Archives for 2023

Ranchi: A special CBI court on Saturday convicted all three main accused in the Tara Sahadeo conversion case, including her former husband and her mother-in-law.

The court of special CBI judge Prabhat Kumar Sharma held the trio guilty in the case and has set October 5 as the next date for announcing the quantum of sentence.

The three convicted- Shahdeo’s husband Ranjit Kohli alias Raqibul Hasan, his mother Kaushar Rani and Mustaq Ahmed were sent to judicial custody.

Shahdeo had said in her complaint that she had married Ranjit Kohli alias Raqibul Hasan as per Hindu rituals on July 7, 2014 but just after second day of her marriage her husband and Ahmed, who was at that time serving as registrar of vigilance, had started forcing her to change her religion and go through a Nikaah.

The CBI had taken over the investigation in 2015 and registered a case in Delhi.

Shahdeo was granted a divorce by a family court in Ranchi in June 2018 on grounds of cruelty. She had petitioned to the court that Hasan had provided false information regarding his religion and tricked her into marriage. She had also accused Hasan of torturing for refusing to convert to Islam.

Nuh (Haryana): Congress MLA Mamman Khan, who was arrested in connection with the July 31 Nuh violence, was granted bail in two cases by a court here on Saturday, police said. However, Khan will remain in jail as he is yet to get bail in two other cases related to the Nuh violence.

The court has fixed October 3 as the next date of hearing on his bail plea, they added.

After hearing the arguments of both sides earlier in the day, Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Duggal reserved his order on the bail plea of the Congress MLA from Ferozpur Jhirka till 4 pm “The court verdict granted bail to the Congress leader in FIR numbers 149, 150, but Khan has not yet got bail in FIRs 137, 148 of Nagina police station.

“Due to this, he will have to remain in jail for now and the next hearing on the bail is fixed for October 3”, said Khan’s counsel Tahir Hussain Dewla.

Khan was arrested on September 15.

His lawyer argued that the allegations of the SIT are baseless and he should be granted bail.

At the same time, prosecution advocate Surendra Kumar said that enough evidence had been found against the MLA during the investigation.

The accused did not cooperate in the investigation even during the remand period, the advocate alleged.

A religious procession led by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) was attacked by mobs in Nuh on July 31. Six people were killed in the incident and the ensuing communal violence. A cleric was killed in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram.

The Congress’s Haryana unit had alleged that its MLA was arrested due to a “political witch-hunt” and demanded a judicial probe into the Nuh violence under the supervision of a high court judge.

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered a probe into the resignation of a district judge in the Tamil-majority Northern province’s Mullaithivu over threats to his life, officials said on Saturday.

T Saravanarajah tendered his resignation to the Judicial Service Commission on September 23, claiming threats to his life and reportedly left the country.

Among the various cases presided over by the judge, he had ruled against the building of a Buddhist shrine at a disputed archaeological site. The legal proceedings over the digging of an alleged mass grave in the same area were also presided over by Saravanarajah.

According to informed officials, President Wickremesinghe directed the Secretary to the President to probe the circumstances of Saravanarajah’s resignation, as the judge hadn’t lodged any complaints on the alleged threat to his life previously.

As the district judge of the northern region of Mullaithivu, Saravanarajah had ruled against the building of a Buddhist shrine at Kurunthamale, a disputed archaeological site. The Tamils in the region had protested against what they claimed were land grants by the state for Buddhist archaeological excavations.

Saravanarajah also presided over the legal proceedings at the digging of an alleged mass grave in the same area.

In June, the alleged mass grave was accidentally discovered at Kokkuthuduvai by the National Water Board workers while carrying out digging activities for a development project in the area. The minority Tamil community demanded a credible investigation into an alleged mass grave in the northeastern district.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Mullaithivu was a nerve centre of the LTTE as they ran a parallel state before May 2009 when they were defeated by the Sri Lankan military.

Many legal associations, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, described the judge’s resignation as a “serious threat” to the independence of the judiciary in the island nation and urged the Judicial Service Commission to carry out an independent investigation.

The Delhi Police registered an FIR under various section of Indian Penal Code 1860 in
connection to an alleged attack by the Patient on the doctor. He was in the emergency ward of
the South Delhi Safdarjung hospital as the officials stated on September 4. The complainant is a
third year PG student where the patient asked him to remove cannula from his hand , in response
the doctors asked to take the assistance of the nurse where the patient pilloried the doctor. The
doctor sustained several physical injuries since the patient pulled out a screw driver and attacked
him . Violence against healthcare professionals needs to raked over the coals. Doctors reiterates
on legislation regarding the protection of healthcare professionals. The recurring incidents
makes it perspicuous for the protection towards healthcare. The legislation should be
comprehensive and impose stringent penalties in instances of non-compliances .

Speedy investigation and prosecution should be included , stated by Dr Aviral Mathur the
president of Federation of Resident Doctors Association. Since health is a state subject , the urge
to all states to pass state laws regarding the protection of frontline workers. Very recently a
tormenting incident where the surgeon was stabbed to death in Kerala made the state pass an
ordinance taking stringent punishment on violence. Attack and Violence on health care
professionals are a silent pandemic we have been facing for a prolonged period , failing to curb
the same. Zero tolerance should be given and condemned both at state and centre. The lack of
central legislation is subverts the intensity of the issue. There are several cases that is being

reported and many that goes unreported. The focus should be on the upgrading the healthcare
system and providing a shield to the healthcare professionals. It is a moral commitement to
safeguard those who dedicate their lives serving others, thus a central legislation becomes the

CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate carried out searches in Chennai on Tuesday, which comes after the raids carried out on September 12 in 34 locations, including eight sand mines, in six districts. 

Sources said ED officers interrogated Jothi Kumar employed as an accountant at Kamalalayam, BJP state headquarters,  and also his landlord. Officers raided Jothi Kumar’s house which is in an apartment complex belonging to realtor Shanmugam. ED is yet to release an official statement on the search which lasted until noon, police said. 

It may be noted that the ED searched the mines belonging to sand mining contractors K Rathinam, S Ramachandran and Karikalan in six districts. ED also searched auditor Shanmugaraj’s premises as well as the Water Resources Department headquarters. ED had also frozen `12.82 crore unaccounted cash along with 1 kg gold.

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Tuesday said that the mission to the brightest planet in the solar system, Venus is already configured adding that payloads have been developed for the future mission. 

ISRO chairman further stated that Venus is an interesting planet and exploring it will help answer certain questions in the field of space science.  

“Venus is a very interesting planet. It also has an atmosphere. Its atmosphere is so thick. The atmospheric pressure is 100 times that of Earth and it is full of acids. You cannot penetrate the surface. You don’t know if its surface is hard or not. Why are we trying to understand all of this? Earth could be one day Venus. I don’t know. Maybe 10,000 years later we (Earth) change our characteristics. Earth was never like this. It was not a habitable place long long back,” he said.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour. It’s one of the four inner, terrestrial (or rocky) planets, and it’s often called Earth’s twin because it’s similar in size and density.

More recent Venus missions include ESA’s Venus Express (which orbited from 2006 until 2016) and Japan’s Akatsuki Venus Climate Orbiter (orbiting since 2016).

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has made multiple flybys of Venus. On Feb. 9, 2022, NASA announced the spacecraft had captured its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space during its February 2021 flyby.

Meanwhile, following the triumphant soft landing of Chandrayaan 3 on the lunar South Pole, ISRO launched the Aditya-L1 Mission to study the Sun in unprecedented detail.

In only six decades, India has rapidly ascended as a global frontrunner in space technology and exploration, with much credit attributed to the ISRO.

ISRO’s laurels extend to space exploration as well, with feats like the Chandrayaan missions for lunar exploration, the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) in 2013—India’s inaugural interplanetary expedition—and the initiation of AstroSat in 2015, marking the country’s first dedicated astronomical pursuit. 

VIJAYAWADA: The State government will provide a safe drinking water supply with full infrastructure to all households in the State with functional household tap connections (FHTCs) by 2024 through retrofitting, augmentation, drinking water projects in scarcity and quality problem areas under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

The government also plans to provide FHTCs to new housing colonies (Jagananna Colonies). As per the official data, works to the tune of Rs 26,719 crore have been sanctioned under JJM towards drinking water projects in 26 districts.

The State government is also planning FHTCs for all rural households and public institutions (schools, anganwadis, health centres etc) under JJM by 2024. As per records, out of 95.54 lakh rural households in the State, 30.74 lakh households have been provided with tap connections before the launch of JJM (August 15, 2019) and another 34.61 lakh houses have been covered with FHTCs.