New Delhi, Aug 17: The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the conviction of Vikas Yadav, Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehalwan in connection with the murder of Nitish Katara in 2002.
The Court issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on the question of their jail sentences. Vikas and Vishal Yadav are undergoing 25 years imprisonment for murder. Pehalwan had been sentenced to 20 years.
Washington, Jun 11: Observing that historically India has been a tolerant, respectful country for all religions, a top Trump administration official has said the US is "very concerned" about what is happening in India over religious freedom.
The comments by Samuel Brownback, Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, came hours after the release of the "2019 International Religious Freedom Report" on Wednesday.
Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.
India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.
"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," Mr Brownback said during a phone call with foreign journalists on Wednesday.
The trend lines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Mr Brownback said. "We're seeing a lot more difficulty. I think really they need to have a - I would hope they would have an - interfaith dialogue starting to get developed at a very high level in India, and then also deal with the specific issues that we identified as well," he said.
"It really needs a lot more effort on this topic in India, and my concern is, too, that if those efforts are not put forward, you're going to see a growth in violence and increased difficulty within the society writ large," said the top American diplomat.
Responding to a question, Mr Brownback said he hoped minority faiths are not blamed for the COVID-19 spread and that they would have access to healthcare amid the crisis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised any form of discrimination, saying the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. "COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood," PM Modi said in a post on LinkedIn in February.
The government, while previously rejecting the US religious freedom report, had said: "India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion".
"The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities… We see no locus standi for a foreign entity/government to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," the Foreign Ministry said in June last year.
According to the Home Ministry, 7,484 incidents of communal violence took place between 2008 and 2017, in which more than 1,100 people were killed.
Idukki, Jun 8: Devikulam MLA S Rajendran from CPM along with supporters staged a protest by blocking the Munnar-Udumalpet interstate highway here on Monday, demanding that action to be taken to prevent wild elephants entering into human settlements and destroying properties.
The protest started at 9.30 am and demand was made that senior forest officials should give them assurance of putting an end to the problem.
A police team led by Munnar Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) Ramesh Kumar was camping in the area.
Wild elephants from the nearby forest are frequently trespassing into Munnar and last night two elephants destroyed a vegetable shop in the town.
If it was a lone elephant that the locals nicknamed as Padayappa that used to enter the human settlement, now along with him a baby elephant is also coming to the town at night.
The locals have named the second elephant Ganeshan. Though there were instances of them destroying crops and eating from vegetable shops, till now the duo has not attacked humans.
New Delhi, May 10: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured audit of donations made to the PM-CARES Fund, and to share the details and the money spent with the people.
"The PM-CARES Fund has received huge contributions from PSUs and major public utilities like the Railways. It's important that the Prime Minister ensure the fund is audited and that the record of money received and spent is available to the public," he tweeted.
The #PmCares fund has received huge contributions from PSUs & major public utilities like the Railways.
Itâs important that PM ensures the fund is audited & that the record of money received and spent is available to the public.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 9, 2020
His remarks came amid reports that the central government is accumulating a huge sum of money in the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund set up as a corpus to fight novel coronavirus and that the amount spent will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The CAG office had clarified that since the fund is based on donations, it has no right to audit a charitable organisation.
On Friday, Rahul Gandhi told the media that the PM-CARES Fund should be audited and people of the country should know about the donors and the donations made.
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