The Supreme Court on Monday directed the central government to withdraw all its orders making Aadhar mandatory for people for availing any government services.
The three-judge bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan ordered the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) not to share any information of the Aadhar card holder with any government agency.
The SC passed its order on the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar card with those opposing the mega project saying it was not backed by any statute and compromises with national security.
The top court in its interim order had said that the Aadhaar card be not made mandatory for people for availing any government services and nobody should be deprived of any such facilities for the want of the card.
The Centre, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and three oil PSUs — IOCL, BPCL and HPCL — had later on moved the apex court seeking modification of its earlier order that Aadhaar card is not mandatory and no person should suffer for want of it in getting the benefits of government schemes.
The police will examine the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of junior HRD minister Shashi Tharoor after they receive the final advice from the doctors, a Delhi Police official said on Monday.
“We are carrying out inquiries under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and when the doctors’ final advice is received, we will examine the whole issue and then whatever is required will be done,” said Police Commissioner BS Bassi.
The comment from him follows media reports highlighting that the viscera report of Pushkar ruled out the presence of any poison and also found no trace of the anti-anxiety drug Alprax.
This report is contradictory to the autopsy report which concluded that drug poisoning led to her death.
“As far as we are concerned, circumstantial evidence has been collected and with the statements of the witnesses, there is no need for us to proceed in any other fashion. As far as we are concerned, the matter is still under probe,” added Bassi.
Pushkar was found dead in a hotel room here under mysterious circumstances Jan 17.
The two youths, detained by the Delhi Police from Jamia Nagar on suspicion of plotting a terror attack on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, have been released on Monday.
The two men were arrested by a special squad of Delhi Police on Sunday soon after the four Indian Mujahideen suspects were arrested from Rajasthan.
Both were picked up early morning on Sunday. One of the them is a final year student of mechanical engineering from a college in Jaipur and the other one is his friend.
According to police sources, the Jaipur college student, who is a native of Dhanbad in Jharkhand, had arrived in the national capital on Sunday and was to leave for Saudi Arabia this morning to perform Umrah in Mecca.
Their detention sparked off protest in Jamia Nagar on Sunday evening with residents of the area blocking a busy road linking Delhi-Noida. The residents also demanded that a case of kidnapping be lodged against the Special Cell for detaining the two men.
A Delhi court on Monday fixed April 21 for commencement of arguments on framing of charges against Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist Abu Jundal, one of the masterminds of the 26/11 attacks.
District Judge IS Mehta posted the case for April 21 in which Jundal was chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly carrying out terror activities in India.
Jundal, who is also known as Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, is presently lodged in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai in connection with an alleged conspiracy to launch terror strikes in the country.
Jundal was chargesheeted by NIA for offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly attempting to recruit persons through Internet for joining banned outfit, LeT, and carrying out terror activities in India.
In its charge sheet, the NIA had said that in and around 2005, Jundal along with his absconding associate Fayyaz Kagzi had joined LeT and in November 2005, they went to Nepal to meet LeT commander Abdul Aziz and received a three-day training of bomb assembling and IED making from him.
It had also claimed that after returning to India, Jundal fled to Pakistan via Bangladesh and stayed in Karachi and in LeT’s headquarters in Muridke.
He did three training courses in LeT training camp and came in touch with LeT top operatives, including its chief Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, NIA had alleged.
NIA in its charge sheet had also said that in September 2008, Ansari taught spoken Hindi to the 10 cadres, who carried out terror strike in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.
“Since the arrest of Ajmal Kasab and subsequent investigations had established the fact that all the attackers were citizens of Pakistan, LeT functionaries further conspired to use Indian youngsters for carrying out future terrorist attacks so as to conceal the actual involvement of LeT in promoting terrorism in India,” it had said. In October 2010, Jundal went to Saudi Arabia with the “intention of recruiting persons for terrorist attacks” and in December he returned to Pakistan, NIA had said, adding, he was in process of recruiting persons for carrying out terror attacks on the instructions of top LeT operatives.
NIA had lodged a case against Jundal, who was deported from Saudi Arabia in June 2012, for allegedly conspiring to launch terror strikes across the country.
A BJP candidate in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat has been caught on camera walking on children’s backs at a yoga event on Sunday.
A video showing the BJP’s Rajkot candidate, Mohan Kundariya, walking over the backs of schoolchildren has gone viral on instant messaging application Whatsapp.
The video was reportedly taken at a yoga camp at the Swaminarayan temple in Rajkot. Mr. Kundariya, who was seen laughing as he walked gingerly on the backs of children, says he was only obliging the students, who wanted to show off their strength.
“I am not an insensitive person and would never hurt anyone physically. The students insisted that they wanted to display their physical and mental strength through yoga. As part of this I was asked to walk over a group,” said a defensive Mr. Kundariya.
Social media erupted with jibes at the BJP leader’s ill-considered act.
“Headed to the gym. Doing shoulders, triceps and walking on children,” tweeted actor and stand-up comedian Vir Das.
Samajwadi Party workers on Monday smeared black paint on posters of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Varanasi following a row over a slogan.
The slogan – “Har-har Modi, ghar-ghar Modi” – has upset many religious leaders and political parties including the Samajwadi Party; they say the slogan was disrespectful to Lord Shiv.
After the objection, Mr. Modi himself requested his supporters to refrain from using it.
But, angry Samajwadi Party workers protested against the slogan and accused the BJP of equating Mr. Modi to Mahadev.
SP supporters and workers have also released posters mocking it. Their posters said: “Thar-thar Modi, dar-Dar Modi (Modi is afraid, shivering)”.
These posters by party leader Arun Gupta have been plastered all across important places in Allahabad.
While the BJP had been using the slogan in many of its public rallies and election campaigns, state leaders abandoned the slogan on Sunday in wake of the controversy.
Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, Swaroopanand Saraswati, is the latest person to be offended by the slogan and registered a strong protest with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, asking him to stop such ‘vyakti puja’ (eulogising of an individual).
“I told him that converting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ into ‘Har Har Modi’ must be stopped. Instead of worshipping God, it is an attempt to worship a particular human being, which is against the Hindu religion,” Swaroopanand said.
Union Minister Salman Khurshid also strongly opposed the slogan and requested the Election Commission to take cognisance of it.
An Indian Mujahideen terrorist Tehseem a.k.a monu is on the run and is still making plans to bomb tourist spots across Rajasthan during Lok Sabha polls, revealed four of his aides during police interrogation on Monday.
The four suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists, including a Pakistani wanted in connection with several blasts in the country, were arrested by Special Cell of Delhi Police from Rajasthan on Sunday.
“Four terrorists have been arrested by us. One of them has been identified as Waqas,” Special Commissioner (Special Cell) SM Srivastava had said.
Waqas, a Pakistani, was wanted by police in connection with several blasts in the country including the serial blasts at Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai on July 12, 2011.
Sources said those arrested were operating from Jodhpur in Rajasthan and planning a big strike during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The IM terrorists were targeting some tourist spots, a royal train and some other places in the state, especially in western Rajasthan including Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer. Police had also recovered large quantity of incriminating material from those arrested in the case.
Even as the four are being interrogated for further leads in the case, Tehseem, they have revealed, must be recceing tourist areas in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Pushkar and Ajmer where they were all planning to carry out bomb blasts. He is also planning to strike Palace on Wheels, they claimed.
Tehseem is also believed to be making human bombs on his own as his aides are now in custody, investigations have revealed.
Claiming it has orders from court, Saharanpur police on Monday constructed a concrete wall outside the main gate of Ram Singh’s house in Khudabukhspur village of Badgaon area, locking three elderly persons inside. The issue is related to a property dispute.
The local residents claimed that they had requested the police to not lock them inside the house but to no avail.
However, the police have claimed that there was no one inside the house when they built a wall outside the main gate of the house.
Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has asked his party followers to vote in their home state and also in Mumbai during the forthcoming Lok Sabha election. Since Maharashtra will be witnessing multi-phase polling Pawar wants his followers to take the advantage of it by exercising their franchise twice. Pawar’s remarks have come at a time when the Election Commission has been taking steps to curb bogus voting and also appealing to people to refrain from indulging in this malpractice.
The veteran NCP leader had addressed a rally of Mathadi workers and asked them to first vote in Satara on April 17 and later excercise their franchise in Mumbai which goes to poll on April 24. Most of the Mathadi workers hail from the Western Maharashtra district of Satara. He asked them to exercise some caution by erasing the ink on their fingers. At a time, when people speak about electoral reforms and transparency Pawar is only encouraging bogus voting. In the year 2009, the scenario was different as polling happened in Mumbai and Satara on the same day. As a result of this, many workers were unable to excercise their franchise as they were held up in their native place.
Pawar’s dual voting statements and has not gone down well with the opposition parties. Leader of opposition in the state legislative council Vinod Tawde and AAP has approached the police and the Election Commission. Tawde wants strict action to be taken against Pawar for violating the model code of conduct under the Representation of People’s Act and IPC. Tawade who possess a CD of Pawar’s speech will submit the same to the Election Commission which will then examine it.
Sharad Pawar later clarified that his statements have been misinterpreted by the media. The NCP chief added that he disapproves bogus voting and won’t appeal to voters to indulge in such malpractices. Pawar said that his statement was blown out of proportion by the opposition parties. The Maratha strong man also said that the statements were made by him in a lighter vein. Even political analysts and lawyers were unhappy with Pawar’s statements. Lawyers said that Pawar should avoid issuing such statements even if he was joking. They said that the Election Commission has a right to seek an explanation from Pawar on this matter.
By asking people to indulge in bogus voting a senior leader like Pawar is only sending the wrong signals. The Electoral registration office is very strict while enrolling voters name in the voter list. If a person approaches the office to enrol his name the officer asks him whether his name is registered in the voters list either in Mumbai or at any other place. They only entertain him if he is a first time voter. If his name is registered in other state or district then they ask him to first delete his name from the voters list and then fill a new registration form. Thus registering one’s name in the voters list is a herculean task. If the Electoral registration officers are strict while registering voters then a politician like Pawar is only making mockery of them by asking people to indulge in bogus voting.
Recently, we had noticed many politicians switching sides to gain instant rewards in the form of Lok Sabha seats. Satpal Maharaj was seen conducting proceedings in the house of Parliament many times. He has been serving the Congress for long period of time and yet shifted loyalties towards BJP. It’s a very shameful incident both for him and Rajnath Singh. It is equally condemnable to watch Jagdambika Pal switching to BJP and immediately receiving a ticket to contest election. He has been a spokesperson of the Congress on television shows. There is no regard for public opinion. If they were afraid of the people they would have never indulged in such acts. They know that Indian people is fickle and can be easily influenced with cash, booze and promised favours.
This is the sad part of our public life. Our population is growing by leaps and bounds without any control and measures to curtail the population growth have failed to yield the desired results. Uma Bharti is pestering and pleading for Bhopal seat inspite of her seniority in BJP. We saw Shatrughan Sinha allowing his wife to touch his feet (supplication) in public for photograph. This is quite contrary to his on screen image.
For screen you are modern but in personal life utterly feudal. Shatrughan Sinha has not performed a good job as Minister of Shipping in the last government. Sinha has failed to tackle corruption but he has been allotted seat because of his proximity to LK Advani. “Bahadur log pair nahin chute, shastra dene ko kahte hain” like Akbar Badshah in the film Moghul-e-Azam. There is no wonder he was shown black flags. In another case of supplication we see a line up of sycophants with folded hands as the helicopter of goddess Jayalalithaa is descending at Karaikudi.
Coming back to “samajh sudhar”, the recent court verdict on Shakti Mill case is laudable. There have been reports about public apathy to help accident victims and instead they were busy clicking photos on their mobiles. We need to think seriously whether we need such voters. Mobilization program to make public assist during accidents, crime against women and natural calamities on one hand and swift and severe punishment for crimes on the other is the crying need of the hour.
