Month: January 2012

New Delhi, January 28: A 20-year-old man was arrested Saturday in connection with the gang rape of a minor girl in north Delhi, police said. The girl had become pregnant.

Deepak Shah, who is a labourer at a factory, was arrested after the girl’s complaint to police Saturday after a medical check-up confirmed she was pregnant. Shah, along with two associates, raped her over the last five months.

The victim, daughter of a tea vendor, was gangraped by Shah, Vicky and Lucky at a factory in north Delhi’s Bawana Industrial area. The factory was owned by Lucky.

Abu Dhabi, January 28: Women MPs from over 50 Muslim majority countries took part in a Muslim female parliamentarians conference in Indonesia.

The Federal National Council (FNC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) led by Sheikha Ali Al Owais also took part in Friday’s conference held in Palembang.

The one-day conference was part of meetings of the Parliamentary Union of the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The conference discussed ways for enhancing the role of women for strengthening democracy in the member states.

Lucknow, January 28: In a major setback for Congress in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari on Saturday rejected their Muslim sub-quota of 4.5 per cent and supported the Samajwadi Party for the upcoming polls in the state.

“I don’t agree with 4.5 per cent reservation formula of Congress, it will only create further misunderstandings. Muslims should get reservation on the basis of population,” Bukhari said.

Mumbai, January 28: The first celebrity wedding of the year is definitely going to be a grand affair. Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza, set to tie the knot in February, are making sure that their wedding doesn’t fall even an iota short of the word ‘magnificent’. And in order to achieve that end, they have endowed Karan Johar with the responsibility of directing their Sangeet ceremony. The function is to take place at a five star in Mumbai on February 1.

Jodhpur, January 28: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday took Pukhraj Bishnoi, an accused in the government nurse Bhanwari Devi disappearance case, to the Jodhpur Central Jail and quizzed him in front of his father Sohan Lal Bishnoi in a barrack here, sources said.

The father-son duo was arrested by CBI for their alleged role in the kidnap and murder of the nurse Sep 1.

Unnao/Hardoi (Uttar Pradesh), January 28: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday blamed both Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati for “gross neglect” of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress general secretary who was on a whirlwind tour of a series of state assembly constituencies in Unnao and Hardoi districts, adjacent to Lucknow, projected his party’s efforts for the welfare of the community, especially stopping in Muslim-dominated pockets.

Dehradun, January 28: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit in Uttarakhand on Saturday ended canvassing for the assembly polls by calling the Congress an unfriendly party.

Counting upon the achievements of the BJP in the state, senior party leader Arun Jaitley said that it was on the initiative of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which was headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that the state was formed in 2000.

Khunti, January 28: Three Maoists and two People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) members surrendered before the police in Jharkhand’s Khunti District, here today.

Three Maoists, Ranjit Bodra, Naruah Tirkey and Rohit Uranv along with Nageshwar Pahan and Arjun Singh of PLFI surrendered before the police.

Superintendent of Police, Taamil Vanan hailed the surrender by the left wing extremists and informed that a cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from these ultras.

Mumbai, January 28: Veena`s item number deleted for Anna!Pakistani actress’s song ‘Channo’ in ‘Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai’ was removed from the special screening held for Hazare

Veena Malik’s item number Channo in Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai was deleted from the screening held for Anna Hazare.

The film, which takes on corruption, had its cast which included Akshaye Khanna and Mugdha Godse attend the screening at his village Ralegan Siddhi.

Bahraich, January 28: Calling the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid a “communal person”, Congress leader Digvijay Singh today said that Muslims of Uttar Pradesh will not be misled by his appeal, in which has urged them to vote for Samajwadi Party candidates.

“Bukhari was a communal person, who at one time supported Osama Bin Laden and in 2004 issued fatwa in favour of BJP,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

Canberra, January 28: Reaching out to the wider Australian community, South Australia mosques in Adelaide have opened their doors for the first time to the public, offering them an opportunity to socialize with Muslims and get more information about their faith and lifestyle. 

“This year, we are pleased to welcome the wider Adelaide community to our first official open day,” Ahmed Zreika, treasure of the Islamic Society of South Australia, told The Advertiser newspaper on Friday, January 27.

Tel Aviv, January 28: Ultra-right religious groups around the world demand religious freedom in their respective countries to practice their faith in whatever manner their religion requires. The frustration with this is that when they are granted their freedoms, they repay the country by attempting and often succeeding in diminishing the freedoms of the other citizens.

They try to coerce non-members on where to sit on buses, how to dress, when to pray, what you may eat, how to behave, when you may drive your car and what you may see in an advertisement.

Hyderabad, January 28: Police in Andhra Pradesh Saturday arrested three people for the recent desecration of statues of B.R. Ambedkar in East Godavari district as Dalit groups continued protests in parts of the state.

Police brought three arrested youths before media and said they were on the lookout for 10 others involved in the Monday incident at Amlapuram.

New Delhi, January 28: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said he won’t contest the 2014 general elections.

Pawar, who is serving as the Union Agriculture Minister, disclosed this in an interview to a private TV news channel.

The NCP supremo wants to bid adieu to politics “to make way for the younger generation.”

“It’s enough… It is the responsibility of people like me to encourage younger people and younger leadership to continue to work in (his) political party,” Pawar said.

Hyderabad, January 28: Stepping up its probe into the Emaar-APIIC township case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday arrested a top executive of Emaar Hill Township Private Limited (EHTPL).

G.G.V. Vijay Raghav, chief financial officer, EHTPL, was produced before a court, which sent him to judicial custody till Jan 30. He was shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail

Hyderabad, January 28 : Stepping up its probe into the Emaar-APIIC township case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday arrested a top executive of Emaar Hill Township Private Limited (EHTPL).

G.G.V. Vijay Raghav, chief financial officer, EHTPL, was produced before a court, which sent him to judicial custody till Jan 30. He was shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail

Riyadh, January 28: Saudi police arrested a local man after claiming he is a prophet and decided to send him to a psychiatry hospital for examination.

The man used a packed hall hosting a local festival in the northeastern town of Hafr Al Batin to address people and tell them he was their new prophet.

“Police received many phone calls about the man…they went to the place and arrested him….he would be sent to a psychiatry hospital for examination,” the Saudi Kabar Arabic language daily said.

Nagpur, January 28: A pharma company executive has been arrested for allegedly taking obscene pictures of his girlfriend and uploading them on a social networking site, police said today.

Ajay Shalikram Gajbhiye, working as regional chief of a pharmaceutical firm here, took the girl to a nearby resort and offered her spiked soft drink. He then took her objectionable pictures on his mobilephone, they said.

The 37-year-old managed to gain the victim’s confidence and got the password of her account on the social networking site, where he uploaded these photos, they said.

Chandigarh, January 28: The three week-long campaigning for 117-seat Punjab Assembly ended this evening with ruling SAD-BJP alliance and opposition Congress putting their best foot forward to wrest power in the January 30 polls.

The campaigning by and large remained peaceful in the state which saw national leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Uma Bharti and BSP Chief Mayawati criss-cross the state.

New Delhi, January 28: Having lost not even one election in the 45 years of his political career so far, union minister and veteran politician Sharad Pawar has said he wants to bid adieu to politics now to make way for the younger generation.

“It’s enough… It is the responsibility of people like me to encourage younger people and younger leadership to continue to work in (his) political party,” Pawar, the union agriculture minister, said in a TV interview.

New Delhi, January 28: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has said Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will have to take the credit if his party wins or the blame if it loses the Uttar Pradesh elections.

“If the Congress improves its position definitely credit will go to him (Gandhi)… If he doesn’t succeed he has to work very hard for future. Public at large will pass the buck to him if he doesn’t deliver,” the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief said in a TV interview.

Syria, January 28: First Lieutenant Yasser Mohammad Kaso, Chief Warrant Officer Hamza Suleiman Dib, Sergeant Major Ali Mahmoud Ibrahim, Sergeant Rami Salim Joyhra, Sergeant Ali Hatem al-Qadi, Conscript Mohammad Sakhr Baha Eddin al-Takriti and Conscript Ahmad Mohammad al-Mustafa were killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, the United Nations still remained divided over anti-Syria sanctions after Russia opposed a Western-Arab draft resolution presented to the UN Security Council.

The draft echoes the Arab League’s call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to his deputy.

Norderstedt, January 28: A German Muslim has introduced the country’s first Muslim taxi service through which Germans can arrange shared car rides of the same sex, The Local.de website reported on Friday, January 27.

“Many Muslim brothers and sisters complained that they can’t use conventional offers because the gender segregation stipulated by Islam is not implemented,” Selim Reid, a 24-year-old from Norderstedt, city of about 70,000 near Hamburg, told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

New Delhi, January 28: A group of 20 school kids from the September 2011 earthquake-affected areas of Sikkim Saturday met Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here as part of an educational trip organised by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

The seven boys and 13 girls from schools in Chungthang and Rabong are also visiting Agra apart from Delhi Jan 20-31.

“I am sure that these students will gain valuable experience by seeing the historical monuments, discovering the values of unity in diversity and communal harmony,” Dikshit said.