Showbiz celebrities and others are speaking up for the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and killed in Kathua three months ago. An enraged nation demanded "exemplary punishment" for the culprits of the crime, even as the politics over the arrest of eight people in connection with the case continued to dominate the discourse in this city of temples. While Thursday saw Farhan Akhtar, Riteish Deshmukh, Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan fire off tweets condemning the incident, female artistes took the torch on Friday. Actresses Swara Bhasker, Kalki Koechlin, Huma Qureshi and Gul Panag were among many who posted pictures of themselves as 'Hindustan', ashamed at the incidents.
Seven terrorists have been holed up since Tuesday afternoon.
He said over 30 people were detained for questioning during searches in 30 Rohingya settlements in Jammu city.
"The charge that the two ministers were pro-rapist is absolutely wrong. It was sheer indiscretion on their part," Madhav said.
'It cannot go unpunished,' he said on Twitter.
'Loss of faith in the fairness of the system and the perception that one cannot expect justice are the first few steps to the slippery slope of anarchy,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The father of the victim informed the court that he was withdrawing the agreement given in favour of Rajawat as she seldom appeared during the daily hearings which have been going on for the last five months.
The president said he was hopeful that "all among us will fulfill the responsibility of securing our girl child".
Singh was under investigation by the federal agency as part of the case lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against an educational trust run by his wife and former legislator Kanta Andotra, they said.
The residents of Phule Malwadi hope this desperate act will draw attention to their problem.
The crime branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, probing the gang rape-and-murder case, sent a sample of her viscera to a forensic laboratory earlier this month to examine the effect of "mannar" candies (believed to be local cannabis) and Epitril 0.5 mg tablets, administered to the girl by her captors.
Stepping up ceasefire violations, Pakistani Rangers on Friday night resorted to heavy mortar shelling and firing on 8 BSF posts along the Indo-Pak border in Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, forcing a strong retaliation from the Indian side.
The incident comes days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had assured the safety of all migrant workers in the southern state.
They said a massive search operation has been launched to trace any weapon or explosive that it might have dropped.
The body of a junior commissioned officer was retrieved from a stream in the Poshana area of Surankote late Saturday evening, while the body of a second soldier was found this morning as the water level started receding in the district.
Gandhi donned a black raincoat over a white T-shirt. The yatra was scheduled to start at 7 am but was delayed by an hour and fifteen minutes apparently due to the inclement weather.
An accused in the rape-and-murder case, who was earlier said to be a juvenile, is over 19 years old, the official said, quoting medical reports.
Investigators say the aim of the kidnapping was to scare and drive away the nomadic Gujjar and Bakarwal communities from the Hindu dominated area.
The incident occurred ahead of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas for which security has been tightened.
Four more Congress leaders, including former deputy speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly Gulam Hyder Malik, and a dozen prominent workers of the Apni Party resigned from their respective parties on Monday in support of veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Yatri Niwas Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu serves as the main base camp for the pilgrims from across the country.
A gazette notification was issued after the panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, signed the final order giving Jammu six additional seats and one more to Kashmir.
Modi said social justice is not a lip service for the government but a commitment.
The Congress will launch a two-month door-to-door campaign across India from next week to spread Rahul Gandhi's message among the masses, senior leader Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.
Seerat Naaz's video appeal to the prime minister last week, which was shared widely on social media, prompted Director of School Education, Jammu, Ravi Shankar Sharma to visit the government school located in the remote Lohai-Malhar block.
The Congress said the foot march, being led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, will proceed according to its schedule and reach Jammu on Monday afternoon.
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday booked Varinder Singh, suspected to be the bodyguard of the fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, under the Arms Act in connection with a gun licence issued to him in Kishtwar district, officials said.
Deepu Kumar (27) was expecting his first child in June but his life was cut short in a terror attack in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, leaving his poor family without its sole breadwinner.
The cross-country foot march stayed in the news almost right through, mostly for the barbs between the BJP and the Congress and occasionally for other reasons, including infighting in the opposition party.
A police spokesman said the attacker was riding pillion on a bike that stopped near the wine shop at Dewan Bagh in Baramulla around 8.30 pm.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Eid prayers passed off peacefully and there was no report of any untoward incident, the police said.
Fadnavis on Saturday said the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP coalition in Maharashtra is a legitimate government.
He said the case was cracked within three days with the arrest of a 'recycled' terrorist with five more improvised explosive devices in his possession, including three ready-to-use sticky bombs.
The statement of the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office comes on the heels of India issuing a notice to Pakistan seeking a review and modification of the IWT in view of Islamabad's "intransigence" in complying with the dispute redressal mechanism of the pact that was inked over six decades ago for sharing of waters of cross-border rivers.
In a video now viral on Facebook, the little girl from the Lohai-Malhar village in Kathua district of Jammu voices an adorable wish to Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- "Please Modi ji, ek achhi si school banwa do na (Please Modiji, build a nice school for us)".
Abdullah said both Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims suffered and even his workers and ministers were killed in large numbers since the eruption of terrorism.
It has met 20 such delegations and members of the public from Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Kathua and Doda districts.
The Northern Railways said it has cancelled around 17 trains and diverted around 12 others, while traffic has been suspended at four locations due to waterlogging.
He said the purpose of Gandhi's Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir is to remove the hatred and fear and not to unite the opposition parties under the banner of his party.
The official said the firing and mortar shelling from the Pakistani side started around 1 am and continued for over four-and-a-half hours.
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