The Supreme Court on Wednesday modified the Gujarat High Court order granting interim bail to self styled godman Narayan Sai, who is in jail in connection with a rape case, saying he would be enlarged only after the date of operation of his mother is fixed.
Noted Tamil actor and Censor Board member S Ve Shekher has filed a libel plaint in a local court against a senior official of the board accusing him of sending “defamatory” messages.
Shekar, also a propaganda wing functionary of Tamil Nadu BJP, moved the criminal defamation complaint against Regional Censor Board Officer of CBFC, V Packirisamy, for “sending false and defamatory allegations” against him through mobile phone messenger app WhatsApp.
Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia have announced inclusion of a third gender category in all kinds of student application forms.
“It is notified for necessary compliance by all concerned that in all application forms to be submitted by students for different purposes, a third category as “others” will be added against “gender” of the students in addition to male/female,” DU Registrar said, in a communication to all department heads and college principals.
The varsity had last year announced inclusion of transgender in admission forms for post-graduate courses.
The Delhi High Court today sought a response of the city government on a plea seeking a complete ban on use of un-licensed loudspeakers in shrines and mosques which allegedly affects the health of people through noise pollution.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also asked the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi Police Commissioner to explain whether there is any law which controls the increasing menace of noise pollution.
Concept of marital rape cannot be applied in India as marriage is treated as a sacrament or sacred as per mindset of the Indian society, government today said.
“It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors, including level of education, illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament,” Minister of State for Home, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said.
A YSR Congress leader from Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh accused in a triple murder case was allegedly hacked to death today by unidentified persons, police said.
Protesting against the incident, YSR Congress Party workers allegedly ransacked a Tahsildar’s office and set two bikes on fire, they said.
“Prasad Reddy was murdered by unidentified persons. He was an accused in a triple murder case of 2003. Police suspect his murder was in retaliation to that incident,” Anantapur district Superintendent of Police Rajsekhar Babu said.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) right-arm spinner Sunil Narine has been banned from bowling off-spinners in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) for a suspected illegal action, a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) release said on Wednesday.
He is, however, free to bowl using his other deliveries in his arsenal, the release added. He was also not banned from appearing for his IPL team in the ongoing tournament.
The Bombay High Court today declined to stay provisions of a recent Maharashtra law which prohibits possession, transportation and consumption of meat of cow, bulls and bullocks even if the animals have been slaughtered outside Maharashtra.
A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade was of the view that no stay can be given until the final hearing of a bunch of petitions challenging the beef ban which was fixed on June 25.
Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal, ex-minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and 12 others were today chargesheeted by the CBI before a special court in a coal blocks allocation scam case.
Besides them, former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and five firms, including Jindal Steel and Power and Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, have also been chargesheeted as accused in the case.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum in Jharkhand in 2008.
Underlining that India’s engagement with Afghanistan has neither an expiry date nor a timeline, President Pranab Mukherjee has said the relations between the two countries go beyond political and strategic considerations.
In his speech at the banquet hosted in the honour of Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani yesterday, Mukherjee said India is Afghanistan’s first strategic partner.
“Our engagement with Afghanistan… has neither an expiry date nor a timeline. As a friend and neighbour, India will always stand firmly beside Afghanistan,” the President said.
No woman would allow her husband to establish physical relations with another in her presence, a Delhi court has said while acquitting a man of the charge of raping his widowed sister-in-law in front of his wife.
“It is improbable that the wife of accused would keep on gagging the mouth of the woman at the time of the alleged rape …No wife in this world would like or allow her husband to make physical relation with another woman in her presence,” Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain said while absolving the man of the offences of rape and criminal intimidation.
The Germanwings crash has left permanent scars on parent airline Lufthansa, its chief executive told shareholders at their annual meeting today, which started with a minute’s silence to honour the dead.
“This tragedy has changed us and the scars that it has left on our company will remain forever,” CEO Carsten Spohr told some 2,000 shareholders in the northern German port city of Hamburg.
A jet from Germanwings, the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, crashed in the French Alps on March 24 — apparently in a deliberate act by the co-pilot — killing all 150 people on board.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Telangana next month to meet families of farmers who allegedly committed suicide, a senior party leader from the state said on Tuesday.
Gandhi’s visit is likely to take place either in the second or third week of May, Telangana Congress Committee Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka told PTI here.
He said the 44-year-old Amethi MP would console the families of farmers who allegedly ended their lives apparently due to agrarian distress.
Bruce Jenner’s upcoming 8-part docuseries will contain the star’s hilarious struggle to play golf with breast as it is very new to him.
The former Olympian loves to play golf, but his docuseries will showcase that now the star is facing some problems to play golf as he is developing breast that creates hindrance while playing the game, TMZ.com reported.
In view of rumours surrounding an Indian conglomerate’s attempt to start a possible rebel league, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations chief executive, Tony Irish, has said that the mainstream cricket should be ‘on their toes’ to keep their players away from being lured to an another potential T20 league.
Earlier in the week, Indian business giant Essel Group reportedly tried to set up mysterious registration of a company- New Zealand Cricket Limited-and has already registered the companies in Australia as well as in other Test playing nations.
Telanagana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today said the state government would build houses for the two lakh poor people in the city who have no shelter of their own.
The ‘Intensive Household Survey’ conducted by the state government last year revealed that two lakh people do not have houses of their own in the city.
Rao, who reviewed poor people housing in Hyderabad today, said the government’s aim is to see that not even a single poor man remains in Hyderabad without housing, according to a release from his office.
Technology to predict earthquakes has not been developed yet, government on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha as members expressed concern over the massive destruction caused by the recent temblor in Nepal and wondered whether the disaster could be forecast.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday declined to suspend certain provisions of a recent Maharashtra law banning beef consumption, its possession or transportation even when slaughtered outside the state.
A division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice M.S. Sonak felt no suspension could be granted till the final hearing of a bunch of public interest litigations challenging the ban on beef in the state, and fixed the next hearing for June 25.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on his foreign trips and said farmers producing grain are also part of the ‘Make in India’.
“I was in Punjab yesterday (Tuesday) and met farmers at the mandis (markets)… Farmers are crying and Haryana agriculture minister says those who commit suicide are cowards,” Rahul Gandhi said, raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour.
“Government says there should be ‘Make in India’… It is our government, your government, but not farmers’ government,” he said.
D Harika and Koneru Humpy came up with fine individual performances to win a silver and a bronze, respectively, even as the Indian eves finished fourth in the women’s world team chess championship.
Harika’s silver and Humpy’s bronze though were a big consolation for the team, overall it was a disappointing show by the Indian girls given the missed opportunities. The medal for the team was always within reach, but it failed to finish off well.
Government has not taken any initiative for framing an anti-conversion law in the country, Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday.
“The Central government has not initiated any discussion with the political parties, religious leaders on the matter of framing an anti-conversion legislation,” Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said replying a written question.
The construction of the USD 10-billion TAPI gas pipeline project will be completed in the next five years, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said today.
Ghani also invited the Indian industry to invest in production of fertilisers and chemicals by tapping the natural gas from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
The ambitious Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline was expected to be operational in 2018.
“We have a framework for transmitting with the pipelines from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan to Pakistan to India. But I invite you to another alternative.
Kashmir High Court Bar Association on Wednesday opposed the state government’s plan of setting aside 50 acres of land to construct a separate township for Kashmiri Pandits, arguing that such a move would create a wedge between the returning migrants and the locals.
“The promised earmarking of 50 acres of land as the first instalment for rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits is strongly denounced, criticised and opposed,” the lawyers’ body said after its general body meeting here.
Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday gave a call for ‘Rail Roko’ on May 2 for one hour in protest against the alleged open loot of farmers in the mandis in the state.
Giving the protest call, Bajwa held the Parkash Singh Badal-led government responsible for plight of farmers. “The farmers continued to be harassed in the mandis and the procurement was tardy,” he said, adding, ‘Rail Roko’ (train blockade) was the first phase of the ‘Jan Andolan’ being launched by the party against “anti-people” policies of the Badal government.
Two Nigerians were arrested by Andhra Pradesh police for allegedly duping a Chittoor resident of Rs 7.5 lakh in a case of online lottery fraud popularly known as Nigerian Fraud.
Chinna Bayaanagari Sankar Reddy of Chittoor district lodged a complaint with police stating that he was cheated by some unknown fraudsters in the name of winning an online lottery wherein the accused persons extracted an amount of Rs 7.5 lakh on the pretext of processing fee, currency conversion charges etc., police said on Wednesday.