Jaidev Thackeray on Friday withdrew his suit filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the will of his late father Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
Jaidev had challenged the will of December 13, 2011, in which the Sena patriarch had not left a farthing for his estranged son. The suit was filed after Bal Thackeray’s death in November 2012.
He disputed the will, saying his father was of “unsound mind” and that the Sena chief’s other son, Uddhav Thackeray, had influenced him.
Besides Jaidev, the Sena patriarch had also not left anything for his third son, Bindumadhav Thackeray (who died in a road accident) or his family.
In an affidavit filed on Friday, Jaidev said he wanted to close his suit opposing probate of the will in favour of Uddhav Thackeray and four other family members.
He did not assign any reason for withdrawing his suit.
Justice Gautam Patel, who has been hearing the suit, accepted the affidavit and directed the HC registry to issue by November 26 probate of the will in favour of Uddhav Thackeray and four other family members mentioned in the document.
Bal Thackeray, in his will, had bequeathed a majority of his property to Uddhav Thackeray, who now heads the Shiv Sena, and his immediate family members.
As per the will, except for the first floor of the three storey ‘Matoshree’ bungalow in suburban Bandra owned by Bal Thackeray, all his properties have been bequeathed only to Uddhav Thackeray and his immediate family members.
The first floor of the family bungalow was bequeathed to Aishvarya, son of Jaidev and his now divorced wife Smita.
In January 2013, Uddhav Thackeray had petitioned the high court seeking to probate his father’s Will.
A probate petition is filed to get the will of a deceased person certified by a court of competent jurisdiction. A probate is granted with the court seal and has a copy of the will attached to it.
The Bombay High Court on Friday issued notices to four political parties — the NCP, BJP, RPI and the MNS — asking them to explain why their workers put up illegal hoardings and banners on public roads.
The office bearers of these political parties had last year filed undertakings in the high court assuring that their workers would not put up hoardings and banners on public roads and places without requisite permission from the authorities concerned.
The undertakings were part of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Suswarajya Foundation raising the issue of large number of illegal hoardings and banners put up by political parties.
The high court has in the past passed several orders holding that such illegal hoardings deface public roads and places and had directed civic bodies to take strict action in such cases.
The court had then sought the political parties to submit undertakings.
Following this, office bearers of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Republican Party of India (RPI) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) submitted undertakings.
Last week, the court was informed by the petitioner that, despite the assurances and orders from court, there are large number of hoardings put up everywhere. In support of the claim, the petitioner submitted photos of the hoardings.
The bench took note of this and issued notices to the office bearers of the four political parties.
“We call upon the said political parties to disclose as to why large number of hoardings are displayed by their party workers. We also want them to explain what action they have taken against their workers for indulging in such illegal activities,” the court said.
The bench has posted the petition for further hearing on December 7.
Indian captain Virat Kohli has backed former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after the wicket-keeper’s omission from the T20I squad against Windies and Australia. Kohli stressed that he (Dhoni) has been dropped to make a slot for Delhi swashbuckling batsman Rishabh Pant.
Dhoni, who is going through a lean patch in his career, was dropped from the squad by MSK Prasad-led selection panel for the T20Is against West Indies and Australia. Pant was picked up in his stead and Dinesh Karthik has been included as a back-up.
Kohli while speaking at the post-match conference of the final ODI against Windies stressed that Dhoni is still an integral part of the ODI team. “He’s still a very integral part of this team and he just feels that in the T20 format, someone like Rishabh can get more chances,” ICC.com quoted Kohli saying.
Kohli while supporting Dhoni, stated, “He anyway plays the ODIs for us regularly, so, from that point of view, he’s only trying to help the youngsters; nothing that anything that other people are thinking and I as captain can certainly assure you of that.”
India secured a comprehensive 3-1 victory over West Indies following an eight-wicket in fifth ODI. The development of Ambati Rayudu at No 4 and Left-arm Seamer Khaleel Ahmed was the most pleasing aspect of the series, the skipper feels. Lauding the Indian fast bowling in the repertoire, he stated, “Those two things are something that we were looking for a while; someone to back-up Bhuvi and Bumrah – someone to pick up wickets and bowl in good areas. Having a left-arm seamer gives you variation in the attack. Khaleel was really good and Rayudu, of course, grabbing his opportunities, batting with maturity, batting with composure. It is always good to plug in the areas that you are looking at.”
All teams are weighing their selection in next year’s ICC World Cup. Kohli is looking to upgrade fielding between now and the tournament. “If we can be consistent as a fielding side, it can give us more consistency overall in our skills department as well. In the field, we can still improve a lot. We have spoken to the people in the practice sessions who need to do the extra effort to sharpen their fielding, and they are putting in that extra effort,” he added.
India’s top rallyist Gaurav Gill will be hoping to inch closer to his sixth national title as the Rally of Arunachal, Round 3 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2018 that started on Friday.
Gill, the Team Mahindra Adventure spearhead, who won the gruelling Dakshin Dare Rally last month, has won the first two rounds with consummate ease.
Along with his trusted co-driver Musa Sherif, Gill is expected to thrill the local crowds with his speed and daredevilry behind the wheel.
He will have to keep an eye on his team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik), though, who will be aiming to upstage him.
Ghosh is currently in the second position and has been driving a lot more assuredly, even though he had to drop out of contention in the Dakshin Dare Rally owing to a vehicle malfunction.
His team-mate Rahul Kanthraj (co-driver Vivek Y Bhatt) is also a strong contender, currently holding the second position in the INRC 2 category.
The Rally of Arunachal will cover a total distance of 135.92 kilometres, with a total of 100.10 kilometres earmarked for seven special stages.
The Tamil Nadu government on Friday fixed two slots of one-hour each for bursting crackers, between 6 am and 7 am, and between 7 pm and 8 pm, on Diwali.
The state government’s decision comes after Supreme Court bench comprising Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan modified the judgement of the apex court in which it had set a time period for bursting of crackers on Diwali and New Year.
The bench, in its order on October 30, modified its earlier ruling of fixing a definite time slot of two hours between 8 pm and 10 pm for bursting firecrackers on Diwali and ruled that the timing can be changed in places such as Tamil Nadu and Puducherry but will not exceed two hours for the day.
Last month, the Supreme Court had refused to impose a blanket ban on the sale of firecrackers ahead of the festive season. The bench also allowed the sale and manufacture of firecrackers.
Last year, the top court had imposed a temporary ban on the sale of firecrackers in the national capital. The court had then said that the temporary ban was to test the effects of such bans on pollution levels.
Responding to a fresh allegation against him by woman journalist Pallavi Gogoi who accused M.J. Akbar of raping her 23 years back, the former Union Minister of state for External Affairs, on Friday asserted that he was in consensual relationship with Pallavi and their relationship lasted for several months leading to acrimony in his married life.
Breaking her silence for the first time over the allegations levelled against her husband, Akbar’s wife Mallika backed Akbar’s claims of consensual relationship with Pallavi. Mallika said on Friday that her husband’s relationship with Pallavi caused a lot of unhappiness and discord in their marital life at that point of time as there was several late night phone calls and public display of affection between the two in her presence.
Both Pallavi and Akbar were colleagues in Asian Age. However, 23 years after they parted ways, Pallavi in an article published in the Washington Post narrated how Akbar had once raped her in a Jaipur hotel. Journalist Pallavi on November 1, wrote a detailed account of her alleged harassment in Asian Age about 23 years ago. The journalist, who is presently based in United States, has also claimed that she faced harassment at the hands of the former minister while working as the editor of the publication’s Op-Ed page at the age of 23.
This is the first time that a woman journalist has accused Akbar of rape, even though several cases of alleged sexual harassment against the former minister has cropped up under the #MeToo campaign.
Responding to Pallavi’s allegations, MJ Akbar in a media statement released on Friday said : “On October 29th, the Washington Post forwarded to my lawyers a series of cryptic and non-specific questions, regarding incidents alleged to have taken place approximately 23 years ago. These allegations were false and were consequently denied. On the morning of 2nd November, 2018, the Washington Post ran a piece written by Ms. Pallavi Gogoi, detailing false allegations of rape and violence against me. I have had occasion to read this article and it has become necessary, at this point in time, to bring certain facts to light.”
Akbar wrote: “Somewhere around 1994, Ms. Pallavi Gogoi and I entered into a consensual relationship that spanned several months. This relationship gave rise to talk and would later cause significant strife in my home life as well. This consensual relationship ended, perhaps not on the best note. Several people who worked with me and knew both of us have come forward to indicate that they would be happy to bear testimony to what is stated above and, at no stage, did the behaviour of Ms. Pallavi Gogoi, give any one of them the impression that she was working under, or in any way, under duress.”
He added that in the past few weeks, he has been subjected to a barrage of false and fabricated accusations, which he is now addressing.
Supporting Akbar’s statement, his wife Mallika in a media statement said: “I have been silent all this while as a ‘Me Too’ campaign has been unleashed against my husband, Mr.M.J. Akbar. However, the Washington Post article by Pallavi Gogoi alleging that she was raped by him forces me to step in with what I know to be true. More than twenty years ago, Pallavi Gogoi caused unhappiness and discord in our home. I learned of her and my husband’s involvement through her late night phone calls and her public display of affection in my presence. In her flaunting the relationship, she caused anguish and hurt to my entire family.”
Recalling an incident, Mallika said: “At an Asian Age party at our home, crowded with young journalists, I have watched with mortification and pain as they danced close. I had confronted my husband at the time and he decided to prioritise his family. Tushita Patel and Pallavi Gogoi were often at our home, happily drinking and dining with us. Neither carried the haunted look of victims of sexual assault. I don’t know Pallavi’s reasons for telling this lie but a lie it is.
Madras High Court on Friday quashed a sanction order issued by Income Tax officials for the prosecution of former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s wife, son and daughter-in-law under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.
The bench also quashed the private complaints filed against Chidambaram’s kin by the IT department before the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) court in Egmore.
The Division Bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad had reserved its order on September 3 on the appeal filed by Chidambaram’s wife Nalini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi. In their appeal, they had challenged the prosecution initiated by the IT department.
The prosecution proceedings were quashed on the grounds that the sanction orders were not issued in accordance with the law.
The case pertains to an alleged non-disclosure of overseas assets and bank accounts held by Chidambaram’s family members.
The prosecution case filed by the Income Tax Department on May 11, this year, under section 50 of the Black Money Act at a Chennai court alleged that the trio made investments in foreign assets which were not disclosed fully or partly in their returns.
It was alleged that they purchased immovable property worth Rs 5.37 crore in Cambridge, United Kingdom, but the same was not disclosed in their Income Tax return.
Apart from this, the IT department had also alleged that Karti Chidambaram invested Rs 3.28 crore in Nanoholdings LLC in the USA and Rs 80 Lakh in Totus Tennis Ltd through his domestic company, Chess Global Advisory Services private limited.
Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking permission to allow women of all ages to get entry into all religious places and pray along with men.
The court dismissed the petition saying that it has no jurisdiction in such temples and refused to further entertain the petition.
The petition also said that women should not be barred from being ordained as priests in temples and churches, and should be allowed to lead prayers in mosques.
Advocate Sanjeev Kumar in his personal capacity had filed the petition on October 31 in the Delhi High Court. The matter was heard by the Chief Justice bench.
On September 28, a five-member constitutional bench headed by former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had allowed the entry of women of menstrual age (10 to 50) into the Sabarimala temple.
In an unfortunate incident, five people were murdered in Assam’s Tinsukia on Thursday evening by unidentified gunmen. Shyamlal Biswas, Ananta Biswas, Abhinash Biswas, Subodh Das, and Dhananjay Namashudra were picked up from a shop, taken to the banks of Brahmaputra River, and were shot dead. As the news broke out, many media houses and politicians said that it was the ULFA, which executed these killings. It took no time for politicians like Mamata Banerjee, other TMC leaders, and anti-BJP/anti-NRC lobbyists to call it murder of five ethnic Bengali Hindus by ULFA.
“We strongly condemn the brutal attack in Tinsukia and the killing of Shyamlal Biswas, Ananta Biswas, Abhinash Biswas, Subodh Das, and Dhananjay Namashudra. Is this the outcome of recent NRC development? We have no words to express our deep sorrow to the grieving families. The perpetrators must be punished at the very earliest,” she tweeted.
We saw many such tweets and statements coming out to blame the NRC process and create hatred amongst the Assamese speaking Hindus and Bengali speaking Hindus. Now, in my opinion, there is a background and hidden agenda behind it.
The background goes back to the creation of Bangladesh and Indo-Pak conflict when lacks of Bangladeshis crossed the borders and entered India as refugees. Many of them never went back and settled. Post that, for years Bangladeshis have been entering India as illegal immigrants and are settling in different parts of the country. It is to be noted that the majority of them are Bengali speaking Muslims. They settled across the country and they can be seen in large numbers in parts of Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and many other cities. But the worst affected parts are in West Bengal, Assam, and Jharkhand as it was easy to get settled due to their language. These illegal immigrants later managed to get Voter Cards, Aadhaar Cards, Ration Cards, land, and other documents and were permanently settled in many parts of Assam and West Bengal with the support of the political dispensation. In fact, in many districts, they became the majority and the local ethnic residents became a minority. This created insurgency and a large movement in Assam as the ethnic Assamese people found it to become their identity issue. In fact, in many districts, no one speaks Assamese today. At the same time, there is a large number of ethnic Bengali Hindus from West Bengal who also resides in Assam for generations. Now here is the larger game that comes into the picture.
These illegal Muslim immigrants were settled in a systematic way as the vote banks. For years it is said that they have been a large vote bank of Congress and later of UDF, whose many leaders are said to be Bangladeshis. In West Bengal, they have been the vote banks of the Left front for years. When Mamata Banerjee started her own party TMC, she was dead against these Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants as they were the vote banks of the Left. She used to raise this issue everywhere and was demanding for their identification and deportation. She even once threw papers in Lok Sabha on the Chair protesting on the same issue. But later she understood that this vote bank is very large and she can’t win West Bengal without their support and Mamata defeated the Left in this game by appeasing this vote bank, which resulted in Mamata coming into the power. Now since it’s her vote bank and they are the core voters, it’s in her interest to protect their interest.
The Congress party that majorly ruled Assam all these years at the time of Rajiv Gandhi, had to face the brunt of the local Assamese people’s anger on this issue and insurgency. This resulted in the signing of Assam accord by Rajiv Gandhi to end the insurgency and start the peace process. It was promised to the locals of Assam that an NRC will be prepared, illegal immigrants will be identified and will be removed from the voter list and deportation process will be started to protect the interest of all ethnic Assamese and local Bengali speaking population. But the successive Congress government never kept these promises.
When BJP started its journey towards the expansion in Northeast and West Bengal, they raised the issue of illegal immigrants very strongly as they knew if this becomes the core political issue, they can have a success which actually worked. BJP came into power in Assam and they’re slowly growing in Bengal too.
After coming to the power, BJP initiated the NRC process, which left Mamata, and Congress red-faced as if at all implemented, this is going to hurt the most politically. The irony is that the NRC issue, that was once signed by Rajiv Gandhi and demanded by Mamata, was hijacked by BJP.
The Supreme Court of India is monitoring the NRC process as the demand for the same was made in the SC. The first draft has come. Since it’s a draft the NRC itself has said that there would be many errors in it and those will be rectified. There are many genuine cases where the names have not been included into it and the NRC has given various options to get it rectified. There are many people who are the residents of India but basically are not from Assam. The confirmation has been sought from the respective State Governments from where they belong (Please note that West Bengal has the worst performance in this process). But at the same time, there are many illegal immigrants who have been left out. Now, what these political forces would do to protect their core vote bank? Mamata once said in election rallies – “Let me see who can touch one single Bangladeshi till the time I’m here. But that won’t work as it’s a constitutional process under the supervision of the Supreme Court.” So the playground has been set to position local Assamese people against the local Bengali speaking people and Mamata is championing the game since the first draft came. She protested in West Bengal, sent her leaders to Assam who tried to create a ruckus over there and incited violence. But she failed.
After Thursday’s killings, it was immediately positioned as the killing of Bengali speaking Hindus by the ULFA. But lately, the ULFA issued a statement denying its hand and a probe is already on to ascertain the motive and people behind it. But, someone needs to jump the gun and exploit the deaths — incite violence, make Assamese and Bengalis fight, divert the issue, and protect the illegal Bangladeshi Muslim vote bank! Well played dear politicians! For you, National interest and National security come later and vote bank at first. God save my country and Assam!
By Vikas Kumar
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in 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.)
Deepika Padukone is a beaming bride-to-be as the wedding festivities have officially begun in her hometown Bangalore.
The 32-year-old, who is all set to tie the knot with beau Ranveer Singh, looked radiant in an orange suit as she performed pooja before the “new beginnings.”
Deepika’s stylist Shaleena Nathani shared the pictures from the ceremony on her Instagram account. “To new beginnings,” she captioned the picture.
In another picture, the ‘Padmaavat’ star can be seen sharing a fun moment with her team. “Love you to the mooon and back So so so so so sooooo happy for you. Cant wait for it all to starttttt. You deserve all the happiness in the world and more,” read the caption.
Deepika and Ranveer Singh announced last month that they are tying the knot on November 14-15. The wedding destination is reportedly Lake Como, Itlay.
