A court in Mumbai on Monday acquitted at least 23 Shiv Sainiks, including Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde, Mayor Sanjay More and Kalyan party unit chief Gopal Landge who were tried for rioting in connection with a 2006 case. Thane Chief Judicial Magistrate RM Kulkarni acquitted all of them for lack of sufficient evidence.
A total of 24 Shiv Sainiks, including half a dozen women, were tried in the case of whom one Fatteh Bahadursingh died during pendency of trial.
The prosecution told the court that it was during the meeting of the TMT employees Union held at the Koli Samaj hall on September 3, 2006 that the alleged accused gate crashed into the hall, ran riot and damaged property besides attacking the inmates. They were tried under relevant sections of IPC.
Appearing on behalf of the accused, advocate Rajan Salunke, assisted by K D Jadhav and Archana Pawar, told the court that the accused were not at all involved in any offence as stated by the prosecution. There was no evidence to prove that they were present at the venue or involved in rioting and damage to property.
The court room was packed and Shiv Sainiks who gathered in huge numbers and greeted each other after the verdict.
The Bombay High Court Monday directed all the municipal bodies in Maharashtra to remove illegal pandals that may come up on roads or footpaths during the forthcoming Navratri and Diwali festivals.
The court also asked the authorities to take action against noise pollution offenders during these festivals.
The bench of justices Abhay Oka and V L Achilya directed the civic bodies to file separate affidavits by November 21, detailing what steps they had taken to remove illegal pandals and book guilty for the noise pollution during the festivals.
It was hearing a bunch of PILs on the issue of illegal pandals set up across the state during dahi handi and Ganesh festivals with noise pollution rules allegedly flouted and inaction by the authorities.
In order to ensure compliance, the high court has posted the matter for further hearing on December 3.
On going through the affidavits filed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic bodies, the bench observed that there was complete failure on the part of the state to take action in terms of noise pollution rules in the just-concluded festivals, such as dahi handi and Ganeshotsav.
The judges observed that the revenue officers did not conduct a proper survey (of illegal pandals) and hence teams were not formed for this purpose. Therefore, the officers could not give their reports (about illegal pandals) to the municipal bodies and hence action was not taken against the guilty.
The bench also remarked that there was total failure on the part of state in implementing noise pollution rules.
The bench Monday cautioned civic bodies and the state to be vigilant during the forthcoming festivals and ensure that court orders are implemented strictly in regard to removal of illegal pandals and violation of noise pollution rules.
The judges asked the civic bodies to ensure that the orders of high court were taken to its logical end by strictly enforcing rules regarding pandals and noise pollution.
The court observed that the Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai had discretionary powers to grant permission for setting up pandals but if any illegality is found then such an organisation may be debarred by the civic body from putting up pandals in future.
The high court Monday dismissed a civic application regarding a pandal of Mumbadevi in South Mumbai, in which permission had been withdrawn by BMC because of alleged illegality involved.
The judges also said that earlier they had asked the civic bodies and the state to point out if any politician was using any kind of pressure to allow pandals on roads or footpaths. However, till date, the authorities have not given any name to suggest that pressure from ‘higher ups’ was used to commit the illegality.
The bench was informed last week by senior advocate Sanjeev Gorwadkar, appearing for one of the petitioners Mahesh Bedekar, that during the recently-held Ganesh and dahi handi festivals, several pandals had flouted noise pollution rules, but no action was taken against them by police and the civic body concerned.
Thereupon, the bench inquired from state government and BMC lawyers as to what action they proposed to take during the forthcoming Navratri festival this month and Diwali festival later.
Real estate developers body CREDAI has decided to close all its construction and administrative operations today as a mark of respect and solidarity to MCHI Thane President Suraj Parmar who allegedly committed suicide.
On October 7, Parmar, CMD of the Cosmos Group, “shot himself dead” as he was fed up of alleged harassment from various government departments and their repeated demands for bribes, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) said in a statement.
“The fight against a corrupt and inefficient government system has led to the loss of our fellow developer. As a mark of respect and solidarity, all our member developers will protest with closure of offices, sites office, registration and all construction work on Tuesday,” it said.
CREDAI also said developers have to take around 54-60 approvals and permissions before starting a project and each approval necessitates dealing with a number of government authorities.
“This entire process takes about 2-3 years resulting in the projects suffering with cost overrun and avoidable delays to the consuming public. CREDAI has consistently sought rationalisation of approval processes and single-window system and the demand has been approved in principle by a number of committees. However, action is yet to be seen,” it said.
CREDAI and its over 10,000 members will also appeal to the state government to develop an atmosphere of trust that will enable a spirit of partnership, to ensure that that such episodes never recur and the ‘ease of doing business’ can become a reality, it added.
Recently, a delegation comprising BJP and Shiv Sena leaders and around 30 builders from Mumbai and neighbouring Thane district met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding strict action against the guilty in connection with Parmar’s alleged suicide.
Three Dalit brothers were allegedly thrashed by a mob after they objected to their derogatory remarks against Dr BR Ambedkar in Virar area in early hours on Monday, police said.
Sagar Ingle (25), Jeet Ingle (30) and Chetan Ingle (22), sons of a RPI corporator in Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation Pandurang Ingle, were beaten up with sticks and iron rods at the MD Nagar locality of Virar at around 12.30 am, police inspector SB Mane said.
As per initial investigation, Sagar was having a conversation with some of his friends and the discussion apparently veered towards the Dalit community. Some of those in the group, who were said to be in an inebriated state, started abusing the community and allegedly passed derogatory remarks against Ambedkar, Mane said.
When Sagar asked them to end the discussion, they thrashed him with iron rods and wooden sticks, he said.
Soon, a mob of around 30-40 people arrived on the scene and started beating Sagar. When his two brothers rushed to save him, they were also beaten up severely by the mob and their clothes were torn off, he said.
The trio, however, managed to run away from the scene and subsequently lodged a complaint with Virar police. They were later admitted to a local hospital.
Virar police have registered a case under sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 and 149 of the IPC and also under relevant sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Act.
No arrest has been made so far in this connection, Mande said.
Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Mumbai unit initiated probe merely into nine percent of complaints that it received during the last 45 months, according to an RTI reply.
ACB’s Mumbai region received 7,232 complaints from January 2012 to September 2015 mainly of disproportionate assets and graft charges against government servants.
But it ordered “open and discrete” inquiries in only 671 complaints. In 322 cases, the anti-corruption watchdog closed the probes without taking any action, RTI activist Jeetendra Ghadge said quoting the reply received from Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police ACB Rajan Bhogle.
Of the rest 349 cases, FIRs were filed only in seven cases while inquiries were pending in 299 cases, the reply mentioned.
Ghadge said only seven out of 7,232 cases that is a meagre 0.096 per cent complaints were converted into FIRs.
“Most certainly, during the course of trail, the accused would go scot free. This implies that either everyone is filing false complaints or there is absolutely no corruption in Mumbai,” he claimed.
Referring to Bombay High Court’s directives, he said the ACB is supposed to investigate every complaint it receives.
Refuting Ghatge’s charges, Bhogle said, “Whensoever we get any complaint, we go through it thoroughly. When a case does not pertain to graft or corruption, we forward it to the authorities concerned to take corrective measures”.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday slammed the Shiv Sena for smearing ink on the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of Observer Research Foundation (ORF), who is organising former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book launch, saying that it was ‘Talibani hooliganism’ and that Uddhav Thackeray must control his ‘goons’.
“Strongly condemn most dastardly attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni by Shiv Sainiks. Udhav Thakre must control his goons. Full support to Sudheendra,” Singh tweeted.
The senior Congress leader asserted that such ‘intolerance’ in India can’t be tolerated.
“First Ghulam Ali concert and now Kasuri’s book launch. We don’t want a Desi Taliban in India,” he added.
Condemning the ink attack on Kulkarni, Singh said that Kasuri’s book launch must be held at all costs and all liberals who are against such ‘Talibani hooliganism’ must come out to support the event.
Shiv Sainiks had earlier smeared ink Kulkarni, as he refused to back down from organising Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai.
“As soon as I stepped out of my house and got into my car, around 8-10 Shiv Sena workers attacked me and threw ink on my face,” said Kulkarni.
The Shiv Sena has been vehemently protesting against Kasuri’s book launch, saying it was an insult to the Indian soldiers who had died in the recent ceasefire violations by Pakistan, and had warned that there would be ‘repercussions’ if the event was not cancelled.
Kashmiris should be made aware of the brutal atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army on civilians in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said.
Parrikar accused the country’s western neighbour of continuing to push terrorists into India and said its role as a breeder of terror should be exposed before a global audience.
Parrikar, who was speaking during a public interaction meet late on Sunday evening near here, also hinted that the National Democratic Alliance government had Pakistan worried.
“We need to bring it to their (Kashmiris) notice. How brutally the Pakistan Army is treating the population in PoK? I don’t know after that if they will ever think of Pakistan because they are proud people. They have to be told that their brothers, and sisters, who are also a part of India, are being brutally treated,” he said.
The Defence Minister said that India had to adopt a multi-pronged strategy with regard to Pakistan, one that included brute force vis-a-vis dealing with terror as well as political tact.
You find kids being murdered, butchered in Peshawar. You find people going to mosques for prayers being killed. Killing is almost everywhere in Pakistan. I think these are poisonous fruits, seeds of which were sown by them. They should realise that the hate India campaign will not provide any solution, he said.
Parrikar also said that Pakistan continues to send terrorists into India using cross-border firing as a decoy.
“Most of the times, the ceasefire violation is to ensure that some terrorists are pushed into Indian side. This is a cover up…” he said.
Asked whether the troika of Narendra Modi as prime minister, Manohar Parrikar as Defence Minister and Ajit Doval as National Security Advisor could have had Pakistan worried, the former Goa chief minister said: “I think some aspects should be understood by symptoms. The worry can be seen on their faces and when they talk. I don’t have to explain anything beyond that.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence over growing communal incidents encourages violent and intolerant elements in the country.
The AAP said writers returning Sahitya Akademi awards was ‘no joke’, adding that they were standing up for a just cause.
“Writers returning their Sahitya Akademi awards are no joke, these writers are giving up recognition to stand up for what is right,” the AAP tweeted.
“Modi ji silence is encouraging violent and intolerant forces due to which India image is getting spoiled,” the AAP said in another tweet.
The AAP also accused Prime Minister Modi for making fun of the word ‘secularism’ during his trips abroad.
“Modi ji is not only quiet on these issues but is also making fun of the word ‘secularism’ on foreign soil,” the AAP tweeted.
The Sahitya Akademi will hold an emergency meeting on October 23 to discuss the alarming exodus of literary icons from the fraternity with writers returning their awards.
Till now, 15 writers have returned their awards to the Akademi since Hindi writer Uday Prakash first did so last month over the killing of Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi.
The Supreme Court on Monday termed as “mistake” its earlier order extending interim protection from arrest granted toTeesta Setalvad and her husband, indicating that the relief was granted by a two-judge bench earlier instead of three.
“Earlier, it was a mistake,” a bench comprising justices A R Dave and Adarsh Kumar Goel observed when senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the activist, said the protection against arrest was expiring on October 15 and moreover, last time this two-judge bench had itself extended the relief.
“It is a three-judge bench matter… place it before the appropriate bench,” the court said and asked Sibal to mention it before the Chief Justice for making available the special bench to extend the relief.
“I do not want to lose the protection,” Sibal said. The relief was granted to the activist couple in a case of alleged embezzlement of funds for a museum at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society that was devastated in the 2002 riots.
Meanwhile, the counsel for Gujarat police sought adjournment on the hearing of its plea seeking a direction to Teesta for supplying certain documents, which was allowed.
The court, on September 11, had extended by four weeks the interim protection from arrest granted to Teesta Setalvad and her husband in the case. Sibal had then mentioned the issue on behalf of the couple, saying the interim order was expiring on September 15.
In the latest incidence of ‘ghar wapsi’, around 300 people converted to Hinduism in Ausanpur village, 16 kilometers from Varanasi.
Those converted used to frequent a church that had come in the area a few years ago.
They were brought back to the Hindu fold by an organisation called the Dharma Jagran Samanvya Samiti.
The report adds that those converted after ‘shuddhikaran’ were handed over a Gita and Hamuman Chalisa.
Interestingly, the report quotes an unnamed villager as saying that those converted had never left Hindu religion at the first place. He said that they had changed their faith not their religion as they feared losing the benefits that come from their SC status.
A court in Mumbai on Monday acquitted at least 23 Shiv Sainiks, including Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde, Mayor Sanjay More and Kalyan party unit chief Gopal Landge who were tried for rioting in connection with a 2006 case. Thane Chief Judicial Magistrate RM Kulkarni acquitted all of them for lack of sufficient evidence.
Kashmiris should be made aware of the brutal atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army on civilians in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said.