Archives for 2018

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that playing the national anthem before screening movies in cinema halls is not mandatory, overturning its own ruling of 2016.

The latest ruling by a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra followed an order of November 2016 when the apex court made the playing of the national anthem compulsory in cinema halls before movies are screened.

Tuesday’s order came on a plea by the Central government that it had set up an inter-ministerial committee that will frame guidelines to decide the circumstances when the national anthem should be played or sung with decorum.

Attorney General K.K. Venugopal urged the court to modify its 2016 order substituting “may” with “shall” for the playing of national anthem in cinema halls.

The 2016 order had said that all viewers in the cinema halls should stand up when the national anthem was played.

Disposing of the petition by Shyam Narayan Chouksey, the court allowed him to take his case to the inter-ministerial committee.

(IANS)

New Delhi: Indian all-rounder Yusuf Pathan was on Tuesday handed a five-month retrospective suspension for failing a dope test, a sanction which will end on January 14, after the BCCI accepted that the violation was inadvertent.

“Mr Yusuf Pathan has been suspended for a doping violation. Mr Pathan had inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups,” the BCCI said in a statement.

The 35-year-old Pathan had provided a urine sample as part of the BCCI’s anti-doping testing program during a domestic T20 competition on March 16 last year.

“His sample was subsequently tested and found to contain Terbutaline. Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited both In and Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of Substances,” the BCCI stated.

The all-rounder, who has played 57 ODIs and 22 T20 Internationals for India, was charged with the “commission of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under the BCCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) Article 2.1 and provisionally suspended pending determination of the charge”.

“Mr Pathan responded to the charge by admitting the ADRV and asserting that it was caused by his ingestion of a medication containing Terbutaline that had been mistakenly given to him instead of the medication prescribed for him, which did not contain any prohibited substance,” the BCCI explained.

The BCCI said it is “satisfied” with Pathan’s explanation that was using the medication to “treat an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) and not as a performance-enhancing drug”.

“Having considered all of the evidence and taken expert external advice, the BCCI has accepted Mr Pathan’s explanation of the cause of his ADRV, and on that basis has agreed that a period of ineligibility of five months should apply, together with the disqualification of certain results,” the BCCI stated.

The BCCI said Pathan had been provisionally suspended on October 28 last year and the BCCI has now decided to back-date the period of his final suspension from August 15.

“…there is discretion under BCCI ADR Article 10.10.2 to back-date the start date of the period of ineligibility still further on account of Mr Pathan’s prompt admission of his ADRV upon being confronted with it by the BCCI, and under BCCI ADR Article 10.10.1 on account of the delays in the results management in this case that are not attributable to Mr Pathan.

“In all of the circumstances, the five-month period of ineligibility will be deemed to have started to run on 15 August 2017 and end at midnight on 14 January 2018,” the Board stated.

The development comes amid the BCCI’s stoic opposition to allow the National Anti-Doping Agency to test cricketers. The Board has refused to sign up with NADA despite repeated requests by the agency.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: From 1 February, wearing a helmet with an ISI mark will be mandatory in Bengaluru. The orders to enforce the rule in Bengaluru city comes days after the Mysuru police’s campaign against poor quality helmets caught the attention of Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

Senior police officers said that Bengaluru traffic police will conduct a month long awareness campaign, on the need for a good quality helmet, before beginning the enforcement. From 1 February, two-wheeler riders will be fined Rs 100, if they don’t wear a helmet with an ISI mark, a senior police officer added.

The directive making the decision official was issued by DG and IGP Neelamani Raju on 4 January. Sources said that the Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who appreciated the campaign by Mysuru police, asked the DG and IGP to make the rule mandatory for the entire state.

Apart from Bengaluru, four other police commissionarates — Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharawad and Belagavi — and all inspector general of police (IGPs) across the state have been given the same order.

(Agencies)

Rajkot: A 36-year-old assistant professor was nabbed today for allegedly killing his 64-year-old mother by pushing her off the terrace of their residential building in the city in September last year, police said.

Sandip Nathwani, who teaches in a local Pharmacy college, allegedly pushed his mother Jayshreeben to death on September 29 as he was “fed up” with her illness, according to police.

Initially, the Nathwani family had claimed that Jayashreeben fell off the terrace after losing her balance as she was suffering from some brain disease. However, police changed the direction of the investigation on receipt of an unknown application.

“After receiving the application, we checked CCTVs installed in the apartment and the recording clearly suggested that Sandip was with Jayshreeben when she fell off the terrace,” said DCP, Zone II, Karanjraj Vaghela.

He said Sandip Nathwani initially denied the allegation against him, but later “confessed” to his involvement in the crime. “He told us that he was fed up with his mother’s illness. Sandip told us that on the day of the incident he took his mother to the terrace and pushed her,” Vaghela said.

The officer said Nathwani complained of uneasiness during the interrogation today and was admitted to hospital. He would be formally arrested once he is discharged from the hospital.

Police registered an FIR against Nathwani under section 302 (Punishment for murder) of the IPC on the basis of the application received by them.

(PTI)

Lucknow: Extreme cold wave conditions prevailed in most parts of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. Lack of night shelters and amenities have already led to the death of over 70 homeless and poor people.

Phone calls to senior officials, including Director Information Anuj Jha have remained unanswered.

Twenty two deaths have been reported from Poorvanchal; three each in Brij and Bareilly divisions; 11 in Allahabad division and 28 in Bundelkhand region.

Two persons – Ram Kishore Rawat, 40, and Mahesh, 35, have died in Barabanki district due to the severe cold. One person died in Harchandpur in Faizabad, an infant in Ambedkarnagar, one in Rae Bareli’s Makhdoompur and one in Unchahaar.

A government official said that adequate arrangements have been made for bonfires and night shelters, though the ground realities were in stark contrast to these claims.

At many places in the state capital here, the claims have fallen flat in the last 48-hours.

Reports suggest that most bonfires have been taken over by “VVIPs” and were being lit outside the bungalows of Ministers, political leaders and the who’s who in power.

Allegations by people and social groups have forced Lucknow Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia to call for explanation from the city Commissioner on this bias in log wood distribution.

She has admitted that she has been getting calls of biased distribution of wood meant for bonfires at public places.

Sultanpur district remained the coldest in the past 24 hours with the mercury dipping to 2.8 degrees Celsius.

Lucknow shivered at three degrees Celsius. Friday was incidentally the coldest day of the season as well.

The weatherman has predicted that the cold wave would not subside for the next few days and the temperatures were only likely to improve after January 10.

Bahraich recorded 3.4 degrees Celsius, Muzaffarnagar (4.9), Kanpur (4.2), Barabanki (3.4), while Varanasi, Meerut and Lakhimpur Kheri were all at five degrees Celsius.

(IANS)

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh faced an embarrassing situation on Saturday as quintals of potatoes were thrown by the farmers in front of the Vidhan Sabha building and outside Chief Minister’s residence.

The VIP and high-security zone in front of the state assembly building was strewn with potatoes in the morning.

The scene was similar outside Raj Bhawan which houses Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and his family and outside the 5, Kalidas Marg high-security residence of Chief Minister Adityanath.

The development sent the district administration and security officials in a tizzy as the act was carried out in high-security zones.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lucknow Deepak Kumar said the vehicles of the farmers, who were involved in throwing potatoes have been identified and that they would be acted upon.

Farmers, however, said they have not done anything wrong as this was a symbolic protest against the government and its policies.

Farmers are angry at their crops being wasted and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government is doing nothing to arrest the decay.

“We are getting Rs 3-4 per quintal from the ‘mandis’ while we want Rs 10 per quintal. What else do we do when our pleas are falling on deaf ears,” a farmer told IANS.

Harnam Singh Verma, a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said that the farmers were not getting adequate price for their harvest, they do not know where to keep it and accused the state government of not fulfilling its promises.

Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, however, denied the allegations and said the present state government was committed to the welfare of the farmers, especially potato growers.

“This appears to be some political conspiracy to defame the Yogi government,” he alleged.

He told IANS the potato thrown on the roads were of poor quality.

(IANS)