An anti-corruption court in Islamabad on July 6 sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison. His daughter Maryam Nawaz was sentenced to seven years in jail and and son-in-law captain (retired) Safdar awarded one-year jail term.

The court also imposed a fine of £8 million on Mr. Sharif and £2 million on Ms. Maryam.

The Sharifs’ lawyers said they would challenge the ruling in High Court.

Accountability Court judge Mohammed Bashir also rejected an application from the Sharifs to postpone the announcement of the verdict as Mr. Sharif is currently with his wife Kulsoom Nawaz in London who is on ventilator for the past three weeks.

“In the interest of justice, the announcement of order in the titled reference may be postponed for a minimum of seven days period,” the applications by the Sharifs stated.

Mr. Sharif had vowed to return to the country once his wife’s health improves.

Mr. Sharif was disqualified as Prime Minister in July 2017 by the Supreme Court following a challenge to his office by Opposition leader Imran khan on the basis of publication of the Panama Papers, which alleged that the Sharif family stashed away assets in London through offshore companies Nescoll and Nelson. The companies are owned by Mr. Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz. Assets in question are four expensive flats in London worth over £200 million.

Mr. Hussain Nawaz admitted ownership of the flats but denied that they were purchased through corruption money. He never appeared before the accountability court despite several notices. He has been declared a proclaimed offender.

Sharif defiant
Sharif, referring to the imprisonment handed to him, said that he has been punished because he tried to turn the course of Pakistan’s 70-year history. “I promise that I will continue this struggle until Pakistanis are not free of the chains that they are kept in for saying the truth,” Press Trust of India news agency quoted a defiant Sharif as telling reporters in London. “I will continue my struggle till the people of Pakistan are not freed of the slavery imposed on them by some generals and judges.”

Removed as head of PML-N
Mr. Nawaz Sharf, a three-time Prime Minister, was removed as head of the Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by the Election Commission following his disqualification by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court disqualified him as not being truthful in his tax returns by not showing a salary as board of chairman of a Dubai-based company. But it instructed the Accountability Court to complete the probe on his assets in six months. The Accountability Court judge sought three extensions from the apex court before completing the probe last week after more than nine months.

The PML-N has termed the trial political victimization.

Pakistan is going to the polls on July 25. The convictions are a huge setback to the ruling PML-N, which has accused the country’s powerful military establishment of conspiring against the party by forcing its candidates to switch sides and join the Opposition or contest elections as independents.

The PML-N held a meeting in Lahore to discuss the court ruling and reaction to it. The party is now headed by Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif.

‘A black ruling’
Mr. Shahbaz Sharif termed the accountability court ruling a black judgment. “People will always remember this judgment as black and controversial. We will fight in higher courts to reverse this judgment. The timing of the judgment is an attempt to influence the upcoming elections,” he said at a press conference in Lahore. He said Mr. Nawaz Sharif had served the country three times as Prime Minister and what he got in return was a black judgment.

Imran Khan welcomes the ruling
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan welcomed the court ruling and termed it a historic judgment, which would serve as a deterrent to corruption in the country. “Sharif brothers [indulged in] corruption for decades and destroyed the institutions. For the first time, a powerful person has been sentenced, which is unprecedented,” he said at a rally in Swat.

Two youths were arrested on Friday after a video clip surfaced showing them molesting a woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district, police said.

“We have arrested two persons in the video and are now looking for four others… We hope to apprehend them soon,” an official told IANS.

In the video, three men are seen molesting the woman despite her pleadings to stop.

The person filming the incident is heard telling the victim to stop resisting or else the clip will go viral.

A woman allegedly committed suicide after setting herself and her two daughters on fire in Nagpur Tikait village here, the police said today.

The woman identified as Soni had an argument with her husband Prem Prakash over the issue of cooking food following which she set herself and her three daughters Gauri (2 years), Astha (9 months) and Roshni (6 years) afire yesterday after sprinkling kerosene on them, they said.

While Soni died on the spot, Gauri and Astha died on way to the hospital. Roshni was saved as she managed to flee from the room.

Police have sent the bodies for postmortem.

A court here on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a case related to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

Additional Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar allowed his anticipatory bail plea asking him to furnish a bond of Rs 1 lakh.

Delhi Police has opposed Tharoor’s plea.

On June 5, the court took cognizance of the charge-sheet filed by the police in the case.

The 62-year-old parliamentarian from Thiruvananthapuram has been asked to appear before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal on Saturday.

Pushkar, 51, died under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that Tharoor was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

The district additional sessions court has sentenced the first wife of a man for killing his second wife who was seven months pregnant to life imprisonment and fined 50,000 rupees on Tuesday, July 3rd.

Misriya (27) is the accused who has been sentenced to life. She is the first wife of Abdul Rehman, a resident of Kannambatti of Hidayat Nagar in Uppala. She was sentenced for killing Nafisat Misriya (21), second wife of Abdul Rehman.

Incident Synopsis

On August 7, 2011 at 6 am, Misriya had poured petrol through the window of the room on Nafisat Misriya and her husband Abdul Rehman who were sleeping and set them on fire. Both the victims suffered severe burns. Nafisat succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Mangaluru and she was 6 months pregnant during her death. Abdul Rehman received treatment for quite a long period.

The convict Misriya is the first wife of Abdul Rehman and she has two children from him. Abdul Rehman had deserted his first wife Misriya and had married Nafisat.Misriya planned to eliminate both her husband Abdul Rehman and his second wife Nafisat, enraged by her husband’s act to desert here.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader who assaulted a woman police officer and tore her uniform in Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh district has been arrested, police said on Tuesday.

The Sub-Inspector had on Monday stopped a motorcycle for rash driving after it hit a child.

BJP leader Mubendra Singh was riding the vehicle along with a pillion rider. The incident took place while vehicles were being checked in Lidhora area, Additional District Superintendent of Police Surendra Jain said.

Upset at being stopped, Singh and his accomplice Pankaj lashed out at the officer, slapped and punched her and even tore her uniform before fleeing from the scene. But a police team nabbed Singh, Jain told reporters.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is an accused in the suicide case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, on Tuesday moved an anticipatory bail plea in a sessions court here.

Additional Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar listed the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.

The court has also sought response of the Delhi Police on Tharoor’s plea.

On June 5, the court took cognisance of the charge-sheet filed by the police in the case.

The 62-year-old parliamentarian from Thiruvananthapuram has been asked to appear before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal on July 7, the next date fixed for hearing in the case.

Pushkar, 51, died under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that her husband was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday extended interim protection from arrest to senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram in the INX Media case till August 1.

Justice A.K. Pathak directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to take any coercive action against Chidambaram till August 1, the next date fixed for the hearing.

Meanwhile, the CBI sought more time to file a response on Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea as they may require to conduct the custodial interrogation of the accused.

On May 31, Delhi High Court granted interim protection from arrest to Chidambaram in the INX Media case till July 3.

His son Karti was arrested on February 28 for allegedly taking money to facilitate Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media in 2007 when his father was the Union Finance Minister in the UPA government. Later, Karti was granted bail.

On May 30, a special court granted interim protection to Chidambaram from arrest till June 5 in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

Earlier, the court granted interim protection to Karti Chidambaram from arrest till July 10 in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

The CBI and ED are investigating how Karti Chidambaram managed to get a clearance from the FIPB in the Aircel-Maxis deal when his father P. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister in 2006.

Pakistan on Monday condemned a terror attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city that killed 19 people, including Sikhs and Hindus.

Afghan public health officials said 20 people were injured in the explosion that occurred outside the compound where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was holding meetings on Sunday. He was not harmed.

The slain Sikhs were scheduled to meet Ghani.

“We are distressed and grieved at the loss of precious human lives. We express our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives and pray for early recovery of the injured,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry said.

The attack came a day after Ghani ordered Afghan security forces to resume offensive operations against the Taliban following the expiration of the government’s 18-day ceasefire.

Odisha’s former MLA Nabin Nanda was arrested during a raid at a Kolkata spa where a sex racket was being run, informed sources said on Monday.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has since suspended the former Dhenkanal legislator from the party.

Nabin’s lawyer Asim Kumar confirmed that Nanda was arrested on Saturday evening from the spa on Park Street under the Immoral Trafficking Act and was bailed out on Sunday.

As many as 18 persons, including nine sex workers, were arrested from the spa.

Nabin rubbished any connection with the sex racket and claimed he was detained after he entered the spa during an attempt to chase a pickpocket.

“The allegations regarding involvement in the sex racket and what has been propagated is completely fabricated. I was out for shopping around 7 p.m. on Saturday when my pocket was picked. I chased the miscreants and entered the spa and was caught by a police team that mistook me to be a client,” said the former MLA.