NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on the plea of death row convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case seeking commutation of their sentence to life imprisonment, which was vehemently opposed by the Centre.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief justice P .Sathasivam reserved the order after hearing the arguments of counsel appearing for three convicts — Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, and Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati who represented the Central government.

The AG contended that it was not a fit case for the apex court to commute death sentence on the ground of delay in deciding mercy plea.

Admitting that there has been delay in deciding the mercy petitions, Vahanvati, however, contended that the delay was not unreasonable, unexplainable and unconscionable to commute death penalty.

He further submitted that the apex court’s recent verdict, holding that inordinate and inexplicable delay can be ground for commutation, is not applicable in this case as the condemned prisoners did not have to go through agony, torture and dehumanising experience as it was held in the January 21 judgement.

The counsel, appearing for the convicts, opposed the arguments of Vahanvati, saying that they have suffered due to the delay by the government in deciding the mercy petitions and the apex court should intervene and commute their death sentence to life term.

The convicts, in their petition, submitted that mercy plea of other condemned prisoners, which were filed after them, were decided but their petitions were kept pending by the government.

The apex court had in May 2012 decided to adjudicate the petitions of Rajiv Gandhi killers against their death penalty and had directed that their plea, pending with the Madras High Court, be sent to it.

The court had passed the order on a petition by one L K Venkat seeking transfer of their plea out of Tamil Nadu on the ground that free and fair hearing would not be possible in the state due to the surcharged atmosphere in favour of the convicts.

The Madras High Court had earlier stayed their hanging slated for September 9, 2011 and issued notice to the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government.

Their main contention was that the delay of 11 years and four months in disposal of the mercy petitions made the execution of the death sentence “unduly harsh and excessive,” amounting to violation of their right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The apex court had on January 21 ruled that delay by the government in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts can be a ground for commuting their sentence and had granted life to 15 condemned prisoners, including four aides of forest brigand Veerappan.

The court had held that prolonging execution of capital sentence has a “dehumanizing effect” on condemned prisoners who have to face the “agony” of waiting for years under the shadow of death during the pendency of their mercy plea. — PTI

LONDON: UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague is set to inform Parliament today about Britain's alleged involvement in planning Operation Bluestar to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in 1984, with Sikh groups criticising the probe conducted by the government.

Hague will update MPs on the extent of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's involvement in helping plan the Army operation that left more than 1,000 people.

Prime Minister David Cameron ordered the probe after documents released under a 30-year declassification rule stated an officer of the elite Special Air Service travelled to Delhi and advised the Indian Government as it framed plans for removing the militants in February 1984.

Sikh groups in the UK criticised the scope of the inquiry into Britain's alleged role in Operation Bluestar.

In a letter to Cameron, Sikh Federation UK chairman Bhai Amrik Singh said: "We are dismayed the terms of the review were only formally made available almost three weeks after the review was announced and only days before an announcement of the results of the review are expected in Parliament.

"It appears the review has looked at a narrow period and not covered the period in the latter half of 1984 and may not have addressed some of the concerns raised by UK politicians in the last three weeks, eg threat of sanctions by India against the UK, Germany, Canada and US towards the end of 1984 for sympathising with Sikhs in the Diaspora." 

Two letters released from the National Archives in London, both marked "top secret and personal", revealed details of the advice given to Indian authorities by the SAS.

One document, a letter from then Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe's private secretary to his counterpart in the Home Office, warned that the operation could trigger tensions in Britain's Indian community, "particularly if knowledge of the SAS involvement were to become public".

It is unclear whether the plan referred to in the documents was used by the Indian Government.

A few months after Operation Bluestar, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in an apparent revenge attack. 

The row over how much the British knew and helped in the incidents 30 years ago threatens to derail Conservative party attempts to attract Sikh voters, who could play a major role in marginal seats in London and Leicester.

Earlier, a 10 Downing Street spokesperson said: "As soon as the PM became aware of these documents, he tasked the Cabinet Secretary with establishing the facts about UK advice to the Indian government on its plans for operations at the temple complex in Amritsar.

"This is precisely what the review has done and the Foreign Secretary will set out the findings to MPs..." Labour backbencher Tom Watson, who led calls for an inquiry after the documents emerged, is expected to repeat his call for answers in parliament.

In a letter sent to Hague last month, he wrote: "Parliament has the right to know where military operatives were deployed and there should be full disclosure of the facts surrounding this case." — PTI

NEW DELHI: The government and the Opposition are heading for yet another face-off over constitution of the selection panel for the maiden Lokpal, with BJP opposing the Prime Minister’s proposal to appoint senior lawyer P.P. Rao as its fifth member.

In the turn of events reminiscent of BJP’s opposition to the appointment of P.J. Thomas as Chief Vigilance Commissioner two years ago, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj refused to back the government nominee in the category of eminent jurist in the Lokpal panel and registered her dissent during the proceedings of the meeting last night, sources said.

Swaraj was outvoted with three votes going in favour of the government nominee in the meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence to select the fifth member of the panel, they said.

The Leader of Opposition had opposed Mr. Rao’s name, saying he has been a “Congress loyalist” and instead proposed the name of former Attorney-General K. Parasaran.

She demanded that the panel should be “free from such people” and said it should have “apolitical people” and should not be made a “captive body”, according to the sources.

Sources close to her said Swaraj had said that since this is the first time the anti-corruption ombudsman was being appointed in the country, there should be unanimity on the appointments.

She is believed to have suggested the names of eminent jurists Fali Nariman and Harish Salve for the key panel and even said to bring unanimity in the decision, another meeting could be held and a fresh list of names be worked out.

The sources said despite her opposition, the other three members of the Selection Committee — the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Supreme Court judge H.L. Dattu, who has been nominated by Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam, gave a go—ahead to Mr. Rao’s membership.

This is the second time that the government and the opposition are headed for a showdown on the issue of a key appointment. The Leader of Opposition had earlier vehemently opposed the appointment of P.J. Thomas, a bureaucrat, as CVC but the government went ahead with the appointment. He was later removed after the Supreme Court’s intervention.

The five-member selection committee will appoint the chairman and members of the anti-corruption body.

The Centre has sought nomination of eligible candidates for appointing the chairperson and eight members of the Lokpal. The last date of sending nomination is February 7.

Of the eight posts for members in the Lokpal, four are for judicial side, while the remaining will be for non-judicial work.

The chairperson and members shall be appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendations of the selection panel.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, provides for the establishment of a Lokpal for the Union and Lokayuktas for the states to inquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries. — PTI

NEW DELHI: CBI has provided to the Law Ministry additional documents and fresh submissions for an opinion on whether sanction is needed to prosecute Intelligence Bureau officers in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

Top CBI sources said fresh set of documents as desired by the Ministry have been provided to know whether it needs sanction of the Home Ministry to prosecute four IB officials in the fake encounter case.

The sources, however, clarified that their supplementary charge sheet is almost ready and if the Law Ministry does not give timely advice, it might consider proceeding ahead with filing of the final report before the competent court.

The government’s legal arm had told CBI to bring sufficient documents before a legal opinion can be provided on whether prior sanction is required to prosecute Special
Director Rajinder Kumar (now retired), and three other officers — P. Mittal, M.K. Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede.

CBI had recently approached the Law Ministry through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking its opinion on the issue.

It is learnt that when the ministry demanded the documents, CBI informed it that it would share the documents with the Attorney General but could not give copies as the papers were sensitive in nature.

CBI says it has gathered enough evidence about the alleged role of the IB officers in the conspiracy behind the encounter but there are contrary views on whether sanction from the Home Ministry is needed to prosecute them.

One view is that since Kumar was in active service at the time of the alleged crime, sanction for his prosecution is needed from the Home Ministry, which is the cadre controlling authority.

Another opinion is that since he retired from service in July this year, the agency could go ahead with its charge sheet without any need for a sanction to prosecute. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof CNR Rao were conferred with the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday.

The President presented the honour at a brief function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Durbar Hall attended by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Union Ministers, Sachin’s wife Anjali, daughter Sara and a host of dignitaries.

Master batsman Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket on November 16 last year, is the first sportsman to be bestowed with the honour.

Tendulkar (40) and Rao (79), both of whom are the recipients of the Padma Vibhushan — the country’s second highest civilian honour, will join a list of 41 eminent personalities who have been conferred with the award that is given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order, since it was instituted in 1954.

In a fitting finale to a record—breaking career spanning 24 years, Tendulkar, a former India Captain, was chosen for the prestigious award, after his farewell 200th Test against the West Indies in Mumbai on November 16, 2013.

An official statement had said Tendulkar has been a true ambassador of India in the world of sports and his achievements in cricket are unparallelled, the records set by him unmatched, and the spirit of sportsmanship displayed by him exemplary.

“That he has been honoured with several awards is testimony to his extraordinary brilliance as a sportsman,” it said, noting that Tendulkar has played cricket across the world and won laurels for the country during the last 24 years since a young age of 16.

An outspoken scientist, Prof Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is a well recognised international authority on solid state and materials chemistry who has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books.

He is the third scientist after CV Raman and former President APJ Abdul Kalam to be conferred with the Bharat Ratna.

Prof Rao’s contributions have been recognised by most major scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships and has been honoured with several national and international awards, the official announcement said.

He currently serves as the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

The Bharat Ratna was announced after a gap of four years with Hindustani music doyen Bhimsen Joshi being the last recipient in 2009. — PTI

NEW DELHI: At a time when quota is the buzz word in politics, senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi has called for an end to reservation on caste lines and urged Rahul Gandhi to introduce quota for financially weaker sections, bringing all communities under its ambit.

Dwivedi's pitch to end caste-based reservation that could raise many eyebrows, comes at a time when the Congress is pursuing minority sub quota, supporting reservation in promotion for SCs/STs and appears favourably disposed towards reservation for Jats.

"This (reservation on caste lines) should have come to an end. Why it did not happen so far was because vested interests got into the process. Does the real needy person even among the Dalits and backward castes get the benefits of reservation? Those in the upper crust of these communities only avail the benefits. There is a difference between social justice and casteism.

"The concept of social justice has now turned into casteism...I believe there is a need to dismantle this.... Since Rahul Gandhiji is seeking views of people directly for the party manifesto, I am now urging him that he should take a bold decision," the party general secretary said.

"Reservation on the basis of economic condition of people should be talked about. He is the future leader of Congress. Only one, who rises above all this and breaks the boundaries of caste and communalism will be the future leader of the country. Only then a society on the basis of equality can be built," Dwivedi said.

The forthright comments on such a sensitive issues by the otherwise reticent party general secretary have come at a time when the party is gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls.

Justifying his pitch for ending caste-based reservations, he said the situation has changed from the past and "now no person has the moral courage to publicly endorse casteism." Dwivedi said he came in politics through the youth movement in 1960s, whose main plank was to break the barriers of caste. — PTI

NEW DELHI: A day after AAP accused Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley of trying to topple the Arvind Kejriwal government, scores of AAP workers today staged a protest outside Jaitley's residence in Kailash Colony here.

BJP activists soon launched a counter-protest at the same spot, alleging that AAP was just protesting with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"AAP's allegation against Jaitley is totally baseless.

They are just doing vote-bank politics, with an eye on Lok Sabha elections," Harish Khurana, a BJP leader, said.

As both parties protested at the same place, there were heated arguments between their workers.

The police, which had beefed up security outside Jaitley's house, had to divide them by putting barricades.

AAP had yesterday accused Modi and Jaitley of trying to topple the Kejriwal government, claiming that they are behind moves to lure MLAs to split the ruling party.

Yesterday, AAP MLA Madan Lal had alleged a person close to Modi had offered him Rs 20 crore to split the party and promised to make him Chief Minister if he could do so.

"Two persons met me around 10-12 day ago. One of them told me that his name is Sanjoy Singh and he has come from Gujarat. He said he is close to Narendra Modi. Singh told me that Modiji wanted me to get the support of around 10 (AAP) MLAs," he had said without producing any proof to substantiate the allegations.

The Kasturba Nagar MLA had alleged that the person told him that if he succeeded in getting 10 MLAs to leave AAP, then he would be made the CM and his cabinet ministers would be paid Rs 10 crore each.

Lal had also claimed that on midnight of December 7, an unidentified person had telephoned him, saying a prominent leader wanted to talk to him.

"When I asked him who wanted to talk to me, he said Arun Jaitley. After hearing Jaitley's name, I cut the phone. I could not make a call back on the unknown number," he had said.

In a tweet, Jaitley had rubbished the allegations.

"Rubbish claims by AAP. AAP's alternative politics includes a fundamental right to falsehood and lies," he said. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today promised to take action against those responsible for the death of a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh and ensure a speedy probe.

Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Ninong Ering said the Home Minister gave the assurance when he, accompanied by a delegation of students from the northeast, met him.

The delegation sought a speedy probe and justice to the family of Nido Taniam, a BA first-year student of a private university who died after allegedly being assaulted by a group of people in Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi. 

"The Home Minister said the guilty will be punished. He assured us that a speedy probe will be conducted in the case of Nido Tania," Ering told reporters after the 20-minute meeting with Shinde.

Sources said the Home Ministry has agreed to order a magisterial probe in the case. The ministry will also set up an administrative committee to look into the larger complaints of victimisation of students from the northeast.

The MoS Minority Affairs said the delegation demanded a CBI investigation into the death of Taniam, action against "erring" Delhi Police personnel who alleged failed to act properly and enactment of an anti-racial law.

"We have also requested setting up of an administrative committee by the Home Ministry to look into such cases and ensure justice," he said.

Yesterday, Ering and the group of students from the northeast had met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and sought his help for a speedy probe into the death of Tania.

Later in the evening, Rahul joined the protesters at Jantar Mantar here and assured them that the government would ensure that they get respect and justice.

The Home Ministry had yesterday directed the Delhi Police to adopt zero-tolerance approach in cases of attacks on people from the northeast and asked it to strictly follow the guidelines in providing security to those hailing from the region. — PTI

Shiv Sena protests against Pakistani band

MUMBAI: Shouting anti-Pakistan slogans, dozens of Shiv Sena activists on Tuesday disrupted the press conference of a Pakistani Sufi music band at the Mumbai Press Club here, police said.

Carrying saffron party flags and chanting “Pakistanis go back” and “Vande Mataram”, alleged Sena workers forced their way into the conference hall, heckled the artistes of ‘Meekal Hasan Band’ and overturned chairs when they were in the middle of a media briefing.

Swinging into action, the police managed to evict the protesters and the entrance to the club was shut.

President of the club Gurbir Singh said he has approached state’s Home Minister R.R. Patil and Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sadanand Date who have assured deployment of additional police force at the venue.

Singh deplored the incident, saying efforts to improve Indo-Pak relations should be welcomed and not thwarted.

Shiv Sena has been opposing participation of Pakistani artists in events in India for quite a long time.

It had protested against the inclusion of Pakistani television host and cross dresser Begum Nawazish Ali and actor Veena Malik in Bigg Boss show in 2010 and disrupted a Sindhi Sufi music festival in Delhi last year where artists from the neighbouring country were present. — PTI

Muzaffarnagar: Two accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots case have surrendered before a local court here which sent them to judicial custody till February 17.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Narender Kumar rejected the bail plea of the two accused, Anurag Bansal and Sandeep Tyagi, who surrendered before the court on Monday and remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.

Anurag and Sandeep are accused of setting ablaze property during the riots in the district in September last year.

Meanwhile, the court has initiated attachment proceedings against 23 absconding accused in the attempt to murder case of activists who were returning from Nagla panchayat at Basikala and Basdhara villages in the district on August 31.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunder initiated the proceedings yesterday after the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the riots, approached the court.

Over 60 persons were killed and more than 40,000 displaced in communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in September last year. — PTI 

India need to draw Test series to retain 2nd position

DUBAI: India will retain their number two position in the ICC Test Team Rankings if they win or draw the upcoming two-match series against New Zealand, starting in Auckland on Thursday.

A 2-0 series win will fetch India one rating point to take them to 118 points with no change in the table.

While a 1-0 result would see India losing five points to end on 112 ratings points, just one ahead of third-ranked Australia, though they would still remain on second position.

A 0-0 or 1-1 draw will allow both the teams to maintain their pre-series rankings.

In case New Zealand, who are currently on eighth position with 82 points, win the series 2-0, then they will jump to 88 ratings points, while India will fall to 110.

New Zealand will leapfrog the West Indies into seventh position if they win the series 1-0.

In fact, the Black Caps can move ahead of Sri Lanka in sixth place, provided they beat India 2-0 and Bangladesh win the second Test against Sri Lanka to draw the series 1-1.

A 1-0 series win for New Zealand will mean it will join West Indies on 87 points but will be ranked in seventh position when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

India's Cheteshwar Pujara (5th) and vice-captain Virat Kohli (11th) have excellent opportunities to climb up the ladder in the ICC Test batsmen's table.

It will be golden chance for in-form Kohli to enter the top-10 for the first time in his career.

Ravichandran Ashwin, at seventh spot, starts off the series as the highest-ranked Indian Test bowler. — PTI

CHANDIGARH: The minimum temperature continued to rise across Punjab and Haryana to settle a few notches above normal today even as some places in the region received rainfall.

Chandigarh, which received light showers this morning, recorded a low of 11.6 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal, the MeT here said.

In Punjab, Amritsar registered a low of 7 degrees Celsius, up two notches, while Ludhiana's minimum settled at 9 degrees Celsius, two above normal.

Patiala recorded four degrees above normal low and settled at 10.6 degrees Celsius.

Hisar and Ambala in Haryana also recorded above normal minimums at 10.6 degrees Celsius and 11.5 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Karnal registered a low of 9.5 degrees Celsius, up two notches, while Narnaul's low settle at 10 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal.

Bhiwani recorded a minimum of 10 degrees Celsius, up three notches.

Meanwhile, light rain also lashed Patiala, Ambala, Panchkula among other places. — PTI