Archives for 2018

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked all states to comply with its order not to stand in the way of the release of controversial film “Padmaavat” as it dismissed last ditch efforts by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments to block its January 25 release.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said: “People must understand that the Supreme Court has passed an order and it must be complied with.”

“Our order is to be complied with by one and all. A few hundred people come on the street and create a law and order situation demanding ban. That can’t be accepted,” Misra said.

“You can advise them not to watch the movie if they don’t like it. We will not modify our order,” the Chief Justice told Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who tried to flag the law and order situation as a ground for blocking release of the film.

The court also dismissed a plea by Akhil Bharatiya Karni Mahasangh, saying: “We are not inclined to modify order” — clearing the decks for the release of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial.

Admitting that maintaining law and order was the state’s obligation, Mehta appearing for the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments urged the court to appreciate the ground situation and threat to breach of peace.

“You can’t make virtue of creating trouble. You can’t first create trouble and then make a virtue of it,” said Justice Chandrachud.

Seeking clarification, Mehta said a situation could arise where after the release of the film, there could be trouble in some parts.

“Let the state honour this order. Rest we will deal with when it comes to it,” Justice Khanwilkar said.

(IANS)

Ujjain: Members of the Karni Sena on Monday blocked some roads here to oppose the release of the controversial film “Padmaavat”. The Karni Sena, an organisation of the Rajput community, here staged blockades by burning tyres on roads connecting Ujjain to Nagda, Dewas to Maksi and Agar to Kota.

The Sanjay Leela Bansali-directed period drama is scheduled to release on January 25. Superintendent of Police (SP) Sachin Atulkar said that the administration has urged the protesters not to take the law into their hands.

“We have cleared the road after receiving a memorandum from the protesters,” he said. There were also reports that protesters had pelted vehicles with stones on the Agar-Kota road. The SP, however, denied any incidents of violence.

“There were small road blockades. We will take stern legal action if protesters disrupt law and order,” he said. The Supreme Court had last week paved the way for the nationwide release of “Padmaavat”, by staying the ban on its screening in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

However, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on Monday moved the apex court seeking a recall of its January 18 order by which the controversial film was allowed to be released in theatres across India. The film, starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, is based on the saga of the 13th Century battle between Maharaja Ratan Singh of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the victim in a rape case involving self-styled preacher Asaram Bapu will be examined from January 29. The top court adjourned the hearing on the bail plea of Asaram by nine weeks and said it will taken it up after the victim is examined by the trial court.

A bench of Justices N V Ramana and A M Sapre which was initially inclined to dismiss the bail petition said the petitioner can easily approach after the victim is examined. The court had on January 15 sought to know the status of trial in a rape case involving Asaram and asked the Gujarat government to file a progress report on it.

Asaram’s counsel had then told the court that in the Gujarat case, of 92 witnesses, 22 material witnesses have been examined, 14 of them are dropped and rest need to be examine. On August 28, the apex court had expressed anguish over the tardy pace of progress in the rape case and had asked the state government to file the report.

On April 12 last year, the apex court had asked the Gujarat trial court to expedite the recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses in a sexual assault case lodged by two Surat-based sisters against Asaram. Earlier, the top court had refused to grant bail to Asaram on various grounds in the two sexual assault cases lodged in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The two Surat-based sisters had lodged separate complaints against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement among other charges. The elder sister, in her complaint against Asaram, had accused him of repeated sexual assaults between 2001 and 2006 when she was staying at his ashram near Ahmedabad.

In the case in Rajasthan, a teenage girl had accused him of sexual assault at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur. The girl, who belonged to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was a student living in the ashram.

The apex court had on November 18 last year sought the response of the Centre and five states on a plea seeking a CBI probe into the murder of children and attacks on several witnesses in the Asaram rape cases. Asaram was arrested by Jodhpur Police on August 31, 2013, and has been in jail since then.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: Pro-kannada organistaion is planning for a Bengaluru bandh on February 4 and a state bandh on January 25.

It has been reported that PM Modi will be in the city on February 4 and the activist are holding a bandh demanding his intervention in solving the disputes in Mahadayi case.

Addressing the media, the committee mentioned that they are planning for a Karnataka Bandh that is from 6 am to 6 pm on January 25 and Bengaluru Bandh on February 4.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an “ego of his Prime Ministership”, adding that it was the reason why Modi was not responding to his letters.

Hazare was speaking at a public rally in Atpadi tehsil in Sangli district on Sunday.

Hazare said, “I have written more than 30 letters to PM Modi in the last three years but he never replied to them. Modi has an ego of his Prime Ministership, hence he did not respond to my letters.”

Hazare had, earlier, announced that he was going to stage another round of agitations in New Delhi from March 23.

The rally at Atpadi on Sunday was the first of the three rallies Hazare will be addressing in an effort to mobilise support for the March 23 agitation.

“It will be a never-seen-before kind of massive agitation that will be a warning to the government,” he said.

“I have no intention of garnering votes through my rallies and agitations. The way there was a huge rally for Jan Lokpal, I believe there will be a similar agitation on farmers’ issues,” he said.

Hazare said that his demands included implementation of the Lokpal, appointment of a Lokayukta, a pension of Rs 5,000 to farmers and higher rates for farm produce.

(PTI)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said the controversy surrounding the death of Special CBI court judge B.H. Loya is “serious” and it will look into the circumstances leading to his death in November 2014.

Judge Loya was holding the trial into the staged shootout deaths of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and two others.

“Matter is serious. We are examining the material on record. Our conscience should not suffer…,” the bench said as it directed all the matter relating to Loya’s death and the circumstances leading to it should be placed before it.

The top court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra transferred to itself two petitions pending before the Bombay High Court and its Nagpur bench relating to the matter.

The court directed the next hearing on February 2.

(IANS)

Davos/New Delhi: The richest 1 per cent in India cornered 73 per cent of the wealth generated in the country last year, a new survey showed on Monday, presenting a worrying picture of rising income inequality.

Besides, 67 crore Indians comprising the population’s poorest half saw their wealth rise by just 1 per cent, as per the survey released by the international rights group Oxfam hours before the start of the annual congregation of the rich and powerful from across the world in this resort town.

The situation appears even more grim globally, where 82 per cent of the wealth generated last year worldwide went to the 1 per cent, while 3.7 billion people that account for the poorest half of population saw no increase in their wealth.

The annual Oxfam survey is keenly watched and is discussed in detail at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting where rising income and gender inequality is among the key talking points for the world leaders.

Last year’s survey had showed that India’s richest 1 per cent held a huge 58 per cent of the country’s total wealth — higher than the global figure of about 50 per cent.

This year’s survey also showed that the wealth of India’s richest 1 per cent increased by over Rs 20.9 lakh crore during 2017 — an amount equivalent to total budget of the central government in 2017-18, Oxfam India said.

The report titled ‘Reward Work, Not Wealth’, Oxfam said, reveals how the global economy enables wealthy elite to accumulate vast wealth even as hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on poverty pay.

“2017 saw an unprecedented increase in the number of billionaires, at a rate of one every two days. Billionaire wealth has risen by an average of 13 per cent a year since 2010 — six times faster than the wages of ordinary workers, which have risen by a yearly average of just 2 per cent,” it said.

In India, it will take 941 years for a minimum wage worker in rural India to earn what the top paid executive at a leading Indian garment firm earns in a year, the study found.

In the US, it takes slightly over one working day for a CEO to earn what an ordinary worker makes in a year, it added.

Citing results of the global survey of 70,000 people surveyed in 10 countries, Oxfam said it demonstrates a groundswell of support for action on inequality and nearly two-thirds of all respondents think the gap between the rich and the poor needs to be urgently addressed.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the WEF meeting in Davos, Oxfam India urged the Indian government to ensure that the country’s economy works for everyone and not just the fortunate few.

It asked the government to promote inclusive growth by encouraging labour-intensive sectors that will create more jobs; investing in agriculture; and effectively implementing the social protection schemes that exist.

Oxfam also sought sealing of the “leaking wealth bucket” by taking stringent measures against tax evasion and avoidance, imposing higher tax on super-rich and removing corporate tax breaks.

The survey respondents in countries like the US, UK and India also favoured 60 per cent pay cut for CEOs.

The key factors driving up rewards for shareholders and corporate bosses at the expense of workers’ pay and conditions, Oxfam said, include erosion of workers’ rights; excessive influence of big business over government policy-making; and the relentless corporate drive to minimise costs in order to maximise returns to shareholders.

About India, it said the country added 17 new billionaires last year, taking the total number to 101. The Indian billionaires’ wealth increased to over Rs 20.7 lakh crore — increasing during last year by Rs 4.89 lakh crore, an amount sufficient to finance 85 per cent of the all states’ budget on health and education.

It also said India’s top 10 per cent of population holds 73 per cent of the wealth and 37 per cent of India’s billionaires have inherited family wealth. They control 51 per cent of the total wealth of billionaires in the country.

Oxfam India CEO Nisha Agrawal said it is alarming that the benefits of economic growth in India continue to concentrate in fewer hands.

“The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system. Those working hard, growing food for the country, building infrastructure, working in factories are struggling to fund their child’s education, buy medicines for family members and manage two meals a day. The growing divide undermines democracy and promotes corruption and cronyism,” she said.

The survey also showed that women workers often find themselves at the bottom of the heap and nine out of 10 billionaires are men.

In India, there are only four women billionaires and three of them inherited family wealth.

“It would take around 17.5 days for the best paid executive at a top Indian garment company to earn what a minimum wage worker in rural India will earn in their lifetime (presuming 50 years at work),” Oxfam said.

(PTI)