Kerala HC grants bail to BJP candidate from Kozhikode

Agencies
April 11, 2019

Kochi, Apr 11: The Kerala High Court Thursday granted conditional bail to the BJP's candidate for Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency, Prakash Babu, arrested in a case related to an alleged attack on a woman devotee in Sabarimala temple last November.

He was sent to jail on March 28 by a court in Ranni in Pathanamthitta district in connection with the case. Granting bail to Babu, Justice Alexander Thomas directed him to appear before the investigating officer on the second and fourth Saturdays every month after the Lok Sabha elections for four months. He has been granted bail subject to furnishing a bond of Rs 2 lakh and two solvent sureties.

The court also directed him to surrender his passport and not to enter Pathanamthitta district for three months except for reporting to the police. Babu had approached the high court after a local court refused to grant him bail in the case.

The BJP candidate is accused of attacking a woman who had come to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala in November last year. The alleged attack took place amid protests against the implementation of the Supreme Court's verdict permitting women of menstrual age to enter the shrine. Traditionally, women in the age group of 10 to 50 years were not allowed to enter the temple as the presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, was a 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate).

Babu is pitted against M K Raghavan of the Congress and A Pradeep Kumar of the CPI-M in Kozhikode, which goes to polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 23. He was arrested soon after he launched his election campaign.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Patna, Jan 23: "They should go wherever they want," Bihar Chief Minister and JDU supremo Nitish Kumar said on Thursday when asked of Prashant Kishor and Pavan Verma's repeated questions about the party's stand's on the newly enacted Citizenship Act.

"It is their personal decision. They should go wherever they want. We don't have an objection. Don't look at JDU in the context of statements by some people. JDU works with determination. We have a clear stand and don't have any confusion," the Chief Minister told reporters here.

"If they have something to tell, they should come and discuss it within the party. They should go wherever they want. They have my good wishes," he said.

JDU spokesperson and national general secretary Pavan Verma has questioned his party's alliance with the BJP in Delhi Assembly polls while Kishor has more than once made his differences with the party known on the issue of the amended Citizenship Act, and National Register of Citizens.

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News Network
May 29,2020

New Delhi, May 29: More than 38,000 doctors, including those retired from the Armed Forces Medical Services, have volunteered to help the government in its fight against COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said on Friday.

On March 25, the government had made an appeal to doctors, including the retired ones, to come forward and join the efforts to fight the pandemic.

"38,162 volunteer doctors, including retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or private doctors have signed up with the government to battle COVID-19 pandemic," the official said.

The official further said Niti Aayog has sent a list of names of these doctors to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

In a statement posted on Niti Aayog's website on March 25, the government had said those who wish to contribute to this noble mission may register themselves through a link provided on the Aayog's website.

"The Government of India requests for volunteer doctors who are fit and willing to be available for providing their services in the public health facilities and the training hospitals in the near future.

"We appeal to such doctors to come forward at this hour of need. You could also be a retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or a private doctor," the statement had said.

It had noted that in case the outbreak leads to a high number of infected individuals, India's public health facilities will face tremendous load to take care of a large number of patients.

Many countries, including the US, Italy, the UK and Vietnam, had also urged retired health workers to come back to work amid the pandemic.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has climbed to 1,65,799, making it the world's ninth worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Ministry on Friday said the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,706 in the country.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 11: The effective handling of Covid-19 pandemic by the Kerala Government has received a big endorsement in the International media with the latest being a report in Washington Post which suggests that the State’s success could prove instructive to the entire country.

The Washington Post quoted Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher as saying “We hoped for the best but planned for the worst. Now, the curve has flattened, but we cannot predict what will happen next week.”

"The Minister said six states had reached out to Kerala for advice. She, however, noted that it might not be easy to replicate Kerala’s lessons elsewhere," according to the Minister's office quoting the report here on Saturday.

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