Expats' dead bodies returned back to UAE from Delhi Airport; Indian govt's move shocks families in India

Lucknow, Jun 20: A media body on Saturday described as "an act of intimidation" the filing of an FIR in Uttar Pradesh against a journalist over a report on the impact of the lockdown on a village, saying it was part of an "established pattern" of harassment of independent scribes.

In a statement, the Media Foundation put on record its strong protest over the FIR filed by the Uttar Pradesh government against Supriya Sharma, executive editor of news portal Scroll.in.

The case was filed against Sharma for allegedly misrepresenting facts in a report on the impact of the lockdown in a village adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, police sources had said on Thursday.

The FIR against Sharma and the Scroll editor-in-chief is an "an act of intimidation and a case of abuse of process", intended to discourage honest and critical reporting, the Media Foundation said.

The Media Foundation was started in 1979 with the aim of upholding freedom of speech, expression and information.

The FIR against Sharma is only the latest instance of similar coercive actions against professional journalists, part of "an established pattern of harassment and humiliation of independent journalists", it said,

"It is an unacceptable encroachment on press freedom," said the foundation, whose chairperson is veteran journalist Harish Khare.

The Media Foundation called upon the judiciary, and central and state governments to uphold the spirit of freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed in the Constitution.

Bengaluru, May 12: Last week, a 28-year-old, eight-months pregnant woman, was found murdered at her house, in Diburahalli. The woman was hacked to death with a machete during the day and was discovered only after her family members returned home, later in the day. After the alleged murder, the accused tried to destroy the evidence, by cleaning the crime scene, and wiping the bloodstains off the walls and floors.

The victim was a homemaker and her husband is employed in the railway department. The police suspected that the murder was a result of someone known to the woman and family, and were soon proved right. The woman was murdered by her own brother-in-law, frustrated with her for allegedly not taking care of his mother and other family members properly.

The victim has been identified as Jyothi, and the accused is her husband’s brother Hareesh Babu, 38. “Jyothi and the accused are alleged to have had differences for the past few years. Their fights kept escalating over the years. She had also informed her family and her husband about the regular fights with the brother-in-law. The accused had been advised by the family, to back off from Jyothi. Owing to his violent streak, Babu’s wife had deserted him and their son. Since his wife’s departure, he had started troubling his brother’s wife and was regularly picked a fight with her.

He complained that Jyothi neglected to take care of his mother and other family members. Investigations reveal these as false allegations, and in fact, Babu’s son was being raised by Jyothi,” said an officer on part of investigations.

Last week, when the victim was resting at home, the accused returned home at around 10.30 am and picked up a fight with her. The fight escalated and Babu ended up hacking her to death with a machete. The victim’s father Nagaraj, at the time of filing a complaint, mentioned Babu’s regular fights with Jyothi and suspected his role in the murder of his pregnant daughter.

The accused, after killing her, had gone to the farm and pretended to not knowing about the the happenings back home. Based on the complainant’s suspicion, the police picked up Babu. After a thorough interrogation, Babu reportedly confessed to the murder of his sister-in-law. The machete, which was used for Jyothi’s murder, was also recovered by the police team.

A case of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and further investigations are underway.

New Delhi, May 12: Air India is planning to operate 149 repatriation flights to 31 countries between May 16 and May 22 during the second phase of the Vande Bharat mission to bring back home Indians stranded abroad amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, officials said. During the first phase of the Vande Bharat mission, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express are scheduled to operate total 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring approximately 15,000 Indians from 12 countries on a payment basis.

"In the second phase, Air India and Air India Express will operate 149 flights to countries such as the USA, the UAE, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Malaysia, Oman, Kazakhstan, Australia, Ukraine, Qatar and Indonesia," the airline officials stated.

Other countries to where the national carrier would operate flights between May 16 and May 22 are Russia, Philippines, France, Singapore, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait,

Japan, Georgia, Germany and Tajikistan, officials noted.
The flights during the second phase will also be operated to Bahrain, Armenia, Thailand, Italy, Nepal, Belarus, Nigeria and Bangladesh, they mentioned.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 70,000 people and killed around 2,290 people in the country till now. All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended for the lockdown period.