NEW DELHI: In an embarrassment to Aam Aadmi Party, its MLA Vinod Kumar Binny on Wednesday attacked the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, accusing it of deviating from the "promises" made to the people ahead of the election.

Binny, who had publicly displayed his unhappiness after failing to get a place in the Cabinet, said there has been a "lot of difference" between what AAP had promised during the election campaign and what is being done now.

"There is a lot of difference between what AAP promised and how the government is now working. I will divulge all these things at a press conference tomorrow to ensure accountability and transparency in the party," the Laxmi Nagar MLA told reporters.

He had showed his displeasure when he was left out of the government in December.

When his response was sought on Binny's attack on the government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the MLA first demanded that be made a minister and then wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

"There's nothing I can do about what he is saying. First, he had come for ministership, we refused. After that, he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls. He came to my house to ask for the ticket. The party has decided that all sitting MLAs would not be given tickets for the Lok Sabha polls," the Chief Minister said.

Kejriwal said there was a meeting of all 70 candidates who contested the Delhi polls but the MLA did not raise a single point in the meeting.

"I do not know what his intentions are and I do not even want to get into them. We are the most sensitive government towards resolving issues. We welcome criticism, be it from the public, media or BJP," he said.

Binny said he was not upset over not becoming a minister and wanted to raise issues in public interest.

"I am not upset over anything. The party is deviating from the main issues. Hence, it is important for us to make them realise that we are in the party for its cause and the issues it raised," the MLA said. — PTI

BSP to go it alone in Lok Sabha polls: Mayawati

LUCKNOW: Kicking off her party’s election campaign at a mega rally in Lucknow,  Mayawati on Wednesday said BSP would not forge an alliance with Congress, BJP or any other party and would go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls.

“BSP will fight the Lok Sabha elections across the country alone,” she said, addressing ‘Savdhan Vishal Maharally’ on Wednesday, coinciding with her birthday.

The BSP supremo asserted that her party would not form an alliance with any party in Uttar Pradesh or at the national level.

“We will not enter into an alliance with Congress, BJP or any other party in UP or at the national level. There have been reports in a section of media that BSP will enter into alliance with Congress. This is not true,” she said.

Mayawati also lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the Godhra riots.

“When the Chief Minister of a state having a population of six crore could not prevent Godhra riots between Hindus and Muslims, how can he generate unity among people from various castes and religions?

“Godhra incident jolted the country but in all his meetings, Modi make promises and talks about Gujarat pattern of development,” she said.

The BSP leader claimed that the reality was, however, different and cited a CAG report to highlight the condition of children and SC/STs in his home state.

“They (BJP) claim to end corruption but in Gujarat, the institution which keeps an eye on it, the Lokayukta, was set up only on the directive of the court and it is also very weak,” she said.

“He (Modi) is promising to curb inflation, corruption, unemployment and also bring blackmoney back into the country, but the saying ‘garajne vale badal bareste nahin’ (clouds that thunder don’t produce rain) appears appropriate in this case,” she said.

Mayawati also accused the then BJP government of misusing CBI to pressurise her party in 2003 to forge an alliance at the national level.

“In those days, we had formed a coalition government with BJP in Uttar Pradesh and there was an understanding that both parties will head the government for six months each. BJP, which was also heading the NDA government, thought that if they can force an early Lok Sabha election and win most seats in Uttar Pradesh, they can continue to rule 15 to 20 years,” she said.

The BSP supremo claimed that the national leadership of BJP had given her an offer that she can continue to rule Uttar Pradesh for the next five years on her own, but forge an alliance with the NDA for Lok Sabha polls and give it maximum seats.

“I thought that if I gave them that many seats, our party will be finished... They also misused CBI to pressurise me to forge an alliance but being the self-respecting woman that I am, I resigned in August, 2003.

“I had decided that I will not trade my movement with the communal forces even if I had to spend my entire life behind bars,” she said.

In an indirect attack on Congress, she said, “It is not just good policies but also the clear intention to implement them which is important.” Mayawati said unlike parties which make promises and offer allurements, her party believed in doing work at the ground level.

She said the poor, farmers and common man in the country were suffering due to the wrong policies of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

Hitting out at the Samajwadi Party, Mayawati accused the SP government of shutting down various welfare schemes started during her regime and claimed that the state had turned into “crime pradesh” under its rule.

Sexual assault case: Former SC judge seeks Rs 5 cr damages from media

NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge and National Green Tribunal Chairperson Swatanter Kumar on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain the media from reporting the alleged sexual assault case of his former woman law intern.

Justice Kumar has also sought a whopping Rs 5 crore in damages from two English news channels and a leading English daily for defaming him in the case.

A battery of senior lawyers, including Maninder Singh and N. K. Kaul, mentioned the civil suit before Justice G. S. Sistani at 10.30 a.m. and sought an urgent hearing of the petition.

Justice Sistani, who is in charge judge of civil suits filed in the high court, ordered hearing of the petition on Wednesday itself.

“Besides seeking damages, Justice Kumar has also sought an injunction to the reportage in the case,” senior advocate Maninder Singh said.

According to the intern, the alleged harassment took place in May 2012 when he was a sitting judge of the apex court.

The woman law intern has given an affidavit to the Supreme Court alleging on one occasion Justice Kumar had placed his hand on her lower back when she was stepping out of his office room. “I felt quite uncomfortable and disturbed but I brushed it aside,” she has said.

Subsequently, on another occasion when she went to the judge’s room to apologise for a mistake she had committed, he told her not to worry and asked her to come over to his side of the desk.

“When I did, he put his right arm around me and kissed me on my left shoulder. I was quite taken aback and shocked, and I excused myself and hurriedly left his room,” the intern has alleged in her affidavit against Justice Kumar.

Meanwhile, a separate hearing is going on in the Supreme Court on the plea of the former intern seeking inquiry against Justice Kumar.

The apex court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre on the intern’s plea in which she has also sought setting up of permanent mechanism in judicial bodies to address complaints of sexual harassment at workplace.

Justice Kumar had on January 11 sent a legal notice to a national daily and two news channels demanding an apology from them within 24 hours for publicising “incredulous and false” allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by the law intern.

He had said in the legal notice that in the event of the three media organisations not complying, he would be compelled to initiate “appropriate proceedings” against them. — PTI

NEW DELHI: A 51-year-old Danish tourist was allegedly gang-raped by more than half-a-dozen men at knife point near New Delhi railway station on Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday.

The police has registered a case and several suspects have been detained for questioning.

Although senior police official remained tight-lipped about the case, police sources said that the incident took place when the victim, who was returning to her hotel in Paharganj from Connaught Place, lost her way.

She then approached a group of men for directions, who instead of helping her, allegedly took her to a secluded place and took turns to rape her on knife point.

They also robbed her of valuables.

She then returned to her hotel and narrated the incident to the manager who  called the police at around 8:30 p.m.

A case has been registered at Paharganj police station.

The Danish Embassy was also informed. The woman has been taken to the embassy after recording her statement with the police.

According to sources, the victim has refused to undergo a medical examination and has expressed her desire to return home. — PTI

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has projected India's economy will grow over 6% in 2014-15 and 7.1% by 2016-17 as global demand recovers and domestic investment increases.

In China, growth is estimated to stay flat in 2014 at 7.7%, slowing to 7.5% for the next two years, reflecting deleveraging and less reliance on policy-induced investment.

Global GDP growth may firm up to 3.2% this year from 2.4% in 2013, stabilising at 3.4% and 3.5% in 2015 and 2016, respectively, the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report released on Wednesday.

According to the report, the global economy is projected to strengthen this year, with growth picking up in developing countries and high-income economies appearing to be finally turning the corner five years after the global financial crisis.

"Growth appears to be strengthening in both high-income and developing countries, but downside risks continue to threaten the global economic recovery," said World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim.

"The performance of advanced economies is gaining momentum and this should support stronger growth in developing countries in the months ahead. Still, to accelerate poverty reduction, developing nations will need to adopt structural reforms that promote job creation, strengthen financial systems and shore up social safety nets," he said.

According to the report, in South Asia, weaker growth in India, following several years of rising inflation and current account deficits, has opened up a large negative output gap, which is projected to gradually close as the economy slowly recovers. Better Indian performance will be heavily reflected in the region's growth, which is expected to strengthen to 5.7% in 2014 and about 6.7% in 2016, it said.

Growth in South Asia is estimated to have been a very weak 4.6% in 2013, mainly reflecting weakness in India.

Growth appeared to be recovering toward the end of 2013, and regional GDP on a calendar-year basis is projected to slowly accelerate to about 6.7 % in 2016, mainly reflecting stronger growth in India and a cyclical recovery in investment and external demand, it said.

"India's growth is projected to rise to just over 6 % in FY2014-15 and to increase to 6.6% in FY2015-16 and 7.1% in FY2016-17," the World Bank said. "Growth in India will be led by recovery in global demand and an increase in domestic investment, subject to downside risks." 

Pakistan's growth is expected to moderate slightly to 3.4 % in FY2013-14, reflecting necessary fiscal tightening, and then rise to 4.5% in the medium term, it said.

Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist and senior vice president at the World Bank, said the global economic indicators show improvement. But one does not have to be especially astute to see there are dangers that lurk beneath the surface, he said, adding that the euro area is out of recession but per capita incomes are still declining in several countries.

"We expect developing country growth to rise above 5% in 2014, with some countries doing considerably better, with Angola at 8%, China 7.7% and India at 6.2%. But it is important to avoid policy stasis so that the green shoots don't turn into brown stubble," Basu said.

According to the report, growth in remittances to South Asia is estimated to have moderated to 6.8% in 2013 from 9.7% in the previous year.

"Flows to India dipped in the first quarter, but with the depreciation of the rupee, they rebounded to reach an estimated $71 billion in 2013," it said.

India, with large current account and fiscal deficits and weaker growth, was hit particularly hard by a withdrawal of portfolio capital (resulting in steep currency depreciation) in the middle of the year, stemming from apprehensions of tapering of US quantitative easing, the Bank said.

"The rupee subsequently appreciated, in part because of policy interventions to support foreign exchange markets, and capital flows and equity markets rebounded as QE tapering was delayed to January," it said.

The Bank said weak GDP growth has already taken a toll on corporate and bank balance sheets in India, as gross non-performing and restructured loans rose to 10.2% of loans in September 2013, with India's central bank warning of stress on asset quality in the iron and steel and infrastructure sectors.

Further strains from a sharp withdrawal of foreign capital could increase risk of corporate debt distress, while one-off costs of bank recapitalisation can put pressure on fiscal positions, it said. — PTI

NEW YORK: Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has asked a court here to dismiss the indictment against her and terminate any “open” arrest warrants in visa fraud case, arguing that she was “cloaked” in diplomatic immunity and cannot face criminal prosecution in the US.

Khobragade’s lawyer Daniel Arshack yesterday filed a memorandum of law on her behalf in the Southern District of New York in support of the motion to dismiss the case and terminate any future legal action against her “on grounds of diplomatic immunity.”

“Dr Khobragade now formally moves this court to dismiss the instant proceeding, to rescind the conditions of her release, and eliminate her bail conditions as she is immune from criminal prosecution in the United States as she was obligated, by the United States government, to leave the jurisdiction,” Arshack said in the filing.

Arshack is seeking a court order to dismiss the indictment and proceeding against the Indian diplomat, terminate any and all conditions of bail previously imposed by the court during Khobragade’s initial appearance on December 12 and exonerate any bail or bond previously posted on her behalf.

The motion is also seeking termination of any “open arrest warrants” against Khobragade or “requests for extradition” with regard to the case as “they too are nullities since the instant proceeding is subject to dismissal.”

“I make this affirmation in support of Khobragade’s motion to dismiss the instant proceeding as a nullity because both at the time of her arrest, as well as at the time of her subsequent indictment, defendant was cloaked in diplomatic immunity and has absolute immunity from any criminal prosecution in the United States,” he said.

Arshack is seeking a ruling on the order by Judge Shira Scheindlin on or before January 31.

The office of Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, who brought the criminal charges and indictment against Khobragade said they have “no comment at this time” on the motion filed by Arshack.

The filing states that because of Khobragade’s diplomatic status, the court did not have personal jurisdiction over her at the time of her arrest and indictment, but it still has subject matter jurisdiction to rule over her motion to dismiss the case.

Arshack argued that conditions of Khobragade’s post-arrest release and the $250,000 bond must be rescinded as those restrictions on 39-year-old diplomat’s liberty do not apply since she is “absolutely immune from criminal prosecution” being a diplomat.

He also sought “prompt return” of Khobragade’s passport.

The motion informed the court that Khobragade had full diplomatic immunity at the time of her December 12 arrest since she had been appointed a Special Advisor to the United Nations in August last year during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit for the UN General Assembly session.

“Obviously, the government knew when it obtained that indictment that there could be no prosecution of Khobragade since her diplomatic status had already been changed and she was therefore immune from prosecution,” Arshack said, adding that it was due to her diplomatic status that Khobragade did not get arraigned on the indictment.

Arshack said Khobragade’s immunity “should have prevented” her arrest, handcuffing, jailing, strip searching and imposition of bail conditions.

“This proceeding has been wrongfully commenced against Khobragade. She should not have been arrested in the first place and she was indicted despite the fact that the government knew that her diplomatic status precluded a prosecution of Khobragade.”

Arshack also cited US State Department’s instructions which provide that law enforcement officials (particularly in New York) should be “sensitive” and coordinate with the US authorities if confronted with a situation where a diplomat appears to have committed a crime.

He said the law enforcement agent from the Diplomatic Security Services who arrested Khobragade “neglected” to follow this instruction and did not call the UN Protocol office.

“Had he only done so he would have been informed of Khobragade’s status and her arrest and humiliating and invasive personal body search would not have occurred.”

According to another State Department instruction cited by Arshack, diplomatic agents also enjoy complete immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the host country’s courts and cannot be prosecuted no matter how serious the offense unless their immunity is waived by the sending state.

“Here, India, the sending state, has not waived Khobragade’s immunity and therefore this criminal prosecution must be dismissed,” he added. Arshack further argued that the Khobragade’s immunity applies “retroactively” and can “negate a preexisting matter or prosecution.”

“Here, the State Department’s decision to fully grant diplomatic credentials mandates the dismissal of this action in accordance with Article 31 of the VCDR and the Diplomatic Relations Act.

“Obviously, a case was clearly commenced. Despite the fact that no arraignment occurred, Khobragade was arrested, physically searched, processed, brought before the Court, forced to post bail, and abide by conditions of release all in violation of her absolute immunity as a diplomat,” he added.

Arshack also submitted in court a letter dated January 8 2014 from the US Mission to the UN to Khobragade which states that as of 5:47 pm that day, she had been recorded as a counsellor at the Indian Mission to the UN and was entitled to the “privileges and immunities” of a diplomatic envoy.

Another exhibit submitted by him is a January 9 diplomatic note from the US Mission to the UN to India’s Permanent Mission requesting Khobragade to depart the US. — PTI

NAPIER: New Zealand on Wednesday named a virtually unchanged squad for the upcoming one-day international series against India with the selectors keeping faith in players who drew the recent five-match home assignment against the West Indies.

The 13-player squad, which drew the series 2-2 against the Caribbeans, was more or less retained, with reserve batsman Colin Munro, who will return to play for his provincial side, being the only omission.

“The BLACKCAPS selectors have named a settled line-up for the ANZ One-Day International Series against World No.1 India starting in Napier on Sunday,” New Zealand Cricket said in a statement.

“The squad for the five-match series is identical to the one which drew the recent ODI series against the West Indies, with the exception of Auckland batsman Colin Munro who will return to play for his province.”

General manager National Selection Bruce Edgar said the players had been rewarded for a number of strong performances against the West Indies.

“It was pleasing to see every player stand up at some stage of that series and there were some simply outstanding efforts headlined by Corey Anderson’s world record one day ton,” he said.

Given the conditions and the focus on green tracks, the Kiwis have opted for a pace-heavy bowling attack.

Adam Milne, the 21-year-old sensation, who created a flutter by bowling at 150-plus speed in the Twenty20s against the West Indies, will be the one to watch out for against India as well.

Milne will vie with the experienced Kyle Mills, Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan for frontline pace spots.

All-rounders Corey Anderson and Jimmy Neesham are also a part of the pace attack.

Edgar said New Zealand now face one of their toughest challenges at home against a side ranked at the top in the 50-over game and number two in Tests.

“We know we’ll have to play out of our skins, and out match them player for player to be competitive against such a powerful side. But we showed against the West Indies that we can play extremely well on our day and are capable of beating any side,” he said. — PTI