The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday said its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) has upheld complaints against 193 advertisements out of 290 in February for mainly “gross exaggeration of product efficacy” and violation of acts and rules.

“In February 2018, ASCI’s Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld complaints against 193 advertisements out of the total of 290 advertisements that were evaluated by the CCC.

“A total of 187 advertisements were picked up by ASCI’s suo moto surveillance and objections against 163 advertisements were upheld. Of the 103 advertisements complained against by the general public or by the industry members, complaints against 30 advertisements were upheld by the CCC,” a statement said.

Out of the total 193 advertisements against which complaints were upheld, 154 belonged to healthcare sector, 18 to education sector, eight to the food and beverages category, two to personal care and 11 were from the others’ category.

Gross exaggeration of product efficacy was the number one reason for upholding complaints, followed by violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, the council said.

It also said the other reasons were failure to provide substantial facts and figures to support claims and delivering advertisements which were misleading by ambiguity and by implication.

Among the various complaints, CCC observed that an advertisement was encouraging binging or excessive consumption of a snacking product.

A claim regarding “instant” result post consumption of a fast absorbing product was considered to be misleading, the council said.

“Similarly, claim by a leading food company to enhance IQ, was inadequately substantiated. An advertisement by a mattress company featuring celebrities making a quantitative claim that less than six hours of sleep drains 40 per cent brain energy was considered to be misleading,” it added.

A 48-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly raping and impregnating a differently-abled minor girl in Odisha’s Nayagarh district, officials said.

Police nabbed the accused, identified as Brajabandhu Sahoo of Gadadhar Prasad village, following a complaint lodged by the victim’s family.

Police said the mentally and physically disabled minor girl was allegedly raped about four months ago following which the villagers wanted to settle the matter through arbitration.

But even after four months, no action was taken against Sahoo and the girl was found pregnant, leading to the lodging of the complaint against the accused.

Police said Sahoo has confessed to his crime, and taking advantage of the girl’s disabilities to sexually assault her.

Lawyers in Allahabad allegedly set fire to a bus near the District Magistrate’s office. They were protesting the killing of an advocate, Rajesh Srivastava, who was allegedly shot dead in Colonelganj’s Manmohan Park area on this morning.

Reports say, two men on a motorcycle started following Mr Srivastava this morning when he was on his way to work. On the way, near Manmohan Park, the men shot at Mr Srivastava, who died on the spot.

Soon after lawyers started protesting the death of their colleague. A large contingent of police force has been sent to the spot.

A court here on Wednesday rejected the CBI’s plea for additional custody of senior journalist Upendra Rai, arrested for dubious transactions in his accounts, and sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

Rai was presented before Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann who rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea seeking extension of his custodial interrogation and remanded him to judicial custody till May 23.

Owner of Printlines Media Group and formerly employed with Tehelka, Rai was arrested for dubious transactions in his accounts to the tune of over Rs 100 crore during 2017-2018.

He is also accused of using false information to obtain a pass to access sensitive areas in airports across the country and is alleged to have committed the offence in connivance with the officials of aviation company Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd and some public servants of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The CBI filed an FIR on Tuesday naming Upendra Rai, Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd, its Chief Security Officer Prasun Roy, some unidentified public servants of BCAS and others.

Rai, Roy, some public servants and other private persons were questioned by the CBI at its headquarters here, a CBI official said.

The CBI found that in 2017, Rai’s bank accounts show credit of Rs 79 crore with several transactions of over Rs one lakh each while in the same period the accounts reflect debit amount of Rs 78.51 crore.

Says arrested militants involved in killing of three youths at KhanporaSrinagar, 08 May (HS): Police on Monday claimed to have arrested four militants and seven OGWs in separate raids of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.A senior police officer said that the militants and the OGWs were arrested during separate raids by the joint team of SOG Baramulla, 46RR, 53BN CRPF and 52RR of army at Drangbal, Old Town Baramulla, and Sopore.“During the investigations, it has been revealed that the militants were found involved in the attack on the three youths at Khanpora Baramulla resulted into the killing of the trio on the spot on April 30,” the officer said.He identified the militants as Nasir Ahmad Mochi, Bilal Ahmad Najar, Aijaz Ahmad Gojri and Nadeem Kalia @ Ustad.The officer identified the six out of seven OGWs Owais Rashid Bhat, Ozair Ahmad Bhat, Ameen Bhat, Muzamil Bashir, Sharif Bashir Bhat and Nayeem Abdulla.“A pistol was recovered from the possession of the arrested militants while as an alto car Alto car (JK01J-0010) was seized,” the officer said.On April 30, bullet-riddled bodies of Asghar Khan, Asif and Haseeb Khan of old Town Baramulla were recovered. Police later blamed LeT militant outfit for killing the trio.On May 4, a Joint team of Baramulla police and 46RR of army had busted a militant hideout and recovered the arms and ammunition which include two AK-47 rifles, Utensils and Blanket at Drangbal in outskirts of Baramulla.

Hindusthan Samachar/Saleem/Amit Kumar\

The victim, an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The Supreme Court on Monday transferred the trial in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot in Punjab.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed that the trial in the case should be held in-camera and ordered that the trial be fast-tracked and conducted on a day-to-day basis to avoid any delay.

The top court also said the trial would be in accordance with the provisions of Ranbir Penal Code, applicable in Jammu and Kashmir.
The apex court said the trial must be fair to the accused as well as the victim’s family.
It also ordered continuation of security to the family members of the victim, family friends and lawyer representing them and directed translation of statements and records of the case from Urdu to English and also.

“The security provided to the juvenile accused will continue,” a bench also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra said.
The victim, an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The apex court had earlier given a stern warning and said it would transfer the Kathua gangrape-and-murder case from the local court in the “slightest possibility” of lack of fair trial, saying the “real concern” was to hold proper prosecution.

The girl’s father had moved the apex court earlier, apprehending threat to the family, a friend and their lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat. A separate plea was also filed by two accused seeking that the trial in the case be held in Jammu and the probe handed over to the CBI.

The state police’s Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week. The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed.

(PTI)

Miscreants threw some unidentified liquid chemical on six people, most them women, from a running taxi on Sunday night on a posh area in south Kolkata, eyewitnesses and police said on Monday.

The taxi has been identified using the CCTV footage from a nearby building.

“A case has been registered and the investigation is still going on. The liquid thrown was not acid and officially we cannot declare what it was. It was something like battery water,” a Sub Inspector of Rabindra Sarobar Police Station told IANS.

One of the victims claimed that the chemical it was either some acid used in cars or that used in toilets.

“Had there been personal enmity then someone would have been attacked, but in this case, the five to six people who were attacked don’t even know each other,” said an eye witness.

The owner of the car has been identified and interrogated by the police.

“I visited the police station where the case has been registered and spoke to the officials. They told me that the driver is absconding leaving behind the car.

“When I tried to locate him at his residence where he lived with his mother, I found the house locked and none of them was there,” the owner said.

The victims had no inkling of the attack as the car was about to pass by.

“We didn’t realise anything of this sort. Initially I thought it to be dirty water or something. As it started burning I had to rinse it with water. Later, I got to know that many others had been attacked,” said a female victim.

“If something of this sort happens in such a posh area, then we won’t be able to move out of the house freely. It is very disturbing,” she added.

As per the eyewitnesses, there were around four men inside the moving taxi.

A four-year-old girl was allegedly tortured with a hot iron rod by her parents’ friend in Berhampur as punishment for not eating, the police said today.

The child was admitted to the MKCG Medical College and Hospital, police said.

The incident took place two days ago, but it came to light yesterday when locals informed the police.

The girl’s mother said she and her husband had left their daughter at their friend’s house for the summer vacation so that she could play with his baby.

0″We had left our daughter at our friend’s house. I was shocked with how he behaved with my child,” said the girl’s mother.

The accused was arrested yesterday.

An elderly builder jumped to death from his house roof after a police team raided his residence to arrest him, an officer said on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Milind Mahadev Dumbere said the incident occurred on the night of April 30.

“A raid was conducted by a team of Delhi Police at Virendra Dhingra’s residence at Vasant Vihar to arrest him and he allegedly jumped from three storey building in fear,” he said.

“Dhingra, 69, was an accused in a financial cheating case filed in CR Park police station and a non-bailable warrant was also issued against him. The police team of the district concerned raided his house to arrest him and subsequently he jumped from top floor of the building,” Dumbere added.

Dhingra was taken to private hospital where he later succumbed to his multiple injuries.

Meanwhile, Dhingra’s family members alleged it was a murder case as the police team applied pressure on him. As a result, he climbed on top floor of the building and jumped off.

Police however dismissed the allegations but said a probe has been ordered.

“We have constituted a high level inquiry committee to investigate this case from all angles,” Dumbere added.

(IANS)

An Indian-origin businesswoman managed to travel from UK’s Manchester city to New Delhi via Dubai on her husband’s passport before the serious lapse was picked up in India, prompting the Emirates Airline to launch an investigation into the incident.

Geeta Modha, who runs Alankar boutique in Rusholme area of Manchester, left for the airport with husband Dilip’s passport by mistake for a business trip on April 23.

The 55-year-old was able to check-in and board the flight and was waved through a stopover at Dubai on to New Delhi before the error was picked up, according to ‘Manchester Evening News’.

As a holder of Overseas Indian Citizenship (OCI), Geeta was expected to produce her passport at Delhi immigration and was denied entry to India at that point.

‘It’s scary and worrying that people aren’t checking properly,’ she told the newspaper.

‘The fact they say they are so strict on security in airports but you can do this in 2018 is terrible. At check-in, the staff member even made me move stuff from one bag to another because it was 2 kg over and yet let me travel with the wrong passport,’ she said.

Indian authorities made Geeta travel back to Dubai to wait for her own passport, which was flown to her by Emirates.

‘Like all airlines, we work closely with our airport handlers to ensure that all regulations relating to passport checks are taken very seriously. In this instance, our usual high standards were not followed and we would like to apologise to Ms Modha,’ a spokesperson of the airline said.

The airline said that airport handlers ensured that ongoing training is provided to all staff so that they are kept updated with all regulations and security procedures.

‘We are currently investigating how this incident occurred and are working closely with them to ensure that all training materials are properly reviewed and full retraining is provided for the staff involved,’ the spokesperson added.

Geeta showed her passport at Manchester Airport during check-in and again before boarding her flight and was able to sail through customs.

During her scheduled stop-over in Dubai, she did not have to show her passport because she had an OCI card.

The error was only picked up as she was filling out her immigration form at Delhi Airport. Manchester Airport said it was the airline’s responsibility to check identification.