NATIONAL NEWS
Lakhimpur Kheri violence | Supreme Court dissatisfied with U.P. government’s status report
The Supreme Court on Friday said the Uttar Pradesh Government’s resolve to fairly investigate the Lakhimpur Kheri violence and deaths, including allegations of murder against a Union Minister’s son, seemed just all talk and no action. Your seriousness is only in words and not in your actions, Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana addressed the government. Justice Hima Kohli told the State, There is an old adage which rings true in this situation the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The State is represented by senior advocate Harish Salve and State Additional Advocate General Garima Parshad. Justice Surya Kant, on the Bench, told the State, It is a case of brutal murder of eight persons, law must take its course against all the accused. The court stated that it was dissatisfied with the government’s status report on the investigation. Chief Justice Ramana pointed out how even a special investigation team formed by the State was made of local police officers, inspectors, police superintendents and a DIG. The court asked whether the State has yet made a request to the CBI to take over the case. Salve replied in the negative. After a pause, the court itself went on to express doubts about transferring the case to the CBI. The CBI is not a solution for reason of the persons involved…, Chief Justice Ramana told Salve. The persons involved may have been a reference to the case’s link to a Central Minister. Salve began his submissions, saying a young man, ostensibly Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra, was being targeted. Ashish is accused of shooting dead a farmer while trying to escape agitated farmers after vehicles in the Minister’s convoy rammed into them. The charges are serious, Chief Justice Ramana addressed Salve. The latter said a notice had been issued to Ashish, asking him to appear before the police by 11 a.m. tomorrow. If the person does not come, the rigour of law will take its course, he assured. The CJI asked sharply, Is it the same way you treat other accused too? Like sending notices, etc.? Salve said he was instructed by the State that the postmortem report on the victim did not show bullet injuries. That is why notice was issued. If the allegations are true, it is certainly a Section 302 IPC [murder] case, he stated. After conferring for a moment, the CJI addressed Salve, This is the opinion of the Bench. As a responsible State government with a system and police, when there is a serious allegation of death or gunshot injury, will any other accused in this country be treated the same way? Salve remarked that the investigators had found two cartridges and may be he had bad aim. Chief Justice Ramana told Salve, It is an extremely serious issue, you are not proceeding in the way you should be… Imagine, what is the message we are sending out? In normal circumstances, a case of Section 302 IPC will be registered. The police will go out and arrest that person. The senior lawyer urged the court to give some more time to the State to repair the shortfalls in the investigation. He said everything would fall in place in a day or two. He would talk to the Home Secretary and the DGP. They [State] should have done the needful. They have to make another pudding and make it palatable, Salve agreed with the court. He said the court could list the case immediately on reopening after the Dussehra holidays. The Bench posted the case for October 20 as the first item on the list. We have respect for you, Salve. We hope the State will take the necessary steps, the CJI observed.
Will gherao PM’s residence if culprits not arrested in 7 days, says Chandrashekhar Azad.
Azad Samaj Party (ASP) chief and Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad on Friday said he and his supporters will gherao the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the culprits of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are not arrested within seven days. The Prime Msinister tweets on every issue but he is yet to react on the killing of the farmers. The culprits are roaming free. We will gherao the PM’s residence if the culprits are not arrested within seven days, Azad said at a press conference. PM Modi was celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ in Lucknow when the families of farmers were in mourning, he said. Those who are mum on the killing of farmers cannot be loyal to the country. The Prime Minister should talk to farmers, go to Lakhimpur Kheri and meet family members of slain farmers, he said. The Dalit leader compared the October 3 incident to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and said it will have huge repercussions in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections next year. Azad alleged there is no law and order in Uttar Pradesh and demanded that the CM tender his resignation.
My son is innocent, will appear before police on October 9, says Ajay Mishra
Union Minister Ajay Mishra, whose son faces a murder case in connection with the October 3 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri on Friday said his son was innocent and will appear before the Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday to record his statement. He said Ashish missed the police summons for Friday 10 am as he was not well. We have full faith in the law. My son is innocent. He got a notice on Thursday but he said he was not well. He will appear before the police tomorrow and give his statement and evidence as he is innocent, the Union Minister of State for Home told reporters at Chowdhury Charan Singh airport here. The Minister’s son is named in the FIR in the Lakhimpur violence that took place on October 3 in which eight persons including four farmers and a journalist were killed. Ashish was asked by the police to appear before it at 10 am Friday, but he skipped the summons.
Tata Sons wins bid to acquire Air India
The government on Friday announced Tata Sons subsidiary Talace Pvt Ltd as the winning bidder for Air India. Talace has quoted an enterprise value of ₹18,000 crore. Of this, ₹15,300 is towards debt component of Air India, and the remaining will be cash paid to the government, DIPAM Secretary, Tuhin Kanta Pandey said at a press briefing. Total Air India debt as on August 31, 2021 is ₹61,562 crore. Of this, the winning bidder takes on ₹15,300 crore and the balance ₹45,263 crore will be repaid by the government to the lenders. The second highest bidder was a consortium led by SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh, which had cited an enterprise value of ₹15,100 crore. The reserve price determined by the government was ₹12,000 crore. The government aims to conclude the transaction by December, 2021, when the government shares will be transferred to the Tata subsidiary.
Mumbai court refuses bail to Aryan Khan, two others in drugs case
A metropolitan magistrate in Mumbai on Friday denied bail to Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, and two others in a case pertaining to the alleged seizure of banned drugs from a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.M. Nerlikar rejected the bail pleas of Aryan Khan (23) and the other two accused. The court on Thursday sent Aryan Khan and seven others arrested in the case in 14-day judicial remand after their NCB custody ended. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), opposed the bail applications of the three accused. After hearing the arguments, the magistrate denied bail to Aryan Khan, Munmun Dhamecha and Arbaaz Merchant, saying their applications were not maintainable. The NCB had arrested these three along with some others over the last weekend after raiding the Goa-bound Cordelia cruise ship on Saturday evening. The central agency had claimed to have recovered drugs from the ship. A total of 18 persons have been arrested so far in the case.
In favour of raising speed limit on expressways to 140 kmph: Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that he is in favour of increasing the maximum speed limit on expressways to 140 km per hour, and added that a Bill will soon be introduced in Parliament to revise the speed limits for vehicles for different categories of roads. The Minister for Road Transport and Highways added that there is a mentality regarding speed that if the speed of the car increases, then there will be an accident. My personal view is that the speed limit for vehicles on expressways should be increased to 140 km per hour, he said while addressing the ‘India Today Conclave 2021’. Gadkari added that while the speed limits for National Highways should be at least 100 km per hour on four-lane roads, the respective speed limits for two-lane roads and city roads should be 80 km per hour and 75 km per hour. He said the parameters of speed limits for vehicles in India is one of the big challenges. There are some decisions by the Supreme Court and High Courts regarding car speed due to which we are not able to do anything, Gadkari said. He added, Such expressways have been built in the country that not even a dog can come on those roads because barricading has been done on both sides of the road. He said he had prepared a file to revise the maximum speed limits for vehicles for different categories of roads. In a democracy, we have the right to make laws and judges have the right to interpret the law…a Bill will soon be introduced in Parliament to revise the speed limits for vehicles on Indian roads, he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Two journalists win Nobel Peace Prize for defending freedom of expression
The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia. The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited their fight for freedom of expression, stressing that it is vital in promoting peace. Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda, said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee. Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament, and a better world order to succeed in our time, she said. Ressa in 2012 co-founded Rappler, a news website that has focused critical attention on the (President Rodrigo) Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign, the Nobel committee said. She and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse. Reacting to the news, Ressa told Norway’s TV2 channel that the government (of the Philippines) will obviously not be happy. I’m a little shocked. It’s really emotional, she added. But I am happy on behalf of my team and would like to thank the Nobel Committee for recognising what we are going through. Muratov was one of the founders of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993. Novaya Gazeta is the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power, the Nobel committee said. The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media, it added. The Nobel committee noted that since the launch of Novaya Gazeta, six of its journalists have been killed, among them Anna Politkovskaya, who covered Russia’s bloody conflict in Chechnya. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hailed Muratov as a talented and brave person. We can congratulate Dmitry Muratov he has consistently worked in accordance with his ideals, Peskov said in a conference call with reporters after the prize was announced. Reiss-Andersen noted that the peace prize has gone to journalists in the past, including Ernesto Teodoro Moneta of Italy who was cited in 1907 for his work in the press and in peace meetings. In 1935, Carl von Ossietzky was awarded the prize for his burning love for freedom of thought and expression after revealing that Germany was secretly re-arming after World War I. Reiss-Andersen also noted the risks to free speech in today’s world due to the spread of fake news, noting that Ressa has been critical of Facebook’s role in manipulating public debate. Conveying fake news and information that is propaganda and untrue is also a violation of freedom of expression, and all freedom of expression has its limitations. That is also a very important factor in this debate, she said.
Bomb kills at least 100 at Shia mosque in Afghanistan’s Kunduz
An apparent bomb attack on worshippers at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 100 people on Friday, in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country. Scores more victims from the minority community were injured in the blast, which has not been claimed but appears designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. A medical source at the Kunduz Provincial Hospital said that 35 dead and more than 50 injured had been taken there, while a worker at a Doctors Without Borders hospital reported 15 dead and scores more wounded. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said an unknown number of people had been killed and injured when an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shiite compatriots in Kunduz. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group, arch-rival of the Taliban, has claimed similar recent atrocities. Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, told AFP the blast hit a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, the most important of the week for Muslims. Kunduz’s location makes it a key transit point for economic and trade exchanges with Tajikistan. It was the scene of fierce battles as the Taliban fought their way back into power this year. Often targeted by Sunni extremists, Shiite Muslims have suffered some of Afghanistan’s most violent assaults, with rallies bombed, hospitals targeted and commuters ambushed. Shias make up roughly 20% of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been heavily persecuted in Afghanistan for decades. In October 2017, a lone IS suicide attacker struck a Shiite mosque as worshippers gathered for evening prayers in the west of Kabul, killing 56 people and wounding 55, including women and children.
