Jayalalithaa not getting VIP treatment, says jail official

October 3, 2014

Bangalore, Oct 3: AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa is not getting VIP treatment, but being looked after as any other ordinary prisoner at the Parapanna Agrahara Central prison where she is lodged after conviction in the disproportionate assets case, according to a top jail official.

jaya“Madam (Jayalalithaa) is getting no VIP treatment. She is being treated as any other prisoner at Parapanna Agrahara,” DIG Prisons P M Jaisimha said.

She has conducted herself very politely with the prison officials and not made any demand for luxury, except that she has asked for an iron cot as per doctors’ advise, he said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa has not even asked for a television set, while a common TV is provided even for ordinary prisoners, he said.

“Since Jayalalithaa is a short-termer (a prisoner who is not undergoing rigorous imprisonment), she is allowed to wear her garments, he said. She is happy wearing sarees only and she is not wearing any cosmetics either, Mr. Jaisimha added.

Ms. Jayalalithaa also is being looked after by her close aide Sasikala and Elavarasi, the latter’s relative, who have also been imprisoned in the same women’s barracks, he said.

The AIADMK chief is keeping good health and eating simple food as per doctors’ advice, besides reading newspapers, Mr. Jaisimha said. “She is eating brown bread, milk, biscuits, fruits and chappatis, if she demands,” he said.

The 66-year-old three-time chief minister, who has been allotted VVIP cell number 23 of the prison, also reads newspapers without fail, Mr. Jaisimha said. “Without any fail, madam reads three English dailies every day,” he said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa, who is now prisoner number 7402 at the jail, wakes up early in the morning and takes a stroll in the premises of the prison, the official said.

Sasikala and her relatives, Elavarasi and Sudhakaran have been given prisoner numbers 7403, 7404 and 7405 respectively. The Special Court has sent Ms. Jayalalithaa and three other accused to four years in jail.

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News Network
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: Newly-appointed Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said the armed forces stay away from politics and work as per the directives of the government of the day, remarks that come amid allegations that the forces were being politicised.

Gen Rawat also said that his focus as CDS will be to integrate the efforts of the three services and to work as a team.

"We keep ourselves away from politics. We act according to the directives of the government of the day," he said.

Gen Rawat said his focus will be to ensure best and optimal use of resources allocated to the three services.

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News Network
February 29,2020

New Delhi, Feb 29: Former Union Minister M J Akbar told a Delhi court on Friday that journalist Priya Ramani had defamed him by calling him with adjectives such as 'media's biggest predator' in the wake of #MeToo movement in 2018 that harmed his reputation.

M J Akbar made the allegations before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja through his lawyer during the final hearing of a private criminal defamation complaint filed by him against Priya Ramani. Akbar resigned as Union minister on October 17, 2018.

Ramani in 2018 accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Akbar, said that the allegations were intentional and malafide.

“When you call someone media's biggest predator, it is per se defamatory. Calling a person with such adjectives is on the face of it defamatory. In the eyes of the people, Akbar's reputation was harmed... The per se effect was lowering of my (Akbar) reputation in the eyes of the right thinking members of the society,” she told the court.

She said there was no due process in the allegations. “It has a cascading effect. Embarrassing questions were asked. I (Akbar) am a person of greatest integrity... There was no due process in the allegations. You cannot just make allegation and let that person suffer,” she added.

Luthra said that if there was any grievance, it had to be raised then and there before the appropriate authority.

“We need to realise the effect has what we say or what we do. It's not like she went to any authority or raised any grievance. Opportunity was there, rights were there but to attack so person behind their back on social media...knowing that his whole life will be adversely affected? It's not right,” she said.

M J Akbar has denied all the allegations of sexual harassment against the women who came forward during #MeToo campaign against him.

Akbar had earlier told the court that the allegations made in an article in the 'Vogue' and the subsequent tweets were defamatory on the face of it as the complainant had deposed them to be false and imaginary and that an “immediate damage” was caused to him due to the “false” allegations by Priya Ramani.

Ramani had earlier told the court that her “disclosure” of alleged sexual harassment by Akbar has come at “a great personal cost” and she had “nothing to gain” from it.

She had said her move would empower women to speak up and make them understand their rights at workplace.

Several women came up with accounts of the alleged sexual harassment by M J Akbar him while they were working as journalists under him.

He has termed the allegations “false, fabricated and deeply distressing” and said he was taking appropriate legal action against them.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Dehradun, Jan 6: Universities are centres of learning and will not be allowed to become "addas" of politics, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has said.

The minister was replying to questions from reporters in Haldwani on Sunday about protests against the amended Citizenship Act across university campuses.

"Universities are centres of learning where the country's future is in the making. We cannot let them become addas of politics," Nishank said.

He accused the opposition parties of trying to turn the universities into hotbeds of politics.

The new legislation passed by Parliament aims to grant citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had taken refuge in India and there is nothing wrong in it, the Union Minister said

"When Pakistan was created, the population of religious minorities there stood at 22 per cent. Today it is a minuscule 3.7 per cent. Persecuted on the basis of their religion, they sought sanctuary in India. The CAA is meant only to grant them citizenship," he said.

Terming the law humanitarian, the minister said it was going to make no difference to the status of Muslims in India and wondered why the Congress was making such a hue and cry about it.

Nishank's press conference in Haldwani was part of the BJP's campaign to create awareness in favour of the amended Citizenship Act.

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