North Zone IG Neeraj Kumar Gupta said the man, who was a beggar, is suspected to have done the act "due to mental trauma", as he could not get any money from begging in the state.
The India meteorological department said heatwave conditions will persist for at least two more days.
The couple-Rajan, 47, and his wife Ambili, 40, natives of Nellimoodu at nearby Neyyattinkara- succumbed to burns at the government medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram after they sustained multiple organ failure on Monday.
Kerala high court on Thursday held that freedom of speech and expression available to the press and media could not trample on the right to dignity, reputation and privacy available to the citizen, especially when reporting about criminal investigations or cases pending before various courts.
'I am a non-resident Indian. I didn't come to India to shine a light on its negative aspects.' 'I came to India to showcase what I think are remarkable aspects of India and Indians on a global scale.'
It will be interesting to see what shifts have been recorded in the last decade-and-a-half -- from the effects of demonetisation and Covid's second wave to the drop in fertility and increase in farm workers -- but we will only know this if and when the Census is conducted, points out Aakar Patel.
Empuraan promises a world of geo-political intrigue, drug wars and action spectacle all rolled into one, observes Arjun Menon.
Opposition parties in India's Rajya Sabha, including the Congress and the TMC, walked out of the chamber after their demand for a discussion on the Election Commission's alleged lapses in issuing duplicate voter ID cards and delimitation was disallowed. The Deputy Chairman, Harivansh, rejected the notices under Rule 267, citing non-compliance with previous rulings. While TMC and Congress MPs focused on the duplicate voter ID issue, Tamil parties expressed concerns about the impact of delimitation on southern states. Despite raising slogans and pressing for a discussion, the opposition staged a walkout after their notices were rejected and their statements deemed not part of the official record.
As the controversy over Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt's remarks refused to die down, the chief minister said the Kerala society as a whole has not agreed with the Bishop's statement and expressed hope that he would "respond", sensing the stand of the public on the issue.
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.
L2: Empuraan is an ambitious sequel that is bigger, bolder and timid in equal measure, observes Arjun Menon.
A strong demand was made in the Lok Sabha to eliminate online betting and gambling applications. YSRCP member Maddila Gurumoorthy urged the government to set up a dedicated task force to take action against betting and gambling apps. He also asked the government to draft regulations for such applications and launch awareness campaigns about the dangers of online betting. Other issues raised included deposit insurance coverage for bank depositors, representation of Scheduled Castes in the Kerala government, challenges faced by nurses, and the need for paramilitary forces in Jharkhand during upcoming Hindu festivals.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna has assured bar leaders that he will consider their demand for withdrawal of the collegium's recommendation to transfer Delhi High Court's Justice Yashwant Varma. The decision came after representatives of six bar associations of different high courts met with the CJI and other collegium members. The bar associations are protesting the proposed repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent high court, alleging that the evidence in a fire incident at his residence was tampered with. The bar associations have also raised concerns about the non-registration of an FIR in the incident.
A Kerala court on Tuesday sentenced to death 15 persons associated with the now-banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party OBC wing leader Ranjith Sreenivasan in this district in 2021, the special prosecutor of the case said in Alappuzha.
In a crowded courtroom, the judge declared that Alam should be hanged to death for the killing of the girl, also from Bihar.
While granting the time, the court also noted that contents of the application moved by the agency for extension of time was published in the print media even before it was filed in the high court or even seen by it.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notices to the Kerala government and the victim in the case and sought their replies within two weeks.
Besides Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (punishment for murder) and Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act, relevant sections of the UAPA have also been invoked against the accused, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) official told reporters in Kochi.
The court directed police to provide protection for the "smooth functioning" of the college in order to conduct the admission process.
The NIA, on March 17, filed a charge sheet against 59 accused, including the PFI as an organisation, in a case registered last year.
The police search comes just a couple of days after a group of SFI activists allegedly trespassed into the Kochi office of the news channel and intimidated the staff.
Rekhachitram is the latest in an assembly line of films that use the period setting and mythic allure of the past to drive home the suspense of relatively straightforward genre stories, notes Arjun Menon.
Arjun Menon looks at 2024's top Web series from South India.
The investigating team, which has been granted custody of Shahrukh Saifi, had on April 12 taken him to Kannur for collecting evidence from the two train coaches of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train in which he had set fire to some passengers leading to the death of three persons, including a two-year old child.
The top court also took note of the fact that the complaint in the case was filed in August, eight years after the alleged incident took place in 2016.
The Indian government has informed Parliament that there are currently over 10,000 Indian prisoners, including undertrials, in foreign jails. The Ministry of External Affairs shared country-wise data, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE having the highest number of Indian prisoners. The government has assured that it prioritizes the safety and well-being of Indians abroad and provides consular assistance, legal aid, and financial support to those imprisoned.
The CPI-M's allegations were termed a political conspiracy by the opposition Congress which accused the Left party of stooping low to target its political opponents.
Arivandakshan's arrest is the first of a political person in the alleged scam in which several political functionaries of the CPM are under scanner, they said.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has criticized the BJP for its allegations that elements in the American "deep state" were behind attempts to destabilize India, saying this "attack-dog" behavior is an embarrassment to India. Tharoor's comments come after the US rejected the BJP's allegations, describing them as "disappointing" and asserting that the US government is a champion of media freedom. The BJP had alleged that the US deep state colluded with the media portal OCCRP and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to "damage" India's image.
Ashfaq Alam had been in jail for one month in connection with the crime committed in New Delhi and later came out on bail, Aluva Rural Superintendent of Police Vivek Kumar told reporters in Kochi.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on September 30 the plea of Malayalam film actor Sidhique challenging the Kerala high court order denying him anticipatory bail in a rape case.
'The first and most basic responsibility of any government is to protect its people from external threats and internal harm.' 'Budget 2025-2026 has to focus on meeting this responsibility,' asserts R Jagannathan.
MLA of the ruling CPI-M and actor M Mukesh was on Tuesday formally arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the rape case against him on a complaint by a female actor.
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.
The two women, who had earned their daily bread selling lottery tickets on the streets of Kochi, were allegedly sacrificed by the accused to settle their financial issues and bring prosperity in life, police said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches against Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, the single biggest donor to political parties with over Rs 1,300 crore in electoral bonds, as part of a money laundering investigation. The action comes after the Madras High Court allowed the ED to proceed against Martin following a police decision to close the initial FIR against him.
In a significant ruling, the Kerala high court on Fridday said that being a Maoist is not a crime and police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist.
Senior advocate S Muralidhar, appearing for the petitioner on whose plea the verdict was delivered, said a prayer in the application sought non-hinderance to the exercise of the NCRB data collection by the direction of caste reference removal from the registers.
The man was caught from near the Aluva bridge on Thursday evening where he was drinking alcohol. The suspect attempted to escape from the police by jumping into the nearby river and swimming away, but was caught with the help of local residents and pulled out of the water.
The Kerala high court on Tuesday dismissed actor Dileep's plea opposing further probe in the 2017 actress assault case and permitted the Crime Branch to go ahead with its investigation.
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