Archives for 2018

United Nations: The recent incidents of sexual assault on young girls in India and Pakistan are “heartbreaking”, the spokesperson of the UN chief said, underlining that the world body is trying to address the issue through access to education and women empowerment.

He was responding to questions on recent incidents of rapes in India and Pakistan. In India, an eight-month-old baby girl was raped last week by her 28-year-old cousin in New Delhi, a shocking incident that outraged the nation.

While in Pakistan last month, a seven-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered allegedly by a serial killer, triggering a national outcry. “I think these two cases you referred to are heartbreaking,” Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said while answering a question on UN’s advice for the two countries on this “vicious cycle”.

“What is clear is that no country on this planet is immune from the scourge of violence against women, violence against girls. We see it in all country, north, south, east and west,” Dujarric said. Through various programmes, through UN-Women, UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund], UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund] and others, the UN is working with governments to try to get messages through to communities to respecting girls, to respecting women, he said.

“It’s about equal rights. It’s about access to health. It’s about access to education. It’s about empowerment of women. Through a number of its development programmes, the UN is trying to face the issue,” said the spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy clarified that there will not be any bandh on February 4. But he said that if anyone wants to protest it should be done in front of Freedom Park and nowhere else.

Several organisations had called for a Bengaluru Bandh on Febrarury 4 seeking a remedy for the Mahadayi dispute. The bandh date had clashed with the visit if Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bengaluru. This had left BJP leaders confused as they wanted to make sure that no such events disturb the PM’s visit. Clarification by the Home Minister has provided a major relief to the BJP leaders.

Reddy said that it is the responsibility of the state government to ensure proper security to the Prime Minister of the Nation. It is our responsibility to honour him and every precautionary measure will be taken for his pleasant visit.

Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Party President Vatal Nagaraj has assured that he is ready to take back the Bandh decision if BJP assures in advance of submitting a request to the PM.

(Agencies)

Lucknow: Whipping up a controversy, an IPS officer of the director general of police rank has openly favoured the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya “at the earliest”.

Surya Kumar Shukla, DG, Homeguard, not only participated in an event on Ram Mandir organised at Lucknow University two days ago, but was also captured on camera taking a pledge to build the Ram Mandir.

The video of the 1982-batch Indian Police Service officer taking the pledge went viral on social and electronic media today.

“We Ram-bhakts, today, as part of this programme, take this pledge that at the earliest, the Ram Mandir be constructed. Jai Shri Ram,” the video showed him saying.

Many other people were also seen taking the pledge with him at the event, where slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” was raised.

Shukla, however, said he had done nothing wrong.

“I was taking a pledge to create an atmosphere of harmony. The video that has gone viral is an edited version and portions have been deleted deliberately to create mischief,” he said.

“It is misinterpretation… The matter related more to creating a peaceful environment for the construction of the temple rather than construction itself,” he said.

Shukla said there was a discussion at the programme that if Hindus and Muslims talk of temple construction in Ayodhya and a mosque at a distance from there, then the dispute will end.

The Supreme Court has suggested that a way should be found through talks, he said.

Commenting on the video, SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary termed it a violation of service rules by the IPS officer.

“Shukla is a public servant, and he is not supposed to take such a pledge at a public function,” he said.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against the accused people in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case.

The agency filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of the high court by which all the accused, including Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers were discharged from the case.

The filing of the appeal assumes significance as recently Attorney General KK Venugopal had advised against going for the petition after 12 years of delay, saying it was likely to be dismissed on account of the long delay itself. It is not clear if the CBI persuaded the government’s top law officer to review his opinion.

Venugopal had earlier advised the agency to remain a respondent in the case filed by Ajay Kumar Agrawal, a BJP member and advocate, who in 2017 challenged the high court judgment in the Bofors case. A dismissal of a separate petition by the CBI in the Supreme Court would prejudice this case, the note said.

But the investigating agency is reported to have been keen to file the appeal and there were reports that officers of the CBI had told a parliamentary panel recently that they had the evidence to back up their petition also.

In October 2017, the CBI had indicated that it was considering an appeal against the Delhi High Court decision after Michael Hershman, a private detective from US-based firm Fairfax, alleged that the then Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi had sabotaged his investigation into the case.

However, sources said that the law officers after consultation were in favour of the appeal as the CBI placed some important documents and evidence to challenge the high court order.

(Agencies)

The CBI on Thursday filed a chargesheet against rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and two of his followers in a castration case in a court in Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh.

The chargesheet has been filed nearly three years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the allegations that the controversial sect chief had forced castration of his followers inside the Dera campus near Sirsa town in Haryana.

The petition in the high court was filed by former sect follower Hans Raj Chauhan who alleged that he had been castrated at the behest of the sect chief.

Chauhan claimed that he along with 400 followers were castrated inside the Dera premises after being told that this will lead them closer to God.

Ram Rahim, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail for raping two women disciples, is also facing legal proceedings in two murder cases.

(IANS)

New Delhi: An outlay of Rs 2.95 lakh crore was today set aside for the defence budget for the next fiscal which is an increase of 7.81 per cent over last year’s Rs 2.74 lakh crore. Out of the total allocation, the capital outlay for the three defence services for purchase of new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware has been pegged at Rs 99,947 crore.

The outlay for defence budget amounted to 12.10 per cent of the total budget of Rs 24,42,213 crore for 2018-19. In his budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appreciated the role played by the armed forces in meeting challenges on the country’s borders as well as in managing the internal security environment, both in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.

He said the government will develop two defence industrial production corridors and bring out an industry- friendly military production policy to promote the domestic defence industry. Compared to revised estimate of Rs 2.79 lakh crore for the defence budget in 2017-18, the increase in allocation has been 5.91 per cent but compared to the budget outlay of Rs 2.74 lakh crore, the hike is 7.81 per cent.

Out of Rs 2,95,511 crore allocated for the financial year 2018-19, Rs 99,947 crore has been pegged for capital outlay which includes expenditure on modernisation of the three forces, according to the defence ministry.

The revenue expenditure, which covers payment of salary, maintenance of establishments and other related expenditure, has been pegged at Rs 1,95,947 crore. A separate amount of Rs 1,08,853 crore has been set aside over the above the total allocation for the paying pension to defence personnel.

The amount for defence pension is an increase of 26.60 per cent over the allocation of Rs 85,740 crore last year. In his address, Jaitley said a lot of emphasis had been laid on modernising and enhancing the operational capability of the defence forces in the last three-and-half years.

“The government will take measures to develop two defence industrial production corridors in the country,” he said. Jaitley said the government would also bring out an industry-friendly “defence production policy 2018” to promote domestic production by the public sector, private sector and MSMEs.

He said a number of initiatives had been taken to develop and nurture India’s intrinsic defence production capability to make the nation self-reliant on its defence needs. The minister said private investment in defence production had been opened up, including liberalising foreign direct investment.

(PTI)