Archives for 2024

CJI DY Chandrachud

 Supreme Court administration, under CJI DY Chandrachud, has waived off the need for law degree as a basic requirement for the correspondents covering the apex court, Bar and Bench reported on Thursday.

Earlier, the reporters who wanted to work at the Court had to have a law degree, unless exempted by the CJI in exceptional cases.

Srinagar: Two soldiers who were critically wounded in Thursday’s terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll in the ambush to four.

Two Army porters died on Thursday while another porter and a soldier were injured.

Terrorists attacked a vehicle of the force six kilometres from tourist hotspot Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, officials said on Thursday.

They had said the terrorists opened fire on the Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area in the evening when it was headed for the Nagin post in the Afrawat range.

Confirming the deaths of the two porters, the officials had said the condition of two of the injured soldiers was critical.

They had said the soldiers in the vehicle opened retaliatory fire when they came under attack.

The area is completely dominated by the Army and there were reports recently that a terrorist group had infiltrated during early summer and taken shelter in the higher reaches of the Afrawat range, they said.

The Bota Pathri area was recently opened to tourists.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the recent spate of attacks in the Valley was a matter of serious concern.

“Very unfortunate news about the attack on the Army vehicles in the Bota Pathri area of north Kashmir, which has resulted in some casualties and injuries. This recent spate of attacks in Kashmir is a matter of serious concern,” he said in a post on X.

“I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and send my condolences to the loved ones of the people who lost their lives. I also pray that the injured make a complete and swift recovery,” he added.

Former chief minister and People’s Democratic Party supremo Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack.

The BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina, meanwhile, condemned the attack and blamed Pakistan for trying to destabilise peace and tranquillity in the Union Territory.

The attack came amid a spike in terror incidents in the Valley.

In another deadly attack on Sunday, six non-local labourers and a local doctor were killed when terrorists fired indiscriminately upon them at the Z-Morh tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

Before that, a labourer from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Shopian district on October 18.

Earlier on Thursday, terrorists shot at and injured a labourer from Uttar Pradesh in the Tral area of Pulwama district.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a man accused of tampering with evidence to shield his son, a minor, involved in a fatal accident in May.

Justice Manish Pitale, while delivering the order, observed that prima facie evidence supported the charges against the applicant. The case involves a high-end car accident in Kalyaninagar on May 19, which claimed the lives of two motorbike-borne IT professionals, including a woman. The applicant’s son, allegedly intoxicated and seated in the rear of the vehicle driven by a teenage friend, is under investigation.

The prosecution alleges that the parents of the minor driver bribed doctors to swap his blood sample with that of his mother. The applicant is accused of similarly conspiring with doctors at Sassoon General Hospital to replace his son’s blood sample, with the intention of obstructing the investigation.

The police informed the court that while other accused in the case had been arrested, the applicant had remained absconding. The high court noted that his absence hindered the investigation and pointed to the deliberate tampering of evidence.

Senior counsel Aabad Ponda, representing the applicant, argued that at most, his client could be charged under Section 201 of the IPC (causing disappearance of evidence), which is a bailable offense. However, public prosecutor Shishir Hiray opposed the plea, highlighting that the sessions court had rightly dismissed the bail request on September 9.

The court concluded that the applicant’s involvement in the manipulation of blood samples warranted the rejection of his bail plea, reinforcing the need for a thorough investigation.