Two brothers arrested in connection with a recent incident of sacrilege in Faridkot were released on Monday, with police now saying there was not enough evidence against them.
'It was very clear that there would be violence if the verdict was not what they wanted.' 'Then why did they allow his followers to gather here in such huge numbers?'
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday appealed to self-styled godman Sant Rampal to present himself before the court in a "peaceful manner", saying one must give utmost priority to uphold the dignity of the judicial system.
'It was a nice experience and I felt on cloud nine when I scored the goal'
'There are many questions that come to mind as we consider the reality of India and what Indians will be expected to do from the time this lockdown is opened up,' notes Aakar Patel.
Authorities have put almost the entire country under lockdown, banning gathering of people and suspending road, rail and air traffic till March 31.
The usually busy Greater Noida expressway is empty except small groups of commuters that gather at its sidelines, seeking lift from every passing vehicle.
Hurriyat Conference leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Bilal Lone were on Thursday manhandled allegedly by a group of Kashmiri Pandit activists who stormed a seminar being attended by them in Chandigarh.
Neither Union agriculture minister nor junior ministers were present to hear our concerns. We asked why the minister is not meeting us, why the government is playing double standards by calling us here and ministers holding virtual meetings in Punjab. There was no proper response," Darshan Pal, member of the coordination committee of 29 farmers' organisations, said after the meeting.
"Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency imparted the training to Gurpreet Singh," said Punjab Director-General of Police N P S Aulakh. Gurpreet Singh and two other suspected Babbar Khalsa militants were arrested near the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar on December 25. Aulakh said that Gurpreet went to Pakistan with a jatha of Sikh pilgrims and he was trained with another terrorist Harminder Singh. Gurpreet returned in mid-2007 to revive the terrorist module in the state.
The Union health ministry officials also said India was at the second stage as there is still no 'hard evidence' to say that there has been community transmission of the fast-spreading coronavirus, remarks which may provide anxious citizens with much needed assurance and hope.
Protests were held in many cities across the country. So far, no one has been arrested for the attack on students and teachers at JNU even as clamour for resignation of the V-C grew.
In a shocking incident, a 40-year-old woman was allegedly raped by two Haryana Armed Police personnel and a civilian near Governor A R Kidwai's official residence in Chandigarh in the wee hours of Thursday.
Moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faced protests from members of BJP's student wing who hurled eggs at his vehicle in Kolkata and diplayed banners, prompting police to arrest 25 of them, three days after he was heckled by right-wing activists in Chandigarh.
The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to former Haryana director general of police SPS Rathore who was sentenced to an 18-month jail term in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case.Ruchika, 14, a budding tennis player, had committed suicide three years after being molested by Rathore on August 12, 1990. A sessions court had on May 25 enhanced Rathore's jail term from six months to one-and-a-half years while allowing the plea of Central Bureau of Investigation.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
A contempt plea alleged that incidents of mob lynching and vigilantism were taking place despite the apex court verdict in this regard.
A senior police officer said that DNA mapping would take 35 to 45 days.
SPS Rathore's counsel on Wednesday told a court in Chandigarh hearing his plea challenging his conviction in the Ruchika molestation case that Aradhana, the prime witness in the case, was planted against the former Haryana director general of police due to rivalry between two lawn tennis associations of Panchkula.
Former Haryana Director General of Police SPS Rathore would have to undergo his 18-month prison term with the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday dismissing his plea challenging the sentence awarded to him for molesting 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra about 20 years back.
The state government has decided to open the retail liquor vends throughout the state barring in coronavirus 'containment zones', Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said.
North India was shaken by an earthquake of 5.7 magnitude on Richter Scale this evening but there was no immediate report of any loss of life or property. The quake occurred at 5:02 pm, the Indian Meteorological Department said.
A total of 77 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 27 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, 17 from Gujarat, 11 from West Bengal, seven each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, three from Delhi, two from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and one from Karnataka.
The two, identified as Huzaifa of Abhinandan Bag Centre and the shop manager Poonam Singh Thakur, were taken to Panipat or Chandigarh after seeking permission of the court for further probe.
Security forces in Amritsar and other areas of the state have been asked to remain on alert ahead of the 31st anniversary of Operation Bluestar on Saurday.
After being stripped of his police medal, SPS Rathore's pension has been witheld completely in another blow to the disgraced ex-DGP of Haryana jailed for molesting minor girl Ruchika Girhotra.
The Central Bureau of Investigation that has begun its investigation into all fresh cases filed against former Director General of Police SPS Rathore relating to the molestation of Ruchika Girhotra, will meet with Ruchika's father Subhash Chander Girhotra along with her friend Aradhana's father Anand Prakash at their Chandigarh camp office on Friday.
Justice Jagdeep Singh read out the verdict as soon as the special CBI Court began the hearing on the case on Friday.
A court in Chandigarh on Thursday will pronounce its verdict on former Haryana director general of police S P S Rathore''s plea challenging his conviction in Ruchika molestation case.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate Prerna Puri on Thursday submitted her report of the inquiry into the alleged expulsion of Ruchika Girhotra from the Sacred Heart School in Chandigarh to the Union Territory Administration.
The deadline given by the Haryana police to controversial 'godman' Rampal to surrender and his followers to vacate his ashram has ended. Police said that water and electricity connection to the ashram have been cut off.
The Chandigarh Administration has ordered a probe against the school which had expelled Ruchika Girhotra after her molestation by former Haryana Director General of Police S P S Rathore. The probe, ordered by Education Secretary Ram Niwas, has been initiated to ascertain the causes which led to the expulsion of then 14-year old Ruchika, official sources said in Chandigarh on Monday.
Chronology of events in the Jessica Lal murder case
A local court in Chandigarh will hear the petitions of disgraced former Haryana director general of police S P S Rathore on a day-to-day basis from May 3 challenging his conviction for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra and of Central Bureau of Investigation and the victim's family seeking enhancement of his six months sentence.
The strident support from the hotels comes at a time when the industry is itself caught off guard with a sharp dip in both in-bound traffic from foreign markets, reduced domestic traction as well as a total shut-down of MICE business that has led the country top players by market cap to lose over half their value in just a little over a month.
Harinder Singh Bains, the Sikh-American, who helped police capture the man wanted for the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, said he feared he might have been mistaken as the perpetrator because of the misconceptions about his faith.
Army was on Friday called in for deployment in eight districts of Haryana after one person was killed and 21 were injured in police action as Jat stir for quota turned violent and the rampaging mobs set ablaze the house of state's Finance Minister besides several government and private properties.
Disgraced former Haryana director general of police SPS Rathore, who was sentenced to 18-months in prison by a Chandigarh court in the Ruchika molestation case, on Wednesday filed a review petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court and sought bail. Rathore's lawyer-wife Abha Rathore filed the review petition on his behalf in the court of Justice S S Saron. She alleged that the appellate court had on Tuesday passed the order 'under media pressure'.
A sessions court in Chandigarh on Thursday deferred the pronouncement of the verdict on the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case to May 25. Former Haryana director general of police S P S Rathore has been accused of molesting the teenager 20 years ago. Faced with constant harassment by the state police and authorities, Ruchika had committed suicide three years later. Rathore was convicted of molesting Ruchika on December 21, 2009.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda indicated on Saturday that a first information report under abetment to suicide complaint filed two days ago by Ruchika's brother might be registered once investigations are completed.
