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assets case
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Samjhauta Blasts
‘Decriminalising gay acts has grave implications’
From 2013, one entrance for admission to
IITs, NITs
IM recruiter nabbed in Bihar
AP minister ‘cancels’ entrance exam for son’s wedding bash
2G: JPC grills TRAI chief
Meira Kumar meets Pak PM
Mixed response to Saffronart online auction
2 killed as CPM, TMC groups clash over bandh
tackling terror-II
The debate
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assets case
Lucknow, February 22 The move coming in the middle of the seven-phase Vidhan Sabha election has caused a major setback for the Mayawati-led BSP government, which is bending backwards to fight anti-incumbency by projecting a corruption free clean image. After making a preliminary enquiry state Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra today found sufficient ground to recommend to CM Mayawati to order an inquiry by the CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement against her closest aide and so-called Muslim face of the BSP. Among the complaints is that Siddiqui set up an educational society in district Barabanki neighboring Lucknow for which he was granted land at a massive discount. On paper the land is worth only Rs 32 lakh while its real value is approximately Rs 16 cores. The minister allegedly appointed dummy members to the education society and raised Rs 3 crore towards funds. Siddiqui who holds charge of a record 18 portfolios, including health, irrigation, housing and PWD, has been charged with having assets disproportionate to his known source of income, granting undue favors to his family members, close relatives and friends and flouting procedural norms in allotment of sand mining contracts in Bundelkhand. Incidentally, Siddiqui who hails from Banda in Bundelkhand along with Babu Singh Kushwaha another former Cabinet colleague of Mayawati from Banda were hailed by Mayawati for being two of three architects of her 2007 victory. The third person was BSP’s national general secretary Satish Mishra. The Lokayukta had taken cognisance of two separate complaints lodged against Siddiqui — one by a Banda resident Ashish Sagar Dixit and the other by veteran journalist Jagdish Narain Shukla — alleging misuse of office by him.
jolt to bsp
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Polling for fifth phase today
The fate of 829 candidates contesting for 49 Assembly seats spread over 13 districts would be decided by 1.56 crore voters. The districts include Firozabad, Kanshiram Nagar, Etah, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Ramabai Nagar, Kanpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba districts. The region also includes the stronghold of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav as well as former BJP leader Kalyan Singh sphere of influence. Five districts of Bundelkhand which have remained in news for the last few years are also voting tomorrow. The future of the BJP’s potential chief ministerial candidate Uma Bharati would also be sealed.
She is the party candidate from Charkhari in Mahoba district. Vidhan Sabha Leader of Opposition and younger brother of SP president Shivpal Singh Yadav is seeking re-election from Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah district. BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghmitra Gautam is making her political debut from Aliganj seat in Etah district. Wife of former health minister Anant Kumar Mishra, alias Antu Mishra, who along with Babu Singh Kushwaha, had to resign following the NRHM scam became public after is contesting from Maharajpur seat in Kanpur district.
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Sushma at her lyrical best
The audience at a BJP election meeting in Auraiya were in for a cultural bonanza. Explaining the impact that uncontrolled inflation was having on the lives of the ‘aam admi’, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj sang the Peepli Live song ‘sainya toh khubai kamaat hai, mehgaai dayan khai jaat hai’ at the election meeting at the Ajitmal Vidhan Sabha constituency in the district which is going to polls on February 23. At another election meeting at Kalpi in Jalaun district, she reportedly described Chief Minister Mayawati as a stone-hearted woman for spending such huge amounts of public money on stones for building her parks and memorials. However, for personal or political reasons she was quick to retract and clarified on Twitter:"I never described Mayawatiji as 'stone-hearted'" and reports quoting her as having said so were "false". What she did say about the BSP supremo was that she had tried to divide the society in the name of caste and creed for political gains.
Clean chit to Ajit’s son
Accepting Mathura MP and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh's son Jayant Chaudhury’s explanation. the Election Commission has given him a ‘clean chit’ for his alleged violation of the model code of conduct. An EC camera had caught Chaudhury accepting money during an election meeting in Mathura two days ago. After examination, it was found that there was no effort to woo the electorate by offering money and the Rs 51,000 which were seen changing hands were being given for poll management.
Acid test
While woman power is clearly emerging in the 16th Vidhan Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh as never before, there is a village called Katiya Kammu in Bhavankhera block of Shahjehanpur district where the burqa-clad women have virtually been disenfranchised by their men folk for nearly two decades. It remains to be seen if the Election Commission’s awareness campaign and the enthusiasm of women elsewhere would motivate the women here to dare defy the unwritten dictate of their men folk when polling takes place here during the 7th phase on March 3. (Compiled by Shahira
Naim)
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Aseemanand denies link with Kamal Chauhan
Rajinder Nagarkoti/TNS
Panchkula, February 22 After the hearing in Samjhauta blasts case, Swami Aseemanand told mediapersons outside the district court complex that he had no link with Kamal Chauhan and he had no knowledge about him. “Main nahin jaanta ki Kamal Chauhan Kaun hai...yeh sab to NIA ki hi saajish hai (I don’t know who Kamal Chauhan is….It is the conspiracy of the NIA),” Aseemanand told mediapersons. On February 14, 28-year-old Kamal Chauhan had ‘confessed’ he had planted the explosives in the cross-border train near Dewana railway station in Panipat district in February 2007, resulting in the death of 68 persons. Meanwhile, in a related development, the NIA filed an application before the special court seeking 15-day remand of ‘second bomber’ Lokesh Chauhan but the court turned down the agency’s request. NIA had maintained in the application that Kamal Chauhan had stated that he, along with Lokesh Sharma, also accused in Ajmer blasts, had planted the explosives in the Samjhauta Express.
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‘Decriminalising gay acts has grave implications’
New Delhi, February 22 The high court had diluted Section 377 of the IPC relating to gay sex as it violated the fundamental right to privacy and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Arguing before a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyaya, senior counsel Amarendra Sharan said right to privacy did not confer any immunity to committing of crimes in privacy. Sharan appeared for the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The high court had also held that Section 377 ultra vires the Constitutional provisions as it treats homosexuals as a class. Sharan said if this reasoning was taken to its logical conclusion, any criminal provision could be declared as being violative of Article 14.
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From 2013, one entrance for admission to
IITs, NITs
The existing Centrally conducted exams - All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) which the CBSE conducts and Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) which IITs conduct - stand scrapped and merged into the new national common engineering test which will
also be valid for Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), all Centrally funded institutes including deemed universities. The central test will, for the first time, give weightage to marks obtained by students in school board exams of Class XII. For admission, a student’s performance at state board exam in Plus two will be taken into account. This weightage can’t be less than 40 pc and can go up to 100 pc if the institute wishes. Colleges in Tamil Nadu, for instance, take students solely on the basis of their marks in school board exams. Besides the school performance, weightages not exceeding 60 pc would be given to the performance of students in two components of the engineering test - Main and Advance. It would be for each educational institute or state to spell out the specific weightages to the scores achieved in school board exams, the Main and Advance. Although the ministry had earlier decided to call the new test Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test , IIT experts said the name deserves to be changed and the science component excluded from it so that top science institutes like Indian Institutes for Science Education and Research (IISERs) have the flexibility to join (or not) the new test. The engineering test 2013 Main and Advance would be of three-hour duration each and will be held on a single day on any date in April/May and November/December. The Main test will start on 10 a.m.. The Advance test will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The results would be valid for two years. The test will be in pencil and paper format and questions will be set in English and Hindi to begin with. While the CBSE will conduct the test, question papers will be set by IIT professors to preserve Brand IIT and keep the quality of questions high. “Gradually we will increase the test frequency to enable the students to improve scores and see that they don’t lose out if they missed the test once due to some reason,” said IIT Kanpur Director Sanjay Dhande, who was involved in conceptualising the test. Sibal had first announced the plan in Parliament on August 19 last as reported by The Tribune.
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IM recruiter nabbed in Bihar
New Delhi, February 22
The police claimed that the suspected terrorist, Kafeel Ahmed (50), is involved in the recruitment of youths to the IM. He is also responsible for providing financial and logistical support and safe hideouts for the terror group. Kafeel is a close associate of IM leader, Yasin Bhatkal alias Shahrukh, who is still absconding. — TNS
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AP minister ‘cancels’ entrance exam for son’s wedding bash
Hyderabad, February 22 Adding a bizarre dimension to the episode, the minister had allegedly forced the local authorities of his native Srikakulam district to cancel a scheduled competitive examination at the college so that it could be used as the venue for a grand reception. Rao, an influential backward class leader who holds the Roads and Buildings portfolio, threw a lavish party for his friends and relatives, on the occasion of his son Ram Manohar Naidu's wedding, at the sprawling Government Degree College premises at the district headquarters of Srikakulam. The adjacent cricket stadium was also used for parking vehicles. Over 50,000 guests attended the reception held on Sunday amidst much pomp and fanfare. However, the candidates appearing for the competitive exam to fill up positions for village revenue officers (VRO) and village revenue assistants (VRA) had to suffer. With the degree college remaining out of bounds for the day, they had to travel long distances to appear for the test which was held all over the state on the same day. Some candidates had to travel to neighbouring towns to write the test. While the minister refuted the charge that he had influenced the officials to change test venue, the opposition parties demanded stringent action against him for gross misuse of office. The college in the heart of Srikakulam is a major centre for hosting competitive exams in the district as it can accommodate more than 2,000 candidates. With the local revenue authorities canceling the examination centre on administrative grounds, several candidates, who were expecting that they would be allotted the local centre, were shocked to realize that they had to travel long distances to appear for the test. Opposition Telugu Desam Party leaders alleged that local officials, from the revenue divisional officer to the municipal commissioner, had personally supervised the arrangements for the reception. Calling for immediate action against the minister, the senior TDP leader and former Union Minister K Yerran Naidu said that the compound wall of the college was demolished to make way for the entry of vehicles while the stadium premises, including the cricket pitch, was dug up to erect tents and dais for the reception.
Party blues
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2G: JPC grills TRAI chief
New Delhi, February 22 Sharma told the JPC on 2G scam here today that since Maran was directly exchanging letters with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he felt no necessity to take a stand, Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko disclosed later. He added that the committee members were not convinced and have asked for the original files concerned to ascertain the truth behind Sharma’s assertions. They pointed out how much younger and junior officers take a stand on such crucial issues and wondered why he remained so aloof. The question came up in the context of amending the terms of reference of the GoM on Telecom. The Joint Parliamentary Committee grilled Sharma, who had served the Telecom Ministry first as additional secretary, then as secretary and is now the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on four main points: non-implementation of the second phase of Unified Service licence (UASL) regime; amending the ToR of the GoM; delay in processing applications of licensees and delay in allocating spectrum to the existing licensees.
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Meira Kumar meets Pak PM
New Delhi, February 22 The first LS Speaker to visit the neighbouring country, Meira Kumar told Gilani that there was consensus in the Indian Parliament on building a relationship of trust and mutually beneficial cooperation between India and Pakistan in an atmosphere free of terror and violence. The Speaker was accompanied by other members of the Indian delegation. Meira Kumar’s visit to Pakistan concludes on February 25. She is there on the invitation of Fehmida Mirza, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Gilani recalled meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said he regarded Singh as a
sincere person who desired friendly and cooperative relations between the
two countries.
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Mixed response to Saffronart online auction
Mumbai, February 22 Saffronart, the auction house which conducted the first auction of impressionist and modern art in India, said only 32 of the 73 works on the block were sold for a total of US $1.2 million. The auction was originally expected to raise between $3.3 million to $4.2 million, according to the auction house. Some of those that were sold also got prices below estimates, according to data available from
Saffronart. Van Gogh's “L’Allee aux deux promeneurs” (Lane With Two Figures) fetched just $697,000 lower than the estimated $800,000 to $1 million. It was painted by Van Gogh in 1885 in the Dutch village of Neunen where he was living. However, works of the surrealist painter Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and Picasso fared better. A drawing, sculpture and lithograph by Dali fetched a total of $65,880, above their estimated price. Five works by Picasso fetched $74,160 for five works and L'Arbre de Jesse, a painting by March Chagall went for $9000 as against the maximum estimate of $8,000. The works auctioned by saffronart were aimed at individual collectors and beginners building their own art collection. In contrast to works of art displayed at museums, these works are minor works sold at far lower prices, say analysts.
Money matters
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2 killed as CPM, TMC groups clash over bandh
Kolkata, February
22 Four people, stated to be TMC supporters, were arrested and the police is said to be looking for several others.
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MAC, a secret weapon in anti-terror body’s armoury
Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 22 This is exactly what the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), functional under the Intelligence Bureau (IB), does 24x7. It collates hundreds of inputs from across the country and analyses these. The result: India has burst some 59 small and big terror modules during the past three years. MAC provided real-time inputs during the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Now, after the setting up of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the MAC stands subsumed under the NCTC. It will be one of the ‘silent weapons’ of the new organisation that is slated to start functioning on March 1. Besides the MAC, the other ‘silent weapon” will be the power given to the NCTC to seek ‘every other kind’ of information from any agency. The Home Ministry orders of February 3 ‘The National Counter Terrorism Centre (Organisation, Functions, Powers and Duties) Order, 2012’, make it clear: “The NCTC shall……have the power to seek information, including documents, reports, transcripts, cyber information and information of every other kind in whatever form, from any agency”. These ‘silent weapons’ will from the backbone of pan-India powers to carry out operations and arrests. The CMs have protested against the operational powers of the NCTC and the fact that the IB will control it. When the Prime Minister wrote to the CMs yesterday and reasoned why the NCTC had been kept under the IB, he explained, “The NCTC is to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country as the IB has been doing so far. It is for this reason that the NCTC has been located within the IB and not as a separate organisation”. Before the Mumbai attacks took place, MAC was yet another desk in the IB. Post-Mumbai attacks, the Home Ministry, on December 31, 2008, issued an executive order under which the MAC was obliged to share intelligence with all other agencies, including states. And conversely, all other agencies were obliged to share intelligence with MAC. Subsidiaries of MAC (S-MAC) have been established in the state capitals. At present, nearly two-dozen Central agencies coordinate with MAC. Central agencies as diverse as the IB, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Military Intelligence, the National Technical Research Organisation, the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, among others, provide inputs. It derives its real strength from the 500-odd stakeholders - agencies of various states -- that are spread across the country. Bits and scraps of information on suspects of the Delhi High Court blast, the Pune German Bakery blast, the Samjhauta blasts, the Malegaon blasts and the Ajmer Sharief blasts have been pieced together from interrogation of suspects and inputs on MAC. Now the NCTC, armed with its ‘silent weapons’, will have three divisions each headed by an officer in the rank of Joint Director, IB or an equivalent rank. The three divisions will be responsible for collection and dissemination of intelligence, analysis and operations.
Functions & duties
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Can it emerge as India’s ISI?
New Delhi, February 22 It remains to be seen, however, whether the effort will eventually settle the misgivings. The Chief Ministers, led by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, have pointed out that law & order is a subject in the ‘state list’ of the Constitution, Mr Chidambaram is certain to point out that not only are the states not equipped to handle cross-border terrorism, but it is the responsibility of the Union Government to contain and counter terrorism. The states, however, are far from convinced. The states, said Patnaik, were as concerned with terrorism as the Centre. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wondered aloud to ask whether there is any instance of states not cooperating with the Centre in combating terrorism. Without the cooperation of the states, these chief ministers say, terrorism cannot be contained. Counter-terrorism, they argue, cannot be the responsibility of the Centre alone. The states are clearly uncomfortable with the NCTC being vested with the powers of arrest and seizure, of calling from any data and information from the states and the power of overriding agencies of the states in cases involving terrorism. They fear that the NCTC will evolve as an extra-constitutional and all-powerful body like the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Pakistan. The apprehension stems from their experience that the party in power at the Centre tends to misuse the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). With the NCTC vested with a lot more power than the IB or the CBI, the temptation to misuse the NCTC, they feel would be great for a government in a corner.
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Security experts stand divided
New Delhi, February 22 Even the Prime Minister, in his letter to the chief ministers objecting to the
NCTC, took pains to point out that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been involved in gathering Intelligence, in analysing them and in counter-terrorism activities. And the
NCTC, the PM’s letter stressed, will be a part of the IB, which has its offices all over the country and which operates in close collaboration with law-enforcing agencies in the states. The original idea of having a structure like the NCTC was mooted soon after the 9/11 attack in New York. But the NCTC in the United States took off in 2003 to assess terror threats, monitor terror groups, analyse Intelligence and, finally, coordinate and share information with other agencies involved in counter-terrorism. In India, the urgency to have an apex body, a single window to process all Intelligence, was felt more acutely following the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. And while the original deadline of making it operational by 2010 could not be met, the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security earlier this month paved the way for the body to take shape by as early as March this year. Among experts, there is unanimity on the need to have a specialised body dedicated to “prevent terror attacks, contain them and inflict maximum pain on the perpetrators”. What they are concerned about is whether the NCTC will be an independent body or whether it will be a part of the Intelligence Bureau. The fact that an Additional Director of the IB will be Director, NCTC has given rise to these misgivings. Since the NCTC Director will be junior to the Director, IB and since the IB has been doing intelligence gathering, analysis and operations-the inefficiencies of the IB could affect the working of the
NCTC, feel the experts. There is no dispute, however, over the Centre’s legislative competence to give shape to the
NCTC.
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The debate
New Delhi, February 22 "Extremism is a serious matter. We all should be united. It is not good to politicise the issue," he told reporters after a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram. He said this when asked to comment on the recent controversy over plans to set up the
NCTC, which was opposed by non-Congress Chief Ministers, including he himself. "I have received a letter from the Prime Minister after I protested on the issue. The Prime Minister told me that the Home Minister would address our concerns. We are ready for talks on
NCTC. Only talks can pave ways for solution," he said and made it clear that in today's 20 minute meeting with Chidambaram, the issue of NCTC did not come up for discussion.
— PTI
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K’taka joins chorus
Bangalore, February 22 Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, in a letter to Home Minister P Chidambaram said the "unilateral decision" by the Government of India to constitute NCTC infringes upon the powers of the
state governments. He said he is conscious that extremism and terrorism are serious threats to the country and that under similar circumstances, USA set up its NCTC in the aftermath of World Trade Centre disaster. "However, the types of federalism in the United States of America and that of India, though comparable, are not identical," Gowda said. He said police and law and order are subject matters within the jurisdiction of state governments.
— PTI
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‘Hope mistake will be rectified’
Jammu, February 22 He, however, hastened to add that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had no intentions of curtailing powers or eroding the authority of states by forming an anti-terror body. Interacting with mediapersons after attending the Legislature Party meeting of the National Conference (NC), party president Abdullah endorsed the stand taken by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the NCTC. Dr Abdullah observed that the Centre’s proposal to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) without consulting states was a “mistake”. “A mistake has been made and I am sure the centre would hold discussions with the states and sort out the matter” he said, adding, “Terrorism cannot be fought effectively
without the centre and the states being on the same wavelength”. “The Chief Ministers of all states should be consulted before forming the anti-terror body,” he said, adding that terrorism was a threat to the nation.
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Gogoi lauds PM’s advice to Home Ministry
Guwahati, February 22 “I personally believe there is nothing wrong with the intention of the Centre to set up the
NCTC. I support the Centre’s move because I believe it can’t tackle terror without the cooperation of state governments so there is no scope for keeping any state government in the dark while using the
NCTC,” Gogoi said. “There must be mutual trust and cooperation between the Centre and the states in tackling terror. The state governments have a major role therein. The Prime Minister has rightly prescribed taking all the state governments into confidence in respect of the
NCTC,” Gogoi said. In order to drive home his argument for cooperation among various agencies towards tackling terror, Gogoi cited the example of Assam, where there have been sustained coordinated operations by state police and Army with the common people’s support. “Terrorism can’t be fought alone by anybody, not even the Centre,” he said. Gogoi said while the situation in the insurgency-hit Assam has improved a lot because of giving up of arms by a number of insurgent groups of late, his government had now focused on revamp of the state’s education sector to create a huge pool of employable youth to address the unemployment problem, the root cause of insurgency. He said a knowledge commission would soon be set up in the state while collaboration with foreign varsities was on to improve quality of education. “It is only through education that we can solve many of our problems,” Gogoi said. Regarding the impasse over the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectricity Dam Project which is being constructed by the
NHPC, Gogoi said his government was looking forward to the report of the expert committee formed by the Centre.
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The state Lokayukta today recommended a CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe against the senior most Cabinet minister Naseemudin Siddiqui and his BSP MLC wife for accumulating property more than their known source of income.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) received a double jolt today when in the Samjhauta blasts case, ‘key conspirator’ Swami Assemanand denied any link with ‘bomber’ Kamal Chauhan, who was recently arrested from Indore and the special NIA court later rejected the agency's application seeking 15-day police remand of ‘second bomber’ Lokesh Sharma, presently lodged in Ambala jail.
A child rights body today pleaded with the Supreme Court for setting aside of the Delhi HC verdict decriminalising gay sexual acts among consenting adults in privacy as it had grave implications for children and society.
New Delhi, February 22
