The government has terminated the services of three Indian Air Force officers for lapses that led to the firing of a Brahmos missile from a base in Haryana in March this year, which landed in Pakistan near the town of Mian Channu. According to reports, the three officers are of the ranks of Group Captain, Wing Commander, and Squadron Leader.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana today said it would look into a request to take up for urgent hearing petitions challenging remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. Meanwhile, hearing a plea seeking a ban on the ‘freebie culture’ during elections, the top court said a debate on the matter was needed for the welfare of the country. During the hearing, the court also took exception to remarks made by Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
A bench headed by the CJI said Yoga guru Baba Ramdev must “refrain (from) accusing the other systems” of medicine. The court was hearing a plea by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) accusing Ramdev of carrying out a smear campaign against modern medicine and vaccination.
The top court today also referred to a five-judge Constitution bench the petitions filed by the two factions of the Shiv Sena — one led by Uddhav Thackeray and the other by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The court also asked the Election Commission to refrain from deciding on the Shinde faction’s petitions, seeking to be recognised as the real Shiv Sena and being granted its poll symbol. Meanwhile, under relentless attack by the Opposition by being called gaddar (traitors) for allegedly taking money to switch sides, Shinde said he too can bring out records of those slamming him and his faction.
Controversial Telangana BJP MLA Thakur Raja Singh Lodh was arrested today for remarks allegedly directed against Prophet Mohammed, the Hyderabad police said. Hours later, the BJP suspended the MLA. Singh made the remarks in a video while attacking stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui. While Singh tried to defend it as a “comedy video”, saying he made no mention of the Prophet, police registered cases against him after protests by Muslim organisations. Read Sreenivas Janyala’s report on the BJP MLA has more than 75 FIRs against him, mostly related to hate speeches, violation of curfew orders, and disruption of law and order.
Justice UD Salvi (retired), who convicted the 11 men in the Bilkis Bano rape case during the 2002 Gujarat riots, today stated that the Gujarat government should have taken into consideration the gravity of the offenses committed by the convicts before granting them remission. “I do not know how the government made this decision. Since the prosecution agency was the CBI, the state government would have had to take the opinion of the central government as well. However, I don’t know if this was done either. And, if the state government did approach the Centre, it is unclear as to what the Centre’s response was,” he said.
Haryana BJP leader and actress Sonali Phogat died of a heart attack in Goa at the age of 42. She began her professional career in 2006 as an anchor in Hisar Doordarshan and two years later, joined the BJP’s national working committee where she was appointed the national vice-president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha. A look at Sonali’s career, rise to fame, and run-ins with controversies.
Political Pulse
He will walk some 20-odd km every day with a select band of around 150 workers, sleep in makeshift containers, and interact with people from all walks of life. The arduous 3,570-km yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir that Rahul Gandhi is set to embark on from September 7 is the longest such campaign in his nearly two-decade political career and the biggest mass contact programme his party has undertaken in decades. However, the Congress is not just walking the talk, it is also walking the tightrope on the yatra, traversing 12 states over 150 days: it does not want the march to be seen as yet another attempt at image makeover of the Gandhi family scion, and wants to send a message that the yatra is not just any other party programme but meant to include all walks of life. Manoj CG reports.
From The Urdu Press: Highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech urging the citizens not to do anything that lowers the dignity of women, the Urdu dailies asked the PM to turn his resolve into reality by intervening in the Bilkis Bano case and ensuring that the convicts are sent back to prison. Flagging the death of Jalore’s Dalit boy, who was assaulted by his upper-caste teacher for drinking water from his pot, the dailies drew an analogy with similar outrages recounted by the iconic B R Ambedkar. The alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s liquor policy and the rejig in BJP’s parliamentary board were also covered prominently by the Urdu dailies this week.
Express Explained
The protest against the construction of the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram intensified on Monday, with fishermen laying siege to the port, from sea and land. The protest, which has already completed a week, is expected to continue. So, why are the fishermen protesting? What are their demands? We explain.
The Finance Ministry on Monday released the Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Rules, 2022 subsuming extant regulations for Overseas Investments and Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property Outside India Regulations, 2015. What are the tweaks in overseas investment norms? What are the prohibitions for overseas investments? Read here.