A teacher, who allegedly taught the 2008 Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab, told a Pakistani court that the Ajmal he knew is alive and was not the one hanged in India.
“I taught Ajmal but he was not the one hanged in India in connection with the Mumbai attacks,” said the teacher of a primary school Faridkot, Deplapur, Okara district of Punjab province, some 120 kilometres from Lahore.
“Ajmal Kasab whom I taught is alive and one hanged in India was not enrolled in this school,” the teacher said and submitted the school record of the student, sources said.
The teacher was a prosecution witness in the Anti Terrorism Court, Islamabad, that is currently hearing the case of the attack in India’s financial capital that killed 166 people in November, 2008.
Another witness, head of the Hindi department of NAMAL University, Punjab – who translated Kasab’s statement into English – also appeared in the court, but could not submit the translation as the defence raised objection, saying Kasab’s statement had yet to be made part of the case.
Following this, the court adjourned the proceedings till May 14.
Kasab, the 25-year-old lone Pakistani gunman caught alive after the Mumbai terror attack, was hanged to death at Pune’s Yerawada central prison in a top-secret operation on November 21, 2012.
Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Anjum have been charged with planning, financing and executing the Mumbai attacks.
All the accused are jailed in Adiala prison.
Out of about 60 witnesses, the anti-terrorism court has so far completed cross examination of 32 prosecution witnesses.
The Bombay High Court refused to grant any interim relief to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who had petitioned the court challenging the notification making mandatory an anti-smoking disclaimer during smoking scenes in a movie.
Under Rule 4(7) and 8 of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, the Union government had written a letter to the Censor Board asking them to make it mandatory for film makers to show the disclaimer during smoking scenes.
Kashyap in his petition sought for the rule to be set aside and quashed as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional.
The filmmaker had approached the High Court in December 2013, when the Censor Board restrained him from releasing his movie “Ugly” after he refused to comply with the rule that requires for ‘Smoking is injurious to health’ warning to pop up every time a character smokes in the movie.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha, after hearing Kashyap’s lawyers, said no case for interim relief is made out. The bench has, however, allowed the director to make a representation before the Union government seeking modification in the rules.
The court said if such a representation is made then the Union government shall take a decision on it expeditiously.
Kashyap in his petition had said that the rule making it mandatory for such a disclaimer was a gross violation of his creative expression and fundamental rights.
The filmmaker as interim relief sought a direction to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to permit him to release his movie without the mandatory disclaimer.
The petition noted that a mere depiction or display of a character using cigarette or tobacco, does not attract the attention of audience specifically to the cigarette or tobacco product nor is intended to promote the sale of these products and does not amount to advertising.
Further the film “Ugly” is in the genre of dark cinema which requires the characters to smoke for overall artistic effect.
A hunt has been launched for the four men who sexually assaulted the victim at the residence of one of the accused in Kalyan-Goa naka area on Friday night, an official at Malwani police station said.
Two accused have been identified as Rajkumar Choudhary and Nagori Chowdhary, while the identity of the other two is yet to be established. Rajkumar had on Friday night called the victim to talk to her at suburban Malwani with regard to a complaint she had lodged against his brother Guddukumar, police said.
Guddukumar was arrested by Malwani police for sexually abusing her on the pretext of marrying her. “As Rajkumar requested her to meet him so that he could speak to her with regard to Guddukumar case, she met him on Friday evening. As soon as the victim reached the place, Rajkumar forced her into a waiting taxi and took her to Nagori’s house in Kalyan,” the officer added.
The accused then threatened the victim of dire consequences if she did not withdraw the complaint filed against Guddukumar. As the victim flatly refused to take back the complaint, the four beat her up and took turns to sexually assault her, police said.
The shattered victim remained silent about the offence but she garnered courage and lodged the complaint with Malwani police against the accused. An FIR has been registered against the four and further probe is on, police added.
The chairman of bourse operator Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, Jignesh Shah, was arrested on Wednesday by the Mumbai Police for his alleged involvement in the Rs. 5,600-crore National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam.
Shah has been under police investigation after National Spot Exchange Ltd, a commodities exchange owned by Financial Tech, abruptly suspended trade in most of its commodities contracts last year.
Shah came under scanner last year, when his group company NSEL faced a payment crisis and nearly 18,000 investors allegedly lost millions in late July.
Shah had been the chairman and managing director of Financial Technologies since January 2001 and now serves as group chief executive.
With Shah’s arrest, the total number of arrests in the scam has gone up to seven.
Since the NSEL crisis came to fore, the FTIL group, Shah and his close aide Joseph Massey came under increased regulatory scrutiny and was ordered by both the Sebi and FMC as not fit and proper to run any exchanges in the country.
Besides being the founder chairman and group chief executive of Financial Technologies Group, Shah is also the founder of MCX, the world’s eighth largest commodity futures exchange, in over 12 years.
Shah is a first-generation entrepreneur and the founder/promoter of the FTIL Group, founded in 1999.
He was actively involved with the automation of the trading systems at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and was also responsible for designing and implementing various modules of the back-office systems of BSE, particularly for market operations and surveillance.
AirAsia India, the joint venture between AirAsia and Tata Group, is closer to starting its operations in India. The aviation regulator today issued air operator permit to the airline.
Delhi-based Arun Bhatia of Telstra Tradeplace is also a partner in the joint venture.
However, it could be sometime before the airline actually takes off. Public interest litigation is pending before the Delhi High Court over granting of approvals to AirAsia India, though the court has denied an interim stay on the matter.
Besides, earlier this week BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had urged the Election Commission to restrain India’s aviation regulator from giving flying licences to AirAsia’s venture till a new government takes over.
In a memorandum presented to Chief Election Commissioner, he said, “My information is that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is unaware of the principle laid down by the Election Commission in enforcing the model code, that is, no administrative or policy decision impacting the benefits accruable to any section of the society, should not be cleared if there is no operational urgency in the matter.”
Besides Mr Swamy, the Federation of Indian Airlines has filed two separate petitions in the court challenging the approvals granted to the Tata-AirAsia and Tata-SIA Airlines deals respectively. Tata-SIA Airlines is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines (SIA).
AirAsia plans to operate a fleet of Airbus A320-200 aircraft, initially with 4-5 planes and quickly expand to 10 in a year.
The Maharashtra government which was left red-faced after the Supreme Court quashed a ban on dance bars in the state, said in Mumbai that it would bring an amended legislation to ban them during the Monsoon Session of the state legislature, which is set to begin from June 2.
“We will bring an amended Bill to ban the dance bars during the forthcoming monsoon session. The law and judiciary department of the Maharashtra government would bring the amended Bill,” Maharashtra Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshavardhan Patil told after the business advisory council (BAC) meeting.
He also said that the monsoon session of the state legislature would go on for a period of two weeks, from June 2 upto June 14.
“Issues concerning Maharashtra like drought and hailstorm which destroyed several hectares of crops, power generation and matters related to the home department would be discussed during the two-week session,” Mr. Patil said.
He also said that six pending Bills and seven new Bills would also be tabled during the monsoon session.
The sessions court rejected the bail application of the suspended chief of Mumbai Central Prison (also known as Arthur Road jail) Vasudev Burkule, arrested for demanding a bribe from a jail officer to pass him in an examination.
This is the second time the court has refused bail to Burkule. He had been denied bail last month too.
Burkule had sought bail on the ground that investigation was over and police no longer needed his custody.
However Public Prosecutor Jaisingh Desai argued that many more people were coming forward with the complaint that Burkule had demanded bribe from them.
Desai also argued that the investigation was not yet complete. Accepting his argument, the court rejected Burkule’s bail plea.
On April 16, the Anti-corruption Bureau laid a trap and arrested Burkule and his deputy Pradeep Pathrikar from central prison police officials’ residential colony in south Mumbai.
Pathrikar was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 35,000 of the total Rs 40,000 that had been demanded, whereas Burkule was apprehended as his deputy was taking the bribe on his behalf.
According to the ACB, the complainant, a jail officer, had appeared for the Maharashtra Prison Manual examination on March 25. The answer sheet was checked by Burkule.
Pathrikar allegedly told the officer that he had not scored enough in the examination, but the marks could be increased on payment of Rs 40,000.
Criticising the Maharashtra government’s home, law and judiciary as well as rural development departments for lack of co-ordination, Maharashtra EGS minister Nitin Raut said that there has been an increase in atrocities against Dalits in the state.
After he toured areas affected by caste violence in Maharashtra, he wrote to the Maharashtra Chief Minister yesterday, blaming the state home department for not taking enough steps to ensure law and order as well as punish the guilty.
Raut, who hails from the Vidarbha region and happens to be the Dalit face in the Maharashtra state government, pressed for a special cabinet meeting to discuss the issue of attacks against Dalits.
“A special cabinet meeting should be convened to discuss atrocities against Dalits. The government should take strict preventive measures against such attacks,” Raut told reporters.
Alleging that co-ordination between the state’s home ministry, the ministry of law and judiciary as well as rural development ministry was not seen in the matter, he said that the Maharashtra government had fallen short when it came to taking preventive measures.
Raut, who claimed that he had raised the issue during today’s cabinet meeting said, “All inclusive programmes would be designed to prevent such attacks”.
He also said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has directed a high-powered committee to hold a meeting to discuss the issue.
The high-powered committee, which would be chaired by the Maharashtra Chief Minister himself includes the state home minister, opposition leaders and an officer of the rank of the Director General of Police.
Mumbai might be known as the hip and happening city of India but the metropolis has its own share of problems too. The city has been growing at a rapid pace as it has to grapple with the challenges of rampant urbanisation. As a result of this, there has been a surge in vehicular traffic in the city. Since last ten years vehicles have increased manifold in the city. According to the RTO statistics more than 250 vehicles are registered everyday in Mumbai. The total number of vehicles in the city is now 23.3 lakh, a 55% increase in seven years, according to data released by the transport department.
At the same time, the road network has not been able to keep pace with the increasing vehicles. Large number of flyovers has been built during the BJP-Shiv Sena government and even roads were widened. But due to massive increase in vehicles the results are not visible. Often traffic increases during the morning towards the south end of the city when people are headed towards their office and in the evening towards the north when they return back. Buses carry more than 50 passengers and occupy 20 per cent of the road space. On the other hand, cars and private vehicles carry four to six persons but occupy more that 80 per cent of the road space which is unjustified. The average speed of vehicles in urban areas like Mumbai has come down to 20 kmph (from 45 kmph a few years ago)
Even though the number of private vehicles has increased on other hand there has been no increase in the number of auto rickshaws, taxis and buses. If such a situation continues then it will pave way for more congestion on the city roads.
Nowadays, traffic jams have become a common phenomenon even during weekends as people visit malls, go for dining and watch movies. Huge traffic is visible near the malls. Traffic gets blocked in narrow roads where it takes at least one to two hours to cover a stretch of two to three kilometres.
Experts have often raised a huge concern over the rising traffic in the city. They have spoken about overhauling the mass transport system. There was also a talk about Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and create a dedicated lane for decongesting the city’s roads. If Mumbai aspires to become a global city then it should follow the traffic policy adopted by cities like London, New York and Singapore. In foreign countries if a motorist violates traffic rules then heavy fine is imposed on him. Moreover, if anyone jumps signal then his vehicle number is captured on CCTV cameras and challan is issued to him at his residence. In Singapore a person has to scrap his existing car before buying a new one.
To curb vehicular traffic heavy cess must be imposed on petrol and diesel to dissuade people from driving private cars. There must be a huge hike in parking charges especially in the commercial districts of the city. Finally Mumbaikars too must adopt various measures like opting for car-pooling facilities and mass transportation to conserve fuel and reduce vehicular traffic in the city.
Rasping up his backward caste identity for the second consecutive day at several rallies in Uttar Pradesh, where polls are due to vote in 33 constituencies, Modi accused Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra of caste bias and insulting lower castes. Interpreting Vadra’s comment, the BJP leader was indulging in “low-level politics” as a reference to his lower caste origin. Countering Modi’s heightened pitch for the backward and Dalit votes in the state, where caste identity is crucial in voting, Mayawati challenged him to disclose his caste and reveal what he had done for the welfare of these sections. If Narendra Modi actually belongs to a backward caste, then why has he not disclosed his caste? As elections are heading towards conclusion, leaders are becoming crazy by playing the emotional, religious, caste and sentiment cards to take advantage. Modi has taken advantage of every sneer, from ‘Chaiwala’ to ‘Neech jati’.
The madness of dividing people on the basis of their castes should be stopped. What counts at the end of the day is whether a candidate for the post of the Prime Minister of India has the requisite qualities to give a clean, efficient and corruption free government, can the country see develop without regional imbalances, and not whether he/she belongs to any particular caste. Will BJP stop this type of tactics for their benefit by exploiting the uninformed common people’s age old weaknesses, for the sake of votes? BJP is playing Hindutva cards and that’s why other parties openly support Muslims. Parties choose candidates based on majority of caste in that particular constituency. India should focus on the skill development, education and job readiness for all poor people. Again, general schemes targeted towards groups of people only lead to official corruption. There should be contracts between individuals and government for mutual commitment to make the upward move.
India is moving from backwardness to semi-backwardness. It cannot develop advance thinking unless caste politics is linked with the elections and voting. Indians need to come out of narrow parochial thinking. Powers of internet, media and easy travel in India and abroad have spurred this broadening of our mindset during the last decade but we still need to go a long way. It’s the Lok Sabha election which is getting everybody on their toe for almost everything. Political perpetrators do not believe in any faith, caste and creed. The Sangh is against all minorities irrespective of their religions. It’s their anxiety to get back in power to hold the supreme office of a country makes them pat everyone’s back. Nevertheless, everyone has to taste their own medicine like Advani is going through these days. Even after 67 years of Independence, caste system is still prevailing in India.
On the other hand, Muslims are willing to concede even to support BJP, if their basic needs are met. Muslims want what they are owed as Indian citizen’s access to schools, jobs, housing and fair and equal opportunities, freedom from discrimination, due investigative and unbiased legal process. Muslims’ grievance and welfare reduces it to a mere political talking point for political parties as election approaches. Nothing concrete has been done in all these years for education, upliftment and welfare of this community. Muslims ask for educational boost, that’s all they require. However, most of parties shower mere tokenism and stereotyped gestures to win the Muslim votes, not their actual betterment. This article should read “Nation Unity” rather than Hindu unity.
The biggest cancer which is making this nation weak is casteism. It must be eliminated from the root. Modi and Jagjivan Ram are the signs that if you give chance to anyone, there is always a jewel, like Obama. If you divide people for political reasons, then horrible results come out. Hinduism is the most democratic religion which exists on this planet, where their believers have option to do what they feel. Caste has not always been as stratified as is being portrayed now. Caste identity has been mobile and fluid, and ‘lower castes’ have not always been low or poor or oppressed. They have contributed much to the beauty and tolerance of Hinduism. Many saints venerated since times immemorial by Hindus belonged to this strata. This kind of crude and conspicuous language should be absolutely unacceptable in a civilized and educated society. The government uses words like “backward”, “scheduled” etc. The BJP reaped rich electoral dividends thanks to the communal polarisation but the likes of Mulayam Singh and Mayawati started gaining after the mid-nineties’ caste polarisation. The Modi juggernaut has gained rapid speed and it will be difficult for the caste based parties to counter the BJP unless there is a joint fight.
The common man is moving ahead of these issues and is bothered more about his/her livelihood, economic prosperity etc. Look at the younger generation, today. Barring odd instances in rural areas, the atmosphere in schools, colleges have changed. In an IT company / Global / Indian MNC, no one practices caste based selection etc. The employees do not even bother on such issues and there is good harmony all around. It is only when we step into Government institutions/PSUs etc. these come into play or when politicians drag these issues for their political benefits.
Casteism worked successfully for politicians these years. The marginalisation of the majority had created an introspection of the disunity within the community and the outcome of it is what is palpable now. The inbuilt secularism in their belief system has made the Hindus vulnerable to much exploitation.
A teacher, who allegedly taught the 2008 Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab, told a Pakistani court that the Ajmal he knew is alive and was not the one hanged in India.