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SC verdict on Uphaar disappointing: Victims’ group convener

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Uphaar

New Delhi: Terming as “very disappointing” the Supreme Court’s Wednesday verdict of no jail for the Ansal brothers in the 1997 Uphaar fire case, the association of victims in the tragedy said the ruling “will send a wrong message to the world”.

“The verdict has been very disappointing. I did not expect this. The victims of Uphaar have been further victimised today and have not been given justice by the Supreme Court,” Neelam Krishnamurthy, convener of the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) who lost both her children in the fire that engulfed the theatre, told IANS.

Representing the victims and the families of those killed in the fire of June 13, 1997, Krishnamurthy said the apex court did not give them enough time to argue.

“The law of the land is different for people with money and for ordinary citizens. I spent 17 years with my daughter and 13 years with my son but I have spent 18 years trying to get justice which has been denied today.

“This will send a wrong message to the entire world. This judgment will be talked about in the world and I will make sure about it,” she said.

In a breather to real estate giants Ansal brothers Sushil and Gopal, accused in the case, the Supreme Court fined them Rs.30 crore each, refusing to send them to jail.

The court said the Ansals would deposit the fine in three months and this amount would be utilised by the Delhi government.

However, Krishnamurthy said the fine being deposited with the government will encourage bribery.

“This fine will go to the government and these are the governments which joined hands with the Ansals and gave them NOCs (no-objection certificates). You are encouraging bribery,” she said.

The Ansal brothers owned the Uphaar cinema in south Delhi’s Green Park area where 59 people died due to asphyxiation after a fire broke out in the transformer room, emitting toxic gases.

The deaths occurred as people could not escape as the exit doors were closed. There was only one operational exit door.

(IANS)

Pakistan kills 43 suspected Taliban members in airstrikes

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A Pakistani F-16 fighter jet performs in-flight maneuvers. (AFP/File)

A Pakistani F-16 fighter jet performs in-flight maneuvers. (AFP/File)

by Andolu Ajansi

Pakistan’s army has claimed to have killed 43 suspected Taliban fighters in the North Waziristan tribal area on Thursday.

The army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations said air strikes hit the fighters in the Gharala Mae and Shawal valley areas near the Afghanistan border.

More than 160 fighters have been killed in five consecutive days of strikes by the army, which followed the killing of a provincial official in the northeastern Punjab province in a suicide attack on Sunday.

North Waziristan – one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in Pakistan – has been a battleground between the army and the Taliban since June 2014 following a full-scale military onslaught that has killed around 3,000 suspected militants.

The figures cannot be independently verified as the army has declared the area off-limits to journalists.

Over 350 soldiers have also lost their lives in landmine blasts and clashes with the Taliban during this period and the military operation has displaced a million tribesmen from North Waziristan.

Fatal shooting of black teen in US city sparks protests

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Crowds come out on streets of St Luis in Missouri state against killing of 18-year-old teenager by white policeman.

Arrests were made during the protests that followed the fatal shooting [Reuters]

Arrests were made during the protests that followed the fatal shooting [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Police in the US state of Missouri have fatally shot a black teenager, who they say pointed a gun at them, and later faced angry crowds, reigniting racial tensions in the country.

Sam Dotson, the police chief of the city of St Louis, said the shooting took place on Wednesday when young black men ran out of the back door of a house where two officers were carrying out a search warrant.

Officers ordered the pair to stop in an alley behind the house. One suspect pointed a gun at officers who then fired four times, killing him, Dotson said.

“Detectives were looking for guns, looking for violent felons, looking for people that have been committing crimes in the neighbourhood,” he said.

Police identified the slain suspect as Mansur Ball-Bey, 18. The second teenager fled.

Both officers, who are white, were unharmed, police said, adding that they were on administrative leave.

Following the incident, crowds gathered at a nearby intersection shortly after the shooting and then again in the evening. Three people were arrested for blocking traffic, police said.

NBC television affiliate KSDK reported that some in the crowd threw rocks at officers, who responded with what appeared to be tear gas.

Unrest after shooting

St. Louis television station Fox 2 showed officers in riot gear lined up across a street, a burning mattress and clouds of smoke or tear gas.

St. Louis Alderman, Antonio French, posted on Twitter that a vacant house and a car were set on fire, and that firefighters were working under heavy police guard.

Dotson the police chief told reporters that Ball-Bey’s gun was stolen and said officers recovered crack cocaine at the scene.

The city police said the officers involved in the shooting were white, aged 33 and 29, each with about seven years on the force.

The shooting came 10 days after the city was flooded with protesters marking the anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer on August 9 last year in Ferguson, not far from St Louis.

Brown’s death helped spark a nationwide movement against what protesters say is police violence against minorities.

Wednesday’s shooting also came as activists were in the area to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of another black man in St. Louis, Kajieme Powell. Police say officers shot Powell when he approached them with a knife.

UN peacekeepers face new sex abuse allegations in CAR

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Three more accusations levelled against peacekeepers in CAR a week after Ban Ki-Moon asked UN head of mission to resign.

UN peacekeepers earlier had been accused of sexually abusing children in Bangui and in the eastern part of the country [AP]

UN peacekeepers earlier had been accused of sexually abusing children in Bangui and in the eastern part of the country [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Three young females, including a minor, have accused United Nations peacekeepers of raping them in the Central African Republic, the global body has announced, taking the number of allegations to 13 since the UN stationed troops in the country in September.

The announcement on Wednesday comes a week after Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary-general, removed the head of the peacekeeping mission in CAR over the handling of a series of similar allegations in the conflict-wracked country.

Vannina Maestracci, spokesperson for the secretary general’s office, told reporters that families of the three young females made the allegations on August 12 and that the alleged rapes occurred in “recent weeks”.

Similarly, a statement from the peacekeeping mission said UN headquarters was “immediately informed” of the allegations and that it was collecting “all available evidence”.

The alleged rapes occurred in the city of Bambari, where peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are stationed.

The CAR is still battling daily clashes between rival militias in the country’s hinterlands [Reuters]

Congo’s UN ambassador, Ignace Gata Mavita wa Lufuta, told The Associated Press news agency that three members of Congo’s military have been accused and that he had just met with UN officials about looking into the allegations.

He didn’t address the allegations but said it’s “not normal” that vulnerable people would be victims of those meant to protect them.

Congo’s troops serve in no other UN peacekeeping missions, and its nearly 900 troops were accepted into the mission in CAR at a time when few countries were volunteering people to serve in the chaotic country, which has been ripped by unprecedented violence between Christians and Muslims.

Last August, the New York-based Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said Congo’s troops, which were already in the country as part of an African Union mission, should be excluded from the UN mission.

The advocacy network pointed out that Congo’s armed forces have been noted in Ban’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence. They were included again this year.

Last week, following the removal of the head of the CAR peacekeeping mission, Ban met with the Security Council and the heads of all UN peacekeeping missions to discuss new measures to swiftly investigate alleged sexual assaults and hold peacekeepers accountable.

Ban’s actions came after Amnesty International accused UN peacekeepers in CAR’s capital this month of indiscriminately killing a 16-year-old boy and his father and, in a separate incident, of raping a 12-year-old girl.

UN peacekeepers earlier had been accused of sexually abusing children in Bangui and in the eastern part of the country.

The peacekeeping mission is also being investigated over how it handled child sexual abuse allegations against French troops last year, in which children as young as nine said they had traded sex for food.

Maestracci, the UN spokeswoman, said that so far, the peacekeeping mission has received 13 allegations of possible sexual abuse and exploitation since UN troops began arriving last year.

Under an agreement with the UN, countries have the sole responsibility to prosecute their troops taking part in peacekeeping missions, but if they take no action to investigate, the UN can step in. Even then, the UN only has the power to repatriate troops and suspend payments to countries for troops who are accused.

In at least one case of alleged sexual abuse or exploitation by a peacekeeper in CAR, a country repatriated its accused citizen, the UN said.

Around 2.7 million people, more than half the population, are still in need of aid, while 1.5 million people were affected by food insecurity [AFP]

India rebuild innings after early jolts

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Cricket Sri Lanka

Colombo: After a early wobble, India were in the process of rebuilding their innings with opener Lokesh Rahul and captain Virat Kohli at the crease at 97/2 at lunch on Day One of the second cricket Test here on Thursday.

Kohli and Rahul remained unbeaten on 48 and 39 respectively at the P. Sara Oval stadium.

Sri Lanka’s Dhammika Prasad was the pick of the bowlers in the first session, bagging the two wickets for 29.

After electing to bat, the Indians were jolted upfront in the very first over of the day as Prasad trapped Murali Vijay (0) leg-before-wicket in the fourth delivery. The ball swung back in and struck the opener on the front pad right in line with the stumps.

Prasad was at it again as he got rid of Ajinkya Rahane (4) too in quick succession after he edged a wide one to the slips.

Tottering at 12/2, it was Rahul and skipper Kohli who took on the responsibility of rebuilding the innings. Both were a little circumspect from the start, letting go of the moving leather whenever possible.

Kohli, however, grabbed hold of the opportunities that came his way as he hit back-to-back boundaries against Dushmantha Chameera in the 10th over.

Rahul soon followed his captain and got into the groove, hitting some delightful boundaries as the red ball began to lose itÂ’s shine.

There were no more wickets that fell in the first session as the Indians reached a score of 97/2 with the duo amassing a partnership of 85 runs.

(Agencies)

Detention drama in Kashmir ahead of NSA talks

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Kashmir-Hurriyat

Srinagar: Top Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, were today put under house arrest only to be released within hours in actions that were linked to their proposed meeting with Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz in Delhi on Sunday.

Early this morning, police put restrictions on the movement of the several separatist leaders including moderate Hurriyat Chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Maulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Ayaz Akbar.

Security personnel were deployed outside the Hydrepora residence of Geelani, the hardline Hurriyat chief who is already under house arrest. JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was taken into preventive custody from his Maisuma residence and lodged at police station Kothibagh.

Officials were tightlipped on the reason for the detention but there was speculation that it could have been done to give a message to Pakistan that its engagement with separatists leaders was not welcome, especially at a time when their National Security Advisors are to meet.

But, in a U-turn the authorities lifted the curbs on the leaders, again without giving any reason. “All the separatist leaders, who were detained or put under house arrest this morning, have been released,” a top police official said on the condition of anonymity.

However, Akbar, who is spokesman of the hardline faction of Hurriyat, said while other leaders were released, Geelani was still under house arrest.

“We are unable to make out the purpose behind putting the leadership under house arrest and then releasing them within two hours. All we can say that it is unfortunate,” Akbar told PTI soon after his release.

Police conducted early morning raids to detain the second rung separatist leaders also but they too were halted.

Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has invited Geelani for a meeting on August 24 with Aziz, who will be in the national capital for talks with Indian NSA Ajit Doval.
Moderate separatist leaders have also been invited for a reception being hosted by the High Commission in New Delhi for the visiting Pakistani official on August 23.

India had cancelled Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in August last year after its envoy invited separatist leaders for consultations ahead of the meeting in Islamabad.

Criticising Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, opposition National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the state governments had never detained Hurriyat leaders in the past to prevent them from visiting the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi.

He claimed the India-Pakistan talks were being held “under international pressure” with both countries hoping the other will pull out.

“Shelling, Infiltration, terror attacks & now Hurriyat arrests, clearly no side wants to talk & yet neither side has the guts to call it off,” the former chief minister said in a series of tweets.

“I’ve never seen an Indo-Pak dialogue where both sides are so keen to sabotage it. India & Pak competing to give reasons to call off talks. It’s so obvious that Ufa & now these planned NSA talks are under international pressure with both Ind & Pak hoping the other will pull out,” he said.

The Congress too took a jibe at the Centre, saying the Prime Minister must answer if India is under pressure of some “foreign power” to hold talks to Pakistan notwithstanding “all these provocations by Pakistan”.

“The Prime Minister of India needs to answer this question as last time when Pakistan High Commission invited the Hurriyat, Government called off the talks,” party leader Manish Tewari said.

BJP leaders in Jammu and Kashmir said the Hurriyat Conference should not be allowed to hold talks with Pakistani officials.

“People of Jammu and Kashmir have elected a government. Hurriyat people are murderers of democracy. We will not allow them to talk to Pakistan,” BJP MLA Ravinder Raina said.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: Girl sexually abused by orphanage chairman; accused arrested

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rape

Bengaluru: A 12-year-old girl was reportedly rescued on Tuesday August 18 night after she managed to escape from the orphanage near Peenya where she lived. She alleged that she was sexually abused by the Chairman for the past two months.

A woman, who found her wandering in the neighbourhood, questioned her and on coming to know her predicament, immediately took her to Soladevanahalli police station. She narrated her plight and said that it was impossible for her to stay at the orphanage.

Acting on the girl’s statement, SM Vijayraj (35), the founder-chairman of the orphanage was arrested on Wednesday.

Vijayraj had been running the orphanage since 2004 for orphans or whose parents cannot look after them. There are about 30 children of which 8 are girls.

The victim’s mother is a daily wage labourer and had brought her to the orphanage about 3 years ago after her father passed away. She left her daughter in the orphanage believing that she would be given good food, accommodation and education.

The girl’s ordeal began about two months ago when Vijayraj started sexually abusing her and sometimes violently. The girl, unable to bear the torture had earlier attempted to run away from the orphanage.

The police are now questioning the staff of the orphanage. They are also speaking to the children to check for any other such cases. Efforts are on to trace the girl’s mother who lived in Ramamurthynagar. The district child protection officer has met the girl and she has been admitted to a private hospital.

‘We are born once, we die once; let us do something good in between’ – this is the mission statement of the orphanage where the girl was sexually abused. Vijayraj claims that he too was an orphan. A priest took care of him and gave him education.

The orphanage was started in 2004 for providing shelter, food and education to children and thus runs largely on donations. The trust founded by Vijayraj also has an old-age home.

(Agencies)

Mulayam Singh Yadav sparks outrage with sexist comment yet again

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Mulayam Singh Yadav

Lucknow: Veteran Uttar Pradesh politician Mulayam Singh Yadav seems to be on roll in delivering sexist comments as he, once again, defended rapists in a statement made at a function on Tuesday. He sparked outrage when he said that rape cases are made out to be gang-rapes, but it is “not practical”.

“Often if one person commits rape, four people are named in the complaint. Four people are named for rape, can it be possible? It is not practical. They probably say one was watching…another was there… If there are four brothers, then all four are named,” said Yadav, the chief of Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Samajwadi Party.

Mulayam Singh also said the Uttar Pradesh government, headed by his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, was criticized most even though it has the least number of rape cases compared to states like Madhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

The comments have been widely condemned.

The BJP’s Shazia Ilmi tweeted: “Subtle abetment to rape by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Has he never heard of gang rape?? Deplorable.”

Shobha Oza of the Congress said: “Earlier also he has given such statements. Today also he said that gang rape is not possible. These kinds of statements encourage the goons who do this.”

Last year in April, Yadav, 75, provoked outrage when he questioned the death sentence handed to three men convicted in gang-rape cases in Mumbai. “Should rape cases be punished with hanging? They are boys, they make mistakes,” he said while campaigning for the national election in Moradabad.

A month later, his party’s government faced condemnation after two cousins were found hanging from a tree in the Badaun district. The initial assessment of the police was that they were gang-raped and murdered, but it later turned out to be false.

Referring to that case, Mr Yadav said it was “blown out of proportion” but it turned out to be “cold-blooded murders for property.”

(Agencies)

Suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt sacked

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Sanjiv Bhatt

Ahmedabad: Suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had taken on the Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi over the 2002 post-Godhra riots, was on Wednesday sacked on the ground of “unauthorized absence” from service, an action which he said came after a “sham inquiry”.

“Yes, it is true that my services have been terminated. This was expected. They have been conducting a completely ex-parte inquiry. I got the letter (sack order) from them (the home ministry),” Bhatt told PTI this evening.

Gujarat chief secretary G R Aloria confirmed the development. “Services of Sanjiv Bhatt have been terminated,” he said.

Bhatt said he was sacked on the basis of “a sham inquiry” with regard to his “unauthorized absence” from service when he had come to Ahmedabad to depose before the SIT probing the 2002 riots.

“They (government) have been conducting a sham inquiry … an ex-parte inquiry about unauthorized absence from duty,” Bhatt said.

When asked if he will challenge his sacking, Bhatt said he did not want to impose himself on the government.

“A lot can be done (against the move) but whether it is worth challenging … government does not want me, why should I be so keen that I want to remain in this,” Bhatt said.

“I had joined the police with a passion, now it seems the country and this government does not need me. So whatever has happened is good. I cannot impose myself on the government.”

Bhatt, a 1988 batch IPS officer, was under suspension since 2011 for unauthorized absence from service.

He had alleged in an affidavit in the Supreme Court that Narendra Modi, then the chief minister, instructed the top police officers to allow the Hindus “to vent out their anger” after the train-burning incident at Godhra in February 2002.

Bhatt had claimed that he had attended a meeting in this regard on February 27, 2002 at Modi’s residence in Gandhinagar.

Recently, the Gujarat government issued a show-cause notice to Bhatt over a video purportedly showing him with a woman. It sought his explanation for allegedly having extra-marital relationship; Bhatt denied that the man in the video was him.

(Agencies)

BBMP Polls: HC dismisses PIL Seeking ‘NOTA’ in EVMs

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NOTA-EVMs

Bengaluru: The High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation seeking direction to the State Election Commission for insertion of the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the BBMP polls.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna dismissed the PIL on the ground of delay and latches as there were only a few days left for the poll.

However, the division bench observed that it was best known to the State Election Commission why no provision had been made for exercising NOTA in the EVMs, despite a direction from the apex court.

(Agencies)

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