The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine real estate major Supertech Ltd’s plea against the Allahabad High Court’s order directing demolition of two 40- floor towers in Noida and ordered the company not to sell or transfer flats in the buildings.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha issued notice on a batch of petitions filed by Supertech, NOIDA, flat owners of the controversial buildings and the petitioner on whose plea the high court had passed the order.

It also expressed surprise on how NOIDA (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority) had permitted the construction of 40-floor buildings and said that if they are to be demolished then the authority will have to face the consequences.

If the towers are demolished then money must be paid to flat owners by the authority as it colluded and participated in giving sanction for them, the court said.

The bench also raised questions on how the floors was raised from 24th to 40th floor during the construction.

The bench was hearing pleas in which the petitioners had submitted that the high court order to demolish the towers –Apex and Ceyane–be immediately stayed.

The high court had ordered demolition of Supertech’s two under-construction towers in the real estate firm’s Emerald Court project.

The two towers have 857 apartments in total. Of these, about 600 flats have already been sold.

In its petition, the firm has claimed that the two towers were being constructed as per “approved building plans” and “there is no violation”.

On April 11, the Allahabad HC had ordered demolition of the two towers and directed the company to refund money to the home buyers.

The HC order came on a petition of the Emerald Court Owner Resident Welfare Association, which had alleged that the approval and construction of the two towers was “in complete violation of the Uttar Pradesh Apartment (Promotion of Construction, Ownership and Maintenance) Act”.

A man has been acquitted of the charge of raping a widow on the pretext of marrying her, by a Delhi court which held that no assurance of marriage was given by him and instead she was interested in “extorting money” from him.

The court acquitted Uttam Nagar resident Pramod Kumar Mittal of the charge of rape and held that the woman’s consent for sexual relations was not obtained by the man on the basis of any promise to marry and he did not indulge any sort of deception.

“She (woman) has stated very plainly and clearly (in her examination-in-chief) that she and the accused used to stay as husband and wife and sexual intercourse also used to take place between them regularly.”

“She has nowhere stated that she consented to have physical relations with the accused only on his promise to marry her,” Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.

The court said that the woman was a widow having grown up children and had knowledge about the consequences of her sexual relations with the man.

“It is manifest that the woman was only interested in getting money from the man and she was not interested in marriage with him,” it observed.

The judge said that according to the woman, she was raped by the man on February 13, 2013 when she had visited his residence. However, she did not narrate the incident to anybody nor did she lodge any complaint against him regarding rape, he said.

The court that even after the incident, the woman remained in contact with the man which made the allegation of rape “highly improbable and unbelievable”. According to the prosecution, Mittal had allegedly raped the woman on the false pretext of marriage.

The woman’s husband died of paralysis in May 2007 and around three years ago, the woman and the man started residing together and established sexual relations, it said.

A 76-year-old hostel superintendent of government aided ashram here has been booked for allegedly sodomising two minor tribal inmates, police said on Monday.

According to District Superintendent of Police, Rahul Bhagat, the incident came to light last week on Thursday night after the victims, aged 10 and 12 years, informed their parents over phone that hostel superintendent Swami Ramanand Saraswati used to call them to his room and sexually assault them.

Following which parents lodged a complaint on Saturday. But as soon as the incident came to light, the accused went absconding, the SP said.

A four-member team headed by Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Rama Patel has been set up to investigate the matter and trace him, the official added.

The ashram — Arya Vidya Sabha — is a government aided Gurukul for students in Lailunga region of Chhatisgarh’s Raigarh district, housing around 332 students from class VI-XII.

A case has been registered against Saraswati for sexually harassing and indulging in unnatural sex with the inmates under section 377 and 506 B of the IPC, besides being charged under sections of Protection of Child from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO Act 2012) and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, police said.

The Election Commission has clarified that apart from Central as well as state ministers, members of Parliament, MLAs, Mayors of municipal corporations, chairpersons/presidents of Nagar Palikas, Zila Parishad, Panchayat, Union etc also cannot be appointed as counting agents whether they are given security cover or not.

Objective of the Commission is to ensure free, fair and peaceful electoral process and save it from undue influences.

The Commission has given this directive in response to the clarification sought by Puducherry’s Chief Electoral Officer from the Commission as to whether any MLA or Rajya Sabha member without security cover can be appointed as election agent, polling agent or counting agent.

According to an earlier decision of the Commission, any person including Central or state ministers having armed security cover will not be able to become a counting agent in the elections since this may lead to some unwanted incident resulting in seriously influencing electoral process.

MPs, MLAs and other public representatives cannot be appointed agent due to the reasons that Commission desires to provide equal opportunities to all the candidates in the elections.

In its later directives, the Commission had also directed not to appoint Mayors of municipal corporations, chairpersons/presidents of Nagar Palikas, Zila Parishad, Panchayat, union etc as agents.

The reason behind this directive is that large number of employees connected with their institutions are deployed in election duty and they might get influenced.

In the final lap of his campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, slipped in Lord Ram’s name and also had the Hindu God and a temple as his backdrop. The Congress immediately tore into him alleging that his campaign was based on “polarization, not development.”

It has complained against the use of religious symbols at Mr. Modi’s rally and the Election Commission has asked for a report to ascertain if its rules were violated.

Mr Modi was speaking in Faizabad, a town right next to Ayodhya, where the 16th century Babri mosque was brought down by Hindu activists in 1992. The BJP’s ideological mentor the RSS and its affiliates have been campaigning for a Ram temple at the disputed site.

“This is the land of Lord Ram where people believed in ‘pran jaye par vachan na jaye’ (one may lose life but cannot break promise). Can you pardon those who broke their promises?” the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate said a rally, referring to what he described as the Samajwadi Party government’s failure to provide jobs in the state.

“I assure you from Bhagwan Ram’s land, I will fight corruption throughout my life. I have seen poverty, that’s why I have the courage to say this.”

But, only about six km away from Ayodhya, Mr. Modi, 63, did not mention the Ram temple, once the core agenda of his party. He was clearly walking a political tightrope.

During much of his campaign for the national election, Mr. Modi has distanced himself from overtly pro-Hindu agenda like the Ram temple campaign, and has pitched himself as a man of development.

A 44-year-old Catholic priest, who allegedly raped a 9-year-old girl in Thrissur, Kerala, has been arrested from Nagarcoil in Tamil Nadu. He had been on the run since April 25, after the girl’s family registered a police complaint claiming the priest had sexually assaulted the girl several times in April.

According to the police, the girl was sexually assaulted by the priest thrice in April, after he promised to give her free robes for the Holy Communion. The priest allegedly also took nude photographs of the child on his mobile phone.

The priest has been relieved of his duties by the Thrissur Arch Diocese.

The police have slapped charges under Section-376 (1) of the Indian Penal Code, Section-66 (a) of the IT Act and Section-4 of the Protection of Infants from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, apart from other provisions in the IPC, all of which are non-bailable clauses.

Section-66 (E) of the IT Act has been invoked against the priest for allegedly photographing the girl.

Villagers in Chhattisgarh decided to set up their beds on trees after temperature in Chhattisgarh touched 43 degree Celsius.

They used bamboos to make a sturdy base and tied them to the tree trunk. They put mattresses over the bamboo base, to make the bed cosy.

They were seen helping each other to use ropes to climb the tree.

“The land is hot and so our houses also become really hot. Our children fall sick. So, we decided to take shade under the trees. It’s cooler here,” said the villagers.

To woo the state’s increasing population of high net-worth individuals, the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) has launched its first premium banking center called “Kohinoor Royale Banking Center” in the Pink City.

The bank has a five-star ambiance with ultra modern facilities. The branch has a plush lounge which has both music and a TV for customers’ entertainment. The bank also has locker facilities, a dressing room, a conference hall and even a cafeteria. All the facilities are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The accounts in this branch of the bank can be opened only by invitation. So far, nearly 100 accounts have been opened comprising mainly of cricketers, Bollywood celebrities and royal families.