'A director's actor, if I had told her to jump from a building, she would probably have.' 'But I only told her to jump off a running train...'
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail pleas of three convicts serving life term in the 2002 Godhra train burning case, which plunged Gujarat into one of the worst communal riots, terming it a "very serious incident".
The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear on January 15 the appeals filed by the Gujarat government and several other convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
Zafar Ali, the president of the Shahi Jama Masjid committee in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Sunday in connection with the violence that erupted in November 2022 over a court-ordered survey of the mosque. Ali's brother alleged that the arrest was intended to prevent him from submitting his testimony before a judicial commission investigating the violence. The mosque has been at the center of a controversy after a petition claimed it was the site of an ancient Hindu temple. The violence resulted in four deaths and several injuries.
The high court upheld total 31 convictions in the case and commuted the death penalties of the 11 convicts to life term, Mehta said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has brought back Salman Rehman Khan, an alleged member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, from Rwanda. Khan was wanted by the NIA for terror-related offences in Bengaluru. He was traced to Rwanda and returned to India on November 28, 2024. The return of Khan comes after similar operations in coordination with Interpol, where two other accused were brought back from Saudi Arabia.
Four students, including an Indian, at Michigan public universities have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and immigration officials, alleging their student immigration status was unlawfully terminated. The lawsuit claims the students' status in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) was illegally terminated without proper notice or explanation. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, representing the students, says they were targeted by the Trump administration without a valid reason. The lawsuit seeks to reinstate the students' status to allow them to complete their studies and avoid the risk of detention and deportation. The case is part of a growing trend of lawsuits against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown on higher education. Experts warn that these actions could deter future international scholars from choosing the US as their academic destination, undermining the reputation of US universities.
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, known as the "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs, was released on parole on Friday, nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend.
The 24-year-old convict, Greeshma, had sought leniency in sentencing by citing her academic achievements, lack of prior criminal history, and the fact that she is her parents' only daughter.
The Meerut Conspiracy Case was aimed at curbing communist influence in India. However, it fueled nationwide sympathy, shaping the course of leftist politics in the country.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the premature release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan and R P Ravichandran, serving life term in the assassination case of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, noting that the Tamil Nadu government has recommended remission of their sentence.
'When Dr Murli Manohar Joshi wanted to start a course on astrology, Jayant was the first one to have the courage to stand up and say astrology is not science.' 'That's a very rare quality -- to stand up to authority.'
The HC said this while dismissing a petition by Taufik Ahmad who had sought quashing of proceedings against him on charges of rape and unlawful religious conversion of a Hindu girl to Islam through misrepresentation under the UP anti-conversion law.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has also filed a separate plea challenging the grant of remission to the convicts by the Gujarat government.
A convicted murderer is set to be executed by firing squad in the United States state of South Carolina on Friday, marking the state's first use of the method and the first such execution in the US in nearly 15 years.
An Indian-origin woman has been charged with murdering her 11-year-old son after a three-day vacation to Disneyland. Saritha Ramaraju, 48, was arrested after calling 911 to report that she had killed her son and taken pills to kill herself. The boy was found dead in a motel room with Disneyland souvenirs. Ramaraju faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted.
On a day when both the West Bengal government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved the Calcutta high court for admission of their appeals seeking capital punishment for RG Kar hospital rape-murder convict Sanjay Roy, a counsel for the victim's parents claimed that the family does not want death penalty for him.
Pronouncing sole accused Sanjay Roy guilty of rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at state-run RG Kar hospital, Sealdah court judge Anirban Das on Saturday said the convict had attacked the postgraduate trainee while she was asleep in the hospital's seminar room around 4 am on August 9, 2024.
Shaheed was Manoj Kumar's first patriotic success. This small-budget black-and-white film had enormous impact, besides laying the foundation for Manoj's famous flag-waving Mr Bharat image that was strengthened by a string of subsequent films like Upkar, Purab Aur Paschim and Kranti.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, that he has to verify certain factual details with regard to some convicts.
The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states.
'The maximum struggle that I have gone through in this industry was to try to get a film made which had a female action star.' 'And that film never got made, despite reaching out to some of the biggest actresses.'
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha, while granting them the relief took note of the time they have already served and the unlikelihood of their appeals being taken up for disposal anytime soon.
The top court said 86-year-old Asaram was suffering from various age-related health conditions besides a heart ailment.
'If someone were to ask you if you want to die tomorrow, no matter what problems you are grappling with, you would be hesitant, right?'
'They want to keep the pot boiling all the time.' 'The BJP wants to set a political narrative that the Gandhis are doing wrong things.'
The court then issued a notice to the state government on the bail pleas of Abdul Raheman Dhantia alias Kankatto, Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla and others.
The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to a convict serving life imprisonment in the 2002 Godhra train coach burning case, noting that he has been in jail for the last 17 years.
'Every report I filed for Rediff.com on the professor's incarceration, would leave me wondering for days, at the depth of the State's malevolence towards this disabled professor, and his equally deep capacity to tolerate it,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.' 'No country in the world would do what our country was doing to someone so helpless.'
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of David Coleman Headley, is set to be extradited to India from the US. Rana was involved in the planning and execution of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed 166 people, including six Americans. He assisted Headley in obtaining a visa for India, established a front company in Mumbai, and helped in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and New Delhi. Rana was convicted in the US for providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and sentenced to 14 years in prison. His extradition to India will allow authorities to question him about his involvement in the Mumbai attacks and potentially uncover new information about the role of Pakistani state actors.
The 81-year-old godman is currently lodged in a Jodhpur jail, where he is serving life sentence in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.
R P Ravichandran, one of the six convicts who was released on Saturday in the assassination case of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, said that the people of north India should see them as 'victims instead of terrorists or killers'.
The United States has extradited Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face charges for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Rana, 64, was convicted in the US in 2011 for providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group responsible for the Mumbai attacks. The US Department of State said it has long supported India's efforts to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice and that the extradition is a critical step towards seeking justice for the victims. Rana's extradition comes after the US Supreme Court denied his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition. He will now face justice in India for his role in the attacks which killed 166 people, including six Americans.
Article 72 of the Constitution empowers the president to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of anyone convicted of any offence.
The Delhi high court on Thursday commuted to life term the death penalty awarded to Ariz Khan following his conviction in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter in which decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma lost his life.
'Being stressed is natural and it is a part of life. How we handle it is the important thing.'
On June 6, another prisoner from the local jail had escaped from police custody while he was being taken to Panchkula to be produced in a court.\n
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case over his Modi surname remark, restoring his status as an MP.
A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta, however, upheld the life imprisonment awarded to the third convict by a trial court in the case.
'Unsurprisingly, Trump shared Modi's podcast with Fridman on his Truth account.' 'The intentions of Trump, a transactional president, are never easy to tell.' 'We will know in the next fortnight if and when he unfolds reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods, whether Modi's flattering words made any significant difference to Trump's compass,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
