Bracing for another agitation by farmers, police are fortifying the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-Haryana borders with barricades and deploying more than 5,000 security personnel, a senior police officer said here on Friday.
The Union ministers and farmer leaders had met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.
Former Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar's lawyer on Tuesday withdrew the bail application after the Aam Aadmi Party leader was sent to police custody remand for four days.
A group of noted former civil servants on Wednesday sought withdrawal of the Supreme Court's "gratuitous observations" against social activist Teesta Sitalvad and others while upholding the SIT's clean chit to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 communal riots in the state.
'We are known political activists, so the police put our names in.'
Hitting out at the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said the ruling party has reached "height of appeasement politics," and alleged that it has in a way made appeasement of minorities its "goal."
Seeking custody of the rape accused India Air Force flight lieutenant, the city police has filed a revision petition in the principal district court in Coimbatore.
The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, which catapulted to power because of the Singur and Nandigram agitations, on Friday decided to withdraw cases filed by previous Left Front regime against activists, including two ministers and a prominent Trinamool Congress MP.
Later in the afternoon, he also said that he was planning to hold a rally of the Maratha community at the protest site on October 12. "It will be attended by all the Marathas. It will show our plight and disappointment.... I will continue my protest here and will not even see the faces of my children till then," he said.
At the end of the day, for many worldwide, the ongoing mutual attacks between Israel and Iran would seem a contest devoid of any moral high ground and only a bout between two ordinary adversaries, one that nevertheless risks spinning out of control into a larger conflagration, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Bombay High Court has ruled that the use of loudspeakers is not an essential part of any religion and has directed law enforcement agencies to take prompt action against loudspeakers that violate noise pollution norms. The court also ordered the state government to direct religious institutions to adopt mechanisms for controlling noise levels, including calibrated sound systems with auto-decibel limits. The decision came in response to a petition filed by two housing associations alleging police inaction against noise pollution caused by loudspeakers installed on mosques in the area.
The states like West Bengal and Rajasthan have already taken such a step.
Accused of rape under the stringent POCSO act, Arjuna award-winning Indian hockey player Varun Kumar has withdrawn from the FIH Pro League in Bhubaneswar to explore his legal options against the allegation, which he described as a "calculated attempt to extort money" from him.
A 62-year-old farmer, who was part of the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation, died of heart attack in Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border, a farmer leader said on Friday.
The eight-year-old boy, who was injured in the stampede during the screening of Pushpa-2 in Hyderabad on December 4, was taken off oxygen and ventilator support as his condition is improving, his father has said.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a 70-year-old Punjab farmer leader, is on his 21st day of a hunger strike demanding the Indian government address farmers' concerns, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops. His health has deteriorated, and doctors have recommended immediate hospitalization. However, Dallewal, a cancer patient, has refused medical treatment.
A group of 101 farmers resumed their foot march to Delhi on Sunday to press the Centre for various demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). However, they were stopped at the barricading by Haryana Police who cited a prohibitory order clamped by the Ambala administration. The farmers have been pressing for various demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP, a farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers), and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.
AAP leader and party's Surat Lok Sabha president Rajnikant Vaghani demanded that either Kumbhani be booked on the charges of forgery or his proposers be booked for giving false declaration on oath.
Social activist Gautam Navlakha, accused of having links to Maoists and Pakistan's spy agency ISI, on Friday withdrew from the Supreme Court his application seeking to be shifted to Delhi from Mumbai under house arrest.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United said it was the right time to withdraw the general consent to the CBI.
"From the very beginning, the Canadian approach has been to make vague accusations and put the burden of denial on India," it added.
Taking exception to Uttar Pradesh government's proposed move to withdraw cases against Muslim leaders in Muzaffarnagar riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked Governor B L Joshi to press the government to withdraw all cases, including those lodged against its leaders, in connection with the violence.
'God knows what kind of charges were framed against him and Kallu Gujjar, as both of them came out of jail the very same evening of their arrest.'
The police deployed tear gas and water cannons for a second day to stop the farmers from marching to Delhi.
Dallewal has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border since November 26 to press the Centre to accept demands including a legal guarantee to the MSP on crops.
This comes hours after Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra issued a "24-hour ultimatum" and threatened to send the police after him.
Shivkumar Gautam, the alleged main shooter in the Baba Siddique murder case, remained at the spot for 20 minutes after the Nationalist Congress Party leader was gunned down on October 12, an official said on Thursday.
Bareta, who was one of the accused in the incidents related to the desecration of a religious text in Faridkot in 2015, was declared a proclaimed offender.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farmer leader, is on an indefinite hunger strike that has entered its 34th day. The Supreme Court has criticized the Punjab government for not shifting Dallewal to a hospital, while farmer leaders have said they are following Gandhian principles and it is up to the government to decide whether to use force to evict him. The farmers are protesting for several demands, including a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The protests have reached a decisive stage, with the SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha calling for a Punjab bandh on Monday.
A controversy erupted on Monday over reported moves by the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw cases against Muslim leaders in connection with Muzaffarnagar riots even as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said only some information has been sought and this did not mean cases were being dropped.
'If you want to have fair elections you should have an officer, who is appointed as per the rules laid down for such appointments, which is based on seniority.'
The consent is akin to a blanket nod for the agency to probe scheduled offences specified in the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DPSE) Act, 1946.
Police on Friday used tear gas to disperse Haryana farmers heading towards Khanauri on Punjab's border with the state where farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping since last week after their 'Delhi Chalo' march was halted by security forces.
The Centre has reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Manipur's six police station areas, including the violence-hit Jiribam.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher on Thursday demanded registration of a murder case against those responsible for the death of a protesting farmer at the Khanauri border point of Punjab-Haryana.
In a change of strategy, Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal, accused of sexual assault against a woman colleague, on Thursday withdrew his bail plea in the Delhi high court, saying he will "approach appropriate court for appropriate remedy".
At the outset, his counsel submitted before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma that he wishes to withdraw the petition and wants to file it before the Punjab and Haryana high court.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the junior doctors protesting the rape and murder of their colleague at R G Kar Hospital to end their fast-unto-death stir, stating that most of their demands have been addressed while rejecting their insistence on removing the state health secretary.
Pronouncing 'tankhah' (religious punishment) for Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for the 'mistakes' committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, the Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht on Monday directed the senior Akali leader to perform as a 'sewadar', and wash dishes and clean shoes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The ministry of home affairs has requested states and Union Territories (UTs) to direct all police stations under their jurisdiction not to register cases under the repealed Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, a home ministry statement said.
