Former JNU student Umar Khalid

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea filed by former JNU student Umar Khalid seeking bail in a UAPA case related to alleged conspiracy behind the riots here in February 2020.

Khalid’s petition challenging the October 18 last year order of the Delhi High Court, which had rejected his bail plea in the matter, came up for hearing before a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra.

“This will come before some other bench. There is some difficulty for my brother (Justice Mishra) to take up this matter,” Justice Bopanna said at the outset, without assigning any reason for Justice Mishra’s recusal.

Advocate Rajat Nair, appearing for the Delhi Police, told the bench that they have filed a counter affidavit but there is an objection shown by the apex court registry on it.

“There are certain portion of statements which we have extracted, that portion is in vernacular,” he said, adding, “That statement itself is in vernacular.”

Nair said he also wants to file relevant portion of the charge sheet filed in the case.

The bench, which posted the matter for hearing on August 17, said the counter affidavit be taken on record.

“The matter can’t be taken up in this combination of the bench. Hence, list on August 17,” the bench said.

On July 12, the Delhi Police had sought time to respond to Khalid’s petition.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid, had then said, “In a bail matter, what counter is to be filed. The man is inside for two years and 10 months.”

On May 18, the apex court had sought response of the Delhi Police on Khalid’s plea challenging the high court order refusing him bail in the case.

The high court in October last year had rejected his bail plea, saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and allegations against him are prima facie true.

The high court had also said the actions of the accused prima facie qualified as “terrorist act” under the anti-terror law UAPA.

Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC.

Khalid, arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020, had sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence nor any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the case.

Before the high court, the Delhi Police had opposed the bail plea by Khalid, saying the speech delivered by him was “very calculated” and brought up issues like Babri Masjid, triple talaq, Kashmir, the alleged suppression of Muslims and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

NEW DELHI: Tomato prices are likely to touch Rs 300 per kg in the coming days and the prices of vegetables are also on the rise, according to wholesale traders. Kaushik, a member of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), said that vegetable wholesalers are facing losses as the sale of tomatoes, capsicum, and other seasonal vegetables has fallen drastically.

He said that the prices of tomatoes have shot up to Rs 220 per kilo from Rs 160 per kilo in the wholesale market, owing to which prices can also go up. Meanwhile, Mother Dairy started selling tomatoes at Rs 259 per kg on Wednesday through its Safal retail stores. Tomato prices have been under pressure for more than a month now on account of supply disruptions caused due to heavy rainfall in the key producing regions.

“There is much difficulty in the transportation of vegetables due to heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh. It takes 6 to 8 hours more than usual in the exportation of vegetables from the producers due to which the price of tomato might reach nearly Rs 300 per kilogram,” Azadpur Mandi wholesaler Sanjai Bhagat said. He said the quality of tomatoes and other vegetables that they export from Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra has come down.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Minister Atishi will be given additional charge of the services and the vigilance departments, a government source said, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal forwarding a proposal to L-G VK Saxena for approval.

The move comes a day after the Delhi services bill secured parliamentary approval after the Rajya Sabha passed the measure that will give the Centre control over the bureaucracy in the national capital.

Atishi was given additional charge of the revenue, planning and finance departments in June after Saxena approved a proposal to rejig the Cabinet.

These three departments were earlier with Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.

Atishi — the only woman minister in the Delhi Cabinet — will now hold 14 portfolios, the highest among all ministers in the city government.

NEW DELHI: TMC leader Derek O’Brien on Tuesday was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon session after he disobeyed Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar while trying to seek a discussion on the Manipur issue.

The TMC leader sought to speak under the pretext of raising a point of order and when the chairman asked him to point to the rule he was wanting to speak on, O’Brien said 267 — the rule under which the opposition has been seeking a discussion on the Manipur issue since the start of the Monsoon session on July 20.

This infuriated the chairman, who said he is naming O’Brien.

The Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal thereafter moved a motion for suspending the TMC leader for the rest of the Monsoon session.

No sooner had Goyal got up than TMC MPs rushed to the well, shouting slogans.

Dhankhar said O’Brien has been suspended for the remainder of the Monsoon session. The Monsoon session of Parliament is to end on August 11.

An MP named by the chair, as per rules, has to withdraw from the proceedings of the House for the day.

The chair and O’Brien had a spat even during discussions on the Delhi services bill on Monday evening when Dhankhar accused Derek O’Brien of doing “theatrics” in the House to gain publicity during a heated debate on the Delhi services bill.

The chair then adjourned the session till noon.

Imphal: NDA partner Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA) on Sunday announced withdrawal of support from the N Biren Singh government in Manipur.

In a letter to Governor Anusuiya Uikey, KPA president Tongmang Haokip informed about the party’s decision to snap ties with the BJP-led government in Manipur, where ethnic rioting since the last three months has claimed more than 160 lives.

“After careful consideration of the current conflagration, the continued support for the incumbent government of Manipur led by Chief Minister N Biren SIngh is no longer fructuous.

“Accordingly, the support of the KPA to the Government of Manipur is hereby withdrawn and can be considered null and void,” Haokip said in the letter.

In the 60-member House, the KPA has two MLAs – Kimneo Haokip Hangshing from Saikul and Chinlunthang from Singhat.

The BJP has 32 members in the Manipur Assembly, while it has support of five NPF MLAs and three independent legislators.

The opposition legislators include seven from the NPP, five from the Congress and six from JD(U).