The Congress-led UDF secured a decisive victory in Kerala's local body elections, dealing a blow to the LDF, while the BJP gained significant ground, including winning control of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
He was also sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment each and a fine of Rs 50,000 each under sections 5(f) (penetrative sexual assault on a child) and 5(l) (penetrative sexual assault on a child more than once) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Kerala government announces its decision to appeal against the acquittal of Malayalam actor Dileep in the actress assault case, citing incomplete justice for the survivor. The court found six others guilty. The decision follows reactions from political leaders, film industry figures, and the public.
Joshi Kaithavalappil, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) president of St Rita's Public School, told PTI that the DDE's report was submitted without a proper inquiry. "We have decided to approach the Kerala high court against the report. It was prepared without hearing from the school management or the PTA properly or assessing the situation. Our lawyer will soon file a petition challenging its findings," he said.
'When you attend an RSS function, the nation is your first priority.'
The Chhattisgarh State Women Commission has directed the Director General of Police to file FIRs based on complaints from three women who allege assault and molestation by Bajrang Dal workers. The women were initially involved in a human trafficking and forced conversion case.
A Liberian cargo ship carrying 640 containers, including 13 hazardous cargoes, has sunk off the coast of Kerala, raising concerns of environmental damage. The ship, MSC ELSA 3, capsized and sank in the early hours of May 25 after listing rapidly. The three remaining crew members were rescued by the Indian Navy. The Indian Coast Guard is monitoring the situation for any oil spills and has positioned a ship with pollution response equipment at the scene. The ship was carrying 84.44 MT of diesel and 367.1 MT of furnace oil, in addition to the hazardous cargo. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has cautioned the public against touching any cargo containers or oil spills that may wash ashore.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in Madhya Pradesh to investigate the deaths of 14 children in Chhindwara, suspected to be linked to a toxic cough syrup. The investigation includes arrests, exhumations, and a ban on the implicated cough syrup.
The chief minister's office said the special team will be headed by IG Sparjan Kumar and will include four senior women IPS officers of the state.
A new report, "India Justice Report 2025", highlights the stark gender disparity in India's police force, with less than 1,000 women holding senior positions like Director-Generals and Superintendents of Police. Despite growing awareness about the need for gender diversity in law enforcement, not a single state or Union Territory has met its target for women's representation in the police force. The report also emphasizes the significant challenges faced by the justice system as a whole, including infrastructural deficiencies, overcrowding in prisons, and inadequate staffing levels. The report calls for systemic reforms to address these issues and ensure a more equitable and accessible justice system for all.
'I wanted to go for the heart, and at the same time, open the audience's mind.'
According to a situation report issued by the DGS, the oil containment measures have temporarily stabilised the situation, but full risk mitigation will happen only on successful commencement of saturation diving to extract the remaining trapped fuel oil from the vessel, MSC Elsa 3.
Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the third consecutive day on Thursday for questioning in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a 2008 Haryana land deal. The ED has been investigating Vadra in connection with a land deal in Haryana's Manesar-Shikohpur, where a company he was a director of purchased land from Onkareshwar Properties and later sold it to DLF for a significantly higher price. The case has been embroiled in controversy since 2012, with allegations of corruption and nepotism surrounding the deal. The ED is expected to file chargesheets in all three cases being investigated against Vadra.
The fraud is alleged to have caused a Rs 65 crore loss to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in connection with a 2008 land deal in Haryana linked to a money laundering case. Vadra, who was accompanied by his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, was questioned for about five hours and his statement was recorded by the ED. The session will resume on Wednesday. Vadra has termed the ED action "political vendetta." The probe against Vadra is linked to a land deal in Haryana's Manesar-Shikohpur, where a company named Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, of which Vadra was a director, purchased a 3.5-acre land in 2008. The company later sold the land to realty major DLF in 2012, which led to controversy after an IAS officer cancelled the mutation, deeming the transaction as violative of state consolidation Act and related procedures.
A rape case has been registered against Malayalam actor Sidhique following a female actor's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2016, the police said on Wednesday.
The revised salaries of MPs are significantly lower than the salaries drawn by top bureaucrats in the country.
Amid widespread outrage over the brutal ragging incident at the Government Nursing College in Kottayam, the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council (KNMC) on Saturday decided to bar all five accused students from continuing their studies.
'In my 26 years at Raj Bhavan, working with more than ten governors, I can tell you C P Radhakrishnan Sir stands out.'
Even as political pressure was building against Ranjith, actor Siddique quit as the general secretary of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) amid voices from within his fraternity seeking his resignation.
The repatriation orders for the two Indian Police Service officers come in the backdrop of a spate of terror incidents in the Jammu region, along the India-Pakistan border.
On a day a sexual abuse case was registered against actor Siddique based on a complaint by a woman actor, the Left government appears to have adopted a cautious approach in the case of MLA Mukesh, with two ministers indicating that further action hinges on the findings of the probe by the special police team.
Vadra has been questioned multiple times by the federal probe agency in a different money laundering case.
Narivetta takes its cue from real-life incidents and fictionalises the ordeal through the experiences of a young cop caught in the crossfire between the police and tribals up in arms, notes Arjun Menon.
The director general of police in Kerala, Jacob Punnose, and the state assistant director general of police have received a threat by email that there would be massive explosions in three major cities of Kerala -- Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
The Congress party has criticized the Modi government for appointing Dr Shaija A, a professor at NIT-Calicut, as Dean despite a pending police case against her for allegedly praising Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi's assassin. The party alleges this appointment is part of a larger pattern by the government to "appropriate Gandhi, glorify Godse". The appointment has sparked protests from political parties, including DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI(M). Shaija was questioned by police last year after making a comment on social media expressing "pride" in Godse for assassinating Gandhi. The appointment is for two years, until further orders.
The fallout from the Justice K Hema Committee report on harassment and abuse in the Malayalam film industry intensified on Monday as a case was filed against well-known filmmaker Ranjith, and several female actors stepped forward with disturbing accounts of the mistreatment they faced at the hands of their various male counterparts.
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
A Kerala police team probing the antecedents of Raghav Rajan, whom the police believe to be Bitihotra Mohanti, the rape convict son of a former Odisha Director General of police, on Friday said his certificate from a private university in Bhubaneshwar was fake.
The Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties 'ordering' them to 'withdraw' the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and warned that 'legal action' will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat.
The exit deadline for Pakistani nationals visiting India on SAARC visas ended on April 26, while for the rest, except those on medical visas, it is set to close on Sunday, April 27 amid escalating tensions between the two countries over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
However, there were conflicting reports about the number of blasts as state ministers VN Vasavan and Antony Raju said there were two blasts, while Congress MP from Ernakulam, Hibi Eden, said there were multiple blasts according to one of his friends who attended the convention.
The senior police officer said the four, after interrogation, revealed their roles and that the police now knows all the participants, conspirators and collaborators involved in the killing of the RSS leader.
Top police officers of six Naxal affected states -- Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odissa, Jharkhand and Kerala -- met in Kochi on Saturday to consider the threat posed by explosives to security personnel and to suggest amending of the Explosives Act.
Breaking his silence over the matter, Vijayan on Tuesday sounded tough and said a high-level probe by a top-ranking officer would be held into the charges raised by the MLA.
Observing that such incidents cannot be expected in a civilised society, where a human being is killed in the name of a ritual without any fear of law, the NHRC said the right to life of the victims has been grossly violated.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
The Congress led United Democratic Front government is likely to set about a major reshuffle in the state police department, highly placed sources in the chief minister's office said.
At a time when none in Kerala's Left politics questioned the chief minister's authority, MLA P V Anvar hurled a series of accusations against Pinarayi Vijayan's government, notes Shyam G Menon.
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