A petition challenging the deletion of names of over two lakh voters from the electoral roll of Mumbai city and its suburbs was on Wednesday filed in the Bombay High Court.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah decided to hear on May 6 the PIL filed by two NGOs – Action for good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI) and Birthright.
This is the second petition challenging the deletion of names from voters list. The first one was from Pune voters and is pending in the High Court.
The PIL said that 2,10,123 names were found deleted from Mumbai’s voters list which appeared on the website of Election Commission of India.
Most of the persons whose names was found missing from the voters list had neither expired nor had they shifted their residence from Mumbai and hence their names should not have been removed thus illegally.
The petition said they were approached by 6,500 persons, whose names were “illegally” removed from the voters list, with a list of their names and details. Most of these persons had voted during 2009 parliamentary polls and also during civic polls in Mumbai in 2011.
The petitioners said they have filed the petition for judicial redress on behalf of the voters whose names have been deleted and denied their right of casting their vote in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014.
The petitioners stated that due to the arbitrary and illegal action on the part of the respondents, the democratic system and the structure of governance in India had been denigrated and its sacred foundations seriously undermined.
The petitioners said a ‘Right to Vote’ is the fountainhead of a democratic republic and the power that all citizens of a democratic republic have in their hands. A necessary corollary would also be that a denial of such right would amount to enslaving a republic to tyranny, autocracy and a situation where the concept of ‘Elected Representatives’ is set to naught and becomes farcical.
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan expressed sadness over the trend of political parties giving tickets to candidates with criminal background considering their winnability, but expressed hope that people at large would stop voting for criminals.
“Political parties give tickets to people with criminal background because they want one seat in the Lok Sabha. The same people later sit in Parliament and decide laws of our country,” Khan said.
“Political parties give tickets to criminals because we vote for them,” Khan, who has been taking up social issues through his television show ‘Satyamev Jayate’, said.
“As a normal Indian I am sad about this. I hope the political parties will rise above all this,” the actor said, adding that parties are catching the right signal.
“Ultimately, these things will change as people at large will stop voting for criminals,” Khan, who exercised his franchise on April 24, said.
Social activist Aruna Roy and Congress leader and Union Minister Salman Khurshid also spoke on the occasion.
Roy said that to be a part of the “power that decides for us”, we have to actively participate in the voting process.
“The power that decides for us is contained in the system so it is always advisable that we become part of the system. If don’t push the system, then someone else will sit there and make laws in the way they want,” she said.
Admitting to making mistakes under stress, Khurshid said he has been witness to many amendments in criminal laws that were ridiculous.
“Lot of amendments made to the criminal laws are ridiculous. We are making the mistakes under stress. I was also the part of Parliament that has made mistakes,” he said.
Maharashtra government has proposed a one-day special session of the Legislative Council on May 8 for the election of the Chairman and the Leader of Opposition.
“We will write to the Governor in this regard,” Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told.
The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the House met this afternoon, but the opposition members took an exception, saying that a meeting could not be held when the session was not on. The next session will start on June 2.
Sources said the Chief Minister told the opposition that if not BAC, it can be considered as a meeting of the group leaders in the house.
According to sources, Chavan wanted to ensure re-election of Congress veteran Shivajirao Deshmukh as chairman before the Lok Sabha election results.
“As the NCP has the largest number of representatives (28) in the 78-member house, Congress fears that NCP may stake claim to the post if the Congress does not do well in the Lok Sabha polls,” a source said.
Deshmukh was re-elected as Council member last month.
In a freak incident on Wednesday, three bogies of different trains parked Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus caught fire.
The fires on all three trains started in the washrooms of the respective trains. In the first incident, the fire began in the general coach of the Deccan Queen at around 5:05pm. Soon after a similar fire was noticed in a coach of the Sahyadhri Express at 5:30pm. The third fire was noticed on the CST-Howrah express at 6:05pm.
Officials said the similarity in all three incidents point to sabotage as all of them started in the bathrooms of trains parked closeby on platforms 8, 9 and 15.
At the time of writing, senior CR officials had rushed to the spot and no injuries were reported.
In a breather to MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the Delhi High Court said its earlier order staying the issuance of non-bailable warrants (NBWs) will continue till August 11 in cases lodged against him for allegedly making anti-Bihari statements.
“The operation of stay against the NBWs is extended till August 11,” Justice Veena Birbal said after hearing brief arguments on Thackeray’s plea.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief has moved the High Court seeking quashing of the criminal complaints against him for allegedly making inflammatory remarks.
Earlier, on January 30 last year, the court had stayed the execution of NBWs and had tagged the matter with several other similar petitions moved by the MNS chief.
On March 7 last, the court had exempted Thackeray from appearing before a trial court here.
All the matters will now come up for hearing on August 11. As per Thackeray’s plea, a complaint was filed against him in Garwah, Jharkhand, in 2008 under sections 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295A (maliciously insulting religion of any class), 500 (defamation) and 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) of the IPC.
The complaint alleged that he allegedly made inflammatory speeches against people of Bihar.
A magisterial court first issued summons and then arrest warrants as he failed to appear.
Various similar complaints were filed at other places in Bihar and Jharkhand. Thackeray then moved the Supreme Court which stayed the proceedings and transferred the cases to Delhi.
Subsequently, the MNS leader moved the High Court seeking quashing of the criminal complaints in the trial court here as well as the summoning orders and non-bailable warrants issued by the lower courts in Jharkhand and in Bihar.
A local court in Thane held a 23-year-old youth guilty of abducting and attempting to rape a mentally-retarded minor girl and sentenced him to imprisonment for three-and-a-half-years.
The Additional Sessions Judge S N Shelke held the accused Amrit Dandekar guilty on charges of kidnapping and attempt to rape under sections 376(2)(f) r/w section 511 (attempt to rape), 366 (a) (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) and other sections of IPC.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 4000 on Dandekar, a resident of Khoni Village of Bhiwandi taluka, and sentenced him to three years in jail. All the sentences will run concurrently.
The fine collected from the convict will be paid as compensation to the girl who was 11-year-old at the time of the crime in 2010.
Dandekar’s accomplice Kishore Vasant Shelke (22), who was tried for abetment to crime, was acquitted of the charge as the prosecution could not prove his role in the crime.
According to prosecution, the incident dated to June 26, 2010 when the accused lured the victim playing outside her house and took her on his bike.
He attempted to rape her while she was in his custody from the night of June 26 to June 28.
The anti-corruption bureau arrested a deputy commissioner of Sales Tax and a middleman from Kalyan in the district for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs. 5 lakh from the owner of a firm.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (ACB) Sandeep Karnik said Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax Ramesh Bhagoji Jaid had allegedly demanded the bribe from the complainant, whose firm was facing a notice for sales tax dues of Rs. 98 lakh.
Jaid had allegedly demanded the money for not pursuing the matter and had agreed to accept Rs 20 lakh.
After the firm owner approached the Thane ACB, a trap was laid and a sales tax consultant Archis Uday Visaria, who was acting as a middleman, was arrested at Dombivali Gymkhana in Dombivali while allegedly accepting the first instalment of Rs. 5 lakh, Karnik added.
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and his wife Sussanne approached the family court and filed an application for separation by mutual consent, around four months after they decided to end their marriage.
The family court in suburban Bandra would hear their application by November.
On December 14, 2013, they called off their marriage and issued two separate statements to the media.
In his statement, Hrithik had said that Sussanne decided to walk out of their 13-years-old marriage.
“This is my greatest tribute to love. Sussanne is and always will be the love of my life for the rest of my life. If her smiles are brighter without me, my love for her must accomplish that,” Hrithik had written on his Facebook page.
However, in a separate statement, Sussanne had called it, “our own individual choices”.
“We are two individuals who respect and care for each other and have made our own individual choices. We are parents to two wonderful kids and our responsibility remains to protect and take care of them. Nothing can change that. Would appreciate if we are given our privacy in such a time. Thank you for your warmth and concern for both of us and the family,” she had said.
Roshan and Sussanne, who were childhood sweethearts, had tied the knot in 2000 after a four-year relationship. They have two sons – Hrehaan, aged seven, and Hridhaan, aged five.
Actor Rakhi Sawant has taken umbrage at BJP leader Uma Bharti “comparing” the Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to her.
Ms Sawant tweeted, “Dear @umasribharti please mujhe aap ki raajniti sae dur rakho, mujhe aap Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sae tulna naa kare. Mae ek aam mahila hoon.” That translates to, “please do not try to involve me in your politics and do not compare me to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. I am a common woman.”
Ms Bharti, who is a senior BJP leader and is contesting the general elections from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, said, “Rakhi Sawant too speaks a lot but it does not mean anything.” She was responding to a question on the focused attack that Ms Vadra has launched on the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
As she attempts a late fightback to resurrect a limp Congress campaign, Ms Vadra has consistently hit out at Mr. Modi and his party while campaigning in Raebareli, her mother’s Parliament constituency and in Amethi, that of her brother and Congress number 2 Rahul Gandhi, both in Uttar Pradesh.
Ms Vadra’s attack has come after the BJP launched an assault on the Gandhi family over corruption charges against her husband Robert Vadra, a businessman.
The Congress leader has not reacted yet to Ms Bharti’s latest controversial comment. The BJP leader had a few days ago said that Mr Vadra “will go to jail after the elections.”
Rakhi Sawant, best known for appearances in reality TV shows like Bigg Boss and Rakhi Ka Swayamwar, has contested the general elections from the Mumbai North West constituency as an Independent candidate this time. She launched her own party called the Rashtriya Aam Party or RAP, recently.
It’s been five years of constant fight. Everything is fresh in my memory. The reason to start the endeavour, the reason to cope up with the trends, the challenges against the ethics, those threatening phone calls from the impotent and many other ways of spamming on social networks and you might know the famous blogs against me. There have been millions of incidents and many of them I don’t want to recall, which have tried to become hurdle in our way. We have skipped the hurdles and reached till here; the next step of ladder to success is still to arrive.
We are the only parallel media existing at the moment in India. Media being in corporate, mafia or politicians’ hands has lost its charm and its independence is fading away. India needs some independent media houses which can stand equivalent to such odds and do justice with fourth estate of democracy. Owner of media houses misuse the banners and use it for their own vested interest. We tried to set trends by setting up a self-funded media organisation with the help of working journalists. I thank God that He blessed me with a good team. My young team is not only dynamic but innovative also. I would like to specially mention Najmul Hasan Rizvi, who is ‘jaan’ (show figure) of this publication and really works hard at news desk being the chief here. Amit Jha, Malik Shaikh, Mohinder Giri are the other strong creative people who decorate the content and give it a shape. Chandrakant Sawant takes care of online content. Aditi Taman, Rohini Joshi, Suraj Chandran and Lopamudra Ghosh are a bunch of strength for the publication in their respective capacity. How can I forget Dhawal Bhat, who is responsible and makes sure the paper reaches you (readers) on time. He handles the entire circulation team. My cameramen Santosh Gupta, Mrugesh Bandiwadekar and reporter Prakash Jha are the people who are constantly on the field in search of news, so that you don’t miss any city events. I would like to express special thanks to all the team members of Newsmakers right from the peon to office assistant who has contributed to the success of Afternoon.
I should tell my readers our struggle from year one, the first problems which we faced were related to finances. The lack of finances where one lady had to toss the gambling coin in the air, with a possibility of either getting it or losing it all and guess what, we had the ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ soon followed. It was totally a game of guts that we did. So far, the media was always owned by the ‘rich’ or ‘capitalists’ who had their own backing and they rely on them. Thus, the basic idea of parallel media died and pseudo journalism flourished right from the early times. It was surely difficult for all of us to survive in the market.
The ‘pehchaan’ required from distributing the newspapers to holding up the cameras, it was a true challenge against the odds but the challenge was accepted and it had to be won, after all, my only house was on mortgage for the gamble. Soon after the first year passed, we tried to dive in the various fields and tried to explore the potential talents from various phases of life. One of which was hackers industry, which is just like underworld life. People are always hiding behind the scenes and we took up the challenge of exploring it, thus, our monthly niche Hacker5 was born.
Soon, our journey continued and year after year we finally completed three years. The honour of having a television media was about to succeed but, unfortunately, we again met the wrong people at the right time and right place. Though there was a slight setback but that was not enough to stop us. We have promised to go ahead and reach out to keep extending our own records, year after year.
In the year 2013, our award event was graced by his gracious Late Balasaheb Thackerayji; he honoured us and accepted the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from us. It was truly an honour to have been blessed by the person who was a living legend and there were times when he actually ruled the city. Soon, as he passed away, he even made a glorious journey to the afterlife. We thought of following his principles of being honest to the journalism, being unbiased and presenting the facts as it is, as much as possible, letting the masses judge us. There are people who have taken away powers from the people but we believe in giving power back to the people. Thus, we even came up with an idea of letting common man or the citizens of India to speak up and give out news about anything and everything that they feel is happening with factual evidences, thus citizen journalism flourished. With power back to the people, it feels like to have accomplished a revolution. There were gimmicks of stopping us, various hurdles like income tax raid in our office, which made us wait for about three days and this happened thrice. We kept our word saying that we are honest but we let them do their work, peacefully. By now, even the income tax office must have our office address in their mind. The event of coming out clean from various challenges itself was the proof that we no need to show more proof of our honesty and dedication. Honesty comes with a huge price and we are constantly investing in it, without hesitation. Such things do not affect us anymore, which includes RTI for what we do.
The wise once said, if you speak a lie, you need to remember and be smarter but if you speak the truth, you just have to remember the event and leave the rest to God. With high regards to my readers who have kept us strong and high respect to people who have taken the time out and contributed in our journey, thanks is a small word for them. We have pulled our socks with this 5th year, soon to hit 1567 days of our glorious journey, we stand up with the pride of being what we are today and will continue carrying on with it. Many hurdles may come but we are committed to being… unstoppable.
I have groomed and mentored many young journalists in these five years, who can really bring change if they are allowed to do so. Newsmakers believe in being a parallel media as their counterparts are. The voices in the nation of capitalists are left unheard and ignored. We want to revolutionise the nation and make every citizen a revolutionary but, to clean the nation, we have to start from our houses. This is the idea which we put forward and we like to call it “Citizen Journalism”. People will talk about their locality, their problems even give solutions and if possible provide a recommended plan of action. Every citizen will have their own chance of being heard and being the newsmaker! You have to awake the corrupt with a jolt, we are the nudge and we will reach every individual. We all know the definition of democracy; however, we need to re-define it to them! This newspaper will always remain for the people as their own platform to raise their concerned voice.
I would like to thank all my readers and well wishers for being with us and supporting us in this journey.
