| Rita
Bahuguna Joshi gets interim bail till July 29 Lucknow:
A Moradabad district court on Saturday granted interim bail to Uttar Pradesh
Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi till July 29. Joshi was granted bail
on a surety of Rs 30,000. Joshi, 60, had approached the court yesterday after
Chief Judicial Magistrate K K Shrivastava had turned down her bail plea and remanded
her to judicial custody for 14 days in Moradabad. Police arrested Joshi on Thursday
and a local court had sent her to judicial remand for making remarks on Wednesday
against Mayawati in an issue related to the rape and murder of some Dalit girls
in Uttar Pradesh. She was charged under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, for allegedly making derogatory remarks about
Mayawati. Joshi, however, has denied having said anything to offend Mayawati or
Dalits. Defiant
Rita Bahuguna blames Mayawati for burning of her house Top Moradabad
(Uttar Pradesh): Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was
released from a Moradabad jail on Saturday, categorically blamed state chief minister,
Mayawati for burning her house. “I maintain that there is nobody but the CM who
is behind setting my house ablaze. It was done all at her behest. First, my servants
were lifted from my place, and then the house was set afire. I will contest this
issue now through court. I am ready to go to jail a hundred times,” said Joshi
after her release from jail on interim bail. Stating she had already expressed
her regret over the objectionable words she had used in reference to Mayawati,
Joshi, however, said: “Mayawati has no right to remain chief minister of the state.”
Clarifying on her remarks that prompted Mayawati to charge her under the SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities Against Dalit Women) Act, Joshi said she never believed
in personal fights. “It was for the cause of Dalit women. I will continue my political
struggle against the Uttar Pradesh CM.” Joshi, who had made some derogatory remarks
against Mayawati at a public meeting, was arrested in Ghaziabad on Wednesday night
while she was on her way to Delhi . She was booked under 153 A (delivering inflammatory
speeches) and section 109 of IPC (using abusive language) besides under provisions
of SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act. Joshi was given interim bail on Saturday morning,
but was released from the jail at about 5 p.m. after completing all official procedures.
On her release, she was literally mobbed by media persons. Joshi looked visibly
happy on her release. Before leaving the jail, she hugged a policewoman as a gesture
of thanks. Asked why no Congress party representative was on hand to be with her
at the time of her release, she said it would be wrong to say that. “It is not
like nobody from the party is standing behind me. State MPs have also come to
receive me,” Joshi stated. “Though I feel regretful for the one word that offended
the “Mukhyamantriji” (the chief minister). But my whole statement was on behalf
of and for highlighting the cause of Dalit women. I wanted to introduce the State
CM with the plight of Dalit women and nothing else. I will continue my political
fight for their cause,” Joshi explained. BSP
MLA booked for burning Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house Top Lucknow:
Lucknow police on Saturday filed a case against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
MLA and a local party leader for their role in attacking Uttar Pradesh Congress
unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house. The names of BSP MLA Jitendra Singh and
local party leader Imtizar Abdi have been added to the FIR filed in connection
with the arson attack on Joshi's house. The Congress had lodged a written complaint
against the two BSP leaders for allegedly ransacking Joshi's residence here and
setting it on fire on July 15. Meanwhile, the bail plea hearing of Joshi will
come up for hearing this afternoon. The Moradabad court had reserved its order
yesterday. Joshi, 60, had approached the court after Chief Judicial Magistrate
K K Shrivastava had turned down her bail plea and remanded her to judicial custody
for 14 days in Moradabad. Police arrested Joshi on Thursday and a local court
had sent her to judicial remand for making remarks on Wednesday against Mayawati
in an issue related to the rape and murder of some Dalit girls in Uttar Pradesh.
She was charged under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act 1989, for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Mayawati. Joshi, however,
has denied having said anything to offend Mayawati or Dalits. Maoists
blow up Kandhamal police outpost Top Bhubaneshwar:
The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has blown up a police outpost in
Orissa's Kandhamal district. The incident took place nearly 200 kilometers from
Bhubaneshwar. No casualties were reported. According to Superintendent of Police
Pravin Kumar, the Maoists attacked early on Saturday morning. Kumar however, denied
the reports of missing of a constable in the incident. He said the police control
room at the district headquarters has already established contact with personnel
at the outpost, and also confirmed the launch of a search operation. New
Governors for Uttarakhand, UP, Jharkhand, Gujarat Top New
Delhi: Appointments of the new Governors in four States namely Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and a Lieutenant Governor for the Union Territory
, Pudducherry, were announced by the President House in an official communiqué
here on Saturday. Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Margaret Alva
has been appointed the Governor of Uttarakhand, BL Joshi the Governor of Uttar
Pradesh, L Shankar Narayanan as the new Governor of Jharkhand and Devendra Nath
Diwedi to be Governor of Gujarat, stated a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué on Saturday
evening. B L Joshi has been shifted from Uttarakhand to Uttar Pradesh while Nagaland
Governor Sankaranarayanan was shifted to Ranchi. Senior Congress leader Devendra
Nath Dwivedi was appointed as Governor of Gujarat, as Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma
demits his office on July 24. Meanwhile, Iqbal Singh will be the Lt. Governor
of Pudducherry, the Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué added. Govt
knows Bhutto's assassins: Lahore High Court CJ Top Lahore:
While the UN commission is in the country to probe former Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto's assassination, the Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif's shocking
claims that the government is aware about all the facts regarding the murder,
has raised questions over the PPP-led government's intentions. Addressing the
members of the Islamabad District Bar Association, Sharif said the government
is aware about the facts behind the killing, and that the Pakistan People's Party
(PPP) should quiz the government rather than making an appeal before the Chief
Justice. "Everyone knows who is responsible for the Karsaz tragedy and the killers
of Benazir. The Chief Justice cannot do everything," The Daily Times quoted Sharif,
as saying. The three-member UN Inquiry Commission arrived in Islamabad earlier
this week and met President Asif Ali Zardari to begin a sixth-month investigation
into Bhutto's killing. The UN probe team includes Chilean Ambassador to UN, Heraldo
Munoz, former attorney general of Indonesia, Marzuki Darusman, and a veteran of
the Irish National Police, Peter Fitzgerald. UK
shopping centres on alert for terrorism attack Top London:
Shopping centres across Britain have been placed on alert for a terrorist attack
that would probably result in the deaths of dozens of innocent people. According
to The Telegraph, the National Counter Terrorism Security Office now holds training
days for shopping centres and other vulnerable targets up and down the country,
warning: "Terrorist attacks in the UK are a real and serious danger." "Crowded
places, including shopping centres, are likely to feature in the attack plans
of terrorist organisations in the future as they are usually locations with limited
protective security measures and therefore afford the potential for mass fatalities
and casualties," the office adds. MI5 have also launched Operation Lightening
to record, research and investigate suspicious activity and it is particularly
focused on the "hostile reconnaissance" of targets. Chinese
President's son linked to multi-million pound African corruption probe Top Shanghai:
Hu Haifeng, a Chinese businessman and the eldest son of Chinese President Hu Jintao,
has been linked to a multi-million pound African corruption probe and faces questioning
in connection with the investigation. Haifeng was the president of the state-owned
Chinese company Nuctech until last year, from where three people have been arrested
on charges of fraud, corruption and bribery for involving in a government contract,
The Telegraph reports. Haifeng has since been promoted as the party secretary
of Tsinghua Holdings, the group that controls Nuctech and 30 other companies.
The investigation centers on a 34 million pounds deal that Namibia had signed
with Nuctech, a world leader in scanning technology. The company was supposed
to provide it with scanners for its ports and airports. Paulus Noah, Director
of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Namibia, said that he would like to question
Nuctech's management, including Haifeng. "Of course if he can make himself available
I will be happy," he said. "I would like to know how they do business in China,"
Noah said. Noah added that Haifeng was not a suspect at this stage and he would
be interviewed as a potential witness. Under the deal, the Namibian government
was to make a 8 million pounds down payment, with the balance coming from a loan
Beijing has provided Namibia, on condition that it is spent with Chinese companies.
However, according to Namibia's Anti-Corruption Commission, within weeks of the
Ministry of Finance making its payment to Nuctech, the company signed contracts
for an identical sum with a Namibian consultancy called Teko Trading. The money
was allegedly then disbursed to Teko's co-owners, Teckla Lameck and Kongo Mokaxwa,
and Yang Fan, a Chinese national described in court as Nuctech's African representative.
All three are being held in custody as the investigation is going on. Noah further
said that the matching sums going to and from Nuctech had raised suspicions. MJ's
private doctor flees Los Angeles Top London:
Late 'Thriller' hitmaker Michael Jackson's private doctor is reported to have
fled California, after being quizzed by Los Angeles cops. Dr. Conrad Murray is
thought to be in Houston, Texas, where he has a medical practice, reports the
Sun. As per new evidence, anaesthetic Propofol was the primary cause of Jackson's
death, and Murray is believed to have administered it. The coroner's office said
the autopsy report would not be known for two more weeks. |
