INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Afghan protests spread to Kabul in early challenge to Taliban
Protests against the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan spread to more cities on Thursday, including the capital Kabul, and a witness said several people were killed when the militants fired on a crowd in Asadabad in the eastern province of Kunar, Reuters reported. Our flag, our identity, a crowd of men and women waving black, red and green national flags shouted in Kabul, a video posted on social media showed, on the day Afghanistan celebrates independence from British control in 1919. A witness reported gunshots near the rally, but they appeared to be Taliban firing into the air. Marchers chanted ‘God is greatest’. At some protests elsewhere, media have reported people tearing down the white flag of the Taliban. Afghans celebrate the 102th Independence Day of Afghanistan with the national flag in Kabul on August 19, 2021. In Asadabad, several people were killed during a rally, but it was unclear if the casualties resulted from Taliban firing or from a stampede that it triggered. Protests also flared in the city of Jalalabad and a district of Paktia province. Salute those who carry the national flag and thus stand for dignity of the nation, First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who is trying to rally opposition to the Taliban, said on Twitter. Saleh said on Tuesday he was the legitimate caretaker president in Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, based in an old anti-Taliban stronghold northeast of Kabul, called for Western support. U.S. President Joe Biden said the Taliban must decide if they want international recognition. I think they’re going through a sort of existential crisis about. Do they want to be recognised by the international community as being a legitimate government? I’m not sure they do, Biden said in TV interview. Kabul has been generally calm, but 12 people have been killed in and around the airport amid chaotic scenes, a NATO and a Taliban official said. The deaths were caused either by gun shots or stampedes, according to the Taliban official. In one incident captured on social media, a small girl was hoisted over the airport’s high perimeter wall and handed to a U.S. soldier, underlining the desperation many people feel. Gunmen fired into the air on Thursday at several entrances, scattering crowds including women clutching babies. It was not clear if the men firing were Taliban or security staff helping U.S. forces inside the airport. The Taliban are keeping their word by providing foreign powers with support in evacuating their nationals, a Taliban official said. We are facilitating safe exit passage not just for foreigners but also to Afghans, the official told Reuters. U.N. agencies and international aid groups appealed for $800 million more in humanitarian funding. About 8,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since Sunday, a Western security official said. Biden said U.S. forces would remain until all Americans were evacuated, even if that meant staying past an August 31 U.S. deadline for withdrawal.
China for adoption of cultural symbols, language in Tibet.
A top Chinese official said on Thursday that all-round efforts are needed to ensure Tibetans speak standard spoken and written Chinese and share the cultural symbols and images of the Chinese nation. Wang Yang made the remarks before a handpicked audience in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the home of Tibet’s traditional Buddhist leaders, at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Chinese invasion of the vast Himalayan region. China’s ruling Communist Party says it peacefully liberated Tibetan peasants from an oppressive theocracy and restored Chinese rule over a region under threat from outside powers. Critics say such moves toward cultural assimilation spell the demise of Tibet’s traditional Buddhist culture and that Tibet was effectively independent for most of its history. China has highlighted its efforts to boost the economy in the region and condemned the exiled Dalai Lama as a separatist. Mr. Wang, who is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee – the apex of party power – and who oversees policy toward ethnic minorities, said separatist and sabotage activities committed by the Dalai (Lama) group and hostile external forces have been crushed. Mr. Wang said Tibetans had been included in representative bodies. The region hosted close to 160 million tourists last year, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Only by following the CPC leadership and pursuing the path of socialism, can Tibet achieve development and prosperity, Mr. Wang was quoted by Xinhua as saying. Judging by developments in Tibet over the past 70 years, the Tibetan people have no cause for jubilation, as Chinese policies have turned Tibet itself into an open-air prison with restrictions on all aspects of Tibetan life, the U.S .- based International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement. After 70 years of oppression, the only thing the Tibetan people need ‘peaceful liberation’ from today is China’s brutality, the group said. As China tightens its hold over Tibet, questions are arising over the future of its diaspora community.
NATIONAL NEWS
Over 3.86 crore people didn’t get 2nd dose of Covid vaccines within stipulated time: Govt
Over 3.86 crore people did not get their second dose of anti-Covid vaccines Covishield and Covaxin within the stipulated period of time, the government said in response to an RTI query. Activist Raman Sharma had filed a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking to know from the government the number of people who had received the first dose of vaccines Covishield and Covaxin but did not take the second within the stipulated time period. In response to the query, the Covid-19 Vaccine Administration Cell of the Union Health Ministry said that it is recommended that the second dose of Covishield be taken within 84-112 days after the first, while in case of Covaxin, the gap should between 28-42 days. The total number of vaccinees (beneficiaries) who got their first dose of Covishield Vaccine but did not get their second dose within stipulated period of time as prescribed by the Govt. of India as per the Due Report in the Co-WIN portal is 3,40,72,993 (data as on 17th August 2021), the response said. It further said that the total number of beneficiaries who got their first dose of Covaxin vaccine but did not get their second within the stipulated period of time as prescribed by the government as per the due report of in Co-WIN portal is 46,78,406 (data as on 17th August 2021). It is recommended that vaccinees who got their first dose of vaccine get their second dose in the stipulated period. There is no recommendation for such vaccinees who got their first dose of COVID Vaccine but did not get the second dose within the stipulated period as prescribed by Government of India to get their first dose again, it said. In the Frequently Asked Questions sections on the website, the government recommends that both doses of vaccine should be taken for realising the full benefit of vaccination.
Gujarat HC stays some sections concerning interfaith marriages in anti-conversion law
In an interim order, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday stayed some sections pertaining to interfaith marriages of the newly enacted anti-conversion law in the State. A division bench of the court stayed the implementation of several sections of Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021. The bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Biren Vaishnav passed the interim order, saying it was meant to protect people from unnecessary harassment. Gujarat’s anti-conversion law was amended in 2021 to bring in new sections that penalise forcible or fraudulent religious conversion through marriage and the law was notified by the government on June 15. The law, the government contended, was meant to stop religious conversion through interfaith marriages. On Thursday, while passing the interim order, Chief Justice Vikram Nath said, We are of the opinion that pending further hearing, rigors of section 3,4, 4a to 4c, 5, 6, and 6a shall not operate merely because the marriage is solemnised by a person of one religion with another religion without force, allurement or fraudulent means and such marriages cannot be termed as marriage for the purpose of unlawful conversion. He stated, This interim order is to protect the parties which solemnised interfaith marriages from unnecessary harassment. The court acted on a petition filed by the Gujarat chapter of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind challenging the constitutional validity of some of the amended sections. On Tuesday, advocate general Kamal Trivedi told the court that there was no ban on interfaith marriages in the State. He defended the new anti-conversion law, saying marriages cannot be tool for forceful conversion. Advocate General Kamal Trivedi submitted that there should be no fear about the provisions of the law. Why this fear? So long as genuine conversion is there, people need not worry. Interfaith marriage per se is not prohibited in this law. It only prohibits forcible conversion by marriage. He, however, contended that The law says no person shall be converted by use of force, allurement, fraudulent means or by marriage for the purpose of conversion. In the petition, it has been argued that the amended law goes against basic principles of marriage and the right to propagate, profess and practice religion as enshrined in Article 25 of the Constitution.
Calcutta HC orders CBI, SIT probe into West Bengal post-poll violence
A five-judge Bench of Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to hand over complaints of post-poll violence to the CBI. The Central agency will probe allegations of murder, rape and unnatural deaths. The Court also directed to set up a Special Investigation Team consisting (SIT) of three IPS officers of West Bengal to probe other offences relating to post-poll violence. The probe will be monitored by a retired judge of the Supreme Court. In the order, the five-judge Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh l. Bindal directed the State to immediately process applications for compensation of victims. The CBI and SIT were directed to submit a status report within six weeks. While hearing several writ petitions on post-poll violence, the High Court, in June 2021, had directed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to set up a committee to look into allegations of post-poll violence. The NHRC had submitted a report to the Court on July 13 directing that the probe be handed over to the CBI. People from West Bengal taking refuge in Dhubri district of Assam following the post-poll violence. The Court in its order on Thursday had pointed out that allegations of bias raised by the West Bengal government against the NHRC committee does not stand. The development assumes significant ramifications for West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had refuted allegations of post-poll violence. Banerjee had maintained that there was no violence after she was sworn as the Chief Minister on May 5 for the third consecutive time. The BJP leadership has welcomed the order and said that it proves that allegations of post-poll violence were true. The matter will come up for hearing in the first week of October 4.
13 years on, SC acquits family that was sentenced to life after being framed by police acting under political pressure
The Supreme Court has acquitted three members of a family, framed by the police acting under political pressure and sentenced to life imprisonment by the courts, after they complained about their relative’s murder over a ₹250 debt 13 years ago. A Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and V. Ramasubramanian, in a judgment, said the police, instead of proceeding in pursuit of the truth, tried to bury it many fathoms deep in a case which is a shocking reminder of police docility to political influences, and lack of proper legal representation in courts and judicial oversight. In May 2008, a grievously injured Nand Kishore was rushed to the hospital by Madhav. Kishore was the brother of Raju Yadav. Yadav was married to Madhav’s sister, Sahodara Bai. But Kishore was declared dead on arrival. He had suffered a brutal beating with sticks and lathis. Bai informed the police. The three of them named two men, Ruia and Kailash, in the FIR as the culprits. However, the case took a bizarre turn. The Madhya Pradesh Police turned on them. Instead of investigating the FIR, the police arrested the three family members of the dead man. They charged them with his murder. The trial court convicted all three and sentenced them to life in prison. During trial, they realised that the two men they had named in the FIR for the murder of Kishore were arraigned by the police as star witnesses. It was a case in which the informant turned into the accused and the accused donned the roles of witnesses. The State High Court went on to confirm their punishment. We are conscious of the fact that at times persons who commit a crime, themselves make/lodge the first information so as to create an alibi of innocence. But even in such cases the investigation would normally proceed first against those named as accused in the FIR, and thereafter, the needle of suspicion may turn against the informant himself, Justice Ramasubramanian, who authored the judgment for the Bench, reasoned. The apex court concluded that a close scrutiny of the sequence of events from the date of occurrence of the crime, on May 13, 2008, revealed that the probe in the case instead of proceeding in pursuit of truth, had proceeded towards burying the truth. We are clearly of the view that the investigation in this case was carried out by prosecution witness 14 (Investigating Officer) not with the intention of unearthing the truth, but for burying the same fathom deep for extraneous considerations, and that it was designed to turn the informant and her family members as the accused and allow the real culprits named in the FIR to escape, Justice Ramasubramanian wrote. The apex court was appalled by the fact that both the Sessions Court and the High Court overlooked crucial admissions during trial even to the extent that the police faced political pressure when they tried to arrest Ruia and Kailash. Besides, Justice Ramasubramanian wondered why both the courts found nothing amiss in the prosecution version that a murderer would rush his victim to the hospital in an autorickshaw. The normal human behaviour in such circumstances will be either to flee the place of occurrence or to go to the police station to surrender, except in cases where they are intelligent and seasoned criminals. Neither did happen, Justice Ramasubramanian observed. Besides, the apex court said the police story that the brothers fought over Kishore’s debt of ₹250 to Ruia was unbelievable. The reason why the Investigating Officer did not even suspect the role of Ruia and Kailash Yadav in the commission of the crime remains unexplained, Justice Ramasubramanian observed. The Bench said neither the trial court nor the High Court had discharged their duties properly in the case. The apex court also noted that the three family members did not have competent defence lawyers in the case. They were ordered to be released immediately.
