According to official data, 8,189 Indians are lodged in various prisons in foreign countries, with Saudi Arabia having the highest number at 1,811 followed by the UAE at 1,392.

MANAMA: In a humanitarian gesture, the Bahrain government on Sunday pardoned 250 Indians serving sentences in the Gulf nation during the maiden visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the oil-rich country.

The prime minister expressed his gratitude to the Bahrain leadership for the Royal pardon.

According to official data, 8,189 Indians are lodged in various prisons in foreign countries, with Saudi Arabia having the highest number at 1,811 followed by the UAE at 1,392.

It was not clear how many Indians are lodged in jails in the Gulf kingdom.

“In a kind and humanitarian gesture, the Government of Bahrain has pardoned 250 Indians serving sentences in Bahrain,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted.

The prime minister has specially thanked the King of Bahrain and the entire Royal Family for their kindness and the compassionate decision, it added.

The court also asked Chidambaram to move the trial court for regular bail, saying since he has been arrested, his appeal challenging Delhi High Court order has become infructuous.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed plea of former Union Minister P Chidambaram seeking anticipatory bail in the INX Media case, saying that the senior Congress leader has been already arrested and the case has become infructuous.

Hearing on the other two petitions of the former Union Minister going on at the apex court.

The court also asked Chidambaram to move the trial court for regular bail, saying since he has been arrested, his appeal challenging Delhi High Court order denying anticipatory bail has become infructuous.

The senior Congress leader’s counsel Kapil Sibal told the apex court,” If the arrest had taken place and I had filed it later, the petition against Delhi High Court would be infructuous. I have a right under law to be heard.”

Sibal said this after Justice Banumathi said CBI matter became infructuous as Chidambaram had already been arrested in the INX Media Case.

The bench in return asked Sibal whether his petition for anticipatory bail had not become infructuous as he has been arrested now.

“We can’t convert your petition against rejection of anticipatory bail into a petition for regular bail,” said Justice Bhanumathi.

Sibal hit back by saying, “we have not being heard and the plea was listed for Friday in SC and then I was arrested by CBI. We have even challenged  the trial court’s remand order.”

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi also argued that CBI should not have acted like this when the matter was pending in SC.

Earlier on Monday, to the surprise of senior Congress leader’s legal team, the third petition which challenges the trial court order which granted CBI custody till Monday was not listed in the apex court.

On this, senior advocate Kapil Sibal approached the bench headed by Justice R Banumathi to inform her about the non-listing of the matter.

The Judge responded that she is aware of the things and has sent the file to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi for necessary approvals and the matter will be listed accordingly.

“The registry has some difficulty and we have to take orders from the Chief Justice,” the bench told Sibal.

The hearing on this case assumes significance as Chidambaram’s custody ends today and in case his petition doesn’t get listed then CBI will seek further remand of the former Finance Minister.

The special judge in the CBI court will also be bound by the Supreme Court’s orders passed in these cases and will have hence await the outcome of the proceedings there.

On Friday, the apex court had granted protection from arrest till Monday to Chidambaram in the money-laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate.

The court has sought replies from ED on Chidambaram’s plea and directed that all the three matters should be listed on Monday.

Chidambaram has contended that it is a violation of his fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, that his petition challenging the high court order was not heard by the apex court on July 20 and 21 and he was arrested on the August 21 night.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, had said that lot of “hue and cry” and “political vendetta” is alleged by the petitioner (Chidambaram) and his party colleagues but “I am saying with a great sense of responsibility that this is a case of money laundering of a monumental magnitude”.

“CBI has recorded the statement of Indrani Mukherjea, which will be tested in the trial, that she and her husband Peter had gone to Chidambaram for FIPB approval and he (Chidambaram) had asked them to take care of his son,” Mehta had argued.

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearances granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodged a money-laundering case in 2017.

Chidambaram was arrested on August 21 night from his Jor Bagh residence by the CBI in the corruption case and was produced before a trial court on August 22, which remanded him to four-day CBI custody till August 26.

Many of the chemists’ shops in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley have reportedly closed as they have run out of life-saving drugs.

SRINAGAR: Drug stores in Srinagar are reportedly exhausting their stock of life-saving drugs fast, and have already run out of cancer drugs due to the lockdown and communication blockade in Kashmir.

Owners of drug stores and patients complained on Sunday that many drugs were not available in the market. 

However, Governor Satya Pal Malik denied any shortage of medicines and essential commodities in Jammu and Kashmir and said that communication curbs had helped save lives. Malik said enough stocks were available for people to buy.

Fayaz Ahmad, owner of Chinar Medicate at Karan Nagar, outside SMHS Hospital, said that his drug store was running short of cancer drugs.

He said the drugs were not available as the stockists had not received fresh supplies of medicines since the restrictions were imposed in the Valley before the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked on August 5.

“If we don’t get fresh supplies, we will exhaust our stock of life-saving drugs in two weeks,” Ahmad said. 

The owner of Aqsa Medicate, also at Karan Nagar, said they had received some supplies of life-saving drugs from the distributors “but the stock will not last more than three weeks.” Due to the communications curbs, the distributors and stockists were “unable to contact the companies wherefrom they used to order supplies,” he said.

Many of the chemists’ shops in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley have reportedly closed as they have run out of life-saving drugs.

This is the second incident of communal violence in Rajasthan in a month, a few days ago, communal violence erupted in Jaipur and internet services had to be shut down in around 15 police stations.

JAIPUR: Section 144 has been imposed and internet services suspended in Sawai Madhopur district’s Gangapur City in Rajasthan following a communal clash during a VHP rally, police said. The rally was organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on its foundation day on Sunday.

According to Sawai Madhopur – Superintendent of Police, Sudhir Chaudhary: “The VHP workers were raising slogans at a procession when slogans started coming from the Jama Masjid side as well.

“Soon, the minority community started pelting stones on the rally leading to a stampede-like situation. Police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the mob, which vandalised six vehicles.”

Later, the VHP members staged a sit-in at Favvara Chowk demanding arrest of all accused.

“Additional police force has been deployed in the city as well as in Karauli and Bharatpur and 25 people have been arrested,” he said.

Additional Commissioner of Police Laxman Gaur said the situation is under control.

This is the second incident of communal violence in Rajasthan in a month. A few days ago, communal violence erupted in Jaipur and internet services had to be shut down in around 15 police stations in the walled city.

BHIWANDI, MAHARASHTRA: Two people were killed and two-three are feared trapped after a four-storey building collapsed in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi on Friday night, the police said.

After cracks were seen in the “illegal” building, the municipal agency had evacuated 22 families on Friday night. However, some people went back inside the building to collect their belongings. That was when it collapsed, trapping them, officials said.

Four injured people have been admitted to a hospital.

Rescuers of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are at the site and looking for survivors amid the concrete debris of the building that was built eight years ago.  

“We had vacated the entire building, but some people entered the building without permission before it collapsed,” said Ashok Rankhamb, commissioner of Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, news agency ANI reported.

“It was an eight-year-old building and was built illegally. Investigation will be done,” he added.

New Delhi, Aug 23: After food delivery platform Zomato, McDonald’s is now facing a major backlash from Twitterati over whether the fast food company serves Jhatka or Halal meat to its customers.

After a Twitter user asked McDonald’s India whether their restaurants are Halal certified, the company said it does serve Halal meat to its customers.

“The meat that we use, across our restaurants, is of the highest quality and is sourced from government-approved suppliers who are HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) certified”.

Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald’s India. We truly appreciate this opportunity to respond to your comments.
The meat that we use, across our restaurants, is of the highest quality and is sourced from government-approved suppliers who are HACCP certified.

“All our restaurants have HALAL certificates. You can ask the respective restaurant Managers to show you the certificate for your satisfaction and confirmation,” McDonald’s India tweeted.

Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald’s India. We truly appreciate this opportunity to respond to your comments.
The meat that we use, across our restaurants, is of the highest quality and is sourced from government-approved suppliers who are HACCP certified.

The response left Netizens attacking the company’s Twitter handle.

“McDonald’s we Hindus want jatka meat,” posted an angry user while another wrote: “I don’t want to eat needlessly cruel halal meat. What option do I have? Or should I not eat at McDonald’s?”

The response irked many users who blasted the fast food major for serving Halal meat to a nation where 80 per cent people are non-Muslims.

“Dear @McDonalds, per your response, should I understand that your products are not meant for non-Muslims in India? Do let me know,” tweeted another.

In a similar incident, Zomato faced flak after it said that food doesn’t have any religion while responding to a customer declining to accept an order delivered by a Muslim delivery agent.

“Thanks for the info what about jhatka meat which we Hindus eat either start serving or we ain’t gonna come to ur outlets ever,” posted an angry user to McDonald’s India.

Golaghat (Assam), Aug 23: An assistant sub- inspector of the Border Security Force from Assam and his wife were declared foreigners by a tribunal without their knowledge, his family claimed on Friday.

Muzibur Rahman, the BSF man who is now posted in Punjab, and his wife were declared foreigners by the Jorhat Foreigners’ Tribunal in December last year but the family was informed about this only last month, they claimed.

Talking to reporters at Merapani in Golaghat district, Rahman’s father Bapdhan Ali said except the two, everyone in his family have been included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the final version of which will be published on August 31.

“I request the government to take steps so that he continues to be an Indian,” Ali told a news channel.

He claimed that their family members have legacy data and land documents to establish their Indian citizenship.

Ali said, “We are Indians. The name of every member of my family is in the NRC but not of Muzibur who is working in the BSF in the service of the nation, and his wife.” 

One person identified as the lawyer of the family said Rahman was declared a ‘D’ (Doubtful) voter in July 2018 of which he was not aware and then the Foreigners’ Tribunal declared him a ‘foreigner’ in December.

But he did not get any summon to appear for hearing to present his case, the lawyer claimed.

The family said their village headman informed them on July 29 that Rahaman and his wife were summoned to present themselves in the Jorhat Circuit House.

As he was away in Punjab, his father and brother-in- law went there and they were told by government officials that the two were declared ‘foreigners’ in December 2018.

“Probably those engaged in the NRC updating exercise have not done their duty properly. We want an error-free NRC and will always cooperate with the process. I urge the government to ensure that genuine Indian citizens are not harassed,” Rahman told the channel over the phone from Punjab.

Earlier, Kargil war veteran Mohammad Sanaullah and Central Industrial Security Force jawan Mamud Ali were also declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal.

Soon after the Sanaullah incident, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said no jawan will be allowed to face any difficulties if his name does not come in the NRC and that the force will extend all assistance in this regard.

Names of over 40 lakh people were not included in the complete draft of the NRC published last year.

Assam, which had faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC which was first prepared in 1951.

It is being updated now under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

Arun Jaitley, Former Finance Minister and BJP Veteran, Passes Away at 66

Former finance minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley passed away at the age of 66 on Saturday, a week after he was admitted to AIIMS following complaints of breathlessness and restlessness.

A lawyer by profession, Arun Jaitley had been an important part of Narendra Modi’s cabinet during his first tenure as prime minister. He held the Finance and Defence portfolios, and often acted as the chief troubleshooter of the government.