Jana Sena in Andhra joins hands with BJP, after Shiv Sena in Maharashtra dumps it

By

-

January 17, 2020

BJP-Sena alliance has always hit the headlines. This time, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan and state BJP president Kanna Lakshmi Narayana announced an alliance at a press conference after a four-hour-long meeting of leaders of the two parties in Vijayawada.

Kalyan, who made derogatory statements about the BJP in the past, landed up praising Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Well politics knows no morals and it’s all about the greed of power. In Andhra Pradesh, if BJP projects Pawan Kalyan as its CM face there are chances that his community may support the alliance. On the other hand, there is news of an internal unrest in the BJP because many of the local leaders are not in favour of projecting Pawan Kalyan as CM face. Besides CM candidate, what Andhra needs is a strong leader who is not corrupt and has a vision. Since Andhra Pradesh became a separate state, they did not get a non-corrupt government. The development of the state is at stake. Though we cannot guarantee about Pawan Kalyan being clean as he has both money and muscle power and with wasted power comes the vested interest too. But, still BJP has a choice to pick a lesser evil. If we look into the past, Jana Sena was formed in March 2014 amid the Modi wave and after supporting the BJP-TDP coalition initially, had fallout out it. The two outfits have also announced that they will contest the 2024 assembly elections together and will have a seat sharing arrangement well in time. For now, the alliance will focus on strengthening the protest against decision to have three state capitals.

For the first time, Pawan came to active politics in 2009 when his brother Chiranjeevi launched Praja Rajyam party. He campaigned across the state against the then atrocities of then YSR led Congress government. He worked very hard in those election campaigns for his brother. But those election results were very shocking and eye opener for Chiranjeevi. He flopped in his political debut. There are so many reasons for the failure and megastar ended up with a mere 18 seats and then Kalyan took it in a sportive spirit. But after two years, Chiranjeevi merged his party PRP into the Congress against whom they campaigned all these years, same like Shiv Sena in Maharashtra who were ideologically and principally against Congress-NCP recently sidelined BJP and joined hands with the secular alliance. This triggered a silent rift between the two brothers and Pawan Kalyan distanced himself from that merger. He ideologically always hated Congress, he campaigned against Congress but his big brother merged the party for the sake of a Ministry. After the 2009 election defeat of Praja Rajyam, things did not go well with them. The state too was divided as Andhra and Telangana. The 2014 election was power packed, that elected Telangana’s Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao better known as K.C.R the first Chief Minister of Telangana and the leader and Founder of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, a regional party. In the centre of it was the Modi wave, the political equations across India took new twists. BJP was all set to concur and everyplace the leftists & seculars got disowned by voters. There was threat and challenges for the survival of regional parties. Looking at emerging new equations and total failure of big brother Kalyan, he launched his new party Jana Sena and gave the slogan “Congress Hatao Desh Bachao “ similar to Modi’s “Congress Mukt Bharat”.

Pawan Kalyan was always overshadowed by his more illustrious brother. Everyone knew that Pawan didn’t have it easy coming from a family of such a popular actor. However, it is to Pawan’s credit that he proved his mettle by becoming a Power Star. It all culminated in Pawan launching his own political outfit Jana Sena in style just like his brother Chiranjeevi’s now extinct Praja Rajyam. Pawan’s debut political speech too was loaded with the same power and intensity as of Chiranjeevi when the latter had launched his outfit. He campaigned heavily, but did not contest elections as it would have split the votes and YS Jagan could have benefitted of it. He compared both the leaders at the Central and the State level and went with Narendra Modi as PM and Chandrababu Naidu as CM. He campaigned for both of them in the state and helped them at his level to win in the election. During the campaigning of 2014 elections, he announced that he will question the Central Government and State Government if they fail to keep their promises. For a long time, he kept silent but when the Central Government led by Modi refused to give special status to Andhra Pradesh which was their election promise, the State Government started downplaying it by passing statements like “special status is not a sanjeevani.” Kalyan came to the surface questioning Modi and Naidu. Jana Sena started giving voice to people’s problem like special status to Andhra Pradesh, land acquisition for farmers, mega aqua food park issues at East Godavari, kidney diseases at Srikakulam, sand dumping at Polavaram, farmers land and mainly the Agrigold victims. After many permutations and combinations once again BJP and Pawan Kalyan announced an alliance and emerged as ‘third alternative’ in Andhra.

Chiranjeevi in 2008 in a grand manner announced the launch of Praja Rajyam in Tirupati with the slogan ‘PREME LAKSHYAM SEVA E MARGAM.’ He began with: “Who called me into politics? It was you people. What do you want?… It should be a rule by the people for the people.” About his party, he said: “Praja Rajyam will be a party of backward and weaker sections, farmers, labourers and women. Pawan Kalyan too while launching his Jana Sena followed the same. On why, he entered politics, he averred, “Politics is nothing when compared to the love showered by my fans and supporters. While Chiranjeevi’s PRP launch was a mega affair in open grounds, Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena launch was just a press meet but made best use of technology for wider reach. The PRP launch saw many speakers address the gathering before Chiranjeevi spoke. However, during Jana Sena launch, Pawan was the sole speaker.While Chiranjeevi confined himself to state politics, Pawan touched upon national politics. The actor did not spare even Pakistan and China to prove his general knowledge. Meanwhile, Praja Rajyam faded out and now it’s almost forgotten. Let’s see what fate Kalyan brings to his political party and his persona as politician.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

BJP and Jana Sena to emerge as third alternative in AP

By

Web Team

-

January 17, 2020

Once again, old allies Jana Sena and BJP have come together and announced an alliance on Thursday seeking to emerge as the “third alternative” in Andhra Pradesh.

The reunion of the two parties comes after a separation of three years due to what they termed “communication gap,” may alter the political scenario in the state, where the local body elections are round the corner.

Sudhish Rambhotla, BJP spokesperson said, “We expect that this alliance will do well in the future. Jana Sena has some vote share and so does BJP and that is why this alliance has come into existence. This is going to be a formal alliance and this coalition government will be projected as an alternative government for the existing political party. We (Jana Sena and BJP) are ready for the future elections.”

This political realignment has raised a point of an interesting discussion in political and media circles. Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan and state BJP president Kanna Lakshmi Narayana announced the alliance at a press conference after a four hour meeting of leaders of two parties in Vijaywada on Thursday. A coordination committee would soon be formed with leaders of the two parties to carry forward their agenda.

The point of discussion is whether this new alliance would make any difference to the existing political parties in the state or bring about a larger change in the political equations in the state.

More than seven and a half months ago, the YSR Congress (YSRC) party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power with a massive mandate reducing the Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu to an insignificant position with just 23 MLAs and three MPs among these 23 MLAs, two of them have already directly or indirectly switched over to the YSRC and at least two to three MLAs are likely to follow the suit.

Among the other opposition parties, the BJP and Jana Sena were completely decimated in the elections and the Congress has lost its presence in the state with a vote share less than the votes polled under NOTA.

While the BJP had drawn a blank, Jana Sena had won just one MLA seat though it got nearly 7 per cent votes but even that MLA is all set to defect to the YSRC.

There are three communities that matters in Andhra politics Kapa, Kammu and Reddy. Chandrababu Naidu is Kamma, Pawan Kalyan belongs to the Kammu community while Jagan Reddy is from the Reddy community. The Kapus are a deciding factor. This means that whomsoever they support, they win the election in Andhra Pradesh. BJP wanted to have strong hold in Andhra politics. Hence they were in alliance with TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu. Since TDP and BJP parted ways, the option remains in Jan Sena. Both the parties together can change some equations as Pawan Kalyan has the Kammu vote bank and BJP too has its loyal vote share.

After a gap of nearly seven months, the political activity has picked up again and the opposition parties badly mutilated in the last elections are now planning to regain their strength through political realignment.

The TDP, which had fought with the support of the BJP in 2014, tried to send friendly signals to the BJP, the saffron party has shut the doors on it.

Having no other option, Naidu has now joined hands with the Communist parties to fight to retain the capital city at Amaravati.

On the other hand, Pawan Kalyan who opposed the BJP in the elections and indirectly maintained friendly equations with the TDP has changed his track and is now aligning with the BJP.

This would mean that there is going to be a triangular fight in the next elections unless there are further changes in the political equations.

While it will be a virtual lone fight for the TDP (the Communists have relevance in electoral politics), the BJP-Jana Sena combination is expected to gain some strength because of the charisma of Pawan and cadre base of the BJP.

However, the combination will split the anti-establishment vote in a big way and it will ruin whatever little chances the TDP has to bounce back.

“Ultimately, it will be advantageous to the YSR Congress party, unless there is a radical shift in the YSRC vote bank to the TDP,” an analyst said.

Nirbhaya Rape Case: Four convicts to now hang on February 1 at 6 am

By

Web Team

-

January 17, 2020

After the President rejected the mercy petition of Mukesh Kumar Singh who sought the postponement of the date of his execution scheduled for January 22, comes the news that a Delhi court has issued a fresh death warrant for the four men in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case and scheduled their execution for 6 am on February 1.

A total of six people namely Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Ram Singh and a juvenile were named accused in the case. Meanwhile, Pawan Gupta has moved the Supreme Court claiming that he was a juvenile in 2012 and should be tried accordingly. Gupta has challenged Delhi High Court order of December 19.

The savagery of the crime shook the nation and led to country-wide protests over the issue of women’s safety and seeking speedy trial of the accused. The trial of the five adult men began in a special fast-track court in March, 2013.

Thanks to the govt. malls, eateries, multiplexes to remain open 24×7 from Jan 27 in Mumbai

By

Hema Singh

-

January 17, 2020

There’s some good news for Mumbaikars and that is that malls, eateries and multiplexes will now be allowed to remain open 24×7 from January 27. Mumbai is said to be a city that never sleeps will indeed not sleep after this announcement.

As per a report, Maharashtra Minister of environment and tourism Aaditya Thackeray who had earlier backed the idea that licensed establishments in Mumbai should be allowed to operate 24×7 called a meeting on Thursday when city authorities decided to implement the change and decided to implement the same from January 27. Owners of shopping malls, hotels and restaurants were also present at the meeting.

According to the municipal commissioner, Praveen Pardeshi, “We have given permission to operate shopping malls, hotels and restaurants 24×7 functioning from January 27. Gated communities, primarily with entertainment and food plazas have been given permissions. We have cautioned the representatives of the establishments to ensure fire-safety compliance and security. Most of the malls have said that they will keep their establishments open on weekends if running it throughout the week is not feasible for them.”

In this fast paced life people usually miss their food at the right time, this new initiative of Aaditya Thackeray will surely make nightlife more happening in Mumbai.

Reportedly, some of the malls have agreed for the 24×7 implementation and the names are Atria Mall in Worli, R-City Mall in Ghatkopar, Phoenix Market City in Kurla, Growel’s 101 in Kandivali, Oberoi Mall in Goregaon and High Street Phoenix at Lower Parel.

However, the authorities should give a thought to two important things that seemed to have escaped their mind. One is there ought to be police personnel on the roads to safeguard people moving on the road at night. This is because there would be chances of all kinds of crime happening. Secondly and more importantly, the railways and BEST buses have to run all throughout the night to make it easier to move from this place to the other,

In 2013 the idea was proposed by Shiv Sena and from that time, this idea was lingering. Finally the idea is soon to take shape.

Politics in the time of anti-CAA row

By

Nava Thakuria

-

January 17, 2020

Defying the relentless protests by a number of organizations in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, the Union government in New Delhi has lately imposed the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) by bringing the gazette notification and it was another reason to make the people in northeast India angry and baffled with the development.

Most of the localities in the region were passing through an uproarious situation as the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 (CAB) was passed in the Parliament and subsequently endorsed by the President of India. A series of protest-demonstrations were observed with the participation of locals including student leaders, singers, academicians, writers, journalists, etc with the sole demand to repeal the CAA.

The CAB, which argued for Indian citizenship to religious persecuted asylum seekers including Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Jain families in Muslim dominated Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh (who came prior to 31 December 2014), was easily passed in Lok Sabha (on 9 December) where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoys the majority. It was later passed in Rajya Sabha (11 Dec) with significant vote differences and subsequently endorsed by President Ramnath Kovind.

Putting voices for the specific bill that aimed to amend the Citizenship Act 1955, Union Home Minister Amit Shah quoted Mahatma Gandhi as saying on 26 September 1947 that Hindu and Sikh people living in Pakistan can fearlessly come to India as it would be the duty of India to give them shelter and jobs. During the RS debates, Shah also pointed out that the Liaquat-Nehru pact on 8 April 1950 agreed that both Pakistan and India would treat respective minorities with dignity.

On the debate, why Muslims have been kept aside in the process, Shah categorically stated that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh follow their constitutions where it is defined that those are Islamic nations and no Muslim can be religious minority there. He however clarified that India has provisions for Muslim victims of persecution and they are being given citizenship on case to case basis. At the same pace, he assured that Indian Muslims need not to worry as the CAA would not affect them.

On the northeastern region, where anti-CAA protests gained momentum, Shah declared that the amended CAA had exempted all States under the inner line permit (ILP) arrangement and localities declared under the sixth schedule to the Constitution. With the amendments northeastern States namely Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and lately Manipur were given immunities, whereas major areas of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura were also kept outside the CAA.

Nonetheless, if not the Barak valley, other localities of Assam witnessed a series of protests against the CAA. Assamese protesters have come to the streets raising voices against the CAA as they apprehend that it would destroy their language and culture. They would not digest the arguments for making the CAA secular (read inclusion of Muslim asylum seekers) and they are determined that no illegal migrant (irrespective of his/her religions) should be settled in Assam after 25 March 1971 (mentioned in Assam Accord).

Continuous protest-demonstrations by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parisahd (AJYCP), a section of Assamese performing artistes along with their associates had also hinted to form a political party eyeing the forthcoming State Assembly elections in 2021. Even though the agitators were waiting for the Supreme Court’s directive as another hearing (on CAA) was scheduled on 22 January, they have unofficially declared that a new regional party was emerging to counter the saffron party in Assam.

AASU leaders namely Samujjal Bhattacharya, Dipanka Nath and Lurinjyoti Gogoi along with popular Assamese singer Zubeen Garg and his thousands of fans expressed confidence that the electorate would this time reject the saffron party. They were morally supported by many Assamese academicians, lawyers, writers, media personalities etc in their mission. But various active anti-CAA civil society groups including Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (whose top leader Akhil Gogoi is behind the bars for NIA charges) are yet to make up their mind.

However, the proposed regional political party had drawn the attention of the opposition Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). Veteran Congress leader and former State chief minister Tarun Gogoi welcomed the initiative and he publicly announced that they would think of going for an alliance with the new party. Later AIUDF supremo Badrauddin Ajmal also extended support to the party so that the saffron party could be challenged in the coming State and general elections.

Facing the heat of disapproval and rejections across the Brahmaputra valley, the saffron leaders swiftly came to action with an aim to mobilise the people in their favour. BJP’s State unit in association with their political allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) started organizing spectacular peace rallies (read pro-CAA gathering) in different localities. Started at Nalbari in western Assam, the ruling parties continue their rallies at Sarbhog (Barpeta), Jagiroad, Sualkuchi, Biswanath, etc with massive supports from their well-wishers.

The ruling party also organized a booth-level conclave in Guwahati, where the national working president JP Nadda, general secretary Ram Madhav, State chief minister Sarbanand Sonowal, State BJP president Ranjeet Kr Dass, State minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, etc were present to clarify that the CAA would not be harmful for the people of Assam and northeast India. They also alleged that the Congress leaders were trying to manipulate the anti-CAA stir for their political gains.

Addressing a strong over 75000 saffron supporters, Nadda reassured that the Centre is committed for safeguarding the language & indigenous cultures of northeastern residents besides developing the region. Criticizing the Congress leaders for spreading misinformation about the CAA across the country, Nadda appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Shah for showing the political will to take initiative for the persecuted asylum seekers.

Sonowal criticised both the Congress and Left parties for spreading misinformation that over one crore Bangladeshi Hindu nationals would be settled in Assam with the CAA arrangements. He targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking him to answer ‘how many Bangladeshi nationals were allowed to enter and stay in Assam during the Congress rule for the sack of vote-bank politics. Sonowal alleged that the Congress had never shown due respect to the indigenous people of Assam.

North-East Democratic Alliance convener Sarma asserted that the number of CAA beneficiaries in Assam would never cross five lakh. Lambasting the anti-national elements, Sarma declared that he would leave the politics if the number (CAA beneficiaries) goes above five lakh in the State. Rejecting any possibility of success with a new political party in the State, he claimed that the saffron party would get not less than 100 seats in the 126-member State Assembly polls scheduled for early next year.

Commenting on anti-CAA protests, he stated that the government has no problem with peaceful & democratic movements, but the vandalism and violence would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Sarma also commented that the ongoing anti-CAA pretests have lost its credibility as the agitators now start talking about the party-politics. He however asserted that the BJP remains ready to face any electoral political challenges in future.

(The author is a northeast India based political analyst)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

NPR survey: Don’t disclose vital details to non-government authorities

By

Jayanthy Subramaniam

-

January 17, 2020

Maintaining of account books is very important for a business house. If the accountant does not do his job properly, the business goes down and the owner comes in to the red. So is our country. The income, expenditure, population, per capita income and planning etc. all are dependent on the enumeration process. If some states say that they won’t allow NPR in their area, then what kind of accountability the Centre can maintain should be analysed and understood. If no proper citizenship base is maintained, then illegal migrants from neighbouring countries will continue to enjoy our country’s resources.

NPR is an exercise that is required and a necessity to update the population details of India or any country. I also recommend the same. When the government is spending so much for this, details of the education, profession and job details should also be collected. These will help in getting the right statistics of our people in India. Unless we have the right data about our citizens, how can we plan the benefits and rights of the people? We have lot of resources in India, but our data is not up to date. The opposition parties and media are unnecessarily blowing up the issue so that they stay visible! No one is bothered about our country and its’ future! Next thing is the Big data analysis for decision making and passing on benefits etc.

Right to information is of course the privilege of Indian citizens. Its converse too should be maintained. The state should be in a position to be aware of per capita income of its citizens, the level of deprivation of those who avail undeserving privileges misinterpreting secularism of the country etc. Unscrupulous politicians have brought about a lot of inconsistencies in registers, to cite an example, in our parliamentary constituency, there had been a host of doubling in electoral registers which was noted by one and took measures on a wartime basis, and the electoral outcome changed significantly.

So, the census, registers etc should be updated scientifically so that no political patronage should interfere into the data. Our government should not be discharged in implementing the noble task of collection of credible data regarding citizens which are intended towards discharging citizen friendly allotments for empowering people, based on credible data. Those who had been booked for sedition have their own divisive agenda. So, such frolic people say irrelevant things to mislead citizens. In democracy we have nothing to fear, so long as we are aware of our rights and obligations, see what happened to those who declared emergency when an imminent no confidence motion robbed her peace of mind. Dissension is allowed, but, let us not loose our sense of proportion.

It has been categorically said that no individual should submit any document to any authority or enumerator visiting his/her household for NPR survey. Information provided by the individual would be accepted and recorded accordingly. The Ministry spokesperson has not denied the point that the National Population Register form will include an additional column seeking details of the place of birth of father and mother.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 17 January, 2020

By

Web Team

-

January 17, 2020

Hope the ‘one-night wonder’ is safe and reliable

Hancock bridge to be replaced by an assembled one in a single night sounds great and optimistic. A fully assembled road overbridge in a matter of hours in one night sounds great but hope it has the strength to hold the heavy traffic. Safety standards of roads and bridges are very poor in our country where they collapse like pack of cards and extreme caution should be undergone to see that such structures are reliable. We have the technology to build one-night wonders but to err is human and keeping fingers crossed that these are fixed to perfection and no untoward incidents happen in future.

Assembled overbridge to replace the Hancock bridge in a single night would be a monumental wonder but it would require top class maintenance to keep it going and hope the authorities are prepared for its upkeep with all the spares and other accessories to keep it safe and going. Bridge should be tested for strength and reliability before it is thrown open for public use.

S.N.Kabra

Bomb hoax on board of plane

It is becoming a regular feature to delay flight take off with a bomb hoax scare in recent times. But in the present case the bomb hoax came on board on a Mumbai bound plane and that is very unusual. It appears like a terror attack on board of plane. Air India flight was forced to return to the airport. The plane made an emergency landing giving jitters to air passengers. No bombs were found following thorough search and it was a hoax call. It was just a ploy by the woman, who was in an inebriated state, just to return back to Kolkata. The air crew was put to test in a most ticklish way to handle an emergency like situation in the end.

Anandambal Subbu

Public being looted in name of notarization of documents in Delhi

System allows a fixed fees for getting any document duly attested and notarized by persons authorized as Notary-Public, by recording complete details in the registers required to be maintained by persons authorized as Notary-Public. Similar may be system for Oath-Commissioners. But it is common practice in Delhi that many persons charge fees as Notary-Public by simply putting a round rubber-stamp on documents without even having a register where complete details about documents are to be recorded and numbered to be endorsed on notarized documents also. There is no provision to check authenticity of such persons acting as Notary Public. It is a common practice that many authorized Notary Public maintaining proper registers for keeping record of notarized documents charge heavily in tunes of hundreds of rupees in place of fixed charges. Delhi and Central government should publicly warn through newspaper advertisements against documents being notarized without recording properly in the register and registration-number endorsed on notarized documents.

For preventing over-charging, fees for notarizing documents should also be publicised through media and websites of appropriate governments. Chargeable fees should be made part of rubber-stamp to be fixed on notarized documents without members of public required to ask for receipts separately. Licences of Notary-Public for over-charging should be immediately cancelled, with criminal action initiated against them. Same should be system for Oath-Commissioners. Better is to give common licenses for Oath-Commissioner and Notary-Public because common people do not understand difference between Oath-Commissioner and Notary-Public. Even typing-charges per page should also be fixed so that Notary-Public and Oath-Commissioner may not be able to overcharge in name of typing documents. It should be compulsory for Notary-Public and Oath-Commissioner to have typing provision. List of Notary-Public and Oath-Commissioners together with their respective addresses and phone-numbers should be put on government-websites.

Madhu Agrawal

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

President rejects Mukesh Singh’s mercy plea in Nirbhaya rape case

By

Web Team

-

January 17, 2020

In a latest of the Nirbhaya rape case, President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected Delhi gang rape convict Mukesh Singh’s mercy plea. The presidential rejection of the mercy petition came hours after Home Minister Amit Shah recommended rejection of Mukesh Singh’s petition to Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

Singh, 32, had filed a last-minute petition to President Kovind for a presidential pardon that could spare him the gallows. It is said that the formal order by the President who was obliged to go by the advice of the Cabinet in this particular case has been issued and is being be conveyed to Tihar jail authorities.

Here it may be noted that a Delhi judge had ordered his execution on January 22 along with his three other accomplices who were convicted for gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student on her way home.

Police bust sex racket in a hotel at Andheri; rescue 3 actresses including a minor

By

Hema Singh

-

January 17, 2020

On Thursday, the Mumbai police busted a high- profile sex racket that was operating in a three-star hotel in Andheri. In the raid, the police rescued three actresses including a minor and held a 29-year-old woman.

Among the rescued women, one is an actor/ singer who has worked in the crime show on TV titled ‘Savdhaan India’ while another has worked in a Marathi movie and serials. The minor has worked in a web series.

According to the Social Service (SS) branch of the city, after they got a tip off from their sources, they conducted a raid at the hotel in Andheri (East) on late night on Thursday.

Sandesh Revale a senior inspector of SS branch said, “During the raid, three females including a minor, were found to have been forced into prostitution. They were rescued and a woman identified as Priya Sharma who was operating the racket, was arrested.”

Police also said that the accused woman was running a tours and travel agency in Mumbai’s Kandivali area but she was involved in immoral activities too. An offense has been registered against Sharma under the relevant Section of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

PMC Bank Case: Supreme Court stays Bombay HC order to release Wadhawans from prison

By

Afternoon Voice

-

January 16, 2020

The Supreme Court has stayed the Bombay high court order that had asked the Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang to be released from prison and kept at their Bandra East residence.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the high court order to the extent of allowing the release of the from prison needed to be stayed.

Mehta had earlier said that the other aspect of the High Court appointed committee should be allowed to remain operative and the sole objective of the operation was with regard to the release of the Wadhawans from the Arthur Road jail.

Earlier in a landmark judgement, the Bombay HC had directed Wadhawans to be placed under house arrest. In this connection, the HC has asked superintendent of Arthur Road jail to shift the Wadhawans from the prison to their Bandra East residence with four jail guards.

The superintendent of the Arthur Road jail has been further asked to arrange guards. The guards have to ensure that the Wadhawans are not taken beyond the High Court’s jurisdiction. The father-son duo would also be permitted to travel for “ensuring the compliance of the directions of the committee and for assisting in the process of the sale”.

“We are conscious of the plight of lakhs of depositors who had deposited their hard-earned money and life’s (sic) savings in PMC Bank. Such extraordinary situations warrant extraordinary measures so as to ensure speedy recovery of the monies of respondents (Wadhawans),” said a bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Surendra Tavade in their judgement on a public interest litigation.

The judges also passed detailed directions on how the committee would function: It would first identify the properties of the companies owned, controlled, managed or promoted by the Wadhwans that are mortgaged solely with PMC Bank. The bank would also give details of the list of depositors. “The amount realised from the sale would be made available for direct distribution to depositors in such a manner as may be devised by the committee,” it added.

If required, the father-son duo will be allowed to travel locally for the recovery of PMC Bank dues. The HC has appointed a committee headed by Justice Radhakrishnan to supervise speedy recovery of dues of PMC Bank dues from HDIL and give away the recovered amounts to depositors of the fraud-hit Bank. The company owes Rs 4,635 crore to PMC Bank. The Wadhawans were arrested on October 3, 2019.

If the amount is not sufficient to meet the bank’s dues, then the committee will dispose of the properties of the companies owned, promoted or mortgaged by Wadhawans. If there is further shortfall, then the committee will dispose of all the unencumbered properties of the companies owned, controlled or mortgaged by Wadhawans as well as their properties. “Respondents will ensure that no roadblocks are created in the smooth sale and distribution by the committee,” they added.

Separately, the High Court has directed lower courts to not entertain any bail plea by Rakesh (68) and Sarang Wadhawan (42) till the next hearing on April 30. The Wadhawans will provide office space for the committee and also bear the cost for the staff and the guards. “The respondents (Wadhawans) are instrumental for the huge fraud perpetuated by them through HDIL and group companies,” the bench said.

The judges said that Wadhawans would be answerable to the committee and neglect on their part would be viewed seriously. The committee has to furnish a progress report by April 30 “while specifying the cooperation and efforts shown” by the Wadhawans “for monetising the assets for ensuring the expeditious repayment of dues” of the bank.

The PIL was filed by advocate Sarosh Damania for speedy recovery of the bank’s dues and urged for a retired high court or Supreme Court judge-headed committee as the “normal process” will take years to repay the depositors.

Wadhawans, in their reply, had told the court they have no objection to the sale of encumbered properties and submitted a list of their encumbered and unencumbered assets. The encumbered assets exclusively mortgaged with PMC Bank or along with other financial institutions, are valued at more than Rs 11,000 crore based on the ready reckoner value. Also, encumbered assets where PMC Bank has no charge but are mortgaged with other financial institutions are valued over Rs 6,000 crore. The unencumbered assets are valued at Rs 2,600 crore. They agreed to the constitution of a committee and urged for bail, saying the maximum punishment under Prevention of Money Laundering Act is seven years. The judges also noted that none of the parties, including ED and PMC Bank, had objected to the setting up of the committee.