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HC seeks government affidavits in Homi Bhabha’s bungalow case

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Afternoon Voice
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Homi-Bhabha's-bungalowThe Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and Maharashtra government to file their affidavits in reply to a petition seeking declaration of nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha’s bungalow ‘Meherangir’ as a national monument.

A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawala has also asked the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), the custodian of the bungalow at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai, to file its affidavit by August 4. In his petition, Raam Dhuri, president of National Forum for Aided Institutions Employees (Department of Atomic Energy), has also sought a direction to the auction purchasers of the sprawling bungalow against carrying out any demolition or repair work pending a decision from the Centre in this regard.

The bench on Wednesday queried if any demolition work has been carried out. It was informed in the negative. The petition claims that the high court, while hearing another petition on the same issue in September 2014, had directed the petitioners to approach the Centre. “The Union government has till date not taken any decision. The auction purchasers of the bungalow had in September 2014 assured the court that they do not propose to demolish the building nor do they propose to make any changes in the bungalow for a period of six months, by when the Union government can take a decision,” the petition said.

It stated that in its letter in March, the state government requested the Centre to take appropriate steps to declare the bungalow as a national monument. The sprawling sea-facing bungalow was auctioned for over Rs. 300 crore by NCPA.

Mumbai firm rubbishes Pak Army’s claims on drone

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Afternoon Voice
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DronA city-based communication and electronic firm has rebutted Pakistan Army’s contention that it had sold the drone to Indian Army, which was subsequently shot down along the Line of Control on July 15.

Pakistan Army yesterday claimed that forensic tests of the drone showed that it was operated by their Indian counterparts for surveillance and photo shoot, the allegation already denied by the Army and the Air Force.

Rubbishing the allegations that it had sold the ‘phantom quadcopter’ to Indian Army, ASCOM Systems said it could not have done so as it is not on the vendor list of Indian military which is a mandatory prerequisite.

The rebuttal through a press release came a day after Pakistan Army claimed that ‘an image retrieved (from the quadcopter) proves that after the purchase of this quadcopter it was taken inside M/S ASCOM office which is an Indian communication and electronic firm.’

“The picture which the Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) have allegedly published is actually of our office set-up, which is taken from our own website www.Flycams.In,” the release said.

The company also punched holes in Pakistan Army’s claims on retrieval of data from the memory chip of the drone saying it was a ploy by Pakistan to divert attention from the Punjab terror incident.

“Reading the data from a memory card does not require forensic expertise and if the data was genuine they could have provided it on the day the quadcopter was shot down.

“In fact, the ISPR has taken ten days to retrieve or read the data from the memory chip. This itself makes it apparent that the allegations are a cooked up story to divert attention from Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Punjab on Monday. The pictures were revealed on the same day when the terror attack in Punjab took place,” the press note said.

ASCOM said the Phantom quadcopter the ISPR is talking about is an “RC Hobby Toy multi-rotor copter which can be bought off-the-shelf by anyone, including the civilians and is available on all leading online stores like Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal.”

Four quacks held in Wadala

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Afternoon Voice
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The crime branch of Mumbai police with the help of civic officials nabbed four bogus doctors today.

All the accused were arrested from suburban Wadala, police said, adding that none of them were qualified doctors but were running practise.

“Officers of the economic offences wing had formed 13 teams to work on the case,” said DCP (detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni.

Every team had an official from the health department of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, an EOW officer and a constable.

After getting tip-offs, police conducted a raid and arrested the accused under relevant sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act.

Students seek extra marks for errors in varsity question

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Afternoon Voice
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Thousands of students of Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) course of Mumbai University, who appeared for the final year exam in April, have demanded extra marks for “errors” in a question paper.

The students have launched an online petition over the issue.

Describing the background, the petition says, “On April 20 (2015), Mumbai University conducted the examination for Operations Research (OR) for BMS students. There was a paper correction in Q1(a) and Q2(B), which was given to the students in the last half-an-hour of the paper submission.”

“The major correction came late and no extra time was given. Students had asked their exam supervisors for extra time and the reply they received was ‘No’. Students were warned that if they ask again then they will not be able to give the exams further and will be escorted out of the examination hall,” it added.

The petition further says that the results are now out and majority of students have failed in the subject.

“Students, who had never got a KT (keep terms) in years of BMS, have got it now. Due to this, rankers have cleared with borderline marks, spoiling their total aggregate.

Students, who wanted to pursue further studies, now have to deal with this blow,” it said.

Accusing the Mumbai University of “extremely insensitive” attitude towards the students’ woes, they have demanded extra marks for the question paper errors.

When contacted, the university administration said they have already started taking corrective measures in this regard.

“We have initiated corrective measures in this regard and over 80 per cent work in this direction has been done.

Government hikes stipend for anganwadi workers

By
Afternoon Voice
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Maharashtra government has hiked the stipend for anganwadi sevikas and attendants by Rs. 950 and Rs. 500 respectively.

For mini-anganwadi sevikas the stipend has been increased by Rs. 550. Their existing stipend from the state government is Rs. 450.

State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told that the existing stipend from state government for anganwadi sevikas is Rs. 1,500 while for attendants it is Rs. 500.

The Centre’s share for anganwadi sevikas is Rs. 3,000 and for attendants it is Rs. 1,500. For mini-anganwadi sevikas, the Centre’s share is Rs. 2,250. The total stipend for anganwadi workers is Rs. 892.4 crore annually, the minister said.

State Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde said a provision of Rs. 228 crore has been made in the supplementary demands passed in the ongoing monsoon session.

The hike in stipend is with retrospective effect from April 2015, she said.

Munde said the previous government (Congress-NCP combine) had announced a hike in stipend in April 2014 but did not make budgetary provision for the same.

“We will give last year’s hike as well for which provision will be made through supplementary demands,” she added.

There are 97,475 approved posts of anganwadi sevikas, while presently there are 95,341 sevikas in service. There are 97,475 approved posts of anganwadi attendants while there are 92,023 attendants in service.

Similarly, there are 11,175 approved posts of mini-anganwadi workers while the total workers in service are 9,898.

Teenage girl raped by teacher in Thane

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Afternoon Voice
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A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 31-year-old teacher at his tuition class, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Saneep Mahale, was arrested, said police sub-inspector VS Suryawanshi of Vishnunagar police station.

The alleged incident had happened earlier this month at Mahale’s residence in Garibacha Wada township.

He has been booked under various sections of IPC and sections 4 and 8 of POCSO Act 2012.

Law will take its own course, says Maharashtra CM on Yakub execution

By
Afternoon Voice
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Law will take its own course on the issue of execution of Yakub Memon, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.

“Law will take its own course. I appeal to everyone to maintain restraint,” Fadnavis said at Vidhan Bhawan.

Meanwhile, a top government functionary said, “So far, we have not received any instructions not to go ahead with it (Yakub’s execution).”

“In absence of any specific directives not to go ahead with the execution, if Yakub is not hanged tomorrow, the state government will be in trouble for not implementing the death warrant,” he said.

The Supreme Court refused to stay the execution slated for tomorrow of Memon, the lone death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, rejecting his last ditch plea to escape the gallows.

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: SC upholds commutation of death to life sentence for killers

By
Afternoon Voice
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Rajiv-Gandhis-killerIn a significant development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Centre’s curative petition against its verdict commuting the death sentence of three convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case to life imprisonment.

On February 18, 2014, the court had commuted the death sentence of Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan to life imprisonment on grounds of delay by the Centre in deciding their mercy plea.

The bench then held that it was “indisputable” that the delay in deciding the mercy plea was “inordinate and unreasonable”, and had not been caused by the convicts.

The central government had last week told the Supreme Court that no mercy could be shown to the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as it opposed the Tamil Nadu government’s move to set free seven convicts by granting them remission of sentence.

Opposing Tamil Nadu government’s plea to release the seven convicts, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the Constitution Bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit that “our former prime minister was killed by these people. There was a conspiracy to kill him in which foreign nationals were also involved. What mercy could be shown to them?”

Appearing for the other victims of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, Ranjit Kumar stated his stand while opposing the plea by senior counsel Ram Jathmalani appearing for one of the convicts V Sriharan alias Murugan and Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for the Tamil Nadu government.

The bench was hearing a reference by three judge bench on the question whether after the commutation of death sentence into life imprisonment, could the state government further grant remission of sentence to release the Rajiv Gandhi assassins.

Chicken bites man, leads to clash between two communities in Kanpur

By
Afternoon Voice
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In a bizarre turn of events, two communities clashed with each other after a chicken bit a man at Colonelganj area in Kanpur, following which police arrested the fowl’s owner and his father.

The chain of events was set in motion on Tuesday when the chicken bit a 17-year-old youth from the neighbourhood. The enraged youth kicked the bird, infuriating the chicken’s owner and his father, who then thrashed him as a punishment, police said.

The youth informed his parents about the incident and soon, a large number of people gathered in front of the owner’s house. Heated arguments took place between the two groups and soon a clash ensued in which stones were pelted.

Three persons, including a woman, were injured in the clash and they were admitted to a hospital. They were released after being administered first aid, police said, adding a large number of security personnel have been deployed in the area after the incident, police further said.

The chicken’s owner and his father have been arrested and a case has been lodged against them on the youth’s complaint, Circle Officer of Colonelganj Vivek Tripathi said.

The fowl was caught and handed over to the owner’s family by the police who also issued them a warning to ensure that the bird is not set loose in the future.

Three youths drown while clicking selfie in Jaipur

By
Afternoon Voice
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Three youths drowned when they accidentally fell into water while clicking a selfie with their mobile phone near Bagru area in the district.

A group of five friends had gone to Nevta dam yesterday. Three of them were clicking a selfie together when they slipped into deep water, police said on Wednesday.

The deceased have been identified as Dushyant Pareek (21), Vishal Pareek (20), both cousin brothers, and Pankaj Singh (22).

The bodies have been handed over to their family members after post mortem, police said.

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