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17-year-old sex scandal returns to haunt Cong, RS Deputy Chairman
Godhra papers were destroyed, Gujarat Govt tells HC
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K’taka told to release Cauvery water for TN
AP varsity convocation without its chancellor
Togadia booked for ‘hate speech’ in Maharashtra
I&B Ministry to hold first-ever Twitter conference today
GUJARAT RIOTS
Salman knew he could kill or hurt people: Court
EC removes police chief ahead of poll
Tainted MLA back in Akhilesh ministry
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17-year-old sex scandal returns to haunt Cong, RS Deputy Chairman
New Delhi, February 7 A week after the Supreme Court set aside a 2005 acquittal of 35 accused in the Suryanelli sex scandal of 1996, the mother of the then 16-year-old girl wrote to Sonia Gandhi alleging involvement of seven-time MP Kurien. She has asked how he can preside over the proceedings when Parliament discusses the Bill to replace the ordinance on sexual assault. “Such a situation will amount to tarnishing the image of your great party, which has a glorious history in protecting the weaker sex of the country. So, I humbly pray your good conscience to intervene into the matter and do justice to us,” she has said in the letter. Kurien told The Tribune here today that the matter had been heard twice in the Supreme Court, which, on the first occasion, directed him to seek discharge in the case from the lower court and that he faced investigation on three occasions conducted both by the CPM-led Left Front and the Congress-led UDF governments, all of which had found no case against him. He said he was not among the 35 persons accused by investigators. His name was dragged into the case following a private complaint. The family was forced to take legal recourse as the girl had identified Kurien as being involved in the case, victim’s mother said. This is despite the fact that the police chargesheet in the magistrate’s court had exempted the former Union minister from the list of accused. The issue is already on the boil in Kerala with the Left-led Opposition highlighting the case for the past few days. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister T Radhakrishnan said the government had an open mind and would take a view after receiving a legal opinion whether the case could be re-opened in the light of the January 31 order of the apex court. The prosecution case was that the 16-year-old school girl from Suryanelli in Idukki district was enticed, abducted and sexually exploited by a bus conductor on January 16, 1996, and later handed over to two others, including prime accused SS Dharamarajan, a lawyer. These two presented her to several men before releasing her from 40-day captivity on February 26, 1996. She wrote about the travails of the family ever since the incident and the impact it had on the family that has been ostracised by society. While the CPM has joined protests, the BJP has not made any comment.
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Godhra papers were destroyed, Gujarat Govt tells HC
Ahmedabad, February 7 After claiming before the GT Nanavati-Akshay Mehta judicial inquiry commission — probing the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra communal riots in the state — that no document had been “destroyed”, the government today informed a division Bench of the Gujarat High Court, headed by Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya, that some “top secret” documents of 2002 had indeed been destroyed, but claimed that these were mainly related to “administrative matters” and not “directly connected to the communal riots”. The issue of the documents came to the fore after “whistleblower” IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt demanded the state government to provide him with certain classified documents from 2002 to enable him to file a detailed affidavit before the Nanavati-Mehta commission. Bhatt’s petition before the Supreme Court, accusing Modi of involvement in the 2002 riots, had opened up the cases for re-investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan. After a considerable delay, the state government initially told Bhatt through the commission that most of the documents sought by him had been “destroyed” under the “standard procedure” of the police department. But on a petition filed by Bhatt in the High Court to direct the commission to issue specific instructions to the state government to provide him with documents, the government informed the High Court that no sensitive document had been destroyed and copies of all documents had been submitted to the commission. The commission could use its discretionary powers to release whatever documents it felt required to be given to Bhatt, it further added. The High Court had directed the government to submit all relevant documents before the commission since it had claimed that no documents had been destroyed. While the commission sought time to study the documents submitted by the state government, the government today informed the division Bench that some of the “top secret documents” had indeed been destroyed, but with the knowledge of the department heads concerned.
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Buddhadeb questions Mamata’s honesty; TMC slaps legal notice
Kolkata, February 7 The notice sent by the Trinamool legal cell to the CPM party office gave a 48-hour ultimatum to Bhattacharjee asking him to justify his charges against Mamata. Otherwise, a criminal and defamation proceedings will be initiated against him, it was warned. Bhattacharjee, in a TV interview two days ago, had discarded Mamata’s claim that she was an honest chief minister. He stated that an independent inquiry would reveal how much wealth she and her family members had earned during the past few years from several sources. A former TMC MLA and the bureaucrat Dipak Ghosh alleged that Mamata was handed over Rs 10,000 crore on the eve of the 2001 election by the AICC for ensuring the defeat of CPM candidates. But she distributed only Rs 2 crore among the TMC candidates for facilitating the victory of the Congress candidates. With the remaining money, Mamata built a hotel at the Puri sea beach in the name of her elder brother Ajit Banerjee, it was alleged. In the interview, Bhattacharjee alleged that the chief minister had been making false claims on her government’s performance, including on the Gorkhaland issue.
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K’taka told to release Cauvery water for TN
New Delhi, February 7 A three-member Bench headed by Justice RM Lodha passed the order on the basis of a report filed by an expert committee of the Central Water Commission (CWC). The committee, which had been asked by the SC to assess TN’s water requirement, had reported that only 10 per cent of cultivated land in the Cauvery basin in that state required further irrigation. The committee said about 50 per cent of the rice crop had already been harvested, while 40 per cent was on the verge of harvesting. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee had maintained last month that Karnataka was not in a position to release any more water for TN as the storage level was just sufficient to meet the drinking water requirements of Karnataka. However, the SC ruled that releasing 2.44 TMC would not adversely affect the drinking water supply in Karnataka.
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Amethi greets Rahul on maiden visit as Cong VP
Lucknow, February 7 On the first day of his two-day visit to Amethi, his first after being elevated as Congress vice-president, Gandhi received a warm reception with supporters dancing to the beats of "dhol". Slogans in Rahul's support rent the air along the road show from Fursatganj airport to Munshiganj guesthouse. While supporters cheered for their young leader, his cavalcade moved slowly accepting their greetings. Moved by the reception, Gandhi said: "Whenever I come to Amethi, I feel I have come home. My relationship with Amethi is not political, but it is my family." "I know there are serious issues of unemployment in Uttar Pradesh. There is no Congress government here but I hope we will have one soon," added Gandhi. “Our government at the Centre is making efforts to take the country forward,” said Gandhi while thanking the people of Amethi for their support, affection and encouragement extended to him.
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AP varsity convocation without its chancellor
Hyderabad, February 7 Andhra Pradesh Governor and varsity chancellor ESL Narasimhan was forced to cancel his scheduled visit to the campus to preside over the 79th convocation ceremony today fearing student protests. He was to deliver the convocation address and give away degrees to students. Pro-Telangana parties and student groups have been targeting Narasimhan accusing him of being “anti-Telangana” and “feeding negative reports about the region to the Central government”. The Osmania Students’ Joint Action Committee (OUJAC), along with other student unions, had given a call for a university bandh today to protest against the Governor’s visit and threatened protests. Agitators hit the streets and raised slogans against the Governor. Intelligence officials alerted the police top brass about a possible law and order problems if the Governor visited the campus, the hotbed of the Telangana agitation. Anticipating protests from various student factions, the police made elaborate security arrangements. “We have taken 12 students into preventive custody,” an inspector of the
Osmania University police station said. This was for the first time in the history of the University that the convocation had to be held in the absence of the Governor. Indian Institute of Science (IISc) former director Goverdhan Mehta gave away the degrees and medals to the students at a simple ceremony held amidst tight security. The contention of the Telangana students is that Narasimhan has been a strong opponent of Telangana statehood and that the UPA government had been dodging the issue only on his advice. “Narasimhan has been stalling the Telangana formation for the last three years. He has been submitting false reports to the Centre underplaying the agitation. He has developed a sort of hatred against Telangana. That is the reason why we are opposing his entry into the OU campus,” the OUJAC leader M Krishank said. A spokesman of Raj Bhavan said that the Governor could not attend the convocation as he had other “official engagements”.
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Bridge under construction collapses in Mumbai; 3 die
Mumbai, February 7 The mishap occurred when a 35-m-long girder was being fitted. The girder came down and the crane fitting it also toppled, trapping several workers under the debris, the police said. It took rescue workers around 3 hours to pull out dead and injured from the debris. Later today, the police arrested three persons employed by Larsen and Toubro as supervisors at the site. Those arrested were Pechi Muttu Subramaniam (27), Subbaya Velu Shravanal (34) and Lakhbir Nirmal Singh (27). They have been charged under different sections of the IPC. The under-construction bridge was part of an elevated road connecting the Mumbai airport to the city road network. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has formally demanded that a safety audit be carried out on all ongoing road projects in
Mumbai.
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Togadia booked for ‘hate speech’ in Maharashtra
Nanded/New Delhi, February 7 According to Ahmed Javed, Additional Director General of Maharashtra police, an FIR was filed in a police station in Nanded in connection with the hate speech made on January 22. Further details are awaited but it is being reported that the case was registered under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (statements conducing public mischief) of the IPC. As the demand for action against Togadia over his provocative speech intensified, the Maharashtra government was asked by the Centre to book the leader of the Hindu outfit if he is found to be violating laws after probing the charges. After this, the Maharashtra government sought the opinion of lawyers. Ostensibly reacting to comments made by Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader from Andhra Pradesh Akbaruddin Owaisi, Togadia earlier this month threatened retaliation against Muslims if there were any attacks on Hindus. Among the first to demand action against Togadia was Maharashtra's Minorities Affairs Minister Naseem Khan who said he heard the speech. “Togadia's speech is no worse than what Owaisi spoke. He is trying to create communal trouble with an eye on elections. He should also be behind bars.... I have spoken to the state Home Minister RR Patil today. He has ordered an inquiry,” Khan said. The footage of the speech delivered a short distance from where the MIM leader delivered his own controversial speech shows Togadia abusing Owaisi and the Muslim community. Togadia is heard threatening Muslims to remember the riots of the past. “Remember Nellie in Assam, where the police was removed. Over 3,000 people died, not one of them was a Hindu. Remember Bhagalpur, where the police was removed, so many people died that it was difficult to count, not one of them was a Hindu. Dead bodies flew into the sea. Remember Meerut, Moradabad, Gujarat... Ours is not a religion of cowards but of Goddess Bhavani who always has weapons in her hands,” Togadia reportedly said.
Centre pushes for
action
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I&B Ministry to hold first-ever Twitter conference today New Delhi, February 7 In order to take it forward and reach out to the people swiftly, the ministry will hold the first-ever Live Twitter Conference on the eve of 3rd Community Radio Sammelan for 30 minutes at 4 pm tomorrow. He said the subject for tomorrow's conference would be: "Community Radio: Road Travelled & way forward".
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GUJARAT RIOTS R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, February 7 A three-member Bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam also directed the Ahmedabad trial court, considering the SIT’s report, to supply all relevant documents to Zakia to enable her to file her protest petition. The Supreme Court directed the trial court to take a decision on the SIT’s closure report only after considering Zakia’s petition to be filed on the basis of the documents she would get. The Bench granted six weeks’ time from the date of receipt of the documents to file her protest plea. Under the Supreme Court order, Zakia would get the SIT’s status reports filed in the apex court. Zakia had approached the SC seeking copies of the three SIT reports submitted in May and November 2011 and January 2012. The SIT, headed by former CBI Director RK Raghavan, had interrogated Modi in the light of an apex court order asking the SIT to conduct a fresh investigation into the February 28, 2002, violence.
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Salman knew he could kill or hurt people: Court
Mumbai, February 7 Salman was warned by his police bodyguard Ravindra Patil not to drive at a speed of 90 to 100 km per hour as there was a turning ahead or else the vehicle would meet with accident but he did not pay heed to his advice, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate VS Patil noted last week in his order, a copy of which was made available today. Salman's lawyer Dipesh Mehta said the actor would challenge the order, given on a Maharashtra Government plea, in the Bombay High Court soon. On the night of September 28, 2002, Salman had allegedly rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser into a roadside bakery at suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four others who were sleeping on the pavement. The 47-year-old was earlier charged under IPC Section 304 A (rash and negligent driving) which attracts two years' punishment and is tried by a Magistrate. Now he has been charged under IPC Section 304 part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), for which maximum jail term is 10 years. — PTI
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EC removes police chief ahead of poll
New Delhi, February 7 Krishan has been replaced by Prem Singh, a 1977 batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. The Commission decided to change Meghalaya Director General of Police at its meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath and attended by Election Commissioners H S Brahma and Nasim Zaidi. Meghalaya, ruled by Congress-UDP alliance, goes to polls to elect its 60-member assembly on February 23. The transfer has been initiated following a report from the state Chief Electoral officer on the basis of complaints against him, top EC sources said. — PTI
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Singer Mika gets bail
Mumbai, February 7 "Mika was let off after being granted bail for Rs 1 lakh. In his statement, the singer claimed he got the money for performing stage shows for two days abroad," an official said. Mika, who arrived here from Bangkok by a private airline at around 7.30 pm yesterday, had been intercepted by the officials. During checking, he was found in possession of $12,000 and Rs 3 lakh cash. As per Customs norms, Indian passengers coming from abroad and carrying over Rs 7,500 and $5,000 need to make a declaration about the same upon arrival, the official said. The 35-year-old singer was unable to give satisfactory answers about the currency in his possession following which he was arrested under relevant sections of Customs Act. — PTI
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Tainted MLA back in Akhilesh ministry
Lucknow, February 7 MLA from Gonda, Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh was one of the 12 new ministers who took oath of office at the Raj Bhawan today. A cabinet minister, one minister with independent charge and 10 ministers of state were sworn in by Governor B L Joshi. — TNS
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