Archives for April 2024

New Delhi: Six buses parked at a private school in Delhi’s Dwarka area caught fire on Sunday, officials of the Delhi Fire Services said.

The blaze, which broke out in two busses, later spread to four more and two room in the ground floor of the school building, they said.

A call regarding blaze at R D Rajpal Public School in Dwarka sector-9 was received at 2.53 pm, they said.

“Eight fire tenders were pressed into service. The reason behind fire is yet to be ascertained. Operation is still going on,” an official said.

According to officials, the flames, which spread to four more busses and two room in the ground floor, was extinguished at 4.35 pm.

“Our cooling operation is still going on and the matter was informed to the police to know cause of the fire,” the official said.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has extended the interim stay on the 15-day simple imprisonment handed to retired IPS officer G Sampath Kumar by the Madras High Court in a contempt of court case filed by former cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan has listed the matter for hearing on May 3.

“Interim order shall continue till further orders,” the bench said on Thursday.

The high court had, on December 15 last year, found Kumar guilty of committing criminal contempt and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for 15 days.

In his contempt petition, Dhoni had sought punishment for Kumar for his remarks against the judiciary in a written statement filed in response to a Rs 100-crore defamation suit.

Dhoni had moved the court in 2014 against the former police officer for naming him in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.

In its order, the high court had said Kumar had consciously made an attempt to scandalise and lower the authority of this court and the Supreme Court. It was established that an affidavit or pleading presented by a party before a court was an act of publication.

Kumar, by his specific words, had launched an indecent attack on the judiciary, with an intention to scandalise and undermine the dignity and majesty of this court as well as the apex court, the high court had said.

It had said when a general statement was made against the court for granting an interim order, describing the order as an abuse of the process of law, it was not a fair comment. Similarly, accusing the Supreme Court that it failed to focus on the “rule of law” cannot be accepted as a fair expression of grievance of a party to the dispute, the bench had added.

The high court had said Kumar was a responsible police officer who had the occasion to investigate a crime.

The freedom of speech and expression cannot be extended to undermine the statutory limits contained in the Contempt of Courts Act, the court had said, adding that since maintaining the dignity of courts is one of the cardinal principles of the rule of law, any publication or public speech that results in undermining it cannot be allowed, as held by the apex court in several precedents.

The high court had said the Contempt of Courts Act was enacted to secure public respect and confidence in the judiciary as an institution.

“If persons like Sampath Kumar were allowed to shake the confidence of the public in the impartial administration of justice, it should be treated as an attack on the judiciary.

“In the present case, we are convinced that the statements made by the respondent in the additional written statement is with an intention to scandalise this court, to lower its authority and to destroy the confidence of people in the administration of justice.

“From the language and the context, this court has no hesitation to hold that the respondent wants to convey a message in the additional written statement that the high court as well as the Supreme Court, while passing orders, either do not follow the rule of law or pass orders which are nothing but an abuse of the process of law”, the high court had said.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the BJP used its majority in Lok Sabha for two consecutive terms to strengthen the country while the Congress used its decades-long majority to strengthen its “family”, asserting that even the opposition believes that his government will retain power for a third term.

In an interview to Hindi daily Hindustan, Modi underlined his commitment to taking strict action against the corrupt amid criticism by opposition parties that probe agencies were used by his government to target their leaders.

Steps against corruption are being taken even in states where the BJP is in power, he said, adding that the narrative that only political corruption is being targeted is being circulated by people who are under the sword of investigative agencies.

He said, “Of the corruption cases probed by the Enforcement Directorate, only three per cent have people associated with politics. The remaining 97 per cent cases are linked to officials and criminals. Those who see benefits in a corrupt system are the ones who are crying foul and presenting the wrong picture.”

Since his government came to power in 2014, eliminating corruption has been its priority, he said, citing steps like ending interviews for Group C and Group D jobs, launch of National Single Window System, efforts for making government services as faceless as possible and starting the DBT (direct benefit transfer) system to prevent the money of the poor from going into the pockets of middlemen.

“As a result, we have removed the names of more than 10 crore (100 million) fake beneficiaries who were not even born. By doing this, the government saved 22.75 lakh crore from going into the wrong hands. I am committed to taking strict action against the corrupt,” he said.

Before 2014, the ED attached assets worth only 25,000 crore, whereas in the last 10 years the corresponding seizure surged to over one lakh crore, he said.

“I assure your readers that action against such people, who steal the money meant for the welfare of the people of this country, will not end,” the prime minister told the newspaper.

To a question that it is being said that there is not much enthusiasm among voters and no wave for the Lok Sabha polls starting from April 19, Modi said it is not the elections but the opposition camp that is dull because of their certain defeat.

“Even the opposition believes that the NDA government will return to power, which is why several opposition leaders are shying away from poll campaign. Many people have started blaming EVMs (electronic voting machines) even before the polls have begun,” he said.

He added that people have got the opportunity to compare the “BJP Model” and the “Congress Model” for the first time.

“The Congress ruled the country with full majority for five-six decades. In comparison, the BJP has served with absolute majority for only one decade. When they had full majority governments, all they did was strengthen their family. Today, when we have a majority government, our priority is to strengthen the country; villages, the poor, our farmers, and the middle-class society,” he said.

If one wishes to see the wave, one will have to go to the ground and be among the masses to see their enthusiasm for the third term of the BJP government at the Centre.

“Our workers are already in the field. Now, even citizens have taken to the streets with ‘Phir Ek Baar, Modi Sarkar’ slogans. When was the last time you saw something like this in the entire world, that even after 10 years of a government, the masses are engaged to reelect it to power with the same enthusiasm and absolute fervour,” he said.

People are taking note of the fact that India is the fifth-largest and the fastest-growing economy in the world and host the third-largest startup ecosystem of the world, he said.

Citing a host of development initiatives, Modi also referred to the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya after a wait of 500 years and the removal of Article 370 as among the issues which have enthused the voters.

“Our report card of 10 years is proof that the BJP fulfills its guarantees. Now, we are going to the masses with our vision of a developed India by 2047,” he said.

New Delhi: India ranked number 10 in cybercrime, with frauds involving people to make advance fee payment being the most common type, according to a new research that surveyed cybercrime experts around the world.

An international team of researchers has compiled the ‘World Cybercrime Index’ that ranks roughly 100 countries and identifies key hotspots according to various categories of cybercrime, including ransomware, credit card theft and scams.

Russia topped the list, and was followed by Ukraine, China, the US, Nigeria and Romania. North Korea was at the seventh position, while the UK and Brazil were at the eighth and ninth positions, respectively, according to the research published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Through the survey, the researchers asked the experts to consider major types of crime in the virtual world and nominate countries that they thought contributed significantly to each of them.

The major categories that the researchers identified were – technical products and services such as malware and compromising systems; attacks and extortion including ransomware; data and identity theft including hacking, compromising accounts and credit cards; scams such as advance fee fraud; and cashing out or money laundering involving illegitimate virtual currency.

Invites to respond to the survey were sent out from March to October 2021. The team received 92 complete survey responses.

The top six countries appeared among the top ten countries under each cybercrime category, the researchers found. They further found that countries that are cybercrime hubs “specialise” in particular categories.

“Russia and Ukraine are highly technical cybercrime hubs, whereas Nigerian cybercriminals are engaged in less technical forms of cybercrime,” the authors wrote in the study.

Among the top ranking countries, while some may “specialise” in cybercrime types with middling technical complexity – such as those involved in data and identity theft – others may “specialise” in both high-tech and low-tech crimes, they said.

India was found to “specialise” in scams. Further, while Romania and the US were found to “specialise” in both high-tech and low-tech crimes, India was found to be a “balanced hub”, “specialising” in mid-tech crimes.

“In short, each country has a distinct profile, indicating a unique local dimension,” the authors wrote.

“We now have a deeper understanding of the geography of cybercrime, and how different countries specialise in different types of cybercrime,” said study co-author Miranda Bruce from the University of Oxford, UK.

The “intensive” three-year-long research “will help remove the veil of anonymity around cybercriminal offenders, and we hope that it will aid the fight against the growing threat of profit-driven cybercrime,” said Bruce.

The experts contacted by the researchers were professionals engaged in cybercrime intelligence, investigation and attribution for at least five years, were “not actively involved in tracking offenders” and had an “excellent” reputation among peers.