Shutdown in J-K to protest caricature of Prophet

    Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association on Monday observed a shutdown to protest against the publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammad in European newspapers. The cartoons were originally published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September. Streets in Srinagar wore a deserted look, as shops remained closed. Protest rallies have been taken across Muslim countries all over the world in protest against the depiction of the Prophet by the daily. Some Muslim countries have even recalled their envoys from Copenhagen and Scandinavian capitals. Muslims have said that what the European newspapers portrayed describing it as a freedom of expression, was in reality, blasphemous. "Muslims across the world are brothers and all of us are against the publication of the cartoons in Denmark. We condemn the act and we will strongly come out against it," said Farooq Ahmed, a local. Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary reprinted the caricatures, saying that press freedom was more important than the protests and boycotts they have provoked. Muneer Khan, another local, said nobody has the right to insult anyone's religion. "Not only as a Muslim, but also as a human being, I would say that we should respect people's faith and religion. Nobody has the right to insult anybody's religion," said Khan.

S Thorat appointed new UGC Chairman  (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: Dr. Sukhadeo Thorat, a member of the University Grants Commission and Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, has been appointed as Chairman of the Commission, by the Central Government for a term of five years. Dr. Thorat has notable contributions to research in the frontier areas of knowledge among others in agricultural development, poverty, labour studies, caste and economic discrimination, particularly labour market discrimination, economic problems of the Schedule Castes and the Schedule Tribes. He has written extensively on a variety of contemporary issues such as rural poverty, rural development, child labour, caste and discrimination, and urban slums. He is also credited with a large number of published papers on general economics, agricultural development, rural poverty and related themes.

Criminal law amendment bill comes into effect (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2005, intended to prevent the evil of witnesses turning hostile, came into effect on Monday. Sections 161, 162 and 344 of the bill have been amended by inserting new sections 164A and 344A in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 provide that statement made to the Police by any person during investigation, if given in writing, is to be signed and quickly transmitted to the Magistrate. Under the amended bill, in all offences punishable with death or imprisonment for 7 years or more during investigation, the witness will be required to record his statement before a Magistrate. The statement of the witness duly recorded before a Magistrate under oath would be treated as evidence at the court's discretion. Disposal of criminal trials in the courts takes a long time and in many cases trials do not begin for as long as three to five years after an accused is sent to judicial custody. In many cases persons accused of criminal offences are unable to secure bail for different reasons and have to languish in jail as under-trial prisoners for years. The act also incorporates the concept of plea bargaining as recommended by the Law Commission in its 154th Report on the Code of Criminal Procedure. This means pre-trial negotiations between defendant and prosecution during which the accused agrees to plead guilty in lieu of certain concessions by the prosecutor. The benefit of plea bargaining would, however, not be admissible to habitual offenders. The legislation was approved by the Parliament in its winter session and the President A P Abdul Kalam approved it subsequently.

Notice to UP Force in phone tapping case (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh on a contempt petition filed by Delhi Police for carrying out a parallel investigation in the Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh phone tapping case. Delhi Police Counsel Mukta Gupta in the petition filed before the High Court Justice R C Jain, alleged that the STF continued parallel investigation in the case though the court had earlier restrained STF from doing so. Singh has accused the Centre of tapping his phones along with 70 other politicians. He also approached the Supreme Court with an application seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged tapping of his telephone by the Delhi Police. He had cited eight respondents in the application - Union Ministries of Telecommunication and Home Affairs, Chief Secretary and Home Secretary, the Delhi Government, the Delhi police Commissioner, Additional Police Commissioner (Crime), the Congress party through its president and private mobile service provider, Reliance Infocomm. Singh had also sought a direction to the Central and State Governments to strictly enforce the guidelines laid down by the court as well as Rule 419 (A) of the Indian Telegraph Act and Rules. Under Rule 419 (A )of the Indian Telegraph Rules 1951, in case of emergency, permission to intercept phones has to be taken from the Joint Secretary who is authorised to do so, subject to confirmation by the Secretary. Singh alleged that apart from his telephone, the personal telephones of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son, Mr Akhilesh Yadav, a MP, were also being tapped. The Delhi Police had sent a CD containing the tapped conversations of Amar Singh to the forensic laboratory in Hyderabad for "determining the authenticity" of the tapes. A senior Special Cell official had indicated that the CD would form part of the charge sheet in the case after the voice authenticity report arrived from Hyderabad. Authorities in the laboratory also clarified that the audio-tape that contained the conversation between Singh and another person was of a "routine nature" and that it found nothing controversial in their talks.

Tension in Kolkata over Trinamool leader's murder (Go To Top)

   Kolkata: Tension prevails in Kolkata after the murder of Trinamool Congress leader Sachin Mukherjee, allegedly by his political rivals. Sachin Banerjee, a vice -president of the party, was shot dead by some unidentified assailants last night while he was leaving his residence at Sonarpur, 15 kilometres away from the city. Police are yet to find the clue to the murder. S. N. Gupta, Suprientendent of Police, South 24-Pargana, said: " The incident occurred at around 8:30 p.m. He was murdered with arms. Police are doing investigation and we hope to find the culprit very soon." Trinamul Congress alleged that the murder was committed at the instance of CPI-M as he was a strong rival in the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Commenting on CPI-M leader Anil Biswas's defence, Trinamul Congress leader Soungata Roy said that the conclusive statement of Anil Biswas that the murder has no connection with CPI-M indicates the guilty mind of his party. "For a long time he has been a target of CPI-M. He was attacked once in 1967. He was a Congress candidate in the 1980 assembly election and in 1982 he stood again. Anil Babu's comment is out of context. He is not an astrologer to predict that the murder has no connection with CPI-M. Till it's proved otherwise all suspicions would be directed towards CPI-M as the victim was a powerful Trinamul Congress leader in Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's assembly constituency. The very statement from Anil babu proves their guilty mind," said Soungata Roy. Mukherjee's family also believes that the political rivalry is the reason for his murder. Tarun Bhattacharya, nephew of Sachin Mukherjee said, "We suspect it as a political vendetta. We have learnt that he was to accompany the election observer who was to survey ward no. 110 and 111 tomorrow. We think he was murdered by criminals hired by CPI-M." Trinamul Congress President Mamta Banerjee visited the spot and threatened to launch an agitation if the administration failed to find the culprit within the next 24 hours.

Pakistan wins first ODI against India at Peshawar (Go To Top)

    Peshawar: Pakistan today won the first One Day International against India with a seven run victory through the Duckworth/Lewis method at the Arbab Niaz Stadium here. Pakistan needed only 18 runs from 18 balls when play was stopped due to bad light conditions. Pakistan had lost four wickets and Younis Khan and Naved-ul-Rana were at the crease then. Earlier Pakistan won the toss and asked India to bat first. India put up a huge total of 329 runs with a magnificent century by master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Wicket keeper batsman MS Dhoni and Tendulkar guided India to a good situation after vice captain Virender Sehwag got out at 5 runs. The duo put up a 126 run partnership for the third wicket. Dhoni scored 68 runs, and ace bowler Pathan registered 65, his fourth ODI fifty. India got out in 49.4 overs. But the wickets kept on falling regularly after their Dhoni's and Tendulkar's departure. Skipper Rahul Dravid scored only 18 runs. Yuvraj fell for 38. Man-of-the match Salman Butt scored 101 runs of 112 balls and put on a 150-run stand with Shoaib Malik who scored 90 runs off 67 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes. The duo provided a solid platform for the chase. Pakistan started the innings on a comfortable note with openers Butt and Kamran Akmal scoring runs at will. The two put on the first 50 runs of the Pakistani innings in only 47 balls. India managed to put some pressure on the Pakistani batting line up picking wickets regularly towards the end, taking the match to a nail biting finish, when play was called off due to murky conditions. Pakistan were 311 for seven at that time.

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