Fuel prices rise again after three days of no change

New Delhi, May 19: In a fresh blow to saffronite journalist Arnab Goswami, the Supreme Court of India today rejected his plea seeking transfer of the investigation of a case, filed against him for defaming Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, to the CBI. The court also refused to quash the FIRs filed against him.

Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, has been booked in connection with a TV show on the gathering of migrants outside Bandra railway station on April 14. This apart, multiple FIRs have been filed against him for his show on Palghar lynching. In that show, he had posed certain questions on the incident to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, following which Congress workers lodged complaints against him in various states.

Extending Goswami’s interim protection from arrest by three weeks, the Supreme Court said, “Right of a journalist under 19 1 (a) higher…Free citizens can’t exist if news media can’t speak.”

During the earlier hearing, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, had urged the court to transfer the probe to an agency like CBI. He said the “nature of the” second FIR against Goswami over a show on the migrant gathering outside Bandra station on April 14 “shows that it’s arm-twisting tactic”. 

“They are trying to stifle an unpleasant voice. This is a political party targeting a journalist. All complainants are members of one political party. They have a problem with the government. They want to teach this journalist a lesson,” he added.

Objecting to Salve’s plea to transfer the case to the CBI, Maharashtra government counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, had said, “CBI investigation will go into your hands”. 

Sibal denied that Goswami was being harassed and said he was only asked relevant questions. He said Goswami should “stop this communal violence and communal mongering”.

Jaipur, Mar 29: A batch of 275 Indians evacuated from coronavirus-hit Iran arrived at the Jodhpur airport on Sunday morning, an official said.

He said a preliminary screening of the passengers was conducted at the airport and thereafter, they were shifted to the Army Wellness Facility set up at the Jodhpur Military Station.

Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said of the 275 passengers, there were 133 women and 142 men, including two infants and four children.

New Delhi, Jul 10: With the highest single-day spike of 26,506 COVID-19 cases and 475 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India reached 7,93,802 on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total number of cases, 2,76,685 are active, 4,95,513 have been cured/discharged/migrated and 21,604 have died so far due to the infection.

With as many as 2,30,599 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,26,581) and Delhi (1,07,051).

Meanwhile, 2,83,659 samples were tested for coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total number of samples tested up to July 9 to 1,10,24,491, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).