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SC questions practice banning entry of women at Sabarimala

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Sabarimala

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today questioned the age-old tradition of banning entry of women of menstrual age group in historic Sabarimala temple in Kerala, saying it cannot be done under the Constitution.

“The temple cannot prohibit entry (women), except on the basis of religion. Unless you have a constitutional right, you cannot prohibit entry. Anyway, we will examine it on February 8,” a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said.

The bench was hearing a PIL, filed by the Young Lawyers Association, seeking entry for all women and girls in the Sabarimala temple which, as a practice, does not allow girls after attaining puberty to enter the premises.

However, women, who have crossed menopause, are allowed. During the brief hearing today, the bench posed a query as to why women cannot be allowed inside and observed that the practice was not supported by the constitutional scheme.

It asked the government whether it was sure that women have not entered the temple premises in the last 1,500 years.

The bench also observed that it was a public temple and everyone needed to have “the right to access”. At best, there can be religious restrictions and not a general restriction, it said.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for Kerala, said the women, who have not attained menopause, cannot preserve the purity during the religious journey to the temple, located on a hilltop, which usually spans 41 days.

(PTI)

BJP MPs not allowed to visit violence-hit Kaliachak

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Malda-BJP

Malda: A ‘fact-finding’ team of BJP MPs was today stopped by district authorities from visiting Kaliachak which was hit by violence on December 3, as the political battle between Mamata Banerjee government and BJP over the incident hotted up.

MPs Bhupendra Yadav, Ram Vilas Vedanti and SS Ahluwalia, the lone BJP member of Parliament from the state, disembarked from Gaur Express at Malda Town station at around 6 AM but were asked by the police and district administration officials to turn back as prohibitory orders had been promulgated in Kaliachak.

“This act of West Bengal government is condemnable,” Yadav said as the MPs were forced to return by Howrah-bound Shatabdi Express.

The MPs stayed in the VIP lounge of the station for nearly three hours where they discussed the issue with senior district officials.

“The purpose of the visit was to console the people, to restore their confidence that something like this will not happen in future. Due to pressure from the state government, the district administration said that we cannot go there as Section 144 CrPC has been imposed.

“We are not here to incite or instigate anyone. We are law-abiding citizens and senior MPs but the officials said that that we are public figures and our appearance will create problems….the normalcy they have achieved will break down,” Ahluwalia said.

The three leaders said they were here to understand the chain of events in Kaliachak that led to the violence.

However, the area has been made out of bounds for BJP leaders since the incident. On January 6, another BJP delegation led by Shamik Bhattacharya, its lone MLA in West Bengal Assembly, was not allowed to visit Kaliachak village, about 30 km from here.

Violence had broken out at Kaliachak on December 3 over an alleged remark of a BJP leader. Protesters had set fire to a police station and damaged vehicles.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said there was no communal tension in the area and described the incident as a fallout of an issue between BSF and the local people. Several policemen have been transferred from Kaliachak police station following the incident.

Asked if he raised with the officials the issues of communal tension and the role of police, Ahluwalia said that they were informed that the investigation was still on.

“We will give out report to party chief Amit Shah,” he said.

Accusing the TMC government of shielding those behind the Kaliachak violence, BJP had alleged that the prime suspects have not been arrested.

The CPI(M) too has attacked the state government saying, “Kaliachak incident has shown that it has completely failed to control communal incidents and overtones”.

(PTI)

Afzal Guru’s son scores 95% in Class 10, wins Internet praise

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ghalib-guru

Srinagar: Ghalib Guru, son of Mohammad Afzal Guru who was hanged three years back, has scored an impressive 95% marks in the 10th standard examinations conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Examination.

Ghalib secured 474 marks out of 500, according to the results declared on Sunday. He has secured ‘A1’ grade in all five subjects.

Ghalib’s performance in the examinations became a talking point on the social media with many lauding the boy “for excelling despite hardships”.

Afzal Guru was hanged to death on February 9 in 2013 following his conviction in the Parliament attack case. However, the topper in the class was a boy from Awantipora in Pulwama district.

While the family was not immediately available for comment, a year after her husband , Guru, was hanged, Tabasum Guru had told meida that all she wanted was a “normal and peaceful life” for her family.

“We are a normal family. I want my son to lead a normal life. We have nothing to do with politics,” Tabasum had said.

In a 2013 interview to Kashmiri news outlet Kashmir Monitor, Ghalib had said that he wanted to be a doctor.

“Papa knew that I want to become a doctor and would always tell me to work hard. He used to repeat this whenever I visited him in jail,” said Ghalib, who loves reading science books and playing cricket, the report said.

“When I visited him in August, papa gifted me a copy of the Quran and a book on science, which I have preserved,” he said.

(Agencies)

Govt not ready to withdraw cases against Muthalik: CM

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Pramod Muthalik

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made it clear that the state government will not drop criminal cases against Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik.

The clarification comes in the backdrop of reports that the State government had sought legal opinion on a proposal to withdraw 13 hate speech cases against Mr Muthalik.

“We are not withdrawing any cases against Muthalik. It is all you (media) that created the news. We won’t withdraw any cases registered against him,” the CM told media persons in Raichur.

Home Minister too had maintained that the State was firm on its stand on cases against Mr. Muthalik.

It may be recalled that AB Ibrahim, the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district had written to the State government, stating that any such move would “demoralise the police force”.

Instead, the Deputy Commissioner wanted the State government to ensure that the cases were pursued thoroughly and brought to their logical conclusion.

(Agencies)

Muslim clerics rubbish terror link allegations on Qasmi; demand CM’s intervention

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Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi

Bengaluru: More than 150 Muslim clerics and heads of mosques and madarsas across Karnataka held a meeting at Eidgah grounds in Bengaluru to discuss the arrest of Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi, and decided to extend legal help for his release.

The clerics who believe that Khasmi cannot involve in any terror activity, decided to submit a representation to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G. Parameshwara seeking their intervention for a fair probe.

Expressing doubt over his arrest procedures, the members said the Delhi police linking him to the terrorist outfit was not reasonable.

“We do not support anti-national activities and the manner in which he was arrested and portrayed as a terror suspect merely on suspicion is very disturbing,” Syed Shafiulla, convener of the meeting, said.

Even the city Police Commissioner admitted that they did not have information pointing to his involvement in anti-national activities, they said.

His arrest has caused resentment among the youth of the community and we have appealed to them to keep calm, while legal course to secure Qasmi’s release will start at the earliest, they added.

One of those present at the meeting said, “We have seen and have worked with Shah from many years. As we know, he was never involved in anti-national activities. His arrest has really shocked us. Bengaluru City police commissioner N S Megharikh had also stated that they did not have any information about him being involved in terror activities. Shah was following Islam, but he never created disharmony nor was he linked with terror outfits.”

(Agencies)

Mehbooba Mufti, bereaved daughter who stands tall in mourning

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Mehbooba Mufti

“Nobody can even remotely suggest to her that she break her mourning and be sworn in (as the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister). Suggesting that to a son would be easier, but Mehbooba Mufti has lost her father, ideal in life and best friend in Mufti sahib”, these words of a family friend suggests the 56-year-old Mehbooba is going to be a tough customer for both PDP cadres and allies in the days to come.

She is reputed to have pulled her father out of political hibernation in 1999 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was formed.

Even before that, Mehbooba Mufti had been a great emotional support for her father.

Mehbooba had to IANS in an exclusive interview in 2014: “In 1996, Mufti sahib was told by the Congress high command that if it could not field a candidate from our Bijbehara hometown for elections that would be a huge embarrassment.

“Militancy was at its peak and nobody was prepared to stick his neck out. I filed my papers and went out of the Valley. That is when my political baptism happened.”

Baptized in the fire of Kashmir’s violent times, Mehbooba Mufti has proved her nerve by refusing to be sworn in before the traditional Islamic four-day period of her father’s mourning ends.

Insiders said when BJP general secretary Ram Madhav met her Friday to express his condolences at the chief minister’s high security Gupkar Road residence, she politely told him she was in no frame of mind to discuss politics when the family was in mourning.

The state’s top bureaucrats, including the chief secretary and the principal secretary to the chief minister, were also told the same thing when they called on her Friday.

Family sources said she has been spending most of her time with her mother. “Tears well up each time somebody alludes to the times of her father.”

Family sources said she has been spending most of her time with her mother. “Tears well up each time somebody alludes to the times of her father.”

As constitutional experts keep arguing whether the absence of a government in Jammu and Kashmir is a constitutional crisis or not, for Mehbooba Mufti, politics comes much after the love and respect has for her father.

As constitutional experts keep arguing whether the absence of a government in Jammu and Kashmir is a constitutional crisis or not, for Mehbooba Mufti, politics comes much after the love and respect has for her father.

The decks already seem to have been cleared for her swearing-in by Monday or later next week.

Governor, N.N. Vohra has faxed letters to both the PDP and the BJP to “urgently” come forward with proposals about government formation in the state. This is legally the last ditch effort by Vohra to avoid imposition of a short spell of governor’s rule in the state.

Senior PDP leader and constitutional expert, Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said there is no constitutional crisis in the state as the death of the chief minister does not mean the breakdown of the administrative machinery.

“There is no constitutional crisis. We have a constitutional mechanism through which the state governor can run the affairs of governance through bureaucrats without appointing any advisors for the intervening period”, Beigh told reporters.

Reports also suggest the BJP state leadership is seeking a better bargain in the new political arrangement with the PDP once Mehbooba Mufti takes over the reins of governance.

Dismissing any give-or-take before Mehbooba Mufti takes over, Beigh said: “The rules of the game cannot be changed because Mufti sahib has passed away.”

Notwithstanding what senior party leaders like Beigh and others say about the political posturing by the two ruling alliance partners, those who know Mehbooba say she would not even discuss any climbing down from the terms agreed to by her father and the BJP high command.

“The large heartedness of Mufti sahib owed itself to his long years of experience and political grooming. Mehboobaji has always been unrelenting in her approach to politics.

“Remember, when Mufti sahib was away in the US in 2008, it was Mehbooba Mufti who took the hard decision to pull out of the alliance headed by Ghulam Nabi Azad,” said a senior minister in the government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

(IANS)

China’s giant Mao Zedong statue ‘demolished’

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Chinese media reports say 37-metre-high statue in Henan province was removed due to lack of government approval.

Construction was reportedly funded by local entrepreneurs and finished in December after nine months of labour [File: Reuters]

Construction was reportedly funded by local entrepreneurs and finished in December after nine months of labour [File: Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A giant gold-painted statue of Communist China’s founding father Mao Zedong has reportedly been demolished because it lacked government approval, just days after images of it were widely shared on social media.

Images of the statue of a seated Mao towering about 37 metres over empty fields in the central province of Henan made worldwide headlines this week.

But the $460,000 structure has been destroyed, the People’s Net news portal cited local officials as saying on Friday, adding that the reason was “unclear”.

The website is linked to the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

It cited reports from unspecified media as saying the likeness of the man who ruled China with an iron grip for nearly three decades until his death in 1976 “was not registered or approved” by the local government.

Pictures circulating online – which could not be immediately verified by the AFP news agency – showed a gaping hole in the rear of Mao’s massive golden torso, and his head shrouded in black.


Construction was reportedly funded by several local entrepreneurs and finished in December after nine months of labour, the HMR.cn portal said this week.

Despite being blamed for millions of deaths, Mao is still widely revered in China and credited with uniting the country.

Meanwhile, the Communist leadership tightly controls public discussion of history and seeks to use his legacy to shore up its support.

China’s current President Xi Jinping has praised Mao as a “great figure” and revived some of his rhetoric and centralisation of power, while following the party’s 1980s conclusion that he also made “mistakes”.

Some internet users criticised the statue, pointing out its location in Henan, the centre of a famine in the late 1950s resulting from Mao’s economic policies estimated to have killed as many as 40 million people.

“Have you forgotten about the Great Famine, building that?” asked one poster on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Others questioned the statue’s resemblance to the “Great Helmsman”, who also launched the decade-long Cultural Revolution that saw violence and destruction nationwide.

7.5 lakh Muslims, Christians re-converted in last 10 years: Pravin Togadia

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Pravin Togadia

Surat: Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia on Friday claimed that his organisation had re-converted more than five lakh Christians and 2.5 lakh Muslims to Hinduism in the last ten years. Speaking at a function here today, Togadia also called for a mass drive to continue this “Ghar Wapsi” to save the Hinduism in India.

“Within last ten years, we did Ghar Wapsi of more than five lakh Christians and 2.5 lakh Muslims. Our rate of Ghar Wapsi used to be around 15,000 each year. But last year, we have crossed the mark of 40,000, which is excluding the figures of RSS,” said Togadia, the international working president of VHP. “If Hindus need to be in majority in India and to save our religion, we have to engage in many more Ghar Wapsi drives to bring crores of others into our religion,” said Togadia, who was here to take part in VHP’s fund raising event. During his brief interaction with media afterwards, the right-wing leader also demanded that all the Hindus of Pakistan should be given Indian citizenship. He also reiterated that Ram temple will definitely be constructed in Ayodhya.

“Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya, and there is no doubt about it. To build it, the Parliament must bring a law,” he said.

(Agencies)

Over 10k acres of lake area encroached in Bengaluru

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Bangalore-lakes

Bengaluru: Notices are being sent to encroachers of 10,472 acres of lake area in Bengaluru Urban and Rural areas, Chairman of the House Committee of Karnataka Legislative Assembly, K B Koliwad said on Friday.

“We have complete information about who has encroached where. We will put this information in the gazette. We have initiated the process to issue notice to them,” Koliwad told reporters here.

He said following the process of natural justice “we are issuing them a notice asking them why they should not be evicted from the encroached land. We have already issued the orders to issue notices to about 11,000 odd private and also government encroachers.”

Koliwad also said committees had been constituted at taluk level headed by the Tehsildar and at sub divisional level headed by Assistant Commissioner for issuing notices.

Notice model has also been sent out these authorities for further perusal and action, he added.

A legislature committee, led by Congress MLA Koliwad, was constituted in October 2014 to look into all encroachments in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts and recommend suitable action or regularisation.

“According to the survey in Bengaluru city and rural limits there are a total of 1,545 lakes; …in Bengaluru city there are 835 lakes whose area is 27,604 acres out of which 4,277 acres have been encroached….” Koliwad said.

He said in Bengaluru rural there are 710 lakes covering a total area of 29,972 acres.

“In total both Bengaluru city and rural have lake area of 57,576 acres, out of which 4,227 acres have been encroached in city and 6,195 acres in rural area.So a total of 10,472 acres of lake land have been encroached,” he added.

About 200 surveyors were deputed from the revenue department to survey the lakes on the request of the committee.

Stating that government encroachment of lake area amounts to 3,257 acres, Koliwad said in the city, lakes had been encroached at 924 places covering an area of 2254 acres and in rural areas at 319 places covering an area of about 1,000 acres.

(Agencies)

PM Modi visits Pathankot air base

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Narendra_Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited the strategic Pathankot Air Force base for a first-hand assessment of the situation in the aftermath of the terror attack last Saturday.

 

Security forces had yesterday declared the sprawling Air Force station fully sanitised after a massive combing operation spanning over three days.

“The combing operation at the Air Force station is over,” a senior IAF official said, adding the entire area has been sanitised.

Six terrorists, believed to owe allegiance to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed were gunned down by the security forces after a four-day gun battle. Seven Indian security personnel also lost their lives.

The operation to ensure that no terrorist was hiding was carried out jointly by Army, NSG and IAF’s Garud commandos.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also visited the base on January five.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had called up Modi and promised action against the perpetrators of the brazen attack.

During his visit, the Prime Minister is also likely to undertake an aerial survey of the Indo-Pak border areas, official sources said.

Elaborate security arrangements are in place in Pathankot for Modi’s visit and media has been stationed near the entrance of the air base.

During his visit to the strategic facility on January 5, Parrikar had admitted to “some gaps” that led to the attack.

The perpetrators were believed to have infiltrated the Indian territory from a spot near Bamiyal village in Pathankot located close to the international border.

(Agencies)

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