New Delhi:The Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni Association on Tuesday filed a police complaint against policemen who barged inside the university’s library on December 15 last year, demanding that they be charged for offences like attempt to murder and insulting religion.

In its complaint filed with the deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) and the SHO of Jamia Nagar police station, the association alleged that the policemen rained batons on students inside the library and used religious slurs.

“In order to hide and destroy evidences of their barbarity and unlawful conduct, the officials/personnel of the police force deliberately tried to destroy the CCTV cameras installed in the campus premises, including the ones installed in the Old Library,” the complaint said.

It also stated that the “personnel of the police force vandalised the premises of the Old Reading Hall of the library and broke the gate which was locked from inside by the students and started abusing the students…and lathi charging them from head to toe”.

According to the complaint, the students who were present inside the library ran to other floors of the building and tried to lock rooms (MPhil and PhD sections) by putting benches and chairs at the entrance “in order to protect themselves from indiscriminate and unlawful brutality and violence unleashed by the personnel of Delhi Police”.

The association demanded that the policemen be charged with criminal trespass with the intent to cause grievous hurt, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion.

It also said the videos that have emerged online over the last couple of days are proof of police action on campus.

Three videos of alleged police brutality in Jamia surfaced online on Sunday. While one video purportedly showed paramilitary and police personnel thrashing students in the library, the other two showed some youths with covered faces entering the library.

A fourth video surfaced on Monday.

In the video, the police personnel can be seen raining batons on students who are trying to escape. Women students can be seen moving out while pleading with the police personnel and one of the policemen can be seen breaking a camera.

The police have maintained that they are trying to establish the exact sequence of events by analysing all the clips circulating on social media.

On December 15 last year, a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act near Jamia turned violent, with demonstrators pelting stones at police and setting public buses and private vehicles on fire.

Police later entered the university, firing teargas shells and baton-charging students. They said they entered the campus as rioters had taken shelter there.

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday accused the government of hiding data, including that of “lowest” consumption levels in 40 years, and asked it to make it public in order to find solutions to problems plaguing the economy.

The opposition party took a jibe at the ‘Gujarat model’ development, accusing the BJP government in the state of trying to “hide poverty” by constructing a wall in Ahmedabad ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit there later this month.

“We live in times where: GDP is measured in tons, Citizen rights in volts, Nationalism in decibels, Poverty in height and length of the wall. This is BJP’s ‘New India’!,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said playing ‘hide and seek’ has become the favourite game of the BJP government as it is concealing data pertaining to GDP numbers, inflation, unemployment and “now lowest ever consumption”.

“We demand that the government should take true care of economy. Data should not be hidden, but made public so it can be discussed as India is capable of battling all odds,” he said.

“Favourite game of the BJP government is hide and seek. Hide farmer suicide statistics. Hide unemployment figures. Hide the truth of demonetisation. Hide real GDP figures. Hide poverty behind the ‘wall’. And now hide the lowest consumption in 40 years,” he said, adding the government has “launched a war” against all sections of society including women, students and farmers.

Vallabh claimed that 16 of 23 sectors in manufacturing are in poor condition, but the government continues to be in a denial mode.

“The problem is that your mental culture is not balanced and you are not accepting the data which is on the ground, the truth which is on the ground,” he said.

The prices of essential products, he said, will further increase as growth projections are coming down and inflation is going up. If topline and bottomline go down, the revenue targets of government will have a big deficit (Even RBI Contingency Reserves can’t fill the same) this will also lead to reduction in social sector schemes, he said.

The Congress leader said the National Statistical Commission (NSC) official survey report showing a dip in consumer spending for the first time in over four decades will not be made public and the government had decided against releasing the report.

The drop in consumer spending for the first time in last 40 years clearly implies that poverty has gone up for the first time in many decades, he said, adding that in contrast to this, 27.1 crore people moved out of poverty between 2005 and 2016.

“This is the first time that the government has officially decided to not release a survey report after its completion,” he said.

“Those talking about the Gujarat model are now building walls to hide the poverty there. If a disease is to be treated, you have to accept that it is there in the first place. But BJP does not accept its failures,” he said while taking a dig at the BJP government over reports of construction of a wall in Ahmedabad to allegedly hide a slum.

Vallabh said only the government can answer on why the wall is being constructed, but as a citizen of a proud nation and as a worker of Congress Party he is disappointed as people of Gujarat are known for their entrepreneurship, their courage and “you are trying to demolish their entrepreneurship spirit. You are not sending a right message by putting up the wall”.

This, he said, is not the right way of addressing the problem. “If you have a problem, accept it that this is the problem. If you are not going to accept the problem, you can’t give a proper treatment to that problem and again that problem is always going to exist that you are not going to accept the problem…This is not the right way of going forward in life of the country.”

The Congress leader said the country has had the lowest growth in last nine years and this will definitely reduce savings as well, because inflation is 7.95 per cent.

“BJP’s favourite rating agency Moody’s has projected India’s growth estimate for 2020 to be 5.4 per cent, against the government’s claim of showing 6 to 6.5 per cent growth in the year,” he said.

Vallabh said poverty increases when consumption is low and claimed that UNDP data for 2005-2015 shows that during this period the highest eradication of poverty (271 million people) has taken place in the country and the credit for this goes to MNREGA.

The trust was formed in adherence to the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute in November last year.

NEW DELHI: The first meeting of the Ram Mandir Trust to oversee construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya will be held here on Wednesday at the Delhi residence of K Parasaran, the head of the Trust.

The Trust has been constituted by the Narendra Modi government.

The trust meeting is likely to finalise the date to start construction of the Ram Temple.

Modi had announced the formation of the 15-member trust in Parliament on February 5.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust has seven members, five nominated members and three trustees.

The trust was formed in adherence to the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute in November last year.

Senior lawyer Parasaran has been named the head of the Trust and its other members include Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Jyothish Peethadheeshwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj from Allahabad, Jagadguru Madhvacharya Swami Vishwa Prasannatheerth Ji Maharaj, Pejawar Math in Udupi, Yugpurush Parmanand Ji Maharaj from Haridwar, Swami Govind Dev Giri Ji Maharaj from Pune and Bimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya.

Shah will launch the Arunachal Pradesh Industrial and Investment Policy, 2020 and inaugurate the Joram Koloriang Road being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), an official said. 

NEW DELHI:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday to attend the 34th Statehood Day function at Itanagar on February 20 and launch projects related to industry and roads, government officials said on Tuesday. This will be the home minister’s first visit to a Northeastern state following the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act which has led to countrywide protests.  
Shah will also lay the foundation stone of the new headquarters of the Arunachal Pradesh Police, home ministry officials said. 

Shah will launch the Arunachal Pradesh Industrial and Investment Policy, 2020 and inaugurate the Joram Koloriang Road being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), an official said. Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, is also expected to attend the Statehood Day function.   Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987. Till 1972, it was known as the North East Frontier Agency.  It gained the Union Territory status on January 20, 1972 and was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh. Shah had cancelled his visit to Meghalaya and Arunachal on December 15 in the wake of the violent anti-CAA protests in N-E.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to grant permanent commission to all women officers in the Army within three months and said there will not be any absolute bar on giving them command postings.

A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud rejected the Centre’s argument of physiological limitations and social norms for denying them permanent commission and command postings, saying it is disturbing and against the concept of equality.

The bench said women officers in the past have brought laurels to the country and change of mindset is required on the part of the government to put an end to gender bias in armed forces.

The top court said despite there being no stay on the 2010 Delhi High Court verdict allowing grant of permanent commission to women officers, the Centre showed scant regard in implementing the directive in past one decade.

New Delhi: After Supreme Court rap and the government’s stringent deadline, Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crore to the telecom department towards statutory dues. The company said it will make payment of the balance amount after self assessment exercise.

“The…total amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor.

“We are in the process of completing the self assessment exercise expeditiously and will duly make the balance payment upon completion of the same, before the next date of hearing in the SC,” Bharti Airtel said.

The company said it will also submit supporting details at the time of making balance payment.

The telecom department on February 14 began issuing orders asking firms such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to clear past dues immediately.

The DoT, which faced the ire of the Supreme Court for putting on hold recovery of dues from telecom companies, had started issuing circle or zone-wise demand notices to the firms.

Airtel had previously responded to DoT order by offering to pay Rs 10,000 crore by February 20 and the remaining before March 17. Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crore, including licence fee and spectrum usage charge, to the government.

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Monday said the ongoing preparation for the much awaited visit of US President Donald Trump is a reflection of the “slave mentality” of Indians.

Trump’s India trip is like the visit of a “Badshah” (emperor), an editorial in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ said.

Taking a dig at the construction of a wall on a plot having several slum structures in Ahmedabad ahead of Trump’s visit there, the Sena said the US president’s trip would neither stop the fall of rupee’s value in forex market nor offer betterment to those (slum dwellers) behind the wall.

“Before Independence, British King or Queen used to visit one of their slave nations like India. The kind of preparations going on from taxpayers’ money for the arrival of Trump is similar to it. This reflects the slave mentality of Indians,” it said.

The Sena also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) move to build wall on a plot to “hide the slums” on the route through which Trump’s convoy would pass.

“Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had once given the slogan ‘Garibi Hatao’, which was ridiculed for a long time. It seems now Modi’s plan is ‘Garibi chupao’ (hide poverty),” the Marathi publication said.

Is there any financial allocation for such a wall being built in Ahmedabad? Is the US going to offer loan to India to build such walls across the country? it wondered.

“We have heard Trump is going to be in Ahmedabad for only three hours but the wall construction is costing almost Rs 100 crore to the state exchequer,” it said.

It is basically a political arrangement between Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump, the Sena claimed.

Last year, ‘Howdy, Modi!’ (a mega event jointly addressed by the Indian prime minister and Trump) was organised in the US, it noted.

A similar programme, “Kem Chho Trump” (Gujarati expression for how are you Trump), has been now organised (in Ahmedabad) ahead of the US elections, chiefly because of a sizable number of Gujarati people living in America, the Shiv Sena claimed.

“But this visit of President Trump is neither going to stop further fall of rupee in the forex market nor offer betterment to those behind the wall (being built in front of slums in Ahmedabad),” it said.

The Sena said Trump is “not someone very wise or a statesman or someone who cares for the whole world”, but he has to be treated with respect as he represents the mighty US.

“Sometimes you have to treat someone with respect to get your things done,” it quipped.

The AMC on Friday said the construction of the wall, around four feet in height, was approved much before Trump’s Gujarat visit was finalised.

Trump is scheduled to visit Modi’s home state Gujarat on February 24.

He will visit the famous Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and take part in a roadshow with Modi. After that, the two leaders will inaugurate a new cricket stadium in Motera and address a gathering there, with an expected audience of over a lakh people.

While it was earlier speculated that the programme would be called ‘Kem Chho Trump’, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Sunday tweeted a series of posters confirming that the event is now christened as ‘Namaste Trump’, apparently to give it a pan-India appeal.

Hyderabad: The Telanagna government has decided to pass a resolution in the assembly against the Citizenship Amendment Act, joining the ranks of anti-CAA states.

The Telangana government took the decision in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, while urging the Centre to repeal last year’s changes in the Citizenship Act.

It also appealed to the Centre “not to discriminate” on the basis of religion in granting citizenship to anyone.

“The State Cabinet appealed to the Union Government, not to discriminate on the basis of religion for according Indian citizenship. It requested that all religions must be treated as equal before the law,” an official release on decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting said on late Sunday night.

The Cabinet meet, chaired by the Chief Minister, felt the CAA would lead to discrimination on the basis of religion in grant of citizenship and jeopardise secularism envisaged in the Constitution.

“The Cabinet further requested the central government to take measures to abrogate the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which will lead to discrimination on the basis of religion while granting citizenship and thereby jeopardising secularism envisaged in the Constitution,” the release said.

The state Cabinet decided to pass the anti-CAA resolution in the state assembly on the lines of the ones passed by Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal, it said.

Coming out strongly against the CAA, Rao had said last month said he might convene a meeting of regional parties and chief ministers to oppose the amended citizenship law.

The state assembly may pass a resolution, like the other state assemblies did, against the CAA, he had said then. The Cabinet meeting, which began on Sunday evening, concluded late in the night.

The Cabinet also decided to organise ‘Pattana Pragathi’ (progress of towns) programme, aimed at ensuring cleanliness, greenery and planned development in urban areas, for 10 days beginning February 24 in all towns and cities of the state, a separate official release said.

A state-level ‘municipal conference’, to be attended by mayors, municipal chairpersons, commissioners, MLAs and district collectors, would be held here on February 18 to finalise the guidelines for the programme, it said.

New Delhi: Two alleged criminals were killed in an exchange of fire with the Special Cell of Delhi Police at Pul Pehlad Pur area here on Monday morning, officials said.

The encounter took place around 5 am, they said.

Raja Qureshi and Ramesh Bahadur, who were injured during the encounter, were rushed to a nearby hospital, where they were declared brought dead by doctors, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P S Kushwah said.

According to police, the two men were involved in multiple cases of murder and robbery.