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Gujarat Riots
Tibetan activist sets himself ablaze
Kunjwal is Speaker of U’khand Assembly
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Chaos in House over Army Chief’s charge, Telangana
BJP questions move to order CBI probe
Aarushi Murder
Kingfisher owes Rs 5,600 crore to state-owned banks
Maharashtra ATS kills Ahmedabad blast suspect
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Gujarat Riots
New Delhi, March 26 A Bench comprising Justices DK Jain and AR Dave observed that the SC could not go on the “basis of any personality” involved in the case, nor could it assess the evidence available with the commission or presume the conclusions that would be arrived at after the inquiry. Dismissing the plea of a victims’ organisation, the Bench also made it clear that it would not be proper on its part to start monitoring the inquiry being conducted by the commission. “Can we start a judicial review of the commission of Inquiry Act,” the Bench asked senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, who argued for the riot victims. “We can’t do it,” the Bench pointed out while “dismissing the petition as withdrawn.” The victims had challenged the Gujarat High Court order refusing to interfere in the commission’s probe. Colin said the commission had refused to summon Modi despite the fact that its terms of reference had been enlarged to cover high functionaries such as the CM. Also, about 30 witnesses whose statements had been recorded by the commission had pointed an accusing finger at Modi, he said. Further, the report of the commission was awaited even ten years after the riots. However, the Bench was not convinced. “If we start interfering at every stage of inquiry, the very purpose of inquiry will not be achieved,” it reasoned. The SC was already being blamed for over-reaching its powers, it pointed out. Acknowledging that it was difficult to erase the memory of the unfortunate riots, the Bench pointed out that there were several inquiry commissions and it was not possible for the SC to examine every order in a particular case on a piecemeal basis.
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Tibetan activist sets himself ablaze
New Delhi, March 26 Hundreds of Tibetans gathered at Jantar Mantar to voice solidarity in protesting against an “unwelcome” visitor - the Chinese President. They waved the Tibetan flag and held posters that read- “Hu’s got bloody hands”, “Hu’s created tension in Tibet”. Some had even painted their country’s flag on their faces. The growing commotion of the chanting of slogans suddenly became quiet when a Tibetan youth, Jamphel Yeshi (26) set himself on fire before the protesters. The police rushed Jamphel to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He has 90 per cent burn injuries and is very critical.
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Kunjwal is Speaker of U’khand Assembly
Dehradun, March 26 Setting aside the practice of unanimous election of the Speaker, the BJP had fielded Kapoor as its candidate in the hope of getting the support of the Independents and the BSP. But the results announced by pro tem Speaker Shailender Mohan clarified that Kunjwal had a lead over his rival. The first session of the newly constituted Assembly would be held tomorrow.
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Chaos in House over Army Chief’s charge, Telangana
New Delhi, March 26 Both the Houses witnessed uproar as soon as they assembled in the morning for the Question Hour. They were first adjourned till noon after Congress members joined their TDP and TRS counterparts to protest the ongoing suicides over Telangana. The BJP joined the issue besides demanding an explanation from the government over the allegations of Army Chief Gen VK Singh who said in a newspaper interview today that he was offered Rs 14 crore bribe to clear a shady deal and he had informed the Defence Minister of the development. In the Rajya Sabha, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar had given a notice for suspension of the Question Hour to discuss the bribery issue. He later raised the statehood demand for Telangana, which Congress’ Keshav Rao supported. Javadekar said as many as 609 persons had committed suicide over Telangana so far. “The government must exhibit political will to bring a Bill for a separate state,” he said. Keshav Rao said, “If you want 3 crore people to die, we are ready.” In the Lok Sabha too, the Congress, TDP and TRS members wore black ribbons to protest the suicide by an MBA student over Telangana. They stormed the Well of the House demanding a separate state and forced adjournment till 12 noon and later again till 2 pm. In both the Houses, the BJP, JDU and AIADMK demanded government’s explanation on the Army Chief’s allegations as well. The Rajya Sabha saw BJP’s SS Ahluwalia demanding a statement from the government on the matter. The Opposition was livid that the House had no information about what was going on and the media was already reporting that the government had ordered a CBI probe into Army Chief’s allegations. Since Defence Minister AK Antony was not present in the Rajya Sabha when it reconvened at 12, Ahluwalia sought that the House be adjourned for some time so that the government can come back and report to the House what was happening. Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan adjourned the House till 2 pm at that point.
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BJP questions move to order CBI probe
New Delhi, March 26 Former Defence Minister in the NDA Government Jaswant Singh, also a retired Army officer, said, “First the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister should tell us whether they have conducted any internal inquiry and what is its outcome.” “In my time, whenever such a charge was levelled, then Defence Minister George Fernandes advised me to send the complaint first to the CVC, who would insist what is the need for an external probe before an internal inquiry,” he said. When asked whether he was opposing the proposed CBI inquiry, he replied, “I am questioning it.” Jaswant, one time colleague of the present Army Chief, questioned the decision of Antony not acting when Gen Singh brought the whole issue to his notice, adding, “Why the COAS did not get the person offering the bribe arrested immediately?” The senior BJP leader also disapproved of the Army Chief disclosing all this to the media saying, “I am disappointed that the COAS had to share this matter in public and to the Press. I would have been happier if the matter had been addressed by the Defence Ministry.” “Perhaps the response he got (from the Defence Minister) was so ineffective that he had to go public,” he added.
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Aarushi Murder
New Delhi, March 26 A Bench comprising Justices AK Patnaik and JS Khehar asked the CBI to file its response within four weeks to Nupur’s petition seeking a review of the January 6, 2012 SC order refusing to quash the trial proceedings. Both Nupur and her husband Rajesh are facing trial in the case which also involved the murder of their domestic servant, Hemraj. While 14-year-old Aarushi, the only child of the dentist couple, was found murdered at their Noida residence on the night of May 15-16, 2008, the body of Hemraj was recovered from the terrace the following day. Normally, SC holds hearings on review petitions in the judges’ chamber or decides such cases through the circulation method without any fresh arguments. However, it has decided to hold the hearings in this case in the open court.
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Kingfisher owes Rs 5,600 crore to state-owned banks
New Delhi, March 26 The consortium of 13 PSU banks, including State Bank of India, have an exposure of Rs 5,608.07 crore to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) as on February 2012, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Friday. Replying to a query on whether the SBI had any proposal to extend a financial lifeline to Kingfisher, Meena said, "The State Bank of India, leader of the consortium of lenders, has informed that no such lifeline has been extended to Kingfisher Airlines Ltd by them during the current financial year." SBI alone has an exposure of Rs 1,408.45 crore to KFA. The airline, which has a debt of Rs 7,000 crore and an accumulated loss of over Rs 6,000 crore, has been operating only 16 of its 64 aircrafts since last month. It has quit Kolkata and Hyderabad routes completely. It also wound up international operations last week. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aviation Ministry have threatened to cancel the seven-year-old airline's licence if it is unable to come up with an operational schedule next week. — PTI
box: Global investors not confident about India: Mallya
Kingfisher Airlines may be lobbying hard with the government to permit foreign airlines to invest in domestic carriers, but its flamboyant promoter Vijay Mallya said on Monday that global investors do not seem to be confident about investing in India. "India's global image has taken a beating. Nobody seems to be confident that India is a great investment opportunity. Why are we going so wrong?" Mallya said today on social networking platform Twitter.
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Maharashtra ATS kills Ahmedabad blast suspect Mumbai, March 26 The shootout took place in Aurangabad’s Himayat Bagh area around 12.30 pm. An ATS team had gone to nab a group of terrorists near the Uddhav Rao Patil Chowk when they were shot at, police said. In the retaliatory firing that followed, a man named Khaleel was killed and two others were injured. Police gave the names of those injured as Shakeel Ahmed Mohammad Shabbir and Abrar Shaikh. Both have been rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital, police said. One constable from the ATS received injuries in the shootout. Khaleel, a resident of Ahmedabad’s Gulmohur Colony, and Shaikh were wanted in connection with the serial bomb blasts that rocked Ahmedabad in July 2008. Twentyone blasts within a span of 70 minutes had left 56 people dead and over 200 injured. Shakeel Ahmed Mohammad Shabbir was wanted in connection with the murder of a BJP activist in Madhya Pradesh, police said.
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New Delhi, March 26
