Archives for 2021

Lakhimpur Kheri/New Delhi: The SIT of the UP police that is probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence has submitted before a court that the killing of four farmers and a journalist in which Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is among the 13 accused was a “pre-planned conspiracy”, and also sought to substitute lesser charges in the case with graver ones.

After hearing arguments on the application moved by the Special Investigation Team(SIT), Lakhimpur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Chinta Ram on Tuesday allowed it to add IPC sections 307(attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing injuries by dangerous weapons) in the FIR in which Ashish Mishra is the main accused, Senior prosecution officer SP Yadav told PTI. Relevant charges under the Arms Act were also allowed to be added.

The submission by the SIT on Monday sparked fresh demands by Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately sack Ajay Mishra, who is the Minister of State for Home. Rahul also said it was time for Modi to apologise again.

The SIT also contended that the evidence gathered so far established that the violence leading to the death of the four farmers and a journalist and injuries to several others was “not an act of negligence or carelessness”.

The violence in Tikunia on October 3 that set off a political storm ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab among other states had left a total of eight people including two BJP workers dead and two separate FIRs were filed.

It erupted when a group of farmers was protesting the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Ajay Mishra’s native place.

The SIT had arrested 13 people including Ashish Mishra in the first FIR in connection with the death of the four farmers and a local journalist. In the second FIR relating to the death of two BJP workers and a driver during the violence, the SIT had arrested four people.

It urged the CJM to replace IPC sections 279 (rash driving/riding), 338 (causing grievous injuries by negligence) and 304A (causing death by a rash and negligent act) with IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) among other charges in the first FIR.

The SIT pleaded for invoking IPC sections 326 (voluntarily causing injuries by dangerous weapons), 34 (acts by several persons with common intentions) and sections 3/25/30 of the Arms Act in the warrants of the 13 accused.

It retained IPC sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

“After hearing arguments of the prosecution and the defense counsels on Tuesday, the CJM allowed to drop section 279, 338 and 304A of IPC against the accused,” Yadav said.

All the 13 accused in the first FIR including Ashish Mishra were produced in the court.

The defense counsels objected to adding section 34 of IPC.

The court held that addition of section 34 as unjustified as the accused had already been remanded under IPC section 149, Yadav said.

Yadav said Chief Investigator of the SIT Vidyaram Diwakar, probing the Tikunia violence, moved an application before the court on Monday stating that the probe and evidence gathered so far established that the violence leading to the death of five people and injuries to several others was “not an act of negligence or carelessness.”

“The chief investigator stated in his application that the act was a pre-planned conspiracy, causing death, owing to which the earlier IPC sections in the FIR namely sections 279, 338 and 304A were dropped and IPC sections 307, 326, 34 and sections 3/25/30 of the Arms Act were added,” Yadav said.

Yadav said the chief investigating officer urged the court to rectify the warrants of the 13 accused accordingly in the first FIR.

The UP government had formed a nine-member SIT to investigate both the cases. The SIT was later reconstituted by the Supreme Court.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha(SKM) said the Modi government should stop shielding Minister Ajay Mishra, and dismiss him from the post. The umbrella body of farmers’ unions said the SIT finding has reaffirmed its stand that the incident was a “pre-planned massacre”.

Priyanka Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge of UP, accused Prime Minister Modi of having an “anti-farmer mindset” and demanded that he should initiate an inquiry into the role of his ministerial colleague Ajay Mishra in the violence.

“Due to the court’s rebuke and because of ‘satyagraha’, now even the police is saying that the son of the Minister of State for Home had conspired and crushed the farmers,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

“But @narendramodi ji, due to anti-farmer mindset, you have not even removed him from his post,” the Congress general secretary said.

In a statement, she said that when the SIT has stated that the Lakhimpur “farmer massacre” was a pre-planned act then why are Prime Minister Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah still “protecting” the minister of state for home.

“The victims’ families and we, doing satyagraha, have been demanding since day one that the minister of state for home should be dismissed. Because the people present at the spot and the families of the victims had clearly stated that the violence was done with conspiracy and the farmers were crushed,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

“Modi ji, it is time to apologise again… But first remove the accused’s father from the minister’s post. The truth is before you!,” Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter, using the hashtags “Lakhimpur” and “murder”.

He alleged that the minister tried to kill farmers and the prime minister knew as he was a member of his team.

“A minister has tried to kill farmers. The prime minister knows as he is in his team. We raised the issue but we were not allowed a discussion on it even then. We were all silenced at the time after we wanted to discuss the issue,” he told reporters in Delhi when asked about the matter.

Asked if the Congress would raise the issue in Parliament, the former Congress chief said, “We will certainly raise the issue in Parliament but they will not allow us to raise it.”

In response to another question, he said, “When they ran their jeep over farmers, which forces were behind them? Who gave them the liberty and which force kept them out of jail?”

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also demanded the sacking of Mishra and asked the prime minister to apologise.

“Dear Modi ji, now in Lakhimpur Kheri the conspiracy to kill farmers has come to the fore. Today you should apologise to the farmers from the stage in Uttar Pradesh and sack the minister of state for home,” he said, claiming that otherwise it will be proved that the massacre of farmers took place at the behest of the Yogi-Modi government.

UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu also said that the prime minister should immediately dismiss Mishra if he is sensitive towards farmers.

Bengaluru: The ruling BJP on Tuesday fell one seat short of gaining a simple majority in the Karnataka Legislative Council.

The party bagged 11 of the 25 seats, from 20 Local Authorities’ constituencies in the state, for which the biennial election was held on December 10, and counting was taken up today, poll officials said.

The opposition Congress also managed to clinch 11 seats, while the JD(S) has won Hassan and Mysuru seat. An independent candidate has managed to win one of the two seats in the prestigious Belagavi constituency, they said.

With these results, BJP’s strength in the 75-member ‘Upper House’ has gone up from 32 to 37, while the Congress’ tally declined from 29 to 26, and the JD(S)’ numbers came down from 12 to 10.

During the previous MLC polls from the Local Authorities’ constituencies in 2015, the BJP had won six, Congress 14 and the JD(S) four seats respectively, while one seat had gone to an independent.

Over 99 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the December 10 elections from all the 25 seats, for which 90 candidates were in the fray, including twenty each from BJP and Congress, and six from JD(S).

The electorate for this election comprised elected representatives, including members of urban and rural local bodies. Unlike legislative Assembly or Lok Sabha polls, the council contests are decided by preferential votes.

In what can be termed as a dismal performance by the JD(S), the regional party has lost three out of four seats-Tumakuru, Kolar, Mandya, other than Mysuru- it had won last time, which comes under the party bastion of old Mysuru region.

However, a win by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s grandson Suraj Revanna in Hassan, came as a respite for the party.

In a major blow to the BJP, independent candidate Lakhan Jarkiholi, one among the Jarkiholi brothers, emerged victorious during the counting of second preferential votes in Belagavi, thereby bagging one of the two seats from the constituency, while Congress’ Channaraj Hattiholi won the other in the first preferential votes.

M K Pranesh, who is Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council, Leader of the House and Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary won from Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada seats respectively on a BJP ticket, while the ruling side’s chief whip Mahantesh Kavatagimath lost from Belagavi.

Congress’ multi-billionaire candidate from Bangalore Urban, Yousuf Sharif who has declared assets belonging to him and his family worth over Rs 1,744 crore, lost to BJP’s Gopinath Reddy.

Other than JD(S) Suraj Revanna, several candidates whose candidature gave rise to “nepotism debate” have emerged victorious. They include Congress’ Channaraja Basavaraj Hottiholi MLA from Belagavi (brother of Lakshmi Hebbalkar), R Rajendra from Tumakuru (former party MLA K N Rajanna’s son), S Ravi from Bengaluru Rural (relative of state Congress president D K Shivakumar), Sunil Gowda Patil from Vijayapura (brother of former minister MB Patil), Sarna Gowda Patil from Raichur (nephew of MLA Amregouda Patil), Bhimrao B Patil from Bidar (brother of MLA Rajasekhar Patil).

Also, BJP’s Pradeep Shettar from Dharwad (brother of former chief minister and MLA Jagadish Shettar), D S Arun from Shivamogga (son of veteran BJP leader and former legislative council chairman D H Shankaramurthy) are among those who fall into the category.

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met a group of opposition leaders and held consultations with them to evolve a joint strategy in Parliament, sources said.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, J&K National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and DMK leader T R Baalu were among the leaders who met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence.

Sources said more such meetings would be held in the next few days, in a bid to bring all opposition forces together.

Opposition parties have been protesting the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs and are holding protests, seeking the revocation of their suspensions.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge were also part of Tuesday’s meeting.

According to sources, Sonia Gandhi had invited Uddhav Thackeray and DMK chief MK Stalin. Both deputed their leaders –Raut and Baalu– respectively.

Earlier in the day, opposition MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha held a protest march from the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex to Vijay Chowk with Rahul Gandhi alleging that the Opposition is not being allowed to raise issues in Parliament, which is now merely a building and a museum.

“Wherever the Opposition is trying to raise issues, they are suppressed. The government does not allow us to raise issues. This is the murder of democracy. We want to raise issues against the government, but we are not allowed to do so,” he told reporters.

New Delhi: Lok Sabha member from Lakshadweep Faisal P P Mohammed on Tuesday highlighted the plight of students and patients from the archipelago due to the non-availability of adequate passenger ships.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Faisal claimed that at least five passenger ships, run by the Lakshadweep Development Corporation Ltd, were non-operational for want of repairs.

He claimed that the Lakshadweep Administrator had not given funds for the repair of the ships, causing hardships to patients and students who had to travel to the mainland for medical treatment and professional exams respectively.

Faisal expressed concern over the possibility of handing over shipping operations from Lakshadweep to the mainland to the Shipping Corporation of India.

Shiv Sena member Arvind Sawant demanded the renaming of Mumbai Central railway station after Nana Shankarshet, the pioneer of railways in the country.

Sawant said Nana Shankarshet was instrumental in the formation of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway in 1845 which eventually started the first railway in the country on April 16, 1853.

NCP member Supriya Sule demanded that the government assist people provided with cochlear implants in case of wear and tear.

She appreciated the government initiative to help persons with special needs through the assistance to disabled persons for purchase, fitting of aids and appliances, which include cochlear implants and hearing aids.

Cochlear implant is a very expensive machine. But after the cochlear implant, there is a lot of wear and tear and the cost of repairing regularly is Rs 85,000, Sule said.

She urged the government to provide one cochlear implant along with support to children until the age of 18/21 to account for the wear and tear of the device.

DMK member DNV Senthilkumar demanded that the government reduce the prices of petrol and diesel, and increase the margins for retail outlet dealers.

Shiv Sena member Pratap Jadhav said farmers of Maharashtra were getting a better price for their soybean crop this year and decried the demand by poultry farm owners for importing the farm commodity.

Jadhav wanted the government to put on hold any plans to import soybean till the crops of domestic farmers are procured.

BJP member C P Joshi demanded that the government issue a postal stamp on Lord Parshuram.

BJP member Rajiv Pratap Rudy highlighted the backward status of Bihar and wanted the government to spell out policies to increase investments in sectors ranging from education, sports and infrastructure.

NEW DELHI: India has logged 6,984 new COVID-19 cases and 247 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Wednesday.

Out of new cases, Kerala reported 3,377 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, along with 28 COVID-related deaths.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), India’s active caseload currently stands at 87,562.

As many as 4,76,135 people have succumbed to the infection so far.

“Active cases constitute 0.25 per cent of the country’s total positive cases, which is lowest since March 2020,” the ministry said.

“Weekly Positivity Rate at 0.67 per cent remains less than 1 per cent for the last 31 days now. The Daily Positivity rate was reported to be 0.59 per cent. The daily Positivity rate has remained below 2 per cent for the last 72 days and below 3 per cent for 107 consecutive days now,” the ministry further informed.

Consequently, as per the ministry, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.38 per cent, the highest since March 2020.

With the recovery of as many as 8,168 patients in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic now stands at 3,41,46,931.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 11,84,883 tests were conducted across the country. The cumulative COVID tests conducted so far stand at 65.88 crore (65,88,47,816), the ministry said.

68,89,025 COVID vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, increasing India’s vaccination coverage to over 134.61 crore.

The third case is of a 7 year old child who upon landing at RGIA gave samples for Covid-19 RTPCR test and flew to West Bengal via domestic flight before the results could come.

Three cases of Omicron have been detected at the RGIA airport in Hyderabad. All three are international passengers who tested positive for Covid and eventually for the Omicron variant. 

In a matter of concern two of the three cases of Omicron were from passengers coming in from countries not categorized as at risk. 

Patient number 1, a 24 year old female from Kenya was randomly tested at the airport and found positive eventually for Omicron. She has been shifted to TIMS and two close contacts in her father and uncle have been isolated at their home in Tolichowli.

Patient 2, a 23 year old Somalian national was also tested at random and found positive for Covid-19 Omicron variant. The patient has not yet been traced.

The third case is of a 7 year old child who upon landing at RGIA gave samples for Covid-19 RTPCR test and flew to West Bengal via domestic flight before the results could come. The child eventually tested positive and for Omicron details of which have been forwarded to GOI and Government of west Bengal.

“The variant is seen to have a doubling time of 2.5 days and in some European countries even 1.5 days so we urge all to wear masks and avoid mass gatherings,” said Dr GS Rao, Director of Health.