New
Delhi: Railways Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president
Lalu Prasad Yadav reported to the Election Commission on
Friday as ordered to explain his side of the story on the
Bihta money distribution scam. Lalu's presence at the Election
Commission, however, did not deter the constitutional body
from ordering the filing of over 30 separate First Information
Reports (FIRs) against the RJD (12) and other political
parties for various acts that were in violation of the Model
Code of Conduct imposed by the EC on December 17. The FIRs
were filed in police stations in Patna, Muzaffarpur and
Vaishali districts Simultaneously, KJ Rao, the Election
Observer deputed too Patna and Bihta for an inspection,
submitted his report to the EC today.
Talking to mediapersons after meeting the EC officials,
Lalu backtracked on his earlier demand for holding the elections
in Bihar in one phase instead of three phases. He said he
would have no problems in presenting the Rail Budget even
if the elections in the state were held in three phases.
"I have informed the Election Commission about whatever
I had to say. I do not want to discuss it here. The third
phase of polling ends on February 23, I will have enough
time to present the Railway Budget even after that," he
told newspersons after coming out of the Election Commission.
The EC had served showcause on Lalu ,following reports that
he distributed cash to villagers in Bihar after enforcement
of the model code for the three phased Assembly polls scheduled
from February three. While the LJP staged a masive rally
here on November 27 its propaganda material including posters,
banners and flags were still in place on government and
private buildings even after the code of conduct coming
into effect on December 17. The RJD rally which was scheduled
to be held in Patna on December 23, was put off by Lalu
Prasad in the wake of registration of an FIR charging him
with bribing the electorate by distributing money among
some dalit women at Bihta last Saturday in violation of
the model code. The Election Commission has also asked the
RJD why it should not be de-registered as a national party.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has not lost any opportunity to
add fuel to fire. They have alleged several violations by
the ruling RJD including the distribution of money by Yadav
in a village in Bihar on Saturday, a day after the code
of conduct came into effect.
IIT
student gets bail (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: A Delhi court has given bail to IIT student Ravi
Raj who is accused of selling a sexually explicit Multi
Media Service (MMS) clip taken on a cellphone. The incident
involving two minor school students was sold on the internet
on the website Bazee.com. On Thursday, the court had reserved
its orders after hearing extensive arguments from Ravi's
counsel and the prosecution. He was arrested in December
14 and produced before a Delhi court two days later. The
court then remanded him to three days police custody.
One
killed, 24 injured in Kashmir blast (Go
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Srinagar:
One person was killed and 24 others, including three
personnel of Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and
Kashmir police were injured in a grenade blast near crowded
Pakherpora bus stand in the central Kashmir district of
Badgam this afternoon. Official sources said militants hurled
a hand grenade at the Pakherpora bus stand near a SOG camp
immediately after Friday prayers were over at 2:45 p.m.
They said 25 people, including 3 SOG personnel, were injured
in the blast. One of the injured later died before he could
be shifted to hospital, sources said. The injured were admitted
to different hospitals, where the condition of some of them
was stated to be critical.
NHRC
asks UP Govt for cyber cafe raid report (Go
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New
Delhi: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed
the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a report on alleged
high-handedness of the police during a raid on a cyber cafe
in Aligarh. Taking suo motu cognisance of news reports about
Uttar Pradesh policemen allegedly misbehaving with girls
in cyber cafes in Aligarh, NHRC said if the reports were
true, it raises "serious issues of violation of human rights
of the students". The Commission also said the issue was
"an affront to the honour and supreme dignity of the females".
NHRC has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director
General of Police of the state.
Sikhs
protest against 'Ab Tumhare Hawale Wataon Saathiyon' (Go
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Amritsar:
Sikhs in Amritsar today protested against a Bollywood
film, which they say has shown disrespect to their religion.
"Ab Tumhare Hawale Wataon Saathiyon" (The country belongs
to you friends), starring superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay
Kumar and Bobby Deol, is the latest war flick to hit the
theatres across the country. Sikhs from the apex body Shiromani
Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) say they were miffed
with an advertisement of a liquor company while a religious
verse was being recited in the film. The SGPC has also lodged
a complaint with the police and have threatened to start
an agitation if the objectionable part was not removed from
the film. "In this when a particular verse from Gurbani
(Sikh religious verses) are recited by Amitabh Bachchan,
protagonist of the movie, in that backdrop a whiskey advertisement
is running. At the same time Gurbani is being recited and
on the other hand they are showing a liquor ad, a thing,
which is completely prohibited in our religion. We Sikhs
are hurt by such portrayal," said Jaswinder Singh, Advocate
of the SGPC. Singh said the complaint was filed against
film's director Anil Sharma, Sony Entertainment Channel
and the liquor company demanding action against them. Sikhs,
a conservative community, recently had protested against
a play in England, which depicted sexual abuse, and murder
in a Sikh temple. The play "Behzti" (Dishonour), by Sikh
writer Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, is described as a "black comedy".
Protesters said the play, set in a gurdwara, or Sikh temple,
mocked the Sikh religion.
Bhopal
Muslim body declares Zaheera 'dissembler' (Go
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Bhopal:
Best Bakery prime witness Zaheera Sheikh has been declared
a 'dissembler' by Masjlis-e-Shura, one of the apex decision-making
bodies of Muslims. She has been ousted from the Muslim community
for "tarnishing its image by making false statements". She
was declared a munafiq following the expose by the Tehelka
newspaper. A unanimous decision was taken in this regard
in a meeting where 500-odd Muslim clerics and office-bearers
of different organisations were present. They said that
Zaheera had been acting against preaching of the Quran by
continuously making false statements about the Best Bakery
carnage case. They said that her actions had tarnished the
image of Muslims before the people of this country. The
Muslim Personal Law Board also approved the decision of
excommunicating her.
4
crore job seekers register at employment exchange (Go
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New
Delhi: The Ministry of Labour and Employment has no
proposal to provide unemployment allowance to the educated
unemployed youth mainly on account of resource constraints.
According to press release, more than 4 crore job seekers
are on the live register of Employment Exchange in various
states (as on 30th September 2004) all of whom are not necessarily
unemployed.
