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Kerala assembly ruckus case: Opposition boycotts session demanding resignation of minister V Sivankutty

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition front on Friday boycotted the assembly proceedings for the day demanding resignation of General education minister V Sivankutty in connection with the assembly ruckus case.

When the House convened at 9 am, the Opposition front disrupted the proceedings by raising slogans seeking the removal of Sivankutty. Though Speaker MB Rajesh appealed the opposition to remain calm, his efforts went in vain. 

However the proceedings started amidst slogan rising from the opposition benches. Forest Minister AK Saseendran started giving answers to the written questions from Congress legislators PT Thomas and Roji M John on the Muttil tree-felling case. The opposition legislators disrupted and Thomas said he won’t ask the question until the chair allow Opposition leader V D Satheeshan to speak. Other UDF legislators too seconded him. 

Following this Speaker allowed VD Satheeshan to speak. The Opposition Leader wanted to know why the government was protecting the minister, even after he is accused in a criminal case. Satheeshan  pointed out the Chief Minister’s action amounts to disrespect to the Supreme Court verdict, as the verdict of the apex court is considered to be the ‘law of the land’.

To which chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan once again made it categorically clear that minister V Sivankutty will not be replaced. He accused the UDF of going for a police complaint rather than not letting the incident getting resolved under the purview of the assembly rules and proceeding. The police case in the assembly ruckus was unprecedented, he pointed out.

Responding to Chief Minister, Satheeshan said Chief minister was wrong and there were police cases registered before also, in the erstwhile assembly in the state and in other states like Punjab.

Later, the Speaker decided to proceed with the question hour amid protest slogans from the opposition side. At 9.30 am, the Opposition leader requested the Speaker to allow him to speak and announced that the Opposition has decided to boycott the session for the day.

India score late winner to keep QF hopes alive in Olympic women’s hockey

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Tokyo: The Indian women’s hockey team scored a late goal to eke out a narrow 1-0 victory over Ireland in a must-win penultimate pool match to stay alive in the Olympics here on Friday.

Needing a win to keep their hopes alive after three consecutive losses, India waited anxiously for 57 minutes before Navneet Kaur scored the winner to keep her side in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.

India will now need to win their final Pool A match against South Africa on Saturday and hope for Ireland to face defeat at the hands of Great Britain to seal their quarterfinal berth.

The top four teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stage.

20 injured as oil leak causes blast at poultry feed plant in Kerala’s Palakkad

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Palakkad: Twenty people, including fire fighters, were injured on Thursday when an oil leak triggered a blast at a poultry feed plant in Kerala’s Palakkad district, police said.

The incident took place around 5 pm at an isolated hilltop in Thiruvizamkunnu, they said.

Three people, including a fire department personnel, were seriously injured and admitted to a nearby hospital, they said.

“The plant, owned by an NRI, was conducting a trial run today but a fire broke out due to oil leak. They sought help from the fire force department. As the fire fighters were trying to douse the fire, the temperature of the oil tank increased and resulted in a blast,” a police official told PTI.

Police said the oil tank contained a liquid similar to furnace oil and exploded due to high temperature.

“According to the preliminary assessment, 20 people got injured and they have been admitted to various hospitals nearby. The fire has been doused,” the official said.

Australia to return 14 stolen or illegally exported artworks to India

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Melbourne: Australia will return to India another 14 culturally significant artworks, including bronze and stone sculptures, a painted scroll and photographs, some of which were likely stolen, illegally excavated or unethically acquired from the country.

The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) on Thursday announced it will return these works of art from its Asian art collection to the Indian Government.

The works of art being repatriated include 13 objects connected to Indian art dealer Subhash Kapoor through Art of the Past and one acquired from art dealer William Wolff.

It is the fourth time the NGA has handed the Indian government antiquities it bought from Kapoor, ABC News reported.

The works include six bronze or stone sculptures, a brass processional standard, a painted scroll and six photographs.

Kapoor is awaiting trial in India after being accused of running a global smuggling ring for artefacts.

Another three sculptures sourced from Art of the Past have also been removed from the collection.

Further research will be undertaken to identify their place of origin before they are repatriated.

Following this action, along with the repatriation of works in 2014, 2016 and 2019, the National Gallery will no longer hold any works acquired through Kapoor in its collection, NGA said in a statement.

“The decision to return the works is the culmination of years of research, due diligence and an evolving framework for decision-making that includes both legal principles and ethical considerations,” it said.

The National Gallery has introduced a new provenance assessment framework that considers available evidence about both the legal and ethical aspects of a work of art’s history.

“If on the balance of probability, it is considered likely that an item was stolen, illegally excavated, exported in contravention of the law of a foreign country, or unethically acquired, the National Gallery will take steps to deaccession and repatriate,” it said.

National Gallery of Australia Director Nick Mitzevich said these actions demonstrated the National Gallery’s commitment to being a leader in the ethical management of collections.

With these developments, provenance decision-making at the National Gallery will be determined by an evidence-based approach evaluated on the balance of probabilities, anchored in robust legal and ethical decision-making principles and considerations, he said.

As the first outcome of this change, the Gallery will be returning 14 objects from the Indian art collection to their country of origin,” he said.

This is the right thing to do, it’s culturally responsible and the result of collaboration between Australia and India. We are grateful to the Indian Government for their support and are pleased we can now return these culturally significant objects.

Mitzevich said the Gallery would continue its provenance research, including for the Asian art collection and resolve the status of any works of concern.

The Indian High Commissioner to Australia, Manpreet Vohra, welcomed the decision by the Australian Government and the National Gallery to return the works.

The Government of India is grateful for this extraordinary act of goodwill and gesture of friendship from Australia, Vohra said.

These are outstanding pieces: their return will be extremely well-received by the Government and people of India, he said in a statement.

This latest move follows years of significant research to determine the provenance of works in the Asian art collection, including two independent reviews conducted by former High Court Justice Susan Crennan.

This collection is the largest yet to be repatriated by the gallery.

NGA director Nick Mitzevich said the gallery believed six of the artworks were likely stolen or illegally removed from India.

While the gallery could not establish the provenance of another two items and did not have any evidence the six photos were stolen, Mitzevich told the ABC that they would also be returned to India because the NGA had no faith in Kapoor’s ethics.

“We have strengthened our processes and have zero-tolerance now for any inconsistencies in the provenance of a work of art,” he said.

“This is another step towards us building an ethical approach to managing our collections.”

The NGA spent 10.7 million dollars on 22 works from Kapoor’s “Art of the Past” gallery over several years, including a stunning 11th century Chola bronze sculpture, Shiva Nataraja, which the NGA purchased for more than 5 million dollars in 2008.

When Indian police arrested Kapoor in 2012 they listed the Dancing Shiva as one of the stolen items, and it soon became clear the sculpture had been ripped out of a temple in southern India.

In 2014 then-prime Australian minister Tony Abbott handed the Dancing Shiva to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.

Since then, the NGA has returned another five artworks it purchased from Kapoor to the Indian government, including a third-century rock carving and a series of exquisite stone sculptures.

Lovlina Borgohain assures India of first boxing medal at Tokyo Olympics

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Lovlina Borgohain assures India of first boxing medal at Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo: Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) assured India of their first boxing medal at the ongoing Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals here on Friday.

The 23-year-old Assam boxer prevailed 4-1 to make the last-four where she will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.

Borgohain, a two-time world championship bronze-medallist, displayed tremendous calm in the face of a plucky opponent, who had beaten her in the past.

She was aggressive to start with, followed it up with a tremendous counter-attacking game and kept her defence tight in the final three minutes to emerge triumphant.

The youngster, who was laid low by COVID-19 last year and missed a training trip to Europe because of it, let out a huge scream after the referee raised her hand, pent up emotions finally getting the better of her.

India’s previous boxing medals have come through Vijender Singh (2008) and M C Mary Kom (2012). Both of them had won bronze medals and Borgohain would look to better that.

Earlier, Simranjit Kaur (60kg) lost to Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee in the pre-quarterfinals to make an early exit from the Games here.

The 26-year-old Indian, seeded fourth, went down 0-5 despite a gritty performance.

She was impressive in the opening round and seemed to have caught Seesondee on the back-foot with her measured approach, sticking to a counter-attacking strategy.

However, the judges ruled unanimously in favour of the Thai, causing Simranjit to be a tad reckless in the second round.

The Indian paid for the hyper-aggressive approach in the first few seconds itself when Seesondee managed to connect some eye-catching left hooks.

The defensive errors in the second put paid to Simranjit’s chances and even though she gave it her all in the third round, it needed nothing short of a demolition job to get over the line.

However, that was not to be as she bowed out following a unanimous verdict.

The 29-year-old Thai is a two-time world championships medallist and also won a silver in the 2018 Asian Games.

Archer Deepika Kumari seals last-eight berth, ousts former world champion Russian Perova

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Tokyo: World number one archer Deepika Kumari held her nerves to pip former world champion Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee in a thrilling one-arrow shoot-off to advance to the women’s individual quarterfinals of the Olympic Games here on Friday.

Locked 5-5 after the regulation five-setter, the 27-year-old Indian delivered a perfect 10, hitting the bull’s eye, to topple the Russian, a team silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Starting off the one-arrow shoot-off, the Russian crumbled under pressure as she misfired a 7 while a composed Deepika sealed the issue 6-5 (10-7) without any fuss.

For the three-time Olympian Deepika, this was her first win from three matches against the 2017 world champion as she became the first Indian to make the last-eight in an individual event of the Olympics

In the quarterfinals, Deepika will face 20-year-old Korean top seed An San who bounced back from a set behind to oust local favourite Ren Hayakawa 6-4.

The Korean, who had broken a 25-year-old Olympic record en route to topping the ranking round, displayed incredible shooting of three 10s in her last three arrows to set up a clash against the Indian.

Deepika had faced the Korean once earlier, in the final of the ‘Tokyo 2020 Test Event’ at the same venue of Yumenoshima Park in 2019, and the Indian had lost to her younger opponent in straight sets.

“Now it’s going to be tougher and tougher ahead,” said Deepika, who is chasing the country’s first ever Olympic medal in archery.

“I’ve to fight and shoot better. I hope to do better in the next round. Right now, I need extra focus.

“I can’t win if I’m nervous. I’m trying my best to regain my touch as quickly as possible,” Deepika said of her nervy outing against the Russian.

She had failed to close out after taking 4-2 and 5-3 lead in the third and fifth sets respectively.

“I’m really nervous. Yes, I started off well but it was all about Olympic pressure. It really became difficult (afterwards) to find the yellow-ring (that gives scores of either 9 or 10).”

Deepika had a flying start and raced to a 2-0 lead, drilling a perfect 10 in her second arrow as the experienced Russian faltered with a 7 in the last arrow to concede the set by three points (28-25).

Up 19-17 after two arrows in the second set, the Indian needed a 9 to take a 4-0 lead but only to misfire a 7 as the Russian gained control by one point (26-27) with a 10 for a 2-2 overall score.

It was some tight shooting from both archers from there on as Deepika edged out narrowly (28-27) courtesy a 10 in her first arrow.

A 10 eluded Deepika in the fourth set as both players hit an identical 9-8-9 to take the match to the fifth set with the Indian in the driver’s set with a 5-3 lead.

But pressure got the better of Deepika once again as she could not capitalise her lead and misfired a 7 in her first arrow, conceding the set to her world number 8 opponent (25-28) to force a shoot-off after being 5-5.

Call it a stroke of luck or something else for Deepika, Perova misfired a 7 to start off the one-arrow shoot-off and the Indian held her nerves to seal the issue by hitting the bull’s eye.

“I just tried to live in the present. I was very much relieved after she hit a 7. It definitely boosted my confidence,” Deepika said of the shoot-off.

The sequence of the shoot-off follows the sequence of the start of the match, something that was chosen by the higher seed player.

Perova was a seed higher than Deepika who had finished ninth in the ranking round.

Deepika’s husband Atanu Das is the only other Indian in contention for a medal as he made the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday with a stunning shoot-off win over two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek.

“Obviously it boosted my morale. The pressure gets divided,” Deepika said of her husband as the duo are the first Indian couple to take part in the same discipline in the Games.

In his last-16 match slated on Saturday, Das will face home favourite Takaharu Furukawa, an individual silver medallist at the 2012 Olympics and a team bronze winner here.

Indian men’s team and mixed team were earlier knocked out by the Koreans in their respective quarterfinals.

Shilpa Shetty’s mother lodges cheating complaint in Rs 1.6 crore land deal case

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Mumbai: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty’s mother Sunanda Shetty has registered a complaint of cheating and forgery here against a property agent in a Rs 1.6 crore land deal in adjoining Raigad district, a police official said on Thursday.

According to the official, the case was registered against the accused, Sudhakar Ghare, on Wednesday at the Juhu Police station in suburban Mumbai on directions of a city court.

The accused allegedly forged documents to claim that the land in question was in his name and executed the Rs 1.6 crore deal with Sunanda Shetty, he said, quoting from the complaint.

However, when the fraud came to light, Sunanda Shetty asked Ghare to return her money, but he failed to do so, the official said.

He has been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, he said.

A senior inspector from the Juhu Police station confirmed registration of the case, but said no arrest has been made and further investigation was underway.

During initial probe, the police found the matter is two years old when Sunanda Shetty had purchased the relevant land in Karjat taluka, around 100km from Mumbai, from Ghare.

Using forged papers, the accused had claimed the land belonged to him and fraudulently sold the property to the complainant, police said.

When the complainant learnt about it, she immediately asked Ghare to return the money. When he failed to do so, Sunanda Shetty approached the local court seeking its intervention for registration of a case, they said.

The incident has come at a time when Shilpa Shetty is in limelight following the arrest of her husband, businessman Raj Kundra, in connection with alleged production of pornographic films.

Sri Lanka thrash India by 7 wickets to win series 2-1

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Colombo: Sri Lanka spinners led by leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga rattled a depleted Indian batting to engineer a 2-1 series victory with a seven-wicket win in the third T20 International here on Thursday.

Batting first, India playing with at least two batsmen short were restricted to their third lowest total of 81 for 8 with Hasaranga getting 4 for 9 in 4 overs.

In reply, Sri Lanka reached the target in 14.3 overs with Dhananjaya De Silva (23 ) scoring bulk of the runs. Rahul CHahar finished with 3/15 in 4 overs.

Brief Scores: India 81/8 in 20 overs (Wanindu Hasaranga 4/9). Sri Lanka 82 for 3 in 14.3 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 23 batting, Rahul Chahar 3/15).

Delhi Assembly passes resolution against Asthana’s appointment; Kejriwal says move against SC order

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Delhi Assembly passes resolution against Asthana's appointment; Kejriwal says move against SC order

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution urging the Centre to immediately withdraw the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Police commissioner, with the AAP MLAs expressing “reasonable apprehensions” that he will be used to create “a reign of terror” against political rivals in the national capital.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the appointment as against the Supreme Court order and said the Union government should make appointments in accordance with rules.

Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, however, called Asthana an “honest and decorated” IPS officer who was awarded the President’s Police Medal twice.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the move aimed to “harass” the party leaders.

Raising the issue on the first day of Delhi Assembly’s Monsoon session, AAP MLA Sanjiv Jha moved a resolution, saying that Asthana’s appointment is “unconstitutional”.

“This House expresses its strong disapproval over the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, order dated July 27, 2021, appointing Rakesh Asthana to the post of Commissioner of Police, Delhi, for a period of one year or till further orders.

Given the past track record of this officer (Asthana), there is a reasonable apprehension that the central government will use him for foisting false cases on political rivals to create a reign of terror in the national capital, the resolution stated.

Speaking to reporters, Kejriwal noted, “I feel the appointment of Rakesh Asthana is against the Supreme Court order.

According to reports, he could not become the CBI director as he was ineligible for the post. He is also not eligible for this post (Delhi Police commissioner) for the same reason. The Centre should make the appointment as per rules,” he said.

The resolution passed by the Delhi Assembly also stated that such a controversial individual should not be heading the police force in the country’s national capital”.

The MHA order, is in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgement dated March 13, 2019, in clearly laying down that no individual who has less than six months of service left, can be considered for appointment as head of police force anywhere in the country.

“Further, the post of Commissioner of Police, Delhi, belongs to the AGMUT IPS cadre. This appointment of a controversial Gujarat-cadre officer, who has faced multiple enquiries on serious charges in the past, will only bring Delhi Police into controversies,” read the resolution.

The resolution passed by the House also directed the Delhi government to convey to the MHA that the appointment order of Rakesh Asthana be “immediately withdrawn” and fresh process for the appointment of Commissioner of Police for Delhi be initiated in accordance with proper rules and regulations.

The Union government had on Tuesday appointed Asthana as the Delhi Police commissioner, giving him a one-year extension on the new post days before his retirement.

Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer, was serving as the director-general of the Border Security Force and was due to retire on July 31.

AAP MLA Sanjiv Jha also questioned Asthana’s knowledge of Delhi and policing in the city as he was a Gujarat-cadre officer.

Participating in the debate, AAP MLAs Gulab Singh, Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, Somnath Bharti and B S Joon, supported the resolution and alleged that Asthana was brought to Delhi to “muzzle and harass the AAP .

Tripathi asserted that AAP leaders and workers were not scared by the appointment and added, “We are born out of revolution. We are not like the Congressmen in Gujarat.”

AAP MLA Bharti questioned the purpose behind Asthana’s appointment, alleging that he has been brought to harass AAP MLAs, councilors and the chief minister”.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that Asthana successfully investigated the Godhara carnage and Purulia arms drop cases.

“He also investigated the land scam related to the son-in-law of a political party chief. The House should welcome his appointment,” he said.

In his reply over the debate in the House, Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain dared Bidhuri for action against the “son-in-law” he was not naming and added that the BJP and Congress are “two sides of the same coin”.

He supported the resolution, saying the central government should not have defied the Supreme Court directions while making the appointment.

Mary Kom slams IOC Boxing Task Force for “poor judging”, says can’t believe I’ve lost

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Mary Kom slams IOC Boxing Task Force for "poor judging", says can't believe I've lost

New Delhi Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom on Thursday slammed the International Olympic Committee’s Boxing Task Force for “poor judging” in her flyweight (51kg) pre-quarterfinal at the Tokyo Games which she lost despite winning two of the three rounds.

The Task Force is conducting the boxing competition in Tokyo after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) was suspended by the IOC for alleged misgovernance and financial wrongdoing.

“I don’t know and understand this decision, what’s wrong with the Task Force? What’s wrong with the IOC?” she asked in a telephonic interview to PTI after the 2-3 loss to Colombian Ingrit Valencia in the pre-quarters in Tokyo.

“I was also a member of the Task Force. I was even giving them suggestions and supporting them in ensuring a clean competition. But what have they done with me?” she said.

The 38-year-old, multiple-time Asian champion who was eyeing her second Olympic medal after the bronze at the 2012 London Games, said this evening’s loss did not sink in even after she had gone for her dope test.

“I was happy inside the ring, when I came out, I was happy because in my mind I knew I had won. When they took me for doping, I was still happy. Only when I saw the social media and my coach (Chhote Lal Yadav repeated it to me), it sunk in that I have lost,” she said.

“I had beaten this girl twice in the past. I couldn’t believe that her hand was raised by the referee. I swear, it hadn’t struck me that I lost, I was so sure,” she added.

The Indian trailed 4-1 in the opening round with four of the five judges scoring it 10-9 in favour of Valencia. In the next two rounds, Mary Kom got three of the five judges to rule in her favour but the overall score-line was still in favour of Valencia.

The Manipuri needed a 4-1 verdict in the final round to swing the bout for her.

“The worst part is that there is no review or protest. Honestly I am sure the world must have seen, this is too much what they have done,” she said.

“I should have got the second round unanimously, how was it 3-2? What happened was totally unpredictable,” she reasoned.

The IOC’s Boxing Task Force had promised a more transparent judging system after amateur boxing’s credibility took a hit during the 2016 Rio Olympics judging fiasco which led to suspension of 36 officials.

Mary Kom is part of the BTF’s 10-member athletes ambassadors group.

She represents the Asian bloc in the panel, which also comprises the likes of Ukrainian legend Vasyl Lamachenko (Europe), a two-time Olympic and world gold-medallist who now plies his trade in the professional circuit, and five-time world champion and 2016 Olympic gold-winner Julio Cesar La Cruz (Americas) among others.

“…in a minute or in a second everything gone for an athlete. This is unfortunate what has happened. I am disappointed by the judging,” she said.

But the veteran is in no mood to quit despite her Olympic journey coming to an end with the Tokyo edition. At present, boxers above 40 are not eligible to compete at the Games.

“I will take a break after coming back, spend time with family. But I am not quitting. If there is any competition, I will continue and try my luck,” she said.

The AIBA is trying to regain IOC recognition by ringing in several changes in the administrative set-up under new President Umar Kremlev, which includes the introduction of the bout review system to ensure that boxers’ grievances are addressed.

“You can’t do that here. I would have definitely protested otherwise,” Mary Kom said.

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