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Bombay HC Extends Teesta Setalvad’s Interim Bail for 2 Weeks

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Teesta Setalvad

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday granted protection from arrest for two weeks to activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband, hours after a lower court denied them anticipatory bail amid accusations that their NGO received funds from the United States-based Ford Foundation without government authorisation.

Setalvad, a long-time critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said she was being persecuted by the government for her campaign against the Gujarat riots of 2002 when the BJP leader was chief minister.

“I am shocked and aggrieved by the verdict as this is a petty offence. My sympathisers feel that this is an attempt (by the government) to intimidate and possibly eliminate us by the powers (sic),” she said after the sessions court rejected her bail application.

The couple’s lawyers approached the high court anticipating arrest for custodial interrogation sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The agency registered a case against Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand, on July 8 and raided their home and offices a week later.

A bank account of the NGO, Sabrang Communications and Publishing Pvt Ltd located in Mumbai, was frozen on the instructions of the home ministry. Sources said documents recovered by the agency appeared to support its allegations.

The activist recently said she was cooperating with the CBI and her organisation’s arrangement with the Ford Foundation was permitted under law, while she panned the investigating agency for calling her a “national threat”.

Setalvad has also been accused by Gujarat police of using funds meant for victims of the Gujarat riots on purchasing wine and expensive mobile phones, apart from tampering with evidence.

(Agencies)

Amanath Bank Case: Every penny of the depositors should be returned, says judge

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Amanath-Bank

Bengaluru: A single bench by Justice Nazir adjourned the Ama­nath Co-operative Bank trial on Thursday after the strong argument on the recovery of the depositors’ fund.

Bench also asked for meeting all the depositors before confirming on the conversion of the deposits to the share capital and recover the loss.

Every penny of the depositors should be returned, said the judge.

Rahmatullah Kotwal, Amanath Bank’s defense counsel, told Nasheman.in that 32 crores of the depositors’ money will be converted to share capital. He also said that if former Union Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief, as part of his attempt to revive the loss-making bank, deposit Rs. 75 crore as share capital, then he will have the liberty to choose his own set of directors.

RK Pachauri removed as TERI chief

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rkpachauri

Bengaluru: Controversial TERI chief R K Pachauri, who is facing sexual harrassment charges, was today removed as the Director General of the green body.

Ajay Mathur, currently Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been appointed as the new DG in a decision taken at the governing Council (GC) meeting of TERI here.

“The Governing Council (GC) of TERI at its meeting held in Bangalore took a decision to appoint Ajay Mathur as the Director General of TERI.

“Mathur will take up his new responsibilities as soon as he is in a position to do so, subsequent to being relieved from his current responsibilities by the Government of India after a brief period of transition,” an official TERI release said.

On February 13 this year, an FIR was registered against 74-year old Pachauri faces charges of sexual harassment levelled by a senior TERI employee. A Delhi court had granted anticipatory bail to Pachauri.

Earlier, on February 26, the court had restrained Pachauri from entering TERI office premises and contacting its officials. It had asked him not to leave the country and also granted him interim protection from arrest till March 27.

Pachauri was on Friday allowed by a Delhi court to enter his office premises except the head office and a branch in Gurgaon.

The TERI statement said that the GC also considered the question of any action that could be taken on the report of TERI’s Internal Complaints Committee on the issue of alleged sexual harassment.

“Action on this report has been stayed by the Court, which ruled ‘the operation of the report of the Internal Complaints Committee shall remain stayed.’

“This judgment of May 29, 2015 also stated ‘the principles of natural justice have not been followed at all by the said committee, contrary to rules.’ The GC of TERI respects all court proceedings and abides by its direction” the statement said.

The GC observed that the issue of succession to the current leadership of TERI was first discussed in detail by the GC meeting held in Mumbai in September, 2014.

Subsequently, a well-known search firm was entrusted with the task of carrying out a search of candidates for the position, which they performed pro bono and provided the GC with a slate of candidates short listed by them.

A further search was carried out involving all the members of the GC, who interacted individually with several eligible candidates and evaluated senior staff currently working at TERI as well as those who had extensive experience of working in this organization.

“The decision to appoint Ajay Mathur is, therefore, the culmination of an extensive search process and an intensive evaluation of candidates from across the globe,” the statement said.

The statement said that Pachauri has led and built TERI over the last 34 years from a concept to a major, financially autonomous, professionally dynamic organization on the global stage.

“All efforts will be made to aid and assist Ajay Mathur in a smooth and expeditious transition as the latter assumes responsibility as TERI’s new chief executive.

“The GC is certain that the 1200 persons working for TERI in different parts of the world would welcome this development and extend all their support towards a smooth transition and ensuring that this unique Indian organization with a global presence and universal reach attains greater heights in the future,” it said.

Noting that the interests of TERI and its talented staff are paramount, the statement said that the GC members also expressed deep confidence in their dedication and the leadership of the institute.

Mathur has worked in leadership positions in the World Bank in Washington DC, as Director, interim Secretariat, Green Climate Fund in Bonn and in the private sector in India.

He took over as DG of BEE, where he has initiated and directed innovative programs, the statement said.

(Agencies)

Visually-impaired woman denied flat in Delhi for being Muslim

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Reem Shamsudeen

New Delhi: Yet another incidence of discrimination, a 30-year-old visually-impaired woman from Kerala has alleged that she was denied a rented house in Delhi for being a Muslim.

Reem Shamsudeen, who is an assistant professor in a college affiliated to Delhi University, claimed that the owner denied her the rented house just because she was a Muslim.

“I had paid the advance amount to the owner. I was refused to move in the apartment just a few hours before I was about to,” she said.

“It’s really a shame for such discrimination to occur in a city like Delhi where thousands of people come in search of education and jobs,” Reem told Madhyamam Daily.

“The incident was shocking considering the cosmopolitan and metropolitan nature of Delhi,” she said.

In a short video uploaded on the YouTube she urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to look into the matter.

(Madhyamam)

SC bars head scarf, full sleeve shirt from CBSE medical exam

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cbse-dress

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to interfere with the dress code prescribed by the CBSE for candidates appearing for the AIPMT exam on Saturday, barring them from wearing either a head scarf, full sleeve shirt or burqa.

The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu while rejecting the plea by Students Islamic Organisation of India, said: “If you appear in an examination without a scarf, your faith will not disappear.”

Describing the plea as “nothing but an ego”, the court said that candidates can wear the head scarf after the exam is over.

The court also observed that faith is something different from wearing a particular type of cloth.

(IANS)

Lok Sabha adjourned for the day

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Lok Sabha

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was on Friday adjourned for the the day within minutes of assembling as the opposition created a ruckus over the Lalit Modi issue and the Vyapam scam.

As soon as the house assembled in the morning, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she had received adjournment motions from the opposition on the controversy about BJP leaders’ closeness with former IPL chief Lalit Modi and the Vyapam scam.

However, the speaker dismissed the adjournment motions and tried to proceed with the question hour. At this point the opposition members led by the Congress trooped near the speaker’s podium and shouted slogans.

Following this, Mahajan adjourned the house for the day.

Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Veerappa Moily moved motions on the Lalit Modi issue, while CPI-M member Mohammed Saleem and AAP’s Bhagwant Mann moved a motion against the Vyapam scam.

(Agencies)

Court rejects Teesta Setalvad’s anticipatory bail plea

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Teesta Setalvad

Mumbai: A sessions court in Mumbai rejected on Friday an anticipatory bail application filed by social activist Teesta Setalvad in connection with a case of alleged foreign donations to her NGO in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

Setalvad, who was at the forefront of the campaign for the 2002 Gujarat riot victims, is likely to move the Bombay high court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand on July 8 and raided their home and offices a week later. The agency is looking into whether Setalvad’s NGO Sabrang received funding from the United States-based Ford Foundation without government permission.

The Gujarat Police had recently said the social activist and her husband “misappropriated” funds meant for charity for personal expenses ranging from wine, earbuds to expensive mobile phone besides tampering with the evidence.

The CBI registered the case after the home ministry recently asked the agency to conduct a probe into the funding.

A bank account of the firm located in Mumbai was frozen on the instructions of the home ministry. Sources said certain documents were recovered by the agency, which they claimed appears to support the allegations.

Setalvad had earlier said the charges against her are baseless and she was fully cooperating with the CBI.

(Agencies)

No discussion until Sushma steps down: Rahul Gandhi

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rahul gandhi

New Delhi: Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his “silence” on the Lalit Modi controversy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said his party was against discussion until External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj steps down.

Claiming that Modi’s credibility is on the decline, Rahul said the Prime Minister should listen to the voices of the people of the coutry who are demanding an answer from him over controversies confronting the government.

“The Prime Minister had assured the country that he will not tolerate corruption. His words should carry weight. But he speaks in air, he speaks whatever comes to his mind, his credibility is slowly declining.

“We asked the PM what he thinks about Lalit Modi. We got no answer. We got no answer on the Vyapam scam, no answer on Chhattisgarh and no answer on Sushma,” he told reporters outside Parliament.

Rahul’s comments come against the backdrop of the stalemate persisting in both the Houses of Parliament with Congress-led opposition aggressively pressing for ouster of Sushma and Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Lalit Modi controversy and Vyapam scam, which the government rejected.

He made it clear that there would be no discussion on the Lalit Modi controversy unless Sushma quits office.

“What we have said is that (there will be) no discussion without resignation. Sushma has done a criminal act. He (Lalit Modi) is a ‘fugitive’. You have signed it (the recommendation for grant of travel document). The High Commission does not know about it. The Indian government too in unaware of that,” he said and alleged that there were business links between the families of Lalit Modi and Sushma Swaraj.

(PTI)

Lokayukta scam case: two more held

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Lokayukta scam

Bengaluru: Two more accused have been arrested by the Special Investigation Team in the Lokayukta bribery case in the state.

M B Srinivasa Gowda(30), a journalist and a partner of the Biriyani Adda chain in Bengaluru, and his associate Shankaregowda(35), an RTI activist are the arrested.

They were arrested from a hotel in Rajajinagar in the city. They are the second and third accused respectively, and are both natives of Kolar district. They were arrested as per the information given by second accused Ashok Kumar, a realtor, who was arrested by the SIT on Tuesday.

Sources said that both Srinivasa Gowda and Shankaregowda, were assigned to gather information about corrupt officials and inform Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar, in turn, would call officials to extort money from them, sources said.

The Special Investigation Team also issued a notice to Ashwin Y, son of Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, to appear in person before it within three days. Ashwin is the first accused in the extortion case.

Both the accused have been handed over to the SIT by Special Court Judge V G Bopaiah for interrogation till July 31 and were produced in the court by DCP Labhu Ram.

(Agencies)

Yakub Memon seeks stay of execution of his death sentence

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Yakub-Memon

New Delhi: Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the sole death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking stay of execution of his death sentence scheduled for July 30.

Memon, in his petition said that all legal remedies have not been exhausted and he has also approached the Maharashtra Governor with a plea for mercy.

He had filed the mercy plea before the Governor immediately after his curative petition was dismissed by the apex court on Tuesday.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had on July 21 rejected Memon’s plea saying that the grounds raised by him does not fall within the principles laid down by the apex court in 2002 in deciding the curative petition, the last judicial remedy available to an aggrieved person.

Memon, in his plea, had claimed he was suffering from schizophrenia since 1996 and remained behind the bars for nearly 20 years. He had sought commutation of death penalty contending that a convict cannot be awarded life term and the extreme penalty simultaneously for the same offence.

The apex court on April 9 this year had dismissed Memon’s petition seeking review of his death sentence which was upheld on March 21, 2013.

Memon’s review petition was heard by a three-judge bench in an open court in pursuance of a Constitution bench verdict that the practice of deciding review pleas in chambers be done away with, in cases where death penalty has been awarded.

The apex court, on June 2, 2014, had stayed the execution of Memon and referred his plea to a Constitution bench as to whether review petitions in death penalty cases be heard in an open court or in chambers.

Memon had sought review of the March 21, 2013 verdict of the apex court upholding his death penalty in the case relating to 13 coordinated bomb blasts in Mumbai, killing 257 persons and injuring over 700 on March 12, 1993.

(PTI)

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