13:23 Bilkis Bano case: Owaisi questions ‘double standards’ on capital punishment :
Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi has questioned the “double standards” in awarding death penalty to rapists, especially when it came to communal cases.
Reacting to a Bombay high court judgment upholding life sentence to 11 convicts in Bilkis Bano case, he said the Modi government should appeal in the Supreme Court seeking death sentence.
Bano was gangraped and several members of her family were murdered during the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
“The judgement that came in the case of Bilkis Bano, I respect the high court, but I feel I should also ask as to why there are double standards in communal cases and the rape cases, particularly in awarding death sentences the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen chief said.
The Supreme Court on Friday confirmed the death sentence of four convicts in the Delhi gangrape case. However, Owaisi didnt refer to it.
“I believe this (Bilkis Bano) is a fit case in which the culprits should have been awarded the death penalty. Here comes a chance (for Prime Minister Narendra Modi). File appeal in the Supreme court against the high court judgement and see to it that it is converted into death penalty,” he added.
12:55 Bihar: 2 children dead, 6 others fall ill after being injected with wrong vaccine at a hospital in Muzaffarpur’s Patori village, reports ANI.
12:50 Another road in Chennai caves in:
Weeks after the arterial Anna Salai, another road in Chennai caved in on Saturday.
This time the Taylor’s road-EVR junction in Kilpauk saw a massive cave in around 4 am.
After getting the news, corporation officials came on the spot and filled the crater in.
Chennai has been plagued by massive road cave-ins recently.
One of reasons for the cave-in could be the Metro work that is being done in the area.
On April 9, Anna Salai caved in near the Church Park school, and a bus and a car were stuck in the giant crater for several hours.
11:29 Look who is praising Centre’s ‘no-fly’ list: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad on Friday hailed the central government’s announcement of new rules for a ‘no-fly list’ for unruly passengers which will include suspension for offences.
Gaikwad told ANI, “The guidelines were needed to address the issues pertaining to civil aviation safety.”
Further commenting on Aviation secretary R N Choubey’s announcement that every airline will form a standing committee with external members in it, Gaikwad demanded that the members of parliament should also be the part of the committee in order to keep a check on the conduct of the airline staff members.
Interestingly, the no-fly list has been amended by Air India from the day Gaikwad hit 62-year-old staffer R Sukumar with his slipper. — ANI
10:12 Macron’s campaign emails leaked; team allege hacking: French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron’s campaign claimed to be victim of a ‘massive and coordinated’ hacking attack after a trove of emails appearing to be from his campaign reportedly leaked online a day before Sunday’s final run-off.
Macron’s campaign team said late on Friday it had been the victim of a ‘massive and coordinated’ hacking attack and that it was clearly designed to undermine democracy’s interests, reports the DW.
The campaign team said in a statement that internal communications and financial documents had been hacked a few weeks ago and were now being circulated across social media.
It also said that false documents had been mixed with nine gigabytes of leaked campaign data documents.
The French Interior Ministry refused to comment as the official campaign had ended.
“Neither the ministry, nor any other ministry would be commenting on this because according to the law, campaigning has ended as of midnight,” a ministry spokesman said. — ANI
09:12 Gas leak at Delhi school; 60 students hospitalised: At least 60 students have been admitted to hospital after gas leakage from a container at a school in Delhi’s Tughlakabad area, reports ANI.
Police and CATS (Centralised Ambulance Trauma Services) ambulances are on spot.
NDTV said that the cops are trying to find out the cause of the leak.
“Some students complained of irritation in eyes and throat due to gas leak; 50-60 students have been hospitalised,” ANI quoted the vice principal of the Delhi school as saying.
More details are awaited. — Agencies
Image for representation only.
09:02 Army apprehends 12-yr-old ‘intruder’ from PoK: A 12-year-old intruder from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was apprehended by the army near the Line of Control late on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera sector of Rajouri district.
The ‘intruder’ is the son of a retired Baluch Regiment soldier and is resident of Village Dunger Pel, Tehsil Samani of Bhimber District in PoK.
He was found moving suspiciously near the LoC. After having been challenged by the patrol, the boy immediately surrendered.
It is suspected that the boy was sent by terrorists in connivance with the Pakistan Army to probe routes for infiltration across the LoC. The boy has been handed over to the police for further investigation. — ANI
08:15 Yogi wields broom to sweep streets of Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wields a broom along with UP ministers to take part in Swachhta Abhyaan at Lucknow’s Balu Adda Malin Basti.
Adityanath’s move comes in the wake of Swachh Bharat Survey where most of the cities of UP ranked poorly and except Varanasi, no city is in top 100.
Capital Lucknow itself was ranked at 269 with an overall score of 860.
Photograph: ANI
00:30 In UP, woman gives husband ‘triple talaq’: Amid the raging debate over triple talaq, a woman broke the proverbial glass ceiling by uttering the three words to divorce her husband and free herself from his atrocities over dowry.
Amreen Bano uttered the word ‘talaq’ thrice at the Inspector General of Police’s office on Wednesday in the presence of media.
She asserted that if men can divorce their wives by saying ‘talaq’ thrice, why can’t women do the same.
She termed her step as a revenge on her in-laws as her younger sister was given ‘talaq’ by her husband’s brother.
She told the mediapersons that she and her sister Farheen were married to Sabir and his brother Shakir respectively on March 28, 2012.
Since their marriage, their husbands and in-laws harassed the two sisters for dowry.
Last September, Shakir divorced Farheen.
“As we raised our voices against the atrocities, my sister was divorced by her husband,” Amreen said, adding physical and mental atrocities increased thereafter.
Amreen had even lodged a complaint in March against her husband, brother-in-law and four others of harassment. As no action was taken by the police in the matter, she on Wednesday reached the IG’s office demanding her husband and in-laws be punished.
She then divorced her husband in front of mediapersons.
“I divorced my husband as a revenge on the family for the atrocities we had to face. It was also because my brother-in-law divorced my sister.”
However, chief Qazi of Meerut, Jenur Rashideen, said there is no provision for women to divorce their husbands in Islam.
But he added that a woman has to give an application at a Shariat panchayat for divorce.
The panchayat will first try to resolve the issues between the couple but if it fails, then it can get the woman a divorce from her husband, he said.
IG Meerut zone Ajay Anand said Amreen met him with her complaint against her in-laws. He said he has asked the police station concerned to act on the complaint. — PTI
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Source: Rediff