KOCHI: Lakshadweep Police on Thursday booked filmmaker Ayesha Sulthana on sedition charges following a complaint by a BJP leader that she spread false news about the spread of COVID-19 in the union territory during a TV debate.

The complaint was filed by the BJP’s Lakshadweep unit president Abdul Khader.

Sulthana hails from Chetiath island in Lakshadweep.

According to the FIR lodged by the Kavaratti police, a case under sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of the Indian Penal code has been registered against the filmmaker.

Aiysha Sultana, budding filmmaker, booked under sedition charges. Crime: Dared to describe admin policy a bio-weapon . Reason: Laccadives did not have a single case of Covid for a year until admin removed mandatory quarantine for travellers. Now Covid rages.

In his complaint filed with the Kavaratti police on Wednesday, Khader said Sulthana, during a debate in a Malayalam TV channel, had alleged that the Central government used biological weapons for the spread of COVID-19 in Lakshadweep.

The BJP leader, in his complaint, has alleged that Sulthana’s was an anti-national act, which tarnished the ‘patriotic image’ of the central government.

He sought action against her.

Earlier in the day, the BJP staged a protest in the islands seeking action against the filmmaker.

The Lakshadweep-based model and actor Sulthana has worked with several Malayalam filmmakers.

Lakshadweep has been witnessing protests by various political parties since the administration started implementing reform measures in the islands.

PATNA: Bihar will soon include NCC as an ‘elective course’ in universities and colleges, officials from the state and the NCC decided at a top level meeting here on Thursday.

The education secretary assured that all efforts would be made to get the resolution passed in the State Academic Council. A proposal on this will be prepared and submitted to the chancellor of universities and governor of state for approval on top priority, Kumar added. 

The move comes as a big motivator for lakhs of NCC cadets across the state, who has to spend a major part of the non-academic time undergoing the training and participation of activities for the NCC. 

Official statement further said that the UGC and AICTE have also underlined the importance of NCC training among students in their circulars to Central and State Universities and recognized the necessity and possibility to adopt it in the core academic curriculum.

The newly designed NCC Elective Course will carry 24 credits spread over 6 semesters with specific credit for attending rigorous 10 days mandatory camp.

“In the first phase of the implementation, NCC as an elective course or subject will be offered only in those colleges, which already have NCC senior platoon or company and to only those students who enroll as NCC cadets,” the official statement read.

Likewise private colleges which are allotted NCC under the Fully Self Finance Scheme (FSFS) will also be allowed to offer NCC Credit Course. 

Ramvichar Netam

Raipur: BJP’s Rajya Sabha member and former Chhattisgarh minister Ramvichar Netam has become a victim of credit card fraud as an unidentified person allegedly misused it and made a transaction of around Rs 37,000, police said on Friday.

A complaint in this regard was lodged by the MP’s relative at Telibandha police station in Raipur on Thursday night, a police official said.

“Unidentified conman has made a transaction of USD 508.92, around Rs 36,844 in Indian currency, by misusing an SBI credit card issued in the name of MP Ramvichar Netam. The transaction was made on February 24 this year,” said Station House Officer (SHO) of Telibandha police station, Sonal Gwala.

Netam possessed that credit card, but its validity had ended in 2020, following which he had destroyed it. After that, Netam did not make any request for its renewal, he said.

Without the permission and knowledge of Netam, an unidentified trickster fraudulently managed to get the credit card renewed and carried out a transaction of USD 508.92. The forgery came to light when the bank’s executive called Netam for payment of Rs 45,668 (which also includes taxes as well as interest against the transaction), he added.

Initially, Netam told the bank that no such transaction was done by him and the credit card is also not available with him as its validity has ended. However, as he continued to get calls from the bank for the payment, he visited the bank, where he came to know about the transaction, after which a complaint was lodged, Gwala said.

An offence under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered in this connection, he added.

Param Bir Singh

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday said it is shocking that former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who has served the state for over 30 years, is now stating that he has no trust in state police and is seeking transfer of all inquiries against him to an independent agency outside Maharashtra.

It is commonly said, the person who lives in glass house should not throw stones at others, said a vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian while hearing Singh’s plea seeking transfer of inquiries against him outside Maharashtra.

After the apex court observed that it will pass an order dismissing the petition, Singh’s counsel said he would withdraw the plea and would avail other appropriate remedy.

Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner on March 17 and was made the General Commander of Maharashtra State Home Guard after he levelled allegations of corruption and misconduct against the then Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Singh, said the petitioner can’t keep on facing one case after the other just because he is a whistleblower in the matter.

He said Singh is seeking directions for transferring all inquiries which are already ordered against him outside the state and also that the investigation be transferred to an independent agency like the CBI.

This is surprising us. You have been a part of Maharashtra state cadre and served it for over 30 years. Now you are saying that you have no trust in your own state police. This is shocking, the bench observed.

During the hearing conducted through video-conferencing, Jethmalani said that the Bombay High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh.

He argued that Singh has been pressurised by the inquiry officer to withdraw his letter in which he had levelled allegations against the former minister.

These are two different things. The inquiry against the former minister is different and the inquiry against you (Singh) is different. You have served in the police force for over 30 years. You should not have doubt on the police force. You cannot say now that you want inquiries to be done outside the state, the bench said.

Jethmalani told the bench that Singh is not living in a glass house and false cases have been lodged to frame him.

The Bombay High Court had earlier ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh who had to resign as the minister.

In his plea filed in the apex court, the senior police officer has alleged that he has been made to face several inquiries by the state government and its instrumentalities and sought their transfer outside Maharashtra and a probe into them by an independent agency like the CBI.

Singh has been facing inquiries, including the one under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in a case of 2015 and he has termed this as a witch-hunt by the state agency.

Singh, in his earlier plea filed before the top court, had sought a CBI probe against Deshmukh who, he claimed, had asked police officers, including Sachin Waze, to extort Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants.

The top court had then asked him to go before the Bombay High Court which later ordered CBI probe into Singh’s allegations.

The state government and the NCP leader subsequently filed an appeal in the apex court but failed to get any relief against the high court order.

Deshmukh denied any wrongdoing and had said there was not an iota of substantive evidence to even prima facie establish that any of the allegations made by Singh had an element of truth.

In its 52-page judgement passed earlier, the high court had said that Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh had put at stake the citizen’s faith in the state police.

Such allegations, made by a serving police officer, against the state home minister could not be left unattended, and were required to be probed into, if prima facie, they made a case of a cognisable offence, the high court had said.

The high court’s verdict had come on three PILs including one filed by Singh seeking several reliefs as also a CBI probe into the matter.

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday. Adityanath met Modi at his residence, a day after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The chief minister, who is on a two-day visit to the national capital from Thursday to meet the BJP top brass, is also scheduled to meet party president JP Nadda in the afternoon.

His visit comes close on the heels of the party holding a series of review meetings in Lucknow, which had fuelled speculation of a ministerial reshuffle in the state.

During his meeting with Shah, Adityanath presented a copy of the report ‘Solution of Migrant Crisis’. His visit to the national capital started a day after Jitin Prasada quit the Congress and joined the BJP.

After Adityanath met Shah, Prasada called on the Uttar Pradesh chief minister here.

BJP MLC A K Sharma, a former IAS officer who is seen as a trusted hand of Modi, is also in Delhi to meet party leaders and allies.

Though there is no official word on whether there will be a Cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh, sources said Prasada, who comes from a noted Brahmin family of the state with political heft, and Sharma may be accommodated in such an eventuality.

BJP’s general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh had earlier this month visited the state to review the party’s preparations for the assembly elections and held meetings with key ministers and organisation leaders.

Senior BJP leader Radha Mohan Singh, who is in-charge of the party’s affairs in Uttar Pradesh, had also visited the state.

Dehradun: Yoga guru Ramdev, who had said he does not need the Covid vaccine as he has protection of yoga and ayurveda, on Thursday did a somersault, saying he will soon get the jab and described doctors as “God’s envoys on earth”.

Ramdev had earlier stirred a controversy with his comments on the efficacy of allopathic drugs against COVID-19, drawing the ire of the medical fraternity.

Now, welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement about free vaccine to all from June 21, Ramdev described it as a “historic” step and appealed to all to get themselves vaccinated.

“Get both doses of the vaccine and the double protection of yoga and ayurveda. They will combine to give you such a robust shield of protection that not a single person will die from Covid,” he told reporters in Haridwar.

Asked when he will get the vaccine shot, the yoga guru said, “Very soon.”

Ramdev also heaped praise on good allopathic doctors, describing them as “God’s envoys on earth”.

On the ongoing confrontation with the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ramdev said he cannot have any animosity with any organisation.

All he was against the exploitation of people in the name of medicines, he said.

Ramdev said Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras had to be opened because of the tendency among many doctors to prescribe expensive medicines in place of generic drugs, which are much cheaper.

“I am not against any organisation. Good doctors are a real boon. They are God’s envoys on earth. But individual doctors can do wrong things,” he said.

He also said for emergency treatment and surgery, allopathy is the best.

“When it comes to emergency treatment and surgery, allopathy is the best. There cannot be two opinions about it,” said the yoga guru who had caused so much anger among doctors by his recent remarks against allopathy.