Archives for January 2023

A video-clip from a CCTV footage purportedly showed an MLA of the ruling BRS in Telangana assaulting a worker of a toll plaza and went viral on social media, prompting the legislator to deny the allegations.

The clip beamed by local TV news channels also purportedly showed the Bellampalli MLA Durgam Chinnaiah slapping the worker near the plaza on a national highway in Mancherial district on Tuesday.

The incident happened when the MLA was travelling in his car.

The footage shows some people, including a gunman, near the toll plaza. It further shows a person approaching a man and slapping him after which the man is seen moving away.

The legislator, on his part, denied media reports on the incident.

According to the MLA, a toll fee was being collected even before the work on the highway was completed. ”I only enquired regarding the norms. There was no response from officials. When I asked for their manager, this person (toll plaza staff) spoke rudely to me. I did not manhandle or attack anyone,” Chinnaiah said.

A senior police official told PTI that no complaint has been lodged till now, but an inquiry has begun.

”We’ve not received any sort of complaint till now. We are verifying and will proceed accordingly,” the official said.

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai

Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Wednesday sought to make light of the resignation of Gayathri Raguramm from the party, saying he has no regret about those leaving the organisation and wished such persons well wherever they are.

Scores of women were joining the national party, Annamalai said in response to Raguramm’s allegation on Tuesday that women were not safe under his leadership in the party.

“I have no regret when someone leaves the party if they don’t like it. Let them have a good life,” he told reporters here.

Asked about the ‘charge’ against him by the actor, Annamalai named certain vernacular publications and said they often level charges against him and that Raguramm’s allegation should be included in “that category”.

However, it was good that such debates were happening as people watch them and they could arrive at a conclusion.

“People leave the party for different reasons…you know I am aggressively opposing the (ruling) DMK. There are some internal issues (in the BJP) but I don’t want to discuss about (certain people’s) connections. My response is silence to whatever a particular media says about me. People are watching and they will decide. Same is the case with those who have left the party. I wish them well wherever they go,” Annamalai added.

Announcing her decision to sever ties with the saffron party on Tuesday, Raguramm had said she chose to quit for not being given opportunity for an enquiry, equal rights and respect for women. “Under Annamalai leadership, women are not safe. I feel better to be trolled as an outsider,” she had tweeted.

Incidentally, days before she was removed from the post and suspended from the party, BJP sports and skill development cell president Amar Prasad Reddy accused her of meeting a member of DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin’s family and angrily reacted “no space for betrayers in BJP.”

Raguramm, however, retorted saying it was her friend’s birthday party and that she had no idea of who were invited there.

Bengaluru The High Court of Karnataka has issued notice to the State government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, challenging the non-implementation of the national e-vidhan application (NeVA) scheme.

The State government went ahead with its own e-vidhan scheme instead. The PIL, filed by former MLC Ramesh Babu, was being heard by a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice P B Varale.

The NeVA aims at promoting digitalisation to provide a platform for the functioning of both Houses of Parliament, Assemblies and councils. The Centre shares 60 per cent of the cost of the platform for the State which has a total outlay of Rs. 673.94 crore
Karnataka decided to implement its own scheme at a cost of Rs 253 crore based on a report submitted by KEONICS.

The PIL says the State government is unnecessarily spending Rs.253 crore, when it could have availed itself of by merging the scheme with the Centre’s.

“The present PIL if filed seeking further steps in implementation of NeVA which is beneficial and safeguards Central portal with economic benefits to the implementing State in place of implementation of e-Vidhan scheme through KEONICS which entails substantial loss to the public exchequer as the provisioning of this scheme is to tune of Rs.254 crores,” according to the PIL.

The PIL seeks “implementation of NeVA scheme which entails substantial savings to the State exchequer and further keeps intact the integrity of this nation by acceding to the principle of One Nation-One E-Platform’.”

It further states that the State government agency KEONICS has identified a third party to implement the scheme without any competitive bidding.

On Tuesday, the High Court adjourned further hearing of the PIL after issuance of notice to the State.

New Delhi: Air India on Wednesday said it has imposed a 30-day flying ban on a passenger who had urinated on a female co-passenger onboard a flight from New York to Delhi in November last year and set up an internal panel to probe whether there were lapses on the part of their crew in addressing the situation.

Aviation regulator DGCA said it has sought a report from the airline on the incident, which happened on November 26 and will “take action against those found negligent”.

Air India said it has filed a police complaint about the incident but did not specify when the 30-day flying ban on the passenger came into effect.

Delhi Police on Wednesday said several teams have been formed to catch the passenger and registered a case against the accused.

Based on the complaint given by the victim, Delhi Police has registered a case under sections 294 (does any obscene act in any public place), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (Misconduct in public by a drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant section of Aircraft rule.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women has written to the Air India Limited chairman to intervene in the matter. It said the action violated the woman’s right to live a life of dignity and safety.

Airlines have the power to impose a flying ban on an individual for unruly behaviour for up to a lifetime. While Air India has banned the passenger from taking its flights, other carriers can decide whether a flying ban should be imposed on the individual concerned.

On November 26, an inebriated male passenger urinated on a female co-passenger during a flight from New York to Delhi, according to reports.

Without mentioning the details about the incident, an Air India spokesperson on Wednesday said the airline has taken a very serious view of the incident, where a passenger behaved in an unacceptable and undignified manner on the New York-Delhi flight that caused extreme distress to a fellow passenger.

Air India has “banned the passenger for 30 days, the maximum it is permitted to unilaterally do so, and reported the matter to the DGCA for further action,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

However, Air India declined to provide details about when the flying ban was imposed.

“We have also constituted an internal committee to probe lapses on part of Air India’s crew and address the deficiencies that delayed quick redressal of the situation,” the statement said.

Further, the airline said it is also in regular contact with the aggrieved passenger and her family during the investigation and reporting process.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the morning said the regulator is “seeking a report from the airline and shall take action against those found negligent”.

The airline had not reported the incident to the regulator earlier.

Under the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) issued by DGCA in 2017, regarding the handling of unruly passengers, an airline has the power to ban an individual from flying for a lifetime.

If one airline places a person on the no-fly list, then other airlines have the option of whether to impose a similar ban on the individual concerned.

The ban period varies depending on the violations being classified as Level 1, 2 or 3.

For Level 1, which pertains to unruly behaviour such as “physical gestures, verbal harassment, unruly inebriation”, the ban can be for up to three months.

The debarment will be up to six months for Level 2, which pertains to physically abusive behaviour like “pushing, kicking, hitting, grabbing or inappropriate touching or sexual harassment”.

For Level 3 when there is a life-threatening behaviour like damage to aircraft operating systems, “physical violence such as choking, eye gouging, murderous assault, attempted or actual breach of the flight crew compartment etc”, the ban can be from a minimum of two years or more without a limit, as per the norms.

The home ministry can also provide DGCA and airlines, with a list of individuals identified as national security threats for inclusion in the no-fly list under the CAR.

Against the backdrop of the Air India incident, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Wednesday tweeted ‘2 Air India’s” and shared a screenshot of Air India banning him sometime back following alleged unruly behaviour onboard an IndiGo flight.

Kamra also shared a screenshot of a media report saying that Air India has banned the passenger who urinated on a female co-passenger for 30 days.

Mannapuram (Kerala): A 10-year-old Karnataka boy died on the spot while three others sustained critical injuries in a tragic road accident in Kerala while they were returning to their native Dharwad from Sabarimala pilgrimage.

The deceased boy has been identified as Sumeet Pandey, while other family members injured in the accident have been identified as Saroj Pandey, Nikhil Pandey, and Sushant Pandey.

According to the reports, the family had visited the Sabarimala pilgrimage on January 1 and were returning back to Dharwad when they met a road accident in Mannapuram in Kerala.

Ratlam (MP): After being acquitted of gang rape charges, a man from Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam has sought compensation of more than Rs 10,000 crore from the state government citing “suffering and mental agony” caused to him as his incarceration sent his family to the brink of starvation.

Of the Rs 10,006.02 crore compensation, the man has sought Rs 2 lakh towards the “loss of God’s gift to humans e.g. sexual pleasure”, as per his petition.

Kantu, alias Kantilal Bheel (35), moved the district and sessions court after a local court on October 20, 2022, dropped the gang rape charges, said his lawyer Vijay Singh Yadav. His case against the MP government and the investigators will be heard on January 10.

Asked about the whopping recompense, Yadav said Rs 10,000 crore has been sought on the grounds that “human life is precious”, while the remaining Rs 6.02 crore is for various reasons, including legal expenses of Rs 2 lakh, mental agony and suffering by his family.

In his petition, Bheel said he was the sole breadwinner for his family when the police arrested him in the gang rape case on December 23, 2020. Yadav said Bheel supported his ageing mother, wife and their three children.

Yadav said his client has sought Rs 10,006.02 crore citing suffering and mental agony to him and his family due to the fake charges of gang rape. In his absence, Bheel’s family was on the verge of starvation, he said.

According to Yadav, a woman filed a complaint on July 20, 2018, against Bheel at Manasa police station, accusing him of raping her on the pretext of dropping her at her brother’s home.

She alleged Bheel handed her over to another person who she claimed raped her for six months before allowing her to go, said the lawyer.

The complaint led to Bheel’s arrest and incarceration for nearly two years.