Kathua: J-K CB presses perjury charges against witness

Agencies
November 8, 2018

Jammu, Nov 8: The Jammu and Kashmir crime branch has initiated the process of pressing perjury charges against a witness in the case of rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl after he had retracted from a "confessional statement" recorded in front of a magistrate, officials said on Thursday.

A show-cause notice has been served to Ajay Kumar alias 'Ajju' by the sessions judge of Pathankot, Tejwinder Singh, asking him to explain on Monday "why an action under section 479-B of Jammu and Kashmir Criminal Procedure Code may not be initiated against him".

This section provides summary procedure for trial of witnesses deposing contrary to statements recorded under Section 164-A (evidence of material witnesses to be recorded by Magistrate in certain cases).

Kumar had recorded his statement before a judicial magistrate in Jammu on February 27 this year in which he had claimed that Parvesh Kumar alias 'Mannu' had given a graphical description about the rape and subsequent murder of the girl belonging to a nomadic minority community.

The notice served on Kumar says "whereas an application has been filed by prosecution for initiating action against you for voluntary and knowingly retracting from your statement under section 164-A CrPC during your deposition as a prosecution witness before court, a show-cause notice is issued to you as to why an action under section 479-B of CrPC may not be initiated against you."

"You may appear before this court in person or be represented by a counsel on 12.11.2018," the notice from the sessions court of Pathankot said.

The session judge is holding trial for the gruesome Kathua rape-and-murder case on directions of the Supreme Court.

The trial was assigned to the district and sessions court in Pathankot by the Supreme Court earlier this year after the victim's family approached with a plea to transfer the case from Kathua.

The eight-year-old girl, belonging to a nomadic tribe, was allegedly kidnapped on January 10 and her body was found on January 17. It is alleged that she was gang-raped and later murdered. The crime branch has arrested eight people, including a juvenile in the case.

The charge sheet has been filed against Sanji Ram and his juvenile nephew, his son Vishal, special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma and friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu.

The charge sheet also names head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta -- who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram and destroyed crucial evidence.

The district and sessions court in Pathankot framed charges of rape and murder against the seven accused in the case on June 8.

Sanji Ram, considered the main accused, is alleged to have hatched the conspiracy with the other accused for kidnapping the girl as part of a strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area. 

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Agencies
July 8,2020

The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has urged Muslims to take precautions during Eid ul-Adha (Bakrid), to be celebrated in the last week of July, and has issued guidelines on offering prayers and sacrifices.

"The namaz should be offered by adhering to the social distancing norms at eidgahs and mosques. Muslims should offer the Eid prayer at home in the same manner as they had done during Eid ul-Fitr in areas where restrictions have been imposed due to COVID-19," it said.

For the sacrifice of animals, a part of the festival, the JIH said "precautionary" measures should be taken due to the pandemic.

"Don't offer qurbani on roads, footpaths and pathways. Ensure the highest level of cleanliness and hygiene. Ensure that you bury the blood and entrails of the animal after qurbani or deliver it at the designated spot of garbage collection," the JIH said in a statement.

The JIH said it would be appropriate to form a committee few days before the Eid ul-Adha, which would keep an eye on the situation, remain in touch with the local administration and offer cooperation towards maintaining the law and order in the area.

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Agencies
February 8,2020

New Delhi, Feb 8: A 26-year-old woman sub-inspector (SI) of the Delhi Police was shot dead near Rohini East Metro station on Friday night, officials said.

The SI, Preeti Ahlawat, was posted in Patparganj Industrial Area Police Station, police said.

A call about the incident was received around 9.30 pm, they said, adding she received gunshot wounds on her head.

"We have identified the suspects and CCTV footage of the area has been collected," said SD Mishra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Rohini).

Three empty cartridges were found from the spot, the officer said, adding a case has been registered and a probe is on.

Personal enmity is suspected to be the reason behind the killing, the officer said.

Ahlawat joined the Delhi Police in 2018.

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News Network
June 23,2020

New Delhi, Jun 23: In an unexpected development, the pump price of diesel is all set to surpass the petrol price in the capital, making it the most expensive transport fuel for the first time in a long time.

Globally, diesel is priced slightly above petrol prices due to the very nature of the product that has a higher cost of production. But in India, due to the lopsided taxation structure, diesel attracts lesser of the tax between the two auto fuels keeping its prices lower than petrol for last several years.

Diesel is currently priced at Rs 79.40 a litre in the Capital, just 36 paise short of petrol price that is being retailed at Rs 79.76 a litre. Going by the trend of price movement in the two products for the last few days where diesel prices have consistently increased by 50-60 paise per litre while the daily increase in petrol prices have fallen to just 20 paise on Tuesday, it is set to surpass petrol prices in next few days.

"Diesel price movement is sharper in international market and if oil companies follow the global price trend, diesel prices will surpass that of petrol later this week. It will be after many years that this would happen and is expected to sustain for some time unless government changes the tax structure of the petroleum products again," said an oil sector expert from one of the big four audit and advisory firms asking not to be named.

Interestingly, even in India the base price of diesel is expensive than petrol. According to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), while the base price of petrol in Delhi currently comes to Rs 22.11 per litre, the same for diesel is higher at Rs 22.93 per litre (effective from June 16, 2020). This has been the case for a long time, but retail price of petrol can be higher than diesel due to central and state taxes.

What has now brought diesel prices to a whisker of petrol prices in the capital is the Delhi government's decision early May to increase the Value Added Tax on diesel from 16.75 per cent to 30 per cent and on petrol from 27 per cent to 30 per cent. This increased the retail price of diesel and petrol in Delhi by Rs 7.10 and Rs 1.67 a litre respectively. With Central taxes on the two products already reaching identical levels, the Delhi governments move hastened price parity between petrol and diesel.

Currently, the Central excise on petrol is Rs 32.98 a litre while that on diesel it is Rs 31.83 a litre. The VAT on petrol in Delhi is Rs 17.71 a litre and that on diesel is Rs 17.60 a litre.

While the movement of retail pricing is being seen with a sigh of relief by vehicle owners whose cars run on petrol, those buying the relatively expensive diesel cars are now repenting on their decision. The development is also being seen with caution by automobile companies who have spent millions to ramp up their facilities for diesel run vehicles. The expectation is that demand for such cars will now fall, causing more damage to companies where sales are already impacted due to persistent economic slowdown and now the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

"The pricing development would push automobile companies to strategies being followed by companies in the western markets where diesel run cars are not sold on fuel pricing differential, but on overall make and quality that puts them ahead of petrol run cars," the expert quoted earlier.

Yes, but for commercial vehicle sector the rising price of diesel had not been welcomed. In fact, the commercial transport sector had time an again threatened strike against the move to raise fuel prices.

With petrol and diesel retail prices closing, the case for adultering fuel has also gone down much to the relief of vehicle owners.

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