Girls invite trouble by making friends on social networking sites, according to Sheela Chaturvedi, a member of Uttar Pradesh State Women’s Commission.

“It is the fault of girls for making friends with boys who they don’t know on social networking sites,” Chaturvedi said after hearing 13 cases of atrocities against girls, at Circuit House in Allahabad.

Chaturvedi said this while taking up a case of a girl who had alleged that a police constable had refused to marry her after a two-year relationship. She reportedly asked the complainant that she should have thought before having a relationship with the accused.

Ironically, the women commission member used the occasion to shower praises on Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government for its efforts in checking crime against women.

“No governments before took so many concrete measures to check atrocities against women but the SP government had launched 1090 women helpline for girls in distress,” she said. Incidentally, the comments came a day after a chopped body of 20-year-old law student was found on a Lucknow street.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that if a candidate gives an incorrect declaration of the criminal cases against him or her, then the person’s candidature can be cancelled.

Cracking the whip on criminal politicians again, the Supreme Court ruled that if candidates give incorrect details of criminal cases pending against them, their candidature can be cancelled.

The apex court has ruled that such concealment amounts to interference in free exercise of electoral rights.

The Supreme Court gave a verdict in a 2006 case in which the election of a panchayat member from Coimbatore was challenged.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday appealed to the people of Delhi to vote for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates during the Assembly elections on February 7.

In a tweet, Banerjee said, “Delhi elections on 7. My request to all of you in Delhi to please vote for AAP. For the greater need of the country and development in Delhi”.

Banerjee’s appeal to the people to vote for the AAP is significant since her TMC is locked in a stiff battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for political supremacy in West Bengal. She has been accusing the BJP of manipulating the arrest of TMC leaders suspected of involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam.

However, the appeal is important for the AAP which is engaged apparently in a neck-and-neck fight with the BJP in Delhi. It comes as a shot in the arm for AAP with the Left already having pledged its support to it. Prakash Karat of CPM said his party will support AAP on the seats where they have not fielded their own candidates.

Sources have claimed that the Janata Dal (United) leadership has asked Jitan Ram Manjhi to step down as Bihar Chief Minister.

The development came amid speculation over the return of Nitish Kumar as the chief minister.

Sources, however, added that Manjhi has refused to oblige, instead asking the party leadership to sack him.

While a majority of JD(U) MLAs are believed to be in favour of Nitish replacing Manjhi as the Bihar chief minister, still there is a section within the party which favours the current CM continuing in post till Assemble polls later this year.

Those in favour of Nitish want the change to happen now so that the former CM could campaign for the party instead of Manjhi, who has courted controversy on many occasions.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad is also believed to have voiced his opinion in favour of Nitish, ahead of the proposed Janata parivaar merger.

Nitish had last week denied speculation about Manjhi’s ouster.

“There is no substance in media speculation over Manjhi’s ouster… no discussion took place (with Janata Parivar leaders) during my visit to Delhi nor was it necessary,” Kumar had said.

To stop “communal forces” in their tracks, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday asked party leaders to go closer to workers at the grassroots level and repeat the party’s grand performance in 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Describing party workers as the backbone of the organisation, he said ministers must spend more time in their respective districts and constituencies and listen to the grievances.

He was addressing a meeting of the ruling party’s newly reconstituted state executive, seen as a strategy session to checkmate BJP, which had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

In a strong message, Mulayam asked partymen to stand united against “communal forces” so as to achieve success in 2017 Assembly polls.

The state executive meet was attended by SP national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav and state unit president Akhilesh Yadav, besides other senior leaders.

Mulayam said he was aware of what the state ministers were doing. “But this is not enough,” he said and advised them to spend more time in their respective district and constituency and ensure implementation of developmental schemes launched by the state government.

“Only SP can defeat communal forces. People of the state know it. You (party leaders) should stand united and fight these forces,” he said.

A local court has ordered attachment proceedings against BSP MLA Vijay Kumar, wanted in connection with the murder of National Informatics Centre (NIC) engineer here last month.

Chief judicial magistrate has ordered attachment proceedings against the BSP MLA from Bansgaon, Vijay Kumar named in the FIR filed in the murder of NIC engineer Shikhar Srivastava, Superintendent of Police, Abdul Hameed said.

“All out efforts are being made to arrest the MLA and his wife and the attachment notices have also been sent to him after the court orders,” the SP said.

“If the arrests are not made by the end of attachment proceedings or the two do not present themselves before the court, cash reward would be announced and their posters would be put up at different places,” the SP said.

Body of Shikhar Srivastava, bearing injury marks, was found at a secluded place in Badaosarai area of Barabanki on January 20.

Shikhar’s father Dinesh Chandra Srivastava, who is also the vice-president of Congress’s Bahraich district unit in a police complaint had alleged that Shikhar had given Rs. 3.50 lakh to MLA Kumar’s wife Mridula after the latter promised him a better job.

An FIR was lodged at Badosarai police station under relevant IPC sections including 302 (murder) and 364 (abducting in order to murder) against MLA, his wife and others.

Reacting to the sacking of Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Congress leader Manish Tiwari described the entire episode as a sad commentary on the functioning of the union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“It’s a sad commentary on the functioning of government. The fundamental questions is how did this happen? This means government has no control over the instrumentality of governance?” he said.

Anil Goswami was removed as Home Secretary yesterday night in the wake of controversy over his alleged attempt to stall the arrest of Saradha scam accused Matang Sinh, a former Congress minister in the UPA government at the Centre.

Rural Development Secretary LC Goyal has taken over as the new Home Secretary today.

Goswami would have continued in the post till June 30 but was asked to resign after which he submitted his resignation.

The exit of Goswami, a UPA government appointee, came following media reports that he had tried to prevent CBI officers from carrying out Sinh’s arrest on Saturday.

The continuance of Goswami became untenable after he had admitted to Home Minister Rajnath Singh that he had spoken to CBI officials before they arrested Sinh in Kolkata on Saturday, reports said.

Goswami, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was appointed as Home Secretary in 2013 during the tenure of UPA Government. He was said to have been close to Matang Sinh, a controversial politician from Assam who was a Minister of State for Home in PV Narasimha Rao’s government.

This is the second instance of the removal of a top bureaucrat in a week after Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh’s services were curtailed last Wednesday after she refused to resign from the post. While there were no allegations of impropriety against her, the Government is said to have been unhappy with her leadership of the Ministry.

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on Thursday joined the probe into murder of his mother Sunanda Pushkar.

Shiv Menon appeared before the Special Investigation Team at its office and was questioned in connection with the murder case.

Menon reached the Vasant Vihar police station, also the office of the SIT, at around 1.15 pm.

Bassi later said Menon has joined the investigation, which is under progress. He added that Menon is likely to throw light on many aspects in the case.
Menon was not questioned earlier as he was out of India.

A police team probing the murder of Sunanda has questioned at least 15 people in connection with the case so far.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, his staff members and close friends were among those quizzed by the Delhi Police.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and senior journalist Nalini Singh have also been questioned by police.

52-year-old Sunanda was found dead in her suite at a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, a day after she was involved in a spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on micro-blogging website Twitter over the latter’s alleged affair with Tharoor.

A day after he was released on conditional bail in the Saradha scam case, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose has resigned from the primary membership of the party on Thursday.

Bose has sent his resignation to party Chief Mamata Banerjee and has also resigned as Member of Parliament.

Bose was granted bail by the court after imposing three conditions that he would not leave the country, he would not threaten witnesses and he would respond to CBI’s summons, whenever served.

CBI sources later said that the agency would challenge the conditional bail granted by the Alipore District and Sessions judge as bail granted to Bose under Section 420 of IPC is not tenable since he had been slapped with charges under Sections 409 of IPC as well.

Bose, the editor of Trinamool mouthpiece Jago Bangla and Bengali newspaper Sambad Pratidin, was arrested Nov 21 by the CBI for alleged criminal conspiracy, misappropriation of funds and deriving undue financial benefits in connection with the scam.

The assistant general secretary of city soccer giants Mohun Bagan, Bose is the first senior Trinamool leader to be granted bail in the scam.

Sports and Transport Minister Madan Mitra and former director general of police Rajat Majumdar – both important Trinamool leaders – are still behind bars. Suspended Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh is also in jail.

Bose was accused of ‘blackmail’ by purported scam kingpin and Saradha Group promoter Sudipta Sen in a latter he is supposed to have written to the CBI in April 2013.

In the letter, Sen claimed he entered the media business after the Bengali daily started attacking him.

Sen, now under arrest along with his top aides, said that after he purchased a television channel, Bose and Kunal Ghosh came to him and he had to make arrangements for paying Rs. 60 lakh per month to the newspaper for running the channel.

Sen also claimed that the duo promised to ensure a “smooth passage” for him and protect his business from the state and central governments and assured him “they have very close connections” with the chief minister.

Sen in his letter also alleged that over two years, the paper had taken Rs. 20 crore from him for running the channel.