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#MenToo: Karan Oberoi granted bail over rape, blackmail charges

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Web Team
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Karan OberoiThe Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to television actor and singer Karan Oberoi a month after he was arrested on charges of raping and blackmailing a woman.

Granting a Rs 50,000 bail to Oberoi, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere came down heavily on the victim and police in the matter, said his lawyer Dinesh Tiwari.

In an FIR lodged on May 4, the 34-year-old victim had alleged that Oberoi had raped her in 2017 on the pretext of marriage, filmed the act and then extorted money from her under the threat of making the video go viral.

On May 6, Oberoi was arrested and sent to police custody. Later, he was remanded to judicial custody even as his bail plea was pending with the sessions court.

In the bail plea, Tiwari contended that the FIR was false, his client (Oberoi) never promised to marry the victim, and the victim lodged another FIR by staging an attack to deny him bail.

Also Read: #MenToo: Social media campaign for Karan Oberoi

 

PM Modi restores number 2 status of Rajnath Singh

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Web Team
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Rajnath singhajAfter stern criticism in the entire nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has restored the number two position of the veteran BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in his cabinet. He has been inducted in the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. Now, he is a part of six key panels of the Modi government.

It is remarkable that the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs takes all important political decisions on policy. Earlier, Rajnath Singh was made a member of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). PM Modi has inducted Amit Shah in all eight cabinet committees formed on Thursday. This gave indications that Amit Shah is emerging as the undisputed number 2 in Modi 2.0 government. Rajnath Singh had headed the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs in the last government. His absence in the committee this time gave the space for the speculations that Amit Shah will preside over these key committees whenever PM will not be available.

According to the official notification, it was announced that under the Transaction of Business Rules, the government has reconstituted eight key cabinet committees. While PM Modi will chair six of these committees, home minister Amit Shah will be a part of all eight and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be in six panels. Besides Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ram Vilas Paswan, Narendra Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Harsh Vardhan, Piyush Goyal, Arvind Sawant and Pralhad Joshi are members of the political affairs committee.

The minister, who is number two in the government, is sworn in right after the Prime Minister. Rajnath Singh took oath after PM Modi but he was missing from the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. Therefore, the number 2 position of Rajnath Singh had become doubtful. But PM Modi has stopped all speculations by inducting him in the six key panels, including the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

5 Deputy CMs to serve cabinet, Reddy targets weaker communities

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Web Team
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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan ReddyIn an unprecedented move and also the first of its kind, newly-appointment Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday announced that his 25-member cabinet will have five deputy chief ministers from five different castes and the new council of ministers will be constituted at a public function on Saturday and accordingly, one each from SC, ST, BC, minority and Kapu communities would be made deputy CMs. This decision seems to target at keeping the minority communities in the good book of the government.

The Chief Minister has also decided and directed his legislators that the Cabinet would predominantly comprise members from the weaker sections, contrary to expectations that the Reddy community would get a lion’s share. Reddy’s cabinet is also going to be reconstituted two and a half years later after a mid-term review of the government’s performance.

After Lok Sabha debacle, major jolt to Congress in Telangana as 12 MLA join TRS

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Web Team
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Congress MLa Joins TRS
The 12 Congress MLAs who defected to the TRS are seen with state legislative assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy at his residence in the Ministers’ Quarters in Hyderabad on 6 June 2019. They submitted a representation seeking to merge the Congress Legislature Party with the ruling TRS. (Image Courtesy: EPS)
Congress MLa Joins TRS
The 12 Congress MLAs who defected to the TRS are seen with state legislative assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy at his residence in the Ministers’ Quarters in Hyderabad on 6 June 2019. They submitted a representation seeking to merge the Congress Legislature Party with the ruling TRS. (Image Courtesy: EPS)

The Congress party plunged into crisis when its 12 MLAs in Telangana quit the party and decided to join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). They also escaped the provisions of the anti-defection law. On the other hand, the Congress called it daylight murder of democracy. It is a big jolt to the Congress in Telangana.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that this was not a healthy practice for the democratic country like India and it amounted to butchering people’s mandate, which the people of the state would never forgive. Khera said that the ruling TRS has misused power and killed democracy. These 12 MLAs were elected by voters who had rejected the TRS. They voted for the Congress. Therefore, this is a murder of their mandate.

Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy has also approved their request of merger with the TRS. All defectors escaped the provisions of the anti-defection law as the strength of the defectors’ is equal to two-thirds of total number of the Congress Legislature Party in the state. It is worth mention that two-thirds of the MLAs or MPs of a party can form a separate bloc and the anti-defection law does not apply to them.

#JusticeForTwinkle: 3-year-old’s murder shocks nation, family blames police inaction

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Web Team
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JusticeForTwinkle 1The brutal murder of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh has shocked the nation and strong reactions have started pouring in demanding justice for the infant. The bereaved parents blame police for its negligence and inaction who according to them didn’t make much effort to search for the child after they lodged the missing complaint. Moreover, five policemen have been suspended for negligence.

The gut-wrenching incident took place in Tappal town where the girl was strangled to death and her eyes gouged out after her parents failed to repay a loan of Rs 10,000. After being missing for three days since May 31, the girl’s body was found on June 2 in a dumping ground near her place. Reports suggest that the mutilated body was discovered after a pack of stray dogs had been spotted carrying what appeared to be human body parts. Although police have ruled out rape but said that the probe is on.

Police have arrested two accused in relation to the incident — Zahid and Aslam, who are her neighbours — and police said that both the accused will be charged under the National Security Act, an anti-terror law that enables the detention of suspects who pose a threat to national security for a year.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed shock at the horrific killing of a three-year-old girl in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and demanded swift action against the killers.


Wondering how any human being can treat a child so brutally and said such a crime should not go unpunished, he tweeted: “The horrific murder of a little girl in Aligarh, UP has shocked and disturbed me. How can any human being treat a child with such brutality? This terrible crime must not go unpunished. The UP police must act swiftly to bring the killers to justice.” Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took to Twitter to condemn the inhuman crime.


BSP Chief Mayawati called the incident “extremely shameful and tragic”. “The UP government should quickly let the rule of law prevail and ensure strictest action in the case,” she wrote on Twitter.

Condemning the killing of the child, AIMIM chief Assadudin Owaisi said, “The fact that they were completely okay with murdering a child merely over money is heartbreaking. They deserve exemplary punishment.”


Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi stressed on the “change of mindset” and safety for children. “Just can’t get over the 3-year-old’s murder in Aligarh. How despicable a human the accused must be to have done something as heinous to her. As a society we continue to fail our children-their safety should be our priority, change of mindset towards our girls a necessity,” she wrote on Thursday on Twitter.

BSP – SP alliance on the rocks

By
C K Subramaniam
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BSP SP alliancce 1The natural alliance will last long. The opportunistic alliance will have to collapse naturally at a given time. Good for the country as it could eliminate one of the most cynical and opportunistic electoral alliances to exercise regional clout for personal ambitions. BSP is now becoming very unstable. It changes allies for every election. There is a source of uncertainty in state politics. Hopefully, the voters will decisively reject her next time. Nothing strange! A congregation for convenience cannot continue forever. This gives the impression that politicians have realised that caste politics arithmetic wouldn’t work. The new India now votes for development and these political parties should come up with new and innovative development agenda.

This type of uncertainty was expected. Fortunately, people of India did not prefer such a coalition in the recent election. Parties like these could not identify or distinguish between personal and public interest. Their motive is to earn money through power and position. Rat and frog alliance is over now. As Modi said, case chemistry has mauled caste arithmetic. Sans Tamil Nadu, the whole nation has taught a bitter lesson to the communal and caste parties. Rat and frog alliance is over now.

The alliance formulated in UP was much with the speculation of caste politics in its favour, since it fails to produce the desired result, the two arch rival is likely to stick to their former position of fighting each other. In the long run, this would be good for democracy as the party has realised that they should no longer be relied on caste politics given the result in up. Hope a healthy competitive democracy waits.

BSP has never shown itself as a reliable partner. It overestimates its nuisance value and has never delivered on anything as promised. Younger leaders can never emerge in BSP as long as Mayawati is at the helm. Mayawati asked her colleagues to prepare to contest in the by-election to the 11 seats that fell vacant after the MLAs, including nine of the BJP, got elected to the Lok Sabha.

The BSP has in the past shied away from contesting by-polls and even in 2018, the Gorakhpur, Kairana and Phulpur seats were won on SP and RLD symbols as the three parties came together to stitch together an experimental understanding which was formalised in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. It is too early to say it’s over unless both leaders say it publicly.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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Letters to the Editor: 07 June, 2019

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Web Team
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FEATURE LETTER DIARY 679x400 e1553672678487Poll gimmick from Kejriwal have no takers

Free bus and metro rides for women in Delhi being promised by the Delhi state government led by their Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is nothing but a poll gimmick before elections. The CM is worried about women’s safety but not sure how the safety of the women is guaranteed with these free rides. Arvind Kejriwal who started as a promising politician but sadly has lost his path over the years. Today, he seems more confused than the citizens of Delhi and the rest of the country. People have lost faith in his capabilities and the promises he makes.

The Delhi State government will definitely lose the upcoming assembly election and freebies don’t really interest voters these days. People are ready to pay a price but expect quality services in the bargain. Nothing on this planet is free except the promises made by politicians as it costs nothing to fool people in the name of votes.

-S.N. Kabra

Trump shuts special trade door on India

 India is one of the largest market. If US wants to shun away, let it be. It’s only a pressure game. You keep goods in your own go down for long. It will increase inventories. But it is very clear. Nothing is free in this world. In any relationship, particularly in the area of economic ties, there are ongoing issues which get resolved mutually from time to time. Trump shuts special trade door on India and US will be the loser as they do not have a bigger market than India to sell their products.

-Nickil Mani

Discontinue rubber-stamped post-cards

Post-card politics has begun between BJP and TMC where the saffron party has sent 10 lakh post-cards to West Bengal Chief Minister with message Jai Shri Ram because of Mamata Banerjee unnecessarily provoked on greeting her with Jai Shri Ram by BJP workers. Now TMC has decided to counter the move by sending 20 lakh post-cards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with slogans of Jai Hind- Jai Bangla.

But post-card politics will cost heavily to postal-department because heavily subsidised post-card with postal-tariff of just 50 paise has multiple times the actual operating-cost. It is noteworthy that neither the users of post-card nor even postal-department are aware of the fact that rubber-stamped or printed post-cards have a much higher postal-tariff of rupees six.

There is a flood of rubber-stamped ordinary post-cards of 50 paise tariff delivered at All India Radio against postal-rules where listeners often send rubber-stamp message to listen any song as their choice just to listen their names on radio-programme for listener-choice of film-songs. Postal-department must not deliver such rubber-stamped post-cards without complete postal-tariff of rupees six for printed and rubber-stamped post-cards.

Since heavily subsidised post-cards and Inland-Letter-Cards are not being used by common people, these should be discontinued because of being heavily misused firstly for commercial purposes like by chit-fund companies to send reminders and now for political purposes by BJP and TMC.

-Subhash Chandra Agrawal

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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Age is no restriction for setting examples for others

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Web Team
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ColumnThe famous poet Dushyant Kumar had once said, “We can make a hole in the sky, we only need to throw a stone with full confidence”. AK Singh, whose full name is Awadhesh Kumar Singh, has made this statement true. The Regional Commissioner-I Singh is presently posted in the Employees Provident Fund Organisation, Chandigarh, Punjab. Singh is the emerging star of the country in the marathon in the age group of 50 years and above, whereas he has no sporting background. The native place of Singh is Nalanda, Bihar.

Singh has an excellent academic background. He was an intelligent student since his childhood. Even in competitive exams, he did well. After passing graduation, Singh gave his services to Railway, Income Tax Department, Corporation Bank, State Bank of India, etc. He topped in the Income Tax Inspector exams in Maharashtra Region. He also topped in Assistant Grade Competitive Examinations which was conducted by SSC. In 1994, he topped in probationary officer examination of State Bank of India. In 1998, Singh got 22nd rank in an examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and contributed to the Guntur office of Andhra Pradesh as Assistant Commissioner in the Employees Provident Fund Organization. Later on, Singh’s worked in Hyderabad, Goa, Kolkata, etc.

In order to keep himself fit during the posting in Kolkata, Singh used to do morning walk in 2015. He continued to do this until six months continuously. Meanwhile, he read an article on Marathon. Thereafter, he thought that he had also the ability to run a marathon. Though Singh was habituated to take liquor and cigarettes on a daily basis, he left liquor and cigarettes in one stroke.

Singh started to gather information related to the marathon. Meanwhile, he got information regarding registration of the Baroda Ultra Half Marathon which was going to be held on November 1, 2015. He gets registered himself without delay. He participated in the Baroda Ultra Half Marathon in the age group of 45 years and above and secured 23rd position. Having secured a respectable position in the first attempt, his confidence increased a lot. Thereafter, Singh participated in Delhi and Kolkata Half Marathon in 2015. In the Kolkata Half Marathon, Singh got 19th place, while in Delhi Half Marathon, he secured 153rd position. Singh achieved these achievements without any coaching, which gave him a lot of confidence. Singh felt that if he takes coaching in a professional manner, he can easily win gold medals in his age group.

In November 2015, Singh was transferred to Ludhiana, Punjab. He met Gurmeet SinghGurmeet Singh there, who was a coach of well-known athlete OP Jaisha. In the first meeting, Gurmeet Singh refused to train Singh, but after two or three meetings, Gurmeet Singh got ready to take a test of Singh. Singh passed the test easily. Thus, since January 20, 2016, Singh started his professional training of marathon.

After just six months of professional training, Singh participated in “Run the Light Marathon” in Chandigarh in July 2016 and won a gold medal in his age group. In this marathon, Singh secured 12th rank in all age groups. Singh bagged the sixth position in the IDBI Half Marathon held in Mumbai in August 2016. He secured the fourth position in the Baroda Ultra Half Marathon held in October 2016. In December 2016, Singh finished third in the Kolkata Half Marathon, which was organized by Tata Steel.

In the Airtel Delhi Half marathon, which was held in Delhi on November 20, 2016, Singh secured 19th position. Singh completed the 21.1 km Half Marathon in 1 hour 38 minutes, while in 2015, he took 1 hour and 55 minutes to cover this distance and he secured 153rd rank. It was a long leap from the point of view of achievement. Singh had secured the sixth position in the IDBI Mumbai Half Marathon held in 2016, then in the year 2017, he took the fourth position in the Standard Chartered Half Marathon held in Mumbai. In December 2017, Mr. Singh secured the second position in the Half Marathon held in Patna.

A few Senior Marathon runners advised him to run in the Boston Marathon, because it is very prestigious in the world. In the year 2017, in Longford, Ireland, the first time he runs Full Marathon and got third place, but could not get eligibility for the Boston Marathon. In 2017, IDBI Delhi Full Marathon, he got 13th rank, but he again missed the eligibility criteria for Boston Marathon. In the IDBI Delhi Full Marathon which was held in 2018, Singh secured 9th position and also qualified for the Boston Marathon. Singh competed for this distance in 3 hours and 24 minutes and thereafter participated in Boston Marathon in April 2019.

Before this, Singh secured the 1st position in Daily World full marathon which was held in Chandigarh in April 2018. He is also Brand Ambassador of Daily World Marathon. Singh has also won a gold medal in 800 meters in the Punjab Master Athletics in 2018. In the National Game, which was held in Guntur in 2019, he got a bronze medal in 800-meter event and also qualified for the Asian game. He will now represent India in the Asian Game in his age group of 50 years and above. He wants to win a gold medal for the country in international events also. Singh’s coach Gurmeet Singh also believes that he has still potency to win a gold medal for the country.

-Satish Singh

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.Help Parallel Media, Support Journalism, Free Press, Afternoon Voice

Security forces score a big success in Kashmir; four terrorists killed

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Web Team
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CRPF Soldiers BSF TerroristSecurity forces on Friday morning gunned down four terrorists in an encounter in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir. This is a big success for the security forces.

According to police, the security forces received information about the presence of terrorists in Pulwama. After that, they launched a joint operation in the area. The terrorists opened fire at security personnel. Thus, they were forced to retaliate and 4 terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in the gunfight, including a former Special Police Officer (SPO) who turned towards terrorism. Jammu-Kashmir Police tweeted, “Four terrorists have been eliminated.They reportedly belong to JeM. Operation is over.”

It is remarkable that the security forces have scaled up anti-terror operation in the Kashmir Valley. Over 100 terrorists, including 23 foreign nationals, have been killed in Kashmir in the first five months of 2019. According to news agency PTI, among the terrorists killed, Shopian accounted for a maximum of 25. Pulwama was second with the killings of 15 terrorists, followed by Awantipora with 14 and Kulgam with 12.

Mumbai in Mess: Govt’s promise of pothole-free road flunked

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Afternoon Voice
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Mumbai problem during monsoon

The ruling Maharashtra BJP had promised pothole-free Mumbai. The tenure of the Fadnavis government is going to expire soon but the city is yet to be free from potholes and Mumbai is still in mess. The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled to happen in October this year.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started repair work in October 2018 on 1,378 roads of the city. But by May 31, BMC could repair only 880 roads. Repair work on remaining 500 roads is pending, and it will be carried out only after monsoon. Till then Mumbai residents will have to suffer from problems like traffic jam, road accidents and waterlogging. On the other hand, the official gave reason for the delay and said that repair work was delayed as some staff was on the election duty in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

BMC has claimed that it has completed more than 90 per cent desilting of the city’s nullahs and almost entirely trimmed trees. At the same time, the desilting and cleaning work of nullahs is still going on at many places in the city. However, officials claim that the ongoing repair works has come to a safe stage. Mumbaikars are worried as BMC again missed deadline for the completion of pre-monsoon repair works. Monsoon will reach Kerala in next 48 hours. It is expected to hit Mumbai within 10 days.

It is remarkable that for monsoon preparedness, the work of desilting of nullahs starts on April 1 of every year. The deadline for completion of the work is May 15. However, the deadline was extended to May 31 this year. In a meeting with police department, railways, BMC, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking (BEST), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Indian Navy, Public Works Department (PWD) meteorological department and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials, it was decided to fill potholes in the city by May 31, 2019.

An official from Road and Traffic Department said that some repair works are not finished. The department has ensured the security of the common man in these areas. He said that they take up repair of remaining works after monsoon in October. But it will be further delayed by one or two months due to the Model Code of Conduct of upcoming assembly elections.

Storm Water Drain (SWD) department’s official said, “We have removed silt from nullahs. After the silt dries, it will be moved to some dumping sites over the next few days.”

As per the data available with the SWD department, the city has over 2900-km drain network comprising minor and major nullahs, arch drains, roadside open drains and closed pipe drains. The island city has 530-km of drain network, the western suburbs over 1600-km network, and eastern suburbs a total of 857-km network.

In spite of tall claims about the preparedness for the monsoon, Mumbaikars witness heavy waterlogging due to choked nullahs. They have to face inconvenience because of potholed roads. The delays come despite a 25 per cent increase in the BMC’s 2019-20 budget for road work. The BMC has made a provision of Rs1,520 crore for more work on more than 300 km of roads this year, compared to last year’s provision of Rs 1,202 crore.

While the common man suffers a lot in any monsoon-related incident, leaders of the political parties seem less careful about their plights. When this incident becomes serious or fatal, political parties and their leaders start baking their bread. Last year, some people lost their lives due to potholes and open manhole in rainwater flooded areas in Mumbai. When these accidents hit headlines, political leadership came into action. This year, though the administration is working at snail’s pace, no political leader questioned them.

On being asked about pre-monsoon repair work, the BJP spokesperson Avdhut Wagh declined to comment at all saying he has no data of work done. On the other hand, former MP of Mumbai North Central and the Congress leader Priya Dutt, who lost the Lok Sabha election to Poonam Mahajan, asked to raise this issue with the Congress corporator and leader of opposition in BMC Ravi Raja and he did not respond.

BMC officials too could not give data about work done. They passed on their responsibility by giving the phone number of other departments. The Drainage Department gave the number of Disaster Control Department. When contacted, Disaster Control Department gave the number of Solid Waste Management Department. There was no competent authority in the Solid Waste Management Department and the official receiving the phone call disconnected it.

By Rajesh Kumar Choudhary & Moumita Mukherjee

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