected his daughter’s charge. “Whatever is going on against me in the media is wrong. I am not opposed to the marriage of my daughter. My only concern is that the boy is more than nine years older than her. As a father I am also concerned about their future because the boy doesn’t earn much,’’ he said in a statement. “My daughter is an adult and has the right to take her own decisions. Neither I nor my men or any member of my family has given any threat to life to anyone,” Mishra said. “I and my family are busy in our work. I am doing the people’s work in my con- stituency and presently run- ning a BJP membership cam- paign. There is no threat to anyone from me,” he said. Deputy Inspector General RK Pandey had said earlier that he has asked the Bareilly police chief to provide security to the couple. But he added that police did not know the cou- ple’s current location. Sakshi had also appealed to other MPs and MLAs to not side with her father, also known as Pappu Bhartaul, on the issue. E xcept Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the north-west- ern States — Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir have recorded deficient monsoon so far. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) data shows that monsoon has cov- ered almost 70 per cent areas in the country, but half of sub- meteorological divisions fall under the “deficient” rainfall category. Due to lack of rain- fall, the north-west States have witnessed high humidity and hot weather conditions. As per data, the nine States of north-west India recorded 126.4 mm rain against the normal of 136.7 mm, a defi- ciency of 8 per cent so far. South easterly wind has caused high-level humidity in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. “Now the wind directions have changed. This is expect- ed to bring some relief from humidity. There is no chance of rainfall in the next 3 to 4 days in north-west States except hilly regions. The data shows deficiency in rainfall over cen- tral and western India in next two weeks,” said Kuldeep Srivastava of IMD. In Delhi and NCR, the humidity level was recorded at 57 per cent on Thursday. Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh have recorded only 39.9 mm rainfall against the normal of 94.2 per cent so far, a deficien- cy of 58 per cent. The IMD data shows that Haryana recorded 56 per cent rain deficiency, Delhi 89 per cent, Punjab 47 per cent, Uttrakhand 41 per cent, Chandigarh 25 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 38 per cent and Jammu & Kashmir 12 per cent till July 11. Western Uttar Pradesh recorded 21 per cent rain defi- ciency while western Rajasthan 25 per cent, while east UP and east Rajasthan have recorded above normal rainfall. The overall monsoon defi- ciency, which was 33 per cent at the start of the month, has dipped to 12 per cent so far. The IMD has four divisions, which are further divided into 36 sub-divisions. 17 have received “deficient” rainfall. The deficiency was highest in the South Peninsula — 28 per cent — followed by 17 per cent in the North-East. India received 28 per cent more rainfall than the 50-year average in the week to July 10, data from the IMD showed, after getting poor rainfall for five straight weeks. But the deficit could widen again in the next fortnight, said the official, adding, “After two weeks, there are indications of good rainfall. The monsoon is seen reviving in last week of July.” The southwest monsoon has advanced into south Rajasthan, large parts of Haryana, north and east Punjab, and Jammu & Kashmir. “There is a cyclonic circulation located over east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This cyclonic circu- lation, along with a related trough, will cause instability and produce heavy to very heavy rain and thunderstorms over central and eastern India,” the IMD said. This year rains arrived in the southern State of Kerala a week late on June 8. The devel- oping Cyclone Vayu in the Arabian Sea drew moisture from the monsoon and weak- ened its progress. Continued on Page 7 T aking cognisance of inci- dents of mob lynching, including those by cow vigi- lantes, the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission has submitted a draft Bill recommending up to life imprisonment for the crime. Commission chairman Justice (retd) AN Mittal sub- mitted a report on mob lynch- ing, along with the draft Bill, to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday. The 128-page report cited various cases of lynching in the state and recommended the immediate enactment of a law as per recommendations made by the Supreme Court in 2018. The commission said the exist- ing laws to combat lynchings were not sufficient and assert- ed that there should be a sep- arate law to tackle them. It suggested a punishment ranging from seven years in jail to life imprisonment for the offence. Suggesting that such a law may be called the Uttar Pradesh Combating of Mob Lynching Act, the commis- sion specified the responsibil- ities of police officers and dis- trict magistrates, spelling out the punishment for failing in their duty. The panel said the law should also provide for compensation to the family of the victim for grievous injury or loss of loss of life and prop- erty. There should also be pro- visions for the rehabilitation of the victims and their families, it said. As per the available data from 2012 to 2019, 50 incidents of mob violence have taken place in the state. Of around 50 victims, 11 died. Twenty-five of these were cases of major assault, including those by cow vigilantes. "In the backdrop of this situation, the commission took up the study suo motu and accordingly recommended the state government the need for having a comprehensive law to combat lynching," law com- mission secretary Sapna Tripathi told PTI Thursday. The report said only Manipur has made a special law against lynchings and, as per media reports, the Madhya Pradesh government is soon going to enact it. It referred to various cases of lynching and mob violence in the state, including the 2015 killing of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri on the suspicion of beef con- sumption. Continued on Page 7

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    Under heavy police protec-tion, 10 rebel CongressMLAs flew in a chartered flightfrom Mumbai to Bengaluru onThursday evening and sub-mitted their resignations tothe Karnataka AssemblySpeaker, who seemed in nohurry to end the politicaldrama any sooner.

    In a Press conference afterthe meeting with MLAs,Speaker KR Ramesh Kumarsaid, “The rebel MLAs havecome and submitted their res-ignations. The resignations arein prescribed format. As per therules I have to ascertain thegenuineness of the resigna-tions. I can’t be expected to acton lightning speed.”

    The Speaker put off takingthe decision on the resignationof the MLAs despite a SupremeCourt Bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi askinghim to decide on the issue dur-ing the course of the day.

    The Bench, also compris-ing Justices Deepak Gupta andAniruddha Bose, said the deci-sion taken by the Speaker hasto be intimated on Friday whenthe court takes up the matteragain.

    The apex court also direct-ed the Karnataka DGP to pro-vide protection to the 10 MLAsfrom Bengaluru airport to theAssembly after their arrivalfrom Mumbai.

    The Speaker said, “I have torespect the Constitution andrules. I am not under anybody’sobligation. I am working under

    the Constitution. It is just not(the case of) accepting orrejecting resignation”.

    The Speaker spoke aboutanti-defection law and the 10thSchedule and said he wouldstrictly go by the Constitution.

    “The honourable mem-bers approached me on July 6.There was no need for them togo to the SC. They could havecome and approached me.Please reproduce my words.They have resigned. But I havenot accepted. I have to convince

    myself,” the Speaker said.“I don’t violate rules. They

    have asked me to take a deci-sion. I have video recorded theentire proceedings,” he said,adding, “I confess I am whol-ly dependent on media to reachout to the people on my stand”.

    On the disqualificationpetition against RameshJarkiholi and MaheshKumathahalli, the Speaker saidthough resignation and dis-qualification are similar, incase of disqualification they

    cannot enter the House for therest of the term of the House.“Therefore, if I hurriedly decideon this I will not do justice. Iam in a fix, I want to go by myconscience,” he added.

    The Speaker, according toanalysts, was unhappy withthe MLAs and was buyingtime for the JD(S)-Congresscoalition Government.

    Meanwhile, the Congresshas issued the whip to itsMLAs to attend the Assemblysession starting on Friday. If

    they abstain from the sessionthey might lose their member-ship under the anti-defectionBill. Analysts say if they don’tvote on the Finance Bill, theGovernment will fall on itsown.

    The 10-day Assembly ses-sion is crucial and the coalitionGovernment is certainly takinglegal route and buying time tosave the Government.

    Despite mounting trouble,Karnataka Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy refused toresign. On Thursday he said,“Why should I resign? Wehave no problem. What is thenecessity for me to resign?”

    Kumaraswamy also citedthe example of the former BJPChief Minister BSYeddyurappa.

    “In 2009-10, whenYeddyurappa was ChiefMinister, at that time 18 MLAs(legislators) including eightMinisters opposed him.Ultimately what happened,”Kumaraswamy said.

    Congress leaders, includingSonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhiand Anand Sharma, protestedin front of the MahatmaGandhi statue in Parliament onWednesday against Karnatakaand Goa political crisis.

    The 13-month-oldCongress-JD(S) Governmentslumped into crisis followingthe resignation of 10 MLAsfrom the membership of theState Assembly last week.Congress’ Roshan Baig andindependent H Nagesh havealso deserted the HDKumaraswamy Government.

    Continued on Page 7

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    The Supreme Court onThursday sought a reporton the “progress of media-tion” in the politically sensitivecase of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute inAyodhya and said a day-to-dayhearing may commence fromJuly 25 if the court decides toconclude those proceedings.

    A five-judge ConstitutionBench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi requested formerapex court judge Justice (Retd)FMI Kalifulla, chairperson ofthe three-member mediationpanel, to apprise it by July 18the progress of mediation tilldate and its present stage.

    “It will be convenient tohave the said report latest byJuly 18, on which date furtherorders will be passed by thiscourt,” said the Bench, alsocomprising justices SA Bobde,DY Chandrachud, AshokBhushan and SA Nazeer.

    “We also make it clear thatif this court comes to a con-clusion that, having regard tothe report of Justice FMIKalifulla, the mediation pro-ceedings should be ordered tobe concluded, the court will doso and order for commence-ment of the hearing of theappeals before it, tentatively, on

    and from July 25, which hear-ings, if required, will be con-ducted on day-to-day basis,” thebench said.

    It passed the order whilehearing an application filedby a legal heir of one of theoriginal litigants, Gopal SinghVisharad, seeking a judicialdecision on the dispute andconclusion of the mediationprocess, alleging that nothingmuch was happening there.

    “Taking into account theearlier orders passed by thiscourt; the fact that mediationwas suggested by this courtduring the period of timewhich was otherwise requiredto make cases/appeals ready forhearing and the contents of I.A(interim appliction)..., we deemit proper to request JusticeFMI Kalifulla to inform thiscourt the progress of mediationtill date and the stage at whichthe said process is presently at,”the court said and posted thematter for hearing on July 18for passing appropriate orders.

    The panel, also comprising

    spiritual guru and founder ofthe Art of Living foundation SriSri Ravishankar and senioradvocate and renowned medi-ator Sriram Panchu, was grant-ed time till August 15 by theapex court for completion ofmediation after its earlierreport had said that the medi-ators were “optimistic” about anamicable solution.

    During the hearing onThursday, senior advocate KParasaran, appearing for theapplicant, said it was probablyvery difficult to settle a disputeof this nature through media-tion and sought judicial deci-sion on the vexatious dispute.

    “As the highest court, yourlordships have the authority todispose of the matter if you sointend,” Parasaran told theBench. He was supported bysenior advocate Ranjit Kumar,appearing for deity ‘Ram LallaVirajman’, who said that theyhad earlier also opposed thereference of the matter to amediation panel.

    Senior Advocate RajeevDhavan, appearing for aMuslim party, opposed theplea for annulment of media-tion process, saying it should beallowed to continue and askedwhether the fresh plea hasbeen filed to “intimidate” them.

    “I do not think it is fair atthis point of the time to criti-cise the methodology of thecommittee,” he said, adding,“Our understanding is that thecommittee has met peoplejointly and then also individu-ally.” At this juncture, the benchsaid, “We will call for a report

    Continued on Page 7

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    BJP MLA from BithariChainpur in Bareilly RajeshMishra’s daughter Sakshi andher husband Ajitesh onThursday filed a petition in theAllahabad High Court, seekingprotection to “live a peacefullife” as a married couple a dayafter the woman appeared onsocial media alleging that shefaced a threat to life from herfather for marrying a Dalit.

    The MLA has, however,said he posed no threat to any-one and his daughter has the

    right to take her own decisions.Justice YK Srivastava fixed

    July 15 for the hearing asSakshi Mishra (23) and herhusband Ajitesh Kumar (29)were not present in the courton Thursday. Sakshi haduploaded a video on a socialmedia platform last week, mak-

    ing her marriage with Ajiteshpublic. In another video, shealleged there was a threat to herlife from her father, brother andan associate.

    In the video, the womanwarned that if anything hap-pens to her or her husband, shewould do something that

    would put him behind bars.In a second video, her hus-

    band Ajitesh talked about nar-rowly escaping goons sent byMishra. The couple asked forsecurity, contending that therewas a threat to their life fromthe BJP MLA, who was“unhappy” with their marriageas Sakshi is a Brahmin andAjitesh a Dalit.

    The petitioners prayed thatpolice or Rajesh Mishra do notdisturb them in “heir peacefulliving as both petitioners weremajor and had entered intomarriage with a free will. In thepetition filed in court, the cou-ple has repeated the allegationand sought security.

    However, the MLA hasrejected his daughter’s charge.“Whatever is going on againstme in the media is wrong. I amnot opposed to the marriage ofmy daughter. My only concernis that the boy is more thannine years older than her. As a

    father I am also concernedabout their future because theboy doesn’t earn much,’’ he saidin a statement.

    “My daughter is an adultand has the right to take herown decisions. Neither I normy men or any member of myfamily has given any threat tolife to anyone,” Mishra said.

    “I and my family are busyin our work. I am doing thepeople’s work in my con-stituency and presently run-ning a BJP membership cam-paign. There is no threat toanyone from me,” he said.

    Deputy Inspector GeneralRK Pandey had said earlier thathe has asked the Bareilly policechief to provide security to thecouple. But he added thatpolice did not know the cou-ple’s current location. Sakshihad also appealed to otherMPs and MLAs to not side withher father, also known as PappuBhartaul, on the issue.

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    Except Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan, the north-west-ern States — Uttarakhand,Haryana, Punjab, Delhi,Chandigarh, Himachal Pradeshand Jammu & Kashmir haverecorded deficient monsoon sofar. The India MeteorologicalDepartment’s (IMD) datashows that monsoon has cov-ered almost 70 per cent areasin the country, but half of sub-meteorological divisions fallunder the “deficient” rainfallcategory. Due to lack of rain-fall, the north-west States havewitnessed high humidity andhot weather conditions.

    As per data, the nine Statesof north-west India recorded126.4 mm rain against thenormal of 136.7 mm, a defi-ciency of 8 per cent so far.South easterly wind has causedhigh-level humidity in Delhi,Punjab and Haryana.

    “Now the wind directionshave changed. This is expect-ed to bring some relief fromhumidity. There is no chance ofrainfall in the next 3 to 4 daysin north-west States excepthilly regions. The data showsdeficiency in rainfall over cen-tral and western India in next

    two weeks,” said KuldeepSrivastava of IMD.

    In Delhi and NCR, thehumidity level was recorded at57 per cent on Thursday.Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarhhave recorded only 39.9 mmrainfall against the normal of94.2 per cent so far, a deficien-cy of 58 per cent.

    The IMD data shows thatHaryana recorded 56 per centrain deficiency, Delhi 89 percent, Punjab 47 per cent,Uttrakhand 41 per cent,Chandigarh 25 per cent,Himachal Pradesh 38 per cent

    and Jammu & Kashmir 12 percent till July 11.

    Western Uttar Pradeshrecorded 21 per cent rain defi-ciency while western Rajasthan25 per cent, while east UP andeast Rajasthan have recordedabove normal rainfall.

    The overall monsoon defi-ciency, which was 33 per centat the start of the month, hasdipped to 12 per cent so far.The IMD has four divisions,which are further divided into36 sub-divisions. 17 havereceived “deficient” rainfall.The deficiency was highest in

    the South Peninsula — 28 percent — followed by 17 per centin the North-East.

    India received 28 per centmore rainfall than the 50-yearaverage in the week to July 10,data from the IMD showed,after getting poor rainfall forfive straight weeks. But thedeficit could widen again in thenext fortnight, said the official,adding, “After two weeks, thereare indications of good rainfall.The monsoon is seen revivingin last week of July.”

    The southwest monsoonhas advanced into southRajasthan, large parts ofHaryana, north and eastPunjab, and Jammu & Kashmir.“There is a cyclonic circulationlocated over east Uttar Pradeshand Bihar. This cyclonic circu-lation, along with a relatedtrough, will cause instabilityand produce heavy to veryheavy rain and thunderstormsover central and eastern India,”the IMD said.

    This year rains arrived inthe southern State of Kerala aweek late on June 8. The devel-oping Cyclone Vayu in theArabian Sea drew moisturefrom the monsoon and weak-ened its progress.

    Continued on Page 7

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    Warning Transportdepartment officials,Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that theycould not escape from theirresponsibility by blaming dri-vers for accidents and thedepartment needed changeson a war footing.

    “This government cannotallow the officials to play withthe lives of the people,” theChief Minister said during areview meeting with Transportofficials here on Thursday.

    Expressing displeasureover the frequent road acci-dents on Yamuna Expressway,the Chief Minister said that theofficials could not escape fromtheir responsibility by blamingthe drivers.

    “Officials should go forthorough medical check-up ofRoadways drivers and thereshould be two drivers onbusses running on more than400-km routes,” he said.

    Yogi also stressed on ver-ification of licences of driversand breathalyser test of driversbefore they embarked on longroutes and on completion ofthe journey.

    The Chief Minister direct-ed the officials of JP Infratechpresent in the meeting tomake all arrangements forsecurity and safety of the com-muters as this was theirresponsibility since they werecollecting the toll tax. Heasked JP Infratech to follow

    the 13 suggestions for roadsafety prescribed by IIT Delhi.

    “If the standards are notfollowed properly, the YamunaExpressway officials must takestern action against the com-pany,” the Chief Minister said.

    Yogi said buses withoutpermit should not be allowedto pass through UP and theofficials of Yamuna Express-way Authority should ensurethis. He warned that if anyoneviolated the law, stern actionwould be taken against theviolator.

    Yogi said to ensure thesafety of schoolchildren, fit-ness test of all school busesshould be done along withpolice verification of the dri-vers, before the session starts.If necessary, the RTO officeshould remain open on holi-days for this, he added. Yogisaid only those buses thatpass the test should be given

    permission for run on road. Focusing on road safety

    rules, the Chief Minister saidthat stern action should betaken against the vehicles hav-ing blue-black film on theirglasses. He also said thatthere should be zero tolerancetowards use of seat belts andhelmets.

    Yogi directed the express-way, NHAI and state highwayauthorities to improve facilitieson highways. ”There should beadequate number of petrolpumps and system of e-chal-lan should be improved,” theChief Minister said.

    He added that all districtmagistrates should hold meet-ing on road safety with thedepartments concerned everymonth. He said the ChiefSecretary would review thesemeetings on monthly basis.

    The Chief Minister askedthe Information, Transport

    and Traffic departments toconduct road safety drivesevery three months. He saidarrangements should be madeto check over-speeding. Hesaid highway patrolling vehi-cles should be deployed onhighways along with Dial 100vehicles, and proper trainingshould be given to ambulancestaff.

    Yogi will review the imple-mentation of the decisionstaken in Thursday’s meeting inthe first week of August.

    Deputy Chief MinistersKeshav Prasad Maurya andDinesh Sharma, MedicalEducation Minister AshutoshTandon, Industrial Develop-ment Minister Satish Mahana,Minister of State for Transport(Independent Charge)Swatantradev Singh, and ChiefSecretary Anup ChandraPandey were present in themeeting.

    &���� #5�;017

    Three persons were killedand four dozen others wereinjured when two Roadwaysbuses collided head-on inBulandshahr.

    The injured were admittedto JP Hospital.

    The accident took place inChitta area of Salempur inBulandshahr in the wee hoursof Thursday when the driver ofthe Roadways bus going fromBadaun to New Delhi dozed offand the bus collided head-onwith another bus coming fromopposite direction.

    Chief Minister YogiAdityanath once againexpressed concern over thedeaths in road accidents. Healso expressed his condo-lences to the families of thosekilled in the accident anddirected the District Magistrateof Bulandshahr to ensure allpossible medical care to thoseinjured in the mishap.

    Eight persons, includingseven women, were killed andover 12 were injured when aMaruti Swift rammed into themini truck they were travellingin Saharanpur on Thursday,police said. The victims belongedto Meghrajpur village ofSaharanpur district. The mishapoccurred on National Highway-59 under Deoband police station.SP (City) Vineet Bhatnagar saidthe mini truck overturned due tothe impact of the collision, result-ing in the death of four womenon the spot.

    He said the injured wererushed to the district hospital,where four others succumbedto their injuries during treat-ment. The SP (City) said thatthree occupants of the car suf-fered minor injuries.

    In a separate road accident,one person was killed and atleast a dozen others wereinjured when a Delhi-boundtruck from Bihar hit a bus inUnnao district on Thursday.

    The accident occurred nearKorekalyan village on Agra-Lucknow Expressway whenthe truck rammed into thebus, police said.

    Roshan (40) died on thespot. Those injured were

    rushed to a hospital, wheretheir condition was stated to bestable.

    In another road mishap, atleast 11 members of a marriageparty were injured when theirbus fell into a canal atKhamaura turn under theAtarra police station limits ofBanda district.

    The mishap took place lateWednesday night when thedriver lost control over thewheel due to heavy rain.

    At least 11 people wereinjured in the incident, BandaSadar circle officer RaghvendraSingh said. There were 50 to60 passengers — all membersof the marriage party — in theprivate bus, he added.

    The injured were taken tothe Atarra community healthcentre, from where the father ofthe bridegroom, Gaya Prasad(48), was referred to the districthospital as his injuries wereserious, he added.

    Meanwhile, three boysdrowned in a pond in MilikBhikanpur village of Firozabad,police said Thursday.

    Raghav (12), Divyanshu(10) and Gaurav (9) had goneto their field and were bathingin a pond filled with rain waterwhen the incident took placeon Wednesday evening, SSPSachindra Patel said.

    The villagers pulled theboys out of the pond andrushed them to the district hos-pital where the doctors pro-nounced them dead. Two of thedeceased, Raghav andDivyanshu, were brothers.

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    A 21-year-old woman wasallegedly strangled to death byher in-laws over dowry inMuzaffarnagar district. Thewoman was found dead at thehouse of her in-laws in Tisangvillage under Jansath police sta-tion on Wednesday. A com-plaint was lodged against sevenpeople and four of them werearrested the same day, the COsaid. Those arrested are hus-band of the woman, Sachin,father-in-law Tejpal, mother-in-law Kaushal and brother-in-law Vipun.

    Lucknow (PNS): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadavhas alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government is perse-cuting his party workers by implicating them in false cases and send-ing them to jail. “The BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh is mis-using the power. Development work has come to a standstill as thepresent political dispensation is more concerned about harassingits opponents than extending relief to the poor,” Yadav said whileaddressing SP workers here on Thursday. He said to mislead thepeople on its failures, the BJP was going to start padyatra fromOctober 2 to October 31. The SP chief said that instead of con-centrating on solving people’s problems, the BJP government wasmore interested in padyatra politics. Yadav said the BJP govern-ment talked about doubling the income of farmers but it had takenno step so far either to ensure good remuneration of their produceor redress the grievances of the farmers.

    &���� #5�;017

    With some senior IAS offi-cers and former MiningMinister in the SamajwadiParty government already fac-ing heat of the mining scam,sources said that former ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav couldalso face trouble as the CBImight issue summon to himany time for recording hisstatement in the matter.

    Sources said that the docu-ments and some papers recov-ered in the raids conducted sofar in the mining scam pointedthat between 2012 and 2016, 24mining leases were sanctionedout of which two-thirds wereissued when then ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav washolding the Mining portfolioand the remaining when GayatriPrasad Prajapati was the Mining

    Minister. All these leases weresanctioned on recommenda-tions in violation of the laidnorms for sanctioning mininglease through e-tendering.

    The sources confirmed thatthe CBI team recovered somedocuments from theBulandshahr district magis-trate’s residence on Wednesdayand they indicated that AkhileshYadav sanctioned the miningleases. Besides, the CBI recov-ered some recommendationletters, some pages in which sig-natures, over-writing, cuttingsover signatures in different inks,and a paper slip in which someamounts have been mentioned.

    According to sources, theCBI would discuss the recoverywith their counterparts in theEnforcement Directorate whichis also probing the mining scamand after preparing a charge-

    sheet, both the agencies mightissue summons to the formerChief Minister of UP.

    It may be mentioned thatthe CBI has already registeredtwo fresh cases this week besidesconducting raids in the housesof some bureaucrats includingDM of Bulandshahr, AbhaySingh. In the first case, the CBIhas named Abhay Singh (2007batch IAS officer), anothersenior IAS officer of 1985 batch,Jiwesh Nandan, IAS SantoshKumar (2005 batch).

    The CBI has also namedthen Mining Minister GayatriPrasad Prajapati, who is present-ly lodged in jail in a rape case.In the second FIR, the CBI hasnamed then DM of Deoria,Vivek (2009 batch), along withthen ADM Devi SharanUpadhyay, and other officials ofhis office and private persons.

    &���� #5�;017

    Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that ShriKrishna Janmashtami celebra-tion in Mathura should be onthe scale of Deepotsav inAyodhya while keeping thecore spirit of the celebrationintact.

    Ram Navami celebrationsof Ayodhya and Navratri cele-brations of Vindhyachal and allthe Shakti Peeths should be inthe same way, Yogi said in ameeting with officials of BrajTeerth Development Board onFriday.

    “If you are able to makethis happen, these events willgain global recognition andtourists from all over the worldwill be attracted to them. Thiswill boost tourism in UttarPradesh,” Yogi told the BrajTeerth Development Boardofficials.

    The Chief Minister said alldevelopment projects shouldbe completed within timewhile maintaining quality. Hestressed on mandatory thirdparty monitoring of all devel-opment works.

    The Chief Minister said,‘All the places related to LordKrishna should be well lit andhalogen lights should bereplaced with LED lights. Forconservation of environment,plastic should be completelybanned from these places andthe ban should be extended to

    all products made of plasticincluding thermocol.

    He said a campaign shouldbe launched to make peopleaware of the dangers of usingpolythene with special focus ontree plantation and water con-servation.

    “There should be specificscheme for every district andif required capable officersshould be appointed on depu-tation,” he said, adding thatconsidering the potential ofeco tourism, officers fromForest department could bevery helpful in this regard.

    During the meeting, dis-cussion was also held on over-all development ofVindhyachal on lines of KashiVishwanath.

    Braj Teerth DevelopmentBoard was formed on August20, 2017 and this was its sec-ond meeting. In 2018-19 fiscal,a provision of �100 crore wasmade for the development ofthe region and �86 crore wereallocated. Around two dozenprojects are underway and theChief Minister has directedofficials to complete the pro-jects before November.

    During the meeting, ChiefSecretary Anup ChandraPandey, vice-chairman of BrajTeerth Development BoardShailja Kant Mishra, ACS(Tourism) Awanish Awasthiand officers of the otherdepartment concerned werepresent.

    &���� #5�;017

    Bahujan Samaj Party supre-mo Mayawati on Thursdaymade a scathing attack on theBharatiya Janata Party, sayingthat the ruling party wasattempting to dislodge govern-ments in states ruled by oppo-sition parties.

    She said the use of “moneyand muscle power” to dislodgethe non-BJP governments wasa big threat to democracy andcalled for strict laws to end themembership of those indulgingin defection.

    The BSP supremo madethese critical remarks whilereferring to the current politi-cal crisis in Karnataka, where

    the Congress-JDS-led rulingcoalition government is facingan existential crisis after the res-ignation of at least 10 MLAs,and in Goa, where ten formerCongress legislators joinedBJP in a dramatic developmenton Wednesday.

    The former Chief Ministerof UP took to Twitter and said,“The BJP is once again using itsmoney and muscle power totrigger defections in Karnatakaand Goa, which is a blot ondemocracy. Time has come forthe country to enact a stronglaw against defections.”

    She also alleged that theBJP returned to power at theCentre by misusing moneypower and tampering EVMs.

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    NOTICE

    It is to be notified that I havechanged the name of my sonfrom Kasif Ali to Mohd. KashifAhmed. He should be knownfrom this name in future.-Mohd. Dilshad Ahmed S/o-Mohd. Rokshad Ali R/o-Village& Post Savreji P.S. MirganjDistt.-Gopalganj Bihar

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    �� �����-�9���$�����+�6���&���Lucknow (PTI): Due to

    heavy rainfall since Wednesday,water levels in major rivers inUttar Pradesh have started torise.

    According to the CentralWater Commission (CWC),water level in river Ganga is onthe rise in Kanpur, Dalmau(Rae Bareli), Fafamu andChhatnag, Mirzapur, Varanasi,Ghazipur and Ballia. Levels ofriver Ramganga is on the risein Kalagarh (Bijnore),Moradabad and Bareilly.

    Water level of Yamuna isgoing up in Baghpat, Auraiya,Kalpi (Jalaun), Banda andAllahabad. The level of Gomtiriver is also on the rise inSitapur, Sultanpur and Jaunpur,the Central Water Commissionsaid.

    The river Sharda is flowingat danger-mark in Palliakalan(Lakhimpur) and is on therise in Sharda Nagar, whilewater level of Ghaghra river isnear danger-mark at ElginBridge (Barabanki) and is onthe rise in Ayodhya and Ballia.

    Water level of Rapti river isnear red-mark in Balrampurand rising in Siddharth Nagar,Gorakhpur, the Central WaterCommission said.

    According to the CWC,Ballia witnessed a rainfall of140.2 mm, Banda 143 mm,Jaunpur 220 mm, Lucknow186 mm, Raebareli 175 mm,Gonda 183 mm, sinceWednesday.

    The weather departmenthas forecast more rains in thestate.

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    Muzaffarnagar (PTI): A large quantity of sand illegally minedfrom the banks of the Yamuna in Shamli district has been seized,an official said Thursday.

    A police team seized 18 trolleys loaded with sand, seven trac-tors, four bullock carts, a car and two motorcycles from an ille-gal mining site near Issapur Khurgyan village in Shamli, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Amit Pal Sharma said.

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    With heavy showers lateon Wednesday night,Lucknow received thehighest amount of rainfall on asingle day in July in the lastdecade. The rainfall recorded inthe state capital on Wednesdaywas 121.6 mm.

    The Wednesday nightshowers took the city from raindeficit to surplus. The raindeficit was 3 per cent before theshowers lashed the city. Now,the rain surplus is 51 per cent.

    Uttar Pradesh also has asurplus of 11 per cent rains.Eastern parts of the state havea rain surplus of 27 per centwhile western UP has a deficitof 21 per cent. In the state,maximum rains have beenreceived by Balrampur, whichhas a surplus of 122 per cent.

    In the last ten years, themaximum rainfall which thecity has recorded in the Julywas 87.6 mm on July 12 in2018, 91.8 mm on July 3 in2017, 36.1 mm on July 4 in2016, 76.7 mm on July 12 in2015, 64.8 mm on July 18 in2014, 48.2 mm on July 23 in2013, 57.8 mm on July 8 in2012, 69.3 mm on July 17 in2011, 90.4 mm on July 19 in2010 and 56.4 mm on July 4 in2009.

    Earlier, the downpour onWednesday night was followedby clear skies on Thursdayafternoon and rainfall again inthe evening and night.

    MeT director JP Gupta saidthat from Friday onwards, rainswould start decreasing becausethe system of circulation hasshifted. On Thursday, Lucknowrecorded the maximum tem-perature at 30.4 degree Celsius,which was three notches belownormal. The minimum tem-perature at 24 degree Celsius

    was a couple of notches belownormal. The local forecast ispartly cloudy sky with rain andthundershowers in some areas.

    The maximum and mini-mum temperatures are expect-ed to be around 31 degreeCelsius and 24 degree Celsiusrespectively. The forecast forthe state is rain and thunder-showers over east UP and iso-lated places over west UP.There is warning of heavy tovery heavy rainfall at isolatedplaces over east UP.

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    ��������%���� #5�;017

    While the rainfall hasbrought relief to peopleby bringing down the temper-ature, it has also affected thedaily routine of students andworking people as they have tostruggle to avoid gettingdrenched on the way.

    Lucknow Metro RailCorporation officials said inthis situation, metro hademerged as the best option formass transportation and it wasthe reason that large number ofpeople were preferring it.

    According to Hazratganjresident Somesh Pandey, whohas to go to Charbagh every-day for work, it was very dif-ficult for him to reach hisoffice during the rainy season,but metro has solved a big

    problem for him. PrakharTripathi, a resident ofMunshipulia, said metro hadhelped in maintaining smoothtraffic in the rainy season.“The problem of traffic jams inMunshipulia during rains isvery acute and takes hours tocover few kilometres. Since

    metro begun operations, con-gestion on roads has comedown and people prefer thisconvenient journey. Peopleare taking full advantage of theamenities and are cooperatingwith the authorities in givinga new metro a new dimension”he added.

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    ��������%���� #5�;017

    Continuing their strike in thecity despite police vigil,thieves targeted the famousLord Buddheshwar MahadevTemple on the interveningnight of Wednesday andThursday and made off withcash kept in five dan patras(donation boxes). A case in thisconnection was lodged by alekhpal. As per the complaintgiven by Anwar Ali of Para, hewas told by locals about thetheft and he lodged an FIR. Hesaid empty dan patras werefound abandoned in the rearportion of the temple premis-es. A police team reached theplace to carry out investiga-tions. However, devotees com-plained that the police did notconduct a thorough probe intothe theft case. “Instead of col-lecting evidence, the teamremained busy in quizzing thelocals and asking them aboutsuspects,” they claimed.

    Meanwhile, thieves stoleelectricity wire worth aroundRs 1 lakh from an under-con-struction house in IndiraNagar locality under Ghazipurpolice station area onWednesday night. The house isowned by a doctor, identifiedas RP Yadav and his son RaviYadav is looking after the con-struction work.

    In his complaint, Ravi toldthe police that he had kept thewire in one of the rooms of thehouse. “On Thursday morning,I found the coils of wire miss-ing. I suspect labourers andelectricians who stayed in thehouse overnight may havestolen the wire,” he told thepolice. He also named the

    persons in the FIR. Policedetained the accused and wereinterrogating them even asthe stolen wire was yet to berecovered.

    Meanwhile, thieves stolecash and other items from agrocery shop in Gaura villageof Mohanlalganj onWednesday night. The shop islocated some metres awayfrom a police outpost. Shop-owner Dileep Jaiswal said thethieves dismantled the shutterand decamped with the booty.

    While the investigation ofthe case was underway, it sur-faced that the thieves haduprooted the shutter of anoth-er shop, owned by Ram MilanGiri, at Gaura crossing in thelocality. The police drew flakfrom residents for failing tocheck theft incidents.

    “A number of theft caseshave been reported in the past,but the police have failed tocrack any. The thieves havebeen emboldened to an extentthat they targeted a shop whichis close to the police outpost.The cops are apparently hap-less,” a resident said.

    Meanwhile, large parts ofLucknow remained water-logged, including those outsidethe LMC limits. The worst-hitareas in Ashiyana,Buddheshwar and Patelnagar.There was a flood-like situationin Purana Qila locality.

    Municipal CommissionerIndramani Tripathi said theLMC staff was working since 3am on Thursday and by theafternoon, most of the water-logged areas were cleared.

    “As many as 44 barrelswere activated at 3.30 am andall the pumps were started toavoid waterlogging in drains.We also alerted the areas wheresmall pumps have beeninstalled,” he said.

    The MunicipalCommissioner said that inareas like Ashiyana (sector H)and Eldeco, the downpour ledto waterlogging, but it clearedwithin two to three hours afterthe rain stopped. He admittedthat there were some areaswhich were temporarily water-logged while others wereperennially prone to the prob-lem. He said they were makingefforts for removal of water inthe illegal colonies ofKesarkhera and Faizullahganj.

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    In view of the heavy rains onWednesday night, DistrictMagistrate Kaushal RajSharma called for a meetingfor immediate steps to vacatethe dilapidated houses in thecity. The meeting was attend-ed by CDO Manish Bansalbesides officials from LESA &LDA, ACMs and MunicipalCommissioner.

    The DM was informedthat there were 250 buildingsidentified as dilapidated andmost of them were inHazratganj, Chowk andKaiserbagh. The DM said thatin the next two days, thesebuildings should be vacatedfor three months and ‘rainbaseras’ be provided to peopleliving there. He said if occu-pants of these buildings did

    not agree to move out, thedoors of the houses would besealed.

    The DM said all thoseinterested in getting theirdilapidated houses demolishedcould approach LucknowMunicipal Corporation forwhich they would have to paythe cost of demolition. Hedirected LucknowDevelopment Authority to getall the illegal hoardingsremoved from houses.

    The DM directed the LMCofficials to ensure all the nul-lahs were cleaned and water-logging issues resolved. TheMunicipal Commissioner saidthey were using 111 pumps toresolve the problem of water-logging. The DM alsoreviewed waterlogging issuesin Faizullahganj where he wasinformed that arrangements

    had been made for boats, tentsand electricians. The DMdirected the officials to makearrangements for food whilerescue and medical teamsshould be ready to deal withany emergency situation.

    The DM also took up theissue of waterlogging near theHaider Canal and wasinformed that it was causedbecause of the construction ofthe STP. The DM directed theIrrigation officials to get thedrain cleaned by Friday morn-ing. Regarding the flooding inKukrail nullah, he wasinformed that three barrelshad to be closed for preventionbut since the barrels were stillunder construction, they couldnot be closed. The DM direct-ed the Irrigation departmentand LMC officials to take cor-rective measures by Friday.

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    Lucknow (PNS): A sub-inspector post-ed at Saadatganj police station was sent toReserve Police Lines (RPL) after a videoshowing him slapping a youth went viral onsocial media on Thursday. Police spokesmansaid the action was taken to reduce thepolice-public rift. However, sympathisers ofthe S-I said the action against him was harsh.

    On July 9, sub-inspector Sanjay Dwivediwas sent to Tambaku Mandi where twogroups indulged in a scuffle. The brawlerupted after a resident, identified asShahnawaz, complained to the cable oper-ator (Shadab) about disruption of servicesin the area. On the complaint, Shadabreached Tambaku Mandi where some per-sons, including Shahnawaz, thrashed him.Shadab suffered head injuries in the attack.After a while, Shadab’s supporters, led by hiscousin Mukhtar, reached Shahnawaz's houseand attacked him and his accomplices.Shahnawaz also suffered injuries.

    During investigation, the S-I in questionspotted Mukhtar at the scene and quizzedhim. As Mukhtar argued with Dwivedi, it ledto a verbal spat. Dwivedi lost his cool andhe slapped Mukhtar in full public view. Alocal resident videographed the incidenteven as Dwivedi also shouted at and abusedthe man who was making the video clip.

    On Thursday, the video clip was sharedvideo on social media and soon, Dwivedistarted getting trolled by social activists,making the Lucknow police find themselvesin an awkward situation.

    In the meantime, SSP KalanidhiNaithani reached Hazratganj police stationfor an inspection where he was mobbed bymediapersons asking him about the episodeand action taken against the S-I.

    The SSP told newsmen that the S-I hadbeen sent to the Reserve Police Lines.

    However, the S-I’s sympathisers flayedthe action against him, saying he was doinghis job. “Most of the time, people pay noheed to police’s instructions and cops useminimal force to avoid unwarranted chal-lenges. The S-I was trying to handle the situation as the mob could have attackedMukhtar if he had not intervened,” some ofthe cops said. Police spokesman AK Dwivedisaid the SSP took cognisance of the viralvideo and ordered to send him to police lines.

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    The plan to set up a ‘city for-est’ at Vasant Kunj hi-techurban development projectworth Rs 50 crore was onThursday approved by thestate government. TheLucknow DevelopmentAuthority (LDA) administra-tion has been asked to submitthe blueprint so that the firstinstallment of funds can berelease at the earliest.

    The project is beingdesigned on public-privateparticipation. Initially, the LDAadministration had plannedgreen belt on the land spread-ing over 60 acres but laterdecided to convert into cityforest, in a bid to give the hi-tech housing scheme a better

    view. City forest is a termgiven to such a location situ-ated in the city or town wherean artificial forest is created.The aim is to promote healthysurroundings and best place tospend leisure hours.

    LDA Vice-Chairman PNSingh said the blue print hadbeen drafted and would besubmitted to the state govern-ment next week for quickrelease of the first installmentof funds which will be moni-tored by the PrincipalSecretary, Urban and HousingDevelopment, to check misuse.

    The Vice-Chairman saidtransparency in funding was amust and efforts would bemade to spend the money in aplanned manner for bestresults. The housing project,

    launched in 2014, was meantto be developed in phases.The LDA administration hadconceived the city forest pro-ject in May last and sent it tothe state government forapproval.

    LDA chief engineer ISSingh said the plan was thepart of the second phase whichhas already started. The con-struction of the communitycentre and laying of the metal-lic road and sewer system isalso included in this phase.

    The city forest will bedeveloped in such a mannerthat people feel as if they areentering a dense forest area.The special feature will be aflower valley, kids’ park, arti-ficial waterfall and a lake withspecial fish species.

    Lucknow (PNS): A youthwas arrested by Guatampallipolice on Thursday on thecharges of forcing a girl formarriage and harassing her bycalling her at odd hours. Theaccused was identified as MonuMishra of Krishna Nagar.

    The SHO Gautampalli saidthe accused got the cell num-ber of the girl who lives withher parents in Guatampalliand started making call to her.“Initially, the girl and her fam-ily ignored his calls but a cou-ple of days back, the accusedmade a call to the girl andasked her to marry him or hewould abduct her. It was thenthat the girl’s family contactedthe police and we registered acase against Monu Mishra,”the SHO said, adding that ateam worked on the case andarrested the accused fromBandariyabagh locality onThursday.

    &���

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    The young actor, who isplaying the role of ‘Alladin’on the small screen and belongsto Allahabad, has AmitabhBachchan as his role model.Siddharth Nigam was in thecity along with Avneet Kaurwho is playing the role ofPrincess Jasmine, for promo-tion of the second season of‘Aladdin: Naam Toh SunaHoga’. On how coming fromUttar Pradesh helped him inhis career on the small screen,Siddharth said the biggest actorin Bollywood also comes fromthe same state.

    Siddharth (18) said he wasworking on the small screen sothat if he was offered a big rolein cinema one day, he could dojustice to it. He admitted thathe was a mama’s boy and didwhatever his mother told himto do. “I discuss the script withmy mother before I say yes toa project. She accompanies meon the sets and everywhere elseI go, even at parties,” he said.

    Familiar with Lucknowwhere he has several relatives,he said he reached the city rid-ing his ‘magic carpet’. Talkingabout the show, he said: “Itshowcases a more confidentAlladin who uses dialogues

    with a punch. There are sever-al situations the audiences canrelate themselves to. I am in anew dress and carry a new atti-tude.” The young actor said theshow, which is very popularacross all age groups, had theviewers hooked with an excit-ing story arch in the new sea-son. The show, which is anadaptation of the legendarytale, has garnered phenomenalsupport due to the thrilling andrenewed storyline. The secondseason presents an entirelynew aspect with the addition ofnew genies (played by SonalBhojwani and KrishangBhanush) while Aladdin ismaking a comeback as Ali, a

    merchant from Egypt. “With Aladdin on a quest

    to avenge the injustice inflict-ed on him and his family byZafar (Amir Dalvi), the show isheading towards some shock-ing turns of events. WhileAladdin is trying hard to keephis real identity hidden, it getsdifficult for him to maintain hisindifference towards the peo-ple he loves, especially hismother,” Siddharth elaborated.

    Avneet Kaur said she couldnot express in words how excit-ed she was to visit Lucknow. “Itfeels amazing when you workhard and it is paid off by theamount of love the audiencegives,” she added.

    ����������St Joseph Inter College

    (Thakurganj) organised ‘TheFrank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School DebateCompetition-2019’ on Thursdayin association with the Council forIndian School CertificateExaminations, New Delhi.Students from Lucknow participat-ed in this competition. The debatewas conducted by Prof KirtiNarain and judged by a panel com-prising Dr Sushma Mishra, Anupam Chaudhary and Col Samit Sinha. Manyreputed colleges participated in the competition. Jaipuria School’s team(Gomti Nagar) was declared as the winners and Samarth Dwivedi was adjudgedthe best speaker. Principal Gracious T Joseph concluded the competition byexpressing gratitude to the guests and participating schools. Meanwhile, ‘FrankAnthony Memorial All-India Inter-School Debate Competition-2019’ was alsoorganised at LPC (Rajajipuram) on Thursday. As many as 13 teams from dif-ferent parts of the country participated in the competition. The topic of the debatewas ‘Effective democracy can only be possible with effective citizenship’. Thejury members declared La Martiniere College as the winners while Scottish HighInternational School (Gurgaon) the runners-up. Atirek Bajpai from LaMartiniere College was adjudged the best speaker.

    "�����&��5Sarthak Srivastava, a class VIII student of CMS, Rajajipuram

    Campus I, won the first prize in a quiz contest based on inven-tion and discovery. The competition was organised under theaegis of Regional Science City.

    !����(��������06�����&�����

    At SR Group ofInstitutions, located in Bakshi-Ka-Talab, Vedanta has selected74 students, offering Rs 8 lakhannual pay package. HR man-ager Pankaj Kumar, on behalfof the company, selected 74 outof 500 students, in a three-daypool campus drive after a groupdiscussion and personal inter-views. All the selected stu-dents will be joining the com-pany on July 15 for 21-daytechnical training while airtravel expenses and lodging will be taken care of by thecompany.

    ��&������&����An awareness and planta-

    tion programme was organisedat Regional Science City tospreading the message for plan-tation of more saplings by stu-dents, teachers and guests.More than 150 saplings of var-ious species were planted onthe occasion. Deputy directorgeneral of Geological Survey ofIndia PS Gill, managing direc-tor of SDK Academy ManishSingh and deputy director

    Nisha Singh were present asspecial guests. Director ofGeological Survey of IndiaHemant Kumar, senior geolo-gist Ravi Negi, founder ofParyavaran Prahri RadheyShyam Dikshit and environ-ment experts Goraksha YogeshMishra & Pushpa Yadav amongothers participated in the pro-gramme.

    ����Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Cray

    HPC Award for the year 2019was given away to principalscientist (CSIR-IITR)Ramakrishnan Parthasarathiat Indian Institute of TropicalMeteorology (IITM), Pune.The jury members recognisedParthasarathi’s efforts and hissustained contributions in thefield under researcher catego-ry towards high performancecomputing field R&D in HPCApplications in India. He is thefirst CSIR scientist who hasreceived this prestigious hon-our with the citation for hiscontributions in applied com-putational bioscience to under-stand the structure and reactiv-ity of biomolecular assemblies.

    &���

    ��������%���� #5�;017

    Vice-Chancellor LucknowUniversity SP Singh saidon Friday that the centenaryyear of the university begins onNovember 25 and for that,they had to show case its glo-rious history. “All depart-ments have to prepare audio-visual content of their respec-

    tive achievements,” he said. A meeting under the chair-

    manship of the Vice-Chancellor was held onThursday. It was attended bythe Pro Vice-Chancellor, deansof faculties, heads of the depart-ments, directors, coordinators,finance officer, registrar, deputyregistrar and LUTA presidentamong others. “All the officials

    have cooperated in the salientand extraordinary changes thatthe university has broughtabout in recent years,” Singhsaid. “The university hasbrought about changes in alldirections be it the semestersystem, examination reforms orMCQ pattern. Results of theuniversity were declared intime. However, reports cameout in media that hostels wereallotted to students withoutproviding fans in some roomsor ensuring cleanliness.Provosts of the hostels shouldhave ensured these facilitiesbefore the rooms were allotted,”he said. He directed theprovosts to be careful in future.He also pointed out that theempty classrooms did notmean that classes were notbeing held as it could be pos-sible that no classes were sched-uled in those rooms at thatpoint of time.

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    Highlighting the plight offarmers in his new parlia-mentary constituency Wayanadin Kerala and across the coun-try, Congress president RahulGandhi on Thursday attackedthe Modi Government over the“suffering” of farmers and pro-viding relief to businessmenrather than the debt-riddenfarmers.

    He said, 18 farmers havecommitted suicide in Keralaand one ended his life a day agoin his constituency of Wayanad.Speaking during the zero hour,Rahul asked CentralGovernment to grant morato-rium imposed by Kerala onbanks from realising their loansfrom the debt-ridden farmers.

    Farmers have been facingthreats of immediate evictionfrom their properties, he said,as banks from which they hadtaken loans have begun recov-er process.

    Rahul said while the Modi-Government has provided norelief to the farmers, business-

    men have been given conces-sions of �4.3 lakh crores andloan waivers running into �5.5lakh crore .

    He wondered whether theGovernment considered farm-ers “inferior” to the business-men.

    Congress leader said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadmade a lot of promises tofarmers and the Governmentshould fulfill them.

    In his intervention, UnionMinister Rajnath Singh coun-tered Rahul’s charge in LokSabha as he blamed the longrule of the Congress for theplight of farmers and assertedthat no Prime Minister hasdone as much for peasants asby Modi.

    Rajnath claimed theGovernment’s move to give�6,000 to farmers will lead toa rise in their income by 20-25per cent and maintained thatmore farmers committed sui-cide before the BJP-led dis-

    pensation came to power.“It is not that the condition

    of farmers deteriorated in thelast one, two or four years.Those who ruled the countryfor a long time are responsiblefor their state. The amount ofincrease in MSP (minimumsupport price) that our PrimeMinister has effected has notbeen done by anybody in inde-pendent India’s history,” heclaimed.

    Incidentally, former agri-culture minister Radha MohanSingh had asked during ques-tion hour this week whetherloan wavers had impacted low-ering of suicides among farm-ers in the country. He had alsoasked for total number of farm-ers suicide in the country towhich Government said exactfigures were not available.Government said loan waiverduring the UPA Governmentdid not lower the suicide num-bers and that from 2014 to2015 also numbers of suicidehad increased from 5,650 to8,007.

    Soon after Rahul’s speech,Congress MPs wanted to raisethe Karnataka developmentsrelating to the resignations ofMLAs from the State rulingcoalition of the Congress-JDSfor the fourth consecutive dayin the lower house. As SpeakerOm Birla did not permit,Congress MPs staged a walkout from the House.

    &���� 0&7�',

    The Opposition on Thursdayin the Rajya Sabhaslammed the Union Budget2019-20 as anti-poor and mid-dle class with Congress leaderand former Finance Minister PChidambaram terming it as“insipid”, and lacking bold stepsand structural reforms. Thetreasury benches, however,hailed the Budget and claimedit will propel economic growthand bring prosperity to all cit-izens.

    The two sides also repeat-edly mentioned about $5 trili-ion economy by 2025 with theruling NDA saying it is a bigachievement and theOpposition pooh-poohing itand asserting the lot of thecommon man will notimprove.

    In fact, Chidambaram,while participating in thedebate on Budget brushed asidethe ruling combine’s claim offive trillion dollar economy by2025 saying it will happen withor without the Prime Ministeror the Finance Minister. Theformer Finance Minister saidthe Indian economy doublesevery six to seven years giventhe nominal growth of 11 to 12per cent every year and there isnothing to take credit for.

    “There is this goal of a fivetrillion dollar economy. Good,very good. I will give you bet-ter goals. In 1990-91 India’seconomy was 320 billion dol-lars, it doubled to 618 billiondollars in 2003-04. Then UPAGovernment came and from618 billion dollars, it doubled

    to 1.22 trillion dollars in fouryears. It doubled again to 2.48trillion dollars in September2017. It will double to five tril-lion dollars in the next fiveyears. It does not require aPrime Minister or a FinanceMinister. It will double. That isthe magic of compounding,” hesaid, adding that any moneylender or borrower knows this.

    The size of the economy iscurrently estimated at $2.7 tril-lion and is growing at a nom-inal growth. He said if thenominal growth of economy is12 per cent, it is double in 6years and if it grows at 11 percent, it will double in 7 years.“So please don’t put this pie inthe sky before people of thecountry saying five trillion dol-lars is equal to Chandrayaanlanding on the moon. Fivetrillion dollar is simple arith-metic. So don’t put this pie inthe sky. Come down to reality.”

    In his 30-odd-minutespeech, Chidambaram said theBudget does not give a clear

    road map to take India on thepath of high economic growth.Taking a dig at the NarendraModi regime for hesitating togo for structural reforms, hewished his Government hadthe same kind of mandate nowenjoyed by the BJP to go forreforms. He said 11 majorstructural reforms took place inthe last 20 to 25 years and mostof them were initiated byManmohan Singh.

    Claiming that the budgetpresented by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman did nothave even a single structuralreform, Chidambaram said theprevious regimes ofManmohan Singh undertookmajor reforms like abolishinglicensing and Foreign ExchangeRegulation Act (FERA). Healso said the Finance Ministershould have mentioned figuresin her speech as people deserveto know broad numbers as theydo not go through annexuresand other Budget documents.

    Speaking on similar lines,

    Chidambaram’s party colleagueKapil Sibal said the Budget wasbereft of thematic consistencyand lacked vision. Taking a jibeat the Finance Minister, hesaid the Budget speech lookedlike a trailer but no film. Sibalalso said the Budget did nottalk about water crisis, ways toboost manufacturing andwarned against going in forsovereign funds.

    D Raja (CPI), SukhenduSekhar Ray (TMC), VishambarNishad (SP), Manoj Jha (RJD)and T Shiva (DMK)also criti-cised the budget as it did nottalk about the welfare of farm-ers, SC, ST and women.

    Backing Sitharaman’s bud-get, Prabhat Jha(BJP)sasid it ispeople-friendly and takes careof all citizens. He also listed outmajor achievements of theModi Government in the lastfive years and said poor andmiddle class therefore voted hisgovernment again to power inthe recently held general elec-tions.

    Naresh Gujral (SAD) saidthe budget maintained a bal-ance between fiscal disciplineand growth. He, however,urged the government to makeIndia a manufacturing huband take care of the farm sec-tor.

    Echoing somewhat similarsentiments, RamchandraPrasad Singh (JD-U)saidschemes like toilets for allhouseholds across the countrywas laudable and has changedthe thinking of people.Similarly, electrification of vil-lages also led to development,he said.

    ��=��������6�$�=� ���������������������,�����)�����)�������������������������

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    New Delhi: The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has provi-sionally attached immovableproperties, valuables, vehicle,bank account worth �24.77crore of PNB credit fraudaccused Mehul Choksi underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act.

    The latest attachmentincludes three commercial

    properties in Dubai, valuables,one Mercedes Benz E280 andfixed deposit account con-trolled by Choksi.

    ED initiated investigationin money laundering caseagainst Choksi and others onFebruary 15 last year under theprovisions of PMLA on thebasis of FIR registered by CBIunder IPC sections relating to

    criminal conspiracy and cheat-ing besides provisions of the Prevention ofCorruption Act.

    Choksi and others werebooked by the CBI for theoffence of cheating againstPunjab National Bank in con-nivance with certain bank offi-cials by fraudulently getting theLetter ff Undertaking/Foreign

    Letters of Credit issued causingwrongful loss to the bank.

    Out of total Proceeds ofCrime worth �6,097.73 crore,the ED has attached and seizedproperties worth �2,534.7 croreincluding this attachment.

    Choksi is suspected to beresiding in Antigua andBarbuda, Extradition Requesthas been sent. PNS

    &���� 0&7�',

    India has the capability of tak-ing care of its territorialintegrity and sovereignty andthere is no need to take seri-ously the threats on Kashmir byal-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, the External AffairsMinistry said on Thursday.

    In a video, Zawahiri, whotook over the reins of al Qaedaafter the death of Osama binLaden, said, “I am of the viewthat the Mujahideen (armedterrorists) in Kashmir — at thisstage at least — should focuswith single mind on inflictingunrelenting blows on theIndian Army and Governmentso as to bleed the Indian econ-omy and make India suffer sus-tained losses in manpower andequipment.”

    Reacting to it, MEAspokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid India’s security forces arecapable and equipped to pro-tect the country’s territorialintegrity and sovereignty.

    “We keep hearing of suchthreats and it is not the firsttime that we received such athreat. I don’t think we need totake it seriously,” Kumar said inresponse to a question.

    “Al Qaeda is a UN-pre-scribed terror organisation andtheir leader is UN-designatedterrorist. Our security forcesare capable and equipped...Notto worry about these threats.They have the capability of tak-ing care of our territorialintegrity and sovereignty,” hesaid.

    The video was posted on‘As-Sahab’ channel, an in-houseproduction of al Qaeda used torelay the organisation’s views tothe world, also asked the ter-rorists “to establish strongerchannels of communicationwith their Muslim brethren allover the world”.

    Zawahiri hails from Egyptand the US has announced areward of $25 million for infor-mation leading to his arrest ordeath.

    New Delhi: In a humanitariangesture, the Indian ArmyThursday handed over to thePakistan Army the body of aseven-year-old boy it recoveredfrom a stream flowing fromacross the LoC.

    The boy, identified as AbidAhmad Sheikh, was a resident

    of Minimarg across LoC inGilgit region. The Indian Armyon Tuesday said the body wasrecovered from the Burzil Nalaclose to the LoC near Acchuravillage in Gurez and was hand-ed over to the Pakistan Army.

    “The Indian Army imme-diately swung into action and

    was able to establish the iden-tity of the young boy throughcivil administration,” the IndianArmy said.

    According to reports onsocial media, the Indian Armyfound that the boy was missingsince Monday and might haveslipped into the Burzil Nala.PTI

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    Bengaluru: As the Governmentin Karnataka faces an existentialcrisis with the resignation of 16legislators of the ruling coalition,the State Cabinet that met onThursday resolved to face the sit-uation "bravely" and "withstand"it unitedly.

    Expressing confidence thatthe Government would sur-vive, the Cabinet that met underthe leadership of Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy said it wasready to face a no-confidencemotion, if moved by theOpposition BJP.

    "Political developmentswere discussed, what was dis-cussed and decided was that theGovernment is in a crisis situa-tion, there is no doubt about it,various reasons for it and stepsto solve it were discussed," Ruraldevelopment minister KrishnaByre Gowda said.

    Speaking to reporters afterthe Cabinet meeting here, heclaimed that this was the sixthor seventh attempt to destabilisethe Government.

    "It can be called as contin-uous assault rather, by the BJP,using the Central Government.

    Till today we have with-stood all their assaults, this timethe situation is more seriousthan previous attempts we con-cede that, but after considering

    all pros and cons, the ChiefMinister, the Deputy ChiefMinister and the Ministers haveresolved to face it bravely andwithstand it unitedly," he added.

    The resignation of 16Congress-JD(S) MLAs haspushed the 13-month old coali-tion Government to the brink ofcollapse.

    Stating that Cabinet hasdecided to continue efforts topacify MLAs who have left,Gowda said it would make allpossible efforts to save theGovernment.

    "All Ministers shared theiropinion and to make unifiedeffort to save the Government,"he said.

    Of the 16 MLAs who haveresigned, 13 are from the

    Congress and three from theJD(S). The coalition's strength inthe House is 116 (Congress 78,JD(S) 37 and BSP one), besidesthe speaker.

    With the support of the twoindependents, who resignedfrom the Ministry on Monday,the Opposition BJP has 107MLAs in the 224-memberHouse, where the halfway markis 113.

    If the resignations of the 16MLAs are accepted, the rulingcoalition's tally will be reducedto 100.

    Asked if the Governmentwill seek trust vote, he said, "ifthe need arises, we will do it, butnow Opposition is in urgency, soif they have so much urgency letthem move the no-confidence

    motion, we will face it.BJP has demanded resigna-

    tion of Chief MinisterKumaraswamy, saying hisGovernment has "lost majority."

    State BJP chief BSYeddyurappa has even peti-tioned the Governor in thisregard and sought his interven-tion. Asked if the Governorwould ask Government to provemajority, Gowda said, "consti-tutionally Governor has somepowers, we will have to followthem, and we will abide hisdirections that are constitution-al. On the future of the financebill during the assembly sessionfrom Friday, he said "Lets seewhat happens. Opposition hascertain privileges and rights todiscuss it and seek vote and evenpress for division.

    We will not try to overrideon it. We will give them(Opposition) all the opportuni-ty...We are even ready for a voteon it," he added.

    Asked if the Cabinet dis-cussed alleged interference bythe Governor in Governmentsaffairs, Gowda said "there arereports and we have ventilatedthose issues outside theGovernment premises, and wewill continue to ventilate thoseissues, but it was not discussedin the Cabinet." PTI

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    Nagpur: Senior BJP leaderShivraj Singh Chouhan said onThursday that Rahul Gandhiresigning as Congress presi-dent was akin to the captain ofthe ship jumping out when itis sinking.

    The former MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister wasaddressing a press conferencehere.

    "The Congress presidenthas rendered his resignation.I had heard that when a shipsinks, its captain tries to saveit till the end. But here the cap-tain himself has jumped out,"Chouhan said.

    "Mahatma Gandhi hadsaid immediately after inde-pendence that the Congress'objective was to gain freedomand now it should be dis-solved.

    "I think after Gandhi,Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru alsosaid so. Now, the fake Gandhiwill certainly fulfill the dreamof the real Gandhi and will fin-ish off Congress," Chouhansaid.

    The BJP did not wastetime in rejoicing after the LokSabha victory but startedworking on expanding theorganisation with a member-ship drive, he said.

    "This is not for electoralgains. The BJP is not an elec-tion-oriented party. The BJP isa campaign for national reju-venation. While we are work-

    ing on expansion of the organ-isation, parties like Congressare on ventilator," he said.

    "When one should dig inand work hard, the presidentof that party (Congress) ismissing from action," headded.

    Asked if his party willhave the CongressGovernment in MadhyaPradesh dissolved, Chouhansaid the BJP was not topplingGovernments anywhere.

    "There is no one inCongress who will do crisismanagement. Who wouldCongress MLAs go to as thereis no one to listen to them? Ifit falls under its own weight,what can we do?" the BJP vicepresident said.

    Chouhan, who is in chargeof the saffron party's member-ship drive, said it planned torecruit 200 new members in thearea covered by each pollingbooth in Maharashtra. PTI

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    Ahmedabad: A special CBIcourt on Thursday sentencedformer BJP MP Dinu BoghaSolanki and six others to lifeimprisonment for killing RTIactivist Amit Jethwa in 2010after he tried to expose illegalmining activities in the Gir for-est region.

    Special CBI Judge KM Davealso imposed a fine of �15 lakheach on Solanki and his nephew,also an accused in the case.

    While pronouncing the ver-dict on Thursday, the courtheld Solanki, who was theJunagadh MP from 2009 to2014, and his nephew, ShivaSolanki, guilty of murder andconspiracy.

    The others who were con-victed in the case are ShaileshPandya, Bahadursinh Vadher,Panchan G Desai, SanjayChauhan and Udaji Thakore.

    The court convicted all theseven accused for murder lastSaturday. Jethwa, a lawyer, wasshot dead for exposing throughRTI applications the illegal min-ing in and around the GirWildlife Sanctuary in whichSolanki was allegedly involved.

    In 2010, Jethwa filed a pub-lic interest litigation (PIL) againstthe illegal mining in and aroundthe Gir sanctuary, the onlyabode of Asiatic lions.

    Solanki and his nephew

    were made respondents to thePIL, and Jethwa produced sev-eral documents showing theirinvolvement in the illegal min-ing.

    While the PIL was beingheard, Jethwa was shot dead out-side the Gujarat High Court hereon July 20, 2010.

    Initially, Ahmedabadpolice's crime branch probed thecase and gave a clean chit toDinu Solanki.

    Dissatisfied with the inves-tigation, the high court handedover the case to the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI) in2013. The CBI filed a chargesheet against Solanki and sixothers in November 2013.

    Charges of murder andcriminal conspiracy wereframed against them in May2016. The court examined 196witnesses during the first trialand as many as 105 of themturned hostile after being threat-ened by the accused.

    The slain RTI activist'sfather, Bhikhabhai Jethwa, thenmoved the high court seeking aretrial. The high court ordereda fresh trial in 2017.

    "Our judiciary takes timebut it has finally delivered jus-tice to our family... Even a crim-inal like Solanki is brought tojustice," Bhikhabhai Jethwa saidafter the court's verdict. PTI

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    As a massive search contin-ued for an 18-month-oldboy who slipped and fell into anopen storm water drain andwas swept away on Wednesdaynight. An insensitive MumbaiMayor VishwanathMahadeshwar on Thursdayput his foot in the mouth byblaming Mumbaikars for keep-ing gutters open at many placesin the metropolis.

    The baby boy, identified asDivyashu Dhansi, was sweptaway in the swollen watersafter he fell accidentally into aside gutter at Ambedkar chowkat Goregaon in north Mumbaiat 10.24 pm on Wednesday,while he was playing outside

    his house,The incident happened in

    the midst of heavy rains thatlashed the metropolis for mostof Wednesday night.

    Divyanshu’s father claimedthat the gutter had been keptopen for the last four years forreasons best known to thecivic administration.

    Following the incident, thefire brigade officials and localpeople launched a massivesearch for Divanshu. Theychecked four spots likeAmbedkar Chowk, PravasiChowk, St Thomas HighSchool and Goptewadi till theearly hours of Thursday.

    Despite the search havingcontinued for more 22 hours,there was no trace of

    Divyanshu till late on Thursdayevening.

    A video clip of the incident

    that Divyanshu playing outsidehis house and later walking anelectrical enclosure box before

    falling into an open drain wentviral in the social media.

    Divyashu’s parents saidthat they realised that their sonmight have fallen into the opengutter after spotting his slippernext to it

    Mumbai MayorMahadeshwar faced the ire ofthe local residents, when he vis-ited the mishap site and met themissing toddler’s parents.

    Talking to a televisionchannel, Mahadeshwar stirredup the hornet’s nest by layingthe blame for the open gutterat the Mumbaikars’ door.

    “Last night’s incident wasan unfortunate one. The drainwas open only at one place. Ihave ordered an inquiry intothe incident to ascertain

    whether the local people hadbroken the drainage cover orthe authorities had not installedcover on the drain. Mostly thecovers of the drains remainclosed inMumbai,”Mahadeshwar said.

    “It is the responsibility ofboth the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC) and Mumbaikars toensure against recurrence ofmishaps like the one we wit-nessed last night. Mumbaikarslack civic sense. Many a timelocal people open or break thecover of the open drain tothrow garbage into it. As muchis the BMC, vigilant citizensare also responsible for keep-ing the gutters open," theMayor said.

    Kochi: A person cannot be per-secuted by the State authoritiesmerely on suspicion that he orshe has embraced Maoist ide-ology, the Kerala High Courthas said.

    A division bench of ChiefJustice Hrishikesh Roy andJustice A K JayasankaranNambiar made the observationMonday while upholding asingle bench order granting Rs1 lakh compensation to a manwho was illegally detained by aspecial squad of the KeralaPolice in 2014 on suspicion ofbeing a Maoist.

    Dismissing an appeal bythe state government againstthe single judge order to pay Rs1 lakh to Shyam Balakrishnan,who is the son of a former HighCourt judge, the bench said,"The preamble to ourConstitution declares that wethe people of India are guar-anteed liberty of thought,expression, belief, faith and

    worship.""The freedom of an indi-

    vidual to hold a particularpolitical ideology is an aspectof his fundamental right to per-sonal liberty under Article 21of the Constitution in that hehas the unfettered freedom tochoose an ideology of his lik-ing," it said.

    "Accordingly, merely onsuspicion that the petitionerhas embraced the Maoist ide-ology, he or she cannot be per-secuted by the state authorities,"it held.

    The bench also said inview of the primacy that isaccorded under theConstitution to a person's fun-damental right to privacy andpersonal liberty, the policeaction- detaining and interro-gating the petitioner andsearching his house withoutfollowing procedure under theCode of Criminal Procedure-was "wholly unjustified."

    In its order in 2015, the sin-gle bench had said the policecannot detain a person mere-ly because he is a Maoist,unless police form a reasonableopinion that his activities areunlawful.

    "Being a Maoist is nocrime, though the political ide-ology of Maoists would notsynchronise with our constitu-tional polity.

    It is a basic human right tothink in terms of human aspi-rations," the single judge hadsaid. PTI

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    Kolkata: A BSF jawan lost hishand and sustained grievousinjuries after Bangladeshi cat-tle smugglers attacked himwith bombs in the early hoursof Thursday along the India-Bangladesh border in WestBengal, the force said.

    Constable Anisur Rehmanalso suffered pellet injuries tohis lungs, liver and stomachfrom the impact of at least twocountry-made bombs lobbed athim near the Angrail borderpost in the North 24 Parganasdistrict at about 3:30 am.

    In the wake of the incident,the Border Security Force (BSF)issued an alert along the India-Bangladesh border in the southBengal area as it registered a"strong protest" with their coun-terparts, the Border GuardsBangaldesh (BGB) to rein in thecriminals on their side.

    The jawan on border dutywas attacked by a group ofabout 25 Bangaldeshi smug-

    glers who entered 200 metresinto the Indian side in order tosmuggle cattle into their coun-try with the assistance of localshere, the force said.

    The smugglers were armedwith bombs, dahs (cleaver-shaped weapon), axes, bamboosticks among others, it said.

    They encircled the jawanand hurled two country-madebombs on him. He was evacu-ated to the government hospi-tal in Bangaon where his righthand was amputated.

    "The jawan has sufferedgrievous injuries and he fireda round from his pump actiongun in self defence before hefell unconscious.

    Reinforcement troops con-trolled the situation.

    "The smugglers escaped tothe other side as it was pitchdark and the area is markedwith heavy vegetation and tallgrass growth," a senior officialsaid.

    A smuggler is also sus-pected to have been injured inthe firing by the jawan, he said.

    The BSF has directed all itsformations in the south Bengalfrontier area "to adopt anaggressive posture againsttrans-border criminals andthwart their sinister designs.Such incidents of attacks onBSF troops are taking placequite often," the force said.

    On Wednesday, the borderguarding force had repulsed anattack by about 200Bangladeshi cattle smugglersand seized 107 buffaloes alongthe Indo-Bangla border inMurshidabad district of thestate. PTI

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    Patna: Union Minister GirirajSingh on Thursday expressedalarm over the "populationexplosion" in the country sinceIndependence and favoured dis-enfranchisement of those whosired more than two children.

    The BJP leader from Bihar,known for making controversialremarks, shared a graphic on hisofficial Twitter handle on WorldPopulation Day which showedthat India's population grew bya staggering 366 per centbetween 1947 and 2019 asagainst only 113 per cent rise insparsely populated US.

    Singh, the Minister ofAnimal Husbandry, Dairyingand Fisheries, wrote in Hindi--"In India, population explosionis disturbing the balance ofeconomy, social harmony andresources. One of the reasons(for failure to check it) isdhaarmik vyavadhan (religiousobstacles)," apparently hinting atMuslims.

    Several leaders of the Hinduright have often blamedMuslims for the spurt in coun-try's population.

    Striking an alarmist note,the cabinet minister warned:"India appears to be heading likein 1947 towards another a 'saan-skritik vibhajan' (partition in thename of culture). All politicalparties will have to come for-ward for a birth control law."

    Later, he told some newschannels in Delhi that strongmeasures must be in place tocheck population explosion.

    "I hold the view that thosewho have more than two chil-dren should be stripped of theirvoting rights. And this provisionmust be applicable to all com-munities. No exemption shouldbe made for any religious groupjust because it insists that its

    tenets disapprove of birth con-trol measures, he said.

    The BJP leader's views metwith disapproval from the oppo-sition RJD-Congress combine inthe state.

    Bihar RJD president RamChandra Purbe termed Singhscomments an example of ochhirajneeti (petty politics) since itappeared to blame the minori-ties for the ballooning popula-tion.

    "From where does theUnion minister get such fanci-ful ideas? Can he point out anyprovision in the Constitutionunder which a person can bedisenfranchised for having morethan a specified number of chil-dren?" asked Congress MLCPrem Chandra Mishra.

    Singh has often kicked upcontroversies with his remarkstargeting Muslims.

    A case of model code vio-lation was registered againsthim during the Lok Sabha elec-tions when he was in the frayfrom Begusarai for makingobjectionable comments againstMuslims.

    "Those who cannot sayVande Mataram or cannotrespect the motherland, thenation will never forgive them.My ancestors died and were cre-mated at Simaria ghat and nograve was built for them but you[Muslims] need three handspans of space (for burial)," hehad told an election rally. PTI

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