Delhi Police uses facial recognition to secure Red Fort

Agencies
August 15, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 15: The Delhi Police is using cameras equipped with facial recognition software for the first time to secure the Red Fort, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the national flag on the 73rd Independence Day, officials said on Wednesday.

A multi-layered security arrangement, involving SWAT commandos and NSG snipers, is being put in place for the national capital in view of the Centre scrapping the constitutional provisions that gave Jammu and Kashmir a special status and tensions with Pakistan.

Army, paramilitary forces and 20,000 Delhi Police personnel have also been deployed.

To identify suspects around the historic Red Fort, the police is using cameras with facial recognition technology and has deployed anti-drone detection systems to secure the skies.

Around 500 CCTV cameras have been installed around the venue, where ministers, bureaucrats, foreign dignitaries and common people will gather to hear the prime minister.

The roads leading to the Red Fort are under surveillance and police personnel are taking help of trained sniffer dogs to check vehicles in north and central districts of Delhi.

To ensure public convenience during mobility, optimal staff deployment and proper signage installation had been planned. Special squads on motorcycles are deployed.

Security protocols have also been devised for the "At Home" function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

At both these places, visitors will have to pass through several door-framed metal detectors and they will be frisked with hand-held metal detectors.

Baggages canners have already been placed at all entry points at the Red Fort venue.

Special "spotters" are keeping an eye on parking areas and kite catchers will ensure a distraction-free event on Thursday.

"We have made an extensive security arrangement for those coming to the Red Fort. Drills have been rehearsed," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Nupur Prasad.

Special control rooms will monitor alerts and coordinate with security agencies, Prasad added.

Officials said Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) units and specially-equipped Parakram vans are being stationed at crucial junctions. Police personnel are regularly conducting anti-sabotage drills and making enquiries at hotels for possible suspects lodging there.

Police have prohibited aerial activities, including paragliding, hot-air balloons and quadcopters, until August 15 around the Red Fort.

Any person violating the order will be liable for a criminal prosecution, they said.

The Delhi Metro has not announced any change in its services on August 15, but there will be restrictions on entry and exit at some stations on the Violet Line.

Parking areas, however, have been closed until 2 pm on August 15.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

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News Network
February 14,2020

Feb 14: India will never forget the martyrdom of the security personnel killed in last year's Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

He termed the slain security personnel were "exceptional individuals" who devoted their lives to serving and protecting the nation.

On February 14 last year, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in the attack.

"Tributes to the brave martyrs who lost their lives in the gruesome Pulwama Attack last year. They were exceptional individuals who devoted their lives to serving and protecting our nation. India will never forget their martyrdom," tweets PM Modi one year since the Pulwama attack.

"I pay homage to the martyrs of Pulwama Attack. India will forever be grateful of our bravehearts and their families who made supreme sacrifice for the sovereignty and integrity of our motherland," tweets Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

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Agencies
July 14,2020

Jaipur, Jul 14: Sachin Pilot has been removed as Deputy Chief Minister and Rajasthan PCC Chief, announced Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday.

"Sachin Pilot, Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena have been removed from the posts of Deputy Chief Minister and Ministerial posts respectively. Sachin Pilot has also been removed as the Rajasthan PCC Chief," said Surjewala.

Govind Singh Dotasra has been appointed as the new PCC chief, he added.

"Sachin Pilot, few Congress Ministers and MLAs got involved in the conspiracy to topple the Congress government by getting entangled within the trap of BJP," he added.

The decision was taken after a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan earlier today.

The Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil over the past few days. While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the State government by poaching MLAs, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has been camping in Delhi.

A controversy broke out in Rajasthan after Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the State.

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